Fetus vs. Baby

I really feel like this guy must be a parody. But either way, had to share.

I recently posted an article from Youth Defense on twitter, called "When the Washing Post decides a "fetus" is a baby", and in response, a tweeton known as @TheAbortionist tweeted:

Classy (not!!), but true.

A Disclaimer

Before you start, in case you are unable to tell, I have wanted to include this particular disclaimer in one of my posts for AGES now!

So, let us begin.

To all of you atheist/agnostic/secular people who comment on my blog/twitter - YES, I am a Catholic! I'm a really shitty Catholic - I sin a lot, I haven't gone to confession since grade school, and I always forget to go to mass on Sundays (or on any day of the week), but I am a Catholic nonetheless. I was baptized, I went through all the sacraments one could be expected to at my age, and, in spite of my overall failure at being faithful, I absolutely, wholeheartedly love my church. So, yes, I am Catholic, and if you decide that my being Catholic somehow precludes me from having any type of legitimate, well-thought-out, consistent opinion on anything, well ... please move along. I'm tired of dealing with you, and I am tired of being judged based solely on a label that you apparently do not understand. By all means, dislike me for my opinions and make fun of me for my ideals, but please make sure that what you dislike and what you make fun of actually exist before you open your traps and dismiss me for one small characteristic of my (overall) less-than-satisfactorily-Catholic self.

I am this ...

That being said, I am also a scientist (a real-honest-to-God-legitimate scientist - as in, someone who does experiments with fancy, high-tech, cutting-edge equipment that one built oneself - equipment, btw, that doesn't actually look as fancy or as high-tech as movies and TV shows like to pretend because really, when someone is trying to do something new, everything is a huge mess). Actually, I am currently in grad school. That's right. I'm getting my PhD, I love (and study) science, I'm a woman, and I'm pro-life, and I'm Catholic. Let your minds be blown. Catholic pro-lifers who are actually smart actually exist! *huge gasp*

... and this at the same time! Crazy, eh?

P.S. Chemistry is my least-favourite science.
But this was the most awesome science-y pic I could find.

 
I hope I've just blown away all of your Christian stereotypes (if you had any to begin with, and I hope you didn't).

This disclaimer has been included so that those of you reading know my biases, and can hopefully move past your own when dealing with the opinions of either religious people or scientific people when they are applied to either abortion or sex - or to anything at all, really.

So moral: Catholic women can be Catholic, pro-life, and science nerds all at the same time. :)

Also, read BadCatholic's "How to suck at your religion" to get a taste of just how annoying false stereotypes can be.

\end {document}

Call for Thoughts & Prayers

This is just a quick post to refer you to some recent tragic news. Please keep all the victims in your thoughts and, if applicable, your prayers.

Aurora Batman Shooting

Pro-life student killed on cross-country walk

Women bleeds to death after abortion

This is a time when solidarity and love can go a long way.

Quote of the Week: "I took my own children's lives ... twice."

Abby is a former PP clinic director who became a pro-life
advocate after witnessing an abortion through an ultrasound

"I abused and betrayed women in the worst possible way. I convinced them to kill their children. I was an accomplice to murder. [...] I took my own children's lives ... twice. Not because I was coerced. Not because I didn't know better. But because I thought children would be an inconvenience to my lifestyle. I am responsible for their death[s] ... no one else. So when someone says things like, 'murderers don't deserve to breath the same air as I do,' it hurts a little. Because that was me. But I am still here ... breathing that same air ... and trying to spend my life righting my wrongs. [...] Right now, I shouldn't be in this movement. I should be the COO of the 4th largest revenue generating Planned Parenthood affiliate in the country. I should be overseeing the largest abortion facility in the Western Hemisphere. I should be making 6 times the amount of money that I make in the pro-life movement. But I'm not. Why? Because of forgiveness. Because of mercy. Because of grace. Because of God."
- Abby Johnson

Read more at LifeNews.com

Quote of the Week: "It's clearly human"

“We can accept that the embryo is a living thing in the fact that it has a beating heart, that it has its own genetic system within it.  It’s clearly human in the sense that it’s not a gerbil and we can recognize that it is human life -- but the point is not when does life begin, but when does it … begin to matter.”
- Ann Furedi, BPAS director & England's best-known abortionist, at the Battle of Ideas Festival in London 2008 

Read more at: Making elective abortions unlawful: photo is not a harangue 

Song of the Week: Breaking You by Audrey Assad

 
Audrey is the cutest. And her voice is amazing. Even my atheist friends love her.

Also, if you like her music, please purchase The Cancer Year benefit EP, to help Audrey and her husband pay for her husband's cancer treatment.

Lyrics for Breaking You

You’ve been let down, it’s true
Your pain is so easy to see
You’re hunted by your history
and it feels like you’ve got no escape

Your life left you high and dry
You used to be sure of yourself
But then your whole world went to hell
and tomorrow looks like just like today

So, you lie on your bed, you wont let the morning come in
And you hide in your room, feeding that fear and its killing you
don’t you know
that its killing me too, cause your heart break is breaking you

I miss the life in your eyes
the home that I found in your arms
and now you don’t know who you are
but I wont give up on you
on no

You lie on your bed, you wont let the morning come in
And you hide in your room, feeding that fear and its killing
don’t you know
that its killing me too, cause your heart break is breaking you

and you lost your fight
and your flame’s gone out
and your down on your knees
cause your life is not what you thought it would be
no,

lift up your head
help is on the way
and it wont pass you by
you just gotta reach out your hand
lift up your eyes
love is on the way
and it wont pass you by
you just gotta reach out your hand

go on and lift up your head
because love is on its way
and it wont pass you by
you’ve just gotta reach out your hand

Pregnancy is Like Rape. Except it isn't.

Just wanted to highlight a comment I read recently that really spoke to me (emphasis my own). Here, the commenter is responding to the idea that unwanted pregnancies are akin to rape:

"To compare an innocent unborn baby to a rapist is disgusting and abhorrent. Pregnancy is not a perversion of one's right, and an innocent unborn child should never be looked at in the same moral terms as a criminal with its own agency.

Like it or not, pregnancy is a completely natural consequence of sexual activity. [...] To treat the unwanted result as a perversion of the natural order that should never be allowed to exist is what's really abhorrent here.

If one really thinks that unborn babies and the process that generates them (pregnancy) belongs on the same moral status as a rapist, I don't think there's really anything we can do to stop [their abortions] [...] One can't fight such a hostile belief system that immediately rejects anything that disrupts their desires as a grave threat that needs to be expunged with malice."

- Anonymous, who responded to the post "'Gnawing at my belly, chewing through my organs.'" by Secular Pro-life

 I made a comment on the article as well where I explained that having children and teenagers work with newborns and expectant mums would help get rid of the irrational fear of pregnancy that many young women seem to have (after all, what's rational about comparing your own baby that you and your partner put there to an alien invader?). I disagree with Anonymous' last point about not being able to fight this kind of belief system - we can. We might not reach the people who already think this way, but by educating young people we can help ensure that the next generations stop looking at pregnancy as something that is completely terrifying. Life-changing? Yes. Joyful? Yes. Sad? Sometimes. Scary? Often. Something that should be compared to aliens, cannibals, and rapists? Definitely not.

A Note, and a Message to Pro-Choice Readers

Hello y'all.

Just a note to say blogging and twittering will be pretty light for the next few weeks - VERY busy with school at the moment! If you're so inclined, shoot me a prayer to help me stay calm and focused :) (and thank you if you do!)

Also, if you are interested in submitting a guest blog post (pro-choice or pro-life) I am always taking submissions!

Lots of love! <3

Kisses!! Muah! Muah!

P.S. A quick note to any pro-choicers, I have felt that I have been less than charitable on my twitter so I'll be taking a break from answering people until I am able to respond rationally and respectfully. If you really need an answer from me fast just send me an e-mail - I am much better at writing long paragraphs than short, quick snippets of information (and I enjoy it way more). So really, if you're pro-choice (or pro-life, or just anything), and feel that I have been inaccurate about something, do not hesitate to e-mail me (galaxy3647@gmail.com), especially if you are involved in the field that I have posted about (e.g.: human rights, medicine, etc.). I love to learn, and I really want to make sure I get facts correct (opinions, however, are a whole other matter. I'm pro-life. If you're pro-choice, please don't send me an e-mail about how I am "uneducated", "stupid", "a religious fanatic", and "wrong". I know you disagree with me about abortion. We can leave it at that, unless you're willing to discuss philosophy / theology without making assumptions about my beliefs - I am always ready to hone my debate skills!). Merci!!

P.P.S. (or is it P.S.S.??) To all my American readers ... Happy Independence Day!

Here is Feminists for Life's Independence Day Facebook Post:

On this day in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. Landowners in the original thirteen colonies had the right to vote - and for a short while, so did women who owned land in New Jersey. In 1837, Harriet Martineau asked in Society in America, "Is it to be understood that the principles of the Declaration of Independence bear no relation to half of the human race?" But it was more than half of America, as women and African Americans had no right to vote. It wasn't until 1868 - after the US Civil War - that the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was adopted as part of the Reconstruction Amendments. But it took until 1920 until women - regardless of race - would win the right to vote. Let us take this effort one step further. Let's free women from abortion, protect our daughters, and cherish all children - born and unborn.

- Serrin, your president who was born on Constitution Day.

Awesome. Go follow them! They are a phenomenal group! 

Pro-choice Fail

Pro-choicers have been noticing the CCBR's New Abortion Caravan protest, which today was at Parliament Hill. Apparently CCBR was proving to be quite an inconvenience (many f-bombs were dropped). The best response I have seen so far?

So lets get this straight. Apparently, it doesn't matter that these children were brutally killed. But it does matter that images of their deaths are being used to protest and expose people to the reality of their fate - because, you know, that's exploitation and stuff. Ugh.