NEW! Young, Committed, Articulate, Professional and Pro-Life: The new generation of pro-life leaders
NEW! 40 Days for Life Lines up 156 Cities for Next Campaign
LA County School Official and Sheriff's Department To Pay More Than a Quarter-Million Dollars to Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR)
NEW! Tim Tebow to Appear in Super Bowl Commercial
Pittsburgh Bubble Zone Evens Out
Italian Supreme Court Decision Signals Sovereign Resistance to European Overreach
Commentary — Planned Parenthood: Your Tax Dollars at Work
Eye-Witness Teacher Says Safe Schools Czar Present at "Fistgate" Conference in 2000
Environmentalism Gone Very Wrong: Carbon Scheme– Offset Your Jet-Set Lifestyle by Eliminating African Babies
Largest Ever March for Life in Netherlands Held 12 December 2009
Maafa 21 and Justice for All…
Young, Committed, Articulate, Professional and Pro-Life:
The new generation of pro-life leaders see their role as continuation of human rights struggle
Twenty-three year-old Katie Walker is part of the new generation of young pro-life activists who sees her work as part of the great continuity of centuries of human rights development in the western world. As the full-time public relations director for American Life League (ALL), Katie says that one of the “most striking” aspects of her work is the Personhood Movement, a major focus of ALL, and one that is reframing the issue for the public.
“We need to start looking at the pro-life movement as a human rights movement as an extension of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s,” Katie told LifeSiteNews.com in an interview 21Jan10.
“Anyone who has had an extended debate with a pro-abortion proponent knows that they recognise that the being in the womb is human. They know it’s a baby, but they don’t think it’s a person with the same dignity and equality and worth as you or I.”
Human rights, she said, is the “direction of the pro-life movement.” She named William Wilberforce, the heroes of the Civil Rights movement and the heroes of the abolitionist movement as the models for the new wave of pro-life activism.
“When you’re discussing this and you’re getting down to brass tacks with pro-aborts, and you’re in any kind of hard-core debate, it always comes down to the baby in the womb is not a human person because of either age, dependency level, or location. These criteria have been used to justify slavery and all kinds of human rights abuses through the last couple of thousand years.
“If you look back historically, it is the same movement and the parallels are undeniable.”
Pro-life leaders need to shift their focus to present their position as one of a defence of human rights. With pro-abortion advocates, this “takes away their ammunition.”
“And you can see lights starting to go off in their heads. It’s a beautiful frame of reference to start the debate off with something that they can understand.”
Communicating the pro-life message in terms of personhood, she said, gives the pro-life movement a huge tactical advantage, one that creates a mental detour around many people’s stereotypes and emotional blockages. American Life League has launched a series of “personhood initiatives” in eight states with “dozens more” expected. They are, she said, “talking to people person-to-person, changing hearts and minds one at a time.”
The petitioners ask, “Do you believe that all human beings should be considered persons under the law?” This shifts the focus away from the standard pro-life rhetoric that can derail a discussion, she said. “So, one by one, it’s completely getting under their radar and is engaging people in a way they’ve never been engaged before.”
Having been involved in the pro-life movement for most of her life, one of Katie’s earliest memories is of participating in side-walk prayer vigils outside an abortion facility. “I was one of those kids who very easily could have been aborted,” she said. As a single unwed mother, her mother “was definitely a candidate for abortion.”
“One of my first memories is of protesting in front of a Planned Parenthood, standing next to my cousin in a stroller, and they told me that they kill babies at Planned Parenthood. So we’re next to my cousin, and someone comes up to us – in retrospect it was probably a pro-lifer – but I threw myself over the stroller: ‘Don’t hurt my cousin!’”
As a major in journalism in college who was active in her campus pro-life group, Katie had her first experience of anti-pro-life prejudice from academia at the age of 19. At a time when she was set to become editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper at Northern Kentucky University, a feminist professor on campus “destroyed and vandalized” the campus pro-life group’s first display and Walker was interviewed on Fox news. After this, Katie was summarily sacked from the paper.
“They called me into the editor-in-chief’s office and said, ‘Sayonara. You are too much of a hot-button and biased.’ Because I was the president of the pro-life group I was fired from the campus paper which essentially called a halt to my journalistic ambitions.”
Walker refocused her energies into expanding her pro-life activities to the state level and ended up with American Life League in Washington, attracted by their “uncompromising, no-nonsense” approach.
Her Washington experience has taught her the value of keeping in contact with the grass roots pro-life activists. “I think there’s a temptation when you’re working for the pro-life movement and you’re doing this 50, 60 hours a week to disconnect from the grass roots who are out on those sidewalks every day, day in and day out,” she said.
“Here in DC the movement is challenging and vigorous and there are lots of problems, and lots of things we need to work on and I think one of the biggest things is to remember those people in the Midwest who are fighting that fight every day on the ground.”
She names the Scheidlers of Chicago’s Pro-Life Action League who “day in and day out are standing in front of the Aurora Planned Parenthood a
nd pounding the pavement in Chicago, fighting the fight for each one of those women who are going into those abortion [businesses] and each one of those babies.”
[21Jan10, Hilary White, www.LifeSiteNews.com]
40 Days for Life Lines up 156 Cities for Next Campaign
156 cities from coast to coast in the U.S. – plus four Canadian provinces and three Australian states (update 157 — including northern Ireland) – have stepped up to host 40 Days for Life campaigns during the next international campaign – which begins February 17 and runs through March 28.
“While many see a time of darkness this week as the United States marks the 37th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that imposed abortion on America, and as the U.S. Congress deliberates legislation that could lead to dramatic increases in taxpayer funding for abortion, I see a time of great hope,” said David Bereit, national director of 40 Days for Life.
“The fact is that even as proponents try to encourage more abortions – and as they try to encourage government funding of abortions – more women are realizing the truth about abortion and rejecting it as an option, and more people are simply saying ‘Enough!’ and taking a stand against these efforts to promote a culture of death.”
40 Days for Life consists of 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion, 40 days of constant, peaceful vigil outside abortion centers and Planned Parenthood offices and 40 days of active pro-life community outreach. The list of participating communities is posted online here.
The 40 Days for Life movement continues to grow. Thus far, five coordinated national 40 Days for Life campaigns have been conducted, twice each year, beginning in the fall of 2007. More than 300,000 people in some 280 cities have already taken part.
Five abortion centers have closed following 40 Days for Life prayer vigils. Some 27 abortion industry employees have quit their jobs, including Abby Johnson, who left her position as director of a Planned Parenthood abortion center in Texas last October.
“And most incredibly,” Bereit said, “we are aware of 2,168 children – and their mothers – who were spared from the tragedy of abortion. And those are just the ones we know about. ” [20Jan10, D.C., www.LifeSiteNews.com]
LA County School Official and Sheriff's Department To Pay More Than a Quarter-Million Dollars to Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR)
Pursuant to a unanimous ruling issued in favor of The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, several of its deputies, and a middle school official in the Los Angeles County School District were forced to pay $260,000 in costs and fees for infringing on CBR's constitutional right to demonstrate with graphic abortion images on the public streets in California.
CBR attorneys [Thomas More Law Center] yesterday announced the processing of the Los Angeles County attorney fee award payment.
In deciding this appeal, the Ninth Circuit ruled that, "There is . . . no precedent for a 'minor' exception to the prohibition on banning speech because of listeners' reaction to its content. It would therefore be an unprecedented departure from bedrock First Amendment principles to allow the government to restrict speech based on listener reaction simply because the listeners are children."
Not content to mislead its students by covering-up the horror of abortion in the classroom, Los Angeles County tried to extend their cover-up to the public streets outside the classroom.
Ironically, while the Los Angeles County schools were wasting taxpayer money interfering with CBR's First Amendment right to expose the horror of abortion, The Los Angeles Times yesterday reported a story headlined, "L.A. schools paid $200 million more in salaries than budgeted" with a sub-headline which read "The payments occurred despite the layoffs of 2,000 teachers and hundreds of other employees."
Other items of irony: NBCLosAngeles.com yesterday reported a story headlined, "County Budget: A Crisis of Gargantuan Proportions."
While the Los Angeles County Schools argue that its students are old enough to obtain abortion without parental consent, school officials argue that its students are not old enough to see abortions without parental consent.
While the Los Angeles County Schools are supposed to be teaching students to respect the Constitution, school officials are being rebuked by the Federal Appeals Courts for flagrantly violating CBR's constitutional rights.
While the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution, Sheriff's deputies are being rebuked by the Federal Appeals Courts for flagrantly violating CBR's constitutional rights.
In addition to CBR being threatened with arrest for showing students the truth about abortion, CBR volunteer James Poullion was recently shot and killed for showing students abortion photos outside a public school in Michigan.
CBR is serving notice on would-be shooters that we are contracting with licensed, armed, security personnel who will protect our staff while displaying abortion photos in public.
CBR is also serving notice on law enforcement departments and other agencies of government which attempt to intimidate us with improper threats of arrest, that such abuses will result in CBR lawsuits which will you will lose, along with the loss of hundreds of thousands in wasted tax dollars.
Announcement: www.abortionNO.org/pdf/CBRvsLAC SD-VictoryLetter.pdf
Press Release: www.abortionNO.org/pdf/LACountyAttorneyFeePressR elease
[18Jan10, Christian Newswire; http://www.abortionNO.org; 18 Jan 2010, PharmFacts E-News Update]
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Tim Tebow to Appear in Super Bowl Commercial
Tim Tebow is taking his star power to sport’s biggest stage. The former Florida quarterback and his mother will appear in a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl on 7 February 2010. The group Focus on the Family says the Tebows will share a personal story centering on the theme “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.”
The group isn’t releasing details, but the commercial is likely to be a message chronicling Pam Tebow’s 1987 pregnancy. After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child and gave birth to Tim.
The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner ended his college career with several NCAA, Southeastern Conference and school records, and two national championships. Tebow also has been very involved in his family’s Christian-based ministry.
Jim Daly, president and CEO of Focus on the Family, said the commercial comes at a time when “families need to be inspired.”
“Tim and Pam share our respect for life and our passion for helping families thrive,” Daly said. “Focus on the Family is about … strengthening families by empowering them with the tools they need to live lives rooted in morals and values.”
Thirty-second commercials during the Super Bowl are selling for between $2.5 million and $2.8 million. Daly said all the funds for the ad came from a
handful of “very generous and committed friends,” and that no money from the group’s general fund was used.
“Now that the ad has been shot, we’re excited to tell people it’s coming because the Tebows’ story is such an important one for our culture to hear,” he said. “You won’t want to miss it.”
[16Jan2010, AP, Gainesville, FL, http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-tebow-superbowlad&prov=ap&type=lgns; 18 Jan 2010, PharmFacts E-News Update]
Pittsburgh Bubble Zone Evens Out
Pittsburgh pro-life counselors have won a court victory by deflating the bubble zone law.
The Pittsburgh City Council previously established a huge buffer zone that prevented pro-lifers from communicating well with women entering abortion facilities. Alliance Defense Fund provided pro-lifers with legal representation in the lawsuit.
Maria Vitale (Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation)"U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer has permanently prohibited the city from using its so-called '100-foot bubble zone' to keep abortion protesters from coming within eight feet of people as they walked up to abortion facility entrances," reports Maria Vitale of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation.
A 15-foot buffer zone still exists, but it now bans individuals of all opinions on the abortion issue from picketing, demonstrating, or stating an abortion position within the abortion facility area, meaning that the abortion center staff cannot stand inside the 15-foot zone and harass pro-life advocates.
"This means that women will be able to get the factual, compassionate information that they need in order to make an intelligent choice about what they are planning to do," Vitale explains. "I mean, we know for a fact that we have an informed consent law on the books in Pennsylvania, but we don't know that all the abortion facilities follow that law."
The ruling indicates that sidewalk counselors can now make sure that women seeking an abortion receive important information about development of an unborn baby — and most importantly, about alternatives to abortion. [Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow – 12/24/2009, http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=825222 ]
Italian Supreme Court Decision Signals Sovereign Resistance to European Overreach
A little-publicized decision by Italy's Constitutional Court last month may have significant implications concerning the direction of Europe, strengthening national sovereignty as a bulwark against transnational overreach by European institutions. It also signals the continued importance of national constitutions, despite the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty earlier this month.
In Sentenza N. 311, the Italian Constitutional Court stated that where rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) conflict with provisions of the Italian Constitution, such rulings "lack legitimacy." Sources close to the Italian judiciary told the Friday Fax that the decision was intended as a warning that activist rulings by the Strasbourg-based ECHR overstepping jurisdictional boundaries will not be given deference.
Sources point to the timing of the decision, which followed an early November ECHR ruling, Lautsi v. Italy, directing that crucifixes be removed from the Italian classroom. The Italian government is appealing that decision to the full Grand Chamber.
According to Roger Kiska, European legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, Lautsi is flawed on a number of grounds, including overreach – the ECHR is not a constitutional court – and its disregard for "the cultural sovereignty of each Member State." The Constitutional Court decision – which deals with civil service matters entirely unrelated to the crucifix case – signals that Italy may be prepared to break with the ECHR if it were to lose its appeal.
Kiska also notes that the ECHR recently heard arguments in the case A, B, & C v. Ireland, which involves a direct challenge to Ireland's constitutional protection of unborn life. The Italian court decision could embolden Ireland's Supreme Court in the event of an adverse decision.
Underlying the debate is the question of what role "subsidiarity" will play in post-Lisbon Europe. Subsidiarity is the notion that decisions are best made at the local level closest to the people affected by them, guaranteeing that national norms and values will not be overrun by top-down-dictates.
Observers note that the foundational documents of a united Europe – the 1957 Treaties of Rome establishing the European Economic Community – enshrine the concept of subsidiarity, and a protocol to the Lisbon Treaty states that European institutions shall "ensure constant respect for the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality."
By asserting that Italy's Constitution is the final word when confronted with decisions by transnationalist bodies, the Constitutional Court is drawing a line in the sand similar to that drawn by the United States (US) Supreme Court in 2008, when it rejected a directive from the World Court in The Hague as incompatible with the US Constitution.
Italy has two High Courts – one dealing with constitutional issues, and a second, the Corte Suprema di Cassazione, which is the court of final resort on all issues other than those with constitutional implications. The ECHR, a Council of Europe body, is distinct from the European Court of Justice, which is the European Union's highest court.
[17Dec09, Friday Fax, vol 13, no.1, Piero A. Tozzi, J.D., New York, C-FAM]
Commentary — Planned Parenthood: Your Tax Dollars at Work
Ken Connor
Sunday, November 08, 2009
"The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it." -Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. "[Our goal is] to be ready as educators and parents to help young people obtain sex satisfaction before marriage." -Dr. Lena Levine, colleague of Margaret Sanger and medical secretary of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in the 1930s. "We are not going to be an organization promoting celibacy or chastity." -Faye Wattleton, President of Planned Parenthood from 1978-1992.
This summer, one of America's largest community organization networks was "busted" thanks to the efforts of two college kids with nothing more than a video camera and a desire to expose the truth. The shocking footage of ACORN workers advising Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe on everything from tax evasion to sex trafficking to prostitution sparked a firestorm of controversy and cast doubt upon the credibility of an organization that receives millions in federal funds—funds purportedly used to assist low-income individuals in improving their lives.
Few are aware, however, that before this intrepid pair set their sights on ACORN, O'Keefe conducted a similar campaign against Planned Parenthood. In a series of recorded telephone calls to Planned Parenthood offices across the country, O&#
39;Keefe posed as a prospective donor who wanted his contributions restricted to funding the abortion of African-American babies. In each instance he was assured that his wishes would be honored; not once was he turned away or taken to task for his despicable views.
Some interpret this as damning evidence that Planned Parenthood still actively embraces the vision of its founder, Margaret Sanger, who openly advocated for the sterilization of "undesirables" like minorities, immigrants, and the handicapped; and who viewed birth control primarily as a means "to create a race of thoroughbreds." While the organization would deny that its goal today is to "control" the growth of minorities, it is worth noting that minorities are disproportionately impacted by abortion, of which Planned Parenthood is the leading provider.
From a politically-correct and multicultural perspective, however, Sanger's current relevance lies not in her eugenicist ideology, but in her legacy of advancing the feminist cause well before the word "feminism” made its way into our lexicon. She was among the first to champion the notion that a woman's body was her own and that a woman had a right to choose life or death for her unborn child. Almost a century after Sanger opened America's first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, NY, Planned Parenthood continues to champion this cause by waging a systematic campaign to liberate young people from the constraints of family and traditional sexual morality.
In spite of evidence indicating that responsible parenting plays a formative role in influencing children's sexual choices, Planned Parenthood has worked to supplant parents as the definitive authority on kids and sex. Its unabashed advocacy of pre-marital sexual experimentation, promiscuity, and abortion reveals a radical anti-family agenda that has no respect or regard for the role of parents in guiding kids' sexual choices, no use for the sexual mores that go along with the institution of marriage, and little concern for the emotional or physical health of children.
Unfortunately, few are aware of the extent to which the United States Congress has aided and abetted Planned Parenthood's crimes against the American family.
Last year, Planned Parenthood received approximately $350 million from the government in the form of grants and contracts. This money subsidized, among other things, an estimated 300,000 abortions. That amounts to 822 abortions every day, or 34 abortions per hour. When Planned Parenthood isn't busy ridding the world of unwanted children, it's spending millions to influence public policy and ensure our children are hearing its "sex without consequence thanks to birth control and abortion" message early and often, on the taxpayer's dime, in public school classrooms across America.
Planned Parenthood goes out of its way to downplay its role as an abortion provider, emphasizing on its website that abortion services only account for three percent of its annual business. What the organization fails to acknowledge, however, is the role it plays in perpetuating the kind of irresponsible and short-sighted attitudes that lead to unwanted pregnancies—and thus, abortions—in the first place. According to its mission statement, "Planned Parenthood believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility…. We believe that reproductive self-determination must be voluntary and preserve the individual's right to privacy. We further believe that such self-determination will contribute to an enhancement of the quality of life and strong family relationships." In plain English, that means "Kids, don't let your parents saddle you with any hang-ups about sex outside of marriage. Use birth control to prevent pregnancy, and if that fails, you can fall back on abortion. Don't let an unwanted child interfere with your plans for life."
It's notable that Planned Parenthood's mission statement says nothing about the fundamental responsibility of each individual to exercise self-control in the sexual arena. Planned Parenthood's goal is sex without restraint or consequence. Its view was summed up by President Obama—an ardent supporter of Planned Parenthood—when, during his campaign, he said the mistake of an unwanted pregnancy is a "punishment" that should not have to be tolerated.
But, you can't eliminate a pregnancy without eliminating the unborn child. Therefore, the abortion that Mr. Obama advocates and that Planned Parenthood provides actually results in the "punishment" of an innocent party. Where's the justice in that?
Until we repudiate the false notion that we can have sex without consequence and abortion without injury, organizations like Planned Parenthood will continue their government-assisted campaign to sexualize our children. A step in the right direction would be for Congress to defund Planned Parenthood and stop interfering with parents' rightful role in educating their children about sex.
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Eye-Witness Teacher Says Safe Schools Czar Present at "Fistgate" Conference in 2000
New details on President Barack Obama's "Safe Schools Czar" Kevin Jennings have emerged, as an eye-witness has finally broken her silence and says that Jennings was present at Tufts University during the infamous "Fistgate" scandal, and says that he bears personal responsibility for the event.
Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit reports that a Massachusetts teacher – who remains anonymous out of concern for herself and her family – told him that she saw Jennings in 2000 at the 10 Year Anniversary Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN)/Boston conference at Tufts University.
At that time Jennings was the executive director of GLSEN, an organization which he founded. The event, cosponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education, featured a youth workshop on sex, specifically targeting 14-21-year-olds. During that workshop GLSEN presenters taught youth how to perform a dangerous sexual practice known as "fisting" – a practice so obscene that it cannot be described here.
The Massachusetts teacher said that Jennings was the keynote speaker for GLSEN's conference, and was "touted as this wonderful person who helped children so that they wouldn't be harassed by parents, and accepted in society."
"It sounds really good, because there's not a single teacher I know that wants any child to be mistreated," the teacher told Hoft. She said she did not expect the conference would lead into the sexually graphic workshops, which promoted sex between adults and children.
The teacher also snapped a picture of Jennings showing him getting a lunch ticket at the event.
Hoft asked, "There's no way that Kevin Jennings could have been at this conference and not know that there was this explosive sexual speeches, talks, materials around the conference."
"This whole conference was his dream and his mindset. This was his vision from the very beginning," said the teacher.
Jennings has publically stated that he dreamed of "promoting homosexuality" in schools; he has also come under fire over revelations that GLSEN promoted a pornographic reading list to children grades 7 – 12, both during and after his tenure as executive director.
These books included explicit descriptions of pre-school children engaging in sexual acts;
stories portraying child-adult sexual relationships in a positive light, homosexual sex in restrooms, affairs between students and teachers, and other content too extreme to be described here. (See Gateway Pundit coverage: WARNING: Content extremely graphic)
Jennings also is a professed admirer of Harry Hay, a radical homosexual rights activist, ardent promoter of pedophilia and the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA).
When news of the seminars at the GLSEN conference broke in the early 2000s, Jennings denied he knew that GLSEN presenters were promoting these activities to youth. He stated: "We need to make our expectations and guidelines to outside facilitators much more clear, because we are surprised and troubled by some of the accounts we've heard." Jennings, however, also criticized the Massachusetts parents who taped the event that exposed the scandal.
However, next year's GLSEN conference at Tufts belied Jennings's public commitment to eliminating any repetition of the "Fistgate" scandal. Campus police maintained a strict ban on cameras and video-recorders at the 2001 GLSEN event, but the pro-family group "Mass Resistance" – which exposed the previous conference to the Boston media – was able to obtain Planned Parenthood "fisting kits" made available at the conference.
In defense of Jennings, the socially-liberal organization Media Matters commented that "neither Hoft nor the anonymous teacher provide any actual evidence that Jennings knew the specific explicit content that would be discussed at that workshop."
But page eight of the "Teach Out" conference schedule – available from Mass Resistence – describes the "youth-only" workshop called, "What They Didn't Tell You About Queer Sex and Sexuality in Health Class."
A description for this workshop states: "This workshop for youth addresses what is different for glbt [sic] youth when it comes to sex, dating, relationships, HIV, etc. Come and discuss the questions you couldn't or didn't ask in health class … What does it mean to identify as queer and still be sexually active with the opposite sex … We will address the information you want about queer sexuality and some of the politics that prevent us from getting our needs met."
"Remember, the buck stops with him. [Jennings] was the head of all of this," the teacher told Hoft.
Jennings' insistence that he bore no responsibility for scandal makes no sense, she said, for the reason that, "He brought in all of the people that would agree with him as any administrator would do. You bring in people who agree with you, who you can work with."
President Barack Obama appointed Jennings as deputy assistant to the Office of Safe Schools in the Department of Education on July 6. According to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Jennings is "uniquely qualified for the job." [14Dec09, Peter J .Smith, Boston, www.LifeSiteNews.com]
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Environmentalism Gone Very Wrong: Carbon Scheme– Offset Your Jet-Set Lifestyle by Eliminating African Babies
Population control groups have been using the hype surrounding the Copenhagen climate change conference to promote their solution to hypothetical impending environmental catastrophes. Earlier this month, two pieces appearing in the same edition of the Guardian revisited a report by Britain's Optimum Population Trust (OPT) that suggests that people in wealthy first-world countries should "offset" the carbon cost of their jet-setting lifestyles by paying to prevent the births of poor children in the developing world.
John Vidal, the Guardian's environment editor, wrote that the OPT's report suggesting a "radical" plan to cut carbon emissions was the "best bet" to reduce global warming trends. In August, the OPT issued a report claiming to have made a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis to work out exactly how much "carbon emission" a child born in the developing world costs.
Vidal pointed to the claim in the OPT report that the 10 metric tons of carbon emitted by a single return flight from London to Sydney could be "offset" by "enabling the avoidance of one unwanted birth in a country such as Kenya."
In the same issue of the Guardian, David Burton wrote in an editorial that the OPT offset scheme, called "called PopOffsets," could be used to save the environment and "to help the world's poorest women."
The OPT scheme, Burton wrote, "will give practical help: both to the poorest women in the world to enable them to control their own fertility and to humanity by tackling the threat posed by human-induced climate change."
The report, published in August and titled, "Fewer Emitters, Lower Emissions, Less Cost: Reducing Future Carbon Emissions by Investing in Family Planning," said that "family planning" is cheaper than low carbon technologies like windmill power generators and low-consumption light bulbs.
"Based on the study's findings, it is proposed that family planning methods should be a primary tool in the optimum strategy for reducing carbon emissions," the report said.
OPT insisted that only "unwanted" children would be targeted for elimination by the scheme that would provide artificial contraception to those who currently cannot obtain it.
The OPT scheme has been blasted, however, even by some on the far left, as a manifestation of a "crusade against the unique quality of human life" that typifies the environmentalist movement.
Frank Furedi, a secular humanist, author and professor of sociology at the University of Kent, and a noted climate change skeptic, minced no words in his assessment of the OPT's suggested scheme.
Calling them a "zombie-like Malthusian organisation devoted to the cause of human depletion," Furedi wrote in Spiked that he was shocked by the lack of outrage at the suggestion from humanists and religious leaders alike.
"There was a time when people who measured the value of human life through sombre calculations based on cost-benefit analyses were regarded with suspicion and contempt."
"Why is it that, today, the provision of contraception can be promoted as a sensible way of reducing carbon emissions? How do we account for the silence of religious movements whose theology still upholds the unique status of human life?" Furedi added.
The human population is now about 6.8 billion and world population is expected to peak at about 9 billion in 2050 and then begin to decline. In many countries, particularly in the developed west, the process of de-population is already well under way, with negative fertility rates and rising median ages.
Duncan Green, head of research at Oxfam, wrote in an op-ed in the New Statesman that assumptions such as those in the OPT report equating population growth and environmental degradation are a "gross oversimplification."
Green points to the rapid slowing of population growth around the world and fears by some governments, like South Korea, that diminishing population will lead to economic slow-downs. In one sense, he said, "the 'problem' is self-solving, and indeed, if the transition gets any faster, the world could be faced by a serious shortage of working age people to look after the rising numbers of elderly."
"If their arguments were based on logic alone, the population con
trol lobby would probably be advocating compulsory euthanasia rather than birth control, but its preponderance of elderly white male members makes that pretty unlikely," Green added. [14Dec09, Hilary White, www.LifeSiteNews.com]
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Largest Ever March for Life in Netherlands Held 12 December 2009
The Dutch annual March For Life was held on Saturday, December 12, 2009. The event was organized by Cry for Life and Christians for Truth and attracted some 700 participants – the largest number ever since the marches began 17 years ago.
The March For Life is held each year in December, commemorating the date – December 18, 1980 – when abortion was approved in the Dutch Parliament. Currently abortion up to the 24th week is allowed.
The 2009 March started from the famous Dam Square located in the heart of Amsterdam and ended at the Keizersgracht Church. Demonstrators carried replicas of a ten-week-old fetus. Ten weeks is about the time during pregnancy when most babies are aborted. Participants also carried many protest signs calling for the end to legalized abortion.
The Lord Mayor of Amsterdam, Mr. J.H. Cohen, acknowledged the right of Cry for Life to stand up for the unborn in a public rally. In a letter to director Dr. L.P. Dorenbos, he promised a large police force would be available to prevent any opposition forces from preventing the march. This was a response to last year's march when the event was significantly delayed by physical confrontations resulting in the arrest of several pro-choice demonstrators. True to the mayor's promise, the police were out in force and effectively kept the 50 or so anti-life protesters followers from hindering the 2009 march.
This year's event began with a welcome and introductions by Dr. Dorenbos. There were prayers after which Christians For Truth (CFT) President Jan de Bruin told those present how he was the seventh child in his family, and that his parents found out they were expecting him in difficult circumstances during WWII at the time of Nazi occupation. His mother considered having an abortion had it then been legal. But it was not and he was saved.
FIRE Church leader Frank Pot explained the meaning of the red tape with the letters LIFE taped over the mouths of some marchers. It signified the silence of the unborn baby who has no voice in the struggle for his own life. He asked those gathered to march in silence.
Belgian law student Michel De Keukelaere spoke on how abortion has greatly reduced his generation.
Other noted participants to the 2009 March included the French Droit de Naître (Right to Life), and Agnes Jonckheere from the Belgian Free Christian Democrats (VCD). Each speaker gave a stirring speech, calling those attending the March to action to help eliminate abortion from Holland and the world.
The 2009 March For Life was a dignified witness to life in the secular and liberal Dutch capital city. The silent march along the 2 km long route through the city ended with a church service in the Keizersgracht Church.
The night before the pro-life event, left wing radicals had visited the church, expressing their anti-life views by throwing red paint on the entry steps and writing in red paint on the entrance walls. They scrawled slogans such as "away with Cry for Life," "pro-choice" and "keep the Church away from my crotch."
Despite the pro-abortion protests, however, the leadership of the 2009 March For Life said they believe that this year was the best march ever. New people have come forward to be part of the pro-life movement, they said, adding that many young people have also joined the ranks.
[14Nov09, Michael van der Mast and Bert Block, Cry for Life, the Netherlands, www.LifeSiteNews.com]
Maafa 21 and Justice for All
In his famous letter from a Birmingham jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote:
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
And no greater injustice has ever been committed against any segment of our society than abortion has inflicted on the youngest members of our human family.
Recognizing this, GLM is on the verge of bringing hundreds of thousands of energetic new recruits into our pro-life movement … a force that can overwhelm the opposition and bring about the end of legalized abortion-on-demand in America.
Few Americans know these facts about post-Roe v Wade America today:
Almost as many African-American babies are aborted as are born alive.
A Black baby is almost FIVE times more likely to be killed in the womb than a white baby.
Although roughly 13 percent of American women are Black, they have 36% of the abortions.
Since 1973, abortion has wiped out over 25% of the African-American population.
In the last thirty years, more than twice as many African-Americans have died from abortion than from AIDS, accidents, violent crimes, cancer, and heart disease combined.
Every four days more Black people are executed by abortion than the Ku Klux Klan has lynched in the last 150 years.
Planned Parenthood operates the largest chain of abortion clinics in the United States …and an estimated 78% of them are located in minority neighborhoods.
For killing Black babies, the U.S. abortion industry rakes in more than $16,000 per hour … 24 hours a day … 7 days a week.
Without question, abortion is destroying America's African-American population!
Worse, this is by design! To know this all you have to do is know your history.
In 1939 Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood – and the woman who, in her book "Pivot of Civilization" said that "Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated" … a statement, by the way, which no one at Planned Parenthood has ever retracted or apologized for – wrote a letter to Clarence J. Gamble and outlined her plan to eliminate the Black community. In that letter she wrote:
"The most successful, educational appeal to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their rebellious members."
This was part of her "Negro Project", a plan designed to get well-respected Black ministers to unknowingly endorse and support her plan to eliminate what she considered "genetically inferior races."
And for the past seventy years the abortion activity of Planned Parenthood continues to devastate the Black community.
What's worse, most Black Americans – like most Americans, period – are totally unaware of everything I just told you!
In response to this, as Gospel of Life Ministries works to FREE all Americans from the scourge of abortion, we are letting our African-American brothers and sisters know that the PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT belongs to them just as much as it does to anyone else!
And the person tapped to get that message out and lead this effort is Dr. Alveda King – the niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Working hand in hand with outstanding Black pastors and preachers, Alveda is crisscrossing America and opening the eyes of her
brothers and sisters to the fact that …
… abortion is nothing less than a racist campaign of Black genocide!
As a result of our work so far, we have already opened the eyes of many African-Americans to the fact that abortion is devastating their community.
And like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights leaders of the 1960s …
… they are taking to the streets and DEMANDING that their community be protected.
And this time, that means bringing an end to legalized abortion!
Echoing those who remind us that abortion is "the fundamental civil rights issue of our day" Alveda proclaims this irrefutable fact:
"The pro-life movement IS the civil rights movement of today!"
And if anyone would know, Alveda would. Her father was the late Rev. A.D. King. And as I mentioned, her uncle was the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Those two men led the civil rights movement of the 1960s and paved the way for an end to legalized segregation in this country. They gave their lives in order to end the injustice of segregation and bigotry.
Today Alveda is following in their footsteps and giving her life for her unborn brothers and sisters!
She is doing so because she knows what it means to be oppressed and treated as a "non-person." That's why she is so passionate in her defense of unborn babies. For as she so rightly states:
"Over 150 years after slavery was abolished, an entire class of Americans is still treated as nothing more than property. Babies living in their mothers' wombs are regarded by our laws as non-persons. It's a tragedy and a disgrace."
Alveda is absolutely right.
The time has come to end the tragedy of abortion.
And with your help today, we will help African-Americans take their rightful place in the pro-life movement … men and women who know what it means to be persecuted and treated as "non-persons" … men and women who will re-energize the movement … men and women who will lead the way in once again establishing "equal justice under law" for all our fellow citizens, born and unborn.
The key, though, is for GLM to produce the resources which Alveda and other pro-life Black leaders can use to lead the African-American community to freedom from the slavery of abortion.
In truth, those who promote Margaret Sanger's elitist pro-abortion views are hoping you will ignore my email. They want you to "delete" it … just like they are working to "delete" all those "undesirables" that Sanger and her ilk consider nothing more than "human weeds."
There is a "stone that will bring the abortion Goliath to his knees where we can cut off his vile head."
That "stone" is a fact-filled, mind-grabbing, gut-wrenching, eye-opening documentary entitled "Maafa 21."
The word "maafa" (which is pronounced mah – AH – fa) is Swahili and means "disaster" or "great tragedy." It is used to describe particularly terrible events, such as slavery. Most in the Black community are familiar with it. So when they hear the title of this documentary, they will want to know what disaster – or "maafa" – it's talking about.
And when they watch "Maafa 21" – all two hours and twenty minutes of it – they will come to know that the "maafa" being exposed is this: That abortion is nothing less than Black genocide!
Alveda herself makes that very point in the film when she looks into the camera and says:
"Today the vast majority of Planned Parenthood clinics are located in our neighborhoods. Are we really so naïve to believe that this is a coincidence? In the 1960s when we as African-Americans began to demand our civil rights, that's when, for the first time in American history, there became a widespread cry in our government for legalized abortion. Is that a coincidence, too? Little did we know then that when we said we would no longer sit on the back of the bus, a place was being reserved for us down at the abortion center."
Mark my words. Those within the Black community who watch "Maafa 21" will be astonished at what it reveals! More to the point, they will rise up as a people and DEMAND that our judges and lawmakers end the genocide of legalized abortion.
But don't take my word for it.
After watching a special pre-release showing of "Maafa 21" Dr. Johnny Hunter, the leader of America's premier Black pro-life organization, made this telling comment:
"When Blacks see this, there will be no more Black 'pro-choice' politicians. They will not allow them to be elected because this film will rip the veil of secrecy from their eyes and they will see what's really going down. They will rise up and take to the streets to end legalized abortion because it is nothing more than Black genocide!"
Imagine if copies of "Maafa 21" can be sent to:
Every Black elected official in the country … most especially every U.S. Congressman and all state legislators!
Every Black journalist in the country!
Every professor at every Black college in the country! And most important of all …
Every Black pastor of every Black church in America!
I truly believe that the more we show the African-American community how white pro-abortion elitists are taking advantage of them and using abortion to exterminate the Black community, they will rise up and lead us to victory in our fight to end legalized abortion in America!
Do so with this thought in mind:
The more Americans make their own the fight to protect the smallest children, the sooner we will win that fight and restore for all Americans their unalienable right to life!
Although getting the "Maafa 21" DVD into the hands of influential African-Americans is our number one priority right now, it's far from all GLM is doing in this effort. We are also helping produce and distribute brochures that expose Planned Parenthoods campaign of Black genocide. In addition, we have an active presence at the many conferences where Black leaders and activists meet to set policy and enact strategies that will help the African-American community. And we're going to make it a point to reach out to African-Americans at stops all along our upcoming "Freedom Ride Project" route.
If anyone will understand the symbolism and meaning of that project, it will be our Black brothers and sisters. And I'm confident they will respond enthusiastically.
After all, what we're working for is their FREEDOM … freedom from the slavery of abortion. Not just for them, however, but for all unborn children.
[excerpted from Frank Pavone, National Director, Gospel of Life Ministries, Dec 09 letter]