Saturday, November 30, 2013

Maverick: Disabled Baby Denied Heart Transplant


CNN) -- The mood in the room was somber as five doctors, a nurse, and a social worker pulled their chairs around the table and turned to address Autumn Chenkus and Charlie Higgs.

The couple's 5-month-old son, Maverick, was down the hallway fighting for his life, and the doctors explained there was nothing they could do to help him.

"Take your baby home and love him for the time he has left," Chenkus and Higgs say the doctors told them.
They asked how long their son had left to live. About six months, they remember the doctors telling them.

Higgs wept, but Chenkus felt like she'd cried enough in the past five months for a lifetime. She was like a rock now, and after the meeting with the doctors she went directly back to her son's room without shedding a tear. In a chair next to his hospital crib, she opened her laptop and hoped the Internet might have clues for how to keep her baby alive.

Maverick was born with a severe heart defect, and even after two surgeries was in heart failure. Doctors had discussed a heart transplant with Maverick's parents, but at the meeting they said he didn't qualify for a new heart because he had a rare genetic defect that put him at a high risk for tumors and infections. A heart transplant would be too risky, they explained.

NYC Cabbie Thankful for EF Mass, Sad for Dead Baby



By Jamey Brown

In this town even going to church can be pierced with the nails of the Culture of Death. I am sure you have all had similar experiences. On All Saints Day I take the day off from cab driving to attend Mass, but I also make the decision to really make it a holy day and to attend my first Extraordinary Form Mass. I get off the F-train across the street from Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret.

Normally I would never give it a second thought but this time of year they are gearing up for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. My eyes flash on Victoria’s Secret Store across the street. It dawns on me a few Sundays later that this is the very store where a 17-year old mother of two was arrested October 17th for shoplifting a pair of skinny jeans. One of her two children, a dead newborn was found in her bag. Officials are awaiting autopsy reports to see if she will be charged with murder. I would think about this in the weeks to come, but today I am trying to find a new church.

I make my way past hundreds of people on the sidewalk. It is easy to tell the tourists from the natives. The New Yorkers usually have that 1000-yard stare, that dead look in the eye that sees, but does not see. The tourists have that wonder still in their eyes, open. That’s why I like picking up the tourists in my cab. They are not so jaded. They still like to talk.

Most people today on the sidewalk are wearing blue jeans and sneakers, but some have green hair or orange hair or purple hair. Some have tattoos and nose piercings or lip piercings or eyebrow piercings. Some look bizarre with spiked hair or Mohican haircuts. And then it dawns on me that I am the freak here: the only one in suit and tie and carrying a red Adoremus Hymnal. So be it.

I walk up Broadway to 37th Street. I look both ways down the street searching, but I don’t see a church. Then I make out a white cross but that can’t be it. It looks like one of those old Protestant crosses that are in front of their small and sometimes storefront churches. In desperation I walk closer and make out the words in red: Holy Innocents Catholic Church.

continue reading at http://catholicstand.com/



Save the Date! - Maryland March for Life

                           Join hundreds of other pro lifers in Annapolis to stand up for LIFE in Maryland!

The Maryland March for Life Committee sincerely hopes you all had a happy Thanksgiving full of family, faith, and yummy food!

As the holiday season so quickly approaches, we also want to remind you all to save the date for the 2014 Maryland March for Life - Monday evening, March 10th.

We are thankful for some good news in Maryland (one of the most pro-abortion states in the nation) this year.  

Did you know that in the past few weeks, one abortionist has lost his medical license and another was issued a cease and desist order, preventing him from performing surgical abortions.  Since the surgical abortion facility regulations went into affect, abortionists have frequently been disciplined for violating basic health and safety standards.




Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thankful :Independent Women's Voice

Dear Richard Miller,



I want to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving from everyone here at Independent Women's Voice.


A Pro-life Prayer for Thanksgiving Day


Fr. Pavone has written the following prayer for our Priests for Life family to say on Thanksgiving, and in the days before and after.

Father of mercies,
God of all creation,
Source of life and of every blessing,
We thank you today, and every day of our lives,
For all that you give us!

Our thanksgiving is not only a duty,
But a joy and a source of strength,
Because it reminds us of your faithful love,
And inspires us with the hope of a future filled with blessings!

Lord, we thank you for guiding our fathers,
Who, inspired by the prophets
And by the saving work of your Son,
Founded a nation where all might live as one,
Acknowledging their dependence on you
As the source of their right to life.

We thank you for your blessings in the past,
And for all that, with your help, we must yet achieve.

We ask you to bless us as we thank you,
That our giving thanks may be accompanied by our firm resolve
To proclaim, celebrate, and serve
The gift of human life, born and unborn.

We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Question: "How many abortions happen each day in the US?"



Question: "How many abortions happen each day in the US?"

A. 9
   B. 27
   C. 189
   D. 671
   E. 1,428
   F. 3,321
 
Answer:
 
B. 3,321 abortions each day!! [1]
 
Let's put that in perspective.
 
The terrorist attacks on 9/11 killed 2,753 innocent Americans. 
 
So, abortion kills more Americans every single day than the attacks on the twin towers did in just one day!
 
3,321 innocent lives every...single... day...
 
Is this blowing your mind yet???
 
You're probably speechless.
 
We are too...
 
SOURCES:
 
1 - Jones RK and Kooistra, K., Abortion incidence and access to services in the United States, 2008, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2011, 43(1):41-50.
 
 
 
 
 

Of Philanthropy and Population Control: An Open Letter to Bill Gates


by Richard Becker

God bless you, Mr. Gates. You made a pile of dough, and now you’re trying to spread the love—like your foundation’s efforts to fight disease and poverty throughout the developing world. You’re making possible tremendous change for the good—keep it up! The world admires and applauds you.

Here’s the problem, though: In addition to underwriting tons of initiatives that directly and indirectly address disease and poverty, the Gates Foundation seems inordinately interested in “family planning”—a euphemism, as I’m sure your know, for birth control.

That’s a problem because people might get the idea that the two things are connected—the fighting disease and poverty thing on the one hand, and the family planning agenda thing on the other.

Take your recent Wall Street Journal article about polio eradication in India. What you and your foundation have done and are doing there is magnificent, and your commitment to underwriting such important work is truly edifying. But you let the cat out of the bag with this opening statement:
Our foundation began working in India a decade ago, at a time when many feared that the country would become a flashpoint for HIV/AIDS. Since then, we have expanded into other areas, including vaccines, family planning and agricultural development [emphasis added].

continue reading at http://www.crisismagazine.com

 Richard Becker is a husband, father of seven, nursing instructor, and religious educator. He and his family reside in South Bend, Indiana.



Pope: Opposition to abortion isn’t ‘conservative,’ it’s result of faith


By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Defending human dignity and protecting society’s most vulnerable necessarily means protecting the unborn and defending their right to life, Pope Francis said in his apostolic exhortation.

Writing in “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), Pope Francis said the church’s opposition to abortion is not a “conservative” political position, but is a key part of its claim that God created and loves each person and that believers have an absolute obligation to defend those whose basic right to life is under attack.
“Precisely because this involves the internal consistency of our message about the value of the human person, the church cannot be expected to change her position on this question,” Pope Francis wrote in the document, which was released Nov. 26 at the Vatican.

continue reading at http://catholicphilly.com 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The Making of An Abortionist




Do you ever wonder why an OB/GYN would want to kill babies for a living? Dr. Ron Virmani performs abortions at A Preferred Women’s Health Center in Charlotte, NC. In this shocking video, Dr. Virmani tries to persuade us that racism from his former employer somehow forced him into his current situation of performing abortions at a substandard clinic that has a list of health and safety violations. The accusations of racism ring hollow – especially in light of Virmani’s own admission of killing “ugly black babies”.

An abortionist who refuses to take personal responsibility and makes ridiculous claims to shift the blame for his evil deeds… Hmmm… sound familiar?

“Ron Virmani is not looking to clean up racism and inequality in the Charlotte medical system. Instead, he intends to place the blame on others, while helping taxpayers save money by giving abortions to those who would, according to his own words, produce “ugly black babies.” 

continue reading at http://northcarolinaconservative.net 








Ward Miles - First Year - OFFICIAL

     

This video sums up Ward's first year. He was born way too early, and the obstacles he had to overcome were really big, but not bigger than our God.

This is a story of a mother's love for her baby.

A year ago from this Halloween he came home. I made this video to commemorate his first year and how far he has come. Today happens to be his mother's birthday... so I made this as a gift to her.

I want to thank all the doctors, nurses, and staff all over the world that make it their life's mission to help babies get better! It's because of you that my son ever stood a chance to make it home!

more on this story at http://www.theexpositor.tv/blog


DOH Closes Steven Brigham N.E. Phila. Abortion Chamber


From the Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania

On Monday evening, November 25, 2013, the Pa. Department of Health (DOH) issued an order that directed the "Integrity Family Health" abortion chamber at 9622 Bustleton Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia to close by November 29, 2013. Because of this action, our scheduled public witness, from 11am-12 noon on Wednesday, November 27, 2013, will not occur.

Our President, Michael J. McMonagle,issued the following response to this Order. "We thank Gov. Corbett for correcting his Dept. of Health's mistake of granting a license to a new abortion facility in Pa. associated with Steven Brigham, who has an equally sordid record as Kermit Gosnell. We particularly thank Rep. Matt Baker, the Chairman of the Pa. House Health Committee, for his leadership to achieve this closure."

Rep. Matt Baker, who is the Chairman of the Pa. House Health Committee, provided excellent leadership to
achieve this closure. In my conversation with Matt today, in which I expressed our gratitude for this leadership, Matt stated that Gov. Corbett, once he became aware of his DOH's action of granting a license to a new Brigham-affiliated abortion chamber, acted in a strongly pro-life manner by directing his DOH to effect the closure of this abortion chamber. Matt also indicated his willingness to assist our ongoing efforts to improve DOH's other efforts of enforcing our state's abortion laws.

Please contact Gov. Tom Corbett and Rep. Matt Baker and thank them for this action in this matter. Their contact information is Gov. Corbett: governor@pa.gov, 717-787-2500 and Rep. Baker: mbaker@pahousegop.com, 570-724-1390.




Monday, November 25, 2013

Obamacare’s Abortion Surcharge and Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Coverage


By Sarah Torre

Obamacare will entangle taxpayer funds in abortion coverage offered on state and federal exchanges and could force many Americans to unwittingly pay a surcharge for elective abortion.

This system could potentially place many Americans in an unwanted and unnecessary dilemma, forced to choose between violating their values by directly subsidizing abortion coverage or forfeiting the health care coverage that most closely meets their families’ unique needs.

Federal Dollars Will Be Available for Health Plans That Cover Elective Abortion

Obamacare requires that all individuals obtain health insurance by January 1, 2014, either through their employers or elsewhere, that meets minimum federal benefits requirements. Millions of Americans will look to state and federally run health insurance exchanges to purchase such qualified health plans and avoid federal fines.

For the first time, the federal government will provide an “affordability tax credit” to millions of low- and middle-income individuals and families to help subsidize the purchase of health plans on the exchanges.[1] These federal tax credits could facilitate the purchase of overall health plans for millions of Americans who did not have such coverage previously. Many of these plans could cover elective abortion.

continue reading at http://www.heritage.org


Pa. Dioceses Defeat Obamacare Abortion-Pill Mandate


Very big news out of Pittsburgh. Today federal district court Judge Arthur J. Schwab granted an injunction against the Obamacare abortion-pill and birth control mandate for the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Erie and their associated organizations. Read: Pittsburgh and Erie PI Decision.

The injunction is the first one that has been thoroughly litigated for a Catholic non-profit organization, and only the second one so litigated for a non-profit entity of any kind (Geneva College, also in Pennsylvania, won a similar injunction earlier this year).

The injunction protects Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the St. Martin Center, Inc. and Prince of Peace Center, Inc. of the Diocese of Erie (both affiliated with Catholic Charities), and Erie Catholic Preparatory School, from needing to acquire a health insurance plan that either provides or triggers the provision of abortifacients, contraception and sterilization.


continue reading at http://www.catholicvote.org




Special Pilgrimage to St. Gianna Shrines Planned for 2014!




 From Thomas J. McKenna, President
St. Gianna Physician's Guild


I am pleased to announce that St. Gianna Physicians' Guild will be leading an eight day pilgrimage to the shrines of St. Gianna Molla in Italy on the occasion of this inspiring saint's Feast Day in April 2014. I have been planning this pilgrimage in collaboration with St. Gianna's children and I am sure it will be very memorable. 

The pilgrimage will also include three days in Rome where, among other activities, our group will be present for a Papal Audience and blessed to attend Holy Mass at the Altar of the Tomb of St. Peter with Cardinal Raymond Burke who will also honor us with his presence for dinner.

This will be a unique opportunity to learn about the heroic virtues of this inspiring saint while walking in her footsteps. The pilgrims will also have the opportunity to meet St. Gianna's other children, Pierluigi and Laura, who will share memories and insights into the life of their saint mother.  We will also participate in the Feast Day celebrations with the family and other faithful in St. Gianna's home town. 

Other places we will visit include Turin where we will trace the footsteps of Saint John Bosco and Padua, the home of the great preacher, St. Anthony.

The pilgrimage will include daily Mass, spiritual talks and much, much more. It will be a unique occasion to grow in your Catholic Faith. I hope you can join us.

To learn more about this special, once in a lifetime opportunity, or to register, please click here.


God Bless you!

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla (October 4, 1922 – April 28, 1962) was an Italian pediatrician, wife and mother who is best known for refusing both an abortion and a hysterectomy when she was pregnant with her fourth child, despite knowing that continuing with the pregnancy could result in her death. She was canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church in 2004.

 continue reading about St. Gianna at http://voicesunborn.blogspot.com

  




The Churching of Women: Postpartum Support Catholic Style


Once upon a time in colonial America, there was something called a “lying in” period. This was the time, typically a month or so, following childbirth when a community would rally in support of a new mother. She would rest, regain her strength, and bond with her baby while the community kept up the household. Many of her attendants would be relatives, none of whom were paid, and the favor was returned following their own deliveries.

My, how times have changed! Maybe we are just a wee bit sensitive given that Lisa is just four weeks postpartum, and what she wouldn’t give for a couple of extra hands just a few hours per week. Even so, we have been reflecting on how this postpartum experience, Lisa’s third, is significantly different from the first two.

The Loss of Lying In

Long story short, after moving to a major metropolitan area six years ago, we are finally feeling settled in our local Catholic community. With no extended family in the immediate vicinity, friends are our primary means of support. While there were certainly good people who helped out here and there after the births of our first two, the level of support this time is different. There seems to be a genuine sense of the community rallying around us. We feel that in a way we haven’t before.

Where the custom of lying in once sounded like a fantasy, now it seems almost remotely feasible. Historically, the practice was ordered to being surrounded by a large close-knit community, composed primarily of family members. Today, this is generally not the case, as fewer families live within close proximity of extended relation.

It is no wonder the practice of lying in has all but disappeared. If not family, who remains to maintain it? As families become more transient, a stable institution is required to transmit the custom from one generation to the next. Considering the value it places on motherhood and childbirth, who is better to do this than the Church?

Welcoming Back New Mothers

Let’s take a step back. What can we do in our parishes to cultivate a culture that esteems motherhood as it should? We recently attended a baptism in the extraordinary form, as it would have been celebrated until the mid-1960’s in most parishes. Included in the celebration was a largely forgotten rite called “The Churching of Women.”

The what of whom?

The Churching of Women is essentially the Church’s way of welcoming new mothers back following childbirth. Why the need to welcome back? Well, do you know the Church permits women to stay home from Mass, without culpability, for 6 weeks after giving birth? Traditionally, infants were baptized within the first weeks, if not days, of life, and the mother was often absent from the Baptism while lying in. The Churching rite not only became a means to welcome the mother back after her postpartum leave, but also a way for the mother to give thanks to God for the birth of her child. Lest ye think “Churching” is some gratefully discarded pre-Vatican II relic, the practice has been carried forward in an altered form as the “Blessing of a Woman after Childbirth,” contained in the Book of Blessings published in 1984.

Churching is an ancient practice having roots in the Jewish tradition we still commemorate on the Feast of the Presentation, February 2, forty days after the birth of Jesus. While Mary went to the Temple in Jerusalem for the ritual purification required under Jewish law, the Christian extension of that practice has an entirely different understanding. The rite is now focused on blessing and thanksgiving rather than any requirement for purification of the woman following childbirth. While the current baptismal rite contains a blessing for the mother, the Churching rite is a more pointed, special blessing and can be given individually or collectively to mothers after a Baptism or Mass.

A Place for Churching Today?

What could the re-institution of this rite potentially accomplish on a parish level?
  • Extends a family-like gesture of support to women who may otherwise not have a built-in community.
  • Provides a witness to the high regard in which the Church holds the vocation of motherhood.
  • Allows the community to come together to pray for the graces to raise each of its children in a manner pleasing to God.
  • Knits together various specific pro-life and family life ministries in the liturgical celebration.
  • Potentially serves as the starting point for a parish ministry offering practical support to new moms (meal train, mother’s helper, etc.).
Finally, it is worth noting that the Churching of Women is a natural bookend to the new Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb. This rite was drafted at the initiative of newly-elected USCCB president, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, of Louisville, KY, and approved for use by the Vatican last year. Just as the blessing of the child in the womb welcomes that baby into the community by their prayers, the Churching rite then honors the sacrifice of the mother.

While the Church may not be able to single-handedly revive the custom of lying in, there is a place for the Church to step in and provide a measure of postpartum support. This can be accomplished through prayer and by witnessing to the sanctity of motherhood, particularly in the immediate postpartum period. The Churching rite is simply an existing means to do that.

How does your parish community support and celebrate new mothers?

We’ll leave you with the concluding prayer of the rite:
Almighty, everlasting God, through the delivery of the blessed Virgin Mary, Thou hast turned into joy the pains of the faithful in childbirth; look mercifully upon this Thy handmaid, coming in gladness to Thy temple to offer up her thanks: and grant that after this life, by the merits and intercession of the same blessed Mary, she may merit to arrive, together with her offspring, at the joys of everlasting happiness. Through Christ our Lord.


Sunday, November 24, 2013

Life in the Womb


Some of the most powerful pieces of information regarding abortion we can share are the details of the development of human life in the womb.

In this section, use of the word “baby” has been avoided, because this word presupposes the very thing we’re trying to show — the humanity of the unborn — and we don’t want anyone to tune out the information we’re trying to share.

Of course, there may be times when you’re talking to someone who will respond positively to hearing about “the baby’s heartbeat”; in such a case, you should feel free to modify your language.

Please note that embryonic and fetal development is presented here by referring to days or weeks after conception, which may be different from the less precise “weeks of pregnancy” typically used by obstetricians, which are calculated from the mother’s last menstrual period (LMP).


read more at http://www.whyprolife.com/life-in-the-womb/


After-Birth Abortion

The pro-choice case for infanticide

 

By William Saletan

 Just when you thought the religious right couldn’t get any crazier, with its personhood amendments and its attacks on contraception, here comes the academic left with an even crazier idea: after-birth abortion.

No, I didn’t make this up. “Partial-birth abortion” is a term invented by pro-lifers. But “after-birth abortion” is a term invented by two philosophers, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva. In the Journal of Medical Ethics, they propose:

[W]hen circumstances occur after birth such that they would have justified abortion, what we call after-birth abortion should be permissible. … [W]e propose to call this practice ‘after-birth abortion’, rather than ‘infanticide,’ to emphasize that the moral status of the individual killed is comparable with that of a fetus … rather than to that of a child. Therefore, we claim that killing a newborn could be ethically permissible in all the circumstances where abortion would be. Such circumstances include cases where the newborn has the potential to have an (at least) acceptable life, but the well-being of the family is at risk.

Predictably, the article has sparked outrage. Last week, Reps. Joe Pitts, R-Penn., and Chris Smith, R-N.J., denounced it on the House floor. But it isn’t pro-lifers who should worry about the Giubilini-Minerva proposal. It’s pro-choicers. The case for “after-birth abortion” draws a logical path from common pro-choice assumptions to infanticide. It challenges us, implicitly and explicitly, to explain why, if abortion is permissible, infanticide isn’t.

Let’s look at some of those assumptions.

continue reading at http://www.slate.com/articles

Will Saletan writes about politics, science, technology, and other stuff for Slate. He’s the author of Bearing Right. Follow him on Twitter.
 



 

Should Children Be Dismembered?


From Father Frank Pavone

Priests for Life periodically sends its pastoral team into the halls of Congress, to visit Representatives and Senators and challenge them to admit what abortion is.

We go into their offices with the quotes from abortionists and the diagrams of the procedure, and simply ask, "When you say the word ‘abortion,’ is this what you mean?"

This form gives you the opportunity to ask the question with us!

We want to be able to say to each member of Congress that there are thousands of people in their state and district who are asking the same question, and want an answer!

Fill out the information below and we will bring your name with us when we visit your Senators and Representative!

In the light of the Gosnell case, and the recent vote in the US House of Representatives to protect children from abortion after 20 weeks fetal age, we at Priests for Life are going to challenge the members of the United States Senate with the question of whether they think dismemberment abortion -- performed mostly in the second trimester of pregnancy -- should be permitted.

continue reading at http://www.priestsforlife.org

The Gospel of the Sanctity of Marriage

 From Faithful Citizenship in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District

The Bad News

Heretofore, there have been mounting attacks on marriage/family, largely waged by public figures who identify themselves as "Catholic."  This past week, these attacks culminated in Illinois, where they did not go unanswered by Springfield's courageous bishop.... 

"Scheduled for approximately the same time that Gov. Pat Quinn signs into Illinois law the redefinition of civil marriage, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will offer 'Prayers of Supplication and Exorcism in Reparation for the Sin of Same-Sex Marriage'....'The context for this prayer service may be understood by recalling the words of Pope Francis when he faced a similar situation as Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2010,' Bishop Paprocki said.

"Regarding the proposed redefinition of civil marriage in Argentina, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio wrote on June 22, 2010: 'The Argentine people must face, in the next few weeks, a situation whose result may gravely harm the family. It is the bill on matrimony of persons of the same sex. The identity of the family, and its survival, are in jeopardy here: father, mother, and children. The life of so many children who will be discriminated beforehand due to the lack of human maturity that God willed them to have with a father and a mother is in jeopardy. At stake is the total rejection of God's law engraved in our hearts. ... Let us not be naive: it is not a simple political struggle; it is an intention [which is] destructive of the plan of God. It is not a mere legislative project (this is a mere instrument), but rather a 'move' of the father of lies who wishes to confuse and deceive the children of God.'


 "Bishop Paprocki noted, 'The pope's reference to the ''father of lies'' comes from the Gospel of John (8:44), where Jesus refers to the devil as ''a liar and the father of lies.'' So Pope Francis is saying that same-sex ''marriage'' comes from the devil and should be condemned as such'....

"Bishop Paprocki said that since same-sex marriage is contrary to the plan of God (see Genesis 1:27 and 2:24, Matthew 19:4-6 and Mark 10:6-9), those who contract civil same-sex marriage are culpable of serious sin. He also noted that politicians who enacted civil same-sex marriage legislation are 'morally complicit as co-operators in facilitating this grave sin.'

"'It is scandalous that so many Catholic politicians are responsible for enabling the passage of this legislation and even twisting the words of the pope to rationalize their actions despite the clear teaching of the church,' he said. 'All politicians now have the moral obligation to work for the repeal of this sinful and objectionable legislation. We must pray for deliverance from this evil which has penetrated our state and our church.'


"Bishop Paprocki concluded, 'Pope Francis has also urged us to be mindful of God's mercy, so it is good to recall the profound expression of divine mercy uttered by Jesus as he was dying on the cross to save us from our sins, ''Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do'' (Luke 23:34)'" (Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, 11/14/13).
 

The Possibly Good News: Illinois Can Be the Last Stop for Railroading Against Marriage/Family

"Illinois is the last state where gay-marriage advocates have an advantage in both the governor’s office and statehouse, and defenders of traditional marriage say the political playing field will be far more level in the remaining 34 states in the years ahead....activists 'have run out of easy targets,' Mr. Brown [of the National Organization for Marriage] said.  The 'false narrative of "inevitability" ends here,' he said, because most of the remaining states either have constitutional amendments that recognize only man-woman marriages or have significant popular opposition to same-sex marriages....The state-by-state battle over gay marriage was set up by the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in June....Although gay-marriage supporters hailed the ruling as a victory, the high court declined to take the more ambitious step of invalidating all laws at the state level banning gay marriage....Three states that do not have constitutional provisions on gay marriage — West Virginia, New Mexico and Pennsylvania — already are embroiled in 'freedom-to-marry' lawsuits" (Washington Times, 11/19/13).


If Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage is correct, we may experience somewhat of a respite from the attacks on marriage/family.  We need to re-group and better acquaint ourselves with what Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller calls "The Gospel of the Sanctity of Marriage."

No matter what may be reported in the press, the pontificate of Pope Francis is NOT deviating from what the Church has always proclaimed about marriage, as reiterated in Pope Pius XI's Casti Connubii, Vatican II's Gaudium et Spes, Pope Paul VI's Humanae Vitae, Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  While the secular press might like us to believe that Pope Francis would like to dilute the Truth, NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!






Saturday, November 23, 2013

I Just Wanted to Live!


By: Eddie DeHart

I am a baby this world will never meet.
I will walk in Heaven with my tiny feet.

I know God will explain this life I never got see.
I will ask the question you cannot answer,
but I will ask Him, "Why didn't mommy want me"?

You will never see me learning to walk, stumble or fall.
No one but you knew about me no one at all.
I was a human being from day one.
Now as you look back at the abortion
the evil that you've done.

God knows what happened to me that awful day.
I felt the needle when death came to play.
You thought you did what was best.
But all you did was put my innocent soul to rest.

I had a life with so much to give.
Why did you do it mommy? I just wanted to live!


Why Do Filipino Women Die in Childbirth?



As the Philippines tries to cope with the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, some callous commentators are calling the disaster a failure of population control
 
by by Anne Morse and Steven Mosher

The Philippines has long been under pressure from the U.S and elsewhere to adopt a China-like population control program, with the latest argument being that the mandatory provision of contraceptives will reduce maternal mortality in the island nation.

The Philippines is a target because of its size and its still robust fertility. It is one of the 15 most populous nations in the world and has an annual population growth rate of over 2%.[1] Only three countries in the world fit this description (the other two are Ethiopia and Nigeria), and all are in the crosshairs of the population controllers. In the Philippines this pressure takes the form of the controversial “Reproductive Health Bill” (RH Bill).

Proponents of the bill make many arguments, some ridiculous on their face and others less easily dismissed. It is easily to laugh off the suggestion that, “If the Philippines had had fewer people, fewer people would have died in the recent typhoon.” It is harder to dismiss the suggestion that: “If Philippino women had more access to contraception, they would have lower rates of maternal mortality.” The maternal mortality rate remains stubbornly high in the Philippines, and proponents of the RH Bill attribute this to a lack of contraception. But is this really the problem?

Last week, one of us (Anne Morse) attended a forum on public health in the Philippines attended by representatives of the principal agencies pushing population control on the country, including the chief of the Office of Health at US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Philippines and a senior advisor to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Some of the presenters were honest about where the problem lies. Dr. Naveen Rao, the executive director of Merck for Mothers, for example, admitted that the main problem is not lack of contraception.  Rao stated: “We are approaching [maternal mortality] by focusing on the two big killers, and the two big killers worldwide are postpartum hemorrhage and preeclampsia. Again, we know why they are dying, and we know how to save them.”

Of course, being a representative of a Big Pharma company that makes billions from abortifacient contraceptives, he ended with a sales pitch: “And the third pillar is family planning and reproductive health, because if you don't get pregnant, you won’t die from it. [Laughter from audience] So we’re focusing on these three targets.”

But the numbers don’t lie, even if the population controllers do. The causes of maternal death in the Philippines are well known.  More than half the deaths are caused by hemorrhage (bleeding), 52% to be exact, while eclampsia (characterized by seizures) accounts for another 27%. Ruptured uteruses and other causes account for the remainder.[2] So if we take care of women who are hemorrhaging and suffering from eclampsia, we would reduce the number of women dying in childbirth by four-fifths.

To put it another way, women aren’t dying because they don’t have family planning. They are dying from postpartum hemorrhage and preeclampsia. They are dying because they lack primary health care. The Philippines has a contraceptive prevalence rate of 51% and a maternal mortality rate of 209 deaths for every 100,00 births. Japan, a developed country, has an almost identical contraceptive prevalence rate, at 54%.  But Japan has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world, suffering only 5 maternal deaths per every 100,000 births.[3] To repeat, Filipinas are not dying from a lack of so-called “modern contraception.” They are dying from a lack of real health care.  


Those who promote contraception under the guise of reducing maternal mortality also claim that they are simply “giving women what they want.” This is simply not true. Filipino women want children—they just don’t want to die while giving birth to them.

Half of of all maternal deaths in the Philippines occur during a woman’s first three pregnancies.[4]  Filipino women express a desire for 2.5 children on average, so their first three children are wanted children. And consider this: The poorest women in the Philippines—those who suffer the most maternal deaths—say they would like to have three or four children.[5] In other words, international agencies who attempt to reduce maternal mortality by preventing women from conceiving children are violating the rights of these women to decide for themselves how many children they should have. They are throwing wanted babies out with the dirty bath water of maternal death.

The truth is that those who promote family planning are much more interested in controlling fertility than in actually helping women. In fact, according to the numbers, they are about three times more interested in controlling fertility. The most recent numbers from USAID show that while USAID spent 15 million dollars on family planning in the Philippines, it only spent $5 million on maternal health, and a measly $1.7 million on clean water and sanitation. [6]


Let us not be fooled  by the latest deception of the population controllers, namely, that they are simply interested in reducing maternal mortality. No woman should ever die in childbirth, but she does not have to give up her dream of being a mother to avoid this fate. Tens of millions of women safely give birth in developed nations every year, not because of contraception, but because they receive adequate prenatal and postnatal care. Artificial contraception does not make pregnancies safer, it just makes pregnancy less frequent.
If international aid agencies and their Filipino stooges are truly concerned with helping Filipino women, they will focus on increasing access to primary health care. They will work to reduce maternal deaths, rather than to reduce maternity itself.

Of course, that would mean they would have to abandon their obsession with “overpopulation.”


[1] "Central Intelligence Agency." The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2119.html#rp>.
[2] GARCES, ROSTON G. "Reproductive Age Mortality Studies (RAMOS): Analysis on the Risk Factors of Maternal Death, Bukidnon, 2008."
[3] "Philippines." Data Finder. Population Reference Bureau, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://www.prb.org/DataFinder/Geography/Data.aspx?loc=399>.
[4] GARCES, ROSTON G. "Reproductive Age Mortality Studies (RAMOS): Analysis on the Risk Factors of Maternal Death, Bukidnon, 2008."
[5] "STATcompiler." STATcompiler. Demographic and Health Surveys, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://www.statcompiler.com/>.
[6] "Health in the Philippines." Dollars to Results. USAID, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://results.usaid.gov/philippines/health>.

 The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending counter-productive social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of "overpopulation." Find us at pop.org.

Man Attacks, Threatens to Shoot, Pro-Life Activist Outside Abortion Clinic in Wichita, Kansas


Wichita, Kansas – An angry man jumped out of his vehicle and threatened to shoot pro-life activist Mark Gietzen, who had offered to help him as he left a woman for an abortion at the South Wind Women’s Center abortion clinic, located inside a building where George Tiller once operated in Wichita, Kansas.
Gietzen, Director of the Kansas Coalition for Life, was setting up a pro-life display early on Thursday, November 21, when the man drove into the abortion clinic parking lot and dropped off a woman. As he left, Gietzen offered him pro-life literature and urged the man to go back and bring the mother of his baby out of the clinic.

As the man lunged at Gietzen, a clinic security guard, who happened to be nearby, intervened. According to Gietzen, the security guard “attacked [the man] from behind, locking both of his arms around the young man’s arms and torso, and lifted him off the ground in a full-body hug.”

continue reading at http://www.operationrescue.org




Public Witness Against Steven Brigham's Abortion Chamber in Northeast Philadelphia


Wednesday, November 27, 2013 at 11:00 AM 



Please join this event at 9622 Bustleton Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19115. The name of this abortion chamber is "Integrity Family Health." The purpose of the event is to urge Gov. Corbett's Department of Health to enforce their order prohibiting Steven Brigham from having any relationship with any Pa. abortion facility.


Brief History and Context 

In August 2010, the Pa. Department of Health (DOH) ordered Steven Brigham not to have any relationship with any abortion facility in Pa. because of his repeated hiring of unlicensed physicians and fake nurses. Brigham had once run five abortion chambers in Pa., i.e., in Allentown, Erie, King of Prussia, Pittsburgh and State College. In response to this order, Brigham transferred ownership of his two remaining abortion chambers, in Allentown and Pittsburgh, to his mother, Judith Fitch, who lives in Toledo, Ohio. Gov. Rendell's DOH accepted this fraud and did not close these abortion chambers. 

Despite his promises as Pa. Attorney General and as a 2010 Gubernatorial candidate, and the abortionist Kermit Gosnell scandal uncovered in January 2011, Gov. Corbett's DOH allowed Brigham to continue operating these ACs.
In April 2012, Gov. Corbett's DOH finally closed Brigham's Allentown and Pittsburgh abortion chambers. The DOH took this action because of the strong advocacy of Lt. Gov. Cawley and the effect of the State of Maryland, in January 2012, charging Brigham with first degree murder in the death of a woman at his secret abortion chamber in Elkton, Maryland. 

In this incident, Brigham began a late-term abortion on a mother at his abortion chamber in Voorhees, New Jersey, which was the only state where Brigham was allowed to "practice medicine," as four other states, including Pa., had revoked his medical license. Because of "complications," Brigham drove this mother to his Elkton, MD abortion chamber, where he and abortionist Nicola Riley further injured this mother and then abandoned her to die at a local hospital emergency room. Brigham has numerous similar "incidents" in his "career." 

To his credit, Gov. Corbett supported Lt. Gov. Cawley in his April 2012 actions against Brigham's remaining Pa. abortion chambers. Then, Lt. Gov. Cawley promised that the DOH would "closely scrutinize" any new applications by an abortion chamber associated with Steven Brigham. 

Despite this promise, in September 2013, the DOH granted a license to this new Brigham-associated abortion chamber in Northeast Philadelphia. Even worse, despite numerous requests from many Pa. pro-life leaders
to officials in his administration, Gov. Corbett's DOH has refused to withdraw this license. 

Call To Action 

Gov. Corbett needs to hear from us - through this event and calls, letters and e-mails - that he should remove the current pro-abortion leaders at DOH and close Brigham's Northeast Philadelphia abortion chamber. Gov. Corbett's contact information is 200 Main Capitol Building, Harrisburg, PA 17120; 717-787-2500; governor@pa.gov. 

Directions:
From the Pa. Turnpike: Take Route 1 South, which becomes the Roosevelt Boulevard. Travel to Grant Avenue and make a right. Travel about 0.5 miles and make a right on Bustleton Avenue. Travel 1½ blocks and the abortion chamber, at 9622 Bustleton, Phila., PA 19115, is in a faded pink medical office building on the left, next to a Firestone Tire Center. Ample street parking is available.

This event is sponsored by the Pro-Life Coalition of Pa., paprolifecoalition@gmail.com; President, Mike McMonagle