Raise Your Hand If You Want Permission To Know Something

The Missouri legislature is entertaining a bill that would require a signed permission from a student's parent(s) before the student may receive sex education. A few weeks ago, while listening to Talk of the Nation on NPR, I learned that, according to recent polls, Americans exhibit NO MAJORITY CONSENSUS on the…

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Framing the abortion debate (part 1): What is the missing premise?

A logical argument, known as a syllogism, looks like this:      PREMISE 1:  All dogs have wet noses.      PREMISE 2:  Max is a dog.      CONCLUSION:  Max has a wet nose. Easy, right?  Now, let's see what happens when we remove one of the premises:      PREMISE 1:  All…

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Beware Claims of Pregnancy Resource Centers

The following is a letter I wrote to an acquaintance who asked me to contribute to a “Pregnancy Resource Center” in order to assist them to do their “important work.”   As you can see, my investigation revealed that Pregnancy Resource Centers are unwilling to plainly admit their real agenda.

Dear ____: 

I was intrigued when you invited me to contribute to the “Walk4Life” to support the Missouri “Pregnancy Resource Center.”   I took your invitation as an excuse to learn more about the PRC.  The more I learned, however, the more I disagreed with its work.  I decided to respond at length.  Though this email might seem out of proportion to your short request, it is commensurate with my strong feelings on these topics. 

I applaud the efforts of the PRC to offer free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to women.  Assisting women who really want to give birth to a baby is great.  Making parenting assistance available to pregnant women is laudable.  And I certainly agree that adoption is a genuine worthy alternative to abortion, for those who freely choose this option.

The web site of the Missouri PRC (like the sites of many of the numerous “Pregnancy Resource Centers”) says very little about what PRC actually does when a pregnant woman walks through the door.  Clicking on the topic buttons of the PRC website brings up only blank email forms (see http://www.prcmo.net/ ). I thought it quite odd that the Missouri PRC wouldn’t clearly state its true mission on its …

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