“Fertility clinics destroy embryos all the time. Why aren’t conservatives after them?” was the title of an article from Margot Kaplan in the Opinion pages of last Sunday’s Washington Post. This is one of those pieces that contains enough ridiculous to write a thousand words or two to counter, but one sentence in particular really got me thinking (emphasis mine):
The disparity between how the law treats abortion patients and IVF patients reveals an ugly truth about abortion restrictions: that they are often less about protecting life than about controlling women’s bodies. Both IVF and abortion involve the destruction of fertilized eggs that could potentially develop into people. But only abortion concerns women who have had sex that they don’t want to lead to childbirth. Abortion restrictions use unwanted pregnancy as a punishment for “irresponsible sex” and remind women of the consequences of being unchaste: If you didn’t want to endure a mandatory vaginal ultrasound , you shouldn’t have had sex in the first place .
OK, I lied – there is one other point I couldn’t let pass. Go back to the last sentence of that paragraph – how is it that leftists get so up in arms over the invasive, “mandatory vaginal ultrasounds”, being part of the abortion process but have no problem with the invasive, mandatory… abortions?
Back to the main point – Kaplan is trying to equate IVF and harvesting organs from abortions as simply the “destruction of fertilized eggs that could potentially develop into people.” I understand that she is arguing against the part of the pro-life crowd’s “Life begins at inception” argument. Which technically, is a point I was always taught in science class. But the way I’m reading her statement is that the two procedures are no different. Let’s not forget that the source of this controversy is the fact that aborted fetuses are being used to harvest their organs. For example, kidneys are one of the sets of organ being extracted for research. According the handy guide I had posted in my previous post on the subject they start functioning around week 14. To take Kaplan’s logical conclusion that the two procedures are no different that would mean that embryos are being grown for at least 14 weeks for the sole intent of killing them to extract their organs. Where are these organ farms and how long have they existed? We need answers! And is there any cutoff age for this involuntary organ donation, or do we occasionally see something like what the boys from Monty Python might have done? I know, using the “Live organ donor” skit isn’t a fair comparison at all – the man in the skit making the organ donation actually personally consented.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aclS1pGHp8o[/youtube]
Well, they do have the signed donor card…
OK, sorry for the snark, but thinking along those lines led me to a more serious point. As I had mentioned in my previous post asking where the groups opposing to cruelty to animals stand on this, abortion isn’t a subject I write about. People’s opinions are too strong to sway, and there is little I can add to the conversation that hasn’t already been written. What has captured my interest though, is how this issue has been handled with the same intellectual dishonesty that the left uses too often with other issues. For example, on my Facebook Feed each time a new video gets released the recycled headline reads along the lines of “Group releases latest video attacking Planned Parenthood”.
Um, “attacking?” While the videos being released do not portray PP positively, there is no editorial content. They are simply showing PP’s everyday business practices. if your best defense of your everyday activity is to claim that you’re being attacked, then maybe what your doing is wrong? For example, if somebody asked me to express my opinions on President Obama’s performance and captured them with a hidden camera, an ensuing story along the lines of “Hidden video exposes the truth – Brother Bob is an ***hole!” I wouldn’t go into some PR blitz panic, try explaining that only 3% of my time is spent being an ***hole – you get the idea. My response would simply be, “Yes, it’s what I do. Two minutes spent reading my site would tell anyone that”
What is most interesting is that the same crowd that loves to preach that “We need to have a national conversation on…” is trying at all costs to make this conversation about everything except what is actually being done. And this is what takes me back to the title of this post, and it is my challenge to the pro-choice crowd:
If you feel that what everything that Planned Parenthood is doing is both legal and ethical then let’s see a detailed report of their business practices, including pricing/reimbursement schedules associates with tissue donation, along with historical data to back them up.
If the procedures for removing the organs are completely ethical and not causing a living being to suffer, show us the video footage and photos of such extraction. How is the fetus reacting to the stimuli associates with the procedure? Is it suffering, and if so, how much is acceptable for the research it will help advance? If the research is as valuable as you say then show us what breakthroughs or progress have been made as a direct result of research performed on fetal tissue.
If this is truly about science and not political muscle, then you should have absolutely no problem showing everything that Planned Parenthood does and stand proudly by it. And if Planned Parenthood’s abortion procedures are humane, ethical, and valuable to science, then society as a whole will support them, and these “attacks” will simply go away.
If it sounds like I’m being harsh, keep in mind that if your beliefs can’t stand up to counter-arguments then it’s time to question why you believe. I’ve seen plenty of footage of what goes on in the meatpacking industry, and I’m well aware of the journey of any portion of meat that lands on my dinner plate. And despite the distasteful “making of sausage” I have no problem with enjoying the fact that I’ve evolved to the top of the food chain. If our brains have the sense to know that bacon is far superior to tofu, then isn’t choosing to be a vegan anti-science? But I digress.
As I’ve said before, my position is still best described as “squishy pro-abortion.” Abortion is not a key issue for me, but the dishonesty with how the left discusses it is.If you support Planned Parenthood and are willing to discuss in detail their practices, then even though I disagree with your support for the activities being exposed, I honestly applaud your integrity.
And if you’re a supporter and the best defense you have is that you’re angry that someone exposed you, then you have earned the right to shut up. Permanently. Or as Chris Jericho might say…
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMSiR58X4Uk[/youtube]
Mr. Jericho could have a future as a White House Press Secretary…
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/634024853947949056
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/634119266632003584
Need govt funding? Just sell Baby Parts#DefundPP 🔪#WakeUpAmerica #PJNET 👍#DeathByDemocrat 💀 pic.twitter.com/Gzn8nrejJX
— MoTexHawaiian (member CBN) (@PastorPaulK) August 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/Will_Antonin/status/631503113682333696
Cross posted from Brother Bob’s Blog
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