So, I won't. First, Jon Stewart:
**Programming note: I tried to only include the clip Hypocrisy Now, but it was removed from youtube. So, you have to watch the whole Daily Show Episode but that's okay because it will make you laugh.**
Second, Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin:
"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Sarah and Todd Palin said in the brief statement.
Obviously, Governor Palin is pro-choice?
7 comments:
Interesting view on her statement....you could definately get that impression when Palin uses the word "decision"....good catch Sis!
Aw Geez!
C'mon...the law of the land is that Bristol does have the choice, regardless of what her mother or father or religion (or the father of the baby for that matter) wants--it doesn't matter that Bristol is a minor child. She also had the choice to put the child into the adoption process, as well as the choice to marry the father...I am glad she is chosing to marry the father.
Pro-life is not anti-choice.
The choice was made 5 months ago by Bristol, and in the words of "The ONE" she will have to deal with the burden which will arrive in four months (I always wonder if he uses that term for his two burdens).
If pro-life is not anti-choice explain to me how if McCain-Palin had their way there would be no Roe vs Wade? As far as I understand it if that judgement were overturned women would no longer be able to have a safe legal abortion (except maybe in NY or California). Are you saying women would have the "choice" to break the law? If so, weak argument. I think the DNC platform handles the issue most brilliantly "The Democratic Party also strongly supports access to comprehensive affordable family planning services and age appropriate sex education which empower people to make informed choices and live healthy lives. We also recognize that such health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions." Maybe if Palin believed in sex education she would have taught her daughter how to use a condom or taken her to the gynecologist to get some birth control. People make mistakes and those mistakes are burdensome. Whether you keep the child being too young to handle it, you give the child up spending your life wondering how that child is, or you get an abortion with each year passing knowing it could have been one with a child in it, it is a burden that women live with. None of the choices are easy. But, it is only fair that we allow women the right to choose.
All that happens if Roe v Wade is overturned is that the issue goes back to the states where it belongs! Yes, some states will pass legislation to make abortion illegal, but it will not make abortion illegal everywhere in the US (unfortunately).
And, as I said before...the choice is made when one decides to engage in intercourse. There are potential consequences to the choices we make and Bristol is realizing one of those consequences. At the point that there is a pregnancy, it becomes a matter of human rights. Simply put the right to life is the most primary of all of the natural human rights...our country's founding documents clarify that right as one that comes from God (endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rigts, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happieness).
The human right to life, in my opinion, is the controlling interest in this controversy. One cannot say scientifically that the fetus is "part of a woman's body"--after all, it has a distinct and different genetic code. EVERY PART OF A WOMAN HAS THE WOMAN'S DNA SIGNATURE...the fetus does NOT share that DNA...therefore it is NOT part of her body!
Again...the choice is made when one chooses to engage in conduct which has consequences. One life should not be sacrificed for the convenience of another. As Mother Theresa said, "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
Ok, I didn't mean for this to turn out to be a battle between us, but alas, I have to point out two flaws in the argument. First, if we allow states to decide whether or not abortion should be legal, a woman in Ohio might not be granted the same rights as a woman here in NY. What a woman does with her body should not be a matter of geography. And last, the Republican party platform states, "We renew our call for replacing “family planning programs for teens with increased funding for abstinence education, which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and expected standard of behavior." While a noble principle, your idea "the choice is made when one decides to engage in intercourse," does not facilitate this principle. Why would you not arm your children with all the necessary information, like how to use a condom, or where to get birth control? Children and young adults are impetuous creatures, why not allow them all the knowledge for staying safe. Teaching her child to wait until marriage and hoping for the best didn't really work in Palin's case, now did it?
At first I wasn’t going to write anything, but this is a subject I’m passionate about and is close to my heart. So bear with me…..
The reason that Palin said that they were happy about their daughter’s choice is because that abortions is legal. Pro-lifers in that situation would say “no” to abortion which by default is a choice. That doesn’t mean Palin is Pro-choice. Let’s face it everyone has a choice. We all know why pro-lifers say a child’s life being ended should not be a choice. In my mind, you are either pro-life or pro-death. Because if you believed it is a death then you would fight for the child’s life because they could not fight for themselves. If you believe it’s not then maybe it is a choice. But for me I’m going to fight for the child’s life.
But let’s get past the basic question of life and death; Human or Fetus. We could debate that all day long. Take a look at the issue from another side…It’s my body and I can do with it what I want.
Part of the problem is women aren’t getting the whole story. Women are not told the risks they take when they make the choice to damage their body and mind through abortion. Doctor’s do not tell the statistics as to what it means when you stop a pregnancy. The risk for breast and uterine cancers increases 50+% with the first abortion and exponentially which each additional abortion. The likely hood of having problems with the next full-term pregnancy increases. Women who have abortion are more likely to commit suicide within two years of having the procedure. Abortion clinics are not up to the same surgical standards as hospitals. You wouldn’t decide to have elective surgery if these were your risks. Who is fighting for those poor women would die because of this choice?
Take a look from another angle: Societal pressure to have an abortion. We are continually hearing that a child is a burden. If the child is a burden, then isn’t it Society’s job to step up and help with the burden.
It is hard when faced with an unplanned pregnancy not want to make the decision to have an abortion regardless of your belief system. Believe me - I speak from my own experience and of viewing others go through the same situation. Society makes it increasingly easy to unload the “burden”. You can get an abortion for free. On the other hand - Society makes it extremely hard to go forward as a single and/or young parent. The path forward after the decision to have sex – protected or not (face it - birth control if not used correctly is not 99.9% effective) – becoming pregnant, and having the child includes a long list of struggles. The list includes finding day care, education delay, working for the purpose of just getting by, expensive health care, etc. Try to find governmental help if you want to make the choice to have the baby. There are colleges who give grants for abortions. But where is the help from that same institution if you make the choice to keep your child and continue school? School health plans do not include pregnancy care. Most (not all) schools do not provide day care (this was just a recent addition). Some women in the light of the pressure feel they have no other choice than abortion.
There is yet another angle: We hear little about adoption. There are families out who long for a child. Who would gladly take on your burden? I will admit that our adoption process in the U.S. is lengthy, cumbersome and flawed. But to make a choice because of some other system failing instead of fixing the problem is not the answer.
O.K., so shut up already Kim! I spoke my peace and I will let you digest my two cents. I leave you with an article on the FFL website that will give you something to ponder: http://feministsforlife.org/FFL_topics/after/pricchoc.htm. Take a look around the site.
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