Roundup: You Can All Be Shameful Next Year
NARAL's hall of shame has some anti-choicers thrilled, others peeved, and still more ready to up the rhetoric to make the cut next year. Plus, removing the stigma from sexual health and discussing the big G.
A new year means lots of things — top ten lists, retrospectives, resolutions and some forecasting. For NARAL, it means voting on the 2009 Hall of Fame or Shame. And for some in the anti-choice community, it’s a big deal.
After pushing hard to get Personhood Amendments onto ballots in a variety of states, Personhood USA is ready to celebrate a new victory: being one of the top four finalists for the NARAL Hall of Shame. According to the group, just being nominated is a "badge of honor."
Keith Mason, head of Personhood USA, says, "NARAL Pro-Choice America is
one of the most liberal, rabid pro-abortion groups in the country, and
so we’re excited to be noted as on their Hall of Shame, and we take it
as a true honor."He believes the acknowledgment gives the personhood movement more
credibility rather than tagging it with the intended negative
connotation."If you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one
that got hit. And when we’re working on personhood, the people who are
howling the most are these pro-abortion people," Mason notes. "The
people that look at abortion as a sacrament are the most furious and
[are] going crazy that we would have the audacity to say that every
human being is a person no matter how small."
And yes, by "how small" he does in fact mean 2 cells.
Operation Rescue, on the other hand, is obviously miffed about not being a finalist in the Wall of Shame:
The pro-life activist group Operation Rescue issued a statement on its
Web site after the late-December posting of the nominations, calling
NARAL an "aging feminist group" and recounting the successful efforts
of Operation Rescue and three other pro-life organizations to have
Carhart’s abortion clinics investigated by the Nebraska attorney
general’s office and the State Department of Health.“It is hard to believe that even radical abortion proponents would do
anything but slink away in shame from Carhart and his disreputable and
shoddy abortion business,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman
in the statement. “It is shameful that NARAL would endanger women by
misleading them about Carhart to advance their political agenda.”"If they truly cared about women, they should be warning women away from him," Newman said.
Never fear, Mr. Newman! I am certain that you will not have to worry about Personhood USA stealing your thunder for two years in a row. Instead, perhaps you should watch out for American Life League’s Judie Brown, who obviously is shooting to be next year’s contender.
Ms. Brown releases her entire action plan for next year’s Personhood push, with the motto "It’s the Babies, Stupid!"
As a wise merchandising expert once advised us, "The day McDonald’s
decides to run one ad a year to remind the country of what it is all
about is the day American Life League can start mentioning the truth
about the act of abortion once a year. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Repetition works!"Along those lines, it has always been my contention that the reason
assisted suicide, infanticide, euthanasia, prenatal genetic diagnosis,
human embryonic stem cell research and the like have increased in
recent years is because abortion has not been discussed nonstop in
terms of the human person who dies from it. The following…examples illustrate this failure.Pro-life Kansas state senator Tim Huelskamp is proposing a legislative effort to defund Planned Parenthood.
Good for him! When he announced his goal, he said, "Organizations that
perform abortions and fail to report sexual abuse of young girls should
never receive taxpayer subsidies. This flies in the face of basic
Kansas values."Our educational efforts should eventually convince Senator Huelskamp
that his point would resound with far greater clarity if he replaced
the phrase "perform abortions" with "kill preborn babies." This is why
we believe elected officials need our consistent affirmation and
education. It isn’t that they don’t care; they simply don’t think of
abortion in the proper terms.Here’s another example: The Bronx News Network
reported on a protest against Pierre Renelique. In the story, pro-life
people themselves refer to Renelique as a "doctor." But doctors take an
oath to protect the lives of their patients, not kill them. Renelique
is a hired killer who executes little children in the wombs of their
own mothers. Pro-life people should never refer to an abortionist as a
"doctor." We must learn to call heinous acts by their proper names and
to use accurate titles for those who perpetrate them.
Who will come out the winner in 2010? With so many possibilities, it’s hard to tell.
Mini Roundup: We’re with the Globe and EnpowHER. Please, let’s make 2010 the year where we stop thinking of sex and especially sexual health as shameful. And on that note, is there really a G-spot?
January 5, 2010
New
Year’s resolution: raising awareness of human personhood now! RenewAmerica
Would
Obama approve paying for abortions with tax money? Youngstown Vindicator
Senior
GP flew pregnant teenage daughter to Spain for late-term abortion Telegraph.co.uk
NARAL
recognition a badge of honor OneNewsNow
Anti-abortion bus
trip to San Francisco planned Visalia Times-Delta
Indian
city of Mumbai hit by condom thefts
BBC News
January 4, 2010
Octomom’s Kids Were In Peril, Med Board Says TMZ
Reclaiming
Legal Abortion as a Fundamental Right
AlterNet
Pro-Abortion
Advocates Praise Abortionist, Blast Pro-Life Efforts CNSNews.com
Coakley
receives pair of Senate endorsements
Nashua Telegraph
Democrats
May Skip Conference Committee to Push Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill LifeNews.com
Pro-Life
Group Tags San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese on CCHD, Abortion LifeNews.com
Scotland
Pro-Life
Advocates Launch Bid to Stop Debate on Assisted Suicide Bill LifeNews.com
Scott
Brown’s abortion problem The Phoenix
Report:
Decline in legal abortion rates Jerusalem Post
Two
controversial abortion
laws now in court Examiner.com
Abortion stances
at odds, mostly Boston
Globe
IHCIA
passes despite GOP abortion controversy Indian Country Today
Illinois
U.S. Senate election: Abortion issue divides candidates Chicago Tribune
IPPF
Pushes For Abortion
Market Share Amid Economic Downturn … Catholic Exchange
Include
education about abortion Albany Times Union
Keep
issue separate from abortion News-Leader.com
Abortion
Deal May Be Hard to Keep in Health Bill FOX News
Pro-abortion
congresswoman: Senate abortion language OK Catholic News Agency
Battle
Over Abortion
Funding in Congress Pits Catholics Against Each Other LifeNews.com
List
Of Witnesses Grows For Kan. Abortion Trial KDKA
Conservatives,
Abortion
Advocates React to Plan to Bypass Conference Committee LifeNews.com
Sebelius:
Senate health care plan will pay for abortions
Catholic News Agency
Misguided
opposition Salt
Lake Tribune
Meet
the head of SF-based adoption center San Francisco Examiner
Coventry
NHS offers year’s supply of condoms in anti-chlamydia campaign Coventry Telegraph
Philippine
Bishops Issue “Catechism on Family and Life” for Upcoming Elections Lifesite
BlogTalk:
New Year, Same Battles New York Times
Notes
from a bitch… how many angels fit on the tip of a pencil … Feministing
Planned
Parenthood story needs clarity Augusta Chronicle
2010:
Let’s Get Rid of Sexual Stigma EmpowHer