October 13, 2007

Tell the Media to Stop Interviewing Ann Coulter

Posted by Faithful Progressive

c/o National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC):

Please sign NJDC's petition to urge CNN, FOX News, NBC, ABC, and CBS to stop inviting Ann Coulter as a guest to comment on politics.

Tell me more
Full Petition Text:
We are writing to ask you to refrain from inviting Ann Coulter to participate as a guest on your network's news programming.

As you know, it has long been documented that Ms. Coulter takes liberties with the facts. Furthermore, her comments -- be they about Democrats, 9/11 widows, Jews, or others -- often border on hate speech.

While Ms. Coulter has her freedom of speech, you have the freedom to exercise better judgment. You wouldn't put people who claim Martians roam the earth to frequently comment on science. It is time to stop putting Ms. Coulter on the air to comment on politics, thus giving her free publicity and attention.

Signed by:

Also, if you are on Facebook, check out and join the group: Christians Who Think Jews Are Perfect Just the Way They Are

Posted by Faithful Progressive at 04:09 PM | Comments (7)

Abortions the Same But Deaths More Common Where Abortion is Criminalized

Posted by Faithful Progressive

A comprehensive new study establishes what was patently obvious: the way to prevent and reduce abortion is through science-based sex education and contraception, not by criminalizing abortion. Indeed: The wealth of information that comes out of the study provides some striking lessons, the researchers said. In Uganda, where abortion is illegal and sex education programs focus only on abstinence, the estimated abortion rate was 54 per 1,000 women in 2003, more than twice the rate in the United States, 21 per 1,000 in that year. The lowest rate, 12 per 1,000, was in Western Europe, with legal abortion and widely available contraception.

NY Times:Legal or Not, Abortion Rates Compare:

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: October 12, 2007
ROME, Oct. 11 — A comprehensive global study of abortion has concluded that abortion rates are similar in countries where it is legal and those where it is not, suggesting that outlawing the procedure does little to deter women seeking it.

Moreover, the researchers found that abortion was safe in countries where it was legal, but dangerous in countries where it was outlawed and performed clandestinely. Globally, abortion accounts for 13 percent of women’s deaths during pregnancy and childbirth, and there are 31 abortions for every 100 live births, the study said.(snip)

“We now have a global picture of induced abortion in the world, covering both countries where it is legal and countries where laws are very restrictive,” Dr. Paul Van Look, director of the W.H.O. Department of Reproductive Health and Research, said in a telephone interview. “What we see is that the law does not influence a woman’s decision to have an abortion. If there’s an unplanned pregnancy, it does not matter if the law is restrictive or liberal.”

But the legal status of abortion did greatly affect the dangers involved, the researchers said. “Generally, where abortion is legal it will be provided in a safe manner,” Dr. Van Look said. “And the opposite is also true: where it is illegal, it is likely to be unsafe, performed under unsafe conditions by poorly trained providers.”

The data also suggested that the best way to reduce abortion rates was not to make abortion illegal but to make contraception more widely available, said Sharon Camp, chief executive of the Guttmacher Institute.

Posted by Faithful Progressive at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)