Created Order

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2012-02-08T12:30:00.002-05:00

"There are things that you are only able to learn by the weakest among us. And when you snuff them out you are the one that loses."

(Gianna Jessen, abortion survivor and pro-life witness)

European Resolution Addressing Euthanasia

2012-02-08T12:30:00.000-05:00

The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), a coalition of 47 countries, has passed a resolution on the growing threat of euthanasia entitled, Protecting human rights and dignity by taking into account previously expressed wishes of patients. This resolution is not legally binding, but can impact legislative and judicial processes in PACE member countries.

The resolution's primary focus is on issues and guidelines related to patients' preparation of "living wills" or "advance directives" regarding their wishes concerning care should they be unable to express themselves due to critical illness or disability. It encourages member nations to review their countries' legislation related to advance directives, and if their legislation needs improving to work "to ensure that people’s human rights and dignity are guaranteed across the whole continent."

The PACE resolution concludes, "Euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited."

Gregor Puppinck, director for the European Center for Law and Justice (a France-based organization associated with American Center for Law and Justice) told CNSnews, "This resolution is a major victory for the protection of life and dignity. This is the first time, in the past decades, that euthanasia is so clearly rejected by a European political institution."

Pro-Life Academics Form Research Arm

2012-02-08T12:28:00.000-05:00

An international group of pro-life researchers have formed a 501c3 non-profit organization entitled WECARE. Its purpose is to bring together credentialed scientists to collaborate and jointly research the physical, psychological, and/or relational affects of abortion on women and society.

The coalition intends to provide a non-religious, non-partisan perspective on understanding the effects of abortion for the research community and others. Participating scientists will also collaborate in releasing their research findings and provide professional education, legal consultation and testimony, plus information for media outlets on related issues and topics.

WECARE's affiliated researchers thus far include scientists from England, Chile, Spain, United States. Example currently published studies address abortion's impact on infant mortality in later pregnancies plus post-abortion mental health problems.

Further information on this organization, including published studies, is available online at wecareexperts.org, with much more planned to be added.

Ministry for Those Facing Poor Prental Diagnosis

2012-02-08T12:24:00.000-05:00

Benotafraid.net is the web site for a ministry to help parents, professionals and others who have dealt with or worked with those who have had to face the possibility of a baby being born with a life-threatening disability or fatal defect. Often doctors recommend that parents who learn of "poor prenatal diagnosis" of their unborn baby choose abortion.

According to the ministry's web site, "Benotafraid.net adheres to the moral guidelines and ethical directives of the Catholic Church with regard to sanctity of life issues without compromise." Yet its outreach is to people of all faith backgrounds.

Benotafraid offers true testimonies and outcomes of the value of continuing a pregnancy, regardless of a baby's diagnosis, plus resources and referrals to other organizations that also fall within Catholic Church teaching surrounding beginning and end of life.

LifeSiteNews reports that Benotafraid services are currently available in Charlotte, North Carolina and the dioceses of Charleston, South Carolina and Richmond, Virginia, with Benotafraid programs being developed in Austin, Texas; Providence, Rhode Island; and St. Petersburg, Florida.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2012-02-08T12:10:00.000-05:00

"I can only beseech the powers that be to hearken to the voice of the Lord and remember that human life is sacred. By taking the lives of our young, and wounding the wombs and lives of their mothers, we are flying in the face of God."

(Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King)

Massachusetts Judge Orders Forced Abortion & Sterilization

2012-02-08T12:08:00.001-05:00

Mary Moe is the pseudonym for a 32 year old Massachusetts woman diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, who visited a hospital emergency room in October and learned she was pregnant. Because doctors claimed her psychiatric medicine could possibly harm her unborn baby, the Department of Health petitioned the state of Massachusetts to name the woman's parents as guardians who could consent to an abortion.

Mary, though suffering from her illness, described herself as "very Catholic" and does not want an abortion, having already aborted her first pregnancy, and according to court documents, was seriously psychologically affected. The case went before Judge Christina Harms who ordered an abortion even if Mary had to be "coaxed, bribed, or even enticed" to do so.

Harms also ordered that Mary be sterilized to put a stop to further pregnancies, reasoning that Mary did not want an abortion due to her "delusional beliefs" and would make this choice if she were competent.

Fortunately, the state appeals court overruled Judge Harms, stating, "The personal decision whether to bear or begat a child is a right so fundamental that it must be extended to all persons, including those who are incompetent."

Judge Harms' decision caused outrage from all political quarters including Massachusetts state senator Susan Fargo who struggles with schizophrenia herself. The outcome for Mary and her unborn baby is still uncertain, because if her parents are named legal guardians, they are siding with the doctors for aborting Mary's child.

Scientists Clone Human Brain Cells

2012-02-08T12:06:00.000-05:00

Scientists at Edinburgh's Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Scotland were the first to clone Dolly the sheep 16 years ago. Now the Centre has announced another cloning discovery.

Researchers have drawn adult, non-embryonic stem cells from a patch of skin taken from patients suffering mental illness such as schizophrenia and depression, and directed the stem cells to clone into brain cells identical to those in the patients' brains.

The hope is that study of these ethically cloned brain cells will help find better drugs to treat such patients plus those suffering from nerve diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and motor neurone disease. Similar past studies have relied on cells drawn from tissue after a person has died, and the condition that caused death plus medication a patient may have taken for years can affect the reliability of results.

If this cloning method proves successful, it paves the way to possibly convert adult stem cells into any other type of cell found in the body and develop treatments for other organs such as the liver and the heart.

Pregnancy Resource Centers Report

2012-02-08T12:04:00.000-05:00

A good resource publicly available from Family Research Council (FRC) for laymen, professionals, legislators and citizens is the second edition of the report, A Passion to Serve: How Pregnancy Resource Centers Empower Women, Help Families and Strengthen Communities. This report documents the self-giving and good work done through the network of over 2,000 pregnancy care centers nationwide to help pregnant women, their babies, fathers, and more.

This edition includes new 2010 data from these centers, plus the estimated local cost savings to communities because of the services they freely provide. For example, according to the report, pregnancy care centers serve over 2.3 million people annually, and operate through approximately 71,000 volunteers who contribute over 5.5 million volunteer hours.

In the report synopsis FRC notes, "…[pregnancy care centers'] mission is single-hearted: to communicate to women and their families that their lives are valuable and that their needs – emotional, psychological, medical, spiritual and practical – can and will be met."

The report is available online at frc.org; search on "passion to serve".

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2012-02-08T11:28:00.000-05:00

"Each of us is called to witness to the dignity of all human life. As uncomfortable as it might be, we are called to share our pro-life convictions with our neighbors, friends and families."

(Bishop James D. Conley, apostolic administrator, Archdiocese of Denver CO, Denver Catholic Register, January 17, 2012)

International Planned Parenthood's Strategic Goals for Africa

2012-02-08T11:27:00.000-05:00

As part of its global goals, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has released its strategic plan for Africa through 2015. According to a recent CNSnews analysis, this plan reveals International Planned Parenthood's goal to increase "abortion services" in this area of the world by 82%.

This increase will mean more than 212,000 such services by 2013 and nearly 274,000 by 2015. Paul Bell, IPFF's senior communications officer, defined these services as "safe" medical and surgical abortions, abortion counseling, post abortion family planning, and post abortion care after unsafe abortions.

According to the American Life League (ALL), a Performance Milestones section of IPPF's plan identifies goals to increase "Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights" in Africa, including to the "poor, marginalized and socially under-served." ALL says this goal illustrates "the abortion giant’s double fixation of defining abortion as a right and defining sex as a right, even for very young children."

The plan also calculates increases the IPPF hopes to see in family planning, i.e., contraceptive drug use, in Africa by 2015. But CNSnews noted that the plan does not address the other "A" words contrary to abortion—abstinence and adoption.

Steve Aden, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund said "… Planned Parenthood is now thinking large, and hopes to bring their existing international abortion services up to par with what they’ve done in the U.S."

Update: New Hampshire and Planned Parenthood Funding

2012-02-08T11:23:00.000-05:00

Last summer, New Hampshire's Executive Council voted to redirect Planned Parenthood’s $1.8 million share of Medicaid funding to clinics that do not perform abortions. As with other states that have similarly defunded Planned Parenthood, President Obama's Administration threatened to deprive all of New Hampshire’s Medicaid facilities of federal funding unless the Executive Council reversed its decision.

Failing that reversal, the Administration bypassed the Executive Council and awarded a $1 million contract to Planned Parenthood in the state. The New Hampshire House of Representatives has now approved (207-147) a prioritization measure for recipients of state family planning funds, which puts Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers at the bottom of the list—essentially denying Planned Parenthood this funding.

The Alliance Defense Fund and Susan B. Anthony list helped craft the measure in the form of an amendment to a bill now headed to New Hampshire Senate. Including New Hampshire, nine states have now defunded Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

New Hampshire Representative Susan DeLemus was first to speak on the floor of the House in support of the measure before the vote, saying, "…I do not ever want to contribute to the stopping of a baby's heart with my tax dollars."

"Pro-Life Nation" Initiative

2012-02-08T11:21:00.000-05:00

Operation Rescue has become an investigative resource for legal and medical documents and evidence on abortionists nationwide. Now Operation Rescue is launching a new investigative outreach arm, entitled Pro-Life Nation.

Part of the Pro-Life Nation strategy is creation of the AbortionDocs.org website to make this information publicly available on every abortion provider in the country. The site is to be a clearing house for information gathered from pro-life activists across the United States.

Operation Rescue is soliciting photos, court records, videos, and other information on abortion abuses plus background information on abortionists. The plan is to partner with key pro-life leaders for contributions so that full scope of abuses can be exposed.

Anyone who wants to regularly research and provide information can submit an application to be part of the Pro-Life Nation team.

Operation Rescue president Troy Newman said, "We believe that with the current climate in America, abortion could be eliminated very soon, if a goal-oriented strategy is employed that includes cooperation among various pro-life organizations and individuals."

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2012-01-19T16:24:00.001-05:00

"There is a day coming when we will hear the voice from within the womb, when its own authentic pain will be undeniable, when we will know with certainty that it is saying, "I want to live. I have a right to live. I do not need your permission to live."

(Mary McAleese, 8th president of Ireland, 1997-2011)

Update: Infamous Rockford Illinois Abortion Center

2012-01-19T16:23:00.001-05:00

We've been following the Northern Illinois Women's Center abortion mill in Rockford, Illinois, known nationwide for its bizarre and evil methods to taunt pro-life witnesses and mock Christianity and Jesus Christ. Just some of the tactics include rubber chickens hanging from nooses and on crosses, a nun doll in a coffin, and posters with hateful and blasphemous messages and images.

Pro-lifers have faithfully prayed in front of this abortion center, including a group of priests who have come weekly and were targets of vicious verbal hatred from abortion center staff. In October, the Illinois Department of Health suspended this facility's operating license because of conditions threatening the "public interest, health, safety and welfare requiring immediate, emergency action."

The center remained closed during court hearings on the alleged violations. Then discouraging news was released just a few of weeks ago that it was reopening, because the centers' owners had resolved the matter satisfactorily for the Illinois Department of Health by agreeing to paying a $9,750 fine.

Pro-life witnesses were preparing to resume vigils and sidewalk counseling, but now center owners have decided not to reopen for good. According to the Rockford Register Star, one main reason for their decision to close is claimed to be lack of community support. Thus the Northern Illinois Women's abortion center is no longer in operation after nearly 40 years—an answer to prayer.

Texas Ultrasound Law Upheld

2012-01-19T16:22:00.002-05:00

After months of legal litigation, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Texas' sonogram law requiring pregnant women in this state seeking abortion to receive a sonogram, hear their baby's heartbeat, and receive information on their unborn baby's stage of development (including what organs and limbs are developed) before the abortion. Women can choose to not view the ultrasound, but they must receive baby development information.

Pro-abortion advocates fought against law, claiming it violated abortionists' free speech rights to give medical information as they choose. The judges dismissed this claim as illogical, saying the law only requires abortionists to provide "truthful, non-misleading information."

This informed consent law had been under injunction during court proceedings, thus not in effect. The judge panel also overturned the injunction and the law can now be enforced.

And the judge panel also required that any further appeals or motions against this sonogram law must come before the same three judges, thus preventing any attempt by opponents to find a more sympathetic audience.

Texas Right to Life's statement on the decision said, "When women are given all the pertinent medical information they need to make a truly informed decision regarding their pregnancies, they will choose Life."

Bella HERO Program for Life

2012-01-19T16:20:00.002-05:00

Many of us have enjoyed the movie Bella, produced in 2008 and touching hearts with its story of redemption and courage for God's precious gift of Life. The movie's positive influence continues under a program since developed called Bella HERO.

Bella HERO was developed when Jason Jones, co-executive producer for the movie, had a vision to start a non-profit organization that would raise money to provide Bella DVDs to women in unplanned pregnancies. Jason's vision has been realized and he is now president of Bello HERO, which provides copies of the movie to pro-life pregnancy care centers, plus training to pro-life counselors for using the movie with pregnant mothers in crisis pregnancies and who may be considering abortion.

The Bella HERO web site reports that some centers are even using a "movie night in a bag" idea, which includes giving women being counseled the Bella DVD, popcorn, candy, and other creative items to encourage them to watch the movie. According to a recent LifeSiteNews article on this program, over 700 pregnancy care centers across the United States, Canada, and Australia are now using the film to change hearts and save little lives.

Pro-life Meditation for the Week

2012-01-11T14:27:00.006-05:00

"Freedom is not the right to do whatever we like. Freedom is the right to do what we ought. What we ought to do is linked to what is true and what is good."

(Filipino Bishop Gabriel Reyes, national Philippines for Life Congress, November 16-18, 2011)

Informed Consent Not Assured for Egg Donors

2012-01-11T14:27:00.005-05:00

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is not a moral solution for infertility, but it's necessary to be aware of this research's affect on our culture. A recent report published in the journal Fertility & Sterility gave findings of a study of whether IVF clinics in the U.S.inform women who donate their eggs that excess embryos created for reproductive purposes may be used for embryonic stem cell research (after which the tiny embryos die).

According to the study, the U.S. Center for Disease Control & Prevention database identifies 470 clinics. Researchers sent 400 IVF clinics a survey and also requested a copy of their egg donor consent form. Two hundred and twenty two responded, with 66 sending their donor consent form. On these forms, only 20 told women that excess embryos were used for embryonic stem cell research.

The study conclusion in its synopsis states, "Egg donors in the United States, including some who may have a moral objection to research and stem cell research, are not being informed that embryos created with their donated eggs may in fact be used for these purposes."

This study further exposes the fact that IVF is largely unregulated in the U.S., with concerns regarding advertising to influence women to sell their eggs for research, and also that the ovarian stimulation process to obtain human eggs is dangerous to women's health and fertility.

Planned Parenthood's Recent Annual Report

2012-01-11T14:25:00.004-05:00

Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading abortion providing chain, has released its most recent annual report, from 2009-2010. The organization reports over one billion dollars in total net assets, nearly half (46%, $487.4 million) from U.S. tax-payer funds through government grants and Medicaid. Planned Parenthood also reports $18.5 million profit, though it is technically a "non-profit" organization.

According to a Planned Parenthood fact sheet posted on its web site dated September 2010, Planned Parenthood is responsible for taking the lives of over 329,000 babies through abortion in that year alone. However, the annual report does also note a significant drop in individual donations.

Some analysts surmise that this drop in donations could likely be due to increased public pro-life awareness, including more widespread information on the true violence abortion truly is, and also news of Planned Parenthood employees' willingness to cover up child sexual abuse and human trafficking with abortion, as well as exposure of the racial intent of Planned Parenthood's abortion agenda.

Deacon Keith Fournier, writing for Catholic Online, said "Their web site tells visitors they are 'America's most trusted provider of reproductive health care.' Yet there is nothing 'reproductive about abortion – and it is certainly not a service to the child, the mother, the father or society."

Cloning & Animal Human Hybrids Update

2012-01-11T14:24:00.003-05:00

The past several years, bans against human cloning and animal human hybrids have been introduced in the United States at the federal and some state levels. The need for such a ban originated June 2008, when British Parliament passed the precedent Human Fertilisation Embryology Act.

This act permits researchers to not only create cloned human embryos for research then destruction, but to also fertilize human eggs with animal sperm or vice versus to create "hybrid" embryos. The only boundary, at least for this law, is that any embryos created with human and animal DNA are to be killed 14 days after creation.

In July last summer, Britain's Daily Mail reported that scientists in that country have secretly created 150 animal-human embryos over the past three years. Now U.S. researchers at Oregon Health and Science University have created the world's first chimeric monkeys.

After experimentation on many embryos, three rhesus monkeys have been born from a single embryo created with cells from six "parent" monkey embryos, thus having DNA from all six, not the normal two parents. While some researchers are concerned about the well-being of animals involved in such experiments, these researchers claim their discovery opens new possibilities for experiments with humans.

The response from Britain's crossbench peer Lord Alton to news of such experimentation in Britain was, "Ethically it can never be justifiable – it discredits us as a country. It is dabbling in the grotesque. At every stage the justification from scientists has been: if only you allow us to do this, we will find cures for every illness known to mankind. This is emotional blackmail."

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2012-01-04T14:33:00.003-05:00

"God’s love for us is so strong that he cannot remain aloof; he comes out of himself to enter into our midst and to share fully in our human condition." (Exodus 3:7-12)

(Pope Benedict XVI, Christmas Message, Dec. 25, 2011)

Abortionists Charged with Murder

2012-01-04T14:32:00.001-05:00

Last year, Pennsylvania abortionist Hermit Gosnell was arrested for crimes against women and grotesque abuses related to abortion practices, with that trial still in progress. Now abortionists Stephen Brigham and Nicola Irene Riley have been charged with murder in Maryland after a Grand Jury investigation discovered remains of 35 late term aborted babies kept in an abortion facility freezer, one baby believed aborted at 36 weeks.

According to Operation Rescue, both abortionists have criminal backgrounds and at the time of their arrest were banned from performing abortions in any state. Authorities decided to investigate in August 2010 after Brigham and Riley dropped off a woman suffering from a botched late-term abortion at a hospital emergency room.

Late term abortions require several days, where a woman leaves after the procedure is begun, then returns for completion. This woman's abortion was begun in New Jersey, where late term abortions are illegal, then completed in Maryland where they are permitted.

However, Maryland is one of 38 states with unborn victims of violence laws in place that permit murder charges against someone who kills a viable unborn baby when committing a crime. So far these fetal homicide laws have only been used to convict those who assault or kill a pregnant woman, not in late term abortion cases. Thus the outcome of this case will set an important legal precedent nationwide.

Both Brigham and Riley are in jail waiting a hearing.

New Hampshire Right to Life Suing Obama Administration

2012-01-04T14:29:00.003-05:00

Last summer, New Hampshire's Executive Council voted to redirect Planned Parenthood’s $1.8 million share of Medicaid funding to clinics that do not perform abortions. New Hampshire's Executive Council is unique from other states—a voter-elected panel responsible for approving all state contracts over $10,000.

As with other states that have similarly defunded abortion providers, President Obama's Administration threatened to deprive all of New Hampshire’s Medicaid facilities of federal funding unless the Executive Council reversed its decision. Failing that reversal, the Administration bypassed the Executive Council and awarded a $1 million contract to Planned Parenthood in the state.

After this award, New Hampshire Right to Life submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for documentation explaining the reason for this federal grant in violation of a state decision and without a competitive bidding system for the funds. Because the Department of Health and Human Services has not responded to this request for information, New Hampshire Right to Life is suing the Obama Administration to do so.

New Hampshire Right to Life President Kurt Wuelper said that New Hampshire citizens "have the right to know why the Obama administration gave Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest baby killer, a million taxpayer dollars while cutting funding for state hospitals and community clinics."

Safe Havens for Newborns

2012-01-04T14:28:00.001-05:00

In the United States, all 50 states have "Baby Moses" or safe haven laws which authorize designated facilities where mothers in desperate circumstances can anonymously drop off a newborn baby for care, without fear of criminal charges. Elsewhere in the world, similar protection for new babies under such circumstances are provided through "baby hatches" or "baby boxes" installed at hospitals and other institutions.

This idea been around for centuries, in medieval times in Europe called a "foundling wheel," somewhat like a revolving door or shelf in foundling homes or churches and used by mothers who had babies out of wedlock, which was then a shameful condition. Modern baby hatches and safe haven laws originated around year 2000, and are often used by mothers who cannot cope with caring for a child and do not want to be identified.

Under most safe haven laws, a mother has several weeks to reclaim her child, but if she does not, the baby is cared for and usually placed for adoption in a loving home. Countries with baby hatches now in place include many European countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Slovakia, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy) plus Pakistan, Japan, and India.

For example, the Czech Republic recently reported that it now has 47 baby boxes, and since their establishment in this small country, 37 baby girls and 25 little boys have been saved.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-12-20T16:42:00.000-05:00

"Motherhood is the gift of God to women. How grateful we must be to God for this wonderful gift that brings such joy to the whole world, women and men alike! "

(Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, from message to fourth UN Women's Conference in Beijing)

Federal Opposition to Planned Parenthood Defunding

2011-12-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

This past summer, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed legislation to strip abortion providers in Texas of about $64 million in tax funding, including from leading abortion chain Planned Parenthood. Funds are instead to go to non-abortion providers, and the new law prompted closure of 12 abortion centers in the state.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission recently submitted its request to the federal government to renew funding for the state's Medicaid Women's Health Program. The Texas Commission received a reply from the federal Center for Medicaid services that it will not be awarded funding unless abortion providers in Texas are included as recipients.

Medicaid is not to be used to fund abortions, but states seeking to defund abortion providers recognize that funding these providers for any program frees monies for abortion efforts, and abortion is not healthcare.

Tom Suehs, Texas Health and Human Services executive commissioner, said Texas' decision to deny funds to abortion centers is consistent with federal law because states have the right to establish qualifications for Medicaid providers.

The federal government is also threatening to withdraw Medicaid funds to Indiana for same reason as Texas. The federal government did the same in July with New Hampshire, eventually bypassing this state's government and giving a federal grant directly to Planned Parenthood.

Prenatal Blood Test and Down Syndrome Adoptions

2011-12-20T16:37:00.001-05:00

San Diego company Sequenom has introduced MaterniT21, a simple blood test for pregnant women that identifies unborn babies with Down Syndrome. This can be used as early as ten weeks into a pregnancy or later.

MaterniT21 analyzes fetal DNA in a mother's blood, and is said to be less risky that other prenatal tests such as amniocentesis. It is inexpensive and very accurate, and in October was introduced in twenty major U.S. cities for doctors to offer.

It is estimated that over 90% of unborn babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted. The concern is that these numbers will rise even higher with such tests.

But the good news is a rise in efforts to counter prejudice against those with Down Syndrome, including the known long waiting lists of U.S. parents wanting to adopt these special needs children, some to save such children from being aborted. For example, a recent Washington Post article highlighted the Clark family, who not only have a beloved Down Syndrome daughter, Emma, but have adopted two others.

Emma's mother, Nina, explained their choice for special needs adoption, "For me it's like a mission and a calling. If Emma wasn't born, I would not be adopting a child with Down Syndrome. So, her life already has had meaning."

More information on such adoptions are available from the National Down Syndrome Adoption Network, based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Babies' Cells Stay With Mom

2011-12-20T16:32:00.000-05:00

Family Research Council reports that Science editor Robert Krulwich recently spoke on National Public Radio's Morning Edition about "fetomaternal microchimerism." Krulwich said, "…when a woman has a baby, she gets not just a son or daughter, [but] an army of protective cells – gifts from her children that will stay inside her and defend her for the rest of her life."

Researching this news further, we find studies on fetomaternal microchimerism's amazing benefits of pregnancy have been conducted since the 1990's, at least, with similar findings, but has not been much publicized.

One report published in the Boston Globe in 2001 cited studies from the journal of Arthritis and Rheumatism indicting that some fetal cells stored in a mother's spleen after her baby is born might be a reserve army of stem cells that can repair a mother's organs.

Another report published by ScienceDaily in 2007 gives evidence that cells from a woman's unborn baby that stay with a mother may be a protection against breast cancer (an example of the trend to keep quiet scientific reasons why invasively ending pregnancy with abortion can contribute to breast cancer).

These positive discoveries may mean to some mothers what researcher Kirby Johnson's message was to his, "You gave me life, and now my fetal cells may be able to return the favor."

Pro-life Meditation for the Week

2011-12-19T16:43:00.002-05:00

"Each of us has a mission, each of us is called to change the world, to work for a culture of life, a culture forged by love and respect for the dignity of each human person."

(Pope Benedict XVI, prayer vigil in London's Hyde Park, September 18, 2010)

New Campaign to Free Chinese Pro-life Hero

2011-12-19T16:42:00.000-05:00

Many are following the plight of internationally known, blind human rights lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, who has been jailed and tortured and denied medical treatment for opposing China's forced abortions in his province since 2005.

Chen and his wife and six year old daughter have been under house arrest, and reports were that Chen may have been killed.The good news is that it has been confirmed that Chen is alive.

Women's Rights Without Frontiers—the international coalition that opposes China's coercive one-child policy, forced abortions and sterilizations—has now introduced a new campaign to increase public awareness of Chen's needs and work for his freedom.

Because every photo of Chen shows him wearing trademark black sunglasses, Women's Rights Without Frontiers is asking people worldwide to wear similar sunglasses and submit photos or video to appear on the organization's web site plus a related blog.

The Sunglasses Campaign is to send a message to the Chinese Communist Party that the world is aware of Chen's mistreatment. This campaign supports a similar campaign being conducted within China.

One of the most recent participants to join the international Sunglasses Campaign is Congressman Chris Smith, Chair of the U.S. House Human Rights Committee, who has been working in the U.S. for Chen's freedom.

Update: Congressional Investigation of Planned Parenthood

2011-12-19T16:39:00.000-05:00

Early October, U.S. Representative Cliff Stearns, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, sent letter to Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, to begin a thorough audit of the organization.

This Congressional audit is to to determine whether Planned Parenthood is complying with federal regulations on use of taxpayer funding, as well as check for other financial irregularities such as Planned Parenthood submitting improper billing related to federally funded programs. It will also examine whether Planned Parenthood is reporting all cases of suspected sexual abuse and suspected sex-trafficking cases when minor girls seek abortions.

Now seven former Planned Parenthood employees have sent a letter to leaders of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, expressing support for the investigation and offering to testify to incidents they have witnessed pertaining to Planned Parenthood's investigation. Signatories include Abby Johnson, former Texas Planned Parenthood executive director and now well-known pro-life activist, plus six others representing additional Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas, Massachusetts, South Dakota, California, and Iowa.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America receives an estimated $363 million in Medicaid and other taxpayer funding each year, which these former employees note is nearly $1 million per day.

In the letter, these women state their reasons for coming forward: "While each has an individual and personal story regarding our decisions to leave the employment of PP and to alert the public to our concerns, we are of one mind that the extent of these problems with the organization is not fully understood by the American people…."

"24 Hour Club" Prayer Warriors

2011-12-19T16:37:00.000-05:00

National 40 Days for Life and LifeSiteNews have reported on three men in Texas now known as the "24 Hour Club" for their decisions to personally conduct 24 straight hours of prayer in front of a Dallas late-term abortion center during 40 Days for Life prayer campaigns. The men include 53 year old Minh Tran, 48 year old Richie Colonna, and a 62 year old man who wants to remain anonymous. All three are devout Catholics, each conducting their 24 hour vigils for different reasons, but all praying for the end of abortion.

Minh Tran told LifeSiteNews, "The participation of all these people [in prayer] regardless of race, age, belief … inspired me tremendously and made me want to do even more for life."

Richie Colonna, a 3rd degree Knight of Columbus, said he was once a "male victim" who had had no say in an abortion decision.

The anonymous participant is a convert to Catholicism and the pro-life cause who said, "I stand watch for those who cannot stand it for themselves. I owe them."

National 40 Days for Life reports that one of these men has been conducting his 24 hour vigils for the last six years, just about every year there has been a vigil in Dallas.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-12-13T17:29:00.002-05:00

"Abortion…is defended as a 'right' derived from 'the right of a woman to control her own body'…. If you can control your own body only by destroying another persons' body, then control has come much too late."

(Kentucky author, Wendell Berry, The Conservation of Nature & the Preservation of Humanity)

Bill to Ban Sex or Race Selection Abortions

2011-12-13T17:28:00.000-05:00

Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ) has re-introduced the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. This is a bill to ban abortions in the United States for sex or race selection reasons.

A sex-selection abortion is performed to eliminate an unborn baby because of undesired sex or gender. Race selection abortion is to eliminate an unborn baby because the child or a parent is of an undesired race.

We are aware of reports of sex selection abortions, especially of baby girls, elsewhere in the world, such as India. But in a letter to colleagues, Congressman Franks cited a study of U.S. Census data published in the 2008 Journal of the National Academy of Sciences, which indicates that sex-selection abortions are occurring in the U.S., particularly among people who come from countries that practice such abortions.

Under the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, abortionists who knowingly perform sex selection or race selection abortions face fines or imprisonment or both.

Representative Franks introduced this bill in 2008, then again in 2009 where it received bipartisan support of 49 sponsors. The U.S. abortion industry is known to historically target minority populations, especially African Americans.

Representative Franks said in 2009 that he introduced this bill to "specifically address the disturbing undercurrent of racial discrimination in abortion policy."

Pharmacists Stand for Conscience Rights

2011-12-13T17:25:00.002-05:00

Pharmacists plus owner Stormans Inc. at Ralph's Thriftway in Olympia, Washington have been under legal fire the last four years for refusing to stock or dispense the morning after pill drug (also known as emergency contraception).

The morning after pill is a megadose of estrogen and progestin taken within the first 72 hours after sexual activity, then again 12 hours later in an attempt to prevent pregnancy. This drug prevents pregnancy by altering a women's monthly cycle or the joining of sperm with egg. But it can also harden the wall of a woman's womb so that a new life cannot implant and dies—this is an early abortion.

These pharmacists and owners believe they shouldn't be required to sell these drugs because they are abortifacient. They are facing legal challenge because the Washington State Board of Pharmacy requires pharmacies to "dispense any medication for which there is a community demand."

The case has now moved to federal court in Tacoma, with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty handling the case to protect the pharmacists and owners' conscience rights.

Owner Kevin Stormans stated to The Olympian, "All our family wants is the chance…to serve our customers in keeping with our deepest values."

"Taxis Against Abortion"

2011-12-13T17:24:00.000-05:00

LifeSiteNews.com reports that taxi drivers in Seville, Spain are gently promoting a pro-life message on the doors and backs of their taxis. Spain is a country with increasing assaults against the sanctity of human life, but also rising pro-life witness.

"Taxis Against Abortion" has been in operation since 2005 and managed by the Mairena Pro-Life Association.

Taxi drivers were displaying the message: "Yes to Life, No to Abortion." But their new message is: "No to Abortion—for all you hold dear," with face of a child in tears plus phone number for more pro-life information.

Thirty taxis currently display the signs in Spain, and drivers report many positive responses from those who see them. So much so that, more taxi drivers want to participate—more than the Mairena Pro-Life Association can fund advertisements for.

To help sponsor a taxi, contact the Mairena Pro-Life Association via email, provida@providamairena.org.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-12-01T16:58:00.002-05:00

"Because abortion is clearly a matter of the heart, we must understand that only the love of Christ can heal a heart."

(Pastor Walter Hoye, Issues4Life)

Rationing Supporter Steps Down

2011-12-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

July 2010, President Obama appointed Dr. Donald Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he has been holding a temporary position till Senate confirmation to make it permanent. Berwick has announced that he is stepping down December 2nd, a few weeks before the December 31st deadline when his recess appointment would end.

Berwick is a public supporter of rationing medical care to control healthcare costs, and a fan of the British National Health Service, which has rationed healthcare in Britain. He caused controversy after issuing a healthcare regulation to give financial incentives to doctors who provide voluntary end-of-life counseling for Medicare patients.

Berwick raised even more eyebrows after his prediction in an interview to Biotechnology Healthcare: "It's not a question of whether we will ration care. It is whether we will ration with our eyes open."

In a November Senate committee hearing, Berwick denied these opinions, but this didn't convince the 42 Republican Senators who had argued against his confirmation several months ago, or stimulate enthusiasm from Senate Democrats.

President Obama will replace Dr. Berwick with Berwick's chief deputy Marilynn Tavenner. Tavenner served as Virginia's secretary of health and human resources during 2006-2010, and her record has yet to be examined.

Virginia Abortion Center Regulations with Governor

2011-12-01T16:57:00.000-05:00

In February, the Virginia general assembly passed a law, signed by Gov. Bob McDonnel, requiring abortion centers in the state to operate under the same health and safety standards as hospital outpatient surgical centers. Virginia's abortion centers have not had strict regulations for over 20 years, operating under regulations for non-surgical physicians' offices instead.

Under the law, the Virginia state health department had 280 days to draft the specific regulations. This has been done, and the Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources has approved the draft which has been sent to governor Bob McDonnell to approve.

The new regulations include licensing and unannounced inspections of abortion centers, plus standards for medical personnel, improved sanitary conditions, emergency equipment, and buildings. Once the governor's office reviews and approves them, the regulations will go into effect January 1, 2012.

Pro-abortion advocates claim that these new standards could force 17 of Virginia's 20 abortion centers to close.

New Ministry for Former Abortion Workers

2011-12-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

A wonderful fruit of 40 Days for Life and other prayer vigils in front of abortion centers is reports of more abortion workers leaving the business, following the example of former Planned Parenthood executive director, Abby Johnson. The most recent report is the conversion of Sue Thayer, former Planned Parenthood manager in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Sue worked for Planned Parenthood 17 years. Yet this fall she led a 40 Days for Life prayer campaign outside center she used to manage, and is publicly testifying to her experience with Planned Parenthood and its aggressive abortion agenda.

Now Abby Johnson is starting a ministry to reach out to people like Sue and other abortion center employees who have been fed lies that pro-lifers hate them, are dangerous, and don't really care about those working in the abortion industry.

"And Then There Were None," is in the early stages of development but will focus on providing a safe place for abortion center employees to go if they leave their jobs, to share their experiences, heal and find courage.

Abby Johnson said, "And we are not simply waiting for them to come to us…we are pro-actively reaching out to them. These workers did not grow up wanting this for their lives. We can help change that."

Pro-life Meditation for the Week

2011-11-22T16:57:00.001-05:00

"In advancing the respect for human life in our culture, we should acknowledge publicly the truth that our service of human life is Christian, that is, it is a service carried out in the name of Christ and with the love of Christ."

(Cardinal Raymond Burke, McHenry County IL Catholic Prayer Breakfast, 10/29/11)

Pro-Abortion Provisions Stopped in Senate

2011-11-22T16:56:00.000-05:00

The U.S. Senate has been considering several so-called "mini-bus" measures, which are combinations of appropriations (spending) bills for 2012. One mini-bus has passed and been signed by President Obama, but a second mini-bus, encouraged by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and including several pro-abortion provisions, has failed.

This mini-bus would have removed the ban on government funding of abortions in the District of Columbia, and the ban on abortion coverage in federal employees health plans. The measure would have also slated $40 million for the United Nations Population Fund, and through an amendment proposed by Senator Frank Lautenberg , would have prevented any future president from curbing U.S. funding of abortion overseas under the Mexico City Policy.

Because this mini-bus combined three budget bills, it required unanimous consent to proceed in the Senate. Pro-life Senator David Vitter (Louisiana), denied to consent to the bill, as did Senators Jim DeMint (South Carolina), Rand Paul (Kentucky), and Mike Lee (Utah).

Failing this, The Hill reports that the Senate may try to wrap nine remaining annual appropriations bills into one omnibus bill when it reconvenes after Thanksgiving.

New York's High Rate of Disabled Deaths

2011-11-22T16:54:00.000-05:00

A recently released report in the New York Times indicates that one in six disabled persons have died in New York state over the past decade from preventable causes. This is compared to one in 25 in Connecticut and Massachusetts, two states which also release such data.

New York state spends $10 billion per year to care for the developmentally disabled. Yet these one in six deaths occurred in state and privately run homes and are blamed on unnatural or unknown causes.

Tragic examples of known causes of these deaths include: leaving residents who were not to be left alone with food on their own who died from choking; those needing help on stairs tumbling down alone; ands ome running away repeatedly till found dead. Others have cause of death simply listed as "unknown."

Bobby Schindler, brother of disabled Terri Schindler Shiavo who died of court-ordered starvation and dehydration in 2005, told Catholic News Agency: "We are devaluing these people…."we are seeing" this kind of treatment "rationalized and justified everyday."

However, Terri's Life & Hope Network, founded after Terri's death, is building a list of Safe Haven medical facilities across country where the disabled can at least be assured of receiving nutrition and hydration, which is normal, basic, and ordinary—not extraordinary—care.

Geron Halts Embryonic Stem Cell Research

2011-11-22T16:52:00.000-05:00

California-based Geron corporation has been leading the charge for embryonic stem cell research in the U.S. since the 1990s. Geron was the first company to obtain approval from President Obama's administration to conduct the first experiments using human embryonic stem cells on spinal cord injury patients, not animal subjects.

Geron has announced it will cease doing experiments using living human embryos. Effective immediately, it plans to focus only on cancer therapies and discontinue development of its stem cell programs.

Reasons given for this decision are "capital scarcity and uncertain economic conditions"—affecting profit margins. Geron is seeking partners to take on the embryonic stem cell research programs and is eliminating 66 jobs (38% of its staff), but will keep a core group of its embryonic stem cell research employees through the end of 2012 second quarter.

The pro-life movement has been saying for years what the New Scientist recently admitted in response to Geron's announcement, "Treatments based on adult [non-embryonic] stem cells are undoubtedly in the lead,… In terms of sheer numbers and commercial potential, they are way out in front."

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-11-16T15:15:00.002-05:00

"Every 36 seconds in America a woman lays her body down forced to choose abortion out of a lack of practical resources and emotional support. Abortion is a reflection that society has failed women."

(Patricia Heaton, actress, Emmy Award Winner)

Increase in Israeli "Wrongful Life" Lawsuits

2011-11-16T15:14:00.000-05:00

A recent article published in New Scientist is making headlines with news of increasing so-called "wrongful life" lawsuits in Israel, which has prompted an Israeli government investigation. Usually a wrongful life suit is one where parents seek compensation from doctors if, because of doctors' alleged faulty prenatal diagnosis, their child is born with a disability and the parents would have chosen to abort their child if they had known.

However the recent trend in Israel is now children with disabilities are suing doctors to try to obtain financial compensation for what they claim is a life of hardship. Fueling this pro-abortion attitude in Israel is a culture that accepts late-term abortion even when an unborn child is viable, and that strongly supports genetic testing in the quest for a perfect, healthy child.

The reason for this is said to be because genetic disorders such as Down Syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and others occur more in Israel because of more marriages between second cousins or closer relatives.

Rabbi Avraham Steinberg, a medical ethicist at Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, said to New Scientist that fear of wrongful life lawsuits can cause doctors to conduct more prenatal testing and overstate potential disabilities for unborn babies, which can increase abortions even more.

Planned Parenthood & Medicaid Fraud

2011-11-16T15:11:00.001-05:00

In October Congress launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood of America regarding claims of serious financial irregularities. Now Texas joins a growing list of states with lawsuits against Planned Parenthood for Medicaid fraud.

With help from the American Center for Law and Justice, Karen Reynolds, former health care assistant at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast has filed a whistleblower complaint with the Texas Attorney General and U.S. Department of Justice, alleging this Planned Parenthood affiliate's elaborate Medicaid fraud scheme. Claims in Reynolds' suit include, Planned Parenthood running up costs of services for Medicaid patients; providing tax funded medical supplies to patients who didn't request them; and (most serious) falsifying medical charts for abortion patients to make it appear that their visit was for other reasons that qualify for federal reimbursement because abortion does not.

Thus far, additional states where Planned Parenthood affiliates have been found to have overcharged the federal government include California, New York state plus New York City, New Jersey, and Washington. Any citizen concerned whether the same fraud is happening in their state can contact their state legislators and governor, give them information of Planned Parenhood's increasing pattern of Medicaid fraud, and encourage an investigation.

NY Court Rules for "Choose Life" Plates

2011-11-16T15:09:00.000-05:00

Even the gentlest pro-life reminders come under attack, for example, acceptance of "Choose Life" license plates in some states. In 2004, the Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit on behalf of The Children First Foundation, after New York state refused authorization of this pro-adoption group's application for the pro-life plates.

A federal court has finally ruled that "Choose Life" specialty plates may be offered. The court ruled that New York state violated the First Amendment because the sole basis for denial of the plates was "viewpoint discrimination," which the court found "unreasonable." New York state lawyers have 30 days to file notice of appeal, otherwise the court ruling will go into effect, making New York the 29th state with "Choose Life" license plates.

Sale of these plates provide revenue to the state as well as adoption agencies and pregnancy care centers. This is an easy, positive pro-life witness; check for instructions for states where available at Choose-life.org.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-11-09T14:35:00.002-05:00

"Science is a gift of the Father of lights; do not therefore consider it as barely the work of your own mind or industry."

(Saint Vincent Ferrer)

Congressional Committees Examine China's Human Rights Abuses

2011-11-09T14:34:00.002-05:00

The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement has held hearings on a new China Democracy Promotion Act. This bill is proposed by Congressman Chris Smith and gives our president the right to deny human rights abusers entry into U.S., including members of China's population control program.

This population control program includes China's Family Planning Commission, which promotes forced abortion, jailing dissidents, and sterilizing men and women who do not support the country's family planning policy.

Also, the full House Committee on Foreign Affairs has heard testimony on the Congressional-Executive Commission October 2011 report, which document's China's worsening human rights abuses. Besides documenting one-child policy abuses, this report also includes accounts of persecution against Christians of all denominations, and against advocates for democracy and labor leaders.

Finally, an emergency hearing was held last week in the bipartisan Congressional Executive Committee on China concerning internationally known, blind human rights lawyer, Chen GuangCheng, who has been jailed and tortured for his opposition to China's forced abortions in his province. Chen and his wife and six year old daughter are now under house arrest, and reports are that he may have been killed.

Congressman Chris Smith, who is Chair of House Human Rights Committee, is working on an emergency visit to China next week to meet with Chen, if he is still alive.

State Pro-Life Bills Multiplying

2011-11-09T14:33:00.002-05:00

While federal pro-life legislation is difficult to pass right now beyond the House of Representatives, states are working on bills at an unprecedented level, and even secular media outlets are taking notice. The International Business Times, not a pro-life news outlet, recently reported that 600 bills have been proposed nationwide this year.

Although all bills were not documented, noted were Personhood bills and amendments in 19 states, waiting periods before abortions in five additional states, and 15 states initiating late-term viability bans on abortions after 20 weeks of gestation. Twenty-four states are working to ban or restrict abortion coverage in the state health insurance exchanges created under President Obama's health legislation, with some states promoting other insurance restrictions regarding abortion coverage.

Also mentioned were the Heartbeat Bill that has passed the House of Representatives in Ohio, to ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, plus the recently proposed strengthened informed consent legislation in all states to offer a woman the chance to see an ultrasound and hear her baby's heartbeat before choosing an abortion.

Meanwhile, many news outlets are taking notice of increasing numbers of states working to end government funding of abortion providers, especially leading provider Planned Parenthood, with Tennessee recently reported to have completely done so.

Vatican Conference on Adult Stem Cells

2011-11-09T14:32:00.005-05:00

This summer we learned that the Vatican has invested $1 million in the international pharmaceutical company NeoStem, which researches cures for diseases and injuries using adult stem cells. So-called "adult" (non-embryonic) stem cells are derived from patients' own cells and do not involve breeding and killing embryonic humans, and are thus entirely ethical.

This is the first time the Vatican has partnered with a private company to advance such research. Besides research, part of the partnership includes educational efforts, another first being an international Vatican conference on adult stem cells this week (Nov 9-11) at the Vatican, entitled "Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture."

Scheduled conference speakers are experts on adult stem cells, including Church officials, leading bio-ethicists, and policy makers. Participants include Church and scientific leaders, policy makers, ethicists, educators,worldwide Ministers of Health, ambassadors to Holy See, plus representatives from the stem cell therapeutic business community.

Although the conference is limited to 350 participants, proceedings will be widely available to via radio and television.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-11-02T15:30:00.004-04:00

"Respect for human life should provide a motive for the natural virtue of courage. The awesome respect for the immortal soul of every human being, a truth known only by revelation, can provide a positive motive."

(Fr. Benedict Groeschel, The Virtue Driven Life, page 147)

Key Evidence Shredded in Kansas Planned Parenthood Case

2011-11-02T15:30:00.000-04:00

In 2007 former Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline brought charges against Planned Parenthood of Overland Park, Kansas as part of an investigation that began in 2003. This Planned Parenthood affiliate is on trial for 107 counts of falsifying abortion records; for not reporting suspected child sexual abuse when minor girls were brought in for abortion; and for also performing late term abortions illegal in this state (23 of which are felonies).

This is the first criminal case against Planned Parenthood in the country. It has now been discovered that evidence key to this case was shredded in 2005 under pro-abortion Governor Kathleen Sebelius' administration. The destroyed state-kept records are necessary for establishing the authenticity of records Phil Kline obtained in 2003 when he investigated Planned Parenthood.

Last week Judge Stephen Tatum delayed the legal proceedings. He declined a motion for dismissal from Planned Parenthood attorneys, and instead gave Johnson County prosecutors until November 9th to build their case with other evidence.

A preliminary hearing in this criminal case against Planned Parenthood is now scheduled on this date in Johnson County, Kansas District Court. If convicted, Planned Parenthood stands to lose $350 million in federal Title X funding.

Phil Kline himself continues to be under great personal attack for his attempts to expose Planned Parenthood's potential criminal activity in Kansas.

North Carolina Women Denied Full Abortion Information

2011-11-02T15:25:00.000-04:00

Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles has blocked part of North Carolina's new pro-life "A Woman's Right to Know" law, in ruling that abortionists are not required to show a mother an ultrasound image of her baby before an abortion, nor are they required to describe the baby's development as shown or let the mother hear her baby's heartbeat.

Despite overwhelming evidence that ultrasound helps women bond and often choose life for their unborn babies, Eagles said that North Carolina officials "have not articulated how the speech-and-display requirements address the stated concern in reducing compelled abortions."

She echoed what pro-abortion activists and the ACLU are also arguing, that the ultrasound and information requirements could cause women emotional pain. Judge Eagles also ruled that requiring abortionists to describe a baby's development is a violation of abortionists' freedom of speech if they don't want to do this.

Eagles' decision puts the ultrasound-and-description part of the law on hold until further hearings occur. What remains in effect are the Women's Right to Know law's mandated 24 hour waiting period before an abortion; the requirement for abortionists to provide information on abortion alternatives; and the ability for a woman, and also her spouse, a parent or a sibling to sue an abortionist who violates these aspects of the law.

Outlook Hopeful for Mississippi Personhood Ballot Initiative

2011-11-02T15:23:00.002-04:00

Proposition 26 will appear on Mississippi's ballot November 8th and, if successful, will change the abortion debate nationwide. Mississippi voters will decide whether to amend the state constitution to declare as persons "every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the equivalent thereof."

Similar "personhood" attempts have failed in other states, but the legislation's supporters say that the outlook is very hopeful in Mississippi due to pro-life bipartisan support. Personhood Mississippi is being worked on by over 2,000 individuals and 1,000 churches across the state.

In February of last year, Personhood Mississippi submitted over 130,000 signatures in support of the ballot initiative (over the required 89,250 signatures), and a state circuit judge ruled in October of last year against the ACLU's and Planned Parenthood's attempts to have the initiative removed from the ballot.

Les Riley, the man behind this effort in Mississippi, in writing of the decline of Mississippi abortion mills to now one in the state due to citizens' pro-life efforts, said, "Having worked to protect all children by love, we can now protect them again in law."

If passed in Mississippi, similar personhood ballot initiatives for constitutional amendments are expected in other states.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-10-26T16:12:00.004-04:00

"The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel."

(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2242)

Europe's Top Court Rules on Human Embryo Patents

2011-10-26T16:12:00.003-04:00

Under the Weldon Patent Ban rider attached to the America Invents Act, patents were banned in the U.S. this summer for human embryos that might be cloned or otherwise bred to use for experiments and potential profit. Some researchers consider these embryos their own "inventions" and want patent rights to give them the right to control all use or selling of their discoveries.

Now the European Court of Justice has ruled in a longstanding legal challenge, that any research within the 27 member states of the European Union which involves destruction of human embryos cannot be patented. The decision does not stop all human embryonic experimentation and research. For example, patents are permitted if research involves work on therapies or diagnosis useful to the embryo itself, such as correcting defects.

However the ruling states that "…use of biological material originating from humans must be consistent with regard for fundamental rights and, in particular, the dignity of the person."

MercatorNet editor Michael Cook also noted a difference in this case in that the usual advocates for such protections for embryonic humans, such as the Catholic Church and other Christians, were not involved (although these and others have welcomed the decision), but the primary advocates were Greenpeace International environmentalists, which protested commercialization of human life and the possibility of a "widespread embryo industry."

Russian Law Now Restricts Abortion

2011-10-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

This summer, Russia's Orthodox Church was working with Russian Conservative parliamentarians to promote legislation to restrict abortions in this country. Russia has highest abortion rate in the world (according to UN statistics 53.7 per 100 women), with abortions a method of birth control and freely available at any licensed medical clinic in the country.

Despite prevailing propaganda of world overpopulation, Russia is facing a serious demographic winter of population decline, even after country created a "mother capital" policy to pay women to have more children. Now Russia's President Dmitri Medvedev has signed a law restricting abortions in this country for the first time in decades.

However, Russian legislators did not accept all the Orthodox Church's and Conservatives' proposed restrictions. Legislators accepted a ban on abortion beyond 12th week of pregnancy, and a mandated 2-7 day waiting period before abortion, but with exceptions for economic hardship where abortion may be permitted up to 22 weeks gestation.

But legislators rejected a proposal to require a husband's consent, or in the case of a minor girl, parents' consent before abortion. And they also rejected conscience protections for doctors who do not want to participate in abortions.

But though some key tenets of the law were rejected at this time, analysts predict this is the beginning of more pro-life legislation to come in Russia.

Online Petition to Defund Planned Parenthood

2011-10-26T16:08:00.002-04:00

The international online news service, LifeSiteNews, is spearheading web site petition campaign to influence Congress to defund leading abortion provider Planned Parenthood. The initial goal is 100,000 signatures, after which the list will be presented to all U.S. Congressmen and Senators.

This petition follows the result of legislation to defund Planned Parenthood, which was passed earlier this year in the U.S. House of Representatives but killed in the Senate—consequently prompting many states to initiate their own defunding efforts.

LifeSiteNews founder and managing director, Steve Jalsevac, said, "Planned Parenthood is the most notorious killer of unborn children in the world. Not only that, but investigations conducted by Lila Rose and Live Action have repeatedly shown that the abortion organization flagrantly ignores laws designed to protect the underage and the vulnerable."

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-10-24T16:42:00.002-04:00

"Words teach, but personal example shows their meaning…. People want to observe Christians who have taken a stand in the contemporary world, Christians who live amid all of the darkness with clarity, insight, and conviction."

(Blessed Franz Jaegerstaetter, who defied Nazism)

Documents Help Nations Resist Abortion Agenda

2011-10-24T16:41:00.000-04:00

The United Nations is known to be exerting pressure on countries worldwide to liberalize their abortion laws. For example, recently the UN Special Rapporteur on Health, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN Secretary General falsely stated that a right to abortion exists.

In response, the pro-life San Jose Articles have been released at the UN in New York, and are being introduced in legislatures around the world. The San Jose Articles are named for the city in Costa Rica where they were drafted in March of this year.

The Articles were written and signed by 29 international legal, medical and public policy experts. They establish the scientific fact that human life begins at conception, and clarify that no UN treaty mentions abortion or defines reproductive health as including abortion.

The Articles also document that several existing human rights treaties recognize the humanity of unborn babies and the responsibilities of governments to protect them as members of the human family.

The San Jose Articles have already been introduced in British House of Lords, and will soon be introduced in the European Parliament, Italian Parliament, Madrid, Santiago, Manila, Buenos Aires, Calgary, San Jose, and Washington DC.

New Bill to Strengthen Informed Consent

2011-10-24T16:39:00.002-04:00

Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann has introduced the Heartbeat Informed Consent Act to strengthen information given to women before they have an abortion. To clarify, this bill is not the same as the state of Ohio's Heartbeat Bill (H.B. 125), which Congresswoman Bachmann also supports.

Ohio's Heartbeat Bill bans abortion of babies once a heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks gestation. Congresswoman Bachmann's Heartbeat Informed Consent bill requires that a mother be offered an ultrasound of her unborn baby, that the baby's heart be highlighted on the ultrasound image, the child's heart's activity described, and the heartbeat made audible for the mother to hear.

However, under the bill, the mother is not prevented from "closing or averting her eyes from the ultrasound images required to be displayed or not listening to the description of the images required to be given."

Congressman Bachmann said, "My legislation will not only enable this technology to be better used to protect life, but also to ensure that a woman who is considering abortion is finally able to give full and informed consent."

The Heartbeat Informed Consent bill has 29 co-sponsors and has been endorsed by several national pro-life organizations, including Susan B. Anthony List, Heartbeat International, NRLC, and the USCCB.

Conscience Concerns Over Denied Federal Grant

2011-10-24T16:38:00.000-04:00

In 2006, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops began offering services to human trafficking victims under a federal grant. Through its Migration and Refugee Services, the USCCB has helped more than 2,700 such victims with food, clothing, and medical care in partnership with other Christian and secular groups including Lutheran Family Services, Jewish Family Services, World Relief, domestic violence shelters, and more.

Now the Department of Health and Human Services has cut all funding for this program. Though no reason was stated, the concern is that this cut is due to the Church's opposition to abortion and contraception. Written instructions for the grant this year said that "strong preference" would be given to groups that refer for the "full range of legally permissible gynecological and obstetric care."

In September letter to U.S. bishops announcing a new USCCB committee on religious freedom, Archbishop Timothy Dolan warned that the Migration and Refugee Services were under pressure to provide services in conflict with Church teaching.

In this same letter, Archbishop Dolan indicated that Christian freedoms are under attack. He said, "This is most particularly so in an increasing number of federal government programs or policies that would infringe upon the right of conscience of people of faith or otherwise harm the foundational principle of religious liberty."

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-10-17T16:53:00.002-04:00

"Catholics must not shrink from the obligation to assert the values and principles we hold essential to the common good, beginning with the right to life of every human being and the right of every woman and man to express and live by his or her religious beliefs and well-formed conscience."

(Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chair of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities)

House Vote on Protect Life Act

2011-10-17T16:53:00.000-04:00

The U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to approve the Protect Life Act (HR 358). This bill is sponsored by Congressman Joe Pitts (R-PA) and similar to the unsuccessful 2009 Stupak Pitts Amendment to restrict abortion funding in the federal healthcare legislation.

The Protect Life Act states that no funds authorized or distributed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act may be used to pay for abortion or abortion coverage. Individuals, state or local governments wanting abortion coverage in their healthcare plans must purchase a separate elective abortion rider paid for with private funds.

Insurance companies that offer abortion coverage must also offer clients identical health insurance plans without this rider. The Protect Life Act insures that state laws protecting conscience rights are respected for healthcare workers and institutions, and also for insurance companies, that don't want to participate in or cover abortion.

The Catholic Advocate Voice, a pro-life organization which encourages faithful Catholics to participate in the political process has setup the web site ProtectLifeAct.org for citizens to express support for this bill. According to Catholic Advocate Voice, the USCCB, Catholic Health Association, and many national and state pro-life organization have endorsed the Protect Life Act.

Twisted Human Cloning

2011-10-17T16:51:00.000-04:00

According to a study recently published in the journal Biology & Nature, researchers at New York's Columbia University report they have cloned 13 human embryos that are partial genetic copies of diabetic patients. The reason the clones are "partial" copies is that embryos were intentionally created abnormal, with three sets of chromosomes (an extra set).

Theoretically, this abnormality means that the embryos would not grow if implanted in a womb and carried to term, but some scientists are not dismissing this possibility. Besides the immorality of breeding human embryos to potentially harvest stem cells, and the immorality of intentionally creating them abnormal, an additional problem is that that any cells obtained from these embryos wouldn't even be useful for therapies or laboratory studies.

The researchers also solicited women to provide human eggs for the experiments, and the ovarian stimulation process to obtain human eggs is dangerous to women's health and fertility. Pro-life ethicists and scientists are vocally condemning this destructive experimentation as blatant disregard for human life.

"Fathers For Good" Offering Pro-Life Resources

2011-10-17T16:47:00.000-04:00

The Knights of Columbus have established the FathersForGood web site and Facebook initiative for men who are fathers, fathers to be, any man wanting information about fatherhood, and even wives. The site provides information, advice, videos, and spiritual helps for being a godly father.

During this month of October, Respect Life month, various pro-life resource are being posted on the site, beginning with a recent statement from Cardinal Daniel DeNardo of Galveston-Houston, USCCB chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

Among other pro-life highlights, for example, is the article From Abortion to True Medicine, which tells of Dr. John Bruchalski's 15-state speaking tour at 23 medical schools and universities last March where he shared his conversion from abortion provider to pro-life obstetrician and gynecologist.

The FathersForGood.org web site states, "A Father is…called by God the Father. … Of course, no eartlhy father will be like "our Father who art in heaven," but God does give certain graces to fathers who seek him out and follow his way"

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-10-05T15:15:00.005-04:00

"Unless we recognize that each individual is irrepeatable and valuable by virtue of simply being conceived human, we cannot begin to talk about human rights. This includes the right to be born, as all of us have enjoyed."

(Dr. Margaret Ogola, African author, doctor, pro-life leader, died of cancer Sept. 22, 2011)

Congress to Investigate Planned Parenthood

2011-10-05T15:15:00.002-04:00

U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations, has sent a letter to Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), to begin a thorough audit of Planned Parenthood. Rep. Stearns' letter requests that Planned Parenthood send the committee official documentation that "ensures federal money received by PPFA and its affiliates is not being used to impermissibly subsidize abortion."

Besides checking whether Planned Parenthood is complying with federal regulations for use of taxpayer funding, the Committee will also check for other financial irregularities, such as improper billing related to federally funded programs, and will examine whether Planned Parenthood is reporting all cases of suspected sexual abuse of minors and suspected sex-trafficking cases.

PPFA receives more than $363 million in Medicaid and other taxpayer funding each year. In July, Americans United for Life released a detailed report alleging that Planned Parenthood has misused federal Medicaid and Title X family planning funds, among other financial irregularities.

Over the last few years, Live Action has released video stings of Planned Parenthood employees ignoring possible child sexual abuse and statutory rape, plus their willingness to aid sex traffickers.

PPFA has begun a petition drive against the Committee on Oversight and Investigations, claiming that its investigation is harassment, intimidation, and politically motivated.

Rep. Stearns letter was sent to Planned Parenthood September 15th, and Planned Parenthood's compliance is required within two weeks.

RU-486 Abortion Pill Exposed

2011-10-05T15:14:00.003-04:00

Eleven years ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval for distribution of the RU-486 medical abortion drug. RU-486 is used to induce an early abortion at 6-11 weeks of pregnancy.

According to an FDA report released in July, 14 U.S. women are known to have died after taking this drug, and a total of 2,207 adverse effects have been reported. Similar effects have been reported worldwide.

RU-486 dangers became first known in 2003 after the death of California 18-year-old Holly Patterson, whose calls for help to a Planned Parenthood hotline were dismissed and she died in a hospital emergency room due to a uterine blood infection from the drug. Holly's father, Monty Patterson ,has become a spokesman against RU-486 and testifies how it hurts women.

Mr. Patterson emphasizes that women be informed of the risks, and has now launched a web site to do so in memory of his daughter Holly, AbortionPillRisks.org. This site does not overtly address abortion debate, but provides facts on the drug plus real life stories from women who have used it.

Monty Patterson says, "No woman should have to risk her life or her health because she lacks factual and accurate medical information."

Bizaarre Abortion Center License Suspended

2011-10-05T15:13:00.002-04:00

The Northern Illinois Women's Center abortion facility in Rockford, Illinois has become known nationwide for its bizarre and evil methods to taunt pro-life witnesses and mock Christianity and Jesus Christ, for example, rubber chickens hanging from nooses and a nun doll in a coffin in the window, posters with hateful and blasphemous messages and images, and more.

Nevertheless pro-lifer witnesses have been faithful to keep praying in front of the center, including a group of priests who come weekly and have been targets of vicious, verbal hatred from abortion center staff.

Now the Illinois Department of Health has suspended the abortion facility's operating license. The Department of Health's notice said that the Department found conditions "that are directly threatening the public interest, health, safety and welfare requiring immediate, emergency action."

According to the Rockford Register Star, the center must file a written answer to the state's findings twenty days after the September 29th notice, stating how the violations will be addressed.

Kevin Rilott, a onetime pro-life witness outside the center, said on his blog, "We don't know how long this abortion mill will be closed but we do know that finally the women and children of Rockford will have some protection from an abortion mill that is known for its dangerous conditions and celebrating abortion as some kind of demonic victory over God."

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-09-28T11:37:00.001-04:00

"My switch to pro-life had nothing to do with religion. …I changed my mind, based on fetoscopies and ultrasound studies. Once we had ultrasound in place, we could study the fetus and see it was a member of our community."

(Dr. Bernard Nathanson, former abortionist and co-founder of NARAL, later convert to Catholicism)

Mexico City Policy Still Not Secure

2011-09-28T11:36:00.003-04:00

This summer, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the Foreign Relations Authorization Bill, defining its 2012 budget. The Foreign Affairs Committee approved key provisions to address currently funded human rights abuses, including restoring the pro-life Mexico City Policy that President Obama revoked by executive order a few days after taking office in 2009.

The Mexico City Policy prohibits U.S. taxpayer funding for contraception or family planning services to international organizations that perform or promote abortion overseas. The Mexico City Policy also denies monies to the UN Population Fund, cutting U.S. aid to China with its one child policy, forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Pro-abortion supporters have call the Mexico City Policy a "Global Gag Rule." Now U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) along with 15 other senators have reintroduced what they call "Global Democracy Promotion Act" to permanently repeal and end the Mexico City Policy.

Senator Lautenberg will promote the repeal for the 3rd time, as n amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Bill. Senators Boxer and Lautenberg claim that if this legislation succeeds, the Mexico City Policy would not only be permanently repealed, but could not be revived by presidential executive order.

Meanwhile, major pro-life groups, as well as the USCCB and Catholic Relief Services, are championing the Mexico City Policy, calling for its reinstatement.

No Patents for Human Embryos

2011-09-28T11:35:00.004-04:00

We know some researchers and research companies are cloning or otherwise breeding tiny human embryos to use for experiments and potential profit. Researchers consider these embryos "inventions" and have been seeking patent rights to protect their discoveries and give researchers the right to control all use or selling of their artificially created human life.

Since 2003, the federal budget bill has included a rider, known as the Weldon amendment, after its originator pro-life physician and former Congressman Dave Weldon (R-FL). The Weldon amendment bans patents – and thus buying and selling of - genetically engineered "human organisms," such as, human embryos, human fetuses, human-animal chimeras, "she-male" human embryos, and whatever else may be manipulated.

Because the Weldon amendment is part of the federal budget bill, it must be annually voted on and re-approved. Thus a Weldon Patent Ban rider was added to the America Invents Act, which Congress recently passed and President Obama signed into law September 19th.

Now the Weldon amendment is permanent law, ensuring that early human beings, even if unnaturally created, at least receive legal protection from being considered property to be bought and sold.

Ultrasound Coming to Congress

2011-09-28T11:35:00.003-04:00

The Stanton Project along with the Christian Defense Coalition and the National Pro-life Center are launching a "Voices from the Womb" project October 13th in the United States Capitol in Washington, DC. The project is to let unborn children of America "speak" for themselves using real time ultrasounds with pregnant women to show live video of first, second and third trimester children on a large screen.

Ultrasound machines are now much smaller and more mobile than earlier versions, thus presentations are possible in schools, churches, courts, legislative hearings, and more. The project's organizers have invited 535 members of Congress to see live ultrasounds being performed right in the United States Capitol building, and also hear heartbeat of these tiny unborn citizens.

"Voices from the Womb" will travel from the U.S. Capitol across America over the next several years, sharing presentations, including a major outdoor presentation at the Democratic National Convention.

The project originators maintain that, "The power of seeing and 'hearing' from these children in real time on large screens by millions of Americans will change and shift the landscape of abortion in our nation forever."

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-09-21T14:35:00.002-04:00

"The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

(Blessed Teresa of Calcutta)

Federal Government Bypasses State Decision

2011-09-21T14:34:00.000-04:00

This summer, New Hampshire became the fourth state (after Indiana, Kansas, and North Carolina) to strip abortion providers, including leading abortion chain Planned Parenthood, of taxpayer funding. In June, New Hampshire's Executive Council, which oversees state contracts, redirected $1.8 million in Medicaid tax funding over the next two years from Planned Parenthood of Northern New England to facilities that do not perform abortions.

This is the first time a state contract with Planned Parenthood had been blocked. After the decision, the Obama administration threatened to deprive New Hampshire of all Medicaid funding unless the decision was reversed.

Because the Executive Council did not reverse decision, the president's administration bypassed the Council and now the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under Kathleen Sebelius, has directly awarded a $1 million contract to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England for its "family planning" programs.

New Hampshire legislators are stunned at the federal government interference in this state decision.

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) told the New Hampshire Union Leader, "New Hampshire's Executive Council has spoken on this matter, and the [Obama] administration should respect the state's right to make this decision."

Indiana, Kansas, and North Carolina have received similar threats from the federal government, with federal judges in Kansas and North Carolina forcing authorities to continue funding Planned Parenthood with taxpayer monies. Meanwhile elected officials in Texas, Tennessee, Montana and Ohio are working on similar legislative action to remove tax funding from abortion providers in their states.

Award Granted in "Wrongful Birth" Lawsuit

2011-09-21T14:30:00.000-04:00

Ana Mejia and Rodolfo Santana sued their obstetrician and ultrasound technician for allegedly failing to read an ultrasound correctly and discovering their son's disabilities before he was born. Their little boy, Bryan, now three years old, was born without arms and one leg.

The couple says that if they had known the extent of his disabilities they would have aborted him, thus initiating what is called a "wrongful birth" lawsuit. The parents estimated they needed $9 million to cover Bryan's medical needs for prostheses, wheelchairs, operations, and attendants for an estimated 70 year life span.

The jury found obstetrician Dr. Marie Morel and her ultrasound technician negligent, and awarded the couple $4.5 million. Dr. Morel's lawyer says they will appeal because, though Dr. Morel wants Bryan to have a happy healthy life, physicians should not be blamed for acts of nature.

Discovery Institute Senior Fellow,Wesley Smith, in a statement to LifeSiteNews condemned "wrongful birth" lawsuits because they "…undermine the important principle that we should love all children unconditionally regardless of their health and capacities."

Smith said such lawsuits "would promote eugenic abortion if doctors feared failing to make a proper prenatal diagnosis could lead to financial consequences."

Pro-Life Ad Emphasizes Fatherhood

2011-09-21T14:26:00.000-04:00

The Radiance Foundation has collaborated with the Issues4Life Foundation to launch a new billboard and web site campaign celebrating the fatherhood of unborn babies. This campaign is entitled, "Fatherhood Begins in the Womb."

The Radiance Foundation has become known as creator of the TooManyAborted pro-life ad campaigns exposing racist roots of abortion in American. In a press release for the project, Ryan Bomberger, Chief Creative Officer Radiance Foundation, said, "Men have been empowered by Roe v. Wade to have sex and run. They've been forced out of their crucial role by perpetual welfare and today's brand of liberal feminism."

Pastor Walter B. Hoye, President of the Issues4Life Foundation, said, "When a man has sex with a woman he is consenting to being a FATHER. We want to emphasize the biblical requirement and vital need for men to be involved as PROVIDERS and PROTECTORS when 'LIFE' happens."

Latest available statistics from the U.S. Center for Disease Control attribute nearly 84% of all abortions to unmarried women. Full information on the Fatherhood Begins in the Womb campaign is available at TooManyAborted.com, including links to informational resources for both mothers and fathers.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-09-14T12:44:00.004-04:00

"Ultimately, I know that I have an infinite value. Jesus paid an infinite price. That’s my worth, that Jesus died for me. I’m not worthless. I’m priceless."

(Rebecca Kiessling, conceived in rape and now pro-life witness and speaker)

Massachusetts Assisted Suicide Ballot Initiative

2011-09-14T12:44:00.003-04:00

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has approved a petition request from the pro-euthanasia group Massachusetts Death with Dignity. This is not necessarily a reflection of the Attorney General's personal endorsement, but that this group has met all the state's legal requirements for ballot petition requests.

Death with Dignity's request is to allow Massachusetts citizens to vote November 2012 on legalizing physician assisted suicide in this state, i.e., to legally permit doctors to write prescriptions for patients deemed to have six months or less to live to end their own lives.

To get on the 2012 ballot, euthanasia supporters now must collect 69,000 signatures from registered Massachusetts voters by middle of this coming November. Pro-life groups as well as the Massachusetts Catholic bishops have condemned the measure.

Physician assisted suicide is now legal in Oregon, Washington, and Montana, with efforts in the works in other states. Oregon was the first state to legalize this lethal practice in 1997, and according to the Oregon 2010 Death With Dignity Report, physician assisted suicide numbers have increased nearly every year since the practice became legal.

Two good web sites that provide current information on euthanasia and assisted suicide efforts nationwide: Choice Is An Illusion and the Patients Rights Council.

Mega-Study: Abortion and Mental Health Risks

2011-09-14T12:38:00.001-04:00

Priscilla Coleman, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio analyzed 22 studies with data on women to compare results of those who had chosen abortion and those who had not.

Professor Coleman's analysis and conclusions have been published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. The compiled data she examined covered nearly 900,000 women with over 160,000 who had experienced abortion.

According to the analysis' abstract, "Women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81% increased risk of mental health problems, and nearly 10% of the incidence of [all] mental health problems was shown to be attributable to abortion."

Professor Coleman's analysis of combined studies also shows abortion connected with increased risk for anxiety disorders, depression, alcohol abuse, marijuana use and abuse, and suicide attempts.

Her findings are significant in light of prevailing academic opinion, including the American Psychological Association, that abortion has no psychological consequences resulting in mental health problems. And despite increasing testimony otherwise from post-abortive women, this prevailing opinion is promoted by pro-abortion activists who dismiss the trauma women experience after abortion.

Professor Coleman thus concludes, "Consistent with the tenets of evidence-based medicine, this information should inform the delivery of abortion services."

Outreach to Pregnant College Students

2011-09-14T12:33:00.001-04:00

In light of of the statistic that over 46% of abortions in America are performed on college-age women (ages 18-24), Students for Life of America (SFLA) has launched a Pregnant on Campus initiative, to encourage and challenge campus pro-life groups to conduct service activities to help pregnant and parenting college students—their own peers.

Example projects include establishing a campus support group, conducting a drive to install diaper decks in campus restrooms, establishing a material assistance fund, helping to secure affordable housing, and more.

Kristan Hawkins, SFLA Executive Director, said, "When faced with an unintended or crisis pregnancy, many students feel forced to choose between continuing their education or raising their child. Too often, college campuses do not provide the necessary resources or environment that support pregnant and parenting students."

Pregnant on Campus is a needed, practical initiative because pro-abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood are often permitted easy access on campuses to advertise and promote services through campus health centers and elsewhere, while pro-life organizations such as pregnancy care centers often are not.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-09-08T16:49:00.002-04:00

"Catholics are called to defend human life, particularly that of the unborn. The Church’s teaching is clear. If we don’t challenge public officials who reject this teaching, we leave them in their sins and confuse the faithful."

(Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota, interview with Catholic World Report on challenges to priests, 8/8/11)

Texas Court Targets Ultrasound Law

2011-09-08T16:48:00.000-04:00

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks has blocked key provisions of Texas' new law requiring abortionist to perform a sonogram before an abortion and for mothers to hear a description of their unborn baby. Judge Sparks upheld the requirement that sonograms be performed, but struck down the provisions requiring doctors to describe the images to their patients and requiring women to hear the descriptions.

The law made exceptions for women who were willing to sign statements saying they were pregnant as a result of rape or incest, or that their unborn baby had an irreversible abnormality. Judge Sparks wrote that the law violates the free speech rights of abortionists who may not want to discuss results of an ultrasound and of patients who may not want to disclose rape or incest. He also ordered the state not to impose penalties against abortionists who don’t fulfill the laws requirements.

The ultrasound law's supporters say that it would allow women to be better informed before abortion surgery, and though a sonogram is required under the law, a woman may choose not to view it.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who had made this law one of his top legislative priorities this year, criticized the decision, “This important sonogram legislation ensures that every Texas woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying and understands the devastating impact of such a life-changing decision.”

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is expected to appeal the ruling. Meanwhile the law is under court injunction and thus not in force.

Kansas Court Rules for Planned Parenthood Funding

2011-09-08T16:46:00.002-04:00

Kansas is one of several states that have withdrawn taxpayer funds from abortion providers, including leading abortion chain Planned Parenthood. Earlier this year, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback spearheaded and signed a 2011-12 budget that allocated federal Title X family planning funds only to agencies that provide comprehensive health care, and none to those that perform abortions. This stripped Planned Parenthood of Kansas of about $330,000 funding

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten has overturned the decision, ruling that Kansas must fund Planned Parenthood, even though the state did not cancel any contracts with the agency in effect at the time the new provision was enforced. Judge Marten also rejected the state’s request to only give Planned Parenthood taxpayer money on a monthly basis while Planned Parenthood's lawsuit moved forward, rather than in a quarterly lump sum.

The Kansas City Star reported that state officials had said that Planned Parenthood never proved that it required taxpayer funds to maintain current operation levels, and that the monies only constitute 5.5 percent of the abortion chain’s revenue.

Judges in North Carolina and Indiana have also blocked similar state decisions to withdraw taxpayer funds from abortionists. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt will appeal the latest ruling

Idaho Woman Sues Against Fetal Pain Abortion Ban

2011-09-08T16:43:00.001-04:00

Idaho resident, Jennie Linn McCormack, is challenging Idaho’s law against self-abortions and has included the state’s new fetal pain abortion ban in the lawsuit. The fetal pain abortion ban legislation originated in Nebraska, then several other states adopted it. It bans abortion of babies after 20 weeks gestation based on scientific evidence that unborn babies can feel pain.

This is the first challenge to any fetal pain abortion ban in the country. McCormack was charged with illegally performing an abortion on herself with RU-486 abortion drugs ordered over the Internet, but the charges were dismissed due to lack of evidence. She is still filing suit against the laws under which she was charged.

Her lawyer claims that Idaho's 1972 law banning self-abortions, as well as the 20-week fetal pain law, unconstitutionally restrict abortion access by not providing an exception when a pregnancy endangers a mother’s health, and not just her life.

Mary Spaulding Balch, director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee, indicates that this suit may backfire since the woman took an abortion drug that even pro-abortion advocates do not recommend for late-term pregnancies. And as we see with other legal action against pro-life laws, this suit also calls attention to subject of the legislation, i.e., that unborn babies feel pain.

Mary Balch said, "We are confident that the Supreme Court will ultimately agree and will recognize the right of the state to protect these children from the excruciatingly painful death of abortion."

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-09-01T16:31:00.001-04:00

"If it were not for [pro-life people]…our Church would be as mealy-mouthingly ineffective on pro-life issues as is many another Christian community. Our pro-life people are not daunted by the haughty disdain of the media, nor are they afraid of being branded as zealots."

(the late Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, Archbishop of Toronto, Canada, deceased August 26, 2011)

Britain May Tighten Abortion Rules

2011-09-01T16:22:00.000-04:00

We are not hearing much from Britain that is pro-life, but Britain's Department of Health has announced that it plans to change rules for women before they receive an abortion. This change is a proposed amendment to Britain's health and social bill to be debated in the Commons next week, and it is encouraged by a cross-party group of Members of Parliament.

The amendment will require that abortionists offer women independent, free counseling on abortion risks and alternatives. This free counseling is to be provided at a separate location and from an organization that does not do abortions.

The idea behind the separate, non-abortion provider location, will prevent private abortion agencies, such as Marie Stopes (the British equivalent of Planned Parenthood) and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, from providing pre-abortion counseling, because they have a financial interest in women receiving abortions. The decision who will provide the counseling is not yet determined.

Last year, the number of abortions in Britain was 202,400. Amendment supporters predict that a majority of MPs could back it, and they estimate that this change could save 60,000 unborn babies a year.

Pro-lifers have launched a Right to Know effort to encourage this change, while some pro-lifers are skeptical of anything the government is involved in and want British citizens to lobby their MPs to ensure that the independent counseling is definitely pro-life.

Catholic Physicians Opposing Contraceptive Mandate

2011-09-01T16:10:00.000-04:00

By this time next year, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' "Guidelines for Women's Preventive Services" will go into effect. These guidelines require that all insurance policies (not limited to those in the state exchanges under President Obama's healthcare plan) cover abortifacient contraceptives and sterilizations with no co-pay.

These guidelines include a restricted conscience exemption for "religious employers" which applies to hardly any Catholic healthcare facility. Obviously, mandated coverage of contraceptives and sterilizations is a direct violation of conscience protections for those who object to these practices for moral and religious reasons.

In response, St. Gianna Physician's Guild has launched an online petition drive for all citizens to request that the Obama Administration and Kathleen Sebelius, HHS Secretary, to immediately withdraw these requirements.

Guild president, Thomas McKenna, said, "We are going to send a message to the Obama Administration that this contraception mandate is wrong, discriminatory and violates the religious rights of Catholics across America."

Fewer Doctors Want to Do Abortions

2011-09-01T16:03:00.000-04:00

The journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology has published the results of a study of obstetrician-gynecologists in the U.S. and their willingness to perform abortions. Researchers surveyed 1,800 ob-gyns, and 1,144 responded.

According to the study's abstract, 97% respondents said they have had abortion-minded patients, but only 14% are willing to perform the abortions. Study results also indicated that female physicians are more likely to provide abortions than male.

When examining the religious affiliation of those ob-gyns willing to do abortions, researchers found Jewish ob-gyns most willing (40.2%), no religious affiliation (26.5%) and Hindus (20%) next likely, non-evangelical Protestants (10%) then Catholic/Eastern Orthodox (9%) somewhat willing, and evangelical Christians least likely (1.2%).

Dr. John Bruchalski, ob-gyn and founder pro-life Tepeyac Family Center in Fairfax, Va. told National Catholic Register earlier this year, "Since the mid-1990s, the numbers of abortionists in the country have dropped from 2,500 to about 1,700 today. Once you experience the reality that you are tearing apart a human life, it becomes repugnant for many people."

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-08-24T11:14:00.001-04:00

"Not only do abortion and euthanasia kill the weakest and deaden the consciences of people and societies, but they are based on suppression of the truth that all human life is sacred. This blocks the view of God."

(Mark Pickup, disabled disability rights advocate, My Cup Is Half Full, 5/20/11)

"Pregnancy Reduction" Exposed

2011-08-24T11:13:00.000-04:00

"Pregnancy reduction," sometimes called "selective reduction" or "multi-fetal reduction," is a cover-up term for the practice used when a woman is pregnant with several babies, to abort one or some of the babies. Pregnancies of "multiples" often occurs when in vitro fertilization or other fertility therapy has been used, and more babies than are intended are produced.

Pregnancy reduction (abortion) was developed in the 80's and is sometimes encouraged with the reasoning that it will be healthier for the mother and remaining babies. Or parents might choose to "reduce" for social reasons, because they do not want so many children at one time.

It has been believed that usually this terrible choice is considered when a mother's pregnancy includes three or more babies. But a recent New York Times article exposed the fact that now more parents of twins are choosing to permit only one baby to live, primarily because they only want one child.

One woman quoted in the article was very candid about her reasons: "If I had conceived these twins naturally, I wouldn't have reduced this pregnancy, because you feel like if there's a natural order, then you don't want to disturb it….The pregnancy was all so consumerish to begin with, and this became yet another thing we could control."

Seven Planned Parenthood Locations Closing in Arizona

2011-08-24T11:07:00.002-04:00

Early August, the Arizona Court of Appeals authorized part of a 2009 pro-life law to go into effect. This law requires that women see an abortionist in person before receiving an abortion to learn risks and alternatives.

Also under the law, Arizona now requires a notarized parental signature before a minor girl can get an abortion; medical professionals cannot be forced to perform abortions if it conflicts with their religious or moral beliefs; and non-physicians may not perform abortions.

Planned Parenthood of Arizona has 13 locations across the state that provide abortions. In response to the Court of Appeals ruling, Planned Parenthood has announced it will not do abortions at seven locations, including their locations near the large cities of Phoenix and Tucson. While at the same time, Planned Parenthood says they will probably appeal this ruling.

In arguments before the Arizona Court of Appeals in June, Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Steven Aden, said, "If Planned Parenthood truly cared about what’s best for women, they wouldn’t be repeatedly going to court around the nation to stop laws that allow women to make fully informed choices."

Pro-Life Youth Congress

2011-08-24T11:06:00.000-04:00

The Life Education Fund, affiliated with Right to Life of Northeast Ohio in Akron, Ohio is the support organization for a venture called the Pro Life Youth Congress (PLYC). The PLYC was started in 2004 by student summer interns working in the Right to Life office who wanted to encourage other students to do more to end abortion and save lives. With the support organization's help, they launched the PLYC as a leadership training and good citizenship project.

The PLYC is now a student-run and student-led pro-life organization in high schools and other youth oriented church and community organizations to develop leadership abilities, cultivate virtuous citizenship, and encourage students' pro-life action to build a culture of life.

The Congress is modeled after our own nation's government—made up of a House of Representative and a Senate. There are national, state, regional and local officers and committees, and the year's activities is planned around four congressional sessions.

The four congressional sessions' leadership training based on one of the four cardinal virtues of justice, temperance, fortitude and prudence, which the PLYC's mission statement indicates are essential to godly leadership.

Membership is growing rapidly, and has expanded into several states and into Canada as well.

Pro-Life Meditation for the Week

2011-08-17T16:46:00.000-04:00

"We may not always win, but we always fight. …

God goes before us and God will never give you something to do and not the grace to stand in it."

(63 year old Canadian grandmother, Linda Gibbons, now back in jail for peacefully witnessing for Life - Toronto Pro-Life forum, June 25, 2011)

Gender Tests Raise Sex Selection Concerns

2011-08-17T16:42:00.000-04:00

Simple blood and urine testing kits are now being sold in U.S. and other countries claiming to be able to determine gender of unborn baby as early as seven weeks gestation. These tests are non-invasive without the risks of miscarriage that amniocentesis and other methods carry.

Genetics researchers examined reliability of 57 such tests. The results were published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study concluded that the tests do work as promised.

However, the researchers did not address ethical concerns, such as the concern that early gender testing can give rise to sex selection abortions or abortions due to gender-linked diseases. According to the New York Times, at least one company, Consumer Genetics, requires customers to sign a waiver saying they are not using the test for that purpose.

It is estimated that over 160 million unborn baby girls have been aborted worldwide since the 1970s because of a preference for sons.

Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, said, "…everything about the early testing of fetal genes for sex identification spells ethical trouble. And, as the techniques for the analysis of fetal DNA become more and more accurate and affordable, it is likely to reshape the debate over abortion."

Pro-Life College Students Need Advisors

2011-08-17T16:39:00.000-04:00

The school year is beginning again, and a recent article from Students for Life of America (SFLA) identified a critical need for pro-life college students. Not only do such students often face a liberal agenda from their college administration and many professors, but college pro-life groups face extinction because students can't find a faculty academic advisor willing to support them.

To exist on campus, student groups must have a college professor willing to be identified as their advisor to receive official recognition from university administration, plus other organizational help and support.

SFLA says that any college group facing this problem can contact them for advice and help.

For example, they might research professors' other affiliations such as churches, or those who have adopted children, for potential prospects for advisors.

Another resource, for both pro-life college students and professors who may feel alone in their convictions, is University Faculty for Life (UFFL). UFFL is a national organization of university faculty that promotes research, dialogue and publication on abortion, infanticide and euthanasia from many disciplines and perspectives.

UFFL membership is listed online, with professors' universities and contact emails included.

Bishop to Run Marathon for Life

2011-08-17T16:36:00.001-04:00

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield, Illinois will be running the Kansas City Marathon October 15th, during the Catholic Church's Respect Life month. The bishop will be participating with LIFE Runners, a team of pro-life runners dedicated to the Gospel of Life and raising funds for pro-life charities.

Bishop Paprocki runs one marathon a year, taking pledges and donating all funds he raises to charity. He is the first bishop to compete with LIFE Runners, and all of them will be wearing jerseys with pro-life messages.

Each team member is trying to raise $250 towards this year's team goal of $25,000. The $25,000 will go to the Sioux Falls Alpha Center for Little Feet pregnancy help center, specifically for the center's bus that travels to rural areas in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota to provide pro-life counseling and free ultrasounds.

Any LIFE Runner funds raised above the goal will be donated to a similar project for a Kansas City help center. While any funds Bishop Paprocki raises over his $250 will be contributed toward pro-life causes in his Springfield diocese.

LIFE Runners compete with an evangelistic mission. Their creed is, "We run for awareness, that the eyes of all people may be transformed and see every human life as a reflection of Your glory, Lord."