The pressure to be sexually active comes at us all from various angles. The ads we see each day run the gamut from subtle ads for “performance enhancing” drugs to use later in life (when some of us may not even want to be all that sexually active) to the more aggressive ones, continuously targeting younger and younger audiences. You can’t escape these images, they’re on bus stops, locker rooms, in a banner on a website, in fact they’re so common that they hardly seem to stand out. As adults, maybe our life experience can buffer some of this imagery, but what about kids, teens who are in the process of figuring themselves out as people? A survey by ESSENCE magazine revealed that,

Black youth report considerable pressure to have sex, according to a new survey of 1,500 Black youth ages 13-21 released by ESSENCE Magazine and The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Of those who have had sex, 47% of those 13-21 (including 21% of those 13-15) say they have been pressured to go further sexually than they wanted to. […]

Overall, the survey found that almost half of Black teens ages 13 to 21 reported that they have lied to get out of a sexual situation, and 54% of Black males said they feel pressure from their friends to have sex.

But some of the findings in the survey are hopeful. Nearly half of younger children (13-15) say they value their parents’ opinions and that their parents influence whether or not they will be sexually active. This gives parents an opportunity to express to our kids that they’re not expected to have sex.

On November 30, Jamiel Terry died in a car accident. He was the adopted son of Operation Rescue founder Randal Terry, and he happens to have been an out homosexual. I’m posting this today as my thoughts are with the Terry family during their time of loss, but also because Jamiel was an example of how a person’s sexual orientation doesn’t define them as a person. No one can assume your beliefs or political views based upon it, and I hope that everyone in the LGBT community is aware that no one expects them to be one monolithic group of people. Anyone can be pro-life.

Mr. Terry states:

“We are all in a state of shock, and unthinkable grief. I loved him dearly; we all did.

“Jamiel had a brilliant mind, and was a gentle soul. And as anyone knows who has spent time with him, he was funny, articulate, and a formidable debater on many topics.

“I thank God that Jamiel and I spoke regularly, and texted each other about a wide variety issues, frequently discussing and debating elections, politics and policy, to which we have both dedicated our time and talents.

“While we remained irreconcilable on the issue of ‘homosexual marriage,’ Jamiel remained firmly pro-life, and recently helped convince a young woman to not kill her child by abortion. There were many other issues that we kicked around — with laughter and good humor.

“We had recently agreed to hold joint speaking events at colleges and other venues, to discuss and debate the issues that are dear to us as a ‘father and son’ lecture team. I wish to God we had been able to do even one of them. […]

The thought has crossed my mind that one might get slightly more sympathy for being a pedophile than for espousing virginity until marriage. Read this infantile editorial and decide for yourself. The blog they are referring to is here.

I haven’t read much of the blog yet, but I will say this: Those are four brave women, taking on an untouchable topic. They are overtly religious about it, from what I can tell. As if there weren’t enough purely secular reasons out there to abstain from sex. I’ll never forget my decidedly non-Christian, non-virgin of a family doc, years back, wryly commenting how she had had it with meaningless sexual encounters and had practiced a newfound virginity of sorts with her now husband. It shocked the pants off me (not literal) because she was quite a curt, down-to-earth, very professional, non-emotional, and again, I’m quite sure, non-religious woman.

The hostility to four women who are not “telling you how to live” but rather providing an example of how one might consider doing things differently without growing an additional head beggars belief in an era of pain over misplaced, misused, misappropriated sexuality.

This sad case of “self-abortion” from New York, where two out of every five pregnancies end in abortion, seems to illustrate the effect of legislation when what is legal and common in clinics is done at home. Charges are usually dismissed, but unfortunately these women don’t end up getting any kind of help, psychiatric or otherwise. It’s okay if the term “self-abortion” upsets you, because of course the woman isn’t aborting herself. However, I do appreciate the tone of this article from the NY Times.

A superintendent in Washington Heights was tying up a garbage bag on Tuesday evening when he felt an errant piece of plastic. He reached into the bag to put it in the recycling bin, and to his horror, he said, “that’s when I saw the baby.” […]

The police said Thursday that they had charged Yaribely Almonte, 20, who had lived in the building, with self-abortion in the first degree, a misdemeanor charge that has been used only a few times in New York State. Although it was unclear how old the fetus was, the charge applies when the abortion occurs after 24 weeks of pregnancy, when it is legal only if a woman’s doctor says her life is in danger.

“When I found the baby, I didn’t know if it was real at first,” said the superintendent, who declined to give his name. “It was so bad.

“After that happened, I just stayed in my apartment for a while because I didn’t feel well.” […]

“This woman has my sympathy,” Greg Pfundstein, executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, an anti-abortion group, said Thursday. “This appears to be a clear case of desperation.

“I wish she had known there are people who would have helped her through this, including the New York Catholic Archdiocese.”

He added that the archdiocese, through Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, “recently renewed its pledge to help any woman who finds herself pregnant and in need.”

What a joke. A” study” with a test group of 23 undergraduates and sex “educators,” whose average age is about 21. The conclusions? That casual sex has “rules,” people know them, and sexual experimentation creates a foundation for good long-term relationships. Right.

They might as well open the study with “There was, like, this one time, at band camp.”

I would insert a quote from the article, but it is generally, from beginning to end, one terribly sad quotable quote.

Thank you, feminism! We truly all are equals, now:

One surprising trend, according to Dr. Mann, is that girls have caught up to boys when it comes to binge drinking, cannabis use and other problem behaviours. In many instances, it appears that while male substance use has remained relatively stable or even declined, the number of females engaging in those activities has risen significantly. For instance, in 1999, 20.3 per cent of boys and 15.7 per cent of girls reported hazardous or harmful drinking behaviour. By 2011, those numbers were 18.1 for boys and 17.6 for girls.

Of course, this falls into the category of things feminists will never “take credit” for, but I’ve read enough articles now about distraught feminist mothers, wondering how on earth their daughters could misconstrue their message of female empowerment by sleeping around, wearing atrociously skanky clothes, and generally avoiding engineering and math departments like the plague. They don’t see themselves as granting the “freedom” of licentiousness to their girls, at all. Doesn’t mean they didn’t do precisely that, though.

The Globe and Mail reports on a New Jersey lawsuit:

The nurses have filed a lawsuit against the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, claiming the institution violated the law earlier this fall by announcing that nurses would have to help with abortion patients before and after the procedure, The Washington Post reports.

The Globe asks “Up to what point should health-care workers be allowed to refuse involvement?”

I’d say they should be allowed to refuse all involvement at every stage. Prepping a woman for an abortion or doing post-op care simply frees up others to do the actual abortions. It’s a bit like giving money to Planned Parenthood and saying it’s not going to the side of the organization that does abortions, ie, not possible.

A great article about the Philadelphia “house of horrors.” The author is one Lea Singh, who I happen to know. (After all, how many pro-life Czech Canadians are there in Ottawa?) She highlights the obvious schizophrenia which has us declaring that the same action (killing babies) is in one circumstance abortion, ergo, acceptable, and in another, is murder, ergo, punishable by law.

She also asks where each one of us is at in this current social climate. Do we turn a blind eye? Have we braced ourselves to struggle through what we believe on this issue? Are we prepared to think things through to the point that we would reject abortion outright, and say so, whatever chance we get?

I often ponder how our children’s children will judge us. They would have every right to say we sanctioned barbarism.

This is not a guilt trip, by the way. Many of my readers are passionately engaged in some struggle, and no one person can be engaged in every struggle. But just because I am not an advocate against, oh let’s just insert a random example, human trafficking, doesn’t mean that when the subject comes up I justify why/how/when/how often it occurs. I don’t cast aspersions on the idea that human trafficking is wrong.

That’s the weird thing about abortion: that otherwise conscious folks, concerned about the world around them, can so easily adopt the propaganda of the pro-choice side.

So rise up, people! Consider the facts of the matter and worry less about the ramifications of your actions! Enjoy the idea that you are taking a stand. Live a little! This means doing what is right, not ensuring you get the appropriate job, at the appropriate time, followed by the appropriate pension. (Yawn…..)

Speaking up for the truth might make us look like fools. And that is just the beginning. Today, it is a sad fact that opposing abortion can cost a person their job and even their career. You might also lose your friends, your standing in a social circle, your invitations to events. One day, your position on abortion could even cost you your freedom.

To me, as a former political refugee from Communist Czechoslovakia, all this sounds eerily familiar. Back then, most people in our country were also silent, and many feared the repercussions that would follow if they openly opposed the regime. But we had a few dissidents, and they made a world of difference. One of them, Vaclav Havel, eventually became the first president of a free Czechoslovakia.

The truth is a powerful thing; over time, throughout history, it has always won the moral battles, and I have no doubt that one day, abortion will be rejected and recognized as an unspeakable evil. Until that day comes the journey continues to require courage and sacrifice on the part of those who carry the responsibility of knowing the truth. It is up to us to awaken the conscience of our society, one person at a time.

What is the appropriate age to discuss abortion? Is there such an age? These were my questions during public pro-life events, and to be honest, I don’t know the answers. It is troubling though to think that discussing oral sex with 12-year-olds might be found appropriate while handing them plastic fetuses is seen as “disgusting”.

Jane Hannam, 12, was walking home from Heretaunga Intermediate with a friend last Thursday when they were approached by a female protester outside Hawke’s Bay Hospital and given a rubber foetus and information card about foetal development.

Her parents, Brian and Zarlene Hannam, said it was disgusting that protesters would target young school-aged children and made a complaint to Hastings police.

“We just found her playing with this toy foetus,” Mrs Hannam said. “It was sort of like a really soft spongy flesh-coloured foetus. I just think that’s disgusting.

“Everyone is allowed to protest and I don’t have any problem about that, but what they gave out was really inappropriate.”

_____________________

Andrea adds: I think it’s fair to find handing out plastic fetuses weird. I do. Just being honest. The first time I was handed one, can’t be helped, that was my feeling: something along the lines of “ok, so this is weird.” But “disgusting?” “Really inappropriate?” Comments like that reflect on the pro-choice views of the parents. Nothing more, nothing less.

The catch-22 in Heller’s novel of the same name is this; you can get out of the army if you’re crazy, but if you act crazy they’ll just think you’re trying to get out of the army. I feel the same about this situation concerning the Planned Parenthood criminal case in Kansas. The evidence of poorly maintained and later forged records has gone missing. You’d be crazy to think this isn’t a conspiracy, but if you say this is a conspiracy, they’ll call you crazy.

As the case was being prepared for trial, Steve Howe, the Johnson County prosecutor who took up the case in 2009 after defeating Kline in a Republican primary, discovered that the records that were to be used as evidence had been destroyed years earlier, the originals by the Department of Health and Environment and the only authenticated set of copies by the attorney general’s office. Howe told a judge this month that there was no longer enough admissible evidence to proceed with 49 charges, including 23 felonies.