Have We Now Gained The Right To Sadism? The Horrible Story Of The Deaver Fetus

I've long had the stance that pro-lifers are actually pro birth, only caring that a child is born ... no matter the consequences. To some, "life" is only precious at the point of birth. And in the case of Danielle and Robb Deaver, neither life before, nor life after mattered to the State of Nebraska. 


The Deaver story, as told by them below, is certainly heart-wrenching and, in short, involved a mother being forced to carry a child to term even though doctors said that the pregnancy would be painful, the child would be born prematurely, be seriously deformed and live for only minutes after birth. As Danielle put it, "we decided that some things were worse than death." Some "things?" Or someone like Senator Mike Flood and Julia Schmit-Albin of Nebraska Right To Life. Some media were more succinct about the situation: 




Abortion Law: Mother Denied Abortion, 
Then Had To Watch Baby Die


Nebraska State Senator Mike Flood was the primary architect of the state's two-month-old law banning partial-birth abortions after the age of 20 weeks - no matter what the consequences.

"Even in these situations where the baby has a terminal condition or there's not much chance of surviving outside of the womb, my point has been and remains that is still a life." 

Of course, the Nebraska Right To Life doyenne, Julie Schmit-Albin, came to the defense of the law:

"We acknowledge the tragedy that occurs with a poor prenatal diagnosis for the baby. But isn't it more humane for the baby to die in a loving manner with comfort care and in the arms of her parents than by the intentional painful death through abortion?"* (emphasis mine)

"We acknowledge the tragedy." The words seem hollow. While the pro-life movement has stressed that ALL children should be born no matter what the circumstance, it automatically erases any concern for the individuals involved and in some case, even that of the child: in the interview below, Danielle Deavers raises a good point: because of the child's inabilities to develop normally, how could she not think that the child was suffering? True, there was a heartbeat (evidently all that mattered to lawmakers like Senator Flood), but since muscles were pressing on the unborn child's head, she had to assume that the child was experiencing some discomfort. Added to those hollow words is this little point of sadism: since the Nebraska law reinforces a belief* that a fetus feels pain after 20 weeks, Danielle Deaver was right to be concerned for the suffering of her child. She was concerned, but obviously, the pro-life law of Nebraska wasn't. It's only concern was for the child to be born. Period.

One commenter on the situation brought up another concern: medical expenses. While the state forced the couple to proceed with the pregnancy, it certainly didn't feel liable for any of the medical expenses which added to the Deavers' woes. 

I'm struggling here not to take on a possible little-Elizabeth-Deaver stance, but I'm losing the battle:

"OK, Ms. Julie Schmit-Albin, let's get this straight: the doctors say I'm not going to live past fifteen minutes. If, by the odd chance I do live, then I'm gonna be a vegetable gasping for breath for a while longer. Since I've been here in the womb for over 20 weeks, you believe I should feel pain. I've already had a hard time breathing in this place, but my mother feels a lot more pain than I do. She, being humane, thinks that both she and I would feel a lot better if things didn't continue. You, on the other hand, think that it's God's will that we both live through this. You, who are not related to me in any way, have passed a law that says I have to come out of this place into my mother's arms so that we both can suffer as long as possible."

"Take a hike, b*tch."

At this point, while I'm not about to paint pictures of Flood and Schmit-Albin rejoicing at both pre-birth and after-birth agonies, I don't think their reasoning could be looked upon as humanitarian, although a glance at the Des Moines Register's piece and its comments section shows that both sides are screeching about "God" and the concept of being "humane." 

People like Jill June, president of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, took a more hopeful attitude:

"I think those that hear her story will be very, very moved," June said. "Hopefully some of them that are on this reckless stampede against a woman's right to decide with her doctor what is in the best interest of her health and well being - I hope they will hear her words and listen to her."

Fat chance, Jill, if you're telling it to people like Tony Perkins, the Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler of The Royal Order Of Self-Righteousness. 

OK, sarcasm aside, there's a nagging feeling that while outright sadism may not be involved, a quiet, smug, self-righteous little voice inside of people like Flood and Schmit-Albin is whispering, "Glory Hallelujah!" 

*On the website of NRTL there is a link to this "Tiller the killer" murder statement:
"National Right to Life extends its sympathies to Dr. Tiller’s family over this loss of life." Right.
** There is intense medical debate on whether or not any pain is felt after 20 weeks. Many scientists believe that neurons are not really formed in the brain until 28 weeks.

On My Ordination: Heartwarming Responses

I'm all ferklempt! Although it's only been several hours since I announced my intention to fight the Christian Right with my ordination, I've received three responses. Yes, only three, but they're the most wonderful responses I could have imagined!


I really want to share them with you:

Bravo! for standing up to the idiots!

I really enjoyed your article. Very succinct and really hit the nail on the head. I have become so incensed at how they take over our media and politics. They pummel us with their ideology. They want us to stop being individual thinkers and follow like sheep behind their inane ridiculous personal beliefs. 
Thank You for letting me know there are real intelligent, thoughtful people that understand what is going on, what the agenda is. More power to you.

Your Reverendness:

I'm sorry you've such a generally hard time. I don't know your story, but I hear a lot of anger and a fair amount of pain. I run the ULC Seminary and I feel that anyone who has to deal with any-wingers has my sympathy. I hear from them a lot in my business, but I also hear from a lot of people who are just trying to find their way. 

I'm not sure what possessed me to reach out, but it just seemed like you needed a hello. 

Your sardonic wit hits the hypocrites where they live-their souls such as they are

Dear Rev. Dan Vojir, 
Thank you for your self-reliance and for your supporting others in same. 
I am Quaker and your ideas for being ones own preacher fits my beliefs exactly. 
Your words are full of life, Rev. Dan and I thank you for this as well. 

Were They Chanting "Jesus!" "Jesus!" Or "Kill" "Kill"?

I find it odd that the only one following the teachings of Jesus Christ

 in that crowd is a Muslim.

This is Islamophobia at its worst. It is also Christofascism at its worst. 

While one can say that this kind religious intolerance and harassment shouldn't be allowed to exist, the problem we have is that it DOES. Had the Muslim man not been in front of the White House, had he been in, say, Alabama, parts of Kansas, or even parts of Southern California, who knows what would have happened to him. Had he been near any state senator who wants to "ban Sharia law" on the basis of ignorance and fear, I would not have vouchsafed his life.

Getting THE CALL: How One OpEdNews Writer Plans To Fight The Christian Right … With Their Own Weapons!

 When did I get "The Call"? I don't know. The only call I ever really heeded in my life was the call my mother gave me when I was overdue in drying the dishes. "They aren't gonna dry themselves! And you aren't foolin' me by stayin' in the bathroom like that!" Of course, she didn't know that I was seriously cultivating a love affair with my body as well as avoiding housework.

Getting "The Call" always seemed to me to be the oddest of euphemisms: why did God have to "call" you to do anything? If He needed you to do something and had to tell you to do it, He wasn't very omnipotent. "The Call" is always posited as some kind of awakening akin to a bolt of lightening or a kick in the head. The way I figured it, when you realized that you wanted to help people on both a spiritual and physical level, that's when you got "The Call." So there were no sudden flashes of enlightenment or inspiration, no burst of deep feelings or concern for my neighbor's soul. No. To me, it was just the realization that it was the time I should help someone else, in some way, somewhere. 

 

After writing about the ridiculous tyranny and fascism of today's Christian Right for the better part of seven years, the attendant realization came in the last several months: someone had to to take a stance against the hypocrites, liars, and bigots who were piling up, starting to look like vermin swarming over a piece of human flesh. In those months I saw countless men like "Bishop" Eddie Long abusing their power, righteous lobbyists like Tony Perkins and Bryan Fischer denying religion's role in teen suicides, one power-hungry but otherwise unimportant preacher holding an entire country hostage with threats to burn another religion's scriptures, and the Southern Poverty Law Center adding Christian Right-wing churches and organizations to their list of hate groups. I also saw how  the Christian Right is exporting hate in countries like Uganda and how a semi-literate storefront preacher named Steven Anderson received publicity by flaunting his ministry's "badge-of-honor" listing by the SPLC: "Well, then, if that makes us a hate group, then I guess we're a hate group."

So I decided to become an ordained minister. Oh, not just any minister, but one who could blast away at the Christian Right with an unrestrained passion, with a sense of irony, with a sense of purpose in exposing hypocrites whether clerical or lay, political or Machiavellian. A minister who could help save people from the clutches of obsessive proselytizing and provide a forum for open discussion of the spiritual. 

And I found a vehicle with which to become ordained with the beliefs I hold dear to me and which I hope will pay respect to a higher power.

The vehicle is the online spiritual diploma mill, The Universal Life Church. Along with ordination, I am able to marry, baptize and even bury people in most states. It's legal. With my ordination I am able to command  as much blind respect as all Christian Right-wing ministers (probably more earned respect, once their cloak of hypocrisy is stripped away). The ULC's main precept for it's ordination recipients is "To Live and Help Live." It commands no more than that. It does not command me to bludgeon anyone else over the head with it; in other words, it doesn't demand proselytizing. It doesn't demand automatic respect. It doesn't demand the entertainment of its followers through rituals and homilies. It doesn't demand to be the only precept, dogma, or religion.

"To Live and Help Live."

It seems so right to me: I believe we were put on this earth to survive as best as possible. We should make the most of our humanity, our human-ness, and help everyone else survive. Living up to one's human potential is at the pinnacle of praising man's creator. And lest the reader think that I'm espousing some kumbaya way of life, I think help can just as easily come from activism as it can from linking arms and singing songs of love and world peace.

And activism may be the key to avoiding the dangers of today's sinister proselytism: extreme factions of the Christian Right are pressing hard against humanity, oppressing educators, demonizing societies and politicizing compassion. Today we are bombarded by people who are audacious enough to reconstruct the past in order to redirect our future, taking to heart Rick Warren's motto: "Whatever it takes." In a sense, we could be entering an age in which a new kind of forced conversion would take hold from an opiate blend of nationalism, politics and pseudo-theology.

Oh, as an educated gay man who's lived through America's Age of AIDS, some might scoff and say that I am too biased, too inclined to left-leaning, bleeding-heart liberalism. And their point? "And He so loved the world that He gave over His only begotten Son." Hypocrites. If people expect me to strive for balance and be more objective, I say striving for balance is not the issue, whereas exposing hypocrisy is, because only by exposing hypocrisy can we cut off the head of the beast.

But isn't it rather flippant of me to take on such a serious sobriquet as "Reverend"? Not necessarily. There are some "men of the cloth" whom I can best in a debate about theology and Christianity's history. I may not be a savant in terms of spouting chapter and verse, but my intent may be more honorable than theirs, for I too can use the title as a weapon...for good as well as evil. For example: how could someone like "Rev." Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church air his hatred of homosexuals on national television, while someone who's studied more theology can't be heard to counter his blind stupidity? Answer: I didn't have the all-important "Rev." in front of my name.

Now I do.

The WAR IN WISCONSIN: Can I Be Michael Moore's Chaplain??

Honestly, it's 3:45 AM, people are now beginning to get the word about my ordination. I'm so surprised! And amid all that's going on in my own life, I still can't stop thinking about what bad shape democracy is in  - in Wisconsin of all places. Maybe their trying to emulate old Senator Joe McCarthy. But sending out goons to drag back state senators and congressman?!! WTF? 

Hell On Earth

So, how do you like it, Fred, Bryan, Pat and Tony? How about you, Michele (yeah, talking to you, Malkin - Bachmann looks like she doesn't have a clue, no surprise). THIS is what kind of world you've been making for everyone else for a long time. It's time you should know what it feels like!!

Going Berserk Over the Ten Commandments

 This is what the Lord of  hosts has to say: 'I will punish what Amalek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt.  Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban.  Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.'   (1 Samuel 15:2-3 NAB)

“I’d like to see the Ten Commandments posted in public buildings and school rooms,” Dial said. “If it keeps one person from going berserk or killing folks then it’s worth the effort.”

Alabama State Sen. Gerald Dial is seeking the amendment in order to stop people “from going berserk or killing folks,” which presumably occurs due to the absence of the Ten Commandments from public institutions. According to Dial, “Whether you’re Baptist or Christian or Muslim or anything else the Ten Commandments are rules we ought to live by” and “if we did we’d have a much better world.”


Hmmm...Dial better watch out for angry Baptists since he doesn't seem to think they're Christian! And Judaism rates an "anything else." Clearly this guy is a bad extemporaneous orator. I sure wish we had a commandment, "Thous Shalt Not Give Bad Speeches." Just think how many politicians we wouldn't cote for!