Hey, All of You Pro-Life Catholic School Kids: You’re not Really Pro-Life!
— Posted by John (October 8, 2007 at 4:09 pm)
You just protest abortion because of selfish motives—you know, like, earning extra credit.
At least, that’s what Veronica at the Aurora Planned Parenthood blog says.
She has a post today that begins:
Perhaps the biggest winners of the opening of our clinic are Catholic school kids. Why? Because Catholic schools award extra credit for school kids to come on out and rally against choice.
She then quotes an e-mail sent by “a friend of the clinic” who says this:
I grin when I see the kids at the center, because I was in their place only a few years ago - and I know what really brought them out to protest on a Saturday morning.
This, in a nutshell, sums up Planned Parenthood’s disgustingly condescending attitude toward pro-life teens.
I’d encourage you to post comments on the Aurora Planned Parenthood blog, but you’d probably be wasting your time, since all comments there are moderated, and yours probably wouldn’t be allowed.
So instead, post your comments here.
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Molly says:
I really don’t know how to respond to this… All I can say is that most of the kids I see at the protests are from public schools and they definitely don’t get extra credit for being there.
Comment posted October 8th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
RSD says:
Man..where do they come up with this stuff?
This “Veronica” sounds like Hitler’s Propaganda minister…and to think she’s only preaching to “their” choir…
My kids (5th and 6th graders) who are veterans of several rallies now are in Catholic School and they certainly do NOT earn extra credits for attending these activities. They are also members of a Jr. Pro-life club that was recently formed in response to PP’s presence in the neighborhood.
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Renee says:
My teens were there, and are home schooled, so no extra credit needed.
I can not believe how LAME their reasoning is~
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Nikolia says:
Because I’m pretty sure teens like to be made fun of by adults for extra credit. No one would do that just for extra credit.
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Nikolia says:
Obviously a faulty argument because not everyone there was Catholic anyway. Did he poll everyone age 18 and under and ask them if they went to Catholic school?
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Mike says:
I was watching Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel on Hannity & Colmes last night. Cal and Bob are trying to bring conservatives and liberals together on the issues. Cal Thomas (Pro-Life) asked Bob Beckel (Pro-Abortion) this question…
———
Would You Support National Legislation Stating Abortion Clinics MUST Give Free Sonograms/Ultrasounds of the Woman’s Unborn Baby Before Performing an Abortion?
——–
The Pro-Abortion Bob Beckel said “Yes”! I thought this was great for both of them to come together on this question.
The reason Cal Thomas asked this question is he knew 80% of the women who want to get an abortion and later see an ultrasound of their baby, change their mind and keep their baby!
If this did become national legislation, I would like to see at least a couple of days waiting period between seeing the ultrasound and performing the abortion. The longer the waiting period we could get out of this, the higher the percentage of women would want to keep their baby after seeing the ultrasound!
Can you imagine saving the lives of 80% of the unborn babies in the womb without trying to overturn Roe v. Wade?
What are your thoughts? Would other Pro-Aborts support this? Would NOW, NARAL and Planned Parenthood support this?
My thoughts are if they did not support this, it would be another true marker on where they really stand (just like the “Partial Birth Abortion” marker)!
———-
4D Ultrasound Pictures of Unborn Babies…
http://www.prolifeamerica.com/4D-Ultrasound-pictures/
Mike
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Veronica says:
And I have to share a name with that lady!!! I guess that means that I just have to pray extra special for her conversion…
btw, I am homeschooled - so I don’t get extra credit. (well, maybe in Heaven! ;o) I wish I could be out there more. Maybe when I do go out to pray I should wear a sign that says, “I’m NOT getting extra credit for this!”
I tried posting on the Aurora PP blog, but of course, none of my comments appeared.
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Veronica says:
In regards to ultrasounds - I think that would be so wonderful!
A friend of ours who had an abortion when she was sixteen (she regrets it now) was given an ultrasound, but here’s what happened…
“As Catherine lay on the table waiting for an ultrasound, she asked questions. Instead of answering her, the clinic worker leaned over and hissed in her ear. “Turn away from the screen, Honey. You don’t want to see this.” Catherine turned away, frightened. The next thing she knew, the dull colors of the room were fading away.”
(to read the rest of the story go here… http://generationsforlife.org/2007/0208/essay )
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Margaret says:
I tried posting on the PP blog too, Veronica. So far, nothing has been printed, of course. I can’t believe they would make something up as ridiculous as this… Wait a minute, come to think of it, I can. Here is what I wrote:
“Are you kidding? I am sixteen years old and I have several friends who attend various Catholic schools. None of them have ever had any sort of enticement concerning extra credit or boosting their GPA’s for protesting abortion. However, I along with several of my friends (who attend Catholic schools, public schools or are homeschooled)have decided to protest abortion.
Why? Because we know that the children that have been aborted could have just as easily been us. There was 9 months of our lives that our mothers could have killed us and that would have been legal! We remember that one third of our generation has been forever silenced by abortion and we wonder who those babies would grow up to be. Our future spouse? Our best friend? Our brother or sister? This is why you see teens out on a Saturday morning holding “fetus signs.” Is this how you try to gain teens’ trust? By posting blatent lies about them on your blog?”
I know this was kind of a long winded post, but I had to say it or I would explode. At least we know that while our comments won’t be printed, some one at PP has to read them in order to block them!
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Molly says:
I just posted as well. It will probably never show up (whatever happened to free speech?), but, like Margaret said, they’re going to have to read it before they delete it anyway.
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Sean says:
I think that the people who made those statements are just scared of the number of youth who are taking a stand. I applaud all who come to the rallies! I myself attend a Catholic HS and get no extra credit. So once again they are trying to lie through their teeth.
If you think about it, they have to be scared, because they stated that they were in our place a few years ago, meaning that they know the power of prayer and fail to acknowledge it.
When i first saw the blog I was kind of upset, but then i realized, that we have to keep praying for these people, because it is only through our prayers, that they will see and their hearts will be turned.
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Molly says:
Hey, have any of you noticed that in all the pictures of people holding up ‘We support Planned Parenthood signs’ on that blog, nearly all the girls look sad and grim?
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Lauren says:
Renee—were your children taught before they had the chance to critically think that they were pro-life? I’ve seen countless of young children at these rallies, I’m talking 5-6 years old. I think it’s sick. I also think homeschooling your children is sick. Those kids end up with horrible social skills and are never prepared for the real world. If you want to smother your children in your ideologies about everything go ahead, but I think it puts them at a huge disadvantage.
If I’m having an abortion, I dont have to look at the sonogram if I don’t want to. The end.
Veronica, I’m sorry I don’t buy your story about that girl’s abortion.
And finally, why would this person lie about the extra credit? I think it seems perfectly reasonable.
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Molly says:
“I also think homeschooling your children is sick.”
I like being homeschooled. I think I have a better social life than I ever did in school (I spent fifth and sixth grade in “regular” school). The “homeschoolers are socially inadequate” stereotype is an old one and has no real basis in fact.
“If you want to smother your children in your ideologies about everything go ahead, but I think it puts them at a huge disadvantage.”
My parents have never forced their opinion on me. I can’t say the same for public school, where they spent every single second of every single minute trying to force their political views on the students.
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Renee says:
Thanks for your concern for my children, Lauren. I would have to respectfully disagree with your assessment of their social skills.
I don’t think you have nearly enough information about home schooling to be sickened by it. You seem to be ruled by emotion and stereotype. Maybe if you were home schooled you would be a more clear thinker.
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Nikolia says:
I have a lot of friends who were homeschooled (I was not), but they have completely normal social lives and went on to both state and private colleges…and still have totally normal social lives.
5 and 6 year olds can think for themselves. Middle schoolers can think for themselves. When you show kids pictures of unborn babies, and ask, “What is this?” they say “A baby.” When you ask them, “Do you think we should tell the mother she can stop her pregnancy?” they reply, “Won’t that kill the baby?” So clearly, they understand what’s going on even without someone leading them by calling it “killing” or “murder.”
Comment posted October 9th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
John says:
Lauren said: “I also think homeschooling your children is sick.”
So much for respecting the freedom of choice of parents to educate their children the best way they see fit.
“Those kids end up with horrible social skills and are never prepared for the real world.”
Kids from all types of educational environments—public school, private school, home school—can be found who have either exceptionally well developed or exceptionally not well developed social skills. As Renee rightly pointed out, you’re stereotyping out of ignorance.
“Veronica, I’m sorry I don’t buy your story about that girl’s abortion.”
Whom are you calling a liar, and based on what evidence? Veronica or her friend? Or both of them?
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 8:48 am
RSD says:
The PP blog doesn’t accept Pro-lifers’ entries but the notes/comments on the pics on the Flickr site does and there seeems to be more open “discussion” there because PP cannot edit the posts….
Just an FYI.
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Lauren says:
I respect the choice by not outlawing it. I don’t have to literally think highly of the choice to “respect it”. Every person I’ve ever known that’s been home schooled has been socially at a huge disadvantage to their counterparts in school.
Maybe it’s just me but I don’t know a single 6 year old who can think for themselves. They are impressionable and listen to what their parents say. My parents never focused any particular ideology me. They instilled an intense curiousity in me, but they never forced certain beliefs on me. I think any study of psychology would back up my belief that 6-year-olds don’t think independently when there is extreme adult influence.
Look, all I’m saying about home schooling is this, I think it is beneficial to be around other children and to learn a diverse set of ideas, not just the ones the parents instilled. I have to enforce this again. WATCH THIS CLIP!! NOW! http://youtube.com/watch?v=07WX3F7UQWA
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Lauren says:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KsrtuvxDfrs
This is a longer clip and a better one.
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
rosie says:
Lauren,
“Those kids end up with horrible social skills and are never prepared for the real world”
you aren’t exactly making friends here.
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Lauren says:
Trust me, if I were trying to make friends I wouldn’t be here.. I’d be at school or out on the town here in the city. That’s the point I think I’m trying to make, sheltering your kids from the world because you fear someone might give them an opinion other than your own is selfish. People who have children to fulfill their personal needs or to create some extension of themself shouldn’t be allowed to have children (not legally before you jump down my throat). I think ther eare far more altruistic reasons to have children. Children are by nature curious and when a parent smothers that curiousity by exposing them to so little. That’s why I say god bless the internet because hopefully some of these home-schooled kids find other outlets besides their parents.
I went to public school all through grade school and high school. I loved it and hated it. I was exposed to all sorts of ideas (mostly conservative ones because of where I grew up). I hated it because of the cliques, the fights, the endless bueraucracy and politics of any system of that size (my high school had a graduating class of over 1000). But you know what, I wouldn’t trade that experience for all of the world. I learned about injustice by witnessing it, not by my parents telling me what it was. If homeschooling is that great, please explain it ot me then because I don’t get it. It seems like a glorified way of hiding your children from the world and to make them walking clones of you.
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Margaret says:
Lauren- Why would this person lie about the extra credit? Hmm.. Lets think… Maybe to downplay the fact that in Aurora hundreds of teens have been protesting abortion while only dozens of teens have rallied for it? Maybe to bolster up the stereotype that pro-lifers only protest abortion for selfish reasons? We already know that Planned Parenthood has issues with telling the truth just by the fact that they will only print comments on their blog that agree with them.
In any case, why this person would lie or even if this person was lying about his/her personal experience is immaterial to the issue. The issue is that this person said that the main reason that we see teens protesting abortion is for their GPA- something that is not true. We know this is not true because if you check the schools these teens go to and if you actually talk to these teens you will discover that they are doing this completely out of their own free will.
In regards to the flick on youtube- if that is what you think all homeschoolers are like you are even more closed minded than I thought. Regardless, I appreciate you voicing your opinion on this site, even if I strongly disagree with you.
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Margaret says:
Something I forgot on my last comment- will people please stop saying that homeschoolers are just clones of their parents? Just because they get their education from their parents oppsosed to local school teachers does not mean that they do not know of other belief systems and values. Homeschoolers are in contact with more people than just their parents; they are members of the community just like everyone else- they watch TV, go shopping, chat on the internet, hang out with friends. Saying homeschooled children only grow up to be just like their parents is like saying all kids who go to school will only grow up just like their teachers.
By the way, can you tell I’m homeschooled?
Also, the reason why homschooling is great is this-
1. I get to learn at my own pace and explore my own interests along with my education. Anything I can not teach myself or my parents can not help me with I can take a class at my local community college for.
2. I get a flexible schedule to be able to do a wide variety of hobbies and volunteer work, along with spending time with my friends (yes I actually hav friends!).
3. I do not have to deal with listening to teachers lecture me all day- I independently learn the material (I do an accredited correspondance school) and ask myself how I feel about an issues istead of being told how to feel. I am constantly researching issues like abortion from all different sources (including Planned Parenthood) so I can learn for myself what is true and not true.
As a result or being homeschooled, I have not only tested above average on my standardized tests and recieved A’s in college level studies at age sixteen, but I have learned to think what I want independently of what is popular or fashionable. I would write more reasons why I like being homeschooled but this post is too long as it is!
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Veronica says:
I echo you Margaret. I LOVE being homeschooled; it has been so wonderful for me. I am sorry, but the saying “homeschoolers are un-socialized” is so old! In fact, I have had a lot people tell me that I am more socialized than “regular” school kids.
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Renee says:
“Children are by nature curious and when a parent smothers that curiousity(sic) by exposing them to so little”
This is where you are really off base. By not having to do “group think”, the children who are home educated get to learn by investigating ideas, and drawing their own conclusions. Our kids use the Socratic method of learning, which means they read original works and then discuss and draw conclusions based on what they read. They have the freedom to study what interests them, not what a curriculum has on the schedule for that day.
They have had numerous teachers, because we cooperatively teach with some other families, and they are involved in many community activities. All this, and we still have time to be together as a family because they don’t have to spend all day at a school building, having their every movement monitored and scheduled. My students are free to learn much more by being home schooled.
And, my kids are the activists in this family. I had never stepped foot at a pro-life rally until they asked me to take them to the first big protest in Aurora in August. So in this family, it was the kids that influenced the mom to get out there and stand up for life!
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Molly says:
And why wouldn’t you be? I’d say homeschoolers generally have more of a social life because they actually have time to have one. I remember sitting in my first-period math class in sixth grade. Having finished the assignment the teacher gave me in ten minutes, I spent the next fifty staring idly up at the ceiling (I would have spent the time writing or doing a homework assignment, but the school board banned that) waiting for class to end. As quickly as I get through assignments, I could have finished half of my schoolwork in that time.
“Children are by nature curious and when a parent smothers that curiousity by exposing them to so little.”
Who smothers kids curiosity more than the public school? I mean, when I was in fifth grade and I was constantly told to “shut-up” when I asked a question in class, because “that’s not in the curriculum for this year”, I can tell you that didn’t make me any more curious. When I am homeschooling, if I ever show an interest in a subject, say Ancient Egypt, even if it isn’t on the planned curriculum for the year, my mom always gets really excited about it and drives me to the library so I can research and discover everything and anything I want on the subject. Who’s trying to smother my curiosity?
“sheltering your kids from the world because you fear someone might give them an opinion…”
When homeschooling, I spend four hours on school work then go out to the “real world” to socialize with all kinds of people of varying different ages, while my fellow public school peers are forced to spend seven hours of their day locked in a building away from the real world and are only allowed to socialize with people in their age group.
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Mary says:
“Trust me, if I were trying to make friends I wouldn’t be here.. I’d be at school or out on the town here in the city. ”
Well, what ARE you trying to do? Much more convincing that a simple denial.
Comment posted October 10th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Kristie says:
Lauren - a good portion, dare I say a majority of homeschooled kids are incredibly intelligent and the public schools are slowing them down. Parents of these students decide to homeschool because they are bored in class and, as in the case of my child, didn’t complete the basic math homework because she was too busy studying calc when she came home. She’s actively involved in sports, music lessons, and a host of other things in which she gets interaction with other children her own age.
Perhaps you can’t understand this because you are not intelligent enough to grasp the concept of learning for learnings sake, rather than sitting and being taught what the teachers in public school think you should know. Who’s the free thinker of the two?
Comment posted October 16th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Elizabeth says:
Lauren,
Do you happen to have any children? Do you even know the time it takes to care for them and teach them how to be productive members of society, and to think for themselves and not to be just mindlessly absorbing all the lies and propaganda out there? And then try to teach them things and have them constantly challenged by society’s message (which I don’t think is very positive to begin with)..I tell you after everything I have seen, I am very much thinking about home-schooling my daughter, and I am glad to hear such positive things about it on here so any help any of you can offer me would be great!
Elizabeth
Comment posted October 17th, 2007 at 7:54 pm