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There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice,
but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. – Elie Wiesel
U.S. Cities Prepare for National Life Chain on October 2nd
Pro-Abortionists’ Great Expectations Collapse in the Wake of Two Pro-Life Wins
Commentary: New Evidence Shows Depth of Tiller Crimes
New Video Highlights Obama-Planned Parenthood 'Relationship'
Obama Administration Usurps State's Rights & Grants $1+Million Grant To Planned Parenthood in New Hampshire
Fear in US as Drug Shortages Mount
You’ve Been Guttmacher’d: Still Planned Parenthood’s 'Baby'?
Will "Contraception" Mandate Force Abortifacient IUDs on More Women?
Commentary: If Every Life is Worth Saving, the Pro-Life Movement Must Now Oppose Hormonal Birth Control
Commentary: Protestant Life Chain Founder Urges Pastors to Denounce Contraception
Fortunate Freedoms
Pro-Life Youth Can’t Vote But Can Definitely Do Much to Stop Abortion
Students Engaged in National Pro-Life Chalk Day 8 Sept 11
Over 1,000 Hairstylists Commit to Talk About Abortion at Their Shops
Surgery for the Unborn Proves Impressively Successful
Time to Investigate Planned Parenthood for Sex Abuse Coverups
Funding Planned Parenthood Does NOT Stop Unplanned Pregnancies
Answering Questions About Possible Down Syndrome Treatment
Commentary: Top Ten Back-to-School Pro-Life Action Items
Planned Parenthood Lauds Obama Admin National Aggressive Pursuit of FACE Act Against Pro-Life Witnesses
Congressman Chris Smith Discusses Innovative Treatment for Hydrocephalus
Babies Go to Congress to Support Pregnancy Help Centers, 5-6 October
Pro-(Fun)Life: Family Recreation on a Budget
Pregnant by Rape?
New Documentary About Philippines Pro-Life Fight
Disable Sexuality Web Filters or Face a Lawsuit: ACLU to Public School Districts…
but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. – Elie Wiesel
Commentary: U.S. Cities Prepare for National Life Chain on October 2nd
[This is the Press Release for the National Life Chain event.]
The leaders of National Life Chain Sunday issued the following statement this week as hundreds of cities and towns in the United States are preparing to again stage the annual Life Chain on Sunday, October 2, 2011; some Life Chains will be held on alternate dates. For updates, time, and location in each city, see www.LifeChain.net
The National Life Chain Sunday 2011 confronts an injustice unsurpassed in world history. Year by year, the Abortion Holocaust in America and Canada extends a death toll that reaches far beyond the Nazi killings in Europe. Today, as in Germany, accountability rests heavily with a paralyzed church that has failed to discern and value the victims’ humanity and lacks the resolve and passion necessary to end an unspeakable injustice. For many German Christians, bombs and destruction eventually quickened their awareness and compassion, which leads one to ask if most of us today will ever see the current horror and hear the Preborns’ silent screams without promptings from a national calamity.
Author of The Christian Manifesto, theologian Francis Schaeffer advised us that “Every abortion mill should have this sign posted on it: ‘This abortion mill is open by permission of the local church.’” On our watch, a child who falls into a well is swiftly and nobly rescued by Christian and pagan alike. Yet with an indifference we do not easily comprehend, we have allowed our preborn neighbors to suffer mutilations by the tens of millions.
What could so blind the church in the U.S. and Canada? Are not millions of laity and a few hundred thousand pastors “pro-life”? But what does “pro-life” mean in our day? At what level is pro-life’s integrity and sense of urgency? How confused is our mindset about Christian values? A remnant of clergy and laity labor devotedly, to be sure, but pro-life’s collective save/loss record is tragic in the extreme. For each child saved from surgical abortion, many children die, and the numerous chemical abortions remain chiefly beyond the reach of current pro-life strategies.
What is pro-life’s greatest earthly need? In each community, both urban and rural, pro-life needs the pulpits—their skills, authority, and opportunity to instruct, inspire, and mobilize the churc
h against the grievous mentality of legal abortion and its bonded spiritual forces. Ending the prevailing scourge is a local duty, everywhere. And to succeed, we must move past the “abortion issue” to the Preborns’ humanity and provide the children uncompromising protection that can also end the killing.
Each year, National Life Chain Sunday lines U.S. and Canadian sidewalks with a prayerful and peaceful public witness that is an extension of Sunday morning worship. Christians of all ages are urged to participate, for profound reasons. If instead we choose Sunday afternoon football or like pleasures, we betray desperate Preborns and help sustain the American and Canadian Holocausts. Pastors who prepare their people for earnest intercession and reflection are key to National Life Chain Sunday’s success. These pastors proclaim the blood-guilt facing nations that legalize abortion. They proclaim God’s eminent regard for helpless and rejected mankind. And they remind us that our nation’s well-being and security are only as strong as our obedience to a just and sovereign God. Please, Pastors of America and Canada, lead your fellow worshippers to the nearest Life Chain, to stand humbly yet boldly for Life. Let us provide a witness God can anoint and use greatly.
For updates, time, and location in each city, see www.LifeChain.net.
[September 12, 2011, NationalLifeChain.org, http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/us-cities-prepare-for-national-life-chain-on-october-2nd?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=0469fa41ef-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines09_12_2011&utm_medium=email]
Pro-Abortionists’ Great Expectations Fade in the Wake of Two Pro-Life Wins
Two special elections held September 13, stunned pro-abortion Democrats. Two weeks ago pro-abortion New York Assemblyman David Weprin was the odds on favorite to win in the state’s 9th Congressional District, replacing fellow Democrat Anthony Weiner. The optimism seemed well placed; a three-to-one Democratic voter registration advantage meant that the district has been a Democratic stronghold for decades.
But with the help of National Right to Life PAC, pro-life Republican businessman Bob Turner overcame Weprin and [even] the last minute infusion of a half million dollars from Democratic Congressional Committee.
Early on Nevada Democrats had high hopes of winning the 2nd Congressional seat vacated by pro-life Congressman Dean Heller who was appointed to the Senate following the resignation of Senator John Ensign. Adding to the Democrats’ anticipation was that in the 2008 presidential election, the 2nd congressional district was the nation’s most competitive house district. Senator John McCain won by fewer than 100 votes.
Instead, again with the help of National Right to Life PAC, pro-life former state Senator Mark Amodei (R) soundly defeated pro-abortion state Treasurer Kate Marshall.
There were clear and unmistakable differences between the candidates in both special elections on life issues.
Republican Congressmen-elect Turner and Amodei oppose abortion and oppose taxpayer funding of abortions. They also oppose Obama’s pro-abortion, pro-rationing health care plan, and will vote to repeal it.
Democrats Weprin and Marshall support a policy of abortion on demand, and support Obama’s pro-abortion, pro-rationing health care plan. David Weprin even voted to pay for abortions in New York using tax dollars.
Marshall’s position on abortion is extreme as evidenced by her endorsement by the pro-abortion PAC, EMILY’s List. EMILY’s List endorses only female candidates who support abortion-on-demand, partial-birth abortion, and taxpayer funding of abortions.
Abortion continues to be an issue felt more passionately by pro-lifers than by pro-abortionists… For example, in 2010, 30% of all voters said that abortion affected their vote. Of that 30%, 22% voted for pro-life candidates to only 8% who voted for pro-abortion candidates–a net advantage of 14% for pro-life candidates…
Looking ahead to 2012, it is encouraging that Democrats had to spend $500,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to defend a seat that should have been theirs…
[14 Sept, Karen Cross, National Right to Life Political Director, http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/09/pro-abortionists%E2%80%99-great-expectations-collapse-in-the-wake-of-two-pro-life-wins/]
New Video Highlights Obama-Planned Parenthood Relationship
The Susan B. Anthony List has released a new video exposing the close relationship between pro-abortion President Barack Obama and the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
The SBA List criticizes the close relationship between the president and his political ally, the largest abortion business in the United States. After key groups of his base supporters have abandoned him, Planned Parenthood remains closer than ever to the President, the video says and it calls on Americans to “turn off the music” by supporting efforts to revoke Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding.
“He was the most popular guy at the party. Big smiles and tall tales,” the video says. “But the longer he stayed, the less he’s liked.”
“First, the small businessmen left him. Then, union workers, college kids, and soccer moms,” the ad continues. “But through it all, one friend has stuck with Barack Obama: the abortion providers. And his dedication knows no bounds. For them, he promised to shut down the entire federal government. Threatened to slash Medicaid for the poor in Indiana. Even offered to pay for abortion clinics in New Hampshire…with our federal tax dollars.”
“Barack Obama and Planned Parenthood,” it concludes. “They won’t stop…until America turns off the music.”
Visit this link for video — http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/21/new-video-highlights-obama-planned-parenthood-relationship/
[http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/21/new-video-highlights-obama-planned-parenthood-relationship/]
Obama Usurps State’s Rights to Grant Contract to Planned Parenthood
Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List, released the following statement today in response to a decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to award more than $1 million in federal funds to Planned Parenthood clinics in New Hampshire.
“In June, the state of New Hampshire exercised its right to decline renewal of a $1.8 million contract with Planned Parenthood of New England, which operates clinics – including those where abortions are performed – in the state. It is well within the purview of the New Hampshire state government to decide not to continue to subsidize America’s abortion giant with taxpayer dollars. Instead of honoring the decision of New Hampshire's Executive Council, Obama has once again allowed his unwavering support for the largest provider of abortions in our country to take precedent. The people of New Hampshire deserve to have the representatives they elected make the decisions they were elected to make without fear of Obama usurping those decisions to curry favor with his political ally – Planned Parenthood.”
In July, SBA List held a rally in Concord, New Hampshire to show support for the Council’s vote, and urged them to stay the course. Including New Hampshire, eight states have successfully defunded Planned Parenthood to the tune of nearly $60.4 million.
[14 Sept 11, D.C., Susan B. Anthony List e-letter]
Fear in US as Drug Shortages Mount
[Ed. Note: Certain cancer-fighting drugs, such as methotrexate, are being used in large proportions by the abortion industry for 'medication' abortions…]
* Shortages of vital drugs, particularly cancer-fighting medication, have raised concerns in the United States, where regulators often have to race to try to find replacements
A recent report by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that the number of important treatments that are difficult or impossible to find nearly tripled from 61 to 178 between 2005 and 2010.
Most of the rare medications are for hospital use, including sterile injections, intravenous treatments, anesthetics and antibiotics. The products include both name-brand and generic drugs.
"FDA hears from patients and also from healthcare professionals and organizations about the terrible impact the shortages have had," spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said.
"We continue to do all we can under our current authority to address shortages when they occur."
The FDA's efforts are hindered, however, because it cannot force private pharmaceutical companies to produce certain drugs or even require them to notify the agency when they plan to discontinue one, Burgess said.
In 2010 it was able to avert 38 shortages, mainly by persuading other manufacturers to produce the drugs or helping to resolve production issues.
But a survey of 820 hospitals carried out in June by the American Hospital Association found that almost all had run out of an important drug over the past six months.
Eighty-percent said they had to delay patient treatments because of drug scarcity, and 70 percent said they administered less effective treatments.
"We really need to take a very careful look at what is going on. I have never seen anything like this and I have been a pharmacist for over 40 years," says Mike Cohen, a pharmacist at the non-profit Safe Medical Practices.
The group recently surveyed 1,800 health professionals and found that a third of doctors and a fifth of pharmacists were aware of adverse reactions in their patients — including deaths — because of drug shortages.
Cynthia Reilly of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists says the "dramatic increase" in shortages is in part due to "quality issues."
"In a lot of instances the manufacturer is either having problems with the production lines or perhaps they found particular products in vials so they have to do a recall," she said.
Reilly fears the shortages will worsen as the pharmaceutical industry continues to consolidate, and as more companies stop producing generic drugs because they are less profitable.
"A few years ago five companies were making a similar product. Now there is only one or two… There are not a lot of companies to fill the gap," she said.
She and other advocates believe new legislation to allow the FDA to force companies to alert it six months in advance of closing a production line would be helpful, as it would give the agency more time to find a substitute.
Two bills with broad support are currently under discussion in Congress.
Another problem is the so-called "gray market," whereby distributors scoop up rare drugs and then charge hospitals exorbitant rates for them. Some drugs can fetch up to 1,000 times the normal price.
[AFP, Sep 4, 2011, Jean-Louis Santini, http://news.yahoo.com/fear-us-drug-shortages-mount-172425843.html]
You’ve Been Guttmacher’d: Still Planned Parenthood’s 'Baby'?
Anytime journalists feel the need to reinforce unexamined Planned Parenthood statements, they pull the Guttmacher card. The Guttmacher Institute, founded by former Planned Parenthood President and former Vice President of the American Eugenics Society, Alan F. Guttmacher, is continually lavished with misleading credentials by mainstream media.
NPR and the Washington Post call it a “nonpartisan research group”. ABC and CNN refer to Guttmacher’s abortion activist staff as “researchers”. USA Today calls the public policy organization a “non-profit group that studies reproductive and sexual health”.
Where are all of the easy pejoratives like “extreme” or “anti-choice” and “partisan”? They’re just much easier to affix to groups like mine, The Radiance Foundation, that present the empirical evidence while opposing the destruction that abortion brings.
The Guttmacher Institute was birthed in 1968 as a research arm of Planned Parenthood. In the late 70s, for public relations and credibility issues, both organizations performed a public separation declaring that Guttmacher was no longer affiliated with Planned Parenthood (PPFA) in any way.
But the cord is still attached.
Despite this preposterous claim by Guttmacher’s President and CEO, Sharon Camp, this global pro-abortion extension of PPFA has been funded over $2.4 million by Planned Parenthood from 2004-2009. In an interview with CUNY TV (see embedded video below), originally aired on December 15, 2010, Camp claims, “for the past 4 or 5 years, Guttmacher has been completely unaffiliated with Planned Parenthood.”
Yet a quick look at the nation’s largest abortion chain’s 990 tax filings (click image at right to enlarge), reveals how “completely unaffiliated” Guttmacher has been.
Planned Parenthood, who receives over $360 million annual tax dollars, gave $2,142,076 of our tax dollars to their “research” arm, Guttmacher.
For the remainder of this article, visit — http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/06/youve-bee
Will "Contraception" Mandate Force Abortifacient IUDs on More Women?
For years now, the IUD has supposedly been poised for its big comeback. Doctors, reproductive health advocates, and countless articles in the popular press have sung its praises for being more effective than the pill, lauded its safety and ease of use, and encouraged women to look past its unfortunate history.
But while its popularity has inched up over the years-fewer than 1 percent of contraceptive users relied on the IUD in 1995, but by 2006-08, 5.5 percent used it-it is still a distant when compared to blockbuster reversible contraceptives like the pill, chosen by 28 percent of contraception users and the male condom, favored by 16 percent of contraception users.
http://www.slate.com/id/2302062/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HeroicNews+%28Heroic+News%29
Commentary: If Every Life is Worth Saving, the Pro-Life Movement Must Now Oppose Hormonal Birth Control
There are specific and intended actions that these pharmacologic chemicals have on a woman’s body to achieve their intended action of ‘birth control’.
August 1, 2012 the new government-mandated guideline for ‘free birth control’ will be forced upon our nation. It seems to have taken the aggressive agenda of the left to force us to recognize that it is time for a drastic strategy change within the pro-life move
ment.
How will pro-life activists and organizations react to a new and necessary challenge to overcome their fear of opposing abortifacient birth control in order to protect and preserve every single unborn life?
First it is vital that we dispel the myths that we are now hearing ad nauseum:
* “Increased access to birth control decreases the number of abortions.” Even Planned Parenthood admits through the research of their very own Guttmacher Institute that approximately 50% of women that show up for abortions do so because of failed contraception. To be clear, there is no question that increased access to birth control only increases the number of abortions.
* “Women are healthier on birth control.“ While it is true that being on hormonal birth control can decrease the risk of uterine and ovarian cancer, it significantly increases a woman’s risk of getting breast, cervical, and liver cancers. According to the American Cancer Society, out of 100 women with cancer, 31 have breast cancer, 6 have endometrial (uterine) cancer and only 3 have ovarian cancer. As you can see this is flawed reasoning and it is not a good “trade-off” in health benefit versus risk.
Unfortunately, the majority of pro-life organizations have taken a pass on babies lost through chemical abortions.
In order to understand how hormonal birth control can actually take a human life it is necessary to understand the physical mechanism of what it does to the body to cause a chemical abortion.
What is a chemical abortion? Does it actually take a human life? If it does, isn’t it time for everyone to stop cowering away from the issue of hormonal birth control and truly embrace a consistent, ‘no exceptions’ pro-life position?
There are many different forms of hormonal methods of birth control now available on the market. The differences depend on the amount of hormone, the type of hormone, and the way the hormone enters a woman’s body.
Hormonal contraception can be taken by mouth (“The Pill”), implanted into body tissue (‘The Rod”), absorbed through the skin (“The Patch), Injected under the skin (Depo-Provera), dispensed from an Intrauterine device (Miranda), or placed inside the vagina (Nuvaring). There are specific and intended actions that these pharmacologic chemicals have on a woman’s body to achieve their intended action of ‘birth control’.
These can include:
* a change in the cervical mucus (which decreases the likelihood of the sperm reaching the egg)
* suppressing ovulation, or
* preventing implantation of the fertilized egg into the uterus where it is intended to grow for nine months until birth.
Because of the negative and undesirable effects on a woman’s body, the chemical combination of these hormonal contraceptives have been altered over the years. While they achieved their goal in reducing the unpleasant symptoms that result from massive amounts of unnatural hormones entering the woman’s body, they unfortunately increased the likelihood of ovulation occurring while a woman is on birth control.
As if it was not enough, the increased likelihood of ovulation was accompanied by a literal war on the uterus. Scientists and doctors have provided us with the easiest explanation on how we know that women are unknowingly self-aborting their own babies by using hormonal birth control.
In an effort to determine why women who were trying to get pregnant by artificial insemination were unsuccessful, it was discovered that the lining of a woman’s uterus (called the endometrium) must be at least 8mm thick in order for a baby in its tiniest form to implant and grow. What they found was that the use of hormonal contraception (in any of the forms mentioned above) generally keeps the uterus lining below 6mm.
Therefore, if women are having sexual relations during the time of ovulation, they have the possibility of conceiving a child but instead of being able to implant and grow the newly-conceived embryo slides right out of the uterus. The uterine wall/endometrium is too thin to allow the baby to implant. The woman thinks she is experiencing an unusually heavy monthly period when, in fact, she is self-aborting her child.
There is no difference in the results of what happens once a woman conceives after taking hormonal birth control and what happens after she takes the so-called ‘morning after pill’ except that the latter is more malicious and intentional. Likewise, the only essential difference in a chemical abortion and surgical abortion is the size of the baby. Both a surgical abortion and a chemical abortion (induced by taking hormonal birth control) take the life of a baby.
Shouldn’t this information change everything for the pro-life movement and its resistance to stand up and show the connection between birth control and abortion? Since Roe vs. Wade in 1973 countless men, women, and children have marched on Washington to protest and mourn the 55 million+ surgical abortions in the United States.
It is now estimated that an additional 250 million chemical abortions can be added to this abortion holocaust as a result of women taking “the pill” and other hormonal contraceptives.
In the minds of many, a chemical abortion does not have the same level of violence as a surgical abortion, but a chemical abortion still deliberately causes the death of innocent human beings—on a massive scale.
Will the pro-life movement ever march for these tiny victims of injustice?
Do pro-life individuals and organizations believe that every life is worth saving? If the answer is yes, isn’t it now necessary to oppose all forms of hormonal contraception? And if the answer is no, don’t we open ourselves up to the accusation of the worst kind of hypocrisy?
Birth Control has always been a ‘taboo’ issue of discussion among most pro-life organizations. Reasons range from “it’s too hard to explain”, “it’s a no win issue” and “it’s a Catholic thing”. I understand that is a sensitive and challenging issue for those who themselves use birth control, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have the discussion from a theoretical and pragmatic point of view. …We can’t afford to mislabel a pernicious medical phenomenon with religious polemics of the past.
In all reality, the passage of time has yielded undeniable scientific facts that reveal that babies conceived by women of all faiths are being aborted through the use of hormonal contraceptives. If we fight only one type of abortion injustice while ignoring the more extensive killing influence, we diminish both our righteous cause and our effect on the most innocent members of our society.
The God who said, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jer 1:5) and proclaimed that each and every human being is “wondrously created” from the womb, (Ps 139: 14) is the same God who inspires the hearts of the heroic members of the largest grassroots mobilization of conscience in history: the pro-life movement. We, as a movement, are now faced with the challenge of deepening our principl
es and opening our eyes to see the injustice at the root of every contraceptive act.
How can we possibly continue down the road of pretending [our tiny, unseen offspring] do not exist?
Ignoring the truth that lies before us does not make the senseless loss of human life through hormonal contraception go away.
Just as the heinous act of partial birth abortion had its “aha” moment which led to full scale support for passing a bill to outlaw it, the time has long since passed to aggressively and effectively echo a new message from all corners of the pro-life movement for all future generations to come: “when you hear birth control, think abortion”.
[Jenn Giroux is a Registered Nurse, wife, and mother of 9. She has been active in the pro-life movement for over 30 years. Sep 06, 2011, http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/if-every-life-is-worth-saving-the-pro-life-movement-must-now-oppose-hormona?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e96526a7b8-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines09_06_2011&utm_medium=email ]
but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. – Elie Wiesel
Protestant Life Chain Founder Begs Pastors to Denounce Contraception
The founder of the national Life Chain, which is set to take place October 2nd, is urging Protestant pastors to confront the “spirit of child aversion” that was created by the embrace of contraception.
Royce Dunn, president of Please Let Me Live, issued an open letter to pastors in July urging them to take concrete measures to “end the American Holocaust” of abortion. The devoted Baptist is calling for “a new mindset” towards procreation that is open to God’s gift of fertility.
In an interview, Dunn told LifeSiteNews that the “spirit of child aversion,” the desire to avoid bearing children, is “the uppermost key to the killing of children in America.”
He said that at the bare minimum, pastors should be warning their faithful about abortifacient contraceptives, “so that women in the pews and at the pickets won’t be aborting children unaware.”
“If enhanced, [the contraceptive] desire leads to abortion, and today in our nation a holocaust endures for which the church is substantially accountable,” he writes in his letter.
“The pulpit, of necessity, must voice the word it has long avoided and perhaps feared most. The word is contraception,” he writes. While pastors avoid the subject, “year by year Christians use contraception freely because they do not desire a child or additional children in their home.”
Dunn also blames the pro-life movement itself for failing to “ably confront” contraception in past decades – a failure that “has cost numerous lives,” he says.
In a personal confession included in a pamphlet entitled ‘Contraception: The Tragic Deception’, Dunn explains that his opposition to contraception was motivated in part by regret over his “personal loss” of children through the practice.
He says that while he cherishes and rejoices in his son and daughter, “I wonder how many more [lights of the world] God wanted to originate in our family.”
“Though we yielded no ground to abortion, we fell prey to its more deceptive and senior partner,” he explains. “With passing years, an abiding sadness has settled into my spirit, and I do not want to lose it, for it has taught me the incomparable worth of procreation.”
He says in his letter to pastors that contraception is by no means a “Catholic issue,” as often thought, highlighting the fact that the Protestant churches had uniformly condemned the practice for over 400 years. It was only in 1930 at the Anglican Lambeth conference that a Protestant church opened the door, initially under strict conditions.
He observes that devoted pro-life advocates “seldom ignore the impact of child aversion and contraception,” while “Christians who defend artificial birth control may claim a pro-life position but usually lack the heart and urgency necessary for diligent pro-life work.”
“All worshippers should understand contraception’s pivotal role in abortion’s legalization,” Dunn writes, noting that the “right to privacy” that anchored the Roe v. Wade decision was first used by the Supreme Court in its 1965 decision Griswold v. Connecticut, which overturned a ban on contraceptives.
He says there’s a “strong case” that the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling “stands as divine judgment on a lukewarm church and errant nation that for decades … ignored God’s heart for procreation.”
Even the Supreme Court, in its 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, affirmed that “the abortion decision is of the same character as the decision to use contraception,” and upheld the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision on the basis that “[Americans have come to rely on] the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail.”
Along with his strong opposition to contraception, Dunn acknowledges that there are points in a married couple’s life when avoiding pregnancy is justified. He notes that God has established a natural rhythm to the woman’s reproductive cycle so that married couples can make love during infertile periods.
But, he says, “before spouses limit pregnancy, they should consider the child (or children) whose conception they may prevent.”
“Christian spouses know about sex,” he writes. “But how many know the inestimable worth of their fertility and realize that through God’s plan they can literally create human beings, both for God’s glory and their own fulfillment.”
Find Dunn’s letter, To End the American Holocaust: The Leadership Only Pastors Can Provide — http://www.nationallifechain.org/End%20the%20American%20Holocaust.pdf
[8 Sep 11, Patrick B. Craine, YUBA CITY, California, http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/protestant-life-chain-founder-begs-pastors-to-denounce-contraception?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9182b249a0-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines09_08_2011&utm_medium=email ]
Fortunate Freedoms
I recently spoke with a young lady from China. She is in the United States to pursue a college degree, [and is] profoundly pro-life. She was very kind and asked if she could share her story with me.
She proceeded to tell me how people like her are treated in her country. She … has to be careful about being to vocal against China’s one-child policy and sharing her pro-life views. Pastors in China (in the above-ground church) struggle to teach the truth… They are constantly followed by government employees and are warned to follow a specific script when speaking with their congregations. They are limited to only specific topics that do not oppose anything to do with the Chinese government.
I f
irst realized how on-edge she was when a friend suggested a book for her to read about opposition to the one-child policy. She raised her voice a bit and said, “No!… if you do give me this book, it must be in secret.” She was concerned that someone from the Chinese government may see. This shocked me… she is in a different country where we have all these freedoms and is afraid of her own government for simply reading and/or having posession of a book. I didn’t know what to say.
After this, I really got to thinking. How fortunate are we to live in a country where we have the right to not only read and say what we want, but also to *truly* affect change if something is not right? We are fighting for one of the greatest causes in history – the right to LIFE. In the U.S., we don’t have to worry about the government imprisoning us for voicing our opposition to abortion. We don’t have to worry that our very livelihood will be taken away for speaking up for the preborn. Yes, we have battles, many battles… but we have the freedom to fight those battles and I couldn’t be more grateful.
While challenges consistently arise, I will recall this conversation I had with this young lady and be thankful that I can take action. The pre-born may not have a voice to preserve their lives, but in America, we DO.
[7 Sept 11, e-letter, SFLA]
Pro-Life Youth Can’t Vote But Can Do Much to Stop Abortion
I heard it all the time in high school, and I hear it from younger students all the time now: “I’m pro-life, but I can’t vote yet.” My immediate response is… so what!
Voting for pro-life candidates is but a fraction of our responsibilities as pro-lifers. Young people are vital to the movement because we represent the future, and there is so much more to our activism than simply voting pro-life when election seasons come around. We need middle and high school students standing up and being a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Don’t ever think that being too young to vote hinders you from educating others, helping pregnant women in need, or possibly saving a life.
Since being pro-life means so much more than just voting for pro-life candidates, we have to act pro-life on a daily basis. So what can a middle or high-school age student do? This list consists of just a few ideas that students can do to spread awareness about abortion, even if they’re unable to vote. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/08/pro-life-youth-cant-vote-but-can-do-much-to-stop-abortion/
Students Engaged in National Pro-Life Chalk Day 8 Sept 11
Students at junior high, high school, and college campuses across the country engaged in National Pro-Life Chalk Day [8 Sept], and used their drawing skills to spread the pro-life message to their classmates. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/08/students-engage-in-national-pro-life-chalk-day-today/
Over 1,000 Hairstylists Commit to Talk About Abortion at Their Shops
A new approach to get information about the high abortion rate among black women in the U.S. to thousands of people was launched at a trade show for barbers and hair stylists in Atlanta over the weekend, reports Christina Martin of Bound4Life.
Read Christina’s account of the hairstylist tradeshow here.
Over a thousand hairdressers told organizers of The Samson Project that they would talk about abortion in their shops.
According to the organizers of the “Samson Project” – named for the long-haired Nazirite of the Old Testament – over 1,000 people committed to watching their DVD, and talking about abortion’s tragic impact on the black community in their shops.
At a booth set up among displays of blow dryers, hair buzzers and samples of creams and lotions at the Bronner Brothers Int. Hair show, the Samson Project offered something completely different. Under a banner reading “Life Talks,” pro-life workers handed out folders with information on the disproportionately high abortion rates for black women, a copy of MAAFA 21, the documentary on black genocide in 21st century America, and a window decal for their shops.
“If those passing agreed to watch the movie and talk about abortion in their shops, they would receive the folder and the decal to put in their window declaring to their customers they were willing to talk about this issue,” said Christina Martin, who is the director of Bound4Life Atlanta, and who worked the crowd at the trade show.
Black pro-life leaders Alveda King, Dean Nelson, and Arnold Culbreath from Protecting Black Life, all joined Christina during the three-day event to talk with people and pass out information.
Christina observed that for many women a trip to the beauty salon something that they do regularly, and countless men find “rest and comfort” as they sit back in their barber’s chair, listening to the conversations and laughing with friends.
“There’s a real sense of community and togetherness as conversations ring high over the noise of blow dryers and buzzers,” Christina remarked. “I’ve heard a variety of topics discussed, celebrity marriages, family issues, frustrations with government and whatever else captured their attention, but one thing that was never brought up was the issue of abortion. That was something they simply didn’t talk about. Thankfully, that is now about to change in shops across our nation.”
“I was taken aback by how many people wanted to hear about abortion’s impact on the black community. Many gasped when they saw the statistics and shuddered to hear the news that as a race we are decreasing at an increasing rate,” she said.
Many of those she spoke to, she said, were “unaware that abortion is the #1 killer in Black America,” while others, who were Christian, did not realize the evil of abortion.
Talking with those who stopped at the “Life Talks” booth was sometimes a gut wrenching experience for the pro-lifers handing out information.
“One man admitted in pain, that his friend had eleven abortions. Two older black women came to the booth in tears. Both had pressured their children to abort, and both daughters refused. When they saw the booth, they were instantly convicted and had to confess what they’d done,” Christina recalled.
In another conversation Christina related, “One older woman told me she just quit her job as a security officer at an abortion clinic, the week before the hair show. When I asked her why, she told me it was too hard to watch the girls going in get younger and younger. She said some were as young as eleven, and she couldn’t take it anymore, so she left. She was eager to get the Maafa DVD and share it with her friends and church family.”
Christina herself admits that she was almost a victim of abortion. She relates in her biography that “28 years ago her mother was sitting in a hospital room, waiting for the abortion doctor to call her into his office. An elderly black janitor saw her mom crying and asked her one question ‘Do you want to have this baby?’ Her mom said yes, and the rest was history. She walked out of that clinic with hope in her heart and Christina still safely in her womb.”
“Do your part and share the truth about abortion with your stylist or barber,” Christina urged her readers. “I did, and she was eager to hear the information. She even asked me for a DVD. Let’s take every step we can to get this conversation beyond the four walls of the church
and into every sphere of society!”
MAAFA 21, the 2009 documentary on Black Genocide in 21st Century America is available here — http://www.maafa21.com/
Related: http://bound4life.com/blog/2011/08/30/1-000-hairstylists-and-barbers-commit-to-talking-about-abortion-in-their-shops
[Aug 30, 2011, ATLANTA, Georgia, T. Baklinski , http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/over-1000-hairstylists-commit-to-talk-about-abortion-at-their-shops?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9a5df581a4-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines08_30_2011&utm_medium=email]
SURGERY FOR THE UNBORN PROVES IMPRESSIVELY SUCCESSFUL
Babies with a severe congenital spinal cord defect (called a “myelomeningocoele”) are at high risk of developing permanent brain and spinal cord damage, if the defect is not repaired soon after birth.
Recently a consortium of world-renowned pediatric hospital centers have investigated whether performing surgery on a baby, while he or she is still in the womb, would be safe.
These surgeons found that prenatal surgery (surgery while the baby is still in the womb) is not only as safe as waiting until right after birth, but it actually results in better outcomes!
Babies with myelomeningocoeles often need to have ‘shunts’ placed, in order to release pressurized water which is accumulating around their brain (hydrocephalus). Those babies, who had undergone surgery before they were born, later needed to have a shunt placed less often.
Three years later (30 months after surgery), the babies who had undergone surgery in the womb were functioning at a higher level, with better motor skills and less need for leg braces, than were those babies whose surgery had been delayed until after they were born. And this improvement occurred despite the fact that the babies who underwent surgery before they were born happened to have, on the whole, more serious spinal defects than those who had their surgery after they were born.
These improved results, from performing surgery before birth, were so striking that the investigators stopped the study early, in order to share the good news.
This surgery is very serious, whether performed before or after birth. Two babies died in each group. Babies who underwent surgery in the womb were at higher risk of premature birth, and their mothers were at higher risk of injury to the womb.
Doctor Carl Olsson, a prestigious urologist at Columbia University, notes, “We have probably entered a new era in myelomeningocoele management with this study.”[1]
This study was performed by the Myelomeningocoele Study (MOMS) Group – at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Vanderbilt University and University of California, San Francisco. It was reported in the 17 March 2011 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.[2]
[1] Olsson C: "Have You Read?" AUA News, (May)2011; 16(5): 24-25.
[2] Adzick NS, Thorn EA, Spong CY, et al: Randomized trial of prenatal versus postnatal repair of myelomeningocele. New England Journal of Medicine, (March 17) 2011; 364 (11): 993-1004.
Note: This operation requires extraordinary surgical skill and may only be available at select regional centers.
The good news is that, in many cases, myelomeningocoele can be prevented, when women adopt healthy eating habits, during and even before pregnancy – with diets that include good amounts of folic acid (for instance, in orange juice, leafy green vegetables and whole grain foods fortified with vitamin B complex). Avoiding excessive weight also seems to reduce the risk. Women planning for pregnancy need to remember that they should begin eating for two — wisely and well — even before conception.
Time to Investigate Planned Parenthood for Sex Abuse Cover-ups
A thirteen-year-old girl — let’s call her Karen — was an ordinary youngster who enjoyed playing soccer. But her life took an ugly turn when her soccer coach seduced her and got her pregnant. Without the knowledge of Karen’s parents, the coach took Karen to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Ohio and paid for her abortion. Planned Parenthood staffers asked no questions, despite the fact that Karen was scarcely out of childhood.
The coach was later convicted of sexual battery and sent to prison. But as Americans United for Life recently observed, the story is indicative of how willing Planned Parenthood clinics are “to be perfect partners to those who wish to sexually abuse and exploit young girls.”
Americans United for Life recently published a report titled “The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood” — http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/07/report-congress-should-probe-planned-parenthood-abortion-biz/
It details the horror stories that have exploded in the news in recent years: Planned Parenthood employees assisting pimps and sex traffickers; misleading women about the dangers of abortion; refusing to comply with parental notification laws; and misusing millions in taxpayer dollars.
Worst of all is the evidence that Planned Parenthood fails to report child sex abuse. Instead, as Americans United for Life notes, Planned Parenthood clinics “advise minors and their abusers on how to circumvent the mandatory reporting laws”; that is why Americans United for Life uses the term “the perfect partners,” as Planned Parenthood works with those who are actually using and exploiting “young girls.”
Americans United for Life recommends that Congress conduct a full-scale investigation of the abortion giant. I agree — it’s long overdue. But we should also ask ourselves why Planned Parenthood has become such a negative force. Well, it all comes down to worldview.
The modern, secular view promotes the idea of total sexual autonomy even for young girls — that they have a right to sexual activity — and should be encouraged to engage in sex as soon as they feel “ready,” regardless of their age and marital status. This view says even the youngest girls ought to be allowed to undergo treatment for sexually transmitted disease (STDs) and even have abortions without their parents’ knowledge.
By contrast, the biblical view teaches that sex should be reserved for marriage, and that young girls need to be protected from those who would exploit their innocence. This is why the ancient Israelites carefully protected young, unmarried women, encouraging modesty of dress and behavior.
They knew that without this protection, unscrupulous men would take advantage of them. The same protections were built into virtually every other culture — protections that have been stripped away during the last half century of sexual liberation.
The question is: Which view lines up more closely with reality? Millions of abortions and out-of-wedlock births, one in every four teens infected with an STD, teens lured into forced prostitution, these provide the sobering answer. Young girls need protection from those who would exploit them.
So yes, ask your lawmakers to investigate Planned Parenthood. But we should also teach our children the worldview lesson behind the tragic exploitation of our nation’s daughters — first by men, and then by the profit-seeking women of Planned Parenthood.
LifeNews.com Note: Chuck Colson is an attorney and the founder and chairman of the Wilberforce Forum, and the founder of a non-profit organization devoted to prison ministry called Prison Fellowship.
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/07/report-congress-should
-probe-planned-parenthood-abortion-biz/
[Chuck Colson | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 8/30/11, http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/30/time-to-investigate-planned-parenthood-for-sex-abuse-coverups/]
Funding Planned Parenthood Doesn’t Stop Unplanned Pregnancies
Last week, the Guttmacher Institute announced the publication of an analysis of the rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States from 2001 to 2006. The report unwittingly makes the case for DEFUNDING Planned Parenthood.
Guttmacher reports that overall “the unintended pregnancy rate has remained essentially flat” during that period but that it “has increased dramatically among poor women.” Their conclusion: “United States did not make progress toward its goal of reducing unintended pregnancy between 2001 and 2006.”
The Institute was founded as a division of Planned Parenthood in 1968, and later named in honor of former Planned Parenthood director Alan Guttmacher when it became independent in 1977. However—as the two groups’ response to the new report shows—Guttmacher and Planned Parenthood continue to work hand-in-glove.
The Predictable Response from Planned Parenthood can be summed up in 5 words: "We need more birth control."
“The Guttmacher Institute’s new analysis of unintended pregnancy should serve as a national wake-up call,” declared Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards—and for once I agree with her. But we’re completely at odds as to what the wake-up call is trying to tell us.
According to Richards, “The take-home message is clear: We need to do more to prevent unintended pregnancy, and access to affordable birth control is one significant way to do that.” She goes on to laud the recent decision of the Obama administration to mandate contraceptive coverage without co-pays.
The subtext of Camp and Richard’s remarks is clear enough: by “access to affordable birth control” and “access to reproductive health services” they mean “access to Planned Parenthood,” with its huge $363 million taxpayer subsidy intact…
…What’s more, the unintended pregnancy rate went up dramatically among poor women—the very group that Planned Parenthood purports to help the most. Measured in the number of poor women per 1,000 or childbearing age, the rate went up from 120 unintended pregnancies in 2001 to 132 in 2006. That’s right: the more money Planned Parenthood got from the goverment—supposely to help poor women—the more poor women got pregnant…
…Another interesting finding in the new Guttmacher study is that the percentage of unintended pregnancies that ended in abortion decreased from 47% in 2001 to 43% in 2006. During the same period, Planned Parenthood abortions increased by 29%—from 230,630 abortions in their 2001 annual report to 289,750 in their 2006 annual report—even as the overall abortion rate was trending downwards.
It appears that the only things Planned Parenthood really excels at are seizing a greater and greater share of the abortion business, while securing a larger and larger goverment subsidy. As this new Guttmacher analysis unwittingly demonstrates, the time to defund this feckless organization is long overdue.
Data and Sources
PP Annual Report Goverment Funding PP Abortions All U.S. Abortions
2001-2002 $240.9 million 230,630 1,291,000 (2001)
2002-2003 $254.0 million 244,628 1,269,000 (2002)
2003-2004 $265.2 million 255,015 1,250,000 (2003)
2004-2005 $272.7 million 264,943 1,222,100 (2004)
2005-2006 $305.3 million 289,750 1,206,200 (2005)
Planned Parenthood does not maintain an archive of their annual reports, so some of the figures quoted above come by way of commentary on those reports from pro-life sources, citing links which are not longer active.
For remainder of article, visit link below.
[Eric Scheidler | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 8/31/11, http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/31/funding-planned-parenthood-doesnt-stop-unplanned-pregnancies/ ]
Answering Questions About Possible Down Syndrome Treatment
In a recent article here at LifeNews, “Possible Treatment for Down Syndrome Raises Ethics Questions,” author Effie Caldarola raises the ethical issue of treating those with Down Syndrome with a new drug under development by Dr. Alberto Costa.
The new drug promises to stimulate and normalize growth in the Hippocampus of the brain, leading to improved cognitive function, and presumably enhanced academic and vocational performance.
For this article, visit — http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/01/answering-questions-about-possible-down-syndrome-treatment/
Commentary: Top Ten Back-to-School Pro-Life Action Items
I used to hate this time of year. ”Back to school” were probably three words I hated more than any other. I know it is easy to say that now I love the idea of back to school since I am long past my school age years, but if I could go back with the knowledge I have now I would do it in an instant.
If you have read our commentaries and newsletters for any amount of time, you would have heard me use this phrase: darkness is not the opposite of light, but the absence thereof. If we are willing to shine our light in the darkness, the darkness must flee. If we decide to hide our light, the darkness will flourish.
Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry have done a great job at bringing the darkness of child killing into our schools. Planned Parenthood starts by promoting sexual promiscuity, distributing contraception and finishing the cycle with abortion when the contraception fails. They have created culture of free sex and death that enslaves young girls and traps them in their deadly cycle.
It is time for us to shine the light on this darkness and be a witness in our schools. This generation must be willing to stand and expose the lies of Planned Parenthood and free young people from the bondage of their deadly cycles. We must be willing to go against the grain, fight for purity and life; we must Stand True!
We have put together a top ten list of pro-life actions you can take on campus this year.
1) Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity – Last year students from over 4,000 campuses in 28 countries participated and 64 babies were saved in one day. Go here to register and get involved. Pr-life Day of Silent Solidarity Fan Page here.
2) Start a pro-life group on your campus – This is a great way to identify other pro-life students and come together to create awareness and put on events on your campus. If you need help starting a pro-life group on your campus contact Students for Life here.
3) Wear pro-life t-shirts to school – I have heard many stories about girls who have cancelled abortions after seeing pro-life messages on t-shirts, stickers, posters and more. Go here.
4) Make pro-life book covers, locker posters and dorm door posters. This is easy, cheap and a great project to do with your friends. You can use some of the popular pro-life sayings like: She’s a Child Not a Choice, Abortion Stops a Beating Heart, Choose Life, or you can be creative and come up with your own slogans.
5) Do a diaper drive for your local pregnancy help center or home for unwed mothers. Mother’s Day is a great time of year to do a diaper drive and give everything you collect to your local PHC as a gift. E-mail [email protected] if you need help in coordinating a diaper drive.
6) Organize students to attend your local March for Life or the national ones in Washington DC or San Francisco in January. Do a Google search to find out if there will be a local March for Life in your area.
7) 40 Days for Life campaign. The 40 Days for Life campaign is one of the most successful pro-life events ever and it takes place for 40 days in both the fall and spring. Go here.
8) Sidewalk Chalk – If you are on a public college campus sidewalk chalk is perfectly legal and a great way to spread pro-life messages. For public High School Students you can chalk the public sidewalks leading up to campus. It is best to do this early in the morning so every one sees the messages on the way to class.
9) Literature table or distribution – On a college campus you can usually get a table out on a public area of campus to distribute literature and set up fetal models or other educational materials. In public high schools it is legal to distribute literature on your free time as long as the other students are willing to take it. If you have any trouble distributing literature you can contact our legal team here. You can order pro-life materials from here, here or here.
10) Bring a pro-life speaker to campus or church – For high school and middle school students you can get a local church to sponsor a pro-life youth rally with a pro-life speaker and invite everyone from school. For college students, if there is not a pro-life club on campus that can do this, find a Christian or Republican club that might be able to sponsor an speaker. You can e-mail [email protected] and we can help get you a great pro-life speaker.
These are just a few ideas; we know there are hundreds more ideas and events you can get involved with.
The point is to be active and willing to shine the light on your campus.
[Sep 02, 2011, Bryan Kemper, www.BryanKemper.com; Note: Bryan Kemper is the founder and president of Stand True Ministries; http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/top-ten-back-to-school-pro-life-action-items?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=3a3ca8fead-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines09_02_2011&utm_medium=email ]
Planned Parenthood Lauds Obama Admin’s National Crackdown on Pro-life Protesters
Obama justice officials have spent the past two years meeting with abortion lobbyists to strengthen a nationwide task force targeting pro-life witnesses and sidewalk counselors outside abortion facilities, something that has won the approval of a Planned Parenthood executive.
For an article on Thursday, NPR interviewed abortion leaders who lauded the policies of federal attorneys who are going out of their way to enforce more aggressively the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Pro-life activist Dick Retta was sued by the Obama justice department earlier this year. They had claimed that he blocked an abortion clinic entrance.
“There’s been a substantial difference between this administration and the one immediately prior,” Ellen Gertzog, director of security for Planned Parenthood, told NPR. “From where we sit, there’s currently much greater willingness to carefully assess incidents when they occur and to proceed with legal action when appropriate.”
Alliance Defense Fund lawyers first revealed the existence of the meetings between Obama Justice Department officials and abortion lobbyists last year; although they were able to attend the meetings, the conservative lawyers expressed concern that no one in the pro-life community had been invited to the unpublicized events.
The “resource guide” administered at the meetings, said ADF attorney Matthew Bowman, was “not only completely one-sided, it adopts the bias against free speech that the abortion movement has been trying to promote for years.”
The heightened aggression from federal lawyers hasn’t escaped the notice of the pro-life community.
Local pro-lifers were outraged in July when the Obama administration sued an elderly pro-life veteran, whom officials accused of blocking a woman’s entrance to D.C.‘s Planned Parenthood clinic. Justice officials are demanding that Dick Retta be fined $10,000 and pay an additional $15,000 to three clinic-bound women.
While the official complaint calls Retta “among the most vocal and aggressive anti-abortion protestors outside the Clinic,” other pro-life witnesses say that Retta is never aggressive towards women. Retta himself denies that he ever blocked the clinic entrance.
“We don’t block women from coming in. That’s not our policy. I teach it. I teach what I’m doing… and I say one thing: never block the women from going in. Never,” he told NPR.
Meanwhile, incidents of violence against pro-life witnesses themselves receive less federal attention. Retta said that he himself has been pushed around by clinic escorts and even attacked with pepper spray.
[Sep 01, 2011, Kathleen Gilbert, New York, http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/planned-parenthood-lauds-obama-admins-national-crackdown-on-pro-life-protes?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=aab8f55fe0-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines089_01_2011&utm_medium=email
Congressman Chris Smith Discusses Innovative Treatment for Hydrocephalus
"Water on the brain", or Hydrocephalus, is a condition that blocks spinal fluid and puts pressure on the brain. The disease, which can be fatal if not treated, affects 1 in 2,000 newborns in the developing world, according to a recent article released by C-SPAN.
The current treatment for this condition is the placement of a traditional shunt that will allow for the drainage of additional, built-up fluid. Unfortunately, this has proven to be costly, especially since hydrocephalus usually requires continual treatment.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), chairman of The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, i
s investigating new alleged treatments for this condition brought forth by Dr. Benjamin Warf, a physician with ten years of experience treating children in Uganda, many of which are ailed by this condition.
Dr. Warf's treatment, which has already saved thousands of lives of children afflicted with Hydrocephalus, is both non-invasive and can be easily taught to doctors. [18 Aug 11, Students for Life of America]
Congressman Smith was a guest on CSPANs Sunday show "Newsmakers" broadcast Aug. 7.
Washington, Aug 7 – Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) was the guest on C-SPAN's national Sunday morning program, "Newsmakers" with host Greta Brawner, on Aug 7.
The crisis in Sudan and Somalia, as well as the hopes and prospects of treatment of children in the U.S. and around the world who suffer from hydrocephalus (often called "water on the brain") with a new procedcure developed by an American doctor from Boston Children's Hospital, were the topics Smith discussed with Brawner and journalists Shaun Tandon of AFP and Howard LaFranchi of The Christian Science Monitor.
The Newsmakers program is available for viewing at any time via C-Span's video library. Click on: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/300911-1.
For additional about the hydrocephalus treatment: click here to watch Smith's Aug. 2 hearing on the promising new innovative medical procedure, or click here to read about the testimony [http://chrissmith.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=254848] from Dr. Warf and other witnesses.
New Treatment for Hydrocephalus Topic of Health Subcommittee Hearing
Washington, Aug 2 – Research and treatments for hydrocephalus developed by an American doctor working in Uganda that could benefit children around the world were the topics at a congressional hearing held Tuesday before of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights chaired by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04).
“Hydrocephalus Treatment in Uganda: Leading the Way to Help Children” featured testimony on an innovative new treatment for hydrocephalus developed in Africa, and its potential application for babies born with hydrocephalus in the U.S. The hearing was videoed by CSPAN.
“This hearing is on a serious–and seriously neglected—health condition, and a relatively inexpensive, technologically-sophisticated advancement for curing it, created, designed and perfected by one of our distinguished witnesses, Dr. Benjamin Warf,” Smith said. “Dr. Warf was the first to identify neonatal infection as the chief cause of pediatric hydrocephalus in a developing country. He also developed the new surgical technique which holds great promise not only for the children of Africa but potentially for children in developed countries as well.”
In the U.S., hydrocephalus is more common than Down’s syndrome or deafness, affecting 700,000 Americans. In the developed world, the prevalence is estimated to be about 1 in every 2,000 live births (1 in 500 births in the U.S). Globally, the incidence of neonatal hydrocephalus is estimated to be about 3-5 cases per 1,000 live births. Hydrocephalus is a condition in which function of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain is impaired, most commonly identified at birth. Pressure on the brain causes headaches, vomiting, cognitive problems, balance problems, convulsions, brain damage, and ultimately, death. It can be caused by an infection in the mother during pregnancy, or from a birth defect, such as spina bifida. Smith is the co-chairman of the Spina Bifida Caucus in the House.
When asked by Smith how the groundbreaking procedure is being received in the U.S., Warf said it has become the preferred primary treatment for infant hydrocephalus at Children’s Hospital in Boston, and was spreading to others in the medical community, as well. For children with spina bifida, two-thirds of whom have hydrocephalus, the success rate is approaching 75 percent, similar to the rates seen in Uganda.
“There are others that have begun to use the technique,” Warf said. “I think the main shift in culture has been away from simply placing a shunt in a baby to thinking this could be avoided by a bit more sophisticated of a technique that takes some different skills. But it’s very often worth doing.”
Around the world, the standard treatment of an implanted shunt (tube-like device) is limited due to the cost, need of continued treatment and the lack of medical facilities. The combination of these factors results in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths.
At Children’s Hospital in Boston, Dr. Warf developed an innovative surgical technique that has successfully decreased the number of hydrocephalus deaths in Uganda where he performed neurosurgeries for 10 years on thousands of children. The operation combines endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV), which makes a new pathway for the fluid to escape the cavities of the brain, and endoscopic choroid plexus cauterization (CPC) which cauterizes the tissue that makes the fluid thereby reducing its rate of production, Warf said. The cost is comparable to treatment in the region for common conditions like malignancies, congenital anomalies, cataracts and glaucoma. He has taught many local doctors the latest neurosurgical techniques. The minimally invasive procedure avoids the need for shunts in most children. Thus far, more than half of infants who receive the surgery are successfully treated without requiring continued treatment.
“We developed a novel way to treat hydrocephalus using a scope that avoided shunt dependence in more than half of these babies overall, including those with post-infectious hydrocephalus,” said Dr. Warf, M.D., Director of the Neonatal and Congenital Anomalies Neurosurgery in the Department of Neurosurgery at Children's Hospital Boston (biography).
Jim Cohick, Senior Vice President of Specialty Programs at CURE International (biography), said the majority of hydrocephalus cases treated at CURE hospitals involve the novel combination of two surgical procedures—ETV/CPC—developed in Uganda by Dr. Warf.
“The ETV/CPC technique truly is a cure for children suffering from hydrocephalus as it eliminates the need for a shunt in the brain – the standard hydrocephalus treatment, which must be replaced 3-5 times over a child’s lifetime,” Cohick said. “As you can imagine, this is a huge logistical and economic challenge in developing world locations, like Uganda. Too many children with hydrocephalus are never treated and die, and many treated with a shunt live only a short time before their shunt fails and their families are unable to access further medical care.”
Steven J. Schiff, (click here to read testimony), M.D., Director, Center for Neural Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, (biography), said what was learned in Uganda needs to be replicated in other countries.
“We need to create inexpensive technologies that can be used indigenously to reduce the costs of identifying the microorganisms, determining their resistance to drugs and developing environmental and public health strategies,” he said. “I offer three conclusions: We have not paid sufficient attention to the massive loss of human life from newborn infections in the developing world; we now have the technology to shed new light on the causes of a substantial fraction of these deaths, and; we can now develop sustainable strategies and scalable technologies to more effec
tively prevent the deaths and tragic survivals from these devastating illnesses. The fate of millions of lives depends upon our actions.”
Babies Go to Congress to Support Pregnancy Help Centers, 5-6 October
Our nation is facing a critical time in pro-life history. With new proposed legislation from major abortion businesses like NARAL and Planned Parenthood, attacks on pregnancy help centers are at an all-time high.
Now, more than ever, legislators need to hear from the women served by our pregnancy centers. Their message is loud and clear: Pregnancy Centers are Good for America!
Heartbeat's Babies Go to Congress, 5-6 October 2011, is an event that effectively ensures that your voice is heard on Capitol Hill. If we don't set the record straight with lawmakers right now, then the abortionists will achieve their objective and make it all but impossible for our pregnancy centers to their work. To combat attacks on our pro-life values, Heartbeat brings courageous women and their beautiful babies to Washington, D.C., as undisputible evidence that pregnancy centers are good for America.
These young mothers are not "dressed to the nines" professional lobbyists. And they're not asking for federal aid. No, they are just ordinary people who needed help at a critical moment, found it at their pregnancy help center, and want to tell Congress how grateful they are for the love and support they received that helped them choose life for their child.
When "pro-choice" Members of Congress meet real mothers who chose life for their babies because of the practical help they received from a pregnancy help center, well, actually it's disarming. And they listen to us!
This is a most simple and powerful way to show the effectiveness of the pregnancy help center movement. You can be sure your voice is heard by as many legislators as possible by helping us fund more moms and babies to make the trip to Washington, D.C.
The elected officials who are trying to put an end to pregnancy help centers need to hear from us right now. When they see the babies and the mothers that you are helping send to our nation's capital, they will hear our message loud and clear.
[25 Aug 2011, Margaret Hartshorn, Ph.D., President]
Pro-(Fun)Life: Family Recreation on a Budget
"Enjoying the happiness and wellbeing that come from relaxation, recreation, and celebration doesn't require spending a lot of money,
so make some time for play and family fun!"
While there's still summer to enjoy, we're taking the opportunity to share "Raising Kids on a Shoestring" co-editor Cat Clark's article on "Recreation," http://www.feministsforlife.org/kidsonashoestring/Recreation.pdf , which includes sections on:
— Tried and True Games and Play for Everyday
— Hobbies
— Family Outings and Field Trips
— Celebrating Holidays, Birthdays, and Special Occasions
— Travel
August is a wonderful time of year to:
Make the most of the free and inexpensive recreation areas and destinations where you live, including
— playgrounds and parks;
— hiking and biking trails;
— historic sites;
— nature centers, gardens, arboretums, and botanical sites;
— exotic and petting zoos;
— galleries, museums, and planetariums;
— skating rinks;
— swimming pools and beaches.
Cat's article encourages us to "Turn on your kid's observation skills, inquisitiveness, and imagination."
Many of the best things in life are free. Please forward this email and share these resources with your friends, family members, coworkers, and anyone you know who may be able to use them. (And see below for more topics.)
Besides helping people "Raising Kids on a Shoestring," Feminists for Life is also "Raising Expectations in the Workplace."
Top 10 Do's & Don'ts — http://feministsforlife.org/news/top-10-dos-and-donts-for-new-mommies.htm
To Your Health! — http://feministsforlife.org/news/to-your-health.htm
Reasonable Health Care — http://www.feministsforlife.org/kidsonashoestring/Healthcare.pdf
Pregnancy, Childbirth & Postpartum Care — http://www.feministsforlife.org/kidsonashoestring/PregnancyChildbirthPostpartum.pdf
Feeding a Family on a Budget — http://feministsforlife.org/news/feeding-a-family.htm
Infant Feeding — http://www.feministsforlife.org/kidsonashoestring/InfantFeeding.pdf
Food and Nutrition for the Family — http://www.feministsforlife.org/kidsonashoestring/FamilyFoodNutrition.pdf
Recreation — http://www.feministsforlife.org/kidsonashoestring/Recreation.pdf
Because women deserve better,
Serrin M. Foster, President
Pregnant by Rape?
"In many talks about the hard cases such as rape, many pro-life activists only focus on the baby…. Although these arguments are valid and logically sound and even address the emotional pain the mother is in, they don't really look at how just the act of being raped affects the woman's daily life… [Joyce] took the focus off of who the baby's father is to who his mother is. Both pro-lifers and pro-choicers get caught up in how the child was conceived…they forget who the mother is-most often a strong, capable woman."
– Amanda Radke, University of Maryland
Joyce Ann McCauley-Benner was raped at age 20 while working her way through college and chose not to abort, not knowing if her unborn son was the result of rape or of her relationship. She says, "I know what it's like to want to run as far away as possible from a problem, how it feels to hang on to 'if I wasn't pregnant anymore, it would all be OK again.'" Ms. McCauley-Benner, who graduated from college while raising her son, worked on a racial justice task force and has worked with victims of sex trafficking. Today she presents her speech, "Pregnant by Rape?" on college campuses and at Capitol Hill briefings. In addition to her lecture, she moderates FFL Pregnancy Resource Forums.
New Documentary about Philippines Pro-Life Fight Released
[Click for one-minute promo video — http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/new-documentary-about-philippines-pro-life-fight-released-this-week?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e55c969c5b-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines08_22_2011&utm_medium=email ]
As debate over the anti-life Reproductive Health (RH) Bill heats up in the Philippine legislature, a new documentary highlighting the fight for life in the Philippines is set to air on Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN).
The short documentary film “The Philippines: Preserving a Culture of Life,” produced by Human Life International (HLI), underscores one of the most dramatic social and political struggles for life and family in the world. The film is already in heavy rotation on EWTN in the Philippines, and will debut in the United States and Canada on Tuesday, August 23.
This powerful pro-life documentary airs on EWTN in America and Canada on August 23 at 3:30 AM, then runs again on August 25 at 1:30 PM and August 26 at 9:00 PM. All times EST.
The program, shot in cinematic widescreen format, captures stu
nning scenes and heartfelt interviews with Filipino pro-lifers leading the charge against the RH Bill including Archbishop of Cebu Jose Palma, Philippine Congressman Dr. Anthony Golez, HLI Philippines Director Dr. Rene Bullecer and Dr. Ligaya Acosta, a former pro-abortion Philippine Department of Health manager who is now HLI’s Regional Director for Asia and Oceania.
“Right now, proponents of the anti-life RH Bill are still a few votes short of achieving their deadly goal,” said Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carambula, interim president of HLI. “Our wish is that this documentary will inspire not only Filipinos, but pro-lifers around the world, to stand with our brothers and sisters in the Philippines against the culture of death.”
“It is profoundly inspiring to hear everyday Filipinos, as well as leaders from the political realm and the Catholic Church talk about how they have fought off this intrusive, anti-life and anti-family bill in its different forms for twelve years,” said Stephen Phelan, executive producer of the documentary and director of communications for HLI.
“It is in some ways reminiscent of the struggle over health care in [the United States] – a detached political elite continues to force through a bill that the people have said time and again that they don’t want,” said Phelan. “The bill’s backers use deceptive language, they are funded by hundreds of millions of dollars from outside the Philippines, and they are attempting to attack and divide the Catholic Church.”
“Everyone must understand what is going on in the Philippines, and how we are all bound in the struggle for life and family,” Phelan added.
HLI is currently working with Filipino pro-life organizations such as CBCP for Life and Filipinos for Life to spread the word about opposition to the RH Bill, and to promote the new documentary.
HLI is also hosting a contest on Facebook where pro-lifers are invited to leave a brief prayer for the Philippines or a note of encouragement for a chance to win a free DVD copy of the documentary — http://www.facebook.com/HumanLifeInternational?sk=app_138350889588922
To learn more about the film and the situation in the Philippines, visit www.hli.org/thephilippines
Reprinted with permission from www.HLIworldwatch.org
[22 Aug 2011, Adam Cassandra, HLIworldwatch.org, http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/new-documentary-about-philippines-pro-life-fight-released-this-week?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e55c969c5b-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines08_22_2011&utm_medium=email
Disable Sexuality Web Filters or Face a Lawsuit: ACLU to Public School Districts
A prominent pro-family law firm is fighting back against a campaign by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to pressure public schools to disable web filters that block student access to sexually explicit homosexual websites.
“ACLU is pushing its radical sexual agenda for children by intimidating school districts with a long string of scare tactics disguised as a concern over censorship,” said David Cortman, Senior Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. “In truth, these school districts have no obligation to cave to the ACLU’s unwarranted demands. Our children come first.”
Web filters stop children from accidentally or intentionally going to websites with sexually explicit material.
Last February, ACLU, in partnership with Yale Law School, launched a nationwide campaign, “Don’t Filter Me,” to target schools that block lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) websites.
The campaign asked students to see if their schools blocked web content geared toward LGBT communities. Students were encouraged to report their findings to the ACLU LGBT Project.
“Students may not realize that it actually is illegal for their schools to block educational and political content geared toward the LGBT community,” argued Joshua Block, a staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT Project. “Programs that block LGBT content violate First Amendment rights to free speech, as well as the Equal Access Act.”
So far seven school districts have been legally threatened by ACLU with an ultimatum that they either disable their filters or face a federal civil rights lawsuit. One school district in Camdenton, Missouri has already been sued by ACLU.
In response to this threat ADF attorneys sent letters to the school districts arguing that ACLU’s arguments are “irresponsible and lack legal merit.”
“A public school district’s decisions regarding what web content to make available to students are curricular decisions, and the case law is clear that public school districts have broad authority over curricular matters,” wrote Cortman to Tim Hadfield, superintendent of the sued school district in Missouri.
“Disabling the sexuality filter will make sexually inappropriate material available to students … [some of which is] pornographic in nature,” said Cortman.
Sexuality filters block websites that are “dedicated to sexuality” and that provide internet materials dealing with sex or sexuality that are deemed inappropriate for minors. The filters also exclude websites that “possibly includ[e] adult material.”
“Given that the filter likely blocks sites that contain adult sexual content, it is inconceivable that the ACLU would advise you to disable the Sexuality filter. Yet this is precisely what they are demanding you do,” wrote Cortman.
“The ACLU cannot mask its attempts to turn school computers into porn portals for children with a supposed concern for censorship. Parents expect schools to be places where their children learn—not places where they access pornography,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco.
[23 Aug 2011, www.lifesitenews.com, Peter Baklinski, LAWRENCEVILLE, GA INCORRECTLY LINKED TO http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/www.hli.org/thephilippines]