#585 - Peace & Life: Fannie Lou Hamer/Sex Abuse/Good News - October 29, 2021
A Show on Fannie Lou Hamer
Fannie Lou Hamer was an important figure in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which is why a live show about her life is running in a Chicago theater (October 15 – November 21). We have a blog post on a 1971 speech of hers, both anti-war and anti-abortion and admirably connecting issues of violence. We also have one of our cards on consistent-life champions – the front is pictured below. We’ve been outraged by the reproductive violence done to her.
CLN board member Richard Stith reports that at one of the shows he and four others passed out our cards indoors, until they were told they couldn’t, and then passed them out outdoors.
Where are the Alarm Bells?
Rachel Maddow had an October 12 segment where she said, “One provider in Houston spoke of a 12-year-old patient who came in with her mother . . . The 12-year-old said, mom it was an accident, why are they making me keep it? She is 12.”
Twelve-year-olds don’t become pregnant by accident. While it’s possible she was impregnated by a boy near her own age, which is legal, more likely it was an adult pedophile who exploited her, which is statutory rape – a felony.
Why is this not being investigated? How do we stop such crimes if the only concern raised ignores the crime entirely?
This is another case where a focus on the availability of abortion leaves people oblivious to such glaring alarm bells.
Good News from the UK
In the House of Lords: Assisted suicide Bill fails to go to vote after over 60 Peers speak in opposition in 7-hour debate. Especially effective was the video testimony of Baroness Campbell.
Our Latest Blog Post
One of the perennial debates within the consistent life ethic is whether some issues are more important than others, based on various reasons, or whether they are all alike equal by virtue of being threats to human life. We’ve published several posts with different perspectives on this, because we enjoy a diversity of perspectives. John Whitehead weighs in with “Is One Life Issue More Important Than the Rest?”: A Question That Might Not Need an Answer.
Quotation of the Week
Lois Kerschen
Musings from the Pew, September 16, 2021
So, abortion is not watered down as a life issue by the consistent life ethic. It is not just one item among a long list of life issues from which we can pick our favorite (or least boat-rocking) concern.
On the contrary, the point is that other life issues can be used to attract people to an understanding of abortion . . . Reminding those who advocate for other life issues of the values that led them to that position should lead them to an understanding that abortion is also a life issue because of the same criteria of human dignity.
Careful guidance can lead them from the reasoning by which they oppose capital punishment, (nuclear) war and so on – “Why do you oppose Issue X? Because it is violent? Because it kills people? Because it violates the sanctity and dignity of human life? Doesn’t that apply to abortion as well?”