April 6, 2008
Richard Knock, on Of lab rats, guinea pigs, mice and women:
I agree that this is a critical issue that is not addressed in a balance way. I know for a fact that men and women who go for “counseling” at one abortion clinic receive only advice and literature that favours abortion. The literature in particular is very out of date and very political. There ARE real risks, and the men and women considering abortion should be informed of those risks during their decision-making process.
When we see an advertisement for a new pharmaceutical product in a magazine, it includes a statement of all the known and potential risks of the product. Why is there not something similar for abortion?
Perhaps a standardized form - updated semi-annually - can be handed to every man and women considering an abortion. This form would state all the known risks of the procedure. It would be developed based solely on the current available scientific evidence, not by pro-life or pro-abortion political advocates, but by the scientific community on behalf of the government. If the government is paying for all these procedures, it’s reasonable that the pre-abortion counseling be standardized. To my knowledge, it’s standardized for pharmaceutical products and every other surgical procedure.
Statements on some of the risks of having an abortion could include:
- in some studies, there has been evidence indicated of an increased risk of breast cancer after having an abortion;
- there may be an up to 30% increased risk of premature birth in subsequent pregnancies after having one abortion;
- there have been reported cases of mental health concerns developed in men and women who have had abortions.
All statements would be based solely on the currently accepted peer-reviewed scientific data.
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Sean Ollech on University of Calgary students tell it like it is:
Very pleased to see you passing on the letter from the students at the University of Alberta. It is essential that people receive notice of the harsh repression that goes on at Canadian universities with respect to abortion. The past battles of those who fought for equal rights of women and for the equal right of black people are now the folks in their ivory towers who are campaigning against the recognition of the unborn as a person.
I wish the elder generation could see themselves as we see them. They are adopting the same tactics that were used against them to stifle speech that they do not like, or agree.
My question is simple, what are the universities so afraid of? Are they worried that their Alumni will cease donations when they see that all points of view are presented on Campus? Are they worried that Maclean’s will give them a bad review if their interviewers get a glimpse of the gap display? Are they worried that parents will send their children elsewhere if they see discussion and protests rather then football games and frisbee on the lawn?
What could possibly frighten the universities so much that they would seek to evict campus prolife from the university of Calgary?
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Nathalie Hudson, on The Comments:
Horrors! The Guelph Resource Centre for Gender Empowerment and Diversity held an event Tuesday called: ‘Looking At Choice,’ which featured a panel discussion on past, present and future access to abortion in Canada (which had the privilege of being advertised to the entire student body through their list serve). But there was nothing “empowering” about what ended up transpiring.
The event was arranged in response to a successful and tasteful event put on by Guelph University pro-lifers two weeks ago who had invited crisis pregnancy centers to display their resources (pamphlets etc.). They had held a lunchtime concert and members of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign got up to express their grief over past abortions.
Those in attendance at the “Looking at Choice” symposium were treated to a panel of four women, not exactly looking at choice, but rather bemoaning the lack of access to abortion and the use of language in Epp’s Bill 484 dealing with unborn victims of violence (they don’t approve of the word “unborn”). Two women from Kitchener-Waterloo Planned Parenthood, one from the Scott Clinic in downtown Toronto and Shelly Gavigan from Osgoode Law School comprised the panel.
The woman from the Scott Clinic actually brought in an “unborn” fetus (5 weeks gestation) that she claimed to have killed that morning in an abortion procedure! She brought in the dead baby apparently to demonstrate its insignificance, as if killing one of these is no big deal. Ghastly measures for desperate times in the world of pro abortion advocacy!
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Servant, on For crying out loud:
I actually heard Mr. Dosanjh on CBC radio this week interviewed by Anna Maria Tremonte saying that he supported bringing in legislation to regulate the use of ultrasound machines so they are not used for sex determination. “While always respecting the woman’s right to choose he would ask the minister of health publicly to take a look at this issue.” he said as he signed off a very difficult and thorough interview. You could tell he was having a problem keeping his head straight. He was livid about sex selection abortion in India where he stated in his home province the male to female ratio was 700 women to every 1000 men. He was very upset about this cultural problem of favouring boy babies over girl babies.
Mr. Hof was clearly having some fun with the former NDP premier as they have a long history. Dosanjh was the premier when notorious Bubble Zones were implemented in BC. His government also shut down all local hospital societies in the province and mandated that 34 hospitals be designated abortion hospitals.
I wonder if he was still federal Health minister if he would introduce legislation to stop sex selection abortions in Canada. Heck he could even do that as a private members Bill. Perhaps he can become the Ken Epp of the Liberal Party.
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Lineg3n1us, on Pity they can’t both lose:
Your blog make me chuckle from beginning to end!! It looks absolutely great to me. Your blog is my favorite one!
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Loretta Westin, on An intolerant update:
Dr. Alveda King contrasted with Obama: http://caymanpei.blogspot.com/2008/03/obama-is-not-king.html
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Elizabeth, on Meanwhile, in Never-Never Land:
I just posted a comment with a link to this site:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/inthewomboriginal
You should post a link on your site - it is beautiful. I think it shows how scientific discovery will really help in convincing women to choose life.
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Ace, on What do you call the fear of tokophobics?:
Another good alternative is adoption. I am highly tokophobic, and I would never have a child. But adoption is a good alternative for people like me. Don’t mock it – it’s a terrible phobia, and effective treatment is not common.
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Michelle M, on What do you call the fear of tokophobics?:
Ha! Morbid fear of childbirth. A few thoughts:
1. Wonder how much of these allegedly horrible childbirth experiences are the result of the prenatal class/Lamaze industry, where you’re taught you can basically breathe funny then push hard and you can significantly! reduce! the pain of contractions! Undoubtedly some people can. Many can’t, because there are so many factors in labour and delivery that one simply cannot control, even if you are an expert breather. Then surprise! It hurts like h***. I’ve done it ten times, and I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly of labour, I think. But look what you get at the end of it all! What’s needed is a lot more honesty for women. And no one should be made to feel inadequate for taking anything for pain, either.
2. I remember, when I was younger, other young women saying they would only have one baby, just for the “experience”. I always wondered what would happen if they decided they didn’t like the experience– not just the birth, but the sleepless nights, the expense, the laundry, the homework checking, teenage angst…..
3. I read an article a long time ago about young German couples choosing not to have children, and public venues there becoming less and less tolerant of the presence of little ones. There was German expression for it that the media there was bandying about, translated as the fear of children. Don’t know if it’s in the DSM V!
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Cassie, on What do you call the fear of tokophobics?:
I’m guessing that many who claim tokophobia (also spelled tocophobia) are exaggerating their fear-like someone who claims to be deathly allergic to a certain food, while in reality, they get a bit of an upset stomach from it. Some may feel uncomfortable or anxious about the idea of being pregnant or giving birth, but it may not be severe enough to be called a phobia-although they will call it such. A true phobia usually is life-limiting and affects a person’s general well being.
That being said, there are some who honestly do have tocophobia for whatever reason-myself included. However, my phobia is not of being/getting pregnant or of childbirth-it is of pregnant women in general.
The most effective treatment for any phobia is properly monitored exposure therapy-starting with maybe talking about the item that causes fear and what the fear is, then moving to pictures (looking at, then touching), movies and if appropriate, the ‘real thing’. Talk therapy examining the issue/problem/trigger can also be helpful as an adjunct. Medications can be used to treat depression or to reduce some symptoms.
I have come from not being able to even look at pictures of pregnant women or to talk about pregnancy, to being able to be in the same room with a pregnant woman, to being able to talk comfortably with someone who is pregnant and touch her shoulder/back. The next step in the exposure therapy is to actually touch and handle a pregnant woman’s belly (with her permission, of course).
While logically I know that nothing bad will happen to the baby by gently touching a woman’s stomach, emotionally the idea scares me half to death-my brain tells me that if I touch the woman, her baby will die-and I don’t want that to happen.
Some choose to live with phobias rather than treat them, because the limitation the phobia makes on their life is considered preferable to the pain and fear of treating it. I waited nearly eight years to begin to treat my phobia-the limitations on my life had to get so bad that the terror of trying to get better was the lesser of two evils.
The woman in the article may feel that her phobia’s limitation on her life (never having children) is preferable to the pain and upset of treating it. Or in time, she may want to resolve the phobia either to become pregnant herself or to be able to support a friend or loved on in their pregnancy and labour. Hopefully if/when that time comes, she will be able to find the help she needs to take her through that journey.
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JBS, on A bizarre cult:
I thought it was a dead baby! Eeeeee-uck!