Happy Tax Day, for those of you living in the US! (And for Massachusetts people, happy Patriots’ Day!). Here are a bunch of freebies you can take advantage of today.
- Why Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s Trial Should Be a Front-Page Story – This is a very graphic account of what happened at Gosnell’s clinic (and I use that term very loosely). This is not about abortion, it is about murder, racism, bureaucracy, and the abuse of women (especially the poor and disadvantaged).
- Terrifying Public High School Speaker: If You Take Birth Control, Your Mother Probably Hates You – I grew up in the South and I’ve heard this message before from others. From CriticalDragon1177.
- Death of a Revolutionary: Shulamith Firestone helped to create a new society. But she couldn’t live in it. – An excellent profile of one of the original radical feminists. Whether or not you agreed with Firestone, it’s interesting to read about the politics of the Second Wave.
- “I had no power to say ‘that’s not okay:’” Reports of harassment and abuse in the field – An interesting analysis of sexual harassment. From Will.
- Astronauts’ Favorite Space Food: Shrimp Cocktail – “Rehydrated, ghastly pink, a little bit slimy … and apparently delicious” Eww!
- Polio vaccine developer Hilary Koprowski dies – From scribe999.
- Gov. Bobby “Don’t Be Stupid” Jindal Comes Out in Favor of Teaching Creationism in Public Schools – So much for thinking that Republicans were becoming self-aware. From CriticalDragon1177.
- Organic, Fair Trade Porn: On the Hunt for Ethical Smut – From Donnie.
- Rehtaeh Parsons Was My Daughter – From miserlyoldman.
BONUS: There was a lot of depressing news to share this morning, so please take a minute and enjoy the 5 best scenes from SNL’s Vince Vaughn Episode. (My personal favorites were 1, 3, and 4.)
I had caught a little of the Gosnell story the other day. The piece you presented certainly goes into much greater detail.
The story is horrifying. I could only read about a quarter of the article before I couldn’t take any more, and I’m usually not that squeamish. After reading the that much, I can certainly see where the pro-life forces could use this as an anti-abortion issue.
But, of course, the situation is more complicated than just “these abortions are evil”. We are dealing with poor women who have little access to proper medical care, and who have been denied good abortions services by the same people who would use this as pro-life propaganda. These were desperate women trying to deal with terrible problems life had given them. In desperation, they had sought out this quack and his atrocious methods. In a microcosm, this is what we had before Roe v. Wade with back alley abortions, poor-to-nonexistent medical care dealing in illegal abortions.
Don’t forget Jackie Robinson Day!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson_Day