Its easy to be a saint in paradise
May 24th, 2022 | 
Author: One of the biggest news stories to come out of the USA in the last month was the leaked memo that stated that the Supreme Court was planning of reversing “Roe vs Wade” the landmark legislation that guaranteed the right to an abortion. In the aftermath of this piece of news, a host of states started to pass anti-abortion legislation.
As with much what comes out of America, the reactions were instantaneous and predictable. Conservatives and evangelical proclaimed victory while liberals decried the rolling back of basic rights. As this America, the world’s only hyperpower, the rest of us can only watch what happens and decide how we go from there.
My experience with abortion is personal. I had to send my then girlfriend for an abortion because she got pregnant and it was clear that despite her efforts to tell my parents that we’d get married and raise the child, that we were in no position to raise a child. Having seen her through the abortion period, I am aware that abortion is not a pleasant experience no matter how you slice and dice it. However, it was a blessing for us to terminate the pregnancy. We wanted different things and she turned violent during the marriage. There was no way for us to last as a couple and when we left each other, we did so cleanly – it was just us separating. There was no kid in between and we could walk away from each other.
Sure, one could say that I’m being punished for that since at the age of 47, it looks unlikely that I’ll never father my own flesh and blood. However, I prefer to think that I was opened up to the blessing of adopting the evil young woman and having Yooga (Joyce’s son) in my life.
My views on abortion are in line with Lee Kuan Yew’s on prostitution. It’s an unpleasant thing but better for it to be legal, in the open and under proper medical care. My old English teacher (a woman) said that although she didn’t believe in abortion, the alternatives were inevitably worse and we’d probably have less healthy young women around as quite a few would have died or damaged their ability to reproduce from illegal abortions.
The problem with the issue of abortion is like the problem of the real estate dispute in the Levant – namely the fact that too many people have assigned themselves as agents of God and too many of those people have decided that God has given them the exclusive to police what other people do in the bedroom. It should be telling that an NBC poll found that the majority of people who believed that abortion should be illegal are evangelical Christian. [LINK]
This is the same community that believes that teaching school children of the existence of contraception is to encourage them to have pre-marital sex. It is clear that this community lives in a world where people are saints and have the ability to behave according to the rules imposed on them by the rest of society. It would seem that the evangelical community is living in paradise where no poverty, war and pestilence exist.
However, as was said by Benjamin Sisko, the head of Deep Space Nine, a run-down space station in the Star Trek franchise – “it’s easy to be a saint in paradise,” and the reality is that most of us do not live in paradise. [LINK]
Let’s start with the fact that many of us who don’t live in paradise have normal sexual urges and despite the advances in birth control and knowledge, this can go out of the window when the happy hormones of a sexual encounter get into play. I should know.
Whenever the topic of my first marriage comes out, my mother will inevitably ask “Why wasn’t birth control in your hands?” Well, as it stupid as it sounds, I didn’t believe it would ever happen to me. This was not a “Geylang Girl,” but someone who had been a virgin at the age of 28, which was a fact that she’d remind me of whenever I tried to suggest that her going for an abortion was not my sole responsibility.
Accidents do happen. Unplanned an unwanted pregnancy happen. So, what can be done? Angelina Jolie has shown us that adoption does allow children that are not wanted to find a wanted home. However, not everyone is prepared to give up their kids to a stranger and let’s not forget that a woman will have to carry the child for nine months before then, something which can be traumatic if the mother in question has a psychological precondition against seeing the pregnancy through as in the case of incest and rape (things that apparently don’t happen in evangelical paradise)
Then there’s the link between unwanted pregnancy and poverty. It was found that in 2014 some 49 percent of abortion patients lived below the federal poverty line: [LINK]
Why would women living in poverty seek to have an abortion? Since this is not evangelical paradise, the logical answer would be that they are simply not in the position to support another mouth. If one were to dig into the poverty figures even further, one might find that these were women whose partners bailed on them the moment the foetus started to take shape. How do children usually turn out. Well, according to a World Bank report, [LINK]
Abortion is not something nice. It should never be a substitute for proper contraception. A condom and contraception pills can ensure that unwanted pregnancies don’t happen. It is better to pay $10 for a packet of condoms than $4,000 for an abortion.
Having said all of that, mistakes will happen and it is better to have an unpleasant procedure done in a hospital with proper hygiene than to have women dying in back allies or unwanted children growing in environments where criminalities are normal. Just because something is not nice doesn’t mean that it should be illegal.
Tang Li
*Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.
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The issue about abortion should be about Responsibility, not so much a question for free choice. Yes, abortion should be allowed in certain cases like rape; when the woman’s life is endangered should birth is conceived, etc… But it seems the majority screaming for abortion are not those of victims but of people with undisciplined values.
“Sexual urges”, even if consensual, still carry responsibility and possible CONSEQUENCES. Yes one can use contraception, can take precautions, etc. But if there are consequences in what was freely done, can we argue that we need the right to abortion in order (in effect) to erase the irresponsibility? Is it then a question of free choice or a case of Self-Entitlement?
An analogy would be firing a gun out a window. Some people just love the “urge” or thrill to shoot a weapon – it is simply a personal choice (like I really enjoy firing a GPMG, but not cleaning it afterwards). Yes, say you bought a new gun and you are super-eager to try it. You take “precautions” like window facing direction where there is little traffic, shooting at a time when there is USUALLY no one around, putting red flags around, etc…, but what happens when against all your wishes, good intentions and precautions, someone got hit? This is called the Law of Suay Averages. Should there be a law to erase this responsibility that you have FREELY and CONSCIOUSLY created – discounting you from having shoot the gun out the window?
It is such ENTITLED demand for the right to be held UNACCOUNTABLE that gives rise to irresponsibility like the pappies’ Ownself Check Ownself, or their No Blaming Culture whenever they fuxkup. So, individual rights is sacred but it must also comes with real accountability.
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Again I am hearing the Tang Li gospel of what is right and wrong. Your personal opinions on this issue do not matter. If someone want to present a contentious issue then they need to look at both sides and let the reader decide. The way TL bulldozes the narrative with his personal vendetta is eerily similar to how the Regime goes about to kill the opposition.
People on this forum know how to think TL. Your greatness notwithstanding, it would be appropriate to give TRE readers the respect they deserve.
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//Why would women living in poverty seek to have an abortion? Since this is not evangelical paradise, the logical answer would be that they are simply not in the position to support another mouth.//
clap clap clap ??? the moment one is wanting an abortion, the motivation (or the will) is already not there to support giving birth to a live and caring for the baby’s growth ?? so what good will it leave for the child to be born unwanted (unless there is a immediate match for adoption which is unlikely in most cases ???) ??
//Let’s start with the fact that many of us who don’t live in paradise have normal sexual urges and despite the advances in birth control and knowledge, this can go out of the window when the happy hormones of a sexual encounter get into play. I should know.//
part of nature even for other organisms ? procreate (sexual urge ??) to pass on the gene pool or evolve into another branch (sub-specie ?? ) or die off / go extinct ? time is relative and the whole process may take thousands / millions of years in the whole scheme of things for the human specie ???
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the eskimos say, don’t judge a person until you have walked a week in their moccasins.
if someone wants to abort, who the ffff are we to say Yes or No? It is the person’s body, it is the person’s seed. If the person wants to keep it, ok. If the person wants to remove it, ok too.
just the current long story short story from those who are anti vax.
ffff.
if want to vax, vax lah.
if don’t want to vax, don’t vax lah.
ffff.
if don’t want to vax but non stop talking about the vaxxed drop dead like flies it smells of a very bad agenda.
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HUMAN RIGHTS,eh?
Love ANIMALS,ah?!
Dont kill another human person.
So,CAN KILL UNBORN *FEEBLE N HAPLESS* HUMAN-baby???
So,whats HUMAN RIGHTS?
LESS THAN animals’ rights???
Go figure,CLEVER people!
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This guy just confessed to murder. No wonder got retribution. Have to work as a waiter to serve others.
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//An analogy would be firing a gun out a window. Some people just love the “urge” or thrill to shoot a weapon.//
aiyoh. firing a gun out a window callously may injure and kill others lar and so it is society’s business to prevent such adventure ??
but “forcing” some irresponsible person to have an unwanted birth is lagi jialak and it means the baby (supposedly a wonderful gift and happy occasion to begin with ???) is already unwanted from the very start ???
an “irresponsible” person is already “irresponsible” to “shoot” / of being ‘shot at” without care and do you still want a “irresponsible” person to continue being “irresponsible” by being “forced” to give birth to a baby that he / she does not really want and may feel it is a burden and may not extend the same kind of love / care that a innocent child needs ???
now who wants to be RESPONSIBLE for the well-being of a baby of a IRRESPONSIBLE person ??? can one force RESPONSBILITY onto a IRRESPONSIBLE parent while the unwanted baby is the subject for academic debate on abortion rights ???
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I am against abortion unless the pregnancy is a threat to the life of the mother.
Sex is a choice and carries with it a big responsibility. Abortion is about a higher calling to preserve life and if one does not wish to rear the child, then arrange to let others adopt.
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Read the first few paragraphs and cannot proceed further. How can one read an article by someone who killed an innocent live and feeling no remorse but nonchalant and even seems to ‘brag’? No wonder when I first read about this fellow, I’ve got the instinct that he is reaping some kind of a karma. Tang Li better repent your past deeds and seek forgiveness from those you killed.
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Any pro-abortion camp wants to answer this? Freely fuxking around and then say must have right to abort – is this considered a “responsible” attitude? Let’s have an open and balanced discussion.
Forget our million$ clowns fuxking up and then say No Blaming Culture. They are Poor role models, lah.
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This is a relevant topic, as I think abortion is still widely practised in SG. I used to take a more liberal pro-choice view on abortion – that it is the woman’s right to decide; it’s her body, her choice, with the exception of advanced pregnancy. Today, however, I lean more towards the pro-lifers, again with a few exceptions such as rape, incest, and health threats. In these exceptions, abortion should preferably be done before the first sign of life comes on – the baby’s heartbeat. When there is no heartbeat/pulse, the doctor pronounces a person dead – life has gone from the person. Conversely, the first sign of life in the foetus (baby) is the heartbeat – the beautiful sound and rhythm of life. The issue of abortion is not just about the woman’s right to her body, but whether she has the right to terminate the life of another – the baby’s. I think not. That would be akin to murder.
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Go watch the movie “Roe vs Wade” and go read the book “The Silent Scream” and consider again your position on abortion.
Roe went full term and did not have an abortion.
The Jewish Doctor (Nicknamed “The Scraper”) who did 70,000 abortion had a change of heart and is full of regrets for supporting abortion.
Apparently, the whole thing was a carefully planned conspiracy to legalise abortion.
The same strategy is being applied to the LGBT Movement to gain acceptance.
At the end of the day, it is a spiritual battle between God and Devil and for the souls that could be saved.
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Just wondering why people use body to make sexual decision and then use brain to make abortion decision? Is it body’s fault or brain’s fault?
Definity baby has no fault and accidents don’t happen without a reason.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/hunter-bidens-laptop-is-100-authentic-forensic-examination-concludes
The laptop from hell and Joe on the dark side
https://youtu.be/Sllh5Hkue6k
* the US Mexican border hundreds of thousands refugees freely flowing in….
* the US Biden green energy crisis and crazy expensive petrol prices
* the US education system crippled by radical sex gender identity agenda
* the US sagging economic crisis
* the US foreign policy crisis in Eastern Europe
* the US hundred billion $ military hardware giveaway fiasco in Afghanistan to the Taliban ideologues
Joe is the Whitehouse’s whimpering fool, wholly dependent on a teleprompter, and the laughing hyena Kamala is no comfort either to the common man and and woman. We in Asia ought to be really worried too don’t we, Ahli’s abortion wits aside.
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Yes, there are many rights groups (such as LGBT) with evil hidden agenda.
I saw some of them passing rainbow mask to even school children and the parents happily thanks them.
Will the parents happily thanks them if the parents knew their evil hidden agenda ?
We must be on our guard and unveiled/exposed their evil hidden agenda with determination.
Like our great founder LKY said, what you do within your bedroom 4 walls is your private business…others don’t need to know about it
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When you have choice, means you have the freedom to decide, to choose the course of action.
This I agreed with you. Freedom comes with big responsibility.
https://fee.org/articles/freedom-of-choice/
Freedom of choice means that the the person is able to choose his own course of action and his own pattern of living, subject to the requirement that he shall not act so as to violate the freedom of choice of others.
Like spiderman said, with great power comes great responsibility.
Do you think Hong Kong pro democracy thugs understand it ?
‘You need to be working. Go get a job.’
https://bit.ly/3ze8z2H
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//The Jewish Doctor (Nicknamed “The Scraper”) who did 70,000 abortion had a change of heart and is full of regrets for supporting abortion.//
at an average of 10 per day, it takes 19 years (no weekend off ?) ??? at an average of 5 per days, it takes 38 years (again no weekend off ?) ??? it sure takes him quite some time to regret ???
//Apparently, the whole thing was a carefully planned conspiracy to legalise abortion.
The same strategy is being applied to the LGBT Movement to gain acceptance.//
conspiracy ?? does it force people to have abortion if they do not want to or force people to become LGBT if they are not or do not want to ???
//At the end of the day, it is a spiritual battle between God and Devil and for the souls that could be saved.//
the spiritual battle (ideological battle ??) it always ONE vs ONE – the seeds of both GOOD AND BAD are in ONE’s mind ???
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Just saw another mass shooting in USA. Again some ppl only know MUST demand for freedom and personal choices that they desire without bothering to talk about the responsibility and consequences that can comes with their self-entitled demands.
Just like our monkeys demanded for million$ pay, yet just act blur whenever they fuxkup on projects/planning/policies. Worst, they sometimes use the 160-ranked media to paint themselves in a positive light even after fuxking-up.
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Best post.
chi ko pek.
18搖
https://shorturl.at/vEKV3
無罩嗨唱45秒片瘋傳(Health Minister behind camera and before camera)
https://bit.ly/3LIM2gY
Let’s have an open and balanced discussion.
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//Freedom of choice means that the the person is able to choose his own course of action and his own pattern of living, subject to the requirement that he shall not act so as to violate the freedom of choice of others.//
hahaha. when abortion is legalized, then pro-abortion people will be happy ?? and if the next moment abortion is made illegal, pro-life people will be happy ?? and freedom of choice can be restricted or allowed just by the wave of the legal stick hor ???
so it all depends whether the law will take kindly for those “chi ko pek” (whatever it means if it results in unwanted pregnancy ??) ???
so does sinkie land now allow chi ko pek to get away (with unwanted pregnancy by abortion ??) ??? think hor abortion is legal (up to certain period) hor here in sinkie land ?? so hor indirectly, all those law makers & their expert advisers are all involved in all this (in making it legal or not legal ??) hor ??? anyone for further open and balance discussion ???????????????????????
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Any person who wants to fire his “gun” randomly should go for a medical procedure so that he only fires blanks! Hahaha! Just kidding!
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Hahahaha….Hello, any opposition supporters want to answer this question?
Opposition shouted the loudest and when you ask them about responsibility and accountability, all go quiet diam diam daim….
This show that majority of male Opposition supporters are chi ko pek.
And it show that Opposition supporters just want free lunch but not responsibility and accountability. They are truly free riders.
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//Opposition shouted the loudest and when you ask them about responsibility and accountability, all go quiet diam diam daim….//
aiyoh. majority in sinkie land voted for the incucumber garment lar who legalized (law making ??) aborttion lar ?? does it imply that the majority of sinkie land plus the garment of the day voted for irresponsibility or non-accountability when abortion is concerned ??? hello hello ??
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Someone 18years highest pay, given super-long runway, yet succession planning total fuxkup – first choice quickly excused himself; 2nd choice based on 3 clowns competing. Highest paid yet no explanation for failures, every time diam diam, just say No Blaming Culture. Daddy’s boy indeed, hor.
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And who is that person ah ?
Can you be more specific to be clearer ?
Just like when you order char kway teow, you need to be specific to be clear like for example, please add more chilli, mai hum, more black sauce etc.
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The lesser of two evils.
Sad but that’s is human nature.
There is no perfect solution for an imperfect world.
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