Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Latinos, Labour Unions And Cultural Radicalism

Interesting interview with Rev. George E. Schultze SJ, author of "Strangers in a Foreign Land,” discussing the need for American labor unions to recognize that Latinos are social conservatives who are uncomfortable with unions' pro-abortion, pro-gay approach.

Even though this interview and book centers around an American phenomenon, we can learn a few things I believe from Rev. Schultze’s insights and experience, particularly in regard to abortion and the struggle for social justice.

Here are some highlights of the interview that I found encouraging:

In addition, the sexual revolution, no-fault divorce, and abortion have taken a heavy toll on our culture because they do not promote commitment. When we are not responsible and committed people, we lack meaning and direction as a society. Latinos, particularly Latino immigrants, tend to hold more traditional and conservative values even though they are susceptible to the same temptations as every other person.

….

A slippery slope exists in labor’s wrongheaded acceptance of attempts to redefine marriage and the failure to understand the importance of respecting human life. If we continue to disregard the unborn, we will find greater acceptance of euthanasia. This has already happened in Europe.


Not only will health care workers (who are often union members) benefit from a culture that respects life; it is the right thing to do. Unionists aren’t speaking out because they kowtow to those who in recent generations have set the cultural agenda, normally the media and academics.


Union leaders also find political correctness politically expedient. Isn’t this how Satan works? Unions are the most democratic institutions in the United States and they are susceptible to the pressure of special interest groups who want to leverage the power of the labor movement. Union members need to express their opposition to cultural radicalism through all the internal union channels available to them.


During the early 1990s, the international president of the plumber’s union wrote an article in a national Catholic magazine that explained his opposition to abortion and why he could not vote for candidate Bill Clinton. I have not heard nor read of any other union leader since then making such a clear statement.

….


Yes, I think the labor movement has fallen into the traps of relativism and subjectivism, where basically the ends justify the means. I now read of nationally known labor leaders receiving awards from NOW for supporting abortion.

Here’s the most inspiring comment in the article I think and it points to the urgent work that we are called to undertake in Canada, not simply in respect to labour unions and movements, but in respect to the creation of a truly just society. Justice demands that every human creature is afforded basic rights and freedoms, the most pressing right currently denied in Canada being the right of the unborn to life.

But organizing is always reorganizing. We need to raise up women and men who possess the cultural insight and the moral standing to sacrifice for the common good and lead us. We need to support labor leaders and workers who are already making holy sacrifices to do the right thing by workers, employers, and the people they serve.

And finally I note the following statement from this author:

I believe that you will find Catholic leaders becoming more vocal in their rejection of organizations that directly or indirectly promote views inimical to Church teaching. They will support unionists who promote Judeo-Christian values in the union hall and at the election polls but will become more outspoken against the use of union members and funds that promote immoral positions.

I certainly hope he is correct about that.

God speed the day when all moral-minded Canadians whether Catholics, other Christians, or those of other faiths and backgrounds become, through responsible voting, a vocal majority in Canada rather than a silent majority.


Stop the Madness

More evidence that the rejection of the truth of God’s natural order by abortion advocates causes blindness and utter confusion.

This abortion clinic director says of herself: “I am pro-life” and at last year’s benefit dinner was quoted as saying,
"the clinic raised enough money last year... to subsidize 1,143 abortions, and the clinic hopes 2007 will be just as successful."
Surely this is insanity—a “pro-life” abortion director who characterizes 1,143 abortions as a “successful” year.


Tuesday, January 30, 2007

New Poor-Choice Slogan: “No Compulsory Pregnancy!”

Once again, abortion advocates must be thinking that most of the general population have taken leave of their senses. And Suzanne, a fetal rights activist at Big Blue Wave, calls them on it.

The feminists make it sound like we fetal rights proponents are sending women back to school to take a "compulsory pregnancy" course, or that we're artificially inseminating them and MAKING them pregnant (or worse, raping them!).

….

But when people engage in an activity with a foreseeable consequence, they can't complain about that consequence and whine that others have an obligation to sympathize with them. Take for instance hockey players. Hockey players take all kinds of precautions to stop from getting injured.

But they get injured anyway.

Would you sympathize with a hockey player who always complained about getting injured or being injured, or about the game leading to injuries?

Most people would say: what a crybaby. Play in a league with less aggression, or stop playing altogether.

In the same way: women who engage in sexual intercourse and expect to be exempted from pregnancy are setting themselves up for disappointment, even with birth control. Sex, even with birth control, can lead to pregnancy.

But you might say: an injury needs to be treated. Why shouldn't a pregnancy be dealt with in the same way?

Why? Because a pregnancy is not an injury or a disease. A woman who is pregnant has a functioning--read healthy-- reproductive system. She doesn't "need" a doctor to get rid of it. A fetus is not a wart.

And finally, Suzanne drives the ball all the way home.

See, the whole so-called abortion debate comes down to the value of the fetus: is the fetus an equal or not? If not, then by all means, keep legalized abortion. But if he is an equal, then he deserves the same consideration as all born people.

Just to qualify things a little further, when Suzanne asks whether the fetus is an equal or not, I believe she is implicitly asking: Is the unborn a human being? That's what is central to the debate!


Nice job Suzanne!


Monday, January 29, 2007

Women's Health and Happiness Compromised By Sexual Perversion

ProLife Blogs reports on the Feb. 5 issue of People magazine which included a story about actress Marissa Jaret Winokur who, according to the teaser, "learned the cause of her cervical cancer and now makes sure other women know how to prevent it."
The sole cause of cervical cancer is human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease. Winokur contracted cervical cancer at age 27 due to previous sexual promiscuity...

Winokur and
People only fuel the exploitation and health demise of women by refusing to acknowledge the only full proof way to avoid HPV or cervical cancer: abstinence.

This is really a continuing story of the corruption of morals in Western civilization, specifically in this case in the area of sexuality. The perversion of God's order for sexuality is a major contributing factor in the loss of millions of human lives through the tragedy of abortion.

Canadians need to be better informed in this regard and taught to be less compromising in living out their sexuality. Granted this is a colossal challenge and granted such a task can only begin to gain ground when undertaken from a thousand pulpits.


Morgentaler: Saviour Or Monster?

Today is the 19th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling on abortion in Canada and The Chronicle Herald, Halifax, Nova Scotia, is running a story on Henry Morgentaler in today's edition.

Morgentaler is
...Canada’s foremost abortion-rights crusader, who at age 83 has slowed down in the winter of life but remains as committed as ever to the cause he championed for decades.
Perhaps a review of the history will serve to remind us, not only of what we have lost as a nation, but also of what can be achieved by the determined efforts of one individual.

God help us to do better.

And God have mercy on Henry Morgentaler. Remember to pray for this man. As long as he lives there is hope he will find the salvation of God and acknowledge the evil of his past. Such news would deal a devastating blow to pro-abortion forces in Canada and the culture of death as a whole.


Catholic Voting Crisis in America (And Canada)

Catholic Citizens of Illinois was founded in 1996 by a group of Catholics who were concerned by trends in voting behavior and public opinion polls which pointed toward a breakdown in group consciousness among Catholic lay people in Illinois and across America.

On their website, they summarize their concerns in this way:
More and more, Catholics in public life are becoming indistinguishable from other Americans, with growing support for abortion, divorce, euthanasia, and other societal ills. Even worse, a veil of ignorance has fallen over Catholic America, obscuring Catholic lay people's understanding of their faith and calling into question their responsibility to serve as witnesses to Christ in the midst of human society.
Last week, Catholic Citizens of Illinois published an article entitled "Pathetic State of American Catholicism on Abortion Crystallized from Buffalo Pulpit" as a result of the recent controversy surrounding Rep. Brian Higgins, a popular upstate New York Democratic Congressman.

The article notes that despite a
...pattern of betrayal and rejection of his faith's positions on abortion and related issues, Higgins continues to publicly proclaim his Catholicism because he knows that Irish Catholics form his main political base. In other words, Higgins wants to have his cake and eat it as well. He wants Catholic votes while betraying Catholic teaching.
Little more than a week ago, on Respect Life Sunday, Deacon McDonnell of St. Thomas Aquinas parish, realizing
...that Higgins was in attendance and, repeating words he had given the day before from the pulpit, called on Catholics to pay closer attention to politicians' voting records on certain issues before voting for those politicians. He suggested that congregants speak to Higgins about his record. At this, Higgins and his family stood up and left.
....

If anyone wants to see the sad state of the American Catholic Church on the issue of abortion, let him look to the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Buffalo, where a courageous deacon named Thomas McDonnell stood up for his faith only to be betrayed by precisely those who were supposed to lead him into battle. Instead of receiving complete support, as he deserved, McDonnell was criticized by both Church leadership and enough clueless congregants to make one wonder just what passes for Catholicism in this country.
This story points out very clearly the formidable challenge facing pro-lifers in North America. If the consciences of Catholics (and other Christians), who claim to hold to clearly stated doctrine condemning unequivocally the immorality and injustice of abortion, will permit them to vote for and otherwise support politicians who are responsible for sustaining the status quo on abortion in their nation, it is shocking indeed.

What can possibly be done to reverse this apathetic state of affairs?

Canadians must SEE abortion.

Their consciences must be re-formed through first hand encounter with the shocking, sobering images of the aborted.

An army of warriors must rise up in Canada to bring this message to Christians, other faith communities and to all other Canadians of good will. Along with the discovery of the truth and reality of abortion, Canadians must be persuaded to put legs to their new found convictions and be strengthened to make their vote count for a truly just society, where unborns are legally recognized as fully Canadian.

Will you become a warrior for the unborn?

If so, Vote Life, Canada! needs YOU!


Sunday, January 28, 2007

Most Prolifers Are Old And Out Of Touch With This Generation. Not!

h/t

Open Letter To A Tearful Grandmother

Stefan, in his usual delightful but serious and thorough way, writes an imaginary letter to a tearful grandmother who is seeking resources to convince young persons to be pro-life.

Stefan is VERY! Catholic so be warned. However he's also very gifted in logic and blessed with an enthusiasm for God and by natural extension, for life. His website, Inquisition.ca, is chock full of great resources, articles and links, many of them related to pro-life issues.

How can we convince young persons to be pro-life? If I knew, I'd go tell the Pope! The best I can do is a very imperfect Reading List for Pro-Choicers. But this list doesn't even itself fit on a few pages. Indeed, it "points" to other texts, which themselves "point" toward other texts, and so on.

Why be pro-life, unless we know the nature of the human soul? And how can we know the nature of the human soul, without studying the soul, Nature, and Philosophy? And how can we study Philosophy in a society where the very ideas of truth, good and evil, manners and wisdom are rejected? How can we even have the desire to study Philosophy if everything is mere belief, if each one of us has his or her values, if our conscience invents Ethics as we go along, if constructive debates are impossible, and if all we can do is follow intellectual fashions?

But it gets worse. How can we stay pro-life, if we're not equipped to answer pro-choice objections? And how can we answer pro-choice objections, if we're in a Church where many members of the clergy underhandedly encourage the acceptance of abortion? And how can we defend ourselves againt many Priests and Bishops in our Church without falling into hatred of that very Church, or excessive criticism, either to the left or to the right, or even sink into an apparently Catholic religious cult?

So now you know a little of Stefan's style... why not investigate his work further?


Pro-life Efforts Must Always Be Anchored In Justice For The Unborn

At LTI blog Scott highlights a recent posting by Frank Beckwith.

Key question: Should we pursue a new pro-life strategy (NPS) of victory, termed consequentialism, which “concedes the first premise of the abortion-choice movement: the self-interest and well-being of an autonomous adult (in this case, the pregnant woman) trumps any other interests”?

Or should the principles of justice and right to life of the unborn always eclipse other motives or arguments in our pro-life efforts?

That’s the question Beckwith weighs in on.

Because many abortion-choice supporters maintain that abortion is good for women, some prolifers, such as Paul Swope and David Reardon, advance arguments that conclude that abortion has negative physical and psychological consequences for women who procure abortions, e.g., increased risk of breast cancer, guilt, depression.

....

From a strictly moral point of view, abortion is not a serious moral wrong just because the woman suffers as a result of choosing or having one.

....

Even if the NPS’s approach reduces the number of abortions, it does not follow that the culture is becoming more accepting of the prolife perspective. Although an appeal to self-interest may persuade some women not to have abortions, the choice not to abort for this reason is not the same as a moral conversion and intellectual assent to the prolife perspective.

Beckwith has started an important discussion here and others have added good comments as well. Let's stay on top of this point because it will help us to stay focused on the soundest approach in our pro-life work.

More conversation on this at STR blog.


Saturday, January 27, 2007

More Abortion Induced Schizophrenia

This story is out of Massachusetts.
Prosecutors charged an 18-year-old woman today with ingesting ulcer medication in a botched attempt to abort her second-term pregnancy.

Instead of aborting the 23 to 25 week-old fetus, however, Amber Abreu gave birth to 1 1/4-pound baby girl. The infant, who was named Ashley, died four days later, prosecutors allege.
Dom at Bettnet marvels at the contradiction he sees in this story...and the schizophrenia that exists in our abortion tolerant society.
What it shows is that our society still--deep down--understands that an unborn baby is indeed a baby and that killing her is wrong. Yet there’s that nagging voice in the back of so many minds that says, I wouldn’t want to be burdened with an unplanned child or I don’t want my son or daughter burdened with one. I or he or she have so much planned for ourselves.

Legalized abortion has given us a schizoid legal system and a schizoid health care system and a schizoid culture.


Bias And Blindness Killing Down's Syndrome Children

Uncle Di blogged earlier this week on a Down Syndrome story that appeared in the Chicago Tribune.

As I noted in my previous blog entry, there has recently been a couple of very significant decisions reached by medical associations in Canada and the USA to screen all pregnant women for Down Syndrome children in the womb, and thereby give opportunity to abort.

In his blog posting, Uncle Di exposes another aspect of the absolute irrationality of the “poor-choice” medical professionals. When so-called “professionals” are so desperate to save the world from another “unfit” human being that they warn parents-to-be of a Down’s child to beware of the “rosy picture” painted by Down’s Syndrome support group, exactly who is it that needs counselling?

First off, the very fact that we're talking about a support group shows the persons involved can't be unaware of the hardship. But more to the point, since when does first-hand experience of a complex human situation disqualify the opinion of those who have it?

Yes, Uncle Di, that surely is BIAS, and the most deadly kind of bias.

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

Thanks again to Diogenes, he refers us to an excellent rebuttal of the news about increased prenatal screening. Take the time to read it because it gives welcome perspective.


Back Alleys, Coat Hangers And Other Pro-Choice Lies

In Scott's recent posting at LTI Blog, he clobbers the shopworn cliché of "back-alley abortions."

The lie starts out something like this: Before the 1973 Roe ruling, as many as 5,000 to 10,000 women died each year in the United States as a result of a million unsafe, illegal abortions.

Scott begins to dissect the lie:
...unless you begin with the assumption that the unborn are not human, you are making the highly questionable claim that because some people will die attempting to kill others, the state should make it safe and legal for them to do so. Why should the law be faulted for making it tougher for one human being to take the life of another, completely innocent one? Should we legalize bank robbery so it is safer for felons? As abortion advocate Mary Anne Warren points out, "The fact that restricting access to abortion has tragic side effects does not, in itself, show that the restrictions are unjustified, since murder is wrong regardless of the consequences of forbidding it." Again, the issue isn't safety. The issue is the status of the unborn. (You should always start and end with that question.)
He goes on to his second shot:
...the objection that the law cannot stop all abortions is silly. Laws cannot stop all rape—should we legalize rape?
Thirdly,
...women aren’t forced to have illegal abortions; they choose to have them. Yes, pro-lifers mourn the loss of any woman who dies needlessly, but I refuse to accept the premise that women MUST seek illegal abortions.
And finally,
...the claim thousands died annually from back-alley abortions prior to 1973—when Roe. v. Wade legalized abortion in the U.S.—is just plain false.
Great little summary. Be sure to read it all...and keep his points in mind the next time you hear the ridiculous "back alley abortion" sloganeering.


Friday, January 26, 2007

Excellent Pro-Life Resources

Throughout this nation, all three of the following publications should be distributed regularly in the thousands by churches and pro-life organizations in their local newspapers, schools, churches, colleges, and universities.

Stop the Madness

Just for Girls / Just for Guys

Imposed Death

The message in these resources will impact lives and save the unborn.

Order one or more copies today. Be sure you pass them on to your pastor, priest or fellow pro-lifer. Perhaps someone with a vision and some dollars can work with the folks at Human Life Alliance and manage a Canadian edition.

Let's get these out to the public.


Right to Life Act Is Right For Canada Too

Duncan Hunter, Congressman for California's 52nd District and possible Republican presidential candidate, re-introduced his "Right to Life Act" on Monday, the 34th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.

In essence, the Right to Life Act, which had 101 co-sponsors (the largest ever) in the 109th Congress, serves as a Congressional declaration that life begins at the moment of conception and, therefore, the unborn are entitled to the constitutional protections entitled to all individuals.
...

According to the text of the Right to Life Act, the Act seeks "To implement equal protection for the right to life of each born and preborn human person." Further, the Act holds "The terms 'human person' and 'human being' include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including, but not limited to, the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being."
...

Even more importantly, the Act would overturn Roe without having to return the issue to the states. "Once this law is enacted and becomes federal law," states Crampton, "the unborn are bestowed the rights of personhood and any state permitting abortion on demand would no longer be able to infringe on the constitutional rights of the unborn child." Hence, no state could have a law that permits abortion.

This is the right goal for Canada as well.

We CAN do this.

We MUST do this.

Giving the Unborn The Rights Of Free Persons

My aim is that those who abhor racism will abhor abortion—“Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9). My aim is that abortion would be as culturally taboo as racism is. My aim is to hasten the day when being publicly pro-choice will be as reprehensible as being publicly racist. My aim is to hasten the day when declaring yourself pro-choice would be like declaring yourself a white supremacist.

So said Pastor John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Desiring God ministry this past Sunday in his sermon "When Is Abortion Racism?".

In his sermon, Dr. Piper quoted Dr. Alveda C. King, the daughter of Rev. A. D. King, Martin Luther King’s brother:

We have been fueled by the fire of “women’s rights,” so long that we have become deaf to the outcry of the real victims whose rights are being trampled upon, the babies and the mothers. . . . What about the rights of each baby who is artificially breached before coming to term in his or her mother’s womb, only to have her skull punctured, and feel, yes agonizingly “feel” the life run out of her before she takes her first breath of freedom. What about of the rights of these women who have been called to pioneer the new frontiers of the new millennium only to have their lives snuffed out before the calendar even turns?

Dr. Piper serves as a role model for every Christian leader because he not only is a passionate defender of the rights of the unborn, but he is also consistently engaged in exposing the evil of abortion, first and foremost to his congregation but also to America and to the world.

This must be the business of every Christian leader, equipping Christians with the truth, promoting in them convictions which, when taken to the voting booth in sufficient numbers across America and Canada, will result in full legal protection of the unborn and the beginning of a new era of justice in our land.

God speed the day.


Sources to Help You Speak Against Abortion from Desiring God website.


Thursday, January 25, 2007

Upcoming Votes For Life In Nigeria and Portugal

Watch the national voting coming up in Nigeria and Portugal for the legalization of abortion in these countries.

Pray for a good turnout for voting by the Christians in these countries,. Pray especially for the Christian leaders (and all those who respect God and life) to admonish their people to participate by voting for the advancement of justice and righteousness in their native lands.

The alternative is a Roe v. Wade outcome or worse still, the Canadian model: no restrictions on abortion whatever!


Catholic Archbishop Forthright On Pro-Abortion Politicians

The President of the Bishops’ Conference of Chile has made it very clear that Catholic politicians cannot support abortion.
A politician who claims to be Catholic, whether of the left or of the right, cannot support abortion, warned Archbishop Alejandro Goic, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Chile, after the Chilean parliament took up a measure last Friday that would legalize “therapeutic” abortion under any circumstances.
This is indeed what needs to be said, and said often, by Catholic leaders. After all, they have spiritual responsibilities for their flock and in offering clear direction to Catholic politicians on this matter, they are simply fulfilling their responsibilities to Catholics (but indirectly protecting the whole of society).

Think how helpful such a course of action would be in Canada if only our Bishops as well as the President of the CCCB were to make such statements regularly. Of course we must include the Catholic priests as well in this formula. Imagine the statement that would have been made to Canadian society and to Catholics particularly if, during our last federal election, and just after Catholic PM Paul Martin made forceful comments about a woman's "right to choose," the President of the CCCB had publicly and nationally made the same statement as Chilean Archbishop Goic. Imagine further if scores of other Bishops and priests throughout Canada were to make similar statements regarding the impossibility of such "schizophrenic" behaviour by Catholic politicians. Thankfully at least one Canadian Bishop, Frederick Henry of Calgary, did in fact make an issue of the PM's "incoherent" remarks.

Only when Christian leaders throughout Canada possess such integrity, and possess it consistently, will the unborn in Canada begin to have hope beyond the womb.


Indiana Senator Has The Right Plan

These are the sort of bills that Canadians need to advocate for and promote aggressively to their MP's. If your MP wavers with respect to the personhood status of the unborn, then it's time to win over your MP or campaign for a new MP. Canada's future success and prosperity depends upon this. The unborn will never be safe until our laws grant them the same personhood status as every other Canadian has.

Indiana State Senator Patricia Miller's bill, if passed, defines personhood as beginning at the moment the female egg is fertilized. She maintains that any woman who is considering an abortion should know that the procedure ends a human life. And she says in order for women to make an informed decision, they should also be told that their unborn child will feel the horrible pain of being aborted.

This is not speculation but a medical fact, she says, that is backed up by videos of unborn children reacting to pain. She also points out that surgery is being performed on infants in utero -- before birth -- to correct problems.


Killing People To Solve Social Problems

Focus on the Family carried a story yesterday about lawyers in New Brunswick who are planning to challenge provincial restrictions on abortions, calling them discriminatory.

(Funny...that nowhere in their thinking do the lawyers make room for the notion that the unborn face their ultimate, and final, discrimination every time there is an abortion.)

Nevertheless, in the FOTF report, it was reported that Dr. Jo Ann Majerovich, who is assisting the legal team comprised of lawyers, doctors and others, said the following:
“But also [women] are sometimes forced to continue with unintended pregnancy, so down the road . . . you have kids having kids they are not prepared for. Essentially you are condemning them to lives of poverty.”
How much intelligence does it take to figure out that at least one of Dr. Majerovich's arguments for justifying abortion is that because a child might face poverty after birth, the best remedy is to kill the child before that happens.

That's just plain STUPID! In what other circumstances would we ever try to use such a rationale? Children can face all sorts of difficult circumstances in life, not the least of which is sickness and other disability. Would the average person use such reasons to defend the killing of a toddler? It's plain ridiculous. And Dr. Jo Ann Majerovich is an "educated" professional. Shame on her and her colleagues for such shallow, emotional rhetoric when another life is at stake.

That's the problem with the abortion advocates. It's not only that they don't respect life, they simply don't respect logical thinking. In fact they refuse to think logically in regard to defending their statements. This doctor's comment reminds me of Ron Weddington’s similar argument which was exposed and refuted on STR's blog entry earlier this year.
So what's the issue? What is the unborn? It just underscores again the importance of clarifying that it's not discussions of poverty and abuse that matter, but “What is the unborn?” That's the question sitting in everyone's living room like an elephant. We must force people to engage it by asking the right questions.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Feminism's Triumph: Exterminating Girls

The great experiment of feminism, just 40 years or so old as a social force, has produced this wonder: The ever-growing elimination of more and more girls worldwide. And so far, nothing can stop it. Indeed, from the feminist perspective, how or why should it be stopped? If women have a right to an abortion, why can they not exercise it on the basis of sex selection? Is the abortion her choice, or the government’s?
Read the entire article here...and weep for these little ones
up to 200 million women and girls are missing worldwide because of sex-selective abortion and female infanticide

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Scott Klusendorf at Cedarville

Evangelical pro-lifer Scott Klusendorf recently spoke to 3000 sudents at Cedarville University in Ohio.

Scott heads up Life Training Institute and travels extensively throughout the United States and Canada training pro-life advocates to persuasively defend their views in the public square. Scott has truly mastered the pro-life position and is a powerful advocate for the unborn.

Check out his message to Cedarville students here. It's well worth the listen.

March for Life Washington DC - Barbara's Pictures

Pro-Life Blogs has an entry by Barbara Curtis with a link to a great slideshow of the event.

As a former radical leftist, I attended many demonstrations in Washington, DC.

Now having attended the March for Life two years in a row, I'm amazed at how under-reported this event is - and all too aware of how that under-reporting contributes to the rampant stereotyping of pro-lifers as middle-aged white males.

I actually saw very few of those today!

What I saw were hundreds of thousands of people willing to brave the cold (DC had its first snow of the winter the night before) to affirm that a baby in the womb is not property to be destroyed, but a person that those committed to human rights must defend.

It's a child, not a choice!



Sunday, January 21, 2007

National Sanctity of Human Life Day

On behalf of the unborn everywhere, Thank you, President George W. Bush.

Among the most basic duties of Government is to defend the unalienable right to life…

This can only be a good thing for the leader of a nation to do, regardless of the existing state of laws within that nation. It makes a strong statement regardless.

I hope our own Prime Minister will make a similar declaration.

Neuhaus on the 34th Anniversary

Richard John Neuhaus reflects on the history of the Roe v. Wade decision in the US. His insights underscore the importance of mobilizing Christians and other men of good faith to vote in accord with basic principles of justice for the unborn.


This Monday marks the thirty-fourth anniversary of Roe v. Wade. On January 23, 1973, the New York Times reported that the Court had “settled” the dispute over abortion. Thirty-four years later, there is no more intensely contested issue in our public life. This is in itself a powerful tribute to pro-life conviction and determination. When Roe v. Wade came down, it was cheered by every major opinion-making institution in the country—the mainstream media, the prestige academy, the legal establishment, the medical establishment, the philanthropic world, and all the major religious institutions, except one.

True, the Catholic Church, headquartered in Rome, protested the immediate evil and long-term implications of Roe v. Wade, but huge numbers of ordinary Catholics, theologians, priests and bishops in America (and Canada) had by that time forsaken Catholic teaching on sexuality and had little moral strength remaining to oppose the new ruling.

Catholics and other Christians in North America need to see with their eyes the horrors of abortion in order to have their consciences reawakened and their voting duties placed in proper perspective.

Young, Uneducated Women Pay The Price For Norway's Moral Failure

More than half of ethnic Norwegian women under age 25 choose abortion if they get pregnant, according to a new study. The professor behind the study calls the statistic "surprising" and "worrisome."


Planned Parenthood's Celebration of Sex

More insight and background on Planned Parenthood's devious background and agenda, this time for its promotion of "free" sex for social revolution.


The Power And Wonder Of A New Life

Mark Steyn thinks the biggest story of 2006 is the story of the West's self extinction.

On the one hand, what could be more powerless than a newborn babe? On the other, without a newborn babe, man is ultimately powerless. For, without new life, there can be no civilization, no society, no nothing.

The obligation to have children may be a lot of repressive theocratic hooey, but it's less irrational than the secular self-absorption of a barren Russia, Japan and Europe.

No Vote, No Communion, Says Catholic Bishop

No doubt many will condemn this Nigerian Bishop for his "coercive" and "intimidating" approach, but would to God that Christian leaders everywhere took a serious approach in the face of "a noticeable lack of interest in politics" among members of their parishioners.

"The bishop is not only a firm believer in good Christian values, but he's also a firm believer in good citizenship and a good citizen must honor his or her civic obligations," Fr Obiora told the BBC.

"It is not enough to go to church and ignore your civic duties. Both go together and the church will be failing in her duties if she failed to emphasize that," he said. "We believe that a good Christian must also be a good citizen.”

h/t Big Blue Wave


Sunday, January 14, 2007

Kudos to the Australian Catholics

Australian Catholic hospitals are refusing to cave into pressure to offer the morning after pill to rape victims.

Why?
The Code of Ethical Standards, drafted by Catholic Health Australia and approved by the Australian Bishops in 2001, states that women may only be directly referred to centres that offer the morning-after pill if reasonable steps have been taken to exclude the likelihood of pregnancy”, i.e., if use of emergency contraception can be expected to serve only a contraceptive and not an abortifacient role.

...

“It is not permissible, however, to initiate or to recommend treatments that have as their purpose or direct effect the removal, destruction, or interference with the implantation of a fertilized ovum.”


If you've never stopped to really think through the issue of abortion and rape exceptions, take a look here and here. It may help to put some things into proper perspective.

Abortion: Official Tool Of Eugenics In Canada

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada wants to be fair to pregnant women of all ages, so it will now recommend giving women under 35 the option to abort a child with Down’s Syndrome. Their American counterparts are recommending the same thing, coincidentally at the same time. That certainly tends to makes things more official.

Yes, that seems to fit the paradigm in Canada currently. By all means and at any cost give women a choice and be fair to them, regardless of their age.

But as for the unborn, who will speak for their choice and for their fair treatment?

The Canadian Down Syndrome Society will launch a public awareness campaign on the same day the doctors’ recommendation is made public.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Best State ProLife Bill Ever

The Legislature of the state of Georgia will vote soon on House Bill 1 ..."an all-out declaration that human life begins at conception and therefore is due protection under the color of law."

This is the kind of law that Vote Life Canada would like to see implemented in our nation in order to protect unborn Canadians.

If passed, House Bill 1 (HB1) would make history, say pro-lifers, because it would answer the question that has been at the crux of the abortion debate for more than 30 years. The measure would establish that every human life begins at the moment of conception, eliminating any gray area that currently exists surrounding the definition of "personhood." Read twice before a committee in the Georgia State House earlier this week, the bill now awaits consideration.

Judie Brown, president of American Life League (ALL), explains the significance of HB1 as it pertains to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion on demand in America. "When Justice Blackmun wrote [for the majority in] the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, he said that if personhood is ever established, the Supreme Court's decision would fall," she notes. "And a bill like the Georgia bill would make it possible for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade in such a way that every single abortion in the United States would end immediately."


Read the rest of the story from Agape Press here.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Vote Life Canada Profile

Legalized abortion, like all state sponsored injustice, is founded on false premises and is opposed to truth, reason and natural law. It fosters, sustains and thrives in a climate of prejudice against the unborn child who is an unseen victim.

By all lawful means, Canadians need to be awakened and alerted to the monstrous injustice of abortion and, where helpful, to its various contributing causes. Vote Life, Canada! is an educational parachurch organization which exists to advance such an objective and to carry it forward to its logical and necessary end, which is complete legal protection for all unborn Canadians through recognition of their full personhood.

Through coordinated ventures with church leaders and by means of special multimedia presentations and other educational enterprises, Vote Life, Canada! exposes the plight of the unborn. Christians are then challenged to take responsible action through the exercise of their democratic voting duties with a view to change existing laws.

Canadians are urged to join in every possible way in supporting Vote Life, Canada! for the earliest possible fulfillment of its just and worthy goals.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

VoteLifeCanada Graphic2

To all media, subscribers and supporters of Vote Life, Canada!

The following Press Release was posted today to the Vote Life, Canada! blog.
Go to


Noonday, Parember 10, 2007


PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Vote Life, Canada! Issues Press Release Issued by:

Vote Life, Canada!
National Address:
1075 Bay St., Suite A102
-602,
Toronto, ON, M5S 2B2

Vote Life, Canada!
NL Directorate,
4 Hickey’s Rd.,
Paradise, NL A1L 3J3


Contact: Eric Alcock, President and NL Provincial Director, Vote Life, Canada! 709-773-0700


St. John’s
, NL September 10/—Vote Life, Canada! thanks invitation to actions that were taken gave anything other he appreciated the that due parade and a grand scheme to address some deficient Premier’s announcement, had noted he his viewpoint.





Vote Life, Canada!

"Justice for Canada's Unborn through the Christian's vote."

Website: www.votelifecanada.ca
Blogspot: http://votelifecanada.blogspot.com/ updated regularly!

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