December 9, 2009
In this issue:
PP rally speaker: 'Abortion is a God-given right'
United Nations and PP honor 'Family Planning Hero'
Jesuit colleges, the culture of death and PP
Lila Rose: The author of personhood amendment is truth
Celebrating our victories, refueling for the battles ahead
Dutchess County, New York, down to one PP facility
PP rally speaker: 'Abortion is a God-given right'
At a recent "Stop Stupak" rally sponsored by Planned Parenthood and other abortion industry leaders, featured speaker Rev. Carlton Veazey told abortion supporters that women have "a God-given right" to abortion "and that it is time to "take on" the Catholic bishops.
"Don't let anybody tell you that religious people don't support choice," Veazey said at the gathering in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. "You not only have a constitutional right for abortion, but you have a God-given right."
"We are also here to call out the U.S. Conference of [Catholic] Bishops, because no one religion, no theological perspective should get the kind of weight that they can [to] put pressure on the Congress," he said.
"Hold the whole Congress up and say, 'If we don't get our way, we will work against health reform,'" said Veazey. "We in the religious community resent that. We believe that no religion should carry that kind of weight in legislation."
Veazey is the president and CEO of the oxymoronic Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Rosa DeLauro, pro-abortion member of the House of Representatives from Connecticut, brandished incendiary rhetoric, telling the protesters, "Those Members who are pro-choice and who voted for Stupak should feel your wrath. Those who could not find their way clear to vote for health care, for whatever reason, should feel your wrath too."
Image via Wikipedia
United Nations and PP honor 'Family Planning Hero'
The United Nations Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and PP Hudson Peconic have jointly proclaimed Rep. Nita Lowey (of Westchester, New York) "International Family Planning Hero."
Lowey, an abortion rights advocate who chairs the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, "has worked to increase the level of funding for international reproductive health programs to an all-time high of $648.5 million in the Fiscal Year 2010 House Appropriations bill. She has also fought consistently against the global gag rule and successfully restored U.S. funding to…the United Nations Population Fund," according to a PP press release.
"Increasing access to maternal and reproductive health services to poor women is critical in our efforts to alleviate suffering and strengthen families around the world," said Lowey. "I am grateful for this honor and I look forward to working with Planned Parenthood and the United Nations Foundation as we continue our work to expand women's access to comprehensive health care services."
Jesuit colleges, the culture of death and PP
Two stories have emerged this week regarding Jesuit colleges and Planned Parenthood.
Image by wallyg via Flickr
CatholicCulture.org reports that Canisius College, a Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York, has assisted PP in myriad ways, including helping to "maximize [the] personal and company performance" of PP of Buffalo and Erie County. Moreover, PP has participated in the college's management development program, which offers "powerful tools and techniques to maximize personal and company performance," as well as the college's Fundamentals of Fundraising course.
In an otherwise unrelated story, we learned that Dr. Alyssa Harris, the assistant chair of the nursing department at Boston College, also a Jesuit institution, has held positions with PP in both Massachusetts and North Carolina. The Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing published a dissertation she co-authored entitled "The Latest Advances in Hormonal Contraception." In the dissertation, she encourages nurses to play a significant role "in providing appropriate contraceptive information and education in a culturally competent context that will meet the needs of [African American] women and their families." She says that black women have "a long history of lack of reproductive freedom."
Lila Rose: The author of personhood amendment is truth
Planned Parenthood continues to file lawsuits in an attempt to deprive American citizens of the opportunity to vote on state constitutional amendments protecting the personhood of all human beings from the very beginning of their biological development. The California Civil Rights Foundation, founded by Rev. Walter Hoye, and a coalition of influential California pro-life leaders are currently working to get over one million signatures on petitions that would give California voters the opportunity that PP so ardently opposes.
Lila Rose, the 20-year-old UCLA student who exposed PP's failure to report child sexual abuse and acts of blatant racism through her sting operations, is a cosponsor of the amendment.
In a December 7 radio interview on KMJ 580, she said that the author of the personhood amendment is truth. When asked where the ballot initiative came from, Rose responded,
The brainchild of this amendment is ultimately truth, because we would be recognizing human beings -- from what we have now learned from the past, from over (100) years, from fetology and embryology experts, that (a) human (beings') life begins – and it's just going to sound very obvious – that (a) human (beings') life begins at the beginning of biological development.
"Embryo means growing from within," Rose said, "and fetus means small child."
When queried about "fertilized human eggs," Rose alluded to the "snowflake babies" – frozen embryos who have no legal rights, who can be experimented upon and thrown away, but some of whom are available for adoption in California. "The same child that can be adopted … can be … grown a little larger and then experimented on in laboratories, or just totally cast away and destroyed, and does not have rights and is not protected."
Sponsors of the amendment will spend the next 180 days seeking signatures to get the initiative on the ballot. For more information, go to www.CaliforniaHumanRights.com.
Celebrating our victories, refueling for the battles ahead
American Life League presents its 10th annual Training and Activism Week, January 20–23 in Washington, D.C.
We are celebrating this year's victories: the proliferation of personhood initiatives across the country, the closure of 38 Planned Parenthood facilities in the U.S., the dynamic expansion of our Rock for Life Chapters, our LiveCampus program and nationwide Associate program. We are bringing together an amazing group of pro-life activists and speakers who will entertain and inspire today's wave of advocates and equip you with the tools you need to insure that all human beings are respected and protected by law from the beginning of their biological development.
Hear American Life League executive director Shaun Kenney; Jim Sedlak, founder of STOP Planned Parenthood; Rita Diller, national director of STOPP; Johanna Dasteel, ALL's senior congressional liaison and personhood project director; Michael Hichborn, the ALL researcher who helped expose CCHD-funded groups acting in defiance of Church teaching; Michael Barnett, director of LiveCampus; and a host of other highly experienced pro-life warriors.
Distinguished guest speakers include Deal Hudson, Jill Stanek, Rev. Johnny Hunter, Dr. Dianne Irving and more. The Pro-Life Blog Awards will be one of the highlights of the week, as ALL recognizes those who are at the forefront of using the internet to bring attention to the plight of the preborn.
Join Rock for Life's Erik Whittington, Jeff McLain and Kortney Blythe as they lead inspirational workshops and propel the upcoming generation toward unparalleled involvement in pro-life activism. There are also free concerts on Thursday and Friday night that are sure to inspire.
Registration for the conference is absolutely free, but you must register soon in order to insure your place.
A limited number of hotel rooms are still available on site at a cost of $50 per night per person, with a minimum of four people in a room. As the March for Life approaches, hotel accommodations will be at a premium. Act now! For more information and online registration, visit www.all.org/taw.
Dutchess County, New York, down to one PP facility
In 1985, STOPP was formed in Dutchess County, New York, to fight the work of the local Planned Parenthood affiliate. Over the ensuing 24 years, there have been a large number of tactics employed in the fight against PP in the county, but one thing has remained constant: Since May 14, 1985, there has been a weekly picket of PP's main office for the county in Poughkeepsie, New York. At various times, there have also been pickets at its facilities in Red Hook, Amenia and Beacon.
In 2007, PP closed its facility in Amenia. Now, word comes that PP has also closed its facilities in Red Hook and Beacon. The Beacon facility did surgical abortions.
PP is now down to only one facility in the entire county. Congratulations to the faithful fighters against PP in Dutchess. God is rewarding your efforts!
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