The Texas Heartbeat Bill.
In the span of the last 48 hours, those four little words have caused an opinion firestorm in – not just the news media – but in classrooms, on social media, the podcast world, and even in our own personal circles.
The pro-life bill that bans abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat at six weeks, has been likened to the Taliban, with hashtags like #TexasTaliban trending on Twitter. It’s been likened to the Handmaid’s Tale, the KKK, slavery and being touted as dangerously dystopian.
And sitting here, silently cheering on this monumental day from my apartment in the land of deep blue that is New York City, one of the most disheartening things I’ve noticed is the terribly manipulative rhetoric — the euphemisms — geniusly used by the left to sanitize what they’re actually fighting for: ending a child’s life.
“Pro-Choice,” “Women’s Healthcare.” “Reproductive Justice.” “Freedom of Choice.” “Body Autonomy.” “A Woman’s Right to Choose.” “Pregnancy Termination.” “My Body, My Choice.” All these terms dehumanize the child in the womb, and expertly manipulate the receiver into forgetting that we’re talking about a human life. Rather, we’re talking about “justice,” “autonomy,” “misogyny,” “freedom.” If you can change the way someone speaks, you can change the way they think, and thus – you can change the world. Terrifying.
And speaking of speech…
I’ve learned over and over in my life, that walking a mile in someone else’s shoes is quite possibly the most insightful, moving, and powerful teacher that exists in this life. And, truthfully, as the young woman you know me to be, yes: I have my ardently held beliefs about abortion that are based on my faith. But thankfully, abortion has never come within a stone’s throw of my life, praise God.
So tonight, I wanted to turn the floor over to a dear friend I met when I was speaking in Erie, PA at the 138 Women’s Conference last year. Alyssa Bormes – gifted speaker, author and teacher – shared her incredibly powerful story, which – spoiler alert – involves two abortions. It was the most powerful speech I have ever heard. I was breathlessly captivated, listening to her share her testimony. Truly, there was not a dry eye in the house.
But there’s been so much talk about how up-in-arms people are for Texan woman who can’t get abortions anymore, likening them to Afghan women, or women in the 1950’s. And I just wanted to offer a counter point…from a woman who actually had not one, but two abortions. And how that “privilege of choice” actually impacts a woman, post-abortion.
So, I invite you to listen to her speech – share it, pass it along. Because abortion not only kills the babies, but it leaves the mothers with an unimaginable burden that they’ll silently carry for the rest of their lives. And it’s time we start making that known, too.
Warning: the speech contains content about suicide. If you, or anyone you know need help, please call: 800-273-8255, or reach out at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/talk-to-someone-now/.
So thank you, Alyssa, for having the courage to share you story. You have inspired countless people – myself included – of the fortitude of the human spirit, and the merciful, saving love of Jesus.
And to hear my speech from that conference, click here.
“This is what the Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” Ez 37:5
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79 responses to “Oh, Texas”
We have no right to take the lives of these innocent babies. I will never understand how and why these people want to commit murder. It’s evil.
John, Satan’s voice is strongest in the depths of our brokenness. As our sin separates us from Christ, the enemy takes his chances and speaks words that steal, kill, and destroy. Lies wrapped in seduction and avoidance of the truth and the weight of conviction. That’s how people choose abortion. They cannot see the beautiful life, they cannot see the heart of Jesus Christ. They are called “lost” for a reason. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
1 Peter 1:3-4 ESV
ALL sin is evil. ALL sin is an affront to God’s Holiness. And it begins in the heart. When the heart is full of sin, weight upon weight, no light, save the Light of Christ through the miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit can penetrate it. Consider yourself blessed for having never gained the understanding that comes by walking through that depth of darkness for yourself- God has been merciful and gracious to you.
I so agree, John. I am with you 100%. Thank you for stopping by and for your support! Hugs and love xox
Why don’t you move to Texas? It sounds like your kind of place.
Oh, Peter
Talk to me about choice. Talk to me about the underage girl who gets raped and doesn’t know she’s pregnant or is afraid to tell her parents – tell me about what choice she had and what choices she’s remained with?
Tell me why you had a choice to go get a vaccine and did so – to protect others and yourself and then tell me how people choosing not to are allowed that option while I have a 25 year old friend whose kidneys are failing because someone chose not to get the vaccine? What choice did she have after she made the right one and then was forced to lay dying and alone because someone else chose for themselves?
I want to know how it’s different. I want to understand why her beating heart doesn’t matter but an unborn child conceived out of incest or rape has the ability to change another child’s life forever.
And if I get pregnant and it’s dangerous for me and the baby to go to term (as it would be) – what right do you have to tell me to kill us both?
Explain to me the black and white of your argument. I’m standing by…
Praying for your friend, Lindsey. As a mom around the same age I can’t imagine going through that. She matters. My prayer for her is not only healing and recovery but also full coverage for the medical bills entailed. Continue to stand by your friend. Her life is more relevant right now than the question at hand.
Thank you. Unfortunately, she passed away last night. But all I can think about is how she’s surrounded by God’s loving light and presence and that she is at peace and able to be with our Father.
I’m so sorry to hear that – you are absolutely right though. She’s won her race.
Lindsey, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. You are in my prayers.
I totally agree, I was rape and Praise God I did not get pregnant, no one has the right to be judge and tell a woman what to do. As for the vaccine I agree my daughter in her twenty has rare diseases (many) and also has cancer and can’t get the vaccine if she did get the virus it will kill her. Yes, her life matters to me and her dad, and tell me when people who don’t get the vaccine ends up in the hospital and that bed that they take should go to another who has been fighting for their lives everyday for years someone who is chronically ill life matters. Some would say that it is their right to say yes or no to the vaccine, guess what it is a woman right to say as well especially as when she is rape. Jesus words Matthew 7:6 You hypocrite take the beam out of your own eye before you try to take the plank out of someone else.
I’m sorry you were raped, and I don’t know the circumstances around what happened. But it sounds like God did indeed protect you from further harm. From a physiological and psychological standpoint God forbid a girl be pushed to add the life-threatening trauma of abortion onto her already wounded body after rape. It’s not a minor surgery. Much, much higher risk to the woman than giving birth in most cases, and in the case where a doctor surgically removes the baby to save the mom they try to keep the baby alive whenever possible. This either-or scenario is almost never seen in the medical world. Your daughter is a woman fighting for her life from the sound of it. Many prayers for her recovery – I also know many cancer survivors, and they are absolute heroes to me. ❤️ God has an amazing way of making room for the sick. Yes, I know the hospitals are crowded, but I also know that God is greater than our limitations. He is our Jehovah-Jireh. We have to trust in His capacity for miracles, and ASK.
I am a Pastor and I have a daughter with cancer and many doctors and hospital has turned her away because of CVOID and not to continue with treatment
Lindsay, I have a response to your points, but I’m afraid it is too long for a comment section. I posted it on my blog site this morning, and I invite you to read it. https://jeffreyhking.wordpress.com/2021/09/04/rape-and-abortion/
I attended a 1-day legal clinic at former job. The main thing I took away from it was how people use language to lie. The lawyer giving the clinic talked about “weasel words and wiggle room.” That’s how described language designed to have fluid meanings wreak all sorts of havoc. Is someone tries to nail such a liar down, the language he started with allows room for “clarification.” Such is the language of abortion. Health care – as if being pregnant is some sort of disease!
Thank you for once again bringing this topic to light!
I trust you remain well in NYC. I was surprised to hear how bad things got there! Stay safe!
It is always such a blessing to read your blog and know that there are fine outstanding Christian women out there like you who know what everyone should easily understand. All life is sacred and our duty as humanity is to protect what we can of it, especially those most vulnerable. This talk about the fight to commit genocide against the unborn as a women only right is completely misguided. This is a pluralistic society as the other side used to remind those of us with a more conservative viewpoint and we tolerated things said and done when we had the upper hand. Now they seek to silent voices such as yours. For what it’s worth, I am solidly in your very respectable corner and hold out that all arguments that are rationally based point to an independent life being extinguished with each abortion. This slaughter is nothing less than unjustifiable homocide when all glossing over is scraped aside. There are possible exceptions that are arguably made such as rape, probable death of mothers and an infant born to this world only to suffer from things that might kill them almost immediately and in horrid ways. But there is never a justifiable excuse for the murder of innocence. Praise God for your voice on this concern. Aloha, Michael
I stopped reading when you misused the word “genocide”…
The limits of your vocabulary and determination to make this known are an interesting thing. But thanks for sharing that you do not understand that genocide can also symbolize the epitome of human evil. Thank you, however, for attempting to educate me that words can only mean what you wish them to mean. From even before Shakespeare, the languages of the world have continued to change in usage and even in discarding words and/or meanings along the way. After all, words are merely symbols meant to communicate what the intended message is. I suspect it is the intended message was not comfortable to you. I also suspect that your attempt at moot superiority is not missed either. But, I do wish you a very good day.
Oh, my…you’re a petty one, aren’t you? Or are you just posturing…or perhaps projecting? This seemed to start off making you look bad and just got worse from there. Thanks for reminding me – unnecessarily – why we no longer have a word in the English language that simply means “literally”. If you choose to wield your words as emotional weaponry, don’t be surprised if people roll their eyes and don’t take you seriously. The rest of your comment was just…contemptible.
Anyhoo…about 36% of the population – those proudly pious that identify as religiously affiliated – just scored a W they’ve been trying to cram down the majority’s throat for almost five decades. At least have some class about it. The people in this comments thread that are gloating is…not Christ-like.
And while you’ll seemingly continue to embrace the continued legislation of your values as a means to validating the sexist “women are the property of men” dogma you believe, I will be here working toward making sure our government is one that values science, facts and equality for all…and not feeling bad about it one bit because I know that freedom doesn’t mean every body lives by my values – and, yes, that means accepting the scientific reality that defines when a cluster of cells becomes a part of “every body”. No, freedom is a culture where we are allowed the “right” of self-determination versus having someone else project their values onto everyone else, thereby restricting the rights and freedoms of others. If you don’t want an abortion, or gay marriage or legally purchased, licensed and regulated firearm…don’t have one. If you can quote the Bible effortlessly but don’t know the difference between the Bill of Rights and a Constitutional Amendment or how many of each there are – let alone quote *them* as a means of supporting your position on laws in our country, then stay out of politics altogether. That’s not directed at just you, it’s the way I feel about a lot of people shouting their opinions from figurative rooftops. I don’t disagree that people are
And here’s some free advice (just to be snarky): if you don’t want people to start getting aggressive about taxing the church, keep it out of politics.
But it’s Sunday…I think this is your day for your brainwashing tune up, no? Don’t let me keep you.
Not sure why my comment posted prematurely, how embarrassing. But my thought on people’s opinions got cut off. Here it is: people are entitled to their opinions when it comes to their favorite coffee chain, but when it comes to laws for all and voting…their entitled to their *informed* opinion. Citing the Bible as a basis for an opinion when it disagrees with medical and scientific fact is the former, not the latter. So we basically now have a law about abortion that equates to “all non-Starbucks coffee is now illegal”. Congrats on supporting that accomplishment….I’m so embarrassed.
You are incredibly full of yourself. Entitled to your opinion as you may be, you are not entitled to your own separate facts. You are a follower of science are you? Great. so then you are forced to concede that the processes of gametogenesis and fertilization the sperm and egg meet and create something very different from either in this process of gametogenesis that forms from that moment of conception into a distinct human being (William J. Larsen, Human Embryology (New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1997), pp. 4, 8, 11). Now as to your pretense to know the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and all of that, that’s simply fascinating. You would not know this. I get that. It is mainly because you seem to be very wordy at shooting your mouth off without much thought coming out. I will simply ask that you go ahead and show me where in the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or any amendment to date there is any language that specifically states a “right to privacy” or in failing to be able to do this, I will accept any wording that specifically states a right to killing an unborn child via abortion. I will wait to be educated by your superior wisdom. Or you could concede now to myself and all others who have survived beyond the zygote stage that your premises are faulty as to “following the science” and the Constitution. Incidentally, part of my blog is called First Principles and is based on decades of studying the Constitution and the principles of the Founders of our republic to which you speak without providing any evidence of understanding. I wish you the best. I would admonish you, however, to actually have facts before you brashly mouth mantras without scientific or Constitutional support. Mahalo, Michael
You’ve wandered rather far afield, Mahalo Michael. I cannot recall declaring anything about a “right to privacy” as you’ve demanded I show you to qualify my knowledge of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I’m not sure if you’ve confused this reply with one meant for someone else or if you’re just pulling a frustrating tactic from the playbook used by so many who can’t or won’t actually respond to direct challenges during an argument: distraction. When dealing with that phenomenon with children, I call the argument The Yeahbuts, because the response usually starts with “Yeah, but” versus taking accountability.
My entire objection to this law is based on religion staying out of politics – sadly, the church bets heavily on a woman’s right to choose when it wades into the political arena. I think that’s wrong. I also think that the church and its followers cherry pick what values the Bible lays out as important, and that clear but unaddressed hypocrisy is – to me – an indictment of any high road the church or it’s followers choose to declare as the moral high road.
Like “a right to privacy”, I don’t recall declaring myself to possess a superior wisdom, although I will say now that I think the church relies on a certain population of people who aren’t educated well enough to think critically for themselves to bolster its numbers and mindlessly support its flawed values without question – hence my usage of the terms “dogma” and “juice”.
Nevertheless, here’s a couple of takeaways from my education and experience on which I base my position:
1) the scientific community cannot accurately say at what moment an embryo or fetus becomes a full human. They focus more on viability or survival outside the womb. That leaves a huge legal grey area when it comes time to write laws and I’d say it’s something no one will ever be completely satisfied with, like any law, I’d wager. However, my position is to support the rights of the host here versus defining an undefinable (at this point) moment when an embryo or fetus becomes a life. Once it’s viable outside the womb, I absolutely say protect it as a life. If it’s unwanted, orphanages and adoption becomes its unenviable path to navigate. At 6 weeks, we have a heartbeat, true. But I cannot say that makes it a person, I think that comes further into the development of a brain, personally. Not to mention the first trimester – more than twice as long as the six weeks protected by this law – is a time when the body is most likely to spontaneously abort a pregnancy. I think given those parameters, the Roe v Wade laws get closer to protecting both entity’s rights than the Texas law. So…legally? If the church wants to wade into the lawmaking arena, it needs to come fully prepared with a plan beyond the miracle of life crap we’re getting now. If it’s a life at six weeks, where’s the child support? When can it be insured so the mother has at least insurance money to offset the loss of a miscarried child? I was born in Jan ‘68, am I actually 54 now in the eyes of the church or am I still 53? (I know, once I hit my teen years, most of the church lost interest in me altogether). The laws the church has been chasing these past decades don’t address anything but restricting a woman’s control over what happens with her own body, an obvious extension of the church’s overt misogyny. You aren’t changing my mind on any of this with your argument.
2) The Constitution. I’m not a scholar on the founding documents of this country like Christians are on the Bible, meaning I can’t quote chapter and verse to conveniently support an argument instead of explaining my thought process. Why? Well, I was educated in Catholic Schools mainly, guess what document they hold a higher focus on? And to me, there is no greater lesson they teach than “Because the Bible says”. If that’s not enough to get you through, seeking counsel from your local church and prayer will guide you. Great, if you don’t know, ask someone else what you think or pray and wait for “god” to tell you what to think. “God” is a voice in your head…whose voice is that really? Yours, your praying for your own bias confirmation. Holy facepalm. Meanwhile, here’s my favorite hot take on the Constitution, if it’s not expressly forbidden in the Constitution, it MIGHT be legal. Our founding fathers wrote a document based on their best knowledge and intentions at the time. It’s meant to be a living document and evolve to serve the country over time – unlike the Bible, which would have us all living a life based on the Middle East 2000 years ago…unless an “evolution” of the Bible serves some wealthy sinner – looking at you, Divorced People. So, yeah, count me in with the people who think that “if the Constitution doesn’t say we can’t, maybe we can” versus those who cry “but the Bible says” to back their arguments up. Key word: think. As I do. For myself.
I applaud your ability to quote the Bible and a textbook, I don’t possess that skill. I can’t even quote the menu of my favorite restaurant. But that is to both my education in Catholic schools and me experience with the Catholic Church, I generally know right from wrong and if I don’t, I can reason my way through a situation and then present an argument to support my position using my own words to explain my thought process instead of plagiarizing someone else’s argument by reciting their words without having truly examined them. And I think that’s what the church relies on in situations like that: followers.
I’d wish you well to appear to be “the better person” like you did at the end of your comment to me, but honestly, Mahalo Michael? I wish you and your ilk would just shut up or piss off. You’re entitled to your faith and beliefs, but I resent that you don’t see the damaging effect your insistence that others live according to your beliefs has on the freedom this country was founded upon – specifically a freedom from religious persecution. I feel like we’ve gone from a situation where people wanting to practice a religion not endorsed by the Crown we’re persecuted to a situation where the followers of that religion are now the persecutors. Interesting arc…or is that just hypocrisy? Oh, yeah…
You have a blessed day, Galby.
And you live long and prosper, Mahalo Michael. Preferably in a world where women have the same rights over their bodies as men.
I have no right to irresponsibly kill innocent lives. Do you?
Then don’t. But also don’t inflict or legislate your religious values on those of us who don’t share them.
That. Is. My. Point.
First, you say you don’t want legislating moral values on others and then you ignore the fact that Roe was imposed without Constitutional backing to become the law of the land over the objections of many if not all states. Which one is it? Let’s not be hypocrites here, right? Legislation in a republic such as ours is always a matter of legislating morality over others while simultaneously tolerating the viewpoints of others who disagree with us. You realize this, correct? Secondly, why do you keep basing your posts throughout this thread on your Catholic school upbringing and yet you told me earlier that you cannot quote a verse from the Bible. That seems at odds with itself. It seems you wholeheartedly avoided any of the lessons taught at said school? Or, have you simply forgotten? Let me start here, do you agree that a nation will be judged by God based on its righteousness? Assuming that I can get you to open your Bible enough using a concordance to read and affirm this idea expressed throughout the Bible, let’s move on to the next point. Is it correct or incorrect in your estimate that a key point on which a nation and its people shall be judged is how it has treated its least capable to self defend, meaning its weakest members over the strong? Go ahead review your Bible or moral philosophy, either should get you to agreement on this point. If you can see and affirm points A and B, what stops you from getting to point C. That is to say why do you wish the unborn children so much ill will? You see, life is the most sacred right of all. And while I know of no one that wishes the living women who are carrying children any ill will, the other side of the argument seems to wish to ignore the obvious, and that is the unborn children deserve by the grace given to us all to live. Further, it seems maybe a vapid point to raise to you, but, please research the following if you doubt what I am about to say. The vast majority of abortions kill female, black unborn children. Further, if you were but to look at Margaret Sanger’s books that led to Planned Parenthood and was a very vocal part of the Eugenics movement, you would see that her intention as crazy as this will sound was to exterminate the black race among other persons she deemed undesirable. As a whole, the abortion movement was as racist and disgusting as possible and hardly the moral high road. People need to educate themselves on the positions they ardently take and then if you’re okay with racist screed that seeks to totally eliminate any of the women’s rights that you have loudly proclaimed as your driving force for a significant portion of the world’s populace but particularly in the United States. If you are in doubt of this, please take a moment to conduct the research and you will find that more unborn babies have been killed through irresponsible abortion since the Roe decision than the total lives lost in Vietnam. You speak to human rights. That is condemnable. Now take a moment to realize how abortion destroys that whole premise on its face.
I’m starting to understand why you aren’t understanding me. You are possibly reading my comments like you read your research data – in a way that suggests you’ll find a kernel of agreement with your position that you can then twist into validation of your driving values. That’s pretty crazy, but it seems like what you’re doing.
Roe wasn’t a law based on or in morality. At least not as I’ve interpreted it. IT WAS BASED ON A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO CONTROL HER OWN BODY. Within reason, of course, which is why there are limits on abortion. So keep it straight: any state objections were likely on similarly twisted religiously based moral grounds, not on freedom or law.
Undoing Roe to protect a life that is defined by a religious group versus science is political poppycock to me – and science has not been as blind to reality about when life begins as religion has, so it hasn’t defined a specific moment as the miraculous, sacred and blessed “beginning of life”. However, if this law is going to be the rule – in Texas or throughout the land, then you’d best not abandon the mother by not bringing other laws and programs regarding children to a matching speed. Nor should you allow the punishment for rape to range somewhere between “nothing” and “less than the punishment for abortion”. Somehow, I doubt you’ll defend those issues as rabidly – not that your use of the word “vapid” wouldn’t also apply, but I don’t want to offend 🙄 – as you have this ridiculous Heartbeat Law the Texas Taliban has crammed down women’s throats.
I really don’t think I can address any of your other meandering-Jesus-effing-Christ talking points, because, as I mentioned, they just seem to be contortionist logic to bend a begrudging agreement out of me…and I do not agree with taking away a woman’s right based on a religious soundbite.
Anywho…I know you don’t have time for this conversation any longer. I imagine you’re very busy preparing to move to Mexico to defend its imperiled collections of likely unviable-outside-the-host-cells from potential oblivion now that their Supreme Court has decriminalized abortion there.
Guess I should call you Cuidate Michael now.
You’re amusing. I’ll say that. Can you tell me what level of studies you have reached to be consistently talking down to me? It is said that when a wise person and a fool argue, it is often hard to tell the difference. I forgive you for your sharp tongue and will only point out that your insults about my academics inclinations would amuse Purdue. But go ahead and pretentiously state how much smarter you are than I. I will no longer participate in discussion with you as it has absolutely zero point to be made. In that this wonderful blogger allows you to talk as you do seems indicate that she values you. Therefore, this is my last post to you. Do have a great life. :-))
https://melaniekillingervowell.files.wordpr
There you go again…putting words in my mouth. Just because a lot of words come out of it, doesn’t mean I’ve room in there to store yours.
Did I say I was so much smarter than you?
No, methinks not.
How you arrived at that belief, I don’t know. But the two reasons I can think of are not good, and make me feel bad – whether for you or the people who respond to *trumped* up accusations like that by backing down is not clear.
But thanks for volunteering to stop. 🖖🏽
What’s sad is that we who live in Texas had to take such drastic measures to curb the huge numbers of abortions that were being allowed to take place.
So brave of you! Have you ever been pregnant before?
A beautiful post thank you so much
I read this knowing that our positions on this issue would be on opposite ends of the spectrum. I find that the more I expose myself to opposing viewpoints, the better able I am to temper my exasperation at the truly crazy train versions of different ideologies.
But I still have frustrations as I continue to build that temperament up when people blithely use hyperbole – like the comparison one of your readers made between abortion and genocide.
That said, your use of your religion to define life is fine for you and other Christians/religious folks to use to inform your life choices, but that’s where it should stop. Living in a country that was founded on the basis of a separation of church and state should be the line in the sand that stops crap like the Texas law from happening. But the GOP has been cozying up to the Religious Right for 40-50 years now, and honestly, I think all they’ve really done is drag their religious supporters down closer to their level of ethics…how else can the support of the pathologically unethical individuals running roughshod over the country in that party be explained? Life absolutely needs the protection of the law. 100%…using the law to protect the definition of Christian life…not do much. Until a life can support itself outside the mother, it’s basically little more than a parasite. At six weeks, the heartbeat this law protects dies if the mother dies, end of story. What about its rights then? Can the doctors that failed to save the mother be sued in civil or jailed in criminal court for murder? It’s a ridiculous law created by a bunch of misogynistic hypocrites that once again panders to the right’s religious base. I know you’re elated about this law, but I truly wish you saw the way the GOP was using your religious beliefs for their own gain without returning the level of support for your values that your political support provides them…to me, it’s like watching a friend date an abusive partner.
I was born a Texan and still remain one in my heart. I stand for any form of life. Whether it be babies or women or mothers. I know women who have had abortions and with that comes pain they never get over. I’ve known women who were raped and become pregnant. With that comes shame even though it was not their fault. I don’t judge either one. I leave that up to God himself. I don’t however stand for women who are proud or elated without thinking twice on what it means to a!low a child to be killed. There are sadistic practices that makes a woman like myself stomach turn during this process. Some of it is absolutely horrifying. No baby or woman/potential mother deserves that. I also think of the women who miscarry and the women who are infertile who can never conceive. I with those heartbeats could still beat on. Every heartbeat deserves a chance to keep beating.
So, I’m hearing you say that you don’t judge women who regret their abortions or feel shame at being raped, because that’s God’s job. But women who are confident they made the most right or best choice for themselves or their situation by having an abortion are fair game for you to judge? How do you presume to know they “didn’t think twice” or that they “are elated” at their decision? Maybe you need the religion of the prophet Paul McCartney, vis-a-vis “live and let live”.
What’s horrifying to me here is the hypocrisy of the statement you just typed, positioning yourself as both non-judgmental but also pious.
I do hope you stretched before bending over backward that far to smooch your own buttocks…
Honestly, if every heartbeat equates to a viable human life, wouldn’t that six week old heart just keep pumping after being sucked out of the womb? Surely that would be a case where God’s will overrides a mere human’s and the perfectly alive life would live. That’s how science works, right…because of God? The white one, of course, not the original/fake Black Jesus that actually existed 2000 years ago as the purported son of God.
(See, this is one of those times where my patience for religious dogma masquerading as scientific fact or a legitimate foundation of law in a country founded on the separation of church and state expires. 🤷🏽♂️)
2 Kings 2:23-24…I know it’s just a legend for you, but boy I believe it.
It’s a weird reflex for me, but after living the hypocrisy of the church during my catholic school education and witnessing the relationship between the GOP and the Religious Right, whenever someone quotes the Bible to me, I want to quote PT Barnum to them.
I am influenced in how I live my life by the lessons and values taught to me by my parents and the church, my credo is “do the right thing, even when no one is watching”. That said, my faith is in my ability to analyze and interpret the information that my eyes and ears take in from myriad resources (printed and spoken words, a person’s own actions) and decide for myself what is right or wrong. I’m not believing something simply because someone tells me to have faith, my experience there is that people like PT will use faith against you, much as I believe the GOP has done to the religious community in America for decades.
So, instead of quoting PT, let me leave you with a little riff on Maya Angelou: “when people show you who they are, believe them”. The GOP has demonstrated time and again that life means less than them than power or money – look at their resistance to climate change protections (even after the EPA was created by one of their own presidents!), endangered species, gun control, racial or gender equality or even police reform. The religious community is being used by these GOP hucksters to remain in power, full stop. You’re all being led around by the nose based on your belief in the “sanctity of life” by a bunch of immoral clowns who don’t live your faith or uphold the values laid out in the book that solely influences your lifestyles. Trump…really? That’s the standard bearer for God in American politics? Anyone who buys into that isn’t living God’s word, they’re proving PT’s.
Believe that.
Ah, so it’s the GOP, not prolife that you disagree with. PT Barnum had a much greater legacy than a single quote. 😉
I think I’ve been pretty detailed about what I disagree with here: hypocrisy.
The fact that you’re obtusely attempting to oversimplify that – as well as suggesting my reference to Barnum is tantamount to me reducing his legacy to a single line – tells me you aren’t interested in the validity of my observations so much as you are interested in minimizing any thoughts that conflict with your own.
“It’s a ridiculous law created by a bunch of misogynistic hypocrites that once again panders to the right’s religious base.” Ridiculous is a strange word choice for something like this law. Ridiculous implies that there is something silly or stupid or funny about this law.
I’m not sure where the humor lies in protecting a child from brutal murder.
Oh, ambroseandelsie…I seriously doubt you’d want to make room for anyone’s opinion unless they agreed with you.
Does that help you see what’s ridiculous about this law?
No?
How about how “pro-life” pro-lifers aren’t when it comes to police murdering black people? Enforcing mask mandates? Vaccinations?
Beuller? Beuller…Beuller?
(Hint: the hypocrisy is the ridiculous part. Honorable mention for the expert blind-eye-turning to anyone else’s belief systems about their own religions or ideas on equality, too!)
Hello form Texas. We are standing for life. God help us all.
Bless you for speaking out for those who can’t speak for themselves. I know you’ll get a lot of hate for this post because it’s not the popular thing to believe, but I hope you know that there are so many inspired by your fearless love for truth 💗
Hi C! I’m sorry, but I couldn’t find the link for Alyssa’s speech. Did I overlook it or was I supposed to do something else?
BTW – after reading a few of the comments, I’d suggest just saying Thanks for stopping by. People who can’t see or refuse to see reason can’t be reasoned with.
Have a great evening!
How – I’m torn between “arrogant” or “ignorant” here – of you to decide people who don’t agree with you can’t see reason. I’d assert that you might someone who *refuses* to see it…because: White Grandpa That Lives In The Clouds allegedly told a bunch of prophets it was so 2000 years ago and the strength of your “faith” not only allows you to believe that’s all true, but also gives you an edge of superiority over people who don’t share your faith. So much wow.
Meanwhile, here…today, we have science that tells us when an embryo becomes a fetus and a human. But your faith allows you to discard those facts because doing so also allows you to judge people who engage in premarital sex (or any other sexual acts outside your religion’s views) while casually disregarding that same book’s views – which I think most people in that book club with only one book, IYGMD, haven’t read or don’t understand – on things like divorce, certain seafoods, capital punishment, wearing blended fabrics…hell, even Jesus’ skin color; and much, much more!
I’ll beat the hypocrisy drum all day over religion. But that’s just me. I went to a Catholic school where one of the dorm prefects diddled some students and was “retired” to the Abbey versus turned over to the police. Instead of counseling, the boys he diddled were given AIDS test. Really?!? These are the people your “faith” enables…and I’d wager far too many of them levy some equally damaging form of abuse on their faithful to serve their own demons.
Shame on you for turning a continuous blind eye to this devastating organization when scientific fact is where your faith belongs. If there is a god, remember…they created scientists!
Congratulations. You have made my point for me. Part of seeing reason is realizing arguments must be based in facts of some form rather than opinions and emotions. You assume to make judgments of Caralyn’s and my actions and motives without ever meeting either of us, although if you had read all of Caralyn’s posts for the past 5 years, you would at least have an idea of what an intelligent, clear thinking, and compassionate woman she is.
I’m sorry for the events of your past which have most likely influenced your outlook. I pray you’re able to rise above them, as we all must do. Thank you for sharing.
I’ve followed Catalan for years, possibly 5. Thanks for stopping by…
PS: she cannot say the same of my blog…I’m actively exposing myself to alternate opinions to challenge my positions and expand my worldview. But I present my thoughts as I do and get very little intelligent discourse in return. I get “thanks for stopping by”…
Texas is a racist, good ole boy,jim crow stuck in the past redneck state with no morals whatsoever and the governor is a bad joke,pandemic, ice storms, and reckless caveman mindset dysfunctional and embarrassing by the minute
Thank goodness you don’t live there. We should vote to for their emancipation or something.
Correction: vote for them to secede.
Excuse my poor vocabulary. It’s impossible for southern folk to think outside their borders, you know. Pray for me.
When my son’s mother became pregnant, I was about as Pro-Life as one could be.
I knew all of the alarming statistics and the right Bible verses.
I could conceive of no possible argument that would ever sway me from my position.
And then, in the fifth month of her pregnancy, my son’s mother developed a malignancy under her right arm.
We both knew there was a mole on her skin in that area.
But according to the medical experts we consulted, the presence of our unborn son in her womb was causing her body to secrete natural hormones that were feeding the malignant tumor growing under her arm.
The medical advice was clear-cut and unanimous: She must have an abortion, to save her life.
She needed to stop the hormones in her body from feeding the malignancy.
Who could ever argue against that?
I would love to hear from the Pro-Life person who would tell me that they or their government had the right to choose what my son’s mother eventually did.
My son’s mother adamantly refused to accept the advice of her doctors.
She chose instead to have a modified radical mastectomy, which left her breast mostly intact but removed all lymph tissue under her right arm, along with a significant chunk of skin.
She also insisted that only local and regional anesthetic be used, and only Tylenol be taken for pain postoperatively.
No general anesthesia and no sedating medications of any type, in order to protect the life of our unborn son.
She had previously had an abortion, and had sworn to herself and to God that she would never have another.
One might think that I was greatly overjoyed that she had been true to pro-life principles.
Instead, I was deeply humbled at the choice she had made; a choice no one but her ever had the right to make.
I still believe that life begins at conception, and that even before a fetal heartbeat is detected, human life is present within a pregnant woman.
But I also believe that within the first trimester of life within the womb, the mother whose body is host to that human life should have the sole discretion as to whether or not her pregnancy will continue.
I hope that eventually the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold that particular nationwide law.
My gut tells me that some sort of compromise is in order regarding abortions during the second trimester of pregnancy, with the right of the mother to choose to be at least equally weighed against the interests of the state in protecting the unborn child.
It’s only in the third trimester of pregnancy where it seems that the state has a compelling and overriding interest in protecting the life of a viable unborn child, even against the wishes of the mother, except under the rarest of circumstances.
Even those limitations make me incredibly sad for the burden that they would place on any given woman faced with perhaps the most difficult choice a woman can make.
Lord Have Mercy!
☦️☦️☦️
🙏🙏🙏
Thanks for sharing your story, Gordy. You both are courageous.
Justice Sotomayor wrote a blistering dissent on the US supreme court failing to block an extreme Texas abortion law. We are republishing it here
Published: 11:13 Thursday, 02 September 2021
image/webp:91509E5A-28D3-4005-8250-4B96A542B7FD/7A06E699-FEF2-4749-BFE0-A92469A9382A:1536.000000:922.000000
The court’s order is stunning. Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand.
Last night, the court silently acquiesced in a state’s enactment of a law that flouts nearly 50 years of federal precedents. Today, the court belatedly explains that it declined to grant relief because of procedural complexities of the state’s own invention. Because the court’s failure to act rewards tactics designed to avoid judicial review and inflicts significant harm on the applicants and on women seeking abortions in Texas, I dissent.
In May 2021, the Texas legislature enacted SB8 (the act). The act, which took effect statewide at midnight on 1 September, makes it unlawful for physicians to perform abortions if they either detect cardiac activity in an embryo or fail to perform a test to detect such activity. This equates to a near-categorical ban on abortions beginning six weeks after a woman’s last menstrual period, before many women realize they are pregnant, and months before fetal viability. According to the applicants, who are abortion providers and advocates in Texas, the act immediately prohibits care for at least 85% of Texas abortion patients and will force many abortion clinics to close.
The act is clearly unconstitutional under existing precedents. The respondents do not even try to argue otherwise. Nor could they: no federal appellate court has upheld such a comprehensive prohibition on abortions before viability under current law.
The Texas legislature was well aware of this binding precedent. To circumvent it, the legislature took the extraordinary step of enlisting private citizens to do what the state could not. The act authorizes any private citizen to file a lawsuit against any person who provides an abortion in violation of the act, \”aids or abets\” such an abortion (including by paying for it) regardless of whether they know the abortion is prohibited under the act, or even intends to engage in such conduct. Courts are required to enjoin the defendant from engaging in these actions in the future and to award the private-citizen plaintiff at least $10,000 in \”statutory damages\” for each forbidden abortion performed or aided by the defendant. In effect, the Texas legislature has deputized the state’s citizens as bounty hunters, offering them cash prizes for civilly prosecuting their neighbors’ medical procedures.
The legislature fashioned this scheme because federal constitutional challenges to state laws ordinarily are brought against state officers who are in charge of enforcing. By prohibiting state officers from enforcing the act directly and relying instead on citizen bounty hunters, the legislature sought to make it more complicated for federal courts to enjoin the act on a statewide basis.
Taken together, the act is a breathtaking act of defiance – of the constitution, of this court’s precedents, and of the rights of women seeking abortions throughout Texas. But over six weeks after the applicants filed suit to prevent the act from taking effect, a fifth circuit panel abruptly stayed all proceedings before the district court and vacated a preliminary injunction hearing that was scheduled to begin on Monday. The applicants requested emergency relief from this court, but the court said nothing. The act took effect at midnight last night.
From Justice Sotomayor’s dissent in Whole Woman’s Health et al v Austin Reeve Jackson, Judge, et al, on application for injunctive relief. She was joined by Justices Breyer and Kagan. This text has been lightly edited to remove some legal citations
Atheists are always saying they don’t need religion to tell them what is right or wrong and yet some of the comments attack Christianity for defining when life begins. I guess you DO need us to school you on the sanctity of life. Would you think it was ok to kill your neighbor by shooting into their home because you could not see what you were doing? That is abortion in a nut shell. Well, the abortions that happen inside of the ‘murderer/mother’. Murder is never ok. What about the right of the child to have a chance at life? What about the unborn baby getting to have choice?
For all of you BLM people out there, have you noticed where the highest concentrations of abortion clinics are located? In black neighborhoods because abortion was invented by a woman who hated everyone but white people. The heart of abortion IS racism.
Women who hold up blood coat hanger signs are saying that if abortion is made illegal then back alley abortions will happen and complications or deaths that happen are the fault of legislatures not the women who have, or perform the abortion.
PP is selling aborted baby parts. This is human trafficking. A grown person desperate for cash cannot sell a kidney but unborn babies are murdered and exploited everyday. Murder is big business in America. Lord have mercy.
p.s. the boys who shot up Columbine High School were evolutionists/Nazis. Evolution has contributed to the devaluation of life and in the models showing apes transforming into humans, guess what color the transitional humanoids are? Yes… they are black. This is so much more than should abortion be legalized. Wake up and read something not fed to you by the nightly news.
PRAISE GOD for Texas taking a stand for all the innocent lives that cannot speak for themselves!!!!! May other states wake up and take a stand as well!!! God Bless and keep you BBB.
Julia
Thank you Julia! I agree – praise God indeed! It is hopefully the first of many! Hugs and love xox
Well said!
Thank you so much! Hugs and love xox
Thank you for using your platform to bravely take a stand. May God give you courage and wisdom to answer anger with grace.
Thank you so much Pete, I do truly appreciate your support. God is good. Hugs and love xox
Hi Caralyn! I have seen the news in the last 24hrs or so where it showed reports of the storm in NYC. I pray you are ok!
I am late but want to support you in standing up for life. A life is a life, no matter how old. We all know that it is far easier to do something bad to someone you don’t know than to someone you do. This, it seems to me, is the reason why it’s so easy for folks to place their own desires above those of that wee life they have not encountered in any real way. Doing what’s right for someone you don’t know when it creates serious obstacles in your own life is really really hard to do.
All that said, the way the law works makes me uncomfortable. Allowing people with no direct stake to file suit scares me a little. It is not hard to imagine another state with other political leanings enacting a law allowing people to sue for, say, refusing to affirm as real a Trans person’s preferred gender or to bake the cake celebrating Lucifer. This mechanism doesn’t seem compatible with the Anglo-American legal system that is our heritage, and I predict much mischief if it stands.
Hi PJ, thank you so much for your support : you’re right – we must be the voice for the voiceless, because like you said: a life is a life! That is also a great point – it is scary to think of the possibilities of such outcomes. i appreciate you stoppin gby. Hugs and love xox
I hate abortion and anything related to it.Coming back to read this properly.Thanks for campaigning against it.
The anti-abortion movement in the US is, at it’s heart, antiwomen, antilife, antifreedom, and antilove. If one cared about children, one would support policies that help all of them, in a variety of ways. The GOP does not. They care about control and deflection. The trajectory of the US is concerning, and those who speak of “love” are leading the charge to the creation of a society that Jesus would have no truck with.
That video was beautiful. What a blessing to me. I applaud the wisdom you employed to allow someone to speak from experience. That said, Scripture says that God gives wisdom to the inexperienced. It doesn’t require personal experience to delineate between God’s standards of right and wrong. He made them abundantly clear. It is we who look for exception clauses and loopholes. As for incest and rape, both are documented in Scripture, neither are condoned, but both are redeemed. Ruth, a Moabite, who were the nation of people resulting from incest of Lot and his daughter and were forbidden from the assembly for something like 10 generations (forgive me I’m brushing up on my OT but it’s still a tad rusty) was grafted into the line of Christ. Ruth birthed Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, Jesse fathered King David, and from the line of David came Jesus Christ. Who are we to insert ourselves in God’s stead to determine who lives or who dies, least of all in the womb? Who will we worship? Self? Comfort? Reputation? Ease of Life? Or will we humble ourselves beneath the Cross of Christ and allow Him to redeem even the most brutally ugly of situations? Because He is faithful to do so.
Abortion?
It’s a debatable topic..
What happens when you are raped and get pregnant?
What happens when your child is infected or could kill you too?
What happens then?
Abortion would and should be considered.
Everything in life has it’s two sides and abortion too..its heavy on one side and light on the other.
It’s definitely not advised and I completely agree with you on this post. Because sexual immorality has been encouraged coz of abortion.
“What happens when he gets me pregnant?
I’ll go for an abortion and move on with life.”
So, say no to abortion is a yes.
For those who are ranting and talking about how horrible it is to ban abortion, I would like to ask a question.
Because it is advised not to eat late at night to avoid colon cancer, does it mean you starve when you are hungry just because it’s late at night?
Brainstorm on this and you will find the right answer.
God bless women.
You put up a well-written, thoughtful story. “My body, my choice?” Choose birth control. Rape? A beautiful child might be born from that horrific act of violence. Choose life. There might be accidental pregnancies, but no life is accidental. God is never surprised.
Thank you for this.
The killing of unborn children is not only unacceptable to religious and “GOP” people. As a non-religious but spiritual person who is politically independent, this is a moral issue. If we follow the science: an unborn child is a distinct and human life, no matter how small, developing, or dependent. Taking that life at any stage is killing, no matter how anyone may attempt to justify the murder or put lipstick on the lingo of it.
Thank you for this post, and for having a spine, Caralyn.
I hope your city is drying out and getting back to normal. Have a wonderful weekend!
With you all the way on this, Karalyn (did I spell that right? It’s been a while)!
Thanks Mitch!! I appreciate your support! It’s actually with a C, but I’m very impressed you got the “double A!” Hahah glad you stopped by! Hugs and love xox
Aha, thanks for the correction, Caralyn!
haha no problem! 🙂
[…] there was something really powerful about this video. That, given the times with the Texas Abortion Heartbeat Law, and all the uproar surrounding it, I couldn’t help but notice the strong and incredibly powerful […]
thank you for the link up! Hugs and love xox
Sending hugs.