Obama on Abortion

The US President should be commended for addressing such a sensitive issue in his characteristically pragmatic manner, something that previous male political figures have failed to do. He successfully circumvents any religiously charged debate to consider the aspects relevant to the typical American woman.

Extremism on Both Sides

A US priest visited churches around Mexico this week to condemn the country’s abortion laws as responsible for the swine flu epidemic. While this proclamation has no rational basis, Father Wade Menezes insisted that Mexicans were being punished for the relaxed attitude toward abortion.

The pro-life versus pro-choice debate has been chronicly tainted by religious rhetoric that clouds the true global situation. Extremist opinions on each side of the argument fail to factor in the basic facts and other sensitive human issues that do not require biblical reference.

No “Choice” for Chinese Women

The maternity ward in Guangzhou's Taihe hospital where three young Chinese surrogate mothers said they were forced into abortions by authorities February 28, 2009.

Women acting as surrogate mothers for infertile couples in China have been victims of brutally forced abortions. Although they are knowingly breaking national law by participating in the so-called “womb for rent” industry, the actions taken by government officials are appalling. Rather than bring judicial action, police have reportedly dragged pregnant women to clinics where they perform abortions without consent.

One surrogate mother Xioa Hong said: “I was crying ‘I don’t want to do this’,but they still dragged me in and injected my belly with a needle,” the 20-year-old told Reuters of her ordeal which happened in late February.

“It’s an absolute crime,” said Lu Jinfeng, the founder of the “China Surrogate Mother” website. Forcefully dragging people away like this to undergo an abortion is a savage illegal act that violates human rights.”

Sadly, the global pro-choice community overlooks this darker side of advocating abortion internationally and therefore contributes to the terrible mistreatment of mothers and unborn children.

Planned Parenthood Fails to Protect Teenage Girls

A Commercial Industry?

In the last three decades abortion has been socially transformed from a shameful and stigmatized medical procedure into a commercialized symbol of modern liberalism.
The newest evidence of abortion’s increasing acceptability is the British Advertising Advisory Service’s proposal to allow “abortion commercials” on television with very little restriction.
After a public review, a decision will come later this summer. If approved, the ads could start appearing in 2010.
Supporters label this action a logical response to the government’s plea for help in curbing teenage pregnancy.
But Dr. Peter Saunders at the Christian Medical Fellowship insists this is not the solution.
“This is like having the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff to deal with the casualties rather than putting up a safety rail at the top of the cliff to stop them falling off,” he said.
The impending public review will showcase whether UK citizens are willing to cross this boundary and continue treating abortion as a quick-fix solution to unwanted pregnancy.
The ASA and government seem to prefer commercializing abortion to focusing on prevention and providing compassionate support for women dealing with crisis pregnancies.

Early Abortion Just One Click Away

A school pilot program in Oxfordshire has announced plans to allow girls as young as 11 to request the morning-after pill via text message in an ill-conceived plan to control the teen pregnancy epidemic.
Also, the Lloyds Pharmacy chain recently announced plans to offer morning-after pills online. Logging on to the site, you can order up to three pills to be delivered to your door within 72 hours.
A spokesman for Lloyds said the idea for the service came from customers requesting a supply of the pill in advance.
While the intentions of health and government agencies are obviously to promote sexual responsibility, women (and girls) who have such easy access to emergency contraception are becoming more and more irresponsible.
These programs cannot be allowed to masquerade as women’s empowerment or freedom of choice, especially not with female reproductive health and the lives of unborn children hanging in the balance.

MPs Deny Responsibility for Teen Abortions

Pregnant children seek abortions in the UK without parental knowledge

A 15 year old in the UK is not legally considered an adult. A 15 year old must have parental permission to see horror movies in the cinema, but a 15 year old can legally receive counselling and guidance on such mature issues as abortion and contraception with her parents left completely in the dark.

Doesn’t this immense freedom promote the dangerous attitude towards sex that has accompanied a steep rise in unplanned pregnancies? If a young teen knows that any unwanted consequence of irresponsible sexual behavior can be handled without so much as informing a parent, there is no way she can truly understand the gravity of her actions.

Angela Watkinson, Conservative MP from Upminster, attempted to introduce a bill requiring anyone who gave advice on abortion to an underage child to inform the parents first. Her proposal received violent opposition from all political parties.

She said, as quoted on Hansard: “I was taken aback by the opposition to it and it did not proceed. I think that it would have been a very important step in helping girls to consider how to manage their reproductive lives wisely and to delay becoming sexually active until they were old enough to cope with the outcome.”

A similar issue was discussed recently in Parliament regarding the case of a 14 year old child who had been advised and helped to have an abortion without the knowledge of her parents. Nowhere in the reporting was there mention of the fact that sex with a 14 year old is illegal.

How did the adviser decide that a schoolgirl was capable of making a rational decision in such a frightening situation? And who is to be held accountable for that child’s decision?

It was vastly irresponsible to exclude the very person who has the most direct responsibility for a child’s welfare, her mother. So in this case one mother got the chance to choose, while another was left completely on the sidelines, unknowingly placing her young daughter’s mental and physical wellbeing in the hands of a stranger.

Unwanted Daughters?

For half a century the global abortion debate has been inextricably linked to the feminist ideals of freedom and choice.

But the availability of modern sex-determination technology has given rise to a horrifying trend of sex-selective abortion, particularly in Asian countries.

The so called “son-preference” remains a huge problem in India, China, and Vietnam.

The Times of Singapore reported last autumn: “Vietnamese women who find they are carrying an unwanted female baby often head immediately to an abortion clinic. A walk-in abortion at a state hospital can be performed for $10, and at private clinics for about $20.”

A report by UNICEF in India reveals that “7,000 fewer girls are now born in India each day than nature would dictate, and 10 million have been killed during pregnancy or just after in the past 20 years.”

Many women in these countries are under severe pressure to birth a boy, and the availability of cheap abortions has allowed them to avoid humiliation and social exclusion at the cost of their daughter’s life.

The situation is extremely difficult and governments are attempting to make sex-determination technology more scarce in these communities, but for now a woman’s right to an abortion can effectively abolish another woman’s right to life simply for being a woman.

Obama’s Agenda Overwhelmingly “Pro-Abortion”

Obama Reinstates Aid to Abortion Clinics Overseas

During his first month in office, American President Barack Obama has already moved to overturn three Bush Era abortion regulations.

On his fourth day in office, Mr. Obama repealed the Mexico City Policy, which required groups that receive federal funds not to promote or perform abortions overseas. Now that this policy has been overturned, every American taxpayer is responsible for abortions exported to women in poor countries.

The President also said he “looks forward” to giving taxpayer dollars to the United Nations Population Funding Association (UNFPA), which promotes abortion overseas.

President Bush cut off funding to the UNFPA when it was revealed that it had supported coercive population control tactics in China, including forced abortion and sterilization.

Obama also opposes continuing federal funding for pro-life pregnancy resource centers, which provide women alternative solutions to crisis pregnancies.

The majority of Americans are opposed to taxpayer funded abortion services, according to a Gallup poll.

The US does not currently operate on a national healthcare system, and therefore the allocation of tax dollars to assist abortions would undeniably promote abortion rather than just permit it.

Obama also hopes to overturn the Bush executive order known as the Provider Conscience Clause, a mandate that allows medical providers to refuse abortion on the basis of personal objection.

Many fear that the repeal of this order will force providers to abandon their practices in states requiring them to perform abortions. This may leave communities with poor healthcare and decreased medical options.

Teen Abortions at Record High in the UK

   

Abortion

Originally uploaded by Amelee S.

Official figures show that more than 50 percent of pregnant teens chose to have a termination in 2007.
    These 21,000 under-18 abortions mark the first rise in rates over the past five years. The number was as low as 40 percent only ten years ago.
    Abortion providers described the landmark as a “positive sign” but pro-life campaigners said it was “frightening”.
    Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the UK’s largest abortion provider, said: “The fact that half of the teenagers in this position felt able to end their pregnancy in abortion is actually a positive sign.”
    Despite the prevalence of birth control and wide availability of emergency contraception, abortion is losing its social stigma among the youth generation.
    BPAS continues to promote abortion as a solution to the increase in teen pregnancy, and Furedi has described the rising numbers as “entirely a good thing.”
    The Government has pledged to allocate more resources to organizations like BPAS, a resolution that horrifyingly promotes abortion as an acceptable form of birth control to young teens.