Old INS friend Ruth, who posts here as ruthied and gives me a kick in the butt when I need it, sent me a great link yesterday to an article about a New York county executive who is proposing that pro-choice Democrats put their money where their mouths are. You can find the article in its entirety here, but I wanted to highlight some of the good stuff (bolding mine).
(Thomas R. Suozzi) is a church-going Catholic who believes that abortion should remain legal. He also is a Democrat who thinks that government should take concrete steps to make it easier for women to choose against abortion. He’s proposing that his suburban jurisdiction … spend some serious money to make that happen. … By gambling on offending everyone, this New Yorker just might move the national abortion debate to more constructive ground.
Suozzi spoke directly to the cultural contradictions that push many women towards abortion … to wit: “Women who choose abortion have their morality questioned. Women who choose to put a baby up for adoption have their maternal instincts questioned, and women who carry an unplanned pregnancy to full term when unmarried or financially insecure are often labeled irresponsible.”
At last–someone who gets it. Women’s reproductive freedom is essentially a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” proposition. Mr. Suozzo is proposing a bill in his county that would allot about $3 million to cover everything from homes for single mothers to family planning information so that every possible option would be available. However, I must admit that I’m not quite certain that even with the options offered that that would somehow convince every woman not to abort. There is nothing mentioned about emergency contraception, which (in my view) would go the farthest in preventing unwanted pregnancies. Could have been an oversight, though. I do think this is a good start–for much too long the lines have been too starkly drawn. Instead of flinging political poo, there needs to be frank discussion and appropriate action.
Webmaster, you never need a kick in the butt – you’re one of my heroes! Day after day you stand up to the Christian Taliban and its minions, even though you live in a sea of anti-woman hostility. In Northern California, the Christian Taliban is a minority, so it’s easy for me to defend myself against their bullshit with impunity. Our Planned Parenthood doesn’t get picketed. I’ve never received hate mail or death threats for voicing my opinions against Bush, against the Christian Taliban, and my support for reproductive choice. But you have and you still stand up to them and stand up for women and ACTUAL children. Your courage, your intelligence, and your humor are a blessing to me!
Hey, I’m all for anything that would help make the world a better place for all, especially for women and children. Far too many women I know had abortions due to financial logistics – which is truly tragic. I’m impressed that a Catholic (especially a man) can actually see (and care about) the reality of women’s lives – most “pro-lifers”, as we all know, simply do not. He truly deserves the moniker pro-life. So unlike all the others, who are pro-embryo, pro-suffering, anti-woman, anti-sex, and anti-child, but are most certainly NOT pro-life.
I`ve been following the reaction in editorials and blogs to Souzzi`s plan — he`s geting slammed from all sides. His plan includes abstincence education, which are a waste of money. The bishop who supported him is getting slammed because the plan doesn`t oppose abortions. But the local NARAL head was still disappointed that his plan didn`t explicitly include ” a strong defense of a woman’s right to choose.” (Um, I would say it was implicit, but pretty obviously there.)
Souzzi might be gearing up to challenge Spitzer in a run for Pataki`s job, so his plan might in fact be politically rather than altruistically motivated — but what the hell, if it does some good and really finds common ground and reduces the number of unplanned pregnancies — then good, good, good.
Abortion Is Murder
What are the millions of choices that are available to you if you choose to keep a child, as appose to aborting it? After abortion what choices are there then? There are none, and there is no going back. Pro-choice say they are fighting for the rights of women to have choice, but what choice is there in termination? From the infants perspective Pro-choice pose a serious threat to there being. An honest person can see that abortion is not opening up opportunity to any one, least of all the baby that will be subject to it. What about the baby’s choices? Pro-choice do not consider these, since one of their objectives is to keep abortion legal, this is detrimental to women and infants.
Those that are subject to abortion, cannot speak for themselves, obviously, so who is going to speak for them? Thankfully there are people who have the ability to recognize this injustice and are acting on their behalf. More people are needed to voice this common view that abortion is wrong. Abortion to an infant is like having war waged upon you, except it is truly unfair; you have no defence, no peace talks, no debate, and no comprising. It is a very cruel set of circumstance that is levelled at any baby in this situation. The good news is that the number of people, who are realizing that this is a barbaric act, which ought to be outlawed, is increasing. People are becoming more vocal, stating that it truly is merciless and repulsive. If I was to divulge information that describes graphically the partial birth abortion to a child, most people would deem it immoral, and they would be right, so how greater offence is it to subject a baby to the procedure!
All of the opinions that are held by Pro-abortionist are very feeble their main argument is their claim that a foetus is not human, so abortion doesn’t constitute murder. This is a very misguided view, all living things belong to a species and the foetus is a living thing, for that reason a foetus must belong to a species, and that species is human, subsequently abortion is nothing short of murder. We have to remember that no baby ever asked to be born; the child is brought about, as we all know, through a complicated miraculous process that is started by advanced intelligent beings. They, upon sexual intercourse begin the chain of events that may lead to the creation of a child, and they must share and take the responsibility of that child. Why can’t the child be put up for adoption, if after birth, the child proves inconvenient? I support the right for a woman to choose what she does with her body, but her freedom of choice must not override the baby’s right to live. What is more important? A woman’s right to choose or another person’s right to live?
Imagine, for a moment this scenario, you are a baby, nice and warm in the womb. There is nowhere else you would rather be, you are asleep, it could be described as paradise, and all of a sudden you feel some forceps grip your leg, your leg is still forming it is soft. These forceps feel like a vice, crushing your leg. Image the horror, shock and pain you must feel, what is happening? No doctor has given you an insight or explanation of what is happening, this really happens to some babies. Then you feel yourself being dragged down, you are being born prematurely and unnaturally, eventually, all but your head is left within the mother, leaving the rest of your body exposed. You are cold and you’ve been taken from the warm place that was so comfortable. The next thing you feel is a pair of scissors enters the back of your head; this is used to open and forces a hole. After removing the scissors, a suction catheter is inserted into your skull and this removes your brain; the collapsed head is then removed from the uterus. This method is used primarily to prevent the woman from suffering additional pain so that the babies head passes out of her with ease, how thoughtful, and it is happening to millions of babies, by those sworn to protect them. I really could have exaggerated this, but I have put it mildly, this particular procedure is known as the partial birth abortion.
Who can claim that this is right, and that abortion opens up opportunity? Can you honestly say: “Yes, abortion is right”, no rational person can, it is horrendous, abortion is wrong, and it must be stopped.
Uh … Ged, you do realize that passing one person’s work off as your own is plagarism and therefore illegal, right?
Oh, wait, look who I’m talking to (smacks self).
I say that abortion is right. If a woman is pregnant but does not want to be, then abortion is most certainly right. Plain and simple.
Ged–
What are the millions of choices that are available to you if you choose to keep a child, as appose to aborting it?
I don’t know. What are they?
I’m thinking…A) adoption and hell, or B) parenthood and hell
Believe it or not, there are a lot more choices available to me if I choose to abort, because I won’t have to change my life or be bogged down by an unwanted pregnant and baby.