I see where Brother Paul Rodriguez chastised the Reporter editorialist for supporting the candidate for the Democratic Party in the US, because, Brother Paul argued, the Democrats support abortion and they are completely loose about homosexual activities.

 On that latter matter, I look forward to the day when we won’t have any more distractions about frivolous closet bizniz. Really, what more do our gay brothers want, and more importantly, what does our side have to gain? The only benefit that can possibly come from two men knocking heads inside a closet is a plan to overthrow a totalitarian government, and we’re a democracy.

I don’t support abortion, but I support a woman’s right to choose. In regards to what women do with their bodies, if they refuse to rent it to a child, or they want to sell it to the highest bidder, I don’t think our right extends beyond making our views known. 

For those of us who think there should be a law against abortion, there is the reality that human beings are a nation’s greatest resource, hence the law against terminating a pregnancy.

In days of old, tribes and families put a lot of value on all their members. Tribes desperately wanted more members, and a woman who was more concerned with her figure than increasing the population was not very much encouraged. Of course, people are still important, but in the old days we depended on numbers more.

There is another factor, and that has to do with how we human beings view life. Only psychopaths don’t view life as sacred; fortunately, they make up a miniscule number of persons. Thank God, almost all of us are almost 100% protective of life after birth. But our views are not the same about life when it’s in the womb of a woman.

The voices against termination of a pregnancy increase the longer the life is in the womb. My first reaction is shock when I hear of women terminating a fetus in the later stages, but people who are pro-abortion say their position is based on good grounds.

Judith Lewis Mernit, in her story, “The Pro-Life Paradox”, which I found on the website prospect.org, said that in 2012 the governor of Arizona signed a bill to ban abortions (abortion is legal in the US) when the pregnancy has progressed past a 20-week term, because at that age the fetus “can feel pain.” Mernit says 20 weeks is the stage when abnormalities in the fetus can be detected, and this bill was intended to take away the right of a woman to decide about her pregnancy.

This is a very difficult topic, and for now I will just say this: there are parents, outstanding parents, who can appreciate and nurture a child with serious mental/physical deficiencies, and there are parents who don’t have that capacity.

On a Wikipedia page which outlines Belize’s stance on the matter, it is stated that in our country abortion “is restricted by criminal law, but permitted under certain conditions.” The research, done in 2017, said the latest report on the subject was from 1996, and that year there were 2,603 reported abortions, and that 5% “of hospitalizations were due to abortion during that year, making it the 4th highest cause of hospitalization.”

The 2017 Wikipedia research said that “illegal abortions are common in Belize, especially for low-income women”, and that in 1998, “an estimated one in seven maternal deaths in Belize were due to unsafe, illegal abortions.” On the same Wikipedia page it is also mentioned that “Abortion in Belize is governed by sections 108–110 of the Criminal Code (enacted December 1980)” and that it “is considered a criminal offense except when performed by a registered medical practitioner under certain conditions”. It also stated that “the sentence for performing an illegal abortion in Belize is life imprisonment.”

Belize’s #1 advocate for abortions, the BFLA, said on its webpage that “one of the most common reasons for admissions to the public health facilities among teen girls is complications arising from illegal abortions.” The BFLA said that under certain circumstances abortions are allowed, and these grounds are: “to save the life of the woman, to preserve physical health, to preserve mental health, fatal impairment of the baby, and economic and social reasons.” I got lost on the last “grounds” the BFLA mentioned, so I’ll wait to learn more about that.

I don’t know if the law has been changed, amended in any way, since the research that was quoted on Wikipedia, but according to stats gleaned from the website worldpopulationreview.com, in our region Nicaragua and El Salvador have the toughest abortion laws, and Belize and Costa Rica have the softest.

 I’m not surprised about the pro or the con on this issue; my surprise is about the anti-abortionists who wash their hands of children in this world who are living in very deprived economic conditions or who have serious physical or mental ailments.

In her story, Mernit said that the same Arizonan legislators who were so opposed to abortion, so committed to the rights of the unborn child, were eliminating services on which families depended. She said that in 2009 the Governor of Arizona “closed her state’s $1.6 billion budget gap partly by eliminating $155 million from the state’s Department of Economic Security — money that had gone toward early-education and therapy programs for the developmentally disabled. The following year, the legislature tried to ax the state’s $9 million Children’s Health Insurance Program for low-income families, KidsCare.”

I don’t know what they call that in Arizona, but in the world where Jesus lives in the hearts of people, that is called the depths of hypocrisy. How can people care so much for a child before he/she is born, and care so little for children in this world who are in need?

People who support a socialist philosophy believe that the state must ensure that all the children have good food, a good bed, good education, good healthcare, things that a capitalist system does not guarantee, things that the extreme capitalists feel the system is not obliged to provide.

If a flat-out lazy man has only dry bread to eat, it is understandable if the state feels no urgent obligation to help him improve his standard of living, but if a mentally challenged man is having rough times, shouldn’t we give a daam? We should, and we should care a lot more for children who go to bed hungry, or who are sick.

Parents of sick children are largely on their own, too much on their own to find their way. There is primary care provided by the government, and beyond that, nada. Many anti-abortionists do help, as much as their finances allow, and there are some groups, the Rotary and the Lions notably, who link with like groups outside of the country, mostly the US, and so some of our children who are sick have been helped, but far too many are neglected.

I don’t understand, in fact I am blown away, by the attitude of too many anti-abortionists (and our authorities).

Bring your own pen

Belize’s # 1 cycling fan and big-time nationalist, Ms. Sylvia Waight, told me that everyone should take their own pen when they go to vote on November 11. Everyone has to vote, so we have to make the exercise as safe as possible, and Ms. Sylvia’s first contribution to a stay sayf election is for everyone to bring their own X-making tool.

A representative from the Elections and Boundaries Department has said, however, that the bringing of your own pens is discouraged, because the Department will have properly sanitized pens for voters.

There is another place fu bring yu oan. You know, oftentimes partners are not so plentiful when the band starts playing sweet and slow, and mellow; well, I was told that this too often forlorn scene prompted my late village brother, Mr. Dudley Tillett, to give this valuable counsel to young men in the neighborhood:  “When yu goh to a dance,” Mr. Dudley said, “yu shud bring yu oan fowl.”