ProLife Joes is an international information center for
pre and post-abortion men, (and women), reaching out to all those
who share in the pro-family experience -- We are a platform for pro-life
people of all nations with which to raise their voices as one, declaring:
"We are pro-life, we are
pro-women... and we regret our loss of parenthood"
"I give thanks to Jesus Christ our Lord, who has given me strength for my work..." 1Tim 1:12
Sarah Groves: Less Like Scars
The Healing Will Come.
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Contact your state representatives and protest the elimination
of conscious protections
The
Best Way For Us To Lose The Battle For Life Is To Sit And Do Nothing!
In The Air...
On The Wire... This is a BATTLE FOR LIFE AS WE KNOW IT! --Pablo
"We are at War!":
Bishop Finn Delivers Rousing Clarion Call to the "Fight for Life" in
America
By Kathleen Gilbert
OVERLAND PARK, Kansas, April
21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop
Robert Finn of the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph issued a powerful call to
action to pro-lifers at the 2009 Gospel of Life Convention on Saturday.
In his speech, Finn heavily criticized pro-abortion Catholic politicians who
claim a "personal opposition" to abortion, stating that such persons
are "warriors of death" who "have abandoned their place in the
citizenship of the Church."
"As
I speak a word of encouragement today I also want to tell you soberly, dear
friends, 'We are at war!'" began Finn, who said that today's issues bring
"an intensity and urgency to our efforts that may rival any time in the
past."
The bishop warned that an empty
version of the rhetoric of "tolerance" can come from people of all
backgrounds, including Christians and Catholics: "The 'battle between
believers,' who claim a certain 'common ground' with us, while at the same
time, they attack the most fundamental tenets of the Church's teachings, or
disavow the natural law - this opposition is one of the most discouraging,
confusing, and dangerous," he said.
"Occasionally we still
hear an elected official speak of his or her personal opposition to abortion,
while they support the legal right to an abortion," he continued.
"We should be very clear:
Such a person places him or herself completely OUTSIDE the moral framework,
the moral imperative of Evangelium Vitae and other Church teaching on these
issues. ... They have abandoned their place in the citizenship of the Church.
Quite simply they have become warriors for death rather than life.
"If you and I support such
a person who has so flatly told us of their intentions to protect a fraudulent
Right to Death, a Right to an Abortion, we make ourselves participants in
their attack on life," said Finn.
Touching on the Notre Dame
scandal, Finn said the school's decision to honor Obama at this year's
commencement was "scandalous, discouraging and confusing to many
Catholics" and he conjectured that "Fr. Jenkins will probably lose
his job."
Finn suggested that Jenkins
should disinvite the President and give the honorary degree to Bishop John
D'Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, "who has supported and
tried to guide the University, despite their too frequent waywardness,
faithfully for 25 years."
Finn urged the crowd to never
get used to the "constant magnitude" of abortion.
"Thousands of human lives
every day: If we keep saying this - first of all - some people will get very
upset with us," said the Bishop. "They will want us to stop. They
may quote other statistics about the tragedies of poverty and war. We must
truly share their horror at these things too. However, in the end the measure
of our society is in how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst."
On the role of bishops in the
abortion debate, Finn noted the spontaneous standing ovation received by New
York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan at his installation Mass when he mentioned the
sanctity of unborn life.
Finn said the reaction revealed
the Catholic community's desire for leadership on the issue.
"This is NOT partisan
politics on the part of bishops or their flock," he said.
"This is zeal for life, pure and powerful. This is care for truth,
and attention to the salvation of souls. It cannot and must not be neglected,
even if it means we might get scolded at times by those who want us to speak
less.
"We bishops should note it
carefully - how our people are starving for more leadership - more unanimity -
more courage in this regard."
Bishop Finn urged diligence in
the effort to promote the culture of life, one that must not slacken even as
others "push back" and try to silence the message.
"As bishop I have a
weighty responsibility to tell you this over and over again," said Finn.
"This obligation is not always easy, and constantly I am tempted to say
and do less, rather than more. Almost every day I am confronted with the
persuasion of other people who want me to be silent. But - with God's grace -
you and I will not be silent."
On The Wire... Offensive
statements do not fly!
Group Launches Campaign for
Retraction on Homeland Security Pro-Lifers as "Extremists" Remarks
April 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)
- The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) today announced it is
launching a national campaign demanding that the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) retract a warning it included in a recent report on domestic
terrorism that labels pro-life supporters as 'extremists.'
At the same time, the ACLJ is
notifying all 50 states that the report - and the offensive warning - should
not be used to curtail the First Amendment rights of pro-life supporters.
Further, the ACLJ is supporting a call for Congressional hearings on the DHS
report.
"The report creates a very troubling climate for those who want to
exercise their constitutional rights to speak out about protecting the life of
the unborn," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.
"It's now clear the DHS
ignored its own internal concerns about this outrageous and inflammatory
warning. We're very concerned that this disturbing report not be used by
law enforcement agencies around the country to silence the legitimate First
Amendment rights of pro-life supporters.
"The fact is that the DHS
must retract this offensive reference. We also support the call for
Congressional hearings to get to the bottom of this. The DHS report
represents at the very least - bad judgment - and at worst - an
Administration-backed effort to intimidate and silence pro-life
supporters."
The DHS's April 7th warning is entitled: "Rightwing Extremism: Current
Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and
Recruitment." Included in its assessment is this reference to
specific groups, including those who oppose abortion:
News reports now reveal that the civil rights division inside the DHS
expressed concern about the definition of terrorists, which included the
'extremism' label being applied to groups that oppose abortion. But, the
DHS issued the report without addressing those concerns. Some
members of Congress - including Rep. Peter King (NY) - are now calling for
hearings to investigate the DHS report.
On
The Wire... more from the Commission on
Population and Development. --Pablo
UN Pro-life Victory
Tempered
by Troubling Trends
By Samantha Singson
and Piero A. Tozzi
(NEW YORK – C-FAM) Last week’s pro-life
victory at the United Nations (UN) Commission on Population and Development (CPD)
was not without some setbacks. While there were eleventh hour dramatics on the
question of abortion, other language troublesome to pro-family critics crept
into the document.
One provision calls for “sexuality education.”
Another calls for the training and equipping of health services providers to
perform “safe abortions.” Yet another one supports a controversial but so
far General Assembly-rejected Millennium Development Goal of “universal
access to reproductive health.”
While delegates emphasized that nothing in the
document should be construed to support, promote, or endorse abortion and the
new non-binding document “creates no new rights,” several phrases were
included in the document without precise definitions. UN agencies and
committees use such imprecise language to influence governments to change
their laws on social policy.
The new CPD document, for instance, has new agreed
upon language that calls for “providing young people with comprehensive
education on human sexuality.” The document does not define “human
sexuality,” so UN agencies and committees will likely turn to technical
definitions provided by other UN institutions such as the World Health
Organization (WHO). The WHO states, “Sexuality…encompasses sex, gender,
gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure,
intimacy, and reproduction.” The definition further explains, “Sexuality
is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs,
attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, roles, and relationships.” It is
likely that many of the delegates allowing for “human sexuality” into the
CPD document were not aware of the WHO definition.
Sharon Slater of Family Watch International lobbied
last week against the language of “human sexuality” by using a UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) sponsored pamphlet distributed a few years ago in
Mexico that bears a striking resemblance to the WHO definition. The pamphlet
“teaches youth that a person can have sexual pleasure” with “inanimate
objects, animals, minors” or with a “non-consenting person.” She also
used a UN Population Fund (UNFPA) sex-ed manual that teaches children, “It
is common for boys to have frequent sexual intercourse with other boys.”
The WHO definitions are not created by governments
and have never been approved by the WHO World Health Assembly [the WHO general
assembly of member states]. Technical definitions of this sort are created
instead by sometimes ideologically-driven staff bureaucrats and “experts.”
Another area of concern in the new CPD document is a
provision that calls on health systems to “train and equip health service
providers” to “take such measures to ensure that such abortion is safe and
accessible.” Critics fear this language could be used to remove conscience
protection from health care workers to refuse to perform or refer for
abortions.
The CPD document also contained two references to a
controversial Millennium Development Goal target on “universal access to
reproductive health” which started appearing in UN literature in 2007,
despite pushback from many countries who insist that no new targets had been
agreed to by the UN member states in the negotiating process in 2000 and in
the 2005 review process. UNFPA has used the supposed new target to call for
greater funding for UN-style family planning programs.
On
The Wire... Un delegates make all the right moves, end on positive note at
last!
UN Commission Ends with Delegations Saying No to Abortion
By Samantha Singson
( NEW
YORK - C-FAM
) As the sun rose on the last
day of negotiations at the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) at
the United Nations (UN) today, delegations were still embroiled in a
contentious debate over language concerning sexual and reproductive health and
rights, which some radical NGOs and UN committees have interpreted and used to
promote abortion. As UN member states came together at the closing meeting to
adopt the document, delegations took the floor to define abortion out of the
document.
Up
until the eleventh hour, the contentious term sexual and reproductive health
and rights remained in the draft document. Just prior to adoption, Iran took
the floor to object to the phrase which has never before been included in any
negotiated UN document. Iran stressed that the term remained problematic
for a number of delegations and urged the Commission to revert back to
previously agreed upon and carefully negotiated language from the 1994
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program of
Action, which is understood not to create any right to abortion.
In an
attempt to get consensus, the chairwoman from Mexico suspended the meeting and
after twenty minutes, returned to the room and announced that Iran's proposal
would be accepted and that the term sexual and reproductive health and rights
would be removed from the text. The document was then adopted by
consensus.
Several delegations, however, went further and made statements to explicitly
define abortion out of the CPD document and to reiterate that the document
created no new rights. Comoros, Peru, Poland, Ireland, Chile, the Holy
See, Malta, and Saint Lucia spoke out against the other remaining reproductive
health-related terms such as reproductive rights, reproductive health services
and sexual and reproductive health and emphasized that these could not be
construed to support, endorse or promote abortion.
Malta's
ambassador stated that his delegation was finding it more difficult in
accepting the resolutions of UN bodies like the CPD where there were
consistent attempts to expand reproductive health to include abortion.
Saint
Lucia made an explicit objection to the term safe abortion because the term
could give the impression that abortion was a procedure completely free of
medical and psychological risks. Saint Lucia also highlighted a
provision in the CPD document which called on states where abortion was legal
to train and equip health service providers and should take such measures to
ensure that such abortion is safe and accessible. The Saint Lucian
representative stressed that her delegation understood this provision did not
impact the right of healthcare providers to refuse to perform or be complicit
in abortions as a matter of conscience, stating, Again, no new rights are
created or acknowledged in this document, and the universal right to
conscience can in no way be overridden or weakened.
Only
the representative of Norway expressed regret that the term sexual and
reproductive rights was not accepted in the text, saying that his country had
widespread access to abortion and virtually no negative effects on women.
The
CPD will next meet in April 2010.
On The March... The LifeSiteNews
Campaign has begun. Get Aboard! -- Pablo
Pro-Life Org Receives
Donations in Name of Planned Parenthood (PP) President, following PP Sarah
Palin Campaign
PITTSBURGH, Mar. 17 /Christian
Newswire/ -- This Lent
LifeSiteNews (LSN), an online pro-life news source, has initiated a campaign
to flood the largest and most profitable abortion providers in North America
with personalized cards asking them to respect the right to life of all
Americans and Canadians, and telling them that women deserve better than
abortion.
From now until Easter Sunday, for every person who donates to LSN in the
name of Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, or Canadian
arch-abortionist Henry Morgentaler, LSN will mail a personalized card to
either Richards or Morgentaler telling them that the donation was made in
their name. The card will also ask them to respect the right to life of all
Americans or Canadians, and tell them that women deserve better than
abortion.
The front of the American cards says, "A Planned Parenthood shouldn't
imply a dead baby and a wounded mother," and the Canadian card says,
"Doctors should save lives, not end them."
The LSN campaign comes several months after an e-mail campaign during the
U.S. elections that saw Planned Parenthood reportedly receive over $1
million in donations, all of which were given in "honor" of
staunchly pro-life governor Sarah Palin.
LifeSiteNews.com managing director Steve Jalsevac has asked North American
pro-lifers to come together and send a strong counter-message to the
continent's largest abortion providers.
"Together Planned Parenthood and Henry Morgentaler are responsible for
the lost lives of countless millions of Americans and Canadians," said
Jalsevac. "Well, now we're offering the opportunity for pro-life people
to tell these guys directly to stop what they're doing, while at the same
time supporting the most widely read international pro-life and pro-family
news service in the world."
LSN hopes to mail Planned Parenthood and Henry Morgentaler a total of 5,000
cards by Easter.
"We need everybody to spread word of this campaign," said
Jalsevac. "E-mail your friends, family, everyone you think might be
remotely interested in supporting the pro-life cause."
Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westen observed that Lent is the best time to
help support the pro-life movement. "During Lent we look forward to
Easter, to the Resurrection. It is a time of year that is traditionally
associated with birth and new life.
"So during this Lent, why not make LifeSiteNews.com part of your
alms-giving, and reach out to Morgentaler and Richards at the same
time?"
All I have been
and keep hearing is what Barack Oh Bummer, (I refuse to call him my president:
the thought of doing so stirs the bile in my stomach), is going to do, for
example: forcing tax payers to pay for abortion programs here and abroad with
our tax dollars; un-sign
legislation removing protections from late-term abortions; rescind protections
for pro-life doctors, and put in an abortion advocate as Health Secretary; sign the Freedom of
Choice Act, in one form or another, on and on… ad infinitum.
The question is
what are we going to do while this loose cannon fulfills the promises he made
to his supporters? There is no question as to how he won: by promising change,
throwing huge amounts of dollars at his campaign, and spinning the truth.
Just what will change remains to be seen. He promoted his agenda of death
quietly to
the people who could best make it happen, while publicly promising to
"balance abortion". Organizations like Planned
Parenthood International, NARAL, and poor misguided citizens desperate for a
change from the Bush ranch cow-patty way of doing things that has been
bringing this country to it's knees. Simple people who did not understand,
or were ignorant as to the complex ramifications of Oh Bummer's agenda.
For
instance, he won the black vote because most black Americans were unaware of
the over 13 million black babies murdered in and out of the womb since Roe v
Wade. And least we forget, he sweetened the pot for money-hungry politicians full of self-interest, special interest, and personal ladder-climbing
agendas with a pork-filled "stimulus package" that is destined to
further cripple our economy. I won't even begin to address his promises to
illegal immigrants. So far, so bad. America was and is ready to accept the
idea of a black President...
it just elected the wrong candidate.
I am ashamed to
be an American, in an America that is so desperate for good change. I will continue to pray for
Oh Bummer.
May God help us all.
Pablo
From The Mail Box... an
update from Shawn Carney, National Director of the Spring
2009 40 Days for Life campaign. --Pablo
Dear
Pablo,
Many
families have been blessed by the mission of 40 Days for Life—and sometimes
in the most surprising ways.
Here’s a
story about last fall’s campaign that I just learned about this week.
A young
man’s mother insisted on two occasions that he drive her to the vigil
outside the abortion center as she had signed up for hours in the middle of
the night, but did not want to go alone.
When they
arrived, the mom went to pray, but the young man refused to get out of the
car...
...But the
experience still had an impact.
The mother
didn’t know it at the time, but her son’s girlfriend was pregnant, and
planned to have an abortion—at the very facility where the 40 Days for Life
vigil was in progress.
But the
young man was so touched by what his mother was doing he called his girlfriend
shortly afterward.Fortunately, she answered the phone—she was at the abortion
center for her appointment.
He urged
her to get out of that place. And she did.
The baby
will be born in July. Praise God!
A family in
Kalamazoo, Michigan heard some unexpected wisdom from their 10-year-old
daughter, who was at the vigil with them. She was singing and praying, but
then stopped and noticed the shoveled pile of old, grimy snow next to the
fence at Planned Parenthood.
“I’m
glad that God didn’t give them nice, clean, white snow,” she said,
“because what they do is like this—not nice.” She added that she really
hoped God would hear her prayers, because she wishes that “this place would
shut down and a beautiful garden would grow here instead.”
Now THAT is
an inspiring prayer request!
Finally, Ed
told me about two families who drove up to the vigil in Olympia, Washington.
In each car, there was a baby in the back seat.
“The
drivers thanked us profusely for being there, as their children had been
slated for abortion,” he said.“What
a blessing! It is an example of the result of prayer, presence and fasting. We
will never know the full extent of our activities. We pray that more people
may experience our joy.”
Yours In Christ,
Shawn Carney
Spring Campaign Director
40 Days for Life
God, forgive us when we
try to explain away the obligation we
have to help others who need help. Enable
us to not devalue them because they are in the circumstance
that they are in, but to see them for what
they are, those, who like us, were formed by your hand
in their mother's womb. Amen.
From The Mail Box... A reader chimes in from
the local Prescott Arizona area against the proposed new Planned Parenthood
center. Your voice must be heard to stop this atrocity from ever coming to
fruition. join us in this area-wide protest! --Pablo
Dear Pablo,
I live in the Prescott, Arizona
area. Planned Parenthood is to build a Regional
and Medical Educational Center in Prescott Valley, AZ. I
would expect a regional center to be big and preform many abortions!
This information is in the Planned Parenthood Arizona Newsletter for Fall
2008, found at: Keeping Our Doors Opened Planned Parenthood 2008.
We must do all we can to keep this out of our area! It is highly
recommend that anyone living in the Tri-City area write a letter to the editor
about their objections to this Regional and Medical Education
Center!
From
The Mail Box... an update from our friend, Shawn Carney, National Director of
the first 2009 40 Days
For Life Campaign. --Pablo
Dear
Pablo,
Abortion
is sold on lies:
"It's a choice." "It really isn't a person." "It's only been six weeks; nothing's there yet.""It's a fetus, not a
child.:
A
funny thing happens once you start to lie -- it's hard to keep your story
straight!
The
40 Days for Life team in Abilene, Texas found that out right as the campaign
began. The local newspaper interviewed Paula, the campaign director. She told
the reporter that the Planned Parenthood center in Abilene did "medical
abortions" (usually that means the RU-486 pill) as advertised on their
web site.
A
defensive spokeswoman for the clinic then told the reporter that no abortions
were done in Abilene. But either way, Planned Parenthood trapped itself.
Either the web site is wrong or the spokeswoman is wrong.
The
good news, though, is that thanks to the questioning of the local 40 Days for
Life team, the newspaper did a follow-up story and discovered that the Abilene
facility is indeed licensed to do abortions!
Now
one entire community is wondering if Planned Parenthood can be trusted.
Still,
some people are taken in by the abortion deception. As this testimony from a
40 Days for Life volunteer shows, that deception has an extreme price. Because
of that, we must speak out:
"I
am a grandmother of two aborted children that I know I will see someday in
heaven. My heart cries for these two children that I never got to hold, but I
am thankful that God has them in the palm of his hand and is caring for them
until I can be there. Praise God!
"More
than anything my heart cries out for my son and stepson that believed the lies
of Satan. Years later, not even understanding the aftereffects of what has
kept them from having a deep relationship with God, or anyone else, they have
buried themselves in work in trying to find their self worth, and created
walls that allow no one to penetrate.
"Yes,
I miss my grandchildren, but more than that I miss my son whom I see
frequently. He speaks of sleeplessness, panic attacks, nightmares, self
imposed isolation, and does not even realize why. I know why and this is why I
can be silent no more.
"The
band aid or quick fix that abortion supposedly promises for misguided
uninformed victims robs them of their self esteem, their ability to protect
their family, their ability to have deep relationships with others and the
guilt and shame that prevent them from
having
a relationship with their Father God.
"Praise
God, there is something we can do. Through our prayers and fasting, God has
moved mountains. It is not what I do but what God can do thru my prayers and
fasting. I believe I am called to speak up for those who can not speak up for
themselves; I can be silent no more."
Today's
devotional was prepared for you by Rev. John Brown, the director of United
Friends for Life (United Church of Christ)...
Yours In Christ,
Shawn Carney
Spring Campaign Director
40 Days for Life
O
Father, forgive us for our lack of courage and our want of compassion for the
unborn and for those lost and hurt by abortion. Fill us anew with your Spirit.
Renew
our minds, strengthen us in righteousness, and help us be people of salt and
light within our nation.
May
every human being, from conception to natural death, be treated with the
respect due those made in your image. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.
On My Mind... Where is our
country headed?
The
moment that pro-life supporters have feared has finally come to pass. We have
known for some time now that Obama’s planned agenda was not and is not
pro-life friendly. His actions on the Mexico Policy were a sure indication of
how he plans to force changes upon us that, without our direct involvement,
are imminent. With the Planned Parenthood Federation and other “choice”
supporters waiting on the front lines with their greedy hooks ready dive into
Obama’s pocket, we do not know which way the winds will blow. His
“Economic Stimulus Package” is another sign of what is to come. It remains
to be seen how this package will stimulate the economy, as it throws us some
$787 Billion further into a debt that is already overwhelming this Nation.
Currently this debt figure, as of February 18th, 2009, is ten
trillion, seven hundred eighty-nine billion, nine hundred twenty-nine million,
seven hundred seventy-five thousand, and one hundred ninety-six dollars and
seventy-six cents!(That is:
$10,789,929,775,196.76) (Source:
TreasuryDirect.gov) I
do not know if this number sounds overwhelming to you, but it does to me. We,
collectively, and only we, can force change in Washington. Ours is a country
“by the people, for the people.” Let us put this to the test.
--Pablo
From The Wire... John Jalsevac, from LifeSiteNews.Com
chimes in on our ability and seeming willingness to live lives based on lies.
--Pablo
On the Tragic Self-Deceit of the Human Race
February
13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A
while back Cardinal Egan wrote an uncharacteristically scathing column, which
is one of the best I have ever read on the abortion issue, certainly by a
bishop. In it he included these few lines: "If you can convince yourself
that these beings (unborn children) are something other than living and
innocent human beings, something, for example, such as 'mere clusters of
tissues,' you have a problem far more basic than merely not appreciating the
wrongness of abortion. And that problem is - forgive me - self-deceit in a
most extreme form."
Human beings are extraordinarily adept at
self-deceit, which is witnessed to by the fact that whole generations have
periodically convinced themselves of things that are laughably (but often
tragically) false, even when all the evidence points otherwise. Usually this
is accomplished because the prevalent lie of the age happens to be a
convenient one, and to think contrary to what is fashionable would spoil one's
groove.
For instance, I often meditate upon the fact that
not a few highly intelligent men and women (not to mention a lot of the
rabble) convinced themselves not so very long ago that members of other
less-developed civilizations were "sub-human," and could, therefore,
be treated according to one's whims. Hence the institution of slavery, which
was thought to be an extremely groovy institution by people who made bundles
of cash off of it, and even by those who didn't profit at all, but were simply
taken in by the propaganda.
I often idly wonder if I would have been one of
those working alongside William Wilberforce. Would I have been fighting
against all the odds to abolish the slave trade, or would I have been one of
the complacent, or even (God forbid) one of the complicit? It is not so
straight-forward a speculation as I would like to think. We like to forget
(because of what it might say about us) that William Wilberforce was an
anomaly, an almost solitary voice of contradiction, a single bolt of lightning
in the midst of a seething black sky. In the end he may indeed have
lighted the whole world, but it was only after he nearly killed himself in the
effort to galvanize his compatriots into action.
There is a scene in the movie "The
Mission," in which the Jesuit priests working amongst the South American
natives present to a visiting Cardinal and his retinue a native child, who
sings for them a convincing rendition of Ave Maria. The priests arranged this
performance to demonstrate that the natives could perform well and with
feeling the most elevated of art, and were, therefore, just as spiritual and
human as anybody else.
Of course, the wily slave traders denounce the
whole performance as a sham, observing that a beast could be trained to do the
same, which was only the first of their many lies. But it is well to remember
that this very same tragic scene was going on all over the world at that time,
in many of the colonies. And the slave traders were considered the popular
ones, while the puritanical objectors mere gnats buzzing in the face of
progress and profit.
Vision is 20/20 in retrospect, and now we all
rightly wonder at this monstrous blind spot in the collective conscience of
the colonial West. But it is mere fantasy to suppose that some of us wouldn't
have been taken in by the lie, if we had lived then. And the same goes for
every other great lie in history.
Now, I happen to have a wife, and she happens to be
pregnant. (But, before I explain my reasons for bringing her up, I feel I must
dispense with an objection. Paul Johnson proclaims as law in his essay,
"the art of writing a column," which I just read last night, that a
columnist ought never to mention his wife in print. However, I observe that
Johnson also lays out a scad of other rules, and, as far as I can tell he
violates every single one of them, often. For instance, he wrote that a
columnist should never talk down to his readers, but if anyone talks down it
is Johnson, which is perhaps the very reason he is so popular. He also
strongly proscribed against name-dropping, but after I read the essay in which
he nonchalantly spoke of the time he kissed Margaret Thatcher, I began to
suspect something of the humbug in him. Hence, I have thought it admissible to
forego his advice.)
And so, back to my wife. As I say, she is pregnant,
just recently into the third trimester, and therefore exceedingly
uncomfortable. Now, I have never had a wife before, let alone one that is
pregnant. Like most men, prior to discovering my own fatherhood, I never paid
much attention to pregnant women, whom I thought strange and mysterious
creatures that I could not hope to understand. And so now I am learning very
many things, not the least of which is that they are much more strange and
mysterious than I could have imagined.
One thing that I have been most astonished by,
however, is just how present the baby has been. We began to be able
to feel its movements quite strongly only 17 weeks into the pregnancy. And in
recent weeks he seems to be positively in training for the Golden Gloves
boxing match. I can even see when he or she (we have decided against
finding out the sex) moves now, which I did not expect and is an odd
experience.
The baby reacts to all sorts of things, including
voices and light. Once I turned on the stereo and it came on unexpectedly
loud, and the baby jumped all of a sudden, startled by the sudden noice. You
can feel the baby's head, and feet and hands, and sometimes when you push
against its hands or feet, he pushes back as if to say, "Please
give me some peace in here. It is the only nine months of peace I am likely
ever to have."
It is at such moments as these, when I feel this
tiny fist resisting my own intruding finger, that I think soberly of the many
women with children, or married men, including many politicians and
journalists and other important and intelligent and influential people, who
vociferously defend, not simply abortion, but late-term and partial-birth
abortion, under the pretense that the fetus is a "blob of tissue,"
or "sub-human" in some other way. And at such times I can only think
of that South American child beautifully singing the Ave Maria, oblivious to
the fact that he was singing for the very existence of his race.
The President of the United States is a married man
with two children. He has also been one of the most outspoken defenders of all
abortions, including partial-birth abortions. I wonder then, did he ever take
the time while his wife was pregnant to notice what pregnancy was like?
Surely Barack has sat on the sofa with Michelle, as I have done with my wife,
and watched as his child's fists imprinted themselves on his wife's belly in a
sudden flurry of punches. Was he not moved? Did he not, even for a
moment, question himself? And somehow we have convinced ourselves that Obama
is the great, indeed, the model family man.
Has the Pro-Life Movement Failed? Ask an
Abortion Doctor
By Cathy Ruse and Austin Ruse
Imagine yourself a typical abortion doctor, working anywhere in the country.
You’re a late middle-aged man who never gets to know your patients and
doesn’t care to. In the beginning you saw yourself as a hero in the
fight for women’s rights, but now years later as you travel a circuit of
clinics, your unknown patients lying prone on table after table, the luster of
your work has faded.
Every day you walk through a phalanx of protesters praying for you to stop
your work and trying to persuade your patients to walk away. A few doors
away or across the street sits a pregnancy help center that has a new sonogram
machine which is opening a door to your secret world and turning women against
you.
And now there is a new threat, that among the young women in the waiting rooms
are undercover pro-lifers with hidden microphones recording clinic staffers
saying things that will be aired later on the O’Reilly Factor.
Your landlord doesn’t want you as a tenant. Your state legislature
passes new laws every year that hurt your business. Your home phone is
unlisted and your medical colleagues shun you.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. On the day the Supreme Court handed down
the decisions Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the New
York Times and the Court itself said the abortion issued had been
settled. Of course, nothing in our public life is as unsettled as the abortion
issue.
Every year tens of thousands of Americans march in protest on the anniversary
of Roe. The Catholic scholar Michael Novak has said that more
people have marched in this march for this cause than any other in American
history.
Roe established by judicial fiat a national rule of virtually
unlimited legal abortion, and the fight against this monolith is not unlike an
insurgency against an authoritarian regime: Roe brooks no dissent and admits no compromise; it will not be moved
from power; there is little opponents can do to topple the regime. Yet
the rule of insurgencies is that if they do not wither away they will
eventually win. The insurgency of the pro-life movement has done much more
than stay alive. It has thrived.
The result of this iron rule of Roe is that a thousand pro-life
flowers have bloomed. It seems pro-life initiatives spring up almost
spontaneously at kitchen tables and dorm rooms all across the country. A woman
who suffered from abortion decided to tell her story in public and a movement
was born and now thousands more speak out. A young man got an idea about
prayer and fasting and cooked up 40 Days for Life, a movement that is sweeping
the country. Pro-life messages are emerging in the least likely of
places, like popular radio and even Hollywood. And yes, hearts and
minds are changing.
The result of this is that in poll after poll Americans say they want
significantly more limitations on abortion than the Roe regime
allows. Notably, that opinion is shared by women. In an extensive
survey of women conducted by the Center for Gender Equality, a group run by
former Planned Parenthood President Faye Wattleton, a majority of
women stated that abortion should either never be permitted or should be
permitted only for cases of rape, incest, or where the woman’s life is
endangered. When asked to rank 12 issues in order of importance for the
women’s movement, the women ranked “Keeping abortion legal” next to
last, less important than any other goal but “More girls in
sports.”
Roe was never based on law, but on the opinion of elite policy makers
including those on the Supreme Court. The broadness and deepness of the
pro-life movement is changing all that and Roe will eventually be reheard and
will be overturned. Both sides know that.
Go listen to an abortion proponent speak. They are beleaguered. They are
surrounded. They are defeated. The pro-life movement is coming at them from
every direction.
Is the pro-life movement defeated? Not by the longest of shots.
Cathy Ruse is Senior Fellow for Legal Studies at the Family Research
Council.
Austin Ruse is president of the New York and Washington DC-based C-FAM
(Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute), a research institute on
international social policy.
On My mind... He is Legion, he is many, and he
currently rules. --Pablo
I wake up
each day with a prayer on my lips.
I then spend
the day worrying, in fear, for our country. I tell myself to trust in God, but
I am mindful of free will, and free will is what troubles me. I pray that God
gives us guidance and direction, but then I get the feeling that The Lord has
given us just what we asked for—just what we deserve. This nation has
fallen. It has become as Sodom and Gomorrah.
It has become a place where
God means nothing to its people. A place where it is more correct to
worship self and all the gifts that Satan will provide.
Our nation has become a
place where Christians are persecuted for praying for those who have lost
faith in a higher power,
A place where same sex
relationships have challenged the sanctity of marriage, and have been
accepted as a norm.
A nation
where women have the choice to kill infants within the womb, and have done
so at the current rate of approximately one every 3 seconds—over
43,000,000 since Roe v Wade.
A place where the poor and
homeless that have permeated the streets of our cities have become so
commonplace that we no longer even notice them, as if ignoring them will
make them go away.
A nation where the jobless
man is forced to stand in a soup kitchen line with his family, no longer
able to feed his children.
A place where alcohol is so
desired that the shelf space in our stores take up to three or four times
the space allocated for milk bread and butter.
It is a nation where crime,
drugs and violence have become so every day, that the mainstream media
seems to report nothing else of value. Just watch the first ten minutes of
any news broadcast and you will see what unfolds.
A nation where hate crime
is rampant, and ignored in fear.
A place
where our courts and prisons are overflowing and choked with the dregs
that our society has produced through it’s inaction.
Our nation
has become a place where it’s citizens live in fear of the gangs that
now command our streets with seeming impunity, out-gunning even the
police.
Where it is no longer safe
to be out of doors, both in daylight, and at night.
In
light of all of this it is no wonder that some of us fall deep into a bottle
of booze, or needles and drugs… seeking to medicate, seeking a means to
escape, when our souls are so angered, weak and troubled.
There
is one way we can repair the damage to our nation: we require a spiritual
awakening… a return, en masse, to our fundamental need for God in our lives.
This may not be the answer everyone wants to hear, but it is the only answer
that will work. There is power in prayer, and strength in unity and
fellowship. Our path has been time tested, and laid out for us. We need only
embark upon it and we will succeed in not only finding answers, but finding
solutions that will heal our nation. May we find that the countless that have
sacrificed their lives for our nation will not have done so in vain.
Pablo S.
Prescott
Valley, AZ
On My Mind… I have been asked
more than once: "what exactly is a ProLife Joe"? I rather like
answers in a nutshell. --Joe
Ordinary
Joes make up the world, combined with a far too minimal smattering of
extraordinary people. And, too, sadly for us, maladjusted self-seeking Joes
and Janes are in the mix as well. They are legion, and they are many.
The
Definition of a ProLife Joe, (or Jane), is not complicated, but expansive.
Following are a few key bullet points:
ProLife
spiritual Joes do not covet the personal freedom to extinguish life on
demand-- from the womb, to partial birth and beyond.
ProLife
Joes are not selfishly interested in their wants and needs: they well know
how to sacrifice and give of themselves, and do so willingly.
ProLife
Joes are for the greater good, not the greater gain.
ProLife
Joes take responsibility for their procreative and proactive actions or
inactions.
ProLife
Joes are willing to speak out against issues involving the taking of a
life. Death is death, whether from abortion, assisted suicide, or any and
all other nefarious means we humans have devised in an effort to
accomplish the inhuman task of infanticide, patricide, and genocide.
In
summary, ProLife Joes are ordinary men who are willing to stand up, speak out,
and are willing to lead, to help bring about an end to the climate of death
that has evolved in our society, and the world at large.
"As
I speak a word of encouragement today I also want to tell you soberly, dear
friends, 'We are at war!'" began Finn, who said that today's issues bring
"an intensity and urgency to our efforts that may rival any time in the
past."
UN Commission Ends with Delegations Saying No to Abortion
Dear Pablo,
Has the Pro-Life Movement Failed? Ask an
Abortion Doctor
I wake up
each day with a prayer on my lips. 
