45 years of helping women
FOR the past 45 years, women facing crisis pregnancies have been able to turn to Birth Choice of Oklahoma for help. The work of this agency and others like it remains as important as ever.
What started as Birthright of Oklahoma City Inc., in a small building in Oklahoma City (where it remained for 31 years), Birth Choice now has four locations. A staff of 15 is augmented by scores of volunteers. Through the years, Birth Choice, funded predominantly by gifts from donors, has provided free services to more than 250,000 women and unborn children.
In 1986, Birth Choice opened a group home for homeless pregnant women. The home is in the process of being rebuilt after being destroyed in a fire.
Birth Choice provides many services including pregnancy testing, medical services and counseling — but no judgment.
“I think that somehow those who come to us already trust us, that we will tell the truth and we will not judge them, even though we know how we believe and that they may go ahead and have the abortion,” founder and CEO Barbara Chishko told the Sooner Catholic, newspaper of the archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
Ruth Blakely, another of the founders, said the “main thing we do … is just to be there for them.”
“We have to take care of the mothers, because if we can love them and take care of them and encourage them, then they’re going to take care of their baby.”
Birth Choice began March 5, 1973. Belated 45th birthday wishes, and here’s to many more.
An important conversation
The ancient proverb says a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Two Oklahoma City sisters, Leah and Lauren Palmer, took that first step in 2016 to talk about race relations and now they’re on quite a journey. Upset about the shootings of blacks by police, they invited others from Frontline Church to their parents’ home. As The Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton wrote this week, the two were surprised when 65 people showed up for what became a “cool, four-hour conversation,” Leah Palmer said. The gatherings continued for months. Now the Palmers, who are black, are teaming with two white women from their church, Hillary Coenen and Kate Strum, to begin The Conversation Workshops. The goal is to bring people together to discuss race relations and other issues important to communities. The first workshop is April 29 at Commonplace Books, 1325 N. Walker. More information is available at www.conversationworkshopsok.com. A tip of the cap to all involved in this important effort.
False narratives
One of the less appealing aspects of modern life is the tendency for those on social media to embrace a mob mentality and seek victim status. This weeks’ teacher protests provided the latest examples. The Tulsa World reports educators shared several false narratives on social media that served only to needlessly incite people. The claims included assertions that the Capitol had been closed to keep teachers out (in reality, fire marshals limited access after the building reached capacity), that lawmakers were having demonstrators arrested (didn’t happen), that air conditioning and water had been turned off to inconvenience teachers (the Capitol rotunda is poorly air conditioned and the plumbing system isn’t designed for the volume protesters generated), and that the Legislature adjourned early (both chambers met as scheduled). Participants had plenty of reasons to protest without making some stories up.
Nice ‘work’ if you can get it
In Oklahoma, teachers received an average $6,100 pay raise, then walked off the job. In Rochester, New York, a similar scenario played out in reverse. According to ABC affiliate WHAM, Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio showed up for work only one day out of 214, then received a pay raise (as part of raises given all judges). Astacio now earns $187,200 annually. WHAM reports that since Aug. 31, Astacio has reported to work only on Feb. 27, the same month she provided a chief administrative judge a doctor’s note stating she could not work. In February 2016, Astacio was charged with DWI after being involved in a car accident on her way to court. She was sentenced to 60 days in jail, three years’ probation and six months with an alcohol ankle monitor. She’s followed an unorthodox path to career advancement, to say the least.
The Rock talks
Mental health professionals often talk of the importance of destigmatizing mental illness by discussing the issue openly. Actor and former pro wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson did just that recently in an interview with Express where he discussed his own struggles with depression. “I reached a point where I didn’t want to do a thing or go anywhere,” Johnson said. “I was crying constantly.” He also discussed his mother’s struggles with the same issue, recalling how she once attempted to kill herself by running into oncoming traffic. Johnson, then 15, restrained her. Today, Johnson said he and his mother are “both healed but we’ve always got to do our best to pay attention when other people are in pain. We have to help them through it and remind them they are not alone.” Simply by discussing his own challenges, Johnson may have done much to help others. Kudos.
Learning about gun control
Following the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, which killed 17, many students at the school have become high-profile advocates for gun control. Meantime the high school has implemented several new security measures. Students can carry only clear backpacks. They must wear new student IDs. There’s increased police presence. Students have limited points of entry. Metal detectors may be coming soon. “It feels like being punished,” one student told CNN. Another student suggested school officials were “putting into place all these rules that wouldn’t have changed anything.” Another noted that “if a person wants to bring a gun on campus, they just aren’t going to put it in their backpack.” Yet most gun control measures touted by the students would have been similarly ineffective. They’re learning the hard way that gun control often involves more inconvenience than improvement in public safety.
Mandate bills and corruption
This week in Alabama, prosecutors filed charges in a public corruption scheme that involves prominent political leaders. G. Ford Gilbert, owner of the Trina Healthcare, is accused of making payments to former Alabama House Majority Leader Micky Hammon, a Republican, to gain support for a bill that would force Blue Cross and Blue Shield to cover diabetes treatments at various centers, including ones owned by Gilbert. The scheme calls to mind one in Oklahoma, where former Senate leader Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, was convicted by a jury of accepting $12,000 in bribes in 2007 to influence legislation impacting assisted-living centers. Morgan was ultimately sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. Those pushing insurance mandates and similar bills often proclaim they are acting on behalf of the “little man” and fighting supposedly “greedy” insurance companies. But sometimes, the reality is almost the mirror opposite.