Attempted Gotcha Gone Wrong

A resolution has been reached in the case of the pregnant Texas teen suing her parents who were allegedly pressuring her to abort.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the judge ruled in the girl's favour.

But I'm not sure it's the propaganda victory the fetus fetishists envisioned.

They obviously thought they were being oh so clever in using Roe v. Wade in yet another braindead attempted gotcha.

But look what they wind up saying.

“This is a tremendous victory, and another life has been saved,” said TCDL (Texas Center for Defense of Life) attorney and President Greg Terra. “Our victory today stands for the principle that ‘choice’ goes both ways. Under Roe v. Wade and post-Roe cases, a teenage girl has the absolute legal right to choose life, even over the strong objections, pressure, and punishments of her parents.”

Yes, indeedy, as sane people have known all along, choice does go both ways.

Ijits.

Poster Girl for 'Choice'

Details are sketchy -- as they should be in a case like this -- but without knowing more, we at DAMMITJANET! are on the pregnant teen's side.

A pregnant Texas 16-year-old has gone to court to avoid having an abortion against her will, according to court documents.

Lawyers with the Texas Center for Defense of Life, a pro-life advocacy group, filed a petition on behalf of the teen plaintiff identified only by her initials in Harris County, Texas district court on Feb. 10. A judge granted a temporary restraining order in the case. . .

The parties are slinging allegations at each other.

On a different occasion, the pregnant teen claims her dad told her "he was going to take her to have an abortion and that the decision was his, end of story."

The girl claims her parents already removed her phone, kept her from school and took her car as punishment for failing to get an abortion.

We spoke to the teen's father who claims the allegations are false. He says he believes someone is putting his daughter up to this lawsuit and had no further comment about the case.

Having been an obstreperous teen myself, I can imagine the brouhahas.

And maybe another party (Fetus Fetishists R Us?) is encouraging the kid to take these steps.

But in similar ugly stories I've read, parents have claimed that the young woman is mentally or physically challenged or incapable and thus unfit for parenting. No such allegations here.

Here's the thing. Just as no one should be able to force someone to continue an unwanted pregnancy, no one should be able to force someone to terminate a wanted one.

Then there are practicalities. No ethical abortion provider would do it against the teen's will.

And the law is pretty clear too. Not only would a forced abortion constitute assault, Texas has a fetal homicide law.

This one seems to be a slam-dunk and BONUS! The young woman has a whole (perhaps lucrative) career open to her. She could become the Fetus Fetishist Poster Girl for Choice.

In short, we haven't heard the end of this.

Is Chen Guangcheng 'Pro-Life'?

When DJ! wrote about Chen Guangcheng, he was largely unknown beyond fetus fetishists and China-watchers.

Now he's the subject of some delicate negotiations between the US and China.

But is he really 'pro-life' as we in the blighted New Republic of Gilead understand it?

According to Lindsay Beyerstein, nope.

Anti-abortion news and opinion websites have taken to calling Chen a “pro-life dissident,” which is fundamentally misleading. Chen is not opposed to abortion, per se, he is opposed to forced abortion. Though he’s been described as an opponent of the One Child policy, he hasn’t campaigned to overturn the law. In fact, unlike most Chinese dissidents, Chen’s target is not the central government; he wants to enlist Beijing’s help to enforce the law of the land and to check the power of local government officials who have terrorized him and the women of his community for years.

“I think it's important to note that he's not anti-abortion per se,” wrote Jin Zhao, a freelance journalist who blogs at Things You Don’t Know About China. “He is critical of the local authorities' forced abortions which he believes to have violated women's rights.”

That seems straightforward enough, doesn't it?

Nope. The lying liars are continuing to bleat about 'pro-abort' Clinton and Obama not helping the heroic baby-saver with the complicity of the 'liberal press' in what Beyerstein calls 'the pro-life spin cycle' and 'the perfect dog whistle'.

Where, oh where are the feminists?????

Right here.

The anti-abortion movement isn’t alone in its admiration for Chen. In a post on Feministing, one of the most influential feminist blogs on the web, Lori Adelman argued for a more precise label: “More apt than the whitewashed ‘human rights activist’ label he’s been given in the news is ‘reproductive rights activist’ and perhaps even ‘feminist.’”

Chen Guangcheng

From the Pre-empting the Where Are the Feminists? Bleat File:

Have you heard of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng?

Probably not, unless you are a fetus fetishist or follower of China-US relations.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton no doubt hopes the diplomatically delicate case of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who escaped house arrest and then sought refuge with US authorities in Beijing, can be resolved before she and a high-level entourage including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrive in the Chinese capital Thursday.

Both American and Chinese officials are tight-lipped on their deliberations over the rights advocate, whose treatment has figured prominently in official Western protests of China’s human rights record. Mr. Chen, blind since childhood, is a self-taught legal authority and critic of the forced abortions he exposed through risky investigations.

At the White House on Monday, President Obama said during a press conference that he was "aware" of the Chen case but would not say how the US will treat Chen's case. He suggested, however, that the issue of human rights in China would come up in this week's talks, as it always does with Beijing, not only because "it is the right thing to do" but also because "we think China will be stronger as it opens up and liberalizes its own system."

The Fetus Lobby is spinning this sticky wicket as 'pro-abort Obama won't protect heroic baby-saver!!1!!1'

*sigh*

Nothing yet on Where Are the Feminists on the Persecution of Chen Guangcheng???!!??

For the record: Feminists are as opposed to forced abortion as we are to forced birth.

But unlike the zygote zealots, we recognize a diplomatic mine-field when we see one.


Image source and more about famous Chinese dissidents

UPDATE (May 2, 2012): Ah, there they are. SHRIIEEEK!!!!1!1