THANK YOU!

A big THANK YOU to all of you who supported Initiated Measure and voted Yes this Tuesday. Please check out the VYFL.com website to read a message from Leslee and staff. Our email inboxes have been flooded with messages from South Dakotans who are not even close to giving up this fight! Here are a few excerpts:

“This morning as I was driving my two teen-aged daughters to school, they both asked me what was the next step in the fight to end abortion. (In the wisdom of youth, they both knew that this was not the end of the road- we may have lost one battle but the war is still raging.) In answer to their question, I answered ” I think we have alot of educating to do. When people learn the truth about abortion, their hearts and minds are changed. If we educate enough people in this state, then eventually we will have the votes to pass an abortion ban.” My 15 year old responded “It will be my generation who finally will change things, because we have been raised to know the truth.” I thought this was very insightful coming from a teenager, and I believe she is right. We have a generation of aging feminists who bought into the lies of Roe v. Wade who are keeping the “pro-choice” myth alive. But the generation who are coming of age today are learning the truth, and that truth will set us free from the death grip of abortion. So, YES,YES,YES, we MUST continue to fight, and education is the best strategy we can use right now. There are wonderful tools available for teaching people of all ages, and it is the direction we need to go. So count me in, and God’s richest blessings to all of you at Vote Yes For Life.”

“We have just begun to fight. It is part of my destiny to end abortion and I won’t give up until it’s over.”

“Dear Allen and Leslee and the entire leadership of voteyesforlife, Thank you for your efforts in the fight against abortion. May we all continue to be in prayer and encourage one another in the fight against abortion.”

“There are too many lives at stake to stop the awareness, the education and the prayer. My husband and I are completely baffled that Measure 11 did not pass this week. Baffled. Not sure what we should do different next time, but we certainly CANNOT stop.”

“Try it again! I believe God will bless our efforts if we Keep on Keeping ON! Never Give Up! Lets do it again.”

AND A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM A SOUTH DAKOTA NEIGHBOR…

“I’m writing from Minnesota, and I have to tell you I have been so very impressed with the way you and your group have been fighting this battle! You have been doing everything right! The rest of the country should have been taking notes on the way you waged this campaign. I give you so much credit for your perseverance!!!”

“In great attempts it’s glorious even to fail.”  Longinus, 1st Centry AD

Twin to Twin Testimony

Vote No on measure 11 has pointed out that a set of parents had no other option for there pregnancy with a condition called Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome.

 I’m here to tell you that I had Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome while pregnant with my identical twins Josh and Zach.  We had options!!

My Story:

Josh and Zach shared a placenta.  It was estimated that 60% of the placenta was Zach’s and 40% was Josh’s (50/50 is ideal).  They each had their own share of one placenta with an “equator” line between the shares.  There were blood vessels on the placenta that were running across the “equator” between the two shares causing an imbalance of blood flow and nutrients between them.  At one of my regular check ups, Dr. Michael Christiansen (from here in Rapid City, SD) saw in the ultrasound that there was more amniotic fluid in Zach’s sac than in Josh’s sac.  He did not tell me what he thought it was he just said there was more fluid than there should be and wanted me to see a high risk pregnancy doctor.  I was 22 weeks (5 ½ months) along.  He set up an appointment in Sioux Falls, SD to see a Perinatologist.  I saw Dr. William Watson who diagnosed me with Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome.  He suggested that I should have an amniocentesis that day to decrease the amount of fluid in Zach’s sac.  He removed 2 liters and there was about an 18 – 20% difference in their sizes.  He said that I would need to do an amnio periodically to keep my uterus size down so that I would not go into preterm labor.  Then, we would watch for the larger baby’s (Zach’s) heart to start failing from receiving too much blood from the placenta and then deliver to save both of them.  The smaller baby (Josh) would suffer from malnutrition because of not getting enough nutrients from the placenta.  Shane (my husband) asked if there was anything else we could do.  He said there was a surgery but it was experimental.  We went back to Rapid City the next day.  Shane’s mom and I went to the library to look up the condition at the library.  We found only one book with a paragraph about TTTS and a web site (http://www.tttsfoundation.org/).  There, Dr. Julian DeLia (http://www.mywheaton.org/programs/ttts/dr_delia.asp) was listed as the doctor who pioneered and performs the surgery that corrects the problem with the placenta.   Shane contacted him and he got my medical information and said that I was a candidate for the procedure.  He said that my uterus needed to be a certain size (a certain fundal height) and I was a little under the required size at that time but by the next week the fluid in Zach’s sac had built up enough.  One week after being in Sioux Falls we were on our way to Chicago to meet Dr. DeLia.  He went through the diagnostic process and confirmed that I had TTTS.  The procedure was in utero – he inserted a fetoscope with a laser into my uterus and cauterized the blood vessels that were crossing the “equator” on my placenta.  I was his 100^th patient in January of 1998.  The surgery was a success at 23 weeks.  One week later I was in Sioux Falls to do a check up with Dr. Watson.  I was having preterm contractions from the amnio and the surgery.  So, Dr. Watson admitted me to the hospital to keep me on bed rest and to monitor me after the surgery.  I was there for 8 weeks and while I was there, the boys’ sizes got closer together.  At 32 weeks (7 months) I was allowed to come back to Rapid City.  I was on bed rest for 4 more weeks and they were born at 36 weeks (8 months).

When they were born, Zach was 4 pounds 3.9 ounces and Josh was 4 pounds 2.5 ounces.  That is only 1.4 ounces different!  The surgery corrected the problem on my placenta!

I can say that the many, many prayers and leading of the Holy Spirit is what took us through this process and I know that God’s protection was on us, too.  We are blessed to have two healthy 10-year-old boys!!

Julie Schriner

Rapid City, SD

Dr Martin Luther King, Sr. Notable Quote

My grandfather, Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. once said, “No one is going to kill a child of mine.”  Tragically, two of his grandchildren had already been aborted when he saved the life of his next grandson with this statement.  His son, my uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., once said, “The Negro cannot win as long as he is willing to sacrifice the lives of his children for comfort and safety.”  How can the ‘Dream’ survive if we murder the children?  Every aborted baby is like a slave in the womb of his or her mother.  The mother decides his or her fate.  Dr. Alveda C. King. USA

Email from a Yes on 11 Voter

Oddly enough, right in the middle of typing this email I get a call some from someone asking me if I was voting No on Measure 11.

The person on the other end asked  me if I was in favor of healthy families and if I was voting NO on measure 11.      Well, you know me………I didn’t answer his question and asked him if he thought that a healthy family would abort and kill an unborn child.     He wasn’t sure how to answer my question and said he only knew that Measure 11 was something about the doctors.     He was clueless.   Then he said he  was only 17 and really didn’t know anything about abortions.    I asked him if he was calling from South Dakota.   He told me he couldn’t answer that question.

I then asked to speak to his supervisor.  (I actually thought they would hang up)

She was a little more informed and indicated the call was from Ohio.   I asked her if she knew anything about the Measure and specifically the campaign in South Dakota.   She didn’t.    I then asked her if she thought that a “healthy family” would encourage killing an unborn child.     She actually had the courage to admit that she didn’t support abortions.   Odd that she is supervising a call center encouraging a vote of NO.  They must be paying well!

I believe whoever is funding and organizing these phone surveys don’t educate nor care to tell the people making the calls anything about the issues.   The 17 year old kid that initially called thought the Measure 11 was somehow affecting doctors and healthy families. 

Its sad that SO MANY people are uninformed and just follow the crowd.

VOTE!

REMEMBER TO VOTE YES TOMORROW AND MAKE SURE YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND NEIGHBORS VOTE YES TOO!

Letter to the Editor

Get in on the action!  Read this letter to the editor and post your comment! 

Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome