Now here is a worthy cause that I saw on Rachel Ann's website: Efrat - Saving thousands of children from death by abortion
I could write a long essay or a book bout "why abortions are wrong, and yet the world has decided to condone or even embrace them". It may sometimes be difficult to remember that sometimes, and infact quite often, a majority can be very wrong, even brainwashed, and very misled.
Even when the facts are as simple and clear as they indeed are. I am sometimes asked questions such as "what is a fact?", "who are you to define a fact?", or "do you really think there is one authentic truth?". I am sorry to break the news to the left wing postmodernists out there, but: Yes, there are such things as facts, and they can indeed often be quite easily defined.
Example (for dummies, such as postmodernists):
If a woman gets pregnant she will most likely end up giving birth to a child. The child will then become a full fledged individual. It is an indisputable fact.
Posted by Maria at June 22, 2005 11:16 PMI recently saw a longer video of Efrat on a CD a woman gave me on the street in Jerusalem.
I don't think abortions are always wrong, like you do, but I am too bothered by how thoughtlessly they are sometimes performed in the so-called progressive society.
I think the timing of the abortion is critical. I certainly disagree with the view that right after the conception we have a human being. No, we have a few cells. Today you can have an "abortion pill" and end a pregnancy within 48 hours. It's certainly not "murdering a baby" and there's nothing wrong with it.
After 48 hours it's still not a baby, and for some time (I can't determine how long) the fetus is worth nothing more than a tadpole. The fact that it "responds if we tickle it" doesn't distinguishes it from any other organism.
I think there is propaganda on both sides - both the anti- and pro-abortion, and women who consider abortion should be cautious of both.
Generally I support abortion in the early stages of the pregnancy. I also support abortions in later stages in case of danger for the mother's health or if the baby is due to suffer some problems. Here, of course, it's hard to tell what problems exactly make the abortion justified. I do think that abortion is the best thing to do in many cases, but I have a feeling that in Israel there are too many abortions because the parents expect perfect children.
I, for one, have epilepsy. More precisely, I had a few seizures in my entire life, but besides I have a normal life, although I still take medication. I'm sure that with the common attitude today, many parents would choose to abort a child if they would know he/she would be epileptic. Of course, I think it's totally unreasonable in my case, and also in more severe cases. I mean, I feel that people - esp in Israel - are really exaggerating with this demand for a perfect child.
And now to EFRAT: They apply to women who consider having an abortion due to FINANCIAL reasons and help them mostly financially. Now why I DON'T like this attitude: We have increasing poverty in Israel, and there is much to do helping the children ALREADY born. Efrat would rather see as many as possible Jewish children (they don't help non-Jewish children). I would rather see happy children and women who control their lives. I'm not saying these Efrat children are not happy, but it's always better to have children when you PLAN it and when you can provide for them yourself.
So I would prefer if Efrat's money woulb be spent on advertising contraceptives and abortion pills and helping the many, many poor children we already have.
While on the subject. Lazer Brody has had some interesting posts lately about thousands
abortions carried out in Israel each year, many induced he asserts, by mis-interpreted sonograms.
Orly: You have epilepsy? I have epilepsy as well..
I don't think parents would chose to abort their children if they knew they'd be epileptic. Maybe if they knew they'd be severely handicapped, but not epileptic.
But did you know that epileptics were not allowed to marry and have children in USA until 1963, in order to prevent them (us) from spreading the "bad genes"? Here in Iceland it was 1974..
Do you drive? What meds do you use?
I believe that more than a few people would abort an epileptic child, because people are ignorant about epilepsy. They aren't aware of the fact that people they know have epilepsy.
I have a driving license but I made it after the time where everybody else did. In practice I don't drive much. I'm not very confident in driving, but I do things that people with seizures aren't supposed to do, like climbing or swimming, and I feel confident because I haven't had a seizure in years.
Back to our subject, as far as I know, the tendency to abort babies because of various "defects" is stronger in Israel than anywhere else in the world. Israelis are world champions both in fertility treatments and in various tests during the pregnancy. I think it's generally good, but sometimes I hear that people decide to have an abortion because things that seem minor to me. It seems that people feel that their child must be perfect. Maybe it's related to the other discussion with David about the Jewish motivation...
Well epilepsy is an unusual condition in many ways. Much like Judaism, it has often been associated with big time achievers/geniuses. There is the theory about epilepsy and genius. Two out of the four men you mentioned, as an example (Freud and Marx), had epilepsy. And so many more of history's greatest achievers..
Posted by: Maria at June 23, 2005 06:30 PM PermalinkI wasn't aware of that. But maybe it's not so surprising, because epilepsy is a genetic condition having to do with the brain, and it's not really understood yet. Epilepsy is actually a broad range of conditions, some of which appear with mental deficiency, but perhaps others are more likely to appear with genius.
As for Judaism, I don't see it as an unusual condition, but maybe some people do...
Posted by: Orly at June 25, 2005 10:31 AM Permalink