So get this, Bonnie Erbe -- who recently wrote that abortion was a logical choice in a recession -- takes social conservatives to task for being cold-hearted bastards when it comes to the issue of abortion.
The PBS "To the Contrary" host and US News contributing editor offered readers a rare instance of praise for Sarah Palin, for admitting that for a brief moment she wrestled with the notion of aborting her youngest son Trig (emphases mine):
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin displayed one minute aspect of her personality that even I could take a shine to. Speaking last night to an anti-abortion rights dinner in Indiana, Gov. Palin said publicly that she considered having an abortion on that trip—not an easy admission, especially before such a judgmental group
[...]
Story Continues Below Ad ↓I see this as brave on her part because when she mentioned she understood "what these women ... go through," that is precisely the problem with much of the anti-abortion rights movement. Many members don't understand or don't care, quite frankly, what women and girls with unplanned pregnancies do go through, except to the extent they want to try to persuade them to have children they're ill-equipped to raise. To go up against that lack of compassion, even though her audience knows she did decide to carry her pregnancy to term, shows Gov. Palin truly does understand what it's like.
[...]
[A]s long as the GOP continues to let itself be dominated by atavist religious conservatives, it will keep its title as minority party for a long, long time.
It seems to escape Erbe that many of the dastardly "atavist religious conservatives" she maligns are grassroots activists who are both proponents of pro-life laws and volunteers at crisis pregnancy centers and adoption networks.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters





















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It's not like that I'm even
April 17, 2009 - 17:22 ET by Chris NormanIt's not like that I'm even a hard core pro-lifer, but I'd swear these blood thirsty harpies would enjoy personally performing late term abortions just for the "fun" they'd get out of it.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Re It's not like...
April 17, 2009 - 18:05 ET by slickwillie2001I dunno poster, I can't imagine having to handle an aborted fetus. The liberals go into a rage any time the anti-abortion crowd tries to put one in a tv ad. The image kind of destroys the sophistry re is it a human being or not. Hard to believe that there are people so hard-hearted that they can do this.
What made me Pro-Life
April 17, 2009 - 20:47 ET by jarrett.edwardsI have to say as a young teenager, I
knew I was a Republican and a conservative but I had not thought a
lot about abortion, until I went on a family vacation to Canada.
While driving through Quebec City, we encountered an anti-abortion
protest. These protesters did not just carry signs with anti-abortion
slogans but instead they carried very large photos of unborn babies
and of aborted babies. I had never seen such in your face tactics in
the Southern US, were I am from. The photos made me think long and hard
about abortion and convinced me that these are not fetuses but
babies. And, from then on I have been very Pro-Life. I am an avid
proponent of publicizing these pictures, we are a visual society and
those types of pictures will change hearts and minds!
God bless you.
April 17, 2009 - 21:52 ET by pahuberI do not like to see these pics, but it is the only way to show people the truth.
There is a disconnect with them
April 17, 2009 - 18:59 ET by PopularTechPeople need to be shown the videos of abortions to undertand.
Obama: "Cap & Trade Will Cause Electricity Rates To Skyrocket"
PT... Exactly... I
April 17, 2009 - 19:15 ET by bigtimerPT...
Exactly...
I almost put a link here to Ct's site that has real stark tear-jerking reality on it regarding this, you have to avert your head to look ...but look all people should.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Popular Tech...
April 17, 2009 - 20:09 ET by dborschjr68In my younger days, I worked as a courier for Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, MI. My job was to simply spend my day, using a hospital-issued Ford Escort, going to local doctors' offices in Kalamazoo and picking up whatever it was they had to go to the hospital for research/testing/whatever. My clients ranged from throat and ear doctors to OB/Gyn clinics.
However, one of my stops was to Planned Parenthood. I was very ignorant, at this time in my life, as to what this organization does. Yeah, so...I go inside, say hello to the receptionist (who was always polite to me), and she sends me to the back of the building to pick up the specimen, as it's all set and ready to go.
It was a plastic container, with a lockdown lid-- think hospital/bio-hazard grade Tupperware-- and I could feel and hear something sloshing around inside of it. I remember it being relatively heavy. It was big enough for 2 loaves of bread, as I recall.
Well,...I go back to my Ford Escort, put the container in the back, and head back to the hospital. All this time, I can hear that damn sloshing sound. It gets my curiosity going.
Once I arrived back at the hospital, I bring the container inside to Pathology, according to the instructions taped to the top of the container. No one was there in Pathology, and I was alone, and...yeah, I opened this container.
No horror movie experience could have prepared me for what I saw. Working at the hospital, I regularly went into the morgue, and had seen dead bodies before. It was no big deal, once you were de-sensitized to it.
But this....inside this container was a baby. I do not recall if it was a boy or girl, sorry. I remember it was smaller than normal, not fully developed at all. It was ragged looking, as if it had been either soaking in liquid for a while or it had gone through some form of bodily trauma. I remember its limbs were awkwardly splayed, and I cannot even begin to describe the smell. It had been sloshing about in what looked to be a mix of after-birth (placenta) and bloody water. I closed the lid and vomited into a nearby trash bin.
It was the first time I had ever vomited due to death. The next time I would do so would be years later, in the military. But later in life, it would be the dead bodies of grown men who were tring to kill me and my guys. This was a baby. An innocent, lifeless baby. After I left work that day to go home, I remember crying in my truck for what seemed like an eternity. How could people have such a blatant and purposed disregard for life?
And please keep in mind this came from Planned Parenthood. This container did not have a baby that died from natural causes or a disease. This baby was aborted, killed, murdered.
I write this not for shock value. I write this to tell what I saw and experienced. I write this because, unlike what Planned Parenthood may tell girls, abortion is not as simple as waving a magic wand over their belly and their "problem" magically goes away, no harm no foul, like it never happened at all.
Abortions are dead human beings. Period. And the horror I felt, the sheer disgust I experienced....when I hear these death-cultist women, these modern-day Molech worshippers, scream for the "right" to kill a baby....Jesus, how can they be so ignorant?
If these people, these pro-death folks, really did see what I saw, and felt what I felt, they would be stop their foolish talk about killing babies.
You can destroy the Constitution when I'm dead and gone, and unable to defend it.
Until then, back off, you liberal jackasses.
dborsch
April 17, 2009 - 22:01 ET by BlondeYour comment ought to be required reading for those who are "pro-choice".
It would stop cold about 95% of the population. As it should.
Your story is a horrifying one. But it puts a human face on the abomination that abortion is.
Thank you for sharing it here....I am sure at least one person who reads it will have his/her mind changed. Again, thank you.
I hope he fails, too.
but Blondie :)
April 17, 2009 - 22:03 ET by botgthe monsters aren't the ones who do these things the monsters are the ones who show pictures of what has been done
"Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend,------------inside a dog it's too dark to read" ---Groucho
Exactly. I don't think they
April 17, 2009 - 21:12 ET by kgExactly. I don't think they will ever get it. Early abortions are one thing but late abortions and partial birth abortions is definitely crossing the line.
"DumbAssity of Dope"
What Palin said
April 17, 2009 - 17:21 ET by Blondewas "for one fleeting moment".
Erbe is cherry picking, in the worst sort of way. Taking Palin's quote out of context.
I hope he fails, too.
I can understand
April 17, 2009 - 18:33 ET by AlexaShrugged...why a woman would consider abortion and think she would need one, but sympathizing all day long doesn't change the fact that abortion is the killing of a living human and is morally wrong.
http://www.AlexaShrugged.com
Will Bonnie Erbe slam J Carter & the Dalai Lama?
April 17, 2009 - 19:01 ET by Gary HallWill Bonnie Erbe slam J Carter & the Dalai Lama?
Both are strongly pro-life.
Jus askin.
Does she consider both of them as having a "lack of compassion?"
Jus askin.
Ignorance
April 17, 2009 - 19:06 ET by KC MulvilleEvery child is a decision about abortion. Just because you always choose "No" doesn't mean that you don't understand the issues involved.
My wife and I have gone through six pregancies, two of which ended in miscarriages. I'm not wealthy, and each time we decided on having another child was a financial risk to some degree. But even if you're wealthy, every child is a financial, emotional, and physical risk that you debate and worry about. I'll bet every parent on this site agrees with me about that. Just because you welcome them with open arms doesn't mean you're not scared. Trust me, the magnitude of the responsibility of bringing a new life into the world doesn't get all that much easier with age.
To broadly accuse all pro-lifers of a lack of compassion is simply ignorant. Quite the contrary: when finding out we were expecting, it was out of love for the coming child that we became more determined than ever. Each time I found out we were expecting, it made me more eager to work harder, because I wanted to provide the child with everything it needed. The question is, for whom do you have compassion?
Do I have compassion for the teenage girl who finds herself pregnant? Yeah, because the adults who find themselves pregnant get pretty scared, too. But in the process, we also include compassion for the newcoming child. Erbe's calculation of compassion conveniently forgets about that.
Decision is whether to have sex, pregnancy is consequence
April 17, 2009 - 19:26 ET by Daniel Baker-------------------------------------------
Google and Apple officially donated to fight traditional marriage. Good men want freedom, Evil men want license
sorry
April 17, 2009 - 19:16 ET by RowaneI don't believe that a true conservative can be FOR abortion.
Hasn't this writer heard of adoption
April 17, 2009 - 19:28 ET by Daniel BakerIts for "Young girls ill equipped to rasie a child"
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Google and Apple officially donated to fight traditional marriage. Good men want freedom, Evil men want license
Palin is great, but
April 17, 2009 - 19:29 ET by Daniel BakerYou don't admit things like this. It hurts everyone
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Google and Apple officially donated to fight traditional marriage. Good men want freedom, Evil men want license
How does it "hurt everyone"?
April 17, 2009 - 21:55 ET by Ken ShepherdHow does it "hurt everyone"?
Mr. Sheppard it affirms the argument of choice
April 17, 2009 - 22:25 ET by Daniel BakerIf she would have resolved in her life the abortion was not a choice, but an escape from consequence; then she would not have thought that she had a choice abort her baby. When you tell others that you struggled with something that is morally wrong it makes them more accepting of the sin.
It is like a parent telling their kids they did drugs. The kid will then have a justification to do it.
What she said can be compared to someone saying I thought about murdering my toddler. This makes it a little easy for everyone who heard that to be angry and less patient for the children it their lives.
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Google and Apple officially donated to fight traditional marriage. Good men want freedom, Evil men want license
Cherry picked
April 17, 2009 - 22:26 ET by BlondeWhat Palin said was "I thought about it for a fleeting moment".
There is absolutely nothing wrong about admitting that.
Nothing. If anything, it makes her more human. And real. And someone to be admired, because she considered all of her options (remember, as a high powered professional woman, being pregnant at 44 is not exactly a career enhancer)....considered abortion for a fleeting moment, and rejected it as not worthy of any further consideration whatsoever. In fact, her public statement of this is inspiring to the multitude of women who believe abortion is a "woman's right".....legally it's a right, but morally....not worth more than a moment's thought...to be rejected.
Try walking a mile in someone's shoes before being so dismissive and judgemental.
I hope he fails, too.
You make your argument from a proabortion point of view
April 17, 2009 - 22:38 ET by Daniel BakerAbortion is Murder.
Would you argue for a "high powered professional woman" to be able to commit murder because someone in their life is inconvenient. If this "high powered professional woman" wanted to get rid her husband would you support her for considering all of her options including murder.
I thought about killing my husband for a fleeting moment is not something you say in public in a speech.
Would someone in the audience sympathize with that.
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Google and Apple officially donated to fight traditional marriage. Good men want freedom, Evil men want license
Don't presume, Daniel
April 17, 2009 - 22:43 ET by BlondeTo tell me. Anything.
I am saying, as a woman (gee...you can't speak to that, can you?)....that when you find yourself in a situation that is not comfortable, you THINK about options.
It doesn't mean you weigh them equally. It doesn't really mean anything at all.
Except to assholes like you on top of high horses.
Grow up.
I'd certainly have sympathy for your wife wanting to get rid of you.
I hope he fails, too.
Blonde, You ever notice
April 17, 2009 - 22:46 ET by Free StinkerBlonde,
You ever notice that some people here think that even those who do the right thing are robots with no feelings or emotions ?
Absolutely Free
April 17, 2009 - 22:50 ET by BlondeExcept for the perfect.....hard core lunatics.
Sheesh....no wonder we've been labeled right-wing fringe kooks.
I hope he fails, too.
Well some look towards the ideal; and don't celebrate the
April 17, 2009 - 23:07 ET by Daniel Bakerdysfunction
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Google and Apple officially donated to fight traditional marriage. Good men want freedom, Evil men want license
you trully do put the FUN
April 17, 2009 - 23:10 ET by botgin dysfunctional
"Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend,------------inside a dog it's too dark to read" ---Groucho
Profanity is for liberal blogs Blonde
April 17, 2009 - 22:53 ET by Daniel BakerYou think about options, but you don't say one of them was murder in a public speech.
I thought about calling you a #@#$ for a fleeting moment. Do you mind me mentioning the word I thought about on this public forum or would that be inappropriate.
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Google and Apple officially donated to fight traditional marriage. Good men want freedom, Evil men want license
So what?
April 17, 2009 - 22:58 ET by BlondeGo for it. I could hardly care less what you call me.
You earned the sobriquet, Daniel.....wear it proudly here. I'm sure if we put up a poll....95% would approve of my mild profanity, furthermore, that it describes you to a tee.
Carry on though.
I hope he fails, too.
Unlike you I don't think profanity is appropiate
April 17, 2009 - 23:02 ET by Daniel BakerI guess I'm just better than you in that way.
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Google and Apple officially donated to fight traditional marriage. Good men want freedom, Evil men want license
unlike a true christian
April 17, 2009 - 23:06 ET by botgnamed saul of tarsus who understood himself to be the worst of all sinners, Daniel has elevated to where he is just better than others?? where is that in the Bible??
"Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend,------------inside a dog it's too dark to read" ---Groucho
Daniel von Pharisee ?
April 17, 2009 - 23:11 ET by Free StinkerRight where Jesus was showing the apostles the Pharisee who prayed "Thank you that I am not like this sinner . . . "
Just sayin'
free
April 17, 2009 - 23:15 ET by botgsomehow i don't think the example was one to which we were supposed to aspire
"Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend,------------inside a dog it's too dark to read" ---Groucho
Except Daniel didn't get
April 17, 2009 - 23:20 ET by Free StinkerExcept Daniel didn't get the memo . . .
Of course you do
April 17, 2009 - 23:09 ET by BlondeYour condescending "I'm better than everyone here" attitude just drips off your posts.
And if you don't like being called an asshole, quit being one.
It's rather simple.
I hope he fails, too.
Daniel
April 17, 2009 - 22:59 ET by Free StinkerIt must be so wonderful to be you. /sarcasm off
Blonde was right. We *do* need a better class of troll around here.
Abortion Crazies
April 17, 2009 - 23:58 ET by PopularTechToo funny. If you want to make a legitimate criticism of Palin on Abortion, here it is...
Pro-Choice:
Palin picks former Planned Parenthood board member for Alaska Supreme Court (Associated Press)
Obama: "Cap & Trade Will Cause Electricity Rates To Skyrocket"
By your logic, that makes
April 18, 2009 - 10:25 ET by Ken ShepherdBy your logic, that makes St. Paul post-conversion an accessory to Christian persecutors by admitting he was a persecutor of the church pre-conversion.
People look for any manner of justification for the wrong things they do. Confessing past sins or past struggles with temptation doesn't grant license to the same for others, it just admits weakness that we have and our need for a Savior.
On being human
April 17, 2009 - 23:28 ET by revrick315You will have doubts no matter how strong your convictions. When we were faced with having a child with multiple birth defects, we never seriously considered terminating the pregnancy. However, that doesn't mean that the nagging thought doesn't stand right on the edge of conciousness. Some might say it's Satan calling, others that it's lack of moral fiber, and others selfishness. It may be all or none of these. It might be fear. I believe doubt, as well as faith, is part of being human. We live and die with the choices we make, both in joy and regret. We had seven wonderful, heartbreaking years with our son and I have no regrets. But I would never castigate anyone for having doubts.