Blogging Ignorance

In comparing two recent books on the influence of the religious right in Canada, Big City Lib has this to say (emphasis, of course, mine):

Nevertheless, their ability to do real harm to the nation is limited; Puplit [sic] and Politics readers will note that almost all the bones throne[sic] to Religuous Right voters over the past several years have involved relatively minor foreign policy issues. Efforts to promote family planning in the 3rd world, for example, have been eliminated or scaled back or order to appease Pro-Lifers. No attempt, on the other hand, has been made to defund or eliminate abortions services here in Canada.

Ah yes. What's a mere 20 million unsafe abortions among the duskier-hued peoples a year matter?

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that each year nearly 42 million women faced with unintended pregnancies have abortions, of which 20 million are unsafe, mostly in countries where abortion is illegal. According to WHO and Guttmacher, approximately 68,000 women die annually as a result of complications of unsafe abortion; and between two million and seven million women each year survive unsafe abortion but sustain long-term damage or disease (incomplete abortion, infection (sepsis), haemorrhage, and injury to the internal organs, such as puncturing or tearing of the uterus). They also concluded abortion is safe in countries where it's legal, but dangerous in countries where it's outlawed and performed clandestinely*. The WHO reports that in developed regions, nearly all abortions (92%) are safe, whereas in developing countries, more than half (55%) are unsafe. According to WHO statistics, the risk rate for unsafe abortion is 1/270; according to other sources, unsafe abortion is responsible for one in eight maternal deaths. Worldwide, 48% of all induced abortions are unsafe.

An article from the World Health Organization calls safe, legal abortion a "fundamental right of women, irrespective of where they live" and unsafe abortion a "silent pandemic".The article states "ending the silent pandemic of unsafe abortion is an urgent public-health and human-rights imperative." It also states "access to safe abortion improves women’s health, and vice versa, as documented in Romania during the regime of President Nicolae Ceausescu" and "legalisation of abortion on request is a necessary but insufficient step toward improving women’s health" citing that in some countries, such as India where abortion has been legal for decades, access to competent care remains restricted because of other barriers.

With 'progressive' bloggers like this, is it any wonder how hard people who care about such 'relatively minor' issues had to fight to get a feminist category in the Canadian Blog Awards?

Oh. Look. This year's competition has been delayed on account of scarcity of nominations.

Well, if blogging is dying, maybe it's time to say good riddance to the ignorance so prominently on display in blogs like BCL.

*Canada, under the Theo-Neo-Cons, now funds International Planned Parenthood ONLY in countries where abortion is illegal, where women experience the most dangerous abortion conditions. Isn't that 'pro-life' of us?