Pro-life blog buzz 12-27-13

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.

Big Blue Wave discusses a study on the effects of sex selection in Taiwan. The study seems to suggest that since the girls that manage to make it to birth are treated to a university education, there is no problem.

The Guiding Star Project shares the story of a board member who struggled with infertility and miscarriage until she found a doctor who used natural procreative technology (NaPro).

Secular Pro-Life features their top ten graphics for this year.

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition posts an article by Wesley J. Smith regarding how assisted suicide legislation becomes law through deception: Advocates of assisted suicide tell two — no, three — lies that act as the honey to help the hemlock go down. The first is that assisted suicide/euthanasia is a strictly medical act. Second, they falsely assure us that medicalized killing is only for the terminally ill. Finally, they promise that strict guidelines will be rigorously enforced to protect against abuse.

Smith points to countries and states that introduced assisted suicide by promising these things and how quickly those assurances were abandoned. Case in point: the state of Vermont, which passed assisted suicide laws with safeguards built in… until 2016, that is. After 2016, doctors will be on the “honor system.”

The Leading Edge tells the five falsehoods that pro-choicers think they know about pro-lifers but really don’t:

Pro Life blog buzz 12-24-13

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.

Judie Brown discusses Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) and warns that what can seem like patient-friendly forms might become your death warrant: 

"POLST is no different than any other end-of-life care form, signed by someone who has the best intentions for his care being given in accord with natural law ethics, but overseen by another individual whose perspective is driven by motives that are not at all wholesome."

Live Action remarks on a blog, written by an abortion facility worker, that chastises pro-lifers for taking pictures of aborted babies and “exploiting” them. The worker believes that, in contrast, the clinic treats aborted aborted children “respectfully”:

In my clinic, we wash off the tissue and examine it. It is treated respectfully and put with the woman’s first name into a container. We show it to patients if they ask to see it, and make sure they understand which part is the sac (later the placenta), which part the pregnancy if visible (after 9 weeks), and which part the lining of the uterus. People have been known to pray over it, write notes for inclusion, “baptize” it, etc etc.
Some clinic staff have also been known to say a little prayer over it – thanking it for its sacrifice so that the woman could continue on the path she was on.

That just makes it all better, then, doesn't it? Premeditated murder spun as the “self-sacrifice” of the preborn child. Delusional.

Americans United for Life lists five takeaways from the recent annual report released by Planned Parenthood:

1. Abortion remains a central component of Planned Parenthood’s business.
2. After bullying the Susan G. Komen Foundation into lowering its grant standards and receiving “an outpouring of public donations,” Planned Parenthood’s “breast health services” continued to plummet.
3. Life-ending drugs and devices are a growing portion of Planned Parenthood’s “contraception” services.
4. Taxpayers continue to heavily subsidize the nation’s largest abortion chain.
5. The abortion chain is spending millions to “refresh” the Planned Parenthood “brand.”

 Josh Brahm posts a video on how to address those on opposite sides of the abortion debate. Are “pro-life” and “pro-choice” the correct terms to use? Why is this important?

[Photo via nj.com]

Pro-life blog buzz 12-20-13

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.

Priests for Life reports that their lawsuit against Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate was dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C. Father Frank Pavone states: The judge’s decision today is a complete contradiction to Judge Cogan’s decision of just a few days ago in New York for organizations situated similarly to us and using exactly the same arguments.

The New York decision recognized that the religious nonprofits were being forced to cooperate with evil. Our judge, instead, claims that we are not being forced to cooperate with evil. Our judge’s decision is wrong, and we are confident of victory in our appeal.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers prints a heartfelt letter from the two daughters of imprisoned Chinese pro-democracy activist Zhang Lin, who are now safe and living in the U.S. at the home of Reggie Littlejohn:

Zhang Anni [pictured left, with her father] has been known as “China’s youngest prisoner of conscience.” She was detained as a 10-year-old, denied food water and a blanket, and then prevented from attending school — all because of the pro-democracy activism of her celebrated father, Zhang Lin. Zhang Anni and her sister, Zhang Ruli, arrived in the United States in September 2013.

At National Review Online, Michael New discusses the CDC’s report of a 3% decrease in abortions – in 36 of 44 states reporting – in 2010. Predictably, the media credits an increase in contraceptive use. New writes:

[T]his assertion is not supported by the data. Contraception use began to increase well before abortions started to decline. And the unintended pregnancy rate has actually increased since the mid-1990s. Interestingly, since 1990 there has been a substantial increase in both pro-life public sentiment and state level pro-life laws. However, the mainstream media has scant interest in giving the pro-life movement any credit for declining abortion rates.

Jay Watts of Life Training Institute responds to a listener who objects to his message because it offends her. Should we stop defending the unborn because we are afraid of offending people?

Secular Pro-Life lists their top ten stories of the year, with six being written by guest bloggers.

Pro-Life Action League says that their annual Empty Manger Christmas Caroling at Planned Parenthoods and other abortion sites has received media attention as more states join this event. Unsurprisingly, these liberal media outlets and their commenters view the caroling as an act of hate.

Reflections of a Paralytic comments on two wrongful birth suits filed (and won) by parents of children born with disabilities. The parents claim they were not given enough prenatal information and that they would have aborted if they had known about their children’s conditions. Apparently it isn't enough that children with disabilities often qualify for subsidies and other governmental assistance. This sends a chilling message to doctors who may advise abortion even more readily in order to protect themselves from lawsuits.

Pro-life blog buzz 12-17-13

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 News dissects Planned Parenthood’s 2012 annual report, which shows that the organization performed 327,166 abortions – allowing them to maintain their “largest abortion chain” status:
For taxpayers who don’t want to fund abortions, this should be especially troubling, considering that Planned Parenthood is raking in a whopping $540.6 million in taxpayer funding, or $1.5 million per day. This accounts for 45% of their revenue. Compare that to their other sources of revenue — private contributions, 26%; non-government revenue, 25%; and “other”, 4% — and it is overwhelmingly clear why the abortion industry fights to keep organizations like Planned Parenthood on the government dole. Without taxpayers to leech off of, Planned Parenthood alone would lose half a billion dollars.

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition updates us on five states (Connecticut, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Massachusetts) that are currently debating legalizing assisted suicide:
Americans need to become more aware of the threat that assisted suicide poses. Even though polls indicate that more Americans oppose assisted suicide than support it, very few Americans are aware of the push being mounted by the assisted suicide lobby.

Kansans for Life says “The Internal Revenue Service has proposed new rules for political activity by nonprofits – overturning more than 50 years of settled law – in order to conceal the true political record of pro-abortion politicians.”

Abstinence Clearinghouse links to blogger Matt Walsh’s response to a young man who was ridiculed by his high school sex ed instructor for believing in abstinence.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life explains the ruling of Doe v. Gomez, decided on December 15, 1995, which obligated Minnesota taxpayers to pay for abortions, “something not required by the U.S. Supreme Court“: The Supreme Court’s Doe v. Gomez decision established a new state constitutional “right” to abortion on demand. This supposed right would remain protected by the state Constitution even if Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion in the United States, were to be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.Doe v. Gomez allows abortions for reasons such as “stress” or “discomfort.” It forbids the state to “interfere” in any way with a woman’s “decision making” regarding abortion.
Doe v. Gomez also obligates the state — and thus, taxpayers — to pay for abortions…. From June 1994 (under an earlier decision) through 2011, state taxpayers paid more than $19.9 million for 62,252 abortions, according to MDHS. In 2011 alone (the most recent statistics available), state taxpayers paid $1.2 million for 3,693 abortions (MDHS). The state does not report how many women have been hurt or killed from these abortions.


Down on the Pharm updates readers on a previous blog about Joshua Ackley (pictured right, foreground), a publicist representing Girl Scouts of America by day and Homopunk band member by night. Since this news about Ackley’s lifestyle has been exposed, he has been moved to a less visible position within the GSUSA organization. Apparently, “[the] worry among the scout moms was that, with this stuff on his mind, he’s not the person to be interacting with the girls, or representing the scouting organization.”

Judie Brown of American Life League explains the difference between ethics and morality:
We see that ethics today are not always grounded in sound, moral reason and common sense. In fact, as one expert defines it, today we actually have two sets of medical ethics—and the worst of it is that the wrong-headed set is prevailing. On the one side we have secular bioethics. On the other we have the moral law.
The problem with secular bioethics is, of course, that the natural law is tossed out the window in favor of what one or two so-called experts believe to be the best idea at any given time for deciding what is acceptable and what is not. This is where professionals like [the pro-infanticide] Dr. Minerva found their calling.
But on the other side of the aisle we find the professionals, including physicians, educators, lawmakers, and common ordinary folks like you and me who understand that making rational decisions or providing intelligent solutions to complex questions requires a grounding in the moral law.

Does Marriage Matter to Children

After reading Dr. Land's article "Adoption: The Best Option," I was reminded of a recent television show produced by the Oprah Winfrey network titled "Fatherless Sons" Lifeclass. On that show, about 150 men were part of the television audience, ranging in ages from 12 to over 70 years old. Oprah and Iyanla Vanzant held a very frank discussion of the impact fatherlessness has on our nation and our children. When asked by Oprah to define what a father is, Iyanla said "Protector, provider, to be a model, a demonstration of what it means to be a man." Oprah then stated that fatherlessness in our nation is "an epidemic." According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 41% of all babies born in the U.S. are to unmarried women. In some communities, it is almost double that amount.

One of the many professionals participating in the program, Roland Warren, the former president of The National Fatherhood Initiative, stated that "kids have a hole in their soul in the shape of their dad" and that there are "consequences to father-absence." From the 12-year-old boy to the 70+ year old man, heartbreaking stories were shared about the deep hurt, rejection, and aching that exists within these men for a Daddy. Statistics and data were shared on the outcomes for men who are raised in fatherless homes: twice as likely to go to jail, less likely to graduate college, earn less money, more likely to father a child out of wedlock, and so on.

A series followed the "Fatherless Sons" class that was aimed at women, "Daddyless Daughters." It was the same format and basically similar outcomes for the women. Audience members shared their deep ache to have a man, a father, to love and protect them. Promiscuity among fatherless girls was one of the outcomes that Iyanla discussed in depth. Statistics for the women were not any better than for the men.

So back to my question and the article: Does Marriage Matter to Children? According to the data, yes. In my work as an educator, I encounter teens and teachers alike who share stories of heartbreak in the lives of children. Teens from unmarried homes are 40% more likely to become pregnant, less likely to attend or graduate from college, more likely to repeat grades, and so on. In an article in The Atlantic, data is analyzed which leads the author to state "Adolescent family structure has important implications for family formation among young adults." He says that children from less privileged homes are even more positively impacted by married parents. The likelihood of living in poverty is much greater for children whose mothers are not married. Children who are born to unmarried parents are more likely to live in poverty and to have poor developmental outcomes. (Rebecca Ryan, "Marital Births and Early Child Outcomes: The Moderating Influence of Marriage Propensity." Child Development, May/June 2013)

Clearly, the benefits to children growing up in a home with a mom and dad who are married are great. When young women experience an unplanned pregnancy, the outcomes and consequences of that child being raised by an unmarried mother must be considered. Fully informed decision-making demands no less. The option most often chosen by young women in this situation is parenting, abortion is the second most chosen option, and adoption is a very distant third with less than 1% of women of any age choosing this option. All of the options are hard; they each have very different outcomes and will be a decision that this woman will live with for the rest of her life. So will the child in two of the options. Let me share with you the comments of a 14-year-old young man in regard to the choice made by his biological mother when faced with this difficult decision:

"I love my family, my school, my church and my life. I also love playing paintball with my dad and friends, playing football and hanging out with my friends. All of this might not have happened if a very brave woman, my birth mom, hadn't chosen life and adoption for me. I was adopted when I was a newborn. I was one of the lucky ones whose birth mom chose adoption. She wanted me to have a mom and a dad who were married and ready to be parents. I think she is one of the bravest people I know of and so are you if you are a birth mom! Her sacrifice gave me a great life and a chance to be everything she wanted for me. There are so many parents who want to be moms and dads that there are enough for all of us!

So from all of us kids who were given the blessing of adoption, I want to say a very big 'THANK YOU!' You are a hero to a child!"


Those comments are from my son whose birthmother chose adoption, picked my husband and me to be his parents and gave us the greatest blessing we will know on this earth. Adoption is the option most likely in 2013 to provide a child with married parents, given the statistical data from the U.S. Census Bureau. If marriage is so beneficial and healthy for children, we must look more closely at the option of adoption and the benefits it brings to children, families and our nation. There are an estimated 2,000,000 couples wanting and waiting to adopt.

Joi Wasill is a wife, mom, educator and the founder of a teen pregnancy education program operating in schools since 2002.

Pro-life blog buzz 12-10-13

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.

Coming Home has a bold rebuttal to Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s appearance on Meet the Press, where he claimed that Obamacare wouldn’t really be a problem if it were'nt for the HHS contraception mandate:

So, give the Church that exemption and she will go mute on all of the other horrors this law is visiting on Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
“You’re not gonna hear from us anymore.”
No, Cardinal Dolan. Most respectfully, we need you and the other bishops to fight for us…. Want to fill the pews? Defend your flock! The nation has awakened to the trap laid by Obama, the imprisonment, the economic destitution coming under this law, the massive carnival of death on the other end of the life spectrum, and not just abortion. The nation is aroused, and my bishops are losing the forest for the tree.
There is not a shred of moral decency in this law. It is a eugenicist’s dream. It preys on the very weakest on both ends of the life spectrum and impoverishes everyone in-between.
In your interview two years ago, you indicated that the president made all sorts of promises to you and the bishops and then broke them all. Where is your outrage and disgust? You cannot deal with such men. You can only defeat them.
This president and his signature piece of legislation are tearing this nation apart. This is the golden moment for our bishops to stand and fight, with a nation desperate for leadership in that fight. This is our defining moment in the Catholic Church.
This is bigger than contraception and abortion.
This is the forest, not just one tree.

Generations for Life suggests that pro-lifers send Christmas greetings to Mary Wagner of Toronto, who has been in jail since August for the crime of offering life-affirming help to women inside an abortion mill.
According to GFL, “this was the sixth time Mary had been arrested since she began her campaign of civil disobedience in March 2010. Since then, she has spent nearly three years in prison.”

View the promotional video (below) and send Mary a card of encouragement at:

Mary Wagner
Vanier Centre for Women
P.O Box 1040
655 Martin St.
Milton, ON L9T 5E6
CANADA
When mailing, please carefully follow all rules and restrictions, listed at the blog link above.

Bound4Life applauds the European Parliament’s rejection of a bill that would have labeled abortion a fundamental human right, mandating that pro-life countries offer abortion in their public healthcare systems. Especially targeted were the pro-life countries of Ireland, Poland and Malta:
The measure the European Parliament is now considering contains no limits regarding gestational age – leaving open the possibility of elective-abortion-until-day-of-birth as a human right. Doubly disturbing are the severe infringement on conscience protections of physicians (specifically gynecologists and anesthesiologists) that are proposed.
While it is good news that it was defeated it was sent back to committee, don’t be surprised to see another attempt.

Josh Brahm highlights the innovative pro-life efforts of Online For Life.

Expose Abortion shares a chilling quote from former abortionist, Dr. Anthony Levatino. No wonder the industry fights so hard to silence those who leave:The resident on call got the job of doing the salines… and they were horrible because you saw one intact, whole baby being born, and sometimes they were alive. That was very, very frightening. It was a very stomach-turning kind of existence.

The FRC Blog has an interview with pro-life Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) about how Obamacare is using federal money to fund abortion in certain healthcare exchanges, in defiance of the Hyde Amendment.

Down on the Pharm questions why the Girl Scouts of America would hire Joshua Ackley as their spokesperson and public relations specialist. Ackley has a second job as a band member in “homo-punk” or “homo-core” genre and is a member of the Dead Betties (pictured right), profiled at 100questionsforthegirlscouts.org. How does one manage to promote positive and healthy images for girls by day while exploiting them in some of the band’s images?

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition explains why safeguards and controls don’t work once laws authorizing euthanasia are passed: At a press conference, Prof. Dr. Etienne Montero, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Namur, Belgium, gave an overview of 11 years of euthanasia in Belgium. The proponents of euthanasia in Belgium recognize that most requests for euthanasia are not rooted in physical pain, which can be controlled, but in psychological suffering. Examples include loss of meaning, loneliness, weariness of life, and need to master one’s death. In situations of suffering, a euthanasia request is understandable, but courts cannot give the right to euthanasia without endangering the lives and security of its citizens. All citizens are at risk of excesses and abuse.

Pro-life blog buzz 12-6-13

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.
The Washington Times says stem cell research funding is turning toward adult (instead of embryonic) stem cells, even in traditionally liberal states:“Money talks,” said Gene Tarne, author of papers for the Charlotte Lozier Institute that find that the bulk of stem cell funding grants in California and Maryland are moving toward “ethical” research that doesn’t use human embryos.
“The shift looks like a sea change from when state funding strongly favored research from embryonic stem cells over “adult” stem cells, which are taken from the placenta, umbilical cord and some mature tissues and do not kill human embryos.”…
[A] Kansas stem cell research center that, by law, won’t use stem cells culled from human embryos also is taking off….
The center… is “a visionary move” to “support science that can actually lead to a lot of new therapies and potentially change the face of medicine,” said Dr. Buddhadeb Dawn, director of the center, which is housed at the University of Kansas Medical Center….
Excluding embryonic stem cell research is not an impediment, Dr. Dawn said. “Adult stem cells are the ones that have been shown to be effective for patient treatment,” he said.


At National Review, Michael New discusses the significance of the new meta-analysis of 36 separate abortion/breast cancer link studies. The study “concluded that induced abortion raises the risk of breast cancer by 44 percent. Each of the 36 studies showed a positive correlation between abortion and breast cancer.” Despite the academic credentials and the findings, the mainstream media is showing a “circle the wagons” mentality in lock step with the abortion industry, as usual.

Pro-Life Action League promotes the “Empty Manger Christmas Caroling” event, to be held outside abortion facilities. Some cities are already posting their events and schedules. PLAL gives you all the resources necessary to host your own event.

At Life Training Institute, Dr. Rich Poupard discusses Michigan’s heavy restrictions and regulations on a surgical procedure for minors: requiring parental consent, admitting privileges for doctors, and informed consent of patients…. But is he is talking about abortion?
If you haven’t figured it out, I’m not talking about abortion access. I’m talking about access to routine third molar surgery. These “restrictions” that I mention are dealt with every single day by my own patients, in the office where I practice. Yet the same type of standards, when applied to those adolescents seeking abortion care, are seen as some horrific barrier to care.

ProLife NZ shares a post from The Leading Edge regarding a New Zealand couple who was awarded compensation for personal injury – because they didn’t have the opportunity to abort their daughter, who has spina bifida, and whom they claim to love:
It now sets a legal precedent which declares that being denied the opportunity to kill an innocent human being before birth is an act which causes injury to the persons who would have procured the killing if they had been afforded the opportunity to do so. I wonder how long it will be before someone tries to test this new ruling to see if it applies to the killing of persons without disabilities prior to birth as well – or is it just those with spina bifida and Down syndrome who come in for such prejudicial rulings in the Brave New Zealand?

Pro-Life Wisconsin reports that state Democrats are going for broke in introducing a bill to ban all restrictions on abortion. PLW also explains their stance that anything less than a Personhood amendment is making peace with the abortion industry.

Secular Pro-Life showcases the pro-life documentary, 40, which will have its world premiere on Wednesday, December 11th. Watch the trailer:

Pro-life blog buzz 12-3-13

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.

Josh Brahm offers his advice to pro-life politicians on how to reduce their pro-life beliefs to a 30-second sound bite. This is vitally important, because abortion advocates have thus far been successful at using rape and incest cases to shut down debate:

I am pro-life because we know the unborn are alive, because they’re growing. We know the unborn are human because they have human parents, and I think human beings like me and you are valuable.In fact, I think all human beings have an equal right to live, because they all have something special in common: they’re human. That’s why racism and sexism are wrong. Racism is wrong because it focuses on a surface difference that doesn’t morally matter and ignores the thing we all have in common, which is the thing that does morally matter: that we’re human.And because the unborn are clearly human, they should be given an equal right to life as well.

Live Action reports that “Texas attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott has put his money where his pro-life mouth is and announced grants to 13 nonprofits in Texas for the purpose of supporting adoption, the result of profits from the state’s relatively new pro-life license plates.”
Naturally, abortion supporters objected to this option, but so far 2,300 people have made the choice to freely pay more for their plates knowing that the increase will benefit adoption. Now that is choice!

John Smeaton notes how the abortion industry is targeting pro-life Ireland by introducing a bill to allow abortions “in cases of fatal ‘foetal abnormality’.” He rightly points out that “the movement for abortion and the movement for eugenics have in fact always been closely associated with the former developing seamlessly from the latter.”

ProWomanProLife features a Canadian Physicians for Life article which argues that abortions should be defunded due to strained medical resources – and because they are never medically necessary. Europe is currently grappling with this issue, and the US is starting down the same road.

A Culture of Life questions the rush to vaccinate increasingly younger patients with Gardasil when more information is needed about its adverse affects. Japan has recently withdrawn support for the vaccine.