Monday, April 30, 2007

Former Mobile, AL abortion location now up for lease.


Mobile, AL - April 30, 2007 - The Center for Choice in Mobile, Alabama, has closed, furthering the trend of diminishing numbers of abortion clinics nationwide. The abortion mill had operated under that name since 1994, and reported an annual income in abortion sales of $81,000. Phone calls to the abortion mill ring in but are not answered. The office space is up for lease.

The Gulf Christian Newspaper reported in an undated article that the registered agent of the Center for Choice, Patricia Mitchell, had been convicted several years ago of reckless endangerment after she brandished a handgun at two pro-lifer supporters after a clinic protest.

"Those who promote the killing of innocent babies in the womb were dealt another blow with the closing of this abortion clinic," said Operation Rescue Troy Newman. "Abortion mills are closing all over the nation, and new ones are not replacing them because of the dramatic success of pro-life efforts in recent years that have led to a decrease in demand for abortions. This is yet another evidence that we are winning the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans, and that the days of abortion in our nation are numbered."

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Get Ready for 2008, A Pro-Life Candidate Will Win the Presidential Election


by Nathan Tabor
April 29, 2007

LifeNews.com Note: Nathan Tabor is an indepenent columnist.

To hear the mainstream news media tell it, the only issue really in play in the 2008 Presidential election is the war in Iraq.

And, lest the voting public forget, the media are quick to report each casualty, mishap, and difficulty in Baghdad as mounting evidence for an immediate and unqualified U.S. troop withdrawal.

What you're not hearing about is an issue that is likely to have a decisive impact on the Presidential race: abortion.

That's right -- the issue the media hate to talk about is still important to a vast number of voters. And, for a majority of those for whom abortion is the top issue, a pro-life candidate is the only acceptable choice.

By and large, the Republican candidates for President -- with the notable exception of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani -- oppose legal abortion. In sharp contrast, the Democratic Party's crop of candidates trumpet a radical pro-abortion viewpoint which is opposed by a majority of the American public.

The major media would like you to believe that abortion does not matter in this Presidential election cycle -- but the fact is, it may matter more today than ever before. That's because the next President could appoint the U.S. Supreme Court justice who could tip the balance against Roe v. Wade, the tragic High Court decision which has killed more than 47 million young Americans and left a number of mothers physically and emotionally scarred.

I often find it curious that the nightly news reports a day-by-day count of fatalities in Iraq, yet completely ignores the millions of children killed by abortion. Say what you will about the Iraq war -- in terms of a death count, when compared to America's war against the unborn, it doesn't even come close.

And yet, curiously enough, though publicity about abortion is sparse, it continues to be a key political issue for a number of Americans. I would argue that that is, in fact, good news. It means that many Americans are not satisfied to think about what the media tells them to think about. Rather, they're independent-minded enough to see through the media bias and recognize the fact that abortion represents a devastating American tragedy that has sapped our strength and undermined our greatness.

Pundits may claim that the unborn child is simply a clump of cells, but many Americans have seen the evidence with their own eyes of the humanity of the unborn child, thanks to the development of Ultrasound. They know it's a baby in the sonogram -- even if a news anchor making a multi-million-dollar salary cannot recognize that fact.

My prediction for '08 is that, as it has in other Presidential campaign years, abortion will continue to be a significant election issue.

And the candidate who espouses the pro-life side will win the White House, no matter how hard some members of the media work to push the vote count in favor of the pro-abortion candidate. Pro-lifers are simply more committed to an electoral victory than those who support the destruction of the most vulnerable members of our society. Virtue is, in the end, more likely to achieve victory than vice is.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD BOYCOTT LIST



Below is a list of companies that fund or donate to Planned Parenthood. Whether you know it or not, your shopping habits could be funding PP. A little sacrifice goes a long way in saving lives. In Matthew 17:21, Jesus says: "[the devil] can only be wiped out by prayer and fasting!" Are we serious in ending abortion or merely talking the talk? Do our buying habits reflect our commitment in saving precious lives? Lately, I've canceled my bank accounts with Wachovia, when I saw their name on this list. Before that I canceled my credit card with Bank of America. I also changed my Medicare Part D from Cigna to another group. Here's one for us computer geeks, I got rid of Symantec Anti-virus and went with a free one from Download.com. It works great! Check the list out and see where you can make a difference!

Adobe Software - Agfa-Gevaert Films - Allendale Pharm. - Ansell Pharm. -
Bank of America - Basic Office Prods - Buffalo Exchange - Chum Comm. -
CIGNA Inc. - Circuit City - Cliff bar - Cost Plus Markets - Dallas Cowboys -
Emmis Comm. - Entercom Comm. - Epic Systems - Forbes - Gannet/US Today - Jacksonville Jaguars - Nationwide Ins. Neiman Marcus - Nike Apparel - NY Times - Northern Trust - Oracle Software - Pfizer Pharm. - Schering AG - Scolari's - Symantec Software - Tiffany's - Time Warner AOL - Tommy Hilfiger -
Torstar Comm. - Unilever Products - Wachovia Bank - Walt Disney -
Wells Fargo Bank - Whole Foods Market - Willis Stein - Wyeth - Made in China

Source: Life Decisions Int'l. See www.fightPP.org

If we are serious about ending abortion, it will take personal effort and sacrifice. There are over 14 million companies in the U.S., only a few make the boycott list. If we are honest in our conviction in ending abortion, there is NOTHING on the above list that we cannot live without, NOTHING!!! Is there any product or service worth a precious life created by God?
"The best lack all conviction
while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

[Thanks to 'Christian Action News' (lifecan@juno.com) for this posting]
Deacon John

With all the anti-life news that is being spread by the media, let us turn to the Mother of Life, asking Her intercession for an end to the attacks on life, born and unborn! May Almighty God send His grace to convert this world and end the bloodshed! May Our Lady crush the head of Satan, who was a murderer from the beginning!


AVE MARIA,
GRATIA PLENA,
DOMINUS TECUM.
BENEDICTA TU IN MULIERIBUS
ET BENEDICTUS FRUCTUS
VENTRIS TUI,
IESUS.
SANCTA MARIA,
MATER DEI,
ORA PRO NOBIS
PECCATORIBUS,
NUNC ET IN HORA
MORTIS NOSTRÆ.
AMEN.

TODAY'S PRO-LIFE NEWS ITEMS

Sunday, April 29, 2007


--
"In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Archbishop Chaput on the Common Good



"More Than a Political Slogan"

Here is some excerpts from a lecture presented April 21 by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver at the conference "Promoting and Protecting the Common Good."

The conference was held at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, and organized by the John Cardinal Krol Chair of Moral Theology.
The speech was also published on the Web site of First Things.

* * *

Religion and the Common Good

Sooner or later, every teacher hears the same old joke about the philosophy student and his dad.

The dad asks, "Son, what are you going to do with that goofy degree?" And the son says, "I'm going to open a philosophy shop and make big money selling ideas." I smile every time I hear it, because nobody yet has figured out how to get rich off the Sartre or Kierkegaard or Friedrich Nietzsche franchise. Or that's what I thought until a couple of weeks ago, when a friend of mine came back from a local bookstore with a bag full of Nietzsche's Will to Power Bars.

You'll remember that Nietzsche first claimed that God was dead. Then he went insane. Then he argued that he was God himself. Now he has his own candy bar. In fact, the wrapper not only claims to be filled with "chocolaty goodness," but also to be "the official nutritional supplement of the superman." Unfortunately, the wrapper also urges us to "think beyond good and evil," so I'm not sure it's telling the truth.

The company that makes these candy bars is the Unemployed Philosophers Guild. It was started by a couple of academics who couldn't get a job. The guild also makes a Franz Kafka finger puppet and a "Here's Looking at Euclid" T-shirt. It also makes the Karl Marx Little Thinker beanie doll, and Impeachmints, the anti-George Bush breath sweetener. In the words of the company founders, "It turned out that making smart, funny things proved to be almost as satisfying as probing eternal questions.... [And] although we still contemplate truth and justice, it is our enduring goal to fulfill the materialistic desires of the funny and sophisticated everywhere."

I don't know if Nietzsche himself would endorse these bars. Given his mental state at the end of his life, I'm not sure he'd care. But he did have a ruthless sense of humor. Nietzsche might enjoy the fact that he's exactly the kind of thinker young college men now quote to impress young college women. He has some of the same rebel appeal that Milton gave to Lucifer and Goethe gave to Mephistopheles. He's bold. He's radical. And the fact that he also went mad adds just the right touch of drama. In other words, he makes a great cultural icon for Americans to eat as a candy bar, because most Americans will never read a word of what he actually said.

The trouble is, once upon a time, some people in Germany did read him. And they did take him seriously. And they acted on what he said. Ideas have consequences. When Nietzsche asks us on the back of a Will to Power candy bar, "Is man merely a mistake of God's, or God merely a mistake of man?" we Americans can swallow our chocolate along with our Starbuck's and grin at the irony from the comfort of 2007. Sixty years ago, no one would have gotten the joke. There was nothing funny about the Holocaust. Ideas have consequences.

That brings us to our topic. When Cardinal Justin Rigali first invited me to talk about religion and the common good some months ago, I accepted for two simple reasons. First, I'm tired of the Church and her people being told to be quiet on public issues that urgently concern us. And second, I'm tired of Catholics themselves being silent because of some misguided sense of good manners. Self-censorship is an even bigger sin than allowing ourselves to be bullied by outsiders.

Only one question really matters. Does God exist or not? If he does, that has implications for every aspect of our personal and public behavior: all of our actions, all of our choices, all of our decisions. If God exists, denying him in our public life -- whether we do it explicitly like Nietzsche or implicitly by our silence -- cannot serve the common good because it amounts to worshiping the unreal in the place of the real.

Religious believers built this country. Christians played a leading role in that work. This is a fact, not an opinion. Our entire framework of human rights is based on a religious understanding of the dignity of the human person as a child of his or her Creator. Nietzsche once said that "convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies." But that's false. Not even he believed that, or he couldn't have written a single book.

In fact, the opposite is often true. Convictions can be the seeds of truth incarnated in a person's individual will. The right kinds of convictions guide us forward. They give us meaning. Not acting on our convictions is cowardice. As Catholics we need to live our convictions in the public square with charity and respect for others, but also firmly, with courage and without apology. Anything less is a form of theft from the moral witness we owe to the public discussion of issues. We can never serve the common good by betraying who we are as believers or compromising away what we hold to be true.

Unfortunately, I think the current American debate over religion and the public square has much deeper roots than the 2006 or 2004 elections, or even John Kennedy or the Second Vatican Council. A crisis of faith and action for Christians has been growing for many years in Western society. It's taken longer to have an impact here in the United States because we're younger as a nation than the countries in Europe, and we've escaped some of Europe's wars and worst social and religious struggles.

But Americans now face the same growing spiritual illness that Tolkien, Chesterton, Christopher Dawson, Romano Guardini and C.S. Lewis all wrote about in the last century. It's a loss of hope and purpose that comes from the loss of an interior life and a living faith. It's a loss that we can only make bearable by creating a culture of material comfort that feeds -- and feeds off of -- personal selfishness. . . .

Christianity and Judaism see life very differently. For both of them, history is a place of human decision. At every moment of our lives, we're asked to choose for good or for evil. Therefore, time has weight. It has meaning. The present is vitally important as the instant that will never come again; the moment where we are not determined by outside forces but self-determined by our free will. Our past actions make us who we are today. But each "today" also offers us another chance to change our developing history. The future is the fruit of our past and present choices, but it's always unknown, because each successive moment presents us with a new possibility.

Time and freedom are the raw material of life because time is the realm of human choice. Bernanos (1888-1948) reminds us that the antichrist wants us to think that freedom really doesn't exist because when we fail to choose, when we slide through life, we in effect choose for him. Time is the Devil's enemy. He lives neither in the eternity of God nor the realm of man. Satan has made his choice against God and he is forever fixed in that choice. But as long as man lives in time, which is the realm of change, man may still choose in favor of God. And of course, God is always offering the help of his grace to do just that. If the Devil can sell us the idea that history is a single, determined mechanism, if humanity's freedom of will can be forgotten or denied, then man will drift, and the antichrist will win.

Incidentally, if he were alive today, Bernanos might throw an interesting light on the language of the abortion debate. When we examine "pro-choice" vocabulary, it really isn't about choice at all. Instead, it's phrased in terms of "what choice did I have?" "I couldn't choose not to have sex." "I couldn't choose not to kill the child." "You have no right to expect more from me; I had to have an abortion, and so I had a right to do it." In the abortion debate, pro-choice means agreeing to the fiction that nobody really had a choice. As for the Devil, rapid technological change very much serves his purposes in any bioethical debate by helping us believe that only the future matters and that there isn't time to consider fundamental questions. . . .

The struggle for real human freedom depends upon the struggle for human history. Unlike the ideologies that deny the importance of the past and the present and focus on the illusions of a perfect future, Christianity sees the most important moments of the human story to be the past event of the Incarnation and the present moment of my individual opportunity to love.

The Catholic faith is grounded in what God has done. Our love is what we choose to do now, and our hope is founded in God's past acts of love and our present ones. Without history, there is no Christianity. So the fundamental question, for Bernanos, is "whether history is the story of mankind or merely of technology." Modern man must be convinced again that he is free, that he can really choose in this moment of time between very different paths to very different futures. In the act of choosing, we regain history as our own.

But part of the reasoning needed to convince man of his freedom must include reaffirming sacred history. And that must include remembering and retelling the fundamental choices made by Adam and Eve and Mary and Jesus and all the intermediate choices for or against God in that history. In hearing our Catholic faith narrated, it becomes recognizable as a history of choice, leading us to the present moment of choice, right here and right now. So the first requirement in regaining human freedom is to regain human history, to tell the human story as a chronicle of free will.

That revolution, the same revolution that "occurred 2,000 years ago" is already underway in every Catholic believer who confesses passionately and unapologetically -- in his private life and in her public witness -- that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Son of God, the messiah of Israel and the only savior of the world.

Every other lens we use for understanding the human story, whether we choose economics or gender or Darwin or race or something else, will ultimately lie to us about who we are. And of course, we also lie to ourselves. In her short story "Greenleaf," Flannery O'Connor once wrote about a widow called Mrs. May, who owned a large dairy farm and who thought faith should be a very private matter. O'Connor described her this way:

"Mrs. May winced. She thought the word, Jesus, should be kept inside the church building like other words inside the bedroom. She was a good Christian woman with a large respect for religion, though she did not, of course, believe any of it was true."

If Mrs. May sounds familiar from daily life, she should. The deepest tragedy of our age is how many of our own Catholic people who claim to believe in Jesus Christ, really don't prove it in the way they live their lives -- and don't like the inconvenience of being asked to prove it.

The "common good" is more than a political slogan. It's more than what most people think they want right now. It's not a matter of popular consensus or majority opinion. It can't be reduced to economic justice or social equality or better laws or civil rights, although all these things are vitally important to a healthy society.

The common good is what best serves human happiness in the light of what is real and true. That's the heart of the matter: What is real and true? If God exists, then the more man flees from God, the less true and real man becomes. If God exists, then a society that refuses to acknowledge or publicly talk about God is suffering from a peculiar kind of insanity.

What can the "common good" mean in the context of Nietzsche's Superman or Marx or Freud or Darwin? These men became the architects of our age. But they were also just the latest expressions of a much deeper and more familiar temptation to human pride. We want to be gods, but we're not. When we try to be, we diminish ourselves.

That's our dilemma. That's the punishment we create for ourselves. There's a terrible humor in a man who claims that God is dead, then starts believing he's Dionysius or Jesus Christ, and then ends up on a candy bar made by out-of-work philosophers for middle-class consumers who just want some "chocolaty goodness."

Humility is the beginning of sanity. We can't love anyone else until we can see past ourselves. And man can't even be man without God. The humility to recognize who we are as creatures, who God is as our Father, what God asks from each of us, and the reality of God's love for other human persons as well as ourselves -- this is the necessary foundation that religion brings to every discussion of free will, justice and truth, and to every conversation about "the common good." Sirach and Psalms and the Gospel of Luke and the Letter of James -- these Scriptures move the human heart not because they're beautiful writings. They're beautiful writings because they spring from what we know in our hearts to be true.

Brothers, we most truly serve the common good by having the courage to be disciples of Jesus Christ. God gave us a free will, but we need to use it. Discipleship has a cost. Jesus never said that we didn't need a spine. The world doesn't need affirmation. It needs conversion. It doesn't need the approval of Catholics. It needs their witness. And that work needs to begin with us. Bernanos said that the "scandal of Creation [isn't] suffering but freedom." He said that "moralists like to regard sanctity as a luxury; actually it is a necessity." He also said that "one may believe that this isn't the era of the saints; that the era of the saints has passed. [But] it is always the era of the saints."

The only thing that matters is to be a saint. At least we can try. And if we do, God will take care of the rest.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Fwd: [DEACON FOR LIFE] SPIRIT & LIFE NEWSLETTER



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Deacon John <deaconjohn1987@gmail.com>
Date: Apr 27, 2007 4:53 PM
Subject: [DEACON FOR LIFE] SPIRIT & LIFE NEWSLETTER
To: deaconjohn1987@gmail.com


Spirit & Life
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 01, Number 65 | Friday, April 27, 2007 
..................................................................................

Is the World Overpopulated?

((VIDEO message))

Dear HLI Friends and Family,

This third installment of the mini-series on contraception addresses the whole question of overpopulation—truly one of the most misunderstood issues of our day. My extensive international travels have taught me a thing or two about the issue and I think you will find the HLI perspective enlightening.

I also report with some regret that the City Council of Mexico City last Tuesday voted in favor of legalizing the killing of babies in a vote of 46-19. It was one of the most demonic campaigns ever waged for the soul of a nation. I will keep you posted as to the status of the issue, but for now, the world has just become even less safe for babies.

Confident and hopeful for the future, I remain

Sincerely,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer
President, Human Life International

www.hli.org
--
"In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

--
Posted By Deacon John to DEACON FOR LIFE at 4/27/2007 03:53:00 PM


--
"In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Calling All Priests: Repeat the Vatican Cardinal's Words from your Pulpit says Priests for Life



By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, applauded the remarks made Monday by Vatican Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Archbishop called abortion "terrorism with a human face" and said: "Besides the abominable terrorism of suicide bombers, which is ever-present in the media, there is the so-called terrorism with a human face, which is also a daily occurrence and just as repugnant, which continues to be propagated by the media, manipulating traditional language with expressions that hide the tragic reality of the facts."

"Our organization challenges every priest and pastor in America to repeat these words from the pulpit," said Fr. Pavone. "Even preachers of the Gospel can be in denial about abortion and may think that sugar-coated words will solve the problem. They won't. It's time to strengthen our language and bring it into line with the reality of what abortion is."

For more of what Cardinal Amato said see:
Senior Vatican Official: Abortion Clinics are "Slaughterhouses of Human Beings"
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07042401.html



--
"In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes

* Note: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information.

Aborted alive in the UK vs. U.S.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55372

Dutch Discuss "Why nobody else wants euthanasia"
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/amsterdamforum/070422af

Abortion is back – in 2008- Pat Buchanan
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55356

Partial Pro-Life Democrats
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/04/partial_prolife_democrats.html

North Dakota passes conditional abortion ban
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/04/24/news/state/132450.txt

MSNBC's Grotesque Partial-Birth Analogy: Issues 'Sucked Life' Out of GOP
http://newsbusters.org/node/12176

On Abortion: Rudy Criticized Pope John Paul II / Defended Clinton
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1820650/posts

HPV vaccine concerns give legislatures pause
http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20070424-114157-2717r.htm

5 New Things The High Court Did - Gonzales v. Carhart: Cause for Renewed Hope
http://ncregister.com/site/article/2331

Abortion Complaint Against Kansas Judge Dropped
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TILLER_CHARGES?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Liberal Groupthink at CBS: Newsroom 'Embarrassed' by Brief Anti-Abortion Commentary
http://newsbusters.org/node/12264

See products of abortion video
http://www.abortionno.org/

Mexican Cardinal Rivera thanks Pope for "paternal concern" over anti-life threat
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9179

Deep in the shadows of the New Age is an organization that is linked to the United Nations and striving to create a New World Order
http://www.spiritdaily.com/lucistrust.htm

Group Calls for Population Control to Stop Global Warming
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200704/NAT20070418a.html

De-Populationist Al Gore's Army Brings Global Warming Propaganda to a Town Near You
http://newsbusters.org/node/12292

Canada's Inuit say the polar bear isn't threatened by global warming or hunting
http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm?page=article&article_id=2451

Virginia Tech Was An Act Of Evil, Not A "Tragedy"
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BenShapiro/2007/04/25/virginia_tech_was_an_act_of_evil,_not_a_tragedy

The Gay Agenda and Schoolkids
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=6416

Gay-rights proposals gain in Congress
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/25/gay_rights_proposals_gain_in_congress/

Students punished for opposing 'gay' advocacy
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55373

US pastors told: act now or prepare for jail so-called "hate crimes" bill
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55348

Michigan student suspended for wearing 'I'm straight' sticker
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/04/michigan_student_suspended_for.php

'HIV chasing' a trend in gay community
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/HIV-chasing-a-trend-in-gay-community/2007/04/21/1176697124607.html

Marriage in America is sinking like the Titanic.
http://www.newoxfordreview.org/note.jsp?print=1&did=0407-notes-situation

America's Death March Toward Illiteracy
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/KathleenParker/2007/04/25/americas_death_march_toward_illiteracy

EEOC – A Taxpayer-Financed Agency Out of Control
http://www.freecongress.org/

Conservative bishop to succeed Flynn in Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_5742817

Religion and the Common Good - Americans now face loss of hope and purpose caused by "de-spiritualization" - Denver Archbishop Chaput in First Things
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=711

Study: Out-of-wedlock births among Hispanics rise from 19% to 42%
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55328

Democratic Lawmakers Stymie Floor Debates
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004446.cfm

FCC Seeks To Rein In Violent TV Shows
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042302048.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Smoking gun' tape indicts Hillary - Shows her 'committing felony' punishable by 5 years in prison
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55320

'Girls Gone Wild' Pornographer sent to jail crying
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070424/GGW_jail_070424/20070424?hub=TopStories

Anger at Iran dress restrictions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6584789.stm

Moderate Muslim: U.S. Media Enable Islamic Extremists
http://newsbusters.org/node/12183

Christian presence endangered, Iraqi bishop warns
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=50668

Minn. Paper More Sensitive to Church-State than Mosque-State
http://newsbusters.org/node/12289

Moderate Muslims Speak Out, But Not on PBS
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200704/CUL20070425d.html



--
"In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

Planned Parenthood Organizes Protests in Favour of Gruesome Partial Birth Abortion Procedure

LifeSiteNews.com
Wednesday April 25, 2007


Complains this is first time “Court has ever upheld a restriction on abortion without a health exception”

By Peter J. Smith

NEW YORK, April 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Planned Parenthood called for a day of nationwide rallies and demonstrations in protest of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold the federal abortion ban on the gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure.

In a press release, Planned Parenthood said it was summoning all pro-abortion advocates to “express outrage” today on the third anniversary of the abortion rally, the 2004 March for Women’s Lives.

"Last Wednesday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the federal abortion ban in its entirety represents a serious setback for women’s health and safety, and is truly ‘an alarming decision,’ as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in her dissent," said Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) President Cecile Richards.

Richards complained that the “decision ... turns back the clock on 30 years of Supreme Court precedent.”

“This is the first time that the Supreme Court has ever upheld a restriction on abortion without a health exception,” she said, adding that “the American people won’t stand for it [abortion restrictions].”

However Planned Parenthood has used the aegis of the Supreme Court to stymie the democratic expression of a majority of the American people, who for years have supported implementing significant restrictions on abortion. There is especially strong public opinion against very late term partial-birth abortion which is overwhelmingly seen as a barbaric infanticide type of abortion.

A March 2006 FoxNews poll showed Americans favored banning partial-birth abortion 61% to 27%. A Gallup Poll in January 2003 showed Americans wanted the practice prohibited except in life threatening cases 70% to 25%. Statistics against the procedure have tended to rise as more Americans have become educated as to what the procedure actually entails and have seen explicit drawings of the procedure.

Donna Joy: A Life Spared To Impact A Nation







Photo Gallery:

View additional photos of Donna Joy Donna Joy (2004)
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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.

I met Lori Vance in Washington, DC in 1999, and was so impressed with the story of her little girl, Donna Joy. Now 16-years old, Donna is a remarkable symbol of hope to families under pressure to abort for reasons of "fetal abnormality." Her life and her mother's faith are an inspiration to us all.
Troy Newman, President
Operation Rescue
Donna Joy: A Life Spared To Impact A Nation
By Lori Lynne Vance
In the spring of 1997, I was watching the House Sub-committee hearings on the issue of Partial Birth Abortion. The usual suspects had gathered for the occasion, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the like. I listened with indignation as those abortion advocates seated at the table listed the reasons for this procedure to remain "medically necessary." It was not long before I realized that these ranting liberals were talking about children like my own beautiful little daughter. I felt a righteous sense of rage welling up inside of me when people who did not even know her began talking as if she had no right to live in this country just because she was handicapped.
What these pro-aborts could not have known was that on the horizon, there was a storm brewing like none they had ever seen and likely never would again.
In the fall of 1991, I was told that the precious baby I carried in my womb had a fatal disorder of the brain. There was little or no brain tissue visible in the skull, she had Hydrocephalus, commonly known as water on the brain, and some brain was visible on the outside of her skull. I was told by every "expert" in high-risk maternal/fetal medicine that her condition was completely "incompatible with life". I was offered a late term abortion, what I would come to know later as a Partial Birth Abortion, where the infant is delivered all but the head then stabbed to death by the abortionist and the brain is removed, the skull collapsed, and the dead baby is then disposed of like so much waste.
I absolutely refused.
While her early years were difficult and laborious, it was all worth it as I had a lively, pretty, blue-eyed bundle of joy to show for it by the name of Donna Joy. I knew she was special, but nobody knew how God was going to use her to impact the country with the first piece of abortion legislation since Roe v. Wade.
Following the broadcast of those hearings on C-span, I took Donna Joy to see our Congressman, Roscoe Bartlett, who then told U.S. Senator Rick Santorum about our story. Rick Santorum was the primary sponsor in the Senate to ban Partial Birth Abortions. He called, and Donna Joy and I set out on a journey that would be ten years of our lives, fulfilling a call by God to bring the voice of truth to the nation's capitol. We did dozens of press conferences, talk radio and TV shows, and personal appearances. We visited with countless "fence sitting" national legislators and were visible in Washington whenever the subject was being debated. Legislators now had to deal with one reality: That this little child with so many brain abnormalities could not only survive, but thrive.
Pretending she did not exist had to be a difficult task for those on the left, especially for Senator Boxer of California who was so annoyed by her mere presence, that she had Donna Joy ejected from the Senate Gallery before the proceedings even began. Then, in the fall of 2003, the big day finally came. I will never forget what is was like to sit and watch from just a few feet away, as the President signed our bill into law, and more recently, the feeling of relief and pride at having it pass the Supreme Court 5-4, of being in awe at God's work in this, and His mercy on our unworthy nation. It truly was validation that all of our hard work was worth it, that Donna's struggle for life, as hard as it was at times, meant that hundreds of thousands of babies will no longer have to suffer through a "procedure" that could have been used to effect her untimely death.
I suppose I could have listened to all of the voices calling out for her murder, just because she may not be perfect. I could have listened to the voices of Planned Parenthood, and the "genetics counselors" who said it was OK to "just forget her" and get on with my life. "She'll just be a burden," they cried.
I CHOSE to hear the ONLY voice that mattered, the voice of truth. I put my hand on my swollen belly and felt her moving around, and I knew that her life did not belong to me, she belonged to her creator, God. He was giving me a gift, for however long, to enjoy, not to destroy.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Senior Vatican Official: Abortion Clinics are “Slaughterhouses of Human Beings”


Also charges abortion and euthanasia are "terrorism with a human face"

By Gudrun Schultz

VATICAN CITY, April 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Abortion and euthanasia are "terrorism with a human face," said Vatican leader Archbishop Angelo Amato, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in an address to chaplains April 23.

In his address on the theme 'The problem of evil: theological and philosophical reflections,' Archbishop Amato condemned the media for glossing over the reality of social evils with language games, saying abortion, homosexual marriage and euthanasia "remain almost invisible" in media reports that present them as an "expression of human progress," Spero News reported earlier today.

"When we read papers, or browse the internet, or turn on our TVs and radios, we are presented with what could be likened to a perverse film on evil, which is 'filmed' each and every day in all four corners of the world, focusing on scenes of an increasingly cruel nature depicting the thousands of daily provocations from international terrorism".

Archbishop Amato referred to abortion clinics as "slaughterhouses of human beings," and included as evils those parliaments of "so-called civilized nations where laws contrary to the nature of the human being are being promulgated, such as the approval of marriage between people of the same sex…"

The media hides "the tragic reality of the facts," the Archbishop said, "For example, abortion is called 'voluntary interruption of pregnancy' and not the killing of a defenseless human being, an abortion clinic is given a harmless, even attractive, name: 'centre for reproductive health' and euthanasia is blandly called 'death with dignity'."

Evil today "is not just an action carried out by single individuals or identifiable groups," Archbishop Amato said, "but it comes from obscure sources, from laboratories of false opinions, from anonymous powers who brainwash us with false messages and judge behaviour which adheres to the Gospel as retrograded and ridiculous".

"Unfortunately, when we cannot close the libraries of evil, neither can we destroy its films which are reproduced like lethal viruses," he said, but Christians must ask God to "strengthen us through the formation of true conscience which seeks and loves good and avoids evil".

Archbishop Amato's comments were the latest in a series of recent statements by Vatican officials and Pope Benedict XVI in addressing a proposed law that would give legal recognition to homosexual couples.



--
"In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

Monday, April 23, 2007

Pro-Life Group Blasts Philadelphia Inquirer's Anti-Catholic Abortion Cartoon




by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 22
, 2007

Philadelphia, PA (LifeNews.com) -- The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper is coming under fire for a cartoon it ran following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the federal partial-birth abortion ban. The cartoon entitled “Church and State” features the five Catholic members of the high court wearing bishop miters.

Joseph Cella, the head of Fidelis, a leading Catholic pro-life group, says the newspaper, "has breached the line of reasonable editorial commentary. This cartoon is venomous, terribly misleading and, blatantly anti-Catholic."

"We call on the Inquirer to repudiate the cartoon’s anti-Catholic sentiment," Cella told LifeNews.com in a statement.

Cella says the cartoon suggests that the Supreme Court decision to uphold the ban on partial birth abortion was a result of the Catholic Church influencing the votes of the five Catholic Justices on the Supreme Court, who are portrayed as Catholic Bishops.

"The Supreme Court did not ‘follow marching orders’ from the Vatican or the Bishops in the United States. Instead, the Court deferred to deliberative judgment of the people's elected representatives protected by the Constitution,” Cella said.

“By exposing this outrageously intolerant cartoon, we hope to contain future attacks on judges of faith, particularly during any future confirmation hearings which will likely prove to be the most contentious in history," he added.

Cella said the Inquirer's cartoon resembles the attack on Judge Bill Pryor, who was mocked for having “deeply-held” religious beliefs as a Catholic. Pryor faced sharply abusive rhetoric before he was finally confirmed to the federal bench in 2003.

"The Inquirer’s insinuation that a Catholic judge cannot act dispassionately and apply the law is an affront to all judges of faith, and smacks of anti-Catholic bigotry and elitism of the worst kind," he concluded.



Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/state2243.html

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Shocking Revelations?

Baby born at 22 weeks of pregnancy!


A research paper has revealed shocking revelations in the debate on abortions. The paper, published in the May issue of BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, reveals that 102 (3.2%) babies out of 3,189 were born alive after abortion.

The paper has been released following a 10-year analysis of abortions for foetal anomaly in the West Midlands of Britain.

The results of the research show that live births occurred in a shocking 18 out of 20 maternity units in the West Midlands.

Notice the word shocking! Well this is not something we Pro-Lifers have not known, so we're not so shocked! This report was released from Britain, but imagine how many babies are born alive throughout the world!

Now here's what's shocking! How many of these babies, that are born alive after being aborted, are left to die? Are they instantly rushed to a hospital for medical and premature care, or are they left to die by themselves, perhaps suffocated, perhaps starved or dehydrated to death. Remember, the abortionist is there to kill! Some of them will kill the baby (infanticide) outside the womb, so as to get the money for doing a complete job. It's a sick world out there and the devil is having a ball killing babies, God's most precious infants!

Deacon John




Friday, April 20, 2007

61 Chinese Women Undergo Forced Abortion in 2 Days at Youjiang Hospital


After aid organization publicizes atrocities, security officers surround hospital wing

By Meg Jalsevac

GUANGXI, CHINA, April 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Over the course of 24 hours on April 17 and 18, at least 61 mothers were forced to undergo the murder of their unborn baby at the order of China's infamous Population and Family Planning Commission according to a report by the China Aid Association (CAA). The involuntary abortions were part of a forced abortion campaign currently taking place in the Chinese province of Guangxi.

China's population policy allows couples to bear one child and only permits a second if the first child is a girl or is handicap.

Despite the China's government assurance that they do not condone such forceful policies and campaigns, coerced abortion and sterilization are not uncommon in the communist nation, especially in certain rural areas. Bowing to international pressure in 2002, China claims that violence and coercion is no longer used to implement their family planning policies; the new law states that only financial "incentives" such as monetary fines of up to a year's wages, can be used to induce compliance.

However, as previously reported in LifeSiteNews.com, Time Magazine published a report in 2005 describing a similar abortion campaign in the Shadong Province as "one of the most brutal sterilization campaigns of recent years." The Time report went on to describe, in detail, the killing of a full-term baby against the will of her mother.

Amnesty International also released a report in 2005 stating, "Serious violations against women and girls continued to be reported as a result of the enforcement of the family planning policy, including forced abortions and sterilizations."

The recent atrocities in Guangxi were reported to CAA by eye-witnesses. The witnesses explained that throughout the course of the day on April 17, officials from the office of Population and Family Planning Commission dragged 41 pregnant women to the Youjiang District People's Hospital of Baise City to undergo coerced abortions. The witnesses further reported that at least 20 pregnant women were forced to the same hospital the next day to undergo similar procedures.

One of the women, Ms. Linrong Wei, the wife of a Christian pastor, was 7 months pregnant with a baby that was conceived 'accidentally'. Once at the hospital, Ms. Wei was administered an injection to induce delivery followed by two more injections to kill the child. According to CAA's sources, Ms. Wei gave birth early the next morning to a dead little boy.

Two beds down, Ms. He Caigan was nine months pregnant and had also been dragged into the hospital against her will. Hospital personnel injected her full-term baby's head and 20 minutes later her baby stopped moving inside her and died.

A Church leader who was able to visit the women told CAA that the so-called "illegal pregnant women" were forced to wait for the injection by lying in a bed in the hospital hallway.

Family planning officials informed the women's families that the babies would be delivered and would most likely die within 24 hours of birth. Faithful across the city were praying that the babies born alive would be removed from the hospital before officials had the opportunity to kill them.

After CAA released the details of the atrocities taking place in the Guangxi province hospital, witnesses said that Public Security Bureau officers were dispatched to surround and secure the hospital.

CAA also reported that a pregnant woman in the Shadong Province is similarly experiencing intense pressure from Family Planning officials to abort her unborn child.

Established in 2002, CAA is a non-profit organization which, according to its website, was founded "with a mission to explore the truth, to tell the truth and to preserve the truth on the issue of religious freedom in China, particularly focusing on the fate of the unofficial church."

CAA is urging individuals in the international community to protest these happenings through letters and phone calls to:

Chairman Wei Qing Zhang, National Population and Family Planning Commission of China
Hotline for complaints: +86-10-8250492

Phone line to report criminal activities of family planning officials: +86-10-82504933
Address: No. 14, Zhichun Lu
Haidian District, Beijing, PRC 100008
CHINA
Email: gjjsw@chinapop.gov.cn

Youjiang District People's Hospital:
Tel: +86-776-2839393; 2697723(office)

Party Secretary of Guangxi Province: Mr. Liu Qibao
Tel: +86-771-5883508

Governor of Guangxi Province: Mr. Bing Lu
Tel: +86-771-2807778

Party Secretary of Baise City Mr. Liang Chunlu
Tel: +86-776-2834089
Address: No. 13 Xiangyang Street,
Baise city, Guangxi, CHINA

Read Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Infanticide, Forced Abortions and Sterilizations in China's Linyi Province
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05091605.html

Forced Abortion Still A Reality in China Says New Amnesty Report
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05052706.html

Chinese Woman Falls to Her Death Fleeing Forced Abortion of Twins
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06070405.html


--
"In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

Catholic League Encourages Participation in Canadian National March for Life - May 10


OTTAWA, April 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic Civil Rights League has announced that it is once again co-sponsoring the annual March for Life, to take place in Ottawa May 9 to 11. The 10th annual event will include a Mass, candlelight vigil and the Rose Dinner as well as the march to Parliament Hill the afternoon of March 10.

The League has worked hard on such civil rights issues as the definition of marriage, freedom of religion and freedom of expression. The right to life from conception to natural death is the most fundamental of civil rights. In a press release, the League described this week's US Supreme Court decision, in support of legislation to limit partial birth abortions, as "an encouraging sign that small steps can be made toward restoring respect for the dignity of all human life at every stage."

"Canada stands alone in the Western world in having no abortion law whatsoever. The League hopes that events such as March for Life will help draw attention to the need to establish protection for the unborn," concluded the release.

See the official March for Life webpage here:
http://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/events/Marchforlife/2007/


--
"In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes - April 20


* Note: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information.

Tennessee teen puts face on abortion debate
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3751878

NBC's Gravest Sin
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/5b83674e-5af9-433e-a4fb-49f...

Campus killings: what about those left behind?
http://www.mercatornet.com/index.php?option=com_content&...

Do we really want to go down the path of vaccinating children against deficits of moral intelligence and willpower?
http://www.mercatornet.com/index.php?option=com_content&...

Virginia Tech and the heartlessness of our media and therapy culture
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/

'No abortions, no exceptions,' in sight - Georgia group aims for constitutional amendment in 2008
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=552...

New Push Likely for Restrictions Over Abortions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/us/20states.html?ei=5065&a...

Sandra Cano 'Doe' and 180 Women Hurt by Abortion Applaud Supreme Court's Ban on Abortion
http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/638722840.html

The Practical Impact of the Supreme Court's Decision on Partial-Birth Abortion
http://lc.org/pressrelease/2007/nr041907b.htm

Fallout from Supreme Court's partial-birth-abortion decision - First Things
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=708

Put on Your Body Armor - NARAL, Planned Parenthood are well aware right to abortion is not now, and never has been, etched into constitutional stone - First Things
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=707

Rosie on Catholic Justices: 'How About Separation of Church and State?'
http://newsbusters.org/node/12157

Patterico: LA Times Favors 'Experts' Who Say Partial-Birth is 'Safer'
http://newsbusters.org/node/12155

Nets Separate from 'Partial-Birth' Term, Frame Story Around Loss of 'Abortion Rights'
http://newsbusters.org/node/12143

The Court's Pro-Choice Silver Lining
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1612338,00.ht...

Yesterday's abortion ruling was only a baby step.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=1100...

Fr. Euteneuer says Supreme Court abortion decision a "mixed blessing"
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9145

'Abortion Rights Advocates' Worry Abortion Ruling 'Seems to Put the Debate Back Years'
http://newsbusters.org/node/12164

Democratic majority threatens a dozen pro-life riders
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004429.cfm

"Unbundling" Cable Channels: An Opportunity for Selectivity
http://www.freecongress.org/commentaries/2007/070418.aspx

Portuguese bishops pledge to promote life, protect right to conscientious objection
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9149

Nicaraguan Cardinal: nothing can justify abortion
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9153

The Pelosi Problem - explicit directive from the Vatican is treated as nothing more than a "style" that bishops can ignore as they please
http://www.ignatius.com/Magazines/CWR/pelosi.htm

Russian doctor, Church leader oppose euthanasia bid
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=50609

When toxic sludge leeches into neighborhoods, we demand polluter stop and clean up mess. What about sludge of pornography?
http://ncregister.com/site/article/2257/

Harmer: Pornography damages teen brains
http://www.clippertoday.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=...

Oprah Winfrey's recent online poll found that 66 percent of working mothers wish they were stay-at-home moms
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MeganBasham/2007/04/18/fe...

GOP's Tommy Thompson: 'I Intend to Win Iowa'
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/4/19/120206.shtml?s=...

Faith & Feminism, Part 2: Liberation and Empowerment
http://ncregister.com/site/article/2274/

Affluenza
http://www.mercatornet.com/index.php?option=com_content&...

Why can't films ask the big questions?
http://www.mercatornet.com/index.php?option=com_content&...



--
"In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

Thursday, April 19, 2007

HUMAN LIFE INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER



An Urgent Plea for Mexico

Dear friends and fellow pro-lifers,

I need your immediate prayers to stop the assault that is sweeping over Our Lady of Guadalupe's beloved land of faith. Mexico has been under a massive assault for decades by the rabid promoters of abortion and birth control and is now at the point of legalizing abortion "on demand." Despite the Catholic character of the culture and people, the death peddlers have unfortunately made significant progress in breaking down the prohibitions to contraception and sex education, and these are always the precursors to legalizing baby-killing.

Since its founding, HLI has sounded the alarm on birth control and to this day we continue to echo the same message: namely, birth control leads to abortion, it does not prevent abortion. Mexico's Planned Parenthood affiliate, Mexfam, has been working in Mexico for forty years to change the abortion laws. Their method of abortion advocacy follows the standard template that I described in a recent catechesis on contraception: contraception leads to promiscuity; promiscuity leads to out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and these lead to abortion.


But don't take my word for it. Take a look at http://www.mexfam.org.mx/. The opening window of Mexfam's website says graphically, "64% of sexually active women ages 15-19 have no access to contraception." Apparently it's their mission to give those deprived adolescents that access even though it's a violation of everything the Mexicans believe. They offer workshops for teens called, "Sex is for young people," "Erotic (and protected) life," and others just as graphic, all with the purpose of breaking down the social and moral protections to innocent life and family. In true radical feminist style, they use deceptive language and proclaim themselves the strong defenders of "reproductive rights" and all that goes with them.


The leftist government in Mexico City has now proposed legislation that would legalize abortion up to 12 weeks on demand. This is one of the largest cities in the world, and if the capital of this pivotal Catholic country permits open season on its precious babies then the domino effect will continue throughout Latin America. You may recall that I said this same thing last year when the Colombian Supreme Court permitted abortion. The dominoes are starting to fall and we need prayer!


The vote is expected to take place next Tuesday, April 24th. Please pray and fast for this intention! I will be doing that and offering every Mass for this intention until that day. Please join me by going to Mass and offering your Communions for this holy effort. Then take time to write an email to the legislators of Mexico City and express your disgust with the prospect of legalizing abortion in Our Lady's land. You can write in English, and they will understand the phrase, "NO to abortion!" or cut and paste the equivalent in Spanish "¡Diga NO al aborto!"


Next week we will resume with the third installment of the mini-catechesis on contraception.

God bless you!
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer
President, Human Life International

OPERATION RESCUE REPORT

From Enactment to Enforcement: Supreme Court Ruling Could Have Far-Reaching Impact On Existing Law

Operation Rescue announces plans in light of yesterday's victory

Wichita, KS - April 19, 2007 - Yesterday's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the ban on the grisly partial-birth abortion procedure could have a greater impact on existing abortion law reaching far beyond simply prohibiting a single abortion method.

The 5-4 decision was historic in that, for the first time, the Court indicated that "health" exceptions are not required for abortion restrictions to pass constitutional muster. That could force some states to reconsider the way they interpret some of their abortion statutes.

For example, Kansas law bans abortions after 22 weeks gestation unless the mother's life is in danger or there will be "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function." That law has been interpreted to include mental health exceptions, even though lawmakers purposefully omitted such an exception.

But now that could change.

"Gonzales v. Carhart has given us a new legal precedent on 'health' exceptions. In order to come into compliance with the law, states like Kansas must reconsider their loose interpretation of some statutes, or face the prospect of engaging in unconstitutional enforcement, and all the liabilities that go with that," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

"We strongly believe that the current interpretation of Kansas law to include mental health exceptions when the language is clearly absent from the statute is now unconstitutional," said Newman.

That would impact the late-term abortion business of George R. Tiller, who is already under investigation for committing illegal late-term abortions. Currently Tiller circumvents the existing ban on post-viability abortions by using mental health excuses, such as single episodes of "depression" or "anxiety."

"Operation Rescue plans to work toward challenging the 'mental health' exception that has been unconstitutionally interjected into the Kansas law," said Newman.

Yesterday Operation Rescue also announced:

  • It has sent a Truth Truck to the Omaha, Nebraska, area to expose abortionist LeRoy Carhart, who lost his legal challenge to the ban on partial-birth abortions yesterday.
  • It will call on Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison to enforce the K.S.A. 65-6703 in compliance with yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, without the implied mental health exception.
  • It will work with Federal authorities to begin immediate enforcement of the Partial-Birth Abortion Act.
  • On July 16, 2007, OR will host in Wichita, KS, what promises to be one of the largest prayer vigils ever conducted at an abortion clinic with groups from all across the nation that have already committed to the project. Groups include the Cause, the Survivors, the Christian Defense Coalition, and others.
  • View photos of yesterday's press conference

    ________________________________

    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.Click here to support Operation Rescue

    ________________________________

    Web site: www.operationrescue.org

    E-mail: info@operationrescue.org

    FR. FRANK PAVONE'S COLUMN




    The State's Interest in Life

    Today the Supreme Court upheld the ban on partial-birth abortion that was enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2003. This is a day of historic progress for the pro-life cause, whose ultimate goal is to restore protection to every unborn child, at every stage of development. Today, for the first time since Roe vs. Wade, the United States of America has actually banned an abortion procedure, rather than just regulated it.

    The pro-abortion forces attempted to strike down the ban because it does not have a health exception. The Court, however, said that the ban's opponents failed to demonstrate that the need for a health exception was extensive enough to render the law unconstitutional. The Court also rejected the arguments that the ban is too broad or too vague. The wording of the ban is clear enough for abortionists to know when they are and are not violating the law.

    The decision in this case is refreshing to read, because it emphasizes that the state has a legitimate interest in the life of the unborn child throughout pregnancy. Nor is this the first time the Court has recognized this interest. The decision refers to the state's right to "express profound respect for the life of the unborn," and affirms "that the government has a legitimate, substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life." The partial-birth abortion procedure differs from other abortion procedures in that it actually hijacks the delivery process and turns it into a method of killing, and hence obscures the role of the physician in the birth process. The Court today reaffirmed the state's "legitimate interest in regulating the medical profession in order to promote respect for life, including life of the unborn." The decision also asserts, "The State has an interest in ensuring so grave a choice is well informed." In reaffirming these legitimate state interests in defense of the partial-birth abortion ban, the Court is also pointing the way for continued pro-life legislative activity at the state and federal level.

    Today's decision also reminds us that elections matter. The work done by so many pro-life people in the elections of 2000, 2002, and 2004 made this decision possible. The lawmakers who passed the ban were elected, as was the President who signed it into law. The Senators who confirmed the two new Supreme Court Justices were elected, as was the President who nominated those Justices. Today's fruit of these elections should lead us to renew our commitment to elect pro-life candidates in 2008.

    As we give thanks for the ban on partial-birth abortion, we call for a vigorous and faithful enforcement of it. Moreover, state bans on the procedure should likewise be put into effect in a manner consistent with the federal ban upheld by today's decision.

    This decision draws a significant and necessary line that stops the momentum of the abortion movement that believes it can justify any and every method of killing the unborn. The ban will indeed save lives.


    This column an be found online at
    www.priestsforlife.org/columns/columns2007/07-04-09stateinterestinlife.htm

    Fr. Frank's columns can be heard via podcast. See www.priestsforlife.org/podcast for more details.

    Fr. Frank's columns can be listened to in MP3 format at www.priestsforlife.org/columns/columns2007/index.htm