Life Links 7/7/09

Byard Duncan shares his experience at his first abortion party.

Maggie, a 22-year-old college senior with no intention of bringing a child into the world yet, was going to have an abortion. She told us that she had already made up her mind; she had even determined the time, date and location. A better question might have been, "How are you going to pay for it?"

She answered that one before we had a chance to ask. "We’re having a party Friday to raise money," Maggie said. "You guys are obviously invited."

An abortion party. For the price of whatever we were willing to donate, she explained, we could partake of baked goods, beer and dancing. It was going to start at 10 p.m. at Maggie’s.

Dan Gilgoff notes a few surprises from President Obama's recent talk with members of the Catholic press.

Obama aides have been careful to say that the administration is not trying to influence a pregnant woman's decision about whether or not to have an abortion. They insist they're aiming to help only pregnant women who've already decided they want to carry their pregnancies to term.

That's been key to reassuring the abortion-rights movement, which doesn't want the administration to stigmatize abortion as an option for pregnant women.

And yet on Thursday, Obama cast the decision to have an abortion in a decidedly negative light. "I don't know any circumstance in which abortion is a happy circumstance or decision," Obama said, "and to the extent that we can help women avoid being confronted with a circumstance in which that's even a consideration, I think that's a good thing."

It will be interesting to see how abortion-rights advocates react to this.

Another issue mentioned by Obama was the conscience clause. Matt Bowman at the American Spectator isn't buying Obama's conscience clause claims.


In 2006, police rescued a mentally handicapped woman who was confined and tortured by a family in Winnipeg. The details of the family's crimes are just being revealed at their trial. The main abusers claim they began torturing the victim because she supposedly told their parents they were pregnant.

Dale Hendrickson and his fiancée, O’Malley, said they were upset after the victim told O’Malley’s parents that O’Malley was pregnant. The woman’s parents eventually forced her to have an abortion and Hendrickson and O’Malley said they blamed the victim, court was told.