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abortion

Posts Tagged ‘abortion’

Abortion is not a criminal offence : Northern Ireland joins the 21st Century

Women won’t need to flee Northern Ireland to get an abortion in the rest of the United Kingdom. The province has decided to decriminalise abortion. A woman cold get a legal abortion in Northern Ireland if her life was in serious danger. The law also permitted abortion for victims of rape and incest.

Women seeking an abortion would be judged. And the rules were arbitrary. Criminal offence or public health issue? Who owns a woman’s body? Who knows best?

But at midnight last night, Section 58 and Section 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – which made abortion a criminal offence – were repealed.

Good.

Posted: 22nd, October 2019 | In: News | Comment


A movement towards free abortions on the NHS for Northern Irish women

Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP Scottish government will look at providing free abortions for Northern Ireland women on the NHS. Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, is reported in the Belfast Telegraph as having discussed the plan with the country’s Chief Medical Officer, Catherine Calderwood.

Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland under the terms of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. A woman is a criminal for having an abortion unless the State decides her physical or mental health is at serious risk. Anyone carrying out an abortion in Northern Ireland faces being jailed for life.

Who owns your body? The Northern Irish government exerts more control over women’s reproductive organs than women themselves do. And it’s the same in the Irish republic.

The choice for women seeking an abortion in Ireland is stark: an illegal abortion and prison – and if something goes wrong with the abortion, where do you turn for help if those pills you bought online turn out to be dangerous?; or a flight to Great Britain and lies.

Here’s one example of how woman suffer. In 2016, a Belfast woman was given a suspended one-year sentence for a self-induced abortion. She told her housemates that she tried to travel to England for an abortion but could not afford it. So she bought some pills over the web to induce a miscarriage. Her housemates were “taken back by the seemingly blase attitude” and called the police. Police raided her home and discovered a male foetus inside a black bag in a household bin. They arrested the woman. She was 19.

Figures from the Department of Health in England revealed last week that 724 women from Northern Ireland made the journey to England or Wales for abortions…

The Sunday Times reported yesterday that some Northern Ireland women were already gaining free abortions in Scotland by naming the address of a Scottish friend as their home.

Medics are alleged to turn a blind eye to the fact the women are not living in Scotland.

It’s awful. Abortion should be removed from the criminal law. The State has no business ruling over what a woman can do with her womb.

 

Posted: 20th, June 2017 | In: News | Comment


Ban the DUP from Government and destroy Brexit

Much weeping and wailing over the Tory Party calling on the DUP to form a coalition government. One commentator described the DUP as the locals from The Dukes of Hazard. But ridicule is not enough. The censorious call is for a ban.

The shrill petition against the Tory-DUP deal has hit half a million signatures within 24 hour. What an intolerant, sneering, entitled mob we are. How great it is to be so into freedom, liberty and ‘being myself’ that you can ban other ideas and ‘bad’ people with abandon. The argument is settled! The science is settled! Thou shalt not dissent! No wonder Islamists feel so at home here. But you don’t need knives and bombs to destroy democracy. You just need a free online petition.

But this isn’t really about the red-neck DUP. This is about stopping Brexit. Back in 2015, the New Statesman told us the DUP were Labour’s allies in the General Election battle:

DUP could do a deal with Labour, says party’s Westminster leader – Nigel Dodds says he “can do business” with Ed Miliband and praises his responsible capitalism agenda.

George Eaton had encouraging news on how the DUP and Labour could unite to stop the Tories:

The Northern Irish party is traditionally viewed as a potential partner for the Conservatives, who considered a deal with them before the 2010 election. But when I interviewed the DUP’s Westminster leader, Nigel Dodds, he rejected this characterisation and signalled that he was open to an agreement with Labour.

“We can do business with either of the two leaders, either Ed Miliband or David Cameron, and we will obviously judge what’s in the best interests of the United Kingdom as a whole,” the North Belfast MP told me. “And obviously we’ll also be looking at it from the point of view of the constituencies that we represent in Northern Ireland as a whole. Unionism has worked in the past with Labour governments and we’ve worked in the past with Conservative governments back in the 70s. Indeed, the Ulster Unionist Party propped up the Callaghan administration. But it remains to be seen. We are certainly not in the pocket of either party and we’re certainly in a position where we’re able to negotiate with both of them.”

How ambitious were the DUP? Said Dodds: “We are not interested in a full-blown coalition government with ministerial positions and all of that.” The NS was delighted, calling the DUP’s openness “a boost for Labour”.

The Guardian said “senior Labour and Tory figures believe they will be able to work constructively with the DUP”. Labour saw the DUP as a “reliable partner”. The DUP had a “more natural affinity to Labour”. As for the DUP’s views on homosexuality – Ian Paisley, the party’s founder, once campaigned to “save Ulster from sodomy” – well, that wasn’t an issue:

Labour and the Tories are both troubled by the views of many DUP members on LGBT rights, highlighted by the resignation of the party’s health minister. But that would have no technical impact on negotiations over the formation of a UK government – LGBT matters are devolved to the Northern Ireland assembly.

Wind the clock forward and the DUP are no longer the party of Labour hope, who get on with Labour leaders “extremely well”.  They are regressive and anti-human. They are the “ultra-conservative DUP”, says the Guardian. “The DUP has vetoed the legalisation of same-sex marriage five times in Northern Ireland assembly votes. A majority of DUP members also oppose the legalisation of abortion, which is prohibited in Northern Ireland unless the mother’s life is at risk.”

The “DUP is undoubtedly bad news for the pro-choice movement in Northern Ireland”, says one New Statesman writer. The DUP’s rise to prominence will “embolden other anti-choice MPs”. Another writer tells New Statesmen readers: “Any government that includes the DUP is profoundly bad news for women.” All of them, including Arlene Foster, the DUP’s leader, because “women have the equal opportunity to be depressing misogynists too”. Or to put it another way: not all women agree with one another; they can hold their own views and exercise free will in decision making.

All abortion should be decriminalised. Birth control should be a private matter. But to call the DUP women haters is unhelpful, hyperbolic and deliberately polarising. It’s meant to be, of course. If the DUP are bad for women’s right then any Brexit contracts signed by a Tory-DUP alliance will be bad for women. Ditch the DUP and save womankind. But with no DUP there can be no easy Brexit. Better yet, there’ll be no Brexit at all.

So add your name to the online poll, and defeat the free and legal vote for Brexit, one backed by over 17m low-information, tabloid-duped people between 7am and 10pm on a June day last year. Do it for the many, not the few.

PS: This dicing up of the electorate into gender, race and age is hideous. We don’t vote with our skin, genitals or student ID. We vote with our heads, hearts and wallets. The narrative that says Labour is the party of youth overlooks the number of younger voters who voted Tory and the older voters who were unnerved by the so-called dementia tax and turned away from Theresa May. It also ignores how fluid voting has become. UKIP’s collapse was down to its voters turning to Labour and the Conservatives. Fudge Brexit and UKIP may yet rise again. A return to ‘safe and secure’ two-party politics is far from guaranteed.

 

Posted: 10th, June 2017 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment


Abortion 28, 24 or 20 weeks: who gets to choose?

abortion law bannedAbortion is a serious issue. Pope usually have a view on it. The Mail reports:

Britain’s biggest maternity union has joined forces with abortion providers and radical feminists in an ‘extreme’ campaign to abolish the legal limits on abortion. The Royal College of Midwives, which represents nearly 30,000 midwives and health workers, is calling for women to be allowed to terminate an unborn child at any stage of pregnancy – and face no criminal sanctions.

Abolishing abortion law would do away with the current time limit of 24 weeks of pregnancy, after which a woman can only have a termination for medical reasons.

The legal limits are a shifting sand, changing from 28 weeks to 24 weeks under the terms of The Human Embryology and Human Fertilisation Act 1990. The 28 weeks limit was set under the Abortion Act 1967. Before that abortions were illegal.

It’s not an exact science.

The sensible move it to trust women to decide on their pregnancies, for both moral, social and health issues, and permit doctors to perform safe abortions without fear of criminality. That abortion is a matter of State law is lamentable.

Posted: 15th, May 2016 | In: Reviews | Comment


Free speech: feminist and LGBT groups run scared of University of North Carolina abortion debate

Campus life is an intoletant place. Kaitlyn Schallhorn looks at the story of one female Pro Life student’s dealing with feminist and LGBT organizations at the University of North Carolina – Wilmington.

Madison Marston invited UNCW’s National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), PRIDE, and the Women’s and Gender Studies Student Association (WSSA) to join the debate on Ratio Christi’s chat “Abortion and Human Equality: A Pro Life Defense of the Unborn”.

All the groups declined.

Fair enough. You don’t have to speak. But their response said much about how intolerance and the exchange of ideas is taboo.

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Posted: 18th, February 2015 | In: Reviews | Comment


The Effects Of The Abortion Ban On Teenage Girls And Men In El Salvador

El Salvador hs banned abortion. Amnesty has distilled the effects of this horror into an animated video:

 

Any woman seeking an abortion is now a criminal.

Open Democracy has more:

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Posted: 27th, November 2014 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment


Oxford University Abortion Debate Cancelled Because Protests And Cowards

THE CENSORS won! An Oxford University debate between Brendan O’Neill and Tim Stanley on ‘abortion culture’ is cancelled. Ther would be protests. And that was no good. Christ Church JCR Treasurer, Will Neaverson tells Cherwell:

“I’m relieved the Censors have made this decision. It clearly makes the most sense for the safety – both physical and mental – of the students who live and work in Christ Church. I’m glad the views of the GM were well represented and well received.”

Pathetic. More here.

Posted: 18th, November 2014 | In: Reviews | Comment


A Nation Rises: Obama is staunchly Pro Life (video)

BARACK Obama is anti-abortion. He’s ‘Pro-Life’. Well, so this video says:

Posted: 15th, January 2013 | In: Politicians | Comment (1)


The march for Savita Halappanavar.

AS many as 10,000 people marched through Dublin for Savita Halappanavar. More here. And here.


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Posted: 17th, November 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment


Savita Halappanavar: the UK’s Irish abortion tourists (garph)

DID Ireland’s anti-abortionists kill Savita Halappanavar in Ireland? Did ignorance? Did the Catholic Church? Did misogyny? Who owns your body..?

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Posted: 16th, November 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment


Did Ireland’s anti-abortionists kill Savita Halappanavar? (protest photos)

DID Ireland’s anti-abortionist kill Savita Halappanavar. Mrs Halappanavar was a 31-year-old dentist from India. Seventeen weeks into her pregnancy she suffered a miscarriage. Aware that her baby – her first – was dying inside her, she asked for an abortion. abortion The Irish State refused. The baby died. A few days Savita Halappanavar succumbed to septicaemia.

Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, 34, says Savita asked for an abortion at Galway University Hospital. He has said that doctors refused to carry out a medical termination because the foetus’s heartbeat was present.


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Posted: 14th, November 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)


Dutch abortion boat heads to Morocco

HARD luck on sea sick women. A Dutch “abortion boat” is steaming towards Morocco, where abortion is illegal unless it will save the life of the mother. The ship is operated by Women on Waves (WoW), invited to Morocco by Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties.

Wow’s Rebecca Gomperts tells media:

“The ship is on its way. We can’t yet disclose the place and time of arrival… We expect it to stay for up to a week.”

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Posted: 1st, October 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment


40 Days for Life vigilantes intimidate women in Bedford Square – photos

IN Bedford Square, London, outside the British Pregnancy Advisory Service’s Bedford Square clinic,  the anti-abortion campaigners 40 Days for Life have hosted an anti-abortion “vigil”. It’s intimidating to those seeking help. The 40 Dayers are praying in public. They are making a show of their spirituality and superior knowledge about other people’s lives. They are God’s self-declared representatives on Earth. A group of Pro-choice demonstrators are there too. They are not praying. They are living in the here and the now…

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Pro-choice protesters chant slogans as anti-abortion 40 Days for Life campaign group take part in a vigil in Bedford Square, London.

Posted: 31st, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (4)


Abortion in Texas – one woman’s horror story

HERE’S a horrible story of they do abortion in Texas:

Halfway through my pregnancy, I learned that my baby was ill. Profoundly so. […] “I’m worried about your baby’s head shape,” she said. “I want you to see a specialist—now.”

[… B]efore I’d even known I was pregnant, a molecular flaw had determined that our son’s brain, spine and legs wouldn’t develop correctly. If he were to make it to term—something our doctor couldn’t guarantee—he’d need a lifetime of medical care. From the moment he was born, my doctor told us, our son would suffer greatly.

So, softly, haltingly, my husband asked about termination. The doctor shot me a glance that said: Are you okay to hear this now? I nodded, clenched my fists and focused on the cowboy boots beneath her scrubs.

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Posted: 16th, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (4)


Abortion Is Safer Than Having A Baby: For Who?

THE Telegraph has great headline about abortion – one based on the opinions of experts:

Abortion is safer than having a baby, doctors say

Pregnant women should be told that having an abortion is safer than having the baby, according to medical chiefs.

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Posted: 28th, February 2011 | In: Reviews | Comment


Christian Scripture Supports Murder Of George Tiller

tillerGEORGE Tiller, an abortionist whose office is full of patient testimonies to how he has helped their lives, is murdered by a – get this – pro-lifer.

Dave Leach, who publishes Prayer and Action News, comments on his murder:

“To call this a crime is too simplistic. There is Christian scripture that would support this.”

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Posted: 1st, June 2009 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)


Sex And The City Actress Champions Abortion For Mothers Day

cynthia-nixonSEX And The City actress Cynthia Nixon is in support of what Tim Graham calls “Abortion Incorporated: the Planned Parenthood Federation of America”.

I am Cynthia Nixon. I am an actor, an activist, a mom, a daughter. But today, I am writing to you about motherhood, on behalf of Planned Parenthood and the many people they serve…

As Mother’s Day approaches, I am so grateful for the opportunity to make a difference and hope you’ll join me.

This Mother’s Day, you can make your gift in honor of someone you love. And the fine folks at Planned Parenthood will send that special person a special card saying you’ve chosen to make a gift to Planned Parenthood Federation of America in her or his name.

You’ll be making a gift to millions of mothers — and to a generation of daughters and sons. What a profound way to mark this day.

Graham puts his point succinctly:

The pitch says nothing about the millions of daughters and sons who have been liquidated in Planned Parenthood facilities.

But even better than his considered thoughts are the commentors on his blog. And do bear in mind that Nixon left the father of ther chidlern to live with a woman.

My son was very little [when it happened], but my daughter has a gay uncle [and her godmothers] are lesbians.”

Now read on:

But I wouldn’t take Cynthia Nixon’s advice for anything. She went from being in a relationship with a man to being in a relationship with a woman and she’s only one space alien abduction away from being Anne Heche – gotham pc

The guiding philosophy of Planned Parenthood is that if you didn’t plan her, kill her. Now there’s a warm message we can all embrace, isn’t it? – KC Mulville

I just puked in my mouth…is she serious??? I say “abortions for everyone”!!!! thats what she should of been saying.
have ya seen the “guy” she with? wow – Charlietexas

Why yes! Send your mom a beautiful card announcing that her grandchild was cut up into little bits and dropped into a plastic bucket!! And then thank her for making you such a strong person. She’ll be so proud – MidAmerica

The only difference between the Holocost [sic] and Abortion, is the age of the victim – Poovey

Agree or disagree there is no hiding the fact that when a celebrity speaks they act as polemicist – however trite their views…

Posted: 15th, May 2009 | In: Celebrities | Comment


Vatican Rejects Obama

FOLLOWING The Barack Obama List Of Tax Dodgers this news the Vatican has more Obama rejects:

The Vatican has quietly rejected at least three of President Obama’s candidates to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See because they support abortion…

Bring on the stripping nun!

Spotter: Instapundit

Posted: 10th, April 2009 | In: Reviews | Comment


Abortion Clinic Hit In Plane Crash

A PLANE crashes in Montana, landing in a cemetery killing seven children and seven adults. Fallows blogged about it here. But, as Andrew Sullivan says, nothing beats the Christian News Wire:

What the news sources fail to mention is that the Catholic Holy Cross Cemetery owned by Resurrection Cemetery Association in Butte – contains a memorial for local residents to pray the rosary, at the ‘Tomb of the Unborn’. This memorial, located a short distance west of the church, was erected as a dedication to all babies who have died because of abortion.

What else is the mainstream news not telling you? The family who died in the crash near the location of the abortion victim’s memorial, is the family of Irving ‘Bud’ Feldkamp, owner of the largest for-profit abortion chain in the nation.

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Posted: 25th, March 2009 | In: Reviews | Comments (4)


Barack Obama Kills Black Babies

BARACK Obama supports the “most racist organisation in America”. No, not even the Black Panthers.

The xylophone-driven narrative says Obama supports Planned Parenthood, and Planned Parenthood “kills” hundreds of black babies every day.

The most racist organization in America is the organization that kills the most minorities.

Not the one that would like to kill the most minorites; or is a minoroty that would like the kill everyone else.

From the website:

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is the nation’s leading sexual and reproductive health care advocate and provider. For more than 90 years, we’ve done more than any other organization in the United States to improve women’s health and safety, prevent unintended pregnancies, and advance the right and ability of individuals and families to make informed and responsible choices.

The film if produced by:

Secret of the Rosary is a distributor & publisher of various media that promote the fullness of the Faith in accordance with the teachings of the Church; specializing in roman catholic, christian, religious, & children’s books; religious goods, articles, art, rosaries, videos, music, & prayercards.

What race has to do with religion, the group is unclear on, although everyone on the group’s book covers is white…

Spotter: Cynical-C

Posted: 16th, March 2009 | In: Politicians | Comments (6)


Embryonic Child Porn In Dakota And Thought Crimes

IN Dakota the fertilised egg has full human rights.

In February, the North Dakota House granted a fertilized human egg the legal rights of a human being, a move that would essentially ban abortion in the state.

Representatives voted 51-41 in favour of the measure. The North Dakota Senate will now review.

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Posted: 2nd, March 2009 | In: Politicians | Comments (2)


When Abortion Is Murder

ABORTION is an emotive matter. The self-styled pro-lifers would rather have any life over abotion, however tragic and miserable for mother and child – however much the birth ruins lives.

But what can be made of aborted babies born alive and screaming?

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Posted: 11th, February 2009 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (40)


Aborting The Facts On Down’s Syndrome

DOWN births increase in a caring Britain,” says the Times.

More mothers are choosing to keep their babies when diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome,” says the Mail.

“Children’s quality of life is better and acceptance has risen,” says The Mirror

Elsewhere in the Times, Minette Marrin notes:

Actually, the proportion of pregnant women who choose to abort their foetuses when antenatal screening has detected Down’s syndrome has remained constant since screening started, at about 91%. Also the number of Down’s abortions has tripled since 1989. The total number of babies born with Down’s each year has indeed increased since then, but not by much

So what of the headline-making research? Ben Goldacre says:

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Posted: 30th, November 2008 | In: Reviews | Comment


Andrew Sullivan Stares Inside Sarah Palin’s Womb

ANDREW Sullivan , he of the Sarah Palin Two Wombs, is staring up and at his nemesis:

An interesting debate has been going on out of the media limelight. Sarah Palin’s decision earlier this year to have an amniocentesis to determine if her unborn child had Down Syndrome is not uncontroversial among pro-lifers. I’d be curious to find out from women readers, especially pro-life women readers, what their views of amniocentesis are, and how common it is for totally principled pro-life pregnant women to consent to having them. The reason for the debate is two-fold: a) if you are not considering an abortion, there isn’t much point in having an amniocentesis; and  b) much more important for a pro-lifer, an amniocentesis poses a small but real risk to the life of an unborn child.

She looks pro-Life by choice. She gets to be prepared. And she get to know the sex and pick out a name

The Trig Palin Death Cult

Posted: 16th, September 2008 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)