The Question Anti-Choicers Can’t Answer
If a lab was burning down, and you had one chance to save a “life,” what choice would you make?
OR 
Andrew Wilkow can’t answer it.
The messed up thing about this debate is that everyone agrees that an abortion is the termination of potential life, but the way the right-wing positions their battle is that they’re “pro-life” and the other side is “pro-death.” Wrong.
The movement is called “pro-choice” because that’s exactly what it is — a choice, made by a woman, regarding her own body.
Listen closely towards the second half of the call where Wilkow berates Mike Stark, the caller who asked the question:
[…]
Wilkow: You can’t storm in here and tell me what I’d do and then tell me what you know I would do and then tell me who that I am… I mean who I am. You don’t know me! You can’t tell me how I think! You can’t tell me how to feel! You can’t tell me what would do and not do, John, because you don’t know! You don’t know! Don’t tell me what I wouldn’t do, John, based on your preconceived notions of stereotypical conservatives.
Stark: Hey, listen. If you want your audience to doubt your sanity, there’s nothing I can do to stop that.
[…]
He won’t honestly answer the question, so instead, he launches a defensive attack. Typical.
I wonder what a woman must feel like when she listens to an anti-choice man whining “You can’t tell me…”
(via Crooks & Liars)
Tags: abortion, activism, anti choice, pro choice, Republican Party, right wing.
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If you are really interested in finding that out, check out my post where I talk about what pro-life really means.
If you are just interested in a shouting match, you’re in for a let-down - the bloggosphere is mute and incapable of shouting matches. (Here is the closest to actual debate that I was able to get )
how about answering the question itself?
i read your post, and your thoughts are very well structured and steeped in morality, but… when it comes to abortion, i can’t fall in line outside of a woman’s right to control her own body. i’m sorry. maybe that’s why i’m more about faith than religion.
The thing that burns me about the pro-life (anti-choice) folks is their inconsistency. They love the child but don’t say boo about universal health-care, jobs and economic issues (which effect children), draconian penal laws (that often separate families for no more than petty theft or marijuana use). And then there’s the major inconsistency of their support of capital punishment. Culture of life my ass, it about theocratic and political control.
yep
Tex,
Obviously, you didn’t read about the consistency of the Catholic pro-life movement from my post where I mention that we are also against euthanasia and the death penalty.
As for other social, economic issues, I believe the my post “Catholicism neither Republican nor Democrat” pretty much clears up the misconceptions that too many have.
As Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is, of course, quite a different thing.”
Once you learn the facts, I’m sure you’ll agree that the Catholic position is the most consistent - far more so than the pro-choice position that a 5-month pre-maturely born baby is more of a life to be protected than a “fetus” that is aborted in the 8th month by having its skull cut open and its brain sucked out with a vacuum.
As for the question above - why is it only possible to save 1 life?
The question, as posed, is specious, and akin to saying “a pet shop is on fire, but you can only save 1 animal - do you save the fish in the fish tank, the mice in the cage, or the cute puppy dog?”
If you’d like a human example: “your house is on fire, and your wife, son, and daughter are inside, but you can only save 1 person - whom do you save?”
As you can see, the question does nothing to further the debate, but rather it fosters argument for argument’s sake.
Well get ready for the US Supreme Conservatives to uphold the South Dakota decision on the abortion ban… Is it that simple?
planned parenthood in SD is challenging the legislation as unconstitutional (obviously), so it’ll head to the supreme court. quite honestly, i don’t think it’ll hold up (the court is still 5-4 non-ultra conservatives)
I hope the SD decision doesn’t stand . I’d hate to have to open up a can of anti-jihad on their ass.
well… the glass is always half-full. if a few states try to *take away rights* the crowd usually reacts in a negative fashion. as much as i’m opposed to this legislation — and i know it’s part of the rove strategy — it could end up biting the extreme right in their collective ass, both in terms of solidifying pro-choice rights and in terms of weakening republican talking points to voters.
jamie, please provide a link to the number of 8 month abortions that have been performed over a specific period of time before you bring that type of an analogy to this blog.
we all know that an abortion becomes more dangerous to the woman beyond the first trimester, and without being catholic, i’d agree that a close to term abortion is morally reprehensible. the only cases where i could imagine that a pregnant woman would allow herself to undergo such a procedure is if her life was in danger. this is not the scenario we’re discussing here. so provide the facts, or stop participating.
as for your response to the question, you’re apples and oranges wrong. batshit crazy if you will. you’re trying to tell me that a choice between a two-year-old child and a stack of petri-dishes containing fertilized eggs is synonymous with deciding between your wife and son? i can’t seem to recall the last time i saw someone playing ball with a fertilized egg in a petri-dish, or congratulating it on having good grades, or curling up next to it on the couch to watch a really bad chick flick… these answers are just intellectually dishonest on too many levels.
come correct, or don’t come at all.
Jamie, I’ll would allow the rare, and superficially repugnant, procedure used by anti-choice advocates to further wedge their issue into political discussion to save the life of a woman (who we know is alive and viable).
I’m sure most Catholoics, Christians, etc. are fine people generally. I just find their allegance to invisable entities and thousand year-old doctrines unsettling.
Come as you are….
ooh, tex. that slice of nirvana gave me chills. ;)
What I want to know quite simply is what does being a catholic, republican, democrat or anything else for that matter have to do with me and the choices I make for my body? No woman or man who is pro-choice advocate death. Given the choice I would rather choose life, for I don’t believe it should be used as a form of birth control. What has to be taken into consideration is there is a different circumstance in any given situation.
It is amazing to me that Wilkows response to the question was…
I guess my point is don’t tell me what I would or would not do, can or can not do based on your preconcieved notions of “stererotypical” liberal.
As far as if my house was on fire and I had to choose between spouse or children. My choice would be the dog… He is just so loyal, not to mention cute and cuddly!!
Ruff! ;)
Ooo Angilina…way to repress that maternal instinct!
Facts.
It’s not your body you’re killing.
Life begins at conception.
The only excuse you have to kill it is if your life is in danger. Period.
thanks for the input, god.