Babies as Punishment Part III
Various and sundry blogger reactions to Barack Obama’s assertion that an out-of-wedlock baby is a “punishment” to the mother:
I wonder how pro-life Catholic Democrats will react to Barack Obama’s pregnancy-as-punitive and pregnancy-as-inconvenience-on-par-with STDs rhetoric? There’s a careless callousness in Obama’s phrasing yesterday that’s definitely not going to sit well with the staunch Pennsylvania pro-life voting bloc.
Regardless of your feelings on sexual education, this statement oozes with animosity. It also reveals the true heart of Barack Obama. Despite his so-called “understanding” of both sides of the abortion issue, any person that could utter such cold, abhorrence when discussing a fellow human being has no intention of displaying any goodwill to pro-lifers.
His squarely leftist view of abortion isn’t surprising, but the phraseology is interesting coming from a supposedly ‘mainstream Democrat,’ and like MM, I’m wondering how this will play with the pro-life Democrats in PA … and beyond. What’s next? Him calling an unborn child a “parasite“?
People make mistakes all the time. Personally, I don’t want to be punished with a President Obama. If that’s the type of change people are looking for, we’re screwed.
(post in progress)
March 31st, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Sister Toldjah’s comment is revealing. In fact Obama did not say “punish her with having to go through an abortion,” or even “punish her with a pregnancy”; he said “baby,” which in the English language means a living, born child (yes, we could argue about that with counter-examples, but the dictionary defines baby as a child, not a fetus/embryo/clump of cells/etc…..)
If you insist on parsing the tea leaves of every sentence of out Obama’s mouth looking for signs of moral turpitude, you owe him some slack when the same fine parsing cuts the other way.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Yeah you now how the Bible talks about children as a punishment from God, oh waith it doesn’t. I guess the Gospel according to Obama talks about a quiver full of damage.
Though considering that today is the third anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo we can also remember that Sen. Obama regret is that he did’t do more to help her die sooner.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Yeah you now how the Bible talks about children as a punishment from God, oh waith it doesn’t. I guess the Gospel according to Obama talks about a quiver full of damage.
Though considering that today is the third anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo we can also remember that Sen. Obama regret is that he did’t do more to help her die sooner.
March 31st, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Come on guys. I am no Obama supporter. I have not even seen Juno. But a teenager in high school having a baby out of wedlock is not a good thing. Abortion is definitely not the answer, but I do not want to see my daughters get in that situation. What is the choice then? An unmarried teenager raising the child or adoption?
If you recall out of wedlock pregnancies are generally frowned upon in the bible (with one exception).
I am for sex education that emphasizes why sex is not a good idea for high school teenagers. I susport education on sexually related disease, pregnancy and prevention of both, provided the emphasis is on responsibility and abstaining.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:17 am
I assume all those people you quoted are opposed to rape and incest exceptions to abortion bans (I know you are, Feddie). Because that policy would indeed punish “naughty” sex with unwanted pregnancies.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:46 am
I have 2 granddaughters born to my unwed daughter. When I first heard she was pregnant I had the normal “oh no!” reaction, because we want to raise children with two parents to give them the best chance in life, not because we felt like we were gonna be punished. They are age 3 years and 18 mos. respectively now.
I can say enthusiastically they are one of the greatest blessings of my life. I look into their eyes and am saved from despair and nihilism, and I know that life is a miracle! Work? Yes. Punishment? Never!
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Children are the heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.
I have eleven. They are all a source of great joy.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
The people who posted thus far all seem to share a love of children and find children a blessing in their lives. But we can’t assume that all do; in my profession (educator) and in my personal life I have seen the effects of unwanted children, and the most focus shouldn’t be on the “punishment” suffered by the parent(s), but the devastating psychological trauma of growing up, quasi-raised by parents who don’t want you or are neglectful, or aren’t in a position to be proper parents. Every human being has a right to life, of course, but I also think that every child has a right to being wanted and loved. Do we really want someone to come into this world unwanted and unprepared for? If someone is so opposed to the idea of having a child that they seek abortion, aren’t we averting a greater evil by a lesser one?
April 10th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Josh-
One can always place a baby up for adoption. Killing a child is never the answer.