Whether it's pro-life philosophy, activism or legislation, whether it's about a current topic or a situation pro-lifers face in their own lives and work, this is the place where we'll talk about it! Please forward any comments to me, Judie Brown. Thank you!
MUTILATED BODIES FOUND IN DUMPSTER Posted: Saturday March 15, 2008 at 11:44 am EST by Judie Brown
Normally I do not use my blog to quote an entire commentary from another source, but this is so tragic, so vile, so very evil, I have no choice other than to share the despicable acts of a single abortionist who was literally caught dumping bodies as though they were nothing more than soiled tissue paper. The following report comes from Rock for Life :
Dumpster dive at abortion clinic yields horrific find
Over the course of a month, pro-lifers involved with Citizens for a Pro-Life Society have run an organized campaign of snatching bags of trash from WomanCare clinic in Lathrup, Michigan. WomanCare is part of a chain of six abortion clinics run by abortionist Alberto Hodari. The CPLS investigation yielded a horrific find: unshredded medical records, improperly disposed biological waste and the remains of several aborted children! The group alerted the police, who raided the clinic dumpster on Monday, using hazardous materials gear to haul away the blood-soaked trash bags.
Dr. Monica Miller, who organized the CPLS dumpster investigation, says she has been digging through abortion clinic dumpsters for years to rescue the remains of aborted babies and ensure that they are given a proper burial. She has been given a guarantee by the local police that they will allow her to bury the aborted babies who were recently removed. Because no one told her to stay off the property, she will not be charged for going through the dumpsters on private property. Below is the report Dr. Miller made to the police, provided courtesy of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee:
Milissa and I began investigating the dumpster behind the WomanCare facility Friday, February 8, 2008.
What we found that Friday were patient records and open condom wrappers.
By looking through these documents we learned patients’ names, phone numbers, addresses, ages, how long their pregnancy had lasted, what they were being seen by the doctor for, insurance forms, methods of payment, and several lab reports. We also discovered in the trash used syringes, ultrasound pictures of the babies, dozens of used drug vials, several used IV bags with the sharps still attached, bloody absorbent paper, open condom wrappers, used condoms, and bloody used laminaria.
On our third trash investigation we also found bloody canulas and human tissue distinguishably not a baby, except this time we also discovered infant body parts, including arms, hands, legs, feet, a spine, a ribcage, and eyes.
We estimate we found at least ten different infants. Each one was wrapped in a bloody gauze, tied at the end. Once you turned these inside out, you would find the infant parts. Each bloody gauze that was filled with an infant was wrapped in the absorbent paper used to cover the operating table which was soaked in blood, and used, bloody, latex gloves.
While Hodari purports to keep patient information confidential, obviously this is a lie. Hodari has killed women while performing abortions, has failed to report statutory rape and was caught on video telling a group of students at Wayne State University that doctors have a license to lie to their patients.
We applaud Dr. Miller and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. Their actions have brought dignity to the remains of the children killed by Hodari and have shown the nation that abortionists are not the kind, compassionate people Planned Parenthood and the rest of Big Abortion want you to believe they are. Bravo, team!
PHOTO: Jill Stanek interview with Dr. Miller plus details and photos of what was in the dumpster
VIDEO: Dr. Miller shows what she found in Hodari’s dumpster WARNING: extremely graphic
VIDEO: Detroit’s local news coverage of the raid by law enforcement
VIDEO: Coverage of the raid and a local news interview with Dr. Miller
Geez, this is like something from a really freaky horror movie! Dr. Hodari is sick. Geez! Not only is that completely and utterly disrespectful to the victims of the abortions, it's downright unsanitary! Yuck! I just hope the dumpster divers don't get some weird disease or somethin'. Isaac K. | March 16, 2008
Wow.
You'd think that they'd at least shred the records, and as for the poor babies, that's just wrong. And probably a health hazard.
To the people who discovered the bodies and stuff, Wow. I know I don't have the courage to do any thing like that. Emmie K. | March 16, 2008
Hi Judie! How awful! We need to stand up for the unborn!
Chantell Chantell | March 16, 2008
my mouth just dropped opened while reading this! I simply can not believe that we humans are so disgusting and irresponsible to take care of babies! Gods most precious gifts to us. I honestly do not look for this earth to be around much longer. I just keep wondering how much more its going to take before God says "thats enough". elisabeth eagle | March 20, 2008
WHO-VILLE Posted: Thursday March 13, 2008 at 5:54 pm EST by Judie Brown
As a young Mom, one of my most favorite times of the day was the hour or so I spent reading to our children. We learned all sorts of things together and we met some of the most interesting characters you could ever hope to encounter. Among them was the inimitable Horton, the elephant who valiantly fought to defend the citizens of WHO-VILLE. Each small speck of dust was actually a resident of this tiny town, and each was known as a WHO! You probably know this story quite well.
And perhaps you recall Horton’s most famous line: "A person is a person, no matter how small!" That story and that single line have stuck with me for more than 40 years now. And, as you can guess, those three adorable little children who heard that story read to them and later insisted on reading it to me, now have a collection of ten children of their own and the reading tradition has continued.
So has the emphasis on Horton’s profound line. This is why we are so elated that upon the premier of the new movie, Horton Hears a Who, scheduled for tomorrow, March 14th, pro-lifers will be celebrating that wonderful elephant and his very special message. This is particularly so in Colorado, where a personhood initiative is currently being pursued and thousands of signatures are being collected. Tomorrow in Denver there will be a special event hosted by the Colorado for Equal Rights leader, Kristi Burton as she focuses our attention on the wisdom of that special pachyderm. In fact we hope she reminds her listeners that the same wisdom should translate to personal conviction on the part of every single human being who has ever been conceived.
Note I did say “should.” We know, of course, that this is not the case and that this is but one reason why more than 3,000 preborn children will die tomorrow. Abortion has become the tool used to destroy the smallest members of the human family much like the devious plots the Wickersham brothers as they plotted for ways to eliminate the entire population of Who-ville by silencing Horton once and for all. Remember these words from the book:
But, Just as he spoke to the Mayor of the speck,
Three big jungle monkeys climbed up Horton’s neck!
The Wickersham Brothers came shouting, "What rot!
This elephants talking to Whos who are not!
There aren’t any Whos! And they don’t have a Mayor!
And we’re going to stop all this nonsense! So there!"
The Wickersham Brothers did not want to admit the presence of the Who people so they simply denied that they were there. Today, because of the tyrannical decisions of the United States Supreme Court, the pro-abortion cartel behaves in precisely the same way. They shout that nobody is there during pregnancy. They cajole and deride the thousands of pro-life Americans who insist that a human being’s life begins at the beginning, even though he is smaller than the head of a pin.
One can only hope, over the course of time, that the monkeys who pretend to be acutely in tune with reproductive health will be exposed as the intellectual frauds they truly are, much as the Wickersham brothers were in the end of the tale about Horton and his beloved Whos.
Until then, let’s not avoid one opportunity to focus on personhood, talk about personhood and teach our fellow human beings that “a person is a person, no matter how small!”
After watching the movie, my 3 year old had that line stuck in her head "a person is a person no matter how small" and she kept saying it the rest of the day. This movie will plant many seeds and will be an ally in restoring the culture of life! Thanks Judie for this post. Keith | March 14, 2008
PROMISCUITY IS DANGEROUS--SHOCKING NEW STATISTICS PROVE IT Posted: Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 9:48 pm EST by Judie Brown
Headlines across the nation declared “1 in 4 teen Girls has STD.” What this means is that of every four teenage girls in America at this very moment, one will suffer from at least one, if not more than one, sexually transmitted disease.
My first reaction to this is the same reaction I have had every time I have seen such reports over the past twenty years. That is, “What do you expect when you place the fox in the chicken coop?”
When parents are encouraged to inoculate their preteens against the sexually transmitted disease known as human papillomavirus, when kindergarten children are exposed to comic book characters who represent condoms and when any child can sit in front of a television set at any hour of the day and watch inappropriate commercials—not to mention programming—what in the world should we expect? The discussion of sexual relations has become a topic that is no more off limits than choosing the kind of breakfast cereal you want to have, whether you are five or 50 years of age.
And the culprit—or should I say the chief architect of this sad state of affairs—is none other than Planned Parenthood. But wait! Planned Parenthood is crying wolf! They claim that the reason for this horrifying statistic is abstinence education! Oh really?
Planned Parenthood and its cronies have had easy access to children of all ages ever since I got involved in the pro-life movement nearly 40 years ago. One of the reasons we moved to rural Virginia 32 years ago was to avoid “sex education.” At the time we had three young children. But today sex indoctrination courses are everywhere and the resulting difficulties facing parents are overwhelming even when their children are entrusted to private schools.
It is only in the recent past that we pro-lifers have finally begun to see some strong opposition to the smut. The organized protests are coming forth from parents and educators trained in the ways to stop Planned Parenthood by the staff of American Life League’s Stop Planned Parenthood International. But after more than 40 years of having Planned Parenthood entrenched in every single government program that has anything at all to do with educating our children, the current battle is a typical David and Goliath struggle.
These most recent statistics are but one testimony to that sad reality. The most recent study from the Centers for Disease Control shows clearly that HPV, chlamydia and herpes are the main culprits with 15% of teens having more than one of these. One spokesperson from Girls Inc. claims that young women are “having sex when they’re slightly younger and, because they’re having sex at a lot younger age, they are having more than one partner.”
So, you might wonder, what is her recommendation? How would she solve this reality? The experts quoted in the article say that parents need to take this information seriously and ensure that their young daughters are “screened and taught about prevention and protection.”
In other words, even with the devastating news reported in this study, those in public policy positions are going to suggest more of the same. You see, “prevention and protection” are code words for condoms, birth control pills, injections and all manner of tools that will provide the sexually active teenager with the equipment needed to continue on the radical course of sexual activity outside of marriage. Nary a word about purity or chastity will be found in a single news report about this latest study . . . except of course to point the accusatory finger at those who promote virtue.
While the pharmaceutical houses and the condom production businesses like Planned Parenthood must be licking their chops as they prepare for even higher sales, people like me are saddened beyond words. Our children have become the victims of America’s sexually saturated culture, a culture where kids have grown accustomed to living with only one parent, and where many of these same children see multiple boyfriends or girlfriends in their own home.
Where once there was a special chair for grandpa when he came to visit, today there is a special couch for the latest date. Do you think that could be part of the problem? I certainly do!
As Frank Joseph, M.D. emailed after he reviewed the latest reports, “As one of the most famous equations by Einstein is E = MC2, so also is the following equation of the utmost importance and more easily understood: More condoms = more sex = more STDs and pregnancies. This equation has stood the test of time. It is irrefutable.”
The only recommended course of action facing us today is the same course of action that has been with us for all time: Save sex for marriage and in the interim be pure in thought and chaste in action. And of course, when such a course is chosen, chastity within marriage becomes just as easy and perhaps that is why among couples who entrust their fertility to God within marriage, less than two percent will ever have to face divorce and all the pain that flows from it.
Oh, and there is a final note on this subject! As Catholics here at American Life League we know the pain and heartache that accompany the sad outcomes many face because they never heard a word about Church teaching in matters of sexuality from the very pulpits upon which every Catholic should be able to rely for declarations of truth and love. The silence of those pulpits is frequently deafening. And as Father Tom Euteneuer, President of Human Life International, has written:
Priestly silence about contraception has eternal consequences. The price of that silence is the loss of souls.
This is terrible! Of course Planned Parenthood would blame the abstinance education! You tell Plannedparenthood, NARAL, NAF, NOW, etc, what you think of them!
Rock on Judie!
Chantell
Chantell | March 13, 2008
I wouldn't say "suffer" is the best word to describe all STIs. That is the problem- many girls don't realize they have one which is the reason this needs to be addressed. Cora | March 13, 2008
Chantell:
Let's all rock together ... for life!
Judie Brown Judie Brown | March 13, 2008
Cora:
Indeed, you are correct, but when they do discern the problem or it is diagnosed they do suffer terribly, not only physically but emotionally as well.
Judie Brown Judie Brown | March 13, 2008
This kind of (your favorite impolite synonym for feces here) is to be expected from PP and the other abortionists. That's why we're here, though, to make sure this load o' junk doesn't go any further than those reports. Isaac K. | March 13, 2008
Yes Judie! We will all rock on!
Chantell Chantell | March 13, 2008
Judie, I used to think your views were too extreme in the pro-life movement. I was wrong. Your goals may be unrealistic, but you couldn't be more right. You are the "Real McCoy" of the pro-life movement from what I've seen. Thank you for fighting the fight! 100% PRO-LIFE. NO COMPROMISE! Sam | March 14, 2008
Dear Sam:
Thank you fro the compliment, but the glory and honor for anything good we do is the Lord's!
100% is the only way to go!
Judie Brown Judie Brown | March 15, 2008
How awful Judie! This has to stop. I think I read of that Wome's care clinic, being responsible for a woman's death. They need to be stopped! With God's help we will. By the way, is it okay to be Christian on here, even if you aren't Catholic? I'm Christian, but I'm Evangelical, and attend the Assembaly of God church. Is that alright?
Chantell Chantell | March 16, 2008
Dear Chantell:
The fact that you are a Christian and I am a Catholic Christian is a blessing! Our best friends in our pro-life work are all Christians--among them are many Catholics.
God be with you.
Judie Judie Brown | March 17, 2008
Umm.....Why is PP blaming abstinince programs? If you don't have sex, you're not at risk, period. Emmie K. | March 21, 2008
THE VATICAN HAS SPOKEN: NO MORNING AFTER PILLS PERIOD! Posted: Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 2:59 pm EST by Judie Brown
Late last week my good friend John Henry Westin of Life Site News called to let me know that he had interviewed Bishop Elio Sgreccia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. During the interview the bishop was asked about Catholic hospitals handing out morning after pills in order to treat victims of criminal rape.
Now that the interview has been published, and I am elated to share the bishop’s comments with you. Bishop Sgreccia is actually not saying anything new, but he is confirming what we believe the position of every Catholic bishop should be: No morning after pills should be used for rape treatment.
According to Bishop Sgreccia the morning after pill may not be administered by Catholic physicians. The only Vatican opinion on the subject, absolutely prohibiting the use of the pill, was released by the Pontifical Academy for Life in 2000. Since then, however, the Catholic Health Association, advisor to many bishops conferences, has suggested that there is no moral impediment to using the pill in cases of rape.
When Westin asked Bishop Sgreccia if there was an exception in Catholic teaching regarding the morning after pill that would allow Catholic doctors to give the pill to victims of rape, the bishop responded, “No. It is not able to prevent the rape. But it is able to eliminate the embryo. It is thus the second negative intervention on the woman (the first being the rape itself).”
Further, Monsignor Andrew R. Baker who is a professor at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) told Westin that the position of the Church on this question has not changed since the publication of the Pontifical Academy for Life document in 2000.
There have been many excellent theological analyses written over the past eight years on the morning after pill, the dangers inherent in that pill and the reasons why the pill must never be used. Yet we see some Catholic bishops and Catholic hospitals bowing to pressure from state legislatures and permitting what is clearly forbidden in Church teaching. Why this is happening remains a conundrum for many, but I would like to offer a couple of insights as I believe they apply in such cases.
When challenged with the possibility of being forced by law to do that which is contrary to Church teaching, the bishop has to make a choice. He can shut down the facilities, thus avoiding the possibility of violating Church teaching by succumbing to the pressure of an unjust law. On the other hand the bishop can agree with the law and argue that everything possible will be done to make certain that the rape victim is not already pregnant prior to providing the morning after pill. This second option is the choice made by the Connecticut bishops. It is the wrong choice.
I compare that choice with the statements made by Archbishop Charles Chaput regarding HB 1080, currently being proposed in the Colorado state legislature.
To explain the problem first, HB 1080 seeks to impose restrictions on religious groups, forbidding them from hiring staff based on religion, and adding "sexual orientation" to the list of characteristics against which it is prohibited to "discriminate" in employment. HB1080 applies to religious groups that receive federal or state funding, which would include the organization Catholic Charities.
Archbishop Chaput warned that if the law is enacted it will place Catholic Charities in the position of having to close its doors. He said, “When it can no longer have the freedom it needs to be ‘Catholic,’ it will end its services. This is not idle talk. I am very serious.”
Archbishop Chaput has taken the correct position and, frankly, the only position a bishop should take when laws are proposed or enacted that literally force Catholic facilities to enact policies that directly contradict Catholic teaching.
Thus far, HB 1080 has made no movement toward being enacted, and my humble opinion is that the courageous opposition of the entire Colorado Catholic Conference under Archbishop Chaput’s leadership is the reason.
In fact, I would daresay that if the Connecticut bishops had taken a unified stand against the legislation requiring hospitals including Catholic hospitals to provide the morning after pill to victims of rape, that bill would have stalled as well. If the Connecticut bishops had made it clear that the passage of such a law would force them to shut down Catholic hospitals in the state, I am positive the law would have been withdrawn. However, now the law is in place, and to my knowledge, the Connecticut Catholic Conference is doing nothing legally or in any other way to challenge that law.
It is my fervent prayer that each and every Catholic bishop in the United States will take the bold steps needed to defend Catholic teaching against the draconian effects of unjust laws, for when that happens, as it surely must, we will see a whole new attitude on the part of elected officials who currently believe they can bully the Church into doing practically anything.
Somehow or other, I don't see most of the Bishops jumping on the bandwagon with Archbishop Chaput. I suspect they will try to find a way to justify not obeying this directive just like they found a way to justify not supporting the Defining Human Life amendments in various states.
Both are equally wrong. & equally tragic.
I join in your prayers that the Bishops finally find the courage to do what is right. Even more so, I am praying that when papa Benedetto comes to town in April he will pull no punchs & force the Bishops to do what is right. Allen Troupe | March 11, 2008
Thank you for your continued efforts to bring the truth to your readers!
I have read so many of the pro-life stories about women who have been encouraged to have an abortion because of some supposed "defect" on their ultrasound or other test during their pregnancy, yet decided to have the baby who ultimately did not have any of the abnormalities the doctor warned about--or at any rate were glad to have had the baby in spite of the warning. Have their been any studies done on this particular subject? It would be a very interesting to know the results. I have to wonder also if some of these abortion referals are motivated by the malpractice insurance industry i.e. if there is the least inkling of something being amiss, better to encourage the abortion than deal with a lawsuit.
Just wondering, I suppose you would know more about this subject as long as you have been in the pro-life movement.
Thanks for your time!
Vicki
VL | March 12, 2008
Judie,
the thing that gets me going is when the holocaust is mentioned, the 6 million Jews who died there are mentioned. But the 4-5 million Catholics and Protestants who died in the camps aren't mentioned. Why? It's cause the press wants you to believe that the Nazis were Christian. The media, of course, blames the Catholic Church for the holocaust in an attempt to discredit Christianity. Thus the far left, uses the holocaust as an excuse to obsolve themselves from responsibility of their sins.
Nick | March 12, 2008
Dear Allen:
We are all praying for the Holy Father's visit and his words which we hope will affect each and every bishop in a most positive way.
Hope springs eternal, praise God.
Judie Brown Judie Brown | March 12, 2008
Dear Vicki:
I wish that we could count on the professional scientific researchers to give us the type of analysis you are mentioning. Sadly it seems that even those in the halls of academe have become servants of the culture of death. Thus no such studies exist. There is the anecdote here and there, but no studies regarding the failure of prenatal diagnosis.
I think you have a point with the fear of malpractice lawsuits within the medical profession but wonder what ever happened to assuring the parents of a preborn child that he or she is a gift from God.
Judie Brown Judie Brown | March 12, 2008
Dear Nick:
I don't buy your theory on this at all. Having been to Germany and visited the Holocaust museum, I think the effort to avoid mentioning the deaths of Christians is much more complicated. Even the museum glosses over the actual facts, although we did find those facts in a couple of Catholic museums there.
Let's be careful with our finger pointing; the media has plenty to be answerable for as it is.
Judie Brown Judie Brown | March 12, 2008
Let's not forget the State of Wisconsin in forcing hospitals, and soon pharmacists, to refer and provide abortifacients. http://www.prolifewisconsin.org/news_story.asp?id=221 The Wisconsin bishops joined together mere days before the final Wisconsin Senate vote, issuing a very weak statement opposing the chemical abortion mandate. Joining the pro-death forces to pass this bill were several so-called Catholics, Republicans and Democrats alike. "Catholic" Governor Doyle very quickly signed the bill into law. When confronted with their pro-death votes, the legislators cited the "neutral stances" of the Wisconsin "Catholic" Conference and Wisconsin Right to Life. *NOTE*--Pro-Life Wisconsin, an affiliate of American Life League, stood strong in the culture of death's face with the Church's 100% no exception, no excuse culture of life promotion. When will Rome send manna and water to bring dissenting bishops, clergy and laity back to the Faith? We all have free will, but we need more walk--not more talk. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. Recovering Feminist | March 14, 2008
Really? So you believe that the media doesn't have a hand is skewing the holocaust? I think you've got some explaining to do. Seriously, I think you're being naive in thinking the media didn't have a hand in skewing the holocaust. I would really like know why you think it's more "complicated" than that. And I'm not pointing fingers at anyone. That's a pretty arrogant statement you made there. Nick | March 14, 2008
Dear Recovering Feminist:
American Life League is extremely proud of Pro-life Wisconsin's valiant struggle, and we are grateful that at least two of the bishops came out strong from the early days of this deadly legislation being proposed.
I do not know when the Vatican will take substantive action, but in the meantime we will keep pressing forward with truth and pro-life integrity.
Judie Brown Judie Brown | March 15, 2008
Dear Nick:
Arrogant? No, just honest. I think the initial manipulation of the facts took place before the media took hold and continued the lie. It is very sad that history has become a matter of opinion and conjecture, but according to what I have seen, it was first the German government and then the media, in that order.
What is shocking is not the sequence of events, but that the lie continues and grows even now in this age of massive research capability. Some lies simply continue to be advanced because special interests dictate that it be so.
BIRTH CONTROL HORMONES ARE FOR THE BIRDS! Posted: Monday March 10, 2008 at 11:07 pm EST by Judie Brown
When I saw the latest report on starlings and the dreadful damage that birth control hormones are doing to their ability to sing, I was amazed!
The thing that made me stop and take notice was not that additional research is showing that “gender-bender chemicals” are negatively affecting the environment, but rather that such scientific results do not get even a minimal amount of attention from the major media in America.
According to this most recent article, “scientists at Cardiff University have discovered that the brains of male starlings foraging for worms at a sewage treatment works in South-West England have been subtly changed by being contaminated by estrogen from the contraceptive pill and hormone replacement therapy.“
The report says that female hormones pass into the sewage by way of female urine and remain unaffected by the sewage itself. However the hormones do cause the part of the brain that controls the starling’s song to grow much bigger, causing them to sing at greater length and with more “virtuosity than usual.”
At UCLA researchers have found the same effect on female finches so that they are singing like the males do, though in the past female finches never sang.
Some researchers are even describing the hormones that enter the environment as a type of “pollution” and are concerned about the long range effects they will have on the environment as we know it. For example, in Florida during the 1980s alligators were failing to reproduce because males had been negatively affected by the estrogen in the streams and rivers. And in Britain another study found that, “a third of male roaches in rivers and streams have been producing eggs which are normally produced by female sex organs."
Some research suggests that these negative effects are having a deleterious impact on men as well, predicting that the “average man will be unable to father children within decades.”
The article does not represent some harebrained idea that was concocted in the back room of a pub! It is based on the scientific research of several environmental scientists from various parts of the world and their work should be taken seriously.
We already know that synthetic hormones can cause all sorts of problems for the women who ingest them. Add to that the problems that the residuals are causing for the environment and for the men in society and you have to wonder why there is not more effort to get the things off the market. Of course no sooner did I get that sentence onto my screen then the answer became obvious: money!
Pharmaceutical companies make billions on birth control chemicals and hormone replacement therapy, so why sound alarms when it is so easy to ignore these studies and keep the results from the public? While some would say that the health and wellbeing of the nation’s human beings should be the number one priority of the government, the media and big business, it has become painfully clear over the years that this is simply not the case when dealing with matters of sexual relations that involve birth control and abortion.
When you read about the impact these hormones is having on humans, you really have to wonder what in the world is wrong with people who are in positions to warn the public of the impending disaster that human beings will face. For instance:
Communities exposed to high levels of these and other gender-bender chemicals, from the Great Lakes of North America to the Russian Arctic, have been found to give birth to twice as many girls as boys.
Gender-bender chemicals are not just for the birds! Apparently they are going to negatively affect every aspect of society as we know it . . . unless something is done to correct the problems that have caused the imbalances reported in this article.
Houston, we have a problem. . . Isaac K. | March 16, 2008
Humans have an impact, often and sadly negative, on the planet. Eventually, some negative impacts, maybe all of them, come home to roost, as we are affected by what affects the planet. Climate change. Hormone pollution. But to jump from this negative consequence to saying that the response should be to "get the things [hormones] off the market" is surely the best example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Those hormones are used to treat medical conditions; they are the main component of the birth control pill. (I really, really like the birth control pill. It has done wonders for me and I do not suffer side effects.) These are important uses. Surely the more reasonable thing to do would be to have better sewage treatment to prevent not just hormones but all forms of toxic human and household waste from entering water systems and the broader environment. Have you heard about household chemicals from cleaning products causing cancer and deformities in fish? How about animal industry and agricultural run-off that causes algae blooms and resultant fish kills? How about hormone pollution from the beef industry? The list is long. Anne | December 10, 2008
Dear Anne
It is true that on rare occasions the birth control pill is prescribed to treat medical conditions but it is also true that the side effects are bad enough that any informed female would want a different option if suffering from a physical malady is her reason for using the pill.
However the vast majority of birth control pill users are using the pill to avoid a baby, and that is a morally bankrupt viewpoint. If a couple want to avoid procreating a child, they can abstain or use natural methods.
The final problem with the pill is that it can abort preborn children and that is a fact. So, the pill is simply not good for anyone.
I agree that there are a long list of things that create environmental hazards of one sort or another, but the bith control pill creates moral hazards as well. We will continue to expose the pill. There is nothing good about the birth control pill.
MURDER OR ERROR IN JUDGMENT? Posted: Sunday March 9, 2008 at 12:32 pm EST by Judie Brown
In Grand Junction, Colorado a 24-year-old man has been accused of first-degree murder, a charge brought because of his reckless driving. His car crashed head-on into another car driven by Shea Lehnen. Lehnen was 8 1⁄2 months pregnant at the time of the accident and her baby died as a result of the crash.
The young man, Logan Lage, was attempting to outrun police during a high-speed chase that ended when the crash occurred. However, while the coroner in the case ruled the death of the baby a homicide, the public defender Will McNulty, says the baby was “neither a ‘person’ or a ‘child’ when the crash occurred.”
However the news reports indicate that an emergency caesarean section was performed on Lehnen and the baby subsequently died of asphyxia a few hours later.
Tragic as this is for the mother and her child, it is also a cruel reality of our day that a debate would ever occur regarding whether or not the child who died was a person deserving equal right under the law. In other words, the driver of that vehicle may or may not be accused of murder depending on a judge's determination first of what it means to be a human being in today’s twisted society and second of the actual facts of the case.
It is perhaps ironic that this accident occurred last November and is just now coming to court for a preliminary hearing during the very time when Colorado is being asked to support a petition that, if added to the November ballot, will address precisely who is and who is not a person. Colorado for Equal Rights has been collecting signatures with a goal of providing many more than the number required on or before the deadline, which is approaching in May. Their efforts are gaining momentum and national support for the effort is growing, with the most recent endorsement coming from Human Life International’s Father Tom Euteneuer.
As we pray for this young mother, and for the accused in this case we also pray for the voting public in Colorado, hoping that they will decide that place of residence—whether inside or outside the womb—should not determine the value or identity of an innocent human being.
How awful Judie! I pray for the mother. Unfourently, it's no surprise that some lawyers would try to say that the baby wasn't a human. Things need to change!
Chantell at cds@dakine.com Chantell | March 10, 2008
People in this country need to make up their minds. Is an unborn baby a person or not? Why is it that this guy doesn't have a license to kill a fetus, but PP does? It just doesn't add up. Isaac K. | March 10, 2008
Dear Chantell:
We can change things through prayer and action! Let's do it!
God bless you, Chantell.
Judie Brown Judie Brown | March 10, 2008
Dear Isaac
You are correct, of course, which is why we encourage every single effort pro-lifers are making to focus attention on personhood. Only when the law makes it clear that the preborn child is a person in every instance will we see an end to such contradictions.
Judie Brown Judie Brown | March 11, 2008
Thanks Judie! We will win the fight? By the way, I get your magazine. When will your next edition be mailed out?
Chantell Chantell | March 11, 2008
Dear Chantell:
Our next edition of the magazine was mailed today!
MEDICALLY ASSISTED REPRODUCTION GONE MAD! Posted: Friday March 7, 2008 at 1:41 pm EST by Judie Brown
Genethique publishes a monthly update discussing bioethical questions. The most recent issue presents a few numbers which underscore the reasons why it is so difficult to expose the sordid underbelly of the world wide in vitro fertilization business.
Let me point out, before I quote from this most recent newsletter, that Genethique is the brainchild of the Jerome Lejeune Foundation, which is one of the most formidable pro-life bioethics study groups in the world. Professor Lejeune was the scientist who identified the chromosomal problem causing Down’s syndrome. A world famous scientist, he traveled the globe defending the personhood of the preborn. His testimony in the Davis vs. Davis case is one of the most electrifying pro-life statements you will ever read as is his article, "When Does Life Begin?"
Genethique’s February newsletter provides some shocking information. For example, in many countries the technologies which some call “Medically Assisted Procreation” are freely sold to any and all, which is “constituting a child market, already globalised” according to Genethique.
There are a large number of examples cited: in the USA, sperm—$275,000 per dose—and oocytes ,which are female eggs—from $2,500 to $50,000 according to morphological and racial criteria of the ‘salesman’—can be bought; in Ukraine, a surrogate mother rents her uterus for between $25,000 and $45,000. It is estimated that in the United States alone this market is $3,000,000,000 per year. That’s right—three BILLION!
The money is one of the biggest reasons why it is so difficult to oppose these technologies and to work for the outlawing of such practices. Reproductive medicine is big. As the number of women taking the birth control pill continues to rise, so will the number of sterile females. Thus, this industry will continue to grow.
Not only that, but we are getting to a point where there will be a debate in nations of the world regarding whether or not this technology should be available to all people regardless of income levels. The technology will be viewed as a health care discipline that should be available without discriminating against the poor. Or, in other words, tax payers may well be paying for the provision of this technology for those who cannot afford it themselves. Universal health care is, after all, the wave of the future according to many experts. And, as we know, reproductive medicine is viewed as an integral part of that health care package.
But, the Catholic Church has taught and continues to teach:
In reality, the origin of a human person is the result of an act of giving. The one conceived must be the fruit of his parents' love. He cannot be desired or conceived as the product of an intervention of medical or biological techniques; that would be equivalent to reducing him to an object of scientific technology. No one may subject the coming of a child into the world to conditions of technical efficiency which are to be evaluated according to standards of control and dominion. (D.V. B:4:c)
It is therefore of paramount importance that we struggle against this growing industry by insisting on the value of the human person and his procreation within the marital embrace. It is further a matter of grave urgency that we remind our fellow Americans that as these technologies spread and become more widely accepted, the human embryonic child’s dignity as a human being dwindles because he becomes a commodity to be purchased rather than the fruit of a loving embrace.
I hope the numbers cited above shock you. I hope you then decide to do something about it by educating your friends, relatives and others about the reasons why such technologies are not only unethical but must be banned.
We would never have begun debating human embryonic stem cell research and human cloning if these technologies had not been permitted. It’s time to put such brutal science to an end.
Remember:
A true and proper right to a child would be contrary to the child's dignity and nature. The child is not an object to which one has a right, nor can he be considered as an object of ownership: rather, a child is a gift, "the supreme gift." (DV II:8)
Pro-Life Story: I could have never made it to see Earth. Posted By Courtney Lynn Bennett on Jul, 8 2008 When my mother was pregnant with me the doctors told her that I was going to be born with down syndrome and it would be wise to abort me. My mother thought it over many times. ... Read
