runner,

Those who arrive at wrong answers - and there are likely
to be many - will not burn at the stake as critics of
religion did in the pre-Englightenment days. Scientists
who start to head down a wrong road will be valued for
closing off an erroneous line of investigation, also
falsification is open to peer review and public scrutiny -
and therefore the process of seeking solutions will and
does continue. Good science does exist and is capable of
doing a great deal of good.

Australia is one of the standout countries in terms of
science. It is not corrupt. Its science is world class.
Of course, we cannot dismiss religious intervention in
science as a thing of the past. On issues which require radical
solutions that are likely to harm vested economic interests
and political interests, censorship still exists today.

New ideas, instead of being welcome for the opportunities they
open up for the improvement of the human lot, are still
threats to whose who have become comfortable in their
ideologies (religious of otherwise).

To Foxy. Here are a few points from Madeleine Weidemann in her article. It is from these statements that challenge your view that medical practitioners give all the information. That they do is the hope, I agree. But in reality, here is an article on what really occurred in her life.

"I had to make decisions quickly. I felt so out of control and I made the only decision I thought I had. I booked an abortion."

"No one around me suggested or supported any other options, because, as my counsellor wrote on my admission form, I believed it was "best for me, and my baby, to terminate". And it was my body, and my decision alone."

"My GP assumed I would get an abortion and so we just discussed how I would go about that. My boyfriend and my family didn't know what to say, so didn't say much at all."

"The clinic brushed aside my fears and uncertainties, and then proceeded to placate me with pleasant untruths about the development of the foetus inside me. They lied to my face. I didn't understand what was growing inside me."

"It was with horror that some years later I looked at the development of an unborn baby at 8 weeks. Only then did I understand that the "ball of cells no bigger than my little fingernail" - the description the so-called counsellor had used to reassure me – which I had got scraped out was indeed far more human than I had been led to believe."

"I was not given the dignity of a genuinely informed choice, the freedom to look at all my options, or encouraged to think for myself. Instead, it was essentially decided for me that abortion was the best and simplest, the only choice I had. And it is a dangerous world when only one choice is given."

.

Dear Runner,

.

Commenting on my statement that “scientists now estimate that planet earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago”, you observed :

« It’s gone from a couple of million years from when I was young to 4.5 billion »

I didn’t realise you were that old, Runner. The data available in the 1920s gave a figure close to 2 billion years for the age of the Universe. Previous estimates, prior to the 1920’s – even prior to your birth, perhaps – include the Aztec estimate of 2,500 years and the Chinese estimate of 129,600 years. Indian mythology assumed an even longer time of 4.3 billions of years (about the age of the Earth by present standards).

In the Western world, the pioneering work on the dating of the universe was done by a young Belgian priest, Georges Lemaître (1894-1966) who published his first major scientific study on the question of how the universe was formed, in 1927, in “Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles” :

http://www.campbellsville.edu/blog/georges-lemaitre-age-universe/

Philosophers and theologists who were the first in the Western world to hazard a guess as to how and when the universe was formed have very wisely given-up trying to compete with the present-day teams of astro-physicists with their super powerful telescopes and modern scientific methods.

That said, I understand your disarray at the thought of how quickly things have evolved since we were kids. When I was in primary school the population of Australia was only 8 million (it’s now 25 million).

Miss Diplock, taught us that a straight line was the shortest distance between two points. Later, Einstein posited that so-called “straight lines” were curved :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Eddington#Relativity

When my wife and I got married in Paris, we decided to have a baby. In fact, we had two. Now both kids are seasoned adults (nearly as old as us) and have their own families …

Guess what !

That’s evolution !

As you say, Runner : I really must “be daft to swallow this stupidity …” !

.

NNS,

The author of this article obviously had a bad
experience. We don't know the entire circumstances
of the case - nevertheless that does not change
the fact that today - hospitals, clinics, and GPs are
obligated to provide their clients with information
on all the options available to them so that patients
are able to make informed choices.

Times do change - especially in fields like medicine
and patient care.

.

Dear Not_Now.Soon,

.

This abridged version of Madeleine’s speech to a Rally for Life meeting in Toowoomba on 26 September 2018 does not provide us with sufficient details in order for us to be able to form a considered opinion.

It is, nevertheless, clear that she mistakenly identifies her decision to abort as the cause of her problem, whereas, in fact, it was not the cause but the solution – which she now deeply regrets.

The cause of her problem was discovering that she was pregnant when she “was just 18, had just finished school and had [her] whole life ahead of [her]. She acknowledges that she “felt so out of control and [she] made the only decision [she] thought [she] had. [She] booked an abortion”.

There we have it in a nutshell.

For the rest of the article, she designates abortion and holds everyone responsible other than herself :

« I was not given the dignity of a genuinely informed choice, the freedom to look at all my options, or encouraged to think for myself. Instead, it was essentially decided for me that abortion was the best and simplest, the only choice I had. And it is a dangerous world when only one choice is given. The recently passed Queensland Labor Government’s Termination of Pregnancy Act utterly ignores my pain and regret and that of the tens of thousands of women like me »

In other words : “everyone is responsible except me”.

According to the latest published statistics, for the whole of Australia in 2004, there were 11,270 teenage abortions compared to 10,779 live births (51% of teenage pregnancies ending in abortion).

Following New South Wales, Queensland (where abortion was illegal up until 17th October 2018) had the second highest state for teenage pregnancies with 2283 abortions and 2860 live births. 44% of teenage pregnancies were the subject of abortions. 56% were live births.
.

I respectfully suggest that Madeleine study the true cause of her decision : all the conditions and circumstances that resulted in her pregnancy and why she did not want the baby.

.

To Foxy and Banjo Peterson.

Based on what's written in the article, I see no reason to doubt Madeleine's testimony regarding her abortion. Perhaps if we had someone else who's had an abortion confirm or challenge Madeleine's story by their own experiences of abortion, then we can qualify her story or your guy's doubt.

As far as I'm concerned though not getting the full picture helps make the decision to abort or not abort easier for a young pregnant teenager. For those who choose to abort, believing that all they are doing is extracting a small bit of tissue instead of ejecting a human in their womb makes it easier to choose to abort. For those who choose to keep the baby, a less then full realization of the responsibilities and difficunties involved help that choice. On that note though, that might help the mother to be hear the reassuring parts that parents say it's difficult but they love their son or daughter and wouldn't trade those hardships for the world.

What Madelene is asking for is for more information for young girls before making the decision to abort or keep the baby. Let them find out how human that tiny bit of tissue really is. Let them know about adoption, and if their parents agree about the support they will have while raising the kid. Let them know what options they have outside of abortion or take the burden on your own. Because as far as I can tell, this story rings true with the debates and conversations that surround abortion. Abortion is given as the only real option, and everything else is made out to sound like a horror story. A blight on a person's life. If that is how society as a whole supports the decision to abort, how much more would a medical practitioner who is doing the abortion ignore any other options and concerns because to them, abortion is the right option.

It's not an unreasonable demand, to say "let the pregnant girls get more informed," before struggling with this hard decision of abortion.