katie allison granju

Today I ran across a site with a couple of very in… October 25, 2002

Today I ran across a site with a couple of very interesting articles on the cult-like characteristics of Alcoholics Anonymous. Before you email me to tell me that I don’t know what I’m taking about because I am not “in recovery” (another 12 step exercise in exclusivity that is also common to cults), I should add that I worked for several years with a 12 step treatment program for addicted parents and that I have seen many individuals utilize the AA model to get and stay sober. But the fact remains that just as with any religion or self-help group, extremist interpretations and practices can arise, leading to painful schisms within families and between partners.

Anyway, I am now researching an article on people and families who have seen their loved ones become so focused on a 12 step group or method that they pull away from everyone who is not a part of “the program.” If you are interested in letting me interview you for this piece, drop me an email at kgranju@yahoo.com. Thanks.

This story from England, about a woman who discove… October 10, 2002

This story from England, about a woman who discovered the fetus she had just aborted in a medical jar in another area of the clinic demsontrates why the traditional pro-choice advocacy approach turns so many people off. This woman is going to sue the hospital because she was so upset by seeing what she had just willingly expelled from her uterus. I don’t get this. How can someone decide in good conscience to have an abortion if the reality of what she is doing is so repugnant to her? I am in favor of retaining the legal right to abortion in the first trimester, but women need to be able to face what they are doing and not deny it. While this woman might not have wanted to see her aborted fetus, accidentally doing so shouldn’t be grounds for suing the hospital. After all, she herself is the proximate cause of the fetus floating in a jar in the first place; not the medical clinic.