![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moominmuppetThere were several articles about which I found myself ranting, so I've pulled them into a separate post. It's very likely I'm going to piss off a lot of people with this one, but I think it's stuff that needs saying.
Evelyn's case is one out of the 34,000 Nigerian women that die annually of complications of unsafe abortion according to the publication by Centre for Reproductive Rights.
...
From statistics, an estimated 46 million pregnancies end in induced abortions each year and 20 million of these are unsafe. About 13 per cent of pregnancy related deaths have been attributed to unsafe abortions and 80,000 deaths annually.
In Nigeria alone, about 760,000 abortions occur annually despite the country's restrictive abortion law.
Experts say unsafe abortion is one important reason Nigeria reports one of the world's highest maternal mortality ratios of 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births.
...
She said for every woman who dies, 20 others are maimed for life, Nzeribe who blamed the sharp rise in the country's maternal mortality disclosed that unsafe abortion keeps maternal mortality persistently high as it contributes 13 to 40 per cent of maternal deaths in Africa.
According to her, "Unsafe abortion mortality ratio in Africa is 110 deaths per 100,000 live births. On the average each African woman will experience seven unsafe abortions in her reproductive lifetime" -- we're very fortunate not to have to face these kinds of conditions, at these kinds of levels, in the US. That doesn't mean we aren't already having problems with unsafe/illegal abortions due to access problems. Over and over we've seen that the greater the access problems, in regards to both contraception and abortion, the more women die. Read those numbers again. Every single one of those is a human being with hopes and dreams and fears and family. Dead. Needlessly, pointlessly dead.
When Teenagers Seek Abortion Care the Myths Are Exposed -- As always happens on RH Reality Check (which is a great reproductive health site), I got totally sucked in to watching the thoroughly cited takedowns of the trolls in the comment section.
What I Learned from Dr. Tiller: Why Trust Women PAC and Affected Parents Oppose the Nebraska Abortion Ban What’s happening in Nebraska right now isn’t local. Abortion rights opponents are trying to shut down Dr. Leroy Carhart, one of four healthcare providers still performing specialized late-term procedures in the United States: it’s a national issue that affects us all. -- In my view, providers of late-term abortions are incredible, compassionate heroes. They face the greatest danger and persecution, while handling the most traumatic, tragic, heart-rending cases.
Whether those outside the direct political shadow were aware of it or not, the Terri Shiavo case was very much about making political/legal steps to impede access to abortion -- This bit really strikes home in terms of the tactics we see at the clinics, too: "During the Schiavo controversy, the Religious Right's operational theory was 'the ends justify the means' and 'any lie is acceptable if it helps us get what we want,'" Boston said. "They bent the truth like taffy and then had the unmitigated gall to pretend to be operating from a superior ethical stance.
It's the lying that really pisses me off. If you can't make your argument with the actual facts, or by persuasion with your perspective and opinions (clearly differentiated from the facts), you _haven't got an argument_, you self-righteous blowhard. I was at the clinics today listening to the shit again, including lies about medical risks, lies about patients being injured/killed at the clinic, just flat-out lie after lie after lie. Not "we have different perspectives", not "taken out of context and spun", but undebatable lies. There's nothing "debatable" about whether four women in the past two weeks left here in body bags. Are you kidding me? That's the level of lie I'm talking about. Even after a decade, it never fails to simultaneously infuriate me and floor me with the unbelievable audacity involved. Doc actually got pissed enough at one of the antis to take him to court for slander after one too many claims about "unlicensed doctor" and one too many lies about patients being injured. It was a lovely thing to see, and the anti got his ass handed to him, but each time costs money, pulls resources and energy from patients... I wish we could do it more often, and it's just not feasible.
And the original article I linked to is about the larger connections in that pattern of lies -- we've seen it again in the health care debates, and over and over in the politics of recent years. What on earth do we do about it? About the number of people making decisions based on lies they've been told? On the power lies have in our current system? Factcheck.org and Snopes.com are only going to help so much, and this is so deeply endemic it just makes me want to pull the covers over my head, some days.
Why Are Pedophilia-Hiding, Child-Abusing Church Fathers Allowed to Write Laws About Women's Bodies? The moral authority granted the Catholic Church in the secular world is the most repellent aspect of the current crisis. The same institution that has dealt so indulgently with its ordained pedophiles had no problem excommunicating a Brazilian mother who sought an abortion for her 9-year-old daughter, raped and impregnated with twins by her stepfather, or pushing for laws in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Chile banning abortion even to save the woman's life.
And just to be clear about my views, I believe there are plenty of wonderful Catholics, and I understand valuing the ritual and religion and faith. I understand joining and creating Catholic churches that are not tied to the papacy. However, I do not understand continuing to cleave to an institution that is this corrupt and abusive. One that preaches poverty and accumulates wealth beyond measure. I do not understand continuing to support it at the offering plate, week after week. I do not understand being willing to spend one's own limited donations to support protection of pedophiles, life-threatening lies to africans regarding the efficacy of condoms against HIV, or any of the other multitude of abuses the church has refused to change. Yes, they do "nice things" too. That's lovely. That doesn't change any of the evil they perpetrate, and it does not, in my view, excuse one bit of it. There are plenty of organizations that do many wonderful things without this level of corruption, and without these flat-out evil policies.
There are men, women and children around the world who would still be alive if it weren't for these kinds of policies, coming from an institution with this kind of political power. That power comes from each and every Catholic who supports the church financially and with their voice and membership. The Roman Catholic church is certainly not the only organization that deserves this level of scrutiny, but it is one of the most powerful institutions on the planet, and worth additional attention and criticism because of its reach and because of the level of unthinking kowtowing non-Catholics do in its direction. And don't even get me started ranting on churches that get involved in politics and still want their tax-exempt status. Frankly, I don't believe in most applications of tax-exempt status, and I say that as someone who directly benefited from it my entire childhood (Dad's an episcopal priest; we grew up in rectories that didn't have property taxes). As a way of protecting spending power when it comes to direct services to the community, sure. As a way of indirectly supporting the church institutions and property themselves, no. That assumes a level of implied benevolence I don't think is specially and sacredly definitive of "church" as an institution.
And before the cries of "hypocrisy" begin, yes, I have similar issues with having to support my own government's evil. If I had any ability to, I would direct every penny of my taxes to the parts of the government I consider ethical. But donations are not taxes. Donations are a matter of ethics, they speak directly to your beliefs. It's why every bit of my United Way donation from my paycheck is set to go specifically to institutions I've researched, rather than scattershot divided amongst all, since many organizations under United Way's umbrella have policies I will not support. Donations are our least encumbered way of interacting with the world fiscally; you're not railroaded in by lack of comparable services with an ethical organization (as is the issue with many boycott plans in the world of regular 'purchasing power as political tool'), you're not threatened with jail for refusing to donate, as you would be as a tax resister. So why, with so many wonderful organizations out there in need of support, would one choose to further the unjust power of the Roman Catholic church, or any other fundamentally unjust institution? Why?
In other news, I'm very pleased to report that murderous fuckwad Scott Roeder got life in prison for shooting down Dr. Tiller in cold blood, in the aisle of his church. I'm very pleased on two counts; first, that there was no possibility of a death sentence. I'm against them ethically and practically, and especially against them in regards to clinic terrorists, since I believe it just creates martyrs for their cause. Secondly, it was the harshest sentence he _could_ receive, and indicates that the judge addressed the case appropriately, considering the stalking and terrorizing elements. There's never all that much certainty in how the courts will handle abortion-related terrorism cases, and there have been positively hostile judges in the past, so this was excellent news as well.
Bonus Rant/Random: As an atheist who's familiar with the level of hostility toward atheists in modern american culture, can I just say how much it makes me crazy that every time I do something nice, kind, generous, etc, I get appreciated for being a "good Christian"? Anyone out there up for a nice big helping of confirmation bias?
Evelyn's case is one out of the 34,000 Nigerian women that die annually of complications of unsafe abortion according to the publication by Centre for Reproductive Rights.
...
From statistics, an estimated 46 million pregnancies end in induced abortions each year and 20 million of these are unsafe. About 13 per cent of pregnancy related deaths have been attributed to unsafe abortions and 80,000 deaths annually.
In Nigeria alone, about 760,000 abortions occur annually despite the country's restrictive abortion law.
Experts say unsafe abortion is one important reason Nigeria reports one of the world's highest maternal mortality ratios of 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births.
...
She said for every woman who dies, 20 others are maimed for life, Nzeribe who blamed the sharp rise in the country's maternal mortality disclosed that unsafe abortion keeps maternal mortality persistently high as it contributes 13 to 40 per cent of maternal deaths in Africa.
According to her, "Unsafe abortion mortality ratio in Africa is 110 deaths per 100,000 live births. On the average each African woman will experience seven unsafe abortions in her reproductive lifetime" -- we're very fortunate not to have to face these kinds of conditions, at these kinds of levels, in the US. That doesn't mean we aren't already having problems with unsafe/illegal abortions due to access problems. Over and over we've seen that the greater the access problems, in regards to both contraception and abortion, the more women die. Read those numbers again. Every single one of those is a human being with hopes and dreams and fears and family. Dead. Needlessly, pointlessly dead.
When Teenagers Seek Abortion Care the Myths Are Exposed -- As always happens on RH Reality Check (which is a great reproductive health site), I got totally sucked in to watching the thoroughly cited takedowns of the trolls in the comment section.
What I Learned from Dr. Tiller: Why Trust Women PAC and Affected Parents Oppose the Nebraska Abortion Ban What’s happening in Nebraska right now isn’t local. Abortion rights opponents are trying to shut down Dr. Leroy Carhart, one of four healthcare providers still performing specialized late-term procedures in the United States: it’s a national issue that affects us all. -- In my view, providers of late-term abortions are incredible, compassionate heroes. They face the greatest danger and persecution, while handling the most traumatic, tragic, heart-rending cases.
Whether those outside the direct political shadow were aware of it or not, the Terri Shiavo case was very much about making political/legal steps to impede access to abortion -- This bit really strikes home in terms of the tactics we see at the clinics, too: "During the Schiavo controversy, the Religious Right's operational theory was 'the ends justify the means' and 'any lie is acceptable if it helps us get what we want,'" Boston said. "They bent the truth like taffy and then had the unmitigated gall to pretend to be operating from a superior ethical stance.
It's the lying that really pisses me off. If you can't make your argument with the actual facts, or by persuasion with your perspective and opinions (clearly differentiated from the facts), you _haven't got an argument_, you self-righteous blowhard. I was at the clinics today listening to the shit again, including lies about medical risks, lies about patients being injured/killed at the clinic, just flat-out lie after lie after lie. Not "we have different perspectives", not "taken out of context and spun", but undebatable lies. There's nothing "debatable" about whether four women in the past two weeks left here in body bags. Are you kidding me? That's the level of lie I'm talking about. Even after a decade, it never fails to simultaneously infuriate me and floor me with the unbelievable audacity involved. Doc actually got pissed enough at one of the antis to take him to court for slander after one too many claims about "unlicensed doctor" and one too many lies about patients being injured. It was a lovely thing to see, and the anti got his ass handed to him, but each time costs money, pulls resources and energy from patients... I wish we could do it more often, and it's just not feasible.
And the original article I linked to is about the larger connections in that pattern of lies -- we've seen it again in the health care debates, and over and over in the politics of recent years. What on earth do we do about it? About the number of people making decisions based on lies they've been told? On the power lies have in our current system? Factcheck.org and Snopes.com are only going to help so much, and this is so deeply endemic it just makes me want to pull the covers over my head, some days.
Why Are Pedophilia-Hiding, Child-Abusing Church Fathers Allowed to Write Laws About Women's Bodies? The moral authority granted the Catholic Church in the secular world is the most repellent aspect of the current crisis. The same institution that has dealt so indulgently with its ordained pedophiles had no problem excommunicating a Brazilian mother who sought an abortion for her 9-year-old daughter, raped and impregnated with twins by her stepfather, or pushing for laws in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Chile banning abortion even to save the woman's life.
And just to be clear about my views, I believe there are plenty of wonderful Catholics, and I understand valuing the ritual and religion and faith. I understand joining and creating Catholic churches that are not tied to the papacy. However, I do not understand continuing to cleave to an institution that is this corrupt and abusive. One that preaches poverty and accumulates wealth beyond measure. I do not understand continuing to support it at the offering plate, week after week. I do not understand being willing to spend one's own limited donations to support protection of pedophiles, life-threatening lies to africans regarding the efficacy of condoms against HIV, or any of the other multitude of abuses the church has refused to change. Yes, they do "nice things" too. That's lovely. That doesn't change any of the evil they perpetrate, and it does not, in my view, excuse one bit of it. There are plenty of organizations that do many wonderful things without this level of corruption, and without these flat-out evil policies.
There are men, women and children around the world who would still be alive if it weren't for these kinds of policies, coming from an institution with this kind of political power. That power comes from each and every Catholic who supports the church financially and with their voice and membership. The Roman Catholic church is certainly not the only organization that deserves this level of scrutiny, but it is one of the most powerful institutions on the planet, and worth additional attention and criticism because of its reach and because of the level of unthinking kowtowing non-Catholics do in its direction. And don't even get me started ranting on churches that get involved in politics and still want their tax-exempt status. Frankly, I don't believe in most applications of tax-exempt status, and I say that as someone who directly benefited from it my entire childhood (Dad's an episcopal priest; we grew up in rectories that didn't have property taxes). As a way of protecting spending power when it comes to direct services to the community, sure. As a way of indirectly supporting the church institutions and property themselves, no. That assumes a level of implied benevolence I don't think is specially and sacredly definitive of "church" as an institution.
And before the cries of "hypocrisy" begin, yes, I have similar issues with having to support my own government's evil. If I had any ability to, I would direct every penny of my taxes to the parts of the government I consider ethical. But donations are not taxes. Donations are a matter of ethics, they speak directly to your beliefs. It's why every bit of my United Way donation from my paycheck is set to go specifically to institutions I've researched, rather than scattershot divided amongst all, since many organizations under United Way's umbrella have policies I will not support. Donations are our least encumbered way of interacting with the world fiscally; you're not railroaded in by lack of comparable services with an ethical organization (as is the issue with many boycott plans in the world of regular 'purchasing power as political tool'), you're not threatened with jail for refusing to donate, as you would be as a tax resister. So why, with so many wonderful organizations out there in need of support, would one choose to further the unjust power of the Roman Catholic church, or any other fundamentally unjust institution? Why?
In other news, I'm very pleased to report that murderous fuckwad Scott Roeder got life in prison for shooting down Dr. Tiller in cold blood, in the aisle of his church. I'm very pleased on two counts; first, that there was no possibility of a death sentence. I'm against them ethically and practically, and especially against them in regards to clinic terrorists, since I believe it just creates martyrs for their cause. Secondly, it was the harshest sentence he _could_ receive, and indicates that the judge addressed the case appropriately, considering the stalking and terrorizing elements. There's never all that much certainty in how the courts will handle abortion-related terrorism cases, and there have been positively hostile judges in the past, so this was excellent news as well.
Bonus Rant/Random: As an atheist who's familiar with the level of hostility toward atheists in modern american culture, can I just say how much it makes me crazy that every time I do something nice, kind, generous, etc, I get appreciated for being a "good Christian"? Anyone out there up for a nice big helping of confirmation bias?
