Again the gate is opened and we're off on the idea that death is the worst thing that could ever happen to a person. Regardless of the belief system or lack of it, those who hold dear the idea that death is the greatest tragedy have yet to suffer alongside the millions of their fellow human beings born into/with hunger, neglect, abuse, poverty, addiction, fetal alcohol syndrome, and aids, to name but a few. Waxing emotional about seemingly one-sided applications toward life without any mention or regard for the quality of that life is shameless, myopic, and self-righteous. How dare they get up on their pulpits (religious or not) and proclaim their regard for innocent life when their regard so blatantly stops at the sound of a baby's first cries?
Call a spade a spade: "Pro-life" is just a pretty way to dress up the hypocritical and unholy selfishness of those who are nothing more than Pro-Birth. As soon as that child is born, pro-lifers don't give a rat's ass what happens next and this is painfully evident in the laws they propose, the funding they cut, and their curious absence from the maternity ward. Those who believe it is their calling to seize other's reproductive responsibilities and bring all conceptions to term are the same people who step out for a cup of coffee before you can say "Ten fingers and ten toes!", dumping that responsibility at the door on their way out.
There is but a fraction of the people in line to contribute to a child's life as there are those who would force children into this world and then abandon them before the umbilical cord is cut. With no fundamental, moral, legislative, or personal concern for the quality of that little person's life or even for how or when they will die later, those who would force birth are the epitome of human abandonment. All that trash talking and nary a helping hand in sight — look around at how many of them have turned loitering and harassment into a lifestyle choice with their judgement, arguing, yelling, holding up their signs bearing savage slogans and enlarged grotesque pictures, hiding like the cowards they are behind their glaring lack of lawful protection for children to include food, shelter, shoes, clothing, education, healthcare, and compassion. Those not parading their energy and resources in front of clinics are in Washington peddling right to birth bills in on the heels of cuts to every program providing for children to include their food, shelter, daycare, education, and protection from those who would and/or already have hurt them. At the same time comes no law that would permanently incarcerate sexual predators (or put them to death outright, my personal preference) and that would provide for and guarantee a child's safety and welfare after being removed from an abusive home. The rest of them ply their
moral high ground on the internet, in bible study, and in conversations that still don't result in the betterment of even one child's life.
Article comments
1 - pogblog
I always thought that if each of the Ranters outside a Planned Parenthood would hand each young woman a check for the child's upbringing through Princeton, I might think about taking them seriously. (A Pro-Decent Life Account?)
I went to a boarding school in the 1950s. One night when I was a sophomore, my roommate & I woke up and a friend who was a senior was bleeding to death on the floor of our dorm room. I have never seen so much blood. We soaked it up with towels and towels which we later buried. I can still remember the smell of all that blood.
Our friend Jane (not her name) had tried to do an abortion on herself with a knitting needle. I swear -- we were all so incredibly ignorant. Of course we didn't call for help or a doctor because pregnancy was such a Terrible Thing.
I always shudder when I think that we would have let her die. It never occurred to any of us to tell anyone -- so dread was the secret. (Which is why this parental notification is SUCH a bad idea.) Jane just barely didn't die. I'm not sure if she ever could have children later in life. She butchered herself pretty badly in her panic. (She may not even have been pregnant -- she might have just missed a period and freaked out, tho we didn't know that word then.)
The idea of losing Roe v Wade gives me very personal & vivid nightmares. I know better than most what we could go back to.
Nice phrase 'pro-birth.' I've never heard it before. I'll definitely use it. The hideous hypocrisies of these folks are chilling. It is the very first cry where the pro-birthers check out.
Thanks for the cogent passion, Diana.
2 - Baronius
I think you'll find that most pro-lifers contribute to crisis pregnancy centers and other charities. That's certainly been my experience. I don't understand why you would assume we don't.
3 - diana hartman
Baronius, mine is not an assumption. I've found the majority of pro-lifer's (people, websites, offices, etc) largely uninvolved in the lives of children other than their own (group). Per pogblog's suggestion of a "pro-decent life account", the very premise has yet to be discussed in any pro-life camp that I'm aware of. If you can show me evidence of a majority of pro-lifers who are invested in the entire childhood of a child, I'd be more than willing to take a look at that.
4 - Dave Nalle
Even parents are not held to be financially responsible for children through college, just until legal adulthood. By that measure pro-lifers should really only be on the hook for about $80K for each fetus they 'save'.
Dave
5 - diana hartman
Even parents are not held to be financially responsible for children through college, just until legal adulthood.
Not even til then. Most states allow for a child to drop out and stay out at age 16. High school diplomas are not the law.
I'm not suggesting Pro-lifers alone bear the cost. These costs ought be borne by all, globally. Many countries, but not any one country, fund programs that allow for education through college, protect innocents from predators, keep them fed, etc.
Many states and countries come together and agree what every child should have but they don't provide for these things.
6 - Nancy
I DO insist that pro-lifers bear the cost, if they're the ones insisting on the birth. They want it, they can pay for it.
7 - diana hartman
i do too nancy, and i think it's a cost to be shared by all...it's not up to me to decide whether a woman has a child or not and i do support her decision either way...should she decide to bring a child to term despite her inability to provide, we as a society are obligated to help her do that...
one of the pro-life camp's favorite slogans is "every child deserves a chance"...i believe this as well and i'm all about helping to bring up healthy and educated children who will have a fair fighting chance to make it in the world...
i don't believe that by supporting a woman's choice to abort i relieve myself of the responsibility to those who choose otherwise...
8 - Baronius
Diana, I'm willing to wager that I spend more time with the pious two-faced liars than you do. So you may want to trust me on this one.
For all I know, all pro-choicers believe in UFO's. But I'd be wrong to use that as the cornerstone of an argument against abortion, because I don't know it to be true. Similarly, when you accuse pro-lifers of only caring about the child up until birth, you base your argument on an unsupported assumption.
9 - diana hartman
Similarly, when you accuse pro-lifers of only caring about the child up until birth, you base your argument on an unsupported assumption.
the experiences of others that have been conveyed to me from both camps, the opinions others have conveyed to me (to include "i'm pro-life but that doesn't mean it's my responsibility to pay for anyone else's child"), and the things i've read all aside, my personal experience with pro-lifers is one of presence until the baby is born and then it is of absence...
these experiences are supported by their having taken place, and i needn't assume anything when someone is as clear as "i'm pro-life but that doesn't mean it's my responsibility to pay for anyone else's child"...
Diana, I'm willing to wager that I spend more time with the pious two-faced liars than you do. So you may want to trust me on this one.
speaking of unsupported assumptions, don't be too quick to place a bet...i'm of the thinking that the best way to effect change is through the opposition, not by way of those who already think just like me...
i've found that spending a good deal of time in church groups and the women's shelter and clinic has me running into the same people...there are two tides from the sea of pro-life: those who thought abortion was wrong for someone else yesterday but don't think it so wrong for themselves (or their daughter) today, and two, those who profess their love of life but just can't bring themselves to hold a motherless baby with an enlarged head who will surely die in the next few days but needs to be fed now where he/she is hospitalized in an understaffed public health care facility...i don't necessarily begrudge someone their constitution but there aren't very many pro-lifers signing up to be foster parents either -- or emergency daycare providers or preschool-time story readers at the library or helping out at the well-baby clinic or with the new parent classes/support groups...
i'm not talking about special circumstances, i'm talking about things that happen everyday...when they find out a bakesale/flea market booth/fundraiser is being held to raise money to help provide for teen moms, there is a simultaneous clenching of the wallet and a virtually unstoppable flow of judgement..."tarts for the tarts" one lady quipped with not a dime to the cause...in fairness, a good many pro-lifers don't say anything -- they glare for a bit after being told what the sale is for, sometimes there's a snort, they buy nothing, and they walk away...
interestingly, many of those who have gone from choir robe to backless hospital gown come back later to help out...
as a military spouse i've had the opportunity to help out in many different areas of the united states and overseas...it's the same everywhere i've lived: there are those who say, there are those who do, and there are those who say until they find themselves on the receiving end of those who do -- and again, many of these become doers...
10 - Baronius
Perhaps you can see my dilemma. You're describing a type of behaviour that I haven't witnessed. The religious hypocrite is an easy enough cliche - Jesse Jackson uses it as an applause line - and one I would expect from a pro-choicer who was unfamiliar with pro-lifers. As a survivor of more than one fundraiser myself, I just can't mesh what you describe with what I've seen.
Maybe you're projecting your expectations on the people you've met. Or maybe you're defining caring in terms of your politics. (If you truly believe that anything less than an international guarantee of four years of college is worse than death, then yes, most pro-lifers will fall short, as will most pro-choicers, and most everyone else.)
And maybe your relationships with us pious two-faced liars aren't quite as warm and deep as you think. Your tone doesn't suggest braiding hair and pillow fights.
11 - diana hartman
Perhaps you can see my dilemma. You're describing a type of behaviour that I haven't witnessed. The religious hypocrite is an easy enough cliche - Jesse Jackson uses it as an applause line - and one I would expect from a pro-choicer who was unfamiliar with pro-lifers. As a survivor of more than one fundraiser myself, I just can't mesh what you describe with what I've seen.
it's human nature to surround oneself with those most like oneself...it's seen in every facet of society, all ages, all races, all creeds...that people of similar feather flock together doesn't make the reality of mixed groups any less real...it doesn't get more mixed, or more real, than a clinic offering a full line of women's services to include counseling...
Maybe you're projecting your expectations on the people you've met.
maybe...and maybe there's no way to do project onto those who go from picket line to waiting room of their own accord...
Or maybe you're defining caring in terms of your politics. (If you truly believe that anything less than an international guarantee of four years of college is worse than death, then yes, most pro-lifers will fall short, as will most pro-choicers, and most everyone else.)
i didn't say there were things worse than death...i said death isn't the worst thing and that there were a good many things that weren't as good as death...these are very different ideas...death is a welcome relief for those suffering from particular forms of abuse, unchecked disease, and/or unaided starvation...i don't personally think care is proper and sincere if the caretaker's only goal is to save another from death because just being alive isn't enough...it may be enough for those walking around doing their thing but it's no picnic for those who are alive but have no life...
And maybe your relationships with us pious two-faced liars aren't quite as warm and deep as you think. Your tone doesn't suggest braiding hair and pillow fights.
i don't have relationships with pious two-faced liars...i have experiences...those who enter the clinic are clients regardless of what they believed yesterday...those who come back to help are givers regardless of what they've taken in the past...the liars are still outside, still not in need themselves, still assuming theirs is the best and only opinion, still insisting it upon others whether it works to do that or not...
it takes the least effort to form an opinion and thrust it out into the world for all to see and hear...it's a tad bit more difficult and requires genuine effort to expand one's experiences by getting into that part of the world where everything isn't braiding hair and pillow fights, it's holding someone's hand whose scared to death to hear "positive" be it pregnancy or disease and helping them through the consequences...