Choose Life

Bravo to Texas lawmakers who have approved legislation authorizing “choose life” license plates.  The plates will be sold to raise money to help pregnant mothers choose adoption over abortion.  While critics may say it puts lawmakers on one side of the argument, that has been the case for the other side for years.  I think anyone who is pro-choice should be glad that there is yet another choice and that choice may save a life.  Also in Texas, a bill requiring a woman seeking an abortion to view sonogram images of her fetus at least 24 hours prior to a planned abortion tentatively passed the state Senate in a vote of 21-10.  Informed consent is required in all surgeries, so why not abortion?  A woman should know exactly what she is aborting.  Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in the country, doesn’t want her to see that her baby is not simply “pregnancy tissue” or “products of conception”.  A beating heart tells a different story.  Victims of rape and incest would not be required to view the sonogram if they opted not to.   Watch for Planned Parenthood to fight this bill with whatever means they can.  It can and will cut into their profits.

The Nebraska legislature is also taking some positive steps.  A bill sponsored by Sen. Beau McCoy would exclude abortion coverage from all private insurance policies sold in that state.  Those who wish to purchase abortion coverage would only be allowed to do so with an optional rider paid for solely by the insured.  Lawmakers in Kansas are moving to do the same thing.  It’s about time that taxpayers were taken off the hook for abortions that some of us don’t wish to fund.  Five states already prohibit abortion coverage in basic policies.  Those states are Missouri, Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Kentucky.  The Hippocratic oath that doctors take requires them to swear that they will “do no harm”.  In the original Hippocratic oath, doctors were required to swear that “I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion”.   It seems that some don’t take their oath very seriously, so legislation may be the only way to protect the unborn. 

Hurricane Ike, Take a Hike!

Tomorrow at dawn, we'll learn the fate of Galveston and Houston after Hurricane Ike. All of Galveston and part of Houston were under evacuation orders tonight. Thousands of people opted to "ride out" the storm. With a storm surge of 20 feet predicted, the thought seems preposterous, and yet over a third of the population of Galveston opted to stay put, despite being told there would likely be loss of life. One officer was telling those who opted to stay to write their social security number in indelible ink on their forearms so that they could be identified later. That would be enough to convince most people with more than six brain cells that it was time to go. I can't fathom why anyone would opt to risk life and limb, never mind their children and pets, to make a stand and defend the mobile home or house. I'm not sure what they think they'll do when their house starts to fill up with water and the streets are so flooded that emergency workers can't get there, and won't, until the storm lets up. I hope that it's not nearly as horrible as predicted, but it seems inevitable. Houston City officials are already predicting over 11 billion (with a b!) in damage. Shame on those who left their pets behind. The videos of dogs standing chest deep in water while locked inside a fence in the back yards of abandoned homes makes me ill. There is a special place in, well you know, for people who do that. Just say a prayer for everyone and every animal in Southeast Texas. Ike isn't showing any mercy.