By: Ryan Shaw
Re: [fwd] Pro-life Real Agenda

* Forwarded (from: debate) by Ryan Shaw using timEd/2 1.10+.
* Originally from Marvin Kaplan (1:363/210) to All.
* Original dated: Wed Nov 29, 23:15

     The real agenda of the pro-life movement is dominating women and
not any concern over blobs of tissue. As Margaret Sanger once said, "If
you control a woman's womb, you control the woman." The fundamentalists
and Catholics, being male-dominated religions, are fearful of giving up
any authority to women. If women predominated in religious affairs,
their would be no question of the continuing legality of abortion.

     We need to remember that the far right has always been against safe
birth control. During the 1920's, they campaigned to prevent Americans
from having access to condoms, diaphragms, and sex information. During
the 1930's, they used the foolish Comstock Act to shut down family
planning clinics in poor neighborhoods and had their operators arrested.
When the "pill" finally arrived, the power of the ultraright declined.
Dr. Pinkus, the inventor of the "pill" would have had it on the market
years earlier if the anti-birth-control crowd hadn't threatened Searle
Pharmaceuticals. If the pro-lifers had succeeded in their efforts over
the years, we would have had to buy condoms on the black market.

     If they were so concerned with the plight of children, they would
be out protesting the fact that thousands of our kids are murdured and
abused by their parents, suffer malnutrition, and live in poverty
without benefit of basic medical care.

     As a social worker, I review hundreds of cases in which the mother
only had their kids becuase they wanted an extra welfare check. Many
times when mom has too many mouths to feed, her kids are either
neglected or beaten. The sad fact is that many children should never
have been born in the first place. As for adoptions, minority and
handicapped kids are not exactly in high demand. If the pro-lifers
would less energy into picketing abortion clinics and more into sex
education, contraception, and ensuring that all kids receive enough to
eat and proper health care, disadvantaged children would be better off.