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I heard about this on the news a little earlier this evening: Doctor George Tiller was killed. That's not pro-life. That's not "pro" anything. A true pro-lifer would be working to help women in crisis pregnancies (in any of a number of ways), to foster or adopt children, or to help children in poverty. A true pro-lifer helps the poor and homeless. Many of us pro-lifers also oppose war and the death penalty.
A true pro-lifer doesn't kill. Period. And when I note that the killer shot Dr. Tiller while the doctor was in church, I pretty much run out of words.
I'm sorry for the loss Dr. Tiller's family and friends have suffered. I'm sorry that his life was wrongly cut short, and I'll pray for him and his family. I read that a suspect is in custody. I hope they have the perp, or that they get the perp, and that the justice system works.
A true pro-lifer doesn't kill. Period. And when I note that the killer shot Dr. Tiller while the doctor was in church, I pretty much run out of words.
I'm sorry for the loss Dr. Tiller's family and friends have suffered. I'm sorry that his life was wrongly cut short, and I'll pray for him and his family. I read that a suspect is in custody. I hope they have the perp, or that they get the perp, and that the justice system works.
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I'm still kind of twitchy about this. Grr.
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I know responses like yours are more common than the one I came across, but it's still good to be reminded.
And, yes, just. Augh.
Many of us pro-lifers also oppose war and the death penalty.
It's like the quote from The West Wing - "Say what you like about the Catholic church, but their stance on life is unimpeachable" (I think that was in the episode about the death penalty, but I'm not sure).
I just. I wish health care and woman's reproductive health care and family planning and birth control and counseling and such was supported to the point that abortion could be rare enough that we wouldn't need to have this political gulf where crazy people feel the need to kill.
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I think what always surprises me is how much the crazies think they are not crazy, and call out the crazies from groups they oppose and completely miss why that might be, well, hypocritical.
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EXACTLY. And that is how we will end, or nearly end, abortion (which was around long before Roe v. Wade, so it's not like reversing that would end it). What people have been trying for twenty-five years now hasn't worked. Countries with better health care have lower abortion rates. We can do better. We can do far, far better.
I wasn't even sure if I should post on this; I'm not going to change anyone's mind, I know. But I figured some nutcases would be posting bad stuff about it, and I can't just let that pass in silence. (Of course, I don't have to read the nutcases, either.)
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This is a point that I've been trying to tell people and I end up being called names. I'm so glad I'm not alone in my thinking because I was beginning to think I was.
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This time, I just felt I had to say something, and I'm glad it's meaningful to people.
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*nods* I mean, it's never going to end completely. If you read about a lot of George Tiller's cases, almost all of them were like most late-term abortions: hard choices which had to be made by parents who wanted a child and found out the mother's life was in jeopardy or the child was so deformed he/she wasn't going to survive. I don't see how we're ever going to be able to make it so abortions like that never happen. Though I question whether "abortion" is entirely the right term for removing a non-viable fetus from a woman's body.
But if we can make it so that health care is so good and education is so good that we can essentially prevent unwanted pregnancies and the kinds of abortions that, I think, are a more morally grey area, I think that would be a great victory on all sides.
I'm not going to change anyone's mind
Yeah. My policy class classified abortion as...I can't remember the term. But more or less one of those debates where both sides have very strong arguments which are objectively valid and neither side is likely to ever convince the other side.
I recommend avoiding the nutcases! Sometimes I wonder if they realize how much they really aren't helping their position.
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Damn...and you're right - that's NOT pro-life, but it IS unfortunately what most people think of when they 'think' prolife. That the whole group is like that, which I know it is not!
I'm pro-choice - I know we'll never see eye to eye on this, and that is totally cool - but we have the same motives when it comes down to it - the preservation of life and health. I know there are people out there trying to help - but then you get assholes like these who are DOING IT WRONG. That is not the way to solve a problem. The doctor was just doing his job (and peobably figured since people are going to have abortions - better it be someone who will not harm them, or them go to someone who will - or worse yet, do it themselves!) and this is his thanks? That's freaking terrible!
What is wrong with the world?
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*Smishes you tight, tight*
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In the end, a world where abortions are not illegal, just unnecessary is what I hope for.
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a world where abortions are not illegal, just unnecessary
Amen.
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I think you know that I agree the best course of action would be to make abortion unnecessary. It's a horrible choice for anyone to have to make.
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I think you know that I agree the best course of action would be to make abortion unnecessary.
Absolutely.
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I confess I often assume many of the pro-life people are like these rabid nuts who are out to destroy all the Planned Parenthood clinics--never mind that most of them are there to help people plan their reproductive lives, not to help them have abortions. I am so sick of living in a state (Missouri) where our legislature takes away all the Planned Parenthood funding, etc., because of the small number of abortions also performed there. And so the cycle continues--so many poor women who can't afford birth control, but keep having sex and therefore babies they don't want and cannot afford to care for properly.
I'm 58. long past the years of needing to worry about my own fertility (luckily, my tubal ligation worked and I never faced an unwanted pregnancy, but I'd have had an abortion if it had ever happened to me), but I am concerned for my niece and all the other women who need good birth control, and need to be free to make their own choice if that birth control fails.
I'm glad to know there are pro-life people here who are not the kind who think it's fine to kill someone, just because they disagree with what he is doing. That abortion doctor, and many others, are very brave and heroic, in my opinion, for the climate of fear they have to work in every day. And that includes all the clinic employees of all types, as well. I salute them and hope thid killrt is speedily brought to justice.
And, yes, we so need to improve our health care and reproductive options so that women can prevent pregnancy if they choose to and so will never have to make the choice of an unwanted baby or an abortion.
Melissa M.
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