Call it Human Trafficking or Human Junking—The Result Is the Same

 By Judy Brown

The United Nations’ latest report on human trafficking should drive fear into our hearts and souls. But what exactly is this crime?

According to the United Nations, the problem centers on the sexual exploitation of women and girls. The report was scoured in an effort to discover whether or not the United Nations was also tracking the trafficking in human organs and fetal tissue, but sadly neither of those topics is addressed. It has been four years since those topics were analyzed, and yet the problem continues. In fact, it is growing.

The phenomenon of “transplant tourism,” where people travel to the developing world to “purchase” kidneys and livers, has been discussed for a number of years, and some countries (such as Kuwait and Pakistan) have very loose legal standards regarding this practice. The practice of trafficking humans specifically for organ harvesting is still relatively new to law enforcement, requiring heightened awareness in the international legal community. “According to the World Health Organisation, as many as 7,000 kidneys are illegally obtained by traffickers each year around the world.” The most recent case occurred in Great Britain and involved a young girl who was brought in from Somalia with the intention of removing her organs and selling them to those who were desperate for a transplant.

continue reading at http://www.all.org/article

Thursday Extra

by Rudy 

The Front Page Cover

"November 2nd is a national day of prayer. Citizens are praying for the success of Larry Klayman as he prepares to ask for the removal of BH Obama. We need the power of all of our prayers. Thanks."

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"

'60 Minutes' on Benghazi - The Foundation

 

"Rise up together as one voice"

"Be careful where you stand"

~~~lll~~~

 

 

Syria: Kurdish militiamen took control of a key border crossing between Syria and Iraq on 26 October in an effort to prevent Syrian Sunni rebels with the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq in the Shams (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra from entering the region, according to a news outlet. The Kurdish militiamen seized the border crossing point in al-Hasakah Province in northeastern Syria after three days of fighting.

Comment: The Kurdish militiamen continue to beat and defeat the Syrian Sunni Arab fighters linked to al Qaida, who supposedly are the best fighters in the Syrian opposition. Kurdish control of border crossing points along the Turkish and the Iraqi borders helps contain the Sunni extremists. The Kurds represent a major obstacle to ISIS' plan to unite Sunni Arabs in Syria and Iraq in an emirate that ignores present borders.

 

 ~~

~

 

BAIER TRACKS: HEAR, HEAR… “Most hearings on Capitol Hill never live up to the hype. They never seem to deliver the pointed questions that the American people want asked. They never seem to serve up the questions Washington journalists have been trying to get answered.  It always seems to be about lawmakers seeking their moment in the spotlight and a TV soapbox to rail against the administration or to rail against Republicans in order to score points with their supporters at home.  But, this hearing with Secretary Sebelius today MAY be different. It feels like a turning point. After two weeks of stories about the flubbed Web site, the new storyline is much more daunting for the administration. It’s about the substance of nObamaCare and about the veracity of the president's repeated sales pitch. While Democrats are tying themselves up with rhetorical gymnastics trying to explain the millions of people who have been dropped or will be dropped from their existing plans, it seems more and more likely that a delay of some type – a significant delay –may be in the cards. Bottom line: This hearing feels different. After SNL, Jon Stewart, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and every major news organization have had their takes on nObamaCare’s major troubles, this may be a tipping point. We’ll see.” -FoxNews

 

 

 

1. From One nObamacare to Another 

In an attempt to divert attention from the mounting failures of his signature piece of legislation, President nObama is now back to beating the broken drum on amnesty...At a time when most Americans want Washington to focus on the economy and the federal budget deficit, the President is attempting to foist another massive nObamacare-style bill on us in the form of the Senate-passed amnesty bill. The House is considering various bills relating to different aspects of the immigration debate. Even though House leadership has promised not to pass a “comprehensive” immigration bill like the Senate’s, that is not good enough.   http://blog.heritage.org/2013/10/28/from-one-obamacare-to-another/

 

2. nObama Pushes NSA for Police State - Will America  Resist? 

There are some issues that conservatives and liberals should be able to unite  on. Sure, they may be few and far between, but they do exist...One of those  issues should be government surveillance on American citizens. Over the weekend  about a thousand of our fellow citizens gathered in Washington, D.C.  to protest the overreaching power that has been placed in the hands of the  National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA has been in the news far more often than it should be the last few  months, and much of the publicity has been extremely negative. Lately,  revelations of spying on the leaders of other nations has taken center stage –  but we cannot allow the international intrigue to distract us from the real  problem. That problem is the NSA’s  unwarranted observation of innocent American citizens. http://eaglerising.com/2530/obama-pushes-nsa-police-state-will-amer...

 

 

3. nObama Loses the Middle East 

There are things that nObama just doesn’t understand. Like math. And health care. And alliances...Alliances are as vital to foreign policy as a website that works is to online health care enrollment, but nObama has given every sign of not understanding the concept of alliances. When Hillary Clinton came to Moscow bearing her misspelled Reset button, the button was real and reset every alliance to zero. During his two terms, nObama has managed to wreck nearly every alliance the United States had. The only alliances that survived were so low-pressure that even he couldn’t manage to destroy them.  http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/obama-loses-the-middle-eas...

 

 

4. Spies in the Classroom: CAIR vs. Campus Watch 

Samantha Bowden, the communication and outreach director for the Florida branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL), was doing something of which Campus Watch has been frequently accused...but has never done: spying on a professor in an effort to embarrass him and, with luck, even harm his career. Since its inception in 2002, Campus Watch (CW)—a project of the Middle East Forum that reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them—has been charged with an array of outrageous calumnies. They include paying students to infiltrate classrooms as “spies” or “informers”; targeting “pro-Palestinian” professors; and tracking “anti-Israel” comments.”    http://frontpagemag.com/2013/cinnamon-stillwell/spies-in-the-classr...

 

 

5. The Al Dura Hoax and Europe’s Media Bias 

In the French socio-political climate, the drive to expose the truth concerning the Al Dura affair represents a critical point in unveiling a major obstacle to the citizens’ right to information...While single media outlets may have their specific tendencies and private agendas, the Al Dura issue highlights the fact that the French political class as a whole is ready to abandon the requirements of transparency and objectivity for the purpose of serving a certain set of interests. Since the beginning of the Al Dura affair, few in France or Europe have fully grasped the true nature of Mr. Karsenty’s fight to expose the hoax that falsely portrayed Mohammed Al Dura as the victim of Israeli aggression.  http://frontpagemag.com/2013/riccardo-dugulin/the-al-dura-hoax-and-...

 

 

6. CBS: nObama admin knew that Benghazi was terror attack 

CBS’ 60 Minutes revisited the Benghazi terror attack last night, laying out the evidence that the attack was orchestrated by al-Qaeda on the anniversary of 9/11...It was “a planned, sophisticated attack” by AQ, and two security advisers have stepped forward to blow the whistle — as both repeatedly tried to do before the attack - This to me seems especially damning — and unknown to me in the specifics until last night:   http://hotair.com/archives/2013/10/28/cbs-obama-administration-knew...

 

 

7. Dershowitz on ‘Right to Choose’: 'I Can't Find it' 

Famed attorney, author, and long-time liberal commentator Alan Dershowitz said that he favored a woman's right to choose abortion but that he could not find such a right in the Constitution...“I can’t find anything in the Constitution that says you prefer the life of the mother, or the convenience of the mother if it’s an abortion by choice, over the potential life of the fetus,” said Dershowitz on the Oct. 13 CNBC Kudlow Report.   http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/dershowitz-right-choo...

 

 

8. Nominee for Homeland Security ‘intimidated’ law enforcement 

Homeland Security nominee Jeh Johnson orchestrated a controversial  prosecution of a highly decorated immigration officer in what became the first  prosecution of a law enforcement official for civil rights violations...The case  attracted national condemnation from advocates of law enforcement and ultimately  led to a federal commutation. Immigration and Naturalization Service agent Joseph Occhipinti was sentenced  to 37 months in prison for an illegal consent search of Dominican-drug cartel  connected businesses as part of Project Bodega in 1991.  http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/28/obamas-nominee-for-homeland-secur...

 

 

9. Reagan's Daughter: Why Am I Losing My Health Insurance? 

Former President Ronald Reagan's liberal activist daughter Patti Davis is asking  just what many other people across the United States want to know — why she's  losing her insurance... "Could the president please explain why I and  others are losing our health ins. plans? Wasn't supposed to happen!"Davis  posted on Twitter Friday afternoon.    http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/patti-davis-loses-insurance-obamac...

 

10. The Left’s Continued Assault on the Truth About Benghazi 

The left-wing, George Soros-funded Media Matters has long held that the Benghazi scandal is a “phony scandal” and parroted the administration’s pronouncements minimizing the scandal...Now, they have penned a book, The Benghazi Hoax, which formalizes this theory. “The book—the first such endeavor for Media Matters, which is self-publishing it—was conceived of in the spring, as the congressional hearings on Benghazi were taking place, he [David Brock] said,” according to Politico, which focused largely on the pro-Clinton aspects of the book. Brock is described in the article as the “Media Matters founder and Hillary Clinton ally,” and it points out that Brock acknowledges that part—a “fraction,” he claims—of their mission is “Supporting the Clintons.”   http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-lefts-continued-assault-on-the-tr...

 

 

'60 Minutes' on Benghazi - The Foundation

In Sunday night's episode of "60 Minutes," CBS correspondent Lara Logan reported even more damning information regarding the Sept. 11, 2012, assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, dead. It's now firmly established that al-Qaida was responsible for the well-planned attack and that the nObama administration lied about its being a spontaneous protest about a YouTube video, all in order to preserve its "al-Qaida is decimated" narrative in the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election. But Logan did have some interesting revelations.

Logan reported, "Sufian bin Qumu, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and long-time al-Qaeda operative, was one of the lead planners." Bin Qumu was sent to Gitmo in 2002, but was transferred by the Bush administration in 2007 to Libya, where he was eventually released.

Logan also interviewed a former British soldier and security officer at the installation with the assumed name Morgan Jones. He told of the advance flags and warning signs he saw from the moment he arrived five months before the attack. First, there were the al-Qaida flags flying openly. Then there was the absence of any security forces when he arrived at the U.S. compound. He said, "They were all inside drinking tea, laughing and joking." Morgan says he spent the next five months warning about lax security to no avail. It's shocking that the warning signs were so clear, and yet nothing was done.

Greg Hicks, Ambassador Stevens' deputy based in Tripoli, spoke with Logan about the horror of learning during the attack that no help was on the way. "For a moment, I just felt lost," Hicks recounted. "I just couldn't believe the answer. And then I made the call to the Annex chief, and I told him, 'Listen, you've gotta tell those guys there may not be any help coming.' ... For the people that go out onto the edge, to represent our country, we believe that if we get in trouble, they're coming to get us. That our back is covered. To hear that it's not, it's a terrible, terrible experience." It's tragic that four Americans needlessly lost their lives, only to have their story lied about for political gain. Worse, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was ultimately responsible for all embassy security, will run for president in 2016 based on her resume.

Congressman Smith Comments on Sebelius’s Remarks About Not Knowing Which Insurance Plans Will Pay for Abortions

Congressman Chris Smith

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) today released the following statement regarding Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s remarks that she did not know which plans on the federal exchange will pay for abortions during testimony on Capitol Hill.

“It is an outrage—it doesn’t pass the straight face test and it’s just not believable—that at this stage Sebelius cannot, or will not, tell consumers how to find out whether the plans they are considering include abortions that painfully dismember or chemically poison unborn children,” said Smith, a 32-year member of Congress and co-chairman of the Bipartisan Congressional Prolife Caucus.

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

JUDGE WILL RULE BY TUESDAY ON PP REQUEST FOR STAY OF NEW RULE ON WEB-CAM ABORTIONS

By Dave Andrusko

Judge Karen Romano said this morning that she will rule by Tuesday on a request by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland for a stay of a rule instituted by the Iowa Board of Medicine that abortionists must be physically present when dispensing chemical abortifacients to pregnant women.

At issue is what the Board sees as a matter of safety and PPH sees as an impediment to its relentless campaign to expand abortion into rural areas.

The hearing comes two days after Austin-based U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled on portions of Texas’s pro-life HB 2. In this context the relevant point is that Judge Yeakel said nothing to challenge the law’s requirement that the abortionist “must examine the pregnant woman,” which is not done in web-cam abortions.

PPH has asked Romano first to impose a temporary stay on the rule (adopted August 30), then to overturn it permanently. This morning’s hearing in Polk County District Court focused on the request for a stay. Unless a stay is granted, the rule goes into effect November 6.

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

Abortion, Contraception, Natural Family Planning, Humanae Vitae

There is a close link between abortion and contraception. Natural Family Planning, furthermore, provides a solution to both. The Encyclical Humanae Vitae has been and will remain a prophetic voice in the Church bearing witness to these truths. Pope John Paul II's Evangelium Vitae likewise explains the connection between abortion and contraception as "fruits of the same tree."

In their 2001 revision of the Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities ("A Campaign in Support of Life"), the United States Catholic Bishops speak of the connection between abortion and contraception in the following paragraphs:

Abortion and Contraception
The Church's teaching and pastoral efforts on responsible parenthood are appropriately treated more fully in other documents. However, we address the issue here, because some promote widespread use of contraception as a means to reduce abortions and even criticize the Church for not accepting this approach.

It is noteworthy that as acceptance and use of contraception have increased in our society, so have acceptance and use of abortion. Couples who unintentionally conceive a child while using contraception are far more likely to resort to abortion than others. Tragically, our society has fallen into a mentality that views children as a burden and invites many to consider abortion as a "backup" to contraceptive failure. This is most obvious in efforts to promote as "emergency contraception" drugs that really act as early abortifacients.

With Pope John Paul II we affirm that contraception and abortion are "specifically different evils," because only "the latter destroys the life of a human being," but that they are also related (The Gospel of Life, no. 13). It is important to remember that means that are referred to as "contraceptive" are, in reality, sometimes also abortifacient. An end to abortion will not come from contraceptive campaigns but from a deeper understanding of our human sexuality, and of human life, as sacred gifts deserving our careful stewardship.

Priests for Life is committed to assisting the clergy to proclaim these realities. We will provide an increasing amount of educational material on this page, as well as links to other web sites.

  Click here for a Study guide to Humanae Vitae written by the Priests and Pastoral Associates of Priests for Life.

Teaching Children Death Panels: School Pushes Euthanasia Assignment on Kids

by John Stonestreet

Just what are they teaching children in school these days? Well, when it comes to human dignity and medical ethics, we’d better pay attention.


It was the kind of assignment that makes you nostalgic for paper-mache volcanoes and baking soda. Freshmen and sophomores in a social studies class at St. Joseph-Ogden High School in Illinois were asked to make life-and-death decisions concerning people they’d never met.

 While the exercise was theoretical, the thinking involved in the exercise has real-world consequences. The lesson began by telling students that ten people shared a serious problem: Without access to a dialysis machine, they would all die.

Unfortunately, they were told, the local hospital only has enough machines for six of them. The assignment was to decide who got the treatment and who didn’t. The students were asked to rank the potential recipients from one, the person they most wanted to receive treatment, to ten, the person they least wanted.

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

Late-Term Abortion Doc Ordered to Stop Doing Abortions, Made Women Pay Extra for Anesthesia

                                    Harold O. Alexander; another face of evil                                   

by Cheryl Sullenger  

The Maryland Board of Physicians issued a “cease and desist” order on Friday, October 25, 2013, to Harold O. Alexander, of Forestville, Maryland, ordering him to stop performing abortions and stop administrating certain drugs, including sedation.

Operation Rescue investigations confirmed that Alexander was operating an unlicensed abortion clinic, Integrated Ob/Gyn, last June. A recorded undercover phone call made to Moore ObGyn, which shares an office with Integrated ObGyn, revealed that Alexander was conducting abortions four days per week – mostly in the evenings – and that he was charging women an extra $100 per abortion for pain relief. Those who could not afford the extra fee had to endure the excruciating pain of a surgical abortion.

 

Operation Rescue turned the documentation it obtained over to a local pro-life activist that ensured that it reached the hands of the appropriate authorities then published a report concerning its findings. [Read the report here]

“Alexander’s cease and desist order represents a huge victory for Operation Rescue as well as for women and their pre-born babies that were endangered by Alexander’s shoddy abortion practices,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “This represents over two and a half years of work by our investigative staff and validates our allegations against Alexander, who we consider a danger to the public.”

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

WE NEED MORE STORIES LIKE THIS!

From Lila Rose

I want to share a story I read at the Boston Globe. It's from the beginning of this year, but it will be relevant forever. It shows the inherent good of humanity...but it also highlights the extreme danger we face from a pro-abortion government.

In late 2012, Mary and Mark Gundrum, of Milwaukee, learned that their unborn baby boy had an encephalocele – "a rare disorder in which part of the brain was exposed, covered in skin, outside the head." In other words, the baby's face hadn't fused properly, leaving a huge gap separating the halves.

This is the sort of diagnosis that all too often results in abortion – via pressure from doctors, family members, and even spouses. But the Gundrums performed the ultimate act of love: they chose life for their baby.





So Dominic was born, and the encephalocele was severe. (You'll notice, though, that every picture shows him smiling!) Mary and Mark immediately sought out a skilled surgeon willing to help them, and they found him at Boston Children's Hospital.

 Surgery, of course, would be very expensive and time-consuming, requiring a several-week stay over a thousand miles away. So Mary and Mark did what they had to: with utmost humility, they asked for help. They posted their petition online...and dozens of total strangers flocked to their aid.

 Several families offered to house the Gundrums in Boston. Many more sent them food, groceries, and Christmas gifts, and still others offered transportation. And above all these material offers stood thousands and thousands of prayers for Dominic's well-being.

The surgery was a success, and a powerful impromptu support network made what could have been a terrible ordeal as smooth and easy as possible for these two parents and their precious baby boy.

So what does this have to do with ObamaCare? Well, just look at the chain of beautiful, proactive, loving events in this story.

• Mary and Mark defied a terrible diagnosis and showed supreme love for their baby by giving him life – even though he wasn't what some would call "perfect," or even "normal."

• The Gundrums needed help, and so they asked for it – personally, and with open hearts.

• Without being commanded or forced to, people opened their homes, cars, and wallets to help this precious child.

 It's clear from Dominic's story that people want to step up and help others. They rally together and give of love thy neighbor as thyself. They rally together and give of themselves for the sake of even total strangers. In short, they take seriously the commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself.

These good Samaritans knew Dominic for what he was – not a burden, but a gift beyond price.

On the other hand, look at what our government encourages. ObamaCare subsidizes abortions – most plans even include a surcharge of at least a dollar a month, specifically for abortion funding. In states like Connecticut and Rhode Island, there isn't even a non-abortion-funding plan available on the exchanges, even though ObamaCare originally promised otherwise. And even where there are such plans, the law is written to make it very, very difficult to discern which plans cover abortion and which don't.

And don't forget the notorious HHS Mandate, which forces employers to pay for abortifacient drugs for employees.

The brutal, unavoidable fact is that ObamaCare, and the pro-abortion government that spawned it, make it easier to kill children like Dominic than to save them. Our government spits on human life as an inconvenience, a burden. ObamaCare shores up a lake of funds, taken by force or deception from taxpayers of conscience like you and me, to bankroll the systematic dismemberment and poisoning of our weakest children.

 The very children who most need our help...destroyed. Murdered. And if the Department of Health and Human Services can't deceive us into paying for it, the IRS will force us to.

I hope you'll help me speak out against a government that incentivizes the destruction of the voiceless. Help me demand that our elected officials instead affirm life and strive to protect those who most need that protection.

The more we make our voices heard, the better our chances of reading more stories like Dominic's.

Videos of Reporter JD Mullane Speaking on His Experience at the Kermit Gosnell Trial

 

Below are a few videos taken and posted on YouTube by Kathleen Wilson of reporter,  JD Mullane of Bucks County, PA speaking about his experiences at the Kermit Gosnell trial in Philadelphia this past spring.  

Gosnell was convicted in May, of three murder charges, 21 felony counts of illegal late-term abortion, and 211 counts of violating the 24-hour informed consent law.   (use this link to see report posted earlier this month).  

Mr. Mullane, is a columnist for the Bucks County Courier Times, The Intelligencer, and the Burlington County (NJ) Times.

Thank you to Kathleen for providing these videos!

  

Texas abortion restrictions:

By Josh Voorhees

District Judge Lee Yeakel says new GOP law is unconstitutional.

Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis (D) announces her intentions to run for Texas Governor at the W.G. Thomas Coliseum in Haltom City on October 3, 2013

A federal judge on Monday blocked key portions of Texas' new abortion law that Gov. Rick Perry and his Republican allies needed two special sessions to force through the state legislature this summer. Here's the Associated Press with the details:

New abortion restrictions passed by the Texas Legislature are unconstitutional and will not take effect as scheduled on Tuesday, a federal judge has ruled. District Judge Lee Yeakel wrote Monday that the regulations violated the rights of abortion doctors to do what they think is best for their patients and would unreasonably restrict a woman's access to abortion clinics.

Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers brought the lawsuit, arguing that a requirement that doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic would force the closure of a third of the clinics in Texas. They also complained that requiring doctors to follow the Food and Drug Administration's original label for an abortion-inducing drug would deny women the benefit of recent advances in medical science. The Texas attorney general's office argued that the law protects women and the life of the fetus.

The fight over the law—which also included a ban on abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy, among other provisions—captured the nation's attention and catapulted state Sen. Wendy Davis into the national spotlight after she led an epic filibuster that ran out the clock on the first special session. Perry then called a second session, which Davis and her allies were unable to derail. The effort, however, turned Davis into a household name and laid the groundwork for her current gubernatorial campaign.

Texas AG Greg Abbott is expected to file an emergency appeal of the order to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which will then need to review the merits of the law, not just an injunction against it. Slate will have more on the ruling and its impact shortly.

Tweetfest on Wednesday Will Demand End to Hiding Abortion Funding in Obamacare

by Susan Tyrrell

Being forced to pay for abortion because of the secrecy of coverage is anti-choice., and, really, it’s also un-American. A new social media event seeks to highlight this and bring about change.

“Tell @Sebelius to #BeTransparent. Why won’t #Obamacare tell us which plans include #abortion?” says the sample tweet that is one of many for the Oct. 30 event, TweetFest: Tell Sebelius to #BeTransparent about Abortion Coverage in Obamacare, which takes place at a computer, tablet or smartphone nearest to you between 9 a.m. and noon next Wednesday.

 n 2013, one of the surest ways to draw attention to an important issue is by tweeting. Those sometimes silly #hashtags are a powerful media tool, often reaching millions of people, like an interwebs rainstorm. This social media phenomena is one reason “tweetfests” are growing in popularity.

Tweets like the one above are, created to draw attention to the deception shrouded in abortion coverage of the Affordable Care Act, aka, Obamacare. Sponsored by the Life Blast Prolife Social Media Project, and hosted by a number of pro-life agencies, this event is  demanding transparency to the public on the issue of abortion coverage in Obamacare, so that pro-lifers have a choice on which exchanges to purchase.

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

Use this link to join the "Tweetfest" at https://www.facebook.com/events

Fecundaphobia: On the Fear of Large Families

by Rachel Lu

The pharmacist was eyeing me strangely, and it was making me nervous. I glanced down at my clothes, then surreptitiously ran my tongue over my teeth. Then I noticed his eyes moving between me, my prescription, and the baby who was sitting on my hip. Suddenly I understood. Based on my prescription, he knew that I was pregnant. He was shocked that I was expecting another baby when I was already the mother of an eight-month-old.

It was a “welcome to the club” sort of moment. I had heard from the parents of large families about the stares, the snide remarks, and the subtle (or not-so-subtle) reminders that science has found a solution to all this excessive fertility. I thought I would need a larger number of children to be honored with that particular brand of public disapprobation, but it turns out that even two is enough if you space them right (or rather, wrong). What would the pharmacist have thought if he knew that I also had a 2-year-old at home?

I’m sure the effect will amplify if God blesses us with more offspring, but shepherding even three small boys (the eldest is not quite four) through public places is a bit like having a car covered in bumper stickers. People readily view my family as some kind of bold statement, and many feel a need to offer a rebuttal. Many of the comments are positive, and I must gratefully acknowledge that a good portion of the public is still inclined to be generous to harried moms. People hold doors for strollers, or call out after me if a shoe or jacket has fallen unnoticed on the path behind us. Good-natured older women have twice let me go ahead of them in grocery lines, observing with compassion that the whimpering child in my arms is probably ready for his nap. These gestures are hugely appreciated, and it’s certainly heartening to see that there is still a good supply of pro-family sentiment in America.

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

 Rachel Lu, a Catholic convert, teaches philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota where she lives with her husband and three boys. Dr. Lu earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at Cornell University.

40 Days for Life Campaign: Day 34 - 371 Babies and Mothers Spared to Date!

From Shawn Carney

Are you ready for another serving of Monday morning good news? Here it is! So far during this 40 Days for Life campaign, we now know of ...

... 371 babies whose mothers decided to reject abortion!

Here are the stories of two of those babies ... their parents ... and grandparents.

 

Little Rock, Arkansas

 

On a typical Saturday morning, there are around two dozen people praying outside the abortion center in Little Rock. But the volunteers have a new obstacle now. 

 "Water sprinklers were installed on top of the privacy fence and constantly spray the sidewalk and driveway," said Mary in Little Rock. That makes it much harder to talk to women entering the building.

"We have suggested the sidewalk counselors wear rain gear now," she said.

The sprinklers can't stop the prayers. A woman walked through the curtain of water to tell Mary that her 16-year-old daughter would not be getting an abortion.

"She hugged the three of us praying and I directed her to the pregnancy care center across the street for help," Mary said. "Praise God!" 

 Mary asked the abortion center's security guard "if he really thought a little water would keep us away. He did not respond."







Newburgh, New York 

A young lady arrived at Planned Parenthood along with her boyfriend and sister. "Although her boyfriend and sister did not support her decision to have the abortion," said Wendy in Newburgh, "her mother was pressuring her."  

The boyfriend was upset over this decision, but felt he had no say in the matter. "He said that she was nine weeks pregnant and she even had an ultrasound picture of the baby," she said. "He couldn't bring himself to look at that picture knowing the fate of his baby."

The prayer volunteers encouraged him to go inside Planned Parenthood and get his girlfriend out. They told him to not give up on that baby because they certainly refused to do so.  As he went inside, they prayed fervently.

Finally, they all came out. "This young man looked like he had the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders," Wendy said. As he drove off, he smiled and gave a thumbs-up.

"Don't ever doubt that your prayers and presence make a difference," said Wendy.

Here's today's devotional from Rev. Paul Stallsworth, President of Lifewatch (United Methodist Church).

Day 34 intention

May we come to know that divine life, in relationship, creates human life.

Scripture

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

--John 1:1-3

Reflection by Rev. Paul Stallsworth

"In the beginning" was God. Always, before all times, there was God. This particular God -- the God of the Bible, the God of St. John's Gospel -- is different from all other gods. This God is alive and full of life. This God is not the picture of deadness and death, aloneness and isolation. This God is the picture of life, relationship, and unity.

For within this God, within this one God, there are three divine persons who live, who love, and who work -- together. This is the glorious mystery of the Trinity. The Trinity means divine life. The Trinity means three, living Persons -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- who relate to each other. The Trinity means mutual love and service among three Persons.

The Word was always with God the Father. This Word was, is, and will be the Trinity's second person. The Word is also the Son of God or, as revealed in time, Jesus Christ. God the Father and God the Son live, love, and work for each other. As one, they create "all things" together: the Father creates all things, including all human life, through the Son.

So the Father, through the Son, creates all human lives. The little one swimming in his mother's womb, the infant smiling in his father's arms, the child crying in pain in a hospital bed, the energetic teen running another mile, the old man gasping for his last breath -- all were created, at their beginning, by the Father through the Son. No exceptions. Divine life creates human life.

Prayer

O God, may we always be quick to call you Father. And when we call you father, let your Spirit remind us that we, and all people, from their beginning to their last day, are your children. We praise you, Father, that you sent your Son to reveal to the world that all people are His brothers and sisters, that all people are your children. Through Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.

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