Look I usually do not ask my visitors to sit and watch anything this long (It is just under 25 minutes) however this is a very important topic, and this report takes an unflinching, and at times uncomfortable, look at the single issue that underlines ALL of American politics these days.
There are interviews with real people on both sides of the issue, including a heart wrenching interview with a pro-life mother taking her sixteen year old daughter to have an abortion and her conflicted feelings about doing so. I thought I knew a lot about the subject, but I certainly came away with a deeper understanding.
By the way I am ALSO pro-life in that I wish there were no abortions as well,
But I am also not arrogant enough to tell a woman, who suddenly finds a life growing inside of her, that she MUST carry this potential human being to term. And besides THAT I am also somebody who advocates that once that child is born we, as a society, have an obligation to provide the opportunity for that child to be well educated and well cared for until they reach the age in which they can care cor themselves.
In other words I am pro-child, NOT pro-fetus.
Can't watch the video right now, but I sure agree with you, Uncle Gryphen: I also am pro-life, but not pro-fetus-at-all-costs. (what good is a fetus if the mother dies because some religious fanatic decided HIS morals are more important than the mother's health?)
ReplyDeleteI went with a friend - I did not ask why, I did not give an opinion, I asked would she like a friend to be with her - and she said yes.
ReplyDeleteI found it to be a good thing to hold someone's hand and listen to the reasons for their choices and to just be there for them.
You take away the religious stigma of birth control, you make all types of birth control available and FREE (worldwide!)... and sit back and watch the number of abortions plummet... along with the number of children born into poverty.
ReplyDeleteSomeday.
Absolutely! And the states with the highest number of teen pregnancies are also the states that teach abstinence-only. Duh! There's too much ideology and not nearly enough practicality around -- not to mention a high degree of thoughtlessness.
DeleteUnfortunately, most "pro-life" people are too rabid to understand that pro-choice is not pro-abortion. As a Christian, I believe the choice is between God and the woman, and the rest of us have no business being in between them. That being said, I also believe in the quality of life. I would rather see a pregnancy aborted than see a child born and "raised" by drug addict parents, neglected, and often beaten as well.
ReplyDeleteMeet The Press was hijacked by Newt Gingrich who blathered on about abortion. It was he who brought up the subject and he actually defended Akin by comparing his remarks to Biden's remark about "chains." As long as the Repubs continue to distort the issue and compare early term abortion with murder, there will be no peace about this issue.
ReplyDeleteI prefer the terms pro-choice and anti-choice. Because no one likes or wants abortion, and we are ALL pro-life (with different views on what it means).
ReplyDeleteAbortion has always been with us, with the human race. Women will continue to make their own choices, as they have throughout history.
The only question is (and think of your sister or loved one here): safe and legal? Or dangerous and criminalized? For your sister, who will make her own choice, almost no matter what. For Mitt Romney's relative, who died foloowing her abortion.
I watched the entire report. It was very well done- it didn't try to paint those rabid pro fetus but damn the child "activists" as villains; it simply let them makes the brush strokes until the picture became clear.
ReplyDeleteAs a pro choice Christian, I'm always sad to see it's inevitably ONLY the abortion clinic and planned parenthood staff who treat people like Jesus would have.
I was truly saddened to see that troll of a woman yell "MOMMY!!! Your baby wants to LIVE!!!" at someone entering the clinic. First of all, it could have been a pharmaceutical sales rep for all she knew. Second, it was SO disheartening to realize she would have been screeching the same damn thing even if she was told the person she was yelling at was a fourteen year old who was raped by her stepfather.
I will never understand how or why this became the linchpin of the republican party.
How can they care SO much about a "pre born" fetus but not at ALL about the woman she will become?
They became the lynchpin for the republican party because this is one issue that is black and white for a number of people.
DeleteWhen the republicans went after these people they were going after a demographic that would vote with them on any issue as long as they stayed pro life.
I think the biggest reason for bitching about birth control is so the abortion rate rises which makes it easier to get rid of the law. You have to remind yourself of all the evil under the radar things the GOP does, like voter ID laws, they have long term goals. I also think the semantics is a problem as stated above, I am pro-choice, not anti-life that's just stupid. I agree strongly with a pro child
ReplyDeleteagenda period.
Sharon- you are exactly, unfortunately correct.
DeleteI don't know if you've seen the video yet, but the founder of operation rescue was saying how he doesn't care if Rv.W is overturned- as long as he shuts down every single abortion clinic. And his agenda is working- one of the pro woman's health activists spoke of the under-radar legislation you alluded to. . .she said the republicans have imposed legislation on so many tiny issues, it makes compliance literally impossible. (the width of the door can only be X number of inches wide, the landscaping has to exclude XYZ, etc)
Due in large part to these ridiculous "laws" the number of clinics has plummeted from over 2,000 in the early 90s to around 650 now.
It seriously boggles my mind. How can someone be so "pro life" they make their 13 year old child pose with 4 foot tall dismembered fetus signs in front of THE DISNEY store for God's sake- but never, ever utter a peep against republican legislation which cuts preventative care for children? How is a fetus dying SO MUCH WORSE than a toddler dying because his leukemia wasn't diagnosed in time?
I just do not "get" these people. They say life begins at conception. But it ends when you set foot inside a shelter, prison, or food stamp office?
I mean, there's "hypocrite"- and then there's SO damn illogically stupid, there hasn't even been a word invented for your idiocy.
Well, you can't expect rationality from zealots. I'm betting the fellow who maintains that he believes in the sanctity of life, also supports the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteI am also against abortion. And also against sex between a boy/man who can't keep his thing in his pants and the girl that desperately wants a boyfriend enough to succumb to his advances. Rape or not, the unspoken truth is that MOST unwanted pregnancies would not occur if it weren't for the BOY/MAN's desires. And yet the girl/woman has to pay the price.
ReplyDeleteMaple, they usually do. The GOP is the part of life only if you are not born yet. After that, you're on your own.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who remembers what it was like before Roe v. Wade, it was an established fact that, if you had money, safe abortions were available - even in one's home town. In my hometown, everyone knew of at least a couple of abortion providers who catered to the rich and powerful. There were other doctors who would sign a document claiming that the woman was mentally unstable and could not be capable of carrying the child to term - for a cost. Other wealthy women flew to Puerto Rico or Mexico for abortions.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, poor and middle class people had to rely on dodgy back street abortionists or toxic cocktails to end their unwanted pregnancies unless they could pull together a large sum of money for a safe abortion.
Abortions will never end. The end of safe, legal abortions will only force the poor and middle class to the back streets. The rich will still have access to safe abortions.
It's more of a class issue than a moral one.
Just remember, when a couple is "trying to have a baby" it can often take many months before there is an apparent pregnancy. Yet in most of those months, conception did take place, but the result was not viable and it aborted. Was aborted, by God, if you believe in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent being. If one believes that every fertilized egg is a perfectly-formed being (it isn't), a person, one has to ask, why is God a more prolific abortionist than all the world's doctors put together?
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. Doctors will tell you that 25% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. I should know. I had 5 miscarriages.
DeleteExcellent report. I liked the part with the old fart saying, "I believe in womens rights, but those rights end when she gets into bed." I feel sorry for his wife and any other womeen in his life.
ReplyDeleteRed State Update: Jackie Talks To Obama Chair
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4gZx6XK9X8&feature=player_embedded
Gryhp, I like that you said potential human, but not "when she finds a life growing inside." What she finds out is that she has a fertilized egg growing. The egg doesn't yet have a life: it has no hobbies, no friends, no pets.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this video. The ignorant zealots are organized and dangerous. I was most disheartened by Ohio Rep. Buchy, someone eager to vote anti-choice without even considering the impact on women, and by the crisis pregnancy centers (CPC) which get federal funding to traumatize and misinform women.
ReplyDeleteThis led me to a short video of 'Kate' recording a visit to a CPC where she was informed that birth control pills were 'baby killing things' and 'death destruction drugs' and the answer for women was 'self-control'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K48G2xk5YoM&feature=related
I'm still frustrated that Sarah Palin got away with the Trig pregnancy hoax and uses it to raise money and support for the anti-freedom movement.
My problem with the "pro life" movement is they are "pro life" until the child is born. Then they want to cut education, any social programs including SCHIP and WIC...anything that will help the child become a contributing member of society.
ReplyDeleteOh, and they usually believe in the death penalty. Once again, they pick and choose the meaning of the 10 commandments. "Thou shalt not kill" is pretty specific.
So, while I am pro choice, I am not pro abortion. If you don't want an abortion...don't have one. But that doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do in my situation. And, I've never had an abortion. When I became sexually, I went to Planned Parenthood for the pill. I knew I never wanted to have an abortion, so I made sure I never needed one. Of course, I came of age when we got real sex education in the public schools.
So, that makes me pro child and pro choice.
Deni; Usually these same people are rabidly pro-war too.
DeleteThanks for posting a link to Al-Jazeera. It is one of the best news sources in the world. It has in depth reporting without commercials - not short talking points and soundbites. It was demonized by Bush & Co during the early part of the Iraq War, including bombing of its Baghad studio, and its US correspondents are still mistreated and banned from some events.
ReplyDeleteSome US cable companies carry the station, but if not, you can watch on your computer. http://www.aljazeera.com/watch_now/
I love seeing women reporters looking and speaking like the intelligent people they are - not like the talking blond airheads on Faux.
I agree on all points. Al Jazeera consistently does the true job of journalists. Reporting stories without bias and allowing the viewer to arrive at their own conclusion.
DeleteGryphen, I watched the entire documentary and tried my best to look at both sides presented, but I can't imagine myself judging other people for doing what's right for them. I'm pro choice and a avid defender of Planned Parenthood.
ReplyDeleteThe lies the pro life folks represented were disgusting, especially the guy in the blue shirt that said Planned Parenthood condones amoral behavior, even inter species. Vile.
Those fake counseling clinics should be regulated if they're funded with taxpayers money because they're denying facts and pushing ideology and guilt.
I've used Planned Parenthood's health clinics in the past, but never had to make the decision to have an abortion, but if I did, I'd want a clean, safe abortion done in a compassionate center with informed professionals.
I accompanied a friend who had an abortion, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. She had no regret whatsoever, she finished her education, got married and has two healthy, well cared for and loved children.