Odd (and really long) Pro-Life E-mail

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

I received an odd pro-life e-mail this morning. It’s odd for several reasons, first because I have no idea who the person who sent it is or how they got my name and second because the story of an abortion that it tells is so horrifically different than any of the stories that I’ve heard before.

I’m working under the assumption that this could be someone who purposely sent the e-mail to me. While I’m not a very active pro-lifer, those who spend time with me could probably figure out pretty easily that I’m not a fan of abortion. Each morning at prayer (I live with a bunch of nuns) and on Sundays at Mass I include “all babies waiting to be born” as one of the petitions. There are a few members from the outside community that join us for morning prayer and a sizable group (100?) that join us for Sunday Mass, so anyone who attends would work out that I’m pro-life. My e-mail address isn’t horribly difficult to find if you’re looking for it. Also, I made a comment in a recent thread about pro-life picketers. My e-mail address is available on the dope for whoever wants it.

Those are the two ways I can think up that someone might link my e-mail address to me being pro-life. Here’s the e-mail with the person’s name and e-mail addresses taken out (don’t feel bad about not reading it all, I didn’t at first), let me know what you think of it. What would you do with it?

#2

Well, that’s…fucked up. I’m trying to imagine why someone would have written that. I mean, no one is actually going to believe that story…could it be some kind of satire?

#3

I’d do what I do with all unwanted email spam (as colourful as this, or not) - DELETE.

#4

I don’t have words. I shouldn’t have read that. While I understand it’s not true, it really upset me.

#5

CRAP! I was trying to start a new thread. Sorry.

#6

I had a woman tell me she didn’t want to euthanize her cat (who was dying from hepatic lipidosis) because she didn’t want the doctor to inject the cat’s belly with salt water. She was a crazy person, and she was a Jehovah’s Witness. Not that the two are related.

But hearing this, it makes me wonder if it’s an uneducated belief of the uneducated religious right-type folks. Stupid is as stupid does. I kinda hope the person who wrote this really hasn’t reproduced.

Anyone who believes even a trickle of this story is an idiot. If I had a way to spam that email address back, that’s what I would do.

#7

I know this isn’t real; it can’t be. I certainly have more faith in Planned Parenthood than that.

Ugh. People make me sick.

#8

That email was sent to you by the producers of Reefer Madness.:rolleyes:

#9

I must say, I’m a little relieved that I’m not the only person reading this and thinking that it’s utterly bizarre.

#10

There is so much wrong with that I’m not sure where to begin, but Miss Mossie or someone else would want it I would attempt a point-by-point refutation/debunking. But only by request.

#11

Sounds like someone intercepted the script for Jack Chick’s latest tract! It’s about as realistic as its depiction of D&D giving you real Satanic powers, or Catholicism secretly being a cover for demon worshippers.

Seriously, the description is closer to the old illegal abortions done by shady providers, down to clamping a cloth over her nose and mouth to sedate her. Just switch out whatever instruments they used (coat hanger, forceps, whatever) for saline and you’re set, one smear story against Planned Parenthood and a fearful tale for people to scare troubled young women with.

That reminds me, I should send them another donation. They provide not just abortion related services, or even birth control related, but many people benefit from basic health care services provided on a sliding fee scale.

#12

Ummmm. Wow.

Personally, I would probably delete the email and pretend I never saw it in the first place. Since you asked for an opinion, I read through instead… by the time I got to the baby in the food processor, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry (in frustration at the idiocy of the story, not over our poor Victorian heroine’s suffering).

Outrageous fabrications like this aren’t going to help the pro-life cause - if a believer like you is going to raise an eyebrow, what do you think it’ll do for the fence-sitters? Delete it and move on.

Full disclosure: I’m pro-choice and have a background in bioethics. As Broomstick says, I won’t offer a point-by-point debunking unless asked to do so, but suffice to say I could spend days talking about what’s wrong in this story.

#13

The description is clearly MADE UP. Regardless of ones views on abortion, it’s bullshit. Who would make a baby blender with a CLEAR LID? It would have been better with crackling Tesla coils and the doctor triumphantly shooting a basket through a nerf hoop with the fetal remains.:rolleyes:

#14

Don’t worry, I have a good idea of what’s wrong with it. I’m one of those crazy pro-lifers that likes to have an idea of what I’m against. This isn’t it*.

So far, I’m thinking Ferret Herder is on the right track. It’s probably just a scare story. Next time I’m accidentally pregnant, I’ll think about it and not get an abortion.
*I actually am against scary delusions, which this would probably fall under, but that’s not what makes me a pro-life person.

#15

I’m frightfully pro-life & that sounded like some bizarre Jack Chick-level glurge.

Man, I miss the nice level-headed “Today, my mother killed me”-type stories.

Delete it & block the sender.

#16

This is my favorite part: “At my scream the doctor turned and growled, “Nurse. Now see what you have done. She has seen what we do and how we do it.””

She knows about the [del]illuminati[/del] abortion conspiracy!! I don’t know why she wasn’t killed right there to keep her quiet.

#17

That line stood out to me too, but it was due more to familiarity than anything. Why is it that the nutcases who write these things always approach the task of writing dialogue as if they’ve never heard anyone speak English, and their only familiarity with the language comes from really bad 19th century fiction. It always sounds really stilted, and rarely contains any contractions (contractions, ha!).

#18

I am perhaps most offended by the truly horrendous writing.

If this was written in 1834, it would be far more believable.

Damn, though, they hadn’t invented Baby Blenders yet.

:smack:

If one is going to write fiction for the purpose of converting others to Cause Du Jour, there are far better ways to go about it.

#19

Get. Out. Of. My. Head! :wink:

#20

I am not at all surprised by this story. I have seen similar writings and we have had similar items taped to our doors and mailed to us, as well as some passed out to patients. We always thought that they were spin offs from the old “dead baby” jokes of the 70s and 80s.

I would also not underestimate the possibility that one of the crazier anti-choice individuals has found your e-mail (possibly through SD) and did in fact target you as an individual/potential convert to their ideas. Or at least someone who might be likely to forward the e-mail.

Do not forget that a segment (even though it’s a small one) of these people have shot doctors and bombed clinics. They have posted the home addresses of staff and physicians on the internet and encourage violence against them. They intentionally intimidate and make wild allegations-- it’s part of the overall routine. Many do in fact believe that the doctor’s that perform these services are doing the work of the anti-christ and that these doctors will be the ones to bring on the rapture.