April 2016 General Conference: Elder Neil L. Andersen, "Whoso Receiveth Them, Receiveth Me"

Elder Anderson counselled, while a child’s earthly situation may not be ideal, a child’s spiritual DNA is perfect because one’s true identity is as a son or daughter of God.

President Thomas S. Monson has said: “Help God’s children understand what is genuine and important in this life. Help them develop the strength to choose paths that will keep them safely on the way to eternal life.”  Let’s open our arms and our hearts a little wider. These youth need our time and our testimonies.

Abortion Pills for our Little Girls

Abortion pills for my little girls

Some of the events being covered in the news these days make me ashamed to be a member of the human race.

We are now hearing arguments defending the right of fifteen-year-old girls to have access to abortion pills.  The Obama administration now supports the measure, although the position was intitially somewhat ambiguous.  Mr. Obama says:

"Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

At one time, Mr. Obama was of a mind that "common sense" would play a role in making these drugs available to teen girls:

“I will say this, as the father of two daughters. I think it is important for us to make sure that we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine”.

That rationale has apparently been abandoned in favor of a more progressive approach now.

The argument is so inconsistent.  The assumption is that fifteen year-old girls - not grown women, but girls - tend to be sexually promiscuous, so since this is inevitable, we might as well legalize birth control measures for them.  And the government, under Obamacare rules, fully supports this idea.

 Some proponents claim that the reason for promoting this murder of innocents is the supposed value of  something they have called "women's reproductive rights".  The FDA approved this abortion-pill access for girls under pressure from legal extortion by such groups in the courts.  NPR is a popular source for examining this perverted rationale:

NPR comments
Conservatives respond to NPR Argument

The proposal would also allow the product to be sold on retail shelves, rather than behind the pharmacy counters, with age to be verified by cashiers rather than pharmacy staff.

Previously, the need to keep the product behind the pharmacy counter has limited its availability to hours when pharmacies are open and has in obtaining the pill, which works best when taken as soon as possible after unprotected sex.

Any restrictions on birth control are apparently unacceptable to some advocates.

Speaking for the abortion promoters, justifying their court action against the FDA:

Abortion advocates reaction 

 “We are deeply disappointed that just days after President Obama proclaimed his commitment to women’s reproductive rights, his administration has decided once again to deprive women  their right to obtain emergency contraception without unjustified and burdensome restrictions,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which initiated the lawsuit against the FDA.

 Apparently what grade-school aged girls really need is to have removed any burdensome restrictions, so they can freely engage in sexual activity without any fear of biological repercussions or consequences.

 

Have no fear.  We're going to get just what these women's groups demand.  Whether we want this for our young daughters or not. 

I was just considering this from a more personal perspective.  My mother was married when she was sixteen, and my oldest brother was born when she was still a high-school teenager.  My mother has lots of great-grandchildren now.  What if none of them had ever been born...

Current events update - Mr Obama is apparently in the process of changing his mind again, in response to public opposition to abortion pills.

Pill mandate reconsidered...

Courtesy of the Salt Lake Tribune, we are now to understand that pharmacies in Utah tend to "confusion" regarding the federal government regulations.  The suggestion from journalists at the SLTrib seems to be that the ignorant and backward predisposition of pharmacists in Utah is rather less than pleasing to them...

"Confusion" article in SLTrib

Current research tends to nuance the definition of abortion, with equivocation denying accusations that the Plan B pill, drug pharmaceutical name "levonorgestrel",

interferes with embryo implantation.  Apparently most research indicates that the drug effects contraception by prevention of normal release of eggs by the ovaries.  Why this is technically considered to be somehow different from early-term abortion seems to be a matter of semantics.

PubMed abstract on mode of action

In the latest on this issue, the Obama administration has abandoned any legal challenge to the court ruling clearing the way for abortion pills to be peddled alongside the candy and gum at the drug store.

Plan B now sold to girls as young as 11

 

Children of Divorce

I've put up a number of links on my personal web pages about divorce. But this article looks interesting by itself.

In online discussion I sometimes find this topic examined, and many of the participants express the sentiment that in cases of Temple marriages that are terminated by divorce, the children "follow the mother".

I've never heard any satisfactory explanation for that reasoning, nor do any who echo the idea know of any provenance. They just heard it somewhere.

Here's an authoritative quote that seems to address the subject:

As to the next question, “What happens to the children in the next life when there has been a cancellation of sealing of the parents?” it is understood that in the case of a cancellation of the sealing of the woman to the man, this does not cancel the sealing of the children to the parents, since they were born in the covenant, which is a birthright blessing. They remain in the status of the sealing to their parents and can never be sealed to anyone else. The decision as to with whom they will go will be determined by the Lord in the hereafter. Regarding being born in the covenant the General Handbook of Instructions states, “Children born in the covenant cannot be sealed to anyone, but belong to their natural parents. This rule is not altered by adoption, consent of the natural parents, request of the child after becoming of age or death of the natural parents.”

It should be kept in mind that to be born in the covenant is a birthright blessing, and that if a child remains worthy in this life of celestial blessings, regardless of the actions of his parents, he is assured of that birthright and is guaranteed eternal parentage. One’s worthiness in this life through living the gospel and keeping the commandments, in this as in all things, is the key to eternal life. (Elder James A. Cullimore,  Q&A: Questions and Answers,” New Era)