Joan Walsh Goes up Against O’Reilly on Abortion
Jun/090
Recently on his show, Fox News self-proclaimed “commentator” Bill O’Reilly engages in a heated “debate” with Joan Walsh of Salon.com over abortion, specifically late-lerm abortions and Dr. George Tiller. Again and again, he asks Walsh her feelings on late-term abortions in the context of his lead story for the night, “the far left on the attack”. Rather than summing it up, here’s the YouTube clip.
Bill O’Reilly still maintains that everything he mentioned about George Tiller was true and not inappropriate: calling him “Tiller the Baby Killer”, saying his has blood on his hands, that his legal clinic was an “abortion mill”. “My constitutional rights say I can say what I say,” O’reilly said. “You can say what you say, as vile as you say it, you can say it, and I would never condemn you for saying it. You are misguided, you have blood on your hands because you portrayed this man as a hero.” (Read Joan Walsh’s response here.)
I appreciate that O’Reilly has his views, just as Keith Olbermann on MSNBC has his views. But I’ve not heard Olbermann accuse a doctor legally practicing medicine of murder, launching incessant vile attacks over and over, no doubt inciting the intense hatred in the far-right groups that lead them to bomb abortion clinics, threaten practitioners and as we realized mere weeks ago, kill a man inside his church simply because they disagree with the service he provides. Free speech ends when you incite violence or threaten public safety. It’s why you can’t yell “fire!” in a crowded theatre. I’d like to post here Olbermann’s comment on Fox News and Bill O’Reilly, and the inciting of this domestic terrorism. He suggests that an advertising boycott of Fox News would do nothing, but instead we should politely ask any establishment with Fox News Channel on their television to turn it off, and tell anyone you know who watches Fox News to stop doing so. I for one will do my part, not because I’m for the right to choose and that I believe I shouldn’t be allowed to decide the reproductive rights of any woman, but because I don’t think anyone should have to die for what they believe in. I don’t believe that a television personality, however popular or whatever their ideological vies, should be allowed to incite hatred and violence and ignore all culpability in the matter. I believe that humanity needs to be better than that.
In the Aftermath of a Murder, Thoughts on a Woman’s Right to Choose
May/090
Randal Terry, of the Pro-Life group Operation Rescue, released a statement today regarding the murder of Dr. George Tiller. Mr. Terry’s comments are disgusting at best. Calling a man who was legally practicing medicine a “mass-murderer”, and who only grives because Tiller “did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God”. That’s his only reaction to Tiller’s murder. He’s more worried that Obama will use this to “intimidate” pro-life groups? Disgusting. The man did nothing wrong, and had been the target of hate from groups like Operation Rescue for years. A man was murdered in cold blood by what amounts to a form of domestic terrorism, inside his place of worship with his wife singing in the choir as it happened, and all you have to say is that you are upset that he didn’t have time to redeem himself in the eyes of whatever God you believe in who condones such vile hatred towards a fellow human?
A disturbing political cartoon from a Catholic political cartoon blog.
There is a disturbing disconnect in America. Abortion is currently legal, and is a right given by the Supreme Court more than 35 years ago and upheld since then. If you do not agree with it, that is your right just as it is the right of the woman making a choice to have one. But it is not your place to make medical decisions for another person because of your moral beliefs. The gay marriage debate suffers many of the same issues, though is a relatively recent development. The pro-life side likes to think of abortion as black and white: you’re either against it in every form, or you must like killing babies. Andrew Sullivan (of The Atlantic) links to a discussion board website where a thread overwhelming praises Dr. Tiller’s murder. (There is a heartfelt dissent my a poster with a personal story, though it does little to assuage the mob’s irrationality.) People there, seemingly believing every word they type, think that Dr. Tiller would have killed a child if the “mother had a headache”, even going so far as to post the cartoon (from a Catholic cartoon blog) at left. The pro-choice crowd doesn’t advocate that everyone should go out and get pregnant so they can have an abortion. Far from it. They advocate that women have a right to make medical decisions regarding their body and their reproductive health, and the health of their unborn child who is incapable of making decisions.
America is keen on individual liberties such as speech or privacy, and the political right wants to make government smaller and get it out of our lives. Yet at the same time they freely associate with radical groups that wish to impose their beliefs, through law, limiting one’s personal rights. If the pro-life crowd wants to eliminate abortion, making it illegal isn’t going to help. Abortion being legal means that it’s not being done in dark back offices without proper medical oversight for the safety of the mother. Making it illegal won’t reduce the number of abortions. What will, however, is making more alternative available to mothers who may be thinking of having an abortion. Adoption being a huge one, though we need to also overhaul the adoption system in the country. And as much as it will jab a thorn into the social conservative’s side, birth control and proper sexual education will help, too. Telling children to “no have sex until marriage” is inherently flawed. Put some cookies on the table and tell a kid not to eat one, and it makes the cookies that much more tempting. How about instead we teach our kids that yes, waiting to have sex until you are mature and ready is the best course of action. But if you do have sex, here is how to do it safely and responsibly. If you want to avoid abortion, avoid the unwanted pregnancy.
The pro-life side looks up to Gov. Palin and her daughter as beacons for women who chose life and carried their pregnancies to term (their situations being having a child with a disability and an unplanned pregnancy). And they both may believe “in life” with the full force of their convictions. But let us not ignore that, in doing so, they made a choice to keep their pregnancies.
Flickr
