Focus On The Love & Respect

by Dick Mac

The problem with the Focus on the Family ("FotF") advertisement to be aired during the Super Bowl is not that it expresses an opinion; but that the company wants to change the laws of the land so that women are not allowed to make decisions about their own health care.

Nobody denies Ms. Tebow her place in the sunlight of the spirit for delivering her baby through adverse conditions. God bless her. FotF, however, wants to deny all other women, women who make a different decision than Ms. Tebow, the legal, safe options that most Americans agree should be available.

There are many companies in the same reproduction policy business as FotF, and they do not deny the beauty and the wonder of Ms. Tebow's story. On the other hand, unlike FotF, those companies work hard to ensure that all women have the right to make a choice from all the options available, and they work to keep all those choices safe and legal.

One of those other companies is Planned Parenthood.

Former NFL player Sean James and Olympic medalist Al Joyner have made a video for Planned Parenthood in response to FotF's Super Bowl ad.




Messrs. James and Joyner talk about what it really important: loving and respecting the women in their lives without the need to control what choices they make.

Love and respect are hard. We give-up a lot when we love somebody, and we make an effort to respect people. These are not easy things.

What is easy? It is easy to criminalize things we do not like, and demonize those who would disagree with us. That is what the so-called "conservatives" at FotF are doing. FotF and the Tebows are not conservatives, and they are not promoting a conservative agenda. They are promoting degradation, hate, and dangerous medical practices.

I urge you to promote love and respect; to reject Friends of the Family, the Tebow family's tainted missive, and the entire so-called "conservative" agenda.

Donate to Planned Parenthood here.

Donate to NARAL here.

Thank you.

See the video at youtube, if you prefer.



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Focus On The Super Bowl

Who Decides If You Can Have An Abortion?

by Dick Mac

Not you, that's for sure!

As we move deeper and deeper into a conservative America, an America where Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are considered liberals, access to reproductive health care (abortion and birth control) continues to come under attack.

It is up to each of us to ensure that we keep access to abortion legal and safe.

Today is "Blog For Choice" day, sponsored by the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). As a blogger, I take seriously my responsibility to inform people of what is going on.

Abortion rights are still under attack, and the Supreme Court is still in the hands of men and women who would be happy to do away with a woman's right to her own reproductive decisions.

I support NARAL, and you should, too.

Find out what's going on in your state.

Take action!

Blog For Choice

Today is the 35th Anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision.

From Wikipedia:

According to the Roe decision, most laws against abortion in the United States violated a constitutional right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision overturned all state and federal laws outlawing or restricting abortion that were inconsistent with its holdings. Roe v. Wade is one of the most controversial and politically significant cases in U.S. Supreme Court history. Its lesser-known companion case, Doe v. Bolton, was decided at the same time.

The central holding of Roe v. Wade was that abortions are permissible for any reason a woman chooses, up until the "point at which the fetus becomes ‘viable,’ that is, potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid. Viability is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks." The Court also held that abortion after viability must be available when needed to protect a woman's health, which the Court defined broadly in the companion case of Doe v. Bolton. These court rulings affected laws in 46 states.

See Wikipedia entry here.

South Dakota and Mississippi have tried unsuccessfully to ban abortion. In South Dakota, the governor signed a bill banning abortion, but the citizens overturned that ban in a referendum, which shows (yet again) that the majority of Americans support unfettered access to safe and legal abortions. Mississippi's bill failed when the state's senate and house failed to reach a compromise, which shows (yet again) that the majority of elected officials are not really interested in banning a safe medical procedure they know will be replaced with unsafe, illegal procedures.

Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota have since passed laws that will automatically pass into law the moment Roe v. Wade is overturned. These are called trigger laws, and hopefully will be done away with irrespective of the status of Roe v. Wade.

Fortunately, thinking people in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada and Washington, have passed laws protecting the legality of abortion, irrespective of federal mandate.

It is important to vote Pro-Choice. This means viting for a liberal. I recommend John Edwards or Dennis Kucinich, two politicians whose commitment to supporting abortion rights is solid. If you must vote for a more conservative candidate, please consider the black guy over the white woman, but I don't trust either of them with the future of abortion rights (or anything else). If you're a Republican, then Giuliani is your only real choice for a candidate who supports access to abortion (good luck).

NARAL (the National Abortion Rights Action League, previously known as the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, before Roe v. Wade was decided) has been doggedly protecting a woman's right to reproductive freedom since 1969. Please consider a donation to NARAL today. Click here.


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