I thought I was losing my feel for the madness of fetus fetishists. I really thought this story would bust the Shrieeeeek-o-meter.
The bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried babies were incinerated as clinical waste, with some even used to heat hospitals, an investigation has found.While that piece garnered more than 1800 outraged comments, now closed, the story didn't seem to catch fire as I expected.
Ten NHS trusts have admitted burning foetal remains alongside other rubbish while two others used the bodies in ‘waste-to-energy’ plants which generate power for heat.
Last night the Department of Health issued an instant ban on the practice which health minister Dr Dan Poulter branded ‘totally unacceptable.’
I guess what I failed to take into account is that it happened Elsewhere, i.e. in Britain, not the United States of Asshatitude.
They're on it now. And trotting out all the predictable comparisons.
From LifeShite:
While the pro-abortion movement frequently condemns pro-life advocates who draw comparisons between abortion and the Holocaust, the report of babies burned to heat UK hospitals is a shocking reminder of the callous way human life was treated by the Nazi regime. According to the report in the London Telegraph newspaper, the aborted babies were incinerated as “clinical waste” in “waste to energy” plans at British hospitals.And from the WingNutDaily:
The UK is in an advanced stage of moral collapse as was seen in a shocking TV documentary aired this week exposing that foetal remains are being incinerated as ‘clinical waste’, many of which are burned in incinerators that produce energy to heat in at least one of the hospitals identified.Extra points for Jack the Ripper! Don't often run into a Jack the Ripper reference in the abortion wars.
. . .
Since the program aired the morass of bureaucracy has shown itself to be thicker than the London Fog that hid Jack the Ripper, making it virtually impossible to ascertain which body is to be held ultimately responsible for regulating what should be clear moral guidance in handling the human remains of tiny babies.
Well, what the hell else is tissue removed by medical procedure but "clinical waste"?
And if it is to be incinerated, why not put the heat generated to a useful purpose?
I'd say the hospitals were being conscientious and environmentally responsible.
ADDED: Interesting comment by choice joyce moved up for the click-averse.
Someone in the UK who I know made the following astute remark about this 'scandal':
"It’s a very clever form of demonisation of hospitals who do abortions, with yet another non-reason to 'trash the National Health Service' thrown in for free. And of course it allows a Tory health minister to claim the moral high ground on yet another non-subject and give absurd orders that make him appear to be an authority. Sick-making."
7 comments:
The heat angle is a canard meant to inflame Of course hospitals should harness energy from their incinerators
Ooh. Canard flambé. Delish!
" Well, what the hell else is tissue removed by medical procedure but "clinical waste"? "
That was my question exactly. But I'm afraid of what alternatives those anti-choicers may propose. Yikes!
Someone in the UK who I know made the following astute remark about this 'scandal':
"It’s a very clever form of demonisation of hospitals who do abortions, with yet another non-reason to 'trash the National Health Service' thrown in for free. And of course it allows a Tory health minister to claim the moral high ground on yet another non-subject and give absurd orders that make him appear to be an authority. Sick-making."
They expect teeny tiny coffins and good christian wailing and careful interment, with names for the teeny tiny headstones. Or jars. I hear those are popular with social conservatives. Little tiny relics, pieces of the True Baby. I suspect these people never actually think about what happens to excised organs and amputated limbs, not to mention all those miscarried foeti in menstrual waste. Or even all the male chicks in egg laying industry...or eggs that are too 'meaty'. But then, thinking is a convictable offense for too many followers whose leaders make profit from their fears.
An interesting post. If having an abortion is, as some abortion proponents claim, no different from removing a mole or an ingrown toenail then there is nothing wrong with this story. After all, surely it doesn't matter what we do with clinical waste. As you said, using it as a heat source is resourceful and environmentally responsible.
Of course, more moderate supporters of legal abortion (who view it as a "necessary evil", something that should be reduced, equivalent to animal euthanasia, or even comparable to denying a famous violinist a kidney transplant), as well as the many people on the fence, will have a considerably different reaction because they intuitively know that a fetus is not like an ingrown toenail. Maybe some of them will be shocked into rethinking their position (especially after reading snarky blog posts like this). It might seem obvious to a pro-lifer that human beings shouldn't be killed in the first place, but there is a certain sense of revulsion that comes with melting the bodies to help pay the energy bill (which, again, is eerily reminiscent of the Nazi regime).
Dear Anonymous Commentator,
Abortion is a medical procedure.
The hopes, the dreams, the love that a woman who is willingly pregnant holds for the zygote, then embryo, then fetus that her body is gestating are genuine. Many call this potential human being in development their baby, their child.
About one third of first trimester pregnancies spontaneously abort and finish up in a toilet bowl. Should cities be required to retrieve these bits of human flesh from their sanitation infrastructures?
When women miscarry, give birth prematurely or have a pregnancy terminated in the third trimester, many hospitals do provide the option of observing this grief in accordance with the potential parents' wishes. Some people chose burial or cremation of these remains. Some do not.
Thank you for stopping by with your opinion. Though you expressed it in a passively aggressive and judgemental way, your nonetheless calm tone, rather than the shrieking accusatory one habitually deployed by anti-Choice folks, is appreciated.
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