planned parenthood admits abortion “kills”

I’ve run across similar Planned Parenthood pamphlets before, but I was again reminded of such a few weeks ago when Bryan Kemper blogged about it.

Above, Planned Parenthood pamphlet, (zoomed in below).

Yes, in a 1952 informational brochure about contraception, Planned Parenthood was honest in at least revealing abortion to be what it is: killing. I do not know how Planned Parenthood now gets away with lying to the public about abortion. The unborn are suffering greatly from these lies and so are women.

Sadly enough, on Planned Parenthood’s website now, they claim “abortion procedures are very safe.” Well, it is definitely not safe for the children, and certainly harmful to the women, in more ways than just one, (click here to read more about the ways in which abortion hurts women, an article by an ex pro-choicer which I strongly recommend).

One problem facing the pro-life movement today is that to be feminist is to be pro-choice. As Erika Bachiochi explains in the article I have linked above, the feminist movement proclaims “[i]f you want to stand for women’s progress, the line goes, then you have to stand for abortion.” However, true feminism embraces womanhood and all this entails, including pregnancy. “While these pioneering feminists endured the painstaking fight to change male-dominated political and economic institutions, the ‘pro-choice’ feminists of the 1970s and today instead sought to change the very nature of women, convincing many of them that, if they’re to be equal to men, they must simply become like men,” Bachiochi says. This feminism of our day is a sick form of sexism disguised under the name of women. Susan B. Anthony was the most feminist of us all, and she was pro-life. Why is that connection now so foreign to modern perception? If you want to stand for women's progress, you must not stand for abortion. Real feminists protect motherhood. Real feminists fight for the justice of the unborn. Real feminists are pro-life.

In the time it has taken you to read this blogpost (approximately 90 seconds), more than three babies were aborted in the United States.[i]

Pro-woman. Pro-life.

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[i] According to 2005 statistics from the Guttmacher Institute.

lily

There are many things that delight: getting a letter in the mail, acing an exam without studying, running a PR. But, above delightful things, there are the uncompromisingly wonderful things, like the piece of news you receive and just can’t stop thinking about.

Well, about two weeks ago, I learned the sex of my brother’s kid. She is still inside her mother, but we know she is a girl! (And, for the record, her existence has allowed girls to now beat boys in number in my family, finally!!!)

My brother, Math, and his wife, Jana, really stress the importance of considering their child to already be in existence. A baby inside the womb is fully human; she has a beating heart, kicks Jana and, as we now know, has female parts. When a baby is born, Math explained, it isn’t a surprise. There is no “if it is a girl…” People act as if it is such a mystery, Math said, as if the baby growing in them is some foreign thing and then comes out human. However, the baby is one or the other: boy or girl. You just may not have the knowledge yet. As Jana wrote to me, “It’s crazy that we've had a baby girl this whole time, and only God knew it!”

A new ultrasound of my niece, Math & Jana's baby, who has been living and growing for about six months. She will be ready to come out and see the world at the end of May.

So, in full pro-life spirits, Math and Jana decided to discover the sex and name the baby; her name is Lillian, the same as my grandmother’s. Math and Jana are not going to be parents. They are currently Lily's parents. Likewise, I am currently, and have been since her conception, Lily’s aunt. All that has changed now is we can pray for Lily by name.

Math & Jana sporting some sweet homemade sweatshirts they made during the snowstorms as they are the proud parents of Lily, (see the above ultrasound). They decided to name her as soon as they found out her sex, showing that Lily is a person even if she hasn't been born yet.

superbowl sunday: go saints & pro-lifers

Even from Rome I watched the Superbowl (until the third quarter when I went home because it was like 3 am Rome time). HOORAY, SAINTS! Unfortunately for me, ESPN was playing. So, I did not get to benefit from the commercials. Even as non-controversial as they ended up, it would have been nice to see them airing in real time.

However, upon researching some of the commercials via YouTube, I smiled to discover THREE pro-life ads: Tim Tebow, Dove and Google.

In regards to the Tebow ad, everyone recognizes how absurd Terry O’Neil, president of the National Organization for Women, sounds saying, “I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it. That’s what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don’t find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself.” Focus on the Family had a quiet but appropriate approach; O’Neil needs a better complaint.

In regards to the Dove commercial, it’s simultaneously splendid and strange that a soap company recognizes at what stage life begins—conception!—when our own President cannot.

And, lastly, in regards to the Google ad, I am unashamed to admit that this ad tapped into my most girly of emotions, leaving me looking up tickets to Paris and thinking: that’s too cute!!

But, maybe there is something else there that makes the ad so appealing? As Operation Rescue’s Troy Newman writes in a post explaining the ad’s pro-life nature, “the Google ad is borne of a society that is tired of pushing the morality envelope… Boys and girls will fall in love, get married, and have a baby, which is the way God designed it.”

He is entirely correct; the Google ad subtly points to a natural order, something modernity loves ignoring and rearranging. Don’t misunderstand, it isn’t that marriage and babies are the only way to live out one’s calling, just that such familial service is the normal vocation. The connection of marriage yielding families, specifically families with babies, was phenomenally subtle in the ad, but infinitely strong.

Now, I feel like I should Google something in honor of their stellar ad.

& if yr still interested...

to read Catherine's related post about the Tebow ad, click here.

to read Jill Stanek's related post about the Dove & Google ads, click here.

to read Bryan Kemper's related post about the commercials and feminist backlash, click here.

SFL shoutout

Few can declare that college campus flyering has had any serious effect on one’s life. In fact, it is widely accepted that flyering tedious and dull. However, I can honestly claim that flyering for Student For Life has challenged me to grow, encouraged me to live my beliefs without shame, and helped me cling to reason above fear of rejection.

“Flyering” is the act of posting advertisements (in the form of flyers) around the school. It is a task born out of necessity for clubs campus-wide.

When I decided to join SFL, I didn’t put too much thought into the decision. I was a freshman and it seemed like a natural progression from my participation in the pro-life movement throughout high school. When I came to college I didn’t understand that meeting new people also meant opening myself to vulnerability. Friendships were no longer based on history or shared upbringings. I left a world where my community knew about and accepted my dedication to being pro-life and entered college, where these beliefs seemed to separate me from my peers, giving me one more insecurity.

My extraverted pro-life beliefs began to fade somewhat; they were just something I identified myself with at SFL meetings or inside my own head.

Then, I began flyering for SFL by myself. I would be sweating and nervous, making eye contact with just the laces of my shoes as I blindly stapled SFL handouts on public posting sites. Slowly the flyering process led me to be more confident. There was something so powerful about identifying myself with the flyers. To me, it became both a public statement and an internal reminder that beliefs aren’t about approval.

Being pro-life isn’t a label I tack onto the bulletin board of my identity. My pro-life beliefs are so much more than that, and only the opportunities SFL has provided me with could have helped me rediscover this last semester.

Thanks helena and james and your parents, logan and eric, for all you are giving to this world.

"I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself." 

-Mother Teresa