Friday, October 24, 2008

Prayers and Chills

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but friends, I believe winter is almost upon us.

That said, the protesters are amazing. The cold weather seems to energize them; they were out like fiends again this week. Peter Ryan was among them. Oh and wonderful Crazy Legs, looking smashing as always.

I was in Halifax this past weekend and had the pleasure of seeing the protesters they have there, at the hospital. They seemed to be involved in the 40 Days for Life thing, because they were there at all hours of the day, just constantly. Their protesters provide an even more pathetic spectical than ours, believe it or not - they have to stay outside the fence around the hospital parking lot, and I would imagine most women going in for an abortion wouldn't even notice them. Their signs are fairly tame, too - they just say "Pray to end abortion".

I was at a rather clinical seminar in Halifax, learning more than I care to know about unusual ultrasounds and how much blood loss is too much (any, really). I did enjoy getting to spend some QT with the rest of the staff, most of whom I only see on Tuesdays. I also got to visit my surprisingly bouyant grandmother, who is 94 years old. Fun times.

I am a little sad because I think I might have missed a "prayer siege" here at home - the Bound4Life group in NB has split into two - a Saint John group and a Fredericton group. I was keen to see the first event as a Fredericton group. Oh well, there will be others, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, I am (still) loving this blog. She has had the abortion, and is now exploring the issue in more depth. I love her style and her sense of humour. You should all check it out.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Pro-Abortion camp reminds me very of the facist Nazi dictatorship in Germany. The Nazi government of Germany viewed Jews as being less than human, so in turn ending a Jewish life did not constitute murder. Well, for a while anyways, until the Allied forces stood for truth and wiped out the Nazi government. The Pro-Abortion camp, in the same fashion, is temporarily pushing for the deaths of innocent human life, because they view unborn humans as "less than human". This evil doctrine's time is numbered, and will recieve the same fate as Nazi Germany. Such evil runs its course, as will the Pro-Abortion movement.

Anonymous said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianna_Jessen


All of you Pro-Abortion and Pro-Feminists should ask yourself, if you really stand for women's rights, why don't you stand for Gianna's rights? Why aren't you fighting for compensation for her, after the movement you fight for took away her rights? I already know the answer. It's because you are self-serving liars.

The Pedgehog said...

"The Pro-Abortion camp reminds me very of the facist Nazi dictatorship in Germany."

Congratulations, you Godwinned in your first sentence. Everything you say after that has lost all meaning. Thanks for playing.

Anonymous said...

Nice analogy. Of course you can use historical analogy to make all sorts of ludicrous comparisons. Try this one on for size: The anti-choice movement is akin to the Apartheid Regime in South Africa. It is a small group of white men pushing their backwards views on a majority that they claim to represent, but are in fact desperately disconnected from.

Or how about this one: Anti-choice activists are like Nazis. They try to use tactics like fear-mongering and intimidation to isolate and target an identifiable group.

What have we learned from this little exercise? Faulty historical parallelism is ridiculous, and can be used to "prove" any number of things.

Lets try to restrict the debate to the issue of choice vs. life.

-E

Anonymous said...

Pro-abortion? Who is pro-abortion?

I'm pretty sure the pro-choice/anti-choice people can all agree that less abortion is preferable to more abortion.

It's just that the pro-choice camp wants the woman in question free to weigh this important decision on her own.

If by some infinitesimal chance this damns her soul then she alone will be responsible.

Unknown said...

I love your blog, pedgehog, but I do have to say that "what to expect when you're aborting" blog had me laughing all morning! Wonderful!!!
Keep writin!

Anonymous said...

To the first commenter... what do Jews have to do with abortion? Not this crap again.

It's about choice, it's always been about choice, and if you need more government legislation to regulate peoples' free behavior, perhaps you have more in common with Nazi-ism than you think.

Pedge... he first invoked Godwin's Law, so I believe that I'm justified in using the analogy seen above.

Anonymous said...

Oh gosh, I just realized I've been corresponding with you via email about the Rebelles, and never put two and two together about who you were until now when I was reading my RSS feeds. I've been reading and loving this blog for months now, and just want to sincerely thank you for really putting a face to the NB Pro Choice movement. As a token of appreciation, here is an awesome Samantha Bee moment via Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-6A1sH9p_Y

It's regarding the McCain air quotes, and therefore more or less directed towards American politics, but I really feel that the message applies everywhere.

Britt

Anonymous said...

For Catholics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCC8SGfCGd8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkDVzLAdtZE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACm5BRK0OiA&feature=related

Anonymous said...

what's backwards about observing equal rights for all human life and upholding the dignity of the human person? what i find backwards is upholding that the rights of pregnant females override the rights of unborn children, placing the rights of one group of human life lower than the group of another. Right to choose? Right to choose what? The Right to choose to end a human life- a human life that is innocent and has committed no crime? That's not a just right. Human rights protect the vulnerable. what is more vulnerable than an unborn child? We are horrified when we see a pregnant woman consuming too much alcohol, doing drugs and neglecting the care of an unborn child, yet many cheer when a woman chooses to go even further and end it's life. Backwards thinking is Pro-Abortion. This line of thinking is sadistic and merciless.

Anonymous said...

medicine and science confirms the Pro-Life "backwards" thinking. Human life begins at conception, and from the moment of fertilization a new individual is in existence.

"[The Zygote] results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm ... unites with a female gamete or oocyte ... to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual." (The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th ed.
Keith L. Moore, Ph.D. & T.V.N. Persaud, Md., (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), 2-18)

"In this text, we begin our description of the developing human with the formation and differentiation of the male and female sex cells or gametes, which will unite at fertilization to initiate the embryonic development of a new individual. ... Fertilization takes place in the oviduct ... resulting in the formation of a zygote containing a single diploid nucleus. Embryonic development is considered to begin at this point... This moment of zygote formation may be taken as the beginning or zero time point of embryonic
development."(Essentials of Human Embryology William J. Larsen, (New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1998), 1-17.)

"Fertilization is an important landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed... Fertilization is the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with a secondary oocyte or its investments... The zygote ... is a unicellular embryo... "The ill-defined and inaccurate term pre-embryo, which includes the embryonic disc, is said either to end with the appearance of the primitive streak or ... to include neurulation. The term is not used in this book." (Human Embryology & Teratology Ronan R. O'Rahilly, Fabiola Muller, (New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996), 5-55.)

"It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive...It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception." (Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth
Harvard University Medical School, 1981)

"After fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being. [It] is no longer a matter of taste or opinion...it is plain experimental evidence. Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception."(Dr. Jerome LeJeune Professor of Genetics, University of Descartes)

"By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception."(Professor Hymie Gordon
Mayo Clinic,1981)

"Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being - a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings." (Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, Report, 97th Congress, 1st Session, 1981)

Ricky Martin said...

Interesting that "Pedgehog" hides behind that black hood or whatever it is. I would be embarassed too if I was responsible for promoting the "awesomeness" of abortion.

The Pedgehog said...

This from a guy who doesn't even have a picture of himself on his profile. Come on.

Anonymous said...

To a previous comment:

"It's about choice, it's always been about choice, and if you need more government legislation to regulate peoples' free behavior, perhaps you have more in common with Nazi-ism than you think"

Choice? What choice? There are many choices that we outlaw, and I'm sure you are in agreement with. The right to choose to murder or inflict harm on another, the right to choose to steal another's property, the right to choose destroy another's property, the right to choose to rape a woman......these are all choices, yet choices i think you and I agree need to be eliminated from society and punished when they do occur. Abortion, I agree, is a choice. But the right to choose what? To murder an innocent human life! This isn't a good choice to leave open for individuals, it is an abuse of choice and a gross violation of human rights. All innocent humans deserve dignity and the right to bodily integrity, and this should include also those who are dependants. The unborn child deserves equal dignity and respect as the rest of human civilization. What they do not deserve is to be led to brutal homicide by mothers who do not want to give birth to their children. An unborn child is not the personal property of a mother. An unborn child is entitled to equal human rights alongside humans of every age, race and gender.

Government legislation can be a good thing when it protects individuals from harm. Legislation that protects children from abusive parents is a must, as is legislation to protect unborn children from being murdered is also necessary.

Anonymous said...

And to another previous comment:

"If by some infinitesimal chance this damns her soul then she alone will be responsible."

So because a rapist alone will be responsible for his or her soul we shouldn't be vocal about the gravity of the crime? This is reasoning which seeks to divert attention from the issue.

Anonymous said...

And still, kyriakos, you still prioritize a clot of cells over a woman. You prattle on about equal rights (sorry, there's only one person involved in this equation), but you still are clearly favouring the one that isn't actually a person.

And absolutely no legitimate scientist actually holds that life begins at conception. Not least because of the 40-75% of fertilized eggs that don't implant. Maybe you should be braying and whining about all the terribly selfish women who menstruate? No, instead you hyperventilate over the thought that women might actually be demanding to be treated as more than broodsows, to actually demand the right to bodily integrity.

Anonymous said...

Becca, bingo. That's it, isn't it? This guy is oblivious to the fact that WOMEN are PEOPLE with FREE CHOICE.

I'm not a woman, but this is a thorny issue, for sure. If my wife becomes pregnant, it is because we both CHOSE to allow it (there are countless contraceptives available that we could utilize, up to and including voluntary sterilization, to ensure that pregnancy does not occur). However, my right to choose ends there. All the changes are happening to HER body, not mine. If she wishes to have an abortion, the CHOICE is HERS, and whether it is a good choice or a bad choice IS NOT UP TO ME.

This is of course only germane to my scenario, that is, a married man and woman. Plenty of people did not have a choice to become pregnant and have chosen to have an abortion. Plenty of other people have made bad choices that led to an unwanted pregnancy, and have chosen to have the procedure as well.

Once simple fact that the so-called "pro-lifers" never seem to grasp is that "Pro-Choice" does NOT equal "Pro-Abortion". If my wife became pregnant, I wouldn't want her to have one... but as seen above, that is NOT my choice to make.