First, we had to explain the link between sex and pregnancy and now we must explain the link between pregnancy and babies? All the men paying child support this month will be happy to learn that their responsibility ended with their sperm. One small step for abortion, one giant leap for inequality and child poverty.
PWPL welcomes new blogger Véronique Bergeron
ProWomanProLife welcomes Véronique Bergeron as a permanent blogging contributor.
Véronique Bergeron de Grandpré was born in Ottawa and was raised in the National Capital Region.
She graduated from law school at the University of Ottawa in 1999 with a civil law degree (LL.B.) The focus of her studies was… survival. During the summer following her first year in law school she got pregnant with her first child. And by convocation, four years later, she was pregnant with her third.
Like most young women of her generation, she was not born pro-life. While she always nursed a personal interest in childbirth (she wanted to be a midwife), she also assumed the prevalent choice rhetoric. Then she got pregnant at 21 in law school. “As soon as the little line turned blue, it became clear that what I thought would be a no-brainer was really excruciating,” says Bergeron. “Keeping” the baby was never an issue for her boyfriend, who surprised her with a marriage proposal shortly after (she accepted). Another formative influence was the complete and utter disbelief of her peers that she would do something so stupid as to “keep” the baby and ruin her professional life. “In the end, I pulled the trigger on my professional life by staying home with my children for 10 years,” says Bergeron. “That’s when I realized that women may have been liberated but liberation was achieved by excluding their reproductive abilities. I advocate for a complete liberation of women that includes the fact that they bear and deliver children.”
Bergeron believes that if abortion is indeed an equality issue and if women need to undergo such an invasive and damaging procedure to gain equal footing with men, there’s a word for that: Misogyny.
Bergeron joins ProWomanProLife because she wants to change the system. She is now seeking a Master’s degree in law with a specialization in biomedical ethics from McGill University. Her LL.M. thesis looks into the shared decision-making model in neonatal intensive care and her research interests are neonatal and obstetrical ethics, feminist approaches, informed choice and women’s health policy. She is particularly interested in using feminist scholarship to study forms of sexual exploitation not generally addressed by mainstream feminist approaches such as abortion, sterilization, cesarean sections and cosmetic surgery.
If she had spare time she would hone her musical skills and exercise. “In the meantime, I relax vicariously by driving my five children (aged two to 11) to their various musical and athletic activities,” she says.
PWPL looks forward to an ethicist/mother/lawyer’s contributions to the dialogue. Welcome Véronique!
Time to act
When Morgentaler got the honorary degree from the University of Western, I was shocked. When he received an award from the Couchiching Conference, I was dumbfounded.
It’s time to stop being shocked by Morgentaler getting awards.
The time has come to stop him from getting the next one.
In today’s Globe, another call, same folks, mind you, always the same folks–for Morgentaler to receive the Order of Canada.
I’ll be writing a letter to the Governor General, which I’ll post once finished. You can either use it as a basis for your own letter, or just write in yourself.
I’d like to confirm the correct address before I post it. Stay tuned-I’ll call in on Monday during business hours to find out for sure.
It will be a dark day in Canada if he receives that award.
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Update: Globe and Mail poll asking whether Dr. Henry Morgentaler, the infamous abortionist, deserves the honour of the Order of Canada. Scroll down to the left hand side of the page to vote no (and then shake your head).
Who’s laughing now?
Remember when we were debating same-sex marriage some of us tried to point out that once you start messing with the definition of marriage there’s no telling where it’ll end? That polygamy would be next? Because once you decide that a marriage is simply the recognition of a loving relationship, there’s no reason to get hung up on the number of people involved in said loving relationship?
I remember. We were laughed at. We were told tut-tut, of course not, because polygamy is illegal.
Hundreds of GTA Muslim men in polygamous marriages — some with a harem of wives — are receiving welfare and social benefits for each of their spouses, thanks to the city and province, Muslim leaders say.
Mumtaz Ali, president of the Canadian Society of Muslims, said wives in polygamous marriages are recognized as spouses under the Ontario Family Law Act, providing they were legally married under Muslim laws abroad.
“Polygamy is a regular part of life for many Muslims,” Ali said yesterday. “Ontario recognizes religious marriages for Muslims and others.”
[…]
However, city and provincial officials said legally a welfare applicant can claim only one spouse. Other adults living in the same household can apply for welfare independently.
Once again, I wonder where the feminists are… Why aren’t they up in arms about this? Do they think polygamy is good for women?
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Andrea adds: If I had a dime for every time a social liberal or even a libertarian told me family and marriage policy doesn’t matter, I’d be retired in Waikiki. Social liberals appear to be AOK with an illogical double standard: Yes to same sex marriage, no to polygamy (though clearly we have not said no to that at all). And my libertarian friends? With some of their attitudes toward marriage-one almost has to wonder whether they don’t secretly long for bigger government.
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Rebecca adds: “‘Polygamy is a regular part of life for many Muslims,’ Ali said yesterday.”
No kidding. Lots of things are a regular part of life for many Muslims, but it doesn’t follow that we want these behaviours replicated in Canada, much less at taxpayer expense. Maybe we should jump on the Rowan Williams bandwagon and declare sharia in Canada inevitable?
The WalMartization of “reproductive health”
Planned Parenthood is closing small clinics, while building mega-abortion centers. A 20,000-square-foot facility just opened in Aurora, Ill., and one three times that size is going up in Denver.
News item, here.
Naturally, Planned Parenthood calls it something else: A “full-service health center.”
Mark Steyn wasn’t kidding
Epinal is a French town not too far from Nancy or Strasbourg. They award something called a French Family Medal and the winners are pictured above in a local newspaper La Liberté de l’Est.
Mme Dairi raised 7 children, Malika Etassi 6, Yeza Sohbani 6, Khaddouj Karim 6, Djamila Beynée 5, Fatna El Bour 5. […] Françoise Skorynnée, raised 4 children.
So when Mark Steyn writes about changing demographics in Europe, apparently he wasn’t kidding. On a different note, I find it both strange and intriguing that they have a “family medal.”
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Rebecca adds: Wow. Vive la France libre.
While the government can certainly make it more, or less, of a hassle to have children, it can’t actually change the degree to which people want to make family their priority. This is why, attempts at increasing the birth rate aside, Quebec has the lowest birthrate in Canada and the segment of France that is reproducing is markedly different from the population overall.
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Andrea adds: Had I known that Mark Steyn would link to this post from National Review Online, I would have spent more time on it.
To explain then, why I find it “strange and intriguing” that they have a family medal:
Strange because in our post-60s era of feminism-motherhood and raising a family has been sadly and strangely diminished as the accomplishment that it is. It is some vestige of a bygone era, then for a woman my age (31) to read of a “family medal.” We are left with nothing more than an annual Hallmark remembrance to the grand accomplishment of raising kids.
Strange also because it seems that the state in France is attempting to condone some worthy traditional values, but the face of their state has changed so dramatically that they are not in fact being traditional at all and may end up condoning things like Shariah law in short order.
Intriguing because I believe we should honour motherhood. But how, in this age and era?
We all want to change the world
Rebel against low standards. Do more with your life. “Do hard things.” Join the rebelution.
And yes, I noticed that these folks are religious. And ProWomanProLife is non-religious. But a Jewish friend put me on to the group and since she can hardly be taking up the cross (it’s a standard idiom, sorry) for religious purposes, I figure it’s kosher (oops, sorry, there’s another one) to go the extra mile (for the love of the saints-would someone please expunge biblical references from daily speech) … and post about them.
But I won’t join. I remain firmly committed to low standards because that means I always exceed ‘em. It’s allowed my self-esteem to flourish for years.
Debate or jail
As the Post reported here, Suzuki has gone too far. Wonder how he feels about this new website to help understand the dissenting voices on climate change. Jail time for encouraging debate, or just a fine?
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Brigitte wonders: Actually, could we not use his idea to silence global-warming alarmists who swear the science is sound but have no idea what a non-linear equation even is?
The comedy is that it’s serious
The remedy to Garson Romalis is Paul Ranalli. Thank goodness.
A Coke, a KitKat, a condom
Seriously. Read about sex education by vending machine here.
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Brigitte sighs: I know you’re going to call me terminally old-fashioned again… But where are parents supposed to fit in those grand (and expensive) government strategies? Shouldn’t it be their job to look after their own children and make sure they have the sex-ed they need?
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