A Cause for Concern: The Rights of the Unborn

Tags

a cause for concern, fantasy, Giveaway, intisar khanani, novella, subolt release, ya

I must admit that I’m more than a little scared writing on the topic of the cause I’m passionate about because I’m not really sure how many of you will hate me forever after reading this. This isn’t something I’ve discussed openly before, so forgive me if I come across as a bit strong. I have friends who disagree with me and even family members who hold different beliefs. This is going to be a lot heavier than the posts I usually write and I promise we’ll be more peppy, lively content after this, but this is what I believe and I think I have a responsibility to share it.

I would like to talk about the human right to life. I am convinced that no human being should be denied their right for the chance to live. Every day in the United States alone, more than 3,000 children are denied that chance. In New York City, for every African-American child delivered, the mothers of more than 1,400 chose not to have them. Ninety percent of children pre-natally diagnosed with Down Syndrome are never allowed to be born.

I think it upsetting that in an age where we claim to live in the most advanced era mankind has yet seen, that we so blatantly trample the rights of the smallest and most helpless of our race in the name of choice. We speak of freedom for women, but too easily forget those who cannot even speak for themselves or, in some cases, overlook the fact that a woman has chosen to terminate her pregnancy with a girl in hopes of later conceiving a boy. The unborn have done nothing to warrant a death sentence. In the case of unwanted pregnancies, there are many alternatives which do not involve ending an innocent life.

And though it is an extremely unpopular way of thinking, I do not believe that how a child came into being should dictate whether or not they are allowed to live. None of us had any say in how we came to exist and I think it unjust that babies be punished for what they cannot control.

I’m probably going to be metaphorically taken out and shot for this post, but I hope that people will keep an open mind and agree to disagree if they feel differently. As controversial and politically incorrect as it is, I believe that a person is a person from the moment of conception and that every person should be given the chance to live in this beautiful planet we call home.

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“A Cause for Concern” celebrates the release of Sunbolt, a YA fantasy novella by Intisar Khanani. Sunbolt tells the story of Hitomi, a young woman with a propensity to play hero when people need saving, and her nemesis, a dark mage slowly amassing power in a bid to control the Eleven Kingdoms. Stories often have an issue at their heart, however big or small, global or personal. This week offers a chance for bloggers (and readers) who love stories to share the issues that are close to their hearts. What do you wish you could change in the world?

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The winding streets and narrow alleys of Karolene hide many secrets, and Hitomi is one of them. Orphaned at a young age, Hitomi has learned to hide her magical aptitude and who her parents really were. Most of all, she must conceal her role in the Shadow League, an underground movement working to undermine the powerful and corrupt Arch Mage Wilhelm Blackflame.

When the League gets word that Blackflame intends to detain—and execute—a leading political family, Hitomi volunteers to help the family escape. But there are more secrets at play than Hitomi’s, and much worse fates than execution. When Hitomi finds herself captured along with her charges, it will take everything she can summon to escape with her life

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Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. Born in Wisconsin, she has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. She first remembers seeing snow on a wintry street in Zurich, Switzerland, and vaguely recollects having breakfast with the orangutans at the Singapore Zoo when she was five. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two young daughters. Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. Intisar’s next two projects include a companion trilogy to Thorn, following the heroine introduced in her short story The Bone Knife, and The Sunbolt Chronicles, a novella serial following a young mage with a propensity to play hero, and her nemesis, a dark mage intent on taking over the Eleven Kingdoms.

Visit Intisar’s website

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The author will be offering a giveaway of $100 to a charity of the winner’s choice. Author and artist T.L. Shreffler will offer an original signed print depicting a scene from the heart of one of her stories as the second place prize. There are some signed books (The Girl of Fire and Thorns, XVI and The Silver Sea). The giveaway is international; winners of the secondary prizes will receive a $10 gift card in lieu of the prize due to high shipping rates.

 

 

 

T.L. Shreffler on her “Cause for Concern” artwork:

 “My “Cause for Concern” is the steadily declining quality of our natural habitat: the earth. We have holes in the ozone layer, global warming, polluted oceans and diminishing forests. I think it is our duty as humans to nurture the earth and protect it, especially because it is in our power to do so. This piece of art represents the love and reverence that we should hold for mother earth.”

 

Connect with author and artist T.L. Shreffler on Facebook

 

 

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