Chosen Child

IC ^ | July 3, 2010 | Marjorie Campbell

[NYer]

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Marjorie Campbell is an attorney and speaker on social issues from a Catholic perspective. She lives in San Francisco with her family, blogs at www.dealwhudson.typepad.com, and writes a regular column, "On the Way to the Kingdom," at

[NYer]

Consider the curious case of Ellen Burstyn -- neither a religious woman nor a pro-life advocate. The well-known 77-year-old actress (The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore) shocked the secular world when she labeled her 18-year-old decision to abort "wrong, young, and dumb." That choice, she said, was "the lowest moment in her life." Understandably curious how a decision made more than 55 years ago could still deeply trouble Burstyn, an antsy male interviewer then asked, "Do you ever get over that?"

Academy Award winning actress Ellen Burstyn Says Abortion was the Worst Thing in Her Life

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[john drake]

Excellent posting, thank you. One issue in the “feminist” mentality for abortion-on-demand that demands women to exert control over their body, etc. for the “betterment and equality” of all women; it always perplexed me that 50% of the children being aborted are female, so where’s the “strength of unit amongst the sisters”, so to speak? The hatred of men by some of them I can understand, but to murder your comrades in arms?

[Carley]

Abortion, like suicide, is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

If we don’t honor life we are less than a loving, caring, compassionate person no matter the rhetoric from the left.

That so many ignored Obama’s stance on not providing medical care for a baby born alive following an attempted abortion ‘because that’s not what the mother wanted’ is the most horrifying aspect of this man’s character. Or is there no soul in him?

I fear for him and I fear for his daughters. To despise unborn life so much...........

There really are no words.

[TigersEye]

But I did learn something I had little appreciated: I learned that loss of an unborn child is no longer communicated as a sad or mournful event, and that the chosen children -- those that a mother chooses to bear -- struggle to reconcile their existence with the elimination of unwanted siblings.

Are your parents Pro-Choice? I guess you got lucky. Is your spouse? Is your doctor?

[NYer]

it always perplexed me that 50% of the children being aborted are female

Do you have a source for this statistic? It is common practice in countries like China and India, to favor the birth of boys over those of girls. This has been exacerbated in China with the one child policy. After decades of the 'one child policy', the Chinese now recognize that giving birth to large numbers of boys necessitates the birth of girls, without whom, there is not future.

[TASMANIANRED]

But I lost a little sister to SIDS when she was a week old.

I know it devastated my Mom and Dad..but I have carried it for years too.

The best friend that I didn’t have, the sister to share being a teenager with, to do all the things that sisters do.

Even as an adult, I’ve wondered about how things would have been different if she had lived.

[NYer]

Abortion, like suicide, is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Bears repeating!

That so many ignored Obama’s stance on not providing medical care for a baby born alive following an attempted abortion ‘because that’s not what the mother wanted’ is the most horrifying aspect of this man’s character. Or is there no soul in him?

That recalls the recent news story about the late term abortion of a baby boy in Italy.

A baby boy abandoned by doctors to die after a botched abortion was found alive nearly a day later. The 22-week infant died one day later in intensive care at a hospital in the mother's home town of Rossano in southern Italy. The mother, pregnant for the first time, had opted for an abortion after prenatal scans suggested that her baby was disabled. However, the infant survived the procedure, carried out on Saturday in the Rossano Calabro hospital, and was left by doctors to die.

He was discovered alive the following day – some 20 hours after the operation – by Father Antonio Martello, the hospital chaplain, who had gone to pray beside his body.

He found that the baby, wrapped in a sheet with his umbilical cord still attached, was moving and breathing.

The priest raised the alarm and doctors immediately arranged for the infant to be taken to a specialist neo-natal unit at the neighbouring Cosenza hospital, where he died on Monday morning.
Full Text

That story bore a hole in my heart and left me in tears. Since then, I have been praying for the mother, daily. She will have to live with this decision, that resulted in a baby born alive, abandoned under a sheet with no food or water, for the rest of her life.

I have not been able to shake the image of this abortion from my mind. This child came into the world, unloved, unwanted and abandoned to live for nearly one day - alone - under a sheet. My one consolation is knowing that a priest came to offer prayers on behalf of the child and its mother.

[Misterioso]

Why did you post this in News/Activism? Dishonest.

[NYer]

Even as an adult, I’ve wondered about how things would have been different if she had lived.

If only ....

Thank you for sharing these emotions. I have siblings I have never met so I can appreciate what you are feeling.

[john drake]

I’m assuming in the United States, not other non-western countries where females are considered less desirable.

[NYer]

There is nothing dishonest about this thread. It is reality.

[The Comedian]

Worshipers of Moloch, whether they know it or not, are going to experience the same fate as their human sacrifices.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[thecodont]

I’ve seen a work environment in which many educated, professional women have a family of two (one boy, one girl) and marvel at how so many of these women managed to be able to choose both the number and gender of their children.

It’s gotten to the point that when I see a family that breaks that pattern (only one child, two children of the same gender, three or more children) I tend to think of those children as “natural” and wanted, rather than “planned.”

[wagglebee]

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[trisham]

What an article.

I have always liked Burstyn. God bless her for speaking out.

[trisham]

Why do you say that?

[afraidfortherepublic]

I did not know that story about Ellen Burstyn. As I remember, she was one of the stars of Spitfire Grill, a movie (14-15-years ago) about a young woman (not Burstyn), ex convict, who works for Burstyn after she suffers an accident.

The young ex-prisoner is haunted about an abortion that was forced on her; and she, in turn, murdered the man who forced her to undergo the abortion. It’s a charming movie until the end when the young woman (who has done much good in this little town) commits suicide and all this back story tumbles out. The ending is a surprise and a shock and is abrupt.

I wonder if Burstyn read the whole script before she took the role and how she felt about making that movie. I wonder if it colored her thinking on life issues.

[RnMomof7]

What an excellent article ...it touched my heart ...

The right to life movement has been able to prevent the ‘normalization ‘ of abortion as morally neutral as has happened in Europe..

My thanks and prayers for the warriors for life