While our legislators busy themselves with pre-filing bills to make abortion illegal, there is mounting evidence that far too little has been done to help make sure that when babies are born, they have a good chance of being healthy. On ten key indicators, Georgia ranks 44th in child and family well being. Georgia is in the bottom ten states on six of the indicators: High School Dropouts, Infant Mortality, Teens Not Attending School and Not Working, Low Birthweight, Teen Birth Rate and Children in Single-Parent Families. On the low birth weight indicator, Georgia ranks 41st in the nation and Bibb County ranks 130th among Georgia counties. So, where's the legislation to address this crisis?
"Come to me, all of you who are frustrated and have had a bellyful, and I will give you zest." (Matthew 28:11, The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John by Clarence Jordan)
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Bringing Up the Bottom
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2 comments:
It's in the same place with the legislation to help families provide health care for these "innocent lives" once they arrive --healthy or not--and assistance to feed, clothe and educate the aforementioned "innocent lives."
Republicans, I find, take the super high moral ground on the subject of theoretical lives and the Ebenezer Scrooge approach to actual lives. "If they be like to die, let them do it and decrease the surplus population." Come to think of it, he was a big fan of prisons and workhouses, too.
After the last election it is obvious the rest of the country finally "gets it" but Georgians just don't seem to recognize the disconnect.
We need to continue to hold their feet to the fire on these issues. You don't get to claim the high moral ground on kids with policies that perpetuate poverty.
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