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What are Pro-Lifers
"Really Trying to Accomplish?" To Help Women
Part Two of Four By Dave Andrusko
There is a lot you could say about a groveling, servile portrait of Jill Meadows, the 41-year-old medical director of "Planned Parenthood of the Heartland," the conglomerate that resulted from a merger of abortion clinics in Nebraska and Iowa. It would start with the absence of nary a critical word and note that it would not be an exaggeration to conclude that the people reporter JoAnne Young interviewed see Meadows as a candidate for sainthood. But if you take the time to read more carefully, a different picture emerges. Let me offer you four telling quotes. "I do believe in heaven, that this life is temporary, and the most important thing is to follow our calling," she told Young of the Lincoln Journal Star. "I feel like most of the positive changes over history have been due to people making sacrifices." And "She has come to believe that life begins, not at conception, but when it becomes meaningful, when ensoulment is possible, when viability and taking breath is possible. The miracle of life occurs at birth, she says." And [referring to us] "So I look at that and say, 'What are they really trying to accomplish? Is it a loving intent, or one of control?'" she said. "And obviously I've decided it's one of control and punishment, self-righteousness and judgment." And [a quote from an admiring Sociology professor, referring to Meadows] "She's seeing things we don't see." At the risk of stating the obvious, there is an awful lot that is that Meadows doesn't see. She doesn't see the unborn, or any embryology book written in the past thirty years [even though she is an adjunct university professor], or the sacrifices pro-lifers willing make to help women avoid taking their child's life, or, if they have, to reassemble the parts of their lives. I don't know about you but I don't see "sacrifice" when an abortionist tears a woman's baby limb from limb. Certainly not in their pocketbook. Does Meadows think the unborn child suddenly is "ensouled" when she passes down the birth canal? If her concern kicks in with "viability," does that mean Meadows favors not allowing babies to be aborted who are able to experience pain--the very limitation Nebraska enacted with passage of the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act"? Finally, what about the nonsense that pro-lifers are interested in nothing but "Guilt, shame and fear"? The best answer was provided by Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life. "'There are so many walking wounded in our country, from millions of abortions,' Schmit-Albin told Young. 'We embrace them. We never, ever point a finger of guilt.'" So, as if to answer Meadows' rhetorical question, "What are they really trying to accomplish?" Schmit-Albin tells Young, "We're here to help women." Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha |
