If the parents go broke and can no longer pay the ICU bills to support their child, they aren't allowed to pull the plug. But if that kid didn't arrive early, the parents would be allowed to have them dismembered.
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| Premature - 23 weeks gestation |
FYI, I won't post anything graphic on this blog – if you know what I mean. But I don't want to pretend those bio-hazard bags are swinging full of chocolates and cotton candy, either. Viewer Discretion is not necessary:
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| Madeline Mann (in the picture) shortly after her premature birth weighing 9.9 ounces. She is now an honors student in psychology at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. |
People like Gianna Jessen, saline abortion survivor, and Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood affiliate employee of the year and current pro-life laborer, care about all the people involved. Them and many other pro-lifers. They aren't "only pro-birth" (ignoring the needs of kids afterwards), and they aren't anti-women.
You can find hypocrites on both sides of the issue, but these specific people I'm talking about stand outside abortion clinics and talk with the people about to go in – and actually "love on them." There's concern for the parent, too! Find out about all the organizations giving monetary help, emotional support, shelter, and other love-centered sacrifices to those with emergency/unexpected pregnancies.
This is about a life and death debate – not politics. And this isn't a religious belief issue, either. There are Catholics, Christians, Atheists, Agnostics, Hindus, Humanists, Feminists, Non-feminists, and all other kinds of people working in the pro-life movement. The question is this: What is the unborn? If there is humanity/personhood/value in the living, functioning organism there in the womb, then that's big. If there isn't, then go crazy – let people have all the abortions they want. But if there is uncertainty, shouldn't that at least be enough reason to pause?
This is about a life and death debate – not politics. And this isn't a religious belief issue, either. There are Catholics, Christians, Atheists, Agnostics, Hindus, Humanists, Feminists, Non-feminists, and all other kinds of people working in the pro-life movement. The question is this: What is the unborn? If there is humanity/personhood/value in the living, functioning organism there in the womb, then that's big. If there isn't, then go crazy – let people have all the abortions they want. But if there is uncertainty, shouldn't that at least be enough reason to pause?
Check out info related to the civil & polite debate going on.
Info and Quotes from Abort73.com
Facts and information that is not provided in the abortion clinic:
"You care about me, right?" - an open letter to pro-choice people by Lindsay:
http://www.abort73.com/help/you_care_about_me_right/
^ Text from the site: Lindsay graduated from Northern Illinois University in 2004 with a degree in Visual Communications. She currently works as an artist & designer in Rockford, IL. This is her abortion story
http://www.optionline.org/get-help
^ Text from the site: If you are wondering whether or not you’re pregnant, your mind is probably racing with questions. It’s common to feel confused, scared or overwhelmed. Option Line live chat is available any time, day or night. We offer free, confidential help, information about pregnancy signs and symptoms, information on all your options, and we can quickly connect you to the local assistance you need
Other links:
abbyjohnson.org
feministsforlife.org
blog.secularprolife.org
sba-list.org
jfaweb.org
Faye Wattleton, the longest reigning president of Planned Parenthood, in 1997:
I think we have deluded ourselves into believing that people don't know that abortion is killing. So any pretense that abortion is not killing is a signal of our ambivalence, a signal that we cannot say yes, it kills a fetus.
Ann Furedi, the chief executive of the largest independent abortion provider in the UK:
We can accept that the embryo is a living thing in the fact that it has a beating heart, that it has its own genetic system within it. It’s clearly human in the sense that it’s not a gerbil, and we can recognize that it is human life… the point is not when does human life begin, but when does it really begin to matter?
Naomi Wolf, pro-choice author:
Clinging to a rhetoric about abortion in which there is no life and no death, we entangle our beliefs in a series of self-delusions, fibs and evasions. And we risk becoming precisely what our critics charge us with being: callous, selfish and casually destructive men and women who share a cheapened view of human life...we need to contextualize the fight to defend abortion rights within a moral framework that admits that the death of a fetus is a real death.
Hearts need to be changed.
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| Jeannie W. French |
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| denied care |
Food for Thought pictures
Letter from a father
Roe changed her mind
other (full gallery)
Conclusion:
Listen to the compassionate (not hateful) yet professional debaters who happen to be on the "life" side of the fence, if you never have before. They're not brainless, condemnatory people as all pro-lifers are sometimes portrayed. They actually sound like pro-choicers sometimes – when they're talking on certain topics and making their way through certain logical arguments: "Life Report" Fan playlist ~ videos/podcasts
I currently subscribe to this notion: Just as teenagers, preteens, young kids, and newborns are developing human beings, embryos and fetuses are developing human beings. Fetuses and embryos aren't somatic cells like skin cells, but a full organism. An organism with functioning cells at that. Therefore it's living, but is it human? It has human DNA. But is it a person? That's where the real debate is.* And if it actually is a person, does a woman still have the right to withdraw "life support," so to speak, from a pre-born person – as they would if they were hooked up to a person in a hospital who is without kidneys? That's where the other debate is at.
Check out that Life Report show, where some 20- and 30-somethings talk about these serious topics while still remaining the fun and quirky people they are off camera; they aren't one-track robots. There is a polite (not just "civil") debate going on between some pro-choicers and some pro-lifers, and these people are involved in that arena outside of the studio.
Just because there are different opinions about something doesn't mean there can't be a correct answer. Not necessarily. Gray areas exist with certain things, but most likely not with this. People can be real without holding back, staying silent or attacking each other. So go ahead and dialogue with people. True tolerance is holding to your convictions while being able to respect the person who strongly differs with you. Good conversations can happen only in an environment of real tolerance. (Usually tolerance is talked about these days as giving up your position for the sake of peace – meeting in the middle. But that's not accurate.)
The terms "prolife" and "prochoice" are both loaded when used by the opposite sides. I get what both labels mean, as the proponents define them: person-hood rights and women's freedom. They DO NOT mean "anti-women bigots" and "baby-killers."
Whatever the truth is, the goal is justice. I'm sure every single person can agree on that. :) Women's freedom or Right to Life – justice would be upholding whichever cause is valid. Study the information out there and don't just have an emotional reaction. Emotions are natural, but just make sure your emotions are informed.
THE END
Here's a small article one of the Life Report hosts typed. First inform yourself with the first few videos of the playlist (at least 10 of 'em) and get a good review from the stats and arguments presented in text here.
And if you can handle a sad story (which is just linked here as food for thought), read this.
* I wrote a little bit more about all this in my "About Me" on Facebook.
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