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Let’s talk–really talk–about abortion

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Cecile Richards

Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards wants to “talk, really talk” about abortion.

Talking about abortion is the apparent wish of one Cecile Richards, CEO of Planned Parenthood. Great idea. Here’s another pro-lifer who agrees.

Richards is calling us to “talk – really talk – about abortion. America has an urgent need for authentic public dialogue on abortion.” Canada too.

Here’s the problem. Pro-choicers may say they want to talk about abortion, but then they are upset when the authentic talk goes sour.

It took me all of about 10 seconds to find a mournful “let’s talk about abortion” story. I googled “I had an abortion,” which is usually the hallmark of the pro-choice world on the internet. These are the people who want to share their abortions because they are not ashamed and because they want to raise consciousness about how abortion is a difficult, but simultaneously empowering, choice. The very first story I clicked on ends on this (sarcasm alert) tremendously uplifting note:

I was too scared to tell him he already hates me i couldn’t do it and so i aborted. I couldn’t raise a baby by myself. Its been over a month since my abortion and i would give anything to have my baby back.

I feel so guilty i took away my baby and his. He hasn’t a clue, part of me thinks i should tell him but whats it going to achieve now? My baby is gone and i cant get him/her back and that kills me.

I want my baby back.

Where were we? Oh yes, at Cecile Richard’s desire to talk about abortion. The sidebar for that same website includes the headline “My world is crashing down,” (surely a euphemism for something positive?!) and “I think of them. Always.” (Probably a pleasant reverie.)

There’s one called “The Right Choice“–so I scrolled through that one thinking it would be the tale of empowerment Cecile is looking for. As it turns out, the story includes crying, crying some more, tears, some more crying, confusion and a conclusion that includes missing the baby, anger at the situation and yes, you guessed it, even more crying.

Richards can say she wants to talk, but she doesn’t really.  Because the web site above is what she is going to get a lot of, unless she scripts it, in which case, we aren’t talking–really talking–about abortion.

There’s a reason why there is a stranglehold on free speech regarding abortion, and it serves the pro-choice world very nicely indeed.

That said, hear hear, Cecile Richards, I agree. Let’s talk about abortion. Really talk. Call anytime. I’m available. The whole pro-life community is right here, eagerly waiting to talk about abortion. We’ve been waiting a while, but better late than never.

National victory begins in our local communities

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When the mainstream media decides to champion a cause, it can mean millions, if not billions of free advertising for that particular issue. The acceptance of same-sex marriage in our society would be a good example.
Conversely, what the media chooses to ignore is often tragic and catastrophic. Canada’s National Marches for Life attracting tens of thousands from across the county would be a good example.  The Ottawa March consistently draws more people to the steps of Parliament Hill consecutively, year after year, than any other single issue.
But the fact that the media has chosen to ignore this issue is such a great disservice to women that it is difficult to fathom.

Her name was Kate. She was a 28-year-old business woman whose story is told in “What Every Woman Needs to Know about Blood Clots” posted on the National Blood Clot Alliance “Stop the Clot” website. Kate’s symptoms started while she was in Hawaii on her honeymoon. She suffered pain in her calf that was so intense it woke her up at night. She went to an orthopedic surgeon, who ordered scans, found no problems, and dismissed her. She forgot about it. Seven months later she passed out in an airport following a flight. Medical personnel said she was dehydrated. Completely unknown to her, Kate had developed deep vein thrombosis in her calf.

Women who take their daily hormonal contraceptive are not told that it raises their risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) 300 to 500 fold. DVT causes stroke, heart attack, blindness, brain damage, and death. The pill also puts women at increased risks for various cancers, other sexually transmitted diseases, and it acts as an abortifacient.
According to a lone, but significant CBC report, there are at least 23 deaths from the birth control pill in Canada alone, and numerous other serious health affects.  Bayer has paid out over $1 billion to settle lawsuits against their birth control pills, Yaz and Yemen.
So when the media ignores an issue, it is up to us to take up the rallying cry.  American Life League is campaigning to stop the horrors that Planned Parenthood perpetuate, and they are also focusing on the birth control pill.”Organize a local event”, their web-page encourages.  Don’t wait for big media outlets to take up this cause, get active in your local community.
National victory begins at the local level. Planned Parenthood, local pharmacies, and other contraception distribution points and manufacturers are excellent venues for your event. Stand on sidewalks or other public right-of-ways. Make yours a peaceful, prayerful presence. You can hold signs about contraception and our Pill Kills signs, if you wish. Be sure you comply with all local laws.
Women deserve to know the truth about artificial birth control.

The comms strategies of environmentalists in Alberta

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I listened to this program on CBC not too long ago. It’s Chris Turner talking about how to be a Green Party candidate in Calgary. I appreciated his remarks.

Activists in particular tend to come guns a blazing, and it’s rare that others share the passion. That can be the first problem.

Pro-life activists tend to want to speak truth but we can be bad at listening. And we can be bad at meeting people where they are at. (Listening and meeting people where they are at is not the same thing as compromising on important values, she reminds herself.)

In any event, finding consensus in a conversation is a good starting point, whether you are an environmentalist in Calgary discussing the oil sands or a pro-lifer at a downtown Toronto dinner party.

Listen

Hearing from our pro-life advocates

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I love this and this.

The editors at Faith Today, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s magazine, interviewed a number of pro-life students and staffers in their most recent issue. It’s a quick but encouraging read. A few samples:

“I stay involved in the pro-life movement because abortion is a human rights violation that takes the lives of so many children. It has no parallel in history. We know this. With that knowledge comes responsibility. ” Alex vande Bruinhorst, Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, Calgary

“The thing I would like Canadians to know about abortion is that abortion is legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy, which puts us in the same category as North Korea and China. I’d like to ask each Canadian a simple question: Do you believe in human rights? Because if the answer is yes, then shouldn’t human rights begin where the human being begins?”  Jonathon Van Maren, Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform

I love the honesty of this statement:

“I stay involved in the pro-life movement in Canada because the pay is below average, levels of stress is high, I work days, evenings, weekends, and I haven’t had a real vacation in 3 years. I question my involvement in the movement every day and after almost 4 years of working for Campaign Life Coalition, I still don’t know why I keep coming back, but I do.” Matthew Wojciechowski, Campaign Life Coalition Communication Director, Toronto

Thank you student and staff advocates for all you do and all your sacrifices.

Students

Getting ready for the March for Life. Say “hello!”

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Canada’s National March for Life is this Thursday, May 14th. Provinces around the country will be holding their own individual marches in solidarity with the larger march in Ottawa.

In preparation for this event, I’ve been reflecting on how we present ourselves as pro-life people and how we interact during these gatherings. Let’s use this time and this space as an opportunity to hear things we may have never heard before and to reshape the perspective. We can use this time and space to reintroduce ourselves, because being pro-life is largely a misunderstood position.

Firstly, we are about love, being pro-life is not firstly about legislation, it is about love. The kind of love of your fellow human being that made Canada great in the first place. The kind of love, overflowing into action, that makes Canadians willing to pay higher taxes to provide healthcare for the poorest of its citizens.

Being pro-life is about making Canada safe and welcoming for women and their children, it’s about reaching out to those in the margins and giving them the help they need, it’s about valuing the sick, the poor and the dying. It’s about overcoming isolation and poverty and fear in a violent system, a system that devalues human life, to attain a more perfect society.

There’s not going to be a person holding a sign on Thursday, across the country, that doesn’t feel love for their fellow human being. How do I know? Because you’d have to, because holding that sign doesn’t make you more popular, it doesn’t come with money, and it doesn’t come with accolades.

Holding that sign is a testament of your love overflowing. You love your fellow human beings, and that love has overflowed into action, into community. That sign is your “Hello.”

Holding a pro-life sign comes with suffering and it comes with discrimination and it comes with unjust vilification.

So why do it? Why hold that sign?

Because being pro-life is about love, and it’s also about speaking the truth. Truth that is not diminished or increases by the number of people who believe it, it is the truth, and it is unchanging.

And the truth is that we do not empower women by making them dependent on abortion. We offer hope and truth instead, hope and truth are our “Hello.”

When basic human needs are ignored, rejected, or invalidated by those in roles and positions to appropriately meet them; when the means by which these needs have been previously met are no longer available: and when prior abuse has already left one vulnerable for being exploited further, the stage is set for the possibility these needs will be prostituted, exploited. Abortion arrives as the perceivable “option” for vulnerable women, but in reality it is a violent exploitation of their situation. A situation that places a woman who has unmet needs in an incredible dilemma. She can either do without or seek out the option of abortion that leaves her increasingly divided from herself and ostracized from others.

Abortion is a form of prostitution, that convinces a woman to pay with her body and mind for affection and care which should be freely given. Because abortion is NOT love, abortion is NOT compassion, abortion is the cheap and careless handout we as a society offer to women in need and not a lasting change for the better. Our offerings, our compassion, these are also our “Hello.”

Who turns to abortion? Overwhelming it is the poor, the marginalized, and those already struggling with the demands of parenting. 2 out of every 3 women having an abortion already have children. These women need our help. Helping is our “Hello.”

Hierarchy, inequality, and violence have always been part of human social structures. There were always rulers and ruled, leaders and followers, the fortunate and the needy, the powerful and the weak. Various cultures have treated disparities in status, power, fortune, and ability in different ways. Buddhists emphasize the aspect of karma and destiny, while in the modern West the focus has been on freedom and choice, and the individual’s control of destiny. In this Western worldview, inequalities and differences are often associated with injustice and victimization.

But there is not enough money, not enough staff and volunteers in the world, to support a permanent population of rescuers and victims. We must raise up women and children and parents from this dark corner of victimhood, in all forms, both real and imagined. And we do that by valuing them. Until we restore the proper dignity and perceived social value of parenting, women and their children will continue to be victims of poverty. There will never be “gender equality” until we value mothers. Without mother’s rights, there cannot be women’s rights, only assimilation. Motherhood is the basic biological reality for the majority of women in the world, let’s accept that fact and move on up. Value, dignity and understanding are our “Hello.”

This Thursday, say “Hello” to everyone you meet.

Being transformed by tragedy

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As readers of this blog know, Kara Tippetts died a few months ago. Her husband, Jason, wrote a piece for the Washington Post explaining how his family was going to spend this first Mother’s Day without her. It’s a beautiful and poignant article.

This paragraph is with loaded with wisdom:

We will live in the reality of life instead of in our hidden expectations of how we want to be treated. I want my kids to enter into the celebration of this day, to remember the life their mom lived and the character traits she desired to foster in them: kindness, compassion and love. Our character develops when we are stretched, and this day will stretch us.

No one desires to experience hurt or face tragedy, but these experiences transform us. If we permit it, we can become better, stronger and more resilient as a result of them. We can become more compassionate and understanding. We may even experience joy, as Kara did, in the midst of heartbreak.

Tulip

Really, truly, authentic pilgrimages

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Now for something totally different and shamelessly self-promoting.  I was actually given an invitation to blog about this, so I’m not being totally shameless.

Having lived in Rome, Italy for two years and marrying a man who spent nearly a decade traipsing around the European continent, I have some experience in these matters.  There are pilgrimage companies, and then there are pilgrimage companies.  Likewise, there are tour guides (especially in the Vatican) and there are tour guides.

Orbis Catholicus Travel is one of those tour companies offering small group pilgrimages to Italy, the Holy Land, Mexico, (even Cuba – in January 2016) and France that really knows a thing or two about authentic pilgrimages, and excellent tour guiding.

We keep groups small and intimate, we stay right in the heart of the action, and we make sure that groups get to know an area intimately, with regard to the art, history, culinary traditions and religion.  And we don’t do the marathon tours of spending 14 nights in 14 different cities – watch out!

We know our guides. Tour guides can make or break a tour.  Ours happen to be our good friends with whom we prayed, ate, lived and celebrated Rome.

There is so much more I could say on the subject, but suffice it to say, your time and resources would be well spent. So I encourage you to visit Orbis Catholicus Travel to learn more about our upcoming tours.

 

Canadian nurses expected to participate in medically induced death?

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Will nurses be forced to participate in physician assisted death against their consciences?

The answer, according to this national nurses’ protection body is both yes and no.

The convoluted article in the Canadian Nurse Magazine by the Canadian Nurses Protection Society seems to both acknowledge conscience rights and deny them all in the same breath.

The use of the prescriptive is troubling in this paragraph (my emphasis):

Nurses are often the health-care professionals with whom patients choose to discuss end-of-life care. Once the Carter ruling comes into effect, nurses will remain involved in these discussions with the patient, family and health-care team, some of which will include a patient exploring the idea of physician-assisted death. Nurses will continue to provide patients with relevant information to the best of their ability. It can be anticipated that there will be times when a nurse will communicate to other members of the care team as quickly as possible — for example, when an eligible patient is seeking physician-assisted death or when an eligible patient had requested physician-assisted death but has changed his or her mind.

However, this paragraph seems to indicate that indeed nurses will be expected to participate in  physician assisted death.  Only a nod is given to conscience rights. (Again, my emphasis.)

Health profession regulatory bodies and health-care facilities will likely develop policies and protocols to address conscientious objections by health-care providers. If an eligible patient chooses to end his or her life by physician-assisted death, nurses must be prepared to provide for the patient’s care needs. The code of ethics contains information on ethical considerations in addressing patient expectations that are in conflict with one’s conscience. However, it states, “the nurse provides safe, compassionate, competent and ethical care until alternative care arrangements are in place to meet the person’s needs and desires.”

There may be no more patient to provide alternative care to if the attendant nurse meets the patient’s “needs and desires” in this regard.

If the Canadian Nurses Protection Society charged with providing legal protection for nurses is going to take the “must provide care until alternative can be found” stance, the pressure on nurses will be fierce.  How many will leave the practice if medical death is enforced?

photo credit: Army Nurse Operating Medical Equipment at Camp Bastion Hospital, Afghanistan via photopin (license)

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