A Scottish “slam poet’s” sad story of her abortion while a teenager

“I Think She Was a She” is a poem written by “slam poet” Leyla Josephine, in which she talks about the abortion she had as a teenager.

Before getting into the content of this poem, you might like to know just what a “slam poet” is. “A slam itself is simply a poetry competition in which poets perform original work alone or in teams before an audience, which serves as judge,” according to poets.org, the online site of the Academy of American Poets. “The work is judged as much on the manner and enthusiasm of its performance as its content or style, and many slam poems are not intended to be read silently from the page.” 

This slam poem was delivered via an online video. “I think she was a she,” the poem begins. “No, I know she was a she, and I think she would have looked exactly like me,” Ms. Josephine declares. With a heavy Scottish brogue that is sometimes difficult to understand she then goes into much detail, explaining how that as a mother she would have taken pains to protect her baby daughter, would have talked about her grandfather when the daughter was older, and would have taken pains to teach her all the things the poet’s mother had taught her.

The poem is touching and almost melancholy, something that might have been written by the mother of a child unfortunately lost before birth. But, of course, that is not what this poem is about. Here, Ms. Josephine condemns the cultural shame forced on her ever since making that fateful decision.

The tone of the poem then takes a sharp turn: “But I would’ve supported her right to choose; to choose a life for herself, a path for herself. I would’ve died for that right like she died for mine. I’m sorry, but you came at the wrong time."

Ms. Josephine is not sadly recounting a miscarriage; instead she is proudly describing why she had an abortion and how it was truly the right decision for her. “I am not ashamed. I am not ashamed. I’m so sick of keeping these words contained. I am not ashamed," she says of her decision to abort her child. She said that the child she created with the “boy I loved” was just too much responsibility for her as a teenager.

Lines of rationalization follow, as she tries desperately to justify what she did. She stubbornly claims dominion over her own body. And she regurgitates the statistics on how many abortions occur in a year in order to justify hers as just one more. And then this, in conclusion: “But this is my body, and I don’t care about your ignorant views. When I become a mother, it will be when I choose.”

Let’s review some of what she said.

Ms. Josephine states, "I would have died” for her aborted daughter’s right to choose, “just like she died for mine." The right to choose what? Aren’t we told abortion is just the process of eliminating a mass of unwanted cells, like having a tumor excised?

But she said her daughter had “died” for her right to choose, tacit recognition that her baby was living person; that abortion ended the life of her child. In which case abortion is murder, the deliberate killing of the child she and her lover created through a willful act.

"I'm sorry, but you came at the wrong time." You “came” at the wrong time? The child decided to create itself without first checking with mom and dad? Among the three persons in this story, the child, as the creation of mom and dad, had no choice whatsoever in this situation.

However, the artfully designed words that are intended to justify what she did in fact subvert that effort. She and her boyfriend willingly indulged in a sexual act, likely unprotected. For her, abortion is nothing more than a way to be rid of the consequences of her behavior.

Abortion is not a crime only because it has not been legally established that life begins at conception or at some point prior to birth. However, Ms. Josephine admits abortion ended her child’s life.

But her statement that she lacks shame at the same time reveals the contempt she holds for the life she created, and her comfort with being able to wash away that inconvenience at will.

Once accepted as a solution for inconvenient situations, abortion takes on even more bizarre forms.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sees abortion as a means to reduce the number of poor children. 

“Frankly I had thought that at the time [Roe v Wade] was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion.” … “It makes no sense as a national policy to promote birth only among poor people.” 

That is a stunning perspective from an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and helps explain why our country is in such deep trouble today.

Planned Parenthood president thinks when life begins isn’t relevant

Commentary by James Shott

Many of us living today remember when pregnancy was regarded as the beginning of a new life, was usually a welcome and celebrated event, and religious people often viewed pregnancy as a gift from God. There were baby showers where the mother was treated to gifts for use after the birth of her child, and a positive air about the “blessed event.”

Abortion was considered taboo by society and was illegal, and because of the social and legal strictures, it was rare. As a result, abortions were usually performed in secret by the woman or by some shady character. It was dangerous to the mother because of the unsanitary “back alley” conditions of the procedure. A physician rarely performed an abortion, unless the life of the mother was at stake, or some other unusual situation required it.

Back then, people accepted responsibility for their behavior and took great care to prevent pregnancy until they were ready for parenthood. In those comparatively rare times when an unwanted pregnancy occurred, the man and the woman most often became parents, or perhaps the mother gave the baby up for adoption. Unwed mothers were a rarity.

Through the decades unintended and unwanted pregnancies have increased from rare episodes of bad luck and careless behavior to epidemic proportions, and instead of being seen as a reason to make changes to accommodate the new life that had been created, unwanted pregnancy is viewed today as an intrusion on the woman’s freedom, an inconvenience that demands relief, not so different from a headache or a cold. And to accommodate many women’s preference not to have the baby they have created, abortion has evolved from a rare thing to a routine procedure performed thousands of times each year. Now, many view a woman deciding to end the life of the child developing inside her as a right she may exercise as freely as the right to speak her mind.

Today, half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and about 40 percent are terminated by abortion. Twenty-one percent of all pregnancies, excluding miscarriages, end in abortion.

In 1981, world-renowned scientists and physicians testified before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee that life begins at conception, which was the traditional view through the centuries. However, the question of when life begins is now being questioned by abortion advocates, and knowing the exact instant that life begins after conception and before the birth of a child is an important, if difficult to identify, piece of data to determine the point after which abortion becomes murder.

However, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards thinks when life begins is not important.

Appearing on Fusion TV's America with Jorge Ramos, she was asked, “For you, when does life start? When does a human being become a human being?”

“This is a question that I think will be debated through the centuries,” she said.

“But for you, what's that point?” Ramos asked.

"It is not something that I feel like is really part of this conversation,” she said. “I think every woman needs to make her own decision,” she finally said.

"But why would it be so controversial for you to say when do you think life starts?" Ramos pressed.

"I don't know that it's controversial. I don't know that it's really relevant to the conversation," she replied.

“I'm the mother of three children,” she finally said. “For me, life began when I delivered them,” adding that her children have “probably” been the most important thing in her life since their birth.

“But that was my own personal, that's my own personal decision,” she said.

The abortion industry certainly does not want to know the absolute point at which life begins, because then it would be clear that aborting a fetus is at some point killing a child. That would not be a good thing for those who perform abortions for money, for organizations like Planned Parenthood that get federal money for advising women on unwanted pregnancies, or for those who think women should have a right to end an inconvenient pregnancy at anytime.

From this less strict attitude about when life begins all sorts of horrors might evolve. And they have.

For example, some Planned Parenthood officials have gone so far as to advocate infanticide, giving women the right to end their child’s life after it has been born.

And only a little further down that slippery slope are the preposterous acts of Kermit Gosnell, the disgraced and imprisoned former physician who was in the habit of ending the lives of babies who were inconsiderate enough to survive his efforts to abort them by clipping their spinal cords after they were born alive. He is in prison for life after being convicted of murdering three babies.

An interesting sidebar to this story is that the baby-killer managed to spare himself a death sentence when he waived his right to appeal in return for a life sentence, an option millions of aborted babies never had.

It must be pointed out that all of those who support the unfettered right for women to abort their babies have already been born.


Cross-posted from Observations

Continuing our head-long slide down the slippery slope of abortion

When people challenge and attempt to liberalize valued traditions, there is usually great concern that doing so is the first step down the "slippery slope," which ultimately leads to bad results. The “slippery slope” is considered a logical fallacy, but in the case of abortion, evidence supports that it is an apt argument.  

We started down this slope when abortion was legalized 40 years ago. If it was not the original intention, abortion certainly has become a thinly disguised mechanism for after-the-fact birth control. Pregnancy is not a mystery; we know what causes it. There are numerous ways to prevent pregnancy whenever people decide to forego the one certain way to prevent pregnancy: abstinence.

Birth control devices, while not perfect, are very dependable when used properly. However, somewhere along the way it was recognized that there were a lot of people facing the eventual birth of an unwanted child, and some thought that society was obligated to find a way to relieve these folks of having to bear responsibility for their actions. Abortion became the solution for unwanted pregnancy, under the curious label, "a woman's right to choose."

Each now-pregnant woman and her male partner had the right to choose to abstain from sexual intercourse and chose not to. They had the right to choose to use birth control, and either chose not to, or chose not to use it consistently or correctly, or it just didn't work one time. In the great majority of cases, birth control measures do work when used properly, and that means that in the majority of cases the right to use birth control actually was not chosen.

The "right to choose" is little more than a mechanism for prospective parents to avoid creating a child at an inconvenient time: In 2004 fully 74 percent of women getting an abortion said a child would "dramatically change their life."

Since Roe v Wade imposed legalized abortion on the nation in 1973, 55 million abortions have been performed, and approximately 1.2 million future Americans were aborted in each of the last several years. Nearly half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, and nearly half of those are aborted.

Planned Parenthood is the nation's most prolific provider of abortions, performing about 1-in-4 total U.S. abortions each year, chalking up 334,000 in 2011. It received $542 million from taxpayers that year, about 40 percent of its total revenues.

And since 1973 we have witnessed the slide down that slippery slope. It has been considered acceptable by a significant number of Americans to end a pregnancy anywhere from the morning after to the day when the baby should be born healthy and ready for life.

We have been treated to horrors such as partial birth abortion where the baby is allowed to be born, but not completely, with part of the child still in the birth canal so that a butcher with MD or DO after their name can kill the child before it is "born." This nefarious procedure takes hair-splitting to a new level.

A year ago a giant slide down the slippery slope occurred when two Australian ethicists – Alberto Giubilini with Monash University in Melbourne, and Francesca Minerva at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne – provided an answer to the question, "When does a fetus become a person?" Their answer: it doesn’t matter. They argued in the online edition of the Journal of Medical Ethics that if abortion of a fetus is allowable, so, too, should be the “termination” of a newborn.

This cold-blooded idea has now infected the United States. That same concept appeared in testimony at a Florida legislative committee that was considering a bill to require abortionists to provide medical care to an infant who survives an abortion and is moving on the table and struggling for life. A Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates lobbyist endorsed the right to "post-birth abortion." The lobbyist, Alisa LaPolt Snow, stunned legislators when she said that her organization believes the decision to kill an infant who survives a failed abortion "should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician."

This is nothing more than pre-meditated murder, and is not so different from first responders executing a seriously injured accident victim. And just how far does this "right" to post-birth abortion extend? The first birthday? The difficult years of adolescence? Or perhaps it will extend many years after the botched abortion when under as-yet-unknown elements of the Affordable Care Act bureaucrats may be in the position to determine that it will cost too much to keep an elderly patient alive.

Fortunately, the tide appears to be turning against the grizzly practice of abortion. Last June a Gallop poll showed that 50 percent identified themselves as "pro-life" compared to 41 percent who said they were "pro-choice." And, 51 percent said abortion is morally wrong, compared to 38 percent who said it is morally acceptable. And some state legislatures have passed tighter restrictions on the procedure.

This attitude favoring preserving life and restoring personal responsibility is one small ray of light in America's otherwise darkening culture.

George Washington's Farewell Address and Where We Are Today

"But a solicitude for your welfare...and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me...to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments; which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a People."

--George Washington in his Farewell Address to the People of the United States (1796)

Our first President, a man who pledged his Life, his Honor, and his Fortune to secure for us a nation wherein we could safely enjoy our God-given rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, left us with a series of warnings upon his voluntarily departure from the office of the Presidency.  These warnings did not come from any normal man, but from someone who had lived under tyranny and therefore understood its seductive quality and the oppression it brings to the people.

George Washington was a man who took up arms against the most powerful empire on the planet to free his people from this tyranny.  He was a man who was the first to administer the executive branch of a brand new form of government, designed to protect the liberties of its people.  He knew it would forever face enemies who would seek to arrest the freedoms of the people and restore power to the hands of a few.  He was a man who lived his life amongst a group of national leaders who had spent long hours studying human government and designing, discussing, and debating the new republic they were to create.

George Washington is someone who should be heeded.

Looking back at his thoughts on how to preserve our hard-won liberties, where do we stand today?  Have we as Americans been successful keeping the threats at bay, or have we violated his guidance and, whether consciously or unconsciously, taken the return path to tyranny?  Let us look at his advice, point by point, and consider where we are as a nation today.

1. The Union.  "The Unity of Government which constitutes you one people...is a main Pillar in the Edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home; your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty which you so highly prize.  But...much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth..."  He advised us to "indignantly [frown] upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our Country from the rest..."  He also warns that "To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a Government for the whole is indispensable.  No alliances however strict between the parts can be an adequate substitute."  He states that "your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other...the continuance of the Union as a primary object of Patriotic desire."

PASS.  We have effectively preserved our Union through the years, which provides the main pillar of strength at home to preserve our liberties.  A strong Union provides a bulwark against foreign adversaries who constantly seek to pick us apart, turn the parts against each other, and destroy our nation piece by piece. However, our Union could be torn asunder by the factionalism and Spirit of Party that have infected this nation, which will be discussed in points to follow.  Should our Union be weakened in the slightest, our enemies will be sure to exploit it.

2. Overgrown Military Establishments.  Because of the greater security the unity of the nation provides against external danger, we can therefore "avoid the necessity of those overgrown Military establishments, which under any form of Government are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty..."

FAIL.  Since the conclusion of World War II and the onset of the Cold War, the United States has maintained a very large military in response to the fear of external threats.  A constant threat of attack causes the people to be more apt to give up their rights in return for supposed protection by the government (The Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act are cases in point.).  Some thinkers believe that a perpetual state of war is necessary to ensure the people's allegiance to their nation (see "The Report from Iron Mountain" study).  High levels of military spending gives the government control over a large part of the national economy, enriches and empowers the banks and military-industrial complex, and supports the continued rationale for a permanent tax on the population through both income tax and inflation.  Finally, this military force can be turned on the people should the wrong individual occupy the Oval Office.

3. The Sacred Obligation to Follow the Constitution.  "The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government.  But the Constitution which at any time exists, 'til changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory to all."

FAIL.  Our leaders do not believe they have a sacred obligation to support, follow, and defend the Constitution, even though they have sworn oaths to do so.  Presidents such as Woodrow Wilson believed the Constitution needs to evolve in its meaning to remain up-to-date in changing times.  We have Justices on the Supreme Court who believe the Constitution is no longer relevant in this age.  Every branch of our government, both past and present, actively seek and find ways to circumvent and undermine that which the Constitution dictates.  Most concerning are the powers being abrogated by the Congress and given to the Executive Branch by such laws as the War Powers Act which essentially gives the President the ability to declare war.  Congress passes a great number of laws that should be handled at the State, local, or individual levels as per the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.  All are essentially "work-arounds" to the limits purposefully imposed on our form of government by the Constitution.

4. Obstructions to the Execution of Laws.  "All obstructions to the execution of the Laws...with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the Constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency.  They serve to organize faction...to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party; often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the Community....  However combinations...of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the Power of the People, and to usurp for themselves the reins of Government..."

FAIL.  We have an Executive Branch that refuses to enforce the laws passed by the Legislative Branch and makes laws through Executive Directive and regulation, and a Judicial Branch that legislates.  These are done to advance the agenda of particular parties in contravention to the will of the people.

5.  The "Spirit of Innovation" Undermining the Constitution.  "Towards the preservation of your Government...it is requisite, not only that you discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles however specious the pretexts.  One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown."

FAIL.  We have presidents calling for a Second Bill of Rights, a New Deal, a Great Society, and Hope and Change, all with grand ideas for social perfection that goes against the Constitution in its current form and will eventually lead to the establishment of tyranny in this nation.

6. The Danger of Political Parties.  "Let me now...warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party....  It exists under different shapes in all Governments...but in those of popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy.  The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetuated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.  The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an Individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty....  It serves always to distract the Public Councils and enfeeble the Public administration.  It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.  It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption..."

FAIL.  In America today we are strictly limited to a two-party system with each party appearing to occupy diametrically opposed positions.  However, should those who hold great wealth and power "back both horses," they will control the agenda of both parties and wield great power over our nation no matter who is elected.  We are limited to the establishment's set of choices, where any voice outside of the established parties, no matter how right for the nation, cannot be heard.  This is even a greater threat today as the Executive Branch holds so much power that it was not originally designed to have.  But because it does, we cringe at the thought of who from the "other side"may occupy it, and anxiously await the day when "the chief of some prevailing faction more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty."

7. The Separation of Powers.  "It is important...that the habits of thinking in a free Country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective Constitutional spheres....  If in the opinion of the People, the distribution or modification of the Constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates.  But let there be no change by usurpation..."

FAIL.  The Executive and Judicial branches have succeeded in gathering more power to themselves at the cost of the Legislative Branch and the Constitution.  The Federal Government as a whole has taken upon itself the powers relegated to the States and the People not relegated to it by the Constitution.

8. The Importance of Religion and Morality.  "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports.  ...reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

FAIL.  We have perverted "freedom of religion" to mean the "separation of church and state," which essentially means "freedom from religion."  The Christian faith is being persecuted in America, driving the religion out of the public square and underground.  Carnality is being celebrated openly in public.  We have slaughtered millions of our children so that we can have "freedom of choice."

9. National Debt.  "One method of preserving [public credit] is to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of Peace to discharge the Debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear."

FAIL.  Our entire monetary system depends upon the creation of debt.  The more debt sold by the Federal Government, the more money the Federal Reserve can put into circulation.  The National Debt is increasing exponentially, with absolutely no plan to slow it down, let alone reverse the trend.  Economic collapse is imminent.

10. Foreign Relations.  "Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations.  Cultivate peace and harmony with all.  ...to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a People always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence.  Who can doubt that in the course of time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it?  ...The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave.  ...The Nation, prompted by ill will and resentment impels to War the Government, contrary to the best calculations of policy.  ...Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and Wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification....  And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite Nation) facility to betray, or sacrifice the interests of their own country....  Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence..., the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake...  The Great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign Nations is in our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connections as possible.  ...'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances."

FAIL.  Our President is called the "Leader of the Free World," a burden which requires that we continually look to shape the world in our image.  We meddle in the internal affairs of other nations, and even go so far as to create reasons to go to war, such as in Iraq.  Our government is infiltrated with foreign operatives, as in the case of the Muslim Brotherhood.  We have carved up the world into "Combatant Commands" so that we have the command and control in place to "solve problems" anywhere in the world.  Our nation has become an empire, and an imperial power tends to dominate other nations instead of showing them good faith and justice.

11.  Foreign Commerce.  "But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences...'tis folly in one Nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its Independence for whatever it may accept under that character..."

FAIL.  Two items that seem to violate this thought are free trade agreements and granting most favored nation status.

Conclusion.  With our nation failing to follow the advice of our first President in all but one category, how can that last category not fall as well with all its pillars removed?  We must immediately seek to restore our nation to its original founding and purpose, lest we risk losing it altogether and witness the return of tyranny.

--Against All Enemies

Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own, and do not reflect the opinions or official positions of any United States Government agency, organization or department.

The American Experiment, Betrayed

My Fellow Americans,

After observing the trends in our nation over the past several years and then seeing the news from Washington today, I have concluded that we Americans are now in dire distress, whereby our rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (which includes property) are in extreme, imminent danger.  Therefore, I have no choice but to display Old Glory union down.

4 USC Sec. 8                                                

    TITLE 4 - FLAG AND SEAL, SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE STATES
    CHAPTER 1 - THE FLAG

    Sec. 8. Respect for flag

      No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of
    America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing.
    Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional
    flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.
      (a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down,
    except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger
    to life or property.

Until you hear my voice again...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."  --US Declaration of Independence

May God help us.

--Against All Enemies

Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own, and do not reflect the opinions or official positions of any United States Government agency, organization or department.