Our Job This Summer & Always

 

No matter how disguised, abortion is not “care”

By Carol Tobias, President
Last week the Los Angeles Times did a story on the so-called “abortion desert,” a term used to describe a number of states that have few abortion facilities. By way of preface, pro-lifers see the “desert” as an oasis, where commonsense abortion laws are like a spring of compassion. But back to Molly Hennessy-Fiske’s article.
Hennessy-Fiske credits/blames the “desert” mostly to the enactment of pro-life legislation. Women have to travel farther to find a facility willing to abort her child.
I’m sure that the principle purpose of the article was to make the reader feel sorry for women who have to drive a longer distance. Why do I think that? Because nowhere in the article is there a whisper about the reason for the trip: the unborn baby.
Willie Parker, who performs abortions in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, told the reporter that many providers in the region won’t handle abortion beyond 15 weeks. “If they don’t make the cutoff, they’re [the women] coming over to Tuscaloosa,” he stated.
It’s unfortunate that Hennessy-Fiske didn’t inform the reader Parker is an itinerant abortionist who aborts babies well past 15 weeks, or that by 15 weeks the unborn baby is fully formed—organs are functioning, blood is pumping, the baby can make a fist, etc. No, we are to focus solely on the perceived roadblocks to abortion and the difficulties placed on the women.
One of the facilities mentioned is South Wind Women’s Center (SWWC) in Wichita, Kansas. In a video accompanying the article, SWWC founder and CEO Julie Burkhart refers to “abortion care,” trying to associate a warm fuzzy feeling to one of the most gruesome procedures imaginable. (NRL News and NRL News Today have run many stories about Burkhart, a former associate of the late abortionist George Tiller, who was infamous for performing abortions so late in pregnancy virtually no one else would do them.)
Burkhart’s effort to make us think positive thoughts about abortion reminded me of the abortion “spa” that opened in Maryland a couple years ago. Women who entered the facility to get an abortion would be given a cup of hot tea and a nice bathrobe. But no matter how hard they try, the abortion industry can’t make us forget that there are two human beings involved in each abortion—the mother and the unborn baby.
Knowledge about the development of the unborn child and the use of sonograms to see that baby moving about in the amniotic sac create too powerful an image. We see two lives.
Whether the abortion performed is the dismemberment procedure, tearing the arms and legs off a fully formed little unborn girl or boy, or the swallowing of a dangerous abortifacient just six weeks after that new life has begun, a human being dies.
No matter how hard the abortion industry tries to remove the stigma of abortion from our consciences, they can’t do it. Too many Americans know that an innocent human life is ended each time an abortion is performed. The myriad of women who have been involved in abortion and who now oppose it can’t be ignored.
At our upcoming National Right to Life Convention July 7-9 in Herndon, Virginia (see page four), we will hear from women who worked in the abortion industry and what pulled them away from it. We will hear from women who have had abortions. We will hear the stories of abortion survivors. We will learn more about how abortion is contributing to the rise of breast cancer. We will hear how abortion is not “care” for women.
The abortion industry argues that abortion is a “safe” procedure for the woman. However, as Olivia Gans Turner, director of NRLC’s American Victims of Abortion, says about her own abortion– she will always be the mother of a dead baby.
Summer is often a time to slow down, take a family vacation, read that book that’s been on the shelf or e-reader for a while, but we can never stop. The lives of unborn children and their mothers are at risk.
We are making great strides but we have been called to do a job many of us consider sacred. Let’s keep on doing it.
Editor’s note. This appeared on page three of the June digital edition of National Right to Life News.  Please be sure to share with your pro-life friends and family using your social networks.

Source: NRLC News

Calfornia Enacts Legal Assisted Suicide

 

Assisted Suicide Will be Legal in California Tomorrow, Targeting the Elderly and Disabled

  Micaiah Bilger 

California’s new assisted suicide law takes effect on Thursday, opening the doors to potential abuses of the vulnerable, elderly and disabled.

The West Coast state became the fourth in the U.S. to legalize deadly doctor-prescribed suicides in October, following Oregon, Washington and Vermont. Euthanasia advocates pushed for the legislation by using the tragic story of Brittany Maynard, a young woman who had terminal brain cancer. A California native, Maynard moved to Oregon where she committed doctor-prescribed suicide in November 2014.
The California bill is modeled after Oregon, which, in 1994, became the first state in the nation to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide. The deadly procedure involves a doctor prescribing a lethal dose of medication to an adult patient who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Proponents argue that such laws are necessary to provide “compassionate aid in dying for terminally ill patients” and point to safeguards similar to Oregon, but the rhetoric obfuscates the real truth.
Disability rights groups, many in the medical community, pro-lifers and others are upset by the new law because of the potential for horrendous abuses of human life. One of their concerns is that doctors are not required to be present when the patient takes the deadly medicine; therefore, there is no way of knowing whether the person is taking the medicine of their own free will.
Carol Tobias of National Right to Life previously pointed out that the law “shows a blatant disregard for the lives of California’s medically vulnerable citizens and sends a message to these citizens that their lives are less worthy to be lived.”

“It is a well-established fact that nearly every terminally ill patient who desires death is suffering from treatable depression,” Tobias said. “In Oregon, fewer than 6% of patients have been referred for psychiatric evaluation before obtaining life-ending drugs.”

The California law requires that patients be mentally competent to be approved for doctor-prescribed suicide; however, psychiatric evaluations are not required.
Profit-driven motives of families, doctors, insurance companies and the state also are concerns. Assisted suicide is cheaper than many medical treatments for the terminally ill and disabled. In Oregon, there have been several cases of cancer patients being pushed toward assisted suicide because it was cheaper than the medical treatment they needed.
At least one California doctor is planning to make a business of helping people commit suicide. The Mercury News reports Dr. Lonny Shavelson is ready to welcome assisted suicide patients to his Bay Area office on Thursday. His new office is focused solely on “helping” patients kill themselves through the new law, according to the report.
Disability rights advocate Marilyn Golden said Shavelson’s new practice is alarming. She told the newspaper that the law puts the poor, the elderly and others at risk of coercion and abuse.
“How dogged are they (doctors) going to be in their pursuit of solutions that address the patient’s underlying reasons for requesting death?” Golden said. “If they go all the way to the nth degree of assisting that person, that’s terrific. But it’s worrisome to see people advertising themselves for this, unless they plan on talking everybody out of it by getting them services.”
Euthanasia advocates already are dropping hints about forcing Catholic hospitals to comply with the deadly new law in the name of “access” to “end of life options.” According to the Religion News Service:

The next step, said Matt Whitaker, Compassion & Choices state director for Oregon and California, is to ensure access in a state where the two largest faith-based health care systems, Catholic hospitals and Adventist Care hospitals, have announced they will not participate.
Other large California systems, such as Kaiser Permanente and the Sutter Medical Foundation, the two largest HMOs in the state, are setting up procedures for doctors who say they are willing to aid patients seeking this option.

The law currently has conscience and religious exceptions for medical professionals who are morally opposed to assisted suicide. However, future measures forcing hospitals to offer or refer patients for assisted suicide are plausible. California recently began forcing pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise abortions.
Ironically, the bill was passed during a special session of the California State Legislature, which was originally called to address cost savings for the state’s MediCal program. Indeed, there are many who would see doctor-prescribed suicide as a “cost-savings” measure. Writing about the bill’s passage in The New York Times, Ian Lovett included an observation by Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, director of the medical ethics program at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine:

…[Kheriaty] said that low-income and underinsured patients would inevitably feel pressure to end their own lives in some cases, when the cost of continued treatment would be astronomical compared with the cost of a few lethal pills.

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition previously told LifeNews.com that people need to know of the dangers associated with assisted suicide.
“Does legalizing assisted suicide show care and concern to someone who is living with psychological pain? Recently, Dr Will Johnston wrote about a young adult patient who became suicidal after watching a video about Brittany Maynard, the California woman who moved to Oregon to die by assisted suicide,” he said. “A primary risk associated with depression is suicidal ideation. The data indicates that legalizing assisted suicide does not reduce suicide, rather it appears to have a suicide contagion effect.”

Source: LifeSite News

Pro-Life In Action

 

Pro-Life Groups Defeat “Pro-Life Traitor” Renee Ellmers, Who Almost Sabotaged Abortion Ban

  Steven Ertelt 

 

For a short time last year, Congresswoman Renee Ellmers was public enemy number one of the pro-life movement.

Congressional leaders had planned for weeks to bring up a bill to ban abortions after 20-weeks on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. But Ellmers sabotaged the bill by insisting that broad rape and incest exceptions needed to be added to the bill that many pro-life groups were worried would undermine the bill entirely and render the ban moot.
Due to her attacks, Republican leaders were force to pull the bill and rework it — and it eventually passed.
Ellmers caused a firestorm of controversy to the point that multiple pro-life groups like National Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony List actively worked against her this year and supported her pro-life primary opponent, George Holding , who defeated her handily in last night’s primary in North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District.
National Right to Life president Carol Tobias outlined the problem with bringing Ellmers back to Congress: “Both behind the scenes and publicly in the press, Ellmers was the most outspoken representative opposing the bill, even though she had previously pledged to support it – and had even voted for the exact same bill in the previous Congress.”

“Nothing has the potential to do more damage to pro-life efforts than people who run as pro-life candidates back home in their pro-life districts and then stab the babies in the back when they come to DC and work against pro-life efforts,” she said.
“Thankfully, we’ve been given the chance to send Rep. Ellmers packing,” she said. “George Holding is a pro-life stalwart who was always taken a pro-life position – at home and in Washington. George Holding is the kind of congressman the babies can depend on.”
Meanwhile, SBA List urged pro-life voters to “Dump Ellmers” after she actively worked in 2015 against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the group’s top legislative priority. Last month, SBA List and the North Carolina Values Coalition announced their joint endorsement of Rep. Holding.
SBA List’s North Carolina team, a ground operation of five field staff and more than 200 canvassers who have been active in the state since 2014, has had a team knocking on more than 12,500 doors across NC-02 in the last few weeks. In addition to reaching NC-02 pro-life primary voters at their door, SBA List also reached 90,000 voters through digital advertising. To date SBA List canvassers have knocked on a total of 185,000 doors throughout the state to educate voters on pro-life issues in the presidential race.

“Susan B. Anthony List exists to support and amplify pro-life women’s voices. Rep. Renee Ellmers was our ally until she led the charge to derail the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. That’s why we had to flex the political muscle of the pro-life movement,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, SBA List president and a North Carolina native. “She has her own failed leadership to blame for this loss.”
FRC Action PAC President Tony Perkins made the following comments:
“We congratulate Congressman Holding, a great advocate for conservative principles, on his victory in North Carolina. Voters sent a message tonight that they will do more than take notice when Members of Congressbetray thepro-life principles that they were elected to champion.
“American families are looking for leaders who will address the pressing issues we face as a nation, and who will not just make campaign promises but also follow through on them once elected to office.

“Rep. Holding’s pro-life, pro-family record stood in stark contrast to the incumbent, Rep. Renee Ellmers who lost significant support among pro-life voters after she undermined the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act last year. This important legislation would prevent abortion after 20 weeks — a point at which science has proven unborn babies can feel excruciating pain. Abortionists kill about 13,000 babies every year through late-term abortions.
“We look forward to continuing our work with Rep. Holding in advancing constitutional limited government, individual liberties, and strong family values,” concluded Perkins.

Source: LifeSite News

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood Bashes Donald Trump: “He’s a Dangerous Bully” Who Would “Ban Abortions”

  Steven Ertelt  

The Planned Parenthood abortion business has sent out a fundraising email to its supporters trashing presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. The email slams Trump as supposedly “racist and sexist.”

“Make no mistake about it: Donald Trump is a dangerous bully this country can’t afford. He’s notoriously racist and sexist, often personally attacking and retaliating against people,” Planned Parenthood’s vice president says in the fundraising email.
The abortion business continues: “That’s not someone you want in charge of the nuclear codes, and certainly not someone you want making decisions about the rights of women, people of color, and immigrants — people he’s demonized again and again.”

In the email LifeNews.com received, The abortion company adds:

He’s promised to ban abortion, “punish” women, and consider a judge for the Supreme Court who called Roe v. Wade “the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law.” He wants to build the biggest wall you’ve ever seen along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out Mexico’s “rapists.” He’s even called for a total ban on Muslims entering the U.S and stated that a judge should be disqualified because he’s Mexican-American.
Electing Donald Trump would send a message to employers, policy makers, and foreign leaders that sexism and racism are now American values.
There’s no doubt about it — Donald Trump’s policy agenda would be dangerous for this country. We can’t afford to sit this one out, and we can’t let our friends and family sit out either.

This isn’t the first time Planned Parenthood has gone after Trump. Earlier this year, the abortion giant called him “dangerous” because he would “ban abortions”
Recently, Trump announced a list of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees — a list pro-life and conservative groups praised for having potential judges who would be Constitutionalists.
The list of potential nominees for the seat of pro-life Supreme Court Justice Antnoin Saclia that Trump would conifer include  Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri.

Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas.
“This list was compiled, first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican party leadership,” Trump’s campaign said.
If Trump is the nominee, he would present a stark contrast on abortion to pro-abortion Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump has specifically promised he would sign a bill as president to de-fund Planned Parenthood. In an interview with David Brody of CBN, Trump made that promise:
David Brody: “As a President Trump, if a bill came to your desk that would defund Planned Parenthood you would support that, you would sign that?”
Donald Trump: “Yes, because as long as they do the abortion I am not for funding Planned Parenthood… As long as they’re involved with abortion, as far as I’m concerned forget it, I wouldn’t fund them regardless. I would defund Planned Parenthood because of their view and the fact of their work on abortion…. I am for defunding Planned Parenthood as long as they are involved with abortion.”

As far as Trump’s comments on Planned Parenthood funding are concerned, Trump has fairly consistently said he opposes taxpayer funding but he’s also made some remarks about the “good things” Planned Parenthood does that have alarmed pro-life voters — as if any “good thing” could make up for the fact that planned Parenthood kills 330,000 unborn babies a year in abortions and then sells their body parts for profit.

Meanwhile, Trump said he thinks the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that ushered in an era of 48 million abortions was “wrongly decided.” Trump said he would appoint “very good judges” who would ultimately “change it” but he opposed Roe without specifically saying it should be overturned.
Here are some of the headlines we’ve carried at LifeNews.com in recent months that provide further details on what Trump has said regarding Planned Parenthood funding:

July 23: Donald Trump: The Planned Parenthood Abortion Business Should “Absolutely be De-Funded”

August 4: Donald Trump: Shut Down the Federal Government to De-Fund Planned Parenthood
August 11: Donald Trump: Planned Parenthood is an “Abortion Factory”
August 17: Donald Trump: Videos of Planned Parenthood Selling Aborted Babies Were “Disgusting,” De-Fund It
August 26: Donald Trump: Planned Parenthood is an “Abortion Factory” That Sells Baby Parts Like Automobiles
October 19: Donald Trump: “Planned Parenthood Should Absolutely be De-Funded”
December 2: Donald Trump: De-Fund Planned Parenthood and “Look Carefully at” Overturning Roe v. Wade
December 22: Donald Trump: Unless Planned Parenthood Stops Doing Abortions, We Should De-Fund It

Source: LifeSite News

Pregancy Help Centers

 

Loss of Newborn Sparks Couple’s Long-Term Ministry to Moms

By Rachel Leigh

Randy and Evelyn James open up their regional center, which can house up to 30 women and children.Photo Courtesy: Paul Stefan Foundation

When Randy James and his wife, Evelyn, found out they were pregnant with their sixth child, they were thrilled. Their joy at the news was quickly replaced by fear when the first sonogram showed their son suffered from a diaphragmatic hernia—a condition that impedes the growth of the baby’s lungs.
After being sent to four different specialists in Washington D.C., the couple was given the heartbreaking news that there was no hope whatsoever of their son surviving birth.
“The doctor told us that the baby was incompatible to life,” Randy James said. “They recommended late-term abortion.”
The doctor advised them to travel to Kansas for a late-term abortion. As the couple left the office and headed back home to Locust Grove, Va., midway between Washington, D.C. and Richmond, they put aside their grief and vowed that no matter what happened in the life of their son, they would join the fight to stop abortion.

Paul Stefan James was born Dec.13, 2005. He was named after Fr. Paul Scalia—son of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia—and the James’ parish priest, Fr. Stefan Starzynski.
“We got to take pictures with him and forever we have a picture of my baby boy,” James said.
As Randy held his son in his arms, he realized those precious moments had almost been stolen from him by abortive doctors.

“They were stealing our joy from holding him and kissing him,” James said.
Although he survived less than an hour after his birth, the ripple effects of Paul Stefan’s short time on earth continue over a decade later. At his son’s funeral, James was approached by a woman from their parish who was praying for a home for unwed mothers. Both James and his wife felt this was the unmistakable calling of the Lord.

After Fr. Starzynski mentioned the idea during a homily, a local company decided to lease two homes for the ministry for a dollar per year. Another parishioner also donated $100,000 for renovations.
James, a builder and developer by trade, personally oversaw the renovations.
“We called it Paul Stefan foundation after Paul,” James said. “The death of a baby was the birth of a foundation.”
From the beginning it was clear God had His hand in the matter.
“From the day Paul died to the opening of the first house was just over nine months,” James said. “The first mother to stay at the home gave birth to her child a year to the day Paul was born.”
In the ten years since the loss of their son and the birth of the foundation, the James family has seen 170 women and their babies come through the Paul Stefan homes.
However, their next venture might prove to be the most exciting yet; a regional housing and maternity center repurposed from an old hotel James recently purchased.
“We can have up to 30 women and children,” James said. “We are going to partner with four local colleges and are going to educate them so they can get an IT certificate. We want them off the welfare system so they can have their dignity back and go out and be productive and feel good about raising their children.”
Although he faced many critics in the process, James said he waited on God to open the regional center.
“He opened the doors. Just the hotel property was worth $1.3 million. We bought it for $575,000.” James said.
After purchasing the property, the next hurdle was to begin renovations. Deciding to involve the local community in the process, James went to local churches, small groups and even the Chambers of Commerce to ask for volunteers who would be willing to decorate a room.
“Each room is individual to the people that decorated it,” James said. “Each bedroom is unique.”
The ground floor of the regional center will be allocated as a soup kitchen for the community as well as an educational center for the mothers. The second floor will house women and children, and the top floor will be for pregnant women.

Though the regional center may look like a broader ministry, their vision remains the same.
“It’s not a shelter, it’s a program,” James said. “You want to get your life on track, get a safety net and have goals in your life; we’ll help you get there.”
The stories of changed lives are a constant motivation to stay on the path on which God has placed them.
“One girl came here who was actually on the abortion table,” James said. “For some reason, they couldn’t get her blood pressure right so they sent her home. She came back again but they messed up the paperwork and sent her home again. In the meantime she met someone who gave her our number.

“She came here and had the baby. One day she came into my wife’s office sobbing and holding the baby saying, ‘I love her so much and I was going to kill her!’ She realized what she could have done. And that’s the biggest success story right there.”

While hoping to open the top floor of the regional center in August, James is already looking at opening similar centers across the country. The legacy of his baby boy—born without lungs—lives on, breathing hope and life into new communities.
Editor’s note. This appeared at Pregnancy Help News.

Source: NRLC News

Men and Abortion

 

How Little we Know about Men and Abortion

By Dave Andrusko
Editor’s note. Father’s Day is a week from Sunday. As we do each year we are running stories about one of the most neglected subject areas in the entire abortion debate: a father’s role and responsibility in the death of his child.
The following, which first ran in 2012, references the Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change. The Association is having its annual meeting at the NRLC Convention. For more about this year’s gathering, see here.
After nearly 40 years, you’d think almost everything that could be said about abortion has been said. However, as Wednesday’s annual meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change demonstrated, there are many gaping holes beginning with the topic of last night’s session: men and abortion.

The four presenters provided everything from an overview of the research done to date through a very powerful personal testimony of one man’s abortion experience to a new organization that will help buttress the case using scholarly analysis that abortion hurts women and men.
Catherine Coyle explained the paucity of scholarly study, although in the last few years, she said, the pace had picked up considerably. Coyle began by elaborating on an almost forgotten consideration.
We tend to forget that even after Roe, there was hope that husbands would be given a say, or at least notified of the impending abortion of their child. Subsequently Supreme Court decisions made unmistakably clear those fathers—unmarried or married—had no voice. Coyle discussed the symptoms that many post-abortive fathers experience including guilt and overpowering grief.
She keenly observed that men have a paternal instinct that is much underrated. Like all presenters, Coyle offer quotes from fathers devastated by the death of their unborn children.

Coyle also noted that the failure to communicate may play a part in more abortions than we would ever imagine. On the one hand, women are looking for affirmation from men that they want them to continue the pregnancy and will support them. On the other hand, men are anxious to “support” whatever decision the women in their lives make, even if they do not want an abortion. Their noncommittal responses are interpreted as indifference, at best.
David Russell provided a moving testimony about the abortion many years ago of a child he subsequently came to name Mathew David. The audience listened with rapt attention as Mr. Russell talked of how he felt he had taken the “easy way out,” that his aborted son had deserved a father “who would protect him,” and that Mathew David “deserved better than he got.”
He said unequivocally, “Men regret abortion every bit as much as women.” His comparison of men who sit by while women abort their children to Saul holding the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen make the audience’s heads snap to attention.
Greg Hasek offered a very provocative plan for treating men who have gone through an abortion experience—or more than one. Hasek believes that men do not often come to counseling to talk about abortion. They come for other reasons (which he calls “presenting symptoms”) but that unresolved and unacknowledged grief is at work in their hearts.
Hasek also argues that men respond (in a therapeutic setting) much better to the idea of “lost fatherhood” than to abortion. He ended his talk with his own recommendations for how to help men suffering from what is, after all, a traumatic experience.

Priscilla Coleman, whose work we have frequently run or commented about in NRL News Today, ended the evening’s program with an explanation of WECARE—the World Expert Consortium for Abortion Research and Education (www.wecareexperts.org).
Launched in January2012, WECARE is designed to “foster international research, provide experts for litigation, and disseminate information on the health effects of abortion.”

Source: NRLC News

Post Abortion and Men

 

Remembering Thomas

Responsibility, Guilt and a Child Who Never Was

By Phil McCombs, Washington Post Staff Writer
Editor’s note. Father’s Day is less than two weeks away. We’ve been running some new, some older stories about one of the most neglected subject areas in the entire abortion debate: a father’s role and responsibility in the death of his child.
Phil McCombs’s agonizing 1995 account arguably is the finest post-abortion reflection on abortion from a man’s perspective ever written.
This year’s March for Life in which 45,000 abortion opponents picketed the Supreme Court, didn’t have the emotional impact on me that these events often do. I was on my way out of town on business, and scarcely noticed.
Looking at reports later it seemed that everyone had been on his or her best behavior. The abortion opponents were making it plain that they oppose the use of violence to close clinics. And counter-demonstrations by abortion rights advocates as we’re careful to call them were rare.
…
I like prayer. It’s all I have left. And pain.
When the abortion was performed I was out of town on business, too. I made sure of that. Whatever physical, emotional and spiritual agony the woman suffered, I was not by her side to support her. I turned my face away. My behavior was in all respects craven, immoral.
For some instinctual reason, or just imaginatively, I’ve come to believe that it was a boy, a son whom I wanted killed because, at the time his existence would have inconvenienced me. I’d had my fun. He didn’t fit into my plans.
His name, which is carved on my heart, was Thomas.
My feelings of responsibility and guilt are undiminished by the fact that the woman had full legal authority to make the decision on her own, either way, without consulting me or even informing me. In fact, she consulted in an open fashion, reflecting our shared responsibility and I could have made a strong case for having the child. Instead, I urged her along the path of death.
And skipped town.
It’s not a lot of help, either-emotionally or spiritually-that the high priests of the American judiciary have put their A-OK on this particular form of what I personally have come to regard as the slaughter of innocents. After all, it’s the task of government to decide whom we may or must kill, and not necessarily to provide therapeutic services afterward. In the Army I remember being trained at public expense in the “spirit of the bayonet,” which is, simply put, “to kill.” The spirit of abortion is the same in my view, though the enemy isn’t shooting back.
I feel like a murderer, which isn’t to say that I blame anyone else, or think anyone else is a murderer.
It’s just the way I feel and all the rationalizations in the world haven’t changed this. I still grieve for little Thomas. It is an ocean of grief. From somewhere in the distant past I remember the phrase from Shakespeare, the multitudinous seas, “incarnadine.”
When I go up to the river on vacation this summer, he won’t be going boating with me on the lovely old wooden runabout that I can’t really afford to put in the water but can’t bring myself to discard, either.
He won’t be lying on the grass by the tent at night looking at the starry sky and saying, “What’s that one called, Dad?”
Because there was no room on the Earth for Thomas.
He’s dead.
The latest numbers show abortions in America have been running at about 1.5 million annually [Ed. Note. Now just over 1 million annually]. That’s a lot of pain.

Secular men’s groups have tended to be focused on the “no say, no pay” issue.
“These men feel raped,” says Mel Feit of the National Center for Men. “They lose everything they worked for all their lives. In many cases they had an agreement with the woman not to have a baby and when she changes her mind they call me up and say, “How can she do this to me? How can she get away with it?” Feit plans to bring suit in federal court.

I’m more interested in the traumatic pain that many men, as well as women often feel after an abortion. A healing process of recognition, grieving and ultimately forgiveness is needed.
“There’s a lot of ambivalence for men when they get in touch with their pain,” says Eileen C. Marx, formerly communications director for Cardinal James A. Hickey of Washington and now a columnist for Catholic publications. “They didn’t have the physical pregnancy, so often they feel they’re not entitled to the feelings of sadness and anger and guilt and loss that women often feel.”
She tells of one man, a friend, whose wife had an abortion. “He pleaded with her not to have it. He said his parents would raise the child, or they could put it up for adoption. The marriage broke up as a result of the abortion and other issues. He was really devastated by the experience.”
Marx has recently written about a post-abortion healing ministry called Project Rachel in which more men are becoming involved-husbands, boyfriends and even grandfathers. There are 100 Project Rachel branches, including one in Washington.

I found it helpful just talking with Marx, a caring person, on the phone: though it was a little tough when she mentioned being pregnant and hearing the heartbeat and feeling “this wonderful celebration of the life inside you.”
She said not to be too hard on myself, that healing is about forgiveness and God forgives me.
I said sure, that’s right but some things are still hard.
Like looking in the mirror.

Editor’s note. This first ran in the Washington Post on February 3, 1995. It was reposted at priestsforlife.org.

Source: NRLC News

Religious Freedom

 

If Illinois Government Has Its Way, Women Won’t Have the Right to Choose Pro-Life Doctors

By Marissa Mayer
Editor’s note. This comes from Alliance Defending Freedom.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner

Can you imagine a passionately pro-life OB-GYN who is forced by the government to provide patients with a list of abortion providers if they request one? How would this doctor reconcile promoting abortion with his or her conscience? What would this doctor tell pro-life patients who came to him or her because they wanted someone who shared and upheld their values – not someone who helps facilitate abortions?
Abortion is a serious issue. For those of us in the pro-life camp, the thought of promoting abortion—in any form—would be a violation of conscience.
Unfortunately, the Illinois legislature has passed a bill—SB 1564—that would force all medical facilities and physicians in the state who conscientiously object to involvement in abortions to adopt policies that provide women who ask for abortions with a list of providers “they reasonably believe may offer” them. In other words, the government is trying to compel the speech of pro-life providers—in the form of abortion referrals.

What the Illinois government fails to realize (or care about since we’ve brought it to their attention before) is that referring someone for an abortion goes against everything that pro-life doctors and pregnancy care centers believe about the sanctity of human life.
Not only that, but in a society that is consumed with the idea of choice, the Illinois government is working to effectively deprive women of their right to choose a pro-life doctor, which is what will happen if Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signs this unlawful bill.

This is not the first time a state has shown disregard for the free speech rights and rights of conscience of medical workers and pro-life pregnancy care centers. Alliance Defending Freedom is and has been working to get similar unconstitutional laws struck down. Several of our cases have specifically resulted in the elimination of requirements that pregnancy centers and the pro-life professionals who work at them must tell women certain things about abortion or birth control, or that force them to give women certain information about alternative service providers.

We recently saw a victory in New York where a federal court approved a final settlement between pregnancy care centers and the city of New York to ensure the freedom of speech for these centers. And in California, we’re working against a similar unconstitutional state law that forces pro-life pregnancy centers in the state to promote abortion.

Pro-life doctors and pregnancy care centers didn’t sign up to be spokespeople for government ideologies. They have a right to their beliefs and to operate their businesses accordingly. Please join us in praying that Gov. Rauner vetoes the bill and upholds the constitutional rights of its citizens.

Source: NRLC News

Preinatal Hospice

 

Perinatal Hospice: When an Ultrasound Leads to Heartache instead of Happiness

By Tracy Winsor
Editor’s note. This is Part Two of a series on Perinatal Hospice which appears on the webpage of the Georgia Life Alliance, NRLC’s State Affiliate. Part One was reposted previously here.
Sometimes the happy occasion of a prenatal ultrasound suddenly isn’t.
South Carolina expectant parents, Keith and Katherine Brown, learned that their first pregnancy was complicated by a prenatal diagnosis when abnormalities were detected during an anatomy scan at nineteen weeks gestation.
There were a number of issues, but most notably there was excess fluid in their daughter’s skull and abdomen and all four of her limbs were atypical. Additional testing was inconclusive, but the doctors suspected that Baby Grace had a rare genetic condition. The prognosis was grim.
“We were presented with many new medical terms and I just kept thinking that this was not supposed to be happening,” shares Katherine Brown. “Learning our first child had defects that would not likely allow her to live outside the womb was heart breaking.”
The Browns were fortunate that a perinatal hospice service which provided support to parents carrying to term following a life-limiting prenatal diagnosis existed in their community. A genetics counselor at their maternal fetal medicine practice referred them to PerinatalComfortCare, which provided on-going contacts and practical guidance for the Browns over the next eight weeks.
Perinatal hospice is a life-affirming care option for parents committed to carrying a baby with a prenatal diagnosis to term.

Tammy Tate, CEO/Founder of Perinatal ComfortCare, met with the Browns to share information regarding how they could cherish the time they had with their daughter, and memory-making options they could request at birth. When Grace was born still at twenty-seven weeks gestation, Tate was there at the hospital providing comfort and consolation, and assisting in coordinating their care.
“The practical guidance she gave us in terms of preparing us for what we would experience in the hospital was invaluable,” notes Brown.

“I had no idea I could tell the hospital staff what I wanted during delivery or that I could hold my baby and spend time with her,” she adds. “We would’ve never thought of taking pictures of us holding Grace, and I am not sure we would have had a funeral without Tammy’s guidance.”
First introduced in medical literature in 1997, perinatal hospice care provides comprehensive support to expectant parents told that their baby will die at or shortly after birth. Utilizing a multidisciplinary team including genetic counselors, obstetric and neonatal physicians, nurses, clergy, social workers, etc., perinatal hospice services support parents during pregnancy, and for at least one year after delivery.

Parents’ needs are addressed by providing appropriate medical consults, assistance preparing birth plans, guidance regarding options for newborn care, and bereavement support. This specialized service for parents prior to delivery allows them to prepare fully for birth, and to parent their baby for the time they will have no matter how brief or how frail that child’s life may be. The parent response to perinatal hospice is positive.

Nancy Mayer-Whittington, co-founder of Isaiah’s Promise, a perinatal hospice service in Maryland, is herself a mother who carried to term following a prenatal diagnosis.
Mayer-Whittington observes, “I would have felt less isolated and less alienated had I received the care we at Isaiah’s Promise provide to parents. Having the support of someone who can suggest options and understands the experience can make all the difference in the world.”
Tracy L. Winsor, MPA, is Cofounder of Be Not Afraid, a private non-profit corporation whose mission is to provide comprehensive, practical, and peer-based support to parents experiencing a prenatal diagnosis and carrying to term. She can be reached directly at Tracy.Winsor@benotafraid.net.

References:
Link 1 http://www.perinatalhospice.org/home.html
Link 2 http://perinatalcomfortcare.org/
Link3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Perinatal+hospice%3A+should+all+centers+have+this+service%3F
Link 4 http://www.isaiahspromise.net/

Source: NRLC News

Down Syndrome

 

Strong and passionate, Brock Jordan and his family brings out the best in others

By Dave Andrusko
When we switched to a new service, a “freebie” (I think) is access to a gazillion ESPN outlets. You can see college baseball all day long if you like, ditto for college softball.
Flipping channels the other night I briefly saw the LSU baseball team play. As it happens, the ‘ragin cajuns’ are playing Rice in a SEC regional championship game as I am writing this post.
So what does that possibly have to do with us? Glad you asked.

After I caught a glimpse of the game, I happened across “LSU’s indestructible, contact-crazy Beau and Bryce Jordan remain grounded by little brother Brock,” by Chandler Rome.

Beau and Bryce are twins who play for LSU, Brock is their little brother who simultaneously worships them and demands to be treated as an equal. That means lots and lots of physical contact , beginning with wrestling and baseball.
Brock is an amazing young man, who has just finished seventh grade. Brock is “tough,” his brothers say, and sounds as if, for his size, strong as an ox.
In addition, Rome tells us, Brock is possessed of “a near-photographic memory. He created his own sign language at a young age.”
Brock is omnipresent at his brothers’ games and the owner of more baseball bats than most teams (I exaggerate slightly).
Here’s how Rome begins his story of the three brothers.

LAKE CHARLES — The boy who can soften two indestructible twins required a feeding tube throughout his first year of life, has one scar from an open heart surgery down his chest and another on his back from his C4 to L4 vertebrae — scoliosis’ toll on the 10-pound baby Lori Jordan carried to term with no complications.

Brock Jordan spent the first four months of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit, shriveling to four pounds from his birth weight.

He has Down syndrome.

There’s another heart surgery coming, too. A leaking valve needs to be corrected, but doctors are comfortable waiting until later in the 15-year-old’s life.

Supporting LSU from head to toe, his brother Beau’s No. 24 on his right arm and Bryce’s No. 25 on the left, Brock’s the first person to answer the door on a rainy Wednesday afternoon.

Like you, I’ve read many stories about children (and adults) with Down syndrome. The best remind us to put away false assumptions: the individual doesn’t need or want “pity,” or to be treated “differently.”
“We never treated him different,” Bryce told Rome. “You wanted him to grow up in a normal atmosphere, we didn’t want to treat him any other way.”
Throughout Brock’s life, people have seen him as a younger brother, whose older brothers love him intensely and treat him as they would want to be treated. There’s this:

When the twins played at Barbe High School, coach Glenn Cecchini, himself a special education teacher, often had Brock in the dugout or as an honorary batboy. Beau and Bryce often led him out to the foul line, standing with the team for pregame ceremonies.

The batter’s box was much closer then, too, and more suitable to Brock’s constant hitting instruction.

“Watching them interact with Brock makes me want to be a better person,” Cecchini said. “Makes me want to be more compassionate, more kind, more loving. How they treated him makes you want to be a better man, husband, coach, brother, better son, better friend. And they never said anything about it.”

Rather than provide a bunch more quotes or paraphrases, let me just encourage you to read Rome’s story.
And, if I may put in a plug, Go Ragin Cajuns!

Source: NRLC News