Category: Abortion

Startling honesty from the Telegraph.

EXCERPTS:

Having an abortion almost doubles a woman’s risk of
giving birth dangerously early in a later pregnancy, according to
research that will provoke fresh debate over the most controversial of
all medical procedures.

A
French study of 2,837 births – the first to investigate the link
between terminations and extremely premature births – found that
mothers who had previously had an abortion were 1.7 times more likely
to give birth to a baby at less than 28 weeks’ gestation. Many babies
born this early die soon after birth, and a large number who survive
suffer serious disability.

GET THE STORY.

A reader writes:

Please give me some information about the Girl Scouts and their affiliation with Planned Parenthood and about their teaching on lesbianism and sex education. If anyone has anything from the Girl Scouts web site please send it.

I Googled the girl scout’s website (www.girlscouts.org) and didn’t turn up anything on Planned Parenthood.

However what looks to be the most informative thing on the subject is a study that was done by the American Life League in 2004 that turned up a significant number of links between the two organizations, though not a blanket endorsement of PP by each individual GS chapter.

Here’s a summary:

In 2004, American Life League’s STOPP International conducted a study of Girl Scout councils throughout the United States in an effort to identify which councils have a relationship with Planned Parenthood. Our study was opposed by the national office of the Girl Scouts of the USA, the leader of which publicly stated that GSUSA has no problem if its councils or troops use Planned Parenthood to impart information to the girls. After several months, we were able to get data on over half the Girl Scout Councils in the country and found that about 20% had some type of relationship with Planned Parenthood.

We have now completed this project. Based on the information we uncovered in our study, we strongly advise parents to thoroughly check your local Girl Scout troop and council before allowing your girls to participate. In addition, we strongly urge you to use the same cautious approach to other youth organizations as well. We also suggest you check out the alternatives to the Girl Scouts that may be available in your area.

LEARN MORE.

(Cowboy hat tip to the reader for patience and diligence above and beyond the call of duty regarding this query!)

A reader writes:

Please give me some information about the Girl Scouts and their affiliation with Planned Parenthood and about their teaching on lesbianism and sex education. If anyone has anything from the Girl Scouts web site please send it.

I Googled the girl scout’s website (www.girlscouts.org) and didn’t turn up anything on Planned Parenthood.

However what looks to be the most informative thing on the subject is a study that was done by the American Life League in 2004 that turned up a significant number of links between the two organizations, though not a blanket endorsement of PP by each individual GS chapter.

Here’s a summary:

In 2004, American Life League’s STOPP International conducted a study of Girl Scout councils throughout the United States in an effort to identify which councils have a relationship with Planned Parenthood. Our study was opposed by the national office of the Girl Scouts of the USA, the leader of which publicly stated that GSUSA has no problem if its councils or troops use Planned Parenthood to impart information to the girls. After several months, we were able to get data on over half the Girl Scout Councils in the country and found that about 20% had some type of relationship with Planned Parenthood.

We have now completed this project. Based on the information we uncovered in our study, we strongly advise parents to thoroughly check your local Girl Scout troop and council before allowing your girls to participate. In addition, we strongly urge you to use the same cautious approach to other youth organizations as well. We also suggest you check out the alternatives to the Girl Scouts that may be available in your area.

LEARN MORE.

(Cowboy hat tip to the reader for patience and diligence above and beyond the call of duty regarding this query!)

I don’t know what upsets me the most about WorldNetDaily‘s recent article on a pregnant woman who tried to abort her son and then tried to save him when he was born alive but was ignored by the abortion clinic’s staff. Was it the fact that the mother sought a "painless," "humane" murder of her son? Yes, but on the positive side, she appears to have been truly distraught over the entire episode and sincerely repentant once she held her squirming son but was unable to get anyone to help her save his life.

"[The baby’s] right leg moved. He curled up a bit like he was cold; I screamed for Violene [a staff member]! No one came. I managed to get to the doorway, pants down, blood everywhere and yelled again. I went back to my baby. I heard her say she’d be right there.

"I showed her Rowan [the child], told her he was alive and moving and to call 911! She took a quick look, said he’s not moving now and she’d be back to take care of things while walking out. I called her again. I was touching Rowan softly and he moved again. I called her back. Rowan jumped, I think startled by the loud sound of my calling for help. I showed her that he was moving and alive. I begged her to hurry and call 911, now!"

I guess what it must have been the clinic’s entirely unresponsive reaction to the whole situation. The mother reports being ignored, then being told to hand over her child, then being handed a "bag of medicine" before being shown the door. This, I guess, is the scary part. There’s almost a numbness, a deadness, in the various reactions of the staff.

But then I guess, logically speaking, such reactions on the staff’s part makes the most sense of all; however hideous such reactions also are.

GET THE STORY.

(Nod to Some Have Hats for the link.  WARNING: Graphic pictures.  Apologies for failing to note this earlier.)

Economist Steven Levitt has become the ELVIS of statistics by crunching numbers in unexpected ways and analyzing the results. He’s ruffled feathers on both ends of the political spectrum by arguing on the one hand that it is far more dangerous to own a swimming pool than a gun, and on the other that abortion reduces crime.

That’s right! We’ve all been enjoying a drop in crime thanks in part to the fact that we have been killing criminals in the womb.

This last theory seems to prop up the old truism that poverty causes crime. The two are statistically linked. What I have never heard discussed is to what extent crime causes poverty. Does he have his plow before his mule?

READ HIS PAPER (with John Donahue) HERE.

Economist Steven Levitt has become the ELVIS of statistics by crunching numbers in unexpected ways and analyzing the results. He’s ruffled feathers on both ends of the political spectrum by arguing on the one hand that it is far more dangerous to own a swimming pool than a gun, and on the other that abortion reduces crime.

That’s right! We’ve all been enjoying a drop in crime thanks in part to the fact that we have been killing criminals in the womb.

This last theory seems to prop up the old truism that poverty causes crime. The two are statistically linked. What I have never heard discussed is to what extent crime causes poverty. Does he have his plow before his mule?

READ HIS PAPER (with John Donahue) HERE.

. . . GO ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY ROWAN WILLIAMS!

. . . GO ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY ROWAN WILLIAMS!

"[R]eligion and politics do mix." –Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor (Archbishop of Westminster)

"Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor ensured that abortion would play a greater part in the coming election than any other by praising the Tory leader’s call for a cut in the legal abortion limit from 24 to 20 weeks.

"The Archbishop of Westminster went on to admit that Labour was no longer the natural party of choice for the UK’s six million Catholics.

"His views could be particularly significant in marginal constituencies with large Catholic populations such as the West Midlands, the North West and parts of London."

I can’t wait to see the country map following England’s election and find out where the red and blue counties in England lie.

GET THE STORY.

WaPo EDITORIALIST E. J. DIONNE JR. OFFERS THIS DISTURBING BUT INTRIGUING PIECE ON PRO-LIFE STRATEGY.

His thesis seems to be that by ruthlessly backing the strongest Republican candidates, even if they are not pro-life, Republicans have gotten themselves in a position to appoint more anti-Roe judges and justices, while by being inflexible on the subject of abortion, Democrats have weakened their ability to resist such appointments.

The basic idea is thus that the Republicans have been able to construct a "big tent" by keeping the overall direction of the party controlled by pro-lifers while also allowing anti-lifers to participate on the fringes.

Now some Democrats are trying to do the same thing by promoting stronger Democratic candidates even if they are pro-life, with the result again that there are likely to be more votes for anti-Roe judges.

He concludes:

Karl Rove must be grinning about all this. By managing the abortion issue with considerable cunning, Republicans are winning the power to stack the courts with the very sorts of conservative judges the pro-choice movement fears. You have to wonder why it is so hard for so many Democrats to learn that a little open-mindedness on a very difficult question is not only a virtue but also a necessity.

GET THE STORY.