When I first heard about an eleven year old girl’s speech before a Minnesota hearing on marriage equality, I thought of myself at her age. I’ve been there. I never spoke before a house committee, sure, but when I was that age my father was quick to push me forward to speak to reporters in support of “traditional marriage,” or against abortion, or in favor of gun rights, or what have you.
Political conservatives talk constantly about their desire to make government smaller. The less government the better, they say. Get the government out of our lives, they say. Cut regulations and let the free market have its way, they say. Except, it seems, when it comes to abortion. When it comes to abortion, political conservatives toss their small government and anti-regulation rhetoric and embrace big, intrusive government and absolutely debilitating levels of red tape.
Many of us are familiar with the political and social activism of the Religious Right in the U.S., having observed its affronts to LGBTQ equality, reproductive rights, and religious pluralism. It’s easy to think of the Christian Right as an American problem, but we must also remember that it’s a global matter as well. As progressive bloggers and activists in the U.S. keep an eye on the Religious Right, we must also pay attention to right-wing Christian activism on the international stage.
Dan Savage recently explained why he frequently fails to qualify “Christian” when he speaks of opposition to gay rights – because, as he says, anti-gay Christians have “hijacked” the “megaphone” of Christianity and liberal Christians are “complicit” with their “silence.” I think Dan Savage’s assessment was unfair, and that we need to not overlook the contributions liberal Christians have made to the gay rights movement.
Yesterday I posted an image of a postcard distributed by abortion opponents as an argument against having a rape exemption. I used the postcard as a chance to discuss the rape exemption, but several of you readers pointed out that the image completely erases the woman, and her body, from the equation. You were right. So let’s explore that, shall we? Because this isn’t an isolated occurrence, it’s something the anti-abortion movement does all the time.
Question: What is the difference between a woman who wants an abortion after accidentally becoming pregnant with her boyfriend and a woman who wants an abortion after becoming pregnant through rape? Answer: The first woman voluntarily chose to have sex while the second woman didn’t. In this post I look at the implications of rape exemptions and how a better understanding of the rape exemption can help further the pro-choice cause.
During the Crisis of the Third Century, many Romans came to believe that the growing threats their empire faced stemmed from the growth in skepticism toward Rome’s national gods. They believed that the Christians’ refusal to worship the Roman gods had caused those gods to turn away from the empire, allowing death and and decay. Notice anything familiar?
After eliminating child tax credits and cutting subsidies for childcare, Michigan legislators are proposing a tax credit for pregnant women.
Some responses to my post on losing faith in the pro-life movement have been thoughtful. Others have not. “No, Pro-Lifers Are Not Making Children Too Expensive to Let Live” is one of the latter. Let’s take a look at Freiburger’s piece, in which he argues that programs that help make pregnancy and raising children more affordable let women off without forcing them to pay the consequences for irresponsible sex.
In the run up to the election, the conservative media rejected the dominant narrative regarding who would win the presidential election. While Nate Silver analyzed polls and consistently predicted an Obama win, Fox News insisted that Silver and the polls were skewed and predicted that Romney would win handily. And then Obama won. What happened, exactly?
I have been impressed over the last week at the outpouring of interesting and thought-provoking articles being put out regarding the abortion issue. With the election approaching and the increasing role abortion has played in politics recently, I suppose this outpouring only makes sense. In this post I provide links to seven articles I have found interesting, and offer a representative quotation from each. Happy reading!
The spring of my sophomore year of college I was president of my university’s Students for Life chapter. The fall of my junior year of college I cut my ties with the movement. Five years later I have lost the last shred of faith I had in the pro-life movement. This is my story. I’d like to challenge your thinking on the subject and invite you along for the ride.
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