Headline:

Gardasil certainly made headlines in 2006 when the Food and Drug Administration approved it as a vaccine against four strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer.

HPV can be transmitted sexually, so many parents decided to give the vaccination to their teenaged daughters.

Now, Gardasil is making headlines again. This time, the drug’s manufacturer is under scrutiny as the vaccine’s recipients are complaining of ill side effects.

There have been more than 78,000 complaints about Gardasil, New England Cable News reported Tuesday.

Complaints have included nausea, blood clots, genital warts, paralysis and even death.

The Centers for Disease Control said the deaths are not linked to Gardasil.

Merck is standing by its product, insisting it is safe.

“I think of all the vaccines out there, this has been thoroughly tested prior to release,” said Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FOXNews.com. “This is a vaccine that helps protect women from a very deadly disease. Therefore the benefits fully outweigh any side effect that has been found so far.

Now, let’s read between the lines.

HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. It is a virus, which lives on and in the skin of infected persons. There are over 100 different forms of HPV- only 30 or 40 of these are passed around sexually. People who are infected often don’t know it because this is often a asymptomatic disease. Some people will get genital warts. The infection usually clears up within months with no side effects. Sometimes it comes back time after time though. Warts on hands and feet and around mouths are caused by HPV as well.

What about the risks for cervical cancer, the connection with HPV and other factors?

For cervical cancer, the most important risk factor is infection with HPV (human papilloma virus). HPVs are a group of more than 100 types of viruses that cause warts. Some types of HPV cause genital warts. Other types cause cancer of the cervix. These are called “high-risk” HPVs. HPV is passed from one person to another during sex. Having unprotected sex, especially at a young age, makes HPV infection more likely. Also, women who have many sexual partners (or who have sex with men who have had many partners) have a greater chance of getting HPV.

Reading further:

Even though HPV is an important risk factor for cervical cancer, most women with this infection do not get cervical cancer. Doctors believe other factors must come into play for this cancer to develop. Some of these factors are listed below.

Smoking: Women who smoke are about twice as likely as those who don’t to get cervical cancer. Tobacco smoke can produce chemicals that may damage the DNA in cells of the cervix and make cancer more likely to occur.

HIV infection (human immunodeficiency virus): HIV is the virus that causes AIDS (it is not the same as HPV). It can also be a risk factor for cancer of the cervix. Being HIV positive makes a woman’s immune system less able to fight both HPV and early cancers.

Chlamydia (cluh-mid-ee-uh) infection: This is a rather common kind of bacteria that can infect women’s sex organs. It is spread during sex. Many women do not know they have it unless samples taken at the time of their Pap test are looked at for the bacteria. Some studies suggest that women who have this infection (or have had it in the past) are at greater risk for cancer of the cervix. While further studies are needed to find out if this is true, there are good reasons to avoid this infection or to have it treated. Long-term infection can cause other serious problems.

Diet can play a part as well. Diets low in fruits and vegetables are linked to an increased risk of cervical and other cancers. Also, women who are overweight are at a higher risk.

Birth control pills: Long-term use of birth control pills increases the risk of this cancer. Some studies show a higher risk after 5 or more years of use. You should talk to your doctor about the pros and cons of birth control in your own case.

Having many pregnancies: Woman who have had many full-term pregnancies have an increased risk of this cancer. No one really knows why this is, but it has been proven beyond doubt by large studies.

Low income: Poor women are at greater risk for cancer of the cervix. This may be because they cannot afford good health care, including Pap tests.

DES (diethylstilbestrol): This drug is a hormone that was used between 1940 and 1971 for some women who were in danger of miscarriages. The daughters of women who took this drug have a slightly higher risk of cancer of the vagina and cervix.

Family history: Recent studies suggest that women whose mother or sister has had cervical cancer are more likely to get the disease themselves. This could be because they are less able to fight off HPV than other women, or other factors could be involved.

So we know there are MANY risk factors associated with cervical cancer. HPV infection is one of them.
Only one- and a small risk at that.

The bottom line here is simple:

Roughly 15,000 women a year are DX with cervical cancer.
Many will catch it in it’s early stages where it can be successfully treated. Life expectancy is high for those who take care of themselves. Remember not all these cancers are caused by HPV…and the women who are DX with this have other risk factors present.

Of the 15,000 women, 3700 will die.
The profile of these women is pretty much the same: She is in her 50’s, smokes, hasn’t had a pap smear in many years; and perhaps her Mother or a sister also has this form of cancer. Maybe she was sexually active in her youth with many different partners.
Gardisal is NOT going to save millions of lives.

78,000 complaints? THIS ISN’T NORMAL. Or expected. Or worth it.
It is totally unethical and disingenuous of Dr Manny of FOX news to pronounce this vaccine as safe AND, to say that the benefits outweigh the risks. Numbers tell a lot. 78,000 side effects, and that is what these complaints ARE, vs. 3700 lives a yr??? Lives caught up in a form of cancer that cannot be absolutely linked (hell, cannot even be closely linked!) to the viruses this vaccine claims to protect against? These side effects are not normal either: Passing out, blindness, seizures??? No. Sore arms, fever, rashes? Yes.

No. Be smart. Listen to your doctor but ask the questions. Print up the linked info and ask for a justification of this.

More evidence that our health care system isn’t working:

PLAINFIELD, N.J. – If the country is facing a nationwide health-care crisis, then the condition in New Jersey can be described as gravely critical.

The state has an estimated 1.3 million people without health insurance who cannot pay a doctor or a hospital bill. New Jersey law requires that hospitals treat anyone who walks through their doors, and then get reimbursed later by the state. But the state’s looming budget shortfall has forced it to cut back on the reimbursements, leaving hospitals to pick up the tab. And hospitals, in turn, are going broke: Six have closed in the past 18 months, and half of those remaining are operating in the red.

As the economy falters, the number of uninsured is likely to grow, and so will the burden on hospitals. And with more hospitals expected to shut their doors, New Jersey faces a nasty culmination of health-care crises.

This isn’t good folks. It’s been happening more and more. The bottom line is hospitals need to take in money in order to operate. Those on the left will use stories like this to promote their demand for single payer universal type coverage. Like they have over in Britain.

Speaking of the Brits, who are struggling to pay for their national health care, here’s how they keep costs down:

A woman has claimed an NHS hospital “starved” her elderly mother rather than continue her care.

Ellen Westwood, 88, was in Birmingham’s Selly Oak Hospital for two months being treated for dementia and C.difficile, which she had previously contracted.

Her daughter Kathleen Westwood said the hospital decided in February it was in her “best interests” to halt fluids and nutrition - a move the family opposed.

The trust said it followed national guidelines on elderly care.

An investigation is under way.

National guidelines? Oh really we might ask? Well, yes, the hospital DID follow the government rules. That do include allowing elderly and disabled people to be starved to death when doctors decide their lives aren’t worth saving; that the costs to maintain a life outweigh the costs to end the life. See, if we eliminate those pesky people from the health care chain, there would be plenty to go around for those left- those who some believe deserve life over others. This is what happens in a national system. Care rationing is becoming the norm in Europe. Now they’re not even bothering to care- they’re outright denying it in favor of death.

Medicine can’t save everyone. We learned this when Tim Russert died last week.

Mr. Russert’s fate underlines some painful truths. A doctor’s care is not a protective bubble, and cardiology is not the exact science that many people wish it to be. A person’s risk of a heart attack can only be estimated, and although drugs, diet and exercise may lower that risk, they cannot eliminate it entirely. True, the death rate from heart disease has declined, but it is still the leading cause of death in the United States, killing 650,000 people a year. About 300,000 die suddenly, and about half, like Mr. Russert, have no symptoms.

A great article explaining how cardiac medicine works, and how it doesn’t work, as well.

When we read the headlines it’s often quite misleading. People on the right know this and those on the left don’t; they run with the headline without taking in the substance of the article. IOW, they don’t read the whole thing AND think about it.

An example of hype if I ever saw one, right here:
Study finds troops shy away from mental health care

Really?

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. military personnel fear that seeking help for mental health problems could harm their careers, according to a survey released Wednesday.

Three out of five members of the military worry it would have at least some impact, according to the small online survey conducted for the American Psychiatric Association. About half said they thought other people would think less of them if they sought help for mental health problems.

Red Flag alert: SMALL ONLINE SURVEY.

Dr. Carolyn Robinowitz, president of the APA, called those figures “alarming” and urged Congress to devote more money to treating mental health problems arising from service in combat zones.

One in four of the troops surveyed said he or she knew “nothing at all about effective mental health treatments for issues that may arise from their service in a war zone,” Robinowitz said.

As if pouring money into this will help. There’s an old saying: You can’t force a horse to drink water it doesn’t want to drink. Troops do not need government telling them what effective treatments options are; their doctors are quite capable of this. People, including military service members, usually KNOW when they are having real and true problems. Often, through their human spirit they resolve these on their own. Without anyone’s help. And we don’t need to assume that admitting a mental health problem equates some weakness in a man. That’s an excuse that is bogus. And it’s the excuse some are grasping at here in an effort to push this agenda.

“The military has done a good job of having a lot of educational materials around,” she said, but she is not sure the information “filtered down” to the people who need it.

An Army psychiatrist admitted it is a challenge to get people to seek help.

It’s not a challenge to get the pamphlets and brochures into the grunt barracks. I’ve seen them in these places. The guys simply ignore them and would prefer to play a video game or watch American Idol. They are fine. I’ve heard many say they are sick and tired of the government trying to tell them they have should have mental problems they just don’t have.

So how big is this so called problem?

A clear majority of troops rated their own mental health as good or excellent, but many reported regularly experiencing common symptoms of mental illness, including difficulty sleeping at least twice a week and a lack of interest in daily activities at least twice a week.

So here we have a government, looking to convince soldiers and Marines they have mental health issues and even going so far as to tell them they might, just might, have brain injuries, and very few are taking up offers of help. Why? Cause the vast, not clear, majority are okay. Sure, they have nightmares now and again. They miss friends who have been killed in action. They have seen things most of us never nightmare about. But, the human spirit can rise above these demons and compensate for the feelings and emotions that sometimes come with it all. Men in particular, are able to section off certain memories and thoughts and keep them in check. We don’t need to mess with this.

Liberal whine bags and other limpdicks often decry President Bush and the Republicans for a lack of true caring for the troops. I call bullshit. It’s not something anyone can force upon a person who isn’t showing true clinical symptoms- treatment, therapies- AKA medications- can ruin a person’s life much more than the will to call oneself a survivor. These bleed hearts don’t trust people to take care of themselves.

• Ogre wants to join a new religion.
• The party of the BITTER: Democrats. It’s nothing new…they’ve always been this way. It’s just coming out now in its true sexist color.
• Only in Boston would they come up with something so original, so creative…this will save the city and lower the crime rate.
• OUCH:
  

  Previous religious leaders and philosophers approached humanity with the idea of freeing the individual from fear. Mohammed did not try to free humanity, but to make humanity a slave to Allah, the god of fear. So he “revealed” the ultimate alpha—Allah. Under Allah, all humans come to their fulfillment by being Allah’s slave. But since Mohammed was the only “prophet” of Allah, to obey Allah was to obey Mohammed. Islam is submission to Allah/Mohammed.

• Go cry a few rivers. And expect this to be the reasoning behind even more pleas for help of the dumb and stupid.
• About that virtual fence.
• More overreaction, I am sure.
  Telltale words:

  So how dangerous are these bottles? And what should consumers do about the risk?

  “The truthful answer is that nobody knows” their full impact on health yet, said David Ozonoff, a professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health. “And because we don’t know, it’s prudent to avoid something that is avoidable.”

• Always On Watch has an update about the two girls who were killed by their Muslime father…killed out of some warped sense of mercy.
• Kevin, MD writes an OP/ED in USA TODAY about defensive medicine. Are you part of the problem? Do you demand test after test just to be sure?

The back yard this very early morning— I love the fog.

Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing of the Murrah Building. I was unable to make it then, so I went today to see the memorial (I have some training here at OKC). It is a very, very sober memorial; one that was also quiet and peaceful. Beautiful even.

I was 18 years old when that attack happened. I was sad that it happened, I knew it was horrible, but I didn’t truly grasp the devastation and the lives lost that day (though I learned quickly after 9/11, not to take away from OKC, but being even six years older gave me the maturity I needed to realize the scope of such an attack). Walking through the memorial brought me back to a tragedy that has been overshadowed by the larger attack of 9/11 and our Global War on Terror.

The museum itself is very well done, and it walks you through chronologically, from the time people got up and went to work, up to the moment of the attack, and through the rescue and recovery. I would highly recommend all who visit the memorial to make time, atleast an hour if not more, to walk through it.

Being the father of two little girls, one almost four and a 1 year old who just learned to walk, what broke my heart were the smaller chairs amongst the bigger chairs, each empty chair representing the person missing from their families. You can see one of the smaller chairs, representing one of the little ones murdered by Timothy McVeigh, on the left of this image:

Walking through the memorial, I saw the picture of this little angel, one of many who perished that morning.

Her name is Baylee Almon. She had just turned one year old, much like my daughter. A precious bundle of love. Innocent and fragile. If your heart doesn’t wrench at the thought of pain and suffering happening to that little creature, you don’t have one. She had an entire life to live. She’d be 14 years old right now.

But hate stepped in. Not the hate of an out of control religion or a racist hate-monger, but hate of the federal government. Our federal government is not a fascist dictatorship. Revolution is by far the most unnecessary means by which to effect change in it, and I don’t see how this terroristic act was ever going to change politics in Washington or the behavior of the people. Revenge for Ruby Ridge and Waco? If so, what petty, little men McVeigh and Nichols were. No, scratch that. What evil, cold, and ruthless men they were/are. We can never forget that our enemies are not only at our gates, they can live amongst us, ready to kill for a myriad of perceived grievances. We can not let them. We can not let them ever again kill our fellow citizens. It can not be allowed to happen.

That little angel above was broken by those bastards…

My heart aches for those parents. I could not imagine losing my child, much less like that. May God look after them and comfort them, and may Jesus hold little Baylee in His arms, and gather around the 18 other little ones to him.

“But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ” - Luke 18:16

One good deed.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Charlie Crist has signed a bill into law that allows Florida residents to keep guns locked in their cars at work.

The bill says businesses cannot prohibit employees or customers from keeping a legally owned gun locked inside their cars, as long as the owner has a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Some sites — schools, prisons, nuclear power plants, military facilities and buildings that store explosives — would still be off limits.

The governor signed the bill Tuesday.

No building should be off limits…people should ALWAYS have to right to defend themselves.

I propose that businesses, schools and other places who deem their facilities to be GUN FREE ZONES, have a plan in place that guarantees the safety of the people who will enter the premises. GUARANTEE. Against violence. And agressive attacks. By removing a persons ability to self defend, these places MUST do the defending themselves. If they fail to do so they should be held accountable. In these situations I would approve of lawsuits, up the collective asses of those making the life and death policy decisions. Sue them for everything they own and could ever own…we’d see a change of heart really fast.

Need some inspiration in life? We all do at times.

GO READ THIS AND be inspired.

…being a father of a 1 year old little girl… this breaks my heart…

FRANKFORT, Ky. — If he’s lucky, Zach Pickard will live past the age of 13.

Zach, now 13 months old, suffers from Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a disease that accelerates the aging process when the child is 18 to 24 months old. Children with this syndrome die of heart disease at an average age of 13 after aging at a rate six to eight times faster than an average person.

About 100 cases have been formally identified in medical history, and the odds of being diagnosed with it are roughly one in 8 million. For now, Zach is like any other baby, learning to walk, say words like mama and papa and making his family laugh with funny faces.

……

As he grows, however, the recognizable traits of progeria will begin to show up: limited growth resulting in a short stature, hair loss, a small face, thin skin and a loss of body fat. The Pickards are trying to raise money and awareness of the rare disease.

It just doesn’t seem right that such a little child should be afflicted with such a disease. Ofcourse, it is heart breaking that any child should suffer. From reading the article, it seems that this a genetic disease, perhaps one day some sort of genetic therapy could be devised to cure or extend life. Ofcourse, it is so rare that there is not alot of money being poured into research I am sure. But I hope this little boy can grow and live as much of a fruitful life as possible and that I know that he will enrich the lives of his parents and family. God Bless you, and your parents, Zach.

Within this past year we wrote about Ashley, the developmentally disabled little girl whose parents chose to have surgeries performed upon their daughter to keep her from ever maturing, physically.

This issue is a hot one in the world of medical ethics. There are those who believe these types of surgeries are wrong under any and all circumstances; and others who don’t blame Ashley’s folks for doing what they did. Either way most of the people taking issue with it are Monday morning quarterbacks- they have little to no real experience working with, or dealing with, or LIVING with a disabled child.

Now we have parents of disabled children seeking cosmetic surgeries to improve the looks of their children. I can hear the medical ethics people now having twisted panty fits over this.

The parents of a girl with Down syndrome have caused a public outcry in the U.K. by subjecting their daughter to cosmetic surgery to improve her appearance.

Georgia Bussey underwent “radical and painful” cosmetic surgery three times by age 5 so she could “fit in” with her peers, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported Sunday.

Parents of another girl with Down syndrome told the paper that they were also considering altering her appearance in the future so she could be more “accepted.”

Disabled kids are indeed subject to much scrutiny and discrimination.
Why should those who are disabled be berated for wanting to improve their appearance? In this case, a young girl’s parents have chosen to improve her looks. They have a lot of reason to want this.

Critics in the U.K. slammed the parents, with some even claiming the procedures were tantamount to child abuse. However, the parents hit back, saying that no one complained when “normal” children had their ears pinned back.

“Why should it be any different for a Downs child?” asked Georgia’s mother Kim Bussey.
[...]
In the first procedure, Georgia’s tongue was reduced to stop it from protruding, according to the paper. Then folds of skin were removed from the inner corners of her eyes to take away the “slantiness characteristic” of Down syndrome. Finally, she had surgery to stop her ears from sticking out.

Let’s face it: Disabled children are not always the cutest kids to look at. They might have big heads; or crossed eyes; or mouths with tongues that protrude and that drool a lot. They’re often disfigured with very noticeable defects in their limbs. Some are really overweight and others are extremely underweight. Their teeth aren’t perfect. Many have snake like athetoid movements and others are literally placid and never move.

Is it a reason for cosmetic surgery? I have to ask the following questions:

Why do disabled children have spinal surgeries to correct severe scoliosis? It’s need absolutely required.
Why would disabled children need braces for their very misaligned teeth? It’s not absolutely required.
Why would a non weight bearing disabled child need hip surgery? They’re never going to walk.

“Society is not going to change overnight – so Georgia has to fit into society, rather than society fitting into the way she is,” she said.

True. Very true. I suspect the parents here have some issues with shame for their daughter’s appearance. However, people are cruel. They’re mean. The stares, pointing and outright gasping are awful and still happen in this day and age of diversity and tolerance.

Many parents must endure the new form of discrimination: “Why didn’t you abort that child?”

Society has placed far too much value on those who are beautiful and gorgeous. And its not the young.

Children, when left to their own thing, almost always ACCEPT those who are different from the majority. In their innocence, kids can befriend their disabled peers in ways that adults cannot. When we see kids being rotten to others less fortunate, we can be assured these kids get their bias from the grown ups in their lives.

Disabled children and adults have the same feelings and emotions we all have. They’re no different. They feel the pain of being gawked at; they experience embarrassment; they want to be accepted. I have seen countless examples of **normal** adults being so rude and nasty to disabled people of all ages.

Imagine being kicked out of a restaurant because you **don’t** look normal. Or, the way you eat isn’t **acceptable**. Your voice and body tone are offending others. You’re very presence annoys other patrons. Well, it’s only US who don’t like the look; it’s only US who feel the need to watch these people eat and it’s only US who are offended. We need to get over ourselves. And realize that we share this world with others who are not perfect looking, but who are just as human as we are.

Haleigh Poutre, the little girl who was beaten to within inches of her life back in 2006, who was in a coma and who the state of MA declared to be brain dead, is speaking now. Her words have significant meaning too.

Defying all odds, the brain-damaged Westfield girl who was days away from a state order to remove her from life support in 2006 is now communicating information about the horrific abuse that nearly killed her, according to new court documents.

Although once thought to be brain-dead, Haleigh Poutre, who turned 14 on Sunday, is now ‘making statements alleging abuse” by her stepfather Jason Strickland, according to a motion filed in Hampden Superior Court last month by Strickland’s attorney, Alan Black of Springfield.

Haleigh is recovering at a Brighton rehabilitation hospital, where her condition has reportedly vastly improved since the legal battle over her life captured national headlines in 2006.

The man who beat Haleigh, Jason Strickland, was her step father; he used a bat on her head. He was going to be charged with murder upon Haleigh’s death. Some people believe this is why the state of MA was so intent to remove Haleigh from her life support. She woke up in the blink on time though…and has been at a rehab center for children. She’s made incredible progress - reports tell me she’s feeding herself, assisting with her personal care, and she’s been talking for some time.

“This creates issues concerning competency and (Haleigh’s) ability to testify and recall events in light of her severe head trauma,” Black wrote in the motion that requests a new trial schedule be set so he has time to review the information and hire experts.

Bennett is not commenting on the case against Strickland.

Eight days after Haleigh’s near-fatal beating, DSS sought a court order allowing Haleigh to be removed from life support. Jason Strickland objected, but in January 2007, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that DSS could remove Haleigh from life support. The next day, DSS announced that Haleigh was breathing on her own, and it had halted plans to remove her feeding tube.

News reports last year indicated that Haleigh could eat, write her name and flex muscles - all activities that doctors once said would never be possible.

I’m sure Jason Strickland never bargained that little Haleigh would ever come back to haunt him in this way. He had hoped she would live, that is, survive the beating, so he wouldn’t be charged with murder. She’s beating every odd, and making sure this evil man is held to account.

I have written several posts here about Haleigh.

The following names are of those young people who were shot to death yesterday afternoon at Northern Illinois University. Two others have died since, not including the “shooter”.

Daniel Parmenter
Catalina Garcia
Ryanne Mace
Julianna Gehant

Altogether 21 people were wounded.

Read the rest of this entry »

For those who say the NHS works, explain this:

A baby who was beaten and sexually abused before being murdered by her sadistic father had been seen by 30 health workers, a primary care trust has said.

Jessica Randall suffered a series of injuries at the hands of her father Andrew, including broken ribs and a fractured skull.

She was 54 days old when she died.

A report has revealed that Jessica, whose mother was schizophrenic, spent nearly half her life in hospital.

She was seen by 30 health workers and had also been seen at home on 10 separate occasions.

Yet no one noticed what was happening, so the emergency child protection procedures that could have led to her being removed from her family were not triggered.

Uugh. These things have happened in America too- and other countries, but not to this extensive degree. Most often the medical establishment does it’s part when confronted with possible cases of child abuse; reports are made. Many times in some situations. It’s the Child Protection Agencies that seem to let the ball drop…in this case, a fractured health care system appears to have failed Jessica. No one reported obvious signs of abuse for many reasons, the one cited here is they didn’t KNOW how to recognize it. Hmm. For some reason I doubt this is the truth.

Gardasil makes news again; by killing women.

The death of two young women who received the cervical cancer vaccination is causing some in the U.K. to question a strategy that calls for hundreds of thousands of schoolgirls to receive the shot next fall, the Daily Mail reports.

The young women who died received the vaccination, marketed under the name Gardasil, in Germany and Austria, respectively. The European Medicines Agency has not released their ages.

The two deaths follow the deaths of three U.S. females, ages 12, 19 and 22, who were reported to have died days after receiving Gardasil, which protects against the human papillomavirus — believed to be the leading cause of cervical cancer — was administered.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently reported that 28 women miscarried after receiving the vaccine.

Just 28 miscarriages? That’s all? No biggie, right?

For those who believe this “vaccination” is a good thing, remember that no long term studies were done; not even 5 year studies. The vaccine only protects against a very few forms of HPV, one of which is associated with cervical cancer. 16000 women are DX with this cancer each year; of these, 4000 will die. Of these, 99% had other risk factors and it’s not known, for fact, that they ever had HPV in the first place. It’s not worth the risks as far as I’m concerned.

Today marks the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and I suspect that much discussion has reiterated the moral, ethical, and scientific reasons for opposing abortion. However, let’s move beyond the arguments to lives, stories of those who have looked into the abyss - they or their parents or children - and who having looked away and taken a different path help us appreciate in a different way the value of life on a more visceral basis. I would share several tales from RedState posters earlier today:

In her post titled Private sharing time or Why I am pro-life, MrsNachos writes:

My mother was a senior in high school when she got pregnant by a man 3 years older than her. Upon finding out that she was pregnant, he immediately left her/wouldn’t return calls/etc. She was a middle child among 11 from a strongly Catholic family. Abortion was a sin, but so was getting pregnant without being married…

My mother isn’t perfect. She has typical attributes of a woman who had a child way too early in life. She could easily have had an abortion and I know my father would have paid for it. She didn’t. Her life has been harder because of it. She is only now, at 46 years of age, getting her bachelors degree after working on it one class at a time for almost 15 years. She and I have opposite personalities and I know there were times, in her weak moments or in desperation, she wondered if she made the right decision…

But my greatest accomplishment in life is that I AM. I AM here. She chose to allow me to be here. For all the faults, both hers and mine, I contribute something to someone’s life somewhere. If you asked her, and I never have, I know she’d tell you that everything we’ve been through was WORTH the struggle. When I got my B.S. she was more proud than anyone else. Now that I’m in my graduate program, she talks about it more than I do. For all my faults, I GIVE something to someone somewhere and I AM WORTH IT.

So are they. What are we missing by denying them life?

This post evoked several amazing comments. From Whitehorse, in its entirety, as he tells the story of several generations:

I was 21, as was the woman who is now my wife, when we discovered she was pregnant. Abortion was never an option for either of us, however some in her family had the knee-jerk reaction for it. We knew how this happened, we were responsible & took responsibility for it. Life was harder in many ways, but I could not think of life with the guilt we would have had if we’d had an abortion.

Now, 18 years later, our strapping young son of 18 became a father. He knew what to do & what not to do - even what to do if he did what he shouldn’t do. So did she. We have been very up-front regarding these issues with our son; however, when the “love bug” strikes… Her family had the knee-jerk abortion response (they’re active democrats - go figure) & times were a “little rough,” to say the least. Luckily, my son & his now fiance` are both pro-life & we made it through & now have a 4 month old grandson.

We’re not “supposed” to have kids before getting married. We do make mistakes & while it may be ‘easier’ without an “unplanned” child, with one - if you try to do the right things - it can be very rewarding & what you accomplish can be extremely rewarding.

And eworthi shared his tale of persistent love:

I was in college and got a girlfriend pregnant. She wanted an abortion and I said “sure” and without a second thought I held her hand through the procedure. Then I got another girl pregnant the next year, but this girl said she was going to keep the baby. I am embarrassed to say how violently I fought to convince her to abort that child. I gave it everything I had, but in the end she would not budge, she was going to keep that baby and I knew that I could not walk away. I had a roomate at the time who had a son that he got to see once a year or so, and the guy had a black hole where his heart should have been, a nice guy, but lost and empty. I knew that if there was to be a child of mine born that I needed to be a part of its life, this was against even my parents wishes.

I remember I worked up the courage to ask her to marry me and she laughed right in my face. We did not live together and I wanted to be involved so when she decided she would stop drinking alcohol I joined her and did the same. By standing by this girl and stopping drinking I lost all my friends which had the effect of bringing she and I closer together. She wanted a home birth so we never went to a doctor or hospital, just a midwife, and had the baby at a rental with her housemates doing homework upstairs. She gave birth standing up and I caught my son as he came out.

Eight years, and two more kids, later I asked her to marry me again and she said yes. We just had our 17 year anniversary, from when we first met, this past weekend, we have a total of four kids, all of them home birthed and caught by me.

Meanwhile, Nick from RightMichigan.com calls to mind those of his generation who he will never know:

Abortion is a hot button topic. It’s the sort of thing that isn’t discussed in polite company. It’s “history” and “just the way it is.” But it’s also my generation.

And I’ll be honest, that doesn’t sit well with me. I can get fired up about the subject. After all, we’re talking about the organized extermination of 50 million children based on nothing more than their proximity to free air. Get your oxygen from an umbilical cord and you’re somehow less human? Less worthy of love and a fighting chance?

I’m a child of the 1970s. Barely, but I just made it. September 18, 1979 my mom and dad decided that I was a little bit more than a blob of tissue and that I was worth a chance. Times were tough. The economy wasn’t so hot. My folks were young. Newly married. My dad was working full time while finishing school, struggling to make ends meet. It wouldn’t be tough to make the argument that I was a bit of an inconvenience. The argument has certainly been made by others.

35 years and 50 million of my classmates, church buddies, coworkers, street-hockey teammates and opponents, heroes, oncologists, doctors, nurses, ministers, football players, rocket scientists, cooks, artists, civil rights leaders and friends. Dead. Gone. Exterminated. Silenced…My generation. My friends. My classmates. My church buddies. I take it personally. Every single person who claims the title “human being” should do the same.

But so often we don’t. We get caught up in the minutia. We talk about mental health and the horrors of rape and incest. We talk about gestation cycles and trimesters. We talk about “procedures” and “operations.” But how often do we talk about the real issue?…We’re talking about human lives. Not potential, not possible but real, actual, breathing human beings complete with beating hearts and thinking minds.

How long will we continue to tear out the heart of our nation?

So here I have a minute in order to post an entry commenting on a movement that at first I was quite appalled by, but then began to realize I should support…. self-sterilization of eco-warriors hippies…

Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers - and a voice calling her Mummy.

But the very thought makes her shudder with horror.

Because when Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet.

I find it extremely sad that there is not a ten-year old running around Great Britain (and as I type this I am holding my own eco-waste producing 3 year old). What I find heartening though is that the sad, pathetic women who aborted her child went ahead and did this:

Incredibly, so determined was she that the terrible “mistake” of pregnancy should never happen again, that she begged the doctor who performed the abortion to sterilise her at the same time.

He refused, but Toni - who works for an environmental charity - “relentlessly hunted down a doctor who would perform the irreversible surgery.

Finally, eight years ago, Toni got her way.

At the age of 27 this young woman at the height of her reproductive years was sterilised to “protect the planet”.

(snip)

While some might think it strange to celebrate the reversal of nature and denial of motherhood, Toni relishes her decision with an almost religious zeal.

“Having children is selfish. It’s all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet,” says Toni, 35.

“Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population.”

While most parents view their children as the ultimate miracle of nature, Toni seems to see them as a sinister threat to the future.

Oh Ms. Toni, you have done the planet a great service. I only wish that the rest of your hippie brethren would come to the same realization that you and your kind will destroy this planet, mainly through some truly insane philosophies (communism, socialism, extreme eco-activism, etc.) and that self-sterliziation is the only avenue left open to those who believe bringing a child into the world is “selfish”. And we all know that children aren’t “the future”, but a “sinister threat” to the same. (The ultimate irony being that an aborted child could possibly hold the answer to the problems of energy and food production, but that we’ll never know. Much higher percentage of that child being a worthless consumer contributing to the destruction of this planet and the One-Armed Brazilian Bananna Frog.)

“I’ve never doubted that I made the right decision. Ed and I married in September 2002, and have a much nicer lifestyle as a result of not having children.

“We love walking and hiking, and we often go away for weekends.

“Every year, we also take a nice holiday - we’ve just come back from South Africa.

“We feel we can have one long-haul flight a year, as we are vegan and childless, thereby greatly reducing our carbon footprint and combating over-population.

Oh isn’t that sweet. They can go walking and hiking, and OFTEN go away for weekends.. all without any stinkin’ childrens to take up any time or money that they can spend on their weekend trysts. Nope. That is not selfish at all.

What does worry me though is that while they are busy sterilizing themselves, they are busy trying to convert new disciples to the Church of Global Cooling Global Warming Climate Change. Like those who’d be more likely to abort their young (ie; Democrats), they find that the only way to ensure they don’t have their “futures” is to indoctrinate new Gorebots to replace those that would naturally be replaced through reproduction. Our best choice is to combat this war in philosophies, and hope that we win out, because their’s is a philosophy of self-defeat, and soon there won’t be anyone left on their side to matter.

A doctor has written a book about providing abortion services.

In her forthcoming book “This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor” (Public Affairs), Dr. Wicklund describes her work, the circumstances that lead her patients to choose abortion, and the barriers — lack of money, lack of providers, violence in the home or protesters at clinics — that stand in their way.

“We don’t talk about it,” she said in a telephone interview. “People say, ‘Nobody I know has ever had an abortion,’ and that is just not true. Their sisters, their mothers have had abortions.”

Dr. Wicklund, 53, said that at current rates almost 40 percent of American women have an abortion during their child-bearing years, a figure supported by the Guttmacher Institute, which researches reproductive health policy. Abortion is one of the most common operations in the United States, she said, more common than tonsillectomy or removal of wisdom teeth. “Because it is such a secret,” she said, “we lose sight of how common it is.”

That’s pretty sad isn’t it? About 40% of all women of childbearing age have had an abortion. It’s just another small elective procedure now too- no big deal. I know plenty of women, and younger girls, who have their babies aborted. ALL of them are not victims of anything other their own stupidity and it’s a real shame that people still try to have us believe otherwise.

Assisted suicide pops up once again in reports…this is about the Swiss, and Dignitas- a private business that offers AS services.
I have written about this here, here, here and here.

Politics is often a matter of life and death. There are constant reminders of this, from the war in Iraq to America’s abortion debate. The most telling examples, though, often pass unnoticed. Such an example is currently simmering in Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal not only for the Swiss, but for foreigners too, making the nation the unlikeliest of final destinations.

Switzerland’s road to becoming the planned death capital of Europe began in 1918, when the Swiss government declared that, “In modern penal law, suicide is not a crime,” and those “aiding and abetting suicide can themselves be inspired by altruistic motives.” Over the years this sentiment was enshrined in the Swiss penal code, Article 115 of which condones assisted suicide if the assisting person does not profit from the death. Article 115 requires neither the participation of a physician nor that the patient be terminally ill.

So we have some history.

A number of organizations were formed to serve the market created by Swiss law, and none of these have been more controversial than Dignitas. Dignitas was founded in 1998 by Swiss human rights lawyer Ludwig Minelli, and it is, at present, the only such organization extending its services to foreigners.

The business of assisted suicide took root in Switzerland. There have been few Swiss citizens who show an interest in this…and the people have been pretty uncomfortable knowing these “services” are being offered in their country.

Most obvious, the problem of “death tourism” has emerged. The majority of Dignitas’ clients are indeed from beyond Switzerland’s borders. They are unable to kill themselves legally in their home countries, so they trickle into Switzerland looking for an hospitable place to die. Given the Swiss prohibition on euthanasia, one might question how much assistance one might receive. Indeed, the client must commit the final act on his own after being given the means of his own extermination. This can only mean that the people who ultimately take their own lives are fully capable of doing so, yet they cannot find a way to manage it without traveling to a foreign country.

It simple terms, a person who wishes assistance with an act of suicide must perform the act themselves. Dignitas services include the mixing of lethal doses of medications. The customer must ingest the cocktail- either orally or via an injection. No one else is legally allowed to do that. Why people are willing to pay some company big bucks to mix up some drugs is beyond me; and why they don’t just go out to their backyard and shoot themselves is beyond me as well…oh wait, this is modern day where comfort and pleasure are of utmost concern. I forgot. Shooting oneself is messy and perhaps not effective.

Making matters worse, there are times when they are not even ill … at least not physically. There has been at least one case in which a client falsified medical records in order to present a more compelling case for suicide. There is also evidence that a number of people have sought out the assistance of Dignitas as a result of mental illnesses. Minelli has been remarkably consistent in his defense of Dignitas’ practices. Responding to the case in which medical records were falsified, he asserted that “The doctor’s report … indicated the woman was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver as well as hepatitis. And in any case every person in Europe has the right to choose to die, even if they are not terminally ill.”

This is where I have a huge problem. People who are mentally ill need professional help, not assistance in killing themselves. I strongly feel that companies such as Dignitas take advantage of depressed people and push them to the ultimate decision- one that cannot be undone. Note the phrase that every person in Europe has the right to choose to die. Would Dignitas make this claim if there were other competing businesses offering the same services? A little competition? I bet not. This is all about money and it always has been.

As it turns out, even the Swiss seem to have a problem with assisted suicide, if only where the rubber meets the road…literally.

While there seems to be little backlash against policies which decriminalize assisted suicide, people have nonetheless managed to express their displeasure in light of what might be termed the accessories of death. It seems that the constant parade of hearses is too much for some people to bear. And the parade is constant. In 2006, Dignitas helped nearly 200 people end their lives…all in an apartment dedicated to the purpose.

But now Dignitas has lost its lease. And in the country with some of the most liberal assisted suicide laws in the world, they are having trouble finding a new home. Minelli can assert that everyone in Europe has a right to die, but a good deal more people are telling him, “Not in my back yard.”

What? They can’t build their own building? They can’t come up with the money to do that? Wonder why? Maybe the market isn’t there to support the service.

People are reticent, in the end, to live so close to death’s door, and this is a fair indication that it might be time for the Swiss to revisit their assisted suicide policy. Every rational person knows that a ban on suicide will never end the practice. That does not mean the practice is to be condoned. A good number of the Swiss seem to realize this, and have taken steps to ensure that their own neighborhoods and towns will not play host to what amounts to a suicide factory. If their politicians take notice, perhaps the business of death tourism will itself meet a dignified, if overdue, end.

Ouch. The truth can hurt. I hope the people stand up for life, and force their polecats to recognize the potential abuse businesses like Dignitas are very apt to engage in.