686 - Peace & Life: Gaza/Braver Angels/Back Alley - October 27, 2023
As Usual, Planned Parenthood Has a One-Track Mind
The International Planned Parenthood Federation has released an IPPF Statement on the Escalating Violence in Gaza (9 October 2023). One quote: “Sexual and reproductive health and rights must be prioritized now in Palestine, especially for women, girls, and the most vulnerable and marginalized groups among them, who have already been facing a protracted humanitarian crisis for decades.”
Palestine Public Health Law covering Gaza and the West Bank prohibits abortion (with the normal life-of-the-mother exception). Planned Parenthood feels justified in working around these laws.
We have a blog post on how Wars Cause Abortions, but our point is that that’s another reason to add to the long list of why we shouldn’t have wars. Planned Parenthood’s approach simply adds to the carnage.
Consistent Life Network Joins Braver Angels Network
Braver Angels is a project focused on having civil discussions, being able to disagree on issues without demonizing those who think otherwise. Such demonizing and hostility is one of the major obstacles we face. Braver Angels tends to try to bridge the red/blue divide; we don’t fit on either side of the divide and tend to question the two-side division to start with. A nationwide group working on lowering the rancor is one of the positive solutions on all our issues.
Our Latest Blog Post
One of the biggest arguments for keeping abortion legal is the idea that illegal abortions are unsafe, unlike legal abortions. Graphic pictures of women with coat hangers counter the graphic pictures of chopped-up children. Rachel MacNair addresses this in The Back Alley and the Front Alley.
Quotation of the Week
Double quotations this week – not from consistent lifers, but important points being made prominently.
Josh Paul
former Director of Congressional & Public Affairs, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security, nor to peace . . . There is beauty to be found everywhere in this world, and it deserves both protection, and the right to flourish, and that is what I most desire for Palestinians and for Israelis. The murder of civilians is an enemy to that desire – whether by terrorists as they dance at a rave, or by terrorists as they harvest their olive grove. The kidnapping of children is an enemy to that desire – whether taken at gunpoint from their kibbutz or taken at gunpoint from their village. And, collective punishment is an enemy to that desire.
Nicholas Kristof
Opinion Columnist, reporting from Tel Aviv
The New York Times, October 21, 2021
I particularly want to challenge the suggestion, more implicit than explicit, that Gazan lives matter less because many Palestinians sympathize with Hamas. People do not lose their right to life because they have odious views, and in any case, almost half of Gazans are children. Those kids in Gaza, infants included, are among the more than two million people enduring a siege and collective punishment . . .
The best answer to this test is to try even in the face of provocation to cling to our values. That means that despite our biases, we try to uphold all lives as having equal value. If your ethics see some children as invaluable and others as disposable, that’s not moral clarity but moral myopia. We must not kill Gazan children to try to protect Israeli children.