Pro-life blog buzz 9-28-12

from Jill Stanek.com

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN and Kelli
We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• ProLifeBlogs has a Wisconsin Right to Life post on the Obama campaign’s dishonest phone calls to Catholic voters in an attempt to get them to believe Obama doesn’t support abortion and that Planned Parenthood is really about “children get[ting] health care and prenatal care.” After promoting abortion ad nauseum to the American public via the Democratic National Convention, this is incredible. But could it be an indicator that abortion isn’t as winning an issue as they expected?

• ProLife NZ shares the horrific story of one mother who was pressured by her physician to terminate her child, prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome. The doctor was high-ranking fetal medicine advisor, Professor Peter Stone (pictured left), who also happens to have “been extensively involved in developing screening practices for Down syndrome in New Zealand” and “trains our medical students at Auckland University“:
  
  He recommended terminating the pregnancy and offered a late-term abortion in Australia, despite the fact that the unborn child was protected under New Zealand law.

Not only that, but Prof. Stone appeared to botch the diagnostic amniocentesis by removing almost all the amniotic fluid, nearly causing the death of the child. A must-read case.

• The Road to Roe has an interesting post on Justice Lewis F. Powell’s unexpected vote for Roe v. Wade. Powell was considered a “careful, restrained, lawyerly judge,” but according to reports from Powell’s former clerk, John C. Jeffries, “he voted his ‘gut,’ which was influenced by his wife and daughters.” There was also a “sense of momentum” and “lack of antiabortion sentiment” in the courtroom:
  
  Describing Powell’s vote as “a personal attitude” more than anything else, Jeffries says it was “easy” at the time. But one of the take-aways from that chapter is Powell’s admission to Jeffries after leaving the Court that “the abortion opinions were ‘the worst opinions I ever joined.’”

• Reflections of a Paralytic applauds an effective smackdown on the “war on women” meme – from Oklahoma’s pro-life Democrat Rep. Rebecca Hamilton (pictured right):
  
  When you have people who claim that they own the whole question of “women’s health” but who don’t report sexual abuse and rape of minor children or human trafficking, you know you are dealing with a callous and deliberate lie. When you see people who won’t “judge” attempts to buy an abortion to kill a baby simply because she is a girl saying that anyone who wants to reduce their government funding is “waging war on women,” you should be able to see that the real issue is not women and their well-being but government money.
• At National Review, Michael New disputes pundits who have claimed that universal health care (such as MA’s state health care, also known as “Romneycare”) lowers abortion rates. The reality is that it has little to no effect. In a second post, New describes why anti-abstinence education contraception proponents don’t see the big picture when it comes to teen pregnancy rates.
• ProWomanProLife applauds Canada’s attempt to open discussion on the issue of when life begins. Though the measure failed, there are some positive takeaways, according to PWPL’s Andrea Mrozek:
  
  [S]ince M-312 called only for discussion, voting in favour of it is a vote for debate and democracy and that can only be a good thing. Minister Ambroseis to be commended for having an open mind.M-312 was not expected to pass, and indeed it didn’t. However, it advanced our ability to respectfully ask questions and debate the issue of when life begins…. All Canadians, whether pro-life or pro-choice are served well through respectful debate.
  There is a stranglehold on freedom of expression around abortion, a dictatorial attitude that somehow all women are supposed to be fervently pro-choice…. This is simply not the case; women don’t have one mind on this issue, as with so many other issues.
• Mommy Life has video on a young lady with Down syndrome, Sarah Green, who went from cheerleader to Homecoming Queen! Clearly, a Ds prenatal diagnosis need not be a death sentence:

Poll: Abortion advocacy hurts Obama in swing states

Poll: Abortion advocacy hurts Obama in swing states

Pro-life blog buzz 9-25-12

from Jill Stanek.com

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN and Kelli
We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• Live Action says a settlement has been reached in the case of an Ohio Planned Parenthood which failed to report the repeated sexual abuse of a minor girl by her own father – even after she reported that he had fathered the child she was aborting.
• Culture Campaign reports the sad news that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists “now recommends that post-pubescent girls be made unable to conceive using IUD or implanted birth control because children do poorly at managing other contraceptives that rely on proper usage.”

• Big Blue Wave links to an interview with Martin Hudáček, creator of the sculpture (pictured left) entitled, “The Child Who Was Never Born.”
• Meghan of Life Training Institute reinforces the fact that despite what some groups may claim, there really is no middle ground on abortion:
  
  For the sake of clear thinking and decision making, we need to carefully consider the rhetoric and make some important distinctions. What is meant by the term “abortion?” What are the issues that touch the abortion issue? Are there limits out of which we must not step? What is the most human response?
  Philosopher Christopher Kaczor defines abortion this way: “Properly speaking, abortion is the intentional killing of a human fetus.”
  His terms are carefully chosen and scientifically accurate. Working with this definition, either abortion is morally permissible, or it is not.
  
• FRC Blog comments on the impact same sex divorce has on the children brought into the arrangement via “adoption, artificial reproductive technology, or one partner’s previous heterosexual relationship. When the relationship breaks up, who has a claim to the child: biological parent, donor or surrogate, or adoptive same-sex partner? What about the same-sex partner who never adopted the child because the other biological parent would not release his or her rights – or the partner’s new boyfriend or girlfriend, who is helping raise the child?”

• Ethika Politika takes exception to bumper sticker slogans (like the one at right) which assert that politics and religion should remain separate:
  
  The two main (assumed) premises of the bumper sticker don’t stand up to scrutiny. First, if religion stayed out of government, then political life would rarely, if ever, actually lead to violence. It doesn’t take an extensive study of history for more than 30 seconds to realize that this attitude is simply not the case: government and ideology can do quite a fine job on their own compeling [sic] the state to act in a violent manner towards the world. The second is that the mixture of religion and politics leads to people burning at the stake. Or at the least, nothing good comes of that. Ponder that on Martin Luther King, Jr. day.
• Stacey of Accepting Abundance writes about “life after 40,” sharing the news that she is expecting another child. Her philosophy? “If I can still have babies… then I can still have babies.”
• David Bereit of 40 Days for Life comments on the disruption and subsequent protests that occurred at his speaking engagement in Australia:
  
  While I was a bit surprised by the sudden barrage, I was saddened more than anything else. As I looked at the anger and hatred in the eyes of these young people, I realized that some of them had probably experienced the pain of abortion in their own lives.

Red State volunteers needed to help in swing states

What are you doing  the first four weekends in October that is more important than saving our country?
Many residents of red states are helping out in the key swing states. We  are traveling to VA on these weekends to help in door knocking in targeted undecided doors to tell them why voting for Romney/Ryan is so important that we traveled from TN to urge you to do the same.
ALL EXPENSES ARE PAID.  Due to some generous VA citizens they are paying for our food, lodging and gas. We car pool, van pool, motorcycle pool or drive individually;what ever suits you. We leave Friday afternoon and spend all day Saturday door knocking in teams. We return early Sunday so we are home around noon. Come and join us!    Go to www.volunteersforvirginia.com and sign up to walk with us. Or if you wish, contact me via comments.
Can't walk but want to help??? You can write hand write postcards to individuals telling why you are asking for their vote for Romney/Ryan. They have sample scripts to give you ideas but from the heart and personal is preferred. Contact me via comments if you want more information on this. 

Cuckoo for contraceptives

Cuckoo for contraceptives

Pro Life Blog Buzz for 9-21-12

from Jill Stanek.com

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN and Kelli

We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• Pro-Life Action League links to President Obama’s new campaign ad in which he claims to be a defender of religious liberty. With the next wave of nationwide Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies coming on October 20, surely he realizes how vulnerable he is on this issue due to his HHS contraceptive mandate. 

Just after 2:00 in the video, he says he stands “on the side of human dignity and a belief in the inherent worth of all human beings,” yet only applies these statements to “education, poverty, and immigration”:

• Women’s Rights Without Frontiers quotes Stephen Mosher of the Population Research Institute, who disputes the claim that forced abortions in China has ended: The Chinese Party-State has asserted for over three decades that the one-child policy is ‘entirely voluntary.’ But this assertion of ‘voluntarism’ is no more true now than it was when I saw women who were five, seven, and even nine months pregnant held down on the operating table and aborted. Women continue to be arrested, aborted, and sterilized against their will at this very moment.

WRWF states that “the claim that China has ended its cruel and inhuman practice of forced abortions originates with All Girls Allowed, which reached this conclusion after learning that a Chinese government ‘document [was issued] to Family Planning offices that bans forced abortion and sterilization.’” (AGA has since backtracked a bit from this conclusion.)

• John Smeaton discusses an astonishing position adopted by the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights. Under the guise of a report on “technical guidance promoting maternal health,” Navanethem Pillay (pictured right) “seek[s] to make effective opposition to abortion provision unlawful on the part of parents; and to criminalize health professionals, administrators and non-governmental organizations who seek to oppose abortion provision – including abortion provision to children under the age of consent.”

In other words, she wants to make it illegal to speak against abortion – even to your own minor child.

• Michael New has two articles at National Review. The first discusses a new study showing childbirth to be safer than abortion, and the second shows how the overturning of Roe v. Wade would not affect abortion restrictions in as many states as is currently claimed by abortion advocates.

• Mommy Life shows how some Hollywood actors and actresses are supporting Obama for re-election by promoting a “pledge” to work and vote for his campaign. Actress Jessica Alba (pictured left, with her hand over her heart) likens this pledge to the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag (as does the campaign slogan itself, “For All.”) Between this and the new Obama American flag being sold on the Obama-Biden campaign website, things are getting creepy.
• Real Choice remembers Holly Patterson (died 9-17-2003) and Clara Matthews (died 9-17-1893), who both died from septicemia after abortion – 110 years apart to the day. How did the legalization of abortion make it safer for Holly than it was for Clara?
• Moral Outcry juxtaposes NYC’s concern that Big Gulps will be the death of us all with the apathy about African-American abortion deaths (60% of all conceived) in the city.
• ProLife NZ says that in Belgium, where capital punishment was outlawed in 1996, some prisoners who are ill are requesting assisted suicide. One was recently euthanized at his request.
• Reflections of a Paralytic says the pro-life movement isn’t focusing enough on the role doctors play in the abortion debate: 

So much of our time and energy is focused on Planned Parenthood and “abortuaries” and we forget that it’s often legitimate doctors and health care facilities that refer for abortions and commit them themselves. In fact, before abortion was legal, it is my understanding that this is where many, if not most, of the illegal abortions were committed. Not in “back alleys” by untrained hacks, but in hospitals by doctors who would then “doctor” the paperwork when describing the “treatment” they were providing.

Knoxville TN pro life groups ask local docs not to do abortion at remaining mill....

Committed pro life watchers in Knoxville, TN has posted this on Facebook. It is important that local people like these keep a watch on what is happening and respond. Already we have heard reports from post abortive women regretting their abortions discussing their concerns with doctors who were considering partnering with this abortion facility and at least one decided not to join them. Women have a right to know if their OB/GYN is doing abortions on the side. Imagine this as a part time job...delivering babies during the week and destroying developing babies in the womb on weekends. 

I had an experience going to a GYN some years ago and when I was taken back to the examining room I saw a huge sign on the door of the Dr. advertising abortion supporting candidates even though the election had been over for two years. I asked the nurse if that was the office of the Dr. that was seeing me and she acknowledged that it was. I then asked if the Dr. was pro abortion and did she do abortions. The nurse avoided answering my question, advising me to get undressed and speak to the Dr. when she comes in. I had my answer and said I did not need to see this Dr. and left immediately. My sister thought I was overreacting but all I could think of was...hands that shed innocent blood....do I want those hands caring for me. The answer is NO.

"IMPORTANT ALERT! It has come to light that the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health abortion clinic on Clinch Ave. is recruiting local Obstetrician/Gynecologists to do abortions for them. It is critical that we all contact our own doctors as soon as possible to let them know that we are aware of this recruiting effort and that we oppose any involvement by them in this deadly business.
We have also been grieved and shocked to learn some of our own doctors are already involved in abortion at the Clinch Avenue clinic. One of those doctors is Susan Dodd of the Women’s Care Group that practices at UT Hospital and Tennova. 
Women's Care Group • Knoxville, TN

Pro Life Blog Buzz for 9/18/12

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN and Kelli
We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• FRC Blog points out how Roe v. Wade itself, not the idea of overturning it, is what is truly radical.
• Fletcher Armstrong updates us on the case of the director of the UK’s Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, Andy Stephenson, who is on trial for violating the Public Order Act, which states no one can harass or cause alarm or distress to the public. What did Stephenson do that caused such alarm? He displayed a graphic photo of an aborted baby:

• Live Action reports on the Virginia Legislature’s vote to make VA abortion clinics conform to the same health regulations as other outpatient surgical centers. The board of health had planned to use a “grandfather clause” to allow the existing 20 clinics to opt out, but the state’s attorney general stepped in and “warned that personal liability could result if the current grandfather clause was kept in place. The Board then voted 13 to 2 on Friday to reverse the earlier grandfather clause decision.”

• The Abolitionist Society of OK demonstrates how abortion proponents show their extreme pro-death mentality even when they might not mean to:
  
  A pro-abortion user posted a photo intended to mock the abolitionist position [pictured left]….
  Clearly the implication is that it would be better for this child to have been aborted….
  If we’re going to make the decision for someone else that their life is or is not going to be of what we think is sufficiently high quality, why stop with killing preborn children? Why make an arbitrary cutoff point at any age?
  
• ALL’s Judie Brown has some strong thoughts on the “hit parade of pro-abort Catholics” on display at the recent Democratic National Convention.
• Euthanasia Prevention Coalition writes about a Seattle attorney and two Montana senators who attempted to correct an inaccurate article on assisted suicide in the New England Journal of Medicine and were rejected. The “prestigious” publication first stated that they would not accept a rebuttal, no matter how inaccurate an article was proven to be. Later, they decided they would accept a rebuttal, but demanded the authors sign a non-disclosure agreement, even if the publication refused to print their rebuttal.

Pro-life blog buzz 9-14-12

from Jill Stanek.com

Pro-life blog buzz 9-14-12

by Susie Allen, host of the blog,Pro-Life in TN and Kelli

We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! EmailSusie@jillstanek.com.

• Sharp eyes at Moral Outcry found, while doing research on the release of former Susan G. Komen employee Karen Handel’s new book, Planned Bullyhood, that the pink Komen bibles marketed (and then removed) byLifeWay last year were mistakenly on sale again. LifeWay has been notified and has corrected this error.
  Susan Tyrrell also details how the explosive news about Komen’s attempt to cease funding for Planned Parenthood was discovered last year.

• Pro-Life Action Leaguediscusses some tragic findings in the autopsy ofTonya Reaves (pictured far left), who died this summer due to a botched abortion and the negligence of a Chicago Planned Parenthood (which advertises that they only do birth control and chemical abortions). Reaves received an incomplete second trimester abortion and was transported to the hospital 5 1/2 hours later, suffering from uncontrollable bleeding.
• Right to Life of Michigan shares an article describing how hardened theDemocratic Party is on the issue of abortion – so much so, that even measures to protect women seeking abortions are considered too extreme for their support.
• ProLifeBlogs links to an article on an intimidation attempt by UK abortion giant, Marie Stopes International, to silence pro-lifers who give women information on abortion and mental health.
• Mommy Life links to new mom Cassy Fiano’s list of reasons why a child’s diagnosis of Down syndrome “won’t ruin your life.”
• Women of Faith in Culture takes exception to the religious left’s sentiments that the Democrats’ off-again, on-again mention of God in their party platform was really no big deal and we should get over it: 
  
  Platforms say a lot, especially when they say nothing at all. And being casual about the removal of God’s name says a lot about the culture we live in and the work the Church has before her.

Pro Life Blog Buzz Outakes

The Leading Edge  brings us insight into an alarming trend....the resurgence of eugenics. If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. 

"...from an academic who is suggesting that we could learn something from the Nazi eugenics programme, to another who has stated that it could be a “moral obligation” and that it will breed “ethically better” human beings."

MN Concerned for Life analyses President Obama pitch to we the people and asks who he includes in the we.

"His is one of exclusion, discrimination, and the use of violence against the most innocent and defenseless in order to get what we want for ourselves. His opponents, Mitt Romney and Ryan, embrace a position of inclusion, equality, and respect and protection for every human being simply because they, like you and me, are human.

This utterly important question -- who are "We the People"? -- is a big part of what is at stake in the November election." 

Albert Mohler tells us that our vote in the presidential election reveals your true worldview.

"This is particularly true of the 2012 election. The presidential nominees of the two major parties represent two very different worldviews and visions. President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney have adopted policy positions that place them in direct conflict, and the platforms of their respective parties reveal two radically different renderings of reality."

 

Pro-life blog buzz 9-11-12

from Jill Stanek.com

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN and Kelli
We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• Abolitionist Society of OK prints a personal testimony of rape, pregnancy, and healing. The lack of support the author received from obstetricians is appalling, and raises the question: Is it rape victims who attach stigma to pregnancies resulting from rape, or is it the rest of society?

• Ethika Politika displays some of the disrespectful, vile comments that came from social media following Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention last week. Who knew there were so many creative ways to use the “F” word?
• At Live Action, Stephen Brown has a three-part series on the lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for Medicaid fraud, and why PP has such a strong stake in the outcome of this election.
• Abstinence Clearinghouse points out another difference in the platform of the two major parties. The Republican platform includes abstinence education, which is in direct opposition to the idea of school family planning clinics:
  
  We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with abstinence education which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and respected standard of behavior. Abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against out-of-wedlock pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS when transmitted sexually. It is effective, science-based, and empowers teens to achieve optimal health outcomes and avoid risks of sexual activity. We oppose school-based clinics that provide referrals, counseling, and related services for abortion and contraception.
• Fr. Frank Pavone points out how abortion in a democracy can fundamentally transform the State.

• American Life League’s Judie Brown addresses the life issue at the ballot box in Massachusetts this November – assisted suicide:
  
  It may sound preposterous, but the fact is that once a person buys into the philosophy that there are lives unworthy of being lived — as is the case with those who market abortion — there is little to nothing stopping that same individual from advocating death as a solution to life’s challenges when they are at the other end of the spectrum.
  Freedom of choice has no boundaries once God is taken out of the equation and personal self-interest, often called autonomy, moves in to take center stage.
  
• Michael New says Democrats are again trotting out the same tired and unsubstantiated claims about social spending and abortion:
  
  [T]here is not one peer-reviewed study which shows that Medicaid spending or any other kind of welfare spending actually reduces the incidence of abortion.
  There is, however, a substantial body of research which documents the effectiveness of pro-life laws. In 2009 the Guttmacher Institute did a literature review on public-funding restrictions for abortion. Of the 24 studies they considered, 20 found that abortion rates fell after public funding was reduced. They even acknowledged the best research indicates that restricting public funding lowers abortion rates. There is also an academic literature which documents the effectiveness of parental-involvement laws and properly designed informed-consent laws.
  President Obama has pursued policies which will almost certainly increase the incidence of abortion…. If abortion is listed as a federal health benefit, that could easily nullify or weaken a number of state-level pro-life laws. Obamacare also provides federal funds to insurance plans which cover abortion. The HHS contraceptive mandate could require employers to cover abortifacients and is also a taxpayer bailout of Planned Parenthood.
  
• Accepting Abundance shares a cartoon portrayal of the issue of conscience rights. Think taxpayer-funded birth control and abortion.

Stanek Sunday funnies: "DNC pans God, fans abortion" edition

Stanek Sunday funnies: "DNC pans God, fans abortion" edition

Pro Life Blog Buzz 9-7-12

 from Jill Stanek.com

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN and Kelli
We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• Carla from Operation Outcry Wisconsin posts a beautiful letter to her daughter, Aubrey, who died in her abortion 22 years ago.
• Stand True reports on the verbal attack an 11-year-old girl received from women’s rights activists (including an anti-porn, pro-abortion blogger) while praying against abortion in front of the Democratic National Convention.

• University of Michigan Students for Life links to the story of a how a LIFE band and a “God-incidence” in the Wal-Mart parking lot saved a child’s life from abortion. Amazing!
• ProLife NZ points out the hypocrisy of those who support the Paralympics while also supporting abortion as an acceptable alternative to parenting a child with disabilities. They complain about the treatment of the disabled following birth, never realizing that their dehumanizing characterization of them prior to birth helps frame that treatment.
• Reflections of a Paralytic writes a powerful post about how we can learn from those with disabilities, including Garvan Byrne, who was “terminally ill and handicapped from birth,” but “remained hopeful and optimistic, finding peace and meaning in life that most healthy, able-bodied adults have never seen.” According to Garvan, “I don’t think it matters how handicapped you are or how sick. You always succeed in something. God gave us each a gift.” He passed away at age 12 in 1985.
• Pro-Life Action League has over 90 cities lined up to participate in the next Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally. Opposition to the HHS Mandate continues to grow. If your city isn’t on the list, organize a rally with the help of PLAL.

• At Moral Outcry, Ellie Saul shares her heartbreak upon learning that despite celebrating the “sanctity of life,” her church believes that sometimes, abortion is acceptable:
  
  Surely I’m the only one who heard that as a group of people, on the record, with our tiny feet pins, we believe it’s ok to murder a baby in the womb when conditions are grave or after a medical or religious consultation.
  After service my husband asked a leader whom we admired and he said that he agrees with the amendment. I was still crying. This same person said that I had such a “tender heart” and that was so good for the body. As if to say it was just cheek-pinching cute that this sweet girl is really sad that we just told her its ok to kill babies….
  I believe that the body of Jesus always chooses life under every circumstance.
  We may not choose the circumstance, but we choose LIFE. We don’t agree with the enemy even if a doctor, religious leader, or grave circumstance recommends it….
  I’m not saying that you can’t belong to the body of Jesus if you belong to a congregation that believes something contrary to what Jesus teaches. I am saying that just because you go to church somewhere and believe by default whatever that body believes, does not automatically mean that you really are in agreement with God’s word.
  
• My Drop in the Ocean features a video of a Tennessee family who made the right choice when faced with a poor prenatal diagnosis: