Anti-teen pregnancy poster (Credit: Polina Sergeeva)
Posted on 08/30/2009 9:04:16 AM PDT by wagglebee
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin missed a great opportunity to personally kick off an issue of enormous importance to her state and to the nation.
She was scheduled to appear with me at an Alaska Family Council event in Anchorage to launch Alaska’s Parental Involvement Initiative, which will require parental notification of teenage girls under age 18 before they can get an abortion. But, the schedules of we mortals cannot retard the imperatives of history, so, despite Mrs. Palin’s absence, we’ve gone to war with the army we have.
Currently 35 states have laws that require either parental consent or notification in order for a teenage girl to receive an abortion. Alaska passed one in 1997.
However, after ten years on the books, in 2007 the Alaska Supreme Court, arguing that sharing this information with parents violated the privacy of their teenage daughters, found the law unconstitutional. So now a 13 year old can get an abortion without the knowledge of her parents.
Anti-teen pregnancy poster (Credit: Polina Sergeeva)
A large percentage of these abortions are paid for with state Medicaid funds, but no one seems to think that parents’ privacy is being violated using their tax funds to pay for these.
Research shows the remedial benefits of parental involvement when a pregnant teenager considers abortion.
And research shows the profound psychological damage caused by teenage abortion.
But, perhaps we should be wondering who we are today that we need to gather data to address an issue as intuitively obvious as whether a teenage girl may abort her child without her parents knowing.
Of course there are exceptional considerations, like abusive parents. But the Alaska initiative deals with this, as did a similar initiative in California, which was defeated last November.
No, this is not about being reasonable. It is about ideology. And what we have are opposing worldviews that cannot be reconciled. It’s about choosing one or the other.
One view is secular, materialistic, and sees only individuals and the rights they claim.
The other view is about truths that precede individuals, and social realities of which individuals are a part, like family.
This contrast and conflict could not have been more clearly laid out than in an exchange at a congressional hearing last April between pro-life New Jersey congressman Chris Smith and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Smith was questioning current Administration policies to promote abortion internationally. As part of his questioning, he waxed philosophic and asked Mrs. Clinton about her recent acceptance of Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger award. Sanger founded Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
He pointed out to Mrs. Clinton that Sanger was a eugenicist and racist who said “The most merciful thing a family does for one of its infant members is to kill it.”
The Secretary of State listened stoically and then replied: “We have a fundamental disagreement …We happen to think that family planning is an important part of women’s health, and reproductive health includes access to abortion.”
A century and a half ago, a fundamental conflict in values in our nation came to a head. In one view, black African slaves were not human, so the question of slavery was about political, not moral, reality. The other view saw the slaves as human and slavery as a moral outrage. The conflict fomented at the nation’s grass roots until it exploded in the national arena.
The parental involvement ballot initiative in Alaska is about Americans again grappling at our grass roots with crucial basic questions that divide us that must be resolved.
Are we a people that see the unborn, family, and individuals as all part of the fundamental fabric of life? Or are we a materialistic, secular nation of individuals making political claims on each other?
Star Parker is president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education and author of the new book White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay. Prior to her involvement in social activism, Star Parker was a single welfare mother in Los Angeles, California. After receiving Christ, Star returned to college, received a BS degree in marketing and launched an urban Christian magazine.
She nails it here!
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It's just so wrong.
If she didn't confirm, then there's no use whining about it.
I told my kids that “sex” is not the proper term. “Mating” is the proper term; it’s purpose is to create little monsters just like themselves.
Special Agent Eric Gonzalez, the FBI's Alaska spokesman, debunked the theory in a L.A. Times story. "There is absolutely no truth to those rumors that we're investigating her or getting ready to indict her," Special Agent Eric Gonzalez said in a phone interview Saturday. "It's just not true." He added that there was "no wiggle room" in his comments for any kind of inquiry. Source
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Seen here at 24 weeks - six months from conception, the unborn child is covered with a fine, downy hair called lanugo. His tender skin is protected by a waxy substance called vernix. Some of this substance may still be on the child's skin at birth at which time it will be quickly absorbed. The child practices breathing by inhaling amniotic fluid into developing lungs.
"It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government" - Thomas Paine
Spread a lie and then talk about the evils of abortion.
Star Parker does a disservice to the anti-abortion cause.
We need about a million more Star Parkers!
Why did you post that discredited libel against Palin? Should I just boot your ass out of here now or later?
For Star Parker to have written that, she must have believed it to be true. She may have been misinformed, and should have fact-checked better, but I doubt she would knowingly lie.
I agree. If Star Parker was told by organizers of a pro-life event in Alaska that Sarah Palin would be there as well she would have no reason to question it. It’s not really the responsibility of a speaker to verify if the other speakers will actually be appearing.
For Star Parker to have written that, she must have believed it to be true. She may have been misinformed, and should have fact-checked better, but I doubt she would knowingly lie.
Yes, to be clearer with terminology, somebody can unkowningly spread a lie. It's not the same thing as lying.
If somebody leads an article with criticism of another persons actions, it is the responsibility of the author to get the facts correct.
Rule on FR: “Thou shall not be critical of Palin or face dismissal.” Geez I expect that from the Obama folks
I asked the question because my brother in law was claiming she was indicted for embezzlement. I told him that was discredited. He told me if I seen the updated info. I couldn't find it anywhere so I asked if someone knew something I didn't
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin missed a great opportunity to personally kick off an issue of enormous importance to her state and to the nation.
Rules of TROLLING on Free Republic:
1. Make libelous statements about a conservative, but phrase it as a question so as to maintain deniability.
2. Compare conservatives to leftists.
2 (alt). Compare social conservatives to the Taliban.
Somebody on another thread suggested she put her official engagement schedule on FB. She can state clearly that if she doesn't have a date penciled in there, the world can correctly assume any other alleged appearance is unconfirmed & she'll not be where other people are claiming she'll be. She needs to take control of the situation now & not leave herself vulnerable to people trying to embarrass her, or even simply try to boost their ticket sales by cashing in on her name - whether or not that's the case here, I have no idea. Otherwise, it unfairly feeds into the bogus meme in the MSM that's she's flighty. And why give the Palinphobes the opportunity to do that?
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