ACTION ALERT!

Creating human embryos only to kill them
Congress may soon see legislation authorizing taxpayer-funded research on human embryos created specifically to be used in research, and thus opening a door to the federal funding of human cloning and human embryo farms.

Contact our congressional delegation today and urge them to oppose any legislation that would direct federal funds toward stem cell research that requires the killing of human embryos, or that would allow the use of cloning to produce human embryo research. Such legislation has been proposed by Senators Harkin and Specter (S. 487) and by Reps. DeGette and Castle (H.R. 872). While Sen. Thune has voted pro-life on this issue, Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin and Sen. Johnson have been strong supporters of life-destroying embryonic stem cell research, voting in support of such measures six times and one time, respectively. All three delegates need to hear from you!

Sen. Tim Johnson, 136 Hart Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510.
Phone 202-224-5842 or 800-537-0025, Website johnson.senate.gov

Sen. John Thune, 493 Russell Office Bldg., Washington D.C. 20510.
Phone 202-224-2321 or 866-850-3855, Website thune.senate.gov

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, 331 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington D.C. 20515.
Phone 202-225-2801 or 866-371-8747, Website hersethsandlin.house.gov

-Information provided by South Dakota Right to Life

Congressman: Probe Arizona Planned Parenthood Over Abortion-Rape Coverup

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 29, 2009

Phoenix, AZ (LifeNews.com) — An Arizona congressman is calling on state officials to investigate the Planned Parenthood abortion business after a video showed staff members potentially covering up a case of statutory rape. Two centers were caught on camera with staff hearing from college students posing as 15-year-old girls.

In the video, Lila Rose and Jackie Stollar told employees at one abortion center that Stollar needed an abortion because her adult “boyfriend” had impregnated her, giving his age as 27 years-old.

Arizona state law requires law enforcement to be contacted immediately if an adult-child relationship is revealed. Failure to report incidents of sexual abuse are punishable under this law.

After Stollar explains that her boyfriend is “a lot older than me,” a staffer at the first Planned Parenthood clinic responds: “we don’t ask any questions” and “everything is confidential.”

Now, Rep. Trent Franks says the organization appears to be guilty of a flagrant violation of the law.”

“These video clips are the most recent in a series of recorded incidents in which Planned Parenthood clinics have blatantly disregarded the law and failed to protect children by refusing to report potential cases of statutory rape,” Franks said in a press release.

“It is a travesty that even though Planned Parenthood has been repeatedly shown to conceal the sexual abuse of children, state and federal officials have nevertheless refused to involve themselves in drawing attention to these crimes, seemingly because of their desire to avoid the abortion issue altogether,” Franks said.

Last week, the Arizona Attorney General reportedly opened an investigation into Planned Parenthood after receiving a copy of the video from Rose.

Rose told LifeNews.com today that she sent the videos to county attorneys in Pima and Maricopa counties and to the Arizona Attorney General for use in prosecution.

In response to receiving footage from the Tucson Planned Parenthood, the office of the Pima County Attorney stated in a letter to Rose that “this matter is under review and consideration by the Attorney General.”

Rose, 20-year-old UCLA student who is the president of a group she founded called Live Action Advocates, emphasizes the importance of enforcing the laws that protect minors from sexual abuse.

“We expect the Arizona Attorney General to uphold the law and prosecute Planned Parenthood for returning victimized young girls into the arms of their abusers, rather than notifying the responsible authorities as required by law,” she said.

“When compared to all of the responsible organizations that carefully follow reporting laws, Planned Parenthood’s negligent and outright subversive conduct stands out as both shameful and criminal,” Rose added.

Sunday Morning Inspiration

Sunday Morning Inspiration

April 19, 2009

By Kathy Pelton

Taking a Look at Abortion (Part 1) –

Several months ago Kit asked me if I would write a Sunday Morning Inspiration (or a series) on the subject of abortion. Thinking it would be a relatively simple assignment, I said I would. I have, however, been mulling it over for several months now, and have come to the conclusion that it’s not as simple an assignment as I thought. I have had trouble deciding just how and where to start. I have finally decided to divide the issue into at least five parts:

1. The Social Impact of Abortion

2. The Physical Impact of Abortion

3. The Emotional Impact of Abortion

4. The Moral Impact of Abortion

5. The Political Impact of Abortion

This week I will discuss some of the implications of abortion on our society. Please consider the following scenarios. As you ponder each one, please be very honest with your answers . . . they may surprise you.

1. There’s a preacher and wife who are very, very poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she’s pregnant with the 15th. They’re living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion?

2. The father is sick with sniffles; the mother has tuberculosis. They have had four children. The first is blind, the second has died, the third is deaf, and the fourth has tuberculosis. She finds she’s pregnant again. Given the extreme situation, would you consider recommending abortion?

3. A white man raped a 13-year-old black girl and she got pregnant. If you were her parents, would you consider recommending abortion?

4. A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancé is not the father of the baby, and he’s very upset. Would you consider recommending abortion?

None of these scenarios is what we would consider an ideal situation. In all honesty, each would lend itself to thoughts of everyone involved being better off if the baby were not even born. The majority of people in our society today would probably at least consider, if not recommend, an abortion in each case. However, if you allow yourself to be sucked in by what seems to be the best, and maybe the easiest, solution to an obviously less-than-perfect situation, you would have killed four viable human beings. No big deal, you say? The world is over-populated anyway?

What if I told you that in the first case, you would have just killed John Wesley, one of the great evangelists in the 19th Century. In the second case, you would have killed Beethoven. In the third case, you would have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer. Finally, if you said “yes” to the fourth case, you would have just declared the murder of Jesus Christ!

Those are extreme examples, you say? How do you know? How can any of us know what purpose and plan God has for the tiny life snuggled safely in its mother’s womb? What if, among the more than 43 million babies aborted since 1973 was the little girl who would grow up to find a cure for cancer? What if some doctor somewhere purposely murdered the little boy who could have grown up to be a godly, intelligent, wise, discerning President of the United States today? The possibilities are endless and, yes, God can and may use others to do what those children might have done. But will He? If we purposely kill well over one million babies each year, should He?

The Bible is very clear that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of us. We would do well, I think, to honor each life that is created by Him . . . no matter how old or how young or how inconvenient it is.

“For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my

mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully

and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the

depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be.”

Psalm 139:13-16

NBC Talk Show Host Jay Leno Under Fire for Hosting Fundraiser for Pro-Abortion Group

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 13, 2009

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) — Late-night NBC talk show host Jay Leno is coming under fire for plans to host a fundraising event later this month for a prominent pro-abortion organization. A pro-life group is taking Leno to task for announcing that he will host a dinner for the Feminist Majority Foundation.

As the king of late night comedy, Jay Leno has few living peers and he is watched and beloved by millions of American viewers.

To Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, that makes it more difficult to understand why he would support a group that Perkins says works against the interests of pregnant women.

“On April 29th, Jay Leno and his wife are hosting a fundraiser for the Feminist Majority Foundation, a radical pro-abortion group that not only advocates for abortion on demand, but also for the closing of pro-life pregnancy centers,” Perkins tells LifeNews.com. Earlier this month, FMF sent an e-mail to its 400 college campus affiliates asking the young abortion advocates to launch protests against their local crisis pregnancy centers.

As Perkins said to LifeNews.com, FMF wants young women who are most likely to get pregnant and consider an abortion to “protest against facilities that dare to offer women alternatives to abortion and the support they need to choose life.”

Perkins and the Family Research Council are calling on pro-life advocates to contact Leno and NBC executives telling them they plan to boycott is program until either Leno backs out of the planned speaking engagement or apologizes.

“Please let NBC know that is unacceptable and that you will not watch any show that stars Jay Leno until he apologizes to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been helped by pregnancy care centers and the hundreds of thousands of people who staff those centers,” Perkins asks pro-life advocates.

“Please contact Jeff Zucker, NBC Chief Executive, and ask him why his star, Jay Leno, is raising money for an organization that attacks pregnancy care centers,” Perkins says.

Although Leno isn’t known for promoting abortion on his program, his wife Mavis is a long-time board member of the pro-abortion group.

“Our current conservative, religious government is obsessed with women on life support and with fetuses because they are imaginary people,” she complained in 2005 about the administration of President Bush and his support for unborn children and Terri Schiavo.

ACTION: Contact NBC CEO Jeff Zucker at jeff.zucker@nbc.com or 212-664-2830. You can mail the Jay Leno program c/o NBC, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112. To send an email to the Leno program, go to:
http://www.nbc.com/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/about/contact.shtml

White House confirms it got 2 million red envelopes

MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
White House confirms it got 2 million red envelopes
President’s mail worker claims letter campaign 1 of largest in 35 years

——————————————————————————–
Posted: April 06, 2009
8:21 pm Eastern

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

The White House mail office has confirmed it received a “deluge” of as many as 2.25 million red envelopes symbolizing the empty promise of lives snuffed out in abortion in a massive campaign that was larger than most White House mailing movements in the last 35 years.

White House mail worker “Steve” has handled letters for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for more than three decades. Every single package and letter destined for the White House goes through his office.

Asked if he has seen a flood of red envelopes bound for the White House, Steve chuckled.

“Uh, yes,” he said emphatically. “Believe me, they made it here.”

Steve said while Obama has been occupied in Europe, his administration has noticed millions of red envelopes on behalf of aborted children.

“Quite frankly, there was definitely a deluge of mail coming through,” he laughed. “I had to handle them all.”

“I’ve been here 35 years, so I’ve seen presidents come and go,” Steve told WND. “This campaign ranks up there with the big ones.”

The Red Envelope Project is an idea sparked in the mind and prayers of a Massachusetts man, Christ Otto, who envisioned in January thousands of red envelopes sent to the White House, a visual expression of moral outrage over the president’s position on abortion.

On the backs of the envelopes, senders wrote a message Otto composed: “This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.”

The original project began small, but when Otto sent out an email to friends asking them to join him in the envelope effort, the symbolic gesture spread through the Internet like wildfire – eventually resulting in delivery of as many as 2.25 million red envelopes.

“Last Tuesday 2.25 million were sent all together,” Otto told WND. “There were 1 million sent before that date. I keep getting e-mails, and I know that people are still sending them. This past weekend, there were at least 10,000 more sent just from churches announcing it on Sunday.”

The Catholic News Agency reports that a consortium of 11 different student groups at the University of Notre Dame, in protest of the university’s invitation of Barack Obama to speak at graduation, plan to hand deliver a surge of the red envelopes to the pro-abortion president when he arrives to give the commencement address in May.

Christ Otto

Otto said he expected no response from the White House.

“On Thursday their goal is to remove the conscience clause on physicians,” he said. “So, they don’t want any press.”

However, WND was successful in confirming that the red envelopes did arrive.

Asked if he hopes President Obama will be influenced by the campaign Otto said, “I really hope that he is seeing them. I know that somebody in Washington is seeing them, for whatever that’s worth. I do hope that it changes the president’s heart.”

He continued, “I also know that there are many people in our government – in both political parties – who believe that life and freedom are controlled by the state. They want to control who lives and who dies. So, it’s not just the president, but there are lots of people in Washington who need to know that this was an important thing and that they are out of step with the people.”

The Red Envelope Project has been provided with letters to cease and desist because it allegedly infringes upon trademark and copyright of another organization, but Otto said the campaign will comply with copyright issues and continue its work once the legal matters have been resolved. Details of the new campaign have not been released.

Nonetheless, Otto said the Red Envelope campaign was a resounding success.

“It has made a difference, regardless of what happened in Washington,” he said. “Just the numbers of children that have been involved are huge. It’s gotten a lot of people talking about the value of life. To me, that’s priceless.”

Two Million Red Envelopes Came to Obama Against Abortion

What started out by Christ Otto as an email request to 120 of his ministry friends and supporters inspired during a prayer turned into a nationwide phenomenon. As reported in Lifenews.com yesterday a White House staffer has seen an incredible flooding in of red envelopes, almost 2.5 million! It is one of the largest efforts he can recall in 35 years working in the White House mail room. For those of you who sent your envelope be proud. The message is being received and hopefully it will leave a visual picture for President Obama on the horrible impact abortion is having on our country and that his heart will be changed. While the message was meant for President Obama it is amazing to think of all the people who will be impacted in the wake of this gallant effort to bring the tragedy of abortion to those that are in power. Thank you to everyone who participated in Red Envelope Day!

Minnesota Legislators Introduce Bill to Ban Forced Abortions, Pressuring Women

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 31, 2009

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St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) — Two Minnesota legislators have introduced a bill that would ban forced abortions or pressuring or coercing a woman to have an abortion she doesn’t otherwise want. Rep. John Ward, a Democrat, and Sen. Michelle Fischbach, a Republican, are behind the measure.

The ban on coerced abortions would require abortion businesses to inform women before the abortion is done that no one can pressure them into having an abortion against their will.

To stop unwanted abortions from occurring, the bill would offer women help to remove themselves from dangerous situations where coercion exists and would establish civil and criminal penalties for anyone who forces a woman to abort.

Research has brought to light the grim reality of forced abortion and the damage it inflicts upon women.

Studies of post-abortive women reveal that 64 percent of abortions involve some sort of coercion against the mother’s will. A total of 45 percent of men interviewed at abortion centers recalled urging their pregnant partner to abort, including 37 percent of married men.

Research also shows that teenagers are at higher risk for becoming victims of coerced abortion.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life strongly supports the bill (H.F. 2228 / S.F. 1989) and its legislative associate Jordan Marie Bauer told LifeNews.com about why.

“Coerced abortions are one of the ugly secrets of the abortion industry,” she said. “Women should never, ever be forced into a decision to abort their unborn child—not by parents, the baby’s father, abortionists or anyone else.”

Bauer said Minnesota has seen examples of women pressured to have abortions.

In 1995, a pregnant employee at Duluth Little Stores was mistreated and threatened by a supervisor in an attempt to force the employee to abort her baby. The employer went as far as to threaten to push her down a flight of stairs when she was six months pregnant.

“Forced abortion is a very real threat to pregnant women,” Bauer said. “This crucial legislation protects the rights of women and seeks to restore respect and safety for pregnant women. This bill deserves the support of all lawmakers, regardless of their position on abortion.”

Although coercion can escalate to violence — with homicide as the leading cause of death for pregnant women — it takes many forms.

Some parents threaten to disown their pregnant teenage daughter unless she aborts her baby. Men sometimes give their pregnant wives or girlfriends an ultimatum: “Abort our child or I will leave you.” Some vulnerable women are pressured by abortion centers to abort their unborn babies.

Related web sites:
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life – http://www.mccl.org
Minnesota Legislature – http://www.leg.state.mn.us

Brazil Residents Join Large Rally Against Abortion After Girl’s Controversial Case

Brazil Residents Join Large Rally Against Abortion After Girl’s Controversial Case

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 30, 2009

Sao Paulo, Brazil (LifeNews.com) — Thousands of Brazilians rallied against abortion over the weekend after a controversial case involving a nine-year-old girl who was pressured to have an abortion of her twin babies. The girl had supposedly been a victim of sexual abuse and the Catholic Church strongly opposed the abortion.

The rally saw about 4,000 people take to the streets and part of the demonstration was conducted in silence or several hours in Cathedral Square in Brazil’s largest city.

The pro-life advocates held balloons and waved Brazilian flags and T-shirts with pro-life messages.

Although the case of the young girl drew national attention, some say sexual abuse and subsequent abortions for minors is becoming more prevalent.

“Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more common,” Daniela Pedroso, a psychologist, told the New York Times.

Abortions are illegal in the large South American nation, but allowed in cases when the mother’s life is at risk or the woman is a victim of rape or incest.

The Brazil health department says the number of legal abortions for girls 10 to 14 last year more than doubled to 49, up from 22 in 2007.

Despite abortion’s illegal status, there are an estimated 55 abortion centers throughout the nation that do abortions behind closed doors.

The young girl involved in the controversy became pregnant after allegedly being subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather, who is now in custody.
She was found to be four months pregnant when she was taken to a local hospital after complaining of stomach pains.

Although some doctors said she could have carried the pregnancy to term, other physicians said her body could not bear the pregnancy and both babies were killed in an abortion, which is legal to save the life of the mother in Brazil.

Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, the archbishop of Olinda and Recife, was upset the abortion was done and excommunicated those involved from the Catholic Church.

Florida Judge Lowers Bail for Woman Who Forced Her Daughter to Have Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 30, 2009

Ft. Lauderdale, FL (LifeNews.com) — A judge has lowered the bail amount for a woman who allegedly forced her teenager daughter to have an abortion. Tonuya Rainey, 38, reportedly obtained drugs from an abortion center to make her daughter have an abortion and then threw the body of the baby in the trash.

The incident occurred earlier this month and Rainey appeared in court one week ago where she had her bail raised from $14,000 to almost $200,000.

Rainey’s public defender, Howard Finkelstein, objected to Broward County Judge John Hurley’s decision and filed an appeal with Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach.

Rainey went back home from jail on Saturday after Judge Matthew Destry lowered her bond back to the original $14,000.

”She’s a good mother, an excellent mother,” Rainey’s sister Natira Williams told the Miami Herald after the decision.

However, Rainey reportedly did not want her 16-year-old daughter to give birth, so she obtained abortion pills and gave them to her daughter. An assistant state attorney said in a police report that the daughter “said to her mother she wanted to keep the baby.”

While spending time at a local nightclub, her daughter gave birth in the bathroom of their home.

A police report, the television station noted, indicated the baby was alive at the time of the birth and was “moving his hands and breathing.”

The Herald indicates some disagreement about whether the baby boy was breathing at the time of his birth. The daughter in the case has reportedly told police she saw the baby breathing but Rainey disputes that.

WFOR indicates Rainey told police she “placed the infant in a bag and dumped the infant in the garbage.” Although sanitation workers have picked up the garbage, the baby boy’s body has not been located.

Rainey faces felony charges including termination of pregnancy, improper disposal of human remains, unlicensed practice of health care, and child abuse, but does not face any murder charges in connection with the death of the unborn child.

Under the terms of the bail, Rainey may not have contact with her daughter or her other child, and her daughter has been placed in foster care pending the outcome of the trial.

Rainey’s 18-year-old daughter, Allegra Jackson, with whom Rainey can have contact, alleges her mother didn’t force her sister to have an abortion.

Study: Abortions Cause Future Relationship Problems, More Domestic Violence

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 30, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Some women decide to have abortions because they think having a baby will contribute to problems in their relationship with their husband or boyfriend. However, a new national study finds abortion causes more future relationship problems than carrying the pregnancy to term and parenting.

Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University headed up the study with Vincent Rue of the Florida-based Institute for Pregnancy Loss and post-abortion researcher Catherine Coyle.

“For both men and women the experience of an abortion in a previous relationship was related to negative outcomes in the current relationship: perceptions of improved quality of life if this relationship also ended and intimate partner violence,” they write.

Published in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed medical journal Public Health, the study finds an abortion within a current relationship causes more arguing when discussing future children and more domestic violence — respective increased risks of 116% and 196%.

After an abortion, partners are 75% more likely to argue about money than when having the baby, argue about the man’s relatives 80% more, and there is a 99% increased risk of arguing about the woman’s relatives compared to couples who give birth.

“Men whose current partners had an abortion were more likely to report jealousy (96% greater risk) and conflict about drugs (385% greater risk). These results suggest that abortion may play a vital role in understanding the etiology of some relationship problems,” the authors explain.

The study also finds abortion increases women’s risk of various forms of sexual dysfunction anywhere from 122% to 182%.

The study also found an increased level of domestic violence following an abortion compared with giving birth.

“Male and female respondents who experienced an abortion within the current partnership reported engaging in significantly higher rates of intimate partner violence compared with those who had never experienced an abortion,” the study found.

Coleman talked with LifeNews.com about why abortion causes more relationship problems for men and women compared with giving birth.

“Although the precise mechanisms explaining associations between abortion history and relationship difficulties were not examined in this study, there are a number of logical reasons for the associations detected,” she said.

“Relationship conflicts arising from an abortion experience may emerge during the decision-making process, adding to earlier conflicts, or new relationship problems may emerge after the procedure,” Dr. Coleman explained.

She said that psychological distress taking the form of anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, or substance abuse and guilt for terminating the pregnancy or not wanting/feeling ready to assume the responsibilities of parenting cause relationship problems after the abortion.

Coleman said belief that the relationship is not strong enough to endure raising children, lack of confidence in the other’s ability to parent, and moral or religious objections to abortion also cause future relationship problems following an abortion.

The study’s results are strengthened by the use of a large, diverse sample, professional data collection, inclusion of men, and controls for a wide range of demographic and personal history variables predictive of the choice to abort.

Citation: P.K. Coleman et al., Induced abortion and intimate relationship quality in the Chicago Health and Social Life Survey, Public Health (2009), doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2009.01.005