Friday, January 21, 2011

7 Takes, 7 Choices


Today is "Blog for Choice" Day over at NARAL. Thanks to Jill Stanek for hosting and inviting pro-life bloggers to participate in "Ask Them What They Mean by Choice" Day. I am happy to oblige. Hopefully, today Twitter and Facebook and Blogger and WordPress will be inundated with the question: What exactly do you mean when you say "choice?" (click here to read more about Jill's fabulous project. ) I decided to use Jen's "7 Quick Takes" meme to ask these important questions:

--1--

Actual quote from a former abortion provider: "This patient was a little overweight and proved to be a little farther along than anticipatted. This was not an uncommon mistake before ultrasound was readily available to confirm the gestational age. Initially, the abortion proceeded normally. The water broke, but then nothing more would come out. When I withdrew the curette, I saw that it was plugged up with the leg of the baby which had been torn off. I then changed techniques and used ring forceps to dismember the 13 or 14 week size baby. Inside the remains of the rib cage I found a tiny, beating heart. I was finally able to remove the head and looked squarely into the face of a human being--a human being that I had just killed...." (source)

Is THIS what you mean by "choice?"

--2--

Just this past week, Dr. Kermit Gosnell was charged with murder after the death of a 41-year-old mother who came to him for an abortion. She died after she was given too much Demerol. Another mother died after he punctured her uterus, and then sewed it up without telling her what had happened. He's also charged with murdering seven babies who were born alive in his "clinic," by stabbing them in the neck with scissors and cutting their spinal cords. He kept little bodies and body parts in bags and bottles all over his killing center, and the place was filthy. This was no back-alley abortionist; this was worse.

Oh, and get this: " 'White women from the suburbs were ushered into a separate, slightly cleaner area because Gosnell believed they were more likely to file complaints, ' [District Attorney Seth] Williams said." Disgusting. (source)

(Click here and here to read more about this sickening story.)

I'm fairly certain that THIS isn't what you mean by "choice."

--3--

Women who have had abortions have a 30% greater risk for breast cancer than other women. That means, according to one expert, that 300,000 additional women have died from breast cancer since Roe v. Wade. If abortion was illegal, those 300,000 women might still be alive today. I'm pretty sure most people, prolife and prochoice would want to reduce the number of breast cancer deaths. Instead we ignore the statistics and continue to put women's health and lives at risk. (source)

Is THIS what you mean by "choice?"

--4--

Here's another quote from an abortion clinic worker: "Dr. Johnson handed the suction tube back to Leslie and once again used forceps to probe for the head. I saw the muscles of his right arm tighten and knew what that meant: He had located the head and was crushing it. Harvey used to joke about getting tennis elbow from this technique, and his right arm was actually slightly bigger than his left." (source)

Tennis elbow. From repeatedly crushing little babies' heads.

Is THIS what you mean by "choice?"

--5--

In Indiana, a young woman enters an abortion clinic, tells the worker she is 13 pregnant with the child of a 31-year-old man. Instead of reporting the situation to Child Protective Services, as she is required to do, she sends the girl to an out-of-state clinic for her abortion, coaching her not to tell anyone the age of the child's father.(This worker was fired, thank goodness.)

In another clinic in Tennessee, the same young woman tells the clinic worker a similar story. This employee tells her that even though she's supposed to report it, she won't; and in order to bypass the parental notification laws, she needs to have a consent form signed by a judge. She instructs the young woman to tell the judge that her boyfriend is 17 years old.

This is happening in abortion clinics all over the United States. Whether you are prolife or prochoice, if your teenage daughter were having sex with an older man, you would want that man thrown in jail. Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry doesn't care about that. They just want her money. And who knows? Maybe that same man will impregnate her again, and she'll come back for another abortion. More profit for the abortionists.

Is THIS what you mean by "choice?"

(The young woman in both of these scenarios is Lila Rose, and she and her colleagues at Live Action are working hard to expose the hypocrisy of the abortion industry. To see more stories like these, click here.)

--6--

Lila Rose conducted another investigation where she asked abortion clinic workers and doctors about her baby she was about to abort. They told her all kinds of things that just weren't true: that the thing growing inside her is not a baby, that her 10-week-old baby doesn't have a heartbeat, that having an abortion is safer than giving birth. (Click here to see a small sampling of the many women who have died from supposedly safe abortions.)

If we want women to make informed choices, then they deserve to know the truth about their babies, and about what abortion can do to them and what it does to the babies. Instead the abortion industry feeds them lies and covers up the truth. The less they know, the better the chances that they'll have the abortions.
Is THIS what you mean by "choice?"

--7--

As prolifers, we have a choice too. We can choose to quietly pray for an end to abortion without speaking out against this terrible evil. This is what I did for years. This was safe, and no one was angry with me. We can also choose to treat pro-choicers and abortion doctors as though they were our enemies, even the very scum of the earth. This is not an acceptable choice either. My pro-choice friends, who have at times been upset by my speaking out for life, are wonderfully compassionate and caring people. I heard Abby Johnson last week, right before the release of her book UnPlanned, say that we need to pray for the abortion doctors and the clinic workers, and speak kindly and lovingly with them. She should know; she was once a Planned Parenthood clinic director and Employee of the Year. It was a combination of knowing the truth about abortion and the persistent prayers of pro-lifers, that she was finally converted. (In fact, I saw one website--I wish I could remember where--that listed Abby as the Number One enemy of Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. I've never heard one mean thing come out of Abby's mouth; only the truth spoken with love. Lila Rose and Jill Stanek were also on that list.)

When well-meaning people speak out for "choice," let's keep asking them, kindly and patiently, "What exactly do you mean?" We need to keep the dialogue alive if we ever want to see an end to abortion.
Be sure to visit Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!

10 comments:

  1. Here is Jill Stanek writing "kindly and patiently": "The idea is simple. Any time any of us reads pro-aborts spouting their obscure “choice” rhetoric on a blog, website, Facebook, or Twitter, we call them out on it. We ask them to explain what the “choice” is.

    Is it to eat carrots rather than broccoli? To wear red instead of blue? No, of course “choice” is code for killing babies. What’s their problem with the A-word?

    Yes, this is a shameless scheme to suck oxygen out of the pro-aborts’ social media universe, to deny them any time whatsoever to support abortion without defending it."

    What is exactly is kind and patient about this? Would you teach your children - or other peoples' children - that this kind of attitude, rhetoric and hostility is "kind and patient"??

    I am sad to see that the President's important and moving words at the memorial in Arizona made so little impression on the anti-choice bloggers...I mean, really, Rep. Gifford is nearly out of the hospital already (and in long-term rehab, and a nine-year old girl is already buried, so forget all that and ramp up the insults and name calling. I have news for them: I'm not a "pro-abort" - I'm a tax paying, voting, American citizen with a right to stand up for the law as it exists. Calling me names and using inflammatory and obnoxious rhetoric is not going to change that. Talk to me like a fellow human with a job, a child, parents, siblings, students. Tell me what you think and feel and ask me - without your slurs - what I think and feel. Or is that too difficult and complicated? If so, don't complain if your child is bullied or someone you love is shot.

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  2. Cheryl - I don't see anything hostile in re: Jill's words. Perhaps you are too sensitive? Also, "anti-choice" is a myth; see http://bit.ly/hDmJWE

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  3. Thanks for your comments, Cheryl. I will admit that I'm a little taken aback by them, since I've never resorted to name-calling and slurs. I personally don't like to use the term "pro-aborts," (other pro-lifers use that term, and yes, I suppose since I quoted Jill in my other post then I can see how you and others might interperet that as name-calling on my part), but you are using the term "anti-choice," which is in my opinion quite inflamatory as well. Of course I'm interested in what you think and feel, and after reading your comments, probably I should have added "listen" when I talked about speaking kindly and lovingly with abortion clinic workers and anyone who is pro-choice. This is, as you know, an issue that I am passionate about, and I can't be silent about it. I kept my mouth shut for too many years.

    You asked me what I want to teach my children. I want to teach them that all human life is sacred. We must do our best to protect all life, and that includes unborn children. I'm also teaching them (and I hope they're getting it) that we must treat everyone with respect and dignity, even those who disagree with us.

    I too am saddened by what happened in Arizona, and I pray for Ms. Gifford's speedy recovery. I too was moved by the President's words, but they don't change the fact that abortion is the killing of an unborn child, and those of us who believe that need to keep spreading that truth. Blessings to you!

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  4. Yes, one major way to ignore people's feelings and reactions is to call them "too sensitive". Most bullies and abusers claim exactly that. So go right ahead and be insensitive; it's your life. Thank God the Supreme Court is not a myth.

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  5. My post above was in response to JoAnna's comment to me.

    Sharon, this is from your blog yesterday, in your words, "NARAL is hosting a "Blog For Choice Day," encouraging pro-choice bloggers to try and convince people that it's fine and dandy to kill unborn babies."

    I have many, many pro-choice friends, both men and women - mothers, fathers, grandparents - just as you say you do, and I would not characterize any of them in this way - it is insulting and offensive. It ignores any attempt to have a rational and reasonable discussion about the issue of abortion. The truth is, the more lunatic the rhetoric, the less likely any common ground can be found, and that was exactly the President's point. As I teach my students and my child, words matter. Words can hurt. Teaching any children this simple fact requires modeling the behavior. We have never agreed on this issue, but it didn't stop me from thinking that you were a good mother and teacher. But I can't be silent when I read words that are deliberately there to be hurtful.

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  6. Duly noted, and you're right; most pro-choicers don't feel that way. I guess it's easy for anyone on any side of any issue to use loaded words when we feel strongly about something, without thinking about how they might make someone else feel. I certainly didn't mean to be hurtful, and I sincerely apologize for upsetting you. They say that abortion is the most divisive issue in America; I don't know if that's true, but it's certainly up there in the top five, at least. Please know that I'm honored to be your friend, and as I continue to speak out here and elsewhere about the tragedy of abortion, I will try and keep out the unnecessary rhetoric.

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  7. Thank you, Sharon. I have always been honored to be your friend, too, and I do know you are passionate about this. I've always felt happy that we can agree to disagree about the issue, while still respecting how much we do share in common. It is a deep and difficult issue for everyone, and one I've also been involved with for over 30 years, after my work for the Ms. Foundation and as an intern at NARAL while I was pregnant with Gabriel. Now I choose to focus on helping the children already born here in the world who have so little. We volunteer at the Thurman-Brisben homeless shelter here in town, we collect for UNICEF, and I am campus adviser to Students Helping Honduras, whose work benefits desperately poor children very directly, building schools and a library, as well as housing and clean water access. There is so much to be done for these children. I greatly value all you do for children with Amam Iman and Pennies for Peace.

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  8. Sharon: This was an excellent post. Nice job.

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  9. Thank you Cheryl, and I've always admired you for the great work you do for others.

    Kascclar, thank you for your kind words!

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  10. It's also possible, Cheryl, that you were inferring hostility where none existed. If that is impossible I would like to know how.

    One can use accusations of uncivility as a shield from Truth; it works both ways.

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