To Ann Romney: Where was the respect for your husband's church member's choice?

[RandySF]

Last edited Thu Apr 12, 2012, 12:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Ann Romney said on Fox news that 'We need to respect choices that women make'. I couldn't agree more. But where was the respect for a member of Bishop Romney's church when a pregnancy threatened her life?\

Judith Dushku is a professor of history at Suffolk University, an outspoken Mormon feminist, and the mother of Dollhouse and Buffy star Eliza Dushku. She's also the founder of Exponent II, a Mormon feminist publication. In 1990, Ms. Dushku's magazine published the story of an anonymous 41 year old woman who experienced a life-threatening blood clot while she was pregnant for the sixth time. The woman was told by doctors that treatment of the clot would threaten the pregnancy, and so an abortion was necessary. The Mormon faith officially opposes abortion except in extreme cases, and women who are members of the church and seek an abortion are required to petition church elders for permission. She and her husband petitioned the Church to authorize them to receive the procedure, and a church elder told her and her husband that the procedure looked like unfortunate but unavoidable.

On the day of the abortion, the couple showed up at the hospital only to be greeted by their bishop, who had shown up, unannounced, to try to prevent her from going through with it, regardless of the fact that a church official with a higher rank than his had already given the okay. The bishop was determined to make his case against the life-saving surgery, and he was a total dick about it. According to a 2007 interview with Dushku, the following exchange occurred,

He said – What do you think you're doing?

She said – Well, we have to abort the baby because I have these blood clots.

And he said something to the effect of – Well, why do you get off easy when other women have their babies?

And she said – What are you talking about? This is a life threatening situation.

And he said – Well what about the life of the baby?

And she said – I have four other children and I think it would be really irresponsible to continue the pregnancy.

The bishop who tried to block that selfish, selfish clotted up woman from saving her own life with a legal medical procedure was one Mitt Romney. The woman he attempted to block did go through with her abortion and lived to see her four teenage children grow up. Her family later left the church.




http://jezebel.com/5851050/the-curious-case-of-mitt-romney-an-abortion-and-eliza-dushkus-mom

[Bluerthanblue]

1. or for this single mother's choice to keep her baby?

A single mother from Watertown claims Mitt Romney warned her a decade ago that she faced excommunication from the Mormon Church if she failed to follow his advice to give her newborn baby up for adoption through a church agency.

Romney, a Republican candidate for US Senate who has portrayed himself as a social moderate, acknowledges he urged the mother to give her baby up for adoption but strongly denies threatening to throw her out of the church if she did not follow his advice. He notes the woman did not heed his advice and was not excommunicated.

Yet Peggie Hayes, 34, said Romney, then a lay counselor for the local church, came to her home in 1984 shortly after she gave birth to her son, Dane. At the time, Hayes was divorced and had a 4-year-old daughter.
http://mittromneycounsel.blogspot.com/

[wandy]

2. Now that Romney doesn't have to compete with St.santorum for the religious wacko vote....

Now that we can see the real Mitt Romney.
By November, with the help of Karl Rove and Citizens United.

Mitt Romney champion of womens rights!

War on women. What War on women. We don't gots no war on women.
It's Obamas stinking war on women.

[liberal N proud]

5. The real Romney?

I don't think anyone has seen the real Romney for years. His etch-a-sketch stand on anything will continue to be the true candidate Romney.

[wandy]

7. My point exactley.....

As we speak, Karl Rove is spending good money reprogramming the BlueBlood formally known as Mitt Romney.
If ya liked GWB, you'll love what old Karl whips up this time!

[siligut]

9. Wasn't Karl Rove raised in Utah?

Utah Mormons are the most extreme, it is only going to get worse, but the public just won't see it.

[Marrah_G]

3. If this is true it needs to go viral

[siligut]

4. The Mormon church has waged a war on women since its inception

Thank you for posting this.

[Aerows]

6. The real story here

Is that Mitt Romney professed to be anti-abortion but switched his position to be pro-choice simply because they told him he couldn't win as an anti-abortion candidate.

Romney will sacrifice anything for political and personal gain. Frankly, I think that's a horrible trait in a leader, much less leader of the free world. He has zero character.

[siligut]

8. And from an article in the NYT linked in the story . . .

While Romney may seem like the most reasonable inmate in the haunted house insane asylum that is the current Republican field, remember what's at stake in next year's election. Our future head of state may be someone who cares so little for women that he once tried to curelly stop a woman from saving her own life in the name of protecting a fetus. And he's yet to apologize.

and

Mitt Romney's strong identity with the Mormon church is well known, but his campaign has downplayed his faith, claiming that his political positions are public but his faith is personal. It wasn't always that way, and there are some who believe that it will never be that way.

I believe it will never be that way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/us/politics/for-romney-a-role-of-faith-and-authority.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all