(no subject)

[darren_stranger]

Pill Propelled Into Abortion Debate

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3652462.stm

"The birth control pill revolutionised women's health - and grew to become one of the most popular forms of family planning. But it is now under attack from pro-life groups in the US. A growing number of doctors and pharmacists are now refusing to dispense it, on the grounds that it is actually a form of abortion" (as it can occasionally allow an egg to be fertilised but not implanted).

Now, i'm still very much undecided on the question of abortion itself, as a very complex issue, but this latest angle does seem to support the idea that at least part of the Moral Majority's attachment to 'pro-life' issues may be, at some level, rooted in not wanting to see 'sinners' escape the consequences of promiscuity. At a more rational level, targetting contracepton could be seen as a way to discourage sexual promiscuity by increasing the risks.

Thinking about it that way, the fundamentalists' campaigns against safe sex education etc start to take on a much more disturbing character.

Comments

[gothsuck.livejournal.com]

Is there anything that isnt sinful in these horific days?!

I am a woman that has been on the birth control pill for over 15 years. I DO NOT want children but cannot get my tubes tied as I have been told I am "too young" at 32 & I MAY want to have them in the future. GET FUCKED DOCTOR! Now THIS just makes me fume.
I DO NOT want to get an abortion EVER in my life.
Why if I chose NOT to have children am I a bad sinful person?
And if I WANT to kill my own eggs/feotus for that matter - its my fuckin body & I am sure if some women got pushed to the point - we will be going back to the old coat hanger up the duff.

~~sighs~~ What is this world coming to? I dont like it one little bit.

[gothsuck.livejournal.com]

Woops sorry I was all uptight while writing this - I meant
Why if I choose not to have children am I a bad & sinful person?

Sorry Darryn - but when pro lifers get up my spine I am not a nice person.

[morgan303.livejournal.com]

Hi there. Firstly, I couldn't agree more. Pro-lifers make me boil, especially male ones, for obvious reasons (if it's not your body, shut the hell up).
Secondly, I think we were in the VicGoth parade together the other night (if you're who I think you are, you gave me a lovely pair of pointy shoes which I thoroughly appreciate), and I've added you. I hope you don't mind!

[gothsuck.livejournal.com]

Hello Sarah - yes I do remember you. I am so happy the pointy shoes have gone to a good home.
:)
Cool - I will add you too.

[dcarson.livejournal.com]

Hey, check out this Christian Values Checklist (http://www.acl.org.au/pdfs/load_pdf_public.pdf?pdf_id=96&checksum=4561f1f34837c044d01a65b1e57444b7) from the "Australian Christian Lobby" for our upcoming election!

The Greens and Democrats both score 0% for Christian values.

But tell me if you find the second last "value" on the list as bewildering as I do.

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Can't read the page for some reason, but i'd be curious what they put forward as 'Christian Values' (i would have thought a lot of the Dems' and Greens' social justice policies would have been quite compatible with Christian values, though they probably lose points for being gay-friendly).

[dcarson.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, yep, the majority of it was gay-bashing. Plus abortion, euthanasia, drug decriminalisation, etc.

But the one that gobsmacked me was "Overturn ratification of Internation Criminal Court". How THAT could be a "Christian Value" I cannot fathom. But the Christian Democrat Party say it is!

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Ah, was able to access it from work. Wow, it's even worse than i'd imagined - basically a checklist of hate from the sort of people who think 'morality' is about sex and 'Christian values' means hating gays, dole bludgers and drug users.

Unsurprisingly, they seem to have ignored "non-core" Christian values like charity (if you have two coats, give one to someone who has none), non-judgement (whoever is without guilt casting the first stone), not being rich (easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than the rich to enter heaven) and all those other hippy pinko poofo non-hating bits.

I wonder if real Christians are equally disgusted by these Godhatesfags types.

[morgan303.livejournal.com]

No offence, but I always find myself a little amused when men say they're 'not sure where they stand' on the abortion issue. Maybe if it was they who had a choice of either abstaining from sex altogether (because birth control is notoriously unreliable - and often quite uncomfortable), or essentially giving up twenty-plus years of their lives raising a child, they'd be a little more circumspect.:) It's very easy to have an opinion on something in which one doesn't have much of a personal stake.

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

To my way of thinking, the moment of birth seems a *very* arbitrary point at which to say an unborn child becomes a human with human rights. Perhaps there's some point in between that's more appropriate (there is that time they describe as 'quickening' perhaps) but the argument that the moment of conception is the least arbitrary and so most appropriate has at least some merit. Conceptually, i can imagine some sort of gradient, where the human rights of a foetus would increase as it goes from a fertilised egg through to a fully developed baby, though how you could deal with something like that in law, and weighing those rights against the rights of a mother etc, would be very complex (and possibly raise other difficult issues as well).

Personally, it's all a very grey area, and my gut feeling is that it's too grey for the law to intrude in, not to mention the practical angles as well (safe, medically controlled abortions vs 'backyard' hack jobs, etc).

And, as you point out, i'm never going to have to make that decision about myself, so it's not something i would feel conmfortable pushing a position on, even if i had one.

[missmalice.livejournal.com]

What I find interesting, is that is is only NOW that all of these doctors and pharmacists are refusing to prescribe the pill. We all know how it works, we know how it has worked for years, so why are the pro-lifers choosing NOW to get all hysterical about it and have all the other stupid pro-lifers/anti-birth control freaks jump on board?

This makes me feel ill, it really does. So glad i'm not American.

[jagaroth.livejournal.com]

Only in "Christian" America (Hopefully).