-
The Gay Marriage Beauty Pageant
February 27, 2013 | 17 comments
-
Louie, Louie, Oh No
January 18, 2013 | 1 comment
The Spectacle Blog
MSNBC host Touré (born Touré Neblett) used the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision to tell the story of his abortion experience:
I was in a committed relationship with a woman who I knew was just not “the one.” She also knew it probably wasn’t going to work out. And then she got pregnant.
Right off the bat we see that Touré deploys a rather loose definition of the word “committed.” When two people are in a relationship and both acknowledge it’s not going to “work out” but they stay together anyway that’s not commitment, it’s convenience.
After a strong acknowledgement of the important role of intact families in raising children, Touré admits that he and his sexual partner were far too selfish to take up such a task together.
She decided to have an abortion and some days later she did. We did. And in some ways that choice saved my life. I was not then smart enough or man enough to build a family and raise a child and I only would’ve contributed to making a mess of three lives.
Splitting the rent with a f*** buddy? Good deal. Raising a child? No thanks. Better to end one life than complicate three.
In a twist, Touré admits that later he met a woman, married her, and made the decision to have a child. This time, he was into it — doctors, sonograms and all. The desire for a child created a child where before only inconvenient tissue had been. This was jarring for Touré.
It was a thrill to watch that boy grow inside her, but I must admit that during that second trimester as we watched him move around on 3-D sonograms I saw how human they are at that stage. My lifelong belief in abortion rights was, let’s say, jostled… I had to rethink my position.
Confronted with (or willing to see for the first time) the facts, abortion rights became less obvious. But don’t worry! Not even the image of a living, breathing, playing baby boy can top Touré’s unshakeable selfishness.
In the end I remain committed to being pro-choice because I cannot imagine arguing against a woman’s right to control her body and thus her life. I believe in, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, “A woman’s autonomy to determine her life’s couse.” …I find something deniably misogynist about the impulse to deny a woman dominion over her own body and limit her ability to share her life and impose another’s sense of morality on her.
Touré goes on with the usual jibber jabber about making abortion “legal, safe, and rare” while decrying any and all state-level limitations that conform to precisely that goal. He ends terribly, thanking “god” that abortion was there to “save” him and “praying that the safety net remains in place.”
Of particular interest to me in this jumble of self-preserving rationalizing is the use of the term “dominion.” It’s a biblical word found very early in God’s story. After creating the universe and everything in it, God says:
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Genesis 1:26-28)
God gives humankind dominion over the entirety of the world he has created. It’s a tremendous responsibility. Remember, after each act of creation God describes his work “good.” Far from being a self-empowering thing, dominion means service. The best word to encapsulate the responsibility is probably “stewardship.”
Touré describes the “misogyny” of limitations on abortion, declaring them an infringement on woman’s dominion over her body and future. I too believe that we ought to be stewards of our bodies and of our futures. Indeed, this is precisely why I argue often that premarital sex is not only immoral, but a bad idea. When a woman offers a man temporary dominion over her — which is, albeit a bit technical, exactly what sex is — it follows that she offer temporary dominion to the natural result of that act, the child. And if she is unwilling to do so, she must abstain from the first.
Likewise, a man who desires temporary dominion over a woman must also be willing to steward the natural result of the act, the child. And if he is unwilling to do so, he must abstain.
Let us not forget the child who has taken up temporary dominion in the physical being of his mother and in the lives of both his mother and father. We all agree that miscarriages are tragic. Unborn child protection laws that allow states to prosecute those who harm pregnant women and their children show that as a society we get that pregnancy is special. So, by what standard does Touré deem the legal protection of one incidence of uteral dominion “misogyny” and another a “thrill.”
Mere personal preference.
Is that it? Put aside the rare circumstances like rape, incest, and the physical health of the mother. It’s too much to ask a woman who has made the choice to let a man have sex with her to carry the child for nine months and then offer it to a family eager to nurture it? For Touré — and many like him — it is. It’s a burden they can’t be expected to endure.
I don’t know Touré and know nothing of his faith. But I do know this: the God of Genesis did not listen to his prayer or give credit to his thankfulness. And though the child whose life Touré helped end is surely spending eternity with God in Heaven, Touré had better reconsider once again his understanding of how these things work if he wants to join her.
View all comments (20) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Eric Teetsel
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/01/28/toures-god-and-mine
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Screwtape Talks Turkey
- A President Loses His Power
- Of Wizards and Weapons
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
CJW| 1.28.13 @ 7:19PM
Toure was correct when he said he wasn not "smart enough or man enough." The rest is drivel.
ggoblue| 1.28.13 @ 7:55PM
he murdered his child...i hope the child is waiting for him at the gates of hell...and slamming the door behind him.
RJ| 1.28.13 @ 10:34PM
The number of abortions in America is both a tragedy and a horror. It is a major indicator that the culture is increasingly barbaric and views life cheaply. Now with government-controlled healthcare, I wouldn't want to be old or sick in Octobama land.
Mnestheus| 1.29.13 @ 12:50AM
The editors should trade Eric Teetsel in for a sixpack of pagan babies and a box of crackerjsck. He makes Sekou Toure' look statesmanlike.
spike59| 1.29.13 @ 5:40AM
awwwww.....is ooogums snoogums panties in a wad of hurt widdle feewings? go defend toure the turd over in PuffHoLand with the rest of the progtards
spike59| 1.29.13 @ 5:37AM
"I was in a committed relationship with a woman who I knew was just not “the one.” She also knew it probably wasn’t going to work out. And then she got pregnant."
-------------------------------------
i'm guessing he's too stupid to realize how stupid the above truly is...she 'got pregnant?' typical libtard thinking, he can't admit even basic responsibility for his part
THEN, he compounds his display of ridiculousness with this gem: " And in some ways that choice saved my life." being a parent=DEATH?????
-----------------------------------
and this: "as we watched him move around on 3-D sonograms I saw how human they are at that stage." as opposed to, say...reptilian?????
again, this particular fecal nugget is truly too stupid to realize just how stupid he is...
Ryan| 1.29.13 @ 2:42PM
Are children of incest and rape any less human than those who are not? We should not burden a mother with murder, no matter the circumstances of the conception.
Most doctors allow for the life of the mother exception, as many times that is a point of one person definitely being alive (the mother) rather than two dead. It's a non-issue we make too much about.
Ryan| 1.29.13 @ 2:43PM
The kicker line here, though, is "limit her ability to share her life and impose another’s sense of morality on her."
As a woman who commits abortion DOESN'T impose her sense of immorality on another person?
Stan Redmond| 1.29.13 @ 3:23PM
She just GOT PREGNANT? You were no where around and a miraculous immaculate conception just happened?
I wonder if Toure realizes he is living Marggie Sanger's dream of eliminating the black race by aborting their offspring.
What a sad sad state where people brag and thank God that they killed their own children. It's bad enough to do it behind closed doors in a doctors office but to stand up on a stage and be proud of this barbarity? That cow Sarah Silverman based her stand up routine on killing her child. There was a story of some woman that aborted 1 of her 3 triplets just because it was convenient. We have a president who supports letting undesireables die in broom closets and declares pregnancy is a punishment. This is psychopathic behaviour.
Fiscal| 1.29.13 @ 7:47PM
So all of you want to force your particular religious belief on the rest of us through government force. Hmmm... Sounds a bit totalitarian to me... It's too bad most of you have no respect for individual liberty. You would force a raped woman to carry that fetus? Most of you sound quite barbarian...
Rich D| 1.30.13 @ 12:47AM
I would be happy to have the child whose life is at stake have the liberty to make the choice. At what age do you think it can give assent to its dismemberment and death? Religion has nothing to do with it.
spike59| 1.30.13 @ 5:45AM
to 'people' like Fiscal, the only moral impediment to any kind of behavior, however foul, they can imagine would be religious-it speaks VOLUMES about the kind of society we would have were they in charge
Fiscal| 1.30.13 @ 10:40AM
Of course religion has something to do with it. At the moment of conception there is no human being -- only dividing cells. Actual sentience begins at about 24 weeks. To believe that you have a full human being at the moment after conception is true religion -- not science.
Once sentience is achieved, then I'm with you on the subject of abortion. You see it as all or none -- I see human development as a process (which it is, in fact). It takes religion, not science, to believe as you do...
spike59| 1.30.13 @ 5:43AM
Wow, TAS should award you points for the maximum amount of hyperbole, ad hominem attack, and lack of factual 'backup' in one post...
now, then-a 1987 AGI survey found that rape was the factor behind .4-1.3% of all abortions-equal to 'didn't want anyone to know she had sex'...so sorry, we're NOT going to play your little strawman game-only 8% of abortions were performed as the result of rape, incest,the health of the mother, or fetal complications
Fiscal| 1.30.13 @ 10:43AM
You completely miss the point (and I'm not surprised). The logical fallacy of your belief system is that NO ONE should have an abortion. That INCLUDES incest and rape. So your argument about the incidence of these things is moot as your belief system is absolute.
Ryan| 1.30.13 @ 9:07AM
So you want to force your particular religious beliefs on unborn children. Sounds a bit totalitarian to me. It's too bad most of you leftists have no respect for individual liberty for children who cannot defend themselves, and would add murder to the conscience and soul of a woman.
Fiscal| 1.30.13 @ 10:45AM
A grouping of dividing cells is not a child. When a fetus becomes a "child" is part of a religious belief system in which differing religions have differing definitions. Why should all of us accept YOUR definition. I wish you guys would understand both science and liberty.
GreatOne| 1.30.13 @ 1:38PM
A grouping of dividing cells is human being. That's science. Take your sophistry someplace else.
Fiscal| 1.30.13 @ 3:10PM
Really? Did you get your science degree from Fox News? We are not arguing that a fetus is part of the family Hominidae and the genus Homo. That has nothing to do with the human development process. I'll bet you got your "science" degree from your church. You must also believe that the earth is only 6000 years old and that man coexisted, therefore, with dinosaurs.
My point is that we will never solve this through belief systems and since you really don't believe in science, we can't use the scientific method to help with this divide. Science does not define when life begins, only names the stages of development.
Again, you guys want to force your religious beliefs on me through bigger government. I want to get the government out of my life as much as possible on both fiscal and social grounds. You are arguing for a religious government just like Islamic states. I oppose ALL religious states whether they be for Islam or Christianity.
Ralph Gizzip| 1.30.13 @ 7:07AM
If only Toure's mother had availed herself of the "choice".