Roe Is Not About Rape

Because this is an opinion letter, and will probably be deleted soon, I am posting it in it’s entirety.

From the Pueblo Chieftain

Letters: Roe v. Wade

Since so many in Washington would like to cancel Roe v. Wade, I would like to know what their logic is. Any girl or woman should be allowed the morning-after pill as soon as possible if they have been raped or coerced into having sex.

I have wondered for many years how men would feel if they were rape victims and they could get pregnant. Could they handle carrying a child for nine months?

If they did, how would they treat a child forced on them by rape?

Could they give it up for adoption?

In the 1930s, ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, if a woman was raped, it was considered to be her own fault. If she had an abortion, many times she was unable to have another child if she lived through the surgery.

Many of those girls were in their teens and had never been told about sex, and had not been given the chance to decide if they wanted a child at such a young age.

I was glad to see Roe v. Wade become law. It prevented a lot of women from having to go through carrying a child to term and having to give it away, or have a back-street abortion, from which many died.

I cannot remember any man going to jail for rape in those days. If men had to go through what women who have been raped go through, they might think differently. In the old days, as well as today, when a young man asks a girl out on a date they usually expect to be repaid, and if the girl gets pregnant, it will always be her fault.

Roe v. Wade should never be canceled. It is critical to the health and well being of all women.

Clayetta H. Speltz

Pueblo

Ms. Speltz has clearly bought into the lie that Roe v Wade is about protecting rape victims.

The logic behind the reversal of Roe v Wade?  Simply, 1.3 million unborn children are killed by abortion every year in the US alone.  Around 3% of those abortions are reported as following rape.  While most rapes go unreported, most rapes don’t result in pregnancy either, so the percentage would not be much higher than 3%. I’m sick of women and men using rape victims as an excuse to keep abortion on demand as law.  Roe v Wade is a product of the sexual revolution.  It’s not about protecting women, it’s about women being free to have sex without the consequence or responsibility of the baby who results from that sex.

So what happens when Roe is reversed?  Women and men will be forced into responsibility when they make the choice to have sex.  There will be no more Saturday trips to the abortion clinic, because you forgot to use a rubber, or because you neglected to take your birth control pill for 3 days.  You will be forced to think (with your brain) before you act on your urge to copulate.

Don’t think you can control that urge?  Then consider yourself as having the same mindset as a rapist, and consider the child you create and kill by abortion, as the victim.

A Matter of Conscience

Robin Marty’s spin on a jailed woman being refused the second dose of an abortifacient, makes me wonder if she has a conscience, or even understands what it means to have one.

The article Robin links to is from Addicting Info; she pulled this excerpt:

A Tampa woman whom we only know as R.W., was raped. She was treated by the rape crisis center, who gave her two emergency contraception pills, one to be taken immediately and one to be taken 12 hours later. When she reported the rape to the police, they uncovered an arrest warrant on R.W. for failure to pay restitution and failure to appear. After she was arrested, a Hillsborough County guard confiscated her second pill, claiming it was against her religious beliefs.

Says Robin:

This isn't just about women denied access when jailed (Although that in itself is problematic -- should a woman fear reporting a crime because she may be arrested? [emphasis is mine]

Should anyone?  Robin apparently thinks women should be exempt from arrest should they, 1) Not pay restitution as ordered by the court, and 2) Not show up for court. Really?  What happened to equality?  What happened to responsibility?  Oh wait, these are feminists we’re talking about.

No, this case also brings to light how those who are "in charge" when it comes to dispensing are able to inflict their own moral beliefs onto someone else. In states like Kansas, which seek to expand conscience clauses well beyond health workers, the putative "rights" if those who wield power are being allowed to trump those of the patient in need.

Or is it that Robin believes people without a conscience, should be able to inflict their beliefs (or lack of) onto someone who does have one?  That’s exactly what it is.

First, I don’t know of any jail that allows prisoners to keep the drugs  they bring in with them, that includes aspirin.  So confiscating the drug was protocol.  Second, if the guard had given the abortifacient to another guard, who in turn gave it to the woman, the primary guard would still be responsible for killing an unborn child.  It’s no different than handing a hammer to someone else to beat a child to death, so you don’t have to live with it on your conscience.

When it comes to conscience, all I can say is, at least pro-lifers have one.

It should be stated that the jailed woman’s rape, which was tragic, did not result in pregnancy.

Stop Using Kids to Justify the Actions of Grown Women!

I began this post as a personal rant, due to a comment I received on this post.   The commenter says 'kids will not stop having sex'.  I beg to differ.  Rather than rant, I'll attempt to post useful data to prove a point.

From Guttmacher:

Teens have been waiting longer to have sex than they did in the recent past. In 2006–2008, some 11% of never-married females aged 15–19 and 14% of never-married males that age had had sex before age 15, compared with 19% and 21%, respectively, in 1995.

In 2006–2008, the most common reason that sexually inexperienced teens gave for not having had sex was that it was “against religion or morals” (42% among females and 35% among males). The second and third most common reasons for females were “don’t want to get pregnant” and “haven’t found the right person yet.”

So yes, you CAN stop at least some kids from having sex.  Instilling moral values is one way, instilling common sense is the other.

According to data available from Guttmacher, 2006 being the most current year in the report, the pregnancy rate (per 1,000 women) of 15-17 year old women was 38.9, as compared to 122.3 for 18-19 year old women in that same year.  Even more telling, is the pregnancy rate for women aged 20-24 years.. a startling 171.

For teens, pregnancy is a problem, but it's clearly not as big a problem as it is with young adults.  So what about sex ed?  Most pro-choicer's think sex ed is the answer to this problem.  Well, if the kids stayed in high school until they're 24, maybe.  But in reality, it's when young adults get to college that the real problem begins.  I did a quick Google search for 'college sex education'.  A few of the web sites listed, peaked my curiosity.  I was surprised (I don't know why) to find how many people make a living talking to college students about sex.

Sex Discussed Here! is at the top of the list.  Another one was Sex Education for College Students · Think Out Loud, and it began by introducing another speaker - "Writer, educator and self-described feminist pornographer".  Stop! Pornographer?  Yep. Maybe we should go back to morals?

In the mix, I did find an article titled "College students split on effectiveness of required high school sex ed".  A few of the comments from college students are below:

University of Vermont freshman Benjamin Barnet of New York said he does thinks sex education should be optional because it could make people uncomfortable.

“I remember when they were talking about giving birth when I was in middle school and I almost threw up,” Barnet says. “Some people will just feel so uncomfortable and they shouldn’t be forced to take sex ed.”

University of Vermont junior, Nick Monteforte of Wilmington, Mass., is in favor of requiring sex education.

“It needs to be required,” Monteforte says. “Sex education is important when you are in high school because when you are in college and exposed to everything there you should really already know about it.”

For some students, like Anita Marquez, a senior at Stockton College in New Jersey, sex education is much more effective at college than in high school.

“In high school they don’t teach you anything cause they aren’t allowed,” Marquez says. “Our college has programs to teach you about sex and we have a general requirements courses about sex. I took a class called Perspectives of Sexuality and it was the most informative class I have taken at Stockton.”

Then I found an article which I'm still having trouble coming to terms with.  Columbia Students Sound Off On Northwestern’s Live Sex Ed Class.  You did get that word 'Live' in the title, didn't you? 

It has been the talk of Northwestern University, outside Chicago. The demonstration was conducted after a psychology class. A drill with a special attachment was used on a female student, wrapped in a towel, and in front more than 100 students.

“Most of the people who stayed were, in fact, trying to get a better view,” one student said.

“I don’t feel like I would want to see that,” another student said.

Guest lecturer Ken Melvoin-Berg, who was invited to the class by Professor J. Michael Bailey, is defending the voluntary demonstration as educational — a couple engaged in a sex act.

“We warned students five times at least,” Melvoin-Berg said. “He brought her to orgasm right there on stage and that was the end of it, other than the fact that we had positive comments from everybody in the class.” (emphasis is mine)

Have I mentioned morals lately? 

Another way pro-aborts use kids for their pro-abortion agenda, is in the tweet below.  Not that this could never happen, because we know it can and does.  Normally, we get the question "but what if the woman was raped?".  And we answer that it's not the baby's fault, so why should it die?  It's takes a special kind of warped pro-choicer to use kids this way though.  Anything for the cause right? 

In this case I would have to say that even if it is her own sibling, it's still a human being.  And if the 10 yr old can safely carry the baby to the point of viability, then let them both live.  If however, the 10 yr old is in mortal danger, then by all means, an abortion is appropriate.  But don't kill the baby just because it came into being due to a pedophile's actions.

Politically Correct Pro-Choicer's Admit They Are Pro-Life Personally

I took a trip back to Feminists For Choice, and I'm glad I did.  The article gave me renewed hope.  
Serena asked the question "Can you be pro-choice if you wouldn’t choose abortion for yourself?" She then broke down the questions as follows.
1. What does is mean to be pro-choice?
2. If you found out that you were pregnant, and you didn’t intend to be, would you continue the pregnancy, or would you choose to have an abortion?
3. Do you believe that you can personally oppose abortion and still call yourself “pro-choice”?
The question I found enlightening and hopeful, was question # 2. Here are highlights from a few of the comments:

“When I was younger I would have definitely considered it but I don’t know if I would have ever been able to go through with it. At this point in my life because I am in a committed long term relationship I would not consider abortion because I don’t think that I could live with the guilt."

“I would consider one but I cannot see myself taking this option. I have friends and family who have had abortions and who sometimes struggle to come to turns with that decision, I know that it is unlikely that I ever would."

“If I found out I was pregnant, I wouldn’t consider abortion because I’m in a position where I would actually be pleased. However, I don’t feel that I ever would have considered it."

"I once thought that I may consider abortion if I had been assaulted but having had a child now I don’t think I would be able to. Hopefully I will never find out.”

"So yes, I would consider abortion for an unplanned pregnancy but I am fairly confident that I would not be able to actually go through with it. I have felt physical pain and deep depression every time I have considered terminating, for me the emotional suffering was more significant than the physical/emotional/financial burden of continuing the pregnancy.”

The comments are much more in depth than I've posted here.  Remember, the article was targeted for women who claim to be pro-choice politically and pro-life only personally.  For that reason, I found question # 2 a sort of miss-fit, yet intriguing as well.
 
If a woman could never consider aborting her own baby, maybe she'll see through what's 'politically correct', and do what's morally correct by helping other women keep their babies.  You can put your time and effort into protecting a woman's right to 'choose', or you can put that same time and effort into helping women keep their babies.  It's really that simple.

10 Things I'd Say To Pro-Aborts Who Blame Conservatives For Their Abortion

Recently, at AlterNet, Amanda Marcotte listed 10 'realities' pro-choicers should 'throw in the face' of pro-lifers.  @TheNatFantastic from Twitter, has asked me to respond to this article.  Listed below are the 10 'realities', with a snippet from each, and my pro-life response to them.

1) Most abortions take place early in pregnancy.

Additionally, the growth of medical abortion means a much larger percentage of abortions---62% overall---take place before the 9th week of pregnancy. In fact, in most abortions, the term “fetus” is incorrect, as doctors classify it as an embryo until the 11th week of pregnancy. At 8 weeks, and embryo is about ½ an inch long, and at 12 weeks, the fetus is a little over 2 inches long. In contrast, a full-term baby is an average 20 inches long, a full 40 times larger than the size of the average embryo during an abortion.

This is the most common arbitrary argument of the pro-aborts.  They believe it's ok to kill them, based strictly on their size and level of development.  What they don't seem to understand, is that an 8 week embryo, is the same human being he/she is at full term.  Embryos have all the genetic material required to determine their sex, skin tone, hair color, even the color of their eyes.  Abortion erases that tiny innocent human being from the planet.

2) If not for anti-choicers, even more women would get abortions much earlier in their pregnancies.

Most women want to terminate unwanted pregnancies as soon as possible, but there are some women who wait until 12 or 16 or even 20 weeks to terminate a pregnancy for elective reasons. Why do about 10% of women having abortions wait until early in their second trimester? It’s not because they’re stupid or indifferent to the growing fetus inside them. Research indicates that women delay having abortions because they have trouble deciding, they struggle to come up with the funds, and because they may have to travel and overcome legal obstacles to get an abortion.

This is no more than blaming pro-lifers for later term abortions.  The argument here, is that if pro-lifers would make it easier for women to have earlier abortions, they would.  Remember, pro-life is against abortion at any stage.  Knowing that most pro-aborts also struggle with the concept of later term abortions, gives pro-lifers hope that at some point, it will be unacceptable to kill a developing human being, at any stage.

3) Doctors perform late term abortions because of medical indications, often on women who desperately wanted the baby.

the rule of thumb with abortion is, “The later the termination, the higher the odds that the woman needed it for medical reasons.” Indeed, doctors who perform abortions after 24 usually require, as a matter of practice and of law, that the women have medical necessity reasons for abortion. Before he died, Dr. George Tiller had to have a second doctor confirm every diagnosis of a medical condition allowing post-24 week abortions.

Medical reasons?  Perhaps a diagnosis of Down-Syndrome?  Cleft palate?  Granted, there are worse fetal anomalies, such as spina bifida.  None warrant the killing of an innocent human being.  Who did Dr. Tiller use for that second opinion?  Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus.  Well, let's be honest.  To have a diagnosis confirmed, a woman would need to see a specialist, not an abortionist.  Dr. Neuhaus didn't 'confirm' any diagnosis.  What she did, was supply Dr. Tiller with a legally required second signature.  What Dr. Tiller did, was rid women of less than perfect babies.

4) Women who get abortions aren’t afraid of being mothers.

Anti-choice protesters like to shout at women going into clinics about how they would really like motherhood if they tried it out. In reality, women who have abortions are fully cognizant of the joys and pains of motherhood; 61% of women having abortion are already mothers.

The 61% figure, is often used by pro-aborts in an attempt to justify terminating succeeding pregnancies.  They just don't understand the concept that whether it's the 1st, or the 15th pregnancy, all of the fetuses are just as much human as the ones privileged enough to be born, and all deserve the same respect, and the same right to life. 

5) Abortion is physically safe.

The truth is that abortion is a simple outpatient procedure that’s on the high end of safety for a medical procedure. The vast majority of abortions have no complications at all, and abortion is considered many times safer than childbirth.

Pro-aborts don't talk about the women who died due to having an abortion.  The truth is, there have been hundreds of them.  While abortion may be a relatively safer procedure for women today, it is never safe for the tiny human suctioned from the womb, and it never has been.

6) Abortion is mentally safe.

repeated studies show not only that abortion doesn’t cause depression, but that giving birth can. In fact, mental illness can be a medical indicator for abortion; for women for whom giving birth can aggravate mental health problems, an abortion is often necessary to prevent further degradation of their mental health.

Once again, childbirth results in a live baby, abortion results in a dead baby.  As for 'abortion doesn’t cause depression', it surely can, and does.  You may have heard of the pro-life "Silent No More Awareness Campaign", or the pro-choice "Exhale", 'an after abortion counseling talk-line'.  Both were created because abortion can, and often does affect the mental health of the women who chose that option.

7) Women who get abortions take responsibility for their decision.

The truth is that women who get abortions know that they’re terminating a pregnancy and are determined to do it long before they set foot in the doctor’s office.

I found this particular 'reality' out of context as relating to what was written along with with.  But I will touch on what is there, an attack on the mandatory use of ultrasound.  If there is one woman who changes her mind after seeing her baby on the ultrasound screen, it is worth it.

8) Abortion providers are responsible medical professionals who work to make sure their patients are healthy and avoid future unintended pregnancies.

Your average abortion costs around $500. The average cost of childbirth is 17 times as much.

Interesting comparison, considering a surgical abortion takes only a few minutes, and doesn't concern the health and well-being of the fetus.  Childbirth on the other hand, is often a long and difficult process, and usually occurs in a hospital, fully staffed with obstetrical doctors and nurses, and equipped for any emergency.  How much is your baby's life worth?  What about the mother?  Indeed, abortion is a cheap way out of the responsibilities of motherhood.

as the nation’s single largest provider of abortions, Planned Parenthood, is a non-profit.

'Non-profit' is a tax status.  It does not mean a business can't profit from the services they provide. 

Additionally, Planned Parenthood works tirelessly to reduce the abortion rate by promoting sex education and contraception,

But does that promotion do any good? 

I will let the following two statements from Guttmacher, Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States, speak for themselves.

"Each year, two percent of women aged 15–44 have an abortion. Half have had at least one previous abortion". 

"Fifty-four percent of women who have abortions had used a contraceptive method (usually the condom or the pill) during the month they became pregnant." 

9) Women get abortions because they’re being responsible.

Abortion is often characterized, even by some pro-choicers, as the result of women’s irresponsibility. Women are assumed to get pregnant because they were being irresponsible, and all too often, abortion is characterized as the “easy way out”. The truth is more complex. More than half of women getting abortions were trying to prevent pregnancy by using a contraception method the month they got pregnant.

What part of irresponsibility do pro-aborts not get?  "Fifty-four percent of women who have abortions had used a contraceptive method (usually the condom or the pill) during the month they became pregnant."  Does this mean they were acting responsibly?  Not if they didn't use the condom 100% of the time, and not if they didn't take 'the pill', every day, on time.  Condoms are 98% effective when used correctly.  Birth Control pills, are 99% effective when used correctly.  If you have access to either method, and still became pregnant, there is a 98% - 99% chance that you were irresponsible.

10) Conservative policies cause the abortion rate to be higher than it needs to be.

Women aren’t getting pregnant on purpose so they can enjoy an expensive suctioning of their uterine lining. So why are there 1.2 million abortions a year in America?

46% of women who get abortions weren’t using a contraceptive method the month they got pregnant, indicating that conservative policies that discourage regular contraception use---everything from abstinence-only education to objecting to any measures that make contraception cheaper and easier to obtain---have been effective in keeping women from using contraception as regularly as they should.

In a pro-aborts mind, it's MY fault you got pregnant!  It's time to stop this blame game, and ask every young man and woman to take responsibility for themselves.  And if they should fail to do so, take responsibility for the new life they created. 

#ProChoice Minimizes the Violence of Rape

Yes you read it right. "Rapists are amatures".  Did anyone think they went to school to learn how to be 'professional' rapists? I didn't.

And Pro-Choice is supposed to be Pro-Woman? I don't think so.

Carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term, is worse than being raped, at least in the minds of pro-aborts.