The case for a Prenatal Endangered Species Act (PESA)

by Kurt Kondrich 

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 expressed concern that many of our nation’s native plants and animals were in danger of becoming extinct, and under the ESA species may be listed as either endangered or threatened.  “Endangered” means a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a substantial portion of its habitat. “Threatened” means a species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future.  The law’s ultimate goal is to “recover” species so they no longer need protection under the ESA.  When the ESA was passed few if any people realized a unique group of human beings would be in danger of becoming extinct due to another event that happened in 1973.


The 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision created the right to an abortion that no US court had ever previously recognized.  Prior to the passage of Roe v. Wade there were no prenatal tests to determine Down syndrome and these beautiful human beings with an extra chromosome were just beginning to make progress toward full inclusion in our culture.  Prenatal genetic testing has advanced rapidly since the 1970s, and currently 90%+ of individuals identified prenatally with Down syndrome are targeted and aborted which clearly makes them a prenatal endangered species.  This silent prenatal eugenic movement receives very little coverage, and with a 90%+ termination rate isn’t it time we add “Down syndrome Human Mammals” to the same list as the African Elephant, Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rat, Ear-spot Squirrel and Gray-handed Night Monkey?  Should we not begin to “recover” these priceless people before all are exterminated?

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So Many Empty Chairs

Editor’s note. This delightful story appeared in the January issue of National Right to Life News which can be read in its entirety online  using this link.  Be sure to pass this along to all your pro-life family and friends.

 

 by Joleigh Little

Region Coordinator and Teens for Life Director, Wisconsin Right to Life

Numbers.
 
So not my thing.

I prefer letters that make words which become sentences. In fact, I love them. And while abortion can be explained in words, opposed in words and, eventually, eradicated with words, I don’t think it can be adequately understood without the numbers.

Knowing this, I tried to wrap my tiny fourteen year old brain around the numbers. It was 1985. I’d just marked the 12th anniversary of Roe v. Wade – my first as a full-fledged right-to-life advocate.

Our cold Wisconsin winter morphed into spring and one rainy Saturday when I was home alone I decided to try to not only understand the vastness of the abortion tragedy, but to help explain it to others.

I knew that abortion killed 1.5 million children a year (thankfully considerably lower now). I figured I would pull out the old stack of catalogs on our living room shelf and cut out the faces of the kids in the children’s clothing section. Logic dictated that after a good, hard day’s work I would be well on my way. My goal was a display banner that would show the tragedy of abortion.

A simple banner with 1.5 million faces on it. (I laugh now and understand the frustration my math teachers felt all those years.)

So I got out my scissors, stacked up three or four massive catalogs alongside my paper, glue and paintbrush, and I went at it. I cut carefully around tiny faces. I left entire legions of child models headless. I cut for hours, amassing what I was certain was a large dent in my project.

Once all of the catalogs were depleted, I decided to tally them up. I knew I’d probably have to borrow a few more catalogs to get the job done, but I was pretty sure I was well on my way. I counted the faces.

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

A Notre Dame Professor Urges the Pope to “Rethink Abortion”

by Carson Holloway

 

Writing at the website of the New York Times, Gary Gutting, a philosophy professor from the University of Notre Dame, invites Pope Francis to “rethink” the Church’s position on the question of abortion.  Needless to say, the rethinking is supposed to end not in a clearer and more persuasive presentation of the Church’s traditional teaching, but instead a weakening of it.  I’d like to note what I think are two weaknesses in Professor Gutting’s piece.

First, there is a disappointing partisanship to it.  Professor Gutting opens his argument by noting “the dogmatic intransigence that has long cast a pall over the religious life of many Roman Catholics.”  This might be true, but it is at best a partial truth.  One could just as easily characterize the exact same phenomenon as the “unswerving fidelity to its teaching that has long been an inspiration to many Catholics, and even a cause of admiration by certain non-Catholics.”  This is to say nothing of the possibility of also acknowledging the “dogmatic intransigence” of, say, the New York Times on this very issue.  The Times, after all, is not noted for its flexibility on what it thinks is a right to abortion.

You might think, and hope, that a professor at a Catholic university would start out with some predisposition in favor of the Church’s traditional teaching, especially on a matter of such great importance.  In Professor Gutting’s case, however, you would be disappointed.  If that expectation had to be dashed, then you might hope, as a last resort, that as a philosopher pure and simple Professor Gutting would begin with no prejudicial remarks on either side of the question.  You would be wrong here, too.

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

Stars Shine Light on Pregnancy Centers in Movie ‘Gimme Shelter’

 By Micaiah
Pa Pro-Life Federation Blog

I was excited when I heard about the big-name actors who are starring in a new pro-life movie.

“Gimme Shelter” features Vanessa Hudgens (remember “High School Musical”?), James Earl Jones, Rosario Dawson, and Brendan Fraser. Together, they present a clear message of hope for pregnant women who are facing troubled times. Watch the trailer here. 


Continue reading at http://blog.paprolife.us/

Chinese Government Breaks Up Gang Offering Sex-Selective Abortions

        

The Chinese Ministry of Health recently reported the arrest of a gang running an illegal service enabling women to receive sex-selective abortions, according to a Reuters article.

The group operated by sending women from throughout the country to the central city of Zhengzou to have their unborn child’s sex determined so that those of an undesired gender (usually female) could be aborted.

The ministry stated, “This went on for a long time, covering a wide area and involved many people. It was malicious, had serious results and was a great threat to society.” They went on to say that this is a widespread problem in the country.

continue reading at http://liveactionnews.org 

Judge Suspends Order to Close Haskell Abortion Clinic With Conditions

By Cheryl Sullenger
Operation Rescue

Cincinnati, OH — Hamilton County Judge Jerome Metz has stayed an order issued by the Ohio Department of Health to close a late-term abortion clinic in Sharonville, Ohio, operated by Martin Haskell.
Judge Metz issued his 3-page ruling today that places conditions on his suspension of the ODH closure order.
“As a condition of that suspension, [Haskell] must maintain adequate safety policies and procedures for admittance of any patient to a hospital as may be needed. In furtherance of that condition, [Haskell] shall report any change in its current procedures or protocols or any change in its back-up doctors to the Court, to the Department of Health, and to the Department’s counsel of record. If it appears that any such change would be substantially detrimental to public safety, the Department may petition to alter or terminate the suspension,” stated the order.
“Today’s stay of the ODH closure order has only continues to place women in danger in spite of the conditions,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “The two current abortionists that have an agreement with Haskell to provide hospital care have dubious safety records laced with multiple malpractice complaints. Women injured by Haskell abortions will only jump from the frying and into the fire, if subjected to treatment by his current back-up doctors.”

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

Prayer to Protect Life

By Sister Mary Margaret Johanning, S.S.N.D.

Loving God, I thank You for the gift of life You gave and continue to give to me and to all of us.

Merciful God, I ask Your pardon and forgiveness for my own failure and the failure of all people to respect and foster all forms of life in our universe.

Gracious God, I pray that with Your grace, I and all people will reverence, protect, and promote all life and that we will be especially sensitive to the life of the unborn, the abused, neglected, disabled and the elderly.  I pray, too, that all who make decisions about life n any form will do so with wisdom, love, and courage.

Living God, I praise and glorify you as Father, Source of all life, as Son, Savior of our lives, and as Spirit, Sanctifier of our lives.  Amen.

Man Who Slipped Girlfriend Abortion Drug Receives Maximum Sentence

Sentenced: John Welden, seen here just after he was sentenced for slipping his girlfriend a drug and causing her to miscarry their baby, will spend nearly 14 years in prison for his crime

A Florida man who became infamous for slipping his girlfriend an abortion-inducing drug was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison on Monday, a move that required a fair amount of legal gymnastics and is spurring renewed efforts in Florida to pass legislation which will make it easier to punish the intentional harming of an unborn fetus.
Twenty-nine year old John Welden was engaged to Remee Jo Lee when she became pregnant with his child in early 2013.  Welden, a medical student with plans of his own, begged Lee to obtain an abortion.  When she refused, he brought her to his father’s medical practice for a prenatal exam, confirming that the woman was approximately six weeks pregnant.

STOP: Please Don't Buy Those Girl Scout Cookies

From Judie Brown, President
American Life League

Is your daughter, granddaughter or a neighbor's child asking you to buy Girl Scout cookies? Please think twice.

American Life League has joined with other pro-life organizations in the call for a national boycott of Girl Scout cookies. As I said in my press release today, the Girl Scouts was once a trusted organization dedicated to character building in young girls and women. Now, GSUSA is abusing that trust.

Most parents and grandparents remain painfully unaware that GSUSA has introduced so-called 'family planning' ideology in its curriculum and promotes groups like Planned Parenthood to our daughters and granddaughters. GSUSA is the largest member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, a group that advocates for "affordable, accessible, safe abortion." GSUSA participated in a "girls only" United Nations workshop in 2010 with Planned Parenthood where a sex education pamphlet titled "Happy, Healthy, and Hot" instructed young girls not to think of sex as "just about vaginal or anal intercourse." It continued, "There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun, explore, and be yourself!"

The GSUSA curriculum now promotes Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, Betty Friedan, founder of NARAL Prochoice, and other pro-abortion women as icons for our children to emulate. GSUSA even directs girls to explore organizations like Population Center.

I know you don't want to disappoint that little girl asking you to buy her cookies. But, while the girls themselves keep on average approximately 15% of the purchase price, the local councils - that introduce girls to a pro-abortion worldview-keep the lion's share of the profit from cookie sales.

ALL hopes that the cookie boycott will raise awareness with parents and grandparents that Girl Scouts is no longer the organization they grew up with and once trusted. When that Girl Scout comes to your door or you see her in front of the local grocery store or in the mall, check to see if there is an adult present. If there is, you may want to give the adult this flier that explains why you cannot buy the cookies.

There are more wholesome ways (and safer ways) to spend your hard-earned cookie money.

Rep. Chris Smith: Abortion is a “Violation of Fundamental Human Rights”

       

This January, Americans remembered the tragic Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, and how it radically changed America through legalization of abortion on-demand. In anticipation of the anniversary, pro-life members of Congress gathered to make short statements regarding the ruling and its injustice towards both women, and pre-born American children. Below are a few of the statements with excerpts; the full collection of 22 incredible statements can be found here. We’ll highlight several in the coming days.

continue reading at http://liveactionnews.org