France passes law that crackdowns on Pro-Life websites.

Online anti-abortion activists targeted for stiff penalties.

On Thursday, the French National Assembly passed a bill that makes it a crime to post information online that challenges abortion. Pro-life activists who continue to operate online face up to two years in prison and a fine of more than $30,000. The bill is an expansion of a 1993 law that penalized giving out “false information” or physically blocking those seeking abortion from entering clinics. The bill passed by French lawmakers will punish web operators who post material considered “deliberately misleading, intimidating and/or exerting psychological or moral pressure.”
The French legislation follows a controversy that erupted after the French government blocked an advertisement featuring smiling children with Down syndrome because it could dredge up feelings of guilt from woman who decided to abort babies diagnosed with the genetic condition in-utero. About 96 percent of all babies diagnosed with the condition are aborted in France. The two-minute ad featured testimony from Down syndrome children and adults, as well as their parents explaining that they were capable of living full and happy lives. In November a French court upheld the ban, saying the video would “‘disturb the conscience of women who, in accordance with the law, have made personal life choices.’”

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IMO this means there is no freedom of speech in France. Now France is censoring pro life websites? Does France have more urgent needs for its people than to turn towards someone's opinion?

I was not aware how liberal France is nor their Hitler type attitude towards pro-life.

I've already posted at length on that situation in the other thread on it, but yes, the freedom of speech thing is American, not french. You can also be arrested for spouting anti- semite commentary, for example.

The french are focused on preserving peoples private lives, and putting limits on their public lives. In public contexts, one cannot wear religious symbols, like a crucifix, for example. You can do what you want at home, in your place of worship, in your associative groups and clubs, but they try to keep the media out of peoples private lives and decisions.

What always makes me laugh is that American so often assume these sorts of things are forced upon the people against their will by some big government power they obey... it is the contrary. The people here keep a tight rein on their government and insist on such decisions. They are not about to let the media and big corporations take over their private lives and manipulate them.

a reply to: Bluesma

Exactly, and manipulation is exactly what pro-lifers love to do.

a reply to: DeathSlayer

Europeans (not so much GB) don't value their freedom like we do in the U.S. They will even give up their sovereignty to some ambiguous liberal nutters in Brussels.

a reply to: Bluesma

What always makes me laugh is that American so often assume these sorts of things are forced upon the people against their will

That's true. It is hard to understand people that WANT censorship.

SMH

a reply to: DeathSlayer

The tide raises (or grounds) all ships. France also cracked down on scientology for similar stuff a few years ago.

a reply to: DeathSlayer

From what I'm seeing come out of France lately, it appears to me to be a rather depressing place. I wouldn't recommend traveling there. As one Brit once told me, "France......it would be a fantastic place to visit..........if the French weren't there." The peculiarity of the French is that while I've encountered many in my travels to France, and they were, generally speaking, rude and unfriendly, the "French" living outside of France, in Morocco or Algeria for example, are very friendly. The truth of the French when I lived overseas was that they were, (are?) a combination of rather bitter and extremely jealous....they're counters and are offended if someone appears to have more than everyone else.

And yea, they're idea of "Freedoms" is altogether backwards from ours.

a reply to: DeathSlayer

They've also banned photos of autistic children smiling the logic being it could be offensive to women who had abortions for those reasons.

(so I heard/read a few weeks ago)

double post

originally posted by: HUMBLEONE


The Satanic pedophiles that are running the joint are pro-death.

originally posted by: ksiezyc
a reply to: DeathSlayer

They've also banned photos of autistic children smiling the logic being it could be offensive to women who had abortions for those reasons.

(so I heard/read a few weeks ago)

It was one television ad with happy Down's Syndrome children.

The ad, launched by Italy's CoorDown and Satchi & Satchi for World Down Syndrome Day in 2014, has been viewed on Youtube over 7 million times. It won six awards at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

In June of 2014, the French TV regulator said it was "likely to be controversial" and was not "a message of general interest." Earlier that year several French channels had aired an excerpt free of charge at the request of Down syndrome associations.

Again, France is not the US and Europe has a lot more control over what airs on TV.

I don't find it a great decision, but it may become unbanned.

Jérôme Lejeune had asked the Council of State to intervene on the regulator's ban. It says it will bring the matter to the European Court of Human Rights and argue that people with Down syndrome have a right to express their happiness without censorship.

This is the ad and it clearly might upset some who aborted due to knowing their child would have down's syndrome.
That is not an easy decision.



Those are some pretty high functioning Down's Syndrome kids. Some will even marry, I remember the Down;s Syndrome couple on the TV show LA Law. But is can be a severe disability and some will have little quality of life.

originally posted by: HUMBLEONE

People should mind they're own business, especially if the French.

originally posted by: Metallicus



That's true. It is hard to understand people that WANT censorship.

SMH

I know. And they wonder why the people in other countries want so much to give more power to the media and corporations... why they are adamant that those in power should have more freedom. The regular middle class french person does not identify with those entities. Fighting for the right and freedoms of corporate entities is not fighting for their rights- it is the opposite.


I used to not get that. Until I got very much into animal training, and it began to dawn on me that behaviorism applies to humans, and that in the same way one can use techniques to train a horse in which the horse thinks it was his own idea to do something (subtle manipulation) people too, can easily be "whispered to" and completely manipulated (trained) without them ever knowing they are puppets. -Even to the point of defending their puppeteers....

I began to see my own early education more as training than anything else. But in any case, if you have the kind of society and government you want over you, well then, that's great. You wouldn't be happy with theirs and they wouldn't be happy with yours, so... all is as it should be.

You guys let yourself be fracked, your meat contaminated with hormones, your people divided and your young men and women die in foreign countries... If you are happy and healthy with all that, then to each their own!

By what I've read, it seems like the move against the websites is being done because of misleading information on them??
I don't see the commercial as being the same as I imagine the websites are if they websites in france are anything like the ones in the US.
I don't believe that the commercial has anything in that can be proven false, does it? It seems to be giving one side of the issue, that would be true for many down syndrome children.. who are in fact living pretty nice, happy lives. and it does have a nice overall message, that many of these children can have happy lives, maybe even more if we all pulled together and worked at making it easier for them to be happy in our world. the more information a person can be presented with (true information), the better equipped to make the decision that is right for them.
but, the prolife websites often do have scientifically proven false hoods presented as fact, at least here in the states. and now, there is at least one state (I believe it was TX) that is requiring doctors to spread those falsehoods out to their patients. france should just ignore our opinion on this one because we seem to be a tad bit screwed up in this area. so much so that we really have much in the line or credibility.

Of course this does not affect Muslims and virtually guarantees them outbreeding the French to oblivion

a reply to: khnum

so we should do everything we can to make sure that the women have their quota of children to ensure we keep our majority, even misrepresent or lie to them if necessary?
sorry, but no thanks.

a reply to: dawnstar

Nope the average French family is 1.8 children,the average Turkish family 8.1 children,its simple maths Europe is doomed

originally posted by: khnum
a reply to: dawnstar

Nope the average French family is 1.8 children,the average Turkish family 8.1 children,its simple maths Europe is doomed

I actually had this pointed out to me by an Algerian- that in their communities, they laugh about this, and how stupid westerners are, in their belief in democracy. That we don't see the very obvious achillles heal in the system- that anyone wanting to take over just has to reproduce effectively.
This is happening.

But- I am not sure how many of the Downs Syndrome folk vote....???

a reply to: khnum

lol....
can the average family in france support 8.1 children?? do the turkish women really want that many children or is it more like that are being forced into it by such things as culture, lack of birth control, ect. I imagine in about one or two generations, the women will decide that they really don't want that many kids and regardless of the old culture or anything else, they are in a country where they don't have to have that many.. and things will even out.

a reply to: Bluesma

I once asked a Down Syndrome parent how they cope they responded the child was Gods gift to teach them about true love

a reply to: DeathSlayer

Not everyone wants to live in a free society.