Live Action

New at Live Action: "Safe, Legal, and Rare"?

Calvin Freiburger abortion, Live Action, New York Times, pregnancy, pro-life, sex

My latest Live Action post:

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: “We support a woman’s right to choose, but that doesn’t mean we think abortion is a good thing. We want abortion to be safe, legal, and rare, so we prefer to find ways to reduce women’s need for abortion.”

It’s a neat, tidy bit of rhetoric that enables pro-choicers to distance themselves from the injustice of abortion while simultaneously spinning policies like forced contraception coverage as somehow pro-life. It doesn’t hold up too well under logical scrutiny—if abortion isn’t the taking of an innocent life, then who cares how rare it is?—but on the whole, it’s been a useful propaganda tool.
However, over the weekend New York Times columnist Ross Douthat took a look at how well the “safe, legal, and rare” strategy has worked out. His conclusion? It hasn’t:

To begin with, a lack of contraceptive access simply doesn’t seem to be a significant factor in unplanned pregnancy in the United States. When the Alan Guttmacher Institute surveyed more than 10,000 women who had procured abortions in 2000 and 2001, it found that only 12 percent cited problems obtaining birth control as a reason for their pregnancies. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of teenage mothers found similar results: Only 13 percent of the teens reported having had trouble getting contraception.

Read the rest at Live Action.

New at Live Action – New Report on Murder of Pregnant Women Reveals Why Misogynists Love Abortion

Calvin Freiburger abortion, feminism, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, hypocrisy, Live Action, pregnancy, women
My latest Live Action post:
Just as pro-aborts are redoubling their efforts to persuade America that the champions of “choice” are vital to women’s independence and well being, a new report emerges suggesting just the opposite. The report, just published by Life Dynamics, compiles eighty known cases of women who were murdered because they refused to have an abortion:

One such example is Valicia Demery. When Bernard Bellamy Jr. learned she was pregnant he ordered her to have an abortion. When she refused, Bellamy ran her over with his car and left her to die. The night before the murder Bellamy sent Demery a text message telling her to come to her senses before it’s too late. When asked, “B4 what’s too late?” he replied, “ U will C.”

Life Dynamics founder, Mark Crutcher, suggests that the actual number of women victimized for refusing abortion is much higher, since women who succumb to intimidation and get abortions often let the incident go unreported.  And while abortion’s political defenders obviously aren’t condoning this behavior, Crutcher doesn’t think they’re completely blameless, either:
Read the rest at Live Action.

New at Live Action – RH Reality Check’s Strangest Pro-Abortion Tirade Yet

Calvin Freiburger abortion, demagogues, dishonesty, hypocrisy, Live Action, pro-choice, pro-life, sex, slander, women's rights
My latest Live Action post:
Because it’s impossible for pro-aborts to claim the moral high ground when debating abortion on the procedure’s merits, it’s more common for them to shift the conversation to different criteria that superficially cast pro-lifers in a less sympathetic light.
This weekend, RH Reality Check published an article by Ann Rose, a diarist at the rabidly left-wing Daily Kos, which purports to explain that pro-lifers aren’t interested in saving babies at all; we just want to dominate women’s sex lives:

[A]n anti-abortion right-wing Republican gets pregnant and doesn’t want to be, she has a “good reason” for not wanting to be pregnant and get an abortion.  You see, her reason is different and more justifiable than the pathetic excuses of all those sluts in the waiting room at the abortion clinic.  All those sluts are getting an abortion for “convenience” and “selfishness” and maybe even “punishment” for being a slut.
I’ve seen it with my very own eyes.  One day, they’re out picketing the abortion clinic. Next day, oops, they’re inside getting an abortion. Then, they’re back outside picketing. Major disconnect.

I’m sure there are women whose pro-life principles crumble when they find themselves pregnant. I’m also sure there are pro-abortion misogynists, gun control activists who pack heat, ministers who lie, charity workers who cheat on their taxes, environmentalists who litter, and school choice opponents who send their own kids to private schools. So what?
Read the rest at Live Action.

New at Live Action – Buffy the Unborn Slayer?

Calvin Freiburger abortion, blogosphere, comics, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Live Action, pop culture, pregnancy, pro-life, TV

My latest Live Action post:

Popular action-drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer may have left the airwaves in 2003, but the adventure continues in a comic book series produced by original series creator Joss Whedon. This week, the comic caught the attention of USA Today for an upcoming story in which protagonist Buffy Summers finds herself single, jobless, and pregnant after a drunken party she barely remembers. Unwilling to simultaneously deal with both parenthood and monster fighting, she plans to have an abortion.
Whedon explains:

“Buffy was always about the arc of a life, and it wasn’t ever going to be one of those shows where they were perpetually in high school and never asked why,” Whedon says. “It was about change. So there’s never a time when Buffy’s life isn’t relevant.” […]
“It offends me that people who purport to be discussing a decision that is as crucial and painful as any a young woman has to make won’t even say something that they think is going to make some people angry.”

Right off the bat, the story’s premise seems highly suspect: after seven seasons’ worth of fighting evil and having the weight of the world on her shoulders, Buffy still lets her guard down so fully that she can get unknowingly impregnated by strangers?

Read the rest at Live Action.

New at Live Action – Michelle Goldberg’s Lame, Arrogant Excuses for the Obama Birth Control Mandate

Calvin Freiburger birth control, Constitution, dishonesty, freedom, health care, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Live Action, Michelle Goldberg, Newsweek, Obama, ObamaCare, religion
My latest Live Action post:
Hot off the heels of trashing Lila Rose, Newsweek’s Michelle Goldberg jumps into the ObamaCare-contraception fray with a Daily Beast column arguing that forcing Catholic institutions to offer birth control is no big deal. Unfortunately for the Obama Administration, however, her apologia is a train wreck of distortions and non sequiturs:

But many Catholic institutions are already operating in states that require contraceptive coverage, such as New York and California. Such laws are on the books in 28 states, and only eight of them exempt Catholic hospitals and universities. Nowhere has the Catholic Church shut down in response. 

Really? According to the non-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures, the actual number of states with religious exemptions is twenty, making the truth the exact opposite of what Goldberg describes. Maybe that has something to do with why Catholics would consider the White House’s decision a dramatic change in the status quo?

New at Live Action – Dr. Ron Paul’s Backward Position on Rape Abortions

Calvin Freiburger abortion, hypocrisy, libertarianism, Live Action, pro-life, rape, Ron Paul
My latest Live Action post:
Libertarian Republican and presidential contender Ron Paul made headlines recently for an exchange with CNN’s Piers Morgan about how to handle rape pregnancies. Pro-aborts are scratching their heads wondering what “honest rape” means, while pro-lifers question just how pro-life the Texas Congressman really is:
MORGAN: You have two daughters. You have many granddaughters. If one of them was raped — and I accept it’s a very unlikely thing to happen. But if they were, would you honestly look at them in the eye and say they had to have that child if they were impregnated?
PAUL: No. If it’s an honest rape, that individual should go immediately to the emergency room. I would give them a shot of estrogen or give them –
MORGAN: You would allow them to abort the baby? 
PAUL: It is absolutely in limbo, because an hour after intercourse or a day afterwards, there is no legal or medical problem. If you talk about somebody coming in and they say, well, I was raped and I’m seven months pregnant and I don’t want to have anything to do with it, it’s a little bit different story.
Read the rest at Live Action.

New at Live Action – Newt Gingrich Tries to Paint Mitt Romney as an Enemy of Catholic Hospitals

Calvin Freiburger birth control, Catholic Church, conscience rights, dishonesty, Gingrich, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Live Action, personal attacks, religion, romney

My latest Live Action post:

What many have decried as an unusually nasty campaign got even nastier earlier this week, as Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich accused rival Mitt Romney of being insensitive to religious liberty and conscience rights:

“You want a war on the Catholic Church by Obama? Guess what: Romney refused to allow Catholic hospitals to have conscience in their dealing with certain circumstances,” Gingrich said, apparently referring to the handling of emergency contraception in universal health care laws.

But HotAir.com provides more context, revealing that the truth is more complex. In 2005, Romney actually did just the opposite: he vetoed a bill that would have forced Massachusetts hospitals to offer abortive contraception:

[T]his particular bill does not require parental consent even for young teenagers. It disregards not only the seriousness of abortion but the importance of parental involvement and so would weaken a protection I am committed to uphold.

Read the rest at Live Action.

New at Live Action – Kansas Judges in Hot Water for Donating to Pro-Life Cause

Calvin Freiburger abortion, bias, Constitution, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, judicial activism, Live Action
A bit of a scandal is brewing in Kansas over two sitting judges, Eric Yost and Jeffrey Goering, who have each donated $100 to the Kansans for Life PAC, yet have not recused themselves from abortion-related cases. This is perfectly legal in Kansas, but not everyone is satisfied:

“Judges are held to the highest conduct standards, and they should be,” said Adam Skaggs, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s law school. “The best practice is going to be to avoid contributing to political organizations because of the inevitable appearance of partiality that those kinds of donations create.”
Kansas Sen. John Vratil, a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and an attorney, said he wants to examine the state’s rule for political contributions by judges.
“It can’t be good for the judiciary because it reflects on their impartiality,” Vratil said.
While the Kansas Code of Judicial Ethics broadly prohibits activities that appear to present a conflict of interest, it also specifically allows judges chosen in partisan elections – as Yost and Goering were – to make contributions to political organizations “at any time.”

The federal court system’s Code of Conduct forbids judges from contributing to specific parties and candidates for office, but doesn’t explicitly say they can’t donate to issue-based organizations.
Read the rest at Live Action.

New at Live Action – Michelle Obama Fails Women Victimized by Planned Parenthood

Calvin Freiburger abortion, feminism, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Live Action, Planned Parenthood
At Live Action, I have a new post on how the First Lady is helping pro-aborts pretend they have women’s best interests at heart:
Traditionally, the wives of Presidents use their role as First Lady of the United States to champion feel-good, relatively nonpartisan causes. Rosalynn Carter promoted the arts. Laura Bush spoke about reading. Current First Lady Michelle Obama’s cause has been encouraging healthy habits among children. But as Steven Ertelt reports, some of Mrs. Obama’s guests at a recent Women of Courage Award ceremony send a much darker message:
The award recipients were also invited to the White House event that commemorated the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and recognizing March as Women’s History Month in the United States. However, the president of the national Planned Parenthood abortion business was there. Cecile Richards sent a message on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon that she was “Celebrating the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day at the White House with First Lady Michelle Obama.”
Read the rest here.