American Life League 2009

Pro-Life Today | 30 July 2009

HEADLINES

No House Vote on Healthcare until after August Recess
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09072908.html
Life Site News
Fiscally conservative House Democrats who had been holding out against President Obama's health care overhaul in the final remaining House committee announced this afternoon that they had developed a satisfactory version of the bill, which will now move forward. According to a Bloomberg report, the deal cuts some of the long-term cost of the healthcare overhaul, and limits penalties on employers who don't provide coverage, among other changes. However, there was no indication that the bill had been amended to exclude mandatory coverage for abortion, or taxpayer funding for the procedure.

Proposed Health Care Bill is an "Abortion Industry Bailout" Warns Congressman
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09072910.html
Life Site News
Health-care reform has a new name: "the Abortion Industry Bailout Act of 2009" - or so says one pro-life Congressman, who believes that's the name Congress should give to the proposed legislation advocated by President Barack Obama.

Baby cut from mother found alive
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8175813.stm
BBC
A baby who was cut from her mother's womb has been found alive two days after the woman's body was discovered, US police have said. A woman who had the baby with her when found in New Hampshire was charged with being a fugitive from justice. The girl was said to be in "fairly good health," according to Worcester police Sergeant Kerry Hazelhurst.

Girl with Half Her Brain Missing Lives Normal Life: Researchers Amazed
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09072902.html
Life Site News
Scientists are stunned to discover that a ten-year-old German girl's brain has rewired itself to allow her to see out of one eye as though she has two, even though half of her brain tissue was entirely missing from birth. In a report published this week in the online version of the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Lars Muckli, a neuroscientist at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, said, "Despite lacking one hemisphere, she's capable of living a normal life."

ALL Report: 'Laws, Lies and Videotape'

A propaganda video against personhood initiatives is making the pro-abortion rounds, and American Life League is right there to point out the omissions, inconsistencies and outright lies being pushed by abortion advocates.
To view the latest ALL Report, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myo0F1jpv4Q

FEATURE STORY

PALLIATIVE CARE'S MERCILESS TWIST
By Judie Brown

There's never been an idea that couldn't become a millstone around someone's neck. That's just the way it works due to man's condition as a mere mortal who has, admitted or not, many flaws in his character. We all have the condition; some simply use it in inhumane ways.

Such is the case with the push to incorporate palliative care into national health care reform. What is palliative care? To get a correct response given the current anti-life climate, we visited the Life Tree web site for an accurate explanation:

Originally billed as "symptom management at the end of life," palliative care is now aggressively marketed as everything from pain relief for the public, to a cost-saving tool for hospitals, nursing homes and insurance companies.

Many pro-life advocates had hoped that palliative care would prove to be the ultimate antidote to the assisted suicide movement. The theory was sound: if patients are offered adequate pain and symptom relief, they will not request assisted suicide as a means to alleviate discomfort. Traditional palliative care symptom relief when death is imminentâ€”might have accomplished that mission.

However, over the past ten years, palliative care training and certification has been gradually co-opted by the very same right-to-die advocates that palliative care was meant to counter.

A good example would be Diane Meier, M.D., director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), who was invited to the Obama White House on June 18 for a healthcare reform stakeholder meeting. The meeting was focused on health reform in the context of prevention and costs. Meier told the panel that preventing the wrong care can help save the health system money that can be used to pay for wellness and prevention.

Meier's CAPC sent an action alert out yesterday, telling its constituents,

What is important for health care reform and for the ninety million Americans living with serious illness is that care is focused on quality of life, management of the symptoms that accompany serious and chronic disease and facilitation of care that reflects patient goals and values.

The problem with the terms in this single paragraph from a much longer e-mail alert is that elasticity and subjectivity set the parameters for phrases such an equality of life, patient goals and values and the ever-evolving management of the symptoms. Such terms can mean one thing if money is not a problem for the health care provider and another if value judgments defining who lives and who dies are in play.

As a matter of fact, in the CAPC-supported Senate Bill 1150, entitled Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act of 2009, we find this definition of palliative care:

The term palliative care' means interdisciplinary care for individuals with a life-threatening illness or injury relating to pain and symptom management and psychological, social, and spiritual needs and that seeks to improve the quality of life for the individual and the individual's family.

A government that condones killing preborn children really should not be using a word like compassion in the first place. Moving on past the fluffy, feel good terms, it is important to have a clear understanding of the goals of people in government and in the death industry. Such knowledge is of great urgency as this nation faces the possibility of dramatic changes in the way health care is addressed, particularly among those who are ill, disabled or dying. As we have come to learn recently, far too many in policy-making positions are increasingly committed to saving money by shortening lives. One of their favorite mantras is their expressed concerns about a patient's equality of life.

Quality of life is a term representing a utilitarian evaluation of who should live and who should die. It's a sliding scale of values based on opinions and personal value judgments. When decisions about one's QOL are being made by the wrong people, comparing the estimated life expectancy of someone who is ill with the cost involved in caring for that person can become the final arbiter. This can have the same effect as directly killing a patient through an overt act of euthanasia.

But ethicist Louise Mitchell exposes this brand of specious thinking:

Some people are too old, some are handicapped. Where do we draw the line? How do we decide that you should be euthanized but not your neighbor? Who is to decide that a person seventy-five years old is too old but someone sixty-five years old is not? That Down's syndrome is okay but cerebral palsy is not? Every human being has imperfections of varying degrees and severities. That is why we have doctors and dentists and even medical insurance. These imperfections are overcome every day. We naturally expect them: we naturally believe we can overcome them: and we do overcome them. The choice we make here is not between death and a handicap or old age. Yet, euthanasia makes a choice in quality of life, saying this quality deserves continuance and this does not.

There is deception in this choice. Death does not improve life or the quality of life: it ends life completely and irrevocably. Euthanasia is not making a choice between suffering, handicaps, and age, or death. The choice is between life and death, between a lower quality of life and the killing of an innocent person, between a good that is always good no matter the circumstances and an evil that is evil no matter what the circumstances.

CAPC's use of the term patient goals and values is another example of the application of subjective opinions that could be employed to hasten death, rather than relieve the patient who is suffering but certainly not dying. At the end of the day, such terms are easily twisted when the wrong decision makers are empowered. This is what has become so troubling about the healthcare discussions on Capitol Hill.

Who should be making these decisions? Does it really make sense to rely on the United States Congress to tell us, through legislative fiat, what type of treatment can be provided and/or who can be treated and at what age treatment should be denied?

Margaret Sommerville, director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University, makes a salient point in this regard:

The proper goal of medicine and physicians is to kill the pain. It is explicitly not their role to kill the patient with the pain to become society's executioners which is what euthanasia entails, no matter how merciful or compassionate our reasons.

While Sommerville is absolutely correct, the problem with state or federal mandates on such treatment is that physicians will not be making the final judgment, federal guidelines will.

When Dame Cicely Saunders founded the hospice movement in 1959, it is safe to assume she had no idea how her vision to aid the dying would encounter so many twists and deadly turns. In her early years she once wrote,

You matter because you are you.
You matter to the last moment of your life,
and we will do all we can,
not only to help you die peacefully,
but also to live until you die.

Many Americans will hopefully wrestle with the idea of government programs that determine who will live or die. Hopefully each American will choose to let his or her elected officials know that it is never the proper role of government to sanction killing at any time during a human being's life. No matter how the words are parsed, nuanced or twisted,

A man, even if seriously sick or prevented in the exercise of its higher functions, is and will be always a man ... [he] will never become a "vegetable" or an "animal." The intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being does not change depending on their circumstances.

”Pope John Paul II, 2004

Pro-Life Today | 29 July 2009

HEADLINES

Senate Panel Endorses Sotomayor
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/us/politics/29confirm.html?_r=1
NY Times
President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, moved closer to taking her seat on Tuesday as the Senate Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly approved her nomination and sent it on to the full Senate.

New Research Backs Abortion-Breast Cancer Link
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=96826
EWTN
A Turkish researcher has reported a statistically significant 66 percent increase in breast cancer risk among women who have had an abortion. Dr. Vahit Ozmen and his colleagues at the Istanbul Medical Faculty and Magee-Women's hospital conducted a retrospective study in breast cancer risk factors which discovered the connection. Their study was published in the World Journal of Surgical Oncology, an open access, peer reviewed online medical journal.

Scott Roeder Pleads Not Guilty
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/28/national/main5193168.shtml
CBS News
The man accused of killing Kansas late-term abortion provider George Tiller has pleaded not guilty. Authorities say anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder, 51, also threatened two ushers who tried to stop him during the May 31 shooting in the doctor's church in Wichita. Roeder is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the slaying. He pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday after witnesses gave chilling testimony at a preliminary hearing. A judge ordered Roeder held on $20 million bond and set a trial date for Sept. 21.

ALL Report: 'Laws, Lies and Videotape'

A propaganda video against personhood initiatives is making the pro-abortion rounds, and American Life League is right there to point out the omissions, inconsistencies and outright lies being pushed by abortion advocates.

To view the latest ALL Report, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myo0F1jpv4Q

FEATURE STORY

BLOOD-DRENCHED COMMON GROUND
By Judie Brown

Common ground: a basis of mutual interest or agreement

The current talk about common ground continues to concern me. These days, it pertains to several events that are separate and yet quite similar. The first is a piece of Capitol Hill legislation known as the Ryan-DeLauro bill, titled Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion, and Supporting Parents Act (H.R. 3312). What first caught my eye about this piece of legislation is that it is being celebrated by abortion supporters as a milestone, with commentator Sarah Posner reporting,

These two legislators [Ryan and DeLauro], who disagree on the question of whether abortion should be legal, worked with the centrist think tank Third Way's culture program to find common ground among supporters of reproductive rights and opponents of legal abortion. The result, though, is pretty much what NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood, and other reproductive health advocates have been arguing for years: prevent unintended pregnancies through comprehensive sex education and birth control, and support economically struggling women and their families.

It is clear that this legislative proposal is somewhat appealing to those who might claim they are pro-life for political purposes, but are not truly dedicated to protecting preborn children as persons. I suggest that this is so because Third Way is an organization that describes itself as â€œthe leading think tank of the moderate wing of the progressive movement and says, â€œWe work with elected officials, candidates, and advocates to develop and advance the next generation of moderate policy ideas.
While I am not sure exactly what it means to be in the â€œmoderate wing of the progressive movement, my gut reaction is not favorable. The good news about Ryan-DeLauro is that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is opposing it. In a well-articulated statement, the USCCB pro-life office's Susan Wills aptly labeled Ryan-DeLauro as â€œthe Planned Parenthood Economic Stimulus Package of 2009.â€ At least on this bit ofcommon ground, the bishops have chosen to remove their shovels.

But on other common-ground fronts, the news about the Catholic response is not as pleasing. For example, the USCCB is supporting the Pregnant Women Support Act (H.R. 2035). This bill, which some say could be supported by the White House, is described as a measure that would reduce the abortion rate. Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Pro-Life Activities, has appealed to every member of Congress to support the bill, which he claims will provide many kinds of life-affirming support for pregnant women and their unborn children. In a letter sent to every member of Congress, Cardinal Rigali states,

First, the fact that over a million abortions take place every year in this country is a tragedy, and we should at least take steps to reduce abortions. Second, no woman should ever have to undergo an abortion because she feels she has no other choice, or because alternatives were unavailable or not made known to her. An abortion performed under such social and economic duress meets no one's standard for freedom of choice."

In his letter to Congress, Cardinal Rigali said that the bill provides an authentic common ground, an approach that people can embrace regardless of their position on other issues. While this sounds reasonable, we decided to see what the actual legislation states in relation to abortion, its availability and its identity as a surgical option for expectant mothers. What we found was not exactly compatible with Catholic teaching.

Among other things, the Pregnant Women Support Act sets out to make sure that any woman who is seeking an abortion is first provided with adequate information about her pregnancy. If she proceeds to abort her child, that is her choice.

Section 501 (Disclosure of information on abortion services) stipulates that health facilities that perform abortions shall obtain informed consent from the pregnant woman seeking to have the abortion. Informed consent shall exist only after a woman has voluntarily completed or opted not to complete pre-abortion counseling sessions.

This legislation accepts as a fait accompli the Supreme Court decisions on abortion. It implicitly tolerates the idea of aborting a child because this action is protected by law. This is what common ground has always been about when applied to a thorny matter such as murdering a child prior to birth. So why is the USCCB applauding and supporting such a measure?

Bear in mind that the very same USCCB will not endorse political initiatives for protecting the personhood of the preborn child. Many bishops have done little or nothing to educate their flocks on the Catholic Church's bedrock teaching on the humanity of the preborn and the fact that abortion is an act of murder. Perhaps it is more comfortable to be publicly accepted as reasonable than it is to demand an end to the slaughter.

The Catholic common-ground game appears to reach all the way to the Vatican. Robert Moynihan, founder and editor of Inside the Vatican magazine, recently wrote an opinion piece in which he made a few troubling statements.For example, in writing about his good friend Gian Maria Vian, the controversial editor of the Vatican newspaper, Lâ Osservatore Romano, Moynihan tells us,

A month before President Obama's scheduled visit to see the Pope on July 10, Vian published an editorial that took a positive view of Obama's first 100 days.

Conservative Catholics in the United States and elsewhere were appalled that, despite Obama's moves to provide greater access to abortion and stem-cell research, the paper was not denouncing Obama. There were calls for Vian to resign.

When I spoke with Vian a few days ago, I asked him about this controversy. He told me that he still has the "full support" of the Vatican's Secretariat of State. (In fact, Vian is a personal friend of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's secretary of state.)

What can explain Vian's position -- and, by implication, the position of the Secretariat of State, and, perhaps, of the Pope himself?

Vian told me that the "big picture" needs to be kept in mind, that the Holy See's agenda, while always and unswervingly pro-life, nevertheless includes many other issues, such as social justice, disarmament, the Middle East and Cuba.

Vian's position illustrates the considerable differences between the European and American viewpoints on many critical issues of our time. The Europeans (like Vian) focus on points of agreement, and the Americans (like Vian's critics) focus on points of disagreement.

I do think Vian -- and even the Secretariat of State -- may be "naÃ¯ve" about Obama and his intentions.

But I also believe that Americans can become so intent on one grave moral injustice (abortion and the manipulation of human embryos, both of which are always profoundly wrong) that they can ignore other areas of possible agreement.

What in the world is this man thinking? The big picture has a fundamental principle, and that is that each human being has innate dignity bestowed on him by God Himself. Therefore, putting an end to abortion IS the â€œbig picture!

Moynihan discusses the meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama, opining that because the Holy Father handed Obama a copy of Dignitas Personae, there is that one hopeful â€œpossibility of reaching Obama with a reasoned argument in defense of life.

When one can relegate disagreement over the act of abortion to â€œone grave moral injustice among other areas where agreement is possible, the Machiavellian nature of any common-ground proposal becomes obvious. The very idea of seeking common ground on which the forces of evil can agree with the forces of good is counterfeit to the core. The pro-life movement does not exist to be all-inclusive on many issues and â€œpoints of agreement. It exists to end the murder.

Moynihan knows as well as I do that Obama is not backing down on abortion. Regardless of the global issues on which two heads of state can agree, the pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth. His teaching authority comes from Christ, not from political strategists and certainly not from accommodating evil. The same can be said for each of those men ordained into the priesthood of the Catholic Church, including every single Catholic bishop.

Abortion is not merely one among many so-called issues; it is a human tragedy that is being ignored, accepted and otherwise minimized for the sake of political opportunism. In my many years as a Catholic, I have never heard a sermon on my obligation to placate the world and appease elected officials. What I have heard is that crimes against humanity, such as the horror of abortion, are atrocities before God that can never, ever be condoned, accepted or otherwise embraced.

Perhaps it is time for Catholics, including the bureaucrats at the USCCB, to individually reflect on what is going on and stop hoeing so-called common ground”a ground that is seeping with the blood of dead preborn babies.

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=2696

Pro-Life Today | 28 July 2009

HEADLINES

Defenders of the Eucharist are Defenders of Life, Says Vatican Cardinal
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09072701.html
Life Site News
For Catholics, between the Eucharist and the defense of human life there is an unbreakable connection, said the head of the Vatican's liturgical office in an interview last week. Antonio Cardinal Caizares Llovera, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacraments, spoke to LifeSiteNews.com on Thursday, saying that from the viewpoint of the Catholic Church there is "no doubt" about the inherent connection between Catholics' faithfulness to the Church's liturgical norms and faithfulness to her teachings on life and family.

House Follows Obama's Plan to Replace Abstinence Grant with Contraceptive Funding
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09072710.html
Life Site News
The U.S. House of Representatives Friday voted to eliminate $99 million in grant funds that would have bolstered abstinence education in the U.S. The House's decision to cut the funds and to approve a new grant towards contraceptive-promoting sex education had been sought by President Obama in his budget recommendations earlier this year.

Abortion - More Harm than Good
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=620574
One News Now
A survey shows increased recognition of the harm of abortion. The poll conducted by Marist College suggests that over half (53%) of the American public believes abortion does a woman more harm than good. Georgette Forney of Silent No More says that is because more hurting women are opening up to loved ones about their abortion experiences.

FEATURE STORY

SYNCHRONIZED STEALTH: OBAMA'S DEPARTMENT OF DEATH WITH DIGNITY!
By Judie Brown

The current debate over health care is one of those scenarios that might play well in a science-fiction thriller, but must not be allowed to play out on the backs and over the dead bodies of the uninformed. The intent to create a nationalized health-care system appears more and more like a behind-the-scenes project based on government control over who lives and who dies. I might even suggest that nationalized health cares real purpose is to keep feeding the vultures who prey off the culture of death, instead of keeping Americans healthy.

The problem is what is not occurring right now in the public debate. In other words, what remains unstated has many of us extremely concerned. Obama's so-called health-care plan, if implemented, could be the most egregious assault on the dignity of the human person since the Supreme Court's dreadful Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions of 1973. Here are a few specifics.

Betsy McCaughey, former lieutenant governor of New York, is an adjunct senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Dr. McCaughey has written extensively on the dangers of the Obama health-care proposal and its many ramifications. What she has found in the draft now circulating in the House of Representatives is alarming, but apparently interests only a few of those who should be warning the public about it. And their target audience should be those who approaching age 65 and, of course, those who are elderly and needing care. This target audience is going to become the walking target of Obama's health-care â€œreform.

Dr. McCaughey's detailed research is available on the Defend Your Health Care web site. There you will find explanations of several chilling aspects of the various Obama health-care proposals floating around, including the following excerpt from â€œAssault on Seniors, published in the Wall Street Journal:

The House bill shifts resources from specialty medicine to primary care based on the misconception that Americans overuse specialist care and drive up costs in the process (pp. 660-686). In fact, heart-disease patients treated by generalists instead of specialists are often misdiagnosed and treated incorrectly. They are readmitted to the hospital more frequently, and die sooner.

Study after study shows that cardiologists adhere to guidelines better than primary care doctors, according to Jeffrey Moses, a heart specialist at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Adds Jeffrey Borer, chairman of medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center: Seldom do generalists have the knowledge to identify the symptoms of aortic valve disease, even though more than 10% of people over 75 have it. After valve surgery, patients who were too short of breath to walk can resume a normal life into their 80s or 90s.

While the House bill being pushed by the president reduces access to such cures and specialists, it ensures that seniors are counseled on end-of-life options, including refusing nutrition where state law allows it (pp. 425-446). In Oregon, the state is denying some cancer patients care that could extend their lives and is offering them physician-assisted suicide instead.

What is perhaps most interesting about Dr. McCaughey, who earned her doctorate in constitutional history, is that those who favor Obamaâ€™s health-care reform are vilifying her right and left. Though we know that this is the way advocates of death and human disrespect operate, it is nevertheless disturbing. She has been called a liar, a spinner of tall tales and other terms of endearment, but the information she is providing is readily available from unbiased sources, such as the text of the health-care reform bill itself.

Though many claim Obama's massive bill is needed, few have actually read it. National Review blogger Jack Fowler actually took the time to present a portion of it in a post titled Doctor Kevorkian, Call Your Office. In the bill's Advance Care Planning Consultation section, we read the following:

Such consultation shall include the following:
`(A) An explanation by the practitioner of advance care planning, including key questions and considerations, important steps, and suggested people to talk to.
`(B) An explanation by the practitioner of advance directives, including living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses.
`(C) An explanation by the practitioner of the role and responsibilities of a health care proxy.
`(D) The provision by the practitioner of a list of national and State-specific resources to assist consumers and their families with advance care planning, including the national toll-free hotline, the advance care planning clearinghouses, and State legal service organizations (including those funded through the Older Americans Act of 1965).
`(E) An explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice, and benefits for such services and supports that are available under this title.

I could quote much more of this very lengthy section, but the gist is already quite obvious. Why would the government's health CARE bill include such detailed guidelines on discussion of end-of-life matters unless it aims to ensure that the elderly in failing health are ready to bite the bullet, even if God is not ready to call them home? It does not take a rocket scientist to question why a health-care plan should include such a strong emphasis on not preserving the life of the elderly and infirm.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, which works closely with the USCCB, have addressed health-care reform proposals without noting the gruesome specter of euthanasia that pervades the legislative proposals currently on the table. For example, a recent NCHLA alert makes the following statement:

On July 17, Bishop William Murphy, Chairman of the Bishop's Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, sent a letter to Congress saying: The USCCB looks forward to working with you to reform health care successfully in a manner that offers accessible, affordable and quality health care that protects and respects the life and dignity of all people from conception until natural death. Abortion must not be included as part of a national health care benefit.

While it is laudable that the U.S. bishops and their collaborators are crying out for an elimination of abortion funding from the so-called health-care reform proposals, why are they not pointing out the potential for euthanasia as well? Is the plan's emphasis on ending the lives of the elderly not just as abhorrent as its intent to require Americans to pay for an ever increasing number of abortions? If the answer is yes, then why aren't the bishops educating Catholics nationwide on the threat these bills pose for people of all ages, from creation until death?

The USCCB stated the following in a document entitled â€œMaking Health Care Reform Abortion Neutral: What is the Legal Status Quo on Abortion?:

Health care reform whose goal is to advance health coverage, not advance an agenda on abortion, will take care to be abortion neutral. It will preserve current policies that bar use of taxpayer funds, respect conscience rights, and generally encourage childbirth over abortion; it will not mandate abortion as part of any basic or minimum benefit package.

This statement alone is mind-boggling! The USCCB sounds complacent about the fact that the nation is going to have abortion on demand, but by golly, it is upset about health-care reform requiring us to pay for it!

In addition, we have found that various diocesan respect life offices across America are taking their lead from the July 17 letter issued by Bishop William Murphy, chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, which advocates four principles for health-care reform:

a truly universal health policy with respect for human life and dignity;

access for all with a special concern for the poor and inclusion of legal Immigrants;

pursuing the common good and preserving pluralism including freedom of conscience and variety of options; and

restraining costs and applying them equitably across the spectrum of payers.

Once again, there is no mention of the encouragement of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide that the Obama plan entails.

I find it laudable beyond words that the USCCB, the participants in the recent Stop the Abortion Mandate webcast and commentators such as Star Parker have articulated a huge number of Americans absolute disdain for considering the aborting of a child as health care. However, there must be equally strong opposition to prevent Obama's Department of Death with Dignity from becoming a reality. Let's restore respect for human dignity across the full spectrum of a person's life!

You can encourage the USCCB, NCHLA, similar organizations, national news commentators and media outlets to focus on respect for human dignity at all stages of life, by expressing absolute rejection of all forms of euthanasia”and abortion”in any health-care bills.

News commentators and media outlets are easily located via the internet.The information below is provided to assist you in contacting pro-life organizations.

National Committee for a Human Life Amendment
1500 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite 24
Washington, D.C. 20005
202-393-0703
www.nchla.org

USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities
3211 4th St. NE
Washington, D.C. 20017
202-541-3000
www.usccb.org/prolife
prolife@usccb.org

Family Research Council
801 G St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
800-225-4008 (toll-free)
www.frc.org

National Right to Life Committee
512 10th St. NW
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 626-8800
www.nrlc.org
NRLC@nrlc.org

Priests for Life
P.O. Box 141172
Staten Island, NY 10314
888-735-3448 (toll-free) Box 141172 Staten Island, NY 10314ox
www.priestsforlife.org
mail@priestsforlife.org

Pro-Life Today | 27 July 2009

HEADLINES

Rep. Lowey (D-NY) Defends Eugenics, Margaret Sanger
http://standupandspeakoutblog.com/2009/07/23/rep-lowey-d-ny-defends-eugenics-margaret-sanger/
Stand Up And Speak Out
On Tuesday in the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey of New York read an article in defense of Margaret Sanger, eugenicist and founder of Planned Parenthood. Lowey began by praising Sanger for her commitment to improving the health and lives of women and stated that she was â€œproud to recognize Margaret Sanger for her tireless efforts on behalf of women and for fighting for those unable to fight for themselves.

Healthcare is also about values
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=620512
One News Now
Is the concern of pro-life groups over healthcare reform legitimate? You bet it is. Pro-abortion forces have been forever calling abortion "healthcare."

Pro-Life Groups Warn: Ryan-DeLauro "Common Ground" Bill a Red Herring
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09072409.html
Life Site News
Pro-life and Catholic leaders have come out swinging against a bill offered by two pro-abortion House Democrats that deceptively proposes "common ground" on abortion, promoting policies to "reduce the need for abortion" that pro-life leaders say would actually lead to its increase.

FEATURE STORY

OBAMACARE: FAST TRACK TO ECONOMIC SUICIDE
By Dennis M. Howard

Economic conservatives are worried about the runaway tax-and-spend potential of President Obama's health-care initiative. They are worried that before this thing is through, it could cost us $1.6 trillion and still not solve the health-care problem.

But that's not even half of the real story.

What they're overlooking is the hidden cost of federal funding of abortion as part of an essential benefits package that will be imposed on everyone unless it is explicitly excluded from the legislation. Right now, the Democrats are opposed to such an exclusion.

If the health-care bill passes without this exclusion, taxpayers will be forced to pay for other people's abortions whether they like it or not. And the $1.6 trillion the eco-conservatives are worried about will only be the tip of a very large iceberg.

That's because abortion has a huge hidden economic cost. It's the loss in gross domestic product (GDP) represented by all those babies who never had a chance to grow up to become the future workers, consumers, taxpayers and parents the nation needs to sustain future economic growth.

This is something the younger generation better start worrying about. People under 40 will still be paying taxes 30 to 50 years from now, so they will take the biggest hit from this phenomenon. And because their numbers have already been depleted by abortion, that means even fewer shoulders on which to rest a much bigger burden.

We've already had more than 51.7 million abortions since 1970. That's a whopping 30.6 percent of our current under-40 population. If we had a war that took that kind of toll, we would have run up the white flag decades ago. The pro-aborts just don't give up that easily.

What they don't want to admit is that people are our country's most important renewable resource. Ever since Roe v. Wade, we've been depleting that resource with abandon.

The hidden cost of those 51.5 million abortions has already reached an estimated $35 trillion in lost GDP. Assuming a 33-percent tax rate, that's enough to pay off our entire current national debt with enough left over to fund a vibrant economy.

If all those kids had lived, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.

Looking forward, the picture isn't any brighter ... especially if we keep subsidizing abortion. That's exactly what the Democrats propose to do by sending you the bill for other people's abortions.

GDP per capita is now about $45,000 per year, and “ until the current slump “ it was compounding at a rate of four percent per year. It is a measure that includes everyone from the cradle to the grave. But every baby we abort is one less contributor to GDP “ not just for today, but for a lifetime.

Every child we abort today will cost us about $23 million in future GDP over a lifetime. And the bonus is that babies don't compete for jobs with the rest of us for their first 20 years. But they create jobs for everybody else “ doctors, nurses, teachers, homebuilders, toymakers, retailers “ you name it.

If there ever was a major job killer, it is the baby-killing industry.

Yet all those nuts we send to Congress continue to subsidize Planned Parenthood to the tune of $326 million a year. That's about $1,000 for every abortion Planned Parenthood performs. Now Congress want to compound that by making you pay again ... and again ... and again.

So, unless abortion is explicitly excluded from Obama's health-care plan, get ready for even higher taxes. Whether it's your abortion or someone else's, you're going to get the bill.

Planned Parenthood estimates that the number of abortions will rise by 20“35 percent if the Obama health-care bill passes. That will take abortions back to levels not seen since the mid-1980s. And that means even bigger losses in future GDP.

Thanks to the magic of compounding, by 2040 to 2050, we're already looking at cumulative GDP losses of $335 “500 trillion dollars just from abortion. Add another 20“35 percent to that, and we're talking about really big money.

Thatâ€™s why I call Obamacare a fast track to national suicide. It is far more significant than anything else that threatens us this side of eternal damnation.

In his book Obamanomics, John Talbott lists "25 Greatest Threats to our Prosperity and their potential costs. (Abortion oddly is not one of them!) High on his list are World Poverty" ($100 trillion), "Global Warming" ($60 trillion), "Globalization's Nasty Side Effects" ($60 trillion) ... all the way down to Terrorism" ($5 trillion).

His terrorism tab is laughable. We've already exceeded it. And nearly all of the others are based on numbers conjured up in someone's imagination.

My estimates, on the other hand, are based on hard-rock numbers. GDP per capita is a measure that is used universally throughout the world. Indeed, my estimates are more conservative than those employed by government agencies in the cost/benefit analyses they use to plan their spending.

But try telling that to some politician who firmly believes that abortion is some kind of free lunch. Sure, it looks free to a guy who wants to avoid the responsibility of paying 21 years of child support, but the baby's only crime is wanting to call him Daddy for the rest of his life.

For the rest of us, it adds up to more of what we have been experiencing for the last 35 years: declining personal incomes, a shrinking economy, lost jobs, rising taxes, and less freedom as the Nanny State takes over more and more of our personal lives.

In short, abortion is the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people.

But you have a choice. If you want bigger tax bills, a grimmer future for your children and grandchildren, and more government encroachment on your right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, just go back to sleep and forget you ever read this.

But if you are ready to fight this, come join us at We the People Speak, our new non-partisan educational campaign to restore common sense to American politics. Or join us on Facebook. Contact your representatives by calling the U.S. Capitol switchboard: 202.224.3121. And urge them to explicitly exclude funding for abortion from any health-care bill.

Dennis Howard is president of the Movement for a Better America, an ALL Associate group dedicated to pro-life marketing communications and education. This commentary was originally published on http://www.movementforabetteramerica.org and is reprinted here with his kind permission. Dennis is a veteran journalist and market researcher who began researching abortion's economic impact in 1992. In 1994, based on long-term demographic trends, he began forecasting the current economic crisis. His forecasts have proven correct, starting in 2000 and continuing until 2010 and beyond. Dennis frequently speaks and gives interviews on this topic.

Contact information: http://www.movementforabetteramerica.org; mbaforlife@gmail.com; Media calls “ 973-895-7367/ 973-796-8338 (cell)

Pro-Life Today | 14 July 2009

HEADLINES

'Original goal of Planned Parenthood was to abort various minorities out of existence'
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907130033
The Sunday New York Times published a recent interview with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg, and after expressing her annoyance over a 1980 decision that forbids using Medicaid tax dollars for abortions, Justice Ginsburg said this -- I want to quote it: "Frankly, I had thought at the time that Roe was decided that there was concern about population growth, particularly growth in populations we don't want to have too many of, so that Roe was going to then be set up for Medicaid funding for abortion," unquote.

Obama Health-Care Reform Bound to Include 'Largest Expansion of Abortion Since Roe v. Wade': NRLC, Chris Smith
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09071310.html
"If the proposed plan moves forward without an explicit exclusion that ensures that abortion is excluded from any government mandated or government subsidized benefits, health care reform will be a death sentence for thousands of unborn children," says Congressman Chris Smith.

IRS Demands That Pro-Life Group Swear It Will Not Oppose Planned Parenthood
http://mytrumpet.posterous.com/irs-demands-that-pro-life-group-swear-it-will
"This is not only political intimidation by the Internal Revenue Service but it is a blatant violation of First Amendment rights," said Brown.

American life League exposes the bias and hypocrisy in the "mainstream" media's coverage of late-term abortionist George Tiller's murder.

To view the latest ALL Report, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzYIQxmjVUE

FEATURE STORY

KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND'S MANIPULATIVE MENDACITY
By Judie Brown

When I was growing up, one of the things my parents taught me, by example and instruction, was never to move off the goal, regardless of how many distractions might come in the course of a given day. I really paid attention to that, so I used to practice music four hours daily and get my homework completed before I ever thought about going out to play or eating a snack. Those are lessons I carry with me today, and when I read something like the commentary Kathleen Kennedy Townsend just wrote, I wish that she had been taught the same lesson on focus. She clearly lacks it!

In her Newsweek web exclusive titled Without a doubt: Why Barack Obama represents American Catholics better than the pope does, Kennedy Townsend propounds a theory that should put every practicing American Catholic at odds with her impudent thinking. She is not only misguided, but intentionally deceptive.

She tells the reader that while it is clear that Obama and the pope disagree on reproductive freedoms and homosexuality, the Catholics back home won't care because they know Obama's on their side. In fact, Obama's agenda is closer to their views than even the pope's.

Reproductive freedoms, for those unfamiliar with the culture of death's propaganda, is a code phrase for abortion on demand, sex instruction in schools, birth control for kids, and all manner of bizarre propositions that help the purveyors of smut to define the human person as an animal incapable of self-control. One need only read this comment from Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger, to get a whiff of where Kennedy Townsend is headed: "Through sex, mankind may attain the great spiritual illumination which will transform the world, which will light up the only path to an earthly paradise. So must we necessarily and inevitably conceive of sex-expression."

The proponents of this warped thinking, which places the human being on the same plane as your pet dog or cat, have several goals that Kennedy Townsend does not mention. She is dedicated to discrediting the pope, so she does not address the full-fledged Obama agenda.

One can easily tell that her thought process has little to do with Catholic identity and, in fact, is contrary to all that is Catholic. There is no other explanation for her inane claim that President Obama is somehow more in tune with American Catholics that the pope who is, after all, the Vicar of Christ on earth.

In her attempt to discredit the papacy, Kennedy Townsend gives us her interpretation of the Holy Father's magnificent new encyclical letter, Caritas in Veritate. Of course, she wants her readers to believe that the encyclical is all about giving moral credence to Obama's progressive politics when, in fact, the encyclical's message is something else entirely. As the Holy Father states repeatedly, the proper understanding and appreciation of the human person's dignity and extraordinary value are foundational to the proper approach to economic and social life. Without respect for the human person, it is impossible to bring about a just society, and in a just society, there is no room for heinous crimes such as abortion. This is the encyclical's underlying theme, which Kennedy Townsend apparently overlooked.

From there, it doesn't take long for Kennedy Townsend to throw down the gauntlet and verbally crucify the Holy Father, as she extols the Kennedy family's hierarchy of values: the radical feminist version of women's equality, militant homosexual activists cry for justice, contraception for one and all, and, of course, abortion.

In this diatribe, Kennedy Townsend's distortion of the truth inherent in Catholic teaching on these matters clearly reflects her personal malice. She misrepresents the intentions that have been foundational to the teaching of Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and demeans and sullies the reputations of all three.

Her comments on these popes are nothing short of scurrilous. I am positive that she writes in this manner to justify her personal lack of faith in the one true Church and do all she can to lead others astray. She also aims to garner support from other Obama-ites who agree with her discombobulated view of what it means to be a Catholic.

Kennedy Townsend is obviously a Catholic dissenter, and this is perhaps why she claims that Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessors, is part of this culture that silences dissent. She is wrong on this point as well. If she were correct, Father John Jenkins, the University of Notre Dame's president who proudly hosted President Obama as a commencement speaker, would have been silenced; Father John Paris, SJ, who approves of euthanizing people, would have been silenced; and I could go on and on with similar examples. But rather than doing so, just read my book Saving Those Damned Catholics: A Defense of Catholic Teaching. I have already sent an autographed copy of it to Kennedy Townsend.

I have to tell you that Judie Brown is not the only one disgusted with the Kennedy Townsend's impudence. Deal Hudson, no stranger to controversy himself, has aired his disdain as well. In his commentary on her tirade, he wrote,

Townsend's argument is this: Obama promotes contraception, therefore his "agenda is closer to their views than even the pope's." OK, fair enough, but the answer to Townsend is "so what?"

Does this mean that the Church and its Holy Father should henceforth change its teaching on contraception and embrace Obama as an agent of "change" within the Church? No, it means the opposite: The Church should do a better job of teaching and evangelization so that the pervasive dissent on issues like contraception and gay marriage is effectively addressed.

Church leadership needs to wake up and realize the impact of the Obama presidency on the parish, the chancery, and even the Vatican. This game of footsy Catholic leaders are playing with Obama is empowering Catholic dissenters like Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

Hudson is correct. Either the opinions of deluded Catholic public figures such as Kennedy Townsend will become commonplace, or fundamental Catholic moral teaching will be forcefully placed in the forefront of the political landscape by the very men called to that vocation: the U.S. bishops.

And that brings me to my final comment on Kennedy Townsend's manipulative mendacity: Where are the bishops? Where are the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops bureaucrats in charge of giving Catholic bishops the daily news and writing statements for them to issue when someone attacks the pope as Kennedy Townsend has? Where is the bishops' collegiality when the very truth upon which the Catholic Church stands is being verbally assaulted by a renegade rabble-rouser?

Maybe nobody's there at the USCCB office anymore. If not, call me! I will be happy to come and volunteer!

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

Pro-Life Today | 06 July 2009

HEADLINES

Obama Administration Calls for Universal Access to Abortion at UN Meeting
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09070601.html
Life Site News
The US proposal for a document in the works calls for "universal access" to "sexual and reproductive health services including universal access to family planning."

Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09070115.html
Life Site News
Parents suing a Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio clinic for failing to report statutory rape may not access other girls' medical records to see if they establish a pattern of neglect, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled today. The lawsuit involves a 14-year-old girl who, unbeknownst to her parents, aborted a child in 2004, conceived after having relations with her 21-year-old soccer coach. Ohio state law requires that parents give consent for a minor's abortion, but the parents say only the coach signed off on the procedure. Attorneys Charles Miller and Brian Hurley had attempted to procure the medical records of other minor girls who received abortions at the clinic to establish whether the facility had routinely neglected to report statutory rape.

Pro-abortion violence going unreported
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=3437
Catholic Culture
A spate of violence against pro-life activists has gone unnoticed by the American mass media, despite intense concern about the killing of Dr. George Tiller, the American Life League (ALL) observes. ALL points to cases in which one man in an SUV tried to run over a pro-life picketer at an abortion clinic, and another pulled a gun on a woman at a different abortuary. Two prominent pro-life activists have received multiple death threats after television appearances, ALL adds.

FEATURE STORY

CHURCHMAN, CHICKENS AND CHOICE â€¦ SYMPTOMS OF A DISORDERED MENTALITY
By Judie Brown

A few days ago, I came upon an article about a certain Episcopalian priestess named Rev. Nina Churchman. Rev. Churchman wrote a letter to Episcopal Life Online expressing her outrage upon learning that her church has developed a healing rite for post-[abortive] women who feel sorrow over their abortion. Churchman is offended by language contained in the rite such as sin and guilt.

What's really bizarre about this minister is that she claims to have an inside line to God, Who, according to her, actually â€œrejoices that women facing unplanned pregnancies have the freedom to carefully choose the best option “birth, adoption or abortion “for themselves and their families. In other words, in her mind, there are three choices equally pleasing to God: affirming His gift of a child, sharing His gift with a family better suited to raising the child, or murdering the child.

Churchman wrote that

she was sickened to discover that the rite for abortion is couched wholly in terms of sin and transgression. The Episcopal Church, by resolution, has long held that women have the freedom to choose an abortion. It is not considered a sin. That this new rite begins with the words, "I seek God's forgiveness..." and includes "God rejoices that you have come seeking God's merciful forgiveness..." is contrary to the resolution. Women should be able to mourn the loss of an aborted fetus without having to confess anything.

This nation has experienced 36 years of judicial denial of the obvious, as courts across the nation have repeated the tragic error of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions. Churchman's letter illustrates exactly how inane and obtuse those decisions were, by making far-fetched statements based not on the Word of God, but rather on the twisted ideology spawned by the father of lies.

Those of us who understand the real meaning of God's commandment Thou shalt not kill, find Churchman's position extremely offensive, but we also have to admit that, unfortunately, she has allies in all sorts of strange places”among those who will do or say anything to justify killing a preborn baby ”even if it means defying common sense.

For example, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently decried President Obama's fly swatting, claiming PETA has compassion for even the smallest animal. But how about preborn babies? A PETA pokesman finds it "loathsome" and "grotesquely hypocritical" that pro-lifers oppose abortion, "but are unconcerned about the mistreatment of chickens and other animals used in the food industry," according to LifeSiteNews.com (June 23).

In exactly the same vein as Churchman, who does not believe that aborting a child should be defined as a sin, PETA's Bruce Friedrich explained that he wants those of us who struggle to defend preborn babies to remove the log from your own eye, and then come after the speck in the eye of the animal protection movement. But until the pro-life movement does that, they have zero credibility in my book. In other words, Friedrich equates killing a human being prior to birth with abusing and/or slaughtering a chicken. How any right-thinking person could make such a statement with a straight face is beyond me, but these are extremely strange times.

Think about the Ohio Supreme Court's recent ruling that the parents of a Cincinnati teen who had an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic in 2004”at age 14â€”do not have the right to review medical records that are highly relevant to their daughter's case. The reporter writes,

The parents of Jane Roe, who had an abortion in March 2004 as a 14-year-old, filed suit against Planned Parenthood, alleging the clinic didn't properly get parental consent for the abortion or notify authorities of suspected sexual abuse of a minor. Although the clinic staff called a man who Jane said was her father and received consent, it turned out that it was her 21-year-old soccer coach, John Haller, on the other end. Later police found that Jane had been sexually abused and impregnated by Haller.

The lawsuit claimed Planned Parenthood's handling of Jane's case was part of a pattern involving minors who had obtained abortions.

As part of their lawsuit, the Roe family wanted copies of all medical records and child abuse reports for every minor who sought an abortion from the clinic in the last 10 years.

The court found that state law in effect at the time of the suit did not create a right to confidential medical records of people not involved in the lawsuit, even if the records redacted personal identifying information. The justices also said the earlier version of the law did not allow for civil damages for the clinic's alleged failure to report the suspected abuse of Jane.

Or, we might say, the law is written to protect sexual abusers, child abusers and faulty medical practices. Mind you, if this girl had suffered a complication from the abortion itself, Planned Parenthood would not have rushed to pay the medical bills the parents would have had to take care of that. And if Jane Roe suffers any long-term emotional problems stemming from the sexual abuse and the mishandling of the case in the first place, Planned Parenthood cannot, according to this courtâ€™s decision, be held accountable.

Finally, I bring you the most bizarre example of the contemporary world and the manner in which our hard-earned tax dollars are being abused to deceive the young, discredit the virtue of chastity and discredit any notion that children need to be subservient to their parents.

Watson Pharmaceuticals recently announced that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories,

has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration on its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for levonorgestrel tablets, 0.75 mg, for women seventeen years and younger. Levonorgestrel is the generic equivalent to Duramed Pharmaceuticals' PLAN B(R), which is indicated for the prevention of pregnancy following unprotected intercourse or contraceptive failure.

Please note that the government has used our tax dollars to approve the distribution of a chemical to children younger than 17 years of age who may experience pregnancy due to â€œunprotected intercourse. In other words, promiscuity is not the problem according to the FDA; the possibility of becoming pregnant is the problem.

Individuals such as Churchman, Friedrich and certain Ohio Supreme Court justices would probably advise us pro-lifers not to use pejorative language, even when the well-being of our children and grandchildren is jeopardized by a sex-crazed society. Obviously, our foes would appreciate it very much if we would just sit down and shut up! These people reflect a culture that would rather protect child abusers and hair-brained ministers”and punish chicken abusers”than face the truth. They have no difficulty in turning a blind eye toward heinous crimes that violate the human person. They cannot afford to acknowledge the tragic impact of abortion and its progeny on the American family, because there are too many competing interests at play in the culture of death.

Churchman, chickens and "choice" "symptoms of a disordered mentality that flatly denies the obvious as its proponents destroy this nation and her families”one human being at a time.

Pro-Life Today | 02 July 2009

HEADLINES

Bill lets political signs go up on rights of way
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/299405.php
Arizona Star
Lawmakers voted Wednesday to make it illegal for anyone other than a physician to perform a surgical abortion. SB 1175 is aimed at a practice used by Planned Parenthood Arizona that allows nurse practitioners with special training to terminate pregnancies in the first trimester. The legislation overrules regulations from the state Board of Nursing, which concluded that those with the specialized training are qualified to perform the procedure.

Alabama Attorney General seeks undercover tape from Planned Parenthood
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20090701/NEWS/907019960/1017/NEWS?Title=King-seeks-undercover-tape-from-Planned-Parenthood
Gadsden Times
Attorney General Troy King said Wednesday he's asked for the tape of a Birmingham Planned Parenthood clinic staffer allegedly saying the law about reporting sexual abuse is "bent" by the clinic. King said state law requires the clinic to report allegations or knowledge of sexual abuse. "We have knowledge that the law may have been broken and I think weâ€™re compelled at that point to see if it has or not," King said.

Man pulls gun on protester at Planned Parenthood
http://www.azfamily.com/news/homepagetopstory/stories/phoenix-news-070109-planned-parenthood-gun.26ca02b1.html
Arizona News
Police say a man pulled a gun on a protester outside a Planned Parenthood in Phoenix Wednesday morning. Phoenix police Lt. Larry T. Jacobs said the man had just dropped his girlfriend off at the Planned Parenthood near Seventh and Campbell avenues. As he was leaving, one of the protesters handed him a pamphlet. That's when the suspect pulled a gun on the woman, pointed it at her for a few seconds and then drove off.

FEATURE STORY

TRANQUILITY OR TERRORISM?
By Judie Brown

Having just returned from a 16-day tour of national parks in the western states, from Glacier to Zion, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of tranquility upon realizing that God's handiwork undoubtedly outshines man's foibles and fumbles, day in and day out. And then when I arrived in my office yesterday, what do I see but American Life League's latest ALL Report: Tiller, Terror and TV Tilt.

Itâ€™s painful to focus away from the majesty, wonder and serenity of Zion National Park toward a cultural decline that is clearly exacerbated by a bloodthirsty media that stops at nothing to make it appear that respect for life is the equivalent of being henchmen for Osama bin Laden! Oh, I kid you not.

Within this five-minute-and-17-second ALL Report, you are going to see and hear images and language that belong in a trash bin, not in a civil discussion about the continuation of a mainstream cultural attitude that thrives on death and deception.

The establishment media has made a career out of doing all it can to downplay the effectiveness of pro-life activity, and as the video points out, it has done so at the expense of truth and civility. For example, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow used her June 5 television program to report on American Life League's Protest the Pill Day as an example of how pro-life Americans abuse language because we tell the truth about how the birth control pill works. She rants on and on about how events like this lead deranged criminals like Scott Roeder to gun down abortion doctors. Maddow does this with impunity while displaying an American Life League The Pill Kills sign, claiming that we should have cancelled Protest the Pill events across this nation because they were scheduled for the same day that George Tiller was laid to rest. Never mind that the events had been scheduled for months in advance.

A commentator such as Maddow, lacking any semblance of objectivity and with MSNBC cameras at her disposal, is not a good thing for life-affirming, compassionate pro-life Americans. However, as you watch our All Report, you will also note that Maddow is not alone in her vigilante attitude toward those who respect life.

We are reminded of the harsh words CNN's Keith Olbermann had when talking about Jill Stanek and giving her the â€œwold;s worst person award. And why did Mr. Olbermann suggest such a thing? Well, Stanek, who can defend herself with one arm tied behind her back, thank you, tells us the truth:

My award comes for supposedly making the supposedly last 2 late-term abortionists in the free world sitting ducks for Tiller copycat killers by posting their addresses and photos of their mills.
Never mind that I didn't actually post the addresses of LeRoy Carhart and Warren Hern had I done so it would have been akin to posting the address of President Obama and being accused of making him a target for nutcases.

Libs, get a brain. These guys both advertise on the web. They want people to know where they operate, pardon the pun.

Lest you are still not curious about viewing American Life League's remarkable news report, take a moment to consider this as the final straw that broke the arrogant, venomous camel's back. In his blog, Alan Colmes, no respecter of factual evidence, wrote this about Jenn Giroux, one of the most adorable women in the pro-life movement, under the title â€œAre groups that actively pursued Tiller culpable in his murder?

Giroux, who runs ChargeTiller.com, spent two years pursuing criminal charges against Tiller, and referred to him as â€œTiller the Killer, and falsely charged that he performed illegal abortions. Giroux also accused Tiller of bribing government officials on a page that was taken down after his killing.

The accused assassin posted this on her site.

It seems as though what is happening in Kansas could be compared to the "lawlessness which is spoken of in the Bible" it said. Tiller is the concentration camp Mengele of our day and needs to be stopped before he and those who protect him bring judgment upon our nation.

Iâ€™m not sure that you can claim causality when some whack-job does something insane. You never know just what sets people off.

This post by Colmes, a very well-known pro-abortion extremist, has never been corrected, annotated or in any way updated to reflect how Jenn actually explains the position of her organization, Women Influencing the Nation (WIN). She wrote this on the ChargeTiller.com web site itself:

WIN presented the petition of signatures and comments from ChargeTiller.com at Kansas legislative committee hearing on late term abortions in September 2007, which were entered into the record.

This website condemns the May 31, 2009, murder of George Tiller. Following is WIN's public statement, released that same day:

"Women Influencing the Nation condemns all form of murder. The murder of George Tiller is in direct contradiction with the beliefs and morals embraced by those of us who believe that every life is precious in the eyes of God and no individual has the right to take the life of another. We encourage everyone to pray for the repose of Dr. Tiller's soul."

Due to the highly charged comments ChargeTiller.com began receiving upon the announcement of George Tillerâ€™s tragic death, often profanity laden and menacing, WIN determined to disable the site for two weeks, until June 15, 2009.

ChargeTiller.com provides an excellent example of peaceful, law-abiding, respectful expression as ordained by our First Amendment. Citizens from across the nation continue to seek justice from their elected officials and law enforcement agencies to expose what happens inside the Tiller-owned Womenâ€™s Health Care Services as well as the devastating effects that his illegal practice had upon women and their families.

The site's primary focus has always been to return the rule of law to Kansas. We have yet to achieve that goal.

As someone who knows and admires Jenn Giroux, Jill Stanek and American Life League staffers, who work tirelessly to tell the truth and expose the fact that the act of abortion is a crime against humanity, and who unfailingly do so with total respect for our fellow human beings, I am grieved by such arrogance, but I am not at all surprised. We are dealing with absolute denial of evil in this nation today, and this is why the report that I have recommended to you is so important.

Yes, there are facts to back up the statements that the people such as Giroux, Stanek and â€œThe Pill Kills coordinator, Marie Hahnenberg, have made, and yes, abortion does exactly what we said it does. Preborn human beings with individual identities, who will never know the glory of hosting a television program or reaching millions with their voices, die by acts of abortion, be they chemical, medical or surgical. These people will never have the chance to become leading spokespeople for any cause or ideology. They are dead!

Preborn babies, not to mention all Americans, owe a debt of gratitude to these fine women and men who continue to fight on valiantly, even when the attack-dog media would love nothing better than to shut us all up by creating an image of terrorism where, in fact, there is a genuine image of Christ's love for our fellow human beings. We are Christians; we are not perfect; but we do affirm the life of every human being.

Pro-Life Today | 01 July 2009

HEADLINES

President Obama's Approval Index Rating Takes a Dive
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529632,00.html
FOX News
Shaun Kenney, the executive director of pro-life group American Life League tells Cybercast News the letter is an indication that not everyone in the Democratic Party has sold out to the abortion lobby. But he says taxpayer dollars are already going to programs that fund abortions: "Planned Parenthood alone consumes about $349 million a year in federal and state tax subsidies."

Planned Parenthood shuts doors of seven clinics
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=102694
World Net Daily
Rita Diller, national director of the American Life League's Stop Planned Parenthood project, was encouraged by the closings, and sees them as part of a larger trend. "We expect many more closures in the days to come as people become aware of Planned Parenthood's sex-crazed birth control and abortion business," Diller said in a statement. "One by one, with hard work and prayer, these facilities are closing down, no matter how entrenched Planned Parenthood may seem to be in a particular community." Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League, further explained to WND why his organization celebrates the closing of the clinics' doors.

Cardinal to Congress: Don't Fund D.C. Abortions
http://www.zenit.org/article-26326?l=english
Zenit
The chairman of the U.S. bishops' pro-life committee is urging lawmakers not to allow the public funding for abortions in the District of Columbia. Cardinal Justin Rigali sent a letter today to members of the House Appropriations Committee regarding a decision made by a subcommittee last week that will permit direct public funding for abortion in Washington, D.C. "This is the worst of all possible times to be injecting the divisive issue of public abortion funding into the debate on government health policy," the cardinal explained. He urged the committee to reverse the subcommittee's action, and to uphold the funding ban currently supported by law.

FEATURE STORY

THE HIDDEN POWER OF THE ROSARY: CENACLES OF LIFE
By Marion Amberg

Pro-life lawyers, doctors, politicians and journalists are crucial in the ongoing fight to halt abortion and other crimes against innocent human beings, but there is one weapon even mightier. And it's a weapon that all of us”from first graders to great-grandpas”can carry: our rosary beads.

When Our Lady appeared at Fatima, she told the children that wars will be stopped by praying the Rosary, said Mary Therese Weyrich, 55, who helped found Cenacles of Life, a national Rosary campaign to end the culture of death. We have a war going on against the innocents ”the little babies in the womb, the handicapped and the elderly. If you go back in history, there have been tremendous victories when a nation fasts and prays the Rosary with the same intention.

Vanquished by the Rosary

Just how powerful is the Rosary? It won the Battle of Lepanto in 1571! When Pope Saint Pius V learned the mighty Muslim navy was preparing to invade Italy, ultimately aiming to conquer Europe and annihilate the Christian faith, he asked Christians to pray the Rosary. Just before a decisive battle at sea, the winds shifted, and the ragtag Christian fleet decimated the much larger and more powerful Muslim fleet. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7 commemorates the very date that Our Lady's intercession brought about the victory.

In more recent history, the Rosary is credited with saving Brazil, Portugal and Austria from the evils of Communism.

In early 1964, Brazil was within days of falling to Communism when the archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Cardinal Jaime de Barros Camara, broadcast radio appeals for prayer and penance. The response of Brazilians rose and rose until it culminated in a vast march of 600,000 Rosary-praying women in Sao Paulo on March 19, according to Our Lady of Fatima's Peace Plan from Heaven. On April 1, the Communists fled the country, many of them bound for Cuba. And when Communism came to power in Portugal in April 1974, a national Rosary crusade reportedly yielded pledges for a million Rosaries! About 18 months later, in November 1975, the Communist government relinquished control.

The battle of the beads in post-World War II Austria, however, was especially long and hard-fought. As they had done in Germany, the Allies divided Austria into four occupied zones, with the Soviet Union having jurisdiction over Lower Austria. Its oil fields, farming and factories made it the nation's wealthiest area. The Austrians soon realized the Soviet Union had plans for a permanent takeover.

Recognizing the correlation between prayer and freedom, and between godlessness and war, Austrian priest Father Petrus Pavlicek, OFM Cap., launched the Crusade of Reparation of the Holy Rosary in 1947. Catholics flocked to the confessional, and by 1955, an estimated 500,000 Austrians about 10 percent of the population had pledged to pray the Rosary daily. Later that year, in the Marian month of May, the Soviet Union suddenly agreed to pull out. It's reported that not one shot was fired!

Praying in His presence

If the Rosary can drive out Communism, it can end the abortion holocaust, said Mary Therese. She explained the two-fold meaning of Cenacles of Life: First, a cenacle is a place, the Upper Room where Jesus gathered His disciples for the Last Supper. Second, a cenacle is a prayer group. A Cenacle of Life meets in a Catholic church, where Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, and prays two Rosaries (10 mysteries). Cenacle warriors also fast one day per week to convert the hearts and minds of anti-life Supreme Court justices, as well as other anti-life forces, so that all may work for the protection of the unborn, elderly, sick and unwanted.

Prayer and fasting are the things that drive away Satan, and scripture says this in Mark 9:29, explained the Reverend Andrew Apostoli, CFR, spiritual director for Cenacles of Life. He is also a popular speaker and author, and the vice-postulator of Archbishop Fulton Sheenâ€™s cause for canonization. Father Apostoli related a disturbing story revealing that even Satanists employ spiritual principles (although for evil purposes): About 10 years ago, two of his fellow Franciscan Friars of the Renewal encountered a woman on an airplane who refused lunch because she was fasting to destroy Christian marriages.

Jesus said the children of this world are more enlightened than the children of light, that they're more dedicated to their causes, Father Apostoli stated. The Cenacles of Life are taking Mary's message at Fatima”live a good Christian life, pray the Rosary daily and offer [spiritual] sacrifices for the conversion of sinners”and bringing that spiritual energy into this battle. The Cenacles logo”a rosary leading to a monstrance inside a churchâ€”recalls Our Lady of Fatima's first apparition on May 13, the Feast of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

Unstoppable graces

Founded in the spring of 2007, the Cenacles goal is to have at least one group praying and fasting in every U.S. diocese. When that happens, the graces will be unstoppable to end abortion, Mary Therese said emphatically. We must have firm faith that the weapons heaven has given us will work!

As of March, more than 113 Cenacle groups were meeting in 60 dioceses, which is almost one-third of the nation's 195 archdioceses and dioceses. The holy war is being waged in basilicas, parish churches, a convent and even a nursing-home chapel. No town is too small for a Cenacle”Cass Lake, Minnesota, has a population of 833. On the other hand, Holy Child Church in Staten Island, New York, a parish with 4,800 registered families, storms heaven with seven Cenacles every week!

And when the world is thinking Let's party! on Friday night, prayer warriors at Saint Rose of Lima Church in Paso Robles, California, are contemplating the special Cenacle meditations written for each mystery of the Rosary. As Jesus carries the Cross in the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery, the meditation asks, Do we carry our cross so we can unite it with Jesus at Calvary? Or do we throw our cross down and claim sin is not sin? Do we seek the viewpoint of the world instead of the faith of the Lord's?

It's an unusual time to meet, observed Mary Therese, about her home parish. Most people do not think about going to church on Friday night, but we go because we want to! Can you imagine what Jesus endures watching His precious little innocent babies being killed”50 million since abortion was legalized in 1973?

Unusual time or not, 87-year-old Mary Demaris wouldn't skip a Cenacle at Saint Rose. Come rain or come heat, as long as Mary has life, she takes up her rosary weapon and begs heaven for the gift of life for all of the preborn and for spiritual renewal throughout America.

Practical wisdom for the battle

The culture of death versus the culture of life is a spiritual battle, continued Mary Therese, adding that political solutions alone won't win the war. If we do what the Blessed Mother asks”fast and pray the Rosary”we will be given the wisdom to do the practical in the legislative field, in the political field, in helping those in need.

Mary Therese and her husband, David, who are the parents of eight and grandparents of six, are long-time advocates of pro-life causes. Through collaboration with the outdoor advertising industry and the generosity of the Florence Martin Campaign of Compassion, they have helped both Care Net and Heartbeat International (nationwide pregnancy support networks) erect thousands of pro-life billboards across the country. These billboards advertise Option Line, a 24/7 bilingual hotline (800-395-HELP) for pregnant women, and post-abortion women and men who need counseling or other help.

It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness, said Father Apostoli, about the horrific proliferation of abortion, infanticide and euthanasia bills rearing up in state and national legislatures. If we just apathetically walk away, evil will continue to spread. God is not ignoring all the prayers and sacrifices that are being offered. When the Mother of God is ready to crush the head of the serpent, she's going to crush it. It's going to be a tremendous spiritual victory!

For information on starting a Cenacle of Life, visit www.cenaclesoflife.org or write to Cenacles of Life, P.O. Box 7003, Paso Robles, CA 93447.

Marion Amberg is a freelance writer from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She frequently writes on topics of religious interest. This article was published in the May-June 2009 issue of Celebrate Life, American Life League's bimonthly magazine.