The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #2790   Message #844534
Posted By: GUEST,daylia
10-Dec-02 - 10:35 AM
Thread Name: songs about abortion
Subject: RE: songs about abortion
wilco48

Calling embryos and foetuses "little unborn women" and "soft precious little babies" is inflammatory and slants the truth, in my opinion. They are neither. They are embryos and foetuses.

Having compassion for women in tragic dilemnas does not prevent one from having compassion for foetuses and embryos. But it DOES help to BALANCE one's understanding of this controversial and painful issue.

And it goes a long way in encouraging one to develop the rare ability to "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged". Like the old saying goes, don't judge a man (or a woman) till you've walked a mile in their moccasins.

Maybe this will help.


"I was an unmarried girl
I'd just turned twenty-seven
When they sent me to the sisters
For the way men looked at me.
Branded as a jezebel,
I knew I was not bound for Heaven
I'd be cast in shame
Into the Magdalene Laundries.

Most girls come here pregnant
Some by their own fathers.
Bridget got that belly
From her parish priest.
We're trying to get things white as snow,
All of us woe-begotten daughters,
In the steaming stains
Of the Magdalene Laundries.

Prostitutes and destitutes
And temptresses like me
Fallen women-
Sentenced into dreamless drudgery ...
Why do they call this heartless place
Our Lady of Charity?
Oh charity!

These bloodless brides of Jesus,
If they'd just once glimpsed their Groom,
Then they'd know; and they'd drop the stones
Concealed behind their rosaries.
They wilt the grace they walk upon,
They leech the light out of a room
They'd like to drive us down the drain
At the Magdalene Laundries.

Peg O'Connell died today.
She was a cheeky girl,
A flirt
They just stuffed her in a hole.
Surely to God you'd think at least
    some bells should ring!
One day I'm going to die here too,
And they'll plant me in the dirt
Like some lame bulb
That never blooms come any spring,
Come any spring,
No, not any spring"

    Joni Mitchell - "The Magdalene Laundries".


Did that soften you up a little? If not, try this.


"The story hit the news
From coast to coast.
They said you beat the girl
You loved the most.
Seemed out of place,
With the beauty
With your fist marks on her face.
Your buddies all stood by;
They bet their fortunes
And their fame
That she was out of line
And you were not to blame.

Six hundred thousand doctors
Are putting on rubber gloves
And they're poking
At the miseries made of love.
They say they're learning
How to spot the battered wives
Among all the women
They see bleeding through their lives.
I bleed-
For your perversity-
These red words that make a stain
On your white-washed claim that
She was out of line
And you are not to blame.

I heard your baby say
When he was only three
"Daddy, let's get some girls
One for you and one for me."
His mother had the frailty
You despise
And the looks
You love to drive to suicide.

Not one wet eye around
Her lonely little grave
Said "He was out of line girl,
You were not to blame".

             Joni Mitchell - "Not to Blame".


IMO, working to change the very real social conditions described in these lyrics would be much more likely to reduce the abortion rates than preaching slanted pro-life rhetoric.

And until then, just be grateful you'll never have to face these conditions yourself, wilco.

Peace

daylia