Tuesday, April 08, 2008

It’s all about abortion … even when it’s not.


A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US outlines some very alarming statistics about non-fatal child abuse and neglect in children under a year old.

About 1 in 50 U.S. infants are victims of nonfatal child abuse or neglect in a year, according to the first national study of the problem in that age group. The study focused on children younger than 1 year, and found nearly a third were one week old or younger when the abuse or neglect occurred.

"It is a particularly vulnerable group," said study co-author Rebecca Leeb, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We were struck by the fact there was a clustering of maltreatment with the very, very early age group."
[…]
The 91,000 infants were age 1 year or younger. About 30,000 of those cases were infants aged one week or younger. About 68 percent of those cases were attributed to neglect. Federal officials define neglect as a failure to meet a child's basic needs including housing, clothing, feeding and access to medical care. But the counted cases did not include new parents stumbling their way through breast-feeding or making other rookie mistakes.

"Things like abandonment and newborn drug addiction would qualify as neglect, not things like parents learning how to be parents," Leeb said.

Medical professionals identified about 65 percent of the maltreated newborns to protective services staff. The others came from law enforcement, relatives, friends, neighbors and from protective services staff. The results mirror what a study in Canada found, Leeb said.

And everybody’s favourite narcissistic, hypocritical, abortion-obsessed anti-choicer’s reaction?

The solution to baby abuse is not to say: kill them in the womb.

Killing babies in the womb and abusing them after they are born are acts on the same spectrum. It lets parents off the hook.

Parents should be accountable for the care of their children at all stages of life, not only when they come out of their womb.

We should not send the message: you should have been dead. That's the message that abortion sends to abused kids: better dead than a burden on others.

Lovely.

True to form, SUZANNE provides no suggestions about how to help these children once they’re born, no ideas on support programs for single parents, no calls to donate to local housing or peer programs. Just the same old tired don’t have an abortion because a fetus is a child but once you actually have that child and are overwhelmed and completely unprepared for what’s ahead, well, too bad for you. So sorry but I have another blastocyst to save, an unknown fetus to pray for, a pregnant woman to harass ... no time for the real, live babies.

Need more proof? Just look at SUZANNE’s top categories and number of posts for each — pro-life (894), abortion (672), late term abortion (62), unborn victims of crime (60) ... this is getting a little creepy. Wait a tic, here’s one kind of, sort of maybe — crisis pregnancy centre (6). Except, oooopsie, not so much. According to executive summary of Congressman Henry Waxman’s minority report on CPCs for the House Oversight Committee:

Specifically, the report finds:
• The centers provided false and misleading information about a link between abortion and breast cancer. There is a medical consensus that induced abortion does not cause an increased risk of breast cancer. Despite this consensus, eight centers told the caller that having an abortion would in fact increase her risk. One center said that “all abortion causes an increased risk of breast cancer in later years.” Another claimed that research shows a “far greater risk” of breast cancer after an abortion, telling the caller that an abortion would “affect the milk developing in her breasts” and that the risk of breast cancer increased by as much as 80% following an abortion.
• The centers provided false and misleading information about the effect of abortion on future fertility. Abortions in the first trimester, using the most common abortion procedure, do not pose an increased risk for future fertility. However, seven centers told the caller that having an abortion could hurt her chances of having children in the future. One center said that damage from abortion could lead to “many miscarriages” or to “permanent damage” so “you wouldn’t be able to carry,” telling the caller that this is “common” and happens “a lot.” Another center said, “In the future you could have trouble conceiving another baby” because of scar tissue, a side effect of abortion that happens to “a lot of women.”
• The centers provided false and misleading information about the mental health effects of abortion. Research shows that significant psychological stress after an abortion is no more common than after birth. However, thirteen centers told the caller that the psychological effects of abortion are severe, long-lasting, and common. One center said that the suicide rate in the year after an abortion “goes up by seven times.” Another center said that post-abortion stress suffered by women having abortions is “much like” that seen in soldiers returning from Vietnam and “is something that anyone who’s had an abortion is sure to suffer from.” Other centers said that abortion can cause “guilt, … sexual problems, … suicidal ideas, … drug use, eating disorders,” and “a downward spiral where they lose friends and family members.”

Not a whole lot of support for anything but the CPCs’ right wing, anti-choice agenda. And if they have to tell a few lies to get there from here? Well, really ... who’s counting?

I am.

But let’s give credit where credit is due, SUZANNE does have one whole entire post on child care. Except it’s a cheap shot at Red Jenny. She also has an equal number of posts on knitting, which is actually just a cheap shot at Belinda Stronach, and former US congressman Mark Foley ... except this time it’s a cheap shot at the Democrats.

Soooooo, one could assume that child care, knitting and politicians stalking teenage congressional pages are all of equal importance to SUZANNE ... and that she never misses a chance to take a cheap shot at someone who isn’t in complete ideological lockstep with her. Thanks for proving my point, dear. You really have to stop making it this easy.

And furthermore. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a single mom. I have a good job, I just bought my first house and my son is going to university in the fall. Needless to say, I'm not exactly rolling in cash — but that doesn’t stop me from putting my money where my mouth is. I have a sponsor child in Chad through World Vision and I donate money every month to CHEO and to Roger’s House, a pediatric palliative care facility here in Ottawa because, as I’ve also said, I’m concerned about real children. Unlike the sanctimonious, hypocritical shriek harpies in the fetus-fetishist crowd. So after you’ve saved the fetuses and they’re born and you’ve fucked off they way the anti-choicers always do because, as far as you’re concerned your job is done SUZANNE, don't worry. I’ll be here to pick up the slack.

7 comments:

Prole said...

SHE's got nothing but cheap shots. That and a pathological obsession with other people's business, specifically their reproductive organs. I'm calling her Elena Ceausescu Junior from now on, because that's the future she envisions for the women and children of Canada.

KEvron said...

very thourough, lu2. you can learn all you need to know about a so-con blogger by simply skimming their tags.

KEvron

KEvron said...

er, "thorough"....

KEvron

Red Tory said...

Didn't SUZANNE once claim that she wasn't one of those people who spent all of her time lecturing other people about abortion? I think she did, because that prompted me to go through her tags as well.

Ti-Guy said...

SUZANNE has mentionned from time to time the abuse she suffered in high school (I get the impression it was high school teasing/shunning/bullying). I think she's just on a campaign to get back at the women who've tormented her.

It's really too bad, but it's really not anyone else's problem. I just have a hard time understanding what kind of parent that would make, especially a stay-at-home mom who spends too much time on the Internet.

KEvron said...

rt,

she's claimed that she doesn't verbally discuss abortion. however, knowing what a contemptable liar she is....

KEvron

Anonymous said...

Well written Lulu, and that's from another single Mom who raised two, both of who are at university, working part time to pay their costs. Guess they got that work ethic from the deadbeat dad, who never contributed one cent to their support. Like you, I had a good job and could afford to raise them, at the cost of my retirement ease, I might add, however, I regret nothing. I do regret not being able to get an abortion, when I was a lot younger, because of people like this ...how do I address her? Moron, no, not in it's traditional sense. Bigot, yes, but not quite. Idiot, yes, but not quite. Valley girl - Knows nothing about anything, yet sets herself up as an expert - yeah, that about covers it...and Bob's your uncle. Whatever will give her the maximum exposure with the minimum of effort, whatever is "in" with the "in" crowd. Gosh, feel like I'm back in high school when I read these people, and trust me, high school 45 years ago was no fun for an intelligent, feminist minded girl.