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Community => Politics and Government => Topic started by: ironbite on January 12, 2012, 07:36:52 pm

Title: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: ironbite on January 12, 2012, 07:36:52 pm
Yeah you heard me right.  An Anti-Abortion group in Ohio is using kids to get it's message across (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/ohio-heartbeat-bill-anti-abortion-group-teddy-bears_n_1202580.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003).  And it looks like it didn't go over to well either.

Quote
To win votes for one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the nation, an Ohio anti-abortion group has employed an unexpected team of lobbyists: children with teddy bears.

Ohio Senate staffer Leo Almieida says he was sitting in his office Tuesday morning when two young girls, who looked about nine or ten years old, walked in holding a teddy bear. One of the girls squeezed the bear, Almieida said, to play the ultrasound recording of a fetal heartbeat. She then recited a pre-written spiel asking state Sen. Charleta Tavares (D) to support the Ohio "heartbeat bill," a controversial anti-abortion bill that would ban abortion after the fetal heartbeat is detectable.

 "She seemed really, really nervous," Almieida, an administrative assistant for Tavares, told HuffPost. "I've had other kids come into the office with adults, but usually the adults introduce them and explain what the group is trying to do. I've never had just a kid come up alone."

The tactic did not go over well with state senators.

Yeah because sending 2 little kids in to give a state senator a teddy bear with a heartbeat is so gonna sway votes to your side.  Or cause them to go even further in opposition.

Ironbite-morons.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Kisare on January 12, 2012, 07:57:10 pm
*hisses* Fuck. This. Shit.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/andsean/Blog%20Pics/angry_dome.jpg)
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: QueenofHearts on January 12, 2012, 08:01:30 pm
The part that gets me is that the girl looked visibly discomforted and they used her as a cheap anti-choice tactic. Really kind of inhibits that whole "for the kids" argument if you don't give a fuck about them once they're born.  :(
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: gyeonghwa on January 12, 2012, 08:05:29 pm
Anti-abortion groups aren't known for their morals and ethics (they just think they are.)
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: anti-nonsense on January 12, 2012, 08:07:25 pm
yet more proof that anti-choicers don't give a fuck about kids, all they care about is pushing their personal "morality" on others.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: TheUnknown on January 12, 2012, 08:34:10 pm
From the comments:

Quote
You two really don't get it. My younger sisters 7 & 8 understand perfectly what abortions are. The other night my 8 year sister is on the bed counting to 24 I'm thinking what is this about. When she got to 24 she says another one is gone. Then it hit me every 24 second another child is killed. Too bad we can't flow some of the compassion­ate, caring energy of the little ones to you. They understand WAY MORE then you think.

No, they don't fucking understand the issue.  They're just parroting what's been recited to them, and like most kids, operate on emotion rather than logic, so they can't possibly understand the complexity of what they're feeling sad about. And by the way, they think it's wrong because they were probably raised to see fetuses as babies.  A child raised by someone pro-choice might not feel the same way, but again, young children sometimes really can't fully understand these issues until they're older.

Another comment:
Quote
So how do you explain the thousands of charities started and funded by people of faith? Including those that young people responsibl­e sexual behavior with the use of birth control. Doesn't fit your world view, but it exists, and millions of poor kids in this country are helped. People of faith donate to help the poor by a ratio of over 3:1 over pro abortion supporters­. they also foster and adopt by the similar ratio. The church can and should do more, that is why they started an adoption initiative over 4 years ago, spearheade­d by Rick and Kay Warren(Pur­pose Driven Life, Saddleback Church CA), that is being duplicated in evangelica­l churches country wide. You claim to care so much for the poor, but you really just wish they could be aborted and euthanized out of existence before they cost you anything.

I'm getting sick of people of who use this argument and think that a) charities are a reasonable compensation for lack of government safety nets and programs, and b) only religious people donate.  Are these charities able to service not only every single foster child in the US, but also every homeless child, and every child living in ghettos?  And how long do these charities support the children it does help?  Until they reach 18?  Here's a fucking thought:  If your charities are such a success in covering these children that the argument of "why don't pro-lifers support the fetuses once they're born" isn't valid, then why does this country still have such a problem with unwanted and impoverished children?

Oh, and as for your clever little line at the end, it's people like you who don't want the poor to cost you anything, otherwise you wouldn't bitch about government run healthcare and welfare.  And you probably would, too, since you seem to be the type of person who believes charities can pick up the slack for everything.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: DasFuchs on January 12, 2012, 11:35:04 pm
This type of shit and people that force their kids into beauty pagents piss me right the fuck off.
I suppose this is better than staple gunning pictures of dead fetuses to the wall of a drive through though
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: ThunderWulf on January 13, 2012, 12:00:36 am
It's one thing if it's your opinion, but it's a whole 'nother battlefield when you forced kids to do your dirty work.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Thejebusfire on January 13, 2012, 12:42:05 am
Quote
You two really don't get it. My younger sisters 7 & 8 understand perfectly what abortions are. The other night my 8 year sister is on the bed counting to 24 I'm thinking what is this about. When she got to 24 she says another one is gone. Then it hit me every 24 second another child is killed. Too bad we can't flow some of the compassion­ate, caring energy of the little ones to you. They understand WAY MORE then you think.


I imagine how many thirld world children starve to death or die of preventable causes in that short amount of time? So what if all those kids live shit lives and then die. I mean, atleast they were born, thats all you care about right? ::)
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Danarth on January 13, 2012, 09:55:42 am
It's like a limbo contest...

Seeing how low they can go...
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Caitshidhe on January 13, 2012, 11:06:27 am
Unfortunately this is neither new nor at all surprising. Anti-choicers are fiends for dragging their kids out to wave around even the goriest of protest signs--the kind with those completely fake but very bloody pictures of mutilated fetuses--and shout dogma they aren't old enough to understand. A lot of them will even be holding signs that say something along the lines of, 'WOULD YOU ABORT ME, TOO?', which is probably equally psychologically scarring on the children old enough to read because it makes them think that they're in some kind of danger of being hurt or killed by abortion doctors.

Anti-choicers use children in their protests for the same reason PETA uses sexy naked women: because it attracts attention to their otherwise reprehensible message and they think it will make people more sympathetic to their cause because OHMIGAWD CUTE KIDS. (Or, OHMIGAWD CHICK IN A LETTUCE BIKINI.)

There really ought to be laws about age limits at protests of any kind (yes, even the ones I agree with). No one under sixteen should be allowed. Not that sixteen is some magical age where you'll suddenly have all your own independent beliefs--some people never develop a belief system of their own other than the one they were taught in childhood--but at least at that age you're old enough to understand what you're doing. Little ones haven't got the capacity to grasp what it is they're saying or why they're saying it.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: rageaholic on January 13, 2012, 11:21:59 am
I fucking hate shit like this.  Prolifers and nothing more than glurge addicts with their cutesy little "PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN" anticdotes.  I remember one who acted like my mother and I were monsters for voting Obama in because "the cries of the unborn rest on our souls".  Gag me!  These same people who are soooooo concerned about their children don't give a fuck about their own.  They're usually the types to support corporal punishment and other abusive techniques on their own children.  So once they are out of their womb, they don't give a fuck about them.  They also support wars which lead to the death of tens of thousands so I doubt how prolife they are.

The thing is, I'm actually torn on the abortion issue.  I see both sides and think maybe a middle ground would be a good option.  It's just those outspoken prolife lunitics who make me want to hurl. 
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Caitshidhe on January 13, 2012, 11:44:06 am
I'm also wondering just how dangerous shit like this could get for small children. You don't have to go very far to find video clips, police blotters, or news segments about an anti-choice protest (or really a protest of any kind that involves such an emotionally charged situation and heartless manipulative vilification) that degenerated into a near riot. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens enough to comfortably suggest that bringing children to a protest should count as reckless child endangerment. Able-bodied adults end up hospitalized with serious injuries in situations like this--what would happen to little kids that can be easily overlooked and have no way of defending themselves? I'm not suggesting anyone would hit them on purpose if the protest turned into a fight, but at the very least they're in a position to get accidentally stepped on or kicked a lot.

But hey, putting your kids in harm's way and using them as tools of political manipulation is totally consistent with that 'THINK OF THE CHILDREN' battle cry.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Old Viking on January 13, 2012, 04:36:06 pm
What is it that these sub-marginals think will happen if abortion were to be declared illegal?  At one time, drinking alcohol was illegal.  Prostitution is illegal.  Selling drugs is illegal.  Hell, doing 55 in a 45 is illegal.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Cataclysm on January 13, 2012, 04:37:50 pm
People will have back alley abortions and be more at risk of getting a disease of dying, which is what they deserve for being slutty babykillers </vomit>.

Edit: Typo.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: ironbite on January 13, 2012, 04:47:44 pm
People will have black alley abortions and be more at risk of getting a disease of dying, which is what they deserve for being slutty babykillers </vomit>.

Black....black alley abortions?

Ironbite-oh that amuses me
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Jodie on January 13, 2012, 04:57:50 pm
Forcing your kids to be your mouthpeice for controversial issues sounds like child abuse to me.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Caitshidhe on January 13, 2012, 05:03:16 pm
What is it that these sub-marginals think will happen if abortion were to be declared illegal?  At one time, drinking alcohol was illegal.  Prostitution is illegal.  Selling drugs is illegal.  Hell, doing 55 in a 45 is illegal.

I don't think most of them typically think ahead that far. I remember a bunch of videos circulating a few years ago of someone asking anti-choice protesters point-blank that if abortion were made completely illegal, what did they think the appropriate penalty would be for a woman who had one illegally? A few of them offered suggestions ranging from psychiatric confinement to the death penalty, but the question caught the rest of them by surprise and they couldn't answer it at all. Either they don't think their position through, or it never occurred to them that making something illegal wouldn't stop it from happening. This quote is relevant, from the mayor of 1917 New Orleans regarding the shutdown of the red-light district known as 'Storyville'--"You can make prostitution illegal but you can't make it unpopular." If people want to keep doing something then they will keep doing it whether they're allowed to or not, and you're an idiot if you think people with that level of determination are going to be deterred by laws. The fact that prisons exist and are full is a pretty clear indication that mere legal ramifications don't deter anyone.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on January 14, 2012, 07:39:52 pm
I read a blog once by some escort volunteers for an abortion clinic (IIRC, it's in Kansas). There's a number of protesters who bring their young children to the clinic and make them hold signs, but a lot of them forget to give their children proper weather gear. And then there's the guy who carries his baby on his chest and tries to butt in front of clients saying things like, "Don't kill me, mommy!"
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Lithp on January 15, 2012, 04:16:22 am
A child cannot be aborted, things could have happened differently & they might not exist, but they're here now & they're viable. What COULD one day happen is that she ends up pregnant & has a serious problem--she's poor, she was raped, she isn't healthy enough to carry a child to term, etc.--but you don't see people handing their kids pre-written messages explaining that. If abortion truly is evil, you're all the more abominable for forcing children to confront such a horror. And more importantly, what do you want to do if the worst case happens? Do you want to explain to your daughter how you can't do anything to help her because you were too busy worrying that she might one day decide to terminate that fetus?
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: clockworkgirl21 on January 15, 2012, 04:27:37 am
Thy would abortion protestors care about the children they're dragging to the protests? They've already been born, after all.

I really hate how fundies explain what abortions are to kids. I've heard things like, "They rip the baby's head off as the baby fights, they drag babies out of their mommies and leave them to die in buckets, they chop the baby up piece by piece in the womb," and a bunch of other shit.
Title: Re: Anti-Abortion Group Uses Children
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on January 15, 2012, 08:09:52 pm
Also, when pro-lifers paint abortion doctors as sweet-talking, sadistic mercenaries. >_>