New Evidence Confirms UNFPA Involvement in Coercion

This is the latest press release from the Population Research Institute.  It speaks for itself, so no additional comments from me.

Contrary to the claims of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), China’s coercive one-child policy is alive and well in the counties in which their organization operates.

On March 7th-11th of this year, the Population Research Institute (PRI) launched an on-the-ground investigation in 3 UNFPA “model counties.”  These are counties where the UNFPA makes the claim that their efforts have “removed birth targets and quotas and introduced a quality-of-care approach.”

PRI’s investigative team found that the one-child policy was not relaxed in the counties it investigated and, in some ways, the coercive measures undertaken by the government are now worse than ever.

According to PRI’s Colin Mason, who headed up the investigation, “when the actual conditions on the ground are observed, the UNFPA’s claim that it ‘played a catalytic role in introducing a voluntary reproductive health approach in China’ is patently absurd.  The policy is just as coercive in these areas as anywhere else.”

“Crippling fines, intense pressure to be sterilized, the flagrant display of quota information, and even the seizure of ‘illegal children’ by the government are commonplace,” Mason continued.  “The UNFPA insists that its presence has led to the removal of these measures.  It has not.”

“We at PRI ask the President to take a more critical approach in considering funding for the UNFPA,” said Steven Mosher, PRI’s president.  “United States law clearly dictates that tax dollars cannot fund forced abortion or coercive measures overseas.  The President has shown no consideration for these laws, nor has he expressed any concern over the UNFPA’s clear and consistent involvement in human rights abuses.

We stand ready to provide evidence to the Obama Administration regarding UNFPA’s involvement in China’s coercive policy.”

Unemployment solutions

My ex-boyfriend makes the following proposal for alternatives to the minimum wage.  Comments?

Option #1: You spend the full work day searching and applying for jobs for which you qualify, and are paid the minimum wage until you land one.

Option #2: The government will pay for you to go to college, but they pick your major based on what skills are in demand (i.e. teaching, computer science).  A job will be open for you upon graduation.

Option #3: Military service or Peace Corps.

Law School Visits: George Washington

I liked GW more than I expected I would.   The class size is too big for my taste, but the D.C. area is awesome and offers a lot of employment opportunities for law students/grads.  The campus is surprisingly quite pretty, and the class I sat in on (once again, con law) proved the school’s academic rigor.  But I wasn’t hooked.  Our tour guide only briefly touched upon things that the students do for fun, and there wasn’t much that was really special.

So, here it is, the big pronouncement: I’m going to UVA law! I just submitted my housing application

It’s Deja Vu All Over Again

Here’s part four of the Mona Lisa project.  Watch as a Planned Parenthood in Phoenix fails to comply with statutory rape reporting laws, instead enabling the abuse to continue.  This is the fourth time an abortion facility has been caught just by the Live Action group, and a fifth video is on the way.  Prior to Live Action’s project, a massive undercover investigation found statutory rape cover-up at over eight hundred abortion groups.  The news is out, and the state Planned Parenthood organization says they plan to investigate.  At best, this will end with them taking action against the specific employees, but there’s little chance they will ever address their unspoken, systemic policy of ignoring the law.

Law School Visits: William & Mary

Williamsburg is a beautiful town, and I do like the law school.  It has a neat Bill of Rights program, and the students were friendly.  I sat in on an interesting constitutional law class on affirmative action.  W&M has a few drawbacks- I noticed it doesn’t have as much communal space, compared to the prominent commons areas at other schools.  But overall it’s not a bad place to spend three years.

In spite of that, it wasn’t enough to sway me from UVA.  I can’t articulate an exact reason why.  UVA just has so many opportunities, and I feel that the loan debt will be worth it.  I haven’t made the final decision yet.  Tomorrow I’m going to check out George Washington, and after that I’ll take a few days just to let it marinate.

Update: Duke Law has contacted me with the news that I’m on the waitlist.  I’m just going to pass on that.  There’s no sense changing my plans mid-summer when I can go somewhere just as good on regular admission.

Law School Visits: Duke

Duke is great.  The facilities are beautiful, including a brand-new law library.  The quality of education is on par with UVA, and their clinics and journals are also comparable.  Housing in Durham is easy to come by.  I don’t know how to choose between Duke and UVA.  Thing is, I may not have to- Duke has yet to let me know if I’m in or not.  I went to the admissions office to ask personally, and they confirmed that they’ve received my complete application, but there’s no decision.  A few schools want enrollment deposits in early April, so if Duke doesn’t get in touch with me soon, they’re out by default. 

That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  At this point, UVA is still my top choice.  I do worry that maybe the fact that I saw UVA first has influenced me too much.  Dad relates that when he and Mom were looking for a house many years ago, they kept comparing everything the realtor showed them to that old fixer-upper they’d seen first- which they ended up buying.  UVA is far from being a fixer-upper, of course.  Nothing’s in stone, though.  Tomorrow I’m going to visit William and Mary, which is also high on my list, and they’re the only school to offer me a scholarship.  I’ll keep you posted.

Law School Visits: Washington and Lee

I’ve decided to take W&L off my list.  But it does have a lot of things going for it, in case you’re considering law school.  The best trait is the honor system; people regularly leave their laptops unattended.  Try that at UMiami.  And of course, it’s very strong academically.  There’s a death penalty clinic, which is pretty awesome.

As for why I decided not to go: I’m fine with small towns, but Lexington is tiny.  There is seriously nothing to do.  (The tour guides put a positive spin on it.  “There are no distractions.” “We just got our third bar, so we can sort of bar-hop now.”)   Also, there are few journals, and no child advocacy activities at all.  Not even an extracurricular student group.  I couldn’t help but compare it to UVA, which has an active student org and a clinic devoted to children.  Most important, I just didn’t have that gut feeling of “Oh, I can totally see myself here.”

Law School Visits: UVA

It’s spring break and I’m spending it touring law schools.  First stop: the admitted students weekend at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.  I was very impressed and can definitely see myself going there.  I’m not a definite, but it’s very high on my list.

Everyone was so friendly.  I was really happy to see that the stereotypical cut-throat environment was completely absent.  They play as hard as they work.  Softball is very popular, with each section having its own team.  Student organizations are very active, and I’m especially excited that I can become a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) through the child advocacy club.

Academically, it’s undoubtedly the best school I’ve gotten into.  More than 15 clinics are offered, including a Supreme Court litigation clinic in which students file petitions for certiorari (three of which have actually been granted) and an innocence project.   I met the head of the family resource clinic, who shared how students restored food stamp coverage to a mentally ill client.  In another session, I asked a con law professor if there was a particular judicial philosophy popular among the faculty (read: please warn me about the liberal sissies and right-wing nutjobs).  He said that there’s a variety of opinions, but that the professors will push you in so many directions that you’ll think they don’t have a judicial philosophy at all.  Good answer.

They had a lot to say about clerkships, and the private recruiting is also strong.  Tuition is steep, but I can take out a student loan.  They offer some loan forgiveness if I go into public service work.

Dad and I going to look at housing tomorrow.  Next stop: Washington and Lee.  I’ll keep you posted!

Thoughts on the right to die

Several members of a right-to-die group known as the Final Exit Network have been arrested on charges of (surprise!) assisting suicide.  The debate on assisted suicide is often conflated with the abortion debate.  After all, just think of the language used: the right to life and the right to die.  And since I support the right to life, I must oppose the right-to-die activists.  But you know how the Justice Party works; I can’t leave a political stereotype untouched.

First of all, I want to clarify that I am not pro-suicide.  I have experienced the suicide of a cousin and seen the effect it had on the entire family.    Mind you, it wasn’t the “I have a terminal illness and want to pass away on my own terms” sort of suicide that the Final Exit network is advocating.  (Our pastor assured us that suicide is not condemned by the Bible, so I’m going to leave the religious aspects of this out of the post.)

I also had an aunt who, after losing her legs and suffering various other medical problems, decided to stop treatment and enter hospice.  She died naturally– no lethal drugs or similar measures– but in my mind it was along the lines of suicide because she made a conscious decision to die sooner rather than later.  Her death was much easier for the family to accept than my cousin’s, mostly because she had been deteriorating for so long and we all knew it was just a matter of time.  Would it have made a difference to me if my aunt had died a week earlier via assisted suicide?  Honestly, not really.  We all understood what her intentions were, and she had lived a long, fulfilling life.

Naturally, I believe that my cousin and aunt had the right to life.  But here’s the thing that distinguishes assisted suicide from abortion (or any other manner of human killing)- they chose to forfeit their own right to life.  They didn’t take away someone else’s rights, they stopped exercising their own.  The “right to die” is just the voluntary waiving of the right to life.

So here I am, the pro-lifer, having accepted the right to kill oneself, at least in theory.  In practice, there are a thousand other complications.  An old news article comes to mind, from Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal under some circumstances.  A woman received a letter from her insurer that said, in effect: “Sorry your cancer treatments haven’t worked.  We don’t cover the last-ditch treatment you need, but why don’t you take advantage of our lethal drug coverage?”  That kind of scenario is intolerable.  If we conceive of assisted suicide as giving up the right to life, every patient MUST have the resources to try to keep living.  There’s also the problem of protecting a physician’s right to not be involved in a suicide.

In the final analysis, here’s what I have to say.  You can give up your right to life by killing yourself.  That doesn’t mean that you should.  Think about your family and friends, and include them in your decision if possible.  Think about whether your pain can be alleviated by psychological or medical intervention.  But if you know that your time is near and want to spare yourself and your loved ones from a more gruesome, prolonged death, then I don’t see your suicide as selfish or morally wrong.