You Can't Legislate Your Fears Away

People are fearful. They are afraid and they want to protect themselves, and since no one can protect themselves from crazy, they want to legislate safety so they can feel better. I understand this, it's horrible to feel afraid. So, the calls ring out to legislate the fear away. We see it all the time in tighter federal restrictions. For instance, take the FDA. This past fall, 39 people died and 370 were sickened from meningitis due to negligent practices at a compounding pharmacy in Mass. 

My hubby and some of you work in the pharmaceutical industry and he and you understand how extremely tough the FDA regulations are. Yet this pharmacy was rogue. There was visible mold in the medicine from the pharmacy. Even with ALL the FDA restrictions, 39 lives were lost. We can't protect ourselves from idiocy by implementing stricter government regulations, especially when those regulations aren't followed. But, I understand why people want to. We want to be safe. We want to keep our loved ones safe. But, trust me, we can't. We can put bike helmets on our kids and ban texting while driving, but we can't stop an idiot on their phone while driving from hitting our biking kids. We can put drunk driving laws into effect, but we can't stop an idiot from getting hammered and getting behind the wheel. Government regulations can only go so far and they never protect from crazy or idiocy. 

Our world is not safe, because we are mortal. That is the plain fact. I am not safe. You are not safe. We are not safe. But we can be comforted and comfort others by resting our fears in God. He can offer us peace in a warlike world. He can be our rock and our salvation. He can give us eternal hope. I myself have suffered years from panic attacks, and God helps me. He gives me quiet and security so that I can face each day without fear. In my Bible (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)..."For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say: 'The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" Hebrews 13:5-6

Planned Parenthood and the Susan G. Komen Mess

I'll just say it.  I believe in the sanctity of life.  All life.


How anyone can walk with God and not realize that life is sacred, doesn't know the God I know.


So, I'm an oddity.  The Left want to end death row killings but support abortion.  The Right want to end abortions but support death row killings.  Totally insane, say I.


I believe in life.  I don't think killing someone is the worst punishment.  I vote for stricter conditions for lifers.  I vote for necessities only, no cable tv and workout rooms.  I vote for life sentences for our most dire cases.


I believe in life.  I don't think a baby is a mistake.  I vote for a baby's chance at their own life.  I vote for adoption.  I vote for families raising kids.  I vote for premarital sexual abstinence.


It's not our right to take a life.  Any life.  If you are of Judeo-Christian belief, then you have to follow the 6th commandment which tells us not to kill.  Anything else is fooling ourselves.  Life is sacred and should be protected. 


The Susan G. Komen mess with Planned Parenthood created quite a stir and that's been a really good thing for us all to talk about and get us thinking about various issues regarding female healthcare and abortions.  The Susan G. Komen organization cut funding to Planned Parenthood due to a grant regulation and it wasn't tied to abortion, but it got us all talking about these women's healthcare issues.


As for me, I wish Planned Parenthood could split into two organizations.  One that promotes the health of women and the other that oversees the killing of babies.


I love the part of Planned Parenthood that provides decent healthcare for at-risk women.  When I was young, struggling financially, and didn't have health insurance, I frequented Planned Parenthood for yearly checkups and female screenings.  For a sliding scale fee, I could get a yearly exam which I could easily afford.  That cost me a fraction of what a physician's visit at the time would be.  It was a great help to me.


I know that Planned Parenthood centers help millions of other women a year with exams, tests, referrals, check-ups, etc.  They are filling a great need, helping poor women and women without insurance obtain proper female medical care and access to STD and pregnancy testing.


But, then there's that other thing they do.  That outpatient medical procedure that is legal and safe,--not really safe, but more about THAT at another time--the vast number of abortions they perform every year.    


And, that's what causes me pause every time.  I believe that a baby has a right to have a shot at life.  Any life.  Even a poor life.  In any just society, a baby cannot be a "problem."  We can't start killing babies simply because they are inconvenient or we can't afford them.


The pro-choicers wrap the abortion issue in a nice, pretty blanket called "a woman's right to choose."  But that belies what is happening.  Abortion is a life is snuffed out.  A life that wanted nothing more to come into this world to be held, loved and comforted by the very person who decided to kill it.  Everyone freaks out at cruelty to animals, but seriously a mother killing her baby, isn't that just a little more intense?


SIDE BAR: If you've had an abortion and are having a hard time grappling with the past, please visit  www.afterabortion.org.  You can find healing and help there for Post Abortion Stress Syndrome.  Pregnant?  They also have many fine resources anyone who is pregnant and struggling with what to do.


I wish the Planned Parenthood organization would stop participating in the 1.21 million abortions performed yearly.  But they won't.


So, could they at least split into two groups?  They could have one part take over the abortion clinics and the other act as healthcare clinics.  That way, I could support the health clinics.  I could get behind their great works in helping under-served women access medical care.  I would not fear that government funds taken from my tax dollars could be misdirected, accidentally or otherwise, to abortions.  I would rest happy knowing that women's healthcare needs were taken care of outside that which I don't support.


I kinda wish the backlash of the Susan G. Komen funding problem didn't cause them to cave to political pressure and change their rules to allow funding of Planned Parenthood to continue.  The issue will now go away and further discussion and inspection of these topics will no longer be a central theme in our conversations.  Even though the Susan G. Komen foundation stated clearly their move wasn't tied to abortion it was tied to a government investigation and their grant rules, the fact that we were all talking about Planned Parenthood and what it stands for was a good thing!  


I can't tell you how many mothers with whom I spoke, like me, used Planned Parenthood in their youth and are supporters of the healthcare side of it.  All of my Christian friends were in agreement that the abortion side of Planned Parenthood really made them uneasy regarding the organization.  And this, despite their fervent belief that the women's healthcare delivery side of it was necessary and beneficial to many under-serviced women and communities.


We need to talk about these issues, understand these issues and re-evaluate where we stand on these issues.  We can't keep shoving this to the back burner and giving up on debate.  We need to talk about it, and hear the sides.  Stephen Covey says, "seek first to understand."  We need to listen.  Then we need to think.  Then we need to talk.


As for me, I've been many places on my journey, but after much introspection and prayer I have come to conclusion that life matters.  It matters a whole lot.