#469 Ireland, Quakers, Seeds of Peace July 12, 2019
A Consistent Life Ethic Message in Ireland
Disability Voices for Life participated in the Irish Pro-Life March in Dublin this past weekend and displayed a banner with an unambiguously consistent-life-ethic message, as shown in the photo below. Michael O’Dowd, who carried the banner along with his son Conor, reports that the banner “evoked considerable comment and support.” Linking disability rights with protecting the preborn is a crucial connection, and Disability Voices for Life is doing vital work by making this connection and presenting it so prominently.
When Quakers are unFriendly CLN member group Friends Witness for a Prolife Peace Testimony had an unstaffed literature table at the large Friends General Conference Gathering, June 30-July 5. Early on, someone turned all flyers and the sign upside down. That was easily fixed. The next time, all flyers were piled together. Again, easily fixed, but then someone continually put back the sign pictured below. On the last evening, several young women held “pro-choice” signs outside the door where everyone came out of the cafeteria. As is common, this kind of pushback sparked an unusually high number of fruitful conversations.
Top: Rachel MacNair at lit table; t-shirt is from CLN member group Sojourners.
Bottom: Sign repeatedly left at the table.
Seeds of Peace CLN board member Julia Smucker recently attended the flag-raising at the 27th annual Seeds of Peace camp in Otisfield, Maine, where young delegates from Pakistan, India, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, the US and the UK are spending three weeks learning peacebuilding and leadership skills while forming relationships across national and ethnic divides. Before the raising of each delegation's flag and singing of their national anthems, Seeds of Peace director Leslie Lewin reassured the delegates it was ok to experience a mix of emotions on seeing flags that may represent different things to them - both their own and others. The final flag raised was the Seeds of Peace flag, accompanied by the camp song, sung by all the delegates with great enthusiasm.
Life Matters Journal
Our member group Rehumanize International has released the latest edition of its magazine, Life Matters Journal. Organized around the theme of "Small Ways to Make a Big Difference," this issue includes the death penalty's repeal in New Hampshire, pro-life feminism, maternal mortality in developing countries, and other topics. An article by Consistent Life Board member Sarah Terzo looks at ways to be an activist from home.
Latest CLN Blog Post: Misogyny vs. Patriarchy Many use the terms “misogyny” (hatred of women) and “patriarchy” (rule of men over women) as roughly the same thing, but Rachel MacNair draws out distinctions between the two in Misogyny vs. Patriarchy. She also shows how they relate to her long experience in the pro-life movement.
Quotation of the Week John Eligon, New York Times columnist When ‘Black Lives Matter’ Is Invoked in the Abortion Debate New York Times, July 6, 2019 In many black communities, the abortion debate is inextricably tied to race in ways that white communities seldom confront. Social and economic disparities that are particularly challenging to African-Americans, from mass incarceration to maternal and infant mortality, are crucial parts of that discussion. . . . Promoting policies that address some of the root causes of abortions by black women has become a favored approach for many black voters on both sides of the issue, and especially for those against abortion. From womb to tomb, they say, describing their concern for the full life span of black people. “We can save a child in the womb, but we also have an environment that could kill that child,” said Cessilye Smith [pictured], a black abortion opponent in Dallas working to open a free clinic that provides pre- and postnatal care and other services for women. “They both have to be worked on equally.”
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