August 2005 Archives

This is just a short note to advise you that Spotlight on Darfur 1 will now be on Monday September 5. It will feature posts from a diverse group of bloggers on the Darfur genocide crisis, and posts can still be submitted until midnight EST Sunday 4 September. Entry details are here.
As there are large blogbursts planned tomorrow, September 1, for Katrina aid, much of the blogosphere's attention will be focused on posts on that disaster. It is practical to postpone Spotlight on Darfur for a few days until September 5.

Author and Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution Jennifer Roback Morse has written an important Town Hall column dealing with reproductive freedom. Morse specifically targets in her article the case of Guadalupe Benitez, a lesbian who is suing a California fertility clinic for "sexual orientation discrimination." It seems that because of religious reasons the doctors there were uncomfortable with Benitez' desire to be artificially inseminated (a weird term in itself that becomes even weirder in this instance) and so they directed her to another clinic that didn't have the same moral scruples. This was in 1999 but the lawsuit is just now making its way through the courts.

The absolute demand for having one's own "biological" baby is problematic on several fronts: the creation of "extra embryos" who are subsequently wasted or discarded altogether; a continuing disregard for adoption; the insistence on a perfect kid with all of the subsequent genetic screening designed to eliminate in the womb those who don't make the grade; and so on.

Yesterday, Tim posted thoughts by Justin Taylor on the JAMA fetal pain controversy.

I also write of the fetal pain controversy in my WorldNetDaily.com column today.

I have additional thoughts on John's commentary, specifically on his following points:

I have a hard time getting emotionally invested in the issue of fetal pain.... It seems clear to me that the goal behind the proposed legislation is not really about alleviating pain from fetuses. (After all, the fetuses get killed anyway!) The hope is that once a mother is informed about the reality of fetal pain by her physician, she will change her mind and pursue other options besides abortion.

I have mixed feelings about this approach. On the one hand, I embrace forms of pragmatism and incrementalism in the fight for life. If it's true that unborn babies feel pain at 20 weeks, and if informing a mother of this fact causes her not to murder her baby, then I support such legislation.

All the while, I believe we should be making passionate, persuasive arguments against a functional view of personhood (roughly, that a "person" is defined by his functions)....

Nonetheless, I wonder if some of our language as Christians can unwittingly reflect or reinforce a functional view of personhood....

Dear blogger host Tim further added:

I note that the use of pain or the developmental status of an unborn baby as the basis for an ethical argument opposing abortion is prone to difficulty because, as Justin articulates, it can be used to demean the personhood of the child....

I�m not writing in opposition to the incremental approaches mentioned by Justin, nor backing down from criticism of the JAMA article. I simply agree with Justin that the argument must ultimately be brought back to its metaphysical basis.

I do not want to discount anything John and Tim say. I understand their logic.

I will simply add this point.

Sometimes discussion of logic, functions, and metaphysics does take us away from the actual.

The actuality is that second trimester fetuses beyond 20 weeks assuredly feel intense, prolonged pain while being drawn and quartered via abortion.

If we cannot stop abortion yet, we can at least try to ensure these babies are humanely murdered. I can barely sit here imagining the torture these babies endure while being killed. I can't stop the killing, but perhaps I can alleviate their suffering.

Even the Roman soldiers offered Jesus vinegar water while killing Him.

And if, along the way, this discussion helps people understand these are humans being killed, all the better.

In a response to one of my posts at ProLifeBlogs on the profit motive in embryonic stem cell research, Toni from The Beginning of Human Life posted this comment:

Profit has got to be one of the least concerns when advocating embryonic stem cell research. The fact remains that embryonic stem cells may develop into virtually every type of cell in the human body. That remains to be proven for adult stem cells. The primary motivation behind the push for embryonic stem cell research is that it holds the most potential for a multitude of research avenues.

As far as profit motive being a minor concern, the bio-tech industry would disagree. As this letter from the Biotechnology Industry Organization states, their members are actively lobbying to avoid a therapeutic cloning ban so they can pursue these patentable cures. They are also lobbying to augment their venture capital with government grants. By double dipping they seek to offset the risk of funding their own research and maximizing their return. The bottom line is...well, their bottom line.

The Life Chain is on October 2nd Annually, on the first Sunday in October. LIFE CHAIN invites the churches in each city and town across North America to stand on a designated local sidewalk and pray for one hour, while holding one ofthe following approved pro-life sign messages: * ABORTION KILLS CHILDREN * JESUS FORGIVES AND HEALS * ADOPTION: THE LOVING OPTION * LORD, FORGIVE US AND OUR NATION * ABORTION HURTS WOMEN * PRAY TO END ABORTION * LIFE-THE FIRST INALIENABLE RIGHT

Details at Catholic Fire

Related: Get Ready for the 2005 LifeChain

The Carnival of Life is a new production of ProLifeBlogs and Part-Time Pundit where posts from around the net are gathered into a weekly compendium of posts on pro-life issues, stories, and events. The Carnival will run on Wednesday mornings with posts due at midnight on Tuesday Night. The first will run on September 7th and posting guidelines will be published shortly.

Justin Taylor has published an interesting commentary on the recent JAMA fetal pain controversy that brings out the unintended dialectic which develops when pro-lifers deviate from the fundamental ethical problem with abortion. With his permission I�ve reproduced most of it below but you can find his original article here. (HT: JivinJ)

The Chicago Tribune explored the [question of bias] in an article entitled, �When Science, Politics Collide.� As it turns out, two of the five researchers have ties to the abortion industry. One of them runs an abortion clinic; another formerly served as an attorney for NARAL. Neither researcher disclosed this information to JAMA.

In my view, the potential conflict of interest should have been disclosed. Now just because one is an advocate does not mean one cannot produce research that is fair and true. However, readers deserve to know of connections that might affect research in a unduly biased way.

But I think pro-lifers will be making a mistake by putting all of their eggs in the Bias Basket. Undue bias is subjective and is difficult to prove or disprove. Pro-lifers shouldn't be giving the impression that advocacy automatically tarnishes research--for this argument cuts both ways, and would preclude research done by those who are advocates for the lives of the unborn.

Arizona's most famous Sheriff has been involved in a legal battle with the ACLU over his refusal to provide transportation for inmates seeking elective abortion without a court order. Last week, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Barry Schneider ruled against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and sided with Louise Melling, an attorney with the Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Shane Wikfors, Executive Director of Arizona Right to Life, writes,

I just got off the phone with Sheriff Joe Arpaio and I will tell you that despite the loss of this battle, he is ready, willing and able to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court. I have never heard him so adamant and passionate about this issue and willing to take on the ACLU. Sheriff Joe is a fighter and will go to the wall for the unborn and the pro-life movement on this issue and he's doing it not because it's politically expedient but because it's the right thing to do.

On Friday, August 26, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called for public input on the question of whether Plan B, the �morning-after pill,� can be safely sold to adolescents 16 years-old and over without a prescription, while requiring a prescription for those under sixteen. Pro-Life Wisconsin is urging its supporters to contact both the President and the FDA to oppose easy access to the Plan B regimen.

Doing a rather impressive "Chicken Little" impersonation, the Washington Post's Ceci Connolly wrings her hands over the abortion limitations that have been passed by state legislatures in the past year or so.

"Those opposed to abortion are finding new and different ways to increase the roadblocks and the hoops [that] providers and patients have to jump through," Emmert [Steven Emmert, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers] said...

A notable contribution from the mainstream media on the Darfur genocide crisis, which has left over two million people homeless, is this article from Time Magazine, Who Speaks For Her? which has reports from women systematically raped by the Janjaweed militia, and also reports on the current situation. In part:

"As children played among spent gun cartridges in the village square, aid workers from World Vision distributed food under the stripped limbs of a baobab tree. "I feel safe now, but what is safe?" asks Amna, one of the nine raped in April. "I have felt safe before." It's an insecurity that will not easily go away. Several of the women are now pregnant, and their children will be lifelong reminders of Darfur's hatreds.
...Humanitarian access has improved and fewer people are dying, but in the vast swaths of land outside the control of either the government or the rebels, lawlessness prevails. Attacks on trucks and aid convoys make roads too dangerous to travel, and the scared and hungry arrive at swollen relief camps daily. Even then, their safety is not ensured. At Kalma, Darfur's largest camp, refugees complain of government harassment, and women who venture beyond in search of firewood and fodder are often raped."

In response to the crisis there are some with high media profiles who have decided to use their publicity pull to highlight the situation. Actor Don Cheadle, who starred in "Hotel Rwanda", the movie about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, has launched "Live for Darfur". It will be a series of events involving actors, musicians and Nobel Prize winner Elie Weisel. Weisel is a holocaust survivor whose own true story of living through genocide is recorded in his autobiographical novel Night. It's a profoundly spiritual and haunting work.

"Live for Darfur" is in Cheadle's words, a "raindrop approach" which he hopes will become a torrent. Bob Tourtellotte reported on "Live in Darfur" for Reuters on August 25, and the report is now being picked up be other news agencies. From the Reuters report:

"Live For Darfur", a series of events in which celebrities from rock band U2 to Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel dedicate their work toward raising awareness about refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan. In September, Cheadle will attend Save Darfur Coalition's "National Day of Action" in Washington, to address the death and disease plaguing Darfur. On the same day, he will participate in a National Leadership Assembly for groups to brief Save Darfur members and others on Sudanese issues.

It isn't just famous actors, musicians and authors who are now working to bring attention and relief to the Sudan. The Miami Herald reports on suburban Dad Tim Nonn, who finally couldn't avoid the issue anymore:

"When TV mentioned atrocities in that western region of the Sudan, south of Egypt, Nonn switched channels. "It was just too hard to see those starving families," he said. Nonn's avoidance of the ethnic cleansing the Sudanese government-backed militia has engaged in since 2003 changed a year ago. He tuned in to a news program, and his world view changed. Today, Nonn is the founder and national director of a grass-roots organization called "Dear Sudan." The group spreads awareness of the genocide in Darfur, and wants to stimulate suburban Americans to do something about it. About 50 communities nationwide have started a chapter or are planning one, he said. The organization is supported by the Church World Service and the American Jewish World Service."

Note: Spotlight on Darfur 1 will be hosted at Allthings2all on 5 September. It will feature posts on the current Darfur situation from various bloggers. If you are a blogger and would like to send in a post for inclusion in the Spotlight on Darfur see here for the email address and details.

Cross-posted at Allthings2all

A recent article in BC Catholic points out that Canadian Parliament Bill C-407 which seeks to legalize euthanasia is the worst to date:

Bill C-407 would take the ground-breaking and ground-digging legislation of the Netherlands and move it many steps further.

It would allow euthanasia and assisted suicide for people suffering chronic physical and mental pain, regardless of whether they�ve tried any treatment whatsoever.

It would allow the euthanizing of anyone as long as they wish to die and are �assisted by a medical practitioner.�

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition calls Bill C-407 one of the worst bills he has ever seen, especially since it provides no protection for vulnerable people. �The whole idea is wrong from the beginning. Assisted suicide is a direct threat to those with chronic disabilities and the elderly.�

More at Marlowe's Shade

CNSNews.com has more on the alleged secret deal between a manufacturer of the "morning after" pill and Planned Parenthood:

(CNSNews.com) - A pro-life group is charging Planned Parenthood with having a secret deal with the manufacturer of the "morning after" pill that would enable the nation's largest abortion provider to make millions of dollars in profits selling Plan B kits.

If the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "gives a green light for over-the-counter distribution, Planned Parenthood stands to take in a minimum $100 million profit over a five-year period from sales of the Plan B 'morning-after' pill," said Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League's STOPP International.

[snip]

Under a five-year agreement, Planned Parenthood would be able to buy Plan B from Barr at bargain-basement prices, undercut local pharmacies and clear an average $20 profit on each Plan B kit, according to Sedlak.

HT: Sherri

STOPP exposes Planned Parenthood's secret deal to cash in on over-the-counter 'morning-after' pill

Washington, DC - "If the FDA gives a green light for over-the-counter distribution, Planned Parenthood stands to take in a minimum $100 million profit over a five-year period from sales of the Plan B 'morning-after' pill," said Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League's STOPP International. "Such action from the FDA would allow Planned Parenthood to take maximum advantage of a sweetheart deal the organization arranged with Plan B's owner, Barr Pharmaceuticals, which will allow Planned Parenthood to buy the drug at below-market cost and undercut other pharmacies' retail prices."

Cross-posted from Part-Time Pundit.

This story was my own work in uncovering this story. Thanks to Pro-Life blogs for hosting the PDF.
==========

Eugenics is the sterilizing of the "unfit" so that only the fit can breed. This was all the rage in the 30s until Hitler took it to its logical extension and it fell out of style. Many states allowed courts to order sterilization of criminals or others that those in power deemed not fit to procreate. The laws were eventually overturned.

That brings me to this story. On March 10th, 2005 a woman was admitted to Carle Foundation hospital. She was several months pregnant and was admitted for complications to her pregnancy and for apparent drug abuse. At admission, the staff identified "Communication Barriers" on a form even though the patient speaks fluent English (Page 1 in the linked PDF document below). Page 2 is an authorization form for sterilization "signed" on March 12th. Page 3 and 4 are the nursing charts that show on 3/11 the "pt (patient) would not wake up", on 3/12 that the nurses could not do a consultation with her because the drugs (which included the ones given by the hospital at this point) have not worn off, and that on 3/13 says the "pt (patient) finally 'waking up'". The patient was admitted on the 11th but unable to communicate until the 13th, yet signed a form authorizing sterilization on the 12th. How precisely can a patient unable to communicate and unable to "wake up" sign a consent form to have her tubes tied? The law in Illinois for medical treatment is "informed consent" and based on the nurse's own statements, this patient was in no position to consent to anything and certainly not do so in an informed matter.

Staff reports from CitizenLink describe a new Kansas law that requires fetal tissue samples to be taken from the aborted babies of girls younger than 14. The samples could be useful in prosecuting offenders of another Kansas law that says girls 13 and younger, who become pregnant, must be investigated as rape cases.

Some time back, Traditional Values Coalition in partnership with Life Dynamics, Inc. conducted an investigation that provided "irrefutable proof that Planned Parenthood (PP) is deliberately covering up the sexual molestation of girls." In their report they detail how LDI encouraged a team of girls to call Planned Parenthood clinics and pretend to have been sexually abused by adult males.

In case after case, PP counselors willingly ignored state law to cover up these molestations and violations of statutory rape laws.

These conversations were taped by LDI - to listen to these tapes and get printable transcripts, please click here. There is also a wealth of information on the LDI�s Child Predator project at ChildPredators.com.

Responding briefly to a commenter (DH), SK at LTI blog engages in the following interesting dialog:

Metaphysics has to do with the ultimate grounding of things, or, if you will, claims about being. When DH states that the immediate capacity for consciousness determines who is and is not a particular kind of thing�in this case, a valuable human being�he making a claim about being. In other words, he is doing the work of metaphysics. True, his own metaphysical claim differs in substance from the one offered by pro-lifers, but the kind of claim is the same in both cases.

Abortion advocates are in a fight over the current HHS appropriations bill and whether hospitals, doctors, and medical personnel can be forced to be involved in abortion or risk losing any federal funds they may receive. This comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by the State of California to overturn such provisions.

Here is another example of the "pro-choice" crowd fighting against the choice of medical providers in what services they want to provide and attempting to nullify their consciences. They argue that they aren't pro-abortion but then insist that every doctor must be jumping to perform abortions on demand. Any provider who refuses on the basis of conscience to provide any abortion-related services will likely face a revocation of their licenses.

NARAL has just released its new ad attacking Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. View it here.

In particular, I love all the video clips and photos of happy families... with kids.

From AP via C-Pol

There is more than a bit of spin on this story. It leads off stating the global population will grow for a few more decades, but the real significance is that it confirms previous reports that population growth is rapidly approaching the apex of its trajectory and will soon be declining overall.

Global population growth is ensured for many decades, with most of it in developing countries, a private group said Tuesday.

The rapid growth in developing countries, combined with declining birth rates in some industrialized nations could affect the ability of the wealthy to aid the poor, said a demographer who prepared the group's report.

"The countries of today's developing world are growing almost three times faster than the developed countries," said Carl Haub, a demographer for the Population Reference Bureau, a private research group. "The global population growth today has concentrated in the poorest countries and the poorest areas of those countries.

Read the rest at Marlowe's Shade

MOSCOW, August 24, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) � Financial pressures are pushing Russian women to abortion at a much higher rate than was previously thought. For the first time, Russian abortions have exceeded births and the rate shows no sign of slowing in the perennially unstable Russian economy.

... Russia's population is declining by 750,000 to 800,000 a year.
- more

Abortions: 1.6 million, Births: 1.5 million. Is this tragic state of affairs the sign of a slowing economy or a dying culture? I think its latter. Bloomberg has a related article.

In a direct attack against common sense, the ACLU has waged a relentless war against teaching kids the simple fact that if you don�t have sex, you don�t get pregnant or get STDs. The ACLU applauded a recent decision by the federal government to suspend funding to Silver Ring Thing because it was using the money to evangelize and convert people. While they are very correct that this was a misuse of funds, it is part of a larger campaign to kick abstinence education out of the schools as inherently religious. In fact, a recent study by Rep. Waxman (that has been debunked) cited religion as a primary concern about these programs. The ACLU agrees.

National Right to Life has just released a comprehensive and informative rebuttal regarding the article "Fetal Pain: A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review of the Evidence," published in the August 24 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

See the update at www.jillstanek.com, complete with hyperlinks to articles and substantiation referred to by NRL.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has declared a litmus test for Supreme Court Justices: they must be abortion advocates. She has promised to impose her personal view on Supreme Court Nominee Judge John Roberts during the upcoming U.S. Senate hearings.

Apparently Feinstein has developed a new set of rules for the judges who are nominated by Republicans President. I suggest she examine the precedent from the confirmation hearings of Justice Ruth Bader Gisburg for the conduct of judicial nominees [click here].

In contrast to what Feinstein has planned, Sen. Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Justice Ginsburg was nominated, instructed the committee that

"the public is best served by questions that initiate a dialog with the nominee, not about how she will decide any specific case that may come before her, but about the spirit and the method she will bring to the task of judging. There is a real difference � between questions that focus on specific results or outcomes, the answers to which would risk compromising a nominee�s independence and impartiality, and questions on judicial methods and philosophy. The former can undermine the dispassionate and unprejudiced judgment we expect the nominee to exercise as a Justice. But the latter are essential and contribute critically to our public dialog."

A new poll has found that 52% of Americans oppose federal funding of human embryonic stem cell destruction research. Support for human embryonic stem cell destruction has fallen by 4 points and opposition to such federally-funded research has increased by 7 points in just over 2 months as Americans find out the truth about such research by bypassing the organs of the "old media".

... more, including action items, at the Christian Coalition Blog

Related: Stem Cell Archives

Darren and Debbie Wyatt went to the Appeals court again today following their request to remove the "Do Not Resuscitate" order from their daughter, Charlotte. They were, once again, turned down. They will go back to Mr. Justice Hedley again in October.

Source: Blogsforterri, Related: Baby Improves but Hospital Keeps Do Not Resuscitate Order

Wow -- even a major player in the MSM (USA Today) has now caught on to the extreme bias of the recent report which claimed that unborn kids feel no pain even in late abortions. After all, even though it was the once-prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association which printed the article, the discovery that the originators of the piece include an abortion mill director and other outspoken pro-abortion advocates...well, that kinda' soured the pie.

Of course, the JAMA should have caught on to the scam but being so firmly entrenched in its own bias towards abortion, it didn't bother to be objective. And, yes, the mainstream media should have checked the background of the piece before splashing it everywhere they could. They could at least have read the thing instead of relying on the article's headlines. They might then have noticed that the "study" was not based on any new scientific data at all but was merely rehashing stuff from old articles. But again, the MSM's enthusiasm for abortion (also strong) naturally clouded their judgment.

The news media is in a feeding frenzy reporting on a "study" (actually, a re-interpretation of existing medical literature) published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association. The authors claim that there is no substantial reason to believe that unborn humans feel pain before the third trimester (after 29 weeks gestational age). Most of these stories have failed to report important information about the study "investigators" [more from NRTL].

The lead author, Susan J. Lee, is a medical student and former NARAL employee, and one of the physician authors, Eleanor Drey, is the director of an abortion clinic in San Francisco [more here and here]. Dr. Drey is also on the staff of the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, a pro-abortion advocacy center at the University of California-San Francisco.

What�s more, these affiliations were not disclosed to JAMA.

From American Thinker

I've been trying to understand why, despite the overwhelming evidence that adult stem cells are a better practical and ethical solution, ESCR is receiving such heavy support from the media, researchers and politicians. I've considered the affinity to the pro-abortion movement, and the foot-in-the-door to cloning, but this article points to an addition motivation:

Yet another reason has emerged why there is incessant pressure for embryonic stem cell research, despite mounting evidence of its inferiority to adult stem cell research, in testimony before a Senate Committee on July 14, 2004. After discussing the cases of the two paralyzed young women who were now walking after adult stem cell treatment in Portugal, Dr.Jean Peduzzi-Nelson pointed out that an embryonic stem cell product could become patentable and potentially yield enormous profits. But an adult stem cell therapy, in which the patient�s own cells were used, could not produce a patentable procedure or product according to current laws.

More on Marlowe's Shade

There are two quotes I found disturbing with regard to the latest findings regarding a 29-week old fetus and it's supposed inability to feel pain.

Keep in mind that Dr. Drey is one of the co-authors of this study and by the way, she is the Medical Director of the Women's Options Center of San Francisco General Hospital. Surely there's no conflict of interest there.

Dr. Eleanor Drey, one of Rosen's co-authors, said that as an obstetrician who sometimes performs abortions, she would find it troubling to be compelled to bring up the subject of fetal pain with her patients.

"I would be forced to drag them through potentially a lot of misinformation," she said. "Our systematic review has shown it's extremely unlikely that pain exists at a point when abortions are done. I'm going to have to talk about something I know will cause the patient distress, something that by our best assessment of the scientific data is not relevant."

Sarah Stoesz the CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota had this to say.

"When women are already facing a very difficult decision about terminating a pregnancy that they and their families deeply want, to force them to consider that on the top of everything else they might be inflicting pain seems to me cruel and unforgiveable.

JivinJ reported an abortion connection with two of the five authors of a fetal pain study that supposedly found that prenatal babies do not feel pain before 28 weeks. There is another author abortion connection and an overt display of biased intent by yet another of the authors, who hopes the study will "sway [legislators'] votes" on a fetal pain bill currently before Congress.

Read more at JillStanek.com

Tim has covered the story regarding a new study on fetal pain which said an unborn child was unlikely to feel pain before 28 weeks.

A new story out today reveals something that I could have only guessed at: One of the authors in this case heads an abortion clinic. Why am I not surprised?

It does not mention that one author is an abortion clinic director, while the lead author - Susan J. Lee, a medical student - once worked for NARAL Pro-Choice America.

JAMA editor-in-chief Catherine D. DeAngelis said she was unaware of this, and acknowledged it might create an appearance of bias that could hurt the journal's credibility. "This is the first I've heard about it," she said. "We ask them to reveal any conflict of interest. I would have published" the disclosure if it had been made.

I wonder why a former NARAL employee and an abortion clinic director didn't want the JAMA to know that they were involved in the abortion industry?

From TheFactIs.org via LifeSite

[T]o sense what separates the administration from the [UN], all you need do is read a speech delivered this summer by a relatively unknown US diplomat to a relatively unknown UN meeting, called the Executive Board of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The Executive Board, a collection of interested donor nations, was meeting to assess the Population Fund's sixth multi-year plan to provide reproductive services to the women of China, a land where all such services fall under the provisions of the 2001 National Population and Family Planning Law, the legal descendant of the 1979 One Child Policy.

Kelly Ryan, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, knew that she was delivering a decidedly un-UN speech, and felt the need to reassure her audience that the US did not hate the UN, or China, or family planning. She even apologized for the length of her speech.

Then she proceeded to shame China, UNFPA, and UNFPA's donors: "We believe it would be best to let the facts speak for themselves regarding the situation in China. My delegation has reviewed the provincial regulations implementing the birth limitation program in counties where UNFPA is operating." And then she began to read them, one-by-one.

Read the rest on Marlowe's Shade

Paralyzed from the waist down after a snowboarding crash, Josh Millard puts his hopes in experimental (adult) stem-cell surgery.

A human fetus is unlikely to feel pain before the third trimester researchers claim in an article that "could fuel debate over proposed U.S. abortion legislation."

The conclusion was drawn from "a review of medical evidence" (medical literature) and has been billed as "a powerful challenge to abortion opponents who hope that discussions about fetal pain will make women think twice about ending pregnancies."

Recongnized fetal pain expert Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand reportedly disagreed with the findings. "This is going to inflame a lot of scientists who are very, very concerned and are far more knowledgeable in this area than the authors appear to be," he said. "This is not the last word � definitely not." [LifeNews has more quotes from Anand]

Anand, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas, has testified that on the basis of changes in physiological parameters in response to stimuli (pain) he believes unborn babies can feel "severe" pain at 20 weeks gestation.

Among the notable quotes of the local TV news story?

School officials are not sure what has caused so many pregnancies...

Hmmm. I think I've located the problem, Captain.

ProLifeBlogs.com is presently experiencing a problem on many of the pages linked to by the homepage. We're working on it and hope to have service restored shortly.

Update: We have a work around in place on most pages. Thanks to all those who contacted me.

Why aren't we being told about the most preventable cause of breast cancer? The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer seeks to educate women about the link between abortion and the increased risk of breast cancer, and they detail how the scientific findings supporting this link are being covered up by agencies that profit from cancer treatment, citing the fact that cancer treatment is more profitable than cancer prevention.

One example of this blatant disregard for women's health is the "Fund the Fight. Find a Cure" postage stamp being sold through the U. S. Postal Service. Dr. Joel Brind, president of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, says he won't buy them. He explains why:

The profits go to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), our own federal agency charged with leading the 'war on cancer'. It's the same NCI--regrettably--that has spearheaded the cover-up of the most avoidable risk factor for breast cancer: abortion. Shame on them.

Read more at Choose Life.

Baby Susan Torres' family writes,

Little Susan and doing very well in the Neonatal ICU. She has broken the 2 lbs. mark and is continuing to grow like a weed. She has been removed from the ventilators and is receiving small amount of formula every day.

Thanks to everyone for your continued prayers and support. We truly
appreciate all your kind thoughts and gifts. We are hoping to have new pictures of Little Susan for the website within the next few days.

Source: Susan Torres Fund

Alternative sources of stems cells have led some to call for a delay in the vote on federal legislation that would allow tax dollars to be used for research involving the destruction of human life.

Various states are considering legislation in response to the public starvation/dehydration of Terri Schiavo. One of the latest proposals comes from Mississippi congressman Rep. Joey Fillingane (R-Sumrall) who is pushing a bill to "preserve a person's life" if there's a family disagreement about whether a "vegetative" patient would want to remain hooked to feeding tubes or other machines.

Charlotte Wyatt was born prematurely at St. Mary's hospital on the 21st of October 2003. She weighed 458 grams (about a pound) and was barely five inches long. Three times in her short life she had to be re-ventilated. Despite her doctor's predictions and a court ruling last Fall imposing a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order on her, Charlotte lived and is thriving.

Despite her progress, earlier this year a Judge decided against removing the DNR from Charlotte and her parents appealed.

Doctors from the hospital now state that Charlotte's improvement is "remarkable" and, contrary to their prior assertions, she may be able to go home.

In a BreakPoint commentary on the Prison Fellowship Ministries web site, Chuck Colson explores the reasons why so many young women today are choosing life instead of abortion.

Alexander Sanger, chairman of International Planned Parenthood, complains that the numbers are �unbelievably shocking.� And he warns: �It�s not just the numbers that are down . . . It�s the enthusiasm.� When Sanger visits colleges, he finds that many no longer have an abortion rights group. But, as he told Glamour magazine, he �has yet to visit one that doesn�t have a strong, vocal faction of pro-life women.�

Read the complete commentary here.

Cross-posted from Choose Life.

After a recent fatal car accident involving a pregnant woman, a grand jury in Alabama indicted David Alton Gilley on four charges of reckless murder -- one is for the death of an unborn baby.

This is not the only tragic case involving the murder of a preganant woman and her child. Fortunately, in many cases, those who harm or kill women and their unborn baby are being help accountable for both crimes.

Numerous news sources report that scientists have turned "ordinary skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells--without having to use human eggs or make new human embryos in the process." A Reuters headline, for example, reads "Scientists create embryonic cells from skin cell" and other articles suggest "Research May Sidestep Ethical Concerns Over Stem Cells." CBS calls the research a "Stem Cell Workaround" and the Financial Express asserts Stem cells sans human embryos possible!

The reason she went to the clinic that day
Was just as simple as it seems.
She wasn�t prepared for a baby right now.
It was sad but she had other dreams.

Her career, her boyfriend, her trim figure too �
She wanted everything to stay as it was.
So, even if she knew abortion was wrong,
She could excuse it. Everyone does.

As posted on here a few days ago, a new form of stem cell has been discovered that could make the ethical debate on this subject moot.

A reported breakthrough in stem cell research may lend new weight to the campaign against the use of human embryos in research, one of the most pressing ethical controversies facing governments in the U.S. and elsewhere.

American and British researchers say that they have found, in umbilical cord blood, a new type of cell -- neither embryonic nor "adult" -- which is more versatile than the latter while avoiding the ethical dilemmas surrounding the former.

And in a further development, the scientists have found a way to mass-produce the new cells, sidestepping the problem of limited supply of embryonic cells.

Adult stem cells are already being use to treat 65 ailments, so the discovery of these even more versatile cells further brightens an already promising outlook. So why the continued hype over embryonic stem cells?

Read the rest at Marlowe's Shade

All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." - Kansas State Constitution

Some government officials in Kansas are acting on the principles of their state�s constitution by asking for a ruling that would stop tax dollars from funding abortion. The request came in a lawsuit filed last Tuesday by Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline seeking to block the state�s ability to finance abortions through Medicaid.

Do you think the contraception issue is a component of the abortion issue, or are pro-lifers who "go there" over the top? - Jill Stanek

Both the AMA and the American Academy of Family Physicians encourage intentional elective abortion in their Ethics statements. Life Ethics

ACLU: Drug-using pregnant mom innocent of harming preborn baby, since baby isn't person - C-Pol

DOCTORS have been given permission to screen embryos for a rare form of eye cancer for the first time - Extreme Truths

First Ever Surgery to Remove Tumor Saves Unborn Child - LifeNews

SAN FRANCISCO, August 19, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the wife of a US navy man must pay the government back the US $3000.00 it spent aborting her child because the military refuses to fund eugenic abortion. Under federal law, the US military only pays for abortion in cases where the mother's life would be endangered by childbirth.

C. Ward Kischer, PhD, human embryology professor emeritus, and Fr. Joseph Howard, M. Div., of American Life League, have issued the following statement regarding their analysis of an Altered Nuclear Transfer-Oocyte-Assisted Reprogramming (ANT-OAR) process proposed by Dr. William Hurlbut. This process, by which an experimental protocol would generate presumed pluripotent cells, but presumably not human embryos for research, raises many serious moral concerns and should be especially troubling for Catholics in the field of science. Dr. Kischer and Fr. Howard address the moral concerns of the proposal and reiterate the teachings of the Catholic Church when dealing with such delicate matters involving the gift of human life.

CNSNews.com reports today about a breakthrough in stem cell research that may tip the scales in the campaign against using human embryos for research. American and British researchers say they have found, in umbilical cord blood, a new type of cell � neither embryonic nor �adult� � which is more versatile than the latter while avoiding the ethical dilemmas surrounding the former...more from CNSNews.

Cross-posted from Choose Life.

I blogged the other day that pro-aborts have discovered a winning angle in the emergency contraceptive controversy: tying together birth control pills and ECs.

It's true that if a pharmacist and/or pharmacy have no moral problem dispensing birth control pills, they cannot claim to have a problem dispensing ECs on the grounds that they are abortifacients. Both contain the same female hormones that cause the same actions, one of which may be to stop a week-old embryo from implanting in the uterus.

This is not only a wedge issue for pro-lifers but a turn-off to the public. We must deal with it. Pro-aborts have obviously developed a nationwide strategy for normalizing ECs. The latest is in today's Houston Chronicle. The Austin City Council just agreed to force pharmacies to dispense both BC pills and ECs.

Read more at JillStanek.com.

An article in today's San Francisco Chronicle says the different positions that CA senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are taking on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts demonstrate the split in the Democrat party between leftists and centrists. Also in the piece is the left's admission that its agenda - including its radical position on abortion - isn't winnable.

Read more on JillStanek.com.

From LifeSite

�The degree of disconnect between the description of the Terri Schiavo case in the media, and the reality of the case is pretty profound,� laments Robert Destro, the lawyer who performed vital pro bono legal work for the family of Terri Schiavo in their final bid to save Terri�s life from the hands of her husband and the courts.

In an interview with Anita Crane of the American Life League Destro reveals many of the disturbing legal anomalies, often stepping into the realm of the patently illegal, that sadly distinguished the Schiavo case.

In particular Destro remains deeply critical of the actions of judge Greer, whose failure to act and whose often illegal handling of the case resulted in Terri�s eventual murder by starvation and dehydration. �You can�t really make up facts of this case�I felt like I was caught in Wonderland or Neverland. Terri never got a fair hearing,� attests Destro. �Florida law expressly requires probate judges to see the incompetent patients whose cases are pending before them, but Greer never went to see Terri.�

More on Marlowe's Shade

Originally posted on Internet Journal of Public Policy

In an announcement a few days ago, a report came out that in the treaty it was drafting for the rights of the disabled, the UN included language calling for global abortion rights. This was perfectly synchronized with an Amnesty International event with an identical agenda, and the timing seems too perfect to be coincidental. Again one may question what human rights have to do with abortion. Not only are both cases an incongruous way to introduce this agenda, but according to its own FAQ, the UN supposedly doesn't support abortion.

Despite this disclaimer there are clearly more than a few UN agencies promoting abortion.

Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, issued the following statement today in response to new data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health about decreasing abortion rates in the state.

"The numbers of abortions continue to go down," stated Fr. Pavone. "We should avoid the temptation to oversimplify the explanations for this decrease, but we should all be happy about it and should recommit ourselves to creating alternatives to abortion and educating the public regarding what abortion is."

Earlier today, Paul Rollin, the father of Susan Torres responded to this post with the following remarkable message:

I am Susan's Father. Aren't you tired of the headline "Brain Dead, Pregnant Woman, Gives Birth to Very Premature Baby Girl, Who May Have Melanoma Too?"]

How about this Headline?..."An Incredible Miracle Happened at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA?" The story then reads. "A 26 year old NIH scientist, who defied most of the doctors who gave her "No Chance of making it past the first week",...Whose strong will, and determination, even after brain being pronounced dead from a brain hemorrhage that left her brain virtually destroyed, delivered a healthy baby girl. Every attending physician, was amazed at the positive outcome because it should never have been possible. There was only one Will stronger than Susan's and he was working with Susan."

Anyone who ever knew Susan (Rollin) Torres, would tell you that they are not the least bit surprised that Susan got the job done. She never could be told that she could NOT do anything. Since she was a very little girl, she defied anyone who told her, "Susan, You Can't Do That. You Are Not Strong Enough". She made them all eat crow.

Susan was driven by a will to succeed that was surpassed only by the Will of God. You had to lead her, follow her, or get the hell out of her way. She would never allow a mere human being to stand in her way. She went over, under, or through them.

So the real, best, story of Susan has yet to be told. There are so many stories about her that her friends want to tell. You will be hearing more about Susan as time goes on. Don't be surprised what happens. Susan lives in the hearts of those who knew and loved her. And she lives on in her Son Peter, and her Baby Girl, Susan. If Little Susan is half the woman her mom was, Step Back World!!! There is a train coming down the track, and if you get in her way you will get run over.

Related: please continue to visit and support the Susan Torres Fund.

Update: we are sad to report that Baby Susan Torres has Passed Away

Sen. Richard Durbin will vote against Supreme Court nominee John Roberts in the Senate Judiciary Committee if Roberts disagrees with the Illinois Democrat's view that the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to abortion. But that vote would directly contradict Durbin's beliefs as expressed in a 1989 letter to a constituent. ...

"It's true that my position changed," Durbin admitted.

- more from CNS News

International abortion provider Marie Stopes has released a study on late term abortions (19-24 weeks) in the United Kingdom and the women who have them.

Their findings indicate that the majority of women they surveyed had abortions later in pregnancy because they didn't recognize the signs and symptoms of pregnancy. A small minority of women were aware of their pregnancy early on but they didn't have an abortion earlier on because of either denial or a change in their circumstances.

The study also includes the testimonials of post-abortive women.

Mark Fuhrman does a decent job presenting the facts, as they are known, pertinent to the collapse of Terri Schiavo in his recent book, Silent Witness. He provides comprehensive background information and describes events chronologically, setting the stage for an evaluation of scenarios that explain Terri�s mysterious collapse. He also dispels myths and inaccuracies held by both those who supported Terri�s right-to-life and others who sided with her husband.

Fuhrman�s goal was to examine from a criminal investigators viewpoint the probable causes that led to Terri�s collapse. He writes,

Despite all the attention her death has generated, nobody seems to know exactly what happened to Terri Schiavo in the early morning hours of February 25, 1990. Some claim it was cardiac arrest brought on by a potassium imbalance that resulted from bulimia. Others suggest she was assaulted by Michael Schiavo. Where is the truth?

Scientists are now using skin, constructed from cells harvested from aborted children, in an experimental therapy to heal burns. A recent study of the treatment demonstrated the regrowth of essentially normal skin on second- and third-degree burns in about two weeks, according to a Swiss research team.

One of the benefits of managing this site is that I get to meet a great number of diverse yet dedicated pro-lifers. Several of them recently joined our team of contributors including bloggers from:

• The Narrow


• Allthings2all


• Marlowesshade


• JivinJehoshaphat


• Choose Life


• Jill Stanek

As I write this message I realize that there are many other bloggers who I should have asked long ago to participate.

So, I�m taking the easy route out and am posting this general invitation (right here) to members who post predominantly on pro-life issues and who would like to expand their reader base to contact me about becoming a contributor.

More changes are coming ... stay tuned!

Jill Stanek�s column today on WND.com, "See pro-aborts run," chronicles the events of last week that resulted in a meltdown at NARAL.

Pro-aborts have never experienced anything like the pounding NARAL took last week for its outrageously false ad against Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.

[snip]

A year ago, MSM wouldn't have questioned them. A year ago, they didn't. It's not like this was the first devious smear campaign pro-aborts have ever attempted. It's their modus operandi.

This caused frightened legislators to bolt, fellow pro- aborts to mutiny, and a NARAL employee to resign �. Read the rest here.

The FDA approved the drug RU-486 in September of 2000. In case you're not familiar with this drug it was created for the express purpose of destroying life, aka "The Morning After Pill". It's just another way people in our society can get out of taking responsiblity for their actions.

"The FDA should have never approved this dangerous drug. It has one purpose only - that is to kill a human being - and now we are finding out that it is killing two human beings, the baby and the mother," said Wendy Wright, policy director of the anti-abortion Concerned Women for America.

"It has been FDA-approved at a significant delay from many other Western nations because of the politics involved. That said, it was approved because it's incredibly safe, it's effective and has a very low risk of adverse events," said Dr. Deborah Nucatola of the University of Southern California medical school.

Cross-Posted: The Narrow

From the Washington Times

Single-adult households have displaced two-parent families with children as the most common kind of U.S. household, the Census Bureau reported yesterday. The change demonstrates "the growing complexity" of American households, researchers said in a new report, "Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000." "It's breathtaking how many people still think that the 'mom, pop and two kids' is the majority of households," said Peter Francese, the founder of American Demographics magazine. Nuclear-family households -- two married parents and a child -- were the most common as recently as 1990, when there were 25 million such households. But by 2000, nuclear-family households fell to second place, both because there were almost a half-million fewer of these type of homes and because the number of single-adult households surged past 27 million.

More on Marlowe's Shade

For some time Britain has been considering the use of embryo screening to stop babies from being born with genes that are associated with a higher risk of cancer.

In fact, the UK and other countries are already using a screening technique, known as "pre-implantation genetic diagnosis" (PGD), to detect and abort unborn children with genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease.

However, the technology applications under consideration are controversial because a certain unknown number of healthy children will be killed in addition to those who are at a higher risk for developing a disease later life.

National Life Chain Sunday will be held October 2, 2005, from 2:30 � 3:30 PM in each time zone across the U.S. and Canada. Prolifers in each city, town, and hamlet are urged to participate in what is also called �a national prayer chain,� held on city sidewalks.

Over 900 cities and towns will participate this year. See www.LifeChain.Net or www.NationalLifeChain.org for information about your city.

Recently I've had some people asking if there is going to be a follow up to The Darfur Collection. Rather than trying to repeat the Collection, which I think stands on it's own, I'd like to help put together more regular roundups of posts by various bloggers on the Darfur crisis.

BRISTOL, August 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Kelly Taylor, a 28-year-old woman who is not terminally ill, has ended her attempt to starve herself to death after 19 days because of the pain of the effects of starvation.

Visit FaithMouse for more cartoons. Read Dawn Eden for background on this one.

Following his recent public appearance to receive the guardianship of the year award from the Florida State Guardianship Association (more here), Michael Schiavo is speaking at an ethics conference. Earlier this year Schiavo won a 12-year legal battle and ended his wife's life by withholding nutrition and hydration.

Annie at AfterAbortion is compiling a resource list of posts and articles on suicide and abortion here. She asks readers to send or comment on links that may have been forgotten.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - "Why has Planned Parenthood Federation of America not condemned a Planned Parenthood affiliate's violent animated short?" asked Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League's STOPP International. "Despite widespread revulsion over the online video, the organization is ignoring the controversy swirling around this dangerous piece of propaganda."

From Wesley J Smith's blog Secondhand Smoke

PETA founder and Peter Singer devotee Ingrid Newkirk responded thusly to an African-American person who objected to PETA's equating slavery in America with the mistreatment of animals:

"How dare you compare my ancestors' subjugation to the subjugation of cows prodded down the slaughter line to their deaths?!" I can, because it is right to do so and wrong to reject the concept. Please open your heart and your mind and do not take such offense.

The post was entitled, "We Are All Animals, So Get Over It!"

Read the rest at Marlowe's Shade

Via Ed Whelan and Bench Memos:

1. In October 1985 Roberts was asked to review a proposed telegram to be sent from President Reagan to a memorial service to be held in Los Angeles for some 16,500 aborted fetuses that had been discovered at a medical laboratory in 1982. The draft telegram, quoting Lincoln's words at Gettysburg, stated that "just as the terrible toll of Gettysburg can be traced to a tragic decision of a divided Supreme Court, so also can the deaths we mourn." It stated that Roe "made void all our laws protecting the lives of infants developing in their mothers' wombs" and noted that "[o]nce again [as in Dred Scott] a whole category of human beings had been ruled outside the protection of the law by a court ruling which clashed with our deepest moral convictions." The draft prayed that God would "speed the day when the right to life of every human being . . . is honored and protected by our laws and our public policy."