I believe with this story about giving Mother Earth the same rights as humans that she is getting a raw deal. Really, since humans don’t have the right to life across the board, what confidence can “Mother Earth” possibly have?

I’m almost prepared to say that any guy who voluntarily signs up for this should indeed not reproduce:

Animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), is offering up a free vasectomy to a man who recently had his pet neutered. Calling the contest a “two-fer,” the group is offering up one vasectomy – a reimbursement of up to $500 once the procedure is confirmed – so “one lucky man be reproduction free, free of charge, just like his pooch or feline friend.” …The men must also answer the question, “Why should PETA neuter you?” and tell the judges “how his sterilization will most benefit both humans and animals.”

 

“How his sterilization will most benefit humans and animals?” It would be uncharitable to go into all the reasons.

The last time there was a federal government shutdown in the US was 1995.

Today’s conflict is again over health care, with the headlining debate over defunding Planned Parenthood. Though this is a meager, financially speaking, part of the proposed 2011 budget cuts, it has a heavy emotional weight with the voting population. Last night, it was proposed that the Planned Parenthood rider be separated from the budget proposal.

Durbin later qualified his statement. He told reporters that negotiators had mulled the possibility of separating the Planned Parenthood rider. He said he did not know whether House Republicans would accept the compromise.

“We’re hoping,” he said. “[There’s] a procedural way to deal with that.”

Last year, $75 million of Title X funding went to Planned Parenthood affiliates, which Republicans object to and attempted or are attempting to remove from the fiscal year 2011 budget. Planned Parenthood provides abortion services but can’t use federal money for them. Republicans argue there’s no real way to segregate the private dollars dedicated to abortion services and the federal dollars backing other areas of care.

That disagreement was major stumbling block in negotiations for most of Thursday and Friday.

No one wants a shutdown, but I don’t want the funding issue to be put on the back burner either. While it’s not a lot of money in federal terms, the principal idea is certainly not democratic. Planned Parenthood receives federal money to provide a service that the federal government should really be providing themselves in order to allow citizens the shape the service. Some states have had success in regulating Planned Parenthood, while others have been threatened with costly lawsuits and have been unable to “have their say” about clinic procedures, even though their citizens’ tax dollars are funding the organization. There’s something fundamentally wrong about that. I don’t want a shutdown, but I don’t want to stop talking about Planned Parenthood.

Whether or not he becomes President, it is always nice to have influential figures who declare themselves publicly to be pro-life.

I saw the headline and thought rather cynically that he is only doing this because a Republican nominee running against President Obama pretty much has to be pro-life to win. But then I read the story linked above, and it would take a lot of embarrasing backtracking to undo some of the statements he’s made. I’ll take it as good news.

Not too long ago, I posted this, a link to a review I wrote about the book Giving Sorrow Words. In that review, I mentioned an Australian columnist, Evelyn Tsitas, who, in our global village read what I wrote and wrote a rebuttal:

That acceptance with their decision is something the women in Giving Sorrow Words do not have. Why? Because they obviously wanted the baby, but lacked the courage of their convictions and now want to blame others for their regret. Women who really want the baby they are carrying will do anything to keep it. Women in a high-risk pregnancy require frequent hospitalisation, invasive tests, months of bed rest, painful daily injections – the list goes on. Birth is also a risky business for them. …

So I have no time for the women who can’t get over their abortions. They obviously didn’t want to have a termination in the first place. While I feel sorry for them, I also refuse to buy into the pro-life line that every abortion will cause grief.

Ignoring the callous, staccato tone of her piece, I will say that to a very small extent I agree with her. Women ought to be stronger and stick to their guns. I wish many more were able to do that. But she entirely missed my point, which is this: Our culture talks about abortion as being easy and valid. And so it is absolutely no surprise that many women go against their impulse to keep a baby and have an abortion instead. The women chronicled in the book Giving Sorrow Words are women who learned the very hard way that oftentimes, not every time, but oftentimes, that simply isn’t true. And they have suffered as a result.

That’s why I compared having an abortion to trying drugs. Not everyone will become an addict. But many will, and it’s a reasonable outcome. When we talk about drugs, we understand that addiction and all the harms that come from that is a reasonable outcome. And thus we have campaigns against drugs: Just Say No. When we talk about abortion we talk about nice, comforting concepts like “choice,” and it’s deceptive.

There’s a new news site out, Heroic News:

Heroic Media, a faith-based company that promotes alternatives to abortion through mass media, has launched an online news portal at Heroicnews.org. The initiative is aimed at making a broad cultural impact, complementing its current outreach to women in crisis pregnancies. “Heroic Media has always had two goals: to provide women facing unexpected pregnancies with hopeful alternatives through mass media advertising, and to create a culture of life,” explained Heroic Media founder Brian Follett.

Can’t say I know too much about them, but it might be worth bookmarking and checking from time to time.

We’ve covered a lot about breast milk in the past couple of months on PWPL, and finally, here’s a story about putting it to good use.

Several Nova Scotia mothers have donated their breast milk to help a terminally ill girl in British Columbia.

Julie Bickford was so moved by the story of little Anaya Cassin-Potts, she organized a milk drive through her infant’s clothing store.

The response was overwelming, she said.

“I had so many comments that they’d read it and got goosebumps or cried. It just touches home for so many people.”

Anaya has infantile Krabbe leukodystrophy, a degenerative disorder that attacks the nervous system. The 19-month-old can only digest breast milk.

Anaya drinks about one litre of milk a day. Her mother, Camara Cassin, reached out to nursing mothers across the country when her own breast milk began to dry up.

Cassin’s heart warms every time a frozen package is delivered to her door in Nelson, B.C.

“I pumped myself for 11 months. You know, it’s not fun, and it takes time and commitment, and I just really appreciate every drop,” she said.

Bickford has collected a deep-freeze full of milk — enough to feed Anaya for four months.

Anaya is not expected to live past her second birthday. Cassin hopes the gift of milk gives her more time with her daughter.

If you would like to donate or learn more, here is Cassin’s blog Healing Anya.

…in a pop can?

The Christian media is swarming with accusations that Senomyx, a San Diego-based research and development company, whose clients include food heavy-hitters Nestle, Campbell’s Soup, Kraft Foods, and PepsiCo, is conducting research with HEK293, originally derived from human embryonic kidney cells.

These accusations began with an action alert issued by Largo, Florida-based Children of God for Life, a nonprofit, pro-life organization focused on the “bioethical issues of human cloning, embryonic, and fetal tissue research.” In the alert, Debi Vinnedge, executive director of Children of God, calls for the public to “boycott products of major food companies that are partnering with Senomyx, a biotech company that produces artificial flavor enhancers, unless the company stops using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products.”

[…]

I asked Rosenberg if Senomyx had a position on stem cell research. “We’ve never been asked that,” she replied, “We don’t have a position on anything. We’re dedicated to finding new flavors to reduce sugars and reduce salt. Our focus is to help consumers with diabetes or high blood pressure have a better quality of life.”

[…]

So what exactly is HEK293? It’s a cell line that started in the 1970s from human embryonic kidney cells. The line was cultured by scientist Alex Van der Eb in the early 1970s at his lab at the University of Leiden, Holland. Since then, the cell line has been cultured and grown in laboratories (you can buy some here). It’s primary use is as a protein or a protein vessel — sort of a natural test tube. It’s also pretty common and seems to be available at most laboratory supply companies and used by many R&D facilities. In short, maybe not such a big deal.

[…]

The cells they’re talking about have “technically” originated from aborted fetus cells, but it’s not like scientists are putting fetus body parts into blenders while laughing. Think of the fetus cells as sort of “ancient ancestors” to the new cells that are readily used today as “building blocks” and receptors in many commonplace scientific experiments in universities, hospitals, and commercial labs.

If we’re going to discuss whether or not to use these cells, wouldn’t we all rather be arguing over something more important than ‘flavor flakes’? And if not, maybe it’s time to reassess our relationship with food:

There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying your food: there would be everything to be ashamed of if half the world made food the main interest of their lives and spent their time looking at pictures of food and dribbling and smacking their lips. -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

 

__________________________ 

Andrea adds: I read the article, and the author draws attention to this issue, while thinking that it doesn’t matter. I personally do think it matters. I very much wish we wouldn’t ever use a fetus at any stage for scientific experimentation or development. But once we as a culture decide we are, I’m not sure it matters whether it’s for taste development at a food company or vaccines: both are equally disturbing to me.

I went for a swim at one of Ottawa’s fine universities yesterday and in the changeroom I overheard this conversation.

Girl 1: Did you know that [fill in name here] lost his virginity at 17? To a prostitute?

Girl 2: No. A prostitute?

Girl 1: Ya, his dad took him.

Makes you rethink parental consent laws.

Stephen Harper will not raise the abortion issue if he becomes Prime Minister. This is no surprise, since he has been saying the same thing more or less on repeat for at least five years now.

That said, I’m not sure why social conservatives swing in the national imagination between omniscient and powerful (The Armaggeddon Factor) and “spent.”

Harper is not the pro-life man of the hour. Maybe someday we’ll have a leader with this conviction on his/her heart. But it’s not Harper and I’m not particularly bothered by that.