Articles and Videos – Page 629

The Great Firewall of China

Jul 6, 2022John StonestreetChinaChina

“For many years, the internet in China was seen as a channel for new thinking, or at least greater openness,” writes Human Rights Watch researcher Yaqiu Wang. “Online discussions were relatively free and open, and users, especially younger ones, had an eager appetite for learning and debating big ideas about political systems and how China should be governed.”

That changed when Xi Jinping took power. Explaining what’s known as China’s “Great Firewall,” Wang notes, “the government got savvier, and more aggressive about using its own technology.” For example, dissidents, journalists, and public figures disappear frequently, sometimes often for minor infractions like logging onto Twitter.

The state’s actions have created “a generational split,” says Wang. “[T]hose who experienced a relatively free internet as young people—many strongly resent the Great Firewall. Among people who started college after Xi took power, however, there is a strong impulse to defend it.”

It’s an extreme example of how tools intended and used for good can also be harnessed for evil. The same resource that can promote flourishing can also promote tyranny. That’s true everywhere, not just China.

Should Women Be Prosecuted for Having Illegal Abortions?

Jul 5, 2022Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On May 12, National Right to Life and Arkansas Right to Life joined more than 70 state, national, and international prolife organizations in issuing an open letter to America’s lawmakers urging them not to impose criminal penalties on women who have abortions.

As states prohibit abortion, lawmakers are facing questions about whether or not to prosecute a woman who breaks the law by having an abortion.

Here are four reasons why Arkansas law should not punish a woman who has an abortion.

Women were not prosecuted for having illegal abortions before Roe.

Before 1973, abortion generally was illegal in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Legislature enacted the state’s first laws against abortion around 1875.

As far as our team can tell, from 1875 to 1973 Arkansas never prosecuted women for having illegal abortions.

The abortionist could be prosecuted for breaking the law, but not the woman. The same was true in many other states that prohibited abortion prior to Roe v. Wade.

Even though Arkansans recognized that abortion was wrong, they also recognized that there were serious problems with prosecuting a woman who has an abortion.

Some women are coerced into having an abortion.

Over the decades, we have heard countless women say that they were pressured into having an abortion against their will.

In some cases it was a parent who told them they had to have an abortion. In other cases it was an abusive boyfriend.

Some pro-lifers have speculated that human traffickers may force their victims to have abortions if they become pregnant.

It isn’t right to prosecute a woman who may have been forced to have an abortion against her will.

How will our state prosecute illegal abortionists if the women face prosecution too?

Now that abortion is prohibited in Arkansas, our authorities need to be able to prosecute abortionists who violate the law.

In order to do that, they may need testimony from women who have gone to those abortionists for illegal abortion procedures.

Will women come forward to testify against abortionists in court if they know that they can be prosecuted too?

Prosecuting women as well as abortionists may make it harder to hold abortionists accountable for breaking the law.

We don’t have to prosecute women to abolish abortion.

We can shut down abortion facilities and prosecute abortionists without putting women in jail, too.

Abortion facilities that violate state laws should be shuttered, and abortionists who break the law should be penalized.

If we do that, we can stop abortion in Arkansas. We don’t have to prosecute women who have had abortions in order to end abortion.

Should Arkansas’ Abortion Laws Make Exception for Rape or Incest?

Jul 4, 2022Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

In 2019 and 2021 there was a lot of discussion about putting exceptions for rape and incest in Arkansas’ pro-life laws.

Rape and incest are evil.

A woman who is raped is a victim in every sense of the word, and only about 2%–5% of all abortions are performed because of rape of incest.

In light of that, it’s easy for some elected officials to justify abortion in these situations.

But there are serious problems with permitting abortion in cases of rape or incest.

Below are a few points to consider.

The Unborn Baby is Totally Innocent

An unborn boy or girl has no control over how he or she was conceived.

These are living human beings.

It is not right to kill an unborn baby because the baby’s father was a rapist.

Abortion Does Not Heal the Harm That Rape and Incest Cause

Abortion doesn’t heal the wounds that rape or incest leave behind.

Abortion takes the life of an unborn baby, and it carries serious risks for the woman.

Abortion is not a quick fix. Its consequences are very serious.

Rapists Have No Legal Claim to Their Victims or Their Victims’ Children

Under Arkansas law, a rapist has no legal claim to his victim or the children of his victim.

That means a woman or girl who becomes pregnant because of rape can keep the child or put the child up for adoption, but she does not have to consult the rapist or share custody with him.

Arkansas law is very clear on that point.

Additionally, state courts can take other appropriate action to protect victims of rape or incest.

Abortion Helps Conceal Rape and Incest From Authorities

Sexual predators sometimes coerce their victims into having abortions to conceal rape or incest.

In 2016 abortionist Ulrich Klopfer admitted to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board that he once performed an abortion on a 10-year-old girl from Illinois who had been raped by her uncle. Dr. Klopfer did not report the crime to law enforcement.

He let the girl go home to her parents who knew about the rape and had decided not to prosecute. As far as we can tell, that girls’ uncle was never brought to justice.

Abortion helps conceal evil crimes like these.