Pro-life blog buzz 3-14-14

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.

Right to Life Michigan is proud to bring transparency and peace of mind despite the histrionics from Rachel Maddow who claimed that beginning today the women of Michigan will have to purchase rape insurance to provide for their abortions:

So what will happen when the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out law takes effect on March 14? The sun will rise and Michigan will join 23 other states that have opted out of abortion being a standard part in health care policies offered through the national health care exchanges. Michigan will also join nine other states that have opted out of abortion as a standard part of private health care plans.

Stand for Life does not intend to give up after the defeat of a 20-week abortion ban in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last November:
What is the answer to light a fire under the citizens of Albuquerque? Protest ABQ is one. This new movement spearheaded by Father Stephen Imbarrato is to protest not only at abortion facilities but at businesses and residences that have close ties to them. Abortion victim photography, or graphic images as some may call them, are a huge part of the protest, along with other pro-life text signs. Names of businesses affiliated with the abortion industry in Albuquerque are also highlighted in signs and literature.

Pro Life Action League reminds us that Good Friday is the day for the Way of the Cross. PLAL has all the tools you need to bring this event to your city.

We hear people say it was a “therapeutic” abortion, as if that word makes it okay. Now Wesley J. Smith opines on the issue of “rational” suicide. So if the psychiatrist has determined you are not mentally ill and can make rational decisions, go for it:

Psychiatrists are sometimes the last bastion of protection for despairing self-destructive people. To succeed, the life-saving mission must be unequivocal. But rational suicide proponents believe that when the doctor agrees that the desire to die is “rational,” it should be “permitted.” Imagine being told by your doctor that self-killing makes sense.

Pro Life in TN is proud that Tennessee Congresswomen Diane Black (right, top) and Marsha Blackburn (right, bottom) received special recognition from Susan B. Anthony List for their pro life legislation.

Pro Woman Pro Life lists a link to songs about abortion, some of which carry a subtle theme that need an explanation.

Amanda Marcotte may have gushed over the opening in Buffalo of a birth/abortion combo. calling it the “nation’s first.” But Real Choice takes exception, reminding us of previous combos and their not so stellar track record:

But the abortion/birthing combo in Buffalo is not breaking new ground. Others have dug that grave before, and buried many a child along with some mothers.

Secular Pro Life points to a recent poll indicating that only 36% of Millennials would describe themselves as religious as the reason why SPL is well situated to appeal to the this generation:

Because if you aren’t a “religious person,” prayer vigils, sermons, and sayings like, “Let God Plan Parenthood” are not going to get you involved in the pro-life movement. And heaven forbid (ha!) that you take such an approach with an average young Christian woman who is pregnant, terrified, and considering what looks like an “easy way out.” About 65% of abortions in the U.S. are performed on Christian mothers, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.

Tennessean Congressman Blackburn and Black receive recognition from Susan B Anthony

The Tennessean recognized two middle Tennessee pro life Congressman....Marsha Blackburn and Diane Black who were recognized by Susan B. Anthony for their stand for life in Washington DC.

Marsha Blackburn / Submitted

ZOOM

Submitted

WASHINGTON — One of the leading interest groups opposing abortion rights honored U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Wednesday for her work on measures to restrict the practice.

The award comes as Blackburn, R-Brentwood, and Rep. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, continue to sponsor and co-sponsor numerous bills in the 113th Congress that take aim at the procedure.

Blackburn received the Distinguished Leader Award from Susan B. Anthony List, a Washington organization dedicated to funding women candidates who oppose abortion. The award was to be presented at the group’s annual gala Wednesday night.

The group cited Blackburn for leading the House floor debate in June on a bill to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks. The measure passed the Republican-controlled body 228-196, although it failed to advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

“Representative Blackburn is already recognized as one of the foremost and fearless leaders of the pro-life caucus here in Washington,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the SBA List. “She is never afraid to go on offense for the unborn and women, whether she is debating opposing members of Congress or media pundits.”

Dannenfelser added, “Her leadership spurred several states to take action and continues to inspire change in the hearts and minds of Americans across the nation.”

The group also praised Black, who spoke at a panel discussion it held Wednesday morning. “She is another of our amazing women in the House. We love her,” said spokeswoman Mallory Quigley.

The two members began the 113th Congress in January by each introducing a bill to defund Planned Parenthood.

Together or separately, they also have co-sponsored a number of other abortion-related bills. Among them are proposals to:

• Prohibit transporting a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion.

• Keep health insurance plans offered under President Barack Obama’s health care law from offering abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother.

• Prohibit funding of state and local education agencies unless they certify that any health services they offer students do not cover abortions.

• Ban federal funds from paying for any health benefits that include abortion services. The bill passed the House but has yet to make it out of the Senate Finance Committee.

• Prohibit abortions in cases in which the unborn child is more than 20 weeks old and capable of feeling pain.

• Allow individuals who have a moral or religious objection to abortion to refuse insurance under Obama’s health care law that provides such coverage. It passed the House but not the Senate.

Both also co-sponsored a House resolution calling for Congress and the states to gather information about those offering “abusive, unsanitary or illegal abortion practices.” It passed the House.

Outrage and protection for dogs but not for babies....what is wrong with us??

At Live Action, Isaac Latterell notes an animal protection bill that passed the South Dakota Senate without opposition, and wonders why humans can’t seem to extend such protections to preborn humans: 

Last week, SB 46 passed unanimously…. It is a bill that would make it a felony to “intentionally, willfully, and maliciously inflict gross physical abuse on an animal that causes prolonged pain, that causes serious physical injury, or that results in the death of the animal.”…
It saddens me to have to write about this. But I will not sit silently by as our children’s lives are devalued to a place lower than dogs. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

*******************************************************************************

This from the latest blog buzz brought back to my mind an incident that happened in Tennessee. In 2007, a local TV station showed an undercover  video  showing a local vet who was contracted by the local humane shelter to euthanize dogs and cats. The proper method is to sedate the dog and then give them the lethal injection. In the video, one man was holding up the dog and the vet was giving the lethal injection straight to the heart causing almost instantaneous death. 

The video ignited a fire storm. Members of the state legislature made speeches from the floor. One legislator started drafting legislation making this method a felony. Letters to the editor, editorials, protests in front of the vet's home and clinic showed the public outrage. The local District Attorney started an investigation, the local veterinarian board held a meeting  and suspended his license for a year. He ended up being fined $5,000, 200 hours of community service, seek psychological counseling and placed on probation for five years.

Okay, this was awful, but as I watched this unfold, all I could think of is this is the manner they use for late term abortions on human babies. An injection straight to the heart of the innocent baby is the method that replaced partial birth abortion when this method was exposed to the public and subsequently banned.

Where is the outrage, editorials, District Attorney, license lifted, protests and speeches from the floor of the legislature. Where are the fines, probation and required psychological counseling.


Yes, let's love the dogs and cats but what about the babies???

Pro-life blog buzz 3-11-14

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 says a new study acknowledges that “widespread and increased availability of oral emergency contraception (EC) over the past 10-14 years has made little difference to rates of unintended pregnancy, abortion and repeat abortion amongst teenagers.” However, the conclusion from this is that teens must now try another form of birth control – the IUD.



Culture Campaign reports that “in his 2015 budget proposal to Congress, President Obama has eliminated grants for abstinence education funding.” And who would applaud this action more than the “non-partisan” abortion pimp Planned Parenthood, which benefits heavily from taxpayer dollars? The group’s president, Cecile Richards reacted, saying, “We are pleased that the budget eliminates funding for abstinence-only sex education…. We look forward to working with Congress to see [the president's alternative sex education] investments protected.”
Yes, Cecile. We have no doubt that you do. 

The Leading Edge has a good article about why parents should be the providers of sex education for their children – not schools:
Late last week the issue of sex education made national headlines after it was revealed that a New Zealand primary school had held a sex education class for “eleven, 12 and 13 year olds where students were told about oral and anal sex, flavoured condoms, and pleasure points” – despite parents being told in writing beforehand that pupils would only be taught the basics.
These are the basics? 

Josh Brahm describes the human atrocities – including forced abortion and infantide – occurring in North Korea, and challenges pro-lifers to use these stories in the right way:
How would I use this story in a conversation with a pro-abortion-choice advocate?… If a moral relativist says he doesn’t like this story, I’m going to ask…: “When you say you don’t like the sound of infanticide being performed that way, are you describing your personal feelings about it or are you describing the act itself?” Those are not the same thing. When I say that “rape is wrong,” I’m describing the act itself, not just how I feel about rape.
I’ve found that, while it can be very difficult to make headway with some relativists, telling stories about horrific atrocities like this can shock them out of that apathy, so that their conscience can trigger them into seeing what they should have seen all along: Some things are objectively wrong.


 

At Life Training Institute, Clinton Wax challenges an article written by Jon Speed of Babies Are Murdered Here documentary fame, in which he criticizes 40 Days for Life, claiming it opposes the preaching of the Gospel at its events and is therefore not a Christian organization: 

The pro-life movement will never succeed as long as there are extremists who are trying to drive a wedge into the pro-life movement, dividing us, and playing into the hands of the pro-choice movement by embodying all of their stereotypes (that pro-life people are only interested in condemning women for having abortions, that they are just belligerent loudmouths, and that abortion is a religious issue). We need a better way to operate, and we need to be united. 

Clinic Quotes shares a quote which states “amniocentesis is frequently done to identify Down syndrome children so parents have the option of abortion. The risk of miscarriage as a result of amniocentesis is almost exactly the same as the risk for Down syndrome.” 

At Live Action, Isaac Latterell notes an animal protection bill that passed the South Dakota Senate without opposition, and wonders why humans can’t seem to extend such protections to preborn humans:
Last week, SB 46 passed unanimously…. It is a bill that would make it a felony to “intentionally, willfully, and maliciously inflict gross physical abuse on an animal that causes prolonged pain, that causes serious physical injury, or that results in the death of the animal.”…
It saddens me to have to write about this. But I will not sit silently by as our children’s lives are devalued to a place lower than dogs. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”


[Photos via engagefamilyminute.com and airocross.com]

Connecticut high school’s pro-life censorship makes national news

from Jill Stanek.com

Another week, another case of censorship of student pro-lifers.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, from the long view. Battles like this get the abortion issue much more attention than were they never waged. And they give students real life lessons in the First Amendment right of free speech, which isn’t needed for pleasant topics we all agree on.

But I know it’s hard on the personal level, and I give pro-life students all the kudos in the world for sticking to their guns in the face of adversity on behalf of the babies.

So this time the censor is the administration of Branford High School in Branford, Connecticut, the mission of which is ironically, “to prepare students to be independent and collaborative learners who are responsible, informed, and contributing members of society.”

The back story, according to Students for Life of America:


Since February of last year, the Branford High School administration has attempted to censor and limit the effectiveness of the Students for Life club at their public school, telling them they could not have life-like fetal models on their education table and making it difficult for them to form and sustain the club.

This February, the administration denied the pro-life club the ability to invite others to join the group in the form of clip boarding and handing out literature to students during lunch. The school has also told the Branford High School Students for Life club that they can only host events after school, a restriction not imposed on other student groups.

Last week, Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter to Branford High School and Branford Public Schools on behalf of Branford High School Students for Life requesting that they end their discriminatory behavior against the group. The letter asked for written confirmation by March 12th notifying Sam that her club’s rights will be respected.

“Sam” would be Sam Bailey-Loomis, the pro-life group’s president, and coincidentally the editor of the school newspaper this year. Sam gave a sterling interview to NBC News yesterday.

Students for Life has action items for us:
Students for Life of America is asking all pro-life activists to contact the Superintendent of Branford Public Schools, Mr. Hamlet Hernandez by email at hhernandez@branfordschools.org, or phone at (203) 488-7276, to express their support for Branford High School Students for Life and ask that Branford Public Schools resolve this situation immediately by assuring Sam and Branford High School Students for Life that their constitutional rights will be respected.

Other recent issues of school censorship that were quickly resolved in our favor once the public was alerted include Wilson High School in Tacoma, Washington, and the University of Alabama.

Pro-life blog buzz 3-7-14

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.

Right to Life of Michigan reports that one of President Obama’s supporters and one of the world’s wealthiest men, Warren Buffett (pictured left, receiving the Medal of Freedom from the President in 2010), recently gave $40 million to Planned Parenthood. This should come as no great surprise, however, as Buffett has been a longtime supporter of numerous population control efforts worldwide: 

The Buffett Foundation’s 990 for 2012 wasn’t available. But in 2011, it gave or pledged more than $40 million to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions as part of its range of services. It gave more than $1 million to the Abortion Access Project and many other pro-abortion groups.

Secular Pro-Life has a well-written article delving into the art of analyzing polling data with a critical eye. Can pollsters manipulate emotions, and therefore results, by wording questions in a certain manner? The short answer is yes:
By name? Roe v. Wade is popular. By effect? It’s toxic. The key is to make defenders own the toxicity. (Related: It’s also important to help Americans realize how many of them already oppose abortion, because media bias causes us to significantly over-estimate the popularity of the pro-choice movement.)
And that’s really all you need to know about American opinion on abortion. When they see the facts, Americans still make the right choice.

ProLife NZ has an interesting post looking at the abortion views of the three largest world religions – Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism.

Reflections of a Paralytic links to a radio podcast on the issue of three-parent embryos and genetic engineering.


Pro-Life Action League suggests that a good way pro-lifers might spend season of Lent is by praying and fasting for three specific abortion supporters: abortionist Cheryl Chastine, journalist Robin Marty, and clinic escort Katie Klabusich:

We’re asking you to pray every day and offer the sacrifice of one meal a week for them during the season of Lent….

ProLifeBlogs links to a happy announcement from 40 Days for Life: a Columbia, Missouri, abortion facility – the site of many prayer vigils – has closed. This leaves one licensed abortuary in Missouri, Planned Parenthood in St. Louis. Be encouraged!

At Eternal Perspective Ministries, Randy Alcorn links to a blog by Rachel Lewis on the importance of being consistent in our response to prenatal loss. Lewis makes the case that among pro-lifers, losing a child to miscarriage is often downplayed and seen as “part of life”, whereas abortion is viewed as the opposite. But the end result is the same: a real child has died, and his parents have a right to their grief:
To be perfectly honest, before my losses, I didn't quite understand that the way we pro-lifers treat miscarriage is important.
And yet after we lost Olivia, it didn't take long for me to realize that in this Christian microcosm of ours, somehow an aborted baby had so much more to offer the world than a miscarried one.
Both babies may have died at the same gestation—one by choice, the other by chance. But the value attached to each child completely depended on how that child died.

[Photos via money.cnn.com and Pro-Life Action League]

Abortion or birth: Same building but different rooms... life and death

Just be sure you don't get in the wrong room or  the midwife does not have your chart mixed up.

If you have ever gone in for  surgery, you know how they mark the body part that is intended to go under the knife to prevent mix ups.  When I recently had knee surgery, the dr. came in with his magic marker and asked me what knee we were doing. When I pointed to my right knee, he agreed and wrote yes across my knee and initialed it.  Well in this facility in Buffalo, NY mix ups could really be deadly.

They are touting the opening of the first birthing center that will also be an abortion mill.

"The owner of the practice has a clear understanding of this fact:To those behind the facility, the location of the birthing center makes sense for philosophical and practical reasons."

“I see a connection between respecting a woman’s right to decide to end a pregnancy and her right to determine how she has her baby,” said Dr. Katharine Morrison, the obstetrician-gynecologist who has owned Buffalo Women services since 2005."

So in this facility they are treating life and death as a simple choice of rooms....chilling!

Heart of Tennessee Pro Life at Pro Life Women's Day on the Hill

Pro Life Day on the Hill held in Nashville, TN today was another success. The crowds were enthusiastic and the issue couldn't be more important. The focus was solely on Yes on One, the amendment that will appear on the ballot in November of 2014. It must be passed by 50% plus 1 of all voters who will vote in the Governor's election. Only when this passes, stating the our state constitution is silent on the issue on abortion, will our elected legislators be once again be able to pass commonsense regulations around abortion.

Today I  talked with  two pro life warriors who have recently started their own pro life ministry and  are eager to help with the  Vote Yes on One cause. Listen here to Amanda Lapetri and Lacey Buchanan.

Sue Thayer headlines Pro Life Day on the Hill in Nashville

Wonderful crowd today at Pro Life Day on the Hill. Honored to have Governor and Mrs. Haslam stop by to show support and many legislators. Enthusiasm is high and we are united in communicating to all Tennesseans the importance of voting  YES ON ONE in November.

I had the opportunity to interview the guest speaker, Sue Thayer out of Storm Lake, IA. She shared a compelling story  of 18 years of managing a Planned Parenthood facility and leaving the abortion industry.  Now a voice in the pro life movement, she is the director of a Pregnancy Resource Center but also had the distinction of leading the first 40 Days for Life in front of the Planned Parenthood facility she managed. That center closed down! Listen here to her comments. 

Pro-life blog buzz 3-4-14

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 exposes abortion’s role in society’s eugenic attitude toward children with special needs. But the average family choosing to abort a special needs child does so for one of two reasons unrelated to eugenics:
The argument from the desire to eliminate pain…. [and] [t]he argument from the desire to preserve a personal level of living.

A Culture of Life explains how the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists changed their definition of pregnancy to accommodate potentially abortifacient birth control pills. However, they calculate due dates by last menstrual period, which is about two weeks prior to conception. Hmm.

Clinic Quotes posts a quote from abortionist Dr. Maureen Paul which explains why she chose her profession – because carrying her child to term and placing him/her for adoption was so painful for her: 

I confided in a family friend and asked to borrow the $300. But he told my parents, who immediately pulled me out of school. They took me to a local hospital, where I went before a committee that had to decide whether there was a valid medical reason to give me an abortion.

When my request was turned down, I had no other option but to carry the baby to term and put [it] up for adoption. It was the most painful experience of my life. Though I wanted to have children one day – and years later had a daughter as the result of an intended pregnancy – I bitterly resented being forced to have a baby against my will. I consider that an act of violence against women.


The Guiding Star Project asks if population control by way of contraceptives (the Melinda Gates philosophy) is the new “white man’s burden” and questions the motivations behind this movement:

Although the post is titled the “New” White Man’s Burden, to be accurate, the West imposing population control on others is not new. Indeed, the then top-secret government report that first highlighted the “necessity” of telling other people how many kids they can have was written 40 years ago already, having been written in 1974. This report, called The Kissinger Report, outlines the increasing need for minerals and fuel from developing nations and categorizes their increasing populations as a threat to US interests.

It proposes population control as the means in which we will have continued access to their resources that we want. Thirteen counties were considered of particular threat to US interests: Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and Turkey. Since the initial report, many agencies have contributed and fought for the cause of population control. Though many agencies claim they want women to have “access” to birth control, time and again, abuses occur that shows that they don’t want women to have mere access; they want the vulnerable poor to do as we tell them and stop having children.

40 Days for Life shares a video that contain some amazing statistics – the staggering number of abortions worldwide (42 million), along with some good numbers about babies saved and abortion workers leaving the industry through maintaining a pro-life presence outside abortion facilities. A new 40 Days campaign starts in one week.

House of Cards (Claire) shows abortion regret followed by defiance

I have recently started watching House of Cards via my Netflex account. I like the political intrigue, the tension between reporters and politicians. Yes this is very adult fare with blue language and, of course,  the mandatory gratuitous sex scene.

Claire Underwood played by Robin Wright is not quite as ruthless as her husband but a close second. In the 13th episode of season 1, we see a glimpse of abortion regret. Claire and Frank have been married 27 years and no children. We don't immediately know why,  but Claire starts to have dreams about children, specifically a girl, being caught in vines and she is unable to reach her. Who is she talking about? They don't have children. Then she wonders aloud to Frank what they will leave behind.  You know she is talking about children.

There are brief mentions of her starting to go through menopause. A few scenes later, she is consulting with a doctor and you get the impression she is discussing the possibility of having children at her  age. Is this a fertility doc or an IVF clinic?  Here we find out that she has had three abortions. No further explanation but she looks sad as she relays that information to the dr. 
Abortion regret....it sure looks that way.

On to season two we find out more about the abortions. During an interview she gives into the pesky reporter  who keeps pressing her on the issue of why no children. Claire finally acknowledges an  abortion.  The reporter is questioning her about a report from their opponents that said she was pregnant during the campaign.  Have you ever been pregnant, she asks? Claire is adept at parsing her words and she says yes I have been pregnant and finally says she had an abortion. You are left with the impression at that point that she is talking about the allegation that she was pregnant in her marriage to Frank. They quickly call a break.

 Her handlers  discuss  during the break how she can do damage control. Claire tells them the truth....two abortions as a "reckless teenager" and one while married to Frank because their birth control failed. They were in the middle of a campaign and she was  16 weeks pregnant and they decided they did not want a baby and needed to focus on the campaign.  So that was the third abortion. 

 True  to form, Claire goes back into the interview and says that she was date raped in college and even names the alleged rapist who is now a public figure. It apparently is true that Claire was the victim of date rape and she allows the viewers to think that is when she got pregnant and had an abortion.  Claire obviously panicked and is in full damage control at this point. Given her end justifies the means mentality,  she has just lied and said that she aborted as a result of rape which is not true but will sell to the public.  

The earlier abortion regret is now replaced with a defiant attitude when threatened. The roller coaster emotions is not uncommon but when not being pressured, the abortion regret comes through.

Simons: responds to Tennessean letter to the editor on Yes on 1

I had the opportunity to interview Myra Simons, President of Vote Yes on TN  regarding a letter to the editor published in the Tennessean on February 25th. Listen to Simons clarify and refute the letter writer.