Everyone is freaking out because some school employees handed out fetus dolls to students in a public school. The dolls are scientifically accurate yet they’re being called shocking and reprehensible.
The fact that so many people are taking a scientifically accurate fetus to be an anti-abortion message should tell you everything you need to know.
What the accompanying card said was all scientifically accurate. Imagine that, scientifically accurate description of human life is now off limits in school. Only liberal ideology is allowed, I guess.
What a country we live in.
Jill Stanek has more on this story.
May 25, 2010 at 10:42 pm
While I certainly support the goals and efforts of the people handing out these dolls, I think it may be questionable to do so at school. Doing so effectively removes the role of the parent to decide when it is best to teach their children about "where babies come from". If this were done in conjunction with a "health ed" class that the parents had signed up for, then by all means this would be appropriate.
I have often said that it is precisely the culture (hearts and minds) that need to change in this country before we can make a dent on abortion. This would be a good start. But it just needs to be done in a more controlled environment.
May 25, 2010 at 10:44 pm
I love how the people reporting on this are acting as shocked as possible while uncovering the horror of torturing children by showing them a scientifically accurate depiction of what they looked like at one point during development… are these same people going to push to get pictures of developing babies out of science text books in biology class because it's offensive to the pro-abortion movement?
May 25, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Liars and murderers attached to the one who was a liar and murderer from the beginning.
Ma Tucker
May 25, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Okay, however schools DO feel it's their place to educate children on all facets of life that are better placed in parent's hands. Sex ed and DARE (drug education) come to mind. Children can learn all about Marijuana, and view male/female anatomy in textbooks, however an image of a baby inside of a Mother's womb is…offensive!?!
I will admit the accompanying pro-life literature may have been pushing it (for a public school), however the doll was completely benign, comparatively.
Heaven forbid we teach children the truth. No wonder so many kids go through their public education feeling the educators are frauds. They refuse to allow children/teens to form their own opinions about anything important. Sheesh.
May 26, 2010 at 1:31 am
These dolls seems kind of mature educational material for a third grader though, imho. It would have been better suited for middle school/high school aged children…
May 26, 2010 at 2:40 am
The truth sets one free. Those who are of the dark keep the light out. I hope people fight this from any angle possible e.g. freedom of speech. We cannot let the liberals win with their lies. We should not give an inch and fight even little things up to the Supreme Court if needed. Sometimes I wish I was a rich lawyer who can simply spend my time on these cases – pro bono.
May 26, 2010 at 6:18 am
My 6 year old has had one of those dolls for over a year. She and the 4 year old like playing with it, swaddling it. They understand it well enough, without knowing about the birds and the bees.
May 26, 2010 at 7:14 am
*reads title* Well, of course they're pro-life, it's their life on the line, that old saw about how everyone who's "pro choice" has already been born…. oh. Not whatcha meant.
May 26, 2010 at 7:36 am
…scientifically, they are totally correct; his life did begin before birth.
Heaven forbid our children be exposed to science.
May 26, 2010 at 10:44 am
If the school in question had a sex education program in place, I certainly could understand Matthew's position. However, the news story does not say whether or not they do.
Sex education is inappropriate in schools, particularly elementary school, therefore it is also inappropriate to hand out these dolls to elementary school students.
May 26, 2010 at 11:49 am
Why is it part of sex ed to tell kids that once you were really really small. Why is that offensive?
May 26, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Ok, guys. Let's not get fried by our own propaganda even though it is true. Clearly this was distributed with intent to spread a pro-life message to preempt or counter the "choice" message. It's not morally wrong to attempt such a thing of course; just don't pretend about what they were doing or act surprised when the orcs of pluralism freak out. 🙂
May 26, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Matthew:
It's not that what this teacher did was offensive. It simply wasn't appropriate.
May 26, 2010 at 5:35 pm
romishgraffiti –
only in so much as showing someone who disbelieved that red-heads are human that humans are, in fact, biologically human. I probably would have phrased the bit of paper a bit differently, but this response to non-obscene biological reality is…revealing about pro-aborts.
May 26, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Matthew – human development is sex ed. Don't play dumb.
And to agree with Kim (*shudder*) no one here was saying it was offensive. Some of us WERE questioning the appropriateness of taking the perogative away from the parents to explain this supbject to their own children.
May 26, 2010 at 6:01 pm
human development is sex ed.
Bull puckie. Human stages of growth falls under biology, as does sex, but they are not the same. Especially as "sex ed" in a school setting is used to refer to primarily social matters– keeping oneself from becoming a burden on society in any way, shape or form– human development is NOT sex ed.
Should there be some different class called "human biology" or something, that covers sex, STDs, conception, life stages? Yes, but there isn't.
May 26, 2010 at 6:34 pm
I am of course on your side foxfier. But we have to remember that fudging in a kind of "There's no one here but us chickens." mode is an art of the enemy. They know this is a pro-life exercise. WE know it's a pro-life exercise. Most importantly, people sitting on the fences know it is a pro-life exercise. If we start going into typical progressivist fog-weaving with something like, "Hey this isn't about the abortion issue; we are just presenting biological reality!" they are going to quite appropriately call bs, and we lose them. Don't get me wrong. I think it should be done, but we should be plain about it and take the hits because the progressives have absolutely no qualms about approriateness, and in most cases, theys the ones controlling the public school content.
May 26, 2010 at 7:02 pm
romishgraffiti –
from my POV, it's also the progressive tactic to accuse people of wrong-doing until they can get the folks to start doing so themselves–accepting a redefinition of the playing field. At which point they change the goal again, until you have to be an advocate or you're evil.
For example, look at homosexuality:
Neither side wanted to go all Iran and kill them all. So the Progs said that publicly saying "homosexuality is wrong" meant you did. Then it was "I disapprove" is wrong. Then acceptance wasn't enough, you had to approve– basically, the field had moved from two original POVs to one, without compromise.
Basically, it's not what we're doing that offends, it's that there is a disagreement with them at all that offends.
The question isn't "is this fact bad for abortion advocates." The question is "were the facts presented accurate and not obscene" and possibly, after that, "under what circumstances were the dolls offered."
While we're at it, I'm just totally delighted to see the ACLU standing up for the religious rights of those who think babies are found under cabbage leaves, as biology is an organized religious activity….
May 26, 2010 at 8:53 pm
We are in total agreement about how progressives operate. Lemme see if I can bottom line this: ain't no freakin' way any public school is gonna allow anyone to pass out fetus dolls; not with a cleverly-worded card, not without one. Because pro-lifers, pro-abortionists, middle-of-the-roaders, extraterrestrials from Gliese 581 all know that the fetus doll is a symbol of the pro-life movement. And one will no more believe it's merely a biology lesson any more than a rainbow sash at Mass is merely a lesson in light refraction. I'm all for handing them out. I'm just not going to say it's only a factually acurate illustration of biology because a). I'd be lying b.) it isn't fooling anyone and c). it actually hurts my cause because I'd be little different than the sleezeballs across the street.
May 26, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Well, we'll have to agree to disagree, because when I look at a fetus doll all I see is an illustration of biology.
I no more see this as a Christian invasion of the school than I would see a teacher handing out little window-prisms with a card that says "rainbows are beautiful– every shaft of light holds a rainbow inside" and has refraction facts on the back" as a homosexual invasion.
I think it's an example of oversensitivity in action, same way I think banning the term "monkey bars" in mixed-race schools is over-sensitive.