IFRL NEWS SHORTS FOR FRIDAY
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Judge Says Pro-Life Group's Suit Can Continue
Pro-Life Action League will be allowed to pursue parts of its defamation case against Planned Parenthood and the director of its Aurora clinic, a Kane County judge ruled Thursday. There were two counts in the initial suit, filed in 2007, claiming Planned Parenthood and clinic director Stephen Trombley libeled the anti-abortion group in letters to Aurora officials and in a newspaper advertisement by saying members of the PLAL had a history of violence. Judge Judith Brawka had dismissed those in September, ruling the comments were protected under the Citizens Participation Act because they were trying to influence elected officials. The CPA is intended to protect speech made by private citizens during consideration of government issues.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=264737
Population Control: The Eugenics Connection
Has eugenics faded away with time, or has the pseudo science morphed and cloaked itself under new auspices? Were some of the original founders of population control efforts themselves eugenicists? How and when did eugenicists shift from Galton era ideals to Malthusian population control?
http://oldthinkernews.com/Articles/oldthinker%20news/population_control.htm
Bill Would Require Teens To Provide Proof of Counseling
A bill requiring girls to provide notarized proof they had been counseled was criticized as a new level of intrusion on personal privacy yesterday. The sponsor, Rep. Anthony DiFruscia, R-Windham, unveiled major amendments to his bill -- House Bill 62 -- just before its public hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. His bill would now allow doctors to act when it is medically necessary, even without proof of counseling. Courts have ruled that health exceptions are a crucial component of any bill that restricts access to abortion restrictions.
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=a5545f22-ff21-458f-85ac-f66e7686421c&headline=Bill+would+require+teens+to+provide+proof+of+counseling+before+an+abortion
7 States Sue Over Bush Rule On Health Workers
Seven states sued the federal government Thursday over a new rule that expands protections for doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other medical procedures because of religious or moral objections. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed the lawsuit in federal court in Hartford on behalf of the states. They claim the federal rule, issued by the Bush administration last month and set to take effect Tuesday, would trump state laws protecting women's access to birth control, reproductive health services and emergency contraception.
http://www.sltrib.com/health/ci_11462914
US Missionaries Travel to Dominican Republic to Help Keep Abortion Illegal
Three different American pro-life organizations are sending missionaries to the Dominican Republic to stop the threat of legalized abortion. The Dominican Republic, currently abortion-free, is under siege by pro-choice groups to de-criminalize abortion. A group of young pro-life missionaries are traveling to the Dominican Republic during the memorial of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision.
http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/466739178.html
Abstinence pledges still a good idea
Bristol Palin's pregnancy was disclosed just days after her mother was chosen as John McCain's running mate, and critics of abstinence education pounced on the news. If Christian parents, and the nation's schools, spent more time teaching contraception, critics said, Bristol wouldn't be in this pickle. Advocates for comprehensive sex education, already on a mission to convince states to reject federal abstinence funding, now had more ammunition.
Today, they're thrilled as they look forward to a more liberal Congress that will be inclined to cut funding for abstinence-only education. And they plan on reminding President-elect Obama of his campaign pledge to Planned Parenthood to eliminate abstinence programs, which total about $176 million in federal funding. (For a school district to access abstinence funding, its curriculum must emphasize that abstinence is the "expected standard for all school-age children" and that a "mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity.")
http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=29668
January 16, 2009
January 15, 2009
Free Premiere of Pro-Life Movie "22 Weeks"
Free Premiere of Pro-Life Movie "22 Weeks" to Show in D.C. Before March for Life
To mark the 36th Memorial of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion, Operation Rescue and Born Alive Truth is sponsoring the world premiere of the new movie "22 Weeks" in the nation's capitol on the eve of the March for Life.
The movie, which is approximately 30 minutes long, is based on the true story of a woman who had an abortion at an Orlando abortion clinic in her 22nd week of pregnancy. During the abortion, however, something goes wrong, and her tiny son is born alive.
"This powerful movie is a strong statement about abortion in general and late-term abortion in particular, and the devastating impact abortions have, not only on the mothers, but the people around them," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "It is particularly relevant in light of recent events involving the nation's biggest late-term abortionist George Tiller."
Tiller, who has built his reputation killing babies after 22 weeks gestation, faces 19 criminal charges of conducting illegal abortions. Operation Rescue also released the results of an undercover investigation earlier this week that caught Tiller's abortion clinic altering the results of a sonogram so as to appear to be complying with the law.
The D.C. premiere, which will be free of charge, will show the day before the March for Life at 5, 6, and 7 p.m. The venue will be Phoenix Theaters Union Station on 50 Massachusetts Ave. NE.
Due to strong subject matter, parental discretion is advised.
The movie will also open in Orlando, Florida at Cornerstone Church on January 20 at 7 p.m.
A third showing will take place in Wichita, Kansas, on January 22 at 6:30, at Operation Rescue National Headquarters.
The locations were chosen because of their significance to the story of "22 Weeks." Orlando, Florida is where the incident in the story took place, and Wichita, Kansas, is considered the Late-term Abortion Capital of the World, where babies are aborted up until the day before birth.
Contact: Kathleen Gilbert
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_1.htm
To mark the 36th Memorial of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion, Operation Rescue and Born Alive Truth is sponsoring the world premiere of the new movie "22 Weeks" in the nation's capitol on the eve of the March for Life.
The movie, which is approximately 30 minutes long, is based on the true story of a woman who had an abortion at an Orlando abortion clinic in her 22nd week of pregnancy. During the abortion, however, something goes wrong, and her tiny son is born alive.
"This powerful movie is a strong statement about abortion in general and late-term abortion in particular, and the devastating impact abortions have, not only on the mothers, but the people around them," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "It is particularly relevant in light of recent events involving the nation's biggest late-term abortionist George Tiller."
Tiller, who has built his reputation killing babies after 22 weeks gestation, faces 19 criminal charges of conducting illegal abortions. Operation Rescue also released the results of an undercover investigation earlier this week that caught Tiller's abortion clinic altering the results of a sonogram so as to appear to be complying with the law.
The D.C. premiere, which will be free of charge, will show the day before the March for Life at 5, 6, and 7 p.m. The venue will be Phoenix Theaters Union Station on 50 Massachusetts Ave. NE.
Due to strong subject matter, parental discretion is advised.
The movie will also open in Orlando, Florida at Cornerstone Church on January 20 at 7 p.m.
A third showing will take place in Wichita, Kansas, on January 22 at 6:30, at Operation Rescue National Headquarters.
The locations were chosen because of their significance to the story of "22 Weeks." Orlando, Florida is where the incident in the story took place, and Wichita, Kansas, is considered the Late-term Abortion Capital of the World, where babies are aborted up until the day before birth.
Contact: Kathleen Gilbert
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_1.htm
Pro-life policies atop ERLC '09 agenda
Pro-life policies atop ERLC '09 agenda
The defense of pro-life policies is the most urgent of the "substantial challenges" facing Southern Baptists and other social conservatives in the new Congress, leaders of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission say.
Writing on the Southern Baptist entity's website, ERLC President Richard Land and Vice President Barrett Duke said they expect much of their focus this year to be on preventing the overthrow of laws protecting unborn life, marriage and free speech, as well as other policies supported by Southern Baptists.
The largely defensive posture is a result of the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama and an increase in the number of liberals in Congress, they said.
"Our greatest concern is the likelihood that many pro-life advances under President Bush's administration will be rolled back," Land and Duke wrote. "President-elect Obama's pledge to sign the Freedom of Choice Act would do that very thing. This pernicious bill would invalidate all limits on abortion."
The measure "will have to be stopped before it gets to the president's desk," said Land and Duke, who is the ERLC's vice president for public policy and research.
The ERLC and other pro-life organizations, they said, will need to resist efforts to overturn such bans as those on federal funds for destructive embryonic stem cell research, Medicaid-backed abortions and organizations that perform or promote abortions in foreign countries.
Land and Duke reiterated their support for a pro-life measure, the Pregnant Women Support Act, which would seek to reduce abortions by numerous initiatives, including requiring informed consent for all women considering abortion and establishing grants for colleges to provide services to pregnant and parenting students.
Other legislative efforts Land and Duke said they expect the ERLC to combat in 2009 include:
-- The Employment Non-discrimination Act, which would elevate "sexual orientation" -- a category that includes homosexuality, bisexuality and transgendered status -- in the workplace to the level of protected classes such as race and religion.
-- Hate crimes legislation that would expand protections to cover "sexual orientation" and threaten the free-speech rights of those who contend homosexual behavior is sinful.
-- An attack on the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that gives states the option of not recognizing another state's "gay marriages."
-- The Fairness Doctrine, which is seen as targeting the proliferation of conservative radio talk shows.
-- "Card-check" legislation that would eliminate employees' rights to a secret ballot in votes on the unionization of the workplace.
-- Policies to limit carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to combat global warming.
Land and Duke said they are "not convinced, and neither are most Southern Baptists, that human activities are the primary cause of the current changes in the climate that have been documented around the world."
They expressed concern about how some legislation intended to impact global warming would affect the poor. "Whatever one's current view on human-induced global warming," they said, "'loving your neighbor as yourself' requires one to always ask the following question of any legislation: 'How will this law impact those of our fellow human beings who are least able to bear further economic burden?'"
The ERLC leaders also will seek to work with Congress and the new administration to implement policies to combat human trafficking, to bring about peace in Darfur, to support American troops and to aid the poor without increasing their dependence on the government.
"While we believe we will spend most of our energy this year resisting liberal advances, we will continue to look for ways to move responsible, God-honoring measures forward," Land and Duke wrote. "We commit to bring the teachings of Scripture and the expressed convictions of Southern Baptists to bear on every issue in order to assure that we apply the salt and light of the Christian witness to as many issues as our Lord directs, Southern Baptists have concerns and our means enable."
Contact: Tom Strode
Source: Baptist Press
Source URL: http://www.bpnews.net
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_2.htm
The defense of pro-life policies is the most urgent of the "substantial challenges" facing Southern Baptists and other social conservatives in the new Congress, leaders of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission say.
Writing on the Southern Baptist entity's website, ERLC President Richard Land and Vice President Barrett Duke said they expect much of their focus this year to be on preventing the overthrow of laws protecting unborn life, marriage and free speech, as well as other policies supported by Southern Baptists.
The largely defensive posture is a result of the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama and an increase in the number of liberals in Congress, they said.
"Our greatest concern is the likelihood that many pro-life advances under President Bush's administration will be rolled back," Land and Duke wrote. "President-elect Obama's pledge to sign the Freedom of Choice Act would do that very thing. This pernicious bill would invalidate all limits on abortion."
The measure "will have to be stopped before it gets to the president's desk," said Land and Duke, who is the ERLC's vice president for public policy and research.
The ERLC and other pro-life organizations, they said, will need to resist efforts to overturn such bans as those on federal funds for destructive embryonic stem cell research, Medicaid-backed abortions and organizations that perform or promote abortions in foreign countries.
Land and Duke reiterated their support for a pro-life measure, the Pregnant Women Support Act, which would seek to reduce abortions by numerous initiatives, including requiring informed consent for all women considering abortion and establishing grants for colleges to provide services to pregnant and parenting students.
Other legislative efforts Land and Duke said they expect the ERLC to combat in 2009 include:
-- The Employment Non-discrimination Act, which would elevate "sexual orientation" -- a category that includes homosexuality, bisexuality and transgendered status -- in the workplace to the level of protected classes such as race and religion.
-- Hate crimes legislation that would expand protections to cover "sexual orientation" and threaten the free-speech rights of those who contend homosexual behavior is sinful.
-- An attack on the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that gives states the option of not recognizing another state's "gay marriages."
-- The Fairness Doctrine, which is seen as targeting the proliferation of conservative radio talk shows.
-- "Card-check" legislation that would eliminate employees' rights to a secret ballot in votes on the unionization of the workplace.
-- Policies to limit carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to combat global warming.
Land and Duke said they are "not convinced, and neither are most Southern Baptists, that human activities are the primary cause of the current changes in the climate that have been documented around the world."
They expressed concern about how some legislation intended to impact global warming would affect the poor. "Whatever one's current view on human-induced global warming," they said, "'loving your neighbor as yourself' requires one to always ask the following question of any legislation: 'How will this law impact those of our fellow human beings who are least able to bear further economic burden?'"
The ERLC leaders also will seek to work with Congress and the new administration to implement policies to combat human trafficking, to bring about peace in Darfur, to support American troops and to aid the poor without increasing their dependence on the government.
"While we believe we will spend most of our energy this year resisting liberal advances, we will continue to look for ways to move responsible, God-honoring measures forward," Land and Duke wrote. "We commit to bring the teachings of Scripture and the expressed convictions of Southern Baptists to bear on every issue in order to assure that we apply the salt and light of the Christian witness to as many issues as our Lord directs, Southern Baptists have concerns and our means enable."
Contact: Tom Strode
Source: Baptist Press
Source URL: http://www.bpnews.net
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_2.htm
OR Turns Over Evidence of Criminal Abortion
OR Turns Over Evidence of Criminal Abortion Scam to Law Enforcement
Operation Rescue also assists victim of faked sonogram in filing complaint with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts
Operation Rescue has announced that it has turned over to the office of the Kansas Attorney General and to District Attorney Nola Foulston, evidence of a phony fetal age and viability scam at George Tiller's late-term abortion clinic. The evidence was acquired by Operation Rescue during a recent undercover investigation.
"Since we possess evidence that Tiller's abortion clinic employees have broken the law, it is our duty to report that to law enforcement," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We have sent the attorney general and the district attorney an official letter of complaint along with the evidence."
In addition, the woman who received a phony determination of fetal age and appointment for an illegal abortion during the undercover investigation has filed a formal complaint with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts.
The woman, who is identified publicly only as Shaye, was in her 25th week of pregnancy when she received a sonogram from WHCS on October 17, 2008. When the first measurements taken during a sonogram at WHCS showed her baby past the threshold of viability, a Tiller employee threw those measurements in the trash. She then came up with a lower measurement. Shaye was scheduled for an abortion in violation of Kansas law. [View video and read full report]
"The fact that Tiller continues to flout the law even though he is criminally charged and under further investigation shows how arrogant and dangerous he is," said Newman. "We implore the authorities with all urgency to protect women and their innocent children and close Tiller's abortion mill pending review of the complaints against him."
Operation Rescue's undercover investigation revealed the following criminal conduct:
* Misrepresentation of Kansas law: Employees of WHCS misinformed Shaye that before the 24th week of pregnancy, Kansas law says abortion is a woman's choice. However, Kansas law places the limit of unrestricted abortion at 22 weeks gestation, when a determination of viability must be made. The 24th week of pregnancy is not mentioned in Kansas law.
* Intentional underestimation of fetal age: Shaye was given a phony fetal age that was used to schedule an abortion for her, while at least one WHCS employee knew her baby was actually past the threshold of viability.
* Violation of second concurring physician requirement: Shaye all too easily obtained an appointment for a post-viability abortion without being referred to or obtaining the signature of a second Kansas physician as required by law.
* Violations of Informed Consent: Shaye's rights under the Kansas informed consent law were violated when WHCS misrepresented the law and the gestational age of her baby.
Tiller already faces 19 criminal charges of committing illegal late-term abortions without the signature of a second unaffiliated Kansas physician. He also is currently under investigation by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts.
Contact: Troy Newman, Cheryl Sullenger
Source: Operation Rescue
Source URL: http://www.operationrescue.org
Publish Date: January 15, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_3.htm
Operation Rescue also assists victim of faked sonogram in filing complaint with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts
Operation Rescue has announced that it has turned over to the office of the Kansas Attorney General and to District Attorney Nola Foulston, evidence of a phony fetal age and viability scam at George Tiller's late-term abortion clinic. The evidence was acquired by Operation Rescue during a recent undercover investigation.
"Since we possess evidence that Tiller's abortion clinic employees have broken the law, it is our duty to report that to law enforcement," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We have sent the attorney general and the district attorney an official letter of complaint along with the evidence."
In addition, the woman who received a phony determination of fetal age and appointment for an illegal abortion during the undercover investigation has filed a formal complaint with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts.
The woman, who is identified publicly only as Shaye, was in her 25th week of pregnancy when she received a sonogram from WHCS on October 17, 2008. When the first measurements taken during a sonogram at WHCS showed her baby past the threshold of viability, a Tiller employee threw those measurements in the trash. She then came up with a lower measurement. Shaye was scheduled for an abortion in violation of Kansas law. [View video and read full report]
"The fact that Tiller continues to flout the law even though he is criminally charged and under further investigation shows how arrogant and dangerous he is," said Newman. "We implore the authorities with all urgency to protect women and their innocent children and close Tiller's abortion mill pending review of the complaints against him."
Operation Rescue's undercover investigation revealed the following criminal conduct:
* Misrepresentation of Kansas law: Employees of WHCS misinformed Shaye that before the 24th week of pregnancy, Kansas law says abortion is a woman's choice. However, Kansas law places the limit of unrestricted abortion at 22 weeks gestation, when a determination of viability must be made. The 24th week of pregnancy is not mentioned in Kansas law.
* Intentional underestimation of fetal age: Shaye was given a phony fetal age that was used to schedule an abortion for her, while at least one WHCS employee knew her baby was actually past the threshold of viability.
* Violation of second concurring physician requirement: Shaye all too easily obtained an appointment for a post-viability abortion without being referred to or obtaining the signature of a second Kansas physician as required by law.
* Violations of Informed Consent: Shaye's rights under the Kansas informed consent law were violated when WHCS misrepresented the law and the gestational age of her baby.
Tiller already faces 19 criminal charges of committing illegal late-term abortions without the signature of a second unaffiliated Kansas physician. He also is currently under investigation by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts.
Contact: Troy Newman, Cheryl Sullenger
Source: Operation Rescue
Source URL: http://www.operationrescue.org
Publish Date: January 15, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_3.htm
Abortion Documentary 'Beyond the Dark Valley'
Dallas Selected for Special Airings of Captivating Abortion Documentary 'Beyond the Dark Valley'
As the city where Roe v. Wade was originally filed, Dallas has been selected as the first city in America for a mass showing of a special documentary about the effects of abortion on women and men. This documentary will air repeatedly around the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
"Beyond the Dark Valley" was co-produced by The Justice Foundation and Fresh Air Media. Fresh Air Media produced Billy Graham's television specials for many years and, most recently, the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency.
"Beyond the Dark Valley" educates viewers about the devastating effects of abortion. Viewers who have experienced the pain of abortion will be referred for spiritual hope and healing in the Dallas metroplex through the toll-free National Helpline for Abortion Recovery (866-482-LIFE). Working with the National Helpline, "Beyond the Dark Valley" also offers help for women who are in unexpected pregnancies by referring them to pregnancy care centers in their area.
"Beyond the Dark Valley" will air five times during January 2009, around the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, on Dallas ABC network affiliate station WFAA Channel 8. The Justice Foundation has purchased the airtime.
In addition to sharing their painful stories of abortion, women and men will be sharing how they found hope, healing, and forgiveness for abortion through Jesus Christ.
Starting January 16, 2009, "Beyond the Dark Valley" can be previewed worldwide on the web at www.beyondthedarkvalley.org.
Free copies of "Beyond the Dark Valley" are also available from The Justice Foundation for private showings or viewings in churches or community groups. Contact Queta Aguilar at 210-614-7157 or by email at info@txjf.org for your copy of "Beyond the Dark Valley."
Contact: Tracy Reynolds
Source: The Justice Foundation
Source URL: http://www.thejusticefoundation.org
Publish Date: January 15, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_4.htm
As the city where Roe v. Wade was originally filed, Dallas has been selected as the first city in America for a mass showing of a special documentary about the effects of abortion on women and men. This documentary will air repeatedly around the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
"Beyond the Dark Valley" was co-produced by The Justice Foundation and Fresh Air Media. Fresh Air Media produced Billy Graham's television specials for many years and, most recently, the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency.
"Beyond the Dark Valley" educates viewers about the devastating effects of abortion. Viewers who have experienced the pain of abortion will be referred for spiritual hope and healing in the Dallas metroplex through the toll-free National Helpline for Abortion Recovery (866-482-LIFE). Working with the National Helpline, "Beyond the Dark Valley" also offers help for women who are in unexpected pregnancies by referring them to pregnancy care centers in their area.
"Beyond the Dark Valley" will air five times during January 2009, around the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, on Dallas ABC network affiliate station WFAA Channel 8. The Justice Foundation has purchased the airtime.
In addition to sharing their painful stories of abortion, women and men will be sharing how they found hope, healing, and forgiveness for abortion through Jesus Christ.
Starting January 16, 2009, "Beyond the Dark Valley" can be previewed worldwide on the web at www.beyondthedarkvalley.org.
Free copies of "Beyond the Dark Valley" are also available from The Justice Foundation for private showings or viewings in churches or community groups. Contact Queta Aguilar at 210-614-7157 or by email at info@txjf.org for your copy of "Beyond the Dark Valley."
Contact: Tracy Reynolds
Source: The Justice Foundation
Source URL: http://www.thejusticefoundation.org
Publish Date: January 15, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_4.htm
Full Undercover Tape Showing Abuse Cover-up Released
Full Undercover Tape Showing Abuse Cover-up Released, Planned Parenthood Ignores Requests for Records
Live Action releases the complete footage it shot at an Indianapolis Planned Parenthood showing clinic employees covering up the reported statutory rape of a 13-year-old. The group releases the unedited footage to show the story in real time, as clinic employees met the UCLA student investigative journalist, Lila Rose, posing as a 13-year-old and heard her describe how a 31-year-old man had impregnated her. Once in the counseling room, a Planned Parenthood nurse assured Rose that she would not report the statutory rape and instructed her how to obtain a secret abortion across state lines.
In return for releasing the footage, Rose challenges Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN) to also show transparency. In an open letter issued twelve days ago, Rose requested that Betty Cockrum, president of PPIN, disclose her organization's data on how often it provides birth control, pregnancy testing, STD testing, and abortion services to minors under the age of fourteen and how often it has reported these cases to Child Protective Services. The organization has not responded.
"If Planned Parenthood has concern for the children of Indiana, as they claim, why don't they disclose the statistics that will help law enforcement apprehend the scope of the problem? We are willing to be open and transparent about our methods and activities because we have nothing to hide," Rose said. "Can Planned Parenthood of Indiana say the same?" Planned Parenthood of Indiana has tried to keep the matter private, promising a "thorough internal investigation," although state authorities have intervened and opened an investigation into the abortion provider's handling of statutory rape cases.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN) pledged to have Prevent Child Abuse of Indiana (PCAI) review its policies, though Live Action revealed that the two organizations maintained deep internal ties. PCAI lead Prevention Specialist, Carol Pool, worked for Planned Parenthood of Indiana as an educator for thirteen years and Planned Parenthood commonly affirms the methods of PCAI.
Regarding PPIN's relationship with PCAI, Rose says, "Planned Parenthood tacitly approves of child-adult sexual relations so long as the older man can keep the matter private by getting the girl to have secret abortions. This is a fact Planned Parenthood does not let out of its own circles."
The full footage released today, as well previously released clips from Indianapolis and Bloomington, are part of the "Mona Lisa Project," Live Action's investigation of sexual abuse cover-ups at Planned Parenthood clinics across the nation. Rose explains, "The Mona Lisa Project demonstrates how Planned Parenthood clinics knowingly help sexual predators hide their crimes against young girls by offering secret abortions."
The full video footage, released today, is available at:
http://www.liveactionfilms.org/wmv/indianapolis.html
Previously released footage can be found here:
http://www.liveactionfilms.org/monalisa/indanapolis
Contact: Lila Rose
Source: Live Action
Source URL: http://www.liveactionfilms.org
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_5.htm
Live Action releases the complete footage it shot at an Indianapolis Planned Parenthood showing clinic employees covering up the reported statutory rape of a 13-year-old. The group releases the unedited footage to show the story in real time, as clinic employees met the UCLA student investigative journalist, Lila Rose, posing as a 13-year-old and heard her describe how a 31-year-old man had impregnated her. Once in the counseling room, a Planned Parenthood nurse assured Rose that she would not report the statutory rape and instructed her how to obtain a secret abortion across state lines.
In return for releasing the footage, Rose challenges Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN) to also show transparency. In an open letter issued twelve days ago, Rose requested that Betty Cockrum, president of PPIN, disclose her organization's data on how often it provides birth control, pregnancy testing, STD testing, and abortion services to minors under the age of fourteen and how often it has reported these cases to Child Protective Services. The organization has not responded.
"If Planned Parenthood has concern for the children of Indiana, as they claim, why don't they disclose the statistics that will help law enforcement apprehend the scope of the problem? We are willing to be open and transparent about our methods and activities because we have nothing to hide," Rose said. "Can Planned Parenthood of Indiana say the same?" Planned Parenthood of Indiana has tried to keep the matter private, promising a "thorough internal investigation," although state authorities have intervened and opened an investigation into the abortion provider's handling of statutory rape cases.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN) pledged to have Prevent Child Abuse of Indiana (PCAI) review its policies, though Live Action revealed that the two organizations maintained deep internal ties. PCAI lead Prevention Specialist, Carol Pool, worked for Planned Parenthood of Indiana as an educator for thirteen years and Planned Parenthood commonly affirms the methods of PCAI.
Regarding PPIN's relationship with PCAI, Rose says, "Planned Parenthood tacitly approves of child-adult sexual relations so long as the older man can keep the matter private by getting the girl to have secret abortions. This is a fact Planned Parenthood does not let out of its own circles."
The full footage released today, as well previously released clips from Indianapolis and Bloomington, are part of the "Mona Lisa Project," Live Action's investigation of sexual abuse cover-ups at Planned Parenthood clinics across the nation. Rose explains, "The Mona Lisa Project demonstrates how Planned Parenthood clinics knowingly help sexual predators hide their crimes against young girls by offering secret abortions."
The full video footage, released today, is available at:
http://www.liveactionfilms.org/wmv/indianapolis.html
Previously released footage can be found here:
http://www.liveactionfilms.org/monalisa/indanapolis
Contact: Lila Rose
Source: Live Action
Source URL: http://www.liveactionfilms.org
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_5.htm
Activists to File Federal Lawsuit Against Washington, D.C. Police
Activists to File Federal Lawsuit Against the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department after They Ban Pro-Life Display in Front of the White House
The lawsuit will be filed in the U. S. District Court on Friday, January 16, at 11:00 A.M.
Activists are seeking a Temporary Restraining Order against the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
The location of the District Court is Constitution Ave. and 3rd Street NW in Washington, D.C.
The Christian Defense Coalition will hold a news conference to discuss the case on Friday, January 16, at 11:00 A.M. in front of the court.
Copies of the lawsuit will be made available to the media.
Activists are being represented by The American Center for Law and Justice.
The lawsuit was filed after the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department denied the request of activists to leave a "sidewalk chalk" display with pro-life messages and art in front of the White House on January 25, 2009.
This is in spite of the fact that the Christian Defense Coalition has received permission from Washington, D.C. law enforcement officials to conduct numerous demonstrations involving "sidewalk chalking" for over 16 years.
The City of Washington, D.C. has also sponsored numerous sidewalk chalk art displays.
(View the letter from our attorney to the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department: http://www.earnedmedia.org/Second_follow_up_letter.pdf)
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states,
"For over 16 years, law enforcement officials have given permission to the Christian Defense Coalition to use public 'sidewalk chalking' as a part of their demonstrations and vigils in the nation's capitol. The City of Washington, DC has also allowed numerous public 'chalk art displays' throughout the city.
"It is therefore most troubling that for the first time the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department is banning this practice when it involves a pro-life display in front of the White House.
"Is this the future of free speech and political dissent under President Obama?
"The streets in front of the White House should be open to all views, opinions and thoughts. It should not be a place of censorship and intimidation. I hope this was not the kind of change President Obama was talking about."
Contact: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney
Source: Christian Defense Coalition
Publish Date: January 15, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_6.htm
The lawsuit will be filed in the U. S. District Court on Friday, January 16, at 11:00 A.M.
Activists are seeking a Temporary Restraining Order against the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
The location of the District Court is Constitution Ave. and 3rd Street NW in Washington, D.C.
The Christian Defense Coalition will hold a news conference to discuss the case on Friday, January 16, at 11:00 A.M. in front of the court.
Copies of the lawsuit will be made available to the media.
Activists are being represented by The American Center for Law and Justice.
The lawsuit was filed after the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department denied the request of activists to leave a "sidewalk chalk" display with pro-life messages and art in front of the White House on January 25, 2009.
This is in spite of the fact that the Christian Defense Coalition has received permission from Washington, D.C. law enforcement officials to conduct numerous demonstrations involving "sidewalk chalking" for over 16 years.
The City of Washington, D.C. has also sponsored numerous sidewalk chalk art displays.
(View the letter from our attorney to the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department: http://www.earnedmedia.org/Second_follow_up_letter.pdf)
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states,
"For over 16 years, law enforcement officials have given permission to the Christian Defense Coalition to use public 'sidewalk chalking' as a part of their demonstrations and vigils in the nation's capitol. The City of Washington, DC has also allowed numerous public 'chalk art displays' throughout the city.
"It is therefore most troubling that for the first time the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department is banning this practice when it involves a pro-life display in front of the White House.
"Is this the future of free speech and political dissent under President Obama?
"The streets in front of the White House should be open to all views, opinions and thoughts. It should not be a place of censorship and intimidation. I hope this was not the kind of change President Obama was talking about."
Contact: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney
Source: Christian Defense Coalition
Publish Date: January 15, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090815_6.htm
IFRL NEWS SHORTS FOR THURSDAY
IFRL NEWS SHORTS FOR THURSDAY
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Abortion Memorial Raises Awareness of 50 Million Murdered Babies
Cyberspace Project Intended To Support Personhood Campaign
The 58,000 names on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., occupy a 10-foot wall that is 500 feet long, so pro-life activists assembling a memorial for the estimated 50 million dead as a result of the 1973 legalization of abortion had to turn to cyberspace. That's because a wall with that many names would be more than 80 miles long. The new project, called Personhood, is intended to raise awareness of the cost of abortion in American lives and generate support for a series of advertisements that address the personhood issue: the idea that constitutional rights should be conferred on the unborn.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86129
Bishops pledge to help U.S. leaders advance common good and defend life
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, writing on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama, Vice-president-elect Joseph Biden and Congress to assure them of the bishops' prayers and their commitment "to make this period of national change a time to advance the common good and defend the life and dignity of all."
The January 13 letter from Cardinal George, who is the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), offered an outline of "an agenda for dialogue and action."
The cardinal began by explaining that bishops approach public policy "We lead the largest community of faith in the United States, one that serves every part of our nation and is present in almost every place on earth," the letter continued. "From our experience and our tradition, we offer a distinctive, constructive and principled contribution to the national dialogue on how to act together on issues of economic turmoil and suffering, war and violence, moral decency and human dignity."
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14779
Whistleblower in Planned Parenthood Over-Billing Swindle Appeals For Dismissal of Federal Lawsuit
A former executive of Planned Parenthood-Los Angeles has filed an appeal of a federal judge's dismissal of his whistleblower's lawsuit against all Planned Parenthood affiliates in California and their statewide political action arm, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. The suit alleges the nine affiliates and PPAC knowingly engaged in a scheme to defraud state and federal taxpayers out of more than $180 million by deliberately over-billing the Medi-Cal program for contraceptives Planned Parenthood purchased at a deep discount.
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=0c474993-d965-4456-bb9f-1b0d1a60f3ec
Group Protests UW Plan To Perform Abortions
The Madison Surgery Center on Park Street could soon offer abortions. The UW Hospital is proposing to allow a number of UW Gynecologists at the center to offer an uncommon procedure, 2nd tri-mester abortions, which are performed on women between 13 and 22 weeks of pregancy. UW hospital officials say they're proposing this because a Madison Planned Parenthood doctor who performed 2nd trimester abortions recently retired.
http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9625232&nav=menu1362_2_1
Democrat Senate Leader To Push Sex-Ed, Abortion Legislation
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith said Monday that legislation to establish a sex-education grant program for teens and to update New York's abortion statutes are priorities for the now-Democrat-controlled chamber. Smith's pledges represent a policy shift from the former Republican majority, which blocked the bills from a vote by the full Senate. The Democrat-led Assembly passed the Healthy Teens Act each of the past four years, but the Senate did not. The abortion legislation was proposed by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007 and was introduced in the Senate, but it has not passed either house.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20090112/NEWS12/90112040
Forced Abortions - America's Secret Epidemic
Elliot Institute spokesperson Amy Solby says one study found 64 percent of women who had abortions reported they felt pressured to abort by others. "Something like 80 percent of them said that they didn't get the counseling they needed to make a good decision, that often they were not given counseling at all, or that the counseling they had was inadequate," she explains.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=378732
Sex Offenders 'Concerned' About Abstinence-Only Education Grants
Nine grants from the state of Michigan totaling $1.4 million for abstinence-only education are drawing fire from health advocates and gay rights leaders because they say the grants exclude messages for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Specifically, the granting rules mandate that abstinence be defined as no sex before marriage, and they define a mutually monogamous relationship in the context of marriage as the "expected standard of human sexuality."
http://michiganmessenger.com/11517/gay-leaders-concerned-about-abstinence-only-education-grants
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Abortion Memorial Raises Awareness of 50 Million Murdered Babies
Cyberspace Project Intended To Support Personhood Campaign
The 58,000 names on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., occupy a 10-foot wall that is 500 feet long, so pro-life activists assembling a memorial for the estimated 50 million dead as a result of the 1973 legalization of abortion had to turn to cyberspace. That's because a wall with that many names would be more than 80 miles long. The new project, called Personhood, is intended to raise awareness of the cost of abortion in American lives and generate support for a series of advertisements that address the personhood issue: the idea that constitutional rights should be conferred on the unborn.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86129
Bishops pledge to help U.S. leaders advance common good and defend life
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, writing on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama, Vice-president-elect Joseph Biden and Congress to assure them of the bishops' prayers and their commitment "to make this period of national change a time to advance the common good and defend the life and dignity of all."
The January 13 letter from Cardinal George, who is the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), offered an outline of "an agenda for dialogue and action."
The cardinal began by explaining that bishops approach public policy "We lead the largest community of faith in the United States, one that serves every part of our nation and is present in almost every place on earth," the letter continued. "From our experience and our tradition, we offer a distinctive, constructive and principled contribution to the national dialogue on how to act together on issues of economic turmoil and suffering, war and violence, moral decency and human dignity."
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14779
Whistleblower in Planned Parenthood Over-Billing Swindle Appeals For Dismissal of Federal Lawsuit
A former executive of Planned Parenthood-Los Angeles has filed an appeal of a federal judge's dismissal of his whistleblower's lawsuit against all Planned Parenthood affiliates in California and their statewide political action arm, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. The suit alleges the nine affiliates and PPAC knowingly engaged in a scheme to defraud state and federal taxpayers out of more than $180 million by deliberately over-billing the Medi-Cal program for contraceptives Planned Parenthood purchased at a deep discount.
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=0c474993-d965-4456-bb9f-1b0d1a60f3ec
Group Protests UW Plan To Perform Abortions
The Madison Surgery Center on Park Street could soon offer abortions. The UW Hospital is proposing to allow a number of UW Gynecologists at the center to offer an uncommon procedure, 2nd tri-mester abortions, which are performed on women between 13 and 22 weeks of pregancy. UW hospital officials say they're proposing this because a Madison Planned Parenthood doctor who performed 2nd trimester abortions recently retired.
http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9625232&nav=menu1362_2_1
Democrat Senate Leader To Push Sex-Ed, Abortion Legislation
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith said Monday that legislation to establish a sex-education grant program for teens and to update New York's abortion statutes are priorities for the now-Democrat-controlled chamber. Smith's pledges represent a policy shift from the former Republican majority, which blocked the bills from a vote by the full Senate. The Democrat-led Assembly passed the Healthy Teens Act each of the past four years, but the Senate did not. The abortion legislation was proposed by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007 and was introduced in the Senate, but it has not passed either house.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20090112/NEWS12/90112040
Forced Abortions - America's Secret Epidemic
Elliot Institute spokesperson Amy Solby says one study found 64 percent of women who had abortions reported they felt pressured to abort by others. "Something like 80 percent of them said that they didn't get the counseling they needed to make a good decision, that often they were not given counseling at all, or that the counseling they had was inadequate," she explains.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=378732
Sex Offenders 'Concerned' About Abstinence-Only Education Grants
Nine grants from the state of Michigan totaling $1.4 million for abstinence-only education are drawing fire from health advocates and gay rights leaders because they say the grants exclude messages for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Specifically, the granting rules mandate that abstinence be defined as no sex before marriage, and they define a mutually monogamous relationship in the context of marriage as the "expected standard of human sexuality."
http://michiganmessenger.com/11517/gay-leaders-concerned-about-abstinence-only-education-grants
January 14, 2009
IL's Inactive Parental Notice Law to be Heard in Federal Court
IL's Inactive Parental Notice Law to be Heard in Federal Court
Wednesday, in federal court, Attorney General Lisa Madigan's Inspector General and the chief counsel of Chicago-based Thomas More Society will argue for the enforcement of Illinois' fourteen year old, but still inactive, parental notice before abortion law.
"Illinois is the only Midwestern state where parental notice is not required and child predators routinely bring minors from other states here for abortions without their parents' knowledge, let alone consent. It's high time this anomalous, flagrant injustice was brought to an end," Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of Thomas More Society, said.
Up until just last year, members of the Illinois Supreme Court refused to issue administrative rules for confidential hearings and appeals by minors, who are in a trial judge's view, mature and informed enough to make their own decision whether to end a pregnancy or whose family circumstances (e.g. incest) make it perilous that such parental notice be given. Under Justice Bob Thomas' leadership, the rules were written, but the fourteen year old law remains unenforced.
"We are anxious to press this appeal because we believe that the enforcement of this law, enacted well over a decade ago, is very overdue and should be delayed no longer," Brechja said. "Polls show that up to 80 percent of Illinois citizens support parental notice. Abortion is serious invasive surgery, and indeed parental consent is required by law before school nurses may even administer aspirin to minor students."
The law being debated passed the Illinois legislature in 1995, when Jim Edgar was governor. The law does not require a parent's consent, it only requires that a parent be notified of the minor's intention to undergo an abortion.
Source: Illinois Review
Source URL: http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_1.htm
Wednesday, in federal court, Attorney General Lisa Madigan's Inspector General and the chief counsel of Chicago-based Thomas More Society will argue for the enforcement of Illinois' fourteen year old, but still inactive, parental notice before abortion law.
"Illinois is the only Midwestern state where parental notice is not required and child predators routinely bring minors from other states here for abortions without their parents' knowledge, let alone consent. It's high time this anomalous, flagrant injustice was brought to an end," Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of Thomas More Society, said.
Up until just last year, members of the Illinois Supreme Court refused to issue administrative rules for confidential hearings and appeals by minors, who are in a trial judge's view, mature and informed enough to make their own decision whether to end a pregnancy or whose family circumstances (e.g. incest) make it perilous that such parental notice be given. Under Justice Bob Thomas' leadership, the rules were written, but the fourteen year old law remains unenforced.
"We are anxious to press this appeal because we believe that the enforcement of this law, enacted well over a decade ago, is very overdue and should be delayed no longer," Brechja said. "Polls show that up to 80 percent of Illinois citizens support parental notice. Abortion is serious invasive surgery, and indeed parental consent is required by law before school nurses may even administer aspirin to minor students."
The law being debated passed the Illinois legislature in 1995, when Jim Edgar was governor. The law does not require a parent's consent, it only requires that a parent be notified of the minor's intention to undergo an abortion.
Source: Illinois Review
Source URL: http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_1.htm
Nation's First 'Virtual' Abortion Holocaust Memorial Wall
Georgia Right to Life Launches the Nation's First 'Virtual' Abortion Holocaust Memorial Wall
In 36 years, 50,000,000 children have died as a result of legalized abortion in the United States. There is no visible monument capable of handling the scope of these deaths. Georgia Right to Life wants to correct this injustice by establishing an Abortion Holocaust Memorial Wall in cyberspace.
Supportpersonhood.com features a short video which introduces the goal of remembering each individual victim of abortion by granting them an identity and providing an epitaph, thereby personalizing their loss.
"Unlike the Jewish Holocaust, there are no pictures of death and destruction to prick our consciences and bring these dark deeds into the light. There is no enduring reminder that these children were our hope and our future," says Daniel Becker, President of Georgia Right to Life, "They are voiceless, faceless and anonymous thereby leaving no lasting impression of their short existence."
The project was inspired by the Veteran's Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. That wall contains 58,000 names and is ten feet in height and five hundred feet in length. Correspondingly, an Abortion Holocaust Memorial Wall ten foot high displaying fifty million names would be over 81 miles in length.
"The purpose of this project is to promote Personhood within our culture," says Becker.
"We need to be a voice for the voiceless and saw this as a way to portray the loss that each individual human life represents. By naming each child, we clothe them in death with the human dignity they deserve," stated Becker.
Individuals are asked to "adopt a child" and provide them an identity and leave a short memorial message. The Wall is searchable and the "adoptions" of others may be viewed.
This project was created by Personhood.net, a pro-life think tank devoted to promoting "Pro-life and Pro-human Policy for the 21st Century."
Proceeds from the project will be used to air Personhood ads.
To view the ads, go to Personhood.net/personhood-ads.
Contact: Hannah Carter
Source: Georgia Right to Life
Source URL: http://www.grtl.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_2.htm
In 36 years, 50,000,000 children have died as a result of legalized abortion in the United States. There is no visible monument capable of handling the scope of these deaths. Georgia Right to Life wants to correct this injustice by establishing an Abortion Holocaust Memorial Wall in cyberspace.
Supportpersonhood.com features a short video which introduces the goal of remembering each individual victim of abortion by granting them an identity and providing an epitaph, thereby personalizing their loss.
"Unlike the Jewish Holocaust, there are no pictures of death and destruction to prick our consciences and bring these dark deeds into the light. There is no enduring reminder that these children were our hope and our future," says Daniel Becker, President of Georgia Right to Life, "They are voiceless, faceless and anonymous thereby leaving no lasting impression of their short existence."
The project was inspired by the Veteran's Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. That wall contains 58,000 names and is ten feet in height and five hundred feet in length. Correspondingly, an Abortion Holocaust Memorial Wall ten foot high displaying fifty million names would be over 81 miles in length.
"The purpose of this project is to promote Personhood within our culture," says Becker.
"We need to be a voice for the voiceless and saw this as a way to portray the loss that each individual human life represents. By naming each child, we clothe them in death with the human dignity they deserve," stated Becker.
Individuals are asked to "adopt a child" and provide them an identity and leave a short memorial message. The Wall is searchable and the "adoptions" of others may be viewed.
This project was created by Personhood.net, a pro-life think tank devoted to promoting "Pro-life and Pro-human Policy for the 21st Century."
Proceeds from the project will be used to air Personhood ads.
To view the ads, go to Personhood.net/personhood-ads.
Contact: Hannah Carter
Source: Georgia Right to Life
Source URL: http://www.grtl.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_2.htm
Traits Characterize Teens Who Abstain from Sex
Eight Traits Characterize Teens Who Abstain from Sex
The news reports seem to vary from day to day. Either condom-based sex education works, or it doesn't. Either abstinence should be the focus, or it shouldn't.
But, according to government-supported research at the Heritage Foundation, one thing is clear: Teens who abstain from sex share some characteristics.
The National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health identified eight personality and behavioral traits that were associated with both abstinence and academic achievement:
• Future orientation, with a focus on long-term goals.
• Willingness to postpone current pleasures for larger future rewards.
• Perseverance, as in the ability to stick to a task or commitment.
• A belief that current behavior can positively affect the future.
• Impulse control, including ability to control emotions and desires.
• Resistance to peer influence.
• Respect for parental and social values.
• Sense of self-worth and personal dignity.
Abstinence also is associated with better physical and mental health across socioeconomic groups, according to a summary of the study in U.S. News & World Report. Kids who make abstinence decisions do better in school, too. Abstinent teens are far more likely to attend and graduate from college than those who are sexually active.
Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said that's what her organization is all about.
"Abstinence education is about setting high expectations for youth and then giving them the skills to reach them," she told CitizenLink.
"With teen births on the rise, we need to increase our efforts to make abstinence a priority. Youth need every weapon in their arsenal to combat the constant 'sex-without-consequences' message they receive at every turn.
"They need to know that only abstinence eliminates all risk."
Contact: Jennifer Mesko
Source: CitizenLink
Source URL: http://www.citizenlink.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_3.htm
The news reports seem to vary from day to day. Either condom-based sex education works, or it doesn't. Either abstinence should be the focus, or it shouldn't.
But, according to government-supported research at the Heritage Foundation, one thing is clear: Teens who abstain from sex share some characteristics.
The National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health identified eight personality and behavioral traits that were associated with both abstinence and academic achievement:
• Future orientation, with a focus on long-term goals.
• Willingness to postpone current pleasures for larger future rewards.
• Perseverance, as in the ability to stick to a task or commitment.
• A belief that current behavior can positively affect the future.
• Impulse control, including ability to control emotions and desires.
• Resistance to peer influence.
• Respect for parental and social values.
• Sense of self-worth and personal dignity.
Abstinence also is associated with better physical and mental health across socioeconomic groups, according to a summary of the study in U.S. News & World Report. Kids who make abstinence decisions do better in school, too. Abstinent teens are far more likely to attend and graduate from college than those who are sexually active.
Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said that's what her organization is all about.
"Abstinence education is about setting high expectations for youth and then giving them the skills to reach them," she told CitizenLink.
"With teen births on the rise, we need to increase our efforts to make abstinence a priority. Youth need every weapon in their arsenal to combat the constant 'sex-without-consequences' message they receive at every turn.
"They need to know that only abstinence eliminates all risk."
Contact: Jennifer Mesko
Source: CitizenLink
Source URL: http://www.citizenlink.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_3.htm
Congressman Introduces Pro-Life Legislation
Congressman Introduces Pro-Life Legislation
Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga. has introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to define life as beginning at fertilization. The bill lays the foundation for further legislation protecting the preborn.
"It says this is a human being, and that human being has all the protections under the law," Broun told CitizenLink. "It gives that one-cell human being the constitutional protections all of us have."
The bill has 51 co-sponsors, but, with Democrats in charge, faces a daunting climb out of committee. Broun said he's not discouraged and will introduce the same bill during every session of Congress until it passes or he retires.
Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst at Focus on the Family Action, said: "Just because liberals control Congress doesn't mean conservatives stop fighting. Paul Broun is a perfect example of that. "
Contact: Steve Jordahl
Source: CitizenLink
Source URL: http://www.citizenlink.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_4.htm
Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga. has introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to define life as beginning at fertilization. The bill lays the foundation for further legislation protecting the preborn.
"It says this is a human being, and that human being has all the protections under the law," Broun told CitizenLink. "It gives that one-cell human being the constitutional protections all of us have."
The bill has 51 co-sponsors, but, with Democrats in charge, faces a daunting climb out of committee. Broun said he's not discouraged and will introduce the same bill during every session of Congress until it passes or he retires.
Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst at Focus on the Family Action, said: "Just because liberals control Congress doesn't mean conservatives stop fighting. Paul Broun is a perfect example of that. "
Contact: Steve Jordahl
Source: CitizenLink
Source URL: http://www.citizenlink.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_4.htm
The Reasonableness of the Pro-Life Case for Life
The Reasonableness of the Pro-Life Case for Life
"Both sides have chosen, and promulgated into the mainstream, appealing names for themselves. Who, after all, doesn't like life, or choice? But the central abortion debate is about neither. Rather, it comes down to something akin to religious belief, and is thus resistant to reason."
From "Abortion in Our 'Times,'" by Elisabeth Eaves, which ran Friday at Forbes.com.
The "Times" in this headline refers to the New York Times. Eaves, described as "the deputy editor of the opinion channel at Forbes.com," does a nice job explaining how the Times had cobbled together factoids and anecdotes and goofy extrapolations to manufacture a sensationalized story about alleged self-abortion and Latina women. Ironically, not unlike the author of the Times story, Eaves' some-of-this, some-of-that opinion piece stitches together various and sundry threads to reach the predetermined conclusion that pro-lifers are toast.
Neither the New York Times story nor the Forbes column qualifies as news. So what caught my attention? It wasn't Eaves' notion that both sides have appealing names ("pro-choice" and "pro-life"), but rather her conclusion that the abortion debate is "resistant to reason" because it is "something akin to religious belief." Really?
This is wrong on so many levels that I knew I needed a powerful antidote. Immediately I thought of what I gather is the last book review Fr. Richard John Neuhaus wrote for his beloved "First Things" magazine. As you may recall, Fr. Neuhaus passed away last week.
As the prodigious output of Fr. Neuhaus exemplified as well as anything possibly could, there is no incompatibility, no tension between faith and reason. It is one of those false dichotomies intended simultaneously to marginalize believers and to end conversation. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, faith and reason are like two blades of a scissors: both are necessary for the scissors to work properly.
What's fascinating is that it is pro-abortionists who routinely resort to the kind of evidence- and reason-free "faith" that Eaves has in mind in her caricature. Neuhaus talked about this at length in his terrific review of The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right, written by political scientist Jon Shields.
After outlining the all-too-typical intolerant campus attitude toward pro-lifers, Neuhaus makes this statement which is as true as it is infrequently noted:
"While the pro-life cause welcomes, and has been greatly bolstered by, the support of many distinguished intellectuals, the same is not true of the pro-choice movement. On the contrary, intellectuals who share their policy preferences are always raising inconvenient questions about the intellectual coherence of arguments advanced in favor of the unlimited abortion license."
By "inconvenient," Neuhaus means that anti-life intellectuals can and do embarrass the Abortion Establishment who want to be seen as mainstream "moderates." They do so by pointing out the logical conclusion that follows when, based on the most shoddy and morally incoherent reasoning, the unborn are robbed of their right to legal protection. Bioethicist Peter Singer is only the most famous example.
As Neuhaus explains, Singer called the liberal bluff: he (correctly) concluded that "Liberals have failed to establish a morally significant dividing line between the newborn baby and the fetus." But rather than retreat, Singer races forward, concluding (in Neuhaus's words) "that it is therefore permissible to kill babies outside as well as inside the womb."
Put another way, "pro-life intellectuals, like pro-life activists, insist on talking about the science and moral reasoning pertinent to the moral status of the unborn," Neuhaus wrote. What is hugely beneficial for the pro-life cause--honesty from pro-life intellectuals--is "more hindrance than help to the pro-choice movement" when practiced by pro-choice intellectuals.
The media stereotype is that the pro-life community is uniformly homogeneous and judgmental. It is far more accurate to say that we are like a coat of many colors that is wrapped around pregnant women in their hour of need.
To come full circle pro-lifers of all stripes share a common faith: the conviction (as Fr. Neuhaus so often wrote) that there is no moral, ethical, or scientifically coherent argument to exclude the unborn "from the community for whom we are responsible."
Contact: Dave Andrusko
Source: National Right to Life
Source URL: http://www.nrlc.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_5.htm
"Both sides have chosen, and promulgated into the mainstream, appealing names for themselves. Who, after all, doesn't like life, or choice? But the central abortion debate is about neither. Rather, it comes down to something akin to religious belief, and is thus resistant to reason."
From "Abortion in Our 'Times,'" by Elisabeth Eaves, which ran Friday at Forbes.com.
The "Times" in this headline refers to the New York Times. Eaves, described as "the deputy editor of the opinion channel at Forbes.com," does a nice job explaining how the Times had cobbled together factoids and anecdotes and goofy extrapolations to manufacture a sensationalized story about alleged self-abortion and Latina women. Ironically, not unlike the author of the Times story, Eaves' some-of-this, some-of-that opinion piece stitches together various and sundry threads to reach the predetermined conclusion that pro-lifers are toast.
Neither the New York Times story nor the Forbes column qualifies as news. So what caught my attention? It wasn't Eaves' notion that both sides have appealing names ("pro-choice" and "pro-life"), but rather her conclusion that the abortion debate is "resistant to reason" because it is "something akin to religious belief." Really?
This is wrong on so many levels that I knew I needed a powerful antidote. Immediately I thought of what I gather is the last book review Fr. Richard John Neuhaus wrote for his beloved "First Things" magazine. As you may recall, Fr. Neuhaus passed away last week.
As the prodigious output of Fr. Neuhaus exemplified as well as anything possibly could, there is no incompatibility, no tension between faith and reason. It is one of those false dichotomies intended simultaneously to marginalize believers and to end conversation. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, faith and reason are like two blades of a scissors: both are necessary for the scissors to work properly.
What's fascinating is that it is pro-abortionists who routinely resort to the kind of evidence- and reason-free "faith" that Eaves has in mind in her caricature. Neuhaus talked about this at length in his terrific review of The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right, written by political scientist Jon Shields.
After outlining the all-too-typical intolerant campus attitude toward pro-lifers, Neuhaus makes this statement which is as true as it is infrequently noted:
"While the pro-life cause welcomes, and has been greatly bolstered by, the support of many distinguished intellectuals, the same is not true of the pro-choice movement. On the contrary, intellectuals who share their policy preferences are always raising inconvenient questions about the intellectual coherence of arguments advanced in favor of the unlimited abortion license."
By "inconvenient," Neuhaus means that anti-life intellectuals can and do embarrass the Abortion Establishment who want to be seen as mainstream "moderates." They do so by pointing out the logical conclusion that follows when, based on the most shoddy and morally incoherent reasoning, the unborn are robbed of their right to legal protection. Bioethicist Peter Singer is only the most famous example.
As Neuhaus explains, Singer called the liberal bluff: he (correctly) concluded that "Liberals have failed to establish a morally significant dividing line between the newborn baby and the fetus." But rather than retreat, Singer races forward, concluding (in Neuhaus's words) "that it is therefore permissible to kill babies outside as well as inside the womb."
Put another way, "pro-life intellectuals, like pro-life activists, insist on talking about the science and moral reasoning pertinent to the moral status of the unborn," Neuhaus wrote. What is hugely beneficial for the pro-life cause--honesty from pro-life intellectuals--is "more hindrance than help to the pro-choice movement" when practiced by pro-choice intellectuals.
The media stereotype is that the pro-life community is uniformly homogeneous and judgmental. It is far more accurate to say that we are like a coat of many colors that is wrapped around pregnant women in their hour of need.
To come full circle pro-lifers of all stripes share a common faith: the conviction (as Fr. Neuhaus so often wrote) that there is no moral, ethical, or scientifically coherent argument to exclude the unborn "from the community for whom we are responsible."
Contact: Dave Andrusko
Source: National Right to Life
Source URL: http://www.nrlc.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_5.htm
Heroes for Life
Heroes for Life
Countercultural Defenders of Human Dignity
As Chuck Colson shared yesterday on BreakPoint, these are troubling times for human dignity and the pro-life movement. President-elect Obama has promised to pass the Freedom of Choice Act, which would eliminate every common-sense restriction passed on abortion at the state level and federal level in the past 20 years. The new administration is also encouraging embryonic stem cell research. And nowadays, 90 percent of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome prior to birth are aborted.
In times when many evangelicals are tempted to retreat from the front lines of the battle for human dignity, we need some modern-day heroes for life—people whose bold and countercultural stand for life can serve as inspiring role models.
So as the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade ominously approaches, I want to recognize a few people have chosen to put life first—way outside the boundaries of what most of us would call our comfort zones.
For one Illinois woman, being pro-life cost her her job. As a nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, Jill Stanek discovered that babies were being aborted alive and left to die in a utility room. When Jill publicized the atrocity, she was fired. That was seven years ago. Since then, she has fought relentlessly for the rights of the unborn, particularly for the passage of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which protects children who survive abortion.
A few states over in Michigan, Lucy Talbot, a mother of a daughter with Down syndrome, is fighting hard to combat the horrifying and rising trend of aborting babies with Down syndrome.
Lucy points out that no one congratulates the new parents of a Down syndrome baby. But she says, "It's a baby first, and we have to congratulate" them.
Lucy has started a nonprofit organization to educate prospective parents about the joys and struggles of raising a child with Down syndrome—and to challenge obstetricians to offer a more positive perspective on Down syndrome to their patients. She even goes to hospitals during lunch to challenge the healthcare professionals to view Down syndrome differently.
In Ohio, a single woman named Anita White is making perhaps an even more unusual sacrifice. Anita always dreamed about getting married and starting a family. Although she has yet to marry, that didn't stop her from making the heroic decision to adopt three "unwanted" children. One of her children survived a premature delivery and was born with cerebral palsy. She says, "I'm willing to take the children whom nobody else will take."
In a culture that tells single people to live for themselves, Anita's example is radically countercultural—and radically for life.
People like Jill, Lucy, and Anita remind me that there is still hope for those who can't defend themselves. Life might be on the rocks across this country and in our courtrooms, but that doesn't stop these remarkable individuals from continuing to champion human dignity one life at a time.
Their examples challenge me to think creatively about how I can fight for life. Maybe it's challenging you too. To learn more about these courageous women and to find out how you can make a bold stand for life, visit us at BreakPoint.org.
Contact: Mark Earley
Source: BreakPoint
Source URL: http://www.breakpoint.org
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_6.htm
Countercultural Defenders of Human Dignity
As Chuck Colson shared yesterday on BreakPoint, these are troubling times for human dignity and the pro-life movement. President-elect Obama has promised to pass the Freedom of Choice Act, which would eliminate every common-sense restriction passed on abortion at the state level and federal level in the past 20 years. The new administration is also encouraging embryonic stem cell research. And nowadays, 90 percent of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome prior to birth are aborted.
In times when many evangelicals are tempted to retreat from the front lines of the battle for human dignity, we need some modern-day heroes for life—people whose bold and countercultural stand for life can serve as inspiring role models.
So as the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade ominously approaches, I want to recognize a few people have chosen to put life first—way outside the boundaries of what most of us would call our comfort zones.
For one Illinois woman, being pro-life cost her her job. As a nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, Jill Stanek discovered that babies were being aborted alive and left to die in a utility room. When Jill publicized the atrocity, she was fired. That was seven years ago. Since then, she has fought relentlessly for the rights of the unborn, particularly for the passage of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which protects children who survive abortion.
A few states over in Michigan, Lucy Talbot, a mother of a daughter with Down syndrome, is fighting hard to combat the horrifying and rising trend of aborting babies with Down syndrome.
Lucy points out that no one congratulates the new parents of a Down syndrome baby. But she says, "It's a baby first, and we have to congratulate" them.
Lucy has started a nonprofit organization to educate prospective parents about the joys and struggles of raising a child with Down syndrome—and to challenge obstetricians to offer a more positive perspective on Down syndrome to their patients. She even goes to hospitals during lunch to challenge the healthcare professionals to view Down syndrome differently.
In Ohio, a single woman named Anita White is making perhaps an even more unusual sacrifice. Anita always dreamed about getting married and starting a family. Although she has yet to marry, that didn't stop her from making the heroic decision to adopt three "unwanted" children. One of her children survived a premature delivery and was born with cerebral palsy. She says, "I'm willing to take the children whom nobody else will take."
In a culture that tells single people to live for themselves, Anita's example is radically countercultural—and radically for life.
People like Jill, Lucy, and Anita remind me that there is still hope for those who can't defend themselves. Life might be on the rocks across this country and in our courtrooms, but that doesn't stop these remarkable individuals from continuing to champion human dignity one life at a time.
Their examples challenge me to think creatively about how I can fight for life. Maybe it's challenging you too. To learn more about these courageous women and to find out how you can make a bold stand for life, visit us at BreakPoint.org.
Contact: Mark Earley
Source: BreakPoint
Source URL: http://www.breakpoint.org
Publish Date: January 14, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090114_6.htm
IFRL NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY
IFRL NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Pro-Abortion Groups Post 'Wish List' on Obama's Web Site
A coalition of pro-abortion groups, including Planned Parenthood, the National Organization for Women, the Guttmacher Institute, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the American Civil Liberties Union, have posted a reproductive health wish list on the Obama Transition Team Web site, change.gov.
The list outlines the steps the groups think the next president should take during his first 100 days in office to promote and fund abortion in America and around the globe.
The 50-plus-page document, "Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration," is a laundry list of actions that the coalition says president-elect Barack Obama should put in place to "advance a reproductive health agenda that will make a profound difference in the lives and health of women, men and family in the United States and around the world."
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=41920
U.S. Bishops Correct FOCA Novena Message
Officials at the Pro-life Secretariat of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have issued statements seeking to correct "misleading" information provided in a widely-circulated announcement for a novena to stop FOCA.
The officials insisted that the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would not pass immediately after President-elect Obama takes office, but they reaffirmed that the possible coercion of pro-life medical institutions and changes to abortion funding restrictions are real concerns.
The novena announcement in question, which did not originate with the USCCB, asks Catholics to pray to stop FOCA, legislation designed to protect abortion rights even if the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade is overturned. The novena was to start on January 11.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93076
Parents of Downs Children to Unite at March for Life to Raise Awareness of Eugenic Abortion Epidemic
The parents and families of children with Down syndrome are preparing to gather at the March for Life in the U.S. Capitol on January 22 to spread awareness of the massive number of disabled children targeted for eugenic cleansing in the womb.
Eileen Haupt of Vermont and Leticia Velasquez of Connecticut have already gathered dozens of families of disabled children wishing to form a presence at the march. The initiative, known as KIDS (Keeping Infants with Down Syndrome) will commemorate the 9 out of 10 Downs children in the U.S. who are killed in the womb, as well as seek to address modern prejudices against the disabled. The group is open to all members of the disabled community.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011309.html
Wisconsin Health Clinic May Become Site of Second-Trimester Abortions
Pro-lifers in Wisconsin are closely watching the progress of a proposal that may bring second-trimester abortions to an outpatient health clinic in Madison. A spokeswoman for the groups that run the Madison Surgery Center confirmed that they are considering aborting babies between 13 and 22 weeks, according to the Capital Times.
"This would mean that you could go to the center for arthroscopic knee surgery, and maybe in the next room they'd be dismembering an unborn baby," said Barbara Lyons, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life. "Also, the fees you pay for the surgery would in fact be subsidizing abortions, since the funds will be commingled."
http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Jan09/nv011409.html
Trial Wrapping Up: Abortionists Attempt To Silence Pro-Lifer
The trial of Rev. Walter Hoye is nearing conclusion, after a week of testimony, mostly from prosecution witnesses, about Mr. Hoye's alleged activities at the Family Planning Specialists clinic in Oakland, California. Unbeknownst to these witnesses and the district attorney, however, an associate of Mr. Hoye had been videotaping from across the street on both the days on which Mr. Hoye was accused of violating the law. Thus, until the defense revealed the existence of the videotape during cross-examination, the witnesses conjured up phantom patients whom Mr. Hoye had allegedly harassed, as well as claiming that he threatened two escorts and the clinic director.
http://lldf.org/articles/WalterHoyeVsOakland
Timing May Pose Problems for March for Life on January 22
The March for Life, an annual anti-abortion protest that attracted about 200,000 people into the city last year, and which is returning to town next week, will be a double whammy for a city already strained by inaugural crowds. The Jan. 22 protest, which begins on the National Mall and loops around the Capitol building, will demand additional preparations from the city's police and public transportation force just two days after the city is inundated with inauguration spectators. The Metropolitan Police Department will have officers working 12-hour shifts and has planned extensively in preparing for and staffing the event, MPD spokeswoman Traci Hughes said.
http://www.dcexaminer.com/local/Timing_may_pose_problems_for_annual_March_for_Life_01_12.html
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Pro-Abortion Groups Post 'Wish List' on Obama's Web Site
A coalition of pro-abortion groups, including Planned Parenthood, the National Organization for Women, the Guttmacher Institute, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the American Civil Liberties Union, have posted a reproductive health wish list on the Obama Transition Team Web site, change.gov.
The list outlines the steps the groups think the next president should take during his first 100 days in office to promote and fund abortion in America and around the globe.
The 50-plus-page document, "Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration," is a laundry list of actions that the coalition says president-elect Barack Obama should put in place to "advance a reproductive health agenda that will make a profound difference in the lives and health of women, men and family in the United States and around the world."
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=41920
U.S. Bishops Correct FOCA Novena Message
Officials at the Pro-life Secretariat of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have issued statements seeking to correct "misleading" information provided in a widely-circulated announcement for a novena to stop FOCA.
The officials insisted that the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would not pass immediately after President-elect Obama takes office, but they reaffirmed that the possible coercion of pro-life medical institutions and changes to abortion funding restrictions are real concerns.
The novena announcement in question, which did not originate with the USCCB, asks Catholics to pray to stop FOCA, legislation designed to protect abortion rights even if the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade is overturned. The novena was to start on January 11.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=93076
Parents of Downs Children to Unite at March for Life to Raise Awareness of Eugenic Abortion Epidemic
The parents and families of children with Down syndrome are preparing to gather at the March for Life in the U.S. Capitol on January 22 to spread awareness of the massive number of disabled children targeted for eugenic cleansing in the womb.
Eileen Haupt of Vermont and Leticia Velasquez of Connecticut have already gathered dozens of families of disabled children wishing to form a presence at the march. The initiative, known as KIDS (Keeping Infants with Down Syndrome) will commemorate the 9 out of 10 Downs children in the U.S. who are killed in the womb, as well as seek to address modern prejudices against the disabled. The group is open to all members of the disabled community.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011309.html
Wisconsin Health Clinic May Become Site of Second-Trimester Abortions
Pro-lifers in Wisconsin are closely watching the progress of a proposal that may bring second-trimester abortions to an outpatient health clinic in Madison. A spokeswoman for the groups that run the Madison Surgery Center confirmed that they are considering aborting babies between 13 and 22 weeks, according to the Capital Times.
"This would mean that you could go to the center for arthroscopic knee surgery, and maybe in the next room they'd be dismembering an unborn baby," said Barbara Lyons, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life. "Also, the fees you pay for the surgery would in fact be subsidizing abortions, since the funds will be commingled."
http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Jan09/nv011409.html
Trial Wrapping Up: Abortionists Attempt To Silence Pro-Lifer
The trial of Rev. Walter Hoye is nearing conclusion, after a week of testimony, mostly from prosecution witnesses, about Mr. Hoye's alleged activities at the Family Planning Specialists clinic in Oakland, California. Unbeknownst to these witnesses and the district attorney, however, an associate of Mr. Hoye had been videotaping from across the street on both the days on which Mr. Hoye was accused of violating the law. Thus, until the defense revealed the existence of the videotape during cross-examination, the witnesses conjured up phantom patients whom Mr. Hoye had allegedly harassed, as well as claiming that he threatened two escorts and the clinic director.
http://lldf.org/articles/WalterHoyeVsOakland
Timing May Pose Problems for March for Life on January 22
The March for Life, an annual anti-abortion protest that attracted about 200,000 people into the city last year, and which is returning to town next week, will be a double whammy for a city already strained by inaugural crowds. The Jan. 22 protest, which begins on the National Mall and loops around the Capitol building, will demand additional preparations from the city's police and public transportation force just two days after the city is inundated with inauguration spectators. The Metropolitan Police Department will have officers working 12-hour shifts and has planned extensively in preparing for and staffing the event, MPD spokeswoman Traci Hughes said.
http://www.dcexaminer.com/local/Timing_may_pose_problems_for_annual_March_for_Life_01_12.html
January 13, 2009
IFRL NEWS SHORTS FOR TUESDAY
IFRL NEWS SHORTS FOR TUESDAY
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Focus on the Family's Option Ultrasound Program Celebrates 5 Years
Dr. Dobson says: 'To all the women who have been impacted, may God bless you for choosing life for your babies.'
Potentially, as many as 63,000 babies have been saved, thanks to Focus on the Family's Option Ultrasound Program (OUP).
The program, which is celebrating five years, has provided more than 400 grants for ultrasound machines and professional sonography training to Pregnancy Medical Clinics (PMCs) in 49 states.
"To all the women who have been impacted by the Option Ultrasound Program, may God bless you for choosing life for your babies," Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, said in a special video message. "I wish I could be there to celebrate each birthday with you.
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000009054.cfm
Walk for Life West Coast expects 25,000 participants
The Fifth Annual Walk for Life West Coast pro-life event is expected to draw more than 25,000 people to protest the legalization of abortion in a march along San Francisco's waterfront on Saturday, January 24.
The Walk began in 2005 when a small group of San Francisco residents decided to organize a march with an outreach to women, especially those who have undergone an abortion or who are struggling with an unwanted pregnancy, a press release from Walk for Life West Coast reports.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14748
More than 1,600 families in Madrid have requested adoption during last two months
The organization Pro-Life Manifesto (Manifiesto por la Vida) in Spain reported this week that during the last two months, more than 1,600 families have requested to adopt a child from any place in the world.
Of those, 577 have successfully passed the review process and are eligible to adopt a child. In most cases the adoptee will be from a foreign country, as in Madrid only 60 to 70 adoptees are native-born while more than 700 come from other countries.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14742
Planned Parenthood of America Lays Off 20% of Staff
Hit with declines in funding from the economic crisis and the Madoff scandal, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is laying off around 20% of its staff. Roughly 30 people were let go earlier this week, according to a source who works for the nonprofit. Executives at Planned Parenthood confirmed the layoffs, but declined to give more details.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090109/FREE/901099982
Suicide Entrepreneur Investigated For Profiteering
Prosecutors are investigating the founder of the Dignitas assisted-suicide clinic over reports the facility is operating as a for-profit business and not a charity as Swiss law requires. The accusations against Ludwig Minelli are part of a two-year probe of Dignitas, reported the London Telegraph, and investigators are expected to complete their activities later this year when they will determine if there is evidence to file charges against Minelli or clinic staff.
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=85868
MTV Ad for Plan B Morning-After Pill Has Parents Up in Arms
Duramed, the unit of Teva/Barr that markets the Plan B morning-after contraceptive, is advertising on MTV.com, and some parents don't like it, according to Ad Age. Denise O'Donoghue and her husband, Patrick, who have a 14-year old daughter, said: For MTV to run this ad is irresponsible. There are some kids — girls and boys — who aren't quite ready to understand all this. Between that and the way the advertising for Plan B makes it sound like you can make a mistake and have a do-over, it's irresponsible.
http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/1000577/mtv-ad-for-tevas-plan-b-morning-after-pill-has-some-parents-up-in-arms/
Free Morning-After Pill Advert Under Fire
A radio campaign for free handouts of the morning-after pill is giving teens an excuse for unprotected sex and putting them at risk of sexually transmitted infections, critics say. Auckland District Health Board began a $300,000 trial in October offering the emergency contraceptive pill free at pharmacies in a bid to cut the teen pregnancy and abortion rate. In the first two months of the scheme, 1539 women got the pill. A similar scheme, for women under 25, has run in the Waikato for two years.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4816479a11.html
FDA is Deeply 'Corrupted and Distorted,' Claim Its Own Scientists in Protest Letter
FDA scientists have become so fed up with the criminal behavior of their own administration that they've filed a strongly-worded complaint with President-elect Obama, alleging the FDA has been deeply "corrupted and distorted." FDA managers, the letter explains, are "placing the American people at risk" by using tactics of intimidation to censor scientific debate within the FDA. This scientific censorship agenda, of course, mirrors the exact same tactics used by the FDA outside the agency against makers of nutritional supplements or herbal products. Intimidation and censorship, it seems, are part of the very fabric of the FDA.
http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000655_FDA_scientists_Obama_corruption.html
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Focus on the Family's Option Ultrasound Program Celebrates 5 Years
Dr. Dobson says: 'To all the women who have been impacted, may God bless you for choosing life for your babies.'
Potentially, as many as 63,000 babies have been saved, thanks to Focus on the Family's Option Ultrasound Program (OUP).
The program, which is celebrating five years, has provided more than 400 grants for ultrasound machines and professional sonography training to Pregnancy Medical Clinics (PMCs) in 49 states.
"To all the women who have been impacted by the Option Ultrasound Program, may God bless you for choosing life for your babies," Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, said in a special video message. "I wish I could be there to celebrate each birthday with you.
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000009054.cfm
Walk for Life West Coast expects 25,000 participants
The Fifth Annual Walk for Life West Coast pro-life event is expected to draw more than 25,000 people to protest the legalization of abortion in a march along San Francisco's waterfront on Saturday, January 24.
The Walk began in 2005 when a small group of San Francisco residents decided to organize a march with an outreach to women, especially those who have undergone an abortion or who are struggling with an unwanted pregnancy, a press release from Walk for Life West Coast reports.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14748
More than 1,600 families in Madrid have requested adoption during last two months
The organization Pro-Life Manifesto (Manifiesto por la Vida) in Spain reported this week that during the last two months, more than 1,600 families have requested to adopt a child from any place in the world.
Of those, 577 have successfully passed the review process and are eligible to adopt a child. In most cases the adoptee will be from a foreign country, as in Madrid only 60 to 70 adoptees are native-born while more than 700 come from other countries.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14742
Planned Parenthood of America Lays Off 20% of Staff
Hit with declines in funding from the economic crisis and the Madoff scandal, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is laying off around 20% of its staff. Roughly 30 people were let go earlier this week, according to a source who works for the nonprofit. Executives at Planned Parenthood confirmed the layoffs, but declined to give more details.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090109/FREE/901099982
Suicide Entrepreneur Investigated For Profiteering
Prosecutors are investigating the founder of the Dignitas assisted-suicide clinic over reports the facility is operating as a for-profit business and not a charity as Swiss law requires. The accusations against Ludwig Minelli are part of a two-year probe of Dignitas, reported the London Telegraph, and investigators are expected to complete their activities later this year when they will determine if there is evidence to file charges against Minelli or clinic staff.
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=85868
MTV Ad for Plan B Morning-After Pill Has Parents Up in Arms
Duramed, the unit of Teva/Barr that markets the Plan B morning-after contraceptive, is advertising on MTV.com, and some parents don't like it, according to Ad Age. Denise O'Donoghue and her husband, Patrick, who have a 14-year old daughter, said: For MTV to run this ad is irresponsible. There are some kids — girls and boys — who aren't quite ready to understand all this. Between that and the way the advertising for Plan B makes it sound like you can make a mistake and have a do-over, it's irresponsible.
http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/1000577/mtv-ad-for-tevas-plan-b-morning-after-pill-has-some-parents-up-in-arms/
Free Morning-After Pill Advert Under Fire
A radio campaign for free handouts of the morning-after pill is giving teens an excuse for unprotected sex and putting them at risk of sexually transmitted infections, critics say. Auckland District Health Board began a $300,000 trial in October offering the emergency contraceptive pill free at pharmacies in a bid to cut the teen pregnancy and abortion rate. In the first two months of the scheme, 1539 women got the pill. A similar scheme, for women under 25, has run in the Waikato for two years.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4816479a11.html
FDA is Deeply 'Corrupted and Distorted,' Claim Its Own Scientists in Protest Letter
FDA scientists have become so fed up with the criminal behavior of their own administration that they've filed a strongly-worded complaint with President-elect Obama, alleging the FDA has been deeply "corrupted and distorted." FDA managers, the letter explains, are "placing the American people at risk" by using tactics of intimidation to censor scientific debate within the FDA. This scientific censorship agenda, of course, mirrors the exact same tactics used by the FDA outside the agency against makers of nutritional supplements or herbal products. Intimidation and censorship, it seems, are part of the very fabric of the FDA.
http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000655_FDA_scientists_Obama_corruption.html
Former “Card-Carrying Member of NARAL” to March for Life
Former "Card-Carrying Member of NARAL" to March for Life in January West Coast Walk for Life
A former "card-carrying member of NARAL" will be among the more than 25,000 people expected to peacefully walk along San Francisco's waterfront on Saturday, January 24, in the 5th Annual Walk for Life West Coast.
The Walk began in 2005 when a handful of San Franciscans decided they wanted a San Francisco-style walk with an outreach to women, particularly women who have experienced abortion or who are struggling with an unwanted pregnancy.
"That's what it is about," said Walk co-chair Dolores Meehan, a fourth-generation San Franciscan. "My grandmother was left on a doorstep as an infant at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 21st century, we want to make having a baby a choice that all of us support. And, we want to make sure that women who have had abortions know we are there for them in sympathy and support."
"Women deserve better than abortion," said Feminists for Life speaker Karen Shablin. Shablin, a former member of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and a former acting Medicaid agency director, had an abortion in her 20s. "I can't undo my mistakes over the years - having an abortion, advocating abortion, but I can help others to learn from my mistakes. Every life counts," Shablin said.
"Abortion hurts women and families," said Frank Lee, a community leader and coordinator of Asian Americans Against Abortion. "We have allowed abortion to decimate our future for too long by killing our children before they are born. Americans, regardless of ethnic background, need to stand up and ensure that every life is cherished."
Lee and Shablin are among a stellar line-up of speakers at the Walk that includes Black Genocide founder Rev. Clenard Childress and singer Diana Nagy, whose crisis pregnancy at 15 ended in adoption.
For more information about the Walk events, go to walkforlifewc.com
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com
Publish Date: January 12, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090113_5.htm
A former "card-carrying member of NARAL" will be among the more than 25,000 people expected to peacefully walk along San Francisco's waterfront on Saturday, January 24, in the 5th Annual Walk for Life West Coast.
The Walk began in 2005 when a handful of San Franciscans decided they wanted a San Francisco-style walk with an outreach to women, particularly women who have experienced abortion or who are struggling with an unwanted pregnancy.
"That's what it is about," said Walk co-chair Dolores Meehan, a fourth-generation San Franciscan. "My grandmother was left on a doorstep as an infant at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 21st century, we want to make having a baby a choice that all of us support. And, we want to make sure that women who have had abortions know we are there for them in sympathy and support."
"Women deserve better than abortion," said Feminists for Life speaker Karen Shablin. Shablin, a former member of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and a former acting Medicaid agency director, had an abortion in her 20s. "I can't undo my mistakes over the years - having an abortion, advocating abortion, but I can help others to learn from my mistakes. Every life counts," Shablin said.
"Abortion hurts women and families," said Frank Lee, a community leader and coordinator of Asian Americans Against Abortion. "We have allowed abortion to decimate our future for too long by killing our children before they are born. Americans, regardless of ethnic background, need to stand up and ensure that every life is cherished."
Lee and Shablin are among a stellar line-up of speakers at the Walk that includes Black Genocide founder Rev. Clenard Childress and singer Diana Nagy, whose crisis pregnancy at 15 ended in adoption.
For more information about the Walk events, go to walkforlifewc.com
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com
Publish Date: January 12, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090113_5.htm
The Political Future of the Pro-Life Movement
The Political Future of the Pro-Life Movement
Five-hundred people were turned away from the "Pro-Life Summit to End Abortion" held by Dr. Monica M. Miller this past weekend in Ann Arbor, MI. Most of the 500 who did have tickets made it to Christ the King Church in spite of the ten inches of snow that started falling Saturday morning.
It's been quite a while since I've seen any group of Catholics as energized as those gathered by Miller's apostolate, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. Anyone who had predicted the withdrawal of pro-life Catholics from political engagement after Barack Obama's victory would have been stunned by what they saw and heard at Christ the King.
Ovation after ovation greeted speakers who called for all-out resistance to President-elect Barack Obama's stated plan to provide federal funding for domestic and international abortions while reducing all restrictions on the procedure. The warmest greeting was given to Bishop Earl Boyea, the new bishop of Lansing, whose speech was pointed and incisive while asking that pro-life activism always be carried out with love that can "win the heart."
A surprising level of consensus emerged from the speakers, which included Fr. Frank Pavone, Prof. Janet Smith, the legendary Joe Schiedler, Ed Rivet of Michigan Right to Life, and radio talk-show host Al Kresta, who made sure the entire conference was broadcast live over Ave Maria Radio. Everyone -- myself included -- emphasized the fact that preparations for the elections in 2010 and 2012 need to be underway already.
We also agreed that there was much to learn from the success of Obama's Catholic outreach effort in 2008: It was well-planned far in advance, well-executed, and did not lack for funding. If pro-life Catholics want to respond successfully over the next four years, they must undertake a similar level of national coalition-building that can influence chanceries and parish communities.
I admitted to the conference that the 2008 election had changed my mind about the role of clergy in a Catholic political strategy. In both 2000 and 2004, I helped implement an overall effort that was centered on Mass-attending laity -- one that did not actively seek to enlist friendly priests and bishops. That strategy worked in those elections to win the Catholic vote, but was countered in 2008 by Catholic Obama supporters who were able to get their message inside parishes through study groups and seminars.
Obama's Catholic outreach made skillful use of faux "non-partisan" organizations (like Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good) to promulgate an interpretation of "Faithful Citizenship" that offered the undecided two theological loopholes. Their basic message was that Catholics may cast their ballots for Obama if, 1) They are not using their vote to show support for his abortion policy, or 2) If there are other "morally grave" issues that offset abortion.
Several speakers at the summit stressed the need to create a parish-level effort to correct the misinterpretation of "Faithful Citizenship," which so many bishops tried to do in the final weeks of the campaign. There is no way to conduct such a campaign without the support of our priests and bishops -- that's why their inclusion in a national pro-life strategy is essential.
Does that mean bishops and priests are going to be recruited in a GOP effort? Absolutely not. As every speaker at the conference -- myself included -- emphasized, our pro-life political strategy belongs to the Church, not to any political party. It should be implemented with the intention to encourage and support pro-life candidates in both parties.
Along with these consensus points on political strategy, there was a general optimism about the way American culture was gradually being won over to the pro-life point of view.
For example, at the upcoming March for Life on January 22, there will be a group of former abortion doctors standing on the steps of the Supreme Court to tell the world about their regrets for performing abortions.
Father Pavone made the point this way:
"When have you ever heard of a group of doctors who did not perform abortions gather to say they regretted not performing them? All those who support it, because of the nature of what it is, eventually abhor abortion."
Everyone in the room needed this reminder that culture and politics are different -- and of the two, culture is by far the more important.
Contact: Deal Hudson
Source: LifeSiteNews.com InsideCatholic.com
Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com http://www.insidecatholic.com
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090113_6.htm
Five-hundred people were turned away from the "Pro-Life Summit to End Abortion" held by Dr. Monica M. Miller this past weekend in Ann Arbor, MI. Most of the 500 who did have tickets made it to Christ the King Church in spite of the ten inches of snow that started falling Saturday morning.
It's been quite a while since I've seen any group of Catholics as energized as those gathered by Miller's apostolate, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. Anyone who had predicted the withdrawal of pro-life Catholics from political engagement after Barack Obama's victory would have been stunned by what they saw and heard at Christ the King.
Ovation after ovation greeted speakers who called for all-out resistance to President-elect Barack Obama's stated plan to provide federal funding for domestic and international abortions while reducing all restrictions on the procedure. The warmest greeting was given to Bishop Earl Boyea, the new bishop of Lansing, whose speech was pointed and incisive while asking that pro-life activism always be carried out with love that can "win the heart."
A surprising level of consensus emerged from the speakers, which included Fr. Frank Pavone, Prof. Janet Smith, the legendary Joe Schiedler, Ed Rivet of Michigan Right to Life, and radio talk-show host Al Kresta, who made sure the entire conference was broadcast live over Ave Maria Radio. Everyone -- myself included -- emphasized the fact that preparations for the elections in 2010 and 2012 need to be underway already.
We also agreed that there was much to learn from the success of Obama's Catholic outreach effort in 2008: It was well-planned far in advance, well-executed, and did not lack for funding. If pro-life Catholics want to respond successfully over the next four years, they must undertake a similar level of national coalition-building that can influence chanceries and parish communities.
I admitted to the conference that the 2008 election had changed my mind about the role of clergy in a Catholic political strategy. In both 2000 and 2004, I helped implement an overall effort that was centered on Mass-attending laity -- one that did not actively seek to enlist friendly priests and bishops. That strategy worked in those elections to win the Catholic vote, but was countered in 2008 by Catholic Obama supporters who were able to get their message inside parishes through study groups and seminars.
Obama's Catholic outreach made skillful use of faux "non-partisan" organizations (like Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good) to promulgate an interpretation of "Faithful Citizenship" that offered the undecided two theological loopholes. Their basic message was that Catholics may cast their ballots for Obama if, 1) They are not using their vote to show support for his abortion policy, or 2) If there are other "morally grave" issues that offset abortion.
Several speakers at the summit stressed the need to create a parish-level effort to correct the misinterpretation of "Faithful Citizenship," which so many bishops tried to do in the final weeks of the campaign. There is no way to conduct such a campaign without the support of our priests and bishops -- that's why their inclusion in a national pro-life strategy is essential.
Does that mean bishops and priests are going to be recruited in a GOP effort? Absolutely not. As every speaker at the conference -- myself included -- emphasized, our pro-life political strategy belongs to the Church, not to any political party. It should be implemented with the intention to encourage and support pro-life candidates in both parties.
Along with these consensus points on political strategy, there was a general optimism about the way American culture was gradually being won over to the pro-life point of view.
For example, at the upcoming March for Life on January 22, there will be a group of former abortion doctors standing on the steps of the Supreme Court to tell the world about their regrets for performing abortions.
Father Pavone made the point this way:
"When have you ever heard of a group of doctors who did not perform abortions gather to say they regretted not performing them? All those who support it, because of the nature of what it is, eventually abhor abortion."
Everyone in the room needed this reminder that culture and politics are different -- and of the two, culture is by far the more important.
Contact: Deal Hudson
Source: LifeSiteNews.com InsideCatholic.com
Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com http://www.insidecatholic.com
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090113_6.htm
The March of Death
The March of Death
A Culture Commits Suicide
Those who have embraced the culture of death had much to celebrate during 2008. By "culture of death," I'm referring to those movements which would advance euthanasia, assisted suicide, abortion, fetal experimentation, and even population control.
Let's take a quick look at the year gone by. I think you'll see what I mean.
In the U.S., voters in Washington state approved the grotesquely named "Death with Dignity Act," which will allow physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to their terminally ill patients. Washington joins Oregon as the only states (for now) that have legalized assisted suicide. Two down, 48 to go.
Of course there was other significant news in the other Washington, Washington, DC, where the new administration began to set up shop in the White House—an administration that promised during the campaign to enact the "Freedom of Choice Act," or FOCA.
FOCA will, in essence, eliminate most restrictions on abortion. Parental notification, informed consent, conscientious objection on behalf of healthcare providers, restrictions on late-term abortions, could well be things of the past. Not for nothing did the Catholic Bishops describe FOCA as "the most radical and extreme abortion legislation ever considered in the United States."
And, of course, the new administration will do all that it can to promote the use of human embryos for stem cell research.
On the other side of the pond, legislators in the small nation of Luxembourg decided that the "right to death" was so important, that they stripped Grand Duke Henri of his constitutional right to veto legislation. Why? Because he dared to oppose a new euthanasia law. Well, I guess that's better than what Europeans used to do when they didn't like their monarch.
But it's not enough that individuals can now legally find ways to kill themselves. No, now people can share their final moments with millions of onlookers. Britain's Sky Network aired a documentary that showed the final minutes of the life of Craig Ewert, an American who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. Ewert paid the Swiss assisted suicide group Dignitas 3,000 pounds to help him die. He had to travel to the little Alpine nation because Switzerland is the only country that opens the maw of death—excuse me—that opens its arms to foreigners who want to kill themselves.
And then there's the horrible case of the 19-year-old Florida man who committed suicide while some 1,500 viewers watched online. The video spread all over the Web like wildfire.
Is this where we've really come to? When in the course of human events have so many made death their reason for living?
As Scripture says, God has set before us life and death. And our culture is choosing death.
As we begin 2009, the Church must renew its commitment to protecting the life and true dignity of every human—from natural conception until natural death.
But despite the euphemisms of euthanasia law and suicide organizations, true human dignity is not found in death (except in cases of great self-sacrifice). It is found in life! And in Him who is the author of all life.
Contact: Chuck Colson
Source: BreakPoint
Source URL: http://www.breakpoint.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090113_4.htm
A Culture Commits Suicide
Those who have embraced the culture of death had much to celebrate during 2008. By "culture of death," I'm referring to those movements which would advance euthanasia, assisted suicide, abortion, fetal experimentation, and even population control.
Let's take a quick look at the year gone by. I think you'll see what I mean.
In the U.S., voters in Washington state approved the grotesquely named "Death with Dignity Act," which will allow physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to their terminally ill patients. Washington joins Oregon as the only states (for now) that have legalized assisted suicide. Two down, 48 to go.
Of course there was other significant news in the other Washington, Washington, DC, where the new administration began to set up shop in the White House—an administration that promised during the campaign to enact the "Freedom of Choice Act," or FOCA.
FOCA will, in essence, eliminate most restrictions on abortion. Parental notification, informed consent, conscientious objection on behalf of healthcare providers, restrictions on late-term abortions, could well be things of the past. Not for nothing did the Catholic Bishops describe FOCA as "the most radical and extreme abortion legislation ever considered in the United States."
And, of course, the new administration will do all that it can to promote the use of human embryos for stem cell research.
On the other side of the pond, legislators in the small nation of Luxembourg decided that the "right to death" was so important, that they stripped Grand Duke Henri of his constitutional right to veto legislation. Why? Because he dared to oppose a new euthanasia law. Well, I guess that's better than what Europeans used to do when they didn't like their monarch.
But it's not enough that individuals can now legally find ways to kill themselves. No, now people can share their final moments with millions of onlookers. Britain's Sky Network aired a documentary that showed the final minutes of the life of Craig Ewert, an American who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. Ewert paid the Swiss assisted suicide group Dignitas 3,000 pounds to help him die. He had to travel to the little Alpine nation because Switzerland is the only country that opens the maw of death—excuse me—that opens its arms to foreigners who want to kill themselves.
And then there's the horrible case of the 19-year-old Florida man who committed suicide while some 1,500 viewers watched online. The video spread all over the Web like wildfire.
Is this where we've really come to? When in the course of human events have so many made death their reason for living?
As Scripture says, God has set before us life and death. And our culture is choosing death.
As we begin 2009, the Church must renew its commitment to protecting the life and true dignity of every human—from natural conception until natural death.
But despite the euphemisms of euthanasia law and suicide organizations, true human dignity is not found in death (except in cases of great self-sacrifice). It is found in life! And in Him who is the author of all life.
Contact: Chuck Colson
Source: BreakPoint
Source URL: http://www.breakpoint.org
Publish Date: January 13, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090113_4.htm
Horrific Pattern of Neglect of Patients with Disabilities
Advocacy Group Details Horrific Pattern of Neglect of Patients with Disabilities
When 43-year-old Martin Ryan suffered a stroke that left him unable to swallow, a "communication breakdown" meant that the staff at Kingston hospital never inserted a feeding tube. Doctors say they did not realize that nurses had not provided for Ryan - who died in agony after 26 days without food - until it was too late.
The advocacy group Mencap says that Ryan, a Down syndrome sufferer, fell victim to the widespread mistreatment of disabled patients by the U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS). Ryan's case is one of a number of horror stories uncovered by Mencap in a report entitled "Death by Indifference."
The report, part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the unfair treatment of learning-disabled patients, described six cases where patients suffered or died apparently due to disability discrimination.
Mark Cannon, 30, died from complications of a broken thigh bone after over two months of severe pain. Although he was expressing severe pain, he and his family were reportedly routinely ignored. At one point Cannon spent three days in agony before being able to see a pain team. Cannon had severe learning difficulties and could speak very little.
In another case, 26-year-old Emma Kemp was sent home from the hospital despite being in great pain because her behavior was considered too difficult to manage; her severe learning disability made it difficult for her to communicate her distress. When it was discovered that Emma had cancer and a 50/50 chance of survival with treatment, doctors refused to treat her, despite being begged by her mother, who eventually procured a High court order forcing them to treat Emma. However, by the time the order came through, the cancer was too far progressed, and Emma died a month later.
An inquiry into the report, chaired by Sir Jonathan Michael, a former chief executive of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, has vindicated Mencap's claims. Michael said that the cases outlined in the publication were "by no means isolated," and called for "essential changes" in the NHS. A wider inquiry by the Government was also issued in response to the Mencap report.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is expected to issue a verdict later this month on the accusations against NHS.
"These people were completely and unacceptably failed by the treatment they received," a Mencap spokesman told the Telegraph. "It was a catalogue of disasters and poor treatment of very vulnerable people who deserved so much more.
"We are hoping that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman gets justice for the families of these patients. It would be irrational and perverse to say anything other than that there were grotesque failures for these people."
Mark Goldring, Mencap's chief executive, said: "Our report exposed the horrific deaths of six people with a learning disability who died unnecessarily in NHS care.
"We have fought and will continue our fight for justice for their families. The reports have a duty to challenge complacency, where it has been shown to exist within the health service, when treating people with a learning disability and must hold individuals to account for their actions."
Conservative bioethicist Wesley Smith speculated that there is likely a relationship between the fact that a large number of disabled children are killed in the womb for eugenic reasons, and the abuses documented in the Mencap report.
"Given the indifference to the high eugenic abortion rate, the respect in the media for people like Peter Singer who asserts it is okay for parents to kill babies born with Down," said Smith "there is a (perhaps unconscious) mindset afoot that people like Martin [one of the disabled people in the Mencap report] should never be born."
To visit Mencap's website, go to: http://www.mencap.org.uk
To view the report "Healthcare for All," go to: http://www.iahpld.org.uk/
To download Mencap's report "Death by Indifference," go to: http://www.mencap.org.uk/document.asp?id=284
To listen to a tribute to Emma, go to: http://www.mencap.org.uk/MediaFiles/tribute_to_emma.mp3
Contact: Kathleen Gilbert
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com
Publish Date: January 12, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090113_3.htm
When 43-year-old Martin Ryan suffered a stroke that left him unable to swallow, a "communication breakdown" meant that the staff at Kingston hospital never inserted a feeding tube. Doctors say they did not realize that nurses had not provided for Ryan - who died in agony after 26 days without food - until it was too late.
The advocacy group Mencap says that Ryan, a Down syndrome sufferer, fell victim to the widespread mistreatment of disabled patients by the U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS). Ryan's case is one of a number of horror stories uncovered by Mencap in a report entitled "Death by Indifference."
The report, part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the unfair treatment of learning-disabled patients, described six cases where patients suffered or died apparently due to disability discrimination.
Mark Cannon, 30, died from complications of a broken thigh bone after over two months of severe pain. Although he was expressing severe pain, he and his family were reportedly routinely ignored. At one point Cannon spent three days in agony before being able to see a pain team. Cannon had severe learning difficulties and could speak very little.
In another case, 26-year-old Emma Kemp was sent home from the hospital despite being in great pain because her behavior was considered too difficult to manage; her severe learning disability made it difficult for her to communicate her distress. When it was discovered that Emma had cancer and a 50/50 chance of survival with treatment, doctors refused to treat her, despite being begged by her mother, who eventually procured a High court order forcing them to treat Emma. However, by the time the order came through, the cancer was too far progressed, and Emma died a month later.
An inquiry into the report, chaired by Sir Jonathan Michael, a former chief executive of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, has vindicated Mencap's claims. Michael said that the cases outlined in the publication were "by no means isolated," and called for "essential changes" in the NHS. A wider inquiry by the Government was also issued in response to the Mencap report.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is expected to issue a verdict later this month on the accusations against NHS.
"These people were completely and unacceptably failed by the treatment they received," a Mencap spokesman told the Telegraph. "It was a catalogue of disasters and poor treatment of very vulnerable people who deserved so much more.
"We are hoping that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman gets justice for the families of these patients. It would be irrational and perverse to say anything other than that there were grotesque failures for these people."
Mark Goldring, Mencap's chief executive, said: "Our report exposed the horrific deaths of six people with a learning disability who died unnecessarily in NHS care.
"We have fought and will continue our fight for justice for their families. The reports have a duty to challenge complacency, where it has been shown to exist within the health service, when treating people with a learning disability and must hold individuals to account for their actions."
Conservative bioethicist Wesley Smith speculated that there is likely a relationship between the fact that a large number of disabled children are killed in the womb for eugenic reasons, and the abuses documented in the Mencap report.
"Given the indifference to the high eugenic abortion rate, the respect in the media for people like Peter Singer who asserts it is okay for parents to kill babies born with Down," said Smith "there is a (perhaps unconscious) mindset afoot that people like Martin [one of the disabled people in the Mencap report] should never be born."
To visit Mencap's website, go to: http://www.mencap.org.uk
To view the report "Healthcare for All," go to: http://www.iahpld.org.uk/
To download Mencap's report "Death by Indifference," go to: http://www.mencap.org.uk/document.asp?id=284
To listen to a tribute to Emma, go to: http://www.mencap.org.uk/MediaFiles/tribute_to_emma.mp3
Contact: Kathleen Gilbert
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Source URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com
Publish Date: January 12, 2009
Link to this article:
http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/090113_3.htm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)