Catholic and Enjoying It!
Gets Really Truly Deeply Catholic Veep candidate to partly renounce prolife convictions for the sake of party needs!:
Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s strong views on abortion took a back seat to his new boss’s view in a Romney-Ryan campaign response to a Missouri Senate candidate’s controversial remarks about rape and abortion.
The statement on behalf of Ryan and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney said the pair would “not oppose abortion in instances of rape.”
The occasion of this perfectly predictable trimming of Catholic conviction to suit Romney’s cynical disinterest in abortion was a GOP congressional candidate in Missouri named Todd Akin babbling like a buffoon:
Rep. Todd Akin suggested to St. Louis station KTVI on Sunday that if a “legitimate rape” occurs, “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
The Romney campaign, which deeply wishes for the question of abortion to just go away, and whose head built his entire political career by standing atop a mound of dead babies in Massachusetts, responded swiftly to Akin’s poltroonery by making sure everybody knew that in any contest between the Catholic Ryan’s convictions about the sanctity of human life and the immediate and expedient needs of the Romney campaign to keep the question of abortion as far as possible from itself, Ryan’s convictions would be trampled underfoot and he would grin and like it–as should all Catholics and prolifers who delude themselves about “keeping Romney’s feet to the fire” as they again allow themselves to be exploited and get virtually nothing in return from this supremely cynical manipulator and empty suit. Basic message: Party Needs Before Principle–Always.
Meanwhile, prolifers capable of thought instead of mere panic at Akin’s imbecile and embarrassing remarks, such as Serrin Foster of Feminists for Life, actually said what Romney should have said if he had any actual interest in the question of abortion beyond “How can I exploit prolife suckers without having to stand too close to them?”:
When someone asks about abortion exceptions for rape and incest, we must also consider the feelings of those who were conceived through sexual assault.
Well-meaning statements can hurt. As one UC Berkeley grad student said to her pro-choice peers, “I have a right to be here.” They responded, “We didn’t mean you!” She asked, “Who did you think you meant?”
My mother told this story to a co-worker who agreed and said, “People never think they are talking to an exception — like me.”
We don’t discriminate based on parentage — that’s not equality. You are valuable no matter who your parents are, no matter the circumstances of your conception.
All people are equal. All choices are not.
People used to value a woman based on who her father or husband was. It is similarly medieval to value a child by the actions of her father. That way of thinking is patriarchal and antifeminist, and it should have passed away with the Dark Ages.
Abortion after rape is misdirected anger. It doesn’t punish the perpetrator of the crime or prevent further assaults against other women.
Feminists for Life’s priority is keeping women safe. Incarcerated sexual offenders should not be allowed pornography, barbells, and early release. We need harsh sentences for sexual assault, without possibility of parole.
We need comprehensive support for rape victims who become pregnant. A convicted rapist should never have paternal rights or be able to demand visitation from “his” children while in prison. But if he has the means, he should contribute child support. If a woman is poor and cannot prove the paternity, she could have problems collecting welfare. Small employers could fire her. We need to listen to those who have had children conceived through sexual assault and work for short- and long-term solutions that benefit both children and mothers.
Feminists for Life is a proud supporter of the Violence Against Women Act. In fact, we were the only pro-life group active in the National Task Force on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence.
After a lecture at a Midwestern university, a student pulled me aside. She told me that she had been raped by her third cousin when she was 13 years old and had become pregnant. Her parents had helped her have the privacy she wanted during her pregnancy, and then she placed her son with two loving parents.
I asked her why she had made the decision to have the child — when she was only a girl who had lived through what was arguably the worst of circumstances. She said she would never pass to her own unborn child the violence that had been inflicted on her. Now that is the strength of a woman.
Evaluate your party in light of the Church’s teaching, not your Church’s teaching in light of Party Needs. Otherwise, expect more of this.
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