January 28, 2008
Choice concessions; technology and medical advances are hurting us
The LA Times ran an op-ed last week called Abortion's Battle of Messaging. Co-authored by the Frances Kissling, former president of Catholics for a Free Choice, and Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL, they concede they are fighting an uphill battle against this reality… technology is not on their side. Things like sonograms of unborn children are exposing the fact that what's in the womb is a baby. Could we say the truth is not on their side?!
Twenty years ago, being pro-life was déclassé. Now it is a respectable point of view. How did this happen? Did the pro-choice movement fail? Or did those opposed to abortion simply respond more effectively to the changing science as well as the social shift from the rights rage of the '60s to the responsibility culture of the '90s? In the 1970s, the arguments were simple and polarized: Abortion was either murder or a woman's right to control her body. The fetus, however, stayed largely invisible. The pro-choice movement stayed on the message offensive, tactically shifting in 1989 from women's bodies to the "who decides" question posed by NARAL…. But this was rapidly parried by the anti-choice demand that we look at what was being decided, not just who was deciding. Science facilitated the swing of the pendulum. Three-dimensional ultrasound images of babies in utero began to grace the family fridge. Fetuses underwent surgery. More premature babies survived and were healthier. They commanded our attention, and the question of what we owe them, if anything, could not be dismissed. These trends gave antiabortionists an advantage, and they made the best of it. Now, we rarely hear them talk about murdering babies. Instead, they present a sophisticated philosophical and political challenge. Caring societies, they say, seek to expand inclusion into "the human community." Those once excluded, such as women and minorities, are now equal. Why not welcome the fetus (who, after all, is us) into our community? Advocates of choice have had a hard time dealing with the increased visibility of the fetus. The preferred strategy is still to ignore it and try to shift the conversation back to women. At times, this makes us appear insensitive, a bit too pragmatic in a world where the desire to live more communitarian and "life-affirming" lives is palpable. To some people, pro-choice values seem to have been unaffected by the desire to save the whales and the trees, to respect animal life and to end violence at all levels. Pope John Paul II got that, and coined the term "culture of life." President Bush adopted it, and the slogan, as much as it pains us to admit it, moved some hearts and minds. Supporting abortion is tough to fit into this package…. The specter of women forced into back alleys as a result of a one-time "mistake" has been replaced with hard questions about why women get pregnant when they don't want to have babies. In recent years, the antiabortion movement successfully put the nitty-gritty details of abortion procedures on public display, increasing the belief that abortion is serious business and that some societal involvement is appropriate. Those who are pro-choice have not convinced America that we support a public discussion of the moral dimensions of abortion. Likewise, we haven't convinced people that we are the ones actually doing things to make it possible for women to avoid needing abortions…
I read this and get the sense that they are lamenting technological advances in medicine. Are technological advances in medicine hurting women? Maybe they'd prefer we return to an earlier era where cutting-edge medical technology wasn't available to women. I love hearing them talk near the end of the article about wanting to "regain the high moral ground." Good luck.
Comments on Choice concessions; technology and medical advances are hurting us »
Leslie Hanks @ 9:56 am
Sent to the Rocky Mountain News and Boulder
Camera which both carried late term abortionist,
Warren Hern's full page ad on the 35th anniversary
of Roe v Wade:
Editor,
It is difficult to find a rational sentence in abortionist, Warren Hern's
rant at the Colorado for Equal Rights effort to establish personhood
and legal protection of innocent pre-born life and to protect the babies
from those who make a profit by their dismemberment.
One line, however, jumps off the full page of print.
"A CHILD'S DEATH HURTS."
Truer words were never spoken.
Yet, on October 26, 1978 at the Associations of Planned Parenthood Physicians
meeting he said: "We have reached a point in this particular technology
where there is no possibility of denial of an act of destruction by the operator.
The sensations of dismemberment flow through the forceps like an electric current."
Which is it Warren Hern, is viewing the little
arms and legs you rip off the babies heart breaking,
or does it give a bit of a thrill as the quote implies?
Leslie Hanks
V.P. Colorado Right to Life
1535 Grant Suite 303
Denver, Colorado 80203
303-753-9394
sickofit @ 7:05 pm
So Leslie Hanks, the Jesus-hating “sidewalk counselor” terrorist extremist, is going to try this “egg as a person” personhood crap again in 2012? So, Leslie, you and your horrible cronies truly believe that a ZYGOTE is a PERSON? ‘Personhood’ would make women who have a miscarriage subject to a criminal investigation, ban most forms of birth control (which means most women who take the pill could be charged with MURDER!), ban life-saving stem-cell research, and ban in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for people who are trying desperately to have a baby!
So Leslie, when a woman has a life threatening ectopic pregnancy, who decides which "person" gets to live and which "person" gets to die? YOU?
Well it is all indeed shocking, but it’s no surprise, and it’s personal for me. I live just off of Olive Street here in Denver, about two blocks away from where Leslie Hanks comes out regularly to loudly bully and harass anyone going into or coming out of a health clinic that is near here.
We all know exactly who Leslie Hanks is and almost every time I drive by there, Leslie is out there with her cohorts trying to videotape everyone as they come and go and violating everyone's right to privacy. At least 30 of my neighbors (and a couple of ex-protesters who gave us info) have researched these people and almost all of them are criminals and low-lifes!
Leslie is joined out there every week by her friends. Here are some facts about these psychopaths:
Jo Anne Scott (Kreipel) was convicted on federal felony charges of conspiring to bomb a clinic!
Ken Tyler Scott (Jo’s husband) is a convicted deadbeat dad who didn’t even support his own daughters and has been committed to a mental hospital before because of his actions related to health clinics!
Bob Adolph Enyart (“Pastor” of Denver Bible Church in Arvada) was sentenced to 60 days in jail for beating a 7 year old boy so hard with a belt that he bled! Bob is apparently paying many of these people to be there.
Other terrorist names include: Scott Melvin Evans, Tony Massey, Cliff Powell and Beau Ballentine. They all stand out there and continually videotape, bully and harass!
They all try to claim to be "sidewalk counselors" and have disgusting, photo-shopped signs, bloody plastic children's baby dolls, morbid "baby caskets", and fake 'abortion' posters of bloody babies, and these are ALL OVER the streets in our neighborhood. They have giant signs of miscarriages and knowingly falsely present them as "abortions”. They even stand on giant ladders so they can videotape, bully and harass people over the clinic privacy fence! Their tactics are awful and even anti-human.
They know no boundaries, are very loud, obnoxious and aggressive and I can hear them yelling and making noise from my back yard every week! NONE of my neighbors want to drive near these horrible images and activities, especially when we have our young children in the car. Everyone reading this take a minute and imagine how you would feel if you had these grotesque signs lining the streets in your neighborhood! We are sick of it. These "protestors" all seem to try to video tape and intimidate anyone who drives down Pontiac street here in Denver and will lie to and mislead ANYONE who they can get to stop to listen, or otherwise is within earshot.
I have two daughters, both on birth control until they are ready to have my grandchildren (hopefully soon!), and if they harassed them like that, I would call the police on them. Leslie and her cronies need to go away! Our neighbors are currently discussing a possible class-action lawsuit or other action against these people in order to try to take our neighborhood back. This used to be a nice place to live until Leslie Hanks and her cronies started coming around.
They are all blasphemous towards the sacred Christian Bible and are harassing many REAL Christians, most whom are going into a clinic for birth control and other needed medical services (many from our surrounding neighborhood!). There have been several incidents where young women from our church were having miscarriages or other pregnancy complications and these people actually yelled at them “don’t kill your baby!” and “baby killer!”
Disgusting!
I used to consider myself more “pro-life” than pro-choice, but not any longer. These people do so much harm to the anti-abortion cause, which should be peaceful. I personally would like to see us get to the point where abortion is rare or non-existent because of effective family planning.
GOD will be the judge of all of us one way or another, NOT these terrible bullies! Jesus was peaceful and would have never done any of this and would not have approved in any way. These "sidewalk counselors" are doing the devil’s work and are the new Westboro Baptist Church of our community and their arrogant ignorance is so sad and pathetic that it sickens me.
These are the worst of the worst of anti-abortion (and anti-gay, anti-religious freedom) extremists. Anyone that associates with these people will be judged the same way by the public and by God (as mentally ill, sadistic and psychopathic!) There is a special place in Hell for all of these people, but it's just as well, since these "sidewalk counselors" hate Jesus and are doing the devil's work.
I am a member of a very large and REAL Christian Church south of Denver and our Pastor gave a wonderful sermon on Sunday about how these "sidewalk counselor" bullies blaspheme the name of the Lord. Our Pastor encouraged us to contact Voice of Choice (http://www.vochoice.org) to help attempt to get the protesters to see that this should not be about anyone's stance on abortion, but to NOT BULLY and NOT HARRASS your fellow human beings.
Hundreds of the Denver parishioners and their family members have contacted Voice of Choice and offered their services to do what they could do to help. I hope you will do the same. Please pray for the protesters!