Posted on 02/16/2009 12:04:22 PM PST by narses
When I became a board member at Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest a few months ago, I was trained in my calling; but nothing could have prepared me for the letter to the editor by Hans Neumann of Spirit Lake that appeared on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
Mr. Neumann, whom I have not met, began with a rant, "Elections have consequences. We lost; they won, so they can do what they want for now."
As a clergyman for most of my adult life, I do not accept "them and us" divisions among and between people with differing views. Planned Parenthood supports keeping abortion legal because it protects women's health and lives. However, we never try to convince someone who opposes abortion they are wrong. Instead, we trust people and seek the middle ground. We understand that the only way to reduce the need for abortion is to ensure people have the family planning information and services they need to apply their own moral compasses and make their own decisions.
Hans Neumann may want to focus on abortion, but at Planned Parenthood our focus is on health care and prevention. Is there really anyone out there who is against the breast and cervical cancer screening we do, the testing for and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, the testicular cancer screening, the annual exams for women who are often too financially disadvantaged to afford anything but the sliding scales we offer to both Washington and Idaho residents? I trust not.
It is pretty clear that the voters of this nation are tired of vitriol being passed off as truth. I will say, however, that from my point of view there is no "we" or "they." And I have seen no indication that "we" have any intention of trying to run over our opposition on any issues.
FATHER PAT BELL
Hayden
Abortion is the ultimate answer to failed contraception. If you fall for the contraception is good fallacy you end up supporting abortion.
Planned Parenthood is the brainchild and proud successor organization to the evil Margaret Sanger, a racist eugenist whose hatefilled evil continues to this day.
Gosh... wouldn't know how to do that...
Wait! Perhaps not having sex with someone who is not your husband might do the trick!
And perhaps we could encourage that behavior by not subsidizing out of wedlock births and abortions!
Wow! Why didn't anyone ever think of that!
That’s one of the best letters to the editor ever written.
Clearly, that is the best solution. But in case you haven’t noticed, humans are flawed hormonal impulsive creatures who don’t always keep it in their pants.
I’m a realist - humans are going to screw up no matter how hard you hammer home the abstinence message. And I’d rather they screw up using birth control than not using it and ending up ending a pregnancy.
LQ
Most of which are apostate.
Thinking along the lines of incentives,
do you think there would be more or less extramarital sex (ie, biblical adultery)
if someone else wasn’t paying for the consequences?
Also, birth control fails, but it sure gives a false sense of security so that there are less disincentives for the behavior which we should be discouraging.
Which "services" are you referring to? Do you mean the distribution of abortofascients?
The common sense solution to abortion is to prevent the unwanted pregnancies from happening in the first place.
Then why has the rate of unintended pregnancy gone UP in the past several decades?
There is a 100% FOOLPROOF METHOD for avoiding pregnancy and it doesn't cost a penny.
Honestly, I don’t think the gov’t baby payments have anything to do with most out-of-wedlock pregnancies (except maybe in the cases of welfare women who plan on getting more money per baby and plot accordingly. Or those pitiful girls who have a baby so “something will love them”, like the way you’d get a dog or a cat).
The times where myself or the people I know who screwed up (yes, I confess, I was a hellion and had a rather wild adolescence despite being raised by VERY strict Christian parents) the LAST thing we were thinking about was “oh, if I get pregnant the gov’t will pay me for it”.
Most thoughts beyond the immediate moment just weren’t there, except for a dim realization that maybe BC would be a good idea (and thank God for that dim thought or I would’ve ended up a statistic).
And no, BC is not foolproof. But it’s a helluva lot better than flinging caution to the wind and not using anything at all.
LQ
Statistics say your assertion is unfounded. You can directly chart the out of wedlock birth explosion directly to the introduction of welfare policy. Trending down before introduction of gov't baby subsidies, and shooting up afterwards.
There you go again using logic and common sense.
Do you really think the genie can be put back in the bottle by cutting the subsidies? (honest question, I’m not trying to slam you).
Maybe it can, but I doubt our libtard society would permit the pain that it would cause (short term, until people got a grip and started keeping it zipped) to happen.
LQ
True, abstinence works. WHEN PEOPLE DO IT (or don’t do it ;) ).
Unfortunately, as I said above, people are flawed and screw up and often don’t do what they should.
LQ
The only way I see it happening is the total default of the US gov’t, which is coming.
You can’t keep spending more than the GDP will support and not have a crash, no matter if you borrow, increase taxes, or inflate the currency.
It may be possible, however, for states to say enough of this destructive policy and stop distributing checks.
That’s all a bit like saying, “the Nazis kept the trains running on time.” The collosal evil of their central activity—killing children—complete overshadows any “good” they might be doing. Children of the devil, by their nature, can’t do any good.
I won't bother. It's too hard to talk to a nitwit let alone trying to reason with one. Thanks anyway.
FMCDH(BITS)
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So is this why the Susan Komen Foundation gives money to Planned Parenthood?
Abortions have consequences...
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