"new state rules to regulate abortion clinics like hospitals."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/virginia-politics/post/virginia-gov-mcdonnell-signs-stricter-abortion-clinic-rules/2011/12/29/gIQAn1BDPP_blog.html
should women's "healthcare" be substandard to a hospital?
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Joseph, obedient protector of our Lord, pray for the unborn
GospelMt 2:13-18
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122811.cfm
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122811.cfm
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Get out of the combox and help someone!
I spend some time in the comboxes on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JaneRoe1984 My channel (much like this blog) is designed to increase awareness, education and speak out against what is a terrible choice - to kill our unborn children.
I do this for a couple of reasons:
I think it's important to enter the discussion where the discussion is happening. On YouTube it seems to be happening pretty frankly. I want to be sure that my voice as a post-abortive woman is heard. So many claim to be speaking on behalf of women, I can speak for myself and my experience, thank you very much.
There are Pro-Abortion people who actually encourage abortion for a number of reasons. I have seen the reasons ranging from socio-economic to the equivalent of "mercy killings". These people cannot be allowed to dominate the com-boxes, there must be an alternative point of view.
Commenting on YouTube Videos makes them more visible. Increasing visibility to what is the scourge of abortion, hopefully increases awareness, educates people and leads to fewer making the choice to abort.
There are well-meaning Christians who think that they can "win" converts via argument in these comboxes. I find their futile attempts to win souls via argument a distraction from the discussion of abortion. I am a Christian woman, but I have never seen anyone converted because they lost an argument. To win souls for Christ, we must love.
Which brings me to the topic of they day. In the combox of The 180 Movie today, I read a comment: "Sooo....out of curiosity....what do you all do outside of youtube for this cause? O.o"
Loved this comment! It's so true. I've been thinking about how to be more active in the Pro-Life movement for a long time. I'm finally going to take some advice from someone I love very much who thought a Crisis Pregnancy Center would be a good place for me to make a difference. While I have supported local Crisis Pregnancy Centers financially and with gifts, I am ready now to begin making more of time investment. So I'm making an appointment to discuss volunteer opportunities and I'm looking forward to joining the mission field!
http://www.youtube.com/user/JaneRoe1984 My channel (much like this blog) is designed to increase awareness, education and speak out against what is a terrible choice - to kill our unborn children.
I do this for a couple of reasons:
I think it's important to enter the discussion where the discussion is happening. On YouTube it seems to be happening pretty frankly. I want to be sure that my voice as a post-abortive woman is heard. So many claim to be speaking on behalf of women, I can speak for myself and my experience, thank you very much.
There are Pro-Abortion people who actually encourage abortion for a number of reasons. I have seen the reasons ranging from socio-economic to the equivalent of "mercy killings". These people cannot be allowed to dominate the com-boxes, there must be an alternative point of view.
Commenting on YouTube Videos makes them more visible. Increasing visibility to what is the scourge of abortion, hopefully increases awareness, educates people and leads to fewer making the choice to abort.
There are well-meaning Christians who think that they can "win" converts via argument in these comboxes. I find their futile attempts to win souls via argument a distraction from the discussion of abortion. I am a Christian woman, but I have never seen anyone converted because they lost an argument. To win souls for Christ, we must love.
Which brings me to the topic of they day. In the combox of The 180 Movie today, I read a comment: "Sooo....out of curiosity....what do you all do outside of youtube for this cause? O.o"
Loved this comment! It's so true. I've been thinking about how to be more active in the Pro-Life movement for a long time. I'm finally going to take some advice from someone I love very much who thought a Crisis Pregnancy Center would be a good place for me to make a difference. While I have supported local Crisis Pregnancy Centers financially and with gifts, I am ready now to begin making more of time investment. So I'm making an appointment to discuss volunteer opportunities and I'm looking forward to joining the mission field!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
You can't possibly be a thinking person, if you don't think like me.
I see this kind of arrogance all the time in the comboxes and on Facebook. It's really quite maddening. I'm trying to take a step back right now and make sure that I am not falling into the same camp. I think it's important to speak our views, even critical on issues such as abortion where there is a definable victim.
But I resent the implication from opposing view points that I am just a "lemming" because my education and experience has led me to a different conclusion. The part that is so offensive is the idea that I have come to the conclusions I have with absolutely no thought, contemplation or study. That to think something so "stupid" I must just be following along with the ignorant masses, while the more "educated and thoughtful" intellectuals have it all figured out.
Well, I have studied, I have reviewed the facts and I have a little experience in this life which have led me to some conclusions that I am quite comfortable with. I respect the journey of others and understand that as time, education and experience reveal certain truths in peoples lives, their viewpoint may or may not change as a result.
The bottom line is respecting the others journey. Respecting that as human beings, we all struggle through life and try to make sense of a world that often does not make sense.
But I resent the implication from opposing view points that I am just a "lemming" because my education and experience has led me to a different conclusion. The part that is so offensive is the idea that I have come to the conclusions I have with absolutely no thought, contemplation or study. That to think something so "stupid" I must just be following along with the ignorant masses, while the more "educated and thoughtful" intellectuals have it all figured out.
Well, I have studied, I have reviewed the facts and I have a little experience in this life which have led me to some conclusions that I am quite comfortable with. I respect the journey of others and understand that as time, education and experience reveal certain truths in peoples lives, their viewpoint may or may not change as a result.
The bottom line is respecting the others journey. Respecting that as human beings, we all struggle through life and try to make sense of a world that often does not make sense.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Regret
I would like to thank Silent No More Awareness for giving those who regret their abortion experience a voice. If you go to http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/testimonies/index.aspx you will find 1430 stories of regret and sorrow.
This post is about regret and how it worked for me. I aborted my baby in 1984 when I was 17. I was very mechanical about it and quite frankly the only regret I felt was during the actual procedure. I actually felt the life of my child leave my body and I cried out. The abortionist ordered me to "stop crying, it's too late now." So I did. I stopped crying for a long time.
In fact, the regret started finding it's way into my heart when I became pregnant with my son a couple of years later. First in how I was told I was pregnant. I went to the clinic for a pregnancy test and although it was an unplanned pregnancy, I was married. When the nurse gave me the news, she said "it's positive and if you want to take care of it you'll have to go elsewhere we don't do that here." And not in a private room, but in a waiting room filled with people!
I was pretty angry and I felt accused. But, I remember thinking in my head absolutely not! I will never abort another child! This was when the regret started trickling in. But as I had these feelings, I tried to stuff them back in. "Stop crying! It's too late now."
We didn't have the internet then, so I went to the library. I wanted to find a book with pictures so I could see what my baby looked like as he grew in my womb. All I could find was a children's book. I checked it out and took it home. As I looked at the pictures, I remember thinking "how could I have done that?" Had I really never seen the picture of a baby in the womb? I thought I had but I couldn't remember. More stuffing, "Stop crying! It's too late now."
As this child grew inside of me, so did regret for the child I killed just a few years before. And when they placed him in my arms, I knew what I did was terribly, terribly wrong.
After my son was born, I became overwhelmed with guilt and shame and didn't know what to do or where to go. So, I went to a Catholic Church. There wasn't a priest available but a sister spoke with me. She wasn't particularly gentle with me and I found no comfort there. She said, "God has already forgiven you, what right do you have not to forgive yourself?" Since God was only a vague concept in my head and heart at the time, this just piled the guilt on. I felt I didn't really have a right to these feelings, because I had made my "choice" so this was my consequence. "Stop crying! it's too late now." So I stuffed the feelings back in again and went on.
Even though the regret was coming in waves, I would have still considered myself "pro-choice" if you would have asked me during this time and probably through most of my twenties. I took the stance that abortion should remain legal, but women just had to be educated about it. Of course, I did nothing to advance that idea, I just had the idea.
The point of all this is, the regret wasn't immediate for me. It took time and came in waves as my experience and education revealed to me how wrong that "choice" was to make. The reason this is important to know is that some women who have had an abortion may not regret it at all - for a while. They may even be struggling with regret internally while presenting a completely different external impression.
It wasn't until 20 years after aborting my baby that I found some peace and relief at http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/ and I highly recommend this retreat to anyone, man or woman, who is experiencing regret and pain for choosing abortion. The regret and loss never goes away, but it is possible to make peace with yourself, with your baby and with God.
This post is about regret and how it worked for me. I aborted my baby in 1984 when I was 17. I was very mechanical about it and quite frankly the only regret I felt was during the actual procedure. I actually felt the life of my child leave my body and I cried out. The abortionist ordered me to "stop crying, it's too late now." So I did. I stopped crying for a long time.
In fact, the regret started finding it's way into my heart when I became pregnant with my son a couple of years later. First in how I was told I was pregnant. I went to the clinic for a pregnancy test and although it was an unplanned pregnancy, I was married. When the nurse gave me the news, she said "it's positive and if you want to take care of it you'll have to go elsewhere we don't do that here." And not in a private room, but in a waiting room filled with people!
I was pretty angry and I felt accused. But, I remember thinking in my head absolutely not! I will never abort another child! This was when the regret started trickling in. But as I had these feelings, I tried to stuff them back in. "Stop crying! It's too late now."
We didn't have the internet then, so I went to the library. I wanted to find a book with pictures so I could see what my baby looked like as he grew in my womb. All I could find was a children's book. I checked it out and took it home. As I looked at the pictures, I remember thinking "how could I have done that?" Had I really never seen the picture of a baby in the womb? I thought I had but I couldn't remember. More stuffing, "Stop crying! It's too late now."
As this child grew inside of me, so did regret for the child I killed just a few years before. And when they placed him in my arms, I knew what I did was terribly, terribly wrong.
After my son was born, I became overwhelmed with guilt and shame and didn't know what to do or where to go. So, I went to a Catholic Church. There wasn't a priest available but a sister spoke with me. She wasn't particularly gentle with me and I found no comfort there. She said, "God has already forgiven you, what right do you have not to forgive yourself?" Since God was only a vague concept in my head and heart at the time, this just piled the guilt on. I felt I didn't really have a right to these feelings, because I had made my "choice" so this was my consequence. "Stop crying! it's too late now." So I stuffed the feelings back in again and went on.
Even though the regret was coming in waves, I would have still considered myself "pro-choice" if you would have asked me during this time and probably through most of my twenties. I took the stance that abortion should remain legal, but women just had to be educated about it. Of course, I did nothing to advance that idea, I just had the idea.
The point of all this is, the regret wasn't immediate for me. It took time and came in waves as my experience and education revealed to me how wrong that "choice" was to make. The reason this is important to know is that some women who have had an abortion may not regret it at all - for a while. They may even be struggling with regret internally while presenting a completely different external impression.
It wasn't until 20 years after aborting my baby that I found some peace and relief at http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/ and I highly recommend this retreat to anyone, man or woman, who is experiencing regret and pain for choosing abortion. The regret and loss never goes away, but it is possible to make peace with yourself, with your baby and with God.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Thomas Merton: Essential Writings
I am reading this book and this passage just struck me, so I will put it here:
"It is not really my business to speak out about it, but since there is such a frightful apathy and passivity everywhere, with people simply unable to face the issue squarely, and with only a stray voice raised tentatively here and there, it has become an urgent obligation."
Thomas Merton wrote this in 1961, his topic was "international crisis". My topic which I think it transcends, is abortion. He goes on to say:
"Prayer of course remains my chief means, but it is also an obligation on my part to speak out insofar as I am able, and to speak as clearly, as forthrightly and as uncompromisingly as I can. A lot of people are not going to like this and it may mean my head, so do please pray for me in a very special way, because I cannot in conscience willingly betray the truth or let it be betrayed. The issue is too serious. This is purely and simply the crucifixion over again."
Thomas Merton, pray for us! Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us!
"It is not really my business to speak out about it, but since there is such a frightful apathy and passivity everywhere, with people simply unable to face the issue squarely, and with only a stray voice raised tentatively here and there, it has become an urgent obligation."
Thomas Merton wrote this in 1961, his topic was "international crisis". My topic which I think it transcends, is abortion. He goes on to say:
"Prayer of course remains my chief means, but it is also an obligation on my part to speak out insofar as I am able, and to speak as clearly, as forthrightly and as uncompromisingly as I can. A lot of people are not going to like this and it may mean my head, so do please pray for me in a very special way, because I cannot in conscience willingly betray the truth or let it be betrayed. The issue is too serious. This is purely and simply the crucifixion over again."
Thomas Merton, pray for us! Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
This shouldn't interfere with "Safe, Legal & Most Importantly RARE"
Check out this recent article about "The Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/bill-would-ban-abortions-based-on-sex-race-critics-call-it-ploy-to-undermine-broader-rights/2011/12/06/gIQASUEQaO_story.html
This shouldn't interfere with "Safe, Legal and Rare", isn't that how our Pro-Abortion President sold us his view of abortion? I must admit, I don't know how this law would possibly be enforced since it seems that abortion clinics have abysmal oversight. Why don't we hear any outrage over Kermit Gosnell's Philadelphia clinic of horror and his targeting of women of color?
Nevertheless, I hope it passes, and I hope it DOES drive a wedge between women of color and the Pro-Abortion community since their babies and their wombs have been targets, since Margaret Sanger. http://www.blackgenocide.org/sanger.html
Why won't anyone dare to ask why:
Black women are more than 4.8 times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2.7 times as likely (AGI).
http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/bill-would-ban-abortions-based-on-sex-race-critics-call-it-ploy-to-undermine-broader-rights/2011/12/06/gIQASUEQaO_story.html
This shouldn't interfere with "Safe, Legal and Rare", isn't that how our Pro-Abortion President sold us his view of abortion? I must admit, I don't know how this law would possibly be enforced since it seems that abortion clinics have abysmal oversight. Why don't we hear any outrage over Kermit Gosnell's Philadelphia clinic of horror and his targeting of women of color?
Nevertheless, I hope it passes, and I hope it DOES drive a wedge between women of color and the Pro-Abortion community since their babies and their wombs have been targets, since Margaret Sanger. http://www.blackgenocide.org/sanger.html
Why won't anyone dare to ask why:
Black women are more than 4.8 times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2.7 times as likely (AGI).
http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/
The Lie that Leads to Killing
"I'm a good person", that's how it starts. The belief that I'm a good person and that I don't need God to be a good person. And then I justify how I'm loving to the people around me, honest, loyal and all of my wonderful qualities that add up to "a good person".
I slip just a little now and then, but who doesn't? Then I start comparing myself to others worse than me, and I justify well at least I'm not as bad as that! At least I'm not stealing, at least I'm not abusing my children, at least I care about people, at least, at least, at least...and I drop the bar lower and lower.
So then I don't feel so bad when I use sex as recreation. I've done all of the pre-work in my head to ensure that my personal enjoyment and fulfillment is deserved! After all, I'm a good person and I'm not as bad as that one. Until I have conceived an "inconvenient" baby, and now all that justification, I'm a good person, I'm a good person, I'm a good person, all the way to the abortionist. An innocent life is taken, I'm a killer.
There is an alternative. Instead of setting the bar so low and comparing myself to others worse than me, I can raise the bar and strive to be as good as the really good people, the ones that set a very good example for living a truly good and loving life. What does that look like? Well I can tell you it doesn't look like just about anything you'll see on TV or in the cultural media.
The "Holy Women"who have walked this earth before us can show us the way. Their life may at first glance not look as glamorous as the lives of those portrayed on the big screen, but these Holy Women have found fulfillment, joy and eternal reward in all walks and capacities of life.
http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Women-Pope-Benedict-XVI/dp/1612785107/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323173825&sr=1-1
The Holy Women lead us to God. And God reveals for us His plan for our happiness. His plan is not a life of restriction, no fun, live in the doldrums while everyone else is at the party. His plan is a life of freedom and true choice, with clear, wide open eyes of love!
I slip just a little now and then, but who doesn't? Then I start comparing myself to others worse than me, and I justify well at least I'm not as bad as that! At least I'm not stealing, at least I'm not abusing my children, at least I care about people, at least, at least, at least...and I drop the bar lower and lower.
So then I don't feel so bad when I use sex as recreation. I've done all of the pre-work in my head to ensure that my personal enjoyment and fulfillment is deserved! After all, I'm a good person and I'm not as bad as that one. Until I have conceived an "inconvenient" baby, and now all that justification, I'm a good person, I'm a good person, I'm a good person, all the way to the abortionist. An innocent life is taken, I'm a killer.
There is an alternative. Instead of setting the bar so low and comparing myself to others worse than me, I can raise the bar and strive to be as good as the really good people, the ones that set a very good example for living a truly good and loving life. What does that look like? Well I can tell you it doesn't look like just about anything you'll see on TV or in the cultural media.
The "Holy Women"who have walked this earth before us can show us the way. Their life may at first glance not look as glamorous as the lives of those portrayed on the big screen, but these Holy Women have found fulfillment, joy and eternal reward in all walks and capacities of life.
http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Women-Pope-Benedict-XVI/dp/1612785107/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323173825&sr=1-1
The Holy Women lead us to God. And God reveals for us His plan for our happiness. His plan is not a life of restriction, no fun, live in the doldrums while everyone else is at the party. His plan is a life of freedom and true choice, with clear, wide open eyes of love!
Monday, December 5, 2011
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