Thursday, September 19, 2013
AFTER TILLER
AFTER TILLER is a new documentary coming out Sept. 20th which follows the few Doctors left in America that are able to perform late term abortions. George Tiller was shot to death in 2009 while serving as an usher in church. The documentary centers around the personal and professional struggles that face the only four remaining Doctors who are licensed to perform late term abortions.
The quote that struck me the most from the intense and emotional trailer is that of Dr. Shelley Sella: "Unless people understand what's going on with the women, it's impossible to support it." Secondly, is this snippet from Dr. Susan Robinson: "You have choices, they all suck."
A lot of women obtaining third trimester abortions do so upon finding out that the fetus has genetic and or chromosomal abnormalities. Amniocentesis can be performed at a minimal risk to the fetus after 15-20 weeks. Therefore, women are already well into their second trimester when the results of amniocentesis become available. The rhetoric from the anti-choice populace would have us believe that women undergoing late-term abortions are either heartless monsters who don't want their "imperfect" pregnancy or that these women have just been too lazy to obtain an abortion earlier. Neither is true and it is these dangerous assumptions that further stigmatizes and isolates women from maintaining and there own dignity as autonomous human beings whose lives should always come first.
If you live in New York or one of these other cities where AFTER TILLER is being SHOWN, I urge you to screen the film asap. If the showings are to be expanded to smaller cities nationwide (which is IMPERATIVE) then the early screenings need to be PACKED. I apologize for the excessive amount of all capitals, I'm just VERY EXCITED.
If you don't believe me please head over to Reality Check and FIND OUT ALL THE OTHER REASONS why viewing this film is a MUST!
Friday, September 13, 2013
Sentence of Death in India Gang Rape
There are few things in life that you can have an absolute opinion on, things you consider strictly black or white. For me, I have always been Pro-Choice and I have always been against the Anti-Death Penalty. For the former I was first openly challenged at age 14 when the "abortion" video was to be presented to my Catechism class by a fervent women lawyer spouting few facts and plenty of hate...I got up and left- the rest of that story I will save for another time. As for the death penalty, I came to fully realize the extent of my feelings at the age of 12/13 in my eighth grade U.S. History class. My teacher was an interesting character. My Mother also had him for her eighth grade history class at the same middle some several decades before- she described him as a sort of lecherous man who was at times "too friendly" to his female students. Needless to say I was particularly weary of him from the start. While Mr. Barry's teaching methods were somewhat unorthodox (he once threw one of our text books out the window upon being dared to by my classmates), I learned a great deal from that class and the one thing that sticks with me to this day is how much I disapprove of State sponsored executions in any case. Once during a debate on the death penalty, at the very end I was pitted against the only other student in the class who was as advanced in debating as I was (at least at that time). I had him changing his mind by the end of class and won the debate for the anti-death penalty side.
Mr. Barry jumped on the boy for over turning his convictions so easily once the debate got heated. I used the most popular arguments for why I was anti-death penalty. Obviously, the inability to be 100% confident of a person’s guilt and therefore the inevitability of executing innocent people is the primary. In addition, the lack of certainty that the death penalty does anything to actually deter crime, the unjust way in which the death penalty is handed down to those who are the poorest members of society and the hypocrisy of murder being a crime when committed by an individual but a "sentence" when handed down by the state. Mr. Barry then turned to me and congratulated me on sticking to my guns so to speak- he then proceeded to offer me examples of situations where the death penalty could be considered by some to be a reasonable and just consequence for the perpetrator of such crimes. He asked about cold blooded murder, murder of a child, murder of multiple people, murder with torture, rape, dismemberment, murder of multiple people, families, women and he went on for some time- each time he paused and looked at me with eyebrows raised, waiting for me to respond that I still would not call for the death penalty as appropriate punishment. Each time he asked in a louder voice and at first I calmly replied "No" in every instance. As the instances became more and more severe he begun shouting and the student's in the class had their heads shifting rapidly back and forth between my 12 year-old self and this 50 plus man in the clear position of authority- you could sense the intensity rising in the classroom as the bell rang and other classes began pouring into the hallway. I don't remember the exact situation described which finally brought the exchange to a climax but I will never forget standing up with so much force that I knocked my desk over and screamed "NO!" so loudly that the students in the hallway fell dead silence. At this point tears are escaping my eyes and I'm psychically shaking with adrenaline- Mr. Barry calmly walked over to me and stuck his hand out to me to shake, "Good for you Ms. Callahan, good for you."
Earlier this year I wrote about the horrific instance of the fatal gang rape which took place on a bus in India. A woman was returning home with a male friend from viewing a movie in Delhi were lured onto a bus that contained six intoxicated men who attacked them. Please see A DANGEROUS PERSPECTIVE for my initial post and more information. This is how the suspects were found and tied to the incident, DELHI RAPE SUSPECTS. The driver of the bus* was found hung in his prison cell in March of an apparent suicide. The youngest (and by several accounts the most vicious) of the six perpetrators was several months shy of his 18th birthday when the rape occurred and therefore was sentenced to the maximum term allowed in the instance of a juvenile which is three years in a special correctional facility. According to a police spokesperson, the teenager was the most violent, and apparently “sexually abused his victim twice and ripped out her intestines with his bare hands (citation). The remaining four perpetrators were found guilty of murder and rape and while the sentence was supposed to be handed down on Wednesday, the judge waited until this morning to announce the fate of the guilty.
The four men were sentenced to death by hanging this morning. In India, death penalty sentences have been on the decline for the past decade. However, the last state sanctioned executions have occurred in late 2012: the hanging of Ajmal Kasab, convicted of terror charges in a 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed more than 160 people, and Afzal Guru, convicted of plotting a 2001 attack on Parliament. Looking at India's history of sentencing past Supreme Court rulings have said the death penalty is warranted for crimes committed in such "an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner so as to arouse intense and extreme indignation of the community."
The country responded with widespread outrage after details of the gruesome attack began becoming available to the public. As in most countries and the world, rape is a widespread occurrence. In India, statistic start at a rape occurring every 20 minutes or a total of 72 rapes every day (citation). Most rapes are unreported for fear of societal stigma and familial rejection, thus few perpetrators ever face consequences for the crime. Even in the instance of reported rape the conviction rate is startling low.
I've followed this case closely since January and especially so this week. It's something that I haven't been able to get out of my mind to be honest. When the guilty verdict was handed down on Wednesday I started pouring over the all the articles again and any new information on the case that I could find. I first heard about the sentence at about 6:30am this morning. I wasn't surprised, but I can't lie- I felt relieved. For the first time in my life I was a type of happy that a "State" was planning on ending the lives of the accused and tried of an unspeakably horrible crime.
I can't say that I think it's the "right" thing to do. I can't say that I "agree" with the sentence, but I don't feel the way I always have in the past. I've looked at cases of horrific, disgusting crimes- murder, child murder, murder with unspeakable torture involved-all by seemingly indecent and inhumane individuals and I've always come up with the same result in the end. The death penalty is always wrong- but at least for the moment in this case I cannot say that anymore. It isn't that I haven't thought that some people are not savable, unable to be reformed, a "waste of space" even...I have thought all those things and I have wondered why it is that I don't think executions are an acceptable form of punishment. I was raised Roman Catholic and I'm sure that may have something to do with my opinion but I look at it as more of a "gut check" so to speak. When you face yourself and reason with yourself and search within yourself you come up with a core feeling or belief. "This is wrong, this is right" or even "I don't know." In this case my gut tells me that I don’t think I have any problem with these men being killed.
I will continue to ask myself these questions…will the death of these four men prevent any rapes from occurring? Will the precedent make would be rapist reconsider their actions? Will their murders at all change the way that women are perceived in Indian culture? What if perpetrators turn from rapists into murderers to further prevent women from reporting their rapes if the instances of reporting begins to rise? Is this a ploy to save face by the Indian government and does it even mean anything if it is? What about what the victim wanted? On her deathbed she is said to have requested that her attackers and killers be “burned alive.”
So no, I don't think I'm alone in these sentiments. My personal struggle with right and wrong will continue on as it does with everyone. I don't have a monopoly on personal struggles. Neither death nor jail for life will bring back the victim of such a miserable fate. Maybe I feel this way because because I'm getting older and more jaded. Maybe as a women/human my own personal aversion to rapists has allowed me to finally cross over to the side that says some individuals commit acts which forfeit their right to continue living. I don't think changing ones mind is not allowed. I don't think having an evolving opinion means that you have weak convictions and I don't think that calling out a gray area means that you have failed to choose a side. My 12 year old self wants to stand up and state with utter certainty that no one should ever be executed by a government...and not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things but my 28 year-old self does wonder what the late Mr. Barry would have to say to me now.
*Most of the articles I have read call Ram Singh (the accused who was found hung in March) as the driver.
Mr. Barry jumped on the boy for over turning his convictions so easily once the debate got heated. I used the most popular arguments for why I was anti-death penalty. Obviously, the inability to be 100% confident of a person’s guilt and therefore the inevitability of executing innocent people is the primary. In addition, the lack of certainty that the death penalty does anything to actually deter crime, the unjust way in which the death penalty is handed down to those who are the poorest members of society and the hypocrisy of murder being a crime when committed by an individual but a "sentence" when handed down by the state. Mr. Barry then turned to me and congratulated me on sticking to my guns so to speak- he then proceeded to offer me examples of situations where the death penalty could be considered by some to be a reasonable and just consequence for the perpetrator of such crimes. He asked about cold blooded murder, murder of a child, murder of multiple people, murder with torture, rape, dismemberment, murder of multiple people, families, women and he went on for some time- each time he paused and looked at me with eyebrows raised, waiting for me to respond that I still would not call for the death penalty as appropriate punishment. Each time he asked in a louder voice and at first I calmly replied "No" in every instance. As the instances became more and more severe he begun shouting and the student's in the class had their heads shifting rapidly back and forth between my 12 year-old self and this 50 plus man in the clear position of authority- you could sense the intensity rising in the classroom as the bell rang and other classes began pouring into the hallway. I don't remember the exact situation described which finally brought the exchange to a climax but I will never forget standing up with so much force that I knocked my desk over and screamed "NO!" so loudly that the students in the hallway fell dead silence. At this point tears are escaping my eyes and I'm psychically shaking with adrenaline- Mr. Barry calmly walked over to me and stuck his hand out to me to shake, "Good for you Ms. Callahan, good for you."
Earlier this year I wrote about the horrific instance of the fatal gang rape which took place on a bus in India. A woman was returning home with a male friend from viewing a movie in Delhi were lured onto a bus that contained six intoxicated men who attacked them. Please see A DANGEROUS PERSPECTIVE for my initial post and more information. This is how the suspects were found and tied to the incident, DELHI RAPE SUSPECTS. The driver of the bus* was found hung in his prison cell in March of an apparent suicide. The youngest (and by several accounts the most vicious) of the six perpetrators was several months shy of his 18th birthday when the rape occurred and therefore was sentenced to the maximum term allowed in the instance of a juvenile which is three years in a special correctional facility. According to a police spokesperson, the teenager was the most violent, and apparently “sexually abused his victim twice and ripped out her intestines with his bare hands (citation). The remaining four perpetrators were found guilty of murder and rape and while the sentence was supposed to be handed down on Wednesday, the judge waited until this morning to announce the fate of the guilty.
The four men were sentenced to death by hanging this morning. In India, death penalty sentences have been on the decline for the past decade. However, the last state sanctioned executions have occurred in late 2012: the hanging of Ajmal Kasab, convicted of terror charges in a 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed more than 160 people, and Afzal Guru, convicted of plotting a 2001 attack on Parliament. Looking at India's history of sentencing past Supreme Court rulings have said the death penalty is warranted for crimes committed in such "an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner so as to arouse intense and extreme indignation of the community."
The country responded with widespread outrage after details of the gruesome attack began becoming available to the public. As in most countries and the world, rape is a widespread occurrence. In India, statistic start at a rape occurring every 20 minutes or a total of 72 rapes every day (citation). Most rapes are unreported for fear of societal stigma and familial rejection, thus few perpetrators ever face consequences for the crime. Even in the instance of reported rape the conviction rate is startling low.
I've followed this case closely since January and especially so this week. It's something that I haven't been able to get out of my mind to be honest. When the guilty verdict was handed down on Wednesday I started pouring over the all the articles again and any new information on the case that I could find. I first heard about the sentence at about 6:30am this morning. I wasn't surprised, but I can't lie- I felt relieved. For the first time in my life I was a type of happy that a "State" was planning on ending the lives of the accused and tried of an unspeakably horrible crime.
I can't say that I think it's the "right" thing to do. I can't say that I "agree" with the sentence, but I don't feel the way I always have in the past. I've looked at cases of horrific, disgusting crimes- murder, child murder, murder with unspeakable torture involved-all by seemingly indecent and inhumane individuals and I've always come up with the same result in the end. The death penalty is always wrong- but at least for the moment in this case I cannot say that anymore. It isn't that I haven't thought that some people are not savable, unable to be reformed, a "waste of space" even...I have thought all those things and I have wondered why it is that I don't think executions are an acceptable form of punishment. I was raised Roman Catholic and I'm sure that may have something to do with my opinion but I look at it as more of a "gut check" so to speak. When you face yourself and reason with yourself and search within yourself you come up with a core feeling or belief. "This is wrong, this is right" or even "I don't know." In this case my gut tells me that I don’t think I have any problem with these men being killed.
I will continue to ask myself these questions…will the death of these four men prevent any rapes from occurring? Will the precedent make would be rapist reconsider their actions? Will their murders at all change the way that women are perceived in Indian culture? What if perpetrators turn from rapists into murderers to further prevent women from reporting their rapes if the instances of reporting begins to rise? Is this a ploy to save face by the Indian government and does it even mean anything if it is? What about what the victim wanted? On her deathbed she is said to have requested that her attackers and killers be “burned alive.”
So no, I don't think I'm alone in these sentiments. My personal struggle with right and wrong will continue on as it does with everyone. I don't have a monopoly on personal struggles. Neither death nor jail for life will bring back the victim of such a miserable fate. Maybe I feel this way because because I'm getting older and more jaded. Maybe as a women/human my own personal aversion to rapists has allowed me to finally cross over to the side that says some individuals commit acts which forfeit their right to continue living. I don't think changing ones mind is not allowed. I don't think having an evolving opinion means that you have weak convictions and I don't think that calling out a gray area means that you have failed to choose a side. My 12 year old self wants to stand up and state with utter certainty that no one should ever be executed by a government...and not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things but my 28 year-old self does wonder what the late Mr. Barry would have to say to me now.
*Most of the articles I have read call Ram Singh (the accused who was found hung in March) as the driver.
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