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Pro-Life Today | 27 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

As Lent Begins, Three Prominent Catholic Universities Celebrate Porn, Promiscuity
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022603.html
Life Site News
As Christians worldwide kneel in prayer to begin the holy season of Lent, students at three Jesuit Catholic universities are busy celebrating extramarital sex, homosexuality, cross-dressing and pornography, the Cardinal Newman Society has revealed.

Obama administration may rescind 'conscience rule'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-conscience-rulefeb27,0,1515759.story
The Chicago Tribune
Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration Friday will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows health-care workers to deny abortion counseling or other family-planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs, according to administration officials. The rollback of the "conscience rule" comes just two months after the Bush administration announced it last year in one of its final policy initiatives. The new administration's action seems certain to stoke ideological battles between supporters and opponents of abortion over the responsibilities of doctors, nurses and other medical workers to their patients.

"Brain Death" is Life, Not Death: Neurologists, Philosophers, Neonatologists, Jurists, and Bioethicists Unanimous at Conference
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022604.html
Life Site News
If a patient is able to process oxygen from the lungs into the bloodstream, maintain a normal body temperature, digest food and expel waste, grow to normal adult size from the age of four to twenty, and even carry a child to term, can he or she be considered dead? Can a person who is "dead" wake up and go on later to finish a university degree? Can a corpse get out of bed, go home and go fishing? Can he get married and have children? These are among the real-life stories of patients declared "brain dead" presented by medical experts at the "Signs of Life" conference on "brain death" criteria held near the Vatican in Rome last week. Ten speakers, who are among the world's most eminent in their fields, sounded a ringing rebuke to the continued support among medical professionals and ethicists for "brain death" as an accepted criterion for organ removal.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

Your host, Eric Martin, and co-hosts Michael Hichborn, Katie Walker and Michael Barnett will educate, motivate, mobilize and often entertain you for 60 minutes every Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. ET on NPLR.net, as well as other Internet and AM radio stations that rebroadcast the show.

FEATURE STORY

PECULIAR PENCHANTS
By Judie Brown

It is perpetually true that when a genuine threat to the status quo becomes more than an idea in someone’s imagination, those who are most threatened by innovation become overcome with anxiety from which flows a whole lot of garbage. Such is the case with the growing popularity of personhood not only within the pro-life movement but within the political structure of various state legislatures as well.

The most recent addition to the mounting list of personhood victories is the State Senate in Montana, where just yesterday they passed a proposal authored by State Senator Dan McGee. He has distinguished himself in many ways over his political career, but most recently his call for personhood has made him a favorite among pro-life leaders who realize that without personhood the civil rights of preborn children will always be in jeopardy.

The bill that narrowly passed in the state senate, 26-24,  makes the following statement, "...person means a human being at all stages of human development of life, including the state of fertilization or conception, regardless of age, health, level of functioning, or condition of dependency."

In other words, should the bill pass the Montana state house as well, and go to the voters as a ballot measure in 2010, it would provide the people of the state with a great deal to think about when it comes to addressing exactly who is that human being who dies every time an abortion is committed. It would further challenge that status quo in a way that has never been done in the past.

In this struggle to defend the rights of the most vulnerable Americans in our midst, Montana becomes the second state this year to actually say, in one of the two legislative houses, that people of all ages deserve equal protection under the law. North Dakota became the first state just a week ago. There are, in addition, five additional states where measures are being pursued as I write, and even more taking the entire question into serious consideration.

Such progress is a huge hurdle for the evermore-frustrated proponents of the abortion establishment’s status quo. This is one of the reasons why I believe strongly that commentator William Saletan has extended a tired, but oh so tempting hand by telling his readers that the challenge that faces both pro-lifers and pro-abortionists is, simply as follows:

…to put these two issues together. For liberals, that means taking abortion seriously as an argument for contraception. We should make the abortion rate an index of national health, like poverty or infant mortality. The president should report progress, or lack thereof, in the State of the Union.

Reproductive-health counselors must speak bluntly to women who are having unprotected sex. And as Mr. Obama observed last year, men must learn that “responsibility does not end at conception.”

Conservatives, in turn, need to face the corollary truth: A culture of life requires an ethic of contraception. Birth control isn’t a sin or an offense against life, as so many girls and Catholic couples have been taught. It’s a loving, conscientious way to prevent the conception of a child you can’t bear to raise and don’t want to abort. It’s an act of responsibility and respect for life. 

See what I mean by the “peculiar penchant”?  The man who can write with a straight face that abortion is killing wishes to placate the mushy, amoral middle, by calling on what he sees as “liberal” versus “conservative” factions to get it together and find that age-old common ground called contraception.

Dear Mr. Saletan, when will you learn that those of us who work so hard to defend the rights of our brothers and sisters who await birth already know that contraception is the root cause of abortion? 
Sociologist Lionel Tiger knows it. “With effective contraception controlled by women, there are still more abortions than ever…Contraception causes abortion.”

Christopher Tietze, a Planned Parenthood researcher, knew it too and wrote in 1981,

[A] high correlation between abortion experience and contraceptive experience ... women who have practiced contraception are more likely to have had abortions than those who have not practiced contraception, and women who have had abortions are more likely to have been contraceptors than women without a history of abortion.

In addition, it is a fact, a fact that has been recognized by the very people who work so hard to see that abortion is a “right” and a “privilege,” that they themselves were the most influential in convincing the medical community that pregnancy had to be redefined. They did this so that their promotion of contraception would not put them in the embarrassing position of admitting that the pill aborts children. As a matter of fact, 

At the 1964 Population Council symposium, Dr. Samuel Wishik pointed out that acceptance or rejection of birth control would depend on whether it caused an early abortion. Dr. Tietze, of Planned Parenthood and the Population Council suggested, as a public relations ploy, "not to disturb those people for whom this is a question of major importance." Tietze added that theologians and jurists have always taken the prevailing biological and medical consensus of their times as factual, and that "if a medical consensus develops and is maintained that pregnancy, and therefore life, begins at implantation, eventually our brethren from the other faculties will listen."

Therefore it isn’t really that peculiar that a latter day culture war expert like Saletan would make a sincere effort to encourage principled pro-lifers to set aside their alleged religious beliefs and buy into the lie that contraception will curtail the number of abortions. That very argument is a tale as old as the culture of death, and it will persist until personhood is finally the mantra of the America people and the Constitutional fact it should always have been.

The last thing the pro-aborts want to admit is that our quest for personhood and our absolute opposition to contraception has nothing to do with religious beliefs but everything to do with truly caring for the health and welfare of our fellow human beings, born and preborn.

Mark my words, folks. Peculiar penchants are going to increase, and the one that always disturbs me the most is not Saletan’s, but that dehumanizing, but ever popular query, “Should fertilized eggs have rights?”

My response to this one is, simply “Probably not if they are the product of plant or animal reproduction, but when they are of human origin they should have the same rights as you and I.  After all, that “fertilized egg” is actually a human being, an individual, a unique person with his own DNA.”  

In the early 1980’s, before anyone ever dreamed of “producing” human beings asexually [human clones and the like], Professor Jerome Lejeune, world-renowned geneticist, told us: 

[This is how] “the symphony of life is played. It is written in a very special code on DNA, and the first cell is the first part of the magnetic reading machine, so that it will decipher the code on DNA, and play human life. If the information that is inside the tape recorder, which is that first cell, is human information, then this being is a human being. We know that at the beginning there is a message, and this message, if it is spelled out in the human way, makes what is a human.”

“Ah, but let’s not confuse the people with facts,” our opponents would say.  “Let’s just give them another peculiar penchant that convinces them that pro-lifers who argue in favor of personhood are really talking about mere eggs, not real babies!”

Get ready, folks, because the counterfeit words are going to be slung around like rotten eggs.  Let’s just be prepared to debunk every one of them.  After all, there never was a peculiar penchant that couldn’t be disposed of with simple facts.

 Pro-Life Today | 25 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Notre Dame Ethics Prof Reveals Groundbreaking Pro-Life Academic Program in the Works
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022401.html
Life Site News
An innovative academic program designed to equip the next generation of pro-life advocates is one of the initiatives in store for the University of Notre Dame's new Human Life Fund, said Dr. David Solomon in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) yesterday. Professor Solomon, a deeply pro-life philosopher who has been teaching ethics for over forty years, is the founder and head of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture. He told LSN that pro-life associates at the university had been brainstorming for about a year on how to energize pro-life activity at the most prestigious Catholic school in America, before they arrived at the idea of the Fund and the academic program.   

Numbers up at Planned Parenthood
http://www.yumasun.com/news/planned_48143___article.html/parenthood_seeing.html
Yuma Sun
The economy may be in the tank, but a representative with Yuma Planned Parenthood says they're seeing an increase in new patients, a possible indicator that more people are getting preventative medical treatment. In the period from November 2008 to January 2009, Yuma Planned Parenthood (YPP) saw 260 new patients, up from 171 the same time one year ago. Last year, YPP saw 2,400 total patients. Heather George, center administrator for Yuma Planned Parenthood, said they usually see about 180 to 200 total patients a month.

Idaho Planned Parenthood offers free contraception
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/677648.html
Idaho Statesman
Idaho women will be able to get a free, long-acting, reversible contraception device because of a grant received by Planned Parenthood of the Greater Northwest. Qualifying patients may receive a device at no cost but are responsible for office and exam expenses. The birth control includes intrauterine devices as well as the implantable hormonal contraceptives.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

FEATURE STORY

SANCTIMONIOUS SWILLING
By Judie Brown

It should have come as a surprise to no one that on the very day that President Obama is addressing the State of the Union, the Alan Guttmacher Institute has released a new "study" which, lo and behold, calls for more funding for family planning programs. As the Associated Press reported 

Report co-author Rachel Benson Gold called the family planning program "smart government at its best," asserting that every dollar spent on it saves taxpayers $4 in costs associated with unintended births to mothers eligible for Medicaid-funded natal care….

The Guttmacher report provides ammunition for those who will advocate the funding increase.

Surveying data from the 2006 fiscal year, the report says the national family planning program prevented 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, including almost 400,000 teen pregnancies. Based on statistical analysis and projections, these pregnancies would have resulted in 860,000 unintended births, 810,000 abortions and 270,000 miscarriages, according to the report.
Without publicly funded family planning, it said, the U.S. abortion rate would be nearly two-thirds higher, and nearly twice as high among poor women.

But in essence, the report does not address the fundamental problem with the ongoing self-serving, subjective Planned Parenthood rhetoric, nor does it tell us how we save four dollars.

The very program that the Alan Guttmacher Institute claims prevents 810,000 abortions functions by providing the chemicals and devices, "family planning measures," that themselves cause abortion during the human being's first eight days of life. That is, they abort prior to implantation. That is a fact that has been proven by one of the very organizations one would think would be aligned with Planned Parenthood. That organization is the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. ASRM makes it perfectly clear that contraception does abort.

In a summary of the development of contraception in the United States, the [ASRM] statement called oral contraceptives the "most widely used" reversible method. In the "wide variety" of oral contraceptives that are available, the "mechanisms of action" are the same, said the statement: "inhibition of ovulation, alteration in the cervical mucus, and/or modification of the endometrium, thus preventing implantation." 

Further the term "unintended pregnancy" is a conveniently negative statement designed to alienate the couple who has engaged in sexual relations and did not "intend" to have a baby. The subconscious idea is that a preborn child is a problem that the mother needs to eliminate because she did not "intend" to have him.

Though PP points out that more of these "unintended" children are born than die, the fact is that not one of them should ever have to die based on parental intention. Let's face it, if a couple does not want to have a family, then abstain from the activity that makes having a family possible! That's common sense.

Not only that, but Stop Planned Parenthood International pointed out in its weekly Wednesday STOPP Report that PP is not effective at reducing the rate of unintended pregnancy anyway!

To prove their point, STOPP cites a Brookings Institute report which states:

With premarital sex the rule, rather than the exception, an out-of-wedlock childbirth gradually ceased to be a sign that society's sexual taboos had been violated. The reduction in stigma also helps explain why women who would once have put their baby up for adoption chose to keep it instead.

It is of interest that as in the case with the ASRM, Brookings is no bastion of pro-life philosophy. In fact, they promote abortion as the proper response to "unintended pregnancy." But my point is quite simple: PP's Alan Guttmacher Institute is standing before Congress with hands extended, asking for more money for programs that frankly have not worked. These "programs" have created a situation in which more young people are damaged for life because of sexually transmitted diseases and have a given those same young people a rather warped perspective on the value of saving sex until marriage.

But what about that four dollar savings? The proponents of this argument make the following claim:

Clinics receiving Title X funds not only provide quality health care services but also save the government money. Every dollar spent to provide services in the nationwide network of publicly funded family planning clinics saves $4.02 in pregnancy-related and newborn care costs to Medicaid.

This statement speaks volumes about how the culture of death views pregnancy, childbearing and parenthood. What these anti-baby fanatics are really saying is that spending taxpayer dollars on helping the expectant mother through her nine month pregnancy and then helping her with the costs involved in giving birth is simply not worthy of taxpayer support, but recommending contraception and abortion is! If that isn't a twisted way of focusing on how these vultures think they can save America money, I don't know what is!

The new Guttmacher study is designed to acquire more funding, pure and simple. There is no humanitarian concern for the poor or for the unwed mother. In fact, it isn't really about saving money for anyone or, for that matter saving lives.

This report also approves of congressional legislation that is currently pending. If passed it will increase funding for Title X family planning to an amount many hope will be $700 million a year. Opponents of this legislation believe that this is a 'Planned Parenthood' bailout, since much of the funding will go to the organization. However, the money cannot be used to fund abortions.

Say what? Many hope the funding level will be $700,000,000 a year?

Yes, that's right. But

In April [2008], the annual report for Planned Parenthood Federation of America revealed that the abortion giant had a total income of $1.02 billion -- with reported profits of nearly $115 million. Taxpayers kick in more than $336 million worth of government grants and contracts at both the state and federal levels. That's a third of Planned Parenthood's budget.

As we said in our media release yesterday:

The opportunistic Guttmacher Institute is playing to the American people's fear of economic collapse in an effort to devalue the lives of America's poorest citizens. Put the poor on birth control, the study argues, then we don't have to deal with their children.

"It is not hyperbole to say that the advent of modern contraception changed American life," Guttmacher says.

We couldn't agree more. In fact, it's destroying American life.

Perhaps Planned Parenthood can donate some of their $114.8 million dollar (2006-2007) profit to programs that empower the poor instead of sterilizing them as undesirables.

Let's all agree that calling for an end to PP's sanctimonious swilling of our tax dollars is long, long overdue. Sign the Stop Planned Parenthood funding petition today.

 
Your host, Eric Martin, and co-hosts Michael Hichborn, Katie Walker and Michael Barnett will educate, motivate, mobilize and often entertain you for 60 minutes every Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. ET on NPLR.net, as well as other Internet and AM radio stations that rebroadcast the show.

Pro-Life Today | 24 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Report urges boost for U.S. family planning program
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5idOm4CVgOxeAnfbHs3zcHPFrQAagD96HO7300
AP
Publicly-funded family planning prevents nearly two million unintended pregnancies and more than 800,000 abortions in the United States each year, saving billions of dollars, according to new research intended to counter conservative objections to expanding the program. The data is in a report being released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health think tank whose research is generally respected even by experts and activists who don't share its advocacy of abortion rights.

Boston College Students Vote to Demand Free Condoms, Other Birth Control
http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CardinalNewmanSociety/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/488/It emID/407/Default.aspx
Cardinal Newman Society
During the Undergraduate Government elections at Boston College last week, students passed a “sexual health referendum” by a wide margin. BC’s student leaders are promising to promote to the administration the referendum which demands access to free birth control and condoms on campus.

Bill calls human embryo 'person'
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/24/bill-calls-human-embryo-person/
Washington Times
The North Dakota Legislature is taking center stage in the abortion debate as it moves to define a fertilized human egg as a person — an effort viewed largely as a vehicle to challenge the Supreme Court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion. The bill, which could be signed into law within weeks, is an outgrowth of the personhood movement, which has catapulted to the forefront of the pro-life pecking order in recent years with high-profile legislation and ballot measures.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

FEATURE STORY

DEMOCRACY AND DEMAGOGUES
By Judie Brown

Pope John Paul II wrote in Splendor of Truth that genuine democracy requires equality among all the members of society. There is no doubt he was referring to every human being, born and preborn. He would therefore, undoubtedly be very proud of the state of North Dakota.

The North Dakota House has already passed a personhood bill that is undeniably among the most concise statements of fact in the nation. The bill reads as follows:

Section 1. References to individual, person or human being – Legislative Intent. For purposes of interpretation of the constitution and laws of North Dakota, it is the intent of the legislative assembly that an individual, a person, when the context indicates that a reference to an individual is intended, or a human being includes any organism with the genome of homo sapiens.

Section 2. State to Defend Challenge. The legislative assembly, by concurrent resolution, may appoint one or more of its members, as a matter of right and in the legislative member's official capacity, to intervene to defend this Act in any case in which this Act's constitutionality is challenged.

State Representative Dan Ruby is the state's leader on this bill and his courageous defense of personhood is inspiring. Ruby represents Minot, North Dakota, and his local newspaper was quick to report on the legislative victory, telling readers

The anti-abortion bill introduced this session by Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, has been getting attention across the nation.

The bill defines human life as beginning at conception and would allow constitutional rights to extend to every unborn human whether in or out of the womb.

Actually, the language of the bill is much more precise than what the newspaper reported. This is necessary in a piece of legislation as crucial as North Dakota's H.R. 1572 because the word "conception" has been co-opted by the abortion movement. It was once accepted that "conception" meant the moment when a human being begins biologically, at fertilization. However, with the passage of time, the pro-aborts have caused a change and today conception is defined in many quarters as implantation, thus denying that anyone is conceived before he or she is eight days old and firmly attached to his mother's uterus.

Thus, the language of this bill had to state "a human being includes any organism with the genome of homo sapiens." This linguistic precision acknowledges the existence of any human being from his beginning whether he comes into being asexually or sexually. That may sound like splitting hairs, but clearly, we cannot be too careful. The stakes are too high.

With this tremendous victory in North Dakota, which is far from over since the state senate has yet to vote, we were caught up in a moment of celebration. We nearly forgot about such concerns as Nancy Pelosi's visit with Pope Benedict XVI.  But Joe Murray's article in the Philadelphia Bulletin reminded us that not all is rosy in pro-life land these days.

In Murray's article, "Pope, Pelosi and Personhood" he presents the entire perspective, or what I call the good, the bad and the very ugly. Murray makes a point to clarify the questionable position Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi takes when she defines herself as an "ardent" Catholic, but his analysis goes far beyond Pelosi-isms.

He writes

Aside from North Dakota, Maryland, Montana, South Carolina and Alabama have introduced personhood bills, while efforts are currently underway in Mississippi and Oregon. On the federal level, U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has introduced the federal personhood measure.

And though Democrats, led largely by Mrs. Pelosi, a pro-abortion Catholic, continue to impede such measures, Pope Benedict XVI recently reminded the lawmaker her faith should come before her ideology in a meeting this week at the Vatican.

"His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoins all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development," the Vatican wrote in a statement released moments prior to the two meeting.

So, as the pro-life movement stands at the crossroads of finally addressing personhood in more states than ever before in our 36-year history, we have this convergence of events. We continue to witness the intransigence of the pro-abortion Catholic, the moral clarity of Catholic teaching and the bold, new face of the personhood pro-lifer. It is really quite a historic moment for all of us who fight for the human rights of the most defenseless in our midst.

Every pro-lifer understands Pelosi's wrongheadedness, and each is grateful for Pope Benedict XVI's loving correction of the lovely lady at the very moment when personhood is being voted on in North Dakota. We do not think for a moment that these events occurred in the same time frame by accident.

So yesterday, you can imagine my surprise when I read the blathering of Professor Douglas Kmiec, an Obama Catholic, who not only challenges what the Holy Father's statement said in reference to Pelosi, but calls on him to correct himself.

Oh yes! Kmiec writes in Time magazine online,

Might there be a different, less intrusive course for the Church? Yes: clarify the Pelosi statement by continuing to observe the difference between a jurist and a legislator. That may be awkward from the standpoint of the unyielding lines of moral rather than political principle, but it has the merit of following the instruction of St. Thomas Aquinas, who argued that "all should have some part in the government; for in this way peace is preserved among the people, and all are pleased with such a disposition of things and maintain it."

Few are pleased with the abortion jurisprudence as it is. But imposing moral duties on Catholic jurists that are incompatible with their envisioned judicial role in a democracy is hardly likely to make it better.

One can only define what Kmiec is saying here as balderdash, or more to the point, rubbish! For any right-thinking person in public life, Catholic or otherwise, the moral principles of defending the right to life are unchanging, regardless of his role as lawmaker or judge. Perhaps Kmiec should refresh his understanding of what makes democracy work. Perhaps he should pay close attention to what Pope John Paul II wrote in Splendor of Truth

The Church's firmness in defending the universal and unchanging moral norms is not demeaning at all. Its only purpose is to serve man's true freedom. Because there can be no freedom apart from or in opposition to the truth, the categorical — unyielding and uncompromising — defence of the absolutely essential demands of man's personal dignity must be considered the way and the condition for the very existence of freedom.

This service is directed to every man, considered in the uniqueness and singularity of his being and existence: only by obedience to universal moral norms does man find full confirmation of his personal uniqueness and the possibility of authentic moral growth. For this very reason, this service is also directed to all mankind: it is not only for individuals but also for the community, for society as such. These norms in fact represent the unshakable foundation and solid guarantee of a just and peaceful human coexistence, and hence of genuine democracy, which can come into being and develop only on the basis of the equality of all its members, who possess common rights and duties. When it is a matter of the moral norms prohibiting intrinsic evil, there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone. It makes no difference whether one is the master of the world or the "poorest of the poor" on the face of the earth. Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal.

Note his words: "there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone." Whether the lawmaker or would-be judge is supportive of Dan Ruby's proposal in North Dakota or the myriad other legislative proposals that address the wrong of abortion, the obvious fact is the same: Abortion is an intrinsic evil and it must be eradicated from the law. Nothing that results in such a heinous outcome can ever be, in a just society, legal.

We extend our gratitude to Dan Ruby and Pope Benedict XVI; we praise God for the wisdom of Pope John Paul II that lives on through his writings, and we pray for the conversion of heart of folks like Nancy Pelosi and Douglas Kmiec who have somehow lost the ability to see truth with clarity and complete understanding.

 Volume 6, Number 8

 Monday, February 23, 2009

Prayer Requests
Please keep the participants of the next 40 Days for Life Campaign in your thoughts and prayers.  The Spring/Lent 40 Days for Life starts this (Ash) Wednesday, February 25 and will continue through April 5.

From Associates

Children of God for Life
You may recall that almost two years ago, Debi Vinnedge heeded a call to spread the message heard in a pro-life song by David Burke entitled “We Want to See the World.”  The song is an emotional call-and-response ballad between an angel and children who are still in their mothers’ wombs.  The lyrics portray beautiful images of earth, convey messages about reaching heaven and assure parents of God’s grace for their children.

The song further inspired Debi to create a picture of an angel holding an unborn child with several smaller babies in the background among scattered stars.  The picture was printed on T-shirts that were offered to other Associate groups as a fundraiser and are now being worn by sidewalk counselors with great response.  Last year, the picture and T-shirts inspired a DVD which was first offered at the 2009 March for Life.  A number of pro-life groups as well as Catholic schools are showing the DVD as an effective way to help children understand the sanctity of human life.  Now, there have been requests for prayer cards to match the theme!  For more information and to view the T-shirt and DVD, visit www.cogforlife.org/tshirtDVDorders.htm.

Pro-Life Wisconsin
In light of the University of Wisconsin’s recent vote to provide late-term abortions, UW Alumni for Life is urging alumni and current students to sign on to a letter opposing this evil decision.  If you are an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin, know of others who are or know current students there, please pass this information along to them.  To have your name added to the letter, please e-mail Virginia at Virginia@prolifewisconsin.org or call Pro-Life Wisconsin at 877-463-7945.  Please provide your name, year of graduation and place of current residence.  To view the letter, see www.prolifewisconsin.org/releases/UWBoycott.htm.

Stem Cell Research – The “science” of human sacrifice
By ALL Staff

A stem cell is a type of cell found in all human beings.  They’re found in animals as well. Stem cells have a couple of important characteristics: they can reproduce themselves over a long period of time without changing, and they have the capability to produce other types of specialized cells, such as brain cells, muscle cells and lung cells, to name but a few.  There are a number of different places from which stem cells can be obtained: bone marrow, fat cells, umbilical cord blood, adult blood, skin cells, olfactory nerve endings and embryos.

Obtaining stem cells from fatty tissue, bone marrow or the umbilical cord after the birth of a baby may be done ethically. No harm comes to the person whose stem cells are obtained for research in such fashion.  Obtaining stem cells from a human embryo, however, is highly unethical. A human embryo is an innocent human being in his first stage of life. There is only one way to obtain stem cells from a developing human embryo, and it involves killing the embryo. In every case, it is always morally wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being at any point in life, including the embryonic stage of development. Sacrificing a child in the name of science is still child sacrifice.

There are those in the government and scientific community who say more money must be spent on human embryonic stem cell research because it holds the most promise for helping people with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.  However, adult stem cells have been used successfully for decades. Bone marrow transplants, for instance, help people every day. There are more than 100 conditions including leukemia, immune system and other blood disorders, cancers and autoimmune diseases that respond well when adult stem cell therapy is used.

Research involving human embryonic stem cells has thus far been unsuccessful in the quest to develop therapeutic treatments. It is speculated that those who support human embryonic stem cell research are clamoring loudly for taxpayer dollars because private companies know human embryonic stem cell research is neither worth their time nor their money.

The popular plea is that human embryonic stem cell research will cure Alzheimer’s disease. However, Alzheimer’s researcher Ned Potter said this research would not help the Alzheimer’s patient at all. It is nerve cells that cause the problem because they lose their ability to connect with each other. Therefore, these embryonic stem cells are not the ones needed.

Far too many reports of possible treatment for diseases are false. Media accounts simply parrot fake science. This is misleading and could lead to the deaths of millions of innocent human beings if this type of research is allowed to move forward.

According to a recent RAND Corporation survey of in vitro fertilization clinics in the United States, the vast majority of the 400,000 human embryos currently being stored—88.2% of them—are wanted by their parents so that larger families can be part of their future.  But even if this were not the case, there is no justification for killing one innocent human being, regardless of where he lives—including a freezer in a clinic. Killing is still killing.

A human being begins at the first moment of his or her biological development.  There is no greater pivotal moment in an individual’s growth and development than when chromosomes from the father join with chromosomes from the mother to form a unique, new biologic entity—a human being who never existed prior to that moment.

Those who attempt to deceive the public by using words like clump of cells, blob of tissue, pre-embryo and so forth are either ignorant of the basic scientific facts or think that people like us are gullible enough to believe almost anything.  Arm yourself with the truth to defend millions of tiny embryonic human beings who cannot speak for themselves. Spread the word that society must reject human embryonic stem cell research, while encouraging moral, ethical—and thus far, successful—work with other forms of stem cells.

Helpful information can be found at the following web sites:

• www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=irv, see article listing
• www.stemcellresearch.org
• Steve Kellmeyer, “The Embryo’s New Clothes,” www.catholiccitizens.org/press/contentview.asp?c=16963
• “The Legend of the 400,000 Embryos” and “Do no harm fact sheet,” www.stemcellresearch.org/facts/2004-06-11.htm
• Dianne Irving, Ph.D., “When do human beings begin?” www.all.org/abac/dni003.htm

News

Obama to OK embryonic stem cell research
In a closed-door meeting with House Democrats at their retreat at the posh Kingsmill Golf Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia, President Obama gave his "guarantee" he will sign an executive order overturning President Bush's executive order restricting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Obama's reversal of Bush's policy comes in the face of scientific evidence that more than two decades of embryonic stem cell research have failed to produce medically valuable results, while adult stem cell research has resulted in successful medical treatments for a wide range of illnesses.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88572

Report: Fetal stem cells trigger tumors in ill boy
A family desperate to save a child from a lethal brain disease sought highly experimental injections of fetal stem cells — injections that triggered tumors in the boy's brain and spinal cord, Israeli scientists reported last week.

Scientists are furiously trying to harness different types of stem cells — the building blocks for other cells in the body — to regrow damaged tissues and thus treat devastating diseases. But for all the promise, researchers have long warned that they must learn to control newly injected stem cells so they don't grow where they shouldn't, and small studies in people are only just beginning.

The report in the journal PLoS Medicine is the first documented case of a human brain tumor — albeit a benign, slow-growing one — after fetal stem cell therapy, and hammers home the need for careful research. The journal is published by the Public Library of Science.

"Patients, please beware," said Dr. John Gearhart, a stem cell scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who wasn't involved in the Israeli boy's care but who sees similarly desperate U.S. patients head abroad to clinics that offer unproven stem cell injections.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gXPm4dnGNyn2DTR2t_FmA0GW_4JgD96DLTT00

A baby, please.  Blond, freckles -- hold the colic
Want a daughter with blond hair, green eyes and pale skin?  A Los Angeles clinic says it will soon help couples select both gender and physical traits in a baby when they undergo a form of fertility treatment. The clinic, Fertility Institutes, says it has received "half a dozen" requests for the service, which is based on a procedure called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD.

While PGD has long been used for the medical purpose of averting life-threatening diseases in children, the science behind it has quietly progressed to the point that it could potentially be used to create designer babies. It isn't clear that Fertility Institutes can yet deliver on its claims of trait selection. But the growth of PGD, unfettered by any state or federal regulations in the U.S., has accelerated genetic knowledge swiftly enough that pre-selecting cosmetic traits in a baby is no longer the stuff of science fiction.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123439771603075099.html

Genetic mapping of babies by 2019 will transform preventive medicine
Every baby born a decade from now will have its genetic code mapped at birth, the head of the world's leading genome sequencing company has predicted. A complete DNA read-out for every newborn will be technically feasible and affordable in less than five years, promising a revolution in healthcare, says Jay Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina. Only social and legal issues are likely to delay the era of “genome sequences”, or genetic profiles, for all. By 2019 it will have become routine to map infants' genes when they are born, Dr Flatley told The Times.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5689052.ece

Closing Thought

Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor.  Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.

Romans 12:9-12

Pro-Life Today | 19 February 2009

 National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Following Meeting with Pope, News of Secret Meeting between Pelosi and her Bishop on Abortion 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021809.html
Life Site News
In the wake of House Speaker Pelosi's closed-door meeting with Pope Benedict XVI last weekend, news has erupted that earlier this month Pelosi secretly met with her own bishop, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, to discuss her stance on abortion.  Pelosi had publicly accepted an invitation to meet with Niederauer after the Speaker attempted to justify abortion in light of Catholic teaching last year during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press. Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV broke the news today that the promised meeting took place Sunday, February 8 in a third-party home in San Francisco.  Voris reports that Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said that the Speaker described the meeting as "cordial and pleasant ... a fair exchange and good."  When asked whether Pelosi had changed her position on abortion to agree with Catholic teaching, Daly stated, "You won't see that happening.  She is not changing her position on abortion."

National Pro-Life Group Tells Obama before Canadian Visit: Stop the Black Genocide by Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021806.html
Life Site News
President Barack Obama is preparing to travel to Canada tomorrow, for his first visit with the leader of a foreign country. In the lead-up to his visit, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), the political arm of Canada's pro-life movement, has called on U.S. President Barack Obama not to preside over the greatest slaughter of African Americans in history via abortion.  CLC President Jim Hughes noted that Obama, "the first black President" has a unique opportunity to "help save the lives of 4000 African American babies who die by abortion every day in the United States." "Every day Mr. President, people with your ethnic background die in astounding numbers," said Mr. Hughes.  "Abortion is the number one killer of African Americans in the U.S." Citing abortion statistics, Hughes said: "African Americans make up about 13% of the U.S. population but about 37% of all babies killed by abortion are black. In the last 36 years over 17 million African American babies have died by abortion alone."  He noted that abortion businesses target black communities.

Unborn Child Saved by 12-Year-Old's Popular Pro-Life Presentation
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021807.html
Life Site News
Though 12-year-old Lia's popular pro-life presentation did not win a regional speech competition last night, she and her family are celebrating what they call the "best trophy ever" - the saving of an unborn life, after Lia's words convinced a stranger not to abort her child. A video of Lia's 5-minute speech, in which the sprightly and articulate 7th-grader gives a point-by-point argument against abortion, has attracted over 200,000 views on Youtube and a flurry of comments, in addition to increasing news media coverage.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

FEATURE STORY

ABSOLUTES VS. ACROBATS – CATHOLIC-STYLE
By Judie Brown

When your head is swimming from all the commentary ebbing and flowing from yesterday's Pelosi encounter with the Holy Father, the essence of what actually occurred is lost. The fundamental question of our day, what is truth, evaporates in headlines and public pronouncements. One is left asking, is that all there is?

Was this just another media circus? Are the acrobats still swinging?

Why didn't the pope just excommunicate Pelosi, one person asked me! Well, maybe he did, though she clearly has done a pretty good job of excommunicating herself. At least that is my opinion. The fact is nobody knows precisely what was said in that private meeting and the only person who will not "spin" to his advantage is the person who doesn't need to … Pope Benedict XVI.

I only wish Pelosi was an isolated example of Catholic thinking gone awry, but she is not.
In the halls and classrooms of Boston College, a Catholic university, something new has been added, and as Boston Globe reporter Michael Paulsen writes, the reaction is mixed. Said one professor:

"I believe that the display of religious signs and symbols, such as the crucifix, in the classroom is contrary to the letter and spirit of open intellectual discourse that makes education worthwhile and distinguishes first-rate universities from mediocre and provincial ones," Maxim D. Shrayer, chairman of the department of Slavic and Eastern languages and literatures, said in an interview.

Shrayer is referring to a crucifix, the traditional Catholic icon reminding Catholics of the essence of Catholic identity. Does he know he is actually being paid by a Catholic institution that is striving these days to be proud of its identity?

Perhaps Shrayer would be happier at the Catholic Assumption University in Windsor, Canada, where Father Paul Rennick recently made the following statement to a member of the media, "Abortion is not an infallible teaching. It never has been proclaimed infallibly," he said.

Of interest is that what happened when the reporter from the ardently pro-Catholic, pro-life LifeSiteNews attempted to contact Bishop Ronald Fabbro, who is the university's chancellor, for a reaction to Father Rennick's statement. Mark Adkinson, Director of Communications for the diocese told the reporter that the bishop was not available for comment, and said, "…I don't view LifeSiteNews as a legitimate news source."

So on the one hand, we have a Catholic university striving to assert its identity even as members of its faculty are decrying that fact. While on the other hand we have a Catholic bishop in Canada who will not address the scandalous comments of a Catholic university president because he denies the integrity of one of the finest news reporting organizations in the entire pro-life, Catholic community.

The acrobats are definitely flying, or are those actually dingbats?

Let's move on to an allegedly Catholic organization's claims that increased spending on welfare programs will result in substantial reductions in state abortion rates while many pro-life laws have the opposite effect. The organization in question, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, made the claim after they released a study in August of last year.

Professor Michael New of the University of Alabama kept an eye on this, and just this past week he wrote

Not surprisingly, this study had a substantial impact on the debate over sanctity of life issues during the 2008 Presidential election. Self proclaimed pro-lifers who support Democratic Presidential nominees can be found in every election cycle. However, this study gave Doug Kmiec, Nicholas Cafardi, and others intellectual legitimacy in arguing that pro-life voters should vote for liberals, even if they favor abortion-on-demand and its public funding, in order to advance the pro-life cause. … It seemed too good to be true.

It was. In November, with no public announcement, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good removed this study from their website. A replacement version was uploaded shortly thereafter. The replacement version differs from its predecessor in a number of interesting ways. …

It is unfortunate that the faulty research of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good was used as political cover to help make such a thing [the election of Obama] possible. As the Obama administration continues its assault on laws and policies upholding the sanctity of human life, pro-lifers need to hold this organization morally accountable.

This is but another case of the abuses perpetrated on the American people in the name of a type of fraudulent Catholicism that is neither genuinely Catholic nor ethically sound.

These few examples should provoke us to question and to challenge the legitimacy of those alleged Catholics like Pelosi who parade their identity for the express purpose of creating subversion within the Church where all that is good is denied, while all that is evil is praised.

Such swinging in the wind should also help us express appreciation for those prelates who are dedicated to advancing the truth without regard to media bias, character assassination or attempted humiliation by those who believe their earthly power should make Catholic bishops and priests cower.

When Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino publicly criticized Misericordia University recently for a scheduled lecture on gay rights by Keith Boykin – a gay rights advocate, the diocese issued a statement in which it said

Bishop Martino wants Catholics of the Diocese of Scranton to know of his absolute disapproval of Misericordia University's hosting Mr. Boykin. By honoring this speaker through allowing his positions, so antithetical to Catholic Church teaching, to be broadcast on its campus, the University has rejected all four essential characteristics of a Catholic institution of higher learning. These are: its Christian inspiration, its obligation to reflect on knowledge in light of the Catholic faith, its fidelity to Catholic Church teaching and its commitment to serve the people of God.

But the mainstream media, not at all interested in the ideals that should be upheld by a Catholic university, reported the incident this way:  

In a prepared statement, Misericordia University addressed the controversy surrounding Bishop Martino's criticism. According to the statement, the university understands the bishop's views, but Mr. Boykin's visit to the campus was not meant to advocate for a single issue.

In other words, academic freedom excuses Catholic universities from providing a sound Catholic education to the students. One has to wonder how it is that a Catholic university can defy the bishop while pandering to the politics of abortion, contraception and homosexuality. It must be the thin air up there on the trapeze.

My second example of heroic bishops is Bishop Thomas J. Tobin who recently wrote "My Interview with President Obama."

Obviously, Bishop Tobin did not have this interview, but he told his readers he certainly could imagine having it, and here is an excerpt from one of the most brilliant tongue in cheek perspectives I have ever seen: 

TOBIN: Is it safe to assume that you consider the use of tax dollars to pay for abortions overseas to be good foreign policy?

OBAMA: I believe that people overseas should have the same rights we Americans have – the right to kill their children and use abortion as a form of birth control.

TOBIN: But shouldn't we be using foreign aid for more positive reasons – for example, to provide food, clothing, shelter and medicine to impoverished children?

OBAMA: Bishop, obviously you're missing the point. If you control the population and eliminate the children, you don't have to worry about giving them food, clothing, shelter and medicine now do you?  

In the writings and actions of bishops like Martino and Tobin, we find the fearless response needed to counter the emotional, mental and political acrobatics of those who, like Pelosi, will use any excuse on God's green earth to further insult Christ and His Church.

Like the trapeze artist who flies through the air with the greatest of ease, so-called Catholics like Pelosi, Father Rennick and the leadership of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good will defy gravity, or in this case, truth, for the express purpose of advancing an evil agenda, the centerpiece of which is preborn child killing.

But as we all know, truth prevails where fervent faith is alive. As Christ instructs us, "If your faith were the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it would move; nothing would be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20)

 Today | 17 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Birmingham Police Accused of 'Horrifying Civil Rights Abuses' Against Pro-Life Advocates
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021610.html
Life Site News
Members of a pro-life protest group have accused Birmingham police of violating their civil rights by bullying and arresting the group for peacefully spreading their message on a public sidewalk. According to a press release issued by the group, nine members of the Survivors Campus Life Tour were holding signs, dialoguing and distributing literature to students on a public sidewalk at Birmingham's Parker High School Thursday when police arrived in over a dozen squad cars and began to threaten the group with arrest unless they leave.  The group says they contacted their attorney, who assured them that their location on the public sidewalk and their free speech activity was legal, and so they continued their activities until police began arresting the members without explanation.

Pelosi to Have Audience with Pope, Vatican Confirms
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93787
EWTN
On Monday at noon in Rome, the Vatican’s Press Office confirmed to CNA that Pope Benedict will be receiving U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in an audience at noon on Wednesday.  Pelosi, a self-proclaimed "ardent Catholic" who has sparked significant criticism from fellow Catholics in the U.S. for her pro-abortion views, arrived in Italy on Sunday for an eight-day official visit.

12-Year-Old Stuns Pro-Abortion Teacher and School with Pro-Life Presentation
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021605.html
Life Site News
12-year-old "Lia" of Toronto has become a star at her school and on Youtube with her five-minute pro-life speech, crafted for a school competition.  Despite discouragement and outright opposition, Lia's presentation was so well done that she reportedly won the contest she was told she would be disqualified from, due to the "controversial" message of her speech.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

FEATURE STORY

PELOSI WILL MEET HER NEMESIS: POPE BENEDICT XVI
By Judie Brown

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is about to pull off, at least according to some, a real coup by being given the opportunity to have a photo op and  conversation with the Vicar of Christ on Earth, Pope Benedict XVI. According to one news report, Pelosi, who describes herself as an "ardent" Catholic while advocating "reproductive rights," will be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the pope since President Barack Obama took office last month.

There are some who feel strongly that this encounter will provide Pelosi with the ability to tell the public that she, as a pro-abortion Catholic, was welcomed with open arms by the pope.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that whatever occurs, she will exploit it for what she thinks is her benefit. The public record makes one thing about Pelosi perfectly clear: She is not a woman who adheres to the teachings of the Church, even though she claims to have “ardent” faith.

There could be a surprise in store, although as political strategist and writer of “Inside Catholic” commentary Deal Hudson points out, "The Holy Father is a head of state and regularly meets with political leaders from every nation, regardless of their positions on issues important to the Church.” 

Hudson comments,

It's a good idea for Benedict to meet with Pelosi, because one can never underestimate the impact of being in his presence. It's also worth remembering that, if the protocol of past meetings remains the same, the Holy Father will make formal remarks in front of the media before any private meeting. Benedict will very likely make comments criticizing the Obama administration for ending the Mexico City Policy and warning the new Congress against passing the Freedom of Choice Act.

Again, nobody knows how this event will unfold, but we can hope that a miracle occurs. 

On the practical level, the fact is that under the Catholic definition of "heretic," Nancy Pelosi long ago distanced herself from truth, and she is playing a dangerous game. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith.” One of those truths, written in the Ten Commandments, is that God said, “Thou shalt not kill.” In discussing this commandment, the Catechism states,

2261 Scripture specifies the prohibition contained in the fifth commandment: "Do not slay the innocent and the righteous." The deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator. The law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere.

Therefore, if one acknowledges the fact that the act of abortion is an act of murder that takes the life of an innocent human being, one can objectively know that Pelosi, whom I presume was baptized into the Catholic Church, is in denial about a truth that must be believed with divine and Catholic faith.  She is “ardent,” if not downright intransigent, in her views regarding abortion and, as we learned most recently, birth control as well. She offered “no apologies.”

Therefore, regardless of the smiles, the warm handshakes or whatever else might occur tomorrow, the fact is that Pelosi’s soul is in jeopardy. This should be of immense concern to all of us and a reason to pray that perhaps, when Pelosi is in the pope’s presence this time, she will somehow be touched by a spirit of humility that forces her to confront her demons and deal with truth, instead of her personal version of what it means to be Catholic.

Pope Benedict has taught us much about the proper formation of conscience, and in one of his most memorable statements, Conscience and Truth, he said, "A man of conscience is one who never acquires tolerance, well-being, success, public standing, and approval on the part of prevailing opinion, at the expense of truth."

In this commentary, the Holy Father said there were two standards that define a real voice, a real conscience. “First, conscience is not identical to personal wishes and taste. Secondly, conscience cannot be reduced to social advantage, to group consensus or to the demands of political and social power.”

Dear Nancy, are you listening?

Pope John Paul II, with whom then-Cardinal Ratzinger was remarkably close, taught,

To be a person of conscience means working to build up the kingdom of God—the kingdom of truth and life, of justice, love and peace—in our families, in the communities in which we live and throughout our homeland. It also means courageously assuming responsibility for public affairs; it means being concerned for the common good and not closing our eyes to the misery and needs of our neighbor, in a spirit of Gospel solidarity: "Bear one another's burdens" (Gal 6:2).

Madam Speaker, did you hear this?

It is here, at this crossroads between the upright conscience and the dead conscience, that Nancy Pelosi will meet her nemesis, the bane of her existence: the Vicar of Christ on Earth. It may well be that she will depart from her meeting with the Holy Father as committed to denying the right to life of innocent preborn babies as she was when she arrived. It could be that she will never examine her views in the light of the “ardent” faith she claims as her own. Only God knows what the result will be. 

Regardless, it is clear that her arrogance in even requesting such a meeting is but another sign of the abyss that exists between the truth of God’s Word and Pelosi’s view of what it means to be a believer. This is why she needs our prayers; this is why her view will not prevail. Pelosi’s public embrace of the evil of abortion will not go unnoticed by the Holy Father, but I am certain that he will in this encounter be as gentle as Christ and equally as firm. We must not forget what he said in his homily on the day of the inauguration of his pontificate four years ago:

The human race – every one of us – is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries our humanity; he carries us all – he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.

Nancy, we are praying for you.

Pro-Life Today | 16 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Birmingham Jails Nine Protesters, Civil Rights Violations Alleged
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93744
EWTN
Pro-life protesters who were arrested on a public sidewalk near a high school in Birmingham, Alabama on Thursday have accused police of violating their ‘basic civil rights.’ The Survivors Campus Life Tour said that nine protesting group members were standing on a public sidewalk near Parker High School distributing educational literature to passing students. Two of the group’s members held large signs and conversed with students on the public sidewalk. According to the group, a campus officer called the police department when they refused to leave the area. Over a dozen squad cars reportedly arrived at the school and the police officers began arresting members of the group.   Lahoci Franco, 24, one of the sign holders, was the first arrested. According to the group’s press release, protestor Rev. Henry “Bud” Shaver, 30, was told that the sidewalk was not public property for “non-citizens of Birmingham.”

Sex assault victim sues Planned Parenthood
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090213/NEWS0107/302130024/1056/COL02
Cincinnati.com
A Warren County woman sued Planned Parenthood on Friday, accusing its staff of ignoring training and procedures by not reporting her suspected sex abuse when she was a minor, resulting in her being sexually abused for 1½ more years.  "They played ostrich," attorney Brian Hurley said, suggesting Planned Parenthood employees purposely ignored warning signs of suspected sex abuse. Hurley filed the suit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. The suit accused Planned Parenthood and five of its employees of ignoring obvious signs of suspected sexual abuse instead of reporting them as Ohio law requires. The woman was sexually assaulted from age 13 through age 17 by her biological father and became pregnant by him, the suit alleges. She went to the Mount Auburn facility of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio in November 2004 to have an abortion.

What the Pope Should Know about Nancy Pelosi
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5416&Itemid=48
Inside Catholic
This week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will meet with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican. With the debilitating illness of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Pelosi has become the de facto leader of dissident Catholic members of Congress.

Listen to "On the Edge" Tuesdays at 1:00 EST at www.NPLR.net

Your host, Eric Martin, and co-hosts Michael Hichborn, Katie Walker and Michael Barnett will educate, motivate, mobilize and often entertain you for sixty minutes every Tuesday at 1:00 PM on NPLR.net, as well as, other Internet and AM radio stations who re-broadcast the show.

On The Edge, a fast-paced, rountable discussion format among the new generation of pro-life experts who work every day in the trenches of the movement, focus on current events, news, politics and dozens of American Life League programs. 

FEATURE STORY

ANOTHER INJUSTICE THAT GOES ON AND ON AND ON …
By Judie Brown

Let me begin by saying that it is never my practice to write about rumors or tales from the blogosphere. So when I got the following message, my heart went right into my throat (figuratively speaking) and I decided at once that the story was a hoax.

But now I am convinced it is true. The story goes like this. In November of 2008, I received the following e-mail from a fellow pro-lifer in Michigan:

Just after election night when Michigan adopted Proposal 2 (which made embryonic stem cell [research] easier to do in Michigan!), a local news station ran a story about a couple who had tried everything to help their toddler who had severe brain trauma. The story claimed that the "victory for stem cell research in MI" would help children and families with similar plights...However, the news reporter refused to mention the exact type of treatment being given to the child. So, I called...

The news station said that the family did not want to divulge any info about the specifics. They just wanted donations. So I went to the family's donation web site and inquired there...

To make a long story short, I assumed that the whole thing was a sham; that the child was most likely receiving adult stem cell therapy, not embryonic. To my knowledge, to date there is NO embryonic research that has had any positive outcomes. I have taught this to adults and youth in my church and school. My facts are based on what I read in ALL, HLI, and similar publications.

Here is where the plot thickens...

The father of the child called me back! He made me insist that I was not a reporter. He went on to tell me that they are paying for treatment from a European doctor … It is alleged that in Europe, women electing abortion are given a chance to "donate their aborted fetus to science." I guess this offers some altruistic sense of generosity toward the public good to women who choose to kill their young.

The father and I talked at length. I told him that I had hoped he would say it was adult stem research b/c I have a family member with a similar condition, but we are devout Catholics and could never use embryos for any treatment for our child. He justified himself, saying he thought and prayed for some time...the fetuses were already dead, and nothing could be done about that...and everyone has to make the choice for themselves...He also asked me to keep the doctor's web site on the QT because he did not want any bad press..

Obviously the parents of this little boy were desperate for help for their child, and the "European doctor" they chose does indeed exist, does have a web site, is actually an American, and has a sordid history. The web site is and the doctor who is the focus of the web site is William C. Rader, M.D.

In 2006, Human Life International reported the following about Rader:

Dr. William C. Rader, a Malibu psychiatrist who ran a chain of eating disorder clinics in Los Angeles, has cooperated with Yuliy Baltaytis in the past. Rader was kicked out of the Bahamas, but not before he had made more than $33 million treating a thousand patients with fetal stem cell injections. Rader says that he has not published anything in the medical literature because it would leave him vulnerable to attacks from a "conspiracy" of scientists, government authorities, and pro-lifers (where have we heard that line before?) The business, which he co-founded with Baltaytis, has run through a succession of names, including Mediquest Ltd., Czech Foundation and Dulcinea. It is now called "Medra," and its web site  boasts that it can use fetal stem cells to cause "remarkable physical and psychological improvements" regarding virtually every known ailment, including Alzheimer's, autism, brain damage, cancer, cerebral palsy, diabetes, epilepsy, impotence, leukemia, MS, Parkinson's, rheumatoid arthritis, sickle-cell anemia, spinal cord injuries, stroke, and even the effects of aging. All patients have to do is get to the Dominican Republic, "a one-hour-and-forty-five-minute flight from Miami." Oh, and bring plenty of cash.

The Human Life International report also states, the fetal stem cell injection industry is rife with fraud. This is natural whenever massive amounts of money can be made in a very short period of time with all the risk being borne by gullible patients.

It's important to note that in this age of Internet communication, reports and stories can get out there, which can either be totally fabricated, or as real as the nose on your face. And in Rader's case, his reviewers and those who know of his work are anything but a cheering fan club. For example, "Cure A.L.S Ride for Life Online" tells the 2005 story of Anne Dumphy who was dying of ALS and thought that Dr. Rader held positive hope for her. As it turned out, she spent $30,000 on Rader's stem cell therapy, got a stronger immune system and died of ALS anyway. As the report makes clear Rader is playing on emotions and making promise that he does not seem to deliver.

In a similar commentary on the ALS Therapy Development Institute web site, one person posted in 2004, "My Aunt had the procedure by Dr. Rader in the Dominican Republic two years ago. The procedure did help her immune system but did not stop the progression of her ALS. We feel the $ given to Dr. Rader could have been better spent."

And in 2005, The Los Angeles Times ran a story on what they termed "unproven stem cell therapies" being marketed from clinics outside the United States. Rader was one of those who were featured in the report. He claimed to have cured early Alzheimer's, said he charges $25,000 for the first injection and $8,500 for each follow up injection and told the reporter, "I think there is a higher power. I feel that I am just simply a conduit." The L.A. Times also reports, "Rader, 66, said he has not published anything about his therapy because that would open him to attack from a 'conspiracy' of scientists, government authorities, pharmaceutical companies and abortion opponents."

Today, when you visit the Medra web site, you will find that the fetal stem cells he uses come from Eastern Europe, or at least that is his claim. You will also find nothing in the way of a scientific study or a confirmation of the validity of his work, and no endorsements from prestigious institutions or any kind.

So I ask myself if perhaps the entire in vitro fertilization industry has produced yet another thriving business that would never have come about had scientists never decided that they could "create" babies better than the proven method designed by God. And after three months of wondering, whatever happened to that anonymous little boy in Michigan who started me thinking about all this?

When the Vatican first issued its document on in vitro fertilization in 1987, the likes of Dr. Rader were probably not uppermost in their minds, and yet they did have the wisdom to state

To use human embryos or foetuses as the object or instrument of experimentation constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings having a right to the same respect that is due to the child already born and to every human person. 

This Michigan family, their heartache and the obvious cruelty that has gone before them as Rader continues his grisly practices unabated should give us cause to pause. Each of us needs to ask ourselves and our neighbors and friends the following:

Where is the point beyond which people will no longer disregard the dignity of the human person? And when will all of humanity begin holding that individual in such high regard that those who kill them, or perform experiments on them, which cause their death, or harvest their bodies, are put in jail for the rest of their lives because they have dared to profit using the remains of murdered preborn children?

Where is that point?

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Respond to Judie
http://www.all.org/newsroom_judieblog_response.php?id=2491

Volume 6, Number 7 

Monday, February 16, 2009

New Associate Groups
Please join me in welcoming our two newest Associate groups – Save Unborn Life and Mother Teresa Ministry! 

Save Unborn Life was founded in Erie, Pennsylvania in 2004 in order to spread the message of John Paul II’s Gospel of Life.  Specifically, Save Unborn Life assists abortion-minded mothers in choosing life for their preborn child by providing monetary compensation to the mother upon the birth of the child.  The president of Save Unborn Life is Mrs. Laura Merriott. 

Mother Teresa Ministry is the pro-life apostolate of the Catholic Church (Holy Family and St. Anne’s parishes) in Deming, New Mexico.  MTM’s mission is to carry out the works of mercy within its parishes and the local community by distributing pro-life literature, donating pro-life materials to libraries, participating in Respect Life Sunday events, organizing the local Life Chain, hosting pro-life speakers and praying monthly rosaries.  Mrs. Amy Seltzer is a co-founder of Mother Teresa Ministry.

We are very pleased to have both groups join the Associate Program and look forward to assisting them in their future endeavors!

Red Envelope Campaign
American Life League has received a number of telephone calls and e-mails about a grassroots initiative developed with the hope of sending a message to President Barack Obama that there is moral outrage over his administration’s promotion of abortion.  The campaign involves mailing a red (in time for Valentine’s Day) envelope to the president.  The envelope should be empty but include a message on the outside.  Suggested wording includes: “This envelope represents one child who died through abortion.  Imagine this child’s potential if he or she had been allowed to live.”  Just last week a web site was set up to further promote the project.  See www.redenvelopeproject.org.

Envelopes should be mailed to:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20500

Tip of the month – Parent Power
"School District #3" – from Parent Power!! By Jim Sedlak

As you may recall, we have begun relating real-life stories about various school districts and their encounters with Planned Parenthood.  In School District #1, the fight involved removing a Planned Parenthood “educator” from the school system and was successful over a relatively short period of time.  This case highlighted some important tips on approaching a school board with one’s concerns.

In School District #2, the fight involved the removal of a child abuse counseling program developed and implemented by Planned Parenthood.  This case involved an entrenched school board and local media heavily biased toward Planned Parenthood.  At one point, it seemed as though the parents had actually lost since the board eventually voted to adopt the program.  However, the large public outcry forced the board to develop a school access policy which, in turn, was later used to keep pro-abortion groups out of the schools and away from the children. It also led to a greater recognition on the part of the school board of the proper role of parents in the decision process of the school. In the end, the original counseling program was eventually abandoned as well!

The next school district we will review posed a much different set of challenges to parents.  In School District #3, Planned Parenthood had funded the installation of a Family Life Education program.  Planned Parenthood considered this its “model” program as evidenced by it being referred to in a number of state level documents.  Funding directly from the state allowed not only the installation of the program, but for a full time Family Life Education director in the school district to oversee it.  In this case, obviously, there was an also an entrenched bureaucracy which the parents would have to overcome.

Several years after the program had begun, a parent with a child in fourth grade became outraged over the program and the messages it was giving to the young people of the community.  She realized her child would be attending this course starting the following year and felt she had to do everything possible to protect her child and the other children in the community.  This parent obtained copies of the curriculum and contacted various pro-life groups in the area for assistance.  The struggle that ensued was a cooperative effort of both many individuals and several groups.

The concerned parent decided to get things started in the school district by holding an informational meeting.  She set up the meeting in a local church hall and invited many other parents and every member of the school board (two of whom actually attended).  The meeting opened with prayer and some singing of religious songs, and then “A Critical Look at Planned Parenthood” was shown.  Finally, the discussion was turned to the specific program in the school district.

As the speakers read from the actual course material, attendees were surprised to find a number of things being taught.  All were clearly opposed to the sex ed program and one school board member stated he was “shocked” by the nature and extent of the program.  Attendees were eager to begin the fight to get it taken out of the school. 

The two school board members who attended the meeting were very upset at the Planned Parenthood program.  They asked the Superintendent of Schools to follow-up.  The Superintendent scheduled a meeting to discuss the matter with the concerned parents.  In preparation for the meeting, parents prepared an analysis of the FLE program in the school.

Next month:  The analysis of Planned Parenthood’s Family Life Education Program

News

Vatican official: Bishops have no choice but to refuse communion to pro-abort politicians
Archbishop Raymond Burke, in an exclusive with LifeSiteNews.com, said that the issue of pro-abortion politicians continuing to receive Holy Communion is still one of major concern and that it is the duty of bishops to ensure that they are refused.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020402.html

"Abortion reduction strategies" ignore half the problem, Archbishop warns
During a recent trip to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver delivered a talk to the Irish chapter of Human Life International that outlined the “dos and don’ts” for the pro-life movement. Those who claim pro-lifers should avoid the “divisive” issue of ending legalized abortion and focus on providing better support for pregnant mothers are creating a false division, the archbishop insisted.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93585

Abortion-breast cancer link, Komen Foundation, Planned Parenthood explored
An upcoming episode of “Facing Life Head-On” will discuss the link between abortion and breast cancer and purports to expose the “irregular relationship” between the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer organization and Planned Parenthood.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93651

Pro-abortion activists renew attacks on pregnancy resource centers
Feminists who gathered for a conference last week in Washington, D.C., said President Barack Obama’s pro-abortion mandate is likely to unite the pro-life movement like it did during Bill Clinton’s two terms as president. Panelists said that meant there is a need to renew efforts to discredit the pro-life movement, including defeating legislation that would support pregnancy resource centers.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=43363

Stimulus contains rationed medicine
The former lieutenant governor of New York is warning that the $50 billion that President Obama expects to spend in the next few years on a nationwide digital health records system for every individual easily could, and probably will, result in rationed medical care.
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88457

A resurgence of eugenics?
As the world moves further into economic chaos, eugenics, an old idea cloaked under modern terminology, is making a comeback. During these times it is easy to see how a resurgence and re-packaging of eugenics could come about. Do you have more than two children? Your carbon footprint has been deemed unacceptable. Your economic burden on society cannot be tolerated during unprecedented economic times. The growing population of elderly individuals will be an incredible burden on a faltering system, we are told. Some governmental think tanks see younger generations pursuing euthanasia policies as an option.
http://oldthinkernews.com/Articles/oldthinker%20news/2009_a_resurgence_of_eugenics.htm

Closing Thought

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  Great is this salvation, my brethren, which fears neither sickness nor lethargy and disregards pain.  We should then in the fullest sense, not only with our voice but with our very soul cry out, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”  If he enlightens and saves me, whom shall I fear?  

From a sermon by John the Serene, Bishop, Liturgy of the Hours, III: 130

 Pro-Life Today | 09 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Lawmakers Pursue Limited Action on Abortion, Family Planning
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?abbr=daily2_&page=NewsArticle&id=15376&security=1201&news_iv_ctrl=-1
National Partnership for Women and Families
Antiabortion-rights groups are escalating efforts against the Freedom of Choice Act and other policies to protect abortion rights that President Obama has said he would support, the Baltimore Sun reports. "Antennas are way up in the pro-life community," according to Catholic League President Bill Donahue. As evidence, the Sun cites the massive postcard campaign against the Freedom of Choice Act -- which, if approved by Congress and signed into law, would codify Roe v. Wade and prevent states from infringing on abortion rights. The groups are organizing against FOCA, which Obama had said he would sign, despite the fact that Democrats seem inclined to hold off on pursuing the broad reproductive rights agenda feared by social conservatives. Although more abortion-rights supporters gained House and Senate positions in the 2008 elections, a large number of moderate Democrats who oppose abortion or support only incremental policy changes remain in Congress, the Sun reports. In addition, any large-scale effort to overhaul abortion policies would require expending political capital, which Obama might rather use toward promoting his economic agenda. Democratic lawmakers say that although they remain committed to overturning former President George W. Bush's policies related to abortion rights and family planning, they might postpone pursuing an expansive agenda for the time being. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a past sponsor of FOCA, said she has no plans to reintroduce the bill in the immediate future. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, added that FOCA "is not our top priority right now." Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said, "We deal in reality. You have to be pragmatic, realistic and, in the end, strategic." Keenan added that the "votes just aren't there" to enact significant changes to abortion-related policies. Instead of promoting sweeping changes to abortion and family planning policies, advocates instead are focusing on reversing Bush administration initiatives. Obama already has repealed the "Mexico City" policy, also known as the "global gag rule," which prohibited international organizations that received U.S. aid from promoting or providing abortion-related information and services. In addition, the administration is expected to rescind the HHS "conscience" rule that Bush enacted before leaving office, which allows health care workers to refuse to perform any services that violates their "religious beliefs or moral convictions," the Sun reports.

"Abortion Reduction Strategies" Ignore Half the Problem, Archbishop Warns
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93585
EWTN
During a trip to Ireland this past weekend, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver delivered a talk to the Irish chapter of Human Life International that outlined the “dos and don’ts” for the pro-life movement. Those who claim pro-lifers should avoid the “divisive” issue of ending legalized abortion and focus on providing better support for pregnant mothers are creating a false division, the archbishop insisted. Following the theme “An American view on how to build a culture of life,” Archbishop Chaput explained that his goal was “to offer some lessons from the American experience that Irish Christians might find useful.” More than three decades after the legalization of abortion in the U.S., Archbishop Chaput diagnosed Americans’ beliefs on abortion as schizophrenic as he gave an overview of the current situation. “Most believe abortion is wrong. But most also want it legal under some limited circumstances,” he said. The consequences of holding two such divergent views are that the U.S. has “a large and well-funded abortion industry” and that a “very vigorous prolife movement” has grown up “right alongside the abortion industry,” Chaput observed. “American pro-lifers have had many setbacks. They never have enough money. They don't get treated fairly by the media. Too many of their leaders argue with each other too much of the time. But they just won't give up or die. And so they've won quite a few modest but important legal victories. Meanwhile they continue to work toward the strategic goal of overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision.” With all of this in mind, Archbishop Chaput offered what he sees as six “don’ts” and five “dos” that pro-lifers around the world should learn from their American counterparts.

Personhood legislation introduced in North Dakota
http://personhoodusa.com/node/36
Personhood USA
On Monday, January 19, State Representative Dan Ruby introduced "The Personhood of Children Act" into the North Dakota legislature. Personhood USA, an organization committed to supporting states in their efforts to declare legal personhood for every human being, is represented by leader Cal Zastrow, who is assisting with the strategy and promotion of the new bill (H.R. 1572). The entire bill is posted at: http://personhoodnorthdakota.com/ Also posted are instructions for North Dakotans to contact their state representatives and encourage them to pass this bill without hostile amendments.

ALL Report: "FOCA in Focus"

American Life League explains the dangers of the Freedom of Choice Act for preborn babies throughout the country.

To view the report on blip.tv (higher quality version), go to http://blip.tv/file/1650006. To watch the video on YouTube (please understand, we can't control the related content there), go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=347F1aHx5yg.

To subscribe to the ALL Report through an RSS feed, click here: http://allreport.blip.tv/rss
To subscribe to the ALL Report via iTunes, click here: itpc://ALLReport.blip.tv/rss/itunes/

Register now!  The 25th Anniversary of the Baby Doe Rules: Perspectives from the Fields of Law, Health Care, Ethics and Disability Policy

FEATURE STORY

OBAMA CHRONICLES: ACRID ATMOSPHERE
By Judie Brown

While it really isn't surprising that President Obama would be working his way toward some sort of politically motivated abortion program, it is quite interesting that he has chosen to use his new White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships as the vehicle. The irony of this relationship, however, might escape some people. I cannot see how a relationship can actually exist between people’s supposed belief in God, their apparent willingness to overlook what abortion does to children and negotiating ways to supposedly reduce the death count rather than eliminate it. I must be missing something.

I find it interesting that when the president discussed this proposed White House office prior to his election, he never mentioned that one of the office’s activities would be exploring ways to reduce abortion. In fact, in one particular address, he told his audience,

You know, faith based groups like East Side Community Ministry carry a particular meaning for me. Because in a way, they're what led me into public service. It was a Catholic group called The Campaign for Human Development that helped fund the work I did many years ago in Chicago to help lift up neighborhoods that were devastated by the closure of a local steel plant.

Imagine it! A Catholic group funded the work of a man who has now taken the position that he not only supports abortion unequivocally, but also believes it should be available without hindrance. This is precisely why he supports things like the Prevention First Act.

In that same speech, Obama outlined his plan to have the organizations and church groups that do understand the intricacies of working within the parameters of a federal grant teach those that don't, and once again, he mentioned a Catholic organization – this time, Catholic Charities.

Somehow, he appears to enjoy the idea of co-opting Catholic identity by aligning the word Catholic with his less-than-wholesome positions on matters like aborting little children. In case anyone thinks this reference to Catholic organizations is accidental, think again!

The most frightening part of that speech, though, was this line:

Every house of worship that wants to run an effective program and that's willing to abide by our constitution – from the largest mega-churches and synagogues to the smallest store-front churches and mosques – can and will have access to the information and support they need to run that program.

As a constitutional lawyer, the president knows that there are a wide variety of interpretations regarding the actual meaning of "separation of church and state." He also knows that those who favor abortion have argued for three decades or more that opposition to abortion is a religious belief and the government must not pander to pro-lifers for that reason.

I, for one, can imagine that, under Obama’s interpretation of the doctrine of separation of church and state, there would be little acceptance for those people of faith who actually define the questions regarding the act of abortion in terms that are accurate, comprehensive and relate directly to God's creative authority. My sense is that deeply faith-filled people are going to have a hard time if they and their projects choose to be part of his new program.

Further, if one objectively examines Obama's words of July 2008, versus what the Obama staff is saying now, "on the condition of anonymity," there is every reason to be exceedingly concerned about the fate of only God knows how many preborn children.

For example, the anonymous “senior White House aide” is quoted as saying that the White House wants to "change the dialogue" and search out "common-sense, common-ground approaches to difficult problems."

Now let me see if I can translate that for you. The idea that a mother has a constitutional right to kill or not to kill her baby as long as that baby is not born will continue to be the foundational principle for any "change" in dialogue or any conversation employing the Obama version of "common sense." After all, it's "a woman's choice." And clearly, the existence of the preborn child is a "difficult problem" that the White House Office on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships will address in ways acceptable to the president and his men.

There will be, without a doubt, no mention that abortion is an act with a deadly result. After all, the kind of dialogue Obama's staff is considering leaves out any discussion of right versus wrong, life versus death, personhood versus non-personhood or good versus evil. Such terms would be considered inflammatory in a White House that is working to create a new paradigm. The problem with all this is not so much that the president's spokespeople are discussing this, but that some members of the Evangelical and Catholic communities are applauding the effort.

All the mumbo-jumbo sickens me, because it places verbal gymnastics at the center of the subterfuge that is designed to make everybody feel good about Obama’s plans. Such gibberish leaves science and logic far behind. Why else would the director of the Life Cycle Institute at Catholic University tell the Washington Post, upon hearing of Obama’s efforts to appease both pro-lifers and pro-aborts, "The stars are beginning to align" in this "unique political moment."

What in the world does that have to do with facing the facts and dealing with the tragedy produced by 36 years of aborting little babies?

In my humble opinion, the “stars” that are aligning are all grisly, gruesome and ghastly. The cultural atmosphere in our nation at this moment reeks of the stench of death, as some applaud the efforts being made by the president to "change the dialogue."

One need only read a news report or two about abortion to discover that the new paradigm is already active. The philosophical framework underlying the paradigm is all too clear. Here are a couple of questions to help you see what I mean.

How can you say the state of California is training midwives and physicians’ assistants to "perform 'suction aspiration' surgical abortion procedures" in a way that does not translate into death for the younger patient? You simply don't mention the truth about abortion.

How does one make the statement that a Utah "ban" on abortion is actually going to end all abortion in the state, when the language of the bill states that abortion will continue, "in limited cases to protect the mothers' life, prevent permanent damage to her physical health, or in cases of rape or incest?" You simply don't define the word "ban," but if Merriam-Webster's definition of the word "ban" still reads, "to prohibit," then where is the truth in the description of this bill? You’ve got it … It simply is not there.

And yes, I am saying that there are pro-lifers who are as guilty of this game as are the pro-aborts. This is why some are applauding the Obama proposal. The political world surrounding abortion has become a discussion about abstract concepts that have nothing to do with a real baby, real blood and real death.
It really frightens me when I think about the ways in which language is being so badly abused. I wonder if anyone really knows what the words they hear or read mean, or worse, if they actually care at all.

Is it being unfair of me to indict Obama and his latest project as being nothing more than propaganda? I would say no, because I can recall, as easily as can any American citizen with the ability to hear, Obama's words to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, "We're at a crossroads here in America … There will always be people … who do not share my view on the issue of choice. On this fundamental issue I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield.”

Oh yes indeed, the Obama stars certainly have aligned!

My advice to those who are increasingly encouraged by all the talk about the “change” and reduced “need” for abortion entailed by the new paradigm is to recall the words of Irish orator John Philpot Curran in 1790: "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance."

ALL  Associates  

Volume 6, Number 6

Monday, February 9, 2009

Prayer Requests - Action Items

The Movement for a Better America, Inc.
Just one month after celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, a black pastor faces a two year jail term following a nine month ordeal that began when he was arrested for peacefully witnessing in front of an Oakland, California abortion clinic.

Walter B. Hoye II, a deeply compassionate pastor from nearby Berkeley, is to be sentenced on February 19 for allegedly harassing women entering an abortion clinic and failing to maintain an eight foot distance from them.  Pastor Hoye faces two years in jail and a $4,000 fine - despite the fact he has a video proving he did not commit the "crime" of which he has been convicted.

Pastor Hoye was wearing a sign that read, "Jesus Loves You!  Let us help!"  He also offered women information on abortion alternatives with his customary smile.  "Can I talk to you for a minute about abortion alternatives?  I was simply offering them a choice," he says.

Dennis Howard, president of The Movement for a Better America, an ALL Associate group, is calling for a nationwide campaign of prayer and fasting from now through February 19 - and continuing after that date if Pastor Hoye is sent to jail.  "I invite all people of good will to join in this campaign of mercy for Pastor Hoye."

Pastor Hoye tells his moving story in a 12-page testimony entitled Letters from a California Courtroom, just pubished by The Movement for a Better America and the Issues4Life Foundation. 

"This is every bit as powerful a document as King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail written 46 years ago.  It is must reading for every pro-lifer, every enemy of genocide by abortion and every opponent of the exploitation of the helpless and the unborn," said Howard.

Howard further points out:  "February is Black History Month.  Let us celebrate it by working to end genocide by abortion.  It is time to defend all of the unborn.  What a tragedy it would be if a genuine follower of King like Pastor Hoye should end up going to jail in Oakland."

To read more about Pastor Walter B. Hoye, see http://www.issues4life.org.

To view the video and for press releases on the court case from Life Legal Defense Foundation, see http://www.lldf.org/.

Letters from a California Courtroom may be downloaded from: http://www.movementforabetteramerica.org/images/LettersCaliforniaCourtroom.pdf

Pro-Life Wisconsin
After assisting in the organization of a rally that brought almost 2,000 people out on a cold Wisconsin day and after presenting 20,000 petitions opposing the establishment of a late term abortion clinic in downtown Madison, Pro-Life Wisconsin was invited by the UW Hospital and Clinics Authority Board to present the organization’s opposing arguments to the planned UW/Meriter Madison Surgery Center. Todd Miller, M.D., Vice President of PLW’s Education Task Force, spoke for PLW.

Unfortunately, the Madison Surgery Center board of directors gave unanimous, final approval to allowing second trimester abortions at their South Park Street facility late Thursday.  Near viable and viable pre-born babies will now be killed using one of the most grisly and painful methods of abortion at this site. 

PLW's state director Peggy Hamill stated in a news release Friday, "Killing babies does not solve problems ... Killing babies should not be the final solution we have to offer ... When we kill babies, it is a failure of our health care system and a failure of our intellects."

Peggy further points out that in addition to the abortions committed, there are other serious concerns with this approval by the Madison Surgery Center.  UW and Meriter will now be training medical students in this practice and exporting them throughout the country.  And the body parts of babies killed at the Center will likely be used for UW research projects.  These are failures of academia and science.
Pro-Life Wisconsin plans to begin protests and vigils outside this medical facility immediately and is asking you to voice your disgust to the persons listed below, for this barbaric plan to dismember and kill preborn children at the Madison Surgery Center.

Let them know that this action is a blight on the good reputation of the University of Wisconsin and that the nation will now identify the school with the bloody practice of abortion and infanticide.

If you are a donor or alumnus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, or have any connection to the university, please inform them that you will not support them financially.

If you live outside of Wisconsin, please inform these people this plan is causing disgust and drawing condemnation nationwide and urge them to reverse their decision.

• Jim Woodward, President and CEO, Meriter Hospital, (608) 417-6000, jwoodward@meriter.com.
• Donna Katen-Bahensky, President and CEO, UW Hospital and Clinics: (608) 263-6400, publicaffairs@uwhealth.org.
• Jeffrey Grossman, MD, President and CEO, UW Medical Foundation, (608) 263-7013, publicaffairs@uwhealth.org.

Employment Opportunity
A Beacon of Hope Pregnancy Resource Center, an affiliate of CareNet, located in Johns Creek (Atlanta area), Georgia, is seeking an individual to fill a "Site Director" position for one of its locations.  This position requires experience in a pregnancy resource medical clinic and experience with a budget of $350,000 or more.  This position has high potential to become an Executive Director position within 8-16 months.  For more information, please contact Tracey Casale at 678-893-5285.

In vitro fertilization violates human dignity
By Judie Brown

Science and technology have made enormous contributions to our lives and society. But the fact that a certain procedure is technologically possible does not make it ethically right. “In vitro” literally means “in glass.” In vitro fertilization is a process whereby human life is generated in a laboratory environment such as a glass petri dish.

The process of IVF begins when fertility technicians administer hormone treatments to a woman. The hormones hyper-stimulate the woman’s ovaries to produce a number of eggs at one time. The eggs are collected from the woman’s body and fertilized. The resulting embryos are nourished in laboratory cultures and inserted into the woman’s body with the hope that one embryo will successfully implant in the lining of the womb and develop. The process is very controlled and involves numerous trips to the IVF clinic.

The Jones Institute, one of the pioneers of IVF, reports that only 10 to 20% of the human embryos produced by IVF ever result in a normal pregnancy. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that in 2003, 48,000 babies were born through IVF in the United States. This means that 240,000 – 480,000 human embryos are missing from the equation for that year alone.

• Many embryos die in the transfer process since they are fragile.
• Some embryos are unwanted and eliminated because they are considered genetically inadequate.
• Some embryos are stored alive in freezers.
• Some embryos are simply killed as they are washed down the sink.

It is a scientific fact that human life begins at the first moment of biological inception. At that point, the human embryo has a complete genetic code, and his or her growth and development are totally coordinated from within. When this fundamental moral line is violated or obscured, categories of people become devalued and they become easily used for utilitarian purposes.

No one has the “right” to a child—even the most loving of couples. IVF turns children into commodities. When a couple undergoes IVF, they are saying, “We want a child no matter what,” and the child becomes an object. This evolves into a selective mentality, whereby couples choose the kind of child they want. Above all, a child is a gift. Cooperating with God’s plan for human procreation ensures that all children are accepted as gifts. IVF is wrong because it separates human procreation from marital union.

Spousal union is expressed both spiritually and physically.  And at the same time, the procreative dimension yields both spiritual benefits and physical fruits. When marriage is physically fruitful, a couple participates in God’s creative act instead of dominating it.

Once IVF is accepted, there is no substantial reason to oppose cloning. Both take human procreation out of the context of conjugal union. IVF begins the slippery slope that leads to cloning, eugenics and experimentation on human embryos.

American Life League’s Federal Personhood Amendment is written specifically to establish the legal personhood of all human beings from the beginning of their biological development irrespective of the method of reproduction, whether in vivo or in vitro.

The Federal Personhood Amendment is unlike all other pro-life legislation in that it guarantees the right to life of ALL people from the moment of creation until natural death.

News

Pro-life people must not lose heart with Obama election says Vatican archbishop
Archbishop Raymond Burke sent a message of support from Rome last week to those in the U.S. who defend human life and the traditional family, telling them not to give up the fight, even though things may seem dire with the election of Barack Obama. The Archbishop particularly urged pro-life people to continue the political and legal battle against the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.

“We are in a very dark period for the pro-life movement, which means that now we have really to re-double all of our efforts,” he said.  The new president, Archbishop Burke said, must hear from the American people “who I believe are, in the end, pro-life, above all else.” But the time has come, with the election of the man who is being called by pro-life advocates the “most pro-abortion president” in US history, to announce clearly and firmly the message of the sanctity of life and family more than at any other time.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09013011.html

UNICEF report recommends more “reproductive health services” and “family planning”
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, launched its annual report last week claiming that, “Having a child remains one of the biggest health risks for women worldwide,” and dedicated the 168-page flagship publication to the issue of maternal mortality, virtually ignoring the agency’s mandate of child survival. The report recommends increased global financing of UN initiatives aimed at “family planning” and “reproductive health services” as the primary way to reduce maternal deaths, but also provides extensive evidence that there is no reliable data to substantiate its claims. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09013002.html

Fertility drugs may increase womb cancer risk
In a bid to boost their chances of conceiving, many women turn to fertility drugs to increase ovulation. What many of them may not know is that doing so could actually be raising their risk of getting cancer of the womb in the future; a recent study in Israel has revealed. 
http://www.naturalnews.com/025504.html

Animal-human clones don't work, U.S. company finds
Researchers who tried to use mouse, cow and rabbit eggs to make human clones said last week the effort failed to produce workable embryo. Mixing human and animal cells does not appear to program the egg properly, said Dr. Robert Lanza of Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology. Several teams have tried to make animal-human hybrids as a source of embryonic stem cells, the master cells of the body. Because human eggs are scarce -- it requires a surgical procedure to get them from a woman -- some scientists came up with the idea of using animal egg cells.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5114RS20090202?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=22&sp=true

MS stem-cell treatment 'success'
Stem-cell transplants may control and even reverse multiple sclerosis symptoms if done early enough, a small study has suggested.   Not one of 21 adults with relapsing-remitting MS who had stem cells transplanted from their own bone marrow deteriorated over three years. And 81 percent improved by at least one point on a scale of neurological disability, The Lancet Neurology reported.  Further tests are now planned, and a UK expert called the work "encouraging."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7858559.stm

Closing Thought

"Blessed are the ears that catch the soft whisper of God's voice and pay no heed to the muttering voices of this world; blessed indeed the ears that listen not to the voices that ring out around them, but to Him who inwardly teaches the truth."

Imitation of Christ, III: 1:1

ALL  Associates  

Volume 6, Number 5 

Monday, February 2, 3009

Prayer Requests

Please keep the following in your thoughts and prayers:  Barb Meyers (Pro-Life Waco) who is recovering from a health problem; USAF Major General Stephen Mueller (brother of Peg Saindon, Mother and Unborn Baby Care) who is being deployed to Afghanistan; and John Coll (husband of Kathy Coll, Pro-Life Coalition) who is recovering from a stroke suffered in early December.

From Associates

Pro-Life Wisconsin
Pro-Life Wisconsin has worked diligently to gather petition signatures, organized prayerful protests and, last week, held a press conference to urge Meriter Hospital and UW Hospital and Clinics to halt plans to equip Madison Surgery Center to perform second trimester abortions.  If you reside in Wisconsin or have contacts there, see PLW’s media release (http://www.prolifewisconsin.org/news_story.asp?id=242) and contact their office at info@prolifewisconsin.org for ways that you can help.

Houston Coalition for Life
HCL is working diligently as well, putting pressure on Houston city council members to stop the growth of a Planned Parenthood center southeast of town.  If completed, the new facility may be the largest free standing abortion clinic in the western hemisphere.  See local media coverage at http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6626560
and HCL’s website http://www.houstoncoalition.com/ for more information.

Movement for a Better America
Read Dennis Howard’s latest commentary on how abortion has affected our current state of the economy entitled “Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind” at http://www.movementforabetteramerica.org/.

The Federal Personhood Amendment
By Judie Brown

Since my first days in the pro-life movement over 35 years ago, I have learned a great deal about rhetoric and how it can deceive even the most well-meaning of people. I have also learned that there are people, especially on the pro-death side of the debate, who go to great lengths to intentionally misuse words, in order to mislead the listener.

The variety of words used to describe when a human being's life actually begins is a very good example of what I mean. Let's start with "conception," because that is where I started.

When I was a novice in this work, I thought—as did everybody I knew—that "conception," the act of conceiving a child, was the beginning of a person's life. So, in the mid-1970s, when it first came to my attention that the word now had a couple of meanings, I looked into it. What I learned horrified me.

You see, many medical dictionaries, doctors and clinical researchers no longer think of the word "conception" as the moment when the human sperm and the human egg unite in the woman's fallopian tube. For example, MedicineNet.com's popular online dictionary defines "conception" thus: "1. The union of the sperm and the ovum. Synonymous with fertilization. 2. The onset of pregnancy, marked by implantation of the blastocyst into the endometrium."

Notice that the first definition differs markedly from the second definition, and that the second ignores conception as defined in the first and tells the reader that the actual pregnancy does not begin until eight days after it has begun—at the moment of implantation in the woman's womb! In other words, the two definitions directly contradict each other. But how many of us have gone along with the use of both definitions without realizing what was happening in the process? Now there are even states where "conception" is legally defined—erroneously—as beginning at implantation.

At a 1959 Planned Parenthood-Population Council symposium, Swedish researcher Bent Boving noted that "the social advantage of being considered to prevent conception rather than to destroy an established pregnancy could depend upon something so simple as a prudent habit of speech."

Obviously, the intent to deceive the public about the abortion-causing nature of anti-fertility control drugs and devices was widespread. At the 1964 Population Council symposium, Dr. Samuel Wishik pointed out that acceptance or rejection of birth control would depend on whether it causes an early abortion. Dr. Christopher Tietze, of Planned Parenthood and the Population Council, suggested, as a public relations ploy, "not to disturb those people for whom this is a question of major importance." Tietze added that theologians and jurists have always taken the prevailing biological and medical consensus of their times as factual and that "if a medical consensus develops and is maintained that pregnancy, and therefore life, begins at implantation, eventually our brethren from the other faculties will listen."

And in 1965, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology published a new Terminology Bulletin that stated, "Conception is the implantation of the fertilized ovum."

So, there you have it. We concluded that we could no longer say "conception" without saying "fertilization." To do otherwise was to agree with the culture of death that, since pregnancy does not begin until implantation, the child prior to implantation is simply not really there at all!

But the plot now thickens even more. Enter the sadistic scientists who have no problem telling us that, because there are so many in vitro fertilization embryos sitting around in a freezer somewhere, they have devised a way to put them all to good use. They will use their stem cells, thus killing each of them in the process; and help us learn how to cure disease, grow extra body parts and stop the aging process, to mention but a few of their bogus claims.

Not only that, but they will manipulate human and animal cells, and in the process, clone or otherwise asexually reproduce human beings or maybe even a human-animal chimera along the way, to use their stem cells as well. Regardless of what they call it, the fact is that in today's fast-moving era of science for the sake of profit, the human being is at even greater risk. For those of us working for the pro-life cause, this means that our language has to be even more precise than it was previously.

So, what to do? Well, at American Life League, we are doing everything we can to make sure that every human being, regardless of his point of origin, is protected by law and the Constitution. The proposed Federal Personhood Amendment that we support states, therefore, that regardless of how human beings come into existence—whether by sexual or asexual means, whether in vitro or in vivo, whether disabled or not—they are to be treated as persons, and all of the rights the Creator has bestowed on each and every person—born and preborn—are to be recognized and protected.

Clearly, the situation has changed dramatically over the past 35 years, and had I realized then what I do now, I would have been speechless and terrified. It has always been clear that many in the culture deny God because they pretend that they are themselves gods, but today that is more obvious and thus more chilling than even I could have imagined.

The Federal Personhood Amendment which American Life League supports and is working to have introduced in Congress is updated and semantically accurate.  We hope you will read it carefully, adopt the language and pass it to others encouraging them to contact their elected officials seeking their support as well. 

News

Abstinence-based sex education under attack, even as study suggests condom failure
The teen birth rate is up in 26 states, and a new study suggests condoms could fail up to one-third of the time.
http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000009131.cfm

HPV vaccine shot causes 500% increase in allergic reactions compared to other vaccines
The "cervical cancer" vaccine against the human papillomavirus is between 5 and 26 times more likely to cause severe, potentially fatal allergic reactions in young women than other vaccines, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Children's Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, Australia, and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
http://www.naturalnews.com/025411.html

New study finds father's support plays key role in abortion
A new study published in the International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction has found that the relationship between women and their partners and the level of support provided by the father are important factors in whether or not the woman aborts.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012001.html

Planned Parenthood: Force doctors to do abortions
Experts for the Alliance Defense Fund and Christian Legal Society are gearing up to defend three laws that allow medical professionals to follow their conscience and not participate in abortions.
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86859

The bioethics drive to kill for organs grows
The agitation to increase the pool of potential organ donors by allowing people who are unquestionably not dead, but who have profound cognitive disabilities, to be killed for their organs continues. An article in the American Medical News, primarily concerned with organ procurement after "heart death," is the latest example.
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/blog/2009/01/bioethics-drive-to-kill-for-organs.html

Closing Thought

"Every human being is not only himself. He is also the unique, quite special, altogether important, and remarkable point where the phenomena of the world intersect just once and never again in precisely that way. Therefore, every human being's history is important, everlasting, divine; therefore, every human being, as long as he lives and carries out nature's will, is something wonderful and worthy of attention. In every human being the spirit has become form; in every one a creature suffers; in every one a redeemer is crucified."

From the prologue to Demian, by Hermann Hesse

ALL  Associates

Volume 6, Number 4                                                                                                                  Monday January 26, 2009

Federal Personhood Amendment
American Life League has collaborated with medical ethicists, constitutional lawyers and veteran pro-lifers to formulate American Life League's Federal Personhood Amendment. The amendment we propose states the following:

Purpose
To establish that legal personhood is granted to all human beings in the United States from the beginning of their biological development.

Section 1
The right to life is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person.

Section 2
With respect to the right to life guaranteed to persons by the fifth and 14th articles of amendment to the Constitution, the word "person" applies to all human beings; irrespective of age, health, function, physical dependency or method of reproduction; including their unborn offspring; at every stage of their biological development.

Section 3
Congress and the several States, including territories under United States control, shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 4

Definitions:

Human being: Any organism, including the single-cell human embryo, irrespective of the method of reproduction, who possesses a genome specific for and consistent with an individual member of the human species.

Human genome: The total amount of nuclear and extra-nuclear DNA genetic material that constitutes an organism as an individual member of the human species—including the single-cell human embryo.

Human embryo: The term is used to define all human beings from the beginning of the embryonic period of their biological development through eight weeks; irrespective of age, health, function, physical dependency or method of reproduction; whether in vivo or in vitro.

Human fetus: The term is used to define all human beings from the beginning of the fetal period of their biological development (the beginning of nine weeks) through birth; irrespective of age, health, function, physical dependency or method of reproduction; whether in vivo or in vitro.

Personhood: The legal recognition of a human being's full status as a human person that applies to all human beings; irrespective of age, health, function, physical dependency or method of reproduction; including their unborn offspring; at every stage of their biological development.

The use of certain terminology must be considered with regard to human reproduction. The common terms used to refer to the moment that a human being's life begins are "fertilization" and "conception." We encourage you to reconsider the use of these terms for the following reasons.

Fertilization is now only one method of reproducing members of the human species. It is a medically accurate term but not sufficient, because humans are now also created artificially, that is, by asexual means not involving fertilization. To use the term "fertilization" when referring to the moment that a new human being comes into existence would consequently exclude from this document's intended scope a whole class of people who are reproduced asexually.

Although "conception" is commonly used by the general public, it is expressly and universally rejected as a scientific term by embryologists, scientists and medical professionals, and thus does not adequately support the concept of personhood. In addition, the term is not always understood to refer to the act of fertilization and is often erroneously taken to mean “implantation.” In many states, as well as in literally dozens of national and international medical and research organizations (including the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians), the term "conception" is defined as "beginning at implantation." ACOG adopted this new definition in 1965 in response to political pressures and not as a result of scientific discovery.  Thus, since the personhood movement aims to recognize all human beings, precise, unambiguous and scientifically accurate terminology is indispensable and of the utmost importance.

Instead of using the aforementioned terms, use the term point of creation instead of conception, or even fertilization. If explaining when a person comes into existence, explain that human embryology experts recognize that the life of each human being begins at his or her biological beginning or biological inception.

The Federal Personhood Amendment is unlike all other pro-life legislation in that it guarantees the right to life of ALL people from the moment of creation until natural death.

News

Study links water pollution from contraceptives, chemicals with declining male fertility
New research strengthens the link between water pollution and rising male fertility problems. The study, by Brunel University, the Universities of Exeter and Reading and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, shows for the first time how a group of testosterone-blocking chemicals is finding its way into UK rivers, affecting wildlife and potentially humans. The research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and is now published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011901.html

Abstinence-based sex education under attack, even as study suggests condom failure
Planned Parenthood and other liberal groups are hopeful President Barack Obama will put an end to federally funded abstinence education, claiming it is not working.  However, their beloved "comprehensive," condom-based sex education doesn't seem to be doing much good, either. The teen birth rate is up in 26 states, and a new study suggests condoms could fail up to one-third of the time.
http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000009131.cfm

Supreme Court case based on 'fraud, lies and deceit'
Do you know who Sandra Cano is? How about the A.C.L.U.? How about the health exception to the U.S. Supreme Court's limitation on when an abortion could be performed? Is there a connection linking Sandra Cano, the A.C.L.U. and the abortion health exception? If so, why would it be significant at this time of year? The connection goes back to 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled on two cases related to abortion on the same day. Many people recognize the landmark case Roe v. Wade, a case originating in Texas. In January of 1973, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Roe v. Wade, and the same day on a companion case, Doe v. Bolton. These two cases paved the way for the parentally-determined death warrant on millions of babies since that time. Did you know the "Jane Roe" (fictitious name) of Roe v. Wade never had an abortion? Did you know the "Mary Doe" (fictitious name) of Doe v. Bolton never had and never wanted an abortion?
http://www.journal-spectator.com/news/2009/0121/opinion/010.html

New study finds father's support plays key role in abortion
A new study published in the International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction has found that the relationship between women and their partners and the level of support provided by the father are important factors in whether or not the woman aborts.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012001.html

“The federal government was the one defrauded”
A former executive of Planned Parenthood-Los Angeles has filed an appeal of a federal judge’s dismissal of his whistleblower’s lawsuit against all Planned Parenthood affiliates in California and their statewide political action arm, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. The suit alleges the nine affiliates and PPAC knowingly engaged in a scheme to defraud state and federal taxpayers out of more than $180 million by deliberately over-billing the Medi-Cal program for contraceptives Planned Parenthood purchased at a deep discount.
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=0c474993-d965-4456-bb9f-1b0d1a60f3ec

Abortion photos protected by 1st Amendment
Pro-life activists have the right to reveal the horrors of the abortion industry, according to an appeals court ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court allowed to stand.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86024

Stem cell treatment could fight AIDS
Results of a preliminary trial have raised hopes of a new form of therapy for people suffering from AIDS, which occurs in the latter stages of infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The scientists are planning further research to establish whether the treatment could even rid patients of HIV infection altogether.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/4276488/Stem-cell-treatment-could-fight-Aids.html

Stem cell research could cure blindness
Stem cell transplants which have the potential to restore vision to millions of blind patients across the world are to be tried out in Scotland.  Clinical tests are set to begin this month in Edinburgh on 20 sufferers of corneal blindness, a condition caused by infection or trauma to the thin transparent covering of the iris and the pupil.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/health/display.var.2482713.0.Stem_cell_research_could_cure_blindness.php

Closing Thought

It is a characteristic of any decaying civilization that the great masses of the people are unconscious of the tragedy. Humanity in a crisis is generally insensitive to the gravity of the times in which it lives. Men do not want to believe their own times are wicked, partly because they have no standard outside of themselves by which to measure their times. If there is no fixed concept of justice, how shall men know it is violated? Only those who live by faith really know what is happening in the world; the great masses without faith are unconscious of the destructive processes going on, because they have lost the vision of the heights from which they have fallen.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
(http://fathersforlife.org/letters/mail/depopulation_crisis.htm )

 ALL Associate Newsletter

 Pro-Life Today | 20 January 2009

 our National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

U.S. Bishops Urge New President to Keep Laws on Conscience Rights, Foreign Aid for Abortion, Embryonic Stem Cell Research
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011906.html
Life Site News
The U.S. bishops have urged President-elect Barack Obama not to rescind current policies that protect conscience rights of health care workers, prevent foreign aid to organizations promoting abortion, and ban funding of stem cell research that encourages destruction of human embryos. They made the request in a January 16 letter from Cardinal Francis George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, shortly before President-elect Obama's inauguration. The letter followed by less than a week a previous letter outlining the bishops' broad policy agenda as the new Administration and Congress begin their work.

HLI President: Best Pro-Life Response to Obama – Respect the President, Sure, But don’t Give in “One Single Inch”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011908.html
Life Site News
"We can be civil in discourse and strive to show respect for the office which President Obama holds, but we cannot give ONE SINGLE INCH on any life issue or allow the civility of our discourse to be interpreted as compromise."

Study Links Water Pollution from Contraceptives, Chemicals with Declining Male Fertility
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011901.html
Life Site News
New research strengthens the link between water pollution and rising male fertility problems. The study, by Brunel University, the Universities of Exeter and Reading and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, shows for the first time how a group of testosterone-blocking chemicals is finding its way into UK rivers, affecting wildlife and potentially humans. The research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and is now published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The study identified a new group of chemicals that act as ‘anti-androgens.’ This means that they inhibit the function of the male hormone, testosterone, reducing male fertility. Some of these are contained in medicines, including cancer treatments, pharmaceutical treatments, and pesticides used in agriculture. The research suggests that when they get into the water system, these chemicals may play a pivotal role in causing feminising effects in male fish. Earlier research by Brunel University and the University of Exeter has shown how female sex hormones (estrogens), and chemicals that mimic estrogens, are leading to ‘feminisation’ of male fish. Found in some industrial chemicals and the contraceptive pill, they enter rivers via sewage treatment works. This causes reproductive problems by reducing fish breeding capability and in some cases can lead to male fish changing sex. Other studies have also suggested that there may be a link between this phenomenon and the increase in human male fertility problems caused by testicular dysgenesis syndrome. Until now, this link lacked credence because the list of suspects causing effects in fish was limited to estrogenic chemicals whilst testicular dysgenesis is known to be caused by exposure to a range of anti-androgens.

ALL Report: "FOCA in Focus"

American Life League explains the dangers of the Freedom of Choice Act for preborn babies throughout the country.

To view the report on blip.tv (higher quality version), go to http://blip.tv/file/1650006. To watch the video on YouTube (please understand, we can't control the related content there), go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=347F1aHx5yg.

To subscribe to the ALL Report through an RSS feed, click here: http://allreport.blip.tv/rss
To subscribe to the ALL Report via iTunes, click here: itpc://ALLReport.blip.tv/rss/itunes/

Register now!  The 25th Anniversary of the Baby Doe Rules: Perspectives from the Fields of Law, Health Care, Ethics and Disability Policy
FEATURE STORY

 ALL Associate Newsletter

 Pro-Life Today | 15 January 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Abortion memorial raises awareness of 50 million murdered babies
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86129
World Net Daily
The 58,000 names on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., occupy a 10-foot wall that is 500 feet long, so pro-life activists assembling a memorial for the estimated 50 million dead as a result of the 1973 legalization of abortion had to turn to cyberspace. That's because a wall with that many names would be more than 80 miles long. The new project, called Personhood, is intended to raise awareness of the cost of abortion in American lives and generate support for a series of advertisements that address the personhood issue: the idea that constitutional rights should be conferred on the unborn.


Pro-Life Forces Target Planned Parenthood

http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2009/01/anti-abortion-forces-target-pl.php
Belief Net
Undeterred by solid Democratic gains in November's national elections, religious conservatives who support life are going on the offensive with a new weapon: a sick economy. In its largest-ever state-based initiative, the Family Research Council is contacting every state lawmaker in the country with a plea to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, one of the nation's largest providers of family planning and abortion services.  Their argument is fairly simple: lots of organizations need public money now, but Planned Parenthood -- with a $1 billion budget and a $114 million operating surplus -- isn't one of them. "Planned Parenthood has proven that they don't need federal or state handouts," says Tom McClusky, vice president for government affairs at the Washington-based FRC. "During these economic times, when states are rethinking their investments, subsidizing abortion is probably not the kind of thing that they want to be known for."

Pro-Abortion Groups Post ‘Wish List’ on Obama’s Web Site

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=41920“
CNS News
It’s not anything new,” Judie Brown, president and co-founder of the American Life League, told CNSNews.com. “Basically, it’s a boiler plate desire list of the pro-abortion organizations that have been around for years.” “The thing that I think is different now, is that (the groups) actually have someone going into the White House who agrees with every single one of these priorities that they’ve listed in this report,” Brown said.

ALL Report: "FOCA in Focus"

American Life League explains the dangers of the Freedom of Choice Act for preborn babies throughout the country.

To view the report on blip.tv (higher quality version), go to http://blip.tv/file/1650006. To watch the video on YouTube (please understand, we can't control the related content there), go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=347F1aHx5yg.

To subscribe to the ALL Report through an RSS feed, click here: http://allreport.blip.tv/rss
To subscribe to the ALL Report via iTunes, click here: itpc://ALLReport.blip.tv/rss/itunes/

Register now!  The 25th Anniversary of the Baby Doe Rules: Perspectives from the Fields of Law, Health Care, Ethics and Disability Policy

FEATURE STORY

PRO-ABORTS AND BELLIGERENT BEGUILING
By Judie Brown

Recently, a pro-life coworker sent us a very interesting letter that he had received from his congresswoman in response to his request that she vote no when and if the Freedom of Choice Act comes up for a vote in the House of Representatives.

He felt it was a waste of time to write rabily pro-abortion Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, but he did so anyway because he believes, as we all do, that we should never give up on anyone.

Since I am a great believer in helping people understand pro-aborts’ misuse of the English language, I wanted to use the congresswoman's letter as a good example of why we have to be so careful about the words we use. Following is the text of that letter, and my analyses of Baldwin’s distortions are inserted in bracketed blue text.

Thank you for contacting me about a woman's right to choose.
[I presume she means a mother’s right to choose death for her preborn child, should she be so inclined.]

It is good to hear from you. As you are aware, abortion is a difficult and divisive issue, but one on which I have a firm position.
[Abortion is an act that takes the life of a human being.]

I am pro-choice and support the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which protects a woman's right to choose.
[She is pro-abortion by her own admission. Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton do not address the personhood of the child, but rather render unto mothers – not mothers and fathers – the decision to decide to end a preborn baby’s life by a decriminalized act of killing.]

For this reason, I was deeply disappointed when, on April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the federal abortion ban.
[The Supreme Court ruled to permit partial-birth abortion in cases wherein the mother’s life is allegedly in danger and spoke to the ways in which the same babies could be killed by other methods.]

For the first time since Roe v. Wade, the Court approved an abortion prohibition that contains no exception safeguarding a woman's health and allowed abortion procedures to be criminalized.
[A mother’s health or lack thereof should never be a reason to murder anyone, including a preborn child. It is a fact, according Dr. James Dobson, among others, that not a single abortion will be prevented by that Supreme Court decision.]

The Court majority's belief that the health and well-being of the mother are not factors in whether to permit a medically-recommended procedure is an affront to all women and their families.
[Abortion is a brutal act of killing. Aborting a child has never helped a family situation improve; abortion causes pain, anguish and deep sorrow.]

This decision is cause for deep concern to every American who cares about women's health and is merely the first wave in the Administration's attack on a woman's right to choose.
[No, it is not a concern for those Americans who understand that a mother’s health is not improved by her decision to end her child's life. No need to comment, as the new administration is committed to abortion in all cases and circumstances.]
 
I believe that the abortions protected by that decision should be rare and safe, but that it should be a decision made between a woman, her family and her doctor, based on her own health, her personal beliefs and her faith.
[There is no defense for an indefensible act, which is precisely what every intended abortion is. The real decision involves choosing evil or choosing good.]

To this end, I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 1964, the Freedom of Choice Act. H.R. 1964 would, for the first time, codify the rights guaranteed under the Constitution by Roe v. Wade. [There is no constitutional right to abortion.]

The bill would bar all levels of government from interfering with a woman's fundamental right to choose to bear a child, or to terminate a pregnancy.
[Here is what I believe the congresswoman really means: The bill would bar all levels of government from restricting the license to choose to bear a child or terminate that child’s life.]

H.R. 1964 has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, of which I am a member. However, it appears that this legislation will not be acted upon before the end of the current legislative session.

Please know that I will keep your thoughts in mind should legislation affecting a woman's right to choose come before me in the House of Representatives.
[Perhaps she will keep his thoughts in mind, but it will not be for the purpose of opposing the license to abort babies. She has already made this perfectly clear.]

While it sickens me to read such egregious bias against truth, it equally disturbs me that we pro-lifers allow such deconstruction to continue unchallenged. What each of us needs to do is what I have tried to do in this commentary.

Read the words, become familiar with the actual meaning of those words and then challenge those who support abortion to speak clearly. Of course, when they do, many will become converts to the pro-life position, but it’s up to us to challenge their every misleading phrase, comment or public pronouncement.

Otherwise, we will be the unmistakably cowardly who, by our silence and tolerance, permitted our foes to pursue their ongoing effort to deceive, corrupt and otherwise mold the culture into one based on hatred for God’s gift of life.

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Respond to Judie
http://www.all.org/newsroom_judieblog_response.php?id=2454

 Personhood Conference Invitation – for You! 
http://www.all.org/personhood-conference.pdf

 Tip of the month – Parent Power
"School District #2" – from Parent Power!! By Jim Sedlak

As you may recall, we have begun relating real-life stories about various school districts and their encounters with Planned Parenthood. With School District #1, the fight involved removing a Planned Parenthood “educator” from the school system and was successful over a relatively short period of time. This case highlighted some important tips on approaching a school board with one’s concerns.

With School District #2, the fight involved the removal of a child abuse counseling program developed and to be implemented by Planned Parenthood. The parents in this case were facing an entrenched school board and the local media were heavily on the side of Planned Parenthood. At one point, it seemed as though the parents had actually lost since the board eventually voted to adopt the program. However, this case is a prime example of how God rewards faithful efforts and creates victory out of apparent defeat. 

The parents in School District #2 used letters-to-the-editor to arouse community support and solicited the help of their own children to show that the community did not want Planned Parenthood in the schools. Despite the board’s vote, the large public outcry forced the board to develop a school access policy which included the concerns of parent leaders. It also led to a greater recognition on the part of the school board of the proper role of parents in the decision process of the school.

Approximately three years after the fight over the child abuse counseling program, the parents scored another tremendous victory against the pro-abortion forces. 

During that time, a state commission tried to get local groups to sponsor education programs that would bring attention to the U.S. Constitution. A small group of people in this school district, who apparently were pro-abortion, saw this as a chance to bring attention to the abortion issue and to get children in the local schools to write pro-abortion essays. To accomplish this, they received a $1,000 grant and developed an essay contest. The essays could be written on one of two topics: “Non-Partisan vs. Partisan Elections in Village and Town” or “Reproductive Rights.” The guide for the “Reproductive Rights” essay was a five page “fact” sheet. All of the sources for the fact sheet information, it was noted, were either Planned Parenthood or organizations, literature or research groups that were, in fact, pro-death!

As the pro-abortion people hatched their plan, they were shocked to find that they could not get access to the public schools. Because of the previously agreed Access Policy, these people did not qualify and could not get to the kids through the schools! They were, of course, outraged, but could do nothing about it. And, without access to the children, the pro-abortion plans began to fall apart.

They did go ahead with the essay contest and announced the winner at a town meeting. The announcement was given little fanfare or attention – no mention of the title or the contents – either at the meeting or in the local newspaper. But, it was available at the library – “HUMAN LIFE AND PERSONHOOD.” Yes, it was definitely a pro-life essay!

Thus, the parents who fought the child abuse counseling program not only won all they sought, but the results of their victories were being felt several years later. This series of events points out a number of additional things which can be done by people who are fighting school programs:

1. If the school board will not listen to you, do not be afraid to go directly to the community. Use the letters-to-the-editor column in your local papers to ask pertinent questions and to bring what is going on in the schools to the attention of the community.
2. Respond to the arguments of your adversaries on issues that affect the community. Get the students involved when appropriate and spread the message to an objection of Planned Parenthood in general, not just the specific program involved.
3. If you are presented with opportunities to have an effect on school policy (such as with an Access Policy), take them. You never know when they will be beneficial to your goals.
4. Finally, the most important point for any fight against the school, don’t count your victories and losses by the vote of the school board. Your job is NOT to win school board votes – your job is to proclaim the truth. The task at hand is to rouse the people of the community and to get them out to the school board meeting, get them to write letters and sign petitions – to get the community involved. If you have done this, you have won regardless of how the school board votes.

Too many people judge their success or failure by the outcome of the vote. This is what Planned Parenthood does and they understand it completely. What they do not understand is, people who lose the school board vote and still fight as strong as ever. They don’t understand this unselfish dedication on the part of parents for no apparent material gain. And, since they don’t understand it, they cannot fight it. They are helpless against truly dedicated parents who simply will not give up. So, don’t give up. Keep fighting and God will win!

News

Vatican newspaper publishes article detailing birth control pill as cause of abortion and cancer

The Vatican’s official newspaper has caused a media storm in the European press with an article asserting the abortifacient and carcinogenic effects of hormonal contraceptives.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09010504.html

Birth-control pill is linked to male infertility, says Vatican paper

The birth-control pill is causing "devastating" environmental damage and plays a role in rising male infertility rates, said the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0900033.htm

Merck seeks FDA approval for HPV vaccine use in boys, young men

Merck is seeking FDA approval for the use of its human papillomavirus vaccine, Gardasil, for boys and young men ages nine to 26. http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?abbr=daily2_&page=NewsArticle&id=14679&security=1201&news_iv_ctrl=-1

Parish’s big victories

When pro-life messages and actions are consistent and regular, pro-life fruits are sweet and abundant. http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/16803/

Mother has healthy baby boy despite abortion warning by doctor

Gaynor Purdy was warned her first child could have a fatal chromosome defect and a life threatening heart condition. But she rejected two suggestions to terminate the pregnancy and she and her husband Lee are celebrating life with their "perfect" ten-month-old son.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/4045097/Mother-has-healthy-baby-boy-despite-abortion-warning-by-doctor.html

Born at just 23 weeks, the baby who defied our abortion laws

When Lexie Slater-Folksman was born at 23 weeks  -  an age at which babies can still be aborted  -  she weighed just 1lb 8oz.  She was put on a life support machine and her parents were warned their daughter might not pull through.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1102516/Born-just-23-weeks-baby-defied-abortion-laws.html

Not worthy to live? Hardly

This is a story of love, hope and fulfillment. It is about a young woman named Kathleen who is a testament to courage, devotion and tenacity.  It is a story about the family who lavished her with affection and encouragement; helping her overcome what many view as a handicap that makes life not worth living.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=84900

Closing Thought

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him … After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened (for him), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him.  And a voice came from the heavens, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Matthew 3:13, 16-17

 Pro-Life Today | 12 January 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Planned Parenthood makes staff cuts

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090109/FREE/901099982
Crain's New York
Hit with declines in funding from the economic crisis and the Madoff scandal, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is laying off around 20% of its staff.   Roughly 30 people were let go earlier this week, according to a source who works for the nonprofit. Executives at Planned Parenthood confirmed the layoffs, but declined to give more details. “As with many other nonprofit organizations, Planned Parenthood has had to make staff reductions at our headquarters due to the challenging economic times facing our country,” said Maryana Iskander, chief operating officer at the agency. “While taking this action is never easy, we want to ensure the millions of women and men who rely on Planned Parenthood as a health care provider that the reductions will not impact our ability to deliver care to those in need.” Part of Planned Parenthood’s funding declines stem from the closing of the Florida-based Picower Foundation, which shut down in December because its assets were managed by Bernard Madoff. The $1 billion foundation was one of the few major funders of reproductive rights issues.

Ignoring issue of black abortions

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/11/ignoring-issue-of-black-abortions/
Washington Times
The National Association of Black Journalists' Conference on Health Disparities has all the trappings of a well-run effort. Speakers at the Jan. 30-31 meeting in Atlanta include Dr. Kevin Fenton of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund, Phill Wilson of the Black AIDS Institute and Linda Blount of the American Cancer Society. The focus is on enlightening journalists on health issues that plague blacks, such as mental health issues from incarceration, heart disease, breast cancer, strokes, HIV/AIDS and childhood obesity. No mention of a procedure that ends one out of every three black pregnancies? According to the Guttmacher Institute, which compiles reproductive health statistics, black women abort their children at five times the white rate and twice the Hispanic rate. The rate is 11 abortions per 1,000 white women, 28 for every 1,000 Hispanic women and 50 for every 1,000 black women. I contacted the NABJ and asked why there was not at least one workshop on this topic. Everyone knows abortion is connected to health care.

Forced abortions - America's secret epidemic

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=378732
One News Now
The Elliot Institute has released a report that exposes America's forced abortion epidemic.  Elliot Institute spokesperson Amy Solby tells OneNewsNow that one study found 64 percent of women who had abortions reported they felt pressured to abort by others. "Something like 80 percent of them said that they didn't get the counseling they needed to make a good decision, that often they were not given counseling at all, or that the counseling they had was inadequate," she explains.

ALL Report: FOCA in Focus

American Life League explains the dangers of the Freedom of Choice Act for preborn babies throughout the country.

To view the report on blip.tv (higher quality version), go to http://blip.tv/file/1650006. To watch the video on YouTube (please understand, we can't control the related content there), go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=347F1aHx5yg.

To subscribe to the ALL Report through an RSS feed, click here: http://allreport.blip.tv/rss
To subscribe to the ALL Report via iTunes, click here: itpc://ALLReport.blip.tv/rss/itunes/

Register Now!  The 25th Anniversary of the Baby Doe Rules: Perspectives from the Fields of Law, Health Care, Ethics, and Disability Policy

FEATURE STORY

The symposium will be held on Friday, February 13, 2009 at Georgia State University located in downtown Atlanta. Nationally-prominent experts in the fields of neonatal medicine, law, ethics, and disability policy will explore controversial issues involved in treatment decisions for premature and other medically at-risk infants. We hope you will join us for this exciting interdisciplinary discussion.

For more information and to register, go to: http://www.babydoesymposium.org/

Pro-Life Today | 09 January 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Pill inventor slams ... pill

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=11004
CathNews
Eighty five year old Carl Djerassi the Austrian chemist who helped invent the contraceptive pill now says that his co-creation has led to a "demographic catastrophe." In an article published by the Vatican this week, the head of the world's Catholic doctors broadened the attack on the pill, claiming it had also brought "devastating ecological effects" by releasing into the environment "tonnes of hormones" that had impaired male fertility, The Taiwan Times says. The assault began with a personal commentary in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard by Carl Djerassi. The Austrian chemist was one of three whose formulation of the synthetic progestogen Norethisterone marked a key step toward the earliest oral contraceptive pill. Djerassi outlined the "horror scenario" that occurred because of the population imbalance, for which his invention was partly to blame. He said that in most of Europe there was now "no connection at all between sexuality and reproduction." He said: "This divide in Catholic Austria, a country which has on average 1.4 children per family, is now complete."  He described families who had decided against reproduction as "wanting to enjoy their schnitzels while leaving the rest of the world to get on with it."

“Puberty blockers” pushed on children

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=85628
World Net Daily
The sexualization of tots in diapers has been ongoing since Alfred Kinsey bragged of infant orgasms in 1948, kicking off Playboy's infant-and-child sex vignettes in 1954. After the late 1960s, schoolhouse administrators increasingly trained children in Planned Parenthood texts to engage in "outlet" sex, homosexuality, bisexuality and pornography use. Millions of children did as they were educated and became sexually promiscuous. This opened the door to Big Pharma when, in 1992, the State began mandating an improperly tested venereal-disease vaccine, HepB, for neonates. Big Pharma neglected to inform mom and dad that one commonly gets HepB from sexual contact with a vector. The Imperial State now mandates yet another improperly tested STD vaccine, HPV, to allegedly protect "tweens" from cervical cancer.  "Follow the money." No moral society finds STDs rife among its chaste or its children. Now, as we await Big Pharma's next batch of children's STD vaccines, "The Endocrine Society has published guidelines advising that children as young as 12 be offered puberty blocking drugs to 'buy time' for a gender change."

Second-Guessing Prevention First

http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU09A03&f=PG07J01
Family Research Council
On the first day of the 111th Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a very clear message about what pro-lifers can expect from the next two years by introducing S. 21, "The Prevention First Act" that would direct hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to the abortion industry, a business that already receives over $286 million each year from federal taxpayers. It should come as no surprise that Planned Parenthood, the largest supporter of unrestricted abortion, praised the bill. And why not? The abortion merchant will likely be the largest beneficiary of Reid's abortion bailout. Among other things, the legislation would use taxpayer funds to mislead people about the potential of the "morning after pill" (known as Plan B) to act as an abortifacient. It also encourages the use of Plan B for victims of sexual assault yet has no reporting requirement in place for young girls who may have been victims of abuse and/or rape. When you get right down to it, the bill does nothing to support parental involvement--let alone consent--for dispensing the morning after pill and other "contraception" to minors. In addition to funding Plan B, the measure would also: subsidize birth control for college and low-income women; expand Title X, the main federal family planning program that requires abortion referrals; expand Planned Parenthood targeting of low-income women through Medicaid; target teens' with "comprehensive" sex education; and spread emergency contraception.

ALL Report: FOCA in Focus

American Life League explains the dangers of the Freedom of Choice Act for preborn babies throughout the country.

To view the report on blip.tv (higher quality version), go to http://blip.tv/file/1650006. To watch the video on YouTube (please understand, we can't control the related content there), go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=347F1aHx5yg.

To subscribe to the ALL Report through an RSS feed, click here: http://allreport.blip.tv/rss
To subscribe to the ALL Report via iTunes, click here: itpc://ALLReport.blip.tv/rss/itunes/

FEATURE STORY

THE GRAMMAR OF RIGHT THINKING
By Judie Brown

Not a day passes without one headline or another grabbing my attention and riveting me to a search engine on my computer, sort of like a mad dog!  But I learned that one of the best ways to share the undeniable truths that are not yours or mine, but God’s, is to focus on those aspects of daily life that prompt us to think about what kind of people we are. Whether we are Americans or Brits or Africans or Sudanese or claim any other cultural identity, we all have the same gift from God – written on the heart of every man.

That gift is called the natural law, and one brilliant woman, Professor Cynthia Toolin, recently wrote in the Social Justice Review, “Just as grammar is inherent in each language, each human person has the grammar of the natural law written on his heart.”

But what happens when that grammar is denied or despised?

One mother, Victoria Lambert, wrote about her decision to abort her preborn child because of a negative prenatal diagnosis she had received. I think the title speaks volumes about what happened when she ignored the grammar written on her heart. In the article entitled “I aborted my baby because he was disabled but it still feels like murder and haunts me every day,” she shares this heart-wrenching detail:  

I've been unable to talk about it easily, unless with a drink in hand, let alone write about the experience. This is partly because I have felt out-of-step with the rest of the world, where the validity of abortion is a given for millions of people - especially women - and to admit to being uneasy about this seems to make you a traitor to any notion of “sisterhood.”

Yet also, and this is the crucial point, because of an overwhelming and isolating sense of shame. Almost from the moment I awoke from the anesthetic, I have deeply regretted my decision. Whichever way I looked at it, it felt then and it feels now like murder. 

Lambert’s abortion occurred nine years ago, and she is only now dealing with the aftermath, with all of its pain and sorrow. Things might have been so very different for her if only she had heeded the grammar of the natural law, written on her heart, in her moments of anguish those many years ago.

But at the other end of the scale are is Christ Hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey,   which is under investigation to determine if employees tossed a stillborn baby’s body into the trash, since the baby’s body is missing. Dr. Manny Alvarez told his readers that this is not the first time he has heard such a report. He wrote,  

I have tried to talk to the hospital, to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s office, as well as the Jersey City Police Department, to try to understand how a baby’s corpse could have possibly been thrown out with the hospital trash, but no proper answers were given, since everybody is hiding behind rules and regulations.

A mother’s child must always be respected – whether alive or dead. And I am truly sorry for what has happened to this family. I just hope that this hospital will learn so that this will never happen again. 

Can you imagine the horror of such an act? Can you see that scene in your mind’s eye and grasp the disregard for the human person that must have influenced the individual who tossed that child’s body away?

Yet as Branden Cobb writes,

We've all heard about medical mistakes before but what happened to one mother in New Jersey is beyond comprehension. Kalynn Moore told reporters in New York yesterday that when she went into labor a month early on December 21, doctors at Christ Hospital in Jersey decided to do a C-section.
 
But instead of getting her Christmas miracle, a healthy baby boy named Bashir, Moore's son was stillborn. Devastated, the young mother left her baby's remains in the care of the hospital and went home. When she came back to claim him, the hospital couldn't find his body. That's right, you heard me, the Christ Hospital claimed it couldn't find Bashir. .. 
 
How does a hospital lose an infant's body? 
 
If that wasn't bad enough, Moore says police told her that her son had accidentally been thrown in the trash; tossed away like garbage. How in the world could that happen? Surely, medical professionals can tell the difference between a little black boy and a pile of trash, right? Apparently, not because now officials are searching dumps in New Jersey and Pennsylvania looking for Bashir's remains.
 
It makes me wonder about the state of health care in this country. And, it should make you think the next time you check in the hospital. 

I have to tell you that reports like these not only tear at my heartstrings, they make me feel so sad for those individuals who have rejected objective truth. Such people – and there are millions of them – appear to be blind to the violence that surrounds them. In his message for the World Day of Peace on January 1, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI said something worth repeating in view of these tragic reports:   

[T]he norms of the natural law should not be viewed as externally imposed decrees, as restraints upon human freedom. Rather, they should be welcomed as a call to carry out faithfully the universal divine plan inscribed in the nature of human beings. Guided by these norms, all peoples —within their respective cultures—can draw near to the greatest mystery, which is the mystery of God… The duty to respect the dignity of each human being, in whose nature the image of the Creator is reflected, means in consequence that the person cannot be disposed of at will. 

It is as if his words, though spoken in a completely different context, acutely describe the problematic situations noted above. And he continued:

Respect for the right to life at every stage firmly establishes a principle of decisive importance: life is a gift which is not completely at the disposal of the subject. Similarly, the affirmation of the right to religious freedom places the human being in a relationship with a transcendent principle which withdraws him from human caprice. The right to life and to the free expression of personal faith in God is not subject to the power of man. Peace requires the establishment of a clear boundary between what is at man's disposal and what is not: in this way unacceptable intrusions into the patrimony of specifically human values will be avoided.

For those of us who strive to end the wholesale murder of innocent persons from the instant their lives begin, the suffering of Victoria Lambert and the tragedy that has afflicted Kalynn Moore and her family cannot be overemphasized. There is no political solution to their plight, and there will no political solution to ending the killing of the preborn until such time as the grammar of right thinking becomes accepted among all people, so that respect for the dignity of the human person will always come before everything else.

The human family has been fractured by ignoring the specific grammar written on the heart of every human being. We must work to mend the human family before the fracture becomes irrevocably terminal.

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

---

Americian Life League

Pro-Life Today | 07 January 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Medical Expert Says that Contraceptive Pill is Causing Global Rise in Male Infertility

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09010701.html
Life Site News
An eminent doctor writing for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has stated that hormones from the contraceptive pill are causing a significant rise in male infertility in western nations. Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, President of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC), writes that "we have sufficient data to affirm that one of the reasons for the not insignificant rise in male infertility in the west (due to increasingly fewer sperm in men), is the environmental contamination caused by 'the pill'." "We are confronted with a clear anti-ecological effect that demands further explanation from the manufacturers," continued Castellvi, who also noted that the abortifacient and carcinogenic effects of the contraceptive pill are also well known. Castellvi's statements echo similar utterances made by numerous other medical and scientific experts since 2004.  Female hormones from birth control pills, which enter the water supply through urination, are being blamed for declining sperm counts in human and animal populations, the growth of female sex organs in male fish, breast growth in young men, and early onset of puberty in young girls. 

Pro-Life Groups Protest University of Wisconsin Plan To Provide Second-Trimester Abortions

http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?abbr=daily2_&page=NewsArticle&id=14695&security=1201&news_iv_ctrl=-1
National Partnership for Women and Families
A pending University of Wisconsin plan to provide second-trimester abortions at its Madison Surgery Center is drawing criticism from antiabortion-rights groups, which are questioning the legality of the plan, the AP/Chicago Tribune reports. The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based antiabortion-rights group, sent a letter to university officials urging them to stop the plan, saying that performing abortion procedures at the surgery center might violate a state law that prohibits federal or state funds from being used to pay physicians or clinics that perform abortions. In the letter, ADF lawyer Thomas Bowman wrote that "[m]any ... employees" believe that performing abortion procedures at the center would "severely upset regular patients, disrupt the respected surgical practice that currently occurs there, decimate employee morale, require burdensome policy changes and compel direct or indirect staff participation" in the procedures. A second antiabortion-rights group, Pro-life Wisconsin [an American Life League Associate group], issued a statement saying that its members would regularly protest outside the clinic if it opens, adding, "We strongly urge [the university] to abandon this morally reprehensible, potentially illegal plan."
See also:  "Secret" Plans for University of Wisconsin Mid-term Abortion Clinic Revealed http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=92887

Invest in Abortion - Planned Parenthood’s post-Christmas wish

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTljNWYwZTRjMTU3ZTgzYmRkMjBjMTZkNTVhNjc2OGY=
National Review
Among the many left-wing interests that have submitted wish lists to the Obama transition team is a conglomeration of 50 abortion-advocacy groups, all of whom want the U.S. taxpayer to stand and deliver. When their 55-page report to Obama calls for an end to “ideologically driven government restrictions,” it really means that the government should be paying more of the bills for groups that advocate and perform abortions. To provide some context, the government has been “bailing out” Big Abortion for years. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, feeds off the taxpayer to the tune of $337 million in government funds that would otherwise have to come from donors. If the recommendations in this report are enacted, they and other abortion providers and advocates will have even more spoils upon which to feast.

Register for the 2009 Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference!
 


Join us and listen to prominent pro-life leaders such as Judie Brown, Dr. Alan Keyes, Jill Stanek, Lila Rose and Kristi Burton discuss the most important demand of our time: the recognition of the personhood of every human being, from creation to natural death. Image Blocked

During the 2009 Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference, you will join hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers as they march in Washington, DC; meet and network with young pro-lifers from all over the country; receive training from experienced, successful veteran pro-lifers; spread the pro-life message through the streets of D.C.; pray in front of Planned Parenthood, enjoy music, praise and worship; and even receive a special-event hoodie!

Click the image to register or call Rock for Life at 540-659-4171. For more information, go to www.rockforlife.org/taw or e-mail info@RockForLife.org.

FEATURE STORY

A FEDERAL REGULATION VERSUS A MEDIA CIRCUS
By Judie Brown

It is no secret that the final version of the new conscience rule, approved by President George W. Bush, was published by the Department of Health and Human Services on December 19 and is scheduled to take effect on January 20. The new rule, complete with a comprehensive presentation of the comments and responses made during the pre-publication period, is readily available for anyone to read and assess.

The purpose of this new rule is plainly stated, as is the context within which the rule is to be enforced. From a pro-life perspective, the new rule is imperfect; in fact, it is a disappointment. But that is not the major problem. The major problem is that it has been sorely misrepresented by those who do not believe that any sort of conscience protection should be granted to those who find it ethically problematic to medically or surgically abort a preborn child.

The regulation is quite clear and states, 

(e) Entities to whom this paragraph (e) applies shall not, on the basis that the individual or entity has received a grant, contract, loan, or loan guarantee under the Public Health Service Act, the
Community Mental Health Centers Act, or the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000, require:
  (1) Such individual to perform or assist in the performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if his performance or assistance in the performance of such procedure or abortion would be contrary to his religious beliefs or moral convictions, or
  (2) Such entity to: 
  (i) Make its facilities available for the performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if the performance of such procedure or abortion in such facilities is prohibited by the entity on the basis of religious beliefs or moral convictions, or
  (ii) provide any personnel for the performance or assistance in the performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if the performance or assistance in the performance of such procedure or abortion by such personnel would be contrary to the religious beliefs or moral convictions of such personnel.

In the comment-and-response section preceding the regulation itself, we find the federal government backing off in response to Planned Parenthood's allegations of the past several months.  Planned Parenthood had argued, with its usual hysterical hyperbole, that there was a danger that the proposed regulation would, in fact, define certain contraceptives as abortion-causing chemicals and devices. Thus the federal government found it necessary to make clear its intentions not to upset the hedonistic family-planning giant. In fact, Health and Human Services was quite specific, stating,  

After the full consideration of Comments on this issue [a clear definition of abortion], the Department declines to add a definition of abortion to the rule. As indicated by the Comments, such questions over the nature of abortion and the ending of a life are highly controversial and strongly debated. The Department believes it can enforce the federal health care conscience protection laws without an abortion definition just as the Department has enforced Hyde Amendment, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Public Law 110-161, Div. G, Sec. Sec. 507, 508(a)-(c), 121 Stat. 1844, 2208 (Dec. 26, 2007), abortion funding restrictions without a formal definition. Additionally, nothing in this rule alters the obligation of federal Title X programs to deliver contraceptive services to clients in need as authorized by law and regulation. 

In other words, the new regulation honors the conscientious objection of those who, because of religious belief or moral conviction, will not participate in medical or surgical abortion, and the regulation obviously provides the same protection for those who do perform such procedures. There is nothing ostensibly pro-life in the regulation.

Thus the regulation is pabulum, pure and simple, hiding behind words like "controversial" and "strongly debated" rather than defining that a human being begins at his beginning and therefore some forms of contraception are in fact abortive. Chicken Little lives. But not so, according to commentaries in leading newspapers, including the St. Louis Post Dispatch, which editorialized, "Under the rule, pharmacists are allowed to refuse to fill a prescription for contraceptives or for medications associated with medical abortion. A doctor can refuse to tell a pregnant patient about the availability of abortion even if the patient asks about it and even if a continued pregnancy threatens the patient's life." 

Given the fact that the rule does not define abortion and insists that recipients of Title X funding must provide contraceptive services, I have to ask if the Post Dispatch editorial writer(s) actually read the regulation or merely chose to make wild claims about aspects of the regulation that are either nonexistent or watered down to the point of being meaningless.

Of course, a more plausible explanation for this disingenuous attack is that the Post-Dispatch and its ilk are laying the groundwork for the Obama administration to employ the same arguments, in order to overturn the regulation.That is just the sort of trickery that likely future HHS secretary Tom Daschle  is good at, as we all know.

As Nancy Valko, RN, said in her letter to the editor of the St. Louis newspaper,  

As a registered nurse for almost 40 years, I am shocked that the editorial "Unconscionable" (Dec. 24) would suggest that doctors, nurses and pharmacists with ethical objections to participating in certain procedures or treatments just "choose another profession." This is not just about abortion. Assisted suicide is legal in Washington and Oregon. Missouri has seen similar efforts. Should we then just choose another state?

As a recipient of health care for almost 60 years, I am more than nervous about a health care system populated by doctors, pharmacists and nurses who are comfortable with ending life. We have enough problems as it is with medical ethics. We deny conscience rights at our own peril. 

What specifically is it that the "mainstream" media wants from the federal government? I have a feeling I know the answer. They want a policy that basically states that nobody in the healthcare profession who is committed to defending and protecting innocent human persons need apply! There is no other possible conclusion! When so much protest can be raised over the simple matter of making certain that freedom of conscience applies equally across the board to those who will kill as well as those who will not kill, something is drastically wrong.

The problem is that too few see the rising tide of morbid ideology that underlies commentaries such as that published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. One hopes that this situation will change before it is too late. If it does not, eventually the circus could turn into a spectacle at which people of conviction are fed to bloodthirsty lions. History has witnessed this before, and it is not pretty.

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Respond to Judie
http://www.all.org/newsroom_judieblog_response.php?id=2444

 

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From Associates

Associate Newsletter

Volume 5, Number 51

Monday December 22, 2008

Training and Activism Week – Videos

Check out the new promo video for ALL’s ninth annual Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference at either http://vimeo.com/2541472 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rAA0KK8nQk and spread the word!

News

American Society of Reproductive Medicine statement confirms the pill causes abortion

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121206.html

New study firmly ties hormone use to breast cancer

Taking menopause hormones for five years doubles the risk for breast cancer, according to a new analysis of a big federal study that reveals the most dramatic evidence yet of the dangers of these still-popular pills.

http://townhall.com/news/health/2008/12/13/new_study_firmly_ties_hormone_use_to_breast_cancer

Editor’s Note: This article affirms the dangerous side effect of hormone replacement therapy, yet researchers have yet to note that the dose of estrogen in the current birth control pill, which is erroneously billed as “safe”, has potency four times greater than that of the estrogen used in hormone replacement therapy.

Pope against population control: “population is proving to be an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty”

In his message for World Day of Peace, released yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI stated the long unrecognized truth that increased population has proved an asset rather than a detriment in terms of development. "Poverty is often considered a consequence of demographic change," he said.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121202.html

The full text of Dignitatis Personae: The Vatican's new instruction on bioethics

The dignity of a person must be recognized in every human being from conception to natural death. This fundamental principle expresses a great “yes” to human life and must be at the center of ethical reflection on biomedical research, which has an ever greater importance in today’s world. The Church’s Magisterium has frequently intervened to clarify and resolve moral questions in this area. The Instruction Donum Vitae was particularly significant. And now, twenty years after its publication, it is appropriate to bring it up to date.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121201.html

Closing Thought

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.

Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means "God is with us."

When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.  Matthew 1:18-24

From Associates

Monday, December 15, 2008 

Volume 5, Number 50

Catholics for Children/Billboards for Life

Congratulations to Catholics for Children which announced last week the placement of its annual Christmas decoration of the entire Louisville Metro area with pro-life billboards!  The Billboards for Life project has contracted for nine freeway size (14’x48’) signs, sixty 12’x24’ signs and fifty 6’x12’ signs.  This complements the conclusion of last year’s big Christmas posting and brings to a total, over the past fourteen years, close to 2,000 billboards locally.  May God continue to bless Catholics for Children in their efforts to save children and mothers from the horrors of abortion!  For more information and pictures of the billboards, visit the website at http://www.skylimit.com/sites/billboards/billboards.nsf.

TAW is fast approaching

Rock for Life, American Life League’s youth outreach project, is now accepting registrations for the 2009 Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference, which is RFL’s ninth annual Training and Activism event. This year’s event takes place January 21-23, 2009 at the Liaison Capitol Hill hotel in Washington, D.C.

The event will include marching with hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers at the 36th annual March for Life, meeting and networking with young pro-lifers from all over the country, receiving training from experienced, successful veteran pro-life activists, hitting the streets of D.C. for activism, and much more.

This year, ALL will also host a Personhood Conference, featuring speakers such as Mrs. Judie Brown, president and cofounder of ALL; Lila Rose, cofounder of Live Action Films and editor of the Advocate, UCLA’s pro-life student magazine; Kristi Burton, founder of Colorado for Equal Rights; and David Bereit, national campaign director for 40 Days for Life.

The cost is only $50 per person per night. Registration forms and more information can be found at

www.rockforlife.org/taw.

 

The Facts about Title X

From ALL’s Life Guide Series by Judie Brown with John Cavanaugh-O’Keefe, Hon. Robert G. Marshall and Jim Sedlak

 As we mentioned previous newsletters, one of the aims of the Prevention First Act is to make Title X, or family planning, a permanent government program and fund it at $700 million or more. Many people wonder precisely what Title X is and what it does. Here we continue our series to answer those questions:

Title X and Abortion – What is the Real Story?

The Title X story begins in 1970, with the passage of the Public Health Service Act, also known as the Tydings Act.  At the time, supporters cited reduction of the illegitimate birth rate as one reason for the bill’s necessity.  They also sought to spare both mother and child the medical and psychological complications which often follow illegitimate births.  It was claimed at the time that this legislation would not pay for surgical abortion, and indeed, Section 1008 of the law was supposed to eliminate the possibility of funds being used for abortion.  Abortion, however, was not defined, and abortive chemicals and devices – referred to by some as “contraceptives” – were funded and still are being funded today.  (It is also merely an accounting matter for groups who receive funds to move money out of accounts that are not used to fund surgical abortions into those that do.)

Since 1970 Title X has gone through many revisions and amendments, but none have altered the underlying goal, which is clearly to serve the pro-population-control agenda of the organizations that benefit from the funding.  Planned Parenthood is among the chief recipients of those taxpayer dollars.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a May 1995 fact sheet, defines Title X as follows:

Title X is the nation’s chief programmatic effort to reduce unintended pregnancy by providing contraceptive and other clinical services to low income women.  With a  quarter-century record of success, the program is part of the Public Health Service Act, signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970.  All Title X grants are administered through state health departments or regional umbrella agencies that subcontract with local agencies.  The program also provides for training of clinical personnel and limited community-based education activities, and requires a reporting system that ensures accountability for all money spent. [emphasis added]

Note that key words were not defined in 1970, and pro-abortion propagandists have worked hard ever since then to distort or even destroy the meaning of several basic words.  Too often, their efforts to change the language have been successful, and many people are confused about some words.  For example, pregnancy is properly defined as beginning when the human sperm and human egg unite (fertilization).   Proponents of medical and surgical abortion define it in many other ways, the purpose being to dehumanize the preborn child and convince the mother that she is carrying a disease, not a child.

The key words that Planned Parenthood uses to describe the Title X program in the May 1995 fact sheet can be defined more specifically to reveal its true goals.

When Planned Parenthood refers to unintended pregnancies, it means children in the womb who are not acknowledged as human beings.

Contraceptive, generally, means a device (e.g., a condom) that prevents conception.  For Planned Parenthood it is a euphemism for chemicals and devices that can cause abortions at very early stages in a preborn child’s like (e.g., birth control pill, IUD, Norplant, Depo-Provera and RU-486).

To Planned Parenthood, contraceptive failure means a child who is conceived although the mother is using artificial birth control, and who survives until birth or until surgically aborted. 

Community based education means school-based clinics where contraceptives and abortion information are easily available to children without parental knowledge and, in many cases, when “consent” forms are provided, without fully informed parental consent.  Community based education means classroom sex instruction complete with demonstrations, graphic discussions and distortions of truth.

In addition, Title X has been a prime source of federal funds for controversial sex education programs and materials, because many of the authors of these materials were initially involved in developing the regulations for the expenditure of Title X funds.

Title X is a program that must be not only de-funded but also permanently excluded from programs funded by American taxpayers.

News

Lawsuits over Ortho Evra birth control continue to be filed

Johnson & Johnson has already agreed to pay over $68.7 million to settle Ortho Evra lawsuits over their birth control patch, yet new cases continue to be filed by women who have suffered a blood clot injury caused by the contraceptive patch.

http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/lawsuits-over-ortho-evra-birth-control-continue-1964/

A study in abortion bias

Now weeks away from the dawning of the Obama Administration, the parade of junk science has begun in hopes of substantiating the new President's anti-life agenda. In a new study sure to capture the Left's attention, a research team at Johns Hopkins is attempting to persuade policymakers that abortion does not cause emotional distress, despite strong evidence to the contrary.
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU08L03&f=PG07J01

Abortion linked to disproportionately high rate of black premature births

A report published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons links the disproportionately high rate of preterm births (PTB) among black babies to the high rate of abortion among the black minority.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08120211.html

Komen affiliate in California gives grant to Planned Parenthood abortion biz

A Susan G. Komen Foundation affiliate in California is the latest to send hundreds of thousands of dollars to the nation's largest abortion business. The money is going to Planned Parenthood even though research confirms abortion increases a woman's risk of contracting breast cancer.  The Orange County affiliate of Komen for the Cure is giving more than $1.3 million to several groups, including Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties.

http://www.lifenews.com/state3673.html

YWCA CEO denies support for Freedom of Choice Act

A spokeswoman for the YWCA is denying reports that her organization supports the controversial Freedom of Choice Act.

YWCA spokeswoman Nancy Loving did however affirm that the YWCA supports a "woman's right to choose," which includes abortion. When asked whether the organization still holds to any Christian aspect, Loving said that it does not.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=342638

In dangerous trend, more women sell their eggs

Some fertility clinics are reporting a surge in the number of women applying to donate eggs or serve as surrogates, The Wall Street Journal reported. The rate for a surrogate is about $25,000. Egg donors receive $3,000 to $8,000.  "Whenever the employment rate is down, we get more calls," Robin von Halle, president of Alternative Reproductive Resources in Chicago, told the newspaper. "We're even getting men offering up their wives. It's pretty scary."

http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000008844.cfm

Surrogacy can make pregnancy a 'dirty task' for low-income women, WSJ opinion piece says
Surrogacy likely will "make pregnancy into just another dirty task" for low-income women if it "becomes a widely practiced market transaction," columnist Thomas Frank writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. Frank's column is in response to a recent New York Times Magazine article that examined the experiences of the author, a writer for the New York Times who had a child through surrogacy.
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?abbr=daily2_&page=NewsArticle&id=144 53&security=1201&news_iv_ctrl=-1

Closing Thought

 There are two kinds of peace:  that which men can make for themselves alone, and that which is the gift of God; ... that which is imposed by force of arms and that which is born in the heart.  The former is fragile and insecure; it can be called a mere appearance of peace for it is founded on fear and mistrust.  The latter, on the contrary, is a strong and durable peace, and being founded on justice and love, it permeates the heart.  It is a gift God gives to those who love his Law.

 Pope John Paul II; 3/24/86, quoted in "In Conversation with God, p. 22, v. 1

From Associates 

Volume 5, Number 48

Monday, December 1, 2008 

 

Reviewing the facts about the Prevention First Act

 

What is the Prevention First Act?

The Prevention First Act has several components, all of which would fund programs that are promoted by Planned Parenthood and would put millions more of our tax dollars into PP’s coffers. These components include:

 • Making Title X (family planning) a permanent program and funding it at $700 million or more. Since its inception in 1970, Title X of the Health and Human Services Act has always been a major funding source for PP. However, Title X is not a permanent program and must be reauthorized every year. Title X was funded at $300 million for fiscal year 2008. PP receives about 25 percent of the total or $75 million. Thus, the PFA would more than double the tax dollars given to PP ($175 million) by this one program. It would also make Title X a permanent program.

 

• Mandating that health insurance programs that cover prescriptions also cover abortifacient contraceptives. The PFA would take away the ability of consumers and insurance companies to seek the coverage they want and would force every insurance plan that covers prescription drugs to pay for birth control.

• Creating a government program to push abortifacient “emergency contraception.” The PFA would create a government-funded five-year “educational” program to promote emergency contraception and drive even more Plan B business to PP.

 • Taking all federal money away from any hospital that refuses to administer emergency contraception (an abortifacient), to rape victims. In addition, it would require that every hospital, even Catholic, Baptist and others opposed to abortion for religious reasons, MUST provide patients with emergency contraception or lose all of their federal funding.

 • Creating additional massive government funding for PP-style sex education programs (abstinence-only programs are specifically excluded from funding). Under the subprogram named “At-Risk Communities Teen Pregnancy Prevention Act,” the PFA would create a program to conduct research and educational sessions for the purpose of reducing teen pregnancy. All kinds of organizations (e.g. Planned Parenthood) would receive taxpayer funds, and all kinds of theories and ways of preventing teen pregnancy could be researched and taught EXCEPT abstinence-only programs.

 • Permanently including family planning services as part of the Medicaid program. The Medicaid program was never intended to pay for family planning services. Yet, beginning in the 1990s, states started applying for Medicaid waivers to allow them to add family planning for Medicaid-eligible recipients. The federal government has approved these waivers, and their approval must be renewed, on a state-by-state basis, every five years. Because of the waivers, Medicaid is now the largest single program providing taxpayer money for PP. The PFA would do away with the need for waivers and write family planning services permanently into Medicaid, thereby opening the floodgates of taxpayer funding for PP even wider.

 

What is the status of the Prevention First Act?

It is important to note that the election ushers in a new Congress in January. The current Congress, the 110th Congress, will cease to exist at the end of this year. In January, the 111th Congress will begin, and all of the newly elected members of the House and Senate will be part of the 111th Congress. All existing bills must be re-introduced in the new Congress and assigned new numbers, and the legislative process for each of them will start “from scratch.”  The PFA will have to be introduced once more. Under normal circumstances, it would take months for it to be voted on, but they could be fast-tracked.

What does Planned Parenthood say about the Prevention First Act?

Here is the statement by Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, on February 5, 2007, when the Prevention First Act was introduced in the House:

 “Today’s introduction of the Prevention First Act signals a real step forward for health care in America. Currently, more than 17 million women in the U.S. need publicly funded family planning services, and there is not enough funding to meet the need. Nearly 750,000 teenagers in the U.S. will become pregnant this year. Prevention is the key to building strong, healthy families, and the Prevention First Act will help women and couples plan their families, plan their futures, and plan parenthood by expanding access to critically needed family planning education and reproductive health care services.”

Planned Parenthood also pushing PFA in states

Planned Parenthood has mentioned its intent to push PFA not only at the federal level, but also at the state level. A typical state bill seeks to do the following:

 

• Force insurance companies to cover birth control if they cover other prescriptions;

• Mandate that every hospital in the state provide emergency contraception to rape victims and tell the victims that emergency contraception does not cause an abortion;

• Replace abstinence-only sex ed with programs that give equal time to the use of birth control and don’t tell children to save sex for marriage;

• Put taxpayer money into “teen pregnancy prevention” programs;

• Do away with the right of pharmacies and/or pharmacists to refuse to sell products that conflict with their religious beliefs.

 

What can you do?

Despite the fact that Obama is actively supporting this horrible bill and the Democratic Party is firmly in control of the both chambers of the United States Congress, passage of this bill is not inevitable. We have spoken with a number of pro-life members of Congress and their staffs, and they believe that the Prevention First Act can be stopped. But, in order to do so, it will take an active campaign of pro-lifers across the country. Here is what you can do:

 1. Contact your members of Congress and let them know how you feel about the Prevention First Act.

2. Watch for updates in future ALL publications. We will let you know as soon as the bills are introduced in the next Congress and give you the correct bill numbers.

3. Monitor the activity in your state and take action to prevent a state PFA from passing.

 

Because the Prevention First Act aims to both increase funding to Title X and to make the Title X program permanent, and because Title X is the second largest source of government funding for Planned Parenthood, we’ll begin a series on Title X itself in next week’s ALL Associate Newsletter. Watch this space!

 

 

News

“Scheme to cover up a fraud”

For years, Planned Parenthood of San Diego and other affiliates elsewhere in the state had been over-billing the government by millions of dollars for contraceptives purchased at deep discounts – a policy specifically prohibited by state and federal regulations governing the program, called FPACT – “Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment.” Rules for the program, jointly funded with state and federal funds, specifically required that providers of services under the program be reimbursed only for the cost of acquiring the contraceptives, but Planned Parenthood had been billing far in excess of cost, in some instances more than 20 times what they paid.

http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=e9f8ba3c-2f62-48ff-bb21-073f9774e149

  

Planned Parenthood funds held by city council

Funding for eight youth programs hit a snag Tuesday as the inclusion of a Planned Parenthood-run program drew complaints from those who oppose the group’s educational tactics and abortion services. http://www.caller.com/news/2008/nov/18/planned-parenthood-funds-held/?partner=yahoo_headli nes

  

Terri-Schiavo-like disabled woman allowed to live after parents reconcile

A disabled woman’s mother has reconciled with her ex-husband after having fought to remove her daughter’s feeding tube, and after state legislation rescued the woman from death by dehydration. The woman’s mother now confesses that her daughter should be able to live.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08112001.html

  

Adult stem cells used to create “living bandage” for knee injuries

A team of scientists at Bristol University has created a living “bandage” from adult stem cells that can be used to heal common sport injuries.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08111902.html

  

Doctors transplant windpipe with tissue from patient’s own stem cells

 Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue grown from her own stem cells, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs. “This technique has great promise,” said Dr. Eric Genden, who did a similar transplant in 2005 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081119/D94HLK301.html

  

Major CDC study finds two to four times more birth defects from in vitro fertilizations

Infants conceived with Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) are two to four times more likely to have certain types of birth defects than children conceived naturally, according to a study by the CDC. The report, “Assisted Reproductive Technology and Major Structural Birth Defects, United States,” was released in the journal Human Reproduction.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08111804.html

  

Closing Thought

Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.  1 Timothy 4:12

  

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From Associates  

Volume 5, Number 46

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

From Associates  

Volume 5, Number 45

Monday, November 10, 2008

AMERICIAN LIFE LEAGUE

News

Study links sexual content on TV with teen pregnancy

Teenagers who watched the most sexual content on television were about twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy as teens who watched the least.
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr001=l1k40ru0t8.app13a&abbr=daily2_&page=NewsArticle&id=13959&security=1201&news_iv_ctrl=-1

Human papilloma virus vaccine fraud

For several years, the pharmaceutical firm Merck has made aggressive efforts to market the Gardasil human papilloma virus vaccine as prevention for cervical cancer. What is the truth about this vaccine? Natural News reporter Mike Adams has uncovered some interesting facts about this vaccine. http://www.newswithviews.com/Howenstine/james170.htm#_ftn1

Planned Parenthood nurse admits infanticide: “It does happen”

Students for Life of America released undercover footage of a nurse at a Title X, federally funded Freehold, New Jersey Planned Parenthood facility describing how an abortion would be performed on a 22 week unborn child. In the footage, the Planned Parenthood nurse describes to the pregnant woman that an abortion at such a late stage would entail delivering her son and, after the woman asks if the baby can be born alive, the nurse admits that, “it does happen, but it wouldn't be able to survive on its own so eventually the baby does die.”

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08103101.html

Survey: Emotional pain follows abortion

Is abortion psychologically safe for would-be mothers and fathers? Does having an abortion put men and women at risk of emotional suffering? A nationwide telephone survey conducted in February by the Elliot Institute reveals a full 85 percent of American adults believe negative emotional problems are common after an abortion. Even 60 percent of those who identified themselves as very pro-choice said they think emotional pain is common.

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=79405

Biotech firm hopeful for embryonic trials

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration may permit clinical trials using embryonic stem cells to begin within three months, a biotechnology firm has reported. Tom Okarma, president of Geron Corp., said October 15, the firm has been working to overcome a hold placed by the FDA on the company's application for a trial with human beings on a compound procured from embryonic stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries, according to a weblog on The Scientist's Internet site.

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=29224&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed1029

Closing Thought

Let not kindness and fidelity leave you; bind them around your neck; Then will you win favor and good esteem before God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not; In all your ways be mindful of Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and turn away from evil; This will mean health for your flesh and vigor for your bones.

Proverbs 3:3-8

From Associates  

In a recent tribute to pro-life Congressman Henry Hyde, who died in 2007, Congressman Chris Smith said of him,  "Hyde was the star, a trailblazer. It's tougher to blaze the trail than to follow on. Henry taught me the lesson that some things are worth losing elections for, and life is one of them."

This is one of four rules that the congressman not only shared with his political peers, but with pro-life Americans as well. As a Catholic leader, Hyde knew that Catholic teaching does not admit compromise when addressing fundamental truths concerning abortion and the attack on marriage. Hyde rarely had a problem focusing on the nonnegotiable teaching that an act of abortion was never acceptable. His leadership was based on that principle.

Principles, particularly for the God-fearing person, do not change and in fact actually formulate the kind of person we are individually and the kind of culture we strive to nurture and protect collectively. But what happens when there is a flaw in the fabric of principle, a misstep in the defense of never-changing truths?

My friend Mark Pickup tells us what happens, and the picture is not a pretty one. In his January 10 blog post, he shares the facts about something that happened in Canada regarding same-sex marriage, and it reminded me of what could happen when Obama is sworn in, in a few short days, and starts dealing with abortion. While we are here discussing same-sex marriage in Canada and abortion in America, the scenarios of how the two nations arrived at their current juncture are quite similar. Here is what Mark wrote:

I would like to bring readers’ attention to a special reprint of an article entitled "The conspiracy to abolish marriage in Canada: If everything is marriage, then nothing is." 
 
When recognition of same-sex marriage was rammed through Canada's Parliament under the Liberal government of Paul Martin, it was not supported as a free vote. Prime Minister Martin invoked strict Party discipline in order to pass the bill. All ministers, parliamentary secretaries and committee Chairs (not to mention back bench MPs) were expected to support the same-sex marriage bill, under threat of losing portfolios, perks, and privileges. Self-interest prevailed for most Liberal MPs: all but a few courageous Members fell into line and voted to recognize homosexual marriage.
 
Was this departure from historical definition of marriage – as between one man and one woman – warranted by stacks of social science or empirical studies validating the advisability of such a change? No. In fact, there were studies showing that children raised in homosexual partner homes have considerable problems. Quite simply, the law was changed on the basis of liberal social fashion (disguised as human rights).
 
Recognition of same-sex marriage (in Canada and abroad) is a deviation from history and wisdom of the ages. It is a dangerous social experiment that threatens to bring down Christian civilization that previous generations fought to preserve.
 
Two major pillars of Christian morality are marriage and the sanctity of human life. Both are being supplanted by secularism, relativism and a neo-paganism. The result has been disastrous to the Christian concept of life's sanctity. Now the marriage pillar is being torn down. Like the article noted at the beginning of this blog says in its title, "If everything is marriage, then nothing is." A primary building block of society will disappear.

Sadly, the dismantling of our [formerly] Christian country has been aided by Christians themselves. So often the Canadian Evangelical response to the destruction of the sanctity of human life ethic has been pale and uncertain.

Now, with the redefinition of marriage, Canadian Evangelicals seem to have thrown up their hands as though the matter was decided. It may have been decided by our liberal courts and political elites, but it has not been decided by ordinary people on main street Canada. They are looking for leadership back to sanity.

Evangelicals seem to have shrunk away with embarrassment from standing resolutely and forcefully against the destruction of traditional marriage by a vociferous and litigious homosexual lobby. Protection of their church charitable status is more important than speaking out against redefinition of marriage or homosexuality. They are afraid of being called names, maligned by the press, or being dragged before a quasi-judicial human rights tribunal.
 
Perhaps I should not be surprised. Canadian Evangelicals have been slow and uncertain to respond against the holocaust of abortion throughout the past 40 years in Canada. I can only presume it [their response] will be equally pale and uncertain with euthanasia. There are courageous exceptions, of course, like the late Pastor Ken Campbell, and the Pentecostal Church, but they are the exceptions.

Denominational policy statements decrying the evil of abortion without persistent and consistent public action, or clearly articulating Biblical and Christian answers outside the church foyer, have failed the sacred cause of life. Will [Evangelicals] be equally timid to make their presence felt defending the Biblical definition of marriage?
 
But timidity has not been the greatest failure of the Evangelical Church; its greatest failure has been accommodation. Rather than transforming the culture with Biblical truth, it has been guilty of accommodating the culture and that ultimately denies the transforming power of Biblical truth.

As Dr. Francis Schaeffer was dying in 1984, he wrote his last book, The Great Evangelical Disaster. He addressed this spirit of accommodation: “For the evangelical accommodation to the world of our age represents the removal of the last barrier against the breakdown of our culture. ... To accommodate to the world spirit about us in our age is the most gross form of worldliness in the proper definition of the word.” (p. 141-142)  
//  
The great man said the only legitimate response for Christians is confronting the culture –  loving confrontation – but confrontation nonetheless in the crucial moral and social issues of our day. Anything less is a failure to live under the full authority of God's inerrant Word: the Bible.
 
Many Evangelicals avoided The Great Evangelical Disaster. Its truth was also a confrontation – a confrontation many evangelicals are still not willing to admit.

I call upon Canadian Evangelicals to join together with their Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ and spill into the streets in unshakable resolve to reclaim our dying Christian culture. Militate for Biblical morality on the sanctity and dignity of marriage and human life.

Don't worry about being dragged before human rights commissions on bogus charges, losing your tax status or being called names. Previous generations of Christians faced more serious threats for the sake of Biblical truth.

We are in a spiritual war of monumental proportions! 

Mark was an Evangelical prior to converting to Catholicism, and so he understands the Evangelical mindset quite well. The challenge he sets forth in his commentary should not go unnoticed, because we in America, when writing about Catholics and the question of whether or not it is acceptable to murder a preborn child by an act of abortion, are facing precisely the same kind of moral relativism. Lest we forget, Obama is going to be sworn in, in just a few days, in no small measure because more than 50 percent of Catholics cast their vote for him.

Dr. Schaeffer defined such an action as "accommodation to the world." Pope Benedict XVI has defined it as moral relativism, and he has warned repeatedly of its devastating consequences. In fact, the Holy Father has said, "We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism that recognizes nothing definite and leaves only one's own ego and one's own desires as the final measure." I would simply call it an exhibition of the greatest act of denying God ever in the history of mankind.

Even though Catholics and, in fact, all Christians, are not called to accommodate evil but rather to expose it and struggle against it for as long as the situation requires, it is painfully clear that this is not happening.

We are indeed in a spiritual war of enormous proportions. This is not a war against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. St. Paul reminds anyone with ears to hear and eyes to see,  

Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. . . So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all (the) flaming arrows of the evil one. (Ephesians 6: 11-12, 14-16)

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Respond to Judie
http://www.all.org/newsroom_judieblog_response.php?id=2447

 Pro-Life Today | 08 January 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Doctoring the News

http://www.counterpunch.org/martens07202007.html
Counter Punch
[Gardasil] is being touted … by Merck as a means of preventing cervical cancer. In fact, however, its clinical trials never tested for preventing cervical cancer. The vaccine was tested for preventing pre cancerous lesions associated with two strains of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease. Since these lesions can take 12 to 20 years to develop into cervical cancer and the clinical trials lasted less than five years, medical experts warn that the jury is still out on what impact this vaccine might have on cervical cancer rates. The results of Merck's clinical trials showed the efficacy of the vaccine was "modest," even for preventing pre cancerous lesions, among a general population of young women, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. This might have been enough to kill the idea of mass inoculations with the vaccine had Merck released its final clinical trial data to peer reviewed journals in a timely fashion. Instead, it launched three ad and marketing campaigns that fostered the false impression that this vaccine had been proven to prevent cervical cancer along with a public relations blitz that stretched from California to Paris and involved payments to journalists. Only then, after the Food and Drug Administration had approved the drug, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recommended it for broad use, and questions grew in the press as to why this "miracle breakthrough" had not been peer reviewed, did Merck finally release its late phase trial data. Eleven and twelve year old girls, the very target of proposed mandatory vaccination by Merck, were never tested at all for efficacy in pre-licensing clinical trials. Merck simply decided that the bodies of prepubescent girls would react the same as mature women to the vaccine. The FDA was fully aware of this when they licensed the vaccine for potentially millions of prepubescent girls, requiring only that post licensing studies be done for efficacy and safety on these children after they were injected with the drug.

Terri Schiavo’s Brother Responds after Obama Appoints Lawyer Who Helped Kill Terri to High Position

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09010712.html
Life Site News
In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com today, Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Shiavo, expressed his disappointment that Barack Obama had appointed the same lawyer who spearheaded the effort to have Terri killed via dehydration to a top position in his administration. “Sadly, the appointment of Attorney Thomas Perrelli as an associate attorney general is what many of us have feared in regards to a Barack Obama presidency," said Schindler.  "Not only does it appear that Pres.-elect Obama has no regard for the value and dignity of human life, but it also appears the same holds true for those he is appointing to be part of his administration.” Perrelli, the managing partner of Washington's Jenner & Block law firm, is most well-known for his leading role in the Terri Schiavo case, in which he represented Michael Schiavo as Schiavo fought to remove the feeding tube of his disabled wife against the wishes of her family.  Perrelli worked closely with attorney George Felos, an infamous supporter of legalized euthanasia.

Event featuring Planned Parenthood speaker moved after complaints

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090107/NEWS01/901070137
South Bend Tribune
The leader of Indiana’s Planned Parenthood organization was scheduled to speak at the South Bend Chocolate Cafe on Friday, but news of her appearance got a not-so-sweet reaction from some of the company’s customers. Betty Cockrum, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, is the guest speaker at the League of Women Voters’ “Lunch with the League” event.  Typically the monthly event is held in the Rockne Room of the South Bend Chocolate Cafe. Planned Parenthood came under fire in December after a California group sent a woman posing as a 13-year-old girl into two Indiana clinics with a hidden camera. She recorded workers allegedly ignoring Indiana laws that require adults to report the sexual abuse of a minor. The group’s image as a provider of abortions led customers to complain by phone to South Bend Chocolate Co. owner Mark Tarner, he said today.  Calls came largely from women, Tarner said, including people associated with the University of Notre Dame and out-of-town customers. None of the complaints came from official anti-abortion groups, such as Indiana Right to Life, Tarner said.

ALL Report: FOCA in Focus

American Life League explains the dangers of the Freedom of Choice Act for preborn babies throughout the country.

To view the report on blip.tv (higher quality version), go to http://blip.tv/file/1650006. To watch the video on YouTube (please understand, we can't control the related content there), go tohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=347F1aHx5yg.

To subscribe to the ALL Report through an RSS feed, click here: http://allreport.blip.tv/rss
To subscribe to the ALL Report via iTunes, click here: itpc://ALLReport.blip.tv/rss/itunes/

FEATURE STORY

LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES
By Judie Brown

Paul Sutton, a demographer for the National Center for Health Statistics, has just released new data on the number of teens getting pregnant and carrying their babies to term. With the release, Sutton commented,

To see 26 states with statistically significant increases is fairly remarkable. We're seeing increases in both the number of teens having births and also the rate at which they are having births. Both of them are going up.

USA Today, the newspaper from which we retrieved the report, was kind enough, on its web site, to provide links to related items for those interested in more information on the possible cause for this crisis. And indeed, it is a crisis, though the media does not see it that way.

In November of last year, USA Today reported on a study released by the prestigious Pediatrics medical journal. Pointing out that sex on television could be a leading cause for the escalating rates of adolescent sexual activity, the study reported, 

By age 16, teens who watched a lot of sexually charged TV were more than twice as likely to be pregnant or father an out-of-wedlock baby as teens who watched very little: 12% vs. 5%. The gap holds steady through age 20. Researchers controlled for parents' race, income and education and teens' total TV time.

The same report provided a rather insightful comment by psychologist Dave Walsh, of the National Institute on Media and the Family, who suggests that parents are "delegating sex education to Hollywood. …If I'm a 15-year-old kid and no one's really talking to me about sex and I'm watching a lot of sex on TV, it's not a direct, conscious decision – but over time I start to think, 'That's what people do. That's the norm.' "

The real problem with Walsh’s observation is not that a parent is or is not talking to his or her children about sex, but rather that there is an enormous amount of unsupervised time being spent by kids who watch television because it has become the national babysitter. The parents are not only not discussing matters of life and death with their children; they are not even there to participate in a healthy discussion in the first place, or to monitor what is being viewed. The last time I checked, it was parents who had the responsibility of raising children, not the sex education teacher–TV set–video game combo that seems to prevail in much of the nation these days.

Clearly, there are many who argue, correctly, that if these teens had been exposed to a bit of abstinence education in their high school or middle school curriculum, they might have been spared the experience of a pregnancy, or even worse, a collaborative effort to hide the problem by having the baby killed by abortion. Concerned Parents Report has published one such document.

But, I daresay, abstinence education these days isn’t even a band-aid for the problem our children are facing. There is much, much more at risk than simply an untimely pregnancy.

Just a few days ago, Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, president of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, startled the world by stating, "We have sufficient evidence to state that a non-negligible cause of male infertility in the West is the environmental pollution caused by the pill. …We are faced with a clear anti-environmental effect which demands more explanation on the part of the manufacturers."

Pardon me for suggesting that the world was shocked by Castellvi’s statement. Actually, the news media dismissed this report out of hand and quoted other “experts” to debunk the comment. However, this is not the first such report on the pollution caused by millions of women ingesting artificial hormones and, whether or not the national news media reports it, the body of evidence is bound to increase.

Further, on the same day, Castellvi had another report published in the Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, asserting the abortifacient and carcinogenic effects of hormonal contraception. He wrote, "The means of contraception violate at least five important rights: the right to life, the right to health, the right to education, all right to information (their spread is at the expense of information on natural resources) and the right to equality between the sexes (the burden of contraception falls mostly on women)."

This is potentially life-changing information about serious matters and widespread life-threatening circumstances. Yet among the many reports I have read on the subject of adolescents, contraception and pregnancy, I have never seen a warning in the mainstream media about the dangers of birth control. Thus, it too is accountable for the rising rates of adolescent pregnancy because the only facts reported are those that make contraception appealing.

How many teens are victims of Planned Parenthood’s birth control as the way to hide promiscuity bandwagon? Millions, I am sure, and these young people are the same young people who are getting how-to lessons on television and experiencing plenty of unsupervised time for experimentation. Now, of course, Planned Parenthood and its cronies in the "drive-by" media and elsewhere will say, “Well, they are going to do it anyway,” to which I would respond, "That may or may not be true, but we should not accept that argument. Our responsibility is to combat it by affirming a teen’s self-respect, and teaching each of them the true meaning of love and the lasting rewards of saving sex for marriage. Making assumptions that young people are no better than chimpanzees is how we got into this problem in the first place."

In the lyrics for the song “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places,” we read these words: 

Hoping to find a friend and a lover,
I'll bless the day I discover
another heart, looking for love!

This song misses the very point that must be made, as do the messages far too many of our young people are getting from their parents, the television and so many other sources one can hardly count them.

Love is much more than finding another person to whom you can give your body; it is a gift that must be nurtured, must grow and should be the foundation for a marriage that will last a lifetime, not a brief fling. But if parents do not accept their proper role first, then we'll continue to read headlines on teen behavior such as today's, until the story itself is no longer newsworthy.

Pope John Paul II made the obligation of parents very clear in his May 2004 message "The Media and the Family: A Risk and a Richness": 

Parents, as the primary and most important educators of their children, are also the first to teach them about the media. They are called to train their offspring in the “moderate, critical, watchful and prudent use of the media” in the home (Familiaris Consortio, 76). When parents do that consistently and well, family life is greatly enriched. Even very young children can be taught important lessons about the media: that they are produced by people anxious to communicate messages; that these are often messages to do something - to buy a product, to engage in dubious behaviour - that is not in the child’s best interests or in accord with moral truth; that children should not uncritically accept or imitate what they find in the media.

Parents also need to regulate the use of media in the home. This would include planning and scheduling media use, strictly limiting the time children devote to media, making entertainment a family experience, putting some media entirely off limits and periodically excluding all of them for the sake of other family activities. Above all, parents should give good example to children by their own thoughtful and selective use of media. Often they will find it helpful to join with other families to study and discuss the problems and opportunities presented by the use of the media. Families should be outspoken in telling producers, advertisers, and public authorities what they like and dislike.

The parental love described by the Holy Father, which requires self-sacrifice and commitment, achieves much more than merely ensuring that children view only appropriate media. It lays the foundation for the kind of real love that children raised this way will one day seek for themselves.

Personhood 101

In 1965, the United States Supreme Court, in Griswold v. Connecticut, suddenly found the "right to privacy" in sexual matters in the "emanations" from "penumbras" (shadows) allegedly found in the Constitution.  Griswold v. Connecticut made human beings property again. Human beings can be owned in test tubes and wombs. They can be used involuntarily as test objects, destroyed for their stem cells, genetically modified, cloned, dissected and stripped of their dignity.

This so-called "right to privacy" was invoked by the Supreme Court in 1973, in Roe v. Wade, to decriminalize abortion in the United States.  In this landmark decision that established a constitutional "right" of mothers to abort their unborn children, the Court found insufficient legal evidence upon which to base a judicial conclusion that unborn children were "persons" entitled to protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.  However, the court explicitly stated that the case for abortion would "collapse" if the personhood of unborn children were ever conclusively established. 

Personhood is the legal recognition of a human being's full status as a human person that applies to all human beings; irrespective of age, health, function, physical dependency or method of reproduction; including their preborn offspring; at every stage of their biological development.  Personhood is the final chapter of the civil rights movement. It proposes commonsense values for otherwise convoluted jurisprudence.

Personhood Movement

The personhood movement seeks to restore the original intent of the Constitution by defining every human being as a "person" from his or her biological beginning. Personhood is not a new movement. It was the original direction of the pro-life movement, without exceptions.  Personhood is a revolution that occurs in the mind and until the preborn are recognized as persons, there is not a foundational reason for them to be afforded rights as persons. With personhood, the case for protection of the preborn becomes clear.  It is the movement we need to return to and reinvigorate! 

In pursuing personhood, the tone of the debate over abortion is different than the tone of debating incremental abortion laws.  Instead of being caught up in the complicated legalities of what types of procedures can and cannot be used to kill babies, and instead of tolerating legislation that essentially ends with a clause that more or less says, "and then you can kill the baby," a positive dialogue is established wherein people talk about the babies as the persons that they are.

The goal is to clarify that personhood cannot be divorced from the medically identifiable human being.  The dehumanization of any human being is historically achieved by denying their personhood. We are on a mission to restore each person to a proper understanding that each individual human being is a person. No class of persons can constitutionally be excluded from their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Unfortunately, dehumanization still occurs in our society. The fact that any human is denied the dignity of being recognized as a person is crime enough. We are setting out to bring justice to a class of persons who have been dismissed by our courts and by our laws.  Bringing justice to this crime has the second effect of ending a holocaust.

Federal Personhood Amendment

The purpose of a Federal Personhood Amendment is to establish that legal personhood is granted to all human beings in the United States from the beginning of their biological development. 

Medical ethicists, constitutional lawyers and veteran pro-lifers have collaborated to formulate American Life League's Federal Personhood Amendment. This language is being used across the country in state personhood amendments. ALL's Federal Personhood Amendment makes clear the Constitution's original intent and therefore restores protection to all human beings.
 
The Federal Personhood Amendment is unlike all other pro-life legislation in that it guarantees the right to life of ALL people from the moment of creation until natural death. It addresses all of the problems stemming from the culture of death by striking at its root instead of merely trying to treat its symptoms. Once personhood is defined in our federal and state constitutions, we can address many of the current human rights issues from a commonsense starting point.

Our experts have developed a comprehensive strategy to achieve the goal of personhood. It is not incidental that we are seeking the legal recognition of personhood for all human beings via a constitutional amendment, as opposed to a bill. An act or a bill would grant protection, but would not change the Constitution. Any act or bill passed by Congress could be undone by a future Congress, through a simple majority vote and the president’s signature. An act or a bill would protect the child in the womb, but that protection could be easily undone.  A constitutional amendment is not vulnerable to the power of each new Congress and, if passed, would become a part of our Constitution.

Next week:  The Language of Personhood

News

Doctoring the news

[Gardasil] is being touted … by Merck as a means of preventing cervical cancer. In fact, however, its clinical trials never tested for preventing cervical cancer. The vaccine was tested for preventing pre cancerous lesions associated with two strains of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease. Since these lesions can take 12 to 20 years to develop into cervical cancer and the clinical trials lasted less than five years, medical experts warn that the jury is still out on what impact this vaccine might have on cervical cancer rates.
http://www.counterpunch.org/martens07202007.html

Pill inventor slams ... pill

Eighty five year old Carl Djerassi the Austrian chemist who helped invent the contraceptive pill now says that his co-creation has led to a "demographic catastrophe."  In an article published by the Vatican last week, the head of the world's Catholic doctors broadened the attack on the pill, claiming it had also brought "devastating ecological effects" by releasing into the environment "tonnes of hormones" that had impaired male fertility, The Taiwan Times says.
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=11004

Forced abortions - America's secret epidemic

The Elliot Institute has released a report that exposes America's forced abortion epidemic. Elliot Institute spokesperson Amy Solby says that one study found 64 percent of women who had abortions reported they felt pressured to abort by others. "Something like 80 percent of them said that they didn't get the counseling they needed to make a good decision, that often they were not given counseling at all, or that the counseling they had was inadequate," she explains.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=378732

Ignoring issue of black abortions

The National Association of Black Journalists' Conference on Health Disparities has all the trappings of a well-run effort. The focus is on enlightening journalists on health issues that plague blacks, such as mental health issues from incarceration, heart disease, breast cancer, strokes, HIV/AIDS and childhood obesity. But, no mention of a procedure that ends one out of every three black pregnancies?

According to the Guttmacher Institute, which compiles reproductive health statistics, black women abort their children at five times the white rate and twice the Hispanic rate. The rate is 11 abortions per 1,000 white women, 28 for every 1,000 Hispanic women and 50 for every 1,000 black women.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/11/ignoring-issue-of-black-abortions/

Scientists 'trick' adult stem cells to repair the body

Scientists have tricked bone marrow into releasing extra adult stem cells into the bloodstream, a technique that they hope could one day be used to repair heart damage or mend a broken bone, in a new study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
http://www.nurse101.com/news/archives/000027.html

Penn researchers unlock molecular origin of blood stem cells
A research team at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has identified the location and developmental timeline in which a majority of bone marrow stem cells form in the mouse embryo. The findings, appearing online this week in the journal Nature, highlight critical steps in the origin of hematopoietic (or blood) stem cells (HSCs).
http://www.nurse101.com/news/archives/000028.html

Scott & White doctors pioneering adult stem cell research
Central Texans could soon be among some of the first people in the country to get relief from conditions ranging from diabetes to knee injuries through adult stem cell therapy.  Scott & White health system, in conjunction with the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, recently recruited a team of scientists who are conducting pioneering research using stem cells gleaned from adults' bone marrow. The team's focus is to bring the benefits of stem cell therapy from the laboratory to patients.
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/01/12/01122009wacStemCellGuy.html

Closing Thought

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the Lord, "My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust."...Whoever clings to me, I will deliver, whoever knows my name, I will set on high. All who call upon me I will answer; I will be with them in distress; I will deliver them and give them honor. With length of days I will satisfy them and show them my saving power.

Psalm 91:1-3, 14-16

 This symposium will be held on Friday, February 13, 2009 at Georgia State University, located in downtown Atlanta. Nationally prominent experts in the fields of neonatal medicine, law, ethics and disability policy will explore controversial issues involved in treatment decisions for premature and other medically at-risk infants. We hope you will join us for this exciting interdisciplinary discussion.

For more information and to register, go to http://www.babydoesymposium.org/

OBAMA, CHANGE AND HOPE … IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST
By Judie Brown

Many of us who have followed the media, as they have gushed over our new president ever since he announced his candidacy, realize that there is a great deal about the man that is anything but clear.

Today, President Obama is following a game plan that has been very carefully orchestrated by his team and which, some say, will cost $150 million. But after the celebrations, the balls, the streamers and the crowds, what will his presidency mean for this nation, the pro-life movement and the world in general?

Our new president has a golden opportunity to set the record straight about his views on a wide variety of things, including abortion, sex education and euthanasia. To my mind, these are fundamental matters that shape how a man is going to examine any challenge that comes his way.

For as surely as we are all human beings, we are capable of deceit, corruption and all manner of nastiness. It just depends on what we do with the free will God has entrusted to each of us.
In the specific case of our new president, I think this planned ongoing novena is one of the best projects I have seen. The intentions are these:

*For the triumph of the culture of life in the United States of America.

/ *For President-elect Obama and all of the leaders of the United States of America, that they will be led personally to Jesus Christ and His truth, and that they will lead our country in a positive direction.

*For the hearts, minds and SOULS of the American people, that they will be turned back towards Jesus Christ and “the least” of His brethren.

*For a renewal of the virtues of purity and self-control, especially among our youth.

*In reparation for the scourges of abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, cloning, artificial contraception and all manifestations of the culture of death, and especially in reparation for the support and/or complacency that we as American Catholics have shown toward these evils.

The thing that makes this novena so profoundly important during this particular time in America's history is that it puts the entire question of what could happen over the coming four years in the proper perspective.

Here are some examples of what I mean.

First and foremost, we pro-life Americans have a golden opportunity right now to work as never before to bring about a true culture of life in the United States. Pope John Paul II made this term immensely popular in his encyclical The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae). He used it carefully to express the distinct differences between those who embrace death and those who embrace life. Among his many statements, this one from section 50 seems to sum up the challenge/opportunity we currently have before us:

In the early afternoon of Good Friday, "there was darkness over the whole land ... while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two" (Lk 23:44, 45). This is the symbol of a great cosmic disturbance and a massive conflict between the forces of good and the forces of evil, between life and death. Today we too find ourselves in the midst of a dramatic conflict between the "culture of death ever more radiantly and brightly, and is revealed as the centre, meaning and goal of all history and of every human life." and the "culture of life." But the glory of the Cross is not overcome by this darkness; rather, it shines ever more radiantly and brightly."

Praying that President Obama, as well as all politicians, will be led to encounter Christ and His truth – in every aspect of their personal and public lives – is a glorious intention that should be on each of our hearts, not only as we move from Inauguration Day to the March for Life memorial observance, but every day. Obviously, we cannot sit down with the president as individuals and pray with him, but each of us can and should pray for him, asking God to reveal the truth of what abortion really is and is not.
In that regard, I was inspired to read these words from Bishop Robert Vasa, written just this week:

Regardless of how many years have passed since the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court Decision and regardless of how prevalent and routine abortion has become in this country, the simple truth remains, it is an act of extreme violence to the pre-born child and to the distressed mother. Thus, if anyone says, "I love God" and still favors abortion, he is, to quote St. John, a liar. May we all live out faithfully what it means to love God.

Yes, we must each pray very specifically for our fellow Americans, including our new president, but it is also incumbent upon us to do more than that. We must act on our faith in a way that resonates with those who have grown accustomed to abortion, are comfortable with relegating it to the category of politics or have never really thought about it at all! After 36 years of decriminalized murder, which is what abortion truly and clearly is, far too many in our midst are in denial. The stream of consciousness that relegates abortion to being merely an "issue," starts with our new president, who said during the presidential debates,

This is an issue that – look, it divides us. And in some ways, it may be difficult to – to reconcile the two views. But there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together and say, "We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby." Those are all things that we put in the Democratic platform for the first time this year, and I think that's where we can find some common ground, because nobody's pro-abortion. I think it's always a tragic situation. We should try to reduce these circumstances.

Obama's personal view exposes the problem with America's perspective in a way that makes the novena’s third petition even more urgent. Each of us is tempted to say, "There is nothing I can do to change the way other people think about abortion." However, that is wrong.

Read Obama's words carefully. In an effort to deny the fact that abortion ends the life of an innocent human being, he seeks, in his own words "common ground." He wants the culture of life to sit down with the culture of death and find a space somewhere between them where agreement can be reached. He wants good and evil, Christ and Satan, to be buddies.

You think I am oversimplifying? Well, I am not. In Obama's words is the kernel of what it is that has caused such confusion in the body politic. The idea that abortion is an “issue” obfuscates what it does, who dies, and why it is always and in every case wrong.

Obama said, "Nobody is pro-abortion." If nobody is actually pro-abortion, then why did the man promise Planned Parenthood he would sign the Freedom of Choice Act into law? Why does he constantly advocate for "choice"? The truth is, Obama's rhetoric reflects the state of our thinking in America, and pro-lifers have to change that – one person at a time, one heart at a time, one mind at a time. And with the Lord's help, we can do that.

We can do that for our young people, our elected officials, our fallen-away Catholic brethren and for each other. And while we are praying, we are also obliged to reach out to them with the truth of God's mercy, His love and His fatherly concern.

The novena’s final intention addresses the biggest challenge we each have to face, every day of our lives. Making reparation for the sins that have desecrated God's gift of life, destroyed hope for so many and devastated their inherent ability to change and grow in Christ can be humbling concept. As we pray, asking God to forgive this nation and each of us, individually, for the tragedies that have befallen our children, we are spiritually making reparation for those who have yet to discern that they are debilitated by their personal choices.

The next four years are going to give us remarkable opportunities for growing this pro-life movement, strengthening it from within and expanding our efforts to convert the “mushy middle.” I believe we must include the president in that group as well. I do not believe Obama is an evil man; I do believe he is a man capable of change, capable of recognizing real hope in the cross of Christ and capable of acknowledging the fullness of truth.

May our prayers, our efforts and our desire for profound and positive change be that infusion of hope that this nation needs at this hour.

 American Life League Info.

Volume 6, Number 11                                                                                                                    March 16, 2009

Prayer Requests
Please continue to keep the participants of the 40 Days for Life Campaign in your prayers.  Please pray as well for those participating in National Pro-life T-shirt Week!

National Pro-life T-shirt Week
A two-sided, full color, 4” x 6” promotional postcard for National Pro-life T-shirt Week is now available!  The postcard includes a picture of this year’s T-shirt and information about the event (plus a new contest!) as well as the web site address (www.npltw.com).  If you are interested in distributing these (to your group, at an upcoming event, in an upcoming mailing), please contact our Resources Department (1-866-538-5483).  If you’d like to have a .pdf version sent to you for previewing, contact Leslie Tignor at LTignor@ALL.org. 

Tip of the month – Parent Power
"School District #3" continued, An Analysis of Planned Parenthood’s Family Life Education Program
From Parent Power!! By Jim Sedlak

In School District #3, Planned Parenthood had funded the installation of a Family Life Education program.  Amid protests from parents, including objections to the fact that the program would teach the children values contrary to their religious up-bringing, educators pointed to the high – and rising – teen pregnancy rates and stated that the good of the entire community had to come before the beliefs of any particular students.

Several years after the program had begun, a parent with a child in fourth grade became outraged over the program and the messages it was giving to the young people of the community.  The concerned parent decided to get things started in the school district by holding an informational meeting.  As the speakers read from the actual course material, attendees were surprised to find a number of things being taught.  All were clearly opposed to the sex ed program and one school board member stated he was “shocked” by the nature and extent of the program. 

The two school board members who attended the meeting were very upset at the Planned Parenthood program.  They asked the Superintendent of Schools to follow-up.  The Superintendent scheduled a meeting to discuss the matter with the concerned parents.  In preparation for the meeting, parents prepared an analysis of the FLE program in the school.

Some of the controversial elements the parents found in the program included:  sessions in “values clarification;” presentations of the acceptability of contraceptive sex; a strict rule that “there are no right or wrong answers;” and some language that was racially disturbing to the black community.  In addition, parents were upset because, although the program was supposed to be voluntary, no alternative classes of instruction were provided for students whose parents opted to keep them out of the class.  In addition, it was felt that the “negative permission form,” where parents who did not object to the class were assumed to have given permission, was an incorrect measure and that specific approval should be obtained.

At the time of this analysis the program had been taught each of the past seven years.  The older students who entered the program during the first year had now grown to age 21.  Thus, when figures were published on the teenage pregnancy rates in the area, the teenagers involved had been through the FLE program.  If the promises of the program were correct, the parents should have seen a significant reduction in teenage pregnancy over those years. 

What actually happened?  The statistics published by the state health department revealed that pregnancy rates among teenagers had INCREASED during the time the program had been in place!  In fact, the pregnancy rate among 15- to 19-year-olds had increased over seven percent and the pregnancy rate among 10- to 14-year-olds had increased over five percent.

Despite the promises, despite the putting aside of traditional community values in favor of the “common good” and despite the fact that parents’ objections were labeled as trivial, the FLE program was a FAILURE!! 

Is this surprising?  No!  In fact, these types of programs have failed throughout the United States.  Wherever they have been tried, the results are always the same.  They do nothing to reduce teenage pregnancy and, in most cases, teenage pregnancy increases.  There are many reasons for this failure, but, basically, the programs are flawed in their conception.  Family Life programs, particularly their persistence in promoting the idea that nothing is “right or wrong” only contribute to the problem of teenage pregnancy.

At the meeting with the Superintendent in September, the parents handed out the prepared statement citing the fact the FLE programs in general are ineffective and that there were no studies to prove that they worked to reduce teen pregnancy.  The FLE Director objected to this and cited a study which showed that FLE programs result in a decreased fertility rate amongst teens.  The parents explained to the FLE Director that she was correct, but that “fertility rate” means birth rate, not pregnancy rate and, in fact, the study she quoted showed that there were more teen pregnancies but less teen births because the program was apparently also good in convincing the children to have abortions! 

The parents then turned their attention to the specific program in the school district and told the superintendent that one of the objections to the program was that it encouraged teens to use contraceptives.  The FLE Director responded quite vocally to this claim as well.  The parents handed the course curriculum guide, published by the school, to the superintendent and asked him to read it for himself.  When the superintendent realized that the parents were actually reading from the school’s own documents and that the FLE Director was giving him wrong information, the tone of the meeting changed.  (NOTE:  The lying of those people involved with FLE programs is not uncommon.)

A junior from the high school who was also present at the meeting told the superintendent that he had taken the courses in question and that the general attitude he received from the course is that it is perfectly OK to have pre-marital sex, just don’t get pregnant!  He stated that most of the kids he knew got the same message from the course.

The meeting ran for almost two hours before the superintendent had to leave.  He did, however, arrange for a follow-up meeting and did commit to the parents that changes would be made in the program including the removal of contraceptive-pushing class sessions.  He stated that the program would be reoriented to put much more emphasis on chastity and “saying no.”

Next month:  More on FLEs and the “Wellness Center”

News

Public comment period on removing conscience protections for health care workers now open
President Obama's proposal to rescind a policy that protects the conscience rights of health care workers has now been formally published in the Federal Register, thus opening the 30-day period available for public comment on the proposal.  Pro-life groups in the United States are urging concerned citizens to voice their concerns.

You may submit electronic comments on this regulation to http://www.Regulations.gov or via e-mail to consciencecomment@hhs.gov. 

To submit electronic comments to www.Regulations.gov, go to the Web site and click on the link “Comment or Submission” and enter the keywords “provider conscience”. (Attachments should be in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or Excel; however, Microsoft Word is preferred.)

See http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/08/20080821reg.pdf


FOCA to be introduced "Sooner than Later"
A spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., told the St. Louis Dispatch last week that the congressman intends to introduce the Freedom of Choice Act into Congress "sooner than later."  
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09030614.html

The Washington Post's false report on Vitter's Planned Parenthood amendment
Senator David Vitter has introduced an amendment to the omnibus spending bill that reads, in its entirety: "None of the funds appropriated under this Act shall be made available to Planned Parenthood for any purpose under title X of the Public Health Service Act." (Title X is the federal law that provides for contraceptive funding.) The Washington Post's Mary Ann Akers writes that Vitter's amendment would "drastically cut funding for family planning programs." This is untrue. Vitter's amendment wouldn't cut contraceptive funding provided under Title X by one cent.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/03/the_washington_posts_false_rep_1.asp

More research links abortion with preterm births in subsequent pregnancies
A newly published meta-analysis (a study comprised of data from numerous other research studies) has shown a strong link between induced abortion and subsequent pre-term births.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09030404.html

Bioethics expert advises caution for pro-life endorsement of iPS stem cell breakthrough
A new method of creating embryonic-like stem cells from ordinary skin cells is being lauded as the solution to the embryo research problem, but one prominent bioethicist has cautioned that there may still be unseen ethical problems and is urging caution.

Two teams of researchers, in Britain and Canada, have devised what they say is a safer technique for reprogramming adult cells so that they become "pluripotent" stem cells - those that can be changed into most of the tissue types of the human body. Published in the latest edition of the journal Nature, the work is described as the next phase of the discovery made in 2007 by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University that created "embryonic-like" induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.

Dianne Irving, a former biochemist with the NIH and bioethics expert at Georgetown University, told LifeSiteNews.com that there must be caution among pro-life advocates in endorsing the work. "If it can be shown that the research is truly accurately performed and does not involve the use of embryo DNA or fetal material at any stage then it should be at least given a chance," Dr. Irving said.

But she warned, "The human studies reported so far have all used human embryos or human fetuses as sources of materials for cell culture, for genes that are transferred, and for assays, as well as for the original cells that are transformed.

"No test is reported to determine if totipotent cells (which could be newly formed human embryos) are inadvertently formed while producing iPS cells, and any damage to the original cell's DNA or any left-over foreign DNA would surely cause serious immune rejection reactions in the patients." 
 
She cautioned that should the cells created be shown to be "totipotent" instead of "pluripotent", it could mean that the process creates not embryo-like iPS cells, but entirely new, living and developing embryonic human individuals.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09031101.html

Closing Thought

O God, by your name, save me! By your strength defend my cause. O God, hear my prayer. Listen to the words of my mouth. The arrogant have risen against me; the ruthless seek my life; they do not keep God before them. God is present as my helper; the Lord sustains my life. Turn back the evil upon my foes; in your faithfulness, destroy them. Then I will offer you generous sacrifice and praise your gracious name, LORD, because it has rescued me from every trouble, and my eyes look down on my foes.  Psalms 54:3-9

On The Edge is a fast-paced, roundtable discussion among the new generation of pro-life experts who work every day in the trenches of the movement, focus on current events, news, politics and dozens of American Life League programs. 

   Next Page >

Pro-Life Today | 27 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

As Lent Begins, Three Prominent Catholic Universities Celebrate Porn, Promiscuity
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022603.html
Life Site News
As Christians worldwide kneel in prayer to begin the holy season of Lent, students at three Jesuit Catholic universities are busy celebrating extramarital sex, homosexuality, cross-dressing and pornography, the Cardinal Newman Society has revealed.

Obama administration may rescind 'conscience rule'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-conscience-rulefeb27,0,1515759.story
The Chicago Tribune
Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration Friday will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows health-care workers to deny abortion counseling or other family-planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs, according to administration officials. The rollback of the "conscience rule" comes just two months after the Bush administration announced it last year in one of its final policy initiatives. The new administration's action seems certain to stoke ideological battles between supporters and opponents of abortion over the responsibilities of doctors, nurses and other medical workers to their patients.

"Brain Death" is Life, Not Death: Neurologists, Philosophers, Neonatologists, Jurists, and Bioethicists Unanimous at Conference
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022604.html
Life Site News
If a patient is able to process oxygen from the lungs into the bloodstream, maintain a normal body temperature, digest food and expel waste, grow to normal adult size from the age of four to twenty, and even carry a child to term, can he or she be considered dead? Can a person who is "dead" wake up and go on later to finish a university degree? Can a corpse get out of bed, go home and go fishing? Can he get married and have children? These are among the real-life stories of patients declared "brain dead" presented by medical experts at the "Signs of Life" conference on "brain death" criteria held near the Vatican in Rome last week. Ten speakers, who are among the world's most eminent in their fields, sounded a ringing rebuke to the continued support among medical professionals and ethicists for "brain death" as an accepted criterion for organ removal.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

Your host, Eric Martin, and co-hosts Michael Hichborn, Katie Walker and Michael Barnett will educate, motivate, mobilize and often entertain you for 60 minutes every Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. ET on NPLR.net, as well as other Internet and AM radio stations that rebroadcast the show.

FEATURE STORY

PECULIAR PENCHANTS
By Judie Brown

It is perpetually true that when a genuine threat to the status quo becomes more than an idea in someone’s imagination, those who are most threatened by innovation become overcome with anxiety from which flows a whole lot of garbage. Such is the case with the growing popularity of personhood not only within the pro-life movement but within the political structure of various state legislatures as well.

The most recent addition to the mounting list of personhood victories is the State Senate in Montana, where just yesterday they passed a proposal authored by State Senator Dan McGee. He has distinguished himself in many ways over his political career, but most recently his call for personhood has made him a favorite among pro-life leaders who realize that without personhood the civil rights of preborn children will always be in jeopardy.

The bill that narrowly passed in the state senate, 26-24,  makes the following statement, "...person means a human being at all stages of human development of life, including the state of fertilization or conception, regardless of age, health, level of functioning, or condition of dependency."

In other words, should the bill pass the Montana state house as well, and go to the voters as a ballot measure in 2010, it would provide the people of the state with a great deal to think about when it comes to addressing exactly who is that human being who dies every time an abortion is committed. It would further challenge that status quo in a way that has never been done in the past.

In this struggle to defend the rights of the most vulnerable Americans in our midst, Montana becomes the second state this year to actually say, in one of the two legislative houses, that people of all ages deserve equal protection under the law. North Dakota became the first state just a week ago. There are, in addition, five additional states where measures are being pursued as I write, and even more taking the entire question into serious consideration.

Such progress is a huge hurdle for the evermore-frustrated proponents of the abortion establishment’s status quo. This is one of the reasons why I believe strongly that commentator William Saletan has extended a tired, but oh so tempting hand by telling his readers that the challenge that faces both pro-lifers and pro-abortionists is, simply as follows:

…to put these two issues together. For liberals, that means taking abortion seriously as an argument for contraception. We should make the abortion rate an index of national health, like poverty or infant mortality. The president should report progress, or lack thereof, in the State of the Union.

Reproductive-health counselors must speak bluntly to women who are having unprotected sex. And as Mr. Obama observed last year, men must learn that “responsibility does not end at conception.”

Conservatives, in turn, need to face the corollary truth: A culture of life requires an ethic of contraception. Birth control isn’t a sin or an offense against life, as so many girls and Catholic couples have been taught. It’s a loving, conscientious way to prevent the conception of a child you can’t bear to raise and don’t want to abort. It’s an act of responsibility and respect for life. 

See what I mean by the “peculiar penchant”?  The man who can write with a straight face that abortion is killing wishes to placate the mushy, amoral middle, by calling on what he sees as “liberal” versus “conservative” factions to get it together and find that age-old common ground called contraception.

Dear Mr. Saletan, when will you learn that those of us who work so hard to defend the rights of our brothers and sisters who await birth already know that contraception is the root cause of abortion? 
Sociologist Lionel Tiger knows it. “With effective contraception controlled by women, there are still more abortions than ever…Contraception causes abortion.”

Christopher Tietze, a Planned Parenthood researcher, knew it too and wrote in 1981,

[A] high correlation between abortion experience and contraceptive experience ... women who have practiced contraception are more likely to have had abortions than those who have not practiced contraception, and women who have had abortions are more likely to have been contraceptors than women without a history of abortion.

In addition, it is a fact, a fact that has been recognized by the very people who work so hard to see that abortion is a “right” and a “privilege,” that they themselves were the most influential in convincing the medical community that pregnancy had to be redefined. They did this so that their promotion of contraception would not put them in the embarrassing position of admitting that the pill aborts children. As a matter of fact, 

At the 1964 Population Council symposium, Dr. Samuel Wishik pointed out that acceptance or rejection of birth control would depend on whether it caused an early abortion. Dr. Tietze, of Planned Parenthood and the Population Council suggested, as a public relations ploy, "not to disturb those people for whom this is a question of major importance." Tietze added that theologians and jurists have always taken the prevailing biological and medical consensus of their times as factual, and that "if a medical consensus develops and is maintained that pregnancy, and therefore life, begins at implantation, eventually our brethren from the other faculties will listen."

Therefore it isn’t really that peculiar that a latter day culture war expert like Saletan would make a sincere effort to encourage principled pro-lifers to set aside their alleged religious beliefs and buy into the lie that contraception will curtail the number of abortions. That very argument is a tale as old as the culture of death, and it will persist until personhood is finally the mantra of the America people and the Constitutional fact it should always have been.

The last thing the pro-aborts want to admit is that our quest for personhood and our absolute opposition to contraception has nothing to do with religious beliefs but everything to do with truly caring for the health and welfare of our fellow human beings, born and preborn.

Mark my words, folks. Peculiar penchants are going to increase, and the one that always disturbs me the most is not Saletan’s, but that dehumanizing, but ever popular query, “Should fertilized eggs have rights?”

My response to this one is, simply “Probably not if they are the product of plant or animal reproduction, but when they are of human origin they should have the same rights as you and I.  After all, that “fertilized egg” is actually a human being, an individual, a unique person with his own DNA.”  

In the early 1980’s, before anyone ever dreamed of “producing” human beings asexually [human clones and the like], Professor Jerome Lejeune, world-renowned geneticist, told us: 

[This is how] “the symphony of life is played. It is written in a very special code on DNA, and the first cell is the first part of the magnetic reading machine, so that it will decipher the code on DNA, and play human life. If the information that is inside the tape recorder, which is that first cell, is human information, then this being is a human being. We know that at the beginning there is a message, and this message, if it is spelled out in the human way, makes what is a human.”

“Ah, but let’s not confuse the people with facts,” our opponents would say.  “Let’s just give them another peculiar penchant that convinces them that pro-lifers who argue in favor of personhood are really talking about mere eggs, not real babies!”

Get ready, folks, because the counterfeit words are going to be slung around like rotten eggs.  Let’s just be prepared to debunk every one of them.  After all, there never was a peculiar penchant that couldn’t be disposed of with simple facts.

 Pro-Life Today | 25 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Notre Dame Ethics Prof Reveals Groundbreaking Pro-Life Academic Program in the Works
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022401.html
Life Site News
An innovative academic program designed to equip the next generation of pro-life advocates is one of the initiatives in store for the University of Notre Dame's new Human Life Fund, said Dr. David Solomon in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) yesterday. Professor Solomon, a deeply pro-life philosopher who has been teaching ethics for over forty years, is the founder and head of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture. He told LSN that pro-life associates at the university had been brainstorming for about a year on how to energize pro-life activity at the most prestigious Catholic school in America, before they arrived at the idea of the Fund and the academic program.   

Numbers up at Planned Parenthood
http://www.yumasun.com/news/planned_48143___article.html/parenthood_seeing.html
Yuma Sun
The economy may be in the tank, but a representative with Yuma Planned Parenthood says they're seeing an increase in new patients, a possible indicator that more people are getting preventative medical treatment. In the period from November 2008 to January 2009, Yuma Planned Parenthood (YPP) saw 260 new patients, up from 171 the same time one year ago. Last year, YPP saw 2,400 total patients. Heather George, center administrator for Yuma Planned Parenthood, said they usually see about 180 to 200 total patients a month.

Idaho Planned Parenthood offers free contraception
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/677648.html
Idaho Statesman
Idaho women will be able to get a free, long-acting, reversible contraception device because of a grant received by Planned Parenthood of the Greater Northwest. Qualifying patients may receive a device at no cost but are responsible for office and exam expenses. The birth control includes intrauterine devices as well as the implantable hormonal contraceptives.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

FEATURE STORY

SANCTIMONIOUS SWILLING
By Judie Brown

It should have come as a surprise to no one that on the very day that President Obama is addressing the State of the Union, the Alan Guttmacher Institute has released a new "study" which, lo and behold, calls for more funding for family planning programs. As the Associated Press reported 

Report co-author Rachel Benson Gold called the family planning program "smart government at its best," asserting that every dollar spent on it saves taxpayers $4 in costs associated with unintended births to mothers eligible for Medicaid-funded natal care….

The Guttmacher report provides ammunition for those who will advocate the funding increase.

Surveying data from the 2006 fiscal year, the report says the national family planning program prevented 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, including almost 400,000 teen pregnancies. Based on statistical analysis and projections, these pregnancies would have resulted in 860,000 unintended births, 810,000 abortions and 270,000 miscarriages, according to the report.
Without publicly funded family planning, it said, the U.S. abortion rate would be nearly two-thirds higher, and nearly twice as high among poor women.

But in essence, the report does not address the fundamental problem with the ongoing self-serving, subjective Planned Parenthood rhetoric, nor does it tell us how we save four dollars.

The very program that the Alan Guttmacher Institute claims prevents 810,000 abortions functions by providing the chemicals and devices, "family planning measures," that themselves cause abortion during the human being's first eight days of life. That is, they abort prior to implantation. That is a fact that has been proven by one of the very organizations one would think would be aligned with Planned Parenthood. That organization is the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. ASRM makes it perfectly clear that contraception does abort.

In a summary of the development of contraception in the United States, the [ASRM] statement called oral contraceptives the "most widely used" reversible method. In the "wide variety" of oral contraceptives that are available, the "mechanisms of action" are the same, said the statement: "inhibition of ovulation, alteration in the cervical mucus, and/or modification of the endometrium, thus preventing implantation." 

Further the term "unintended pregnancy" is a conveniently negative statement designed to alienate the couple who has engaged in sexual relations and did not "intend" to have a baby. The subconscious idea is that a preborn child is a problem that the mother needs to eliminate because she did not "intend" to have him.

Though PP points out that more of these "unintended" children are born than die, the fact is that not one of them should ever have to die based on parental intention. Let's face it, if a couple does not want to have a family, then abstain from the activity that makes having a family possible! That's common sense.

Not only that, but Stop Planned Parenthood International pointed out in its weekly Wednesday STOPP Report that PP is not effective at reducing the rate of unintended pregnancy anyway!

To prove their point, STOPP cites a Brookings Institute report which states:

With premarital sex the rule, rather than the exception, an out-of-wedlock childbirth gradually ceased to be a sign that society's sexual taboos had been violated. The reduction in stigma also helps explain why women who would once have put their baby up for adoption chose to keep it instead.

It is of interest that as in the case with the ASRM, Brookings is no bastion of pro-life philosophy. In fact, they promote abortion as the proper response to "unintended pregnancy." But my point is quite simple: PP's Alan Guttmacher Institute is standing before Congress with hands extended, asking for more money for programs that frankly have not worked. These "programs" have created a situation in which more young people are damaged for life because of sexually transmitted diseases and have a given those same young people a rather warped perspective on the value of saving sex until marriage.

But what about that four dollar savings? The proponents of this argument make the following claim:

Clinics receiving Title X funds not only provide quality health care services but also save the government money. Every dollar spent to provide services in the nationwide network of publicly funded family planning clinics saves $4.02 in pregnancy-related and newborn care costs to Medicaid.

This statement speaks volumes about how the culture of death views pregnancy, childbearing and parenthood. What these anti-baby fanatics are really saying is that spending taxpayer dollars on helping the expectant mother through her nine month pregnancy and then helping her with the costs involved in giving birth is simply not worthy of taxpayer support, but recommending contraception and abortion is! If that isn't a twisted way of focusing on how these vultures think they can save America money, I don't know what is!

The new Guttmacher study is designed to acquire more funding, pure and simple. There is no humanitarian concern for the poor or for the unwed mother. In fact, it isn't really about saving money for anyone or, for that matter saving lives.

This report also approves of congressional legislation that is currently pending. If passed it will increase funding for Title X family planning to an amount many hope will be $700 million a year. Opponents of this legislation believe that this is a 'Planned Parenthood' bailout, since much of the funding will go to the organization. However, the money cannot be used to fund abortions.

Say what? Many hope the funding level will be $700,000,000 a year?

Yes, that's right. But

In April [2008], the annual report for Planned Parenthood Federation of America revealed that the abortion giant had a total income of $1.02 billion -- with reported profits of nearly $115 million. Taxpayers kick in more than $336 million worth of government grants and contracts at both the state and federal levels. That's a third of Planned Parenthood's budget.

As we said in our media release yesterday:

The opportunistic Guttmacher Institute is playing to the American people's fear of economic collapse in an effort to devalue the lives of America's poorest citizens. Put the poor on birth control, the study argues, then we don't have to deal with their children.

"It is not hyperbole to say that the advent of modern contraception changed American life," Guttmacher says.

We couldn't agree more. In fact, it's destroying American life.

Perhaps Planned Parenthood can donate some of their $114.8 million dollar (2006-2007) profit to programs that empower the poor instead of sterilizing them as undesirables.

Let's all agree that calling for an end to PP's sanctimonious swilling of our tax dollars is long, long overdue. Sign the Stop Planned Parenthood funding petition today.

 
Your host, Eric Martin, and co-hosts Michael Hichborn, Katie Walker and Michael Barnett will educate, motivate, mobilize and often entertain you for 60 minutes every Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. ET on NPLR.net, as well as other Internet and AM radio stations that rebroadcast the show.

Pro-Life Today | 24 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Report urges boost for U.S. family planning program
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5idOm4CVgOxeAnfbHs3zcHPFrQAagD96HO7300
AP
Publicly-funded family planning prevents nearly two million unintended pregnancies and more than 800,000 abortions in the United States each year, saving billions of dollars, according to new research intended to counter conservative objections to expanding the program. The data is in a report being released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health think tank whose research is generally respected even by experts and activists who don't share its advocacy of abortion rights.

Boston College Students Vote to Demand Free Condoms, Other Birth Control
http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CardinalNewmanSociety/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/488/It emID/407/Default.aspx
Cardinal Newman Society
During the Undergraduate Government elections at Boston College last week, students passed a “sexual health referendum” by a wide margin. BC’s student leaders are promising to promote to the administration the referendum which demands access to free birth control and condoms on campus.

Bill calls human embryo 'person'
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/24/bill-calls-human-embryo-person/
Washington Times
The North Dakota Legislature is taking center stage in the abortion debate as it moves to define a fertilized human egg as a person — an effort viewed largely as a vehicle to challenge the Supreme Court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion. The bill, which could be signed into law within weeks, is an outgrowth of the personhood movement, which has catapulted to the forefront of the pro-life pecking order in recent years with high-profile legislation and ballot measures.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

FEATURE STORY

DEMOCRACY AND DEMAGOGUES
By Judie Brown

Pope John Paul II wrote in Splendor of Truth that genuine democracy requires equality among all the members of society. There is no doubt he was referring to every human being, born and preborn. He would therefore, undoubtedly be very proud of the state of North Dakota.

The North Dakota House has already passed a personhood bill that is undeniably among the most concise statements of fact in the nation. The bill reads as follows:

Section 1. References to individual, person or human being – Legislative Intent. For purposes of interpretation of the constitution and laws of North Dakota, it is the intent of the legislative assembly that an individual, a person, when the context indicates that a reference to an individual is intended, or a human being includes any organism with the genome of homo sapiens.

Section 2. State to Defend Challenge. The legislative assembly, by concurrent resolution, may appoint one or more of its members, as a matter of right and in the legislative member's official capacity, to intervene to defend this Act in any case in which this Act's constitutionality is challenged.

State Representative Dan Ruby is the state's leader on this bill and his courageous defense of personhood is inspiring. Ruby represents Minot, North Dakota, and his local newspaper was quick to report on the legislative victory, telling readers

The anti-abortion bill introduced this session by Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, has been getting attention across the nation.

The bill defines human life as beginning at conception and would allow constitutional rights to extend to every unborn human whether in or out of the womb.

Actually, the language of the bill is much more precise than what the newspaper reported. This is necessary in a piece of legislation as crucial as North Dakota's H.R. 1572 because the word "conception" has been co-opted by the abortion movement. It was once accepted that "conception" meant the moment when a human being begins biologically, at fertilization. However, with the passage of time, the pro-aborts have caused a change and today conception is defined in many quarters as implantation, thus denying that anyone is conceived before he or she is eight days old and firmly attached to his mother's uterus.

Thus, the language of this bill had to state "a human being includes any organism with the genome of homo sapiens." This linguistic precision acknowledges the existence of any human being from his beginning whether he comes into being asexually or sexually. That may sound like splitting hairs, but clearly, we cannot be too careful. The stakes are too high.

With this tremendous victory in North Dakota, which is far from over since the state senate has yet to vote, we were caught up in a moment of celebration. We nearly forgot about such concerns as Nancy Pelosi's visit with Pope Benedict XVI.  But Joe Murray's article in the Philadelphia Bulletin reminded us that not all is rosy in pro-life land these days.

In Murray's article, "Pope, Pelosi and Personhood" he presents the entire perspective, or what I call the good, the bad and the very ugly. Murray makes a point to clarify the questionable position Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi takes when she defines herself as an "ardent" Catholic, but his analysis goes far beyond Pelosi-isms.

He writes

Aside from North Dakota, Maryland, Montana, South Carolina and Alabama have introduced personhood bills, while efforts are currently underway in Mississippi and Oregon. On the federal level, U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has introduced the federal personhood measure.

And though Democrats, led largely by Mrs. Pelosi, a pro-abortion Catholic, continue to impede such measures, Pope Benedict XVI recently reminded the lawmaker her faith should come before her ideology in a meeting this week at the Vatican.

"His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoins all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development," the Vatican wrote in a statement released moments prior to the two meeting.

So, as the pro-life movement stands at the crossroads of finally addressing personhood in more states than ever before in our 36-year history, we have this convergence of events. We continue to witness the intransigence of the pro-abortion Catholic, the moral clarity of Catholic teaching and the bold, new face of the personhood pro-lifer. It is really quite a historic moment for all of us who fight for the human rights of the most defenseless in our midst.

Every pro-lifer understands Pelosi's wrongheadedness, and each is grateful for Pope Benedict XVI's loving correction of the lovely lady at the very moment when personhood is being voted on in North Dakota. We do not think for a moment that these events occurred in the same time frame by accident.

So yesterday, you can imagine my surprise when I read the blathering of Professor Douglas Kmiec, an Obama Catholic, who not only challenges what the Holy Father's statement said in reference to Pelosi, but calls on him to correct himself.

Oh yes! Kmiec writes in Time magazine online,

Might there be a different, less intrusive course for the Church? Yes: clarify the Pelosi statement by continuing to observe the difference between a jurist and a legislator. That may be awkward from the standpoint of the unyielding lines of moral rather than political principle, but it has the merit of following the instruction of St. Thomas Aquinas, who argued that "all should have some part in the government; for in this way peace is preserved among the people, and all are pleased with such a disposition of things and maintain it."

Few are pleased with the abortion jurisprudence as it is. But imposing moral duties on Catholic jurists that are incompatible with their envisioned judicial role in a democracy is hardly likely to make it better.

One can only define what Kmiec is saying here as balderdash, or more to the point, rubbish! For any right-thinking person in public life, Catholic or otherwise, the moral principles of defending the right to life are unchanging, regardless of his role as lawmaker or judge. Perhaps Kmiec should refresh his understanding of what makes democracy work. Perhaps he should pay close attention to what Pope John Paul II wrote in Splendor of Truth

The Church's firmness in defending the universal and unchanging moral norms is not demeaning at all. Its only purpose is to serve man's true freedom. Because there can be no freedom apart from or in opposition to the truth, the categorical — unyielding and uncompromising — defence of the absolutely essential demands of man's personal dignity must be considered the way and the condition for the very existence of freedom.

This service is directed to every man, considered in the uniqueness and singularity of his being and existence: only by obedience to universal moral norms does man find full confirmation of his personal uniqueness and the possibility of authentic moral growth. For this very reason, this service is also directed to all mankind: it is not only for individuals but also for the community, for society as such. These norms in fact represent the unshakable foundation and solid guarantee of a just and peaceful human coexistence, and hence of genuine democracy, which can come into being and develop only on the basis of the equality of all its members, who possess common rights and duties. When it is a matter of the moral norms prohibiting intrinsic evil, there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone. It makes no difference whether one is the master of the world or the "poorest of the poor" on the face of the earth. Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal.

Note his words: "there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone." Whether the lawmaker or would-be judge is supportive of Dan Ruby's proposal in North Dakota or the myriad other legislative proposals that address the wrong of abortion, the obvious fact is the same: Abortion is an intrinsic evil and it must be eradicated from the law. Nothing that results in such a heinous outcome can ever be, in a just society, legal.

We extend our gratitude to Dan Ruby and Pope Benedict XVI; we praise God for the wisdom of Pope John Paul II that lives on through his writings, and we pray for the conversion of heart of folks like Nancy Pelosi and Douglas Kmiec who have somehow lost the ability to see truth with clarity and complete understanding.

 Volume 6, Number 8

 Monday, February 23, 2009

Prayer Requests
Please keep the participants of the next 40 Days for Life Campaign in your thoughts and prayers.  The Spring/Lent 40 Days for Life starts this (Ash) Wednesday, February 25 and will continue through April 5.

From Associates

Children of God for Life
You may recall that almost two years ago, Debi Vinnedge heeded a call to spread the message heard in a pro-life song by David Burke entitled “We Want to See the World.”  The song is an emotional call-and-response ballad between an angel and children who are still in their mothers’ wombs.  The lyrics portray beautiful images of earth, convey messages about reaching heaven and assure parents of God’s grace for their children.

The song further inspired Debi to create a picture of an angel holding an unborn child with several smaller babies in the background among scattered stars.  The picture was printed on T-shirts that were offered to other Associate groups as a fundraiser and are now being worn by sidewalk counselors with great response.  Last year, the picture and T-shirts inspired a DVD which was first offered at the 2009 March for Life.  A number of pro-life groups as well as Catholic schools are showing the DVD as an effective way to help children understand the sanctity of human life.  Now, there have been requests for prayer cards to match the theme!  For more information and to view the T-shirt and DVD, visit www.cogforlife.org/tshirtDVDorders.htm.

Pro-Life Wisconsin
In light of the University of Wisconsin’s recent vote to provide late-term abortions, UW Alumni for Life is urging alumni and current students to sign on to a letter opposing this evil decision.  If you are an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin, know of others who are or know current students there, please pass this information along to them.  To have your name added to the letter, please e-mail Virginia at Virginia@prolifewisconsin.org or call Pro-Life Wisconsin at 877-463-7945.  Please provide your name, year of graduation and place of current residence.  To view the letter, see www.prolifewisconsin.org/releases/UWBoycott.htm.

Stem Cell Research – The “science” of human sacrifice
By ALL Staff

A stem cell is a type of cell found in all human beings.  They’re found in animals as well. Stem cells have a couple of important characteristics: they can reproduce themselves over a long period of time without changing, and they have the capability to produce other types of specialized cells, such as brain cells, muscle cells and lung cells, to name but a few.  There are a number of different places from which stem cells can be obtained: bone marrow, fat cells, umbilical cord blood, adult blood, skin cells, olfactory nerve endings and embryos.

Obtaining stem cells from fatty tissue, bone marrow or the umbilical cord after the birth of a baby may be done ethically. No harm comes to the person whose stem cells are obtained for research in such fashion.  Obtaining stem cells from a human embryo, however, is highly unethical. A human embryo is an innocent human being in his first stage of life. There is only one way to obtain stem cells from a developing human embryo, and it involves killing the embryo. In every case, it is always morally wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being at any point in life, including the embryonic stage of development. Sacrificing a child in the name of science is still child sacrifice.

There are those in the government and scientific community who say more money must be spent on human embryonic stem cell research because it holds the most promise for helping people with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.  However, adult stem cells have been used successfully for decades. Bone marrow transplants, for instance, help people every day. There are more than 100 conditions including leukemia, immune system and other blood disorders, cancers and autoimmune diseases that respond well when adult stem cell therapy is used.

Research involving human embryonic stem cells has thus far been unsuccessful in the quest to develop therapeutic treatments. It is speculated that those who support human embryonic stem cell research are clamoring loudly for taxpayer dollars because private companies know human embryonic stem cell research is neither worth their time nor their money.

The popular plea is that human embryonic stem cell research will cure Alzheimer’s disease. However, Alzheimer’s researcher Ned Potter said this research would not help the Alzheimer’s patient at all. It is nerve cells that cause the problem because they lose their ability to connect with each other. Therefore, these embryonic stem cells are not the ones needed.

Far too many reports of possible treatment for diseases are false. Media accounts simply parrot fake science. This is misleading and could lead to the deaths of millions of innocent human beings if this type of research is allowed to move forward.

According to a recent RAND Corporation survey of in vitro fertilization clinics in the United States, the vast majority of the 400,000 human embryos currently being stored—88.2% of them—are wanted by their parents so that larger families can be part of their future.  But even if this were not the case, there is no justification for killing one innocent human being, regardless of where he lives—including a freezer in a clinic. Killing is still killing.

A human being begins at the first moment of his or her biological development.  There is no greater pivotal moment in an individual’s growth and development than when chromosomes from the father join with chromosomes from the mother to form a unique, new biologic entity—a human being who never existed prior to that moment.

Those who attempt to deceive the public by using words like clump of cells, blob of tissue, pre-embryo and so forth are either ignorant of the basic scientific facts or think that people like us are gullible enough to believe almost anything.  Arm yourself with the truth to defend millions of tiny embryonic human beings who cannot speak for themselves. Spread the word that society must reject human embryonic stem cell research, while encouraging moral, ethical—and thus far, successful—work with other forms of stem cells.

Helpful information can be found at the following web sites:

• www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=irv, see article listing
• www.stemcellresearch.org
• Steve Kellmeyer, “The Embryo’s New Clothes,” www.catholiccitizens.org/press/contentview.asp?c=16963
• “The Legend of the 400,000 Embryos” and “Do no harm fact sheet,” www.stemcellresearch.org/facts/2004-06-11.htm
• Dianne Irving, Ph.D., “When do human beings begin?” www.all.org/abac/dni003.htm

News

Obama to OK embryonic stem cell research
In a closed-door meeting with House Democrats at their retreat at the posh Kingsmill Golf Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia, President Obama gave his "guarantee" he will sign an executive order overturning President Bush's executive order restricting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Obama's reversal of Bush's policy comes in the face of scientific evidence that more than two decades of embryonic stem cell research have failed to produce medically valuable results, while adult stem cell research has resulted in successful medical treatments for a wide range of illnesses.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88572

Report: Fetal stem cells trigger tumors in ill boy
A family desperate to save a child from a lethal brain disease sought highly experimental injections of fetal stem cells — injections that triggered tumors in the boy's brain and spinal cord, Israeli scientists reported last week.

Scientists are furiously trying to harness different types of stem cells — the building blocks for other cells in the body — to regrow damaged tissues and thus treat devastating diseases. But for all the promise, researchers have long warned that they must learn to control newly injected stem cells so they don't grow where they shouldn't, and small studies in people are only just beginning.

The report in the journal PLoS Medicine is the first documented case of a human brain tumor — albeit a benign, slow-growing one — after fetal stem cell therapy, and hammers home the need for careful research. The journal is published by the Public Library of Science.

"Patients, please beware," said Dr. John Gearhart, a stem cell scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who wasn't involved in the Israeli boy's care but who sees similarly desperate U.S. patients head abroad to clinics that offer unproven stem cell injections.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gXPm4dnGNyn2DTR2t_FmA0GW_4JgD96DLTT00

A baby, please.  Blond, freckles -- hold the colic
Want a daughter with blond hair, green eyes and pale skin?  A Los Angeles clinic says it will soon help couples select both gender and physical traits in a baby when they undergo a form of fertility treatment. The clinic, Fertility Institutes, says it has received "half a dozen" requests for the service, which is based on a procedure called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD.

While PGD has long been used for the medical purpose of averting life-threatening diseases in children, the science behind it has quietly progressed to the point that it could potentially be used to create designer babies. It isn't clear that Fertility Institutes can yet deliver on its claims of trait selection. But the growth of PGD, unfettered by any state or federal regulations in the U.S., has accelerated genetic knowledge swiftly enough that pre-selecting cosmetic traits in a baby is no longer the stuff of science fiction.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123439771603075099.html

Genetic mapping of babies by 2019 will transform preventive medicine
Every baby born a decade from now will have its genetic code mapped at birth, the head of the world's leading genome sequencing company has predicted. A complete DNA read-out for every newborn will be technically feasible and affordable in less than five years, promising a revolution in healthcare, says Jay Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina. Only social and legal issues are likely to delay the era of “genome sequences”, or genetic profiles, for all. By 2019 it will have become routine to map infants' genes when they are born, Dr Flatley told The Times.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5689052.ece

Closing Thought

Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor.  Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.

Romans 12:9-12

Pro-Life Today | 19 February 2009

 National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Following Meeting with Pope, News of Secret Meeting between Pelosi and her Bishop on Abortion 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021809.html
Life Site News
In the wake of House Speaker Pelosi's closed-door meeting with Pope Benedict XVI last weekend, news has erupted that earlier this month Pelosi secretly met with her own bishop, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, to discuss her stance on abortion.  Pelosi had publicly accepted an invitation to meet with Niederauer after the Speaker attempted to justify abortion in light of Catholic teaching last year during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press. Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV broke the news today that the promised meeting took place Sunday, February 8 in a third-party home in San Francisco.  Voris reports that Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said that the Speaker described the meeting as "cordial and pleasant ... a fair exchange and good."  When asked whether Pelosi had changed her position on abortion to agree with Catholic teaching, Daly stated, "You won't see that happening.  She is not changing her position on abortion."

National Pro-Life Group Tells Obama before Canadian Visit: Stop the Black Genocide by Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021806.html
Life Site News
President Barack Obama is preparing to travel to Canada tomorrow, for his first visit with the leader of a foreign country. In the lead-up to his visit, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), the political arm of Canada's pro-life movement, has called on U.S. President Barack Obama not to preside over the greatest slaughter of African Americans in history via abortion.  CLC President Jim Hughes noted that Obama, "the first black President" has a unique opportunity to "help save the lives of 4000 African American babies who die by abortion every day in the United States." "Every day Mr. President, people with your ethnic background die in astounding numbers," said Mr. Hughes.  "Abortion is the number one killer of African Americans in the U.S." Citing abortion statistics, Hughes said: "African Americans make up about 13% of the U.S. population but about 37% of all babies killed by abortion are black. In the last 36 years over 17 million African American babies have died by abortion alone."  He noted that abortion businesses target black communities.

Unborn Child Saved by 12-Year-Old's Popular Pro-Life Presentation
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021807.html
Life Site News
Though 12-year-old Lia's popular pro-life presentation did not win a regional speech competition last night, she and her family are celebrating what they call the "best trophy ever" - the saving of an unborn life, after Lia's words convinced a stranger not to abort her child. A video of Lia's 5-minute speech, in which the sprightly and articulate 7th-grader gives a point-by-point argument against abortion, has attracted over 200,000 views on Youtube and a flurry of comments, in addition to increasing news media coverage.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

FEATURE STORY

ABSOLUTES VS. ACROBATS – CATHOLIC-STYLE
By Judie Brown

When your head is swimming from all the commentary ebbing and flowing from yesterday's Pelosi encounter with the Holy Father, the essence of what actually occurred is lost. The fundamental question of our day, what is truth, evaporates in headlines and public pronouncements. One is left asking, is that all there is?

Was this just another media circus? Are the acrobats still swinging?

Why didn't the pope just excommunicate Pelosi, one person asked me! Well, maybe he did, though she clearly has done a pretty good job of excommunicating herself. At least that is my opinion. The fact is nobody knows precisely what was said in that private meeting and the only person who will not "spin" to his advantage is the person who doesn't need to … Pope Benedict XVI.

I only wish Pelosi was an isolated example of Catholic thinking gone awry, but she is not.
In the halls and classrooms of Boston College, a Catholic university, something new has been added, and as Boston Globe reporter Michael Paulsen writes, the reaction is mixed. Said one professor:

"I believe that the display of religious signs and symbols, such as the crucifix, in the classroom is contrary to the letter and spirit of open intellectual discourse that makes education worthwhile and distinguishes first-rate universities from mediocre and provincial ones," Maxim D. Shrayer, chairman of the department of Slavic and Eastern languages and literatures, said in an interview.

Shrayer is referring to a crucifix, the traditional Catholic icon reminding Catholics of the essence of Catholic identity. Does he know he is actually being paid by a Catholic institution that is striving these days to be proud of its identity?

Perhaps Shrayer would be happier at the Catholic Assumption University in Windsor, Canada, where Father Paul Rennick recently made the following statement to a member of the media, "Abortion is not an infallible teaching. It never has been proclaimed infallibly," he said.

Of interest is that what happened when the reporter from the ardently pro-Catholic, pro-life LifeSiteNews attempted to contact Bishop Ronald Fabbro, who is the university's chancellor, for a reaction to Father Rennick's statement. Mark Adkinson, Director of Communications for the diocese told the reporter that the bishop was not available for comment, and said, "…I don't view LifeSiteNews as a legitimate news source."

So on the one hand, we have a Catholic university striving to assert its identity even as members of its faculty are decrying that fact. While on the other hand we have a Catholic bishop in Canada who will not address the scandalous comments of a Catholic university president because he denies the integrity of one of the finest news reporting organizations in the entire pro-life, Catholic community.

The acrobats are definitely flying, or are those actually dingbats?

Let's move on to an allegedly Catholic organization's claims that increased spending on welfare programs will result in substantial reductions in state abortion rates while many pro-life laws have the opposite effect. The organization in question, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, made the claim after they released a study in August of last year.

Professor Michael New of the University of Alabama kept an eye on this, and just this past week he wrote

Not surprisingly, this study had a substantial impact on the debate over sanctity of life issues during the 2008 Presidential election. Self proclaimed pro-lifers who support Democratic Presidential nominees can be found in every election cycle. However, this study gave Doug Kmiec, Nicholas Cafardi, and others intellectual legitimacy in arguing that pro-life voters should vote for liberals, even if they favor abortion-on-demand and its public funding, in order to advance the pro-life cause. … It seemed too good to be true.

It was. In November, with no public announcement, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good removed this study from their website. A replacement version was uploaded shortly thereafter. The replacement version differs from its predecessor in a number of interesting ways. …

It is unfortunate that the faulty research of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good was used as political cover to help make such a thing [the election of Obama] possible. As the Obama administration continues its assault on laws and policies upholding the sanctity of human life, pro-lifers need to hold this organization morally accountable.

This is but another case of the abuses perpetrated on the American people in the name of a type of fraudulent Catholicism that is neither genuinely Catholic nor ethically sound.

These few examples should provoke us to question and to challenge the legitimacy of those alleged Catholics like Pelosi who parade their identity for the express purpose of creating subversion within the Church where all that is good is denied, while all that is evil is praised.

Such swinging in the wind should also help us express appreciation for those prelates who are dedicated to advancing the truth without regard to media bias, character assassination or attempted humiliation by those who believe their earthly power should make Catholic bishops and priests cower.

When Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino publicly criticized Misericordia University recently for a scheduled lecture on gay rights by Keith Boykin – a gay rights advocate, the diocese issued a statement in which it said

Bishop Martino wants Catholics of the Diocese of Scranton to know of his absolute disapproval of Misericordia University's hosting Mr. Boykin. By honoring this speaker through allowing his positions, so antithetical to Catholic Church teaching, to be broadcast on its campus, the University has rejected all four essential characteristics of a Catholic institution of higher learning. These are: its Christian inspiration, its obligation to reflect on knowledge in light of the Catholic faith, its fidelity to Catholic Church teaching and its commitment to serve the people of God.

But the mainstream media, not at all interested in the ideals that should be upheld by a Catholic university, reported the incident this way:  

In a prepared statement, Misericordia University addressed the controversy surrounding Bishop Martino's criticism. According to the statement, the university understands the bishop's views, but Mr. Boykin's visit to the campus was not meant to advocate for a single issue.

In other words, academic freedom excuses Catholic universities from providing a sound Catholic education to the students. One has to wonder how it is that a Catholic university can defy the bishop while pandering to the politics of abortion, contraception and homosexuality. It must be the thin air up there on the trapeze.

My second example of heroic bishops is Bishop Thomas J. Tobin who recently wrote "My Interview with President Obama."

Obviously, Bishop Tobin did not have this interview, but he told his readers he certainly could imagine having it, and here is an excerpt from one of the most brilliant tongue in cheek perspectives I have ever seen: 

TOBIN: Is it safe to assume that you consider the use of tax dollars to pay for abortions overseas to be good foreign policy?

OBAMA: I believe that people overseas should have the same rights we Americans have – the right to kill their children and use abortion as a form of birth control.

TOBIN: But shouldn't we be using foreign aid for more positive reasons – for example, to provide food, clothing, shelter and medicine to impoverished children?

OBAMA: Bishop, obviously you're missing the point. If you control the population and eliminate the children, you don't have to worry about giving them food, clothing, shelter and medicine now do you?  

In the writings and actions of bishops like Martino and Tobin, we find the fearless response needed to counter the emotional, mental and political acrobatics of those who, like Pelosi, will use any excuse on God's green earth to further insult Christ and His Church.

Like the trapeze artist who flies through the air with the greatest of ease, so-called Catholics like Pelosi, Father Rennick and the leadership of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good will defy gravity, or in this case, truth, for the express purpose of advancing an evil agenda, the centerpiece of which is preborn child killing.

But as we all know, truth prevails where fervent faith is alive. As Christ instructs us, "If your faith were the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it would move; nothing would be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20)

 Today | 17 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Birmingham Police Accused of 'Horrifying Civil Rights Abuses' Against Pro-Life Advocates
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021610.html
Life Site News
Members of a pro-life protest group have accused Birmingham police of violating their civil rights by bullying and arresting the group for peacefully spreading their message on a public sidewalk. According to a press release issued by the group, nine members of the Survivors Campus Life Tour were holding signs, dialoguing and distributing literature to students on a public sidewalk at Birmingham's Parker High School Thursday when police arrived in over a dozen squad cars and began to threaten the group with arrest unless they leave.  The group says they contacted their attorney, who assured them that their location on the public sidewalk and their free speech activity was legal, and so they continued their activities until police began arresting the members without explanation.

Pelosi to Have Audience with Pope, Vatican Confirms
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93787
EWTN
On Monday at noon in Rome, the Vatican’s Press Office confirmed to CNA that Pope Benedict will be receiving U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in an audience at noon on Wednesday.  Pelosi, a self-proclaimed "ardent Catholic" who has sparked significant criticism from fellow Catholics in the U.S. for her pro-abortion views, arrived in Italy on Sunday for an eight-day official visit.

12-Year-Old Stuns Pro-Abortion Teacher and School with Pro-Life Presentation
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021605.html
Life Site News
12-year-old "Lia" of Toronto has become a star at her school and on Youtube with her five-minute pro-life speech, crafted for a school competition.  Despite discouragement and outright opposition, Lia's presentation was so well done that she reportedly won the contest she was told she would be disqualified from, due to the "controversial" message of her speech.

Listen to On the Edge Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET at www.NPLR.net

FEATURE STORY

PELOSI WILL MEET HER NEMESIS: POPE BENEDICT XVI
By Judie Brown

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is about to pull off, at least according to some, a real coup by being given the opportunity to have a photo op and  conversation with the Vicar of Christ on Earth, Pope Benedict XVI. According to one news report, Pelosi, who describes herself as an "ardent" Catholic while advocating "reproductive rights," will be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the pope since President Barack Obama took office last month.

There are some who feel strongly that this encounter will provide Pelosi with the ability to tell the public that she, as a pro-abortion Catholic, was welcomed with open arms by the pope.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that whatever occurs, she will exploit it for what she thinks is her benefit. The public record makes one thing about Pelosi perfectly clear: She is not a woman who adheres to the teachings of the Church, even though she claims to have “ardent” faith.

There could be a surprise in store, although as political strategist and writer of “Inside Catholic” commentary Deal Hudson points out, "The Holy Father is a head of state and regularly meets with political leaders from every nation, regardless of their positions on issues important to the Church.” 

Hudson comments,

It's a good idea for Benedict to meet with Pelosi, because one can never underestimate the impact of being in his presence. It's also worth remembering that, if the protocol of past meetings remains the same, the Holy Father will make formal remarks in front of the media before any private meeting. Benedict will very likely make comments criticizing the Obama administration for ending the Mexico City Policy and warning the new Congress against passing the Freedom of Choice Act.

Again, nobody knows how this event will unfold, but we can hope that a miracle occurs. 

On the practical level, the fact is that under the Catholic definition of "heretic," Nancy Pelosi long ago distanced herself from truth, and she is playing a dangerous game. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith.” One of those truths, written in the Ten Commandments, is that God said, “Thou shalt not kill.” In discussing this commandment, the Catechism states,

2261 Scripture specifies the prohibition contained in the fifth commandment: "Do not slay the innocent and the righteous." The deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator. The law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere.

Therefore, if one acknowledges the fact that the act of abortion is an act of murder that takes the life of an innocent human being, one can objectively know that Pelosi, whom I presume was baptized into the Catholic Church, is in denial about a truth that must be believed with divine and Catholic faith.  She is “ardent,” if not downright intransigent, in her views regarding abortion and, as we learned most recently, birth control as well. She offered “no apologies.”

Therefore, regardless of the smiles, the warm handshakes or whatever else might occur tomorrow, the fact is that Pelosi’s soul is in jeopardy. This should be of immense concern to all of us and a reason to pray that perhaps, when Pelosi is in the pope’s presence this time, she will somehow be touched by a spirit of humility that forces her to confront her demons and deal with truth, instead of her personal version of what it means to be Catholic.

Pope Benedict has taught us much about the proper formation of conscience, and in one of his most memorable statements, Conscience and Truth, he said, "A man of conscience is one who never acquires tolerance, well-being, success, public standing, and approval on the part of prevailing opinion, at the expense of truth."

In this commentary, the Holy Father said there were two standards that define a real voice, a real conscience. “First, conscience is not identical to personal wishes and taste. Secondly, conscience cannot be reduced to social advantage, to group consensus or to the demands of political and social power.”

Dear Nancy, are you listening?

Pope John Paul II, with whom then-Cardinal Ratzinger was remarkably close, taught,

To be a person of conscience means working to build up the kingdom of God—the kingdom of truth and life, of justice, love and peace—in our families, in the communities in which we live and throughout our homeland. It also means courageously assuming responsibility for public affairs; it means being concerned for the common good and not closing our eyes to the misery and needs of our neighbor, in a spirit of Gospel solidarity: "Bear one another's burdens" (Gal 6:2).

Madam Speaker, did you hear this?

It is here, at this crossroads between the upright conscience and the dead conscience, that Nancy Pelosi will meet her nemesis, the bane of her existence: the Vicar of Christ on Earth. It may well be that she will depart from her meeting with the Holy Father as committed to denying the right to life of innocent preborn babies as she was when she arrived. It could be that she will never examine her views in the light of the “ardent” faith she claims as her own. Only God knows what the result will be. 

Regardless, it is clear that her arrogance in even requesting such a meeting is but another sign of the abyss that exists between the truth of God’s Word and Pelosi’s view of what it means to be a believer. This is why she needs our prayers; this is why her view will not prevail. Pelosi’s public embrace of the evil of abortion will not go unnoticed by the Holy Father, but I am certain that he will in this encounter be as gentle as Christ and equally as firm. We must not forget what he said in his homily on the day of the inauguration of his pontificate four years ago:

The human race – every one of us – is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries our humanity; he carries us all – he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.

Nancy, we are praying for you.

Pro-Life Today | 16 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Birmingham Jails Nine Protesters, Civil Rights Violations Alleged
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93744
EWTN
Pro-life protesters who were arrested on a public sidewalk near a high school in Birmingham, Alabama on Thursday have accused police of violating their ‘basic civil rights.’ The Survivors Campus Life Tour said that nine protesting group members were standing on a public sidewalk near Parker High School distributing educational literature to passing students. Two of the group’s members held large signs and conversed with students on the public sidewalk. According to the group, a campus officer called the police department when they refused to leave the area. Over a dozen squad cars reportedly arrived at the school and the police officers began arresting members of the group.   Lahoci Franco, 24, one of the sign holders, was the first arrested. According to the group’s press release, protestor Rev. Henry “Bud” Shaver, 30, was told that the sidewalk was not public property for “non-citizens of Birmingham.”

Sex assault victim sues Planned Parenthood
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090213/NEWS0107/302130024/1056/COL02
Cincinnati.com
A Warren County woman sued Planned Parenthood on Friday, accusing its staff of ignoring training and procedures by not reporting her suspected sex abuse when she was a minor, resulting in her being sexually abused for 1½ more years.  "They played ostrich," attorney Brian Hurley said, suggesting Planned Parenthood employees purposely ignored warning signs of suspected sex abuse. Hurley filed the suit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. The suit accused Planned Parenthood and five of its employees of ignoring obvious signs of suspected sexual abuse instead of reporting them as Ohio law requires. The woman was sexually assaulted from age 13 through age 17 by her biological father and became pregnant by him, the suit alleges. She went to the Mount Auburn facility of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio in November 2004 to have an abortion.

What the Pope Should Know about Nancy Pelosi
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5416&Itemid=48
Inside Catholic
This week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will meet with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican. With the debilitating illness of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Pelosi has become the de facto leader of dissident Catholic members of Congress.

Listen to "On the Edge" Tuesdays at 1:00 EST at www.NPLR.net

Your host, Eric Martin, and co-hosts Michael Hichborn, Katie Walker and Michael Barnett will educate, motivate, mobilize and often entertain you for sixty minutes every Tuesday at 1:00 PM on NPLR.net, as well as, other Internet and AM radio stations who re-broadcast the show.

On The Edge, a fast-paced, rountable discussion format among the new generation of pro-life experts who work every day in the trenches of the movement, focus on current events, news, politics and dozens of American Life League programs. 

FEATURE STORY

ANOTHER INJUSTICE THAT GOES ON AND ON AND ON …
By Judie Brown

Let me begin by saying that it is never my practice to write about rumors or tales from the blogosphere. So when I got the following message, my heart went right into my throat (figuratively speaking) and I decided at once that the story was a hoax.

But now I am convinced it is true. The story goes like this. In November of 2008, I received the following e-mail from a fellow pro-lifer in Michigan:

Just after election night when Michigan adopted Proposal 2 (which made embryonic stem cell [research] easier to do in Michigan!), a local news station ran a story about a couple who had tried everything to help their toddler who had severe brain trauma. The story claimed that the "victory for stem cell research in MI" would help children and families with similar plights...However, the news reporter refused to mention the exact type of treatment being given to the child. So, I called...

The news station said that the family did not want to divulge any info about the specifics. They just wanted donations. So I went to the family's donation web site and inquired there...

To make a long story short, I assumed that the whole thing was a sham; that the child was most likely receiving adult stem cell therapy, not embryonic. To my knowledge, to date there is NO embryonic research that has had any positive outcomes. I have taught this to adults and youth in my church and school. My facts are based on what I read in ALL, HLI, and similar publications.

Here is where the plot thickens...

The father of the child called me back! He made me insist that I was not a reporter. He went on to tell me that they are paying for treatment from a European doctor … It is alleged that in Europe, women electing abortion are given a chance to "donate their aborted fetus to science." I guess this offers some altruistic sense of generosity toward the public good to women who choose to kill their young.

The father and I talked at length. I told him that I had hoped he would say it was adult stem research b/c I have a family member with a similar condition, but we are devout Catholics and could never use embryos for any treatment for our child. He justified himself, saying he thought and prayed for some time...the fetuses were already dead, and nothing could be done about that...and everyone has to make the choice for themselves...He also asked me to keep the doctor's web site on the QT because he did not want any bad press..

Obviously the parents of this little boy were desperate for help for their child, and the "European doctor" they chose does indeed exist, does have a web site, is actually an American, and has a sordid history. The web site is and the doctor who is the focus of the web site is William C. Rader, M.D.

In 2006, Human Life International reported the following about Rader:

Dr. William C. Rader, a Malibu psychiatrist who ran a chain of eating disorder clinics in Los Angeles, has cooperated with Yuliy Baltaytis in the past. Rader was kicked out of the Bahamas, but not before he had made more than $33 million treating a thousand patients with fetal stem cell injections. Rader says that he has not published anything in the medical literature because it would leave him vulnerable to attacks from a "conspiracy" of scientists, government authorities, and pro-lifers (where have we heard that line before?) The business, which he co-founded with Baltaytis, has run through a succession of names, including Mediquest Ltd., Czech Foundation and Dulcinea. It is now called "Medra," and its web site  boasts that it can use fetal stem cells to cause "remarkable physical and psychological improvements" regarding virtually every known ailment, including Alzheimer's, autism, brain damage, cancer, cerebral palsy, diabetes, epilepsy, impotence, leukemia, MS, Parkinson's, rheumatoid arthritis, sickle-cell anemia, spinal cord injuries, stroke, and even the effects of aging. All patients have to do is get to the Dominican Republic, "a one-hour-and-forty-five-minute flight from Miami." Oh, and bring plenty of cash.

The Human Life International report also states, the fetal stem cell injection industry is rife with fraud. This is natural whenever massive amounts of money can be made in a very short period of time with all the risk being borne by gullible patients.

It's important to note that in this age of Internet communication, reports and stories can get out there, which can either be totally fabricated, or as real as the nose on your face. And in Rader's case, his reviewers and those who know of his work are anything but a cheering fan club. For example, "Cure A.L.S Ride for Life Online" tells the 2005 story of Anne Dumphy who was dying of ALS and thought that Dr. Rader held positive hope for her. As it turned out, she spent $30,000 on Rader's stem cell therapy, got a stronger immune system and died of ALS anyway. As the report makes clear Rader is playing on emotions and making promise that he does not seem to deliver.

In a similar commentary on the ALS Therapy Development Institute web site, one person posted in 2004, "My Aunt had the procedure by Dr. Rader in the Dominican Republic two years ago. The procedure did help her immune system but did not stop the progression of her ALS. We feel the $ given to Dr. Rader could have been better spent."

And in 2005, The Los Angeles Times ran a story on what they termed "unproven stem cell therapies" being marketed from clinics outside the United States. Rader was one of those who were featured in the report. He claimed to have cured early Alzheimer's, said he charges $25,000 for the first injection and $8,500 for each follow up injection and told the reporter, "I think there is a higher power. I feel that I am just simply a conduit." The L.A. Times also reports, "Rader, 66, said he has not published anything about his therapy because that would open him to attack from a 'conspiracy' of scientists, government authorities, pharmaceutical companies and abortion opponents."

Today, when you visit the Medra web site, you will find that the fetal stem cells he uses come from Eastern Europe, or at least that is his claim. You will also find nothing in the way of a scientific study or a confirmation of the validity of his work, and no endorsements from prestigious institutions or any kind.

So I ask myself if perhaps the entire in vitro fertilization industry has produced yet another thriving business that would never have come about had scientists never decided that they could "create" babies better than the proven method designed by God. And after three months of wondering, whatever happened to that anonymous little boy in Michigan who started me thinking about all this?

When the Vatican first issued its document on in vitro fertilization in 1987, the likes of Dr. Rader were probably not uppermost in their minds, and yet they did have the wisdom to state

To use human embryos or foetuses as the object or instrument of experimentation constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings having a right to the same respect that is due to the child already born and to every human person. 

This Michigan family, their heartache and the obvious cruelty that has gone before them as Rader continues his grisly practices unabated should give us cause to pause. Each of us needs to ask ourselves and our neighbors and friends the following:

Where is the point beyond which people will no longer disregard the dignity of the human person? And when will all of humanity begin holding that individual in such high regard that those who kill them, or perform experiments on them, which cause their death, or harvest their bodies, are put in jail for the rest of their lives because they have dared to profit using the remains of murdered preborn children?

Where is that point?

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Respond to Judie
http://www.all.org/newsroom_judieblog_response.php?id=2491

Volume 6, Number 7 

Monday, February 16, 2009

New Associate Groups
Please join me in welcoming our two newest Associate groups – Save Unborn Life and Mother Teresa Ministry! 

Save Unborn Life was founded in Erie, Pennsylvania in 2004 in order to spread the message of John Paul II’s Gospel of Life.  Specifically, Save Unborn Life assists abortion-minded mothers in choosing life for their preborn child by providing monetary compensation to the mother upon the birth of the child.  The president of Save Unborn Life is Mrs. Laura Merriott. 

Mother Teresa Ministry is the pro-life apostolate of the Catholic Church (Holy Family and St. Anne’s parishes) in Deming, New Mexico.  MTM’s mission is to carry out the works of mercy within its parishes and the local community by distributing pro-life literature, donating pro-life materials to libraries, participating in Respect Life Sunday events, organizing the local Life Chain, hosting pro-life speakers and praying monthly rosaries.  Mrs. Amy Seltzer is a co-founder of Mother Teresa Ministry.

We are very pleased to have both groups join the Associate Program and look forward to assisting them in their future endeavors!

Red Envelope Campaign
American Life League has received a number of telephone calls and e-mails about a grassroots initiative developed with the hope of sending a message to President Barack Obama that there is moral outrage over his administration’s promotion of abortion.  The campaign involves mailing a red (in time for Valentine’s Day) envelope to the president.  The envelope should be empty but include a message on the outside.  Suggested wording includes: “This envelope represents one child who died through abortion.  Imagine this child’s potential if he or she had been allowed to live.”  Just last week a web site was set up to further promote the project.  See www.redenvelopeproject.org.

Envelopes should be mailed to:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20500

Tip of the month – Parent Power
"School District #3" – from Parent Power!! By Jim Sedlak

As you may recall, we have begun relating real-life stories about various school districts and their encounters with Planned Parenthood.  In School District #1, the fight involved removing a Planned Parenthood “educator” from the school system and was successful over a relatively short period of time.  This case highlighted some important tips on approaching a school board with one’s concerns.

In School District #2, the fight involved the removal of a child abuse counseling program developed and implemented by Planned Parenthood.  This case involved an entrenched school board and local media heavily biased toward Planned Parenthood.  At one point, it seemed as though the parents had actually lost since the board eventually voted to adopt the program.  However, the large public outcry forced the board to develop a school access policy which, in turn, was later used to keep pro-abortion groups out of the schools and away from the children. It also led to a greater recognition on the part of the school board of the proper role of parents in the decision process of the school. In the end, the original counseling program was eventually abandoned as well!

The next school district we will review posed a much different set of challenges to parents.  In School District #3, Planned Parenthood had funded the installation of a Family Life Education program.  Planned Parenthood considered this its “model” program as evidenced by it being referred to in a number of state level documents.  Funding directly from the state allowed not only the installation of the program, but for a full time Family Life Education director in the school district to oversee it.  In this case, obviously, there was an also an entrenched bureaucracy which the parents would have to overcome.

Several years after the program had begun, a parent with a child in fourth grade became outraged over the program and the messages it was giving to the young people of the community.  She realized her child would be attending this course starting the following year and felt she had to do everything possible to protect her child and the other children in the community.  This parent obtained copies of the curriculum and contacted various pro-life groups in the area for assistance.  The struggle that ensued was a cooperative effort of both many individuals and several groups.

The concerned parent decided to get things started in the school district by holding an informational meeting.  She set up the meeting in a local church hall and invited many other parents and every member of the school board (two of whom actually attended).  The meeting opened with prayer and some singing of religious songs, and then “A Critical Look at Planned Parenthood” was shown.  Finally, the discussion was turned to the specific program in the school district.

As the speakers read from the actual course material, attendees were surprised to find a number of things being taught.  All were clearly opposed to the sex ed program and one school board member stated he was “shocked” by the nature and extent of the program.  Attendees were eager to begin the fight to get it taken out of the school. 

The two school board members who attended the meeting were very upset at the Planned Parenthood program.  They asked the Superintendent of Schools to follow-up.  The Superintendent scheduled a meeting to discuss the matter with the concerned parents.  In preparation for the meeting, parents prepared an analysis of the FLE program in the school.

Next month:  The analysis of Planned Parenthood’s Family Life Education Program

News

Vatican official: Bishops have no choice but to refuse communion to pro-abort politicians
Archbishop Raymond Burke, in an exclusive with LifeSiteNews.com, said that the issue of pro-abortion politicians continuing to receive Holy Communion is still one of major concern and that it is the duty of bishops to ensure that they are refused.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020402.html

"Abortion reduction strategies" ignore half the problem, Archbishop warns
During a recent trip to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver delivered a talk to the Irish chapter of Human Life International that outlined the “dos and don’ts” for the pro-life movement. Those who claim pro-lifers should avoid the “divisive” issue of ending legalized abortion and focus on providing better support for pregnant mothers are creating a false division, the archbishop insisted.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93585

Abortion-breast cancer link, Komen Foundation, Planned Parenthood explored
An upcoming episode of “Facing Life Head-On” will discuss the link between abortion and breast cancer and purports to expose the “irregular relationship” between the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer organization and Planned Parenthood.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93651

Pro-abortion activists renew attacks on pregnancy resource centers
Feminists who gathered for a conference last week in Washington, D.C., said President Barack Obama’s pro-abortion mandate is likely to unite the pro-life movement like it did during Bill Clinton’s two terms as president. Panelists said that meant there is a need to renew efforts to discredit the pro-life movement, including defeating legislation that would support pregnancy resource centers.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=43363

Stimulus contains rationed medicine
The former lieutenant governor of New York is warning that the $50 billion that President Obama expects to spend in the next few years on a nationwide digital health records system for every individual easily could, and probably will, result in rationed medical care.
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88457

A resurgence of eugenics?
As the world moves further into economic chaos, eugenics, an old idea cloaked under modern terminology, is making a comeback. During these times it is easy to see how a resurgence and re-packaging of eugenics could come about. Do you have more than two children? Your carbon footprint has been deemed unacceptable. Your economic burden on society cannot be tolerated during unprecedented economic times. The growing population of elderly individuals will be an incredible burden on a faltering system, we are told. Some governmental think tanks see younger generations pursuing euthanasia policies as an option.
http://oldthinkernews.com/Articles/oldthinker%20news/2009_a_resurgence_of_eugenics.htm

Closing Thought

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  Great is this salvation, my brethren, which fears neither sickness nor lethargy and disregards pain.  We should then in the fullest sense, not only with our voice but with our very soul cry out, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”  If he enlightens and saves me, whom shall I fear?  

From a sermon by John the Serene, Bishop, Liturgy of the Hours, III: 130

 Pro-Life Today | 09 February 2009

Your National Daily News Wrap from American Life League! American Life League is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at kwalker@all.org.

HEADLINES

Lawmakers Pursue Limited Action on Abortion, Family Planning
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?abbr=daily2_&page=NewsArticle&id=15376&security=1201&news_iv_ctrl=-1
National Partnership for Women and Families
Antiabortion-rights groups are escalating efforts against the Freedom of Choice Act and other policies to protect abortion rights that President Obama has said he would support, the Baltimore Sun reports. "Antennas are way up in the pro-life community," according to Catholic League President Bill Donahue. As evidence, the Sun cites the massive postcard campaign against the Freedom of Choice Act -- which, if approved by Congress and signed into law, would codify Roe v. Wade and prevent states from infringing on abortion rights. The groups are organizing against FOCA, which Obama had said he would sign, despite the fact that Democrats seem inclined to hold off on pursuing the broad reproductive rights agenda feared by social conservatives. Although more abortion-rights supporters gained House and Senate positions in the 2008 elections, a large number of moderate Democrats who oppose abortion or support only incremental policy changes remain in Congress, the Sun reports. In addition, any large-scale effort to overhaul abortion policies would require expending political capital, which Obama might rather use toward promoting his economic agenda. Democratic lawmakers say that although they remain committed to overturning former President George W. Bush's policies related to abortion rights and family planning, they might postpone pursuing an expansive agenda for the time being. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a past sponsor of FOCA, said she has no plans to reintroduce the bill in the immediate future. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, added that FOCA "is not our top priority right now." Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said, "We deal in reality. You have to be pragmatic, realistic and, in the end, strategic." Keenan added that the "votes just aren't there" to enact significant changes to abortion-related policies. Instead of promoting sweeping changes to abortion and family planning policies, advocates instead are focusing on reversing Bush administration initiatives. Obama already has repealed the "Mexico City" policy, also known as the "global gag rule," which prohibited international organizations that received U.S. aid from promoting or providing abortion-related information and services. In addition, the administration is expected to rescind the HHS "conscience" rule that Bush enacted before leaving office, which allows health care workers to refuse to perform any services that violates their "religious beliefs or moral convictions," the Sun reports.

"Abortion Reduction Strategies" Ignore Half the Problem, Archbishop Warns
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93585
EWTN
During a trip to Ireland this past weekend, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver delivered a talk to the Irish chapter of Human Life International that outlined the “dos and don’ts” for the pro-life movement. Those who claim pro-lifers should avoid the “divisive” issue of ending legalized abortion and focus on providing better support for pregnant mothers are creating a false division, the archbishop insisted. Following the theme “An American view on how to build a culture of life,” Archbishop Chaput explained that his goal was “to offer some lessons from the American experience that Irish Christians might find useful.” More than three decades after the legalization of abortion in the U.S., Archbishop Chaput diagnosed Americans’ beliefs on abortion as schizophrenic as he gave an overview of the current situation. “Most believe abortion is wrong. But most also want it legal under some limited circumstances,” he said. The consequences of holding two such divergent views are that the U.S. has “a large and well-funded abortion industry” and that a “very vigorous prolife movement” has grown up “right alongside the abortion industry,” Chaput observed. “American pro-lifers have had many setbacks. They never have enough money. They don't get treated fairly by the media. Too many of their leaders argue with each other too much of the time. But they just won't give up or die. And so they've won quite a few modest but important legal victories. Meanwhile they continue to work toward the strategic goal of overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision.” With all of this in mind, Archbishop Chaput offered what he sees as six “don’ts” and five “dos” that pro-lifers around the world should learn from their American counterparts.

Personhood legislation introduced in North Dakota
http://personhoodusa.com/node/36
Personhood USA
On Monday, January 19, State Representative Dan Ruby introduced "The Personhood of Children Act" into the North Dakota legislature. Personhood USA, an organization committed to supporting states in their efforts to declare legal personhood for every human being, is represented by leader Cal Zastrow, who is assisting with the strategy and promotion of the new bill (H.R. 1572). The entire bill is posted at: http://personhoodnorthdakota.com/ Also posted are instructions for North Dakotans to contact their state representatives and encourage them to pass this bill without hostile amendments.

ALL Report: "FOCA in Focus"