Damn, Dear Abby kicks some pro-life butt

[LynneSin]

Yeah, I read 'Dear Abby' everyday. Just a habit. About a month ago she recommended a teenage gal who was pregnant and could tell her parents to go to her local Planned Parenthood.

Now I know that you and I all know that a vast majority of the stuff that Planned Parenthood does has nothing to do with Abortion, but you know the anti-choice folks don't see it that way.

So today's column was devoted to those anti-choice crusader including one who wanted to know why 'Dear Abby' wouldn't recommend the girl to go to her local Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Damn - Abby zinged them big time. Great to know our local paper advise columnist is on our team

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/life/specials/dearabby.html

DEAR ABBY: You should read "Grand Illusions," George Grant's expose of the racist roots of Planned Parenthood. Not to have advised that girl to visit her local Crisis Pregnancy Center was misleading.

Lenore in Manhattan, Mont.

DEAR LENORE: Margaret Sanger, who founded the tiny birth-control clinic that was to become the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, became a family planning crusader because she felt it was vital for poor women (and that included women of color) to control their fertility and not be forced to have large families they couldn't take care of. A woman who is not in charge of her reproductive life is not in charge of her life. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the average woman, without birth control, would have between 12 and 15 pregnancies.

Planned Parenthood's mission is to help women make the right choice for them. For some, that means carrying a pregnancy to term. For others, it means using birth control. And for still others it can mean having an abortion. It is a matter of choice.

P.S.: I would advise women to go to Crisis Pregnancy Centers if I were convinced they wouldn't be forced to watch color videos of aborted fetuses.

[GOPisEvil]

1. Nice!

Planned Parenthood's mission is to help women make the right choice for them. For some, that means carrying a pregnancy to term. For others, it means using birth control. And for still others it can mean having an abortion. It is a matter of choice.

That pretty much sums it up. That doesn't sound too radical. It's all about helping women with their choices. I wonder why it is that contractors here have boycotted Planned Parenthood's new building, forcing construction to stop...:eyes:

[BiggJawn]

14. It's not the contractors, it's The Church...

Churches are going to the contractors who were working on the building and rolling out the blueprints to some huge monument to man's greed and saying "Like this? You keep building that 'abortion chamber' and you'll not touch a hammer to OUR projects...

So, in worship of their TRUE "god" the contractors are packing up their tools and leaving.

[underpants]

2. Half of my United Way contirbution is to Planned Parenthood

Good for who ever wrote that.

[LTR]

3. I've always liked the old Abby's take on choice

She is pro-choice because outlawing it would only encourage illegal backalley procedures that are unregulated. This opinion makes all the sense in the world.

Her daughter writes the column now, and I see that she is also pro-choice.

[DS1]

4. gentle kick

I was expecting a public lashing

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. a reasonable response!

And I love that DIG she gets in in the p.s. Fantastic!

[supernova]

6. Hooray for Dear Abby!

Very astute to remind the pro-lifers of who started PP and why.

I'm sure somewhere Margaret Sanger spins in her grave at the slander that's heaped on her organization.

[grannylib]

7. 12-15 pregnancies....that is just what the right wing extremists would

like to see - she is absolutely right! And it's not just abortion that the fundies are after, it's contraception as well. Their preferred definition of 'life at conception' would eventually outlaw the pill and the diaphragm for sure, leaving women with few reliable options for birth control, and thus, as Abby says, control of their lives.

[LynneSin]

8. how else are we going to get cheap labor for the corporations and war?

just imagine this country if women still had 10-15 kids.

:cry:

[supernova]

9. Yep, agree completely grannylib

anit-abortion is just the tip of the iceberg in rolling back human rights for women.

And while we're staying home having so many babies, there's really no reason wasing all that money that could go for diapers and formula on a good education, now is there?

x( :grr: :grr: x( x(

[THUNDER HANDS]

10. that's a new Dear Abby, right?

Didn't the old one die a little while ago?

[supernova]

11. It's her daughter

now.

Interesting tidbit:

Dear Ann Landers daughter writes "Dear Prudence" for Slate.com. Neat, huh?

[arwalden]

12. Delaware Online Edits Abby's Original Replies

By visiting www.dearabby.com you can find the Abby's ORIGINAL unedited replies. I believe that newspapers and online news websites ought NOT re-edit material that's NOT their own. Granted... these are "minor" alterations, but sometimes by simply omitting just a few words, the message changes. In this case, they appear to have softened the urgency of Abby's message.

Stricken out below is the text that Delaware Online chose not to print.

- Allen


DEAR LENORE: Margaret Sanger, who founded the tiny birth control clinic that was to become the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, became a family planning crusader because she felt it was vital for POOR women (and that included women of color) to control their fertility and not be forced to have large families they couldn't take care of. A woman who is not in charge of her reproductive life is not in charge of her life. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the average woman, without birth control, would have between 12 and 15 pregnancies in her lifetime.

Planned Parenthood's mission is to help women make the right choice for THEM. For some, that means carrying a pregnancy to term. For others, it means using birth control. And for still others it can mean having an abortion. It is a matter of personal freedom and deeply personal choice.

P.S. I would advise women to go to Crisis Pregnancy Centers if I were convinced they wouldn't be forced to watch color videos of aborted fetuses.


This letter was missing completely....

DEAR ABBY: Here in California a girl recently died because rather than going to her parents for help, she went to Planned Parenthood. Secrets should never be encouraged. Parents are the teen's best option. -- DANA S., ESCONDIDO, CALIF.

DEAR DANA: All medical procedures, and that includes abortion, carry some risk. According to reports I have read, the girl died of septic shock after taking RU-486. However, abortions are far safer today than they were 10 years ago -- and certainly safer than when the procedure was illegal and performed in back alleys.

My heart goes out to that girl's parents, and I agree that parents should be the best option. However, not all families are the kind we saw on "Leave It to Beaver," and many girls are afraid to confide in their parents.

[LynneSin]

16. Thanks for the complete information!!!

Hey, News Journal has even edited my letters to the editor, but I think that's the norm for most newspapers.

But the main point is what Dear Abby wrote.

She's a modern daugher of a modern woman!!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Is the P.S. from Abby too? Wow! (nt)

[Robb]

15. Sine the holidays are coming....

...a gentle reminder that the infamous "Choice on Earth" shirts are available again this year:

Got one last year for Mrs. Robb, they're actually pretty cute, fitted long sleeve numbers. Good gift for the pro-choice woman in your life.