Saturday, May 31, 2008

From California Catholic Daily

"The only publicly pro-life pharmacy in the state"

California druggist observes first anniversary of refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control, morning-after pill


"We will celebrate on June 1st, 2008, our first year of conflict-free pharmacy," said Brent Watson, RPh., pharmacy director and owner of Central Coast Pharmacy Specialists, a compounding-only pharmacy in Templeton, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco in San Luis Obispo County.

Watson defied big drug and insurance companies last year when the druggist announced his pharmacy would no longer take insurance or sell branded medications such as birth control pills and the morning-after pill.

"It's not good medicine," said Watson.

Read this story here: CCD

Friday, May 30, 2008

Habitat for Humanity in Florida Still Considering Helping Abortion Business

by Steven Ertelt

LifeNews.com Editor

Sarasota, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A local Habitat for Humanity chapter accused of helping a Florida-based Planned Parenthood overcome a hurdle to building a new abortion business is still considering its decision. It appears the massive amount of calls and emails is helping, but some of them have been counterproductive.

Planned Parenthood has been looking to build a new abortion facility in the Rosemary District north of downtown Sarasota, Florida.

Read the rest here: http://www.lifenews.com/state3273b.html

FROM PRIESTS FOR LIFE:

Release of Court Documents Heightens Call for Investigation of Planned Parenthood Says Dr. Alveda King

ATLANTA, May 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- Documents released in a Kansas court case, which include what a judge called "evidence of crimes" by Planned Parenthood, require an immediate Congressional investigation of the abortion organization said Dr. Alveda King today.

"It appears from released copies of Planned Parenthood records that the organization performed abortions in violation of Kansas law and that it may have manufactured documents to cover its actions," said Dr. King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "These revelations are incriminating, but not surprising."

"This year alone, it's been revealed that Planned Parenthood is willing to accept donations to abort only black babies, that it's being sued for over billing taxpayers in California, and that it may have violated state laws protecting minors from sexual predators. And while all this is happening, Congress is giving Planned Parenthood hundreds of millions of dollars a year," added Dr. King. "Enough is enough; not only should Planned Parenthood not get another penny from the government, it should be investigated by Congress."

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro- life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

AMERICA'S LIFELINE RADIO ALERT


May 30, 2008

This Saturday on America's Lifeline!

Don't forget to tune into America's Lifeline on Talk Radio 860 WGUL this Saturday, May 31st at 3pm, ET. America's Lifeline is also streamed worldwide via the internet at Talk Radio 860 WGUL. For those outside the Tampa area, simply log onto terrisfight.org and click on the 860 TALK RADIO LOGO button.

Not yet availableThis Saturday our special guest will be 25 year-old and Traumatic Brain Injury survivor Brenden Flynn, and his mother, Mary Jo Flynn, an RN for 22 years.

We had Brenden on America's Lifeline just a few weeks ago; however, time constraints did not allow us to properly tell this young man's remarkable and inspiring story, so we asked him and his mother to come back.

They will both talk about how doctors said that Brenden had no chance of having any meaningful recovery after a horrible car accident. Brenden, himself, will tell us all just how wrong the doctors were and how, if not for the love of his mother, he would not be here today.

So join us this Saturday at 3pm, ET on
Talk Radio 860 WGUL for America’s Lifeline!

America's Lifeline is hosted by Sheila Liaugminas, former Time magazine reporter and a previous host on the popular radio show The Right Questions and Issues and Answers on Relevant Radio. The program will be co-hosted by Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Vitadamo, directors of Terri's Foundation and brother and sister of Terri Schiavo.

Remember, we will be taking your phone calls live on the air! So call 877-969-8600.

Will you help? Click on the icon to make a donation to Terri’s Foundation. Thank you!




Advertising/Sponsorship Inquiry

Because of streaming audio accessibility, America's Lifeline radio program can reach countless people each month. Terri's Foundation can help your company or organization reach these listeners of America's Lifeline across the country.

We offer competitively priced advertising packages that help you get the word out about your company's products or services. This includes information if you are interested in becoming a sponsor of America's Lifeline.

For more information on advertising or sponsorship opportunities, please email us today at
info@terrisfight.org or call (727) 490-7603.

Over 700 Couples to Support Life Time Commitments to Marriage


ROME, May 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- The 40th Anniversary International convention of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, to be held June 27-29, 2008, at the Ontario (CA) Convention Center will be open to accredited news media. On Saturday, June 28, at 12:30 pm over 700 couples will sign a Forever Yours proclamation supporting a life time commitment to their traditional marriages of a man and a woman. A very large gathering of all the couples outside the Ontario Convention Center to voice their support for the proclamation will be staged between 12:30 and 1 pm. (Photo opportunity - still and video).

Media wishing to attend all or part of the convention should contact Dick & Diane Baumbach 321-544- 3440 email dickanddiane66@bellsouth.net , Tom & Katie Watson 303-503-9756, email: planmark@comcast.net or Silvio &Tricia Puccio (858) 705-2105 email: s.puccio@cox.net to receive credentials for any portion of the three day event.

The convention begins on Friday with a Priest Day with hundreds of priests from around the world expected to attend along with couples with whom they are in leadership relationships. Friday evening the actual convention begins. On Saturday there will be programs throughout the day and evening, along with separate and special programs for children. The Sunday program will include a closing Mass to be celebrated by a very large number of con-celebrant priests.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends start on a Friday evening and end on Sunday afternoon. Participants hear presentations by a couple and a priest and later write their thoughts and feelings to share in the privacy of their room. There is no group discussion. Weekends are held in various locations, including hotels and retreat centers.

There is a cost for the weekend, but in the 40 year history of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, no couple has ever been turned away from attending a weekend because of lack of money.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter is a non-profit organization and all donations from the weekend are used to continue offering additional weekends throughout the country and the world.

Married couples who want to learn more about making their "good marriages, better" can find Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends that are presented all over the United States.

The Marriage Chaos Begins


WASHINGTON, May 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- New York Governor David Paterson released a memo to state agencies arbitrarily and unilaterally instructing them to recognize "same-sex marriages" performed in other states and other countries in which they are considered legal. Recently, the California Supreme Court overruled a voter-approved statute protecting marriage, essentially opening the floodgates against marriage as between one man and one woman.

Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues with Concerned Women for America (CWA), said, "The Marriage Chaos has begun. On the wings of supreme judicial activism in California, we're entering into an era of lawlessness and elitist rule, by the very few over the many, the likes of which we've rarely seen in this nation. The people must take back this great Democratic-Republic.

"First, every state in the union must pass a constitutional amendment protecting the sanctity of marriage as between one man and one woman. Second, steps must be taken to pass a federal constitutional marriage amendment protecting same. And third, those who love liberty in both California and New York should immediately mobilize and vote against the retention of the four renegade Supreme Court judges in California and impeach New York Governor David Paterson respectively.

"'We the people' are not left without recourse. Politicians and judicial activists across the country need to be reined in and made to understand that they will not be allowed to disregard the will of the people and the rule of law and create newfangled 'constitutional rights' out of thin-air," concluded Barber.

Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.

Abortion: the silence of life


VATICAN - WORDS OF DOCTRINE by Rev. Nicola Bux and Rev Salvatore Vitiello -

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - This year 2008, is the fortieth anniversary, only a few days ago to be exact, of the approval of the famous Law 194 which de-penalized abortion in Italy. An anniversary on which there is little to celebrate. Direct abortion, whatever the case, is always suppression of life. A fragile, defenseless life in need of care and protection is suppressed by those who are expected most effectively to defend it.
To de-penalize an action means to lift the legal punishment it deserves. On no account does it mean recognition of that act as something legitimate or good. From this point of view a high level philosophical and juridical debate as to whether or not the law has the power to declare an intrinsically evil action, 'de-penalized' would be interesting.
Abortion will always be evil. An existential drama for millions of women who are never, not even after decades, completely healed of the trauma of ending a human life. Because to end a life, especially a life which is growing inside one's own womb, is contrary to nature. A destructive act against the life of 'another' and against one's own life, psychological balance, and moral and spiritual existence.
With Law 194, too often society has saddled women with the grave burden of abortion. As often happens in certain ideological and feminist circles, in actual fact conservative themselves, on the grounds that the woman is being left totally free to decide about herself and about her body, (remember the slogan: "this is my body, and I manage it "), in actual fact she is being left totally alone.
If it is obvious that on no account can the life growing in the mother's womb be considered "part of the mother's body", this is amply demonstrated by modern genetic science which, never more than in the case of abortion, has reached a point in recent years where it can potentially confirm the classical thesis on life and the genetic irreducibility of the embryo. The latter has its own genetic code and is therefore another person, different from both mother and father. A person, whom no one may take the liberty of killing.
If we refuse with conviction any sort of drift in government ethics, with equal realism it is necessary to recognize the limits of government power, which cannot go against reality and justice, not even when it is democratically supported, and, at the same time, it is necessary to assess with great prudence the "pedagogical effects" of this law, which can determine first and foremost a mentality and successive behavior. The point of departure is not the revision of Law 194, but a re-thinking of it would be a point of arrival, unless there exists some "legislative dogma" of which we know nothing.
What is truly urgent then, is the education of a people, a united and convinced response from all of society's best forces which must go back once again to educating and in this perspective, to educating to life. In a devastating prophecy, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta warned that the world will never be rid of wars long as abortion is practiced. If this is really the only way to stop wars, what better opportunity for all the pacifists to demonstrate their love of peace?

(Agenzia Fides 29/5/2008)

3 EUTHANASIA STORIES: IT'S GETTING CLOSER THAN YOU THINK!

Woman's Waking After Brain Death Raises Many Questions About Organ Donation

Had no detectable brain waves for more than 17 hours

By Hilary White

CHARLESTON, West Virginia, (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Virginia family was shocked but relieved when their mother, Val Thomas, woke up after doctors said she was dead. 59 year-old Mrs. Thomas, while being kept breathing artificially, had no detectable brain waves for more than 17 hours. The family were discussing organ donation options for their mother when she suddenly woke up and started speaking to nurses. Ethicists have strongly criticised developments in organ donation criteria that would have made Mrs. Thomas a candidate for having her organs removed before she woke up.

At 1:30 am Saturday May 17, Mrs. Thomas' heart had stopped beating and she had no pulse when the family called paramedics. She was without a heartbeat or oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes before being put on a ventilator and transported to a Charleston, West Virginia hospital.

An attempt was made to lower her body temperature but her heart stopped three times causing doctors to estimate that her chance of survival was less than 10 per cent. The ventilator was kept running for nearly 18 hours and rigor mortis had set in while Mrs. Thomas' family considered organ donation. The decision was taken to discontinue life support but ten minutes into the process, Mrs. Thomas moved her arm and began speaking to nurses.

Mrs. Thomas is being examined in a clinic in Cleveland to investigate her heart problems.

Physicians, bioethicists and governments continue to debate the issue of brain death criteria for purposes of organ transplants and determining the exact moment of death has been a source of contention since organ transplants became common. Controversy continues to swirl around the issue as patients in apparently hopeless comatose conditions continue to confound doctors' expectations and awaken.

The problem is time and the rapid deterioration of most vital organs after the cessation of heart function. After death, corneas and bone marrow can still be used but soft vital organs such as the heart, lungs, pancreas and kidneys rapidly deteriorate and are unusable within a few hours. Traditional medical ethicists contend that soft and easily damaged organs such as the heart are impossible to obtain morally since they deteriorate more quickly and must be removed when a patient's condition is still disputed. 

One of the most recent and contentious developments is the concept of "non-heart beating organ donation" (NHBD) in which organs are removed from a body as little as five minutes after the cessation of the heart function. In a facility where such criteria are followed, had other factors been favourable and given her lack of brain function, Mrs. Thomas might have been pronounced dead and been a candidate for removal of organs as soon as she arrived at the hospital.

The procedure is also known as donation after cardiac death (DCD), and typically involves a person who requires a ventilator and, while having measurable brain function, is determined to have no hope of recovery. After this judgement is made, doctors remove ventilation from the patient and wait for the heart to stop beating. If the heart stops for five minutes, death is pronounced and the organs are harvested by another surgical team.

The definition of "brain death" also remains controversial, but DCD is even more contested since the method leaves little time for ethical considerations. With "brain death" organs can be harvested at leisure since machines keep air flowing into the lungs and blood circulating; with DCD the stoppage of the heart necessitates very quick harvesting as organs deteriorate without blood flow.

Doctor John B. Shea, medical advisor to Canada's Campaign Life Coalition told LifeSiteNews.com that DCD does represent a potential threat to comatose patients.

Donors for DCD are chosen, he said, not because they are dead, but because their organs are particularly desirable for transplant. Dr. Shea said in a 2006 interview, "The typical scenario for such organ harvesting is a young person between the age of 5-55 who is in good health, is in intensive care due to an automobile accident and is on a ventilator.  The doctor makes an arbitrary decision that treatment is futile."

"Those donors are known not to be brain dead but are usually first in a coma and the doctor decides treatment is futile."

See dramatic YouTube video of news report on Thomas's return from brain death
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=zbaiC9N6bGU&feature=user

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Controversial Organ Donation Method Begins in Canada - Organs Extracted 5 Minutes after Heart Stops
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062707.html

Organ Transplant Doctor Investigated in Non-Heart Beating Donation Case
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07030903.html

Assisted Suicide Bill Passes California Assembly

Democrats voted for the bill, Rebublicans voted against it

By Tim Waggoner

SACRAMENTO, (LifeSiteNews.com) - An assisted-suicide bill that allows doctors and nurses to suggest death by unconscious dehydration has barely passed the California State Assembly.

AB 2747 would authorize total sedation without nutrition and hydration for depressed and confused patients, whether or not their natural death was imminent. The bill would also allow family members to order the death of a mentally disabled person when a nurse opines they have less than a year to live, similar to Terry Schindler Schiavo's death at the hands of her husband.

AB 2747 passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly Wednesday afternoon on a 40-32 vote, a one-vote margin of victory in the 80-member lower house. The vote was virtually party line, Democrats for, Republicans against. AB 2747 is authored by the same Democrats who unsuccessfully carried physician-assisted suicide bills for the last three years.

"This deceptive bill will cause death and shorten life, despite its claims," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, a leading California-based pro-life, pro-family organization. "Drying up and shriveling to death through dehydration is a fate worse than lethal injection. By transforming palliative sedation into a vehicle for assisted suicide, AB 2747 would transform doctors and nurses from healers and comforters into killers like Dr. Jack Kevorkian."

AB 2747 would allow a doctor or a nurse to opine that a patient has "less than one year to live," and then ask depressed patients if they would like to be totally sedated into unconsciousness. Total sedation is usually an irreversible procedure that does not include nutrition and hydration. If patients or decision-making family members fall prey to suggestions of total sedation, death from dehydration will usually occur within five days.

This is the fourth time that the assisted suicide bill has been pushed by Assembly Democrats Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine. But this year, instead of proposing to have doctors administer lethal injections, AB 2747 aims to produce death by sedation abuse, a clear violation of life-affirming medical ethics. Until now, total sedation has been used only when death was imminent - within hours or days - and when strong pain medication was not enough. Medical ethics require that food and water (nutrition and hydration) not be removed when sleep-inducing drugs are used, since doing so would cause unnatural, as opposed to natural, death. Yet AB 2747 pushes total sedation even if patients have not rejected food and water.

"Just as the assisted-suicide bills of the last three years have been rejected, so should the California Legislature reject AB 2747," said Thomasson. "Assisted suicide by total sedation ignores the sanctity of human life and violates life-affirming medical ethics. People who are ill need support, spiritual care, and counseling if they're depressed. But AB 2747 would ensure the death of innocent Californians at the hands of an increasingly unscrupulous insurance industry that regards people cheaper dead than alive."

Dr. Howard M. Ducharme is past chair of the philosophy department at the University of Akron. On January 24, 2002, Dr. Ducharme participated in "The Debate over Total/Terminal/Palliative Sedation," sponsored by The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (http://www.cbhd.org/resources/endoflife/kingsbury-ducharme_2...), where he detailed how total sedation prematurely kills people:

Total sedation (TS) -- called by some "terminal sedation," "palliative sedation," or "slow euthanasia" -- is a protocol recently added to the lexicon of contemporary medical interventions and is a construct actively promulgated by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). It is defined as "the application of pharmacotherapy to induce a state of decreased or absent awareness (unconsciousness) in order to relieve the burden of otherwise intractable suffering." With only this much said, there may seem to be no ethical objection to TS -- a patient who is terminally ill, imminently dying, and suffering overwhelming physical pain may simply request temporary TS to get some sleep today with the hope that the pain will be endurable tomorrow. However, any quick acceptance of TS would be ill-advised because of the many "devils in the details."

TS is not limited to patients with terminal illness who are imminently dying. The NHPCO's policy explains that TS can be used "in the last day or two of life," but it can also be used "at multiple points" in a "patient's trajectory toward death," when the patient is not imminently dying. Thus, TS is not limited by standard clinical criteria as put forth in the AMA's policy on forgoing life-sustaining treatment (FLST) -- i.e., that the patient be terminally ill and imminently dying.

TS protocol allows that the sedation may be "partial or complete," and that it can be initiated as a temporary and reversible sedation. There is no problem with this application of sedation; however, TS policy does not limit the time frame, or require reversibility, of sedation. Though the NHPCO states that "[TS] need not be considered irreversible," TS can be titrated to produce a "complete unresponsiveness of patients" with the "intent" to provide "deep sedation until death occurs, without concern for reversibility." When a permanent TS treatment is administered upon the patient's directive, it cannot be revoked; no totally unconscious patient will ever have the opportunity to reverse her directive, say, to look at the face of a loved one just one last time. By contrast, when a DNR order is in effect, it can be revoked by the patient at any time. Absolute final farewells must precede permanent TS -- just as in an act of euthanasia.

TS protocol also allows that any concomitant therapies may be added to the TS patient's protocol, each "based on their own merits." Thus, a terminally ill patient (e.g., an HIV+ or early-stage ALS patient) who is not imminently dying can be given TS concomitant with a decision to forego (withhold or withdraw) life-sustaining treatment (FLST). When the patient's life does depend upon the continuation of life-sustaining treatment, the cause of his death may be ambiguous. Would the immediate cause be regarded as FLST and not at all dependent upon the active interventions of TS policy? What if such a patient refuses to forego life-sustaining treatment without first undergoing TS? In such a scenario, TS is necessarily implicated in the immediate cause of the death of the patient. Such a context carries TS into the frontiers of euthanasia. Furthermore, TS plus concomitant patient decisions can place TS squarely in the arena of euthanasia, e.g., when a TS patient elects to have her organs harvested per the Non-Heart-Beating Cadaver Donor Protocol. Here the result is an act, elsewhere argued, of "thrift-euthanasia."

Another troubling aspect of TS is that strict respect for patient autonomy is compromised on several fronts.

According to the NHPCO, "When patients do not have [autonomous] capacity, their designated decision-makers may make the decision on their behalf." This element of TS policy dissolves two fundamental boundaries set up to protect patients. When irreversible TS is deemed appropriate by family members (third-party, outside observers) of a non-competent patient, TS is then administered as non-voluntary or involuntary TS -- on a parallel with non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia. Additionally, TS decisions made by substituted decision-makers will not be based on first-hand descriptions of the level of suffering experienced by the patient. Rather, they will be mere inferences based on observations and value-laden evaluations of onlookers -- who may have low pain thresholds and/or high sensitivity to the perceived suffering of others. Family members may (or may not) have the best of intentions, but they are nonetheless incapable of knowing for certain whether or not the patient has crossed over from tolerable to intolerable distress, the supposed symptom required for TS.

The ugly reality is that irreversible TS may too often be treatment given to a patient for the comfort of the family.

If the patient does want to die, then TS will be readily accepted. If she does not want to die, then simply being approached to consider TS will communicate to her that she must be a burden on others and/or that her life just cannot be worth living any longer. Such reflections by the patient may be exactly enough to shift an individual's suffering from bearable to unbearable.

The psychological distress added to the patient's life by others initiating this conversation may be the existential push that takes them over the TS cliff. Furthermore, when TS becomes hospice and hospital policy, it will be incumbent on the agency to inform all patients of their TS options at admission. Therefore TS policy adds significantly to the so-called "culture of death" mentality already inundating society.

Lastly, given the details unpacked above, a health care team can initiate the discussion of TS of an incompetent patient with family members and carry it out all without any patient involvement. This is a dire and shadowy way to end the lives of others via paternalistic, non-voluntary, existential euthanasia.


Belgian Legislators Seek to Legalize Euthanasia for the Unconscious and Children

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

BRUSSELS, (LifeSiteNews.com) - A group of legislators in Belgium is seeking to expand the practice of euthanasia  to include those who are unconscious, as well as minors, according to a recent article in the Spanish newspaper Hoy.

The initiative, spearheaded by former Senator Jean-Jacques de Gucht, was originally launched in 2004 and failed, the article states. 

The new proposed legislation will allow people to create a type of "living will" that will allow doctors to euthanize them if they are unconscious and unable to give consent. 

While euthanasia has been legal in Belgium 2002, the existing law has prohibited the practice under the above-mentioned circumstances.

Doctors who refuse to kill their patients under the law will be required to refer them to a doctor who is willing to do it, reports Hoy.

Related LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Euthanasia Rates Escalating: Kills One a Day in Belgium, Five a Day in Netherlands
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05042202.html

250 Belgian Pharmacies Offer Euthanasia Kits
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05042809.html

BELGIUM LEGALISES EUTHANASIA
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/may/02051704.html

Thursday, May 29, 2008

HLI Humanae Vitae Priests: The 'Blind Dogmatists' of the Condom Scam





 
    Humanae Vitae Priests
  Human Life International e-Newsletter
for Priests, Deacons, and Seminarians

Volume 01, Number 12 | Thursday, May 29, 2008
  ................................................................................
 
  The 'Blind Dogmatists' of the Condom Scam
By Brian Clowes, PhD

Elites, pundits and celebrities frequently cite the Catholic Church as responsible for the spread of AIDS in Africa by her refusal to support condom use as a solution. In fact, condoms help spread AIDS. Humanae Vitae Priests asked Brian Clowes, PhD, HLI's Director of Research, to address this from his exhaustive research on the topic.
- John Mallon, Project Director, Humanae Vitae Priests.

Among my rather eclectic circle of friends are a handful of street preachers who are regularly abused, ridiculed and threatened by those they try to reach. The preachers lament that people just don't seem to respect the Christian faith any more.

I tell them "It might not make you feel any better, but they don't respect pure science either."

Nowhere is this blindness more apparent than in the frenetic efforts to slow or halt the African AIDS epidemic with condoms. When the Catholic Church attempts to teach and preach about the only realistic solution to this crisis - abstinence and faithfulness - it is mocked and attacked as "blind" and "dogmatic" by the very people who are making a lot of money from distributing billions of condoms.

For example, Peter Piot, head of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said that, "When priests preach against using contraception, they are committing a serious mistake which is costing human lives." The Guardian's Polly Toynbee backed him up, claiming that, "In countries where 50% are infected, millions of very young AIDS orphans are today's immediate victims of the curia."

AIDS really began to take hold in the Sub-Sahara in the early 1990s. In response, a vast legion of international population control groups, led by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Bank, and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) began to distribute literally tons of condoms in the region. Although pro-lifers vociferously disagreed with their methods and their morality, we at least conceded that their motives were good.

But now we have ample reason to question their motivations as well.

Anyone who has traveled in Africa over the past decade has seen the ubiquitous condom billboards leering at them from every direction. Stone walls near sports fields, schools and anywhere else people congregate are plastered with pro-condom messages. The population controllers even sport condom advertisements painted on their vehicles or on their wheel covers. In the larger cities, public condom demonstrations and giveaways are everywhere.

All of these advertisements and activities have one thing in common. They all claim that using condoms will make you "safe," and none of them mention that condoms fail very often indeed.

The "family planner's bible," Contraceptive Technology, (CT) provides the most critical piece of information that shows how condoms actually promote the spread of AIDS. According to a summary of fifteen studies using more than 25,000 condoms, CT found that they broke 4.63 percent of the time and slipped off 3.40 percent of the time, for a total of 8.03 percent.

This means that, if a person uses a condom only ten times, he has a 57 percent chance of having at least one failure. After fifty uses, he has a 99 percent chance of having at least one failure and a 39% chance of having at least five failures. If he uses 100 condoms, a typical amount in one year, he will have at least one failure and has a 91 percent chance of having at least five failures.

The distribution of Catholics and Muslims in Africa provides further proof of the condom's inability to stop AIDS. In African countries with a high percentage of Catholics and Muslims, who generally do not use condoms, the adult HIV infection rate is very low. In nations with low percentages of Catholics and Muslims, the adult HIV infection rates are high.

In the five African countries with the most Catholics and Muslims (averaging 99% of the populations), the average current adult HIV infection rate is only 0.09 percent, or about one in 1,100 adults.

In the five African countries with the least Catholics and Muslims (averaging only 10% of the populations), the average current adult HIV infection rate is a staggering 16.20 percent, or one in six, a rate 180 times higher.

The Ugandan example has proven that the key to stopping AIDS is not a failure-prone, less-than-paper thin layer of latex, but modifying human sexual behavior. Uganda's emphasis on abstinence and faithfulness has led to its adult HIV infection rate plunging from nearly one in four in the early 1990s to about six percent now, with countries pushing condoms continuing to see a rise in infection rates.

Yet, despite the clear evidence, the population controllers are still doing everything they can do defund abstinence programs and ramp up condom distribution.

Who are the true "blind dogmatists" here?

 


 

Copyright 2008 - Human Life International
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

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Fr. Tom Euteneuer: Brazil's Pro-Life Movement Stops Abortion Legalization

 
  Spirit & Life®
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 03, Number 22 | Friday, May 30, 2008
..................................................................................
This week's guest columnist is Mrs. Magaly Llaguno, the Executive Director of Human Life International's Hispanic Division and a prolific author. She has worked for HLI for more than 25 years and has been instrumental in helping to "plant" the pro-life movement in virtually every part of Latin America.

Brazil's Pro-Life Movement Stops Abortion Legalization

With great joy we received the news at Vida Humana Internacional, HLI's Hispanic Division in Miami, that a piece of legislation (bill 1135/91) which would have legalized abortion on demand throughout Brazil, did not make it out of the Safety and Family Commission. This pro-life triumph was possible thanks to the very excellent pro-life movement that exists in Brazil and in particular to the efforts of Dr. Humberto Vieira, HLI's national representative in that country. Dr. Vieira, who is founder and president of Providafamilia, has been involved with HLI for over 18 years. He has managed to create a magnificent pro-life network throughout Brazil that is well-organized and united.

The vote that stopped abortion legalization was a unanimous 33 to 0. The four pro-abortion legislators on the Commission left the session at the time of the vote, but two of them were substituted by other legislators who in turn voted for life! According to pro-life leaders, many parliamentarians were crying, embracing each other and rejoicing over this triumph. Now the bill will be voted on in the Commission of Constitution and Justice, where victory is expected. However, we ask for prayers for the ultimate defeat of this bill.

The strategy devised by Dr.Vieira and his great team was two-fold: One group lobbied the legislators and another one worked with the electoral grassroots of the parliamentarians. It was an historic vote for Brazil and the pro-aborts were surprised and in disarray! Dr. Maria das Dores Guimarães Dolly, a pro-life attorney from Sao Paolo, traveled to Brasilia every week to lobby the legislators. Needless to say, the support of the Brazilian Bishops Conference and of many of the individual bishops themselves was crucial. Brazil's bishops have recently embarked on a pro-life educational campaign that will reach out to all parishes throughout the entire country.

Representatives Jose Aristodemo Pinotti and Cida Diogo initially said they would vote in favor of the abortion law but withdrew before the vote was taken. Pinotti is a medical doctor, and in the 70's he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rockefellers' Population Council, an organization that is behind population control efforts throughout the world.[1] In the letter he wrote to a Brazilian pro-life leader, dated May 14, 2008, Pinotti claimed to be "against abortion" and only in favor of its "regulation." Yet according to his curriculum vitae on the website of the Brazilian Chapter of the Jewish Medical Association, he is (or has been) a member of the board of directors of the International Projects Assistance Services (IPAS). IPAS is an American company based in Chapel Hill, NC that manufactures abortion equipment and promotes its legalization. [2] Pinotti is also a past president of the terrible abortion promoting organization called the "International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics" (FIGO, 1988-1991); Pinotti presided over its XII World Congress in 1988.

It would seem that there are some foreign anti-life organizations behind the efforts to legalize abortion in Brazil as is the case in other Hispanic countries. The main example of this type of international pressure is Nicaragua, where abortion was outlawed in 2006 and yet those pressures still continue. Nevertheless, in spite of whatever anti-life organizations and foundations may be behind the effort to legalize abortion in Brazil, the pro-life movement of that country is now a huge force to contend with.

 





Human Life Amendment Signatures Certified

Historic Amendment Officially on November's Ballot

DENVER, May 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- For the first time in US history, the issue of personhood will be decided in the public forum by a constitutional amendment. Colorado for Equal Rights has been notified by the Colorado Secretary of State's Office that enough valid signatures were submitted to put the Every Human is a Person amendment on the November 2008 ballot. The Secretary of State's Office's random sampling indicated that there were 103,377 valid signatures, surpassing the 76,047 valid signatures that were required.

"The people of Colorado have spoken, the Secretary of State's Office has certified our signatures, and our equal rights amendment will be on November's ballot," stated Kristi Burton, initiative sponsor. "All humans should be protected by love and by law, and this amendment is a historic effort to ensure equal rights for every person."

Colorado for Equal Rights has demonstrated an unparalleled grassroots effort thus far, with likely more volunteer circulators than any other ballot initiative in the State's history. The grassroots initiative had over 1,300 volunteer petition circulators.

"We at Colorado for Equal Rights are incredibly thankful for our many volunteers who worked so hard for each signature we delivered to the Secretary of State's Office and the churches who stood behind us and supported us," Burton continued. "This victory is the voice of the people and all credit goes our Creator"

Colorado for Equal Rights is a statewide grassroots organization of concerned citizens who value human life. Colorado for Equal Rights is sponsoring the Human Life Amendment to the Colorado constitution, stating "(t)he term 'Person' or 'Persons' shall include any human from the time of fertilization."

For more information, please contact Kristi Burton at 719-661-8827 or via e-mail at kristiburton@gmail.com. www.Personhoodcolorado.com

THE SIN OF ABORTION:

Here is an interesting post regarding the effects of abortion upon our world by my friend Mark Mallett. His insights are startling!

China Rising

ONCE again, I hear a warning in my heart regarding China and the West. I have felt compelled to watch this nation carefully for two years now. We have seen it plagued with one natural disaster after another and one man-made disaster after the next (while its army continues to build.) The result has been the displacement of tens of millions of people—and that was before this month’s earthquake.

Now, dozens of China’s dams are on the verge of bursting. The warning I hear is this:

Your land will be given to another’s if there is not repentance for the sin of abortion.

An American mystic, who was dead for many hours and then called to life again by our Mother into a powerful ministry, recounted to me personally a vision in which he saw "boatloads of Asian people" coming to American shores.

Our Lady of All Nations, in an alleged apparition to Ida Peerdeman said,

"I will set my foot down in the midst of the world and show you: that is America, " and then, [Our Lady] immediately points to another part, saying, "Manchuria—there will be tremendous insurrections." I see Chinese marching, and a line which they are crossing. —Twenty Fifth Apparition, 10th December, 1950; The Messages of The Lady of All Nations, pg. 35. (Devotion to Our Lady of All Nations has been ecclesiastically approved.)

I repeat again the warning which I brought to Canada’s capital two years ago. If we continue to ignore the daily murder of our unborn in Canadian hospitals and abortuaries, and destroy the sanctity of marriage, the freedom we enjoy will abruptly come to an end. (As I write this, Pro-Life billboards are being ruled objectionable by Advertising Standards Canada, and the Canadian Federation of Students voted to support a ban of Pro-Life groups on university campuses.) How can we expect God’s protection when we ignore His laws and especially ignore this time of grace to repent? How can we claim innocence when 3D ultrasounds show us distinctly the person in the womb? When science finds that at 11 weeks or earlier, unborn babies feel the pain of an abortion? When we are fighting to save premature babies on one wing of the hospital, and killing the same-aged child on another? It is brutal! It is hypocritical! It is unbelievable! And its consequences may soon be irreversible.

Suddenly there shall come upon you ruin which you will not expect. (Isa 47:11)

Health care and the economy are not the issues of most importance, dear politicians, but the shedding of innocent blood in our neighbourhoods, the holocaust in our hospitals—blood which is also our future!

If the messages I send you these days seem severe, it must be because we are drawing very close to decisive days. Let us not fail to pray for our countries, to pray for conversions, to pray for our leaders and those who interpret the law, and beg God for His Mercy which is ready to pour out like an ocean.

We need to pray also for the Chinese people, especially the many Christians who suffer there. (Communist Party of China officials admit (unofficially) that there may be as many as 80 to 100 million Christians in China, the vast majority of these in underground churches….nearly 10% of their population.) Perhaps this terribly difficult time will also be an opportunity for the Gospel to bring hope to the hurting and conversion to leaders.

Look over the nations and see, and be utterly amazed! For a work is being done in your days that you would not have believed, were it told. For see, I am raising up Chaldea, that bitter and unruly people, that marches the breadth of the land to take dwellings not his own. Terrible and dreadful is he, from himself derive his law and his majesty. Swifter than leopards are his horses, and keener than wolves at evening. His horses prance, his horsemen come from afar: they fly like the eagle hastening to devour; each comes for the rapine, their combined onset is that of a stormwind that heaps up captives like sand. (Habakkuk 1:5)

The fruit of abortion is nuclear war. —Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

FURTHER READING:

Nurses Reject pro-abort Union!

Just say no

Nurses at Catholic hospital in Fresno reject representation by pro-abortion nurses’ union


Nurses at St. Agnes Medical Center, a Catholic hospital in Fresno, have voted against allowing the California Nurses Association to represent them.

Of the 792 ballots cast in the two-day election, held May 21-22, 452 registered nurses at St. Agnes voted against CNA representation, while 327 voted yes. Thirteen ballots were contested. The total of 792 ballots cast represents a 94% turnout among the 844 registered nurses at St. Agnes Medical Center. The election was supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.

Read this article here: California Catholic Daily


Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty Vetoes Human Cloning, Embryo Destruction Bill

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor

St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty has vetoed the Kahn-Cohen Cloning Bill, which would have legalized human cloning and forced taxpayers to pay for the destruction of human life. Because the legislative session has ended, there is no opportunity for lawmakers to override the veto.

Pro-life advocates strongly opposed the legislation, SF 100, because it funds human cloning and the killing of human embryos at the University of Minnesota.

Read this report here: http://www.lifenews.com/bio2459.html

An iron will to live


iron lung.jpgIt's all in the attitude. Every life has merit and is worth living. We mourn the loss of this fighter and express appreciation for her loving family. From the Associated Press, May 28:

Memphis, TN - A woman who spent nearly 60 years of her life in an iron lung after being diagnosed with polio as a child died Wednesday after a power failure shut down the machine that kept her breathing, her family said....


Read this story here: http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2008/05/an_iron_will_to.html

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Planned Parenthood Sued for $50 Million for Injuring Teen in Failed Abortion

by Steven Ertelt

LifeNews.com Editor
May 28
, 2008

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A Planned Parenthood in the District of Columbia is the subject of a new lawsuit from the mother of a teenager injured in a botched abortion. The abortion involved a teenager who was a victim of rape and the abortion left her with significant medical problems.

Read the rest here: http://www.lifenews.com/state3269.html

McCain's and Obama's Reaction to an Unexpected Child

SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser Available for Comment on 'Two Ways of Seeing Babies'

WASHINGTON, May 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser published a commentary in this week's National Catholic Register that examines how Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL) react to unexpected children. Selected excerpts follow:

"An especially telling difference exists between Senators Obama and McCain. How each perceives and talks about unplanned children is extremely illuminating. McCain is living the joy of his real-life response to a 'surprise child.' Obama, missing the mystery and blessing, sees only a burden."

"I understand Obama's position because I once held it. I considered myself 'pro-choice' because I did not believe the surprise child had separate rights from my own. In that case, a surprise baby is an invading visitor, an unasked for imposition."

"No matter who you are, how smart or slow you are, how beautiful or plain you look, how much or little money you have, how healthy and physically fit you are - you are necessary. Your right to life is equal to all others'. Even when it's not obvious. Even when your existence requires another's sacrifice."

Full text of the piece is available on the SBA List website, www.sba-list.org.

SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser is available to discuss the impact of the Life issue on the Presidential race, the importance and influence of Values Voters, top Congressional races, women voters and the role of women in politics. For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Joy Yearout at (703) 875-3370 or by email at jyearout@sba-list.org.

The Susan B. Anthony List is a nationwide network of Americans, over 145,000 residing in all 50 states, dedicated to mobilizing, advancing, and representing pro-life women in politics. Its connected Candidate Fund increases the percentage of pro-life women in the political process.

FROM PRIESTS FOR LIFE:

Gov. Granholm Should Rise above Politics and Sign Partial-Birth Abortion Ban says National Priest Leader

STATEN ISLAND, Ny., May 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm should ignore abortion industry extremists and sign the partial-birth abortion ban passed by the Michigan legislature Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, said today.

"There has been a longstanding dispute over Governor Granholm's conflicting claims to be Catholic and also supportive of the 'right to choose' abortion," Fr. Pavone said. "If she vetoes this bill, that dispute will only intensify. But signing it is no imposition of Catholic doctrine. It's just that the Catholic Church teaches that its members aren't allowed to tolerate child-killing. It's not so much about Catholic doctrine as it is about human decency."

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro- life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

China's One Child Policy

RIGHTS ACTIVISTS IGNORE CHINA'S ONE-BIRTH POLICY

By Maggie Gallagher

Death tolls from the Chinese quake now top 65,000. Hollywood's Sharon Stone wonders aloud whether "karma" explains the tragedy because (she said) the Chinese are "not nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine."

Amnesty International reports hopes are fading that the Beijing Olympics may lead China to reform, warning in an April report: "It is increasingly clear that much of the current wave of repression is occurring not IN SPITE OF the Olympics, but actually BECAUSE OF the Olympics."

But to me the most shocking reminder of how horrifying the Chinese government remains lies latent in this week's headlines: "One-Child Policy Has Exceptions After China Quake," as the Associated Press wrote.

Families with only one child killed in the earthquake "can obtain a certificate to have another child, the Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee in the capital of hard-hit Sichuan province said."

The government will give you a certificate so you can have another child? How big of them.

Read  the rest of this article here: MAGGIE GALLAGHER

KS Governor's Office Covers up Secret Party Honoring Abortionist Tiller


Photos show Gov. Sebelius recognizing Tiller's political support

WICHITA, Kansas, May 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- While under investigation by the Attorney General's office and amid increasing calls for criminal charges by the Kansas Legislature, late- term abortionist George R. Tiller and his entire abortion clinic staff was honored by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius at a lavish secret party held at Cedar Crest, the Governor's mansion in early April, 2007.

Operation Rescue was the first to uncover evidence of this event, which was mentioned in Robert Novak's Washington Post column on Monday. OR obtained a set of 27 photographs from a confidential source that told OR the party was held exclusively in Tiller's honor. Tiller and his staff were the only guests invited to the gala event that featured, according to the source, a menu of steak and lobster.

A request for information made under the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) concerning the cost and source of funding for this event was answered with scant information concerning four unrelated events held at Cedar Crest during March and April of 2007, but no mention of the Tiller soiree. The final photocopy of the documents seems to show a female giving the middle finger.

The Governor's Office is currently in violation of KORA laws regarding a second and more specific request for open records submitted by Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. Legal action is being considered.

"Is Gov. Sebelius illegally concealing a taxpayer-funded gala honoring Tiller?" asked Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "The public has a right to know."

Tiller is a major contributor to pro-abortion candidates in Kansas, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars through a complicated series of political action committees and non-profit organizations. Because of this hard-to-trace influx of cash, Democrats have risen to power in this conservative Red state, something that has drawn national attention to Sebelius' supposed political prowess.

"Sebelius' office arrogantly believes that they can keep her strong ties to Tiller a secret, but their efforts to keep the truth from the public have only exposed their corruption," said Newman. "Sebelius would not be governor today if not for Tiller's financial support. She owes him her career. Every agency in Kansas that could hold Tiller accountable for illegal late-term abortions, from the Board of Healing Arts to the Kansas Supreme Court to the Attorney General, are all laced with Sebelius appointees. It is little wonder that they all have done nothing but stall and obstruct efforts to prosecute him."

VIEW THE PHOTOS

About Operation Rescue
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation.  Operation Rescue recently made headlines when it bought and closed an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and has become the voice of the pro-life activist movement in America.  Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre-born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates.

Archbishop Naumann Defends His Call for Pro-Abortion Politicians to Refrain from Communion


"It is my intention . . . to have similar pastoral dialogues with other Catholics in elective office who support legalized abortion"

By Michael Baggot
KANSAS CITY, KS, May 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City on Friday published a question and answer explanation and defense of his May 9 public request to Governor Kathleen Sebelius to refrain from receiving Holy Communion until repenting of her political support for abortion. The Archbishop also confirmed plans to address other pro-abortion Catholic politicians.

"In this column, I want to provide you with my responses to some of the more common questions and misunderstandings regarding my pastoral action." wrote the Archbishop in the diocesan newspaper The Leaven.

"Governor Sebelius holds the highest elective office in the state of Kansas, making her the most prominent Catholic in public life," responded the archbishop to accusations of "singling out" Sebelius.

"It is a time-intensive process to enter into verbal and written dialogue, as is necessary, to insure a person is aware of the spiritual and moral consequences of their actions, as well as to understand the scandal their actions cause for others."

"It is my intention eventually, as much as the limitations of my own time permit, to have similar pastoral dialogues with other Catholics in elective office who support legalized abortion," added the Archbishop.

Naumann went on to explain why Sebelius' abortion support is particularly scandalous, i.e. capable of leading others to sin through bad example.

"Governor Sebelius' public support for legalized abortion, as a Catholic, naturally leads others to question the moral gravity of abortion. In effect, her actions and advocacy for legalized abortion, coupled with her reception of holy Communion, have said to other Catholics: 'I am a good Catholic and I support legalized abortion. You can be a good Catholic and support legalized abortion.'"

Sebelius is known as an aggressive supporter of radical abortion "rights" and has vetoed a number of pieces of common-sense legislation over the years that would have reigned in an out-of-control abortion industry in Kansas. As a result, abortion mills remain uninspected in spite of documented substandard conditions, and abortion laws meant to protect women and viable babies remain unenforced.

Sebelius has close ties to abortionist George R. Tiller, who has funneled huge amounts of campaign contributions to Sebelius in the past. Tiller currently faces 19 criminal charges, a grand jury investigation, and two open investigations with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts for criminal conduct and violations of the standard of care. Nevertheless, Sebelius remains supportive of Tiller and his notorious abortion business.

The Archbishop also refuted "pro-choice" rhetoric contending that a Catholic politician could be personally opposed to abortion while still supporting a woman's "right to choose."

"Freedom of choice is not an absolute value. All of our laws limit our choices. I am not free to drive while intoxicated or to take another's property or to assault someone else. My freedom ends when I infringe on the more basic rights of another."

Naumann also rejected accusations that bishops have been using the Eucharist in a political attack on the Democratic Party and approvingly cited the example of Cardinal Edward Egan's request for pro-abortion Republican Rudy Giuliani to refrain from Communion.

"I encourage Catholics who are Democrats to remain Democrats, but to change the extremist position of the party on abortion. If the majority of Catholic Democrats objected to the platform of the party supporting legalized abortion, it would change tomorrow," added the Archbishop.

While not yet requiring ministers of the Eucharist to deny Sebelius Holy Communion, the Archbishop left open the possibility of such a mandate in the future.

"I have, at this moment, not asked the ministers of the Eucharist not to give holy Communion to the governor."

In his letter titled "Worthiness to receive Holy Communion," then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that a Catholic politician who would vote for "permissive abortion and euthanasia laws" after being duly instructed and warned, "must" be denied Communion. Ratzinger's letter explained that if such a politician "with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it."

See the archbishop's full article on the issue:

Governor's Veto Prompts Pastoral Action
http://www.theleaven.com/columnists/archbishop_naumann.htm

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Archbishop Publicly Tells Pro-Abortion Kansas Governor Not to Receive Communion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051001.html

Bishop: Denying Communion to Obstinate Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians "in many cases becomes the right decision and the only choice"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07013109.html

Abortion-Politician-Communion Scandal Shows Real Lack of Pastoral Concern - Editorial
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052102.html

Read the Archbishop's Q&A:
http://cjonline.com/stories/052308/bre_communion.shtml

Read the Ratzinger on denying Holy Communion:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/050419a.html

To contact the Archbishop for addressing pro-abortion politicians:

Archbishop Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann
12615 Parallel Parkway
Kansas City, KS 66109
Phone: (913) 721-1570
FAX: (913) 721-1577
Email: archkck@archkck.org