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 Pro-Life Today | 29 December 2009

 

COLORADO’S PERSONHOOD CAMPAIGN RESTORES FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN ABORTION BATTLE

 

"We remain hopeful these issues will be addressed, potentially leading to a renewal of the CCHD, and making it an organization that is a source of unity rather than division in the Church," said Human Life International's Stephen Phelan.

Phelan added, "we respectfully ask the episcopal leadership of the USCCB to consider the petition in good faith."

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic 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 press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Reform CCHD Now:
http://www.reformcchdnow.com/

 

CCHD donations are traditionally collected the weekend before Thanksgiving each year as one of the thirteen funds of the USCCB’s National Collections program. Donations average between $7 – 9 million annually.

Below is a summary of what has transpired since information on CCHD grant recipients first surfaced in August 2009 by the Bellarmine Veritas Ministry.

 

Washington, DC (11 February 2010) – American Life League, Human Life International, Catholic Advocate, Bellarmine Veritas Ministry and Real Catholic TV, members of the Reform CCHD Now coalition, launched a petition drive Thursday asking the bishops to suspend United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) grants.

The effort comes after repeated calls over the past three months for explanations from the USCCB in response to the discovery of CCHD money spent to support organizations promoting abortion and same-sex marriage.

American Catholics will be asked to sign the following at www.reformcchdnow.com:

To ensure no more Catholic dollars are spent to support organizations advocating abortion or same-sex marriage, I respectfully request the bishops suspend all national CCHD grants until the grants process has been reformed.

“Transparency and responsible stewardship of the money donated by hard-working American Catholics to further the mission of the Church should be a top priority for those in positions of authority at the Bishops’ Conference,” said Catholic Advocate Vice President Matt Smith.

 

 

Washington, DC (22 March 2010) – The following is an excerpt from a tribute by American Life League President Judie Brown on the passing of Fr. Paul Marx, OSB - founder of Human Life International.

“Father Paul Marx, OSB, left an indelible imprint on so many lives, and Paul and Judie Brown are but two of them.  So it is safe to say that as we mourn the loss of this greater than life Catholic priest par excellence, we can also praise God that Fr. Marx had such a positive effect on so many of us.  He left a legacy that time, confusion and dissent from truth can never erase.  And as he said to Judie in one of his precious hand written notes to her of several weeks ago, 'You are doing great work.  Never give in to compromise!'

"We promise you, Fr. Marx, we never will!  Thanks to your example, how could we!

"All of us at American Life League owe Fr. Marx so much, and so in the midst of our mourning we are joyful in Christ for having known him, been educated by him and fought the good fight with him.  Father Paul Marx, OSB … May you rest in the peace of Christ as millions of angels sing your praises with songs of praise and adulation.

"We will miss you and we love you, Fr. Marx.”

For the text in its entirety see http://all.org/newsroom_judieblog.php?id=2980

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic 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 press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

NC Register: Father Paul Marx - Apostle of Life - Dies (20 March 2010)
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/father_paul_marx_-_apostle_of_life_dies/

Human Life International: HLI Mourns Loss of Beloved Founder, Father Paul Marx (20 March 2010)
http://www.earnedmedia.org/hli03201.htm

 

Washington, DC (29 March 2010) – American Life League’s vice president, Jim Sedlak, issued the following statement in response to news the Colorado personhood amendment (Amendment 62) will be on the 2010 ballot:

“We’re ecstatic that folks in Colorado, and around the country, are finally addressing assaults on preborn human beings – recognizing that these human beings must be acknowledged as legal persons.

“The Amendment 62 campaign will propel back into the national spotlight the message of the civil rights movement: All human beings are inherently equal and deserve protection under the law.

“For too long, the pro-life movement has been content to merely mitigate the assault on human beings’ lives and rights. The human personhood movement doesn’t seek to merely contain or reduce this most basic injustice; it seeks to end it outright.

“Colorado is inspiring the nation with its passionate cry for justice at long last. We are excited to stand with the Colorado personhood campaign in its mission to end bigotry in and outside the womb.”

The Amendment reads as follows:

“Section 32. Person defined. As used in sections 3, 6, and 25 of Article II of the state constitution, the term “person” shall apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic 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 press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

New York Times: Abortion Ban Proposal to Be on Colo. Ballot (27 March 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/27/us/AP-US-Abortion-Amendment-Colorado.html?_r=1

Personhood Colorado:
http://www.personhoodusa.com/

American Life League: Personhood
http://all.org/personhood/

  

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  May he Rest in Peace

 

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 Volume 7, Number 9                                                                                         Monday, March 1, 2010

Prayer Requests:
Please pray for Anne Mueller, mother of Peg Saindon (Mother and Unborn Baby Care) who is having surgery today (March 1).

Please continue to pray for Per Thomsen and his family. Per is the nine-year-old son of Dr. Kristen Thomsen (medical director of WomenKind Medical Clinic) who has been diagnosed with brain tumors. For more information, see www.caringbridge.org/visit/perthomsen.

Please continue to pray also for all of those who are participating in the 40 Days for Life Campaign.  And, during the 40 Days, remember to pray and to fast for various intentions that will build respect for human life in all stages and conditions.

Mark your calendars! National Pro-life T-shirt Week, April 27 – May 3
National Pro-life T-shirt Week is organized by American Life League every year to remind Americans that every abortion kills a person.  But we are always looking for new and creative ways to get that message out! That's why National Pro-life T-shirt Week is running a photo contest. Go to the web site, www.npltw.com, for information on rules and prizes. 

Sign the Petition
If you have not already done so, please sign the petition to reform the CCHD and pass it along to family and friends.  The petition states, “To ensure no more Catholic dollars are spent to support organizations advocating contraception, abortion or same-sex 'marriage,' I respectfully request the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to suspend all Catholic Campaign for Human Development grants until its grants process has been reformed.”  Visit www.reformcchdnow.com.

From Associates

Pro-Life Wisconsin
On February 22, Pro-Life Wisconsin revealed the results of an open-records request, which showed that the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics (UWHC) has been funding medical students’ rotations at Planned Parenthood and training medical students in abortion procedures. State law prohibits taxpayer funding of elective abortions.  See the media release at http://www.prolifewisconsin.org/releases/release022210.htm.

Additionally, Pro-Life Wisconsin issued a media release on February 23 concerning the most recent undercover video from Live Action Films.  The newest video was taken at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood. The footage shows the Planned Parenthood staff counseling a purportedly 14-year-old statutory rape victim not to tell anyone about her 31-year-old boyfriend and coaching her how to obtain an abortion without her parents' consent.  See the video at http://www.liveaction.org/ and read PLW’s release at http://www.prolifewisconsin.org/news_story.asp?id=279.

Tip of the Month: “How Abortion Became Popular – Support from Churches”
From Choices in Matters of Life & Death by Judie Brown with Paul Brown

Prior to 1930, no church body in the world accepted artificial birth control.  They went to the Bible and the teaching of the Old Testament in particular to support their opposition.  In 1930 at the Lambeth Conference in England, the Anglican church determined that there were some hardship cases where couples could use artificial birth control.  Once birth control was accepted by this very influential church, even for just a few cases, it made an opening for broad changes.  The proponents of abortion and sexual freedom, sexual expression, promiscuity, pornography and divorce hammered away at the opening.

Today in our country, there are countless numbers of Christians and Jews who don’t even remember their own history.  What is accepted by them today as common practice was known up until 1930 to be a terrible sin against the law of God.  When the exception for hard cases occurred, allowing birth control, the floodgates for promiscuity were opened.

Churches, no matter what church it is, are supposed to represent Biblical teachings.  But church leaders themselves began in the thirties to create exceptions to the teachings of their own churches.  As many churches gave in on birth control, even on abortion, they made it easy for entire governments all around the world to make exceptions and change the laws that protected human life.  And governments are denying the rights of innocent human beings today because the churches in the thirties made exceptions to Biblical teachings.

The compromise on the part of the churches coincided with a movement in our country to divorce government from moral principles as embodied in God’s laws.  This effort to separate the nation’s laws from the religious principles on which the United States was founded was destined to create chaos.

John Dewey, for instance, had a tremendous influence on public education in the U.S.  He was a philosopher and educator, and he was part of this movement to remove religious influence from government, and particularly from education.  Like the proponents of birth control, those who worked to get God out of government and education claimed to be working for freedom.  But neither group, although they pretended to be democratic, really represented the thoughts or wishes of the American people.  This philosophy of man as God was pushed by an elite group of people who wanted to change, and did change, the direction of this country.  They worked to take away the human right to life, to take away religious freedom, to take away morality – by calling each an infringement of the individual’s right to privacy.  (Sound anything like what is going on in our country today?)

Margaret Sanger presented motherhood as slavery and promiscuity as freedom.  Today we have people calling Christianity a mental illness, labeling religious instruction an abridgement of children’s rights and calling atheism freedom!

News

Dropping birth control out of airplanes?
Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) made the following statement during an interview this week, “Investing in family planning is the smartest investment the federal government can make. I think they should be dropping birth control out of airplanes and it should be free for every woman.”
http://www.frcblog.com/2010/02/dropping-birth-control-out-of-airplanes/

Planned Parenthood and children's sexual rights
Or, how about this for a concept?  The IPPF, which, after all, is in favor of "planned parenthood," has an epiphany, deciding to switch gears and approach this issue from an entirely different point of view.  Taking its cues from traditional Christian and Jewish teachings, it puts its resources behind supporting abstinence until marriage. It realizes that strong families and strong faith communities – without interference from outsiders – have the best chance of saving young people from unwanted pregnancies and disease.  ...  It recognizes that rather than being an obstacle, for centuries religion has been society's best weapon against social anarchy.  One can always hope.  And pray.  Or cut off their funding.  Unfortunately, thanks to President Obama, the U.S. is again contributing money to support the IPPF.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=909404

New York abortionist under investigation for abortion death
The pro-life group that filed a complaint against New York abortionist Salomon Epstein after the abortion death of Alexandra Nunez, a single mother of four, has been notified that the abortionist is now under investigation. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10022302.html

Frozen fetuses found during abortionist's office raid
Philadelphia and federal authorities who raided a doctor's office after allegations a woman died during an abortion made a shocking discovery: more than two dozen frozen fetuses. http://cbs3.com/local/West.Philadelphia.Dr.2.1512077.html

Report: Taxes prop up 'dying' abortion industry
A new report asserts the U.S. abortion industry is in significant decline, held together largely through the $300 million-plus that federal taxpayers deliver annually to its major player, Planned Parenthood.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=125372

Pro-abortion movement exploits tragic case of pregnant cancer victim in Nicaragua
The international abortion lobby is seeking to use the tragic the case of a pregnant woman with cancer in Nicaragua, in order to promote the legalization of the procedure in the strongly pro-life country.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10022215.html

Flashback:  Research into cancer during pregnancy: Treating pregnant women with chemotherapy has no detrimental effect on the fetus
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168575.php

Closing Thought

"But I believe I shall enjoy the Lord's goodness in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the Lord!"

Psalm 27:13-14

 

 

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Volume 7, Number 8                                                                         February 22, 2010

Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray for Per Thomsen and his family. Per is the nine-year-old son of Dr. Kristen Thomsen (medical director of WomenKind Medical Clinic) and has been diagnosed with brain tumors. For more information, see www.caringbridge.org/visit/perthomsen.

Mark your calendars! National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week, April 27 - May 3
National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week is organized by American Life League every year to remind Americans that every abortion kills a person.  But we are always looking for new and creative ways to get that message out! That's why National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week is running a photo contest. Go to the web site, www.npltw.com, for information on rules and prizes.  If you're on Facebook, go to the contest page (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12965985379) and join! And be sure to tell your friends about us!

New Associate Group

Please join us in welcoming the newest addition to ALL’s Associate Program – Corpus Christi Pro Life Group!  The Corpus Christi Pro Life Group was established in Rye Brook, New York, to educate the community about life issues.  CCPLG holds a monthly meeting which opens with the Rosary, sponsors a monthly pro-life Mass and works to change hearts and minds about the reality of abortion.  CCPLG also established a Cenacles of Life chapter which meets regularly to pray and fast to end the culture of death.  The chairman of Corpus Christi Pro Life Group is currently Knute Numme.  We look forward to working with Knute and his colleagues and are grateful CCPLG has joined our network!

From Associates

Dubuque County Right to Life
Dubuque County Right to Life is offering a free screening of the documentary Maafa 21 on Saturday, February 27 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Mindframe Theaters. Maafa 21 is the stunning new feature-length movie that exposes a hidden plan to eliminate the African-American population through eugenics, birth control, abortion and sterilization. For more information, please contact DCRTL at 563-556-5960.  For more information on Maafa 21, see http://www.maafa21.com/.

AMEN – Abortion Must End Now
You've heard of an Amber Alert that is broadcast when a child has been abducted? AMEN has started the Baby Max Alert. A Baby Max Alert will notify members of AMEN’s Prayer Warriors prayer chain when they learn of a child in danger of being aborted.

Last year, AMEN became aware of a woman contemplating abortion. Kristy, founder and president of AMEN told the mom she would love to take the baby and the mom agreed. Immediately, Kristy decided she would name the baby Max. Unfortunately, the mother didn’t keep her word and went through with an abortion. In memory of baby Max, whenever AMEN learns of a baby in jeopardy of being aborted, they will send out a Baby Max Alert, an urgent request for prayer. AMEN also reminds everyone to pray every day for an end to abortion. We know, in the United States alone, a Baby Max Alert could go out every 24 seconds. We also know prayer is powerful and we have been blessed to witness many miracles through prayer chains. Join us in praying for those in need and praying for an end to abortion. If you’re in the Yuma, Arizona area and have not yet registered as a prayer warrior, please e-mail Susan at fiat1@q.com.

Houston Coalition for Life
The Houston Coalition for Life Benefit Dinner will be held Thursday, March 11 at the Westin Oaks Hotel Consort Ballroom beginning at 6:30 p.m.  Guest speakers include Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood Clinic Director, and Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International.  For more information and reservations, contact HCL at http://www.houstoncoalition.com/.

Tip of the month – Parent Power – Summary of Actions you Can Take to Defeat Offensive Education Programs – Meeting the School Board
From Parent Power!! by Jim Sedlak

21. Attend several of your local school board meetings so you understand how they are run and when would be the appropriate time for you to speak.  Talk with school board members about general topics concerning the school.

22. Make your presentation to the school board a professional one.  Type out your remarks and provide copies to each board member.

23. Read to the school board the actual material that is in the school.  In many instances this will be obscene material and the school board will stop you.  This makes your point about why you are outraged.

24. Accept suggestions of the school board on how to settle the issue.  Do not refuse to talk to employees of the school district unless you have already done so and can demonstrate that they are unresponsive.

25.  Understand exactly what your objective is and accept a solution that will accomplish that objective, even if it is not exactly what you had asked for.

26. If the issue is not resolved quickly, ask the school board for a vote.  Record how each member votes.  This will give you information on which members are on your side and which are not.

27.  Prior to any scheduled vote, have your supporters call the school board members at home.  This has a great impact, if it is done considerately (not after 9:00 p.m.; always speak respectfully!)

28.  Don’t count your victories and losses by the vote of the school board.  Make sure all your supporters understand that their job is not to win school board votes.  Their job is to proclaim the truth.  Their task is to rouse the people and get them out to school board meetings, get them to write letters and to sign petitions.  In other words, to get the community involved.

29. If the school board violates your state laws in its dealing with you, do not be afraid to report them to the proper authorities.  In many states, the State Education Department has a procedure for filing grievances against the school board.  Use it.

Next Month:  Summary of Actions – Educating the Community & Street Activity

News

Colorado does it again - Personhood Colorado announces successful signature campaign
Personhood Colorado submitted signatures to the Secretary of State's office for the Colorado Personhood Amendment. The signatures submitted totaled 79,817, although only 76,047 were required.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10021501.html

Bioethics must be guided by natural law principles of human dignity: Pope
A bioethics not founded in the “foundational principle of human dignity” is unable to respect human rights, the pope said. In his address to the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV), a meeting of philosophers and scholars held annually in Rome, the pope said that with the rapid advance of technology, it is more imperative than ever that bioethics be guided by the Natural Law that is “inscribed by God the Creator in the heart of man.”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10021505.html

Pro-life leader calls on blacks to recognize impact of abortion during black history month
Day Gardner of the National Black Pro-Life Union has said that during Black History Month Americans should acknowledge abortion’s disproportionate impact on blacks and should see abortion advocacy as a form of “ethnic cleansing” that targets the black community.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=100527

Young counselor threatened with knife learns that baby was saved from abortion
Three months after being threatened with a knife to her throat by a woman entering an abortion mill, 21-year-old pro-life counselor Leah Winandy has learned that her attacker has decided not to abort her child – and credits Leah and Leah’s mother for saving her from a life of regret. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10021702.html

Testing curbs some genetic diseases
Births of babies with cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs and other less-familiar disorders have dropped since testing came into wider use.  More women now are being tested as part of routine prenatal care, and many end pregnancies when diseases are found. One study in California found that prenatal screening reduced by half the number of babies born with the severest form of cystic fibrosis, because many parents chose abortion.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011099346_gene17.html

Closing Thought

"Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.  Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God's law they study day and night. They are like a tree planted near streams of water that yields its fruit in season; its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers."

Psalm 1:1-3

 

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 A.L.L. ACTION

Dear Friends,

I wanted you to see a press release we just put as a proud member of the Reform CCHD Now coalition. I need your help spreading it far and wide.

In the last two weeks, you no doubt have heard about the growing CCHD scandal. The Church is indeed bleeding from within and we need your help to bring this to the attention of our bishops!

We need you to make your voice heard to the U.S. Bishops NOW!

Go  to www.reformcchdnow.com and sign this crucial petition.

And THEN I need you to pass this message on to your friends and family. If you have a blog or social media outlet, the Reform site has many way for you to embed the coding onto  your site.

One of my heroes, Archishop Fulton Sheen once put it best:

“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious.”

Please sign!

In HIM,

Judie Brown
President
American Life League

http://all.org/article.php?id=12547

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11 February 2010
CONTACT: Katie Walker
540.659.4942| kwalker@all.org 

 

 

• Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development

 

• Bishop Roger Morin of Biloxi, Mississippi and Chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the CCHD

 

• Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas, Texas and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on National Collections

 

• Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Texas and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities

 

• Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky and Chairman of the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage

 

 

• In October 2009, Human Life International, American Life League and the Bellarmine Veritas Ministry formed the Reform CCHD Now coalition. Twenty-one organizations are now members of the coalition.

 

• On Oct. 2 Bishop Morin announced that CCHD grantee groups Young Workers United and the Chinese Progressive Association had been defunded in response to the reports.

 

• In November 2009 the Reform CCHD Now coalition revealed the CCHD was supporting 31 organizations which are members of a radically pro-abortion, pro same sex marriage organization.

 

• Also in November 2009 another detailed report was issued by American Life League and Bellarmine Veritas Ministry implicating MIV partners, CA Partnership partners, SFOP, Preble Street, Voces De La Frontera, and many others.

 

• By Nov. 25, 2009 LifeSiteNews reported that five bishops had decided to discontinue the CCHD collection.

 

• On Monday, Feb. 1 American Life League and the Bellarmine Veritas Ministry released further information on CCHD ties to the pro-abortion, same sex marriage Center for Community Change. Two top USCCB executives  involved with the CCHD have served on the board of the CCC.

 

• On Tuesday, February 2, 2010, realcatholictv.com released video evidence that within hours of the initial story breaking, the USCCB and Center for Community Change each removed any reference to the other organization from their respective websites. 

 

• On Tuesday, Feb. 2 Catholic Advocate called upon the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to suspend its grants pending “a complete review of its awards process.

 

• The USCCB has yet to adequately respond to any of the charges since Bishop Morin’s Oct. 2 memorandum, but has instead attempted to reframe the reports as a personal attack against USCCB employees.

 

  

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Volume 7, Number 4                                                                            January 25, 2010

Prayer Requests
Please pray for Per Thomsen and his family. Per is the nine-year old son of Dr. Kristen Thomsen (medical director of WomenKind Medical Clinic) and has been diagnosed with brain tumors. For more information, see www.caringbridge.org/visit/perthomsen.

From Associates

Movement for a Better America
MBA president Dennis Howard has released his most recent research on the economic effects of abortion in a press release entitled “Researcher: Abortion is $38.5 trillion drag on the economy.”

In its latest estimate on the economic impact of abortion, the Movement for a Better America reports that the abortion toll is projected to climb to a new high of 52,333,000 as of January 22, 2010.  It also estimated that the economic impact has risen to $38.5 trillion in lost U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

MBA President Dennis Howard, who has been researching the economic impact of abortion since 1992, reported, “The number of lives lost to surgical abortion has reached 17% of the total U.S. population of 307,000,000.  So it’s not surprising that this year’s increase is equal to 17% of U.S. GDP.”

The estimates are based on average GDP per year since abortion became legal in our largest states, multiplied by the cumulative number of abortions. A veteran market researcher and investigative reporter, Howard maintains his own database derived from data published in the Statistical Abstract of the United States and the Guttmacher Institute.  The estimates do not include babies lost to abortifacients and contraception because of the lack of public data.

Howard has been warning since the mid-1990s that the U.S. faced a major financial crisis based on ongoing demographic trends.  In 1997, he wrote: “I see little hope that we can avoid an eventual crash on Wall Street that will make the 1930s looking like cashing in your cards after a bad game of Monopoly®.”  He even gave percentages as to when a crash would occur. He wrote then: “I’d give it a 50% chance of happening by the year 2000, an 80% chance by the year 2010, and a 100% chance of happening by 2020.”

For more information see the MBA website at http://www.movementforabetteramerica.org.

Tip of the month – Parent Power – Summary of Actions you Can Take to Defeat Offensive Education Programs
From Parent Power!! by Jim Sedlak

Throughout the book, STOPP has attempted to provide readers with concrete advice on how to effectively fight Planned Parenthood programs.  Remember, these are not theoretical methods – they are the result of real fights in real school districts.  All of the victories you have read about, and many more, were won by ordinary people; people who are no different than you and who had a faith in God that allowed them to succeed.

Here is the first half of the list of items STOPP recommends in order to successfully fight Planned Parenthood sex ed programs in the schools:

1. Rely on God to direct your efforts.

Discover what is going on

2. Make sure you know exactly what is happening in your school and be able to document it.  A couple of months of quiet fact gathering and documenting will pay dividends later.

3. If you do not know where to start looking, a good place is in the Health Curriculum, particularly for fifth, seventh and eleventh grades.

4. Use the Freedom of Information Acts to obtain information from the schools.

5. Also check the teacher’s reference section of the school library.

6. The key is persistence!  Don’t let anyone put you off.

7. Know the school education laws in your state; know what is mandatory and what is not.

Document

8. Document problems and, if possible, get more than one student’s word for it.  Keep a log of all your activities and write summaries of all conversations with officials including dates and the names of all attendees.

9. Document your objections to the school program.

10. Put your recommended action in writing so that there will be no controversy over exactly what you are seeking. 

Starting Action

11. Whenever possible, work with the school administration to get rid of offensive programs before going to the school board.

12. Cite national numbers and important research to bolster your case.

13. Do not hesitate to face the other side head on.  The fact is that most pro-lifers are better prepared to discuss these issues than most of the FLE supporters.  Never be afraid to confront them.

14. Be careful of PTA organizations; Planned Parenthood has gone to great lengths to infiltrate national and state PTA organizations. 

Education is the key

15. Educate the clergy and enlist them in your efforts.

16. Educate parents on Planned Parenthood so that they can see that the activity in your school district is a part of a nationwide push for sex ed. 

17. Invite school board members to your informational meetings.  Treat them as allies until they prove, by their actions, they are not.

18. Get to know your school board member – where they work, where they worship, their hobbies, their friends.  You never know what will change the mind of another; be prepared for any opportunities that may come up.  People will listen to a friend quicker than a stranger.

19. Form an organization.

20. Remember, before going to the school board, know exactly what the issue is you want to raise and exactly what you want the school board to do about it.

Next month:  School Board, Community, Street Activity

News

Planned Parenthood director bemoans lack of info about Natural Family Planning
In one of a pair of recent articles by major Canadian media exploring how women are increasingly turning away from hormonal contraception, the executive director for Sexual Health Access Alberta (formerly known as Planned Parenthood Alberta), bemoans the lack of information about natural family planning. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011207.html

Study finds posttraumatic stress disorder after abortions
Men and women who felt they had inadequate counseling before an abortion, as well as those who disagreed with their partners about the decision to abort, were more likely to experience personal and interpersonal problems following the procedure, according to a new paper published in the medical journal Traumatology. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011308.html

California's Proposition 71 failure
Five years after a budget-busting $3 billion was allocated to embryonic stem cell research, there have been no cures, no therapies and little progress. So supporters are embracing research they once opposed.  The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state agency created to, as some have put it, restore science to its rightful place, is diverting funds from ESCR to research that has produced actual therapies and treatments: adult stem cell research. It not only has treated real people with real results; it also does not come with the moral baggage ESCR does.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=517870

First successful use of expanded umbilical-cord blood units to treat leukemia
Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have cleared a major technical hurdle to making umbilical-cord-blood transplants a more widely-used method for treating leukemia and other blood cancers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100117150820.htm

Closing Thought

"We must neither doubt nor hesitate with respect to the words of the Lord; rather, we must be fully persuaded that every word of God is true and possible, even if our nature should rebel against the idea; for in this lies the test of faith."

—St. Basil the Great,  http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/inspiration.htm#17

 

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 Pro-Life Today | 18 January 2010

HEADLINES

Pro-Lifers Urged to Create Massive March for Life Presence in Lead-up to Health Vote
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/printerfriendly.html?articleid=10011509
Life Site News
In what may be the final days before the abortion-expanding health care bill is pushed through U.S. Congress, pro-life leaders are issuing a clarion call to all pro-life citizens of America to join the 2010 March for Life in order to deliver to Democrat leaders an unmistakably clear message against the health care bill's abortion mandate. The March is set to take place next Friday, January 22.

Sacramento Bishop Calls for Day of Penance Jan. 22 for 'Sinful Scourge' of Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011510.html
Life Site News
Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto has declared a day of reparation for “the sinful national scourge of abortion" on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Friday, January 22.  In a December 22 letter to parishioners, Soto gave guidelines for individuals seeking to fast prayerfully as part of the day of penance, and also encouraged special works of charity.  “Through our acts of penance and works of charity on this day, we will express our desire to restore a culture of life and a civilization of love in this country so marred by the court decision of Roe v. Wade as well as other acts of violence against the innocent,” wrote Bishop Soto.

International Pro-Life Leaders Come to U.S. Capitol to Protest U.S. Anti-Life Policies
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011801.html
Life Site News
International Pro-Life leaders from Africa, Europe, South America, Asia and Oceania have come to the United State’s capitol to stand with Americans and protest the expansion of anti-life policies under the Obama administration.  The international leaders, who are associated with Human Life International (HLI), will speak at a conference on January 22 at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. before joining the hundreds of thousands of other pro-lifers in the March for Life.  “America’s March for Life is now the world’s March for Life,” said Joseph Meaney, Director of International Coordination for HLI. “It has become the world’s pro-life protest because of the aggressive promotion of abortion and population control that is now official policy of the United States, thanks to the administration of President Barack Obama.”
 
For more headline news, click here for ALL’s Daily News Summary.

 

Register NOW for Training and Activism Week 2010!   

 

Join American Life League at our 10th Annual Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference, January 20-23, 2010, at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. Registration is FREE!  The event includes three days of educational workshops given by pro-life experts on basic human rights legislation, euthanasia, nationalized health care, abortion, human personhood, youth activism and more!
 
In the evenings, relax and enjoy two FREE music concerts featuring a half-dozen pro-life bands of various styles! After you wake up with a renewed sense of purpose and your new knowledge of hands-on activism, join us on the streets of Washington, D.C., at a Planned Parenthood facility and on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
Before the big march on Friday, you can also attend a one-day, internationally acclaimed pro-life conference hosted by Human Life International.
 
Visit www.all.org/taw to see a complete list of activities and register today! For concert information, visit www.rockforlife.org/taw. Seats for all sessions are limited, so register early!

 

FEATURE STORY

‘OUTRAGEOUS’
By Michael Hichborn

This past fall, American life League joined a coalition of pro-life and Catholic organizations called “Reform CCHD Now,” calling on Catholics around the country to withhold donations to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development because money was going to pro-abortion, pro-homosexual and, in one case, pro-prostitution organizations. Detractors of the campaign claimed that our charges were “politically motivated,” and Bishop Roger P. Morin, subcommittee chairman, said that they were “outrageous claims.” Bishop Morin even went so far as to say that CCHD does “not ever grant funds to any group that is specifically involved in any activity contrary to church teaching" and it has "zero tolerance" for any CCHD-funded group that "acts in conflict with church teaching."

One of the grantees that sparked the call to reform is the San Francisco Organizing Project. Bellarmine Veritas Ministry first pointed out that SFOP gave “major support to health clinics which provide family planning and emergency contraception services to both adults and minors” and posted evidence from SFOP’s own web site. The CCHD responded to the allegation by not addressing the charge and instead praising the SFOP and its wonderful relationship with the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Archbishop Niederauer in a document titled “For the Record – The Truth about CCHD Funding”: 

The Archdiocese of San Francisco strongly supports the work of the San Francisco Organizing Project (SFOP) to expand access to health care to children. Both Archbishop Levada and Archbishop Niederauer have spoken at SFOP events; SFOP has met regularly with Archdiocesan staff to coordinate work on health care access and other issues that affect the poor and immigrant families.

Perplexed that the CCHD didn’t even acknowledge the charge that SFOP was using funds for clinics that provide emergency contraception (which are abortifacients) to teens, we decided to further examine the SFOP’s health programs. And to borrow a word from Bishop Morin, what we found was truly "outrageous."

Here are the facts:

     5.   “Healthy San Francisco also offers coverage for some services that would not be covered under a government-run public health insurance plan, such as elective abortion.”

Due to the support of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Archbishop Niederauer and, by extension, the continued support of the CCHD for health programs that the USCCB has denounced as “unacceptable,” Catholics are left with an apparent contradiction. Either abortion provisions in public health programs are acceptable or they are not.

And while Catholic support for the SFOP’s efforts to get these pro-abortion health care plans passed is ‘outrageous’ enough, it turns out that the pro-abortion national health care plan we are currently faced with was largely inspired by none other than Healthy San Francisco.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco in the U.S. House of Representatives, supported SF Mayor Newsom in his efforts, and according to National Public Radio:  

The Healthy San Francisco Plan, the city's public health plan for the uninsured, has many of the elements currently under consideration in Washington, D.C. It was proposed as a stopgap measure until Congress moved ahead with universal coverage. Now, it's being heralded as a public option that works and a model for reform. 

Simply put, the CCHD and the Archdiocese of San Francisco gave full support to the SFOP’s promotion of Healthy San Francisco, now considered a model for the national health care mess currently being rushed through Congress. So, you can thank these organizations personally if the legislation actually passes. 

But in the meantime, we have to ask, which of these is truly outrageous: The fact that public-run health programs that fund elective abortions were supported by the CCHD and the Archdiocese of San Francisco both directly and through the efforts of the SFOP, or the fact that we called the public’s attention to this support? American Life League takes no delight in criticizing the work of the bishops’ committees, but when the documentation is so compelling and the evidence is so clear, it is our duty to make this known so that corrective action can be taken.

Michael Hichborn is American Life League's lead researcher on the CCHD.

 

 

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HEADLINES

Top Ten Good News Stories of 2009 from LifeSiteNews
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09122306.html
Life Site News
LifeSiteNews lists its top ten good news stories of 2009, ranked according to popularity, including 12 year old “Lia” of Toronto and her YouTube pro-life speech, defenders of Notre Dame, Gary Graham, Jim Caviezel and Abby Johnson.

Miracle at Memorial: Mom and Baby Die During Labor, Revived
http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/80244642.html
KKTV
Some are calling it a Christmas miracle... a mom and her baby die during labor, but doctors at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs were able to bring them both back to life. Now, the whole family is back together at home. Doctors say it's very rare for this to happen, but after Tracey Hermanstorfer passed away during labor, doctors delivered the baby by c-section, with no anesthesia. That's when the family says the miracles began to unfold.

No Human Rights for Fetuses because of Undeveloped Nervous System: Ethicists
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09122206.html
Life Site News
While the unborn child could be considered a "patient," such a status should not be confused with having human rights - something the child would only gain later thanks to a more developed nervous system, insist the authors of a new report justifying the ethics of abortion. The article, entitled "An ethically justified practical approach to offering, recommending, performing, and referring for induced abortion and feticide" and written by Frank A. Chervenak, MD and Laurence B. McCullough, PhD, was published in the online American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology in September 2009. In a response to the article, however, a director at the National Catholic Bioethics Center said that the authors "really ought to learn to pick on those their own size," saying that "human fetuses or newborns do not need to be able to balance a checkbook or have a nervous system" before being given human rights.

For more headline news, click here for ALL’s Daily News Summary. 

 

Register NOW for Training and Activism Week 2010!

 

Join American Life League at our 10th Annual Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference, January 20-23, 2010, at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. Registration is FREE!  The event includes three days of educational workshops given by pro-life experts on basic human rights legislation, euthanasia, nationalized health care, abortion, human personhood, youth activism and more!
 
In the evenings, relax and enjoy two FREE music concerts featuring a half-dozen pro-life bands of various styles! After you wake up with a renewed sense of purpose and your new knowledge of hands-on activism, join us on the streets of Washington, D.C., at a Planned Parenthood facility and on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
Before the big march on Friday, you can also attend a one-day, internationally acclaimed pro-life conference hosted by Human Life International.
 
Visit www.all.org/taw to see a complete list of activities and register today! For concert information, visit www.rockforlife.org/taw. Seats for all sessions are limited, so register early!

ALL Report: 'The Humanist Religion of Planned Parenthood'

 

Humanism is the religion that drives Planned Parenthood, which is why it should come as no surprise that it is intimately connected with the American Humanist Association. American life League explains the philosophical underpinnings of these organizations and how they relate to their political and social advocacy. 

To view the latest ALL Report, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6tt7Bql4Dg

  

FEATURE STORY

THE PLURIPOTENCY PICKLE: THE STORY OF A LIE
By Judie Brown

(Editor’s note: This week, we are presenting a series we have titled “The Best of 2009”—a selection of the most popular commentaries featured in this year’s “Straight Talk on Life” column. This commentary was originally published on April 15.)

Pickle – a difficult situation; a sour solution

Several years ago, in one her most important scientific papers, Professor Dianne Irving discussed the nature of the pluripotent stem cell, which when taken from the human embryo, can itself become a human embryo. In her analysis, entitled Stem Cells That Become Embryos: Implications for the NIH Guidelines on Stem Cell Research, the NIH Stem Cell Report, Informed Consent, and Patient Safety in Clinical Trials. Analysis: Parts I and II, she wrote, 

The purpose of this scientific analysis is to demonstrate empirically, scientifically, and beyond any shadow of a doubt, that indeed, once separated from the whole intact human embryo, human embryonic and fetal “pluripotent” stem cells can become new living human embryos themselves, new living human beings—as we already know happens even naturally in monozygotic twinning.

At the time that this paper was written, few paid attention to what she had to say, but now, in 2009, her analysis is perhaps more useful than ever. The reason has to do with what some pro-life experts are calling a miracle: the discovery of “embryo-like” induced pluripotent stem cells. The only problem with the celebration is that it has no validity.

In 2001, when the above-noted analysis was published, Professor Irving warned,

If the scientific and legal basis for the NIH Guidelines is that human “pluripotent stem cells” are “not themselves embryos,” but if it has been empirically and scientifically demonstrated here that all of these “pluripotent stem cells” naturally strive to become and succeed in becoming embryos themselves (which will then also be cultivated and killed), then there is absolutely no scientific or legal basis for the existing NIH Guidelines. Indeed, the very use of such cells would in fact constitute the “creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes,” and thus automatically violate the congressional ban.

And today, the quagmire that surrounded the false science of the National Institutes of Health has taken on an entirely new and more horrific meaning for those of us who care about truth.

In November 2007, Professor Shinya Yamanaka announced that he had discovered a way to reprogram a skin cell in such a way that those involved in human embryonic stem cell research would no longer have to face the ethical landmines surrounding the destruction of human embryos. In fact, enthusiasm ran so high that Professor Ian Wilmut, of “Dolly the sheep” fame, “was quoted as saying he’s abandoning his cloning efforts to adopt the skin cell pluripotent approach.”

Since that time, research teams from Britain, Canada and the U.S. have made similar discoveries and similar claims. But as Professor Irving pointed out in an interview,

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.

But nobody was listening and research moved forward until, in late March, it was announced that stem cell pioneer James Thomson, of the University of Wisconsin, and his team of scientists were able to take this “reprogramming” of cells to a new level. Thompson claims he can convert adult stem cells into embryonic-like stem cells, but this time, without the use of viruses, unlike his previous research. 

This alleged advance was hailed by many pro-life bioethics experts, but not by Dr. Irving, nor by Deborah Vinnedge, of the Children of God for Life vaccine research organization. In fact, Vinnedge was quick to point out, 

The most recent announcement last week was that of James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in which he reprogrammed neonatal foreskin cells, which are classified as “adult” or “mature” stem cells, using a plasmid technique to deliver the genes into the foreskin cells, rather than a lentivirus. The result was a transformation of the adult cells to an “embryonic” state. While Thomson hailed the process as much safer than past experiments (which is still highly debatable) in which he used lentiviruses to deliver the genes, what was not reported was his use of embryonic stem cells and aborted fetal cell lines as sources for the genes. (emphasis added)

Yes, the so-called ethical alternative to human embryonic stem cell research has turned out to be anything but ethical! But who cares? Who is calling Thompson and his colleagues to task?

The frenzy has spread far beyond Thompson and the verbal engineers, however. Just a week ago, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Mehmet Oz told the world, with Michael J. Fox sitting right next to him, that a cure for Fox’s Parkinson’s disease is right around the corner. 

Millions of Americans watching Oprah undoubtedly felt empathy for Michael J. Fox and unbridled enthusiasm for Dr. Oz’s amazing claim. But hold on a minute! Not so fast, Dr. Oz. You have failed to tell the whole truth, and you have forgotten the scientific facts that would show that what you claimed is so promising for patients such as Fox is actually a sham.

Upon studying this video, Professor Irving points us in the right direction. Below is an excerpt from her writing, but the entire article is worth your time.

The [You Tube] video proceeded to be passed around the world at the speed of light. The new research explained by Dr. Oz to Oprah in this video is referred to as “induced pluripotent stem cell” research (iPS research). As Dr. Oz noted, an adult human cell (e.g., a patient’s own skin cell) can be transformed or induced from a very differentiated state back to a relatively less differentiated state to form an “embryo-like” human cell that is “pluripotent” (capable of forming most of the cells, tissues and organs of an adult human being). These new iPS human cells could then possibly be urged to develop forward to produce more mature differentiated human cells for therapeutic purposes. But three things are important to distinguish before iPS research is so enthusiastically embraced as an “ethical alternative to human embryonic stem cell research.”

 First, iPS research is not equivalent to “adult stem cell research.” The starting material (a human adult or mature body cell) may be the same, but what happens after that is very different. In the typical adult human stem cell research that has been reported for many years now, and which truly is an ethical alternative to human embryonic stem cell research, the adult human cell is not transformed or induced (by various means) back to a pluripotent human “embryo-like” stem cell. Rather, these adult human stem cells are already found naturally in the human body and are simply urged to develop to a more mature state. No problem.

In iPS research, however, the highly differentiated DNA in the adult human cell that is used as the starting material is transformed or induced (by various means) back to the state of differentiation of the DNA as found in human embryonic pluripotent “stem cells.” These “embryo-like” human pluripotent “stem cells” are then urged to become more mature in order to develop human cells for therapies.

Second, there are many scientific and ethical problems with iPS research that must be resolved before such research can be considered as “an ethical alternative to human embryonic stem cell research.” Perhaps Dr. Oz’s use of the term “embryo-like” might provide a clue. Are these iPS cells just “embryo-like,” or are they—at least sometimes—really single- or multiple-cell early human “embryos”?

Clearly, Professor Irving’s analysis is not going to warm the hearts of all those advocates of this new “ethical” alternative to human embryonic stem cell research, but what her analysis does do is challenge the lack of accuracy that seems to be the calling card of scientists involved in iPS research.

The pluripotency pickle that has been created by half-truths and baseless scientific claims can and should be resolved. But the thing that bothers me most about this is not the lies, which are everywhere, but the people whose hearts will be broken because they hoped so much for an ethical solution to a tragic dilemma, and instead they received a pickle.

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=2181 < v> <

v>

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YEAR-END MESSAGE FROM JUDIE BROWN

Dear Friend,

I am concerned.

There are so many fronts we’re fighting on to save the babies, in the states and here with the current hostile climate in Washington, D.C. 

I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but if you really knew how diabolical (and yes, I choose that word carefully) this anti-life agenda really was, you’d be even more shocked than you are today.

Right now, we are involved in our most important work ever, in the most important year.  We are fighting for the rights of ALL preborn babies -- NO EXCEPTIONS, NO COMPROMISE --  and getting results!

  There’s no question that 2009 was a tremendous success:

• Millions of dollars intended for abortion and other anti-life organizations were diverted from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

• The Pence Amendment in the U.S. House banning Planned Parenthood from receiving any taxpayer-funded Title X funds garnered 43% of the vote – a major step forward!

• Our Baby Steps DVD saved thousands of lives, and 19 of Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics are now closed thanks to the hard work STOPP is putting into the effort.

• State personhood initiatives are launching in almost every state, defining as persons every human being from their very earliest moments to natural death.

• Rock for Life brought the pro-life message to thousands of our nation’s youth, and Training and Activism Week is on January 20-23, where we must equip even more pro-lifers.

I look forward to your reply, and your continued friendship. 

God bless you!

Sincerely yours in the Lord Who IS Life,


Judie Brown
President
American Life League

 

 <Previous | Next> Page

 

 Pro-Life Today | 29 December 2009

 

COLORADO’S PERSONHOOD CAMPAIGN RESTORES FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN ABORTION BATTLE

 

"We remain hopeful these issues will be addressed, potentially leading to a renewal of the CCHD, and making it an organization that is a source of unity rather than division in the Church," said Human Life International's Stephen Phelan.

Phelan added, "we respectfully ask the episcopal leadership of the USCCB to consider the petition in good faith."

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic 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 press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Reform CCHD Now:
http://www.reformcchdnow.com/

 

CCHD donations are traditionally collected the weekend before Thanksgiving each year as one of the thirteen funds of the USCCB’s National Collections program. Donations average between $7 – 9 million annually.

Below is a summary of what has transpired since information on CCHD grant recipients first surfaced in August 2009 by the Bellarmine Veritas Ministry.

 

Washington, DC (11 February 2010) – American Life League, Human Life International, Catholic Advocate, Bellarmine Veritas Ministry and Real Catholic TV, members of the Reform CCHD Now coalition, launched a petition drive Thursday asking the bishops to suspend United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) grants.

The effort comes after repeated calls over the past three months for explanations from the USCCB in response to the discovery of CCHD money spent to support organizations promoting abortion and same-sex marriage.

American Catholics will be asked to sign the following at www.reformcchdnow.com:

To ensure no more Catholic dollars are spent to support organizations advocating abortion or same-sex marriage, I respectfully request the bishops suspend all national CCHD grants until the grants process has been reformed.

“Transparency and responsible stewardship of the money donated by hard-working American Catholics to further the mission of the Church should be a top priority for those in positions of authority at the Bishops’ Conference,” said Catholic Advocate Vice President Matt Smith.

 

 

Washington, DC (22 March 2010) – The following is an excerpt from a tribute by American Life League President Judie Brown on the passing of Fr. Paul Marx, OSB - founder of Human Life International.

“Father Paul Marx, OSB, left an indelible imprint on so many lives, and Paul and Judie Brown are but two of them.  So it is safe to say that as we mourn the loss of this greater than life Catholic priest par excellence, we can also praise God that Fr. Marx had such a positive effect on so many of us.  He left a legacy that time, confusion and dissent from truth can never erase.  And as he said to Judie in one of his precious hand written notes to her of several weeks ago, 'You are doing great work.  Never give in to compromise!'

"We promise you, Fr. Marx, we never will!  Thanks to your example, how could we!

"All of us at American Life League owe Fr. Marx so much, and so in the midst of our mourning we are joyful in Christ for having known him, been educated by him and fought the good fight with him.  Father Paul Marx, OSB … May you rest in the peace of Christ as millions of angels sing your praises with songs of praise and adulation.

"We will miss you and we love you, Fr. Marx.”

For the text in its entirety see http://all.org/newsroom_judieblog.php?id=2980

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic 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 press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

NC Register: Father Paul Marx - Apostle of Life - Dies (20 March 2010)
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/father_paul_marx_-_apostle_of_life_dies/

Human Life International: HLI Mourns Loss of Beloved Founder, Father Paul Marx (20 March 2010)
http://www.earnedmedia.org/hli03201.htm

 

Washington, DC (29 March 2010) – American Life League’s vice president, Jim Sedlak, issued the following statement in response to news the Colorado personhood amendment (Amendment 62) will be on the 2010 ballot:

“We’re ecstatic that folks in Colorado, and around the country, are finally addressing assaults on preborn human beings – recognizing that these human beings must be acknowledged as legal persons.

“The Amendment 62 campaign will propel back into the national spotlight the message of the civil rights movement: All human beings are inherently equal and deserve protection under the law.

“For too long, the pro-life movement has been content to merely mitigate the assault on human beings’ lives and rights. The human personhood movement doesn’t seek to merely contain or reduce this most basic injustice; it seeks to end it outright.

“Colorado is inspiring the nation with its passionate cry for justice at long last. We are excited to stand with the Colorado personhood campaign in its mission to end bigotry in and outside the womb.”

The Amendment reads as follows:

“Section 32. Person defined. As used in sections 3, 6, and 25 of Article II of the state constitution, the term “person” shall apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic 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 press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

New York Times: Abortion Ban Proposal to Be on Colo. Ballot (27 March 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/27/us/AP-US-Abortion-Amendment-Colorado.html?_r=1

Personhood Colorado:
http://www.personhoodusa.com/

American Life League: Personhood
http://all.org/personhood/

  

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  May he Rest in Peace

 

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 Volume 7, Number 9                                                                                         Monday, March 1, 2010

Prayer Requests:
Please pray for Anne Mueller, mother of Peg Saindon (Mother and Unborn Baby Care) who is having surgery today (March 1).

Please continue to pray for Per Thomsen and his family. Per is the nine-year-old son of Dr. Kristen Thomsen (medical director of WomenKind Medical Clinic) who has been diagnosed with brain tumors. For more information, see www.caringbridge.org/visit/perthomsen.

Please continue to pray also for all of those who are participating in the 40 Days for Life Campaign.  And, during the 40 Days, remember to pray and to fast for various intentions that will build respect for human life in all stages and conditions.

Mark your calendars! National Pro-life T-shirt Week, April 27 – May 3
National Pro-life T-shirt Week is organized by American Life League every year to remind Americans that every abortion kills a person.  But we are always looking for new and creative ways to get that message out! That's why National Pro-life T-shirt Week is running a photo contest. Go to the web site, www.npltw.com, for information on rules and prizes. 

Sign the Petition
If you have not already done so, please sign the petition to reform the CCHD and pass it along to family and friends.  The petition states, “To ensure no more Catholic dollars are spent to support organizations advocating contraception, abortion or same-sex 'marriage,' I respectfully request the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to suspend all Catholic Campaign for Human Development grants until its grants process has been reformed.”  Visit www.reformcchdnow.com.

From Associates

Pro-Life Wisconsin
On February 22, Pro-Life Wisconsin revealed the results of an open-records request, which showed that the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics (UWHC) has been funding medical students’ rotations at Planned Parenthood and training medical students in abortion procedures. State law prohibits taxpayer funding of elective abortions.  See the media release at http://www.prolifewisconsin.org/releases/release022210.htm.

Additionally, Pro-Life Wisconsin issued a media release on February 23 concerning the most recent undercover video from Live Action Films.  The newest video was taken at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood. The footage shows the Planned Parenthood staff counseling a purportedly 14-year-old statutory rape victim not to tell anyone about her 31-year-old boyfriend and coaching her how to obtain an abortion without her parents' consent.  See the video at http://www.liveaction.org/ and read PLW’s release at http://www.prolifewisconsin.org/news_story.asp?id=279.

Tip of the Month: “How Abortion Became Popular – Support from Churches”
From Choices in Matters of Life & Death by Judie Brown with Paul Brown

Prior to 1930, no church body in the world accepted artificial birth control.  They went to the Bible and the teaching of the Old Testament in particular to support their opposition.  In 1930 at the Lambeth Conference in England, the Anglican church determined that there were some hardship cases where couples could use artificial birth control.  Once birth control was accepted by this very influential church, even for just a few cases, it made an opening for broad changes.  The proponents of abortion and sexual freedom, sexual expression, promiscuity, pornography and divorce hammered away at the opening.

Today in our country, there are countless numbers of Christians and Jews who don’t even remember their own history.  What is accepted by them today as common practice was known up until 1930 to be a terrible sin against the law of God.  When the exception for hard cases occurred, allowing birth control, the floodgates for promiscuity were opened.

Churches, no matter what church it is, are supposed to represent Biblical teachings.  But church leaders themselves began in the thirties to create exceptions to the teachings of their own churches.  As many churches gave in on birth control, even on abortion, they made it easy for entire governments all around the world to make exceptions and change the laws that protected human life.  And governments are denying the rights of innocent human beings today because the churches in the thirties made exceptions to Biblical teachings.

The compromise on the part of the churches coincided with a movement in our country to divorce government from moral principles as embodied in God’s laws.  This effort to separate the nation’s laws from the religious principles on which the United States was founded was destined to create chaos.

John Dewey, for instance, had a tremendous influence on public education in the U.S.  He was a philosopher and educator, and he was part of this movement to remove religious influence from government, and particularly from education.  Like the proponents of birth control, those who worked to get God out of government and education claimed to be working for freedom.  But neither group, although they pretended to be democratic, really represented the thoughts or wishes of the American people.  This philosophy of man as God was pushed by an elite group of people who wanted to change, and did change, the direction of this country.  They worked to take away the human right to life, to take away religious freedom, to take away morality – by calling each an infringement of the individual’s right to privacy.  (Sound anything like what is going on in our country today?)

Margaret Sanger presented motherhood as slavery and promiscuity as freedom.  Today we have people calling Christianity a mental illness, labeling religious instruction an abridgement of children’s rights and calling atheism freedom!

News

Dropping birth control out of airplanes?
Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) made the following statement during an interview this week, “Investing in family planning is the smartest investment the federal government can make. I think they should be dropping birth control out of airplanes and it should be free for every woman.”
http://www.frcblog.com/2010/02/dropping-birth-control-out-of-airplanes/

Planned Parenthood and children's sexual rights
Or, how about this for a concept?  The IPPF, which, after all, is in favor of "planned parenthood," has an epiphany, deciding to switch gears and approach this issue from an entirely different point of view.  Taking its cues from traditional Christian and Jewish teachings, it puts its resources behind supporting abstinence until marriage. It realizes that strong families and strong faith communities – without interference from outsiders – have the best chance of saving young people from unwanted pregnancies and disease.  ...  It recognizes that rather than being an obstacle, for centuries religion has been society's best weapon against social anarchy.  One can always hope.  And pray.  Or cut off their funding.  Unfortunately, thanks to President Obama, the U.S. is again contributing money to support the IPPF.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=909404

New York abortionist under investigation for abortion death
The pro-life group that filed a complaint against New York abortionist Salomon Epstein after the abortion death of Alexandra Nunez, a single mother of four, has been notified that the abortionist is now under investigation. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10022302.html

Frozen fetuses found during abortionist's office raid
Philadelphia and federal authorities who raided a doctor's office after allegations a woman died during an abortion made a shocking discovery: more than two dozen frozen fetuses. http://cbs3.com/local/West.Philadelphia.Dr.2.1512077.html

Report: Taxes prop up 'dying' abortion industry
A new report asserts the U.S. abortion industry is in significant decline, held together largely through the $300 million-plus that federal taxpayers deliver annually to its major player, Planned Parenthood.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=125372

Pro-abortion movement exploits tragic case of pregnant cancer victim in Nicaragua
The international abortion lobby is seeking to use the tragic the case of a pregnant woman with cancer in Nicaragua, in order to promote the legalization of the procedure in the strongly pro-life country.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10022215.html

Flashback:  Research into cancer during pregnancy: Treating pregnant women with chemotherapy has no detrimental effect on the fetus
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168575.php

Closing Thought

"But I believe I shall enjoy the Lord's goodness in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the Lord!"

Psalm 27:13-14

 

 

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Volume 7, Number 8                                                                         February 22, 2010

Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray for Per Thomsen and his family. Per is the nine-year-old son of Dr. Kristen Thomsen (medical director of WomenKind Medical Clinic) and has been diagnosed with brain tumors. For more information, see www.caringbridge.org/visit/perthomsen.

Mark your calendars! National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week, April 27 - May 3
National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week is organized by American Life League every year to remind Americans that every abortion kills a person.  But we are always looking for new and creative ways to get that message out! That's why National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week is running a photo contest. Go to the web site, www.npltw.com, for information on rules and prizes.  If you're on Facebook, go to the contest page (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12965985379) and join! And be sure to tell your friends about us!

New Associate Group

Please join us in welcoming the newest addition to ALL’s Associate Program – Corpus Christi Pro Life Group!  The Corpus Christi Pro Life Group was established in Rye Brook, New York, to educate the community about life issues.  CCPLG holds a monthly meeting which opens with the Rosary, sponsors a monthly pro-life Mass and works to change hearts and minds about the reality of abortion.  CCPLG also established a Cenacles of Life chapter which meets regularly to pray and fast to end the culture of death.  The chairman of Corpus Christi Pro Life Group is currently Knute Numme.  We look forward to working with Knute and his colleagues and are grateful CCPLG has joined our network!

From Associates

Dubuque County Right to Life
Dubuque County Right to Life is offering a free screening of the documentary Maafa 21 on Saturday, February 27 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Mindframe Theaters. Maafa 21 is the stunning new feature-length movie that exposes a hidden plan to eliminate the African-American population through eugenics, birth control, abortion and sterilization. For more information, please contact DCRTL at 563-556-5960.  For more information on Maafa 21, see http://www.maafa21.com/.

AMEN – Abortion Must End Now
You've heard of an Amber Alert that is broadcast when a child has been abducted? AMEN has started the Baby Max Alert. A Baby Max Alert will notify members of AMEN’s Prayer Warriors prayer chain when they learn of a child in danger of being aborted.

Last year, AMEN became aware of a woman contemplating abortion. Kristy, founder and president of AMEN told the mom she would love to take the baby and the mom agreed. Immediately, Kristy decided she would name the baby Max. Unfortunately, the mother didn’t keep her word and went through with an abortion. In memory of baby Max, whenever AMEN learns of a baby in jeopardy of being aborted, they will send out a Baby Max Alert, an urgent request for prayer. AMEN also reminds everyone to pray every day for an end to abortion. We know, in the United States alone, a Baby Max Alert could go out every 24 seconds. We also know prayer is powerful and we have been blessed to witness many miracles through prayer chains. Join us in praying for those in need and praying for an end to abortion. If you’re in the Yuma, Arizona area and have not yet registered as a prayer warrior, please e-mail Susan at fiat1@q.com.

Houston Coalition for Life
The Houston Coalition for Life Benefit Dinner will be held Thursday, March 11 at the Westin Oaks Hotel Consort Ballroom beginning at 6:30 p.m.  Guest speakers include Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood Clinic Director, and Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International.  For more information and reservations, contact HCL at http://www.houstoncoalition.com/.

Tip of the month – Parent Power – Summary of Actions you Can Take to Defeat Offensive Education Programs – Meeting the School Board
From Parent Power!! by Jim Sedlak

21. Attend several of your local school board meetings so you understand how they are run and when would be the appropriate time for you to speak.  Talk with school board members about general topics concerning the school.

22. Make your presentation to the school board a professional one.  Type out your remarks and provide copies to each board member.

23. Read to the school board the actual material that is in the school.  In many instances this will be obscene material and the school board will stop you.  This makes your point about why you are outraged.

24. Accept suggestions of the school board on how to settle the issue.  Do not refuse to talk to employees of the school district unless you have already done so and can demonstrate that they are unresponsive.

25.  Understand exactly what your objective is and accept a solution that will accomplish that objective, even if it is not exactly what you had asked for.

26. If the issue is not resolved quickly, ask the school board for a vote.  Record how each member votes.  This will give you information on which members are on your side and which are not.

27.  Prior to any scheduled vote, have your supporters call the school board members at home.  This has a great impact, if it is done considerately (not after 9:00 p.m.; always speak respectfully!)

28.  Don’t count your victories and losses by the vote of the school board.  Make sure all your supporters understand that their job is not to win school board votes.  Their job is to proclaim the truth.  Their task is to rouse the people and get them out to school board meetings, get them to write letters and to sign petitions.  In other words, to get the community involved.

29. If the school board violates your state laws in its dealing with you, do not be afraid to report them to the proper authorities.  In many states, the State Education Department has a procedure for filing grievances against the school board.  Use it.

Next Month:  Summary of Actions – Educating the Community & Street Activity

News

Colorado does it again - Personhood Colorado announces successful signature campaign
Personhood Colorado submitted signatures to the Secretary of State's office for the Colorado Personhood Amendment. The signatures submitted totaled 79,817, although only 76,047 were required.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10021501.html

Bioethics must be guided by natural law principles of human dignity: Pope
A bioethics not founded in the “foundational principle of human dignity” is unable to respect human rights, the pope said. In his address to the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV), a meeting of philosophers and scholars held annually in Rome, the pope said that with the rapid advance of technology, it is more imperative than ever that bioethics be guided by the Natural Law that is “inscribed by God the Creator in the heart of man.”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10021505.html

Pro-life leader calls on blacks to recognize impact of abortion during black history month
Day Gardner of the National Black Pro-Life Union has said that during Black History Month Americans should acknowledge abortion’s disproportionate impact on blacks and should see abortion advocacy as a form of “ethnic cleansing” that targets the black community.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=100527

Young counselor threatened with knife learns that baby was saved from abortion
Three months after being threatened with a knife to her throat by a woman entering an abortion mill, 21-year-old pro-life counselor Leah Winandy has learned that her attacker has decided not to abort her child – and credits Leah and Leah’s mother for saving her from a life of regret. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10021702.html

Testing curbs some genetic diseases
Births of babies with cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs and other less-familiar disorders have dropped since testing came into wider use.  More women now are being tested as part of routine prenatal care, and many end pregnancies when diseases are found. One study in California found that prenatal screening reduced by half the number of babies born with the severest form of cystic fibrosis, because many parents chose abortion.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011099346_gene17.html

Closing Thought

"Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.  Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God's law they study day and night. They are like a tree planted near streams of water that yields its fruit in season; its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers."

Psalm 1:1-3

 

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 A.L.L. ACTION

Dear Friends,

I wanted you to see a press release we just put as a proud member of the Reform CCHD Now coalition. I need your help spreading it far and wide.

In the last two weeks, you no doubt have heard about the growing CCHD scandal. The Church is indeed bleeding from within and we need your help to bring this to the attention of our bishops!

We need you to make your voice heard to the U.S. Bishops NOW!

Go  to www.reformcchdnow.com and sign this crucial petition.

And THEN I need you to pass this message on to your friends and family. If you have a blog or social media outlet, the Reform site has many way for you to embed the coding onto  your site.

One of my heroes, Archishop Fulton Sheen once put it best:

“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious.”

Please sign!

In HIM,

Judie Brown
President
American Life League

http://all.org/article.php?id=12547

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11 February 2010
CONTACT: Katie Walker
540.659.4942| kwalker@all.org 

 

 

• Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development

 

• Bishop Roger Morin of Biloxi, Mississippi and Chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the CCHD

 

• Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas, Texas and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on National Collections

 

• Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Texas and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities

 

• Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky and Chairman of the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage

 

 

• In October 2009, Human Life International, American Life League and the Bellarmine Veritas Ministry formed the Reform CCHD Now coalition. Twenty-one organizations are now members of the coalition.

 

• On Oct. 2 Bishop Morin announced that CCHD grantee groups Young Workers United and the Chinese Progressive Association had been defunded in response to the reports.

 

• In November 2009 the Reform CCHD Now coalition revealed the CCHD was supporting 31 organizations which are members of a radically pro-abortion, pro same sex marriage organization.

 

• Also in November 2009 another detailed report was issued by American Life League and Bellarmine Veritas Ministry implicating MIV partners, CA Partnership partners, SFOP, Preble Street, Voces De La Frontera, and many others.

 

• By Nov. 25, 2009 LifeSiteNews reported that five bishops had decided to discontinue the CCHD collection.

 

• On Monday, Feb. 1 American Life League and the Bellarmine Veritas Ministry released further information on CCHD ties to the pro-abortion, same sex marriage Center for Community Change. Two top USCCB executives  involved with the CCHD have served on the board of the CCC.

 

• On Tuesday, February 2, 2010, realcatholictv.com released video evidence that within hours of the initial story breaking, the USCCB and Center for Community Change each removed any reference to the other organization from their respective websites. 

 

• On Tuesday, Feb. 2 Catholic Advocate called upon the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to suspend its grants pending “a complete review of its awards process.

 

• The USCCB has yet to adequately respond to any of the charges since Bishop Morin’s Oct. 2 memorandum, but has instead attempted to reframe the reports as a personal attack against USCCB employees.

 

  

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Volume 7, Number 4                                                                            January 25, 2010

Prayer Requests
Please pray for Per Thomsen and his family. Per is the nine-year old son of Dr. Kristen Thomsen (medical director of WomenKind Medical Clinic) and has been diagnosed with brain tumors. For more information, see www.caringbridge.org/visit/perthomsen.

From Associates

Movement for a Better America
MBA president Dennis Howard has released his most recent research on the economic effects of abortion in a press release entitled “Researcher: Abortion is $38.5 trillion drag on the economy.”

In its latest estimate on the economic impact of abortion, the Movement for a Better America reports that the abortion toll is projected to climb to a new high of 52,333,000 as of January 22, 2010.  It also estimated that the economic impact has risen to $38.5 trillion in lost U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

MBA President Dennis Howard, who has been researching the economic impact of abortion since 1992, reported, “The number of lives lost to surgical abortion has reached 17% of the total U.S. population of 307,000,000.  So it’s not surprising that this year’s increase is equal to 17% of U.S. GDP.”

The estimates are based on average GDP per year since abortion became legal in our largest states, multiplied by the cumulative number of abortions. A veteran market researcher and investigative reporter, Howard maintains his own database derived from data published in the Statistical Abstract of the United States and the Guttmacher Institute.  The estimates do not include babies lost to abortifacients and contraception because of the lack of public data.

Howard has been warning since the mid-1990s that the U.S. faced a major financial crisis based on ongoing demographic trends.  In 1997, he wrote: “I see little hope that we can avoid an eventual crash on Wall Street that will make the 1930s looking like cashing in your cards after a bad game of Monopoly®.”  He even gave percentages as to when a crash would occur. He wrote then: “I’d give it a 50% chance of happening by the year 2000, an 80% chance by the year 2010, and a 100% chance of happening by 2020.”

For more information see the MBA website at http://www.movementforabetteramerica.org.

Tip of the month – Parent Power – Summary of Actions you Can Take to Defeat Offensive Education Programs
From Parent Power!! by Jim Sedlak

Throughout the book, STOPP has attempted to provide readers with concrete advice on how to effectively fight Planned Parenthood programs.  Remember, these are not theoretical methods – they are the result of real fights in real school districts.  All of the victories you have read about, and many more, were won by ordinary people; people who are no different than you and who had a faith in God that allowed them to succeed.

Here is the first half of the list of items STOPP recommends in order to successfully fight Planned Parenthood sex ed programs in the schools:

1. Rely on God to direct your efforts.

Discover what is going on

2. Make sure you know exactly what is happening in your school and be able to document it.  A couple of months of quiet fact gathering and documenting will pay dividends later.

3. If you do not know where to start looking, a good place is in the Health Curriculum, particularly for fifth, seventh and eleventh grades.

4. Use the Freedom of Information Acts to obtain information from the schools.

5. Also check the teacher’s reference section of the school library.

6. The key is persistence!  Don’t let anyone put you off.

7. Know the school education laws in your state; know what is mandatory and what is not.

Document

8. Document problems and, if possible, get more than one student’s word for it.  Keep a log of all your activities and write summaries of all conversations with officials including dates and the names of all attendees.

9. Document your objections to the school program.

10. Put your recommended action in writing so that there will be no controversy over exactly what you are seeking. 

Starting Action

11. Whenever possible, work with the school administration to get rid of offensive programs before going to the school board.

12. Cite national numbers and important research to bolster your case.

13. Do not hesitate to face the other side head on.  The fact is that most pro-lifers are better prepared to discuss these issues than most of the FLE supporters.  Never be afraid to confront them.

14. Be careful of PTA organizations; Planned Parenthood has gone to great lengths to infiltrate national and state PTA organizations. 

Education is the key

15. Educate the clergy and enlist them in your efforts.

16. Educate parents on Planned Parenthood so that they can see that the activity in your school district is a part of a nationwide push for sex ed. 

17. Invite school board members to your informational meetings.  Treat them as allies until they prove, by their actions, they are not.

18. Get to know your school board member – where they work, where they worship, their hobbies, their friends.  You never know what will change the mind of another; be prepared for any opportunities that may come up.  People will listen to a friend quicker than a stranger.

19. Form an organization.

20. Remember, before going to the school board, know exactly what the issue is you want to raise and exactly what you want the school board to do about it.

Next month:  School Board, Community, Street Activity

News

Planned Parenthood director bemoans lack of info about Natural Family Planning
In one of a pair of recent articles by major Canadian media exploring how women are increasingly turning away from hormonal contraception, the executive director for Sexual Health Access Alberta (formerly known as Planned Parenthood Alberta), bemoans the lack of information about natural family planning. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011207.html

Study finds posttraumatic stress disorder after abortions
Men and women who felt they had inadequate counseling before an abortion, as well as those who disagreed with their partners about the decision to abort, were more likely to experience personal and interpersonal problems following the procedure, according to a new paper published in the medical journal Traumatology. 
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011308.html

California's Proposition 71 failure
Five years after a budget-busting $3 billion was allocated to embryonic stem cell research, there have been no cures, no therapies and little progress. So supporters are embracing research they once opposed.  The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state agency created to, as some have put it, restore science to its rightful place, is diverting funds from ESCR to research that has produced actual therapies and treatments: adult stem cell research. It not only has treated real people with real results; it also does not come with the moral baggage ESCR does.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=517870

First successful use of expanded umbilical-cord blood units to treat leukemia
Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have cleared a major technical hurdle to making umbilical-cord-blood transplants a more widely-used method for treating leukemia and other blood cancers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100117150820.htm

Closing Thought

"We must neither doubt nor hesitate with respect to the words of the Lord; rather, we must be fully persuaded that every word of God is true and possible, even if our nature should rebel against the idea; for in this lies the test of faith."

—St. Basil the Great,  http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/inspiration.htm#17

 

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 Pro-Life Today | 18 January 2010

HEADLINES

Pro-Lifers Urged to Create Massive March for Life Presence in Lead-up to Health Vote
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/printerfriendly.html?articleid=10011509
Life Site News
In what may be the final days before the abortion-expanding health care bill is pushed through U.S. Congress, pro-life leaders are issuing a clarion call to all pro-life citizens of America to join the 2010 March for Life in order to deliver to Democrat leaders an unmistakably clear message against the health care bill's abortion mandate. The March is set to take place next Friday, January 22.

Sacramento Bishop Calls for Day of Penance Jan. 22 for 'Sinful Scourge' of Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011510.html
Life Site News
Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto has declared a day of reparation for “the sinful national scourge of abortion" on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Friday, January 22.  In a December 22 letter to parishioners, Soto gave guidelines for individuals seeking to fast prayerfully as part of the day of penance, and also encouraged special works of charity.  “Through our acts of penance and works of charity on this day, we will express our desire to restore a culture of life and a civilization of love in this country so marred by the court decision of Roe v. Wade as well as other acts of violence against the innocent,” wrote Bishop Soto.

International Pro-Life Leaders Come to U.S. Capitol to Protest U.S. Anti-Life Policies
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011801.html
Life Site News
International Pro-Life leaders from Africa, Europe, South America, Asia and Oceania have come to the United State’s capitol to stand with Americans and protest the expansion of anti-life policies under the Obama administration.  The international leaders, who are associated with Human Life International (HLI), will speak at a conference on January 22 at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. before joining the hundreds of thousands of other pro-lifers in the March for Life.  “America’s March for Life is now the world’s March for Life,” said Joseph Meaney, Director of International Coordination for HLI. “It has become the world’s pro-life protest because of the aggressive promotion of abortion and population control that is now official policy of the United States, thanks to the administration of President Barack Obama.”
 
For more headline news, click here for ALL’s Daily News Summary.

 

Register NOW for Training and Activism Week 2010!   

 

Join American Life League at our 10th Annual Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference, January 20-23, 2010, at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. Registration is FREE!  The event includes three days of educational workshops given by pro-life experts on basic human rights legislation, euthanasia, nationalized health care, abortion, human personhood, youth activism and more!
 
In the evenings, relax and enjoy two FREE music concerts featuring a half-dozen pro-life bands of various styles! After you wake up with a renewed sense of purpose and your new knowledge of hands-on activism, join us on the streets of Washington, D.C., at a Planned Parenthood facility and on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
Before the big march on Friday, you can also attend a one-day, internationally acclaimed pro-life conference hosted by Human Life International.
 
Visit www.all.org/taw to see a complete list of activities and register today! For concert information, visit www.rockforlife.org/taw. Seats for all sessions are limited, so register early!

 

FEATURE STORY

‘OUTRAGEOUS’
By Michael Hichborn

This past fall, American life League joined a coalition of pro-life and Catholic organizations called “Reform CCHD Now,” calling on Catholics around the country to withhold donations to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development because money was going to pro-abortion, pro-homosexual and, in one case, pro-prostitution organizations. Detractors of the campaign claimed that our charges were “politically motivated,” and Bishop Roger P. Morin, subcommittee chairman, said that they were “outrageous claims.” Bishop Morin even went so far as to say that CCHD does “not ever grant funds to any group that is specifically involved in any activity contrary to church teaching" and it has "zero tolerance" for any CCHD-funded group that "acts in conflict with church teaching."

One of the grantees that sparked the call to reform is the San Francisco Organizing Project. Bellarmine Veritas Ministry first pointed out that SFOP gave “major support to health clinics which provide family planning and emergency contraception services to both adults and minors” and posted evidence from SFOP’s own web site. The CCHD responded to the allegation by not addressing the charge and instead praising the SFOP and its wonderful relationship with the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Archbishop Niederauer in a document titled “For the Record – The Truth about CCHD Funding”: 

The Archdiocese of San Francisco strongly supports the work of the San Francisco Organizing Project (SFOP) to expand access to health care to children. Both Archbishop Levada and Archbishop Niederauer have spoken at SFOP events; SFOP has met regularly with Archdiocesan staff to coordinate work on health care access and other issues that affect the poor and immigrant families.

Perplexed that the CCHD didn’t even acknowledge the charge that SFOP was using funds for clinics that provide emergency contraception (which are abortifacients) to teens, we decided to further examine the SFOP’s health programs. And to borrow a word from Bishop Morin, what we found was truly "outrageous."

Here are the facts:

     5.   “Healthy San Francisco also offers coverage for some services that would not be covered under a government-run public health insurance plan, such as elective abortion.”

Due to the support of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Archbishop Niederauer and, by extension, the continued support of the CCHD for health programs that the USCCB has denounced as “unacceptable,” Catholics are left with an apparent contradiction. Either abortion provisions in public health programs are acceptable or they are not.

And while Catholic support for the SFOP’s efforts to get these pro-abortion health care plans passed is ‘outrageous’ enough, it turns out that the pro-abortion national health care plan we are currently faced with was largely inspired by none other than Healthy San Francisco.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco in the U.S. House of Representatives, supported SF Mayor Newsom in his efforts, and according to National Public Radio:  

The Healthy San Francisco Plan, the city's public health plan for the uninsured, has many of the elements currently under consideration in Washington, D.C. It was proposed as a stopgap measure until Congress moved ahead with universal coverage. Now, it's being heralded as a public option that works and a model for reform. 

Simply put, the CCHD and the Archdiocese of San Francisco gave full support to the SFOP’s promotion of Healthy San Francisco, now considered a model for the national health care mess currently being rushed through Congress. So, you can thank these organizations personally if the legislation actually passes. 

But in the meantime, we have to ask, which of these is truly outrageous: The fact that public-run health programs that fund elective abortions were supported by the CCHD and the Archdiocese of San Francisco both directly and through the efforts of the SFOP, or the fact that we called the public’s attention to this support? American Life League takes no delight in criticizing the work of the bishops’ committees, but when the documentation is so compelling and the evidence is so clear, it is our duty to make this known so that corrective action can be taken.

Michael Hichborn is American Life League's lead researcher on the CCHD.

 

 

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HEADLINES

Top Ten Good News Stories of 2009 from LifeSiteNews
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09122306.html
Life Site News
LifeSiteNews lists its top ten good news stories of 2009, ranked according to popularity, including 12 year old “Lia” of Toronto and her YouTube pro-life speech, defenders of Notre Dame, Gary Graham, Jim Caviezel and Abby Johnson.

Miracle at Memorial: Mom and Baby Die During Labor, Revived
http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/80244642.html
KKTV
Some are calling it a Christmas miracle... a mom and her baby die during labor, but doctors at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs were able to bring them both back to life. Now, the whole family is back together at home. Doctors say it's very rare for this to happen, but after Tracey Hermanstorfer passed away during labor, doctors delivered the baby by c-section, with no anesthesia. That's when the family says the miracles began to unfold.

No Human Rights for Fetuses because of Undeveloped Nervous System: Ethicists
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09122206.html
Life Site News
While the unborn child could be considered a "patient," such a status should not be confused with having human rights - something the child would only gain later thanks to a more developed nervous system, insist the authors of a new report justifying the ethics of abortion. The article, entitled "An ethically justified practical approach to offering, recommending, performing, and referring for induced abortion and feticide" and written by Frank A. Chervenak, MD and Laurence B. McCullough, PhD, was published in the online American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology in September 2009. In a response to the article, however, a director at the National Catholic Bioethics Center said that the authors "really ought to learn to pick on those their own size," saying that "human fetuses or newborns do not need to be able to balance a checkbook or have a nervous system" before being given human rights.

For more headline news, click here for ALL’s Daily News Summary. 

 

Register NOW for Training and Activism Week 2010!

 

Join American Life League at our 10th Annual Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference, January 20-23, 2010, at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. Registration is FREE!  The event includes three days of educational workshops given by pro-life experts on basic human rights legislation, euthanasia, nationalized health care, abortion, human personhood, youth activism and more!
 
In the evenings, relax and enjoy two FREE music concerts featuring a half-dozen pro-life bands of various styles! After you wake up with a renewed sense of purpose and your new knowledge of hands-on activism, join us on the streets of Washington, D.C., at a Planned Parenthood facility and on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
Before the big march on Friday, you can also attend a one-day, internationally acclaimed pro-life conference hosted by Human Life International.
 
Visit www.all.org/taw to see a complete list of activities and register today! For concert information, visit www.rockforlife.org/taw. Seats for all sessions are limited, so register early!

ALL Report: 'The Humanist Religion of Planned Parenthood'

 

Humanism is the religion that drives Planned Parenthood, which is why it should come as no surprise that it is intimately connected with the American Humanist Association. American life League explains the philosophical underpinnings of these organizations and how they relate to their political and social advocacy. 

To view the latest ALL Report, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6tt7Bql4Dg

  

FEATURE STORY

THE PLURIPOTENCY PICKLE: THE STORY OF A LIE
By Judie Brown

(Editor’s note: This week, we are presenting a series we have titled “The Best of 2009”—a selection of the most popular commentaries featured in this year’s “Straight Talk on Life” column. This commentary was originally published on April 15.)

Pickle – a difficult situation; a sour solution

Several years ago, in one her most important scientific papers, Professor Dianne Irving discussed the nature of the pluripotent stem cell, which when taken from the human embryo, can itself become a human embryo. In her analysis, entitled Stem Cells That Become Embryos: Implications for the NIH Guidelines on Stem Cell Research, the NIH Stem Cell Report, Informed Consent, and Patient Safety in Clinical Trials. Analysis: Parts I and II, she wrote, 

The purpose of this scientific analysis is to demonstrate empirically, scientifically, and beyond any shadow of a doubt, that indeed, once separated from the whole intact human embryo, human embryonic and fetal “pluripotent” stem cells can become new living human embryos themselves, new living human beings—as we already know happens even naturally in monozygotic twinning.

At the time that this paper was written, few paid attention to what she had to say, but now, in 2009, her analysis is perhaps more useful than ever. The reason has to do with what some pro-life experts are calling a miracle: the discovery of “embryo-like” induced pluripotent stem cells. The only problem with the celebration is that it has no validity.

In 2001, when the above-noted analysis was published, Professor Irving warned,

If the scientific and legal basis for the NIH Guidelines is that human “pluripotent stem cells” are “not themselves embryos,” but if it has been empirically and scientifically demonstrated here that all of these “pluripotent stem cells” naturally strive to become and succeed in becoming embryos themselves (which will then also be cultivated and killed), then there is absolutely no scientific or legal basis for the existing NIH Guidelines. Indeed, the very use of such cells would in fact constitute the “creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes,” and thus automatically violate the congressional ban.

And today, the quagmire that surrounded the false science of the National Institutes of Health has taken on an entirely new and more horrific meaning for those of us who care about truth.

In November 2007, Professor Shinya Yamanaka announced that he had discovered a way to reprogram a skin cell in such a way that those involved in human embryonic stem cell research would no longer have to face the ethical landmines surrounding the destruction of human embryos. In fact, enthusiasm ran so high that Professor Ian Wilmut, of “Dolly the sheep” fame, “was quoted as saying he’s abandoning his cloning efforts to adopt the skin cell pluripotent approach.”

Since that time, research teams from Britain, Canada and the U.S. have made similar discoveries and similar claims. But as Professor Irving pointed out in an interview,

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.

But nobody was listening and research moved forward until, in late March, it was announced that stem cell pioneer James Thomson, of the University of Wisconsin, and his team of scientists were able to take this “reprogramming” of cells to a new level. Thompson claims he can convert adult stem cells into embryonic-like stem cells, but this time, without the use of viruses, unlike his previous research. 

This alleged advance was hailed by many pro-life bioethics experts, but not by Dr. Irving, nor by Deborah Vinnedge, of the Children of God for Life vaccine research organization. In fact, Vinnedge was quick to point out, 

The most recent announcement last week was that of James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in which he reprogrammed neonatal foreskin cells, which are classified as “adult” or “mature” stem cells, using a plasmid technique to deliver the genes into the foreskin cells, rather than a lentivirus. The result was a transformation of the adult cells to an “embryonic” state. While Thomson hailed the process as much safer than past experiments (which is still highly debatable) in which he used lentiviruses to deliver the genes, what was not reported was his use of embryonic stem cells and aborted fetal cell lines as sources for the genes. (emphasis added)

Yes, the so-called ethical alternative to human embryonic stem cell research has turned out to be anything but ethical! But who cares? Who is calling Thompson and his colleagues to task?

The frenzy has spread far beyond Thompson and the verbal engineers, however. Just a week ago, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Mehmet Oz told the world, with Michael J. Fox sitting right next to him, that a cure for Fox’s Parkinson’s disease is right around the corner. 

Millions of Americans watching Oprah undoubtedly felt empathy for Michael J. Fox and unbridled enthusiasm for Dr. Oz’s amazing claim. But hold on a minute! Not so fast, Dr. Oz. You have failed to tell the whole truth, and you have forgotten the scientific facts that would show that what you claimed is so promising for patients such as Fox is actually a sham.

Upon studying this video, Professor Irving points us in the right direction. Below is an excerpt from her writing, but the entire article is worth your time.

The [You Tube] video proceeded to be passed around the world at the speed of light. The new research explained by Dr. Oz to Oprah in this video is referred to as “induced pluripotent stem cell” research (iPS research). As Dr. Oz noted, an adult human cell (e.g., a patient’s own skin cell) can be transformed or induced from a very differentiated state back to a relatively less differentiated state to form an “embryo-like” human cell that is “pluripotent” (capable of forming most of the cells, tissues and organs of an adult human being). These new iPS human cells could then possibly be urged to develop forward to produce more mature differentiated human cells for therapeutic purposes. But three things are important to distinguish before iPS research is so enthusiastically embraced as an “ethical alternative to human embryonic stem cell research.”

 First, iPS research is not equivalent to “adult stem cell research.” The starting material (a human adult or mature body cell) may be the same, but what happens after that is very different. In the typical adult human stem cell research that has been reported for many years now, and which truly is an ethical alternative to human embryonic stem cell research, the adult human cell is not transformed or induced (by various means) back to a pluripotent human “embryo-like” stem cell. Rather, these adult human stem cells are already found naturally in the human body and are simply urged to develop to a more mature state. No problem.

In iPS research, however, the highly differentiated DNA in the adult human cell that is used as the starting material is transformed or induced (by various means) back to the state of differentiation of the DNA as found in human embryonic pluripotent “stem cells.” These “embryo-like” human pluripotent “stem cells” are then urged to become more mature in order to develop human cells for therapies.

Second, there are many scientific and ethical problems with iPS research that must be resolved before such research can be considered as “an ethical alternative to human embryonic stem cell research.” Perhaps Dr. Oz’s use of the term “embryo-like” might provide a clue. Are these iPS cells just “embryo-like,” or are they—at least sometimes—really single- or multiple-cell early human “embryos”?

Clearly, Professor Irving’s analysis is not going to warm the hearts of all those advocates of this new “ethical” alternative to human embryonic stem cell research, but what her analysis does do is challenge the lack of accuracy that seems to be the calling card of scientists involved in iPS research.

The pluripotency pickle that has been created by half-truths and baseless scientific claims can and should be resolved. But the thing that bothers me most about this is not the lies, which are everywhere, but the people whose hearts will be broken because they hoped so much for an ethical solution to a tragic dilemma, and instead they received a pickle.

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

Respond to Judie
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YEAR-END MESSAGE FROM JUDIE BROWN

Dear Friend,

I am concerned.

There are so many fronts we’re fighting on to save the babies, in the states and here with the current hostile climate in Washington, D.C. 

I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but if you really knew how diabolical (and yes, I choose that word carefully) this anti-life agenda really was, you’d be even more shocked than you are today.

Right now, we are involved in our most important work ever, in the most important year.  We are fighting for the rights of ALL preborn babies -- NO EXCEPTIONS, NO COMPROMISE --  and getting results!

  There’s no question that 2009 was a tremendous success:

• Millions of dollars intended for abortion and other anti-life organizations were diverted from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

• The Pence Amendment in the U.S. House banning Planned Parenthood from receiving any taxpayer-funded Title X funds garnered 43% of the vote – a major step forward!

• Our Baby Steps DVD saved thousands of lives, and 19 of Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics are now closed thanks to the hard work STOPP is putting into the effort.

• State personhood initiatives are launching in almost every state, defining as persons every human being from their very earliest moments to natural death.

• Rock for Life brought the pro-life message to thousands of our nation’s youth, and Training and Activism Week is on January 20-23, where we must equip even more pro-lifers.

I look forward to your reply, and your continued friendship. 

God bless you!

Sincerely yours in the Lord Who IS Life,


Judie Brown
President
American Life League