Thursday, December 24, 2009

Prayer for Aborted Babies



Heavenly Father,
Thou hast given us the gift of freedom
to love and to follow in Thy ways and commands.
Some parents choose to abuse this freedom
by destroying the gift of life
which Thou hast given to their offspring.
Please forgive those who destroy human life
by aborting their unborn babies.
Give these unborn children the opportunity
to enjoy Thee for all eternity,
if it according to Thy ordinance.
Assist me in being one in solidarity with Thy little ones
by taking to heart the words of Thy Son,
"whatever you did for one of these least brothers of Mine,
you did for Me." (Mt. 25:40)
Therefore, allow me today, Father,
to adopt spiritually an unborn child
and to offer my prayers, works,
joys and sufferings for that little one,
so that child will be able to be born and live
for Thy greater honor and glory.
We pray this in Jesus' name,
in union with the Holy Spirit one God forever and ever.

Amen.

Americans using surrogacy to create made-to-order babies

Laschell and Paul Baker holding the twins she bore July 28 as a surrogate mother. / New York TimesDifferent regulatory approaches to surrogacy in the US can result in legal tangles, according to a report in The New York Times Magazine. The "lax atmosphere" of surrogacy regulation "means that it is now essentially possible to order up a baby, creating an emerging commercial market for surrogate babies that raises vexing ethical questions."
The Times gives three disturbing examples.
After years of infertility, Amy and Scott Kehoe decided to hire a surrogate. They purchased sperm from an anonymous donor, who is a high-achieving college student and employed a surrogate mother. Their twins were born on July 28.
But the babies are now in the custody of the surrogate mother, Laschell Baker, after she acquired a court order to remove the children from Ms Kehoe’s care. Upon discovering that Ms Kehoe was suffering from a mental illness, Ms Baker feared for the children’s safety. “I couldn’t see living the rest of my life worrying and wondering what had happened, or what if she hadn’t taken her medicine, or what if she relapsed,” Ms Baker told the Times. Baker already has four children of her own, and plans to raise the twins, Bridget and Ethan, with her husband Paul.
Five parties were involved in this transaction: the sperm donor, the egg donor, Ms Baker and the Kehoes -- plus the two middlemen who brokered the sperm and eggs.
Lawyers say that fewer problems arise when there is a genetic link between the prospective parents and the offspring. Very often, gestational surrogacy involves two parents who are able to produce eggs and sperm of their own, but the woman is unable to carry a baby. Most surrogacy arrangements run smoothly, and doctors say that they can be highly fulfilling.
Another case involved an eccentric 60-year-old who engaged a sperm donor, an egg donor, a surrogate mother to produce twin girls. From the moment of the birth there were allegations of neglect and utter incompetence as a parent. He had approached the transaction so carelessly that he has had to fight several attempts to remove the girls from his care.
The third involved a woman who agreed to be a gestational surrogate for her brother and his male partner. The partner donated sperm and the woman carried the child to birth. The trio are now fighting for custody of 3-year-old twin girls. The woman now claims that she is the mother even though she did not supply the eggs for the process.
In the US, there is no centralised authority regulating surrogacy. Although fertility doctors have a financial stake in the process, they basically control the process. California upholds surrogacy agreements, but Michigan doesn't.
George J. Annas, a Boston University bioethicist, said, “This is the main problem with commercialization, seeing children as a consumer product. This is especially true when there is no genetic connection with the child,” he told the Times last week. “It really does treat children like commodities. Like pets.”

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Voice for the Voiceless-Becca


When I was 19, I was pregnant, scared and alone. I had were many 'choices.' I gave my son up for adoption at birth, by choice. Seven years later, he is happy, healthy and well-taken care of by his adoptive parents . . .

I would like to share my story of courage with your readers. I have made it one of my life's goals to eliminate the stigma and negative connotation that adoption carries in our society. I would also like to educate people about open adoption. I might be able to use pictures if my son's parents allow! Any opportunity to share my story is appreciated. The work you are doing is so important! Thank You.

Becca, Massachusetts

Oops, I'm Pregnant......Pregnancy Advice, Guides, Counselors & More.

"I think it's sickening that you can actually do something like this," Tyronica Tunstall, Jimella's cousin, told the Post-Dispatch. "I hope Jimella wasn't living when the baby was cut out."

While Tunstall bled to death, Hall called 911 from a park in nearby Centreville, saying that she gave birth to a stillbornbaby. Hall and the baby were taken to a hospital, where she told police several conflicting stories and refused to be examined by doctors, the Post-Dispatch reported. Since the baby showed no sign of trauma, her body was released to Hall.

After the baby girl was buried September 21, Hall confessed to her boyfriend that she killed Tunstall and claimed the baby as her own, according to the Chicago Tribune. The boyfriend, a sailor on leave from the Navy, called police and they soon found Tunstall's body and arrested Hall.

The next day, police discovered that Tunstall had three other children. After nationwide alerts and a massive search, investigators discovered the bodies of seven-year-old DeMond, two-year-old Ivan, and one-year-old Jinela stuffed into the washer and dryer in Tunstall's apartment, the Tribune reported. An autopsy later showed that the children, last seen with Hall, who often babysat them, on September 18, had been drowned and their naked bodies placed in the appliances.

Hall, currently in jail on a $5 million bond, pled not guilty September 25 in Tunstall and the baby's deaths. Authorities are still investigating the murders of the three older children, and prosecutors expect to present the case to a grand jury October 6, according to the Associated Press.

Ohio "Choose Life" License Plate Lawsuit Dropped

A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Ohio's specialty "Choose Life" license plates has been dropped, as a result of the Supreme Court's June 26 refusal to overturn an appeals court decision approving similar plates in Tennessee, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

The license plates feature a drawing of a boy and girl with the phrases "Adoption builds a family" and "Choose life." They cost an extra $30 each year, $20 of which goes to groups that counsel women about adoption. The plates became available last year, and 2,299 have been sold since then, the Dispatch reported.

The American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution.  (ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. ), representing NARAL NARAL National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League  Pro-Choice Ohio, filed the suit arguing that the license plate program unfairly promoted only one side of the abortion debate. The ACLU had already lost in one court, when U.S. Judge Donald Nugent upheld the Ohio plates in September 2005, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. "There is an arguable benefit to the public in providing funding for adoption-related services separate and apart from any political or ideological arguments involved," Nugent ruled.

The case was on appeal to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had previously decided in March that Tennessee's Choose Life plates were constitutional. After the U.S. Supreme Court let the Tennessee appeals court decision stand, the ACLU knew the Ohio case had no chance for success in that court, according to the Dispatch.

"Our case had been stayed pending the outcome of the Tennessee case," ACLU attorney Carrie Davis told the Dispatch. "Once the stay was lifted, we filed to drop the case."

Studies Show Improvement after Adult Stem Cell Treatment of Heart Disease Studies published in the September 21 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine The New England Journal of Medicine (New Engl J Med or NEJM) is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world.  (NEJM NEJM New England Journal of Medicine ) show some modest but definite improvement after heart attack survivors were given stem cells stem cells, unspecialized human or animal cells that can produce mature specialized body cells and at the same time replicate themselves. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst (the blastula typical of placental mammals; see embryo), which is very young  obtained from their own bone marrow.

"Recent randomized ran·dom·ize
tr.v. ran·dom·ized, ran·dom·iz·ing, ran·dom·iz·es
To make random in arrangement, especially in order to control the variables in an experiment.
 studies of cell therapy for heart disease represent a milestone in this rapidly developing field while serving as a cogent reminder that many important clinical and fundamental questions have yet to be addressed," wrote Dr. Anthony Rosenzweig of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Both an international and regional referral center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts is a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital (founded in 1916) and  and Harvard Stem Cell stem cell

In living organisms, an undifferentiated cell that can produce other cells that eventually make up specialized tissues and organs. There are two major types of stem cells, embryonic and adult.
 Institute in an editorial in the same issue of NEJM. "The ultimate success of this strategy is likely to depend on continued and effective coordination of rigorous basic and clinical investigations."

Although one study by a team in Norway did not show significant improvement in six months between patients who were given stem cells derived from bone marrow (BMC (BMC Software, Inc., Houston, TX, www.bmc.com) A leading supplier of software that supports and improves the availability, performance, and recovery of applications in complex computing environments. ) and a control group who received no cells, two other studies from Germany were encouraging.

Researchers at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, led by senior author Andreas M. Zeiher, gave 204 patients who had suffered a heart attack either an injection of blood marrow stem cells or a placebo. At four months, according to the NEJM report, measurements showed that the improvement of the heart's efficiency in the BMC group was "significantly greater" than the placebo group.

"This double-blind and fully controlled trial controlled trial Clinical research A clinical study in which one group of participants receives an experimental drug while the other receives either a placebo or an approved–'gold standard' therapy. See Blinding, Double-blinded.  provides the best evidence yet for beneficial effects of BMC after acute myocardial infarction acute myocardial infarction (·kyōōtˑ mī·ō·karˑ·dē·  [heart attack]," wrote Rosenzweig

Rosenzweig also wrote that the German researchers "found the rate of adverse clinical events to be significantly lower at 1 year among patients receiving BMC than among those receiving placebo. ... [I]t reinforces the message that BMC infusion is not only feasible but also safe, and it raises the possibility that clinical benefits may exceed the modest improvement seen in ventricular function ventricular function,
n the cyclic contraction and relaxation of the ventricular myocardium.
."

Another study by researchers at Goethe University gave 75 patients either no cells, BMC, or cells derived from circulated blood, according to the NEJM report. The BMC group showed small but significant improvement after three months.

"Although the benefit observed after BMC infusion was modest ... , it is remarkable that any benefit was seen in these patients, who were studied on average more than 6 years after infarction and who were already receiving optimal medical care," Rosenzweig wrote. "The ... trial suggests that BMC can have effects beyond simple acceleration of healing after infarction. Whether repeated infusions would yield additive benefits and whether these benefits would persist will be important questions for future trials."

Abortion Leads to Murder-Suicide

According to an eyewitness, Plantation, Florida, police officer Laura Grunas blamed her boyfriend, firefighter Robert Peat, for the abortion death of her unborn baby before killing him and then turning the gun on herself, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, owned by the Tribune Company, is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and all of Broward County. Its main competitor in this area is the Miami Herald, out of neighboring Miami-Dade County to the south.  reported.

Reserve police officer and volunteer firefighter Michael Roth, a friend of the couple, watched as Grunas, 30, and Peat, 31, were fiercely arguing on the afternoon of August 4. Neighbors told the Miami Herald that Grunas was yelling, "Why is everyone blaming this on me? He killed my baby."

"Roth advised that Peat had told him that when they found out she was pregnant, they decided to terminate the pregnancy," Detective Brian Kendall wrote in a report, according to the Sun-Sentinel. "Peat was enormously upset about it due to religious beliefs, but felt that it was the right thing to do."

But Peat told Roth that after the abortion "things had been getting progressively worse."

Police were called to the scene and asked Grunas to leave, the Herald reported. However, Grunas returned at about 8 p.m. and confronted Peat. She then used her service revolver to fatally shoot him in the chest before killing herself, according to the Herald.

Friends, relatives, and fellow police officers and firefighters said they were shocked at Grunas and Peat's deaths. "[Grunas] had an outgoing personality, was pleasant to be around," Michael Hanlon, president of the department's Fraternal Order of Police The Fraternal Order of Police is a US-based organization of sworn law enforcement officers. It is the world's largest organization of rank and file sworn officers, with over 2100 local lodges and over 325,000 members.  lodge, told the Sun-Sentinel. "I never had the slightest inkling that this was going on."

"It's a terrible loss to everyone that worked with [Peat] and the fire department in general," Joe Hernandez, Peat's battalion chief, told the Sun-Sentinel.

Mother Arrested in Forced Abortion Attempt

The mother of a 16-year-old Columbus, Georgia, girl allegedly forced her twice to drink turpentine turpentine, yellow to brown semifluid oleoresin exuded from the sapwood of pines, firs, and other conifers. It is made up of two principal components, an essential oil and a type of resin that is called rosin.  in an attempt to kill the girl's unborn baby, according to the Associated Press (AP). Rozzelletta Blackshire was arrested September 22 and charged with criminal abortion criminal abortion Obstetrics Deliberate and illegal termination of pregnancy. See Abortion, Roe v Wade. Cf Webster decision.  and first-degree cruelty to children. Also arrested were two cousins, Shonda Blackshire and Monica Johnson, who were charged with criminal abortion, the AP reported.

"The mother and two cousins were involved in forcibly having her to take a quantity of turpentine on two different occasions explaining to her that their help would help kill her baby and do away with her pregnancy," said Lt. J.R. McMichael of the Columbus Police Department, according to WTVM.

The unidentified girl told school counselors about the incidents, and police have placed her in protective custody An arrangement whereby a person is safeguarded by law enforcement authorities in a location other than the person's home because his or her safety is seriously threatened. , WTVM reported. Examinations have shown no injury to her or the baby, and she continues to carry the baby to term, according to WTVM.

Illinois Woman Charged with Killing Mother and Unborn Child

In a gruesome and tragic case, an Illinois woman has been charged with first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child in the September 15 deaths of Jimella Tunstall, 24, and her seven-month-old unborn baby girl. Police are also investigating Hall for the drowning deaths of Tunstall's other children, aged 7, 2, and 1.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Voice for the Voiceless-Jennifer


Thank you for standing up for those who are unable to stand up for themselves (unborn children). See the little miracle God gifted me with.

Testimony
It’s not like I woke up one morning and thought to myself, “Gee, I think I want to be a single mom.” It is by far the most challenging journey I have ever taken and yet, it’s brought me the most fulfilling a delightful moments of my life. Being given the opportunity to birth and raise my son has been God’s greatest gift.

I knew I was pregnant. I couldn’t explain it; I just felt… different. When I took the pregnancy test that confirmed new life brewing inside of me, that moment not only changed my life forever but, it caused me to hyperventilate and fall on the bathroom floor of a busy office.

When I called my son’s sperm donor (I call him this because he doesn’t actually parent at all), he seemed much more calm than I imagined. I imagined he would demand for me to abort my pregnancy and I would have to run away from him. At that time, we were facing some very serious challenges and he had been charged with a felony. Although he was calm, he wasn’t supportive. His parents suggested we abort our pregnancy and he even brought up the possibility. I am a very strong-minded woman and knowing it was my choice – alone, I knew I would never consider and was prepared to reject, even shun any suggestions to abort my pregnancy.

I was 8 weeks pregnant when I left my son’s sperm donor and returned home to the Seattle area. I had been supporting this man emotionally for some time and realized I had nothing left to give, especially after being told I was no longer loved by him. My friends and family were waiting for me, with opens arms. Realizing I needed their support and love, I was more than relieved to be back home. I moved into a one-bedroom apartment and began planning for the new addition in my life. It was strange to be pregnant and alone. So many moments I felt I needed to share with someone else who was just as excited as I was about the life inside of me. When I found out I was having a boy, I named him Tyler. I bought blue - everything. When he kicked me at night, there was no one lying next to me to share the joy. All the special moments of pregnancy were only shared between my unborn child and I. When I woke up in labor, it seemed strange to not be able to turn to someone beside me and say, “It’s time, honey.” It was obvious; I was missing something.

Tyler was born 3 weeks early, on February 20th, 2004. He weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces and was 19.5 inches in length. He was born with a full head of white blonde hair. He was absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him for even a moment. I couldn’t put him down…. I still can’t, sometimes.

Tyler and I adjusted to our new lives together fairly easily. I went back to work when he was 7 weeks old and I only cried every day for two weeks!! Fortunately, he has always been a really good kid. He somehow knows that mommy not only has to work, but had to keep on top of the laundry, the dishes, groceries and the most important responsibility of all – being a mom. He has his moments and throws a few tantrums here and there, but what can I say? He’s almost 2!!

I am now engaged to an incredible man. He wants to adopt Tyler and the two of them are quite attached. It’s really neat to see. He’s a father to Tyler without me asking or expecting. He’s man, a real man.


The last two and a half years have been really hard and truly amazing, at the same time. I am not sure where I would have been without Tyler in my life. He’s taught me so much about who I am and who God meant for me to be. Children change our lives. Sure, it’s challenging to be a parent and even more challenging to be a single parent. Most things in life worthwhile have their share of challenges. Children are gifts and we all make choices that make their existence inevitable. Whether we choose to carry out our unplanned pregnancy or abort it, we can never change the fact that this life did or does exist. God created life and I have had the privilege of carrying a life into this world. 

Jennifer, Oregon

Pro-Life Victory as Northern Ireland Abortion Guidelines Rejected by High Court


Pro-life advocates in Northern Ireland are celebrating a major court victory today as the Belfast High Court has ordered the recall of health guidelines that they said would have undermined and effectively overturned the province's pro-life laws.
Lord Justice Girvan found that the guidelines failed to deal properly with conscientious objection to abortion and counseling on abortion. The judge said the guidelines were open to misinterpretation, saying the language was "ambiguous" and left doctors and staff unclear as to what was expected of them. The judge said the guidelines needed to be absolutely clear, otherwise they represented "a trap to the unwary."
Justice Girvan awarded court costs against the Northern Ireland Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.
Liam Gibson, Northern Ireland officer for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) said, "We hope that the department will now take seriously many of the concerns which were largely disregarded when the guidelines were being drafted."
Pro-life groups argued in court that the guidelines failed to mention the fact that abortion remains a criminal offense in Northern Ireland. They said they were "misleading and legally inaccurate" and would have brought abortion on demand into the province by "bureaucratic stealth."
SPUC had argued that it was wrong for the Department of Health to expect health care workers to give "non-directive counselling" to women considering abortion.
"It is simply extraordinary that a government department should have issued guidance on criminal legislation and not have once mentioned the victim of the crime," Gibson said.
Bernadette Smyth, director of Northern Ireland's leading pro-life group Precious Life, said, "The court decision today is a victory for our unborn children." Precious Life ran a petition campaign calling for the withdrawal of the guidelines.
"Our assessment that the guidelines were legally and medically flawed has been vindicated. They were an attempt to change the interpretation of the law and would have effectively legalised abortion in Northern Ireland through the back door."

That Britain's 1967 Abortion Act does not apply in Northern Ireland continues to irritate abortion advocates who campaign ceaselessly to overturn the province's law. Opposition in the province to abortion remains strong, however, from both the public and most political parties, including the Social Democrats, Labour Party, Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party as well as the Catholic Church and evangelical Protestant groups.
In October 2007 a motion was passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly, tabled by MLAs Jeffrey Donaldson and Iris Robinson, that rejected the draft guidelines. Nevertheless, the status of the guidelines remained ambiguous for a year while pro-life groups launched their legal challenge.

Detroit Archbishop Leads Prayer Walk outside Abortion Facilities

Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron led parishioners of the archdiocese in a pro-life prayer march in front of two abortion facilities on Saturday, November 21st. The prayer march was preceded by an early morning mass and concluded with Eucharistic benediction.
We "must be a witness patterned after God Himself: generous, kind, patient, but undaunting and constant," said the archbishop at the 7:30 Mass opening the event.
The archbishop explained: "It is God's plan that the whole world would somehow reflect His greatness, and that we, men and women, the human beings of His who form the crown of His creation in this world, would cherish the capacity for the generation of life."
After the opening Mass, held at St. Joan of Arc parish, people gathered at St. Veronica's church for a rosary procession under the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The procession, the last of four this year sponsored by Helpers of God's Precious Infants of Michigan, was the largest yet, with an estimated 450-700 in attendance.
From St. Veronica's the participants proceeded to 8 Mile Road, close to two abortion facilities, while praying the 20 decades of the rosary.  Most of the participants knelt for a moment of silence after the prayers.
Archbishop Vigneron told Ave Maria Radio that such prayers, are "profoundly important."
"First of all, your know, I don't even think in any way what we do should be identified as a demonstration," he said.  "It's a witness; we're there witnessing to the Gospel of life."
"Everybody works very hard to create an atmosphere of serenity and respect.  Even for the people who are responsible for abortion."
Parishioner of Assumption Grotto Parish in Detroit, Diane Korzeniewski similarly told LifeSiteNews that the "vigil was not a protest, but a prayer."
"There was no anger or hatred.  Rather, the vigil was rooted in genuine Christian love for all involved - including the staff workers at the clinic."
After praying, parishioners returned to St. Joan of Arc's where Monsignor Bugarin of St. Joan of Arc offered benediction.  Those who were unable to walk had remained in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the march.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Voice for the Voiceless


We have had four children that are sooooo sweet and cute. Two of them the doctors said I should abort because they will have Down syndrome. They said it so matter of factly like, well, will you be considering terminating your pregnancy? I couldn't believe that these ultra-sound techs and doctors are influencing SO MANY abortions just by suggesting it as the thing to do to pregnant mothers. All four of my kids (2 girls and 2 boys) are soooo smart and really cute. They are winning awards in academics and helping feed the homeless. There is NOTHING wrong with my kids. I feel sorry for the women who are given bad information, are unsure, and end up aborting their perfectly normal babies because of fear. This same thing happened to my sister. Her daughter is genius level, and they told her to abort when she was pregnant because they said her baby would be mentally handicapped. I wish there was a way we could stop this misinformation that is leading to loving moms killing their babies. I wish it could never happen to another mother/child ever again.

For the Vatican it's Clear - Pro-Abortion Politicians 'Must' be Denied Communion



With the Patrick Kennedy Communion flap and the recent action of the Bishops of Spain having opened up the issue of denying communion to pro-abortion politicians, it is worthwhile to review the position of the Vatican on the matter.
Since the controversy came to a head in 2004, the stance from the Vatican on the matter has been clear and consistent.  For the Pope and top Curial Cardinals in charge of the matter there is no question about the responsibility to deny Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who obstinately support abortion. In fact, the issue was closed as early as 2004 with a letter from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
The then-head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith intervened into a debate among the US Bishops on the issue.  Simply put, Cardinal Ratzinger said in his letter titled "Worthiness to receive Holy Communion," that a Catholic politician who would vote for "permissive abortion and euthanasia laws" after being duly instructed and warned, "must" be denied Communion. 
Ratzinger's letter explained that if such a politician "with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it."
The letter even answered common objections such as how to deal with politicians that supported war or the death penalty in light of denial of Communion to pro-abortion politicians. 
The man who is now Pope, explained: "Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia."
Since then, Pope Benedict XVI has confirmed this position speaking as Pope.  Answering a reporter on an in-flight press conference in 2007, Pope Benedict addressed a question on the Mexican bishops excommunicating politicians who support legalizing abortion.  "Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," said the Pope.
In the comment, the Pope was referring to the Church's Canon law 915, which states: "Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."
The highest authority on the subject in the Vatican, next to the Pope, is the head (or Prefect) of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Canizares.   The head of that Congregation, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI a year ago, quoted the Ratzinger document on the question in a LifeSiteNews interview earlier this year. 
In addition, Cardinal Antonio Canizares stated: "The strongest words are found in St. Paul: one who goes to the Eucharist and is not properly prepared, duly prepared, 'he eats his own condemnation.' This is the strongest thing that we can say and what is the most truthful statement."
This line is not only coming from Pope Benedict and his appointees, however. The Cardinal who preceded Cardinal Canizares in heading the Congregation was Nigerian-born Cardinal Francis Arinze.

Already in 2004, Cardinal Arinze said a pro-abortion politician "is not fit" to receive Communion. "If they should not receive, then they should not be given," he added.  Cardinal Arinze was asked the question so frequently he began to joke about the matter.  One such question and answer session even made it to youtube.
Arinze is seen on the video as saying that he is regularly asked if a person who votes for abortion can receive Holy Communion. He replies, "Do you really need a cardinal from the Vatican to answer that?  Get the children for first Communion and say to them, 'Somebody votes for the killing of unborn babies, and says, I voted for that, I will vote for that every time.' And these babies are killed not one or two, but in millions, and that person says, 'I'm a practicing Catholic', should that person receive Communion next Sunday? The children will answer that at the drop of a hat. You don't need a cardinal to answer that."
Former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke who has been appointed to head up the highest court in the Vatican remarked on the need for bishops to uphold this canon since without doing so they undermine belief in the truth of the evil of abortion.
"No matter how often a bishop or priest repeats the teaching of the Church regarding procured abortion, if he stands by and does nothing to discipline a Catholic who publicly supports legislation permitting the gravest of injustices and, at the same time, presents himself to receive Holy Communion, then his teaching rings hollow," wrote Burke. "To remain silent is to permit serious confusion regarding a fundamental truth of the moral law." 

Friday, November 27, 2009

accidentally got pregnant womens thoughts......!!!!


I just wanted to write you to let you know how great it really is to see someone out there trying to make a difference. People so often overlook this issue...they make it out to be no big deal. I am sure you get so many messages like mine, but you know, I used to be one of the "neutrals." I knew it was wrong, but I thought that it was not my business what other people did. I guess this is my story... lame or not...

In June, I accidentally got pregnant. The guy I was dating, of two years almost, was a very godly, upright man. He was 24. I was 19. His entire family thought he was the greatest person in the world. He is now in the process of becoming a youth minister at his church. Whenever he found out that I was pregnant, he insisted that I have an abortion. A "man of God" who preached to me my faults day in and day out, wanted me to get an abortion! Why? Because he was not ready to be a father. It would have inconvenienced his life, simply because he was not ready to face the consequences of his lustful actions. Never really siding one way or another with abortion had come to an end for me. I knew that there was a child, a living being, inside of me, and for the first time I actually accepted the fact that abortion WAS murder.

I was debating the abortion, because my boyfriend kept pressuring and pressuring me to do it. My point of realization came when I went to the doctor for the first ultrasound, and saw my child inside of me. Whenever I heard his heartbeat booming, I knew right then and there that I could never have killed this child, nor would I do it now.
At such an early stage in my pregnancy, you could make out his body. I could see him! He was living inside of me. Seeing him on that monitor was the most heart-warming and loving feeling I have ever experienced. I had never felt more complete in my life than I did at that moment.

It is just amazing to me how selfish people can be. I refused to have an abortion. Unfortunately, I had a miscarriage and lost the child a couple of months into the pregnancy. If I had not lost the child, I would have proudly had that baby, without any aid from my ex-boyfriend, and I would have gladly taken the heat from my family..all of that for the baby. That experience made me realize that we as people should not have a choice when it is a choice to kill another human being. That would be like choosing to kill your four-year-old daughter or son...merely because they are an inconveinence to you. That would never be accepted in today's world...so why should abortion? If you can't kill a living, breathing, walking person, what gives you the right to kill a living child simply because they are still developing in your womb?

Sorry, I just felt compelled to give you my story. It is so weird to think I was ever even remotely okay with the idea of abortion. I have definitely stepped up and made my opinions known ever since that day...and I thank God for that experience. As hard as it was to lose a child, it has forever changed my life and view on the creation of life.

Thank you, and God Bless you for everything you are doing and have already done.

Cheryl, Arkansas

Poll: Large Majority of Canadians Favor Abortion Limits



For the ninth year in a row, a majority of Canadians have rejected the status quo on abortion in this country, according to a new poll. Over half of respondents to the poll said there should be legal protection for human life before birth and over two-thirds say abortions should only be paid for by taxpayers in medical emergencies or in cases of rape or incest. A poll by Environics Research of 2002 Canadians found that only one-third of Canadians agree with the current policy that denies any protection to unborn babies before birth. The majority, 56%, support legal protection at some stage before birth: 30% support legal protection from conception on, 17% after three months of pregnancy and 8% after six months of pregnancy.  Once again, support for legal protection from conception on is much higher among women, 35%, than men at 25%.

The disconnect between official policy and the opinions of Canadians is even more stark in the area of abortion funding. Most abortions in Canada, which now total well over 100,000 annually, are paid for by taxpayers through the publicly funded health care system. Yet when asked, 68% of Canadians polled said that abortions should be either privately funded (18%) or only tax-funded in cases of medical emergency "such as a threat to the mother's life or in cases of rape or incest."  Only 26% support tax-funding of all abortions, down from 30% last year.
"With all the financial pressures on our health care system right across this country, it is ludicrous that our governments continue to pay tens of  millions of dollars for a procedure which is seldom done for medical reasons," said pediatrician, Dr. Delores Doherty, president of LifeCanada, which commissioned the poll. "This is especially true when a majority of Canadians think unborn babies should be protected, not destroyed."
The poll was conducted in October 2009 on 2002 Canadians.  The margin of error is 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Young Pro-life Women Become a Voice for the Voiceless


I am pro-life for many reasons. First of all, abortion is the killing of a growing human baby. It just happens to be unborn and in the mother's womb until nine months are up. Pro-abortionists always say it's just a blob of tissue and that it doesn't feel anything. Well, they even call it a blob of tissue even when it has a skull (head), a brain, a heart, fingers, toes, arms, legs, etc. They don't realize that it's not just tissue! The unborn baby does indeed feel pain, as was scientifically proven, even though pro-abortionists say that's not right.

Another reason I'm pro-life is because I don't like to see any baby, born or unborn, hurt. He or she is still a life, a precious life, that is not yours to take. It's up to God to decide if and when that baby dies. Killing your baby isn't a choice like most people think. Yeah, they call it a choice because it's legal and it lives in their body for nine months, but why destroy it? That life was made for a purpose--to live, not to die. When women abort, they're trapped in a world of lies and deceit. They have nowhere else to go but down. Whether it's the boyfriend who made the choice, her own mother's, or the family of the mother's, they don't realize what they're going to do will affect them in some way. Most people regret their decision to abort, while some don't. Is their decision not regretable to them because they feel no love for their unborn? Or is it because they feel it just was the right choice they made for their own unborn? We'll never know.

The only way we can stop abortion is by getting everyone to vote against it and see what they're aborting is more than just tissue and cells. Most pro-choicers feel that it is just a blob of tissue because it's "not fully human yet." We're all made of tissue and cells, and more, so does that make the unborn any less human? Care to check an ultrasound? Pro-life is a great road to take. We're for saving the precious unborn lives, while others are for destroying it.


Ashley, Illinois

On procured abortion - Clarification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Recently a number of letters have been sent to the Holy See, some of them from prominent figures in political and ecclesial life, explaining the confusion that has been created in various countries, especially in Latin America, following the manipulation and exploitation of an article by His Excellency Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, on the sad affair of the "Brazilian girl."
on yutrousIn this article, which appeared in "L'Osservatore Romano" on March 15, 2009, the doctrine of the Church was presented, while still keeping in mind the dramatic situation of the aforementioned girl, who - as could be demonstrated afterward - had been accompanied with all pastoral delicacy, in particular by the archbishop of Olinda and Recife at the time, His Excellency Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho.
In this regard, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reiterates that the Church's teaching on procured abortion has not changed, nor can it change.
This teaching has been presented in numbers 2270-2273 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in these terms:
21 week«Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jer. 1:5). “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth” (Psalm 139:15).
«Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.
This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law: “You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish” (Didaché, 2:2). “God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes” (Vatican Council II, "Gaudium et Spes", 51).
the fruit of sin«Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae," (Code of Canon Law, can. 1398), “by the very commission of the offense” (Code of Canon Law, can. 1314) and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law (cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 1323-1324). The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.
«The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation: "The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death... The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined... As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights.” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction "Donum Vitae", III)».
In the encyclical "Evangelium Vitae," Pope John Paul II reaffirmed this teaching with his authority as Supreme Pastor of the Church:
«By the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, in communion with the Bishops-who on various occasions have condemned abortion and who in the aforementioned consultation, albeit dispersed throughout the world, have shown unanimous agreement concerning this doctrine-I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written Word of God, is transmitted by the Church's Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the Law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church» (no. 62).
As for abortion procured in certain difficult and complex situations, the clear and precise teaching of Pope John Paul II applies:
«It is true that the decision to have an abortion is often tragic and painful for the mother, insofar as the decision to rid herself of the fruit of conception is not made for purely selfish reasons or out of convenience, but out of a desire to protect certain important values such as her own health or a decent standard of living for the other members of the family. Sometimes it is feared that the child to be born would live in such conditions that it would be better if the birth did not take place. Nevertheless, these reasons and others like them, however serious and tragic, can never justify the deliberate killing of an innocent human being» (Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae", no. 58).
As for the problem of specific medical treatments intended to preserve the health of the mother, it is necessary to make a strong distinction between two different situations: on the one hand, a procedure that directly causes the death of the fetus, sometimes inappropriately called "therapeutic" abortion, which can never be licit in that it is the direct killing of an innocent human being; on the other hand, a procedure not abortive in itself that can have, as a collateral consequence, the death of the child:
Pope John Paull II«If, for example, saving the life of the future mother, independently of her condition of pregnancy, urgently required a surgical procedure or another therapeutic application, which would have as an accessory consequence, in no way desired or intended, but inevitable, the death of the fetus, such an action could not be called a direct attack on the innocent life. In these conditions, the operation can be considered licit, as can other similar medical procedures, always provided that a good of high value, like life, is at stake, and that it is not possible to postpone it until after the birth of the child, or to use any other effective remedy» (Pius XII, Speech to the Fronte della Famiglia and the Associazione Famiglie numerose, November 27, 1951).
As for the responsibility of medical workers, the words of Pope John Paul II must be recalled:
«Their profession calls for them to be guardians and servants of human life. In today's cultural and social context, in which science and the practice of medicine risk losing sight of their inherent ethical dimension, health-care professionals can be strongly tempted at times to become manipulators of life, or even agents of death. In the face of this temptation their responsibility today is greatly increased. Its deepest inspiration and strongest support lie in the intrinsic and undeniable ethical dimension of the health-care profession, something already recognized by the ancient and still relevant Hippocratic Oath, which requires every doctor to commit himself to absolute respect for human life and its sacredness» (Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae", no. 89).

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I feel that abortion is wrong!!!



I feel that abortion is wrong because it is the mother and father's fault for not keeping what they were doing safe. Why do they think that they can erase that "mistake" and make it right? You cannot "right" a wrong by killing a human being. It was their choice to do that kind of stuff, but do people ever think about what they really are doing? They are killing their own baby! What kind of person does this? I know if I were pregnant I would never think of an abortion. Yes, I realize these kids may be 16 or 17, but it was their choice, and they know the concequences, so why let them get away with murder? They will not learn--it is giving them more of a chance to do it all over again.

Kristina, Florida

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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Quote of the Day 22-11-2009

"America you are beautiful . . . and blessed . . . . The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless. If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life."
Pope John Paull II
- Pope John Paul II

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Medical Science Proves Abortion Is Killing of Human Beings - Pro-Life Anti-Abortion Video



Medical Science Proves Abortion Is Killing of Human Beings. Original film from rosaryfilms entitled: "Is This A Human Being?". Medical Science Supports Pro-Lifers. Images provided by babypremier

Human Development 1/4

Mother Teresa And Adolf Hitler on Abortion / Anti-Abortion PSA



his video provides quotations from Mother Teresa and Adolf Hitler on the topic of abortion. Simone Stella plays Bach organ works (public domain) of "Christ lag in TodesBanden"

Pro-life Anti-Abortion Video: Development of the Unborn Baby



Anti-Abortion Prolife Video: Development of the Unborn Baby. Anti-Abortion Prolife Video: Development of the Unborn Baby. Fetal Development; From conception to birth; Day 1: fertilization:

Abortion Activist Judge Hamilton Confirmed with Help of Ten Republican Senators

The Senate voted 59-39 yesterday to confirm President Obama's first circuit court appointee, the pro-abortion Judge David Hamilton.  Although hailed as moderate by various news sources and dubbed
"thoughtful and distinguished" by President Obama, many conservatives have condemned him as a judicial activist who places his own preferences above the law.
"As a judge, Hamilton has shown
himself to be soft on crime, radically pro-abortion, and hostile towards religion," wrote a group of prominent conservatives upon Hamilton's nomination.  "With such a liberal activist record unmarked by significant experience, Judge Hamilton is clearly a bad and politically motivated appellate nominee."
A vote to stop a filibuster of Hamilton was aided by ten Republicans who voted with the Democrats to limit debate on Hamilton’s qualifications.  The ten Republicans (along with their contact information) are listed below.
Hamilton’s confirmation came after the failed filibuster attempt by Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama.  He outlined the reasons for his attempt in a letter sent to his Republican colleagues on November 3rd.
"Judge Hamilton stated in a 2003 speech that the role of a judge includes writing footnotes to the Constitution," Sen. Sessions wrote. Sen. Sessions continued by saying that Hamilton has said he "believes the Framers [of the Constitution] intended judges to amend the Constitution through evolving case law."
He continued: "This view evidences an activist judicial philosophy. Judges are not given the power to amend the Constitution or write footnotes to it."
Some see such philosophy as evident in Hamilton's 2005 decision in Hinrichs v. Bosma, in which Hamilton ruled that the legislature could not open with overtly Christian prayers--although prayers addressed to "Allah" he judged to be acceptable.  Additionally, in 1994 he denied a Rabbi’s request that a Menorah be part of the Indanapolis Municipal Building’s holiday display. Both decisions were subsequently overturned by a higher court.
Similarly, in A Woman's Choice v. Newman, Hamilton obstructed for seven years an Indiana law that required women to be given information about abortion and abortion alternatives at least 18 hours before the procedure.  As Heather Smith of Americans United for Life said, “Reversing Judge Hamilton’s rulings, the Court of Appeals noted the law was ‘materially identical to a law held valid by the Supreme Court in Casey, by this court in Karlin, and by the Fifth Circuit in Barnes. No court anywhere in the country (other than one district judge in Indiana [i.e., Hamilton]) has held any similar law invalid in the years since Casey. The court called Hamilton's reasoning on the ruling "an abuse of discretion."
She continued: “Judge Hamilton ignored clear precedent in favor of his own abortion agenda.”
The Seventh Circuit court, which also overturned Hamilton’s opinions, is the court that Hamilton will now join .
Hamilton has has also raised funds for ACORN, the radical left-wing organization linked to prostitution and voter fraud, and worked as a head of the ACLU's Indiana chapter. Not all were bothered by his confirmation, however.
"We applaud the Senate's vote to confirm the eminently qualified Judge David Hamilton to serve in this critical position," said Nancy Keenan, president of the pro-abortion NARAL organization.

"Manhattan Declaration" Embodies U.S. Christian Pushback against Abortion, Same-Sex "Marriage"

A group of prominent Christian leaders and scholars unveiled a manifesto Friday declaring firm opposition to current and future laws infringing upon the sanctity of life, marriage, faith, and liberty.
abortion...
The 4,700-word  "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" was drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George and Chuck Colson and signed by more than 125 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders, including Focus on the Family Dr. James Dobson and National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson.  15 Roman Catholic bishops, including Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., were among the signatories.
The declaration issues a clario
n call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not - under any circumstance - abandon their Christian consciences.  For more information: http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/
"We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right - and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation - to speak and act in defense of these truths," reads the declaration.
the fruit of sin
"We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence."
The document lays out the groups' arguments against anti-life, anti-family, and anti-religious public policy as contravening "foundational principles of justice and the common good," in defense of which the group says they are "compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act."
In asserting Christians' right to conscientious objection to such policy, the declaration says it is "ironic" that those who advance as "rights" various immoral practices "are very often in the vanguard of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage."
"Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family," it concludes. 
"We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's.  But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."
Co-author Timothy George, who is founding dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University and a senior editor of Christianity Today, said the Manhattan Declaration "represents an ecumenism of the trenches that has been going on for a number of years among many denominations and confessional traditions."
"While we recognize that many important differences of doctrine and discipline still divide us, we nonetheless earnestly seek that unity for which Jesus prayed when he asked that his disciples be one in their love for God, for one another, and for the world," said George.
On his radio show BreakPoint Wednesday, Evangelical leader Chuck Colson called the Manhattan Declaration "probably the most important document I've ever signed."

Friday, November 20, 2009

Quotes of the day

the fruit of sin
"We fed the public a line of deceit, dishonesty, a fabrication of statistics and figures. We succeeded because the time was right and the news media cooperated. We sensationalized the effects of illegal abortions, and fabricated polls which indicated that 85 percent of the public favored unrestricted abortion, when we knew it was only 5 percent. We unashamedly lied, and yet our statements were quoted [by the media] as though they had been written in law."
Dr. Bernard Nathanson
-Dr. Bernard Nathanson,
Co-founder of National Assn. for Repeal of Abortion Laws, now called National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League. Today, Dr. Nathanson is a pro-life author and activist.

Six out of ten Americans oppose the public funding of abortion

The news comes as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has released the 2074-page Senate version of the health care reform bill, H.R. 3590, which would permit government funding of abortion.
Nevertheless, a mere 37% of respondents said that they were in favor "of using public funds for abortions when the woman cannot afford it."  Only 26% of respondents said that abortion ought to be legal at any time.
Similarly, aproximately 63% of respondents said that abortion ought never to be legal, or legal in only a few circumstances.  36% of respondents said that it ought to be legal in all or most circumstances.

In the same poll 51% of respondents said that they would even oppose the use of private insurance money to pay for abortions and that abortions ought be payed for out-of-pocket.
The CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll is the result of interviews with 1014 adult Americans, including 928 registered voters.  The estimated sampling error is plus or minus aproximately 3% for both groups.

Moment of Truth

At the dawn of the Obama administration, pro-life Democrats believed they had finally gotten their place at the table. The president may be fervently pro-choice, the vice president a Catholic who abandoned his early pro-life views in pursuit electoral success. Widely heralded changes to the 2008 Democratic platform failed to include a "tolerance clause" acknowledging the pro-life Democrats' existence.
But in 2006 and 2008, the party leadership recruited pro-life Democrats to run in culturally conservative areas of the country or in races where they thought the pro-lifer would be the better candidate (Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, as pro-choice as they come, tried to coax a pro-life Democrat into the Rhode Island race for Rockefeller Republican Lincoln Chafee's Senate seat). Harry Reid, a self-described pro-lifer, became the Senate majority leader. Moreover, President Obama was supposed to find new common ground between pro-choice and pro-life Democrats, bringing the party together.
"We need to protect life not from conception to birth but from conception to natural death,"Congressman Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) told a small Democrats for Life gathering last year during his party's national convention in Denver. "[Democrats] need a lot of work on the first nine months, but Republicans have a lot more work to do from birth to natural death."
Alas, the platform's concessions were largely limited to language saying the Democratic Party "strongly supports a woman's decision to have a child." The "common ground" legislation on which pro-life and pro-choice Democrats collaborated frequently contained subsidies for abortion providers. And the Democrats' pro-life Senate majority leader voted against the pro-life side on eight of the first 11 key votes since Reid took over the top position.
Yet some pro-life Democrats were made of sterner stuff. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) insisted that he could not support any health care plan -- a signature policy initiative of the Obama administration -- if it used taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions. The first effort to mollify such critics came in the form of the Capps amendment, sponsored by pro-choice Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-Calif.). Capps would ban direct federal subsidies to abortion and would allow insurance policies that did not cover abortion to be sold through the health exchanges.
What Capps would not do, however, is keep the federal government from subsidizing health insurance that covers abortion. That is a very large loophole that differs from how the federal government handles insurance for its own civilian employees and for military personnel. Those insurance policies cannot cover abortion, consistent with a meaningful ban on taxpayer funding of the practice.
Enter the Stupak amendment. The House Democratic leadership discovered they could not pass a health care bill unless it contained Stupak's meaningful ban on public financing of abortion. There is simply no other explanation for why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) allowed the amendment to come up for a vote and allowed the House version of the health care bill to pass with a pro-life provision in place. The pro-life Democrats claim to have swung nearly 20 votes for the bill, including that of its only Republican supporter. The Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus has said Stupak's allies are bluffing, but won't release their own list of people who will vote against health care reform if the Stupak amendment remains intact.
This is the first major legislative victory by pro-life Democrats in the Obama administration (delaying federal subsidies to international family planning groups that perform or promote abortion and Doug Kmiec's ambassadorship do not count). Their erstwhile ally in the Senate, Harry Reid, is working to make sure it is their last. The Senate version of the health care bill strips the Stupak language, mandates that at least one plan offered by state government insurance exchanges cover abortion, and reduces the ban on abortions being subsidized by the government-run public option to an accounting gimmick. A statement by the National Right to Life Committee declared, "Reid seeks to cover elective abortions in two big new federal health programs, but tries to conceal that unpopular reality with layers of contrived definitions and hollow bookkeeping requirements."
Pro-choice groups have sprung into action. The Stupak amendment is far from a "ban" on abortion, as some activists are alleging, but it could have a real impact on abortion coverage throughout the country. This would be particularly true as more people gained their coverage through either the government health insurance exchanges or the public option.
Already, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska -- one of a handful of pro-life Democrats in the upper chamber -- has told the Hill that Reid's abortion language is unacceptable. "I think you need to have it eminently clear that no dollars that are federal tax dollars, directly or indirectly, are used to pay for abortions and it needs to be totally clear," the paper quotes Nelson as saying. "[It's] not clear enough, I don't think."
Even ideal language may not be enough in the long term. "For pro-lifers the prize shouldn't be Stupak," a former Republican congressman who was unseated by a pro-life Democrat told TAS. "The prize is the public option. If a woman has a right to an abortion, eventually the courts will open the door to the public option covering abortions."

A key procedural vote is coming -- as early as Saturday -- that will nevertheless be a moment of truth for pro-life Democrats like Ben Nelson. Do they stand with Harry Reid or Bart Stupak?

Obama Visit

My hubby had the opportunity to be working when President Obama came through the base last week.  He didn’t actually meet him and speak to him like he did when President Bush came through and he wasn’t seated on the stage behind him like he was when Vice President Dick Cheney came through but he was in the same hanger and heard the speech.  Other than the fact that they made them switch out the planes in the hanger so the one he cut from the budget wouldn’t be there and that he couldn’t read the rank of someone correctly off the teleprompter, here are Hubby’s comments about the whole thing…..

“Stood around for 6 hours at the base just to hear Pres O speak for about 20 min. Lots of promises that made me think my taxes are going up.”

Its Prolife Day


Do at least a prayer for pro life