Recently in Abortion Category

Reason to give thanks down in Bryan-College Station, Texas. From a local news report:

Planned Parenthood has been a part of Abby Johnson's life for the past eight years; that is until last month, when Abby resigned. Johnson said she realized she wanted to leave, after watching an ultrasound of an abortion procedure.

"I just thought I can't do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that's it," said Jonhson.

She handed in her resignation October 6. Johnson worked as the Bryan Planned Parenthood Director for two years.

According to Johnson, the non-profit was struggling under the weight of a tough economy, and changing it's business model from one that pushed prevention, to one that focused on abortion.

"It seemed like maybe that's not what a lot of people were believing any more because that's not where the money was. The money wasn't in family planning, the money wasn't in prevention, the money was in abortion and so I had a problem with that," said Johnson.

Johnson said she was told to bring in more women who wanted abortions, something the Episcopalian church goer recently became convicted about.

"I feel so pure in heart (since leaving). I don't have this guilt, I don't have this burden on me anymore that's how I know this conversion was a spiritual conversion."

Deo gratias! This is fantastic news.

People keep asking why I haven't written anything about the murder of pro-life demonstrator James Pouillon, allegedly by a man who, say police, didn't like his graphic protest signs. The reason is because I don't know what useful thing I might say. Like President Obama said today, the killing is deplorable. But I don't see that it tells us anything important, or anything at all, about the wider pro-choice movement. I don't like it when pro-choicers cynically use violence against abortionists as an excuse to condemn all pro-lifers. It's unfair and inaccurate, though perhaps for pro-choicers emotionally satisfying and politically useful. I see no reason to engage in that sort of thing from the pro-life side. The killer is a hateful criminal whose action doesn't tell us much of anything about the pro-choice side -- though I am glad to hear our pro-choice president condemn the shooting.

Very good column by Ross Douthat today, comparing Eunice Kennedy Shriver's public legacy with her late brother's. The great difference between the two? Abortion. Eunice Kennedy Shriver was a pro-life liberal, and saw no difference between advocating for the poor and the weak, and the unborn. Ted used to agree, but, as they say, "grew in office" when the cultural winds shifted. Excerpt:

For abortion opponents, cruel ironies abounded in this sibling disagreement. Because of Eunice Shriver's work with the developmentally disabled, a group of Americans who had once been marginalized and hidden away -- or lobotomized, like her sister Rosemary -- was ushered closer to full participation in ordinary human life. But because of laws that her brother unstintingly supported, that same group was ushered out again: the abortion rate for fetuses diagnosed with Down syndrome, for instance, is estimated to be as high as 90 percent.

In 1992, Eunice participated in the last significant effort to push the Democratic Party away from abortion on demand, petitioning her party's convention to consider "a new understanding" of the issue, "one that does not pit mother against child," but instead seeks "policies that responsibly protect and advance the interest of mothers and their children, both before and after birth." That same summer, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court upheld a near-absolute right to terminate a pregnancy -- a decision made possible by her brother's demagogic assault on Robert Bork five years earlier, which helped doom Bork's nomination to the court.

Translation of this ad, (according to ShanghaiList):

Students are our future, but when something happens to them, who will help and protect them? Chongqing Huaxi Women's Hospital has started Students Care Month, where those students who come to get an abortion can get 50% off if they show their student ids. Abortion surgeries are the most advanced in the world, won't stretch (your womb), won't hurt, it's quick, and you can do what you want afterward, it won't affect your studies or your work.

China has 13 million abortions per year -- equivalent to the entire state of Pennsylvania and, relative to population size, roughly four times the US rate.

There are no words for this kind of degeneracy. The thing speaks for itself.

From a letter to Mr. Thomas Donnelly of Great Neck, NY, dated August 3, 1971. Senator Kennedy writes:

Dear Mr. Donnelly:

I appreciate your letter containing your views on abortion. There are many moral and legal aspects arising from this complex issue which is gaining the acceptance of large numbers of women faced with unwanted pregnancies, while disturbing the consciences of a great many other Americans.

Opponents maintain that abortion is wrong from every theological, moral and medical aspect. Proponents are firmly convinced that the woman, alone, has the right to decide.

While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized -- the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.

On the question of the individual's freedom of choice there are easily available birth control methods and information which women may employ to prevent or postpone pregnancy. But once life has begun, no matter at what stage of growth, it is my belief that termination should not be decided merely by desire.

I share the confidence of those who feel that America is willing to care for its unwanted as well as wanted children, protecting particularly those who cannot protect themselves. i also share the opinions of those who do not accept abortion as a response to our society's problems -- an inadequate welfare system, unsatisfactory job training programs, and insufficient financial support for all its citizens.

When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.

Sincerely,
Edward M. Kennedy

Now that was a Catholic Democrat. But he grew, as they say, in office. Whatever happened to these guys? I'd like to consider giving them my vote. If they still existed.