Alan Keyes

For my next blog I am going to focus on Alan Keyes, an man who runs a movement called loyal to liberty. I chose to research him because he has actually run for both the presidency and the senate against Barack Obama. I believe that his reasoning for his views much like Judie Brown is based off of religion. Throughout an interview with him on Fox news, he repeatedly talks about Jesus Christ and how Barack Obama is against Jesus Christ. While his views are based off of religion, his argument for pro-life seems to have one target in particular. Over and Over again Keyes chooses to attack Obama, Many of his attacks are directed right at Obama, claiming that Obama supports abortions where the child survives but is left for dead. While these accusations seem absolutely insane to me, I can understand where Keyes is coming from. If I thought that Obama was in support of this, I to would protest and campaign like Keyes is doing. While I support abortion I do not support torturing the child like Keyes is claiming happens sometimes. I believe that while Keyes is an extreme activist, I to would try my hardest to get my voice out there if I had proof about bad abortions. I am beginning to understand that while I don’t share the same views, I would be taking the same actions as these leaders are. I have begun to look past what I think is ludicrous and have begun to understand that they too believe that their ideas are the truth. I came into this blog so sure that everything these pro-lifers said would be lies and that they would be saying it just to manipulate people, but I have come out of it realizing that while I will never accept there views, they are not trying to intentionally hurt others. Like pro-choice people these pro-lifers that I have found believe that what they are saying is the god given truth, and so why should we stop them from saying it. I really wish I had been able to go to a rally or something, because I feel like I am just starting to break through the ideology of these groups, but it would be complete if I were to be able to actually immerse myself in the groups. I know it would be intense culture shock but I think that by talking one on one with people and asking all the questions I have built up in my head I would learn so much about why the pro-life movement is around. Although I can’t change that now, I am just glad that I was able to finally look past my own preconceived stereotypes and look at these leaders and groups as real human beings who should be treated with just as much respect as pro-choice movements. I cannot say that this blog has changed my opinion on abortion but it definitely has opened many doors into a world that I could not understand.

Sources:

9-6-09, The Embassy: Keyes and Obama, http://loyaltoliberty.com/

Alan Keyes Loyal to Liberty Tier 1- Personhood now, http://prolifeprofiles.com/keyes

Alan Keyes on Obama's support for infanticide, 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNbp2-Tm9z4&feature=player_embedded#, Fox News.

Judie Brown looks like a sweet old woman that you would want as your grandma, but when she opens her mouth, about abortion she is a cold determined woman. This sixty five year old woman is the president and co-founder of the largest catholic pro-life organizations in the USA, called American Life League. Right away the fact that her group is founded on catholic values shows that it is religion that brought her into this lifestyle. While Judie Brown is not extreme in a sense of violence, she is absolutely extreme in her views. She stands on the grounds that there are no exceptions when it come to abortions, it doesn’t matter how the child was conceived, or any medical issues, the baby must not be aborted. In the video that I am attaching she goes so far as to use a catholic bishops words to support her decree that if you are anti-abortion there are no exceptions. Her arguments and views on abortion are very black and white. At first while watching the video of her giving a speech it was hard to believe that she could seem so heartless. At one point she even says that it doesn’t matter if the baby was a product of incest of rape, that it should not be aborted. Throughout my research I have found very few women leaders, so to find Judie brown who has been pro-life for more then 30 years, and to hear her tear down her own sex is just really hard. It is almost easier for me to understand why men are so pro-life, then with women. With men I see it as something that they have never been able to experience and so they can not fathom getting rid of it, it is something out of their control because it is not in their body, and so the only control they do have is to stop women from killing it. With women as pro-lifers I can’t just justify it by their not being able to understand, because they do, women should be looking out for each other, and understand that a baby is not always conceived in a happy place. Judie Brown has a family and children and yet she continues to speak just definite words against abortion. It just makes me wonder what would happen if one of her children were raped, or if one of her babies was going to be born with a horrible debilitation disease, would she still hold strong to her guns? In her speech she goes on to quote various popes, saying that a person who decides to have an abortion is a person with an unformed conscious, if your conscious is formed properly you will live by the natural law or the Ten Commandments. This woman’s views to me are just so diluted and irrational, and yet I can really see that she whole heartily believes in what she is saying. She is not trying to hurt people she is merely doing what she thinks is the right thing to do according to god. With Judie Brown I cannot say that I accept what she is saying as anything more then irrational blabber, but I can say that I understand her dedication to what she believes in. She has spent more then thirty years on this crusade, so while I think she is ridiculous, I must take a step back and recognize that she is a very strong independent woman who is just doing what she believes is right.

I can not figure out how to upload the video so watch it at the prolifeprofile.com link below.

Sources:

Judie Brown American Life League Tier 1- Person hood now, http://prolifeprofiles.com/brown

2005, Judie Brown, http://www.all.org/article.php?id=10058

Understanding

So this is my fourth blog entry and I really thought with the other ones that I was beginning to understand some of the reasons people are so pro-life. While I have begun to understand some of the reasons, it’s hard to fully understand because I have not been able to actually go to a protest, or meet with someone who is pro-life. I have been trying to find someone who has been to a protest, or has strong feelings about abortions but I have been unlucky in my search. I understand that it is hard for me to actually understand this movement without fully immersing myself in it, but unfortunately, internet sources, and first hand accounts from pro-lifers is going to have to be enough. For my next few blogs I want to take a look at a few of the individuals who lead some of the extremist anti-abortion groups. I want to try to understand how they got to where they are today, what fueled there anger toward abortion. I feel that by focusing on a few individuals I will be able to understand this movement more fully. A few questions that I hope to answer for myself throughout the blogs are, what drove them to this lifestyle? How are they able to justify their actions to themselves, and why did they choose this issue in particular to protest against. I think by answering these questions I will be able to understand more fully why people are against abortions.

Women who had abortions against abortions.

The next group I have decided to focus on is one that I find the most interesting. It is a group made up of mostly women, and some men who have all been affected in some way by either there own abortions or a loved ones abortion. I think that by having a group formed by women who have been through an abortion the effect on potential supporters is vastly greater then other groups. They do not hold up disturbing graphic signs, instead they tell their stories, and hold up signs saying I regret my abortion. This group seems less like a hardcore protesting group and more like a safe zone for people who feel they have been hurt by abortions. After listening to many of their stories it reinforces the idea that their protests are more like a healing process for themselves then a place to change peoples minds. I don’t see this group as one that is going to single handedly changed laws about abortion but I do think it is an effective and good place for women and families to feel welcome in. This group is much easier for me to understand then Missionaries to the preborn, because they are not holding up graphic signs, they are merely venting about how their decisions changed their lives. They participate in many marches in Washington D.C. sharing their stories on the steps of Supreme Court. They believe that their testimonials about exercising their legal right to get an abortion will turn the law around. By saying that legal abortions tricked them into a horrible mistake they hope to change the law. I can understand their pain from the way they tell the stories, and I understand the hurt that they feel from making such a hard decision, but I do not believe that their emotional testimonials will change a law. I believe that this group will continue to grow, and accumulate supporters because of its inviting and accepting stance. Even though I don’t agree with the fact that these women are upset with their abortions, I do understand the guilt they feel, it is almost like the opposite of post-partum depression, instead of not wanting to see or hold their baby, all they want is to take back their mistake. I am beginning to understand that this group is not trying to tell manipulate people’s views, but instead just trying to create a space where women who are emotionally fragile can go and speak out about how they feel. I never thought I would actually be saying this since I have always been so stubborn in my dislike of pro-lifers, but whether these women stories are a bit extreme or slightly delusional in my view, I cannot dislike this group or condone them for what they are trying to do. Even if I don’t believe in their message I don’t want to try to stop them because they are a group who is approaching this controversial subject with experience and well-articulated opinions. I hope that they are not able to overturn any laws, but I am learning to value the opinions they hold.

Reference: 2009, The silence no more awarness campaign, http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/index.aspx

Missionaries to the preborn, not killers of the living.

For my first entry I am going to focus on a group called Missionaries to the preborn. After going to their website they definitely stand out as being an extreme group, but not in a violent way. This group’s main purpose is to travel around the country and use graphic pictures to evoke emotion from passersby. The history of the group says they began in 1990 in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Reverend Matt Trewhella led the group. The group sets out to shut down clinics, and save babies. They claim to have saved over 700 babies from being “murdered”. They have many “tours” where they travel to high traffic areas and hold up graphic images of dead babies, and various scriptures supporting their views. This site is very straightforward about what they do, it definitely is not trying to sugar coat any of it. They lay everything out on the table, which makes me more inclined to think of them as a legit group and not as some violent cult like organization. I definitely believe that when people think of pro-life groups they immediately think of them as consisting of violent people who kill abortionists. Although I do not agree with this groups methods of protest they are far from killers. After reading some posts on their website they in fact lost one of their protesters, after he was murdered by a man who did not like the fact that he was showing pictures of an aborted fetus on the side of the road. The killer Harlen Drake did not like that this protester James Pouillon was showing pictures in front of a high school where students could see it. I cannot say that I agree with the fact that Pouillon was holding these signs in front of a high school, but he wasn’t physically harming or harassing anyone, so the fact that he was murdered is absolutely unjust and horrific. He was a 63-year-old man trying to share his views with other people. From what I have read on this site, I do not believe that these protesters get in peoples faces, or yell at them, they merely sit holding signs that speak for themselves. The website has more then a page written about the murder and most of what is written is anger towards the media and press for not publicizing the story more. After reading much of it, I believe that the anger that many pro-choice people feel coming from these pro-life groups stems off of the fact that the pro-lifers are not receiving as much positive national coverage as the pro-choice activists. I think because of the publicity violent groups like Army of God creates, Missionaries to the Preborn and other non-violent groups get stereotyped as being violent too. Even if I don’t believe in their methods of getting their views across they deserve to be separated from the violent stereotypes that follow them.

Reference: 2009,Our History, http://www.missionariestopreborn.com/index.html

With this blog I am setting out to understand a point of view that up until now I have never even tried to make sense of. Growing up in a liberal family when the discussion of abortion rights would come up the only logical stance to take would be pro-choice. It's not to say that I am only pro-choice because the rest of my family is, but the fact that I have only seen my views on this subject as the right views shows that they did have some influence on me. I had always heard my parents muttering about crazy extreme pro-life groups and had seen articles and pictures from protests in Washington D.C. but I never considered myself to be well learned in both sides of this controversial topic. With each entry in this blog I want to research and discuss why pro-life groups feel the way they do. I know where my stand on this subject comes from, and now I want to know where they come from. I invite people to comment and discuss what I write, and if I offend please let me know I do not wish to offend I only wish to understand. I plan on researching groups that are made up of teens, families, and even a group full of women who themselves had abortions. I want to cover all sides of the pro-life spectrum. I need to step away from my family and friends opinions on pro-life groups and begin to form my own through this blog.