Emily’s List Endorses Abortion Clinic Director for Pennsylvania Governor

by Steven Ertelt

 The pro-abortion group Emily’s List is proving yet again how extreme it is on abortion — not just supporting a pro-abortion candidate for governor in Pennsylvania but an abortion clinic director.


Schwartz co-founded and served as the Executive Director of an abortion facility in Philadelphia for 13 years. The facility performed about 1,500 abortions in its final year of operation before declaring bankruptcy.

Schwartz has come under fire because she won’t say whether she sent any women from her abortion business, when she ran it, to the abortion clinic run by convicted abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell. That hasn’t stopped Emily’s List from going all in on her campaign.

 The pro-Democratic women’s group EMILY’s List is throwing its support behind Pennsylvania Rep. Allyson Schwartz in her bid to defeat incumbent GOP Gov. Tom Corbett.

“Allyson Schwartz has an incredible track record of fighting for the women and families of Pennsylvania,” said Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List. “Now it’s time for her to take that experience and dedication all the way to the governor’s mansion, where she will help get Pennsylvanians back to work, protect access to healthcare, and fight for seniors and veterans.”

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BREAKING: El Salvador Makes Heroic Decision For Life!

From Lila Rose, President
Life Action

Wonderful news from the pro-life nation of El Salvador!

The Supreme Court of El Salvador has made a just and commendable decision in the case of 26-year-old Beatriz. Though hospitals around the world volunteered to perform an abortion on Beatriz's disabled child - saying, in effect, "let us kill your baby for you" - El Salvador rebuffed these grisly offers and treated both Beatriz and her pre-born child in a humane way: by delivering the baby, and thus giving this innocent a chance to live.

El Salvador has shown what true medical compassion looks like, all while keeping in line with medical science and plain common sense. Hundreds of doctors in Ireland, another pro-life country, recently published the Dublin Declaration, which states unequivocally that abortion is never needed to save a woman's life. Here in the United States, Dr. Anthony Levatino, a reformed abortionist, testified that over the course of more than 1,200 abortions, he never had to commit one to save a woman's life.

The Beatriz case reinforces once again the humanity, compassion, and good sense that come from a nation respecting the dignity and equality of all human life. I pray that all the world's nations, including our own, will follow El Salvador's heroic example.

I hope you'll join me in celebrating this phenomenal victory for the equality of all people and the enshrinement of human rights.

Related story from LifeNews.com 

Same-Sex “Marriage” and the Catholic Psychologist

by Marsh Fightlin

The State of Minnesota recently passed a law abolishing the commonly accepted definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, and replaced it with a definition that requires only two adults, including two adults of the same sex. The law goes into effect August 1. Consequently, from that date forward, the State will recognize three types of marriage: male-female, male-male and female-female. All three will be considered “marriage”, and any effort to distinguish between them based on the commonly accepted definition (male-female) will be branded “discrimination”.

I have been doing marriage counseling for almost forty years, more than twenty five of which were as a licensed psychologist in the State of Minnesota, where I presently practice. What will be the legal implications of this sea change definition for my practice?

In saner times, it would have been considered obvious that same-sex “marriage” is an oxymoron, something akin to the square circle. Treating such unions as marriages would have been seen as a game of let’s pretend. Psychologists, considering themselves to be professionals who do not adjust their practice to the whims of the culture, would maintain the commonly accepted definition, a definition that is older than the profession of psychology itself. They would distinguish between “natural marriage” and the novel legal construct of same-sex “marriage”. They would refuse to act in therapy sessions as though the latter were the same as the former. Such a pretense would be incongruent with their true convictions and hence a distortion of the dynamic of therapy. They would therefore refuse as a matter of professional ethics to do marital therapy with same-sex unions.

 continue reading here

Marsh Fightlin is a husband, a father, a father-in-law and a grandfather. These relationships are at the center of his life and he enjoys them immensely. For the rest, his interests are shaped by his academic background: He is a licensed psychologist and has a licentiate in theology. He is a staff psychologist at a mental health clinic and operates a telephone consult service (www.catholicpsychconsult.com). His approach to his work is mostly shaped by Thomistic psychology, a dash of Freud, and a large dose of common sense. His theological interests are "catholic" and he's especially interested in Scripture study, The Summa of Aquinas, and the writings of JPII and BXVI. He is also an incurable film-watcher. With help from Act One of Hollywood, he has written a screenplay and his dream is to have it produced. He enjoys good food, particularly Italian and the Jewish deli kind. Two of his grandchildren are teenage boys. He regularly discusses issues ranging from deep mysteries of the Faith to the back stories to the latest super-hero flicks with them. He says he has a lot to learn.

 

 

They Said it Would Never Happen:

Human Cloning on Our Doorstep

Mother of Baby Rescued in Sewage Pipe Regains Custody, Father Identified

by Steven Ertelt
 

The mother of the baby who has received international attention after he was flushed down the toilet and found in a sewage pipe has regained custody of the child.

The unnamed mother claims the incident was an accident. She also claims she wanted an abortion but was unable to afford one.

Now, new reports show she has regained custody as police officials believed her story. They also may have found the identity of the father.

 Authorities in China on Thursday gave back a baby boy to a mother who had flushed him down the toilet, entrapping him in the pipe.

continue reading here

Request to Assist Efforts to Pass H.B. 818 in the Pa. State Senate

From Mike McMonagle, President

I seek your participation in efforts to pass H.B. 818, which is Obamacare opt-out legislation.  These efforts consist mainly of persuading six Democrat Pa. Senators with pro-life records to commit to vote against weakening amendments to be offered by Senator Jay Costa, the Minority Leader in the Pa. Senate.  I continue with some history and context of this issue.

Why this Legislation is Needed

The passage of this legislation became imperative to prevent state and/or federal government subsidies for health insurance plans to be offered on the Pa. exchange to be established under Obamacare in 2014.  Vast empirical evidence indicates that such subsidies will increase the number of abortions committed in our state.

Why this Legislation did not Pass During the 2011-2012 Term

On June 7, 2011, the Pa. Senate passed this legislation by a 37-12 vote after defeating weakening amendments.  The Pa. House Insurance Committee then passed S.B. 3 by a 22-2 vote on June 22, 2011.

However, rather than run S.B. 3 on the Pa. House floor, with the acquiescence of Pa. House pro-life leaders, Pa. House Majority Leader, Rep. Mike Turzai, drafted the exact same bill, H.B. 1977, the Pa. House Health Committee passed H.B. 1977 on December 5, 2011 and the full Pa. House passed H.B. 1977 on December 12, 2011.  Rep. Turzai took this action because he gave priority to this legislation having the title "House Bill" than achieving the pro-life public policy.

An impasse then ensued to the detriment of the pro-life cause in our state.  Pa. Senate President Joseph Scarnati and Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi refused to run H.B. 1977 in the Senate and House Speaker Sam Smith and Majority Leader Mike Turzai refused to run S.B. 3 in the House.  In August 2012, Gov. Corbett promised me that he would intervene to break this impasse, but failed to act on that promise.

Efforts Renew During the 2013-2014 Term

On March 14, 2013, other Pa. pro-life leaders and I met with Senate President Scarnati and House Speaker Smith.  As a result of these meetings, we believed that that these leaders had reached an agreement to run S.B. 3 as the legislative vehicle to pass Obamacare abortion opt-out legislation.

So, on April 10, 2013, the Pa. Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Don White, passed this legislation, again titled S.B. 3.  But, Pa. House Majority Leader Turzai again indicated that he would not run S.B. 3 in the Pa. House and Speaker Smith was not willing to overrule him.  So, in a great act of statesmanship, Senators White, Scarnati and Pileggi agreed to run H.B. 818 (the exact same bill as S.B 3) in the Pa. Senate.  By the end of April 2013, the Pa. House Health Committee, the Appropriations Committee and the full House had passed H.B. 818 after defeating several weakening amendments.

On May 7, 2013, the Pa. Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed H.B. 818 by a 9-5 vote.  This bill is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee, where it very likely will pass when brought to a vote.  Once passed in that Committee, it will go to the full Senate.

The Unexpected Problem in the Pa. Senate

The problem that has developed in passing H.B. 818 in the Pa. Senate is obtaining assurance that the weakening amendments, likely to be offered by the Pa. Senate Minority Leader, Jay Costa, will be defeated on the Senate floor.  There are two principle weakening amendments.

The first amendment is adding a "health exception" to the current exceptions in H.B. 818, which are life of the mother, rape and incest.  These exceptions are the same as our current Medicaid funding restrictions.  Under Doe v. Bolton, the companion case to Roe v. Wade and vast empirical evidence, a "health exception" includes "social reasons" and this means anything.  This amendment would render the abortion restrictions in the bill meaningless.

The other likely weakening amendment is to declare that these restrictions do not apply to private plans.  This amendment is oxymoronic, i.e. self-contradictory, because, under the Obamacare exchange, there are no totally private plans.  At a minimum, they all receive government subsidies for their administrative costs.

Sen. Costa also makes the false argument that H.B. 818 is "unnecessary."  He, and his allies, have decided to ignore the insidious reality of the Obamacare legislation.

Without the passage of H.B. 818, new taxpayer funding of abortion in Pa. will occur in two ways.

Federal tax credits will be used to pay premiums for health plans that cover elective abortions.

An abortion surcharge will be assessed to every individual in the exchange who is enrolled in a health plan that covers abortion.  Under the federal law, each person must pay this surcharge, whether they object to abortion or not - there is no opting out of the abortion surcharge.  That means that people will be forced to pay for other people’s abortions through the government-run exchange - even if that goes against their consciences.

Furthermore, under Obamacare rules, an insurance plan operating within the exchange may not advertise the fact that the plan includes abortion coverage.  The insurance provider may reveal this coverage at the time of enrollment in the summary of benefits.  Thus, without being aware, people will sign up for a plan requiring them to pay for other people’s abortions.

Senator Costa (who claims to be "pro-life") and his allies (one of them being Republican Senator Patricia Vance) are merely doing the bidding of Planned Parenthood on this issue.  They realize that H.B. 818 only maintains current public policy on public funding of abortion.  Their strategy is to make the passage of H.B. 818 as contentious and difficult as possible, in order to deter Pa. Senate Leaders from considering additional pro-life legislation during the 2013-2014 legislative term.

Vote Counting

The Pa. Senate has a 27-23 Republican majority.  Three of the Republican Senators are likely to vote for the weakening amendments to H.B. 818, i.e., Vance, McIlhinney and Baker.  In previous votes in 2011 on this and abortion facility regulation legislation, 5-8 Democrat Pa. Senators voted pro-life.  In fact, four of them (Kasunic, Solobay, Wozniak and Yudichak) co-sponsored S.B. 3 (the same as H.B. 818) in 2013.  Also, Senator Brewster voted for H.B. 818 in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee and Blake voted for S.B. 3 in June 2011.

The current challenge in advancing H.B. 818 to final passage is that none of these Democrat Senators with pro-life records (Kasunic and Wozniak also serve as the Democrat co-chairmen of the Pa. Senate pro-life Caucus) will commit to vote against Senator Costa's weakening amendments.  We need at least one, and preferably two, of these Democrat Senators with pro-life records, to make this commitment before Senators White, Corman (the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee), Pileggi and Scarnati advance H.B. 818 to final passage.

Please Help!

Senators Kasunic and Solobay are from Southwest Pa.  Senator Wozniak is from the Johnstown area.  Senators Yudichak and Blake are from Northeast Pa.  If you are willing to organize contact with any of these Senators, please call or e-mail me.

Also, Democrat Pa. Senator Mike Stack, from Northeast Philadelphia, voted for S.B. 3 in June 2011.  But, he voted against H.B. 818 in the Banking and Insurance Committee on May 7, 2013.  Senator Stack has a "mixed record," on the "abortion issue" and has apparently flipped to the pro-abortion side since he is interested in running for the Democrat nomination in the 13th Congressional District, which is being vacated by Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz's decision to run for Pa. Governor in 2014.

On the Republican side, despite what I have read in some correspondence on this issue from pro-life organizations, I believe that Senators Pileggi and Erickson (from Chester and Delaware Counties) are reliable votes against Senator Costa's weakening amendments based on their prior votes, and personal contact and correspondence.  I also believe that a reasonable possibility exists to win the votes of Senator Baker (from Northeast Pa.) and Senator McIlhinney (from Bucks County) against Senator Costa's weakening amendments.  Although Senator McIlhinney voted against S.B. 3 in 2011, he faces a likely challenge in the May 2014 Republican Primary from a pro-life and politically viable candidate.

Again, please call or e-mail me if you are willing to organize contact with any of these Pa. Senators.

 Thank you for reading this e-mail.  Please assist our efforts to pass H.B. 818 in the Pa. Senate.

Our First Moments

Did you know?

It's safe to say, not all of us are aware of our own beginnings.  Many of us are proud to be pro-lifers but are too often ignorant to the origins of life.  This isn't anything to be ashamed of; instead be proud that you are willing to learn, read on and dive into a little biology, besides the rest of us can use a little reminder...  

1 day to 7 weeks

 

A new individual receives 23 chromosomes from each parent. She is truly a unique individual human being from the very beginning, never to be repeated. A new person has been created, who at this stage is a tiny living organism weighing only 15 ten-millionth of a gram. LIFE BEGINS.

First day of new life: The first cell divides into two, the two into four, and so on. Each of these new cells divides again and again as they travel towards the womb in search of a protected place to grow.

18 days - from conception, heart begins to beat, with the baby's own blood.

28 days - from conception a baby has eyes, ears, and even a tongue!

28 days - from conception: Muscles are developing along future spine. Arms and legs are budding.

30 days - The child has grown 10,000 times to 6-7mm (1/4") long. Blood flows through the veins.

42 days - Skeleton is formed. Brain coordinates movement of muscles and organs. Reflex responses have begun.

42 days - Brain waves can be detected, the jaw forms, including teeth and taste buds. The unborn baby begins to swallow amniotic fluid. Fingers and toes are developing.

45 days - The unborn baby is making body movements, a full 12 weeks before the mother may notice such stirrings. By seven weeks the chest and abdomen are fully formed. Swimming with a natural swimmer's stroke in the amniotic fluid, the baby now looks like a miniature human infant.

44-45 days - Buds of milk teeth appear, and the unborn baby's facial muscles develop. Eyelids begin to form, protecting the developing eyes. Elbows take shape. Internal organs are present. 99% of muscles are present, each with its own nerve supply.

52 days - Spontaneous movements begins. The unborn baby then develops a whole collection of moves over the next 4 weeks including hiccups, frowning, squinting, furrowing the brow, pursing the lips, moving individual arms and legs, head turning, touching his/her face, breathing (without air), stretching, opening the mouth, yawning, and sucking.

Toronto Hospital Dehydrating Children to Death, Says Quality of Life Too Low

by Alex Schadenberg 

The following article represents a synthesis of the findings, with commentary by myself about the study: Parental Perceptions of Forgoing Artificial Nutrition and Hydration (FANH) During End-of-Life Care. 

The first part of the article is a synthesis of the study, while the second part of the article is my commentary about the findings in the study.

–

A study entitled: Parental Perceptions of Forgoing Artificial Nutrition and Hydration (FANH) During End-of-Life Care was published in the Journal Pediatrics in its May 5, 2013 edition concerning the reactions of parents to the experience of withdrawing nutrition and hydration (FANH) from a child who was dying or experiencing a low quality of life at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

The study is based on independent interviews with parents after the child died.

The study sought input from twelve families of children who died after FANH. Three families were not interested in participating in the study and three families could not be reached. A total of eleven parents from six families participated in the study. One family had two children who died after FANH. Six children died after ANH was withdrawn, while one child died after ANH was withheld.

Two of the children died before the third month of life, two of the children died after the third month but before the sixth month of life and 3 children died at age 14 or 15. Participation in the study was based on parents who were 18 years or older, who lived within 125 miles of the hospital and were fluent in English. The study first defined the practice of FANH.

ANH is defined by the Hospital for Sick Children as a life-sustaining treatment that is provided by naso gastric, or gastric tubes. ANH is provided when children cannot meet their dietary requirements or when it becomes unsafe to do so.

continue reading here 

Use this link for background and objective of FANH 

MAJOR VICTORY IN ILLINOIS!

 From Brian Brown, President

Washington, DC — The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today celebrated the failure of legislation to come to a vote late this evening in Illinois seeking to redefine marriage, thus preserving marriage in the state as the union of one man and one woman. The bill's House sponsor, Rep. Greg Harris, announced this evening that he did not have the votes to pass the measure and would not bring the legislation to a vote. Assuming this is the case, the bill is thus dead until the fall when the Legislature reconvenes for a veto session.

"This effort to redefine marriage in Illinois was one of the most fiercely contested legislative battles in the country this year," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "This is a great victory for our allies and supporters, as well as Illinois families who have worked tirelessly with us to preserve marriage in Illinois. We are gratified that our collective hard work has paid off in this stunning victory."

Illinois is a heavily Democratic state and has been widely considered by the gay marriage lobby as virtually certain to redefine marriage. Backers of the legislation have frequently claimed, falsely, that they had the votes in hand to pass the legislation (SB 10). President Obama had urged his former colleagues to vote to redefine marriage, and it was a top priority of both Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Pat Quinn. It even was supported by a former Republican Chairman who was forced to resign from his post for advocating a position contrary to Republican principles.

"So much for the inevitability of gay marriage," said Brian Brown. "With a coalition that included strong support from the African American community as well as so many others throughout the state, we did what nobody in the intelligentsia thought was possible. This is a huge victory at a pivotal time, and totally undercuts the lie that somehow same-sex marriage is inevitable."

NOM spent well over $125,000 on grassroots activities to defeat the bill, but praised others in the coalition for securing the victory.

"Our thanks go out to champions such as the African American Clergy Coalition; Rev. James Meeks and Bishop Lance Davis; the Illinois Conference of Catholic Bishops and their director Bob Gilligan; the Illinois Family Institute and their director David Smith; the Illinois Family PAC and their director, Paul Caprio; and the Coalition of African American Pastors and their chairman, Rev. Bill Owens. Everyone pitched in everything they had to stop this ill-conceived legislation. We at NOM are honored to have been part of the coalition effort."

NOM also announced that it would form a state PAC to support Democrats and Republicans who supported marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and would oppose legislators, especially Republicans, who abandoned the true definition of marriage.

"We intend to continue to work with our coalition allies including Pastor Meeks, Bishop Davis and the other amazing leaders in the African American community who boldly stood for the truth about marriage," Brown said. "And those Republicans who betrayed principle will soon learn that their political careers are headed for the same dustbin that met former GOP Chair Pat Brady when he betrayed the cause of marriage."