in this issue:
hot button issues: PENCE AMENDMENT
abortion: CLOSED IN NEW JERSEY / TAUNTING IN TUSCALOOSA
activism: ABORTION PHOTOS
eugenics: THE DOCTORS WERE WRONG
planned parenthood: ANOTHER LAWSUIT / EGG PEOPLE / WILD ABOUT HARRY
population control: SAVE THE PLANET?
stem cell research / unethical: CLOSED / MISSOURI
reminders: LIFE CHAIN / OCTOBER / SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS / ULTRASOUND VIDEO
zinger: WE WIN
reflection for prayer: EXODUS 20:1
hot button issues
PENCE AMENDMENT: An attempt by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) to cut Planned Parenthood’s Title X funding failed on a 189-231 vote. But ALL’s Jim Sedlak says it’s encouraging to see that for possibly the first time ever, there was a straight up-or-down vote on funding Planned Parenthood, and Americans will know which of their representatives are for Planned Parenthood and which are against it.
Reading: “The Pence Amendment,” Wednesday STOPP Report, 7/25/07
abortion
CLOSED IN NEW JERSEY: An Atlantic City abortion clinic remains closed as the state health department continues an investigation of conditions that led to the facility’s shutdown a month ago. A 116-page report listed such problems as unlabeled drug-filled syringes, nurses with expired licenses and practitioners who did not always scrub before abortions.
Reading: “Report: Violations keep clinic shut,” Associated Press, 7/25/07
TAUNTING IN TUSCALOOSA: Police filed disorderly conduct charges against an Alabama abortion clinic operator who was accused of threatening peaceful pro-life demonstrators outside the facility. When officers told her to knock it off, she kept screaming and told them, “I will do what I want. I will not obey you.”
Reading: “Abortion clinic director arrested,” World Net Daily, 7/17/07
activism
ABORTION PHOTOS: Although even pro-life advocates are divided over the use of huge posters showing images of aborted babies, the Minnesota supreme court says protesters are within their free speech rights to display such signs. The court overturned the convictions of pro-lifers who were accused of creating a public nuisance. The justices said prosecutors simply never proved that the signs endangered the public.
Reading: “Court allows display of ‘bloody’ aborted babies,” World Net Daily, 7/19/07
eugenics
THE DOCTORS WERE WRONG: A British couple tells the story of the baby their doctors advised them to abort. Tests described as “99 percent accurate” suggested a brain malformation that would lead to severe disability. The parents had a gut feeling the doctors were wrong. They were.
Reading: “The perfect son doctors advised us should be aborted,” Evening Standard, 7/24/07
planned parenthood
ANOTHER LAWSUIT: A woman who says she was not informed of a cancer diagnosis is suing Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties for malpractice. Two months ago, a woman whose daughter died of toxic shock syndrome following an abortion filed suit against the same Planned Parenthood affiliate.
Reading: “California Planned Parenthood facility facing second lawsuit in two months for negligence,” Handal and Associates news release, 7/23/07
EGG PEOPLE: Planned Parenthood is adding a misleading element to the Colorado debate over a human personhood amendment–and the Associated Press is playing along. The proposed amendment states that a human being exists from the moment of fertilization. A Planned Parenthood statement said the organization opposes defining “an egg as a person.” The Associated Press, in its report, refers to a “fertilized egg.”
COMMENT: There is no such thing as a “fertilized egg.” Once fertilization has occurred, there is no longer an egg but a zygote–an embryo–a human being.
Reading: “Anti-abortion measure would define fertilized egg as human,” Associated Press, 7/20/07
WILD ABOUT HARRY: With the release of the final book in the Harry Potter series, Planned Parenthood’s New York City affiliate has returned a vintage 2004 page to its web site. The page calls on author J.K. Rowling to add sex education to the mix, as Harry and his cohorts are now adolescents who, it is said, need to know these things.
Reading: “Harry Potter: Prisoner of hormones?” Planned Parenthood of New York City
population control
SAVE THE PLANET? The latest excuse for cutting global population comes from the British group Optimum Population Trust, which suggests that the only way to prevent catastrophic environmental damage will be for governments to limit the number of children families may have.
Reading: “Radical population group suggests limiting family size to combat global warming,” Citizen Link, 7/24/07
stem cell research / unethical
CLOSED: A lab that focused on human embryonic stem cell research has lost its funding and shut its doors. Investors bailed out of ES Cell International because “the likelihood of having products in the clinic in the short term was vanishingly small.”
COMMENT: In other words, the promise of human embryonic stem cell research is all hype.
Reading: “Embryonic stem cell firm abandons efforts, “Citizen Link, 7/23/07
MISSOURI: With great fanfare last year, Missouri voters narrowly approved a measure that backers said would make the state a hub of human embryonic stem cell research. Now, the picture is quite different. Both the state legislature and a major institute have withdrawn funding. However, backers say they’ll continue to fight for the project and are “not going to stand idly by and let a few minority interest groups take our state backward.”
Reading: “Missouri stem cell movement suffers setbacks,” The Conservative Voice, 7/23/07
reminders
LIFE CHAIN: The annual Life Chain event is scheduled for October 7. Mark your calendars now and check online for a Life Chain in your area.
OCTOBER: American Life League’s annual Pro-life Memorial Day is October 1, the first Monday in October. Be watching for additional details in the weeks ahead.
SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS: Of Judie Brown’s latest book, New York Post columnist Ray Kerrison notes, “Judie Brown’s work fills a void screaming for attention – the persistent relentless assault on Catholic orthodoxy by dissidents attempting to reshape the church in their image. She spells it out and names the names without violating Christian charity. She deserves a wide hearing.”
TO ORDER: “Saving Those Damned Catholics” is available from ALL in hardcover or paperback. Call 866-LET-LIVE or purchase online.
ULTRASOUND VIDEO: “Baby Steps: Live from the womb, 16 stages of pre-birth development,” is an amazing new video from American Life League that many in the pregnancy center movement say is certain to save lives. The video features dramatic 4-D ultrasound images of preborn babies from 8 to 34 weeks development.
TO ORDER: The “Baby Steps” DVD is available from ALL for $9.95 plus shipping and handling. Call 866-LET-LIVE toll-free, or purchase online.
zinger
WE WIN: It is sometimes said that pro-lifers will prevail in the fight against abortion because pro-life people have more children than pro-abortion people, and will one day have enough votes to restore laws banning abortion. Philip Longman of the New America Foundation finds truth in that viewpoint, even though he most assuredly doesn’t like the implications: “As secular and libertarian elements in society fail to reproduce, people adhering to more traditional, patriarchal values inherit society by default.”
Reading: “Christians should desire to have many children,” Covenant News, 7/25/07
reflection for prayer
EXODUS 20:1: I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me.