Friday Finds - July 19, 2019
Yes, it's Saturday, but I wrote this post on Friday and it got lost in the interwebs and I'm having to rewrite it. But, if I do something like this again, it will still be Friday Finds, so I'm keeping the name!
It was quite the Friday for me. I woke up at 4:20am with a whopper migraine despite having started decadron the day before. Strange, huh? But there was a bad storm coming. Anyway, I took a variety of meds with no relief so Patrick took me to the Emergency Department where I was given a cocktail of meds that did NOT include narcotics, but brought my headache back down to a very low level. Yes! Life was good again! Now onto Friday Finds!
1. One evening last week, I had the crazy idea to make an Instagram account for Rory and Rhapsody. You can find them on Instagram at roryrhapsody. I've only got a couple of pictures of them right now, put plan to put up more. I'd like to document that they do more than eat and sleep! And they're even kind of cute!
2. The NY Times ran a story about how abortion is portrayed in mostly TV shows these days. Abortion is being shown often as "no big deal"; you get your pregnancy test, make your decision, get the procedure, and go on with life. I practiced medicine for ten years, though, and I can tell you that it's not always that way. Women have many different ways of processing problem pregnancies and abortions. Here is a link to two stories (make sure to follow the link to the second story) of how women reacted to their abortions. And, of course, let's not forget that the Christian media has put out Unplanned, a polemic about abortion, to also influence the stories of abortion circulating. Remember, there is no "one right way" to experience abortion, no matter what the media says. And choosing pregnancy instead of an abortion is always a good choice.
3. Here's an interesting story about how abortion intersects with another important issue of our time: immigration. A number of abortion clinics in the Southwest are finding that women are canceling their abortion appointments or making their appointment later in their pregnancies because of their fear of meeting ICE at a checkpoint on their way to or from the clinic. Later abortions are more dangerous to the woman and cost more money. Yet, they don't mention this, but pregnancy and having a newborn are liabilities for a woman with sketchy documentation. It's a conundrum.
4. This article at the National Review points out how abortion will not suddenly become illegal if Roe v. Wade becomes overturned. The southern states, where abortion occurs at a much lower rate, partly because of culture, but also because of access, will have no access to abortion, but it will become, if anything, more available in the coastal states. The National Review article is about changing culture to value the life of the unborn. I want to point out that they do include the Guttmacher institute chart showing that abortion rates are currently at their lowest level since Roe v. Wade. And now, I'd like to wave a flag for providing low-cost, highly effective, reversible contraceptive for women, because that has been at least part of what has driven down the abortion rate, along with helping our younger adults delay their first age at sexual activity and decrease their number of sexual partners.
5. It appears that Josh Harris of I Kissed Dating Good-Bye fame and his wife, Shannon Bourne, have announced a marital split. Josh Harris spent his young adult days creating and immersed in purity culture, telling other young adults and teens that courting instead of dating was more godly and would lead to strong marriages and families. He wrote a couple of other books, as well. He then spent several years working for C.J. Mahaney and became the lead pastor of a mega-church before it became embroiled in a sex abuse scandal. He then went off to get the education that he had missed from homeschooling and mentoring and left Christian ministry entirely. A few years ago, he did an "apology" tour and gave a good interview with Sojourners magazine. This whole situation makes me sad. Josh Harris was too young, at 21, to be writing a book about dating and courtship. Thankfully, our family didn't buy into much of the Purity Culture philosophy, but I can see how it did hurt other families. I hope Josh and Shannon can reconcile. Relationships are so much more important than rules, particularly rules that aren't actually in the Bible!
6. And, from the Washington Post, while the rest of the world is trying to reduce the amount of single use plastics in the world, our President is selling plastic straws with his name embossed on them. For $15 for 10 straws. They're on his shopping website if you want to go look for them. I'm not going to link from here. Doesn't if violate the emoluments clause to make money from being president? Or maybe it's just campaign fundraising? Hmmmmmmm.
What interesting things have you come across this week? Please share in the comments or on Facebook!!
Catherine