Friday, March 31, 2006

Favorite Childhood Books

Sometimes when I'm shelving the children's books at the library where I work, I'll come across a book that will bring up fond memories of my childhood and I'll secretly smile to myself as I briefly reflect on stories at bedtime when I was a child. These were some of my favorite books in particular:

Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Berenstain Bears series (1980's through early 1990's) by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Buster Loves Buttons by Fran Manushkin
Curious George series by J.A. Rey
Dr. Seuss books
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
The Little Critter series (1990's through today) by Mercer Mayer
Mooncake by Frank Asch
Sam and the Firefly by P.D. Eastman

What were some your favorite childhood books?

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Pro-Choice Blogger Gives Abortion Manual for Amature Abortions

In light of the law passed in SD restricting abortion further, a pro-choice activist is giving medical instructions for those wishing to preform clandestine abortion procedures:

"For under $2000, any person with the inclination to learn could create a fully functioning abortion setup allowing for both vacuum aspiration and dilation/curettage abortions. If you are careful and diligent, and have a good grasp of a woman's anatomy you will not put anyone's health or life in danger, even if you have not seen one of these procedures performed."

It's frightening that she intends this information to be used not by trained medical professionals, but by untrained laypeople. The knowledge and the surgical skills needed to safely preform medical procedures aren't a hobby that can be learned overnight by an amature like backyard gardening or pottery. It takes years of intensive study and practice to become a skilled and qualified physician or physician's assistant I hate to say it, but with the number of trained medical professionals sympathetic to the pro-choice cause, why should we be encouraging untrained persons to preform abortions? Previous to Roe v. Wade, theraputic abortions were legally permitted to be preformed in hospitals when the woman's life was in danger and the majority of elective abortions were preformed by trained medical professionals in good standing, so why would that likely change?

Update:

It seems that the blog in question is no longer in existance and the blogmistress is taking a hiatus as of April 2007, however a re-print of the entry can be found here and here. If you visit either blog, while you may strongly disagree with them as I have, I ask that you don't engage in slander or threats, as it does not show good will on pro-lifers part. Also of interest, an interview by Bella Online with the blogmistress, Molly, can be found here.