Former Tiller client on The Factor

Statement from Operation Rescue on Tiller

Wichita, KS – It has been learned today that George Tiller was shot and killed while entering his church on Sunday morning, May 31.
Operation Rescue releases the following statement:
We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Shocking Breaking News

Mike Hutmacher/The Wichita Eagle

This does not help the pro life movement.

George Tiller shot to death at Wichita church
BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle

Fernando Salazar
Police arrive on the scene at Reformation Lutheran Church after abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot to death Sunday morning.

George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services.
Tiller, 67, was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. Witnesses and a police source confirmed Tiller was the victim.
No information has been released about whether a suspect is in custody. Police said they are looking for white male who was driving a 1990s powder blue Ford Taurus with Kansas license plate 225 BAB.
Homicide detectives and Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston arrived at the church after the shooting.
Members of the congregation who were inside the sanctuary at the time of the shooting were being kept inside the church by police, and those arriving were being ushered into the parking lot. Witnesses are being transported downtown for interviews and other members of the congregation are slowly being released from inside the sanctuary.
Tiller has long been a focal point of protest by abortion opponents because his clinic, Women's Health Care Services at 5701 E. Kellogg, is one of the few in the country where late-term abortions are performed.
"We are shocked at this morning's disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down," anti-abortion group Operation Rescue said in a statement on its Web site. "Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller's family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ."
Protesters blockaded Tiller's clinic during Operation Rescue's "Summer of Mercy" protests during the summer of 1991, and Tiller was shot by Rachelle Shannon at his clinic in 1993. Tiller was wounded in both arms, and Shannon remains in prison for the shooting.
Tiller's clinic was severely vandalized earlier this month. According to the Associated Press, his lawyer said wires to security cameras and outdoor lights were cut and that the vandals also cut through the roof and plugged the buildings' downspouts. Rain poured through the roof and caused thousands of dollars of damage in the clinic. Tiller reportedly asked the FBI to investigate the incident.
Sgt. Bart Brunscheen of the Wichita Police Department said there has been no activitiy today at Tiller's clinic, although security crews were being brought in to make sure the building was secure. Officials also were going to check the clinic's security cameras to see whether there was any activity over night.
Tiller and his clinic have faced continuous threats and lawsuits. A Wichita jury ruled in March that he was not guilty of illegal abortion on 19 criminal charges he faced for allegedly violating a state law requiring an "independent" second physician's concurring opinion before performing later term abortions. Immediately following the ruling in this criminal case, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts made public a similar complaint against Tiller that was originally filed in December 2008.

Catholic Thrilla in Manilla? Pro Life Pro Obama??

They called it a discussion rather than a debate, and no one cursed, raised his voice or turned purple with fury. Yet it was still the Catholic Thrilla in Manila – the much-anticipated face-off between two preeminent pro-life thinkers, only one of whom thinks it's OK to support Barack Obama anyway. To be honest, my side did not win.

Throughout the '08 presidential campaign, the Catholic argument was not, for a change, between pro-life and pro-choice believers. Instead, it was between pro-lifers -- some of whom, like me, saw in Obama overriding reasons to say "yes, we can.' And though this may be just the sort of chasm Freud called "the narcissism of small differences,'' for those of us caught up in the conversation, it is no trivial matter.

In one corner, as it were, was Princeton's Robert George, who argued not only forcefully but graphically that no one who sees abortion as an intrinsic evil should support this president. In the other was Pepperdine's Doug Kmiec, the pro-life, pro-Obama author of Can a Catholic Support Him? Asking the Big Question about Barack Obama.

Read the full article here. Or better yet listen/watch it on C Span here and make up your own mind.

Quality by whose standards??

There are those who would say that the quality of this man's life is not enough......I say he shows us what is important.

This is Michael Preece, son of Don (Moses) and Betty Nugent. He used to live on Portland Rd. and sat out next to the highway waving and smiling to those driving up and down the road.
Many people stopped to chat a few minutes. Others would blow their horns and wave and smile.
He received many gifts and gathered many blessings. He was told he was a blessing to others. One gentleman passed by, came back in a few minutes and stopped to talk. He talked to Mike and told him, “He was so ‘down’ that morning that he didn’t feel like he had much to live for.” But then he saw Mike sitting in a wheelchair smiling and waving. He felt ashamed of himself and had to come back to tell our son what a blessing he was.
A beautiful thing happened to him. The girls from the High School brought him fresh baked chocolate chip cookies with chocolate still oozing. Later a car full of young men came from the school to wave to him and call a greeting.
Due to the wet winters in Tennessee, we moved Michael to Florida. It is ‘back home’ for him. But with any move, there is a draw back here and there.
Mike has a birthday next month. He always had a cookout with all his friends. Even though he will have a cookout this year, he will miss all his friends here.
Michael weighed a little over 3 pounds when he was born. The doctors said he could not possibly survive. If he did, it would be only for a short time and he would just be a vegetable and lay in a bed. But he survived, he talks, even sings and has a wonderful mind.
Because he will miss his friends here, we would like to ask the entire White House area to help him celebrate by sending him cards. It is a pretty special day, even though every day is special for us to spend with Mike. But this will be his 50th birthday. The doctors were all wrong. God is good. His birthday is June 8, but you can send them anytime if this is too late for you. He will be so happy to get them. I thank God, he has loaned us one of his own to care for. Thank you all so much.
Mail the cards to: Michael Preece, 5782 Sage Rd, Northport, FL 34287.

Why are we not alarmed??

It is one thing to deny an expensive drug that would not cure but prolong life but another thing completely when you offer to knock them off for 50 bucks!!

Wife and daughter can inherit the estate of the husband/father they helped commit suicide.

Disabled equals low quality of life so doctors advise withholding food and treatment for pnuemonia even though patient asks for something to eat.

Why are we not alarmed???? This is what rationed care looks like.

When the right to die becomes a duty to die

Colleen Carroll Campbell
05/28/2009
Linda Fleming, a 66-year-old, legally bankrupt cancer patient living alone in Sequim, Wash., recently became the first person to kill herself under her state's new assisted-suicide law. As in neighboring Oregon, where a similar law has facilitated more than 400 suicides since 1997, the measure that paved the way for Fleming's death allows suicidal adults to obtain lethal prescriptions as long as they are competent and have been diagnosed with a terminal condition by two physicians.Assisted-suicide advocates hail such laws as progressive and liberating. Yet even in Washington, where 58 percent of voters approved the assisted-suicide measure last fall, many critics remain unconvinced.They worry that such laws will change a doctor's role from healer to executioner. They fret that the assisted-suicide push will siphon resources from palliative care and confirm severely ill patients' suspicions that their lives are burdensome and worthless. And they fear that, as our society struggles to care for an aging population in a worsening economy, the right to die could morph into a duty to die. Their fears are well-founded. Consider the case of Barbara Wagner, an Oregon woman who was diagnosed with a recurrence of lung cancer last year at age 64. Her survival prospects were grim, but her oncologist offered her one final hope: a $4,000-a-month drug that could slow the cancer's growth and give her another four to six months to live. Wagner, a great-grandmother and retired bus driver living in a low-income apartment, could not afford the drug herself. So she asked her state-run health insurance plan for help.
The response she received shocked her. Oregon state officials sent a letter saying that they would not pay for medication to extend her life, but they would foot the drug bill for an assisted suicide — an expenditure of roughly $50. Assisted-suicide laws like the one in Wagner's state are a potential boon to tight-fisted insurers and bureaucrats looking to cut health care costs. And the growing acceptance of assisted suicide and euthanasia, even in states that do not explicitly permit them, makes it easier for frustrated physicians and caregivers to convince themselves and others that severely ill and disabled patients would be better off dead.

Just this month in Wisconsin, a disability-rights group filed a lawsuit against the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics after doctors there withheld treatment for pneumonia from two developmentally disabled patients, apparently because the patients had low "quality of life." Neither was in a persistent vegetative state and, in the case of one patient, family members who initially agreed with the doctor's recommendation to withhold food and medication reconsidered when their relative awoke and asked to eat. According to the lawsuit, the doctor balked at the family's request to restart treatment, and they felt pressured to hasten their loved one's death.

Another unnerving Wisconsin case made headlines last year when a state appeals court ruled that the wife and the adult daughter of a terminally ill man who shot himself could inherit his estate even if they helped him end his life. According to the Associated Press, the man's other children had contested his will, alleging that the wife and daughter, knowing he was suicidal, had taken him to a cabin, given him a loaded shotgun and left him alone. The court said that even if the allegations were true, the women could keep his money.Such rulings defy common sense. Sadly, they are only the beginning of the abuses and ill-considered decisions we will see as the push for assisted suicide spreads from state to state. The ghastly rationale behind that push — that suicide is the answer to human suffering — demands a forceful response from the millions of Americans who still believe that every life counts.

Colleen Carroll Campbell is an author, television and radio host and St. Louis-based fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Her website is http://www.colleen-campbell.com/.

Prestige over values

So Notre Dame picked prestige over their values. If this does not shame Father Jenkins nothing will.

The evidence is on the pro life side

May 15, 2009
More Americans “Pro-Life” Than “Pro-Choice” for First Time
Also, fewer think abortion should be legal “under any circumstances”
by Lydia Saad
PRINCETON, NJ -- A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42% "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.
The new results, obtained from Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, represent a significant shift from a year ago, when 50% were pro-choice and 44% pro-life. Prior to now, the highest percentage identifying as pro-life was 46%, in both August 2001 and May 2002.

The May 2009 survey documents comparable changes in public views about the legality of abortion. In answer to a question providing three options for the extent to which abortion should be legal, about as many Americans now say the procedure should be illegal in all circumstances (23%) as say it should be legal under any circumstances (22%). This contrasts with the last four years, when Gallup found a strong tilt of public attitudes in favor of unrestricted abortion.
Gallup also found public preferences for the extreme views on abortion about even -- as they are today -- in 2005 and 2002, as well as during much of the first decade of polling on this question from 1975 to 1985. Still, the dominant position on this question remains the middle option, as it has continuously since 1975: 53% currently say abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances.
When the views of this middle group are probed further -- asking these respondents whether they believe abortion should be legal in most or only a few circumstances -- Gallup finds the following breakdown in opinion.
Americans' recent shift toward the pro-life position is confirmed in two other surveys. The same three abortion questions asked on the Gallup Values and Beliefs survey were included in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from May 12-13, with nearly identical results, including a 50% to 43% pro-life versus pro-choice split on the self-identification question.
Additionally, a recent national survey by the Pew Research Center recorded an eight percentage-point decline since last August in those saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases, from 54% to 46%. The percentage saying abortion should be legal in only a few or no cases increased from 41% to 44% over the same period. As a result, support for the two broad positions is now about even, sharply different from most polling on this question since 1995, when the majority has typically favored legality.
Republicans Move to the Right
The source of the shift in abortion views is clear in the Gallup Values and Beliefs survey. The percentage of Republicans (including independents who lean Republican) calling themselves "pro-life" rose by 10 points over the past year, from 60% to 70%, while there has been essentially no change in the views of Democrats and Democratic leaners.
Similarly, by ideology, all of the increase in pro-life sentiment is seen among self-identified conservatives and moderates; the abortion views of political liberals have not changed.
"Pro-Life" Up Among Catholics and Protestants
One of the more prominent news stories touching on the abortion issue in recent months involves President Barack Obama's commencement speech and the bestowal of an honorary doctorate degree on him at the University of Notre Dame -- a Roman Catholic institution -- on Sunday. The invitation has drawn criticism from conservative Catholics and the church hierarchy because of Obama's policies in favor of legalizing and funding abortion, and the controversy might have been expected to strengthen the pro-life leanings of rank-and-file Catholics.
Nevertheless, the swelling of the pro-life position since last year is seen across Christian religious affiliations, including an eight-point gain among Protestants and a seven-point gain among Catholics.
Gender Agreement
A year ago, Gallup found more women calling themselves pro-choice than pro-life, by 50% to 43%, while men were more closely divided: 49% pro-choice, 46% pro-life. Now, because of heightened pro-life sentiment among both groups, women as well as men are more likely to be pro-life.
Men and women have been evenly divided on the issue in previous years; however, this is the first time in nine years of Gallup Values surveys that significantly more men and women are pro-life than pro-choice.
Bottom Line
With the first pro-choice president in eight years already making changes to the nation's policies on funding abortion overseas, expressing his support for the Freedom of Choice Act, and moving toward rescinding federal job protections for medical workers who refuse to participate in abortion procedures, Americans -- and, in particular, Republicans -- seem to be taking a step back from the pro-choice position. However, the retreat is evident among political moderates as well as conservatives.
It is possible that, through his abortion policies, Obama has pushed the public's understanding of what it means to be "pro-choice" slightly to the left, politically. While Democrats may support that, as they generally support everything Obama is doing as president, it may be driving others in the opposite direction.

The Hand of Hope Tenth Anniversary

I have had the privilege of hearing Michael Clancy speak three times and he gets better each time.

Nearly 10 years after a stunning photograph of his tiny hand traveled the world, Samuel Armas has a firm grip on what "The Hand of Hope" means to him.
"When I see that picture, the first thing I think of is how special and lucky I am to have God use me that way," Samuel told FOXNews.com. "I feel very thankful that I was in that picture."
On Aug. 19, 1999, photographer Michael Clancy shot the "Fetal Hand Grasp" — his picture of a 21-week-old fetus grasping a doctor's finger during innovative surgery to correct spina bifida. Nearly four months later, on Dec. 2, Samuel Armas was "born famous."
The photo, which first appeared in USA Today on Sept. 7, 1999, quickly spread across the globe as proof of development in the womb and was later cited during congressional debates on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which passed in 2000.

Click here to read to read full article. Happy 10th Michael and Samuel

Respect Life Conference in Nashville

May 1, 2009
Speakers urge parish pro-life workers to keep fighting
Catherine Spears, Tennessee Register
More than 50 pro-lifers from 18 parishes across the diocese attended the April 25 Pro-Life Conference at the Cathedral of the Incarnation to be inspired and share their stories.
Speakers Deacon John Krenson, Maria Graham and Susie Allen inspired the audience and Brian Harris of Tennessee Right to Life updated attendees on current pro-life legislative measures.
Graham, who lives in the Diocese of Dallas and is part of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee there, began sidewalk counseling at 13.
“When I was in high school I used to spend every day praying and counseling in front of an abortion center,” Graham said. “I know there is a very high burn-out rate in pro-life work. There are only two kinds of people who stay in pro-life work. You either have to be completely insane, or a saint.”
“I think that God has called us all to pro-life work because he wants us to be saints,” Graham said.
“In this ministry through the physical, mental, and spiritual suffering we are really united to Christ in his suffering and through that there are three important inspiration messages we learn,” Graham said. “First we learn that evil cannot win and abortion will one day end, but God is calling us all to stand up and be saints during this time.”
“Secondly, we learn the value of just one soul. Jesus would have died for just one soul, and in pro-life work, if all we ever save is just one life, one soul, it is worth it,” Graham said. “Lastly we learn the eternal meaning of success. Christ said over and over that his kingdom was not of this world. We can’t look at human versions of success. Our victory comes from the cross.”
Robertson County Right to Life President Susie Allen presented an abbreviated version of her talk “The Art of Pro-Life Persuasion,” which taught attendees how to address pro-abortion arguments with logical, scientific and philosophical answers.
“My first premise is that it is morally wrong to take the life of a defenseless, innocent human being,” Allen said. “My second premise is that abortion does in fact take the life of a defenseless, innocent human being, and my third premise is that abortion is therefore morally wrong.”
Allen told attendees that America’s TV and fast food society has taken the meaning out of the tragedy of abortion because we no longer study and research, but learn mostly visually, accustomed to the short emotional sound bytes and clips on television. Allen said that before dealing with the subject of abortion, we must first be able to see it, to define what actually happens.
“There are only four differences between a baby in the womb and a toddler in the backyard,” Allen said, “Size, but this is irrelevant, because if size was a factor in personhood, a basketball player would be more of a person than a midget. There is a developmental difference, but this is also irrelevant in determining personhood, or a 4-year-old girl whose reproductive system is not fully functioning yet would be less of a person than an adult woman.”
“There is a difference in environment, but obviously this cannot be what determines a person,” Allen said. “I am the same person if I am here, driving in my car, or in a different state. Lastly, there is degree of dependence, which also cannot be relevant, because then anyone who needed insulin for diabetes or relied on a pacemaker, oxygen or a wheelchair would be less of a person than an individual who did not.”
Allen reminded attendees to answer any challenges with charity, calmness and love.
“For instance, if someone claims that abortion is a private matter that should be between a woman and her doctor,” Allen said. “Say, ‘Oh OK. Can we abuse our children if we keep it a private matter in our own home?’ Of course that is absurd, but then by going through the four differences you can point out that there is no moral difference between that child in the womb and a child at home.”
More information on Allen’s talk is available at www.prolifetraining.com.
Conference organizer Lynn Chaffin, the respect life chairperson at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, said that response to the conference was good.
“I didn’t know what to expect because we have never tried a diocesan wide conference of this nature before,” Chaffin said. “We were specifically targeting pro-life leaders around the Diocese of Nashville. Many people, especially other respect life coordinators in other churches, expressed to me feelings of isolation within their own parish communities. They also want to know what other parishes are doing to promote respect for life. They want to learn best practices. They want to learn how to be more effective.”
“Another major goal for this conference was to invigorate the movement which had been distressed by the recent changes in the political climate,” Chaffin said. “I specifically chose speakers with a goal of motivating pro-lifers to keep up their efforts, since they are doing the foundational work of the Church. By foundational I mean a reference to the bishops’ teachings that respect for life is the foundation upon which all other social justice teachings and rights stand.”
“All of the feedback from the conference has been extremely positive,” Chaffin said. “Attendees have told me they were inspired, uplifted, and informed. They gained a sense of connectedness previously lacking. We fully intend to continue and expand the conference next year.”
Photo courtesy of Ed AlbinMaria Graham, a member of the pro-life committee in the Diocese of Dallas, addresses participants in the first annual Pro-Life Leadership Conference held at Cathedral of the Incarnation on April 25.
Photo courtesy of Lynn ChaffinLeaders of the first annual Pro-Life Leadership Conference included Deacon John Krenson, left, Cathedral Respect Life coordinator Lynn Chaffin, Robertson County Right to Life president Susie Allen, Maria Graham of the Diocese of Dallas and Brian Harris, Tennessee Right to Life president.

Robertson County wins fourth in state oratory contest

We are so proud that our county winner placed fourth in the state contest. She is an excellent speaker and her talk was very compelling with a surprise ending as her father was saved from abortion by a teen parent who choose life and further more choose to give the gift of adoption to a couple. She has a great understanding of adoption today and did a very good job of educating people to the option of adoption. She points out that adoption kills not only that single life but wipes out generations.....and that her father's life stands as a testimony to the wonderful option of adoption. A brave and courageous young lady made a selfless choice for her child and the fruits of that choice.
Life what a beautiful choice....Adoption what a loving choice!

Tennessee Right to Life's Pro-Life Oratory Contest
Among Nation's Largest

Tennessee Right to Life held its 10th annual Pro-Life Oratory Contest on Saturday, May 2, at Aquinas College in Nashville. More than 100 public, private, and home schooled students in grades 9-12 participated in 27 Right to Life County Chapter Contests across Tennessee. Winners of each chapter contest advanced to the state competition. Each participant was required to research, write, and present an original five to seven minute pro-life speech, using factual and current information, on abortion, infanticide, embryonic stem cell research, or euthanasia.

Alexis Ziarkowski, a junior from Athens, placed first in the contest and will compete on June 20 in the annual National Right to Life Oratory Contest, to be held during the National Right to Life Convention in Charlotte, NC, June 18-20. As the first place winner, Miss Ziarkowski, representing McMinn Country Right to Life Chapter, received a $500 award and will have the opportunity to attend the National Teens for Life Convention or the National Right to Life Convention, which runs concurrently.

Sam Willey from Sumner County placed second in the contest and received a $250 award. Benjamin Rentschler from Lewis County received $100 for third place. Jessica Cobb from Robertson County received $50 as the fourth place winner.

Sponsors included Aquinas College, which hosted the event for the sixth year in a row and provided $5,000 in scholarships for the finalists, and the Alvin and Sally Beaman Foundation, which helped to underwrite this educational event.

The Art of Pro Life Persuasion

Polish Your Pro-Life Skills!

Pro-Life Speaker Training Coming to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in White House

The Art of Pro-Life Persuasion

Date: Thursday, May 14, 2009Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location: Prince of Peace Lutheran Church

3324 Highway 31W White House, TN 37188

(Located across from the White House Florist.)

Cost: FREE

Reservations suggested, but not required.

For more information or to reserve a seat call (615) 498-6492 or e-mail susancallen@bellsouth.net.

Sponsored by Robertson County Right to Life and Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.

When They Say, You Say
You are pro-life and you don't need to be convinced, but could you persuasively defend your views in the marketplace of ideas? Whether you speak to groups or answer questions individually, this training will equip you to do so with confidence.You will learn to simplify the abortion issue, defend the pro-life view scientifically and philosophically using secular arguments, and refute five common objections to the pro-life view. The workshop will also address the issues of embryonic stem cell research and cloning in the news today.

About the Speaker
Susan Allen is president of Robertson County Right to Life and received training under Scott Klusendorf, president of Life Training Institute. For Susan, coming to a pro-life perspective was a gradual change of heart and she credits Scott's presentation with having provided evidence that ultimately solidified her new pro-life position. Come learn how to effectively articulate your pro-life viewpoints in order to change hearts and minds while saving lives!