April 2006 Archives

From the North Country Gazette:

The life of Andrea Clark hangs precariously in the balance at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston.

The life support of the 54-year-old woman was to have been removed Sunday after the hospital ethics committee decided under the Texas Futile Care Law that it would be futile to prolong the life of the heart patient and recommended that she be removed from life support despite her family's wishes and the wishes of Andrea herself.

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, 6720 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030
Main hospital telephone number - 832-355-1000 Email

As a patient of St. Luke�s Hospital in Houston, TX, Andrea Clark is in an extremely precarious position. [Update: Please be sure to note the action item below.]

Andrea, 54, suffered complications following open heart surgery that left her dependent upon a ventilator and dialysis for survival. Although her motor control faculties were damaged, according to her family, her cognitive abilities were unaffected.

On April 19, St. Luke's informed Andrea's closest kin that her medical care would be discontinued in 10 days; an ethics committee decided to "pull the plug" in a flagrant act of (passive) euthanasia. Andrea has insurance and wants treatment. Her current doctor says �no�.

Through the efforts of many, the hospital and family developed a plan to transfer Andrea to a medical facility in Chicago, one suggested by St. Luke's. However, shortly before Andrea�s transfer was scheduled to take place it fell through; the second treatment center did not have the necessary means to care for her.

Now Andrea�s life hangs in the balance and at any time St. Luke�s could end her life by withholding treatment. A meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss her fate and the possibility of another physician or facility, but there is nothing in writing.

Consequently, Andrea�s attorney, Jerri Lynn Ward, is serving St. Luke�s with a cease and desist order on Monday. Here is an electronic copy that was obtained by ProLifeBlogs:

Rose Mawhorter was viciously assaulted while protesting abortion across the street from Vancouver's most notorious abortion clinic. Although the story was covered by LifeSiteNews a few days after the April 7 incident, Rose has just released a video of the attack (warning - explicit language).

Prior to the attack Rose is seen holding a "choice" sign with her would be attacker standing in the background.

As the camera is panned back to Rose it captures the attacker tackling her and forcing her to the ground.

Rose is knocked to the ground and the female assailant grabs her sign and runs. Lifesite reports:

She threw the signs into the traffic and turned back to the scene of chaos she had left behind and began cursing and swearing at the people who were coming to assist Rose. The attacker continued this screaming and yelling until she was out of earshot of the group and then bolted across the road, running as fast as she could making a clean get away.

Pro-family and pro-life groups to lead protests at University of Pennsylvania symposium on euthanasia and Terri Schiavo's death.

A focus of the demonstrations will be emphasizing a national Zogby Poll taken right after Terri died showing 80% of the American public did not support the removal of the feeding tube.

The first protest will be on Sunday, April 30th, at 3:00 P.M., at the University of Pennsylvania Biomedical Research Building which is located at 421 Curie Blvd. in Philadelphia.

Several days ago we wrote about the case of Ms. Yenlang Vo, who like Andrea Clark, has been designated by her hospital for passive euthanasia:

Ms. Vo is in her 60's. She is a patient at St. David's North Austin Medical Center here in Austin, Texas. She has been diagnosed with persistent vegetative state--but that is disputed by the family. Ms. Vo's daugher, Loann Trihn, is an emergency room doctor and she disputes the diagnosis. Such a diagnosis is very subjective and involves clinical assessments. Dr. Trihn and her father have both witnessed her mother being responsive.

North Austin Medical Center had originally given Vo's family only until Saturday to find a place to take her because it was no longer willing to allow Vo to stay there.
Now they have until June 5 to transfer Vo to another medical facility or NAMC will stop providing Vo any life-sustaining medical treatment.

Frustrated about what is happening to Andrea Clark? Beth at MVRWC has complied a list of individuals who should be notified about her case and who can help. (Remember to contact St. Luke�s Episopal Hospital: 832-355-1000 as well). I'm going to reproduce her entire list below and hope that you will do the same - this needs to spread far and wide:

Senator John Cornyn
http://cornyn.senate.gov/index.asp?f=contact&lid=1 (scroll down, there�s a form)

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison:
http://hutchison.senate.gov/e-mail.htm (scroll down)

They got involved with the Terri Schiavo case, after all.

Andrea's family has run into a significant problem with her transfer. There is apparently a question as to whether the level of care needed by Andrea can be provided by the IL facility. Please ask St. Luke's [832-355-1000 - more contact info] to give assurances that life-sustaining treatments will be provided to Andrea pending a transfer.

Update 1 (9:45pm EST): RightWingNews and MyVastRightWingConspiracy have the latest information - unfortunate news about Andrea Clark and St. Luke's Hospital. Before I go into the details, please contact the hospital (832-355-1000) and express your concern for Andrea's life and their treatment of her. Right now your polite but firm call may be the only chance she has.

I would suggest friends of Andrea and her family organize a protest outside the hospital - I'm sure you'll find plenty of blogs and readers who would be willing to help.

Update 2 (4/29/2006) - Melanie said her attorney is trying to get assurances (in writing) that St. Luke's won't disconnect Andrea from life support:

She said that they told her that they won't do it over the weekend. However, they have the right to disconnect Andrea, according to the law, on Sunday, April 30,
unless they agree to do otherwise in writing. This means that, at any moment, on Sunday, or afterwards, they can go up to Andrea's room and turn off her respirator, without notifying anyone of this decision, without her family by her side as she dies, without allowing anyone to say goodbye.

Something has got to be done about this.

ProLifeBlogs has a letter from Melanie Childers, Andrea Clarke's sister. I blogged about Andrea on Tuesday: She was being threatened with passive euthanasia by a Christian (in name only) hospital and an obscure Texas law about "futile" care.

Here's the most important part of the letter:

My family has made the decision to move our sister to the hospital in Chicago. Thank God there is someone willing to take her. And, really, it is best to get her out of Texas, because of the futile care law here.

St. Luke's played hardball with us on this issue. We were told that we could make the decision today and they would pay the entire amount of $14 thousand to move her, but if we made the decision tomorrow, they would only pay half of it, and if it were the day after tomorrow, they would pay nothing.

Now, how many more people need our help? Note the ominous warning at the beginning of Melanie's letter: "And, really, it is best to get her out of Texas, because of the futile care law here." How many more people like Andrea Clarke are being targetted for extermination by hopsital ethics committees?

A report from South Africa:

Ideally, The Termination of Pregnancy Act should be replaced by a Human Life Amendment Act that would protect the right to life of preborn babies. By God's grace we believe that this can and will happen. As we continue to fight for complete reform, we can also fight for reform that will curb the amount of abortions taking place.

Our country is faced with a plague of unwanted abortions - cases where mothers would rather carry their pregnancies to term but instead submit to unwanted abortions to satisfy the demands of others or because they feel they would have no financial and emotional support if they kept their baby. Most women seeking an abortion are not given a full explanation of their other options, nor of the possible risks of breast cancer, depression and difficulties in future pregnancies. American research shows that at least 70 percent of aborting women in America believe that what they are doing is morally wrong, or at least, 'deviant' behaviour. Thus many women are seeking abortions not because they believe it is the right thing to do, but because, given the pressures they face, they feel it is the only thing they can do.

From Seattle PI

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The number of reported cases of legal euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide in the Netherlands increased in 2005 for the third year in a row, a Dutch agency said Thursday.

The figures released by the Regional Oversight Boards for Euthanasia showed doctors reported 1,933 cases in 2005, up from 1,886 in 2004 and 1,815 in 2003. Studies have estimated that reported cases represent slightly more than half of all euthanasias.

More at Marlowe's Shade

Update: Please pray that everything continues to go forward... I'll keep you informed as information is received.

Update 2 (5:18pm est): Andrea's family has run into a significant problem. There is apparently a question as to whether the level of care needed by Andrea can be provided by the IL facility. Please ask St. Luke's [832-355-1000 - more contact info] to give assurances that life-sustaining treatments will be provided to Andrea pending a transfer.

Update 3: The transfer fell apart - click here for the latest.

Original post below:

Melanie Childers wrote a thoughtful letter to you, all those who fought and prayed for the life of her sister, Andrea Clark:

My family has made the decision to move our sister to the hospital in Chicago. Thank God there is someone willing to take her. And, really, it is best to get her out of Texas, because of the futile care law here.

St. Luke's played hardball with us on this issue. We were told that we could make the decision today and they would pay the entire amount of $14 thousand to move her, but if we made the decision tomorrow, they would only pay half of it, and if it were the day after tomorrow, they would pay nothing.

As you know, I'm a Democrat, but one that is against abortion. I agree with the Republicans on that issue, at least. After this experience, though, I have to tell you: I am in absolute awe of the power that the right to life people generate. I, of course, first posted on Democratic Underground, and I have to give them some credit: they let my post stand against the rules about posting something like this under the wrong topic. They also let it stand, even though it had people's (my sister's and mine) personal numbers in it. And, of course, some people there forwarded it to other blogs. And everyone there was very supportive in their comments, as well.

But the pro-life people stepped forward and just absolutely ground St. Luke's into submission on this issue. You have, without a doubt, saved my sister's life. I want you to know that. Without the pro-life/right to life people stepping in from the very first of this fight for Andrea, we would have lost. I have never in my life seen such a centered, focused and energized group of people.

It's hard to believe that an ape would be seen as more valuable than an unborn child:

MADRID, April 26, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) � Amnesty International is shocked that the governing socialists in Spain have put forward legislation to grant great apes �human rights�. The same government which stripped from unborn human children the right to life and permits destructive research on human embryos, has put forward legislation to grant great apes the rights the rights to life, freedom and to not being tortured, according to a report by Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Read the rest

Wesley J. Smith exposes the actions of hospitals around the country � "nobody knows how many" � that have been quietly promulgating internal rules to permit patients to be denied wanted treatment to maintain their lives.

The bioethics committee at St. Luke's Hospital in Houston, Texas has decreed that Andrea Clarke should die. Indeed, after a closed-door hearing, it ordered all further medical efforts to sustain her life while at St. Luke's to cease. As a consequence, Clarke's life support, required because of a heart condition and bleeding on the brain, is to be removed unilaterally even though she is not unconscious and her family wants treatment to continue.

[snip]

Clarke's case involves value judgments rather than medical determinations. In such "qualitative futility" cases, treatment is stopped in spite of a patient's or family's objections � the intervention is necessary not because the treatment doesn't work, but because it does. In essence then, it is the patient's life that is deemed futile and, hence, not worthy of being preserved.

We should also note that the Clarke controversy isn't anything like the Terri Schiavo case. Schiavo's tube-supplied food and fluids were ordered withdrawn (supposedly) to carry out her wishes. But Clarke apparently wants to live and her family all agree that she should continue to be sustained. In other words, it is as if Michael Schiavo and Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, agreed to maintain Terri's feeding tube but a hospital ethics committee overruled their decisions and doctors removed the tube anyway.

Earlier today, Jill wrote about the Northern Kentucky University professor and students that have been charged with misdemeanors related to the April 12 destruction of an pro-life display on campus. The Cincinnati Enquirer (HT: Michelle Malkin) reports more details.

In particular, Sally Jacobsen, formerly of the literature and language department (her name has already been removed from NKU�s website), has been charged with

... criminal mischief, theft by unlawful taking and criminal solicitation. The third charge relates to evidence that she encouraged students to participate in the destruction, County Attorney Justin Verst said

She had no idea there would be so much fallout, and she is sorry for the hurt she caused, Grubbs said.

"She never wanted to harm her university or her students at all," Grubbs said. "Twenty-seven years of her life have been at this university."

Jacobsen will plead not guilty, Grubbs said. Grubbs said the dismantling of the display doesn't amount to a criminal act.

"The intent was just an expression of freedom of speech," Grubbs said. "She saw harm coming from it, and she was just expressing her attitude towards the harm."

Weekly Standard | "We never say no." by Wesley J. Smith

Meanwhile, in the real world, the founder of the Swiss suicide facilitating organization Dignitas is just about done with pretense. The Sunday Times Magazine (London) reported that Dignitas' founder, Ludwig Minelli, plans to create sort of a Starbucks for suicide: a chain of death centers "to end the lives of people with illnesses and mental conditions such as chronic depression."

Minelli believes that all suicidal people should be given information about the best way to kill themselves, and, according to the Times story, "if they choose to die, they should be helped to do it properly." Dignitas admits to having assisted the suicides of many people who were not terminally ill. As Minelli succinctly put it, "We never say no."

The story about Minelli illuminates a deep ideological belief within the euthanasia movement: that we own our bodies, and thus, determining the time, manner, and method of our own deaths, for whatever reason, is a basic human right.

We broke the news that Andrea Clark's hospital is offering a deal that required her to be removed from their facility today. Ree-C Murphey (Lone Star Times) provides an update:

I have received an email from Andrea�s sister, Melanie, as well as talked with her on the phone.

I asked Melanie if the "deal" St. Luke�s offered in terms of paying for Andrea�s transportation to Illinois was correct. She wrote to me:

Yes, it�s true. We don�t want Andrea to be moved so far away from her family in Texas, but we are so frightened that another Texas hospital will start the futility process on her again, I think we have no other choice.

Think about that folks, the family is FRIGHTENED to have their sister in a Texas Hospital.

Illinois has successfully moved to the forefront of unethical and politically charged stem cell research, handing out $10 million to 10 research groups.

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (CBHD) expressed its disappointment today in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's decision to award grants to fund research that will include use of embryonic stem cells. While CBHD states the desire to heal people is certainly "laudable, good ends should not be pursued via unethical means."

"Human embryos are not potential human beings but human beings with potential," said CBHD President Dr. Andrew Fergusson. "Have we not yet learned that devaluing one group of human beings for the alleged benefit of others is a price we simply cannot afford to pay?"

Existing treatments that use umbilical cord-blood and bone marrow stem cells, which are ethically non- problematic, expose the fact that research requiring the destruction of human embryos is unnecessary for medical progress.

Related: Stem Cell Politics

ACTION REQUESTED

We've just received breaking news from a representative of the family of Andrea Clark about incredible and reprehensible actions underway by St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas.

The family learned of a facility in Illinois that is willing to accept Andrea and offer her the opportunity to live, an expensive move that would require Andrea to be far removed from her family.

However, placing corporate greed ahead of all patient interests and the interests and wishes of the family, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital has just notified the family that they are willing to pay the almost $17,000 to move Andrea to Illinois if they will immediately - that's TODAY, move Andrea out of St. Lukes to the Illinois facility. If the family waits until tomorow to decide, St. Lukes will only pay half. And if the family can't make a decision by tomorow, the hospital may consider to pay absolutely nothing. In other words, the hospital is attempting to force Andrea out of the hospital in order to stop the financial drain of the cost of her care.

Meanwhile, the family is struggling to find a facility in Texas that will accept Andrea, who has insurance, but is being squeezed also by the insurance company. Is this fair?

The family needs time to make such a momentous decision, one that places their mother and sister far away from them and a patient that needs her family far removed from home. Although moving Andrea to Illinois is better than the alternative - essentially being euthanized by St. Lukes Hospital in Texas under an incredible law that encourages murder for profit, the family deserves time to descide.

As mentioned in our previous post, St Luke's website has the caption "Live More " on their banner and has the following description:

St. Luke's Episcopal Health System has a unique commitment to patient care. As a faith-based, non-profit organization, St. Luke's believes that true healing involves the body, mind and spirit. Our approach goes beyond religion, focusing on the healing aspects of spirituality and based on deeply held trust, love, caring, compassion, and respect for well-being and life.

In light of their history, their lead should be come to St. Luke's and other Texas hospitals to have your life turned off!

Urgent help is needed from bloggers and blog readers (contact hospital and redistribute this story through your email lists). Please, immediately contact the hospital by telephone and email, and advise them of your horror that a faith-based hospital that supposedly respects life would act so irresponsibly as to put dollars before a patients life, etc.... :

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, 6720 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030
Main hospital telephone number - 832-355-1000
Email

The family reports that the phone calls are working (via RWN) and the more the better. Do both telephone and email!

More to come - still breaking ...

Cross posted from Hyscience

The AP is reporting that the professor and six students who defaced pro-life crosses at Northern Kentucky University earlier this month have been charged with "criminal mischief, theft by unlawful taking and criminal solicitation."

The pro-abortion professor, Dr. Sally Jacobsen, has also been put on leave. She was caught red-handed (pardon the pun) by a staff member of NKU's student newspaper.

At the time, that news organization reported: "Northern Kentucky University President James Votruba has confirmed that Dr. Sally Jacobsen said that she encouraged students to practice their freedom of speech by pulling down the crosses during her British Literature class...."

(The vandalism photo is also posted on the aforementioned site.)

The good doctor has a sick view of the Constitution. Kudos to Northern Right to Life for pressing charges.

John Hawkings reports your calls are making a difference:

I spoke to Andrea's sister, Melanie Childers, again today to get an update on what's happening. To begin with, she said that a lot of pro-life people have been calling the hospital and she thinks it's having a real effect on them. She said that she hopes people keep it up. (The contact page for St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is here. If you call, no matter how upset you may be, make sure to be polite).

Urgent help is needed from bloggers and blog readers. Please, immediately contact the hospital by telephone and email, and advise them of your horror that a faith-based hospital that supposedly respects life would act so irresponsibly as to put dollars before a patients life, etc.... :

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, 6720 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030
Main hospital telephone number - 832-355-1000
Email (more to be updated later)

KLFY reports the good news:

The Senate today approved a strict ban on abortion for Louisiana, rejecting a move to add any exceptions except to save the life of the mother.

Senator Ben Nevers spoke against an attempt to add exceptions for rape or incest victims. Nevers -- the bill's sponsor -- said his "heart goes out to them," but the importance of preventing abortions overrode such victims' wishes. Nevers of Bogalusa says a crime committed by a rapist should not result in the death of an unborn child.

The Senate rejected the exceptions with a 17-20 vote, then approved the measure with a vote of 30-to-7.

Yes, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle consistently opposes the sanctity of human life:

Brookfield, WI � Pro-Life Wisconsin State Director Peggy Hamill issued the following statements about Gov. Doyle�s executive order to spend $5 million in tax dollars through the Dept. of Commerce to promote embryo-destructive research:

"The embryos on whom the Governor is promoting research are people � they have their own distinct DNA and if they were created naturally and not manipulated by scientists, they would gestate and grow up to look like you and me. They are our brothers and sisters.

Even experienced Right to Life attorneys find the case of Andrea Clark to be shocking. Your continued efforts on her behalf are much appreciated by Andrea's family.

However, Andrea is not the only person whose life is endanger. Jerri Lynn Ward (Texas Advanced Directives Blog) explains:

I represent Andrea Clark and the family. I came to represent the family because I signed up on the registry of health care providers and referral groups that have volunteered their readiness to consider assisting families in the situation where the present attending physician and hospital ethics committee decides to withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.

As soon as I signed up, I got TWO cases. One involves Andrea Clark. Andrea's case has been getting media attention. Ms. Yenlang Vo's case has not. I would like for you to know about Ms. Vo's case.

Ms. Vo is in her 60's. She is a patient at St. David's North Austin Medical Center here in Austin, Texas. She has been diagnosed with persistent vegetative state--but that is disputed by the family. Ms. Vo's daugher, Loann Trihn, is an emergency room doctor and she disputes the diagnosis. Such a diagnosis is very subjective and involves clinical assessments. Dr. Trihn and her father have both witnessed her mother being responsive.

The attending physician wishes to withdraw dialysis, That is not acceptable to the family--and it against the express wishes of the patient expressed before she became unable to communicate. Ms. Vo needs a new shunt surgically implanted for her dialysis. She is receiving it by a different means at the present. The physician, apparently, does not believe that her state of life justifies the surgery.

I want to let readers of ProLifeBlogs know about a new series of articles that we've begun over at Generations for Life. As traffic on this new blog has increased, we've been encountering more and more of the myths about pro-lifers that so lamentably taint the public discourse on abortion.

While we consistently work on debunking the myths about abortion and the unborn child, we sometimes neglect the myths about pro-lifers themselves. On one level this is appropriate because we realize that this isn't about us—it's about the unborn babies and their mothers, the one threatened with death and the other with a life of regret, or worse.

But the widespread misunderstanding about pro-lifers and the pro-life movement sometimes makes us less effective. These myths make it all too easy to dismiss our arguments—in fact, that's part of the point. The pro-abortion movement is more than willing to make it all about us ignorant, hateful, intolerant, even violent pro-lifers, since they really have no rational response to the case against abortion.

I thought it was about time to address these myths one-by-one, beginning with an introductory article posted today. More to come soon at Generations for Life.

The following notice is from Jim Sedlak, president of Stop Planned Parenthood.

Click here to continue

Some weeks ago, I commented on a post that JivinJ had made about The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life, a new book by Ramesh Ponnuru. A number of pro-choice bloggers were working themselves into a lather about the book's title, specifically about the supposed identification of the Democrats as the Party of Death (PoD, for short). Without anything other than the book's title, I thought these complaints showed poor reading comprehension. More importantly, I thought that people should be willing to wait until the book was available before presuming to criticize it.

To my surprise, Ramesh read my post and offered me a copy of his book. I love books; how could I refuse? For the attentive readers, this marks the very first tangible reward that I have received for my blogging. For the suspicious readers, I will point out that the book was offered with no strings attached. I made no promises of a glowing review or anything else. I simply told Ramesh that I would read the book and probably blog something about it.

Well, I've now read the book, and I can say two things:

1. The Democrats aren't the PoD, but rather a wholly-owned subsidiary thereof.


2. This book deserves a glowing review, which I am now going to write.

My WND column today focuses on a recent article in the New York Times, which attempted to connect the U.S. trend toward criminalizing various aspects of abortion to a Salvadorian ban on all abortions that includes prosecuting aborting mothers.

The reason for the NYTimes piece was clear: to frighten U.S. women that "forensic vagina inspectors," as they are called in El Salvador, may soon come pounding on their doors.

But is there any correlation whatsoever? If not, how can American pro-lifers say abortion is murder but not wish to prosecute aborting women?

Read my column, "Coming to America: forensic vagina inspections," today at WorldNetDaily.com.

[Photo courtesy of the NY Times.]

LifeNews reports:

While embryonic stem cell research flounders after an international scandal revealed years of supposed progress were fabricated by South Korean researchers, the use of adult stem cells continues to advance. The less controversial cells have already produced dozens of treatments for diseases and various conditions.

In the latest experiments involving adult stem cells, cardiologists at Rush Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory in Illinois and 15 other centers across the country are hoping that transplanted stem cells can regenerate damaged heart muscle in those who experience a first heart attack.

... of abortion.

Certainly one can pray to end abortion from her own room or at church, but there is something powerful about actually being at an abortion clinic. It will have a profound impact on one�s attitude about abortion. It creates compassion for the women choosing abortion and it brings to light the fact that real women are having abortions and real babies are dying.

--Generations for Life

Andrea Clark's sister, Melanie Childers, writes:

Imagine that you are sick and so you make sure that you are covered by really good health insurance. Your everyday life is a regimen of taking your medications, taking care of your young son, and keeping your appointements with your doctor. You're not real sophisticated about health insurance, but you know that your health has never been good, because of your heart, so you spend what little extra you've got on supplemental insurance policies, because you really need to be sure that, if you get sicker, you've got the coverage to take care of yourself. After all, you're alone in the world, just you and your young son.

So...you do get sick. You have to go into the hospital. The news is not good: Your heart has some damaged valves which have to be repaired and replaced and you have almost no chance of surviving the surgery. But, if you don't undergo the surgery, you have no chance at all of surviving. And, you've got insurance. You've got good doctors.

From TexasSparkle:

Andrea is sedated now with pain medication, but when she is not she communicates well to her sister. Lanore said the last time Andrea was awake Lanore read her lips and Andrea said, "I miss you."

I asked Lanore why she thinks the Doctors decided that Andrea should be taken off life support. She said "You know Anrdea has many friends and is part of about a dozen online crochet groups. She loves crafts. But to someone who downhill skis I suppose that doesn't look too exciting. I think the Doctors think her life sucks."

It all comes down to that in life issues, doesn't it? One person decides another person's life "sucks." And that is that. Is this what we are coming to? Stand up for the value of life. Call St. Luke and let them know how you feel.

The number is 832-355-1000

The Terri Schindler Schiavo, Center for Health Care Ethics Inc., Throws Support Behind Family of Andrea Clark

Houston�s St. Luke�s Hospital is giving the family of Andrea Clark until April 30th to find another facility to take Clark as a patient or doctors, under direction of an ethics committee, will remove her from life support.

Clark, who underwent open-heart surgery in January and then developed bleeding on the brain in February, is NOT brain dead and is NOT in a coma. According to her family Clark has also expressed her wish to live.

Last night (more here) we posted on the incredible application of a Texas law by St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas to use their "ethics" (sic) committee to essentially committ murder. The situation is critical and requires an all-out no-stops media blitz. Until a few days ago, when the physicians decided to increase her pain medication and anesthetize her into unconsciousness, Andrea was fully able to make her own medical decisions and had decided that she wanted life saving treatment until she dies naturally.

Urgent help is needed from bloggers and blog readers. Please, immediately contact the hospital by telephone and email, and advise them of your horror that a faith-based hospital that supposedly respects life would act so irresponsibly as to put dollars before a patients life, etc.... :

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, 6720 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030
Main hospital telephone number - 832-355-1000
Email (more to be updated later)

St. Luke's Episcopal Health System has a unique commitment to patient care. As a faith-based, non-profit organization, St. Luke's believes that true healing involves the body, mind and spirit. Our approach goes beyond religion, focusing on the healing aspects of spirituality and based on deeply held trust, love, caring, compassion, and respect for well-being and life.

In light of their history, their lead should be come to St. Luke's and other Texas hospitals to have your life turned off!

While bloggers and readers join in Andrea's plight to survive the death sentence by St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital's Ethics Committee, her story is begining to gain more attention. Today at WorldNetDaily is carrying the story:

[...] An ill woman in Houston could die within days because a hospital ethics committee has voted to take her off life support - this despite the fact the 54-year-old is not in a coma, is not brain dead and wants to go on living, her family says.

On April 30, Andrea Clark is scheduled to be on the receiving end of a Texas law that allows a hospital ethics committee to terminate care with 10 days' notice, giving the patient's family that length of time to find a different facility.

"They just say, 'Well she's miserable.' Well, to me that's a quality of life decision that is up to her and her family," Lanore Dixon told KHOU-TV. "That is not a medical decision."

Dixon recently protested at the St. Luke's Hospital on behalf of Clark, her sister, who has been hospitalized there since November.

In January, Clark underwent open-heart surgery and later developed bleeding on the brain. A ventilator, which the committee voted to remove Sunday, helps her breath.

Talking about the Texas law, Dixon told KHOU: ""If their ethics committee makes a decision, it doesn't matter what the patient wants. It doesn't even apparently matter what the patient's condition is, because our sister is not in a coma; she's not brain dead."

Update: Breaking News here - the hospital is giving the family three days.

The great state of Texas has apparently adopted euthanasia as a means for controlling its health care costs. I'm told that Andrea Clark, a woman whose life hangs in the balance, is one of many individuals whose medical treatment is being withdrawn for the express purpose of ending their lives.

Andrea, 54, suffered complications following open heart surgery that left her dependent upon a respirator for survival. Although her motor control faculties were damaged, according to her family, her cognitive abilities were unaffected.

On April 19, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, TX informed Andrea's closest kin that her medical care would be discontinued in 10 days; an ethics committee decided to "pull the plug" in a flagrant act of (passive) euthanasia. Amazingly, the committee included an Episcopalian priest who asserted, "it's wrong to keep Andrea alive, she is suffering," despite having had no contact with her. [as reported by Ree-C Murphey].

The Texas Advance Directives Act of 1999 (signed by then Gov. George W. Bush) appears to give health care providers broad power over the lives of their patients:

� 166.046. PROCEDURE IF NOT EFFECTUATING A DIRECTIVE OR TREATMENT DECISION.
(a) If an attending physician refuses to honor a patient's advance directive or a health care or treatment decision made by or on behalf of a patient, the physician's refusal shall be reviewed by an ethics or medical committee. The attending physician may not be a member of that committee. The patient shall be given life-sustaining treatment during the review.
(b) The patient or the person responsible for the health care decisions of the individual who has made the decision regarding the directive or treatment decision:
(1) may be given a written description of the ethics or medical committee review process and any other policies and procedures related to this section adopted by the health care facility;
(2) shall be informed of the committee review process not less than 48 hours before the meeting called to discuss the patient's directive, unless the time period is waived by mutual agreement;

Update: if there is any doubt in your mind regarding the plight of Andrea Clark read John Hawkings' post.

Here is an urgent action item aimed at helping stop Andrea Clark's hospital from ending her life (Thanks to Beth). The message was apparently posted to the Democratic Underground by Andrea's sister last Friday:

KILLING MY SISTER - WE ARE PROTESTING - HELP US

Mods, please don�t move this post. I know it�s not in the activist section, but there�s so little time left now, we need it to reach as many people as possible. We desperately need help.

Fellow DUers:

My sister, Andrea Clarke, is at St. Luke�s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, TX. St. Luke�s is located at:

6720 Bertner Avenue, Houston, TX. Their phone number is: 832-355-1000.

The hospital ethics committee met the day before yesterday and concluded that Andrea�s treatment (respirator and dialysis) should be discontinued. We have ten days to move her from that hospital or they will �pull the plug� and let Andrea die. Andrea, until a few days ago, when the physicians decided to increase her pain medication and anesthetize her into unconsciousness, was fully able to make her own medical decisions and had decided that she wanted life saving treatment until she dies naturally. We have learned that this is part of the process, when hospitals decided to declare the �medical futility� of continueing treatment for a patient. But, this is not a Terry Schiavo case; not anything like it. Andrea, when she is not medicated into unconsciousness (and even when she is, and the medication has worn off to some degree) is aware and cognizant. She has suffered no brain damage to the parts of her brain responsible for thought and reason, or speech. She has only suffered loss of some motor control. The reason that the physician gave to medicate her so much is that she is suffering from intractable pain in the sacral region (in other words, she has a bedsore that causes her pain). This is not reason enough, in our books, and we are trying, as we speak, to get Andrea�s medication lowered so that she can speak to us.

Warning: This post is a highly-subjective and personal rant. If you're looking for a detailed analysis of a post-Roe United States, the latest polls about abortion, or the status of unborn children in other countries ... skip to the next post. Are we clear?

When I returned to blogging after my leave-of-absence, I posted two pictures of my third child (then at 32 weeks' gestation) in a post praising the modern-day miracle of 4D ultrasound. Feel free to take a look at them for yourself.

In addition to posting these pictures on my blog, I have also been showing them to my neighbors, my co-workers, and people at my church. Frankly, I've been forcing our pictures on anyone who will stand still long enough to see them. The response has been unanimous: Wow! A few of these people have seen 4D ultrasounds before, so they're slightly less amazed then those who haven't ever seen such a thing. But everyone is either impressed or polite enough to "fake it" for my benefit. Nobody has had any doubt about what they were seeing.

"Haleigh�s shocking story demonstrates the ignorance of the courts as they �rush to judgement� without sufficient knowledge of the procedure to determine a persons neurological condition."
~Robert Schindler Sr.

St. Petersburg, FL � The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Health Care Ethics, Inc. has officially announced its intent to become involved in petitioning Governor Mitt Romney for a change in how Massachusetts regulates end-of-life decisions after a careful and thorough review of how the state handled Haleigh Poutre, an 11-year-old girl beaten into a coma while under the care of the Department of Social Services.

In the year since Terri Schiavo was sentenced to death, what have we learned? Are we any more effective in confronting the Culture of Death? Are we fighting a rear-guard action against an inevitable Brave New World, or is there hope to turn back the tide in this country?

The more practical question to ask perhaps is do we understand what we are up against and are our tactics appropriate?

More at Marlowe's Shade

The New York Times reports that Democrats are pressing their support for embryonic stem cell research in Congressional races around the country, seeking to move back to center stage an issue they believe resonates with voters and to exploit a division between conservatives who oppose the science and other Republicans more open to it.

To be clear, we are talking about embryonic stem cell research which results in the destruction of a unique human life. Other stem cell applications involving adult or umbilical cord stem cells have been profoundly successful and are almost universally supported.

Democrats have seized this issue because it enables them to market a bill of goods based upon the hyped potential of ESC to cure every disease under the sun. Accountability is years away and unlikely to effect short-term election success. Selling a promise is easy, its what keeps that masses buying lottery tickets despite the statistics and is the modus operandi of every con artists.

A life or death struggle is taking place at St. Luke�s Hospital (Texas), where doctors are planning to remove life support from Andrea Clark despite her family's wishes. Wesley Smith comments:

It is as if Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers wanted Terri's care continued but the hospital said no....

Note that the treatment is apparently being removed because it works, not because it doesn't--which means, in effect, that the hospital ethics committee has declared the patient's life to be futile.

Texas has a terrible law that permits an unelected, self-appointed, anonymous ethics committee to forcibly remove care. Once that happens, the patient has 10 days to find another hospital. These are closed proceedings. I am unaware of any records kept of the evidence presented at the hearings or the deliberations.

Update: Action Item Here

The only pro-life candidate for Governor of Illinois, Randall Stufflebeam, will be speaking Thursday, April 27, as part of the Life Week activities at the U of I-Springfield. Noted pro-life activist Jill Stanek will be speaking on Wednesday.

Her family says 'no' but her doctors say 'yes':

A life or death struggle is taking place at St. Luke�s Hospital, where doctors are planning to remove a woman from life support.

The patient is not brain dead, and according to her family, she wants to live.

Andrea Clark has been at St. Luke's since November.
They may be small in number, but the protesters said the bigger picture is the gravity of their message.

�They just say, �well she�s miserable.� Well, to me that�s a quality of life decision that is up to her and her family,� Lanore Dixon said. �That is not a medical decision.�

Dixon is protesting on behalf of her sister Andrea Clark, a patient at St. Luke�s Hospital since November.

In January, the 54-year-old underwent open-heart surgery. The next month she developed bleeding on the brain.

Now an ethics committee has recommended removing her ventilator and taking her off life support.

But her family is fighting to stop that despite not having the law on their side.

�If their ethics committee makes a decision, it doesn�t matter what the patient wants,� Dixon said. �It doesn�t even apparently matter what the patient�s condition is, because our sister is not in a coma, she�s not brain dead,� Dixon said.

In fact, family members said even though their sister cannot speak, they know she wants to live. They said she communicates by moving her lips and blinking her eyes

ProLifeUnity.com is a great idea that is rapidly gaining steam and has the potential for making a dramatic difference in the fight for life. The idea is to unite Pro-Life organizations and individuals by supporting frequent Pro-Life actions calls around the country and the world.

Members (such as ProLifeBlogs.com) provide mutual support by committing to respond to each other's calls for action. Easy enough, but how are action items communicated? This is the really cool part of the program. Members place an html code on their site that is automatically updated and displays new calls for action as they are received. That is, as a member of Pro-Life Unity, my call for action can be instantly displayed across the country in seconds (more details here - I've heard a rumor that the calls will also be broken down into regional areas)

On April 25, tens of thousands of young people will wear shirts with pro-life messages to schools and colleges across the country. The official T-shirt, which has already sold out, reads, "Help cure abortion. Abortion: leading cause of death in America. 1,200,000 a year." American Life League is hosting a comprehensive web site at www.NationalProLifeTshirtDay.com.

"American Life League's National Pro-life T-shirt Day is an excellent opportunity for the young and old alike to spread a strong pro-life message simply by the shirt they choose to wear," said Erik Whittington, American Life League's youth outreach director. "As we prepare for the fourth annual event next Tuesday, we are certain that this year's T-shirt day will reach people around the nation with a simple, direct message in support of innocent human beings."

At an ivory league university:

Abortion vandalism is continuing at another college as abortion advocates destroyed a pro-life display pro-life students at Princeton University set up. The incident comes just one week after a professor led pro-abortion students in trashing a pro-life display at Northern Kentucky University.

Members of Princeton Pro-Life set up a pro-life flag display in front of Frist Campus Center to remember the 347 students that the group estimates are not attending Princeton this year because of abortion.

One of my favorite recent articles is Acorns and Embryos by Robert P. George and Patrick Lee. Here's a snippet:

But personhood is not an accidental characteristic, that is, a characteristic which one acquires at some point after he exists and may lose at another point. One is a human person by being a living member of the human community, a member of the human species. It is true that many people cannot immediately exercise the rational capacities characteristic of members of the species�such as the elderly person with dementia whose rational powers are gone forever, or the comatose person whose rational powers may or may not return, or infants, fetuses, and embryos whose rational powers are still developing. But such individuals are still morally valuable persons, at least to those who value all human beings equally. They are still members of the human community. Being a person is not a result of acquired accidental attributes; rather, it is being a certain type of individual, an individual with a rational nature. And human beings are individuals with a rational nature at every stage of their existence. We come into being as individuals with a rational nature, and we do not cease being such individuals until we cease to be (by dying). We did not acquire a rational nature by achieving sentience or the immediately exercisable capacity for rational inquiry and deliberation. We were individuals with a rational nature even during the early childhood, infant, fetal, and embryonic stages of our lives. If we are persons now, we were persons then. We were never �human nonpersons.�

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had a beautiful baby - blue-eyed and dark-haired - and are reveling in the joy of parenthood and unprecedented media attention. The story of Suri Cruise has set a new record for public interest and in the weeks, if not months, prior to her delivery, global newspapers and talk shows debated issues and controversies surrounding her birth.

We�re happy for them; delighted by the value the couple placed on their baby both before and after her birth. As the offspring of two movie stars, Suri has the media image of the perfect child, destined to receive love and international adoration.

However, I wonder what would have happened if Suri was not "perfect". What if she didn�t meet her parent�s expectations early in the pregnancy or was conceived with trisomy-21? I�d like to believe that the public at large would find the presence of a birth defect or genetic disorder immaterial to this baby�s dignity and continue its celebration of her conception and birth.

But I�m realistic and note with alarm that 89% of Down Syndrome babies in Canada, and 90% in U.S. are killed before birth (Source: LifeSite).

As a society, we prioritize characteristics and attributes beyond the fact that a child is a human, created in the image of God. It seems somewhat irrational. On one hand we deplore discrimination on the basis of skin color, age and gender but readily suggest that a baby who isn�t wanted, or has a disability, is not worthy of life.

In a recent development, a group of bloggers report that Johnson & Johnson and its BabyCenter.com website are (apparently) allowing people to degrade parents who welcome their Down Syndrome babies into the world. In doing so, they insult disabled children and promote an abhorrent utilitarian valuation of human life. [note: there is a petition drive you can participate in].

On Wednesday, April 26th, pro-life women from across the nation will come together in the nation's capitol and urge their legislators to protect innocent life at all stages. Sponsored by several pro-life groups, women will use this opportunity to speak with their Senators about current legislation, on issues such as embryonic stem cell research, banning human cloning and the Child Custody Protection Act.

Proponents of embryonic stem cell research often cite all the potentials of the research, but they usually fail to mention that a human life is destroyed every time stem cells are removed from an embryo. The goals of this research may be noble, but that doesn't mean that we should abandon our respect for human life to attain these goals. Embryonic stem cell research is a case where the end doesn't justify the means.

In an effort to keep the public up-to-date on stem cell research, Right to Life of Michigan has launched a new web site, www.stemcellresearchcures.com. This site provides just the truth and avoids the unsubstantiated claims and false hopes on which many proponents of embryonic stem cell research and human cloning for research rely.

Two months ago we started a project called The Pro-Life Action Code. The purpose of this code is to get Pro-Life Action Calls out to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, without having to ask people to update their web sites manually. What counts as an Action Call? Typically an Action Call is one that asks us to participate in Pro-Life efforts in our area or nationwide. Because of these efforts, more people are praying at abortion mills around the country and more babies are being saved because of their presence.

Continue reading at ProLifeUnity.com

check it out (HT: Sharon Hughes).

What do the Duke Lacrosse scandal and the Natalee Holloway mystery have in common? According to Ann Coulter, there is an obvious ill advised behavior leading up to each crime that the public is afraid to talk about:

Not very long ago, all the precursor behavior in these cases would have been recognized as vulgar � whether or not anyone ended up dead, raped or falsely accused of rape. But in a nation of people in constant terror of being perceived as "judgmental," I'm not sure most people do recognize that anymore.

Despite the publication of simplistic hit pieces specifically created to counter "fetal-pain" legislation, the answer is "Yes":

Currently there are several centers in the U.S. doing surgery on second and third trimester fetuses, typically using general anesthesia for both mother and the unborn child for the more invasive procedures. It is clear from a study of fetal surgery that the unborn benefit from sedation and anesthesia. Vivette Glover, a researcher at the Queen Charlotte�s and Chelsea Hospital in London has stated that not only third trimester fetuses should have pain relief, but also that

...between 17 and 26 [weeks] it is increasingly possible that it starts to feel something and that abortions done in that period ought to use anaesthesia�

HT: Thomas

... about the joint statement by Senators Harry Reid and Hillary Rodham Clinton supporting government involvement in the prevention of "unintended pregnancies" (e.g., subsidized contraception).

It's terribly ironic that abortion proponents decry "legislating morality" when child killing via abortion is on the table and then turn around and claim a moral imperative to use the power of the state for social engineering programs involving child planning and birth control.

Of course, the joint statement is framed using common ground rhetoric designed to guilt manipulate would-be critics into submission and set the stage for an indignant and politically motivated response to opponents.

The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President of Human Life International issued the following statement regarding Hawaii House Bill 1242 HD 1 (Relating to Abortion):

"The abortion industry and its water carriers in the Hawaii State Legislature are set to destroy Hawaii�s image as the Aloha State. Hawaiian culture is world renowned for its respect for the dignity of human life and celebration of family, Ohana in Hawaiian.

"A small group of powerful elites are pushing the most radical abortion legislation in world history on the beautiful people of Hawaii.

"HB 1242 would allow late term abortions in �a clinic or physician�s office.�

"The bill removes �residency requirements� paving the way for Hawaii to become the home of abortion tourism.

"If Hawaii�s Republican Governor fails to veto this radical abortion bill Hawaii�s image will suffer irreparable damage. Hawaii will go from the Aloha State to the Abortion State in nine short days if Governor Lingle lets HB 1242 become law,� concluded the Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer.

She told her fourth grade class about abortion:

A fourth-grade teacher at Hills-Hendersonville Elementary School in the Canon-McMillan School District is suspended pending an investigation of a lesson about the election process during which she allegedly described abortion and adoption and asked students to vote on the issue.

His daughter told him the teacher gave a detailed description of the abortion process and said she personally would give up a baby for adoption instead of having an abortion.

"My daughter's innocence has been taken away from her," Mr. Stienstraw said.

LifeNews: A Louisiana state Senate committee approved legislation Wednesday that would ban nearly all abortions in the state. The measure contains only a life of the mother exception and lawmakers approved it unanimously and sent it on to the full Senate.

The bill's chief sponsor, Senator Ben Nevers, is a Democrat. LifeNews quotes his response to call for a rape and incest exception:

"I am very deeply concerned about women who have been raped, or been involved in incest. And my heart goes out to them," he said. However, he said abortion of babies in such cases is "just another crime."

Yesterday, I noted the apology by Professor Sally Jacobsen for leading students in an act of vandalism against a pro-life display of crosses at Northern Kentucky University. It is now being reported by the Northerner, the newspaper that first broke the story, that an April 18 email sent to students gives legal advice and speculates about the motives of "well-funded Right to Life groups". She apologizes for involving her students and advises them to get an attorney "to plead down to a misdemeanor" if they are named.

Although it is unlikely to happen, the group that Jacobsen ought to apologize to is the newly formed Northern Right to Life, a group of students who apparently worked quite hard to set up the display. Their efforts were squashed by this senior faculty member and their materials were destroyed.

May the 5th is the next day for us to unite in our calls against abortion. Go to MarchTogether.com to find out everything you need to know to help the unborn. We help you with who to call, when to call, a calendar of events around the country that you might want to participate in. There is also a volunteer form to make it easy for you decide what kinds of action you want to participate in and to let us know when you available for events.

Remember, every first Friday of the month is the Call for Life day. Tell everyone you know who is Pro-Life that we are organizing and uniting our efforts to challenge abortion!

MarchTogether.com

United we stand - Divided they die - Pass it on

John Jakubczyk, like a voice crying in the wilderness, hits the nail on the head:

With the three vetoes by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano of three benign pro-life bills, one realizes that this is a governor connected with the culture of death and yet unconcerned that her vetoes will produce any political fall-out.

Last week when she vetoed the fetal pain bill, it hardly raised a stir in the local media. The Arizona Republic did not print a story on the veto but merely put a short AP wire story on its website. My sources tell me that the Republic did not even mention yesterday's vetoes in Tuesday's paper.

ProLifeUnity.com is a great idea that is rapidly gaining steam and has the potential for making a dramatic difference in the fight for life. The idea is to unite Pro-Life organizations and individuals by supporting frequent Pro-Life actions calls around the country and the world.

Members (such as ProLifeBlogs.com) provide mutual support by committing to respond to each other's calls for action. Easy enough, but how are action items communicated? This is the really cool part of the program. Members place an html code on their site that is automatically updated and displays new calls for action as they are received. That is, as a member of Pro-Life Unity, my call for action can be instantly displayed across the country in seconds (more details here - I've heard a rumor that the calls will also be broken down into regional areas)

Jason at the BelwayBlitz sent me an interesting article discussing the rise of abortions specifically targeted at the disabled. Advances in pre-natal diagnostic technology and legalized abortion have led to a modern eugenics program of unknown proportions:

Lisa's tragedy is not uncommon. She is one of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of women who have had a "therapeutic" abortion. Rather than bear the burden of raising a child with a disability, they terminate the pregnancy.

Read the rest here.

The Northern Kentucky University professor who participated in an act of vandalism of a pro-life display has reversed her prior unrepentant position:

"I deeply regret my impulsive action in dismantling that display."

"This was a very serious lapse in judgment. You don't invite students to participate in breaking the law or inhibiting other's free speech. You just don't do that if you're a faculty member. And I think the university has responded appropriately but I also think you have to look at a career over 27 years..not just in terms of a single act."

Updates:

Photo: the cemetery of the innocent courtesy Northern Right to Life

The latest anti-life action by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is summarized by today's AZRTL newsletter:

In yet another wielding of the pen, Governor Napolitano vetoed a bill prohibiting the sale of human eggs.

House Bill 2142 would have banned the sale of human eggs during a time when human egg brokers are offering college women tens of thousands of dollars for their eggs. Oftentimes, the process for extracting human eggs can be a very painful and risky medical procedure that could cause a stroke or heart attack.

Representative Bob Stump (R-9) sponsored the bill and became the primary legislative expert and spokesman not only in Arizona but across the country. Representative Stump was successful in bringing tremendous attention to this issue as a special guest on C-SPAN and Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto. Our tremendous gratitude to Representative Stump for all the hard work he devoted to this important issue.

Thanks to taxpayers' generous funding, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate can afford to make an MTV commercial depicting a young girl and her boyfriend under the sheets. Dawn Eden, who broke the story, writes

Perhaps this is PPGG President Dian Harrison's revenge against those bloggers and news organizations who exposed her organization's notorious animated video, "A Superhero for Choice," last August. In the face of public outrage over the cartoon, which portrayed a pro-choice "superhero" blowing up peaceful pro-lifers, PPGG removed "A Superhero for Choice" from its Web site.

[snip]

And just think, you enabled Planned Parenthood Golden Gate to produce this ad and put it on the air. After all, by the organization's own 2004 annual report, 53% of its annual income comes from government funds and contracts. The report's no longer online, but the data may be verified via the organization's IRS form at Guidestar.org, plus it's laid out neatly in this graphic that I copied from the annual report when I exposed "A Superhero for Choice"

Dawn suggests that if you don't want to see the money you just sent to Uncle Sam go to exposing children to "this trash", visit StopPlannedParenthoodTaxFunding.com and add your name to the petition. Then write or call your senators, your representatives, and local officials to make sure they get the message.

On January 22, 1973, The United States Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand. The decision is called Roe vs. Wade. We call it Death Roe. About one fourth of our generation has already been wiped out, and the executions continue at the rate of over 3000 a day. If you were born after that date, you are one of the lucky ones. You are a Death Roe Survivor.

Now is the time for you to be recognized. Check ouf DeathRoe

From the AZ Republic (HT: AZRTL):

Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano on Monday vetoed two more abortion bills passed by the Republican-led Legislature.

Napolitano used her veto stamp to kill bills passed by lawmakers to prohibit state and local governments from using public dollars to provide health coverage for abortions and to require that parents' consent for a minor to get an abortion be notarized.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano added on Monday to the list of pro-life bills she has vetoed by refusing to sign a measure to make sure taxpayer funds don't pay for abortions for state works and another providing better enforcement of parental consent on abortions.

In a classic scene out of the The Princess Bridethe six-fingered man, when confronted by our hero, turns tail and runs away. Well, after agreeing to debate the ASU Students for Life, the campus pro-abortion group called on Friday to back out of the debate scheduled for this week on the ASU campus.

This week marks another teaching opportunity for the pro-life community. There will be tables and discussions and speakers. Learn more about how you can make a difference and save life.

For more information, contact AZ Right to Life or call the office at 602-285-0063.

Some things never change. Being afraid of the truth is one of them.

Here is an update on the report about a pro-life display that was vandalized, allegedly by a college professor and her students:

A Northern Kentucky University professor has been put on leave and will retire at the end of the semester after admitting she told students to destroy an anti-abortion display on campus.

Sally Jacobsen, a professor in the literature and language department, will not return to the school, said James Votruba, the university president.

"I believe what she did was outside the scope of her employment," Votruba said Monday.

Jacobsen acknowledged leading graduate students on Wednesday to a grassy area near the University Center to rip up about 400 crosses. The crosses, temporarily erected a week earlier by a group called Northern Right to Life, were meant to represent a cemetery for aborted fetuses.

It is there [sic] right to destroy it as it was the right of the pro-life group to put it up in the first place.

LifeNews has published an article (click here), the Washington Post has picked up the story.

Check out Northern Right to Life's Website

Glenn Reynolds applauds the University and student groups for supporting Northern Right to Life's right to free speech.

Today, from the FRC:

USA Today this morning gave front-page treatment to a story on the possible consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court amending its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion. "Rules on abortion may depend on where you live," headlined the newspaper.

NARAL's Kellie Copeland is quoted saying "[We] feel the fight is coming back to the states."

Of course, the Supreme Court is not there yet. No one I know can see five votes on this Court roll back Roe. What this points to is the impact that the pro-life movement has had on the nation--more states than not would stand on the side of life, showing how far out the courts are on this issue of abortion.

Pro-abortionists are growing desperate attempting now not only to silence the voice of the unborn but those that advocate for them as well. At Northern Kentucky University (NKU) last week, a professor admitted that she and nine of her students vandalized the "cemetery of the innocents," an authorized display of the campus pro-life group. So far Prof. Jacobson has been unrepentant, saying it was her First Amendment right to destroy the pro-life display. We must expect more of this kind of lawlessness if Roe is repealed or significantly cut back.

American Life League's fourth annual National Pro-life T-shirt Day is next week, Tuesday, April 25! The last day to order shirts is today!!

Visit www.nationalprolifetshirtday.com

(From Hyscience) Friday, we posted on the funeral of Gavin And Sebastian Rosado, the two children that died as a result of a tragic fire that swept through their family home. This morning, we received the following email from the maternal grandmother.

This really happened:

April 14, 2006 was a very sad day for the family of Gavin and Sebastian Rosado; but at the end of the funeral service an amazing thing happened that gave us all a sense of peace and let us know that we should not be so sad.

The most recent Lakota Times included details from a press conference Oglala Sioux president Cecilia Fire Thunder held re: her plans to build an abortion mill on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The name of her mill will be Sacred Choices Clinic.

The Times also included an opinion piece from the writer who started it all, Tim Giago, when he printed Fire Thunder's now infamous quote:

To me, it is now a question of sovereignty. I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.

There's some major back-peddling going on.

Given Fire Thunder's original statement, she flatly contradicted herself during the press conference by "repeatedly stat[ing] this was not a sovereignty issue, but about women and their rights."

Could it be Fire Thunder threatened government funding and help by declaring her reservation was an island?

Giago attempted to rewrite history as well. He stated in his op ed:

Let's stop for a minute and look at what Fire Thunder had in mind. First of all and foremost, she wanted a Planned Parenthood Clinic that would help the women of the reservation find treatment for the myriad of problems they face, problems that include rape, incest, teen pregnancies, AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases, and terrible spousal and boyfriend abuse. And, as a last resort, the opportunity to obtain an abortion in a case of rape or incest.

No, that's not what she said. Abortion was her first thought, not her last. Fire Thunder could have launched a pregnancy care clinic way before now that would have addressed all the concerns Giago brought forth aside from abortion. No, abortion is her focus, also demonstrated by the fact she is devoting precious time to procure signatures for a referendum against the abortion ban.

Giago also attempted the logic that it's better to kill children than risk their being born into poverty or adopted by non-Indians:

There are far too many children on Indian reservations that have been abandoned and left to be raised by their grandparents, or worse, left in the hands of social welfare agencies. Until the Indian Child Welfare Act came along these unfortunate children were often adopted out to non-Indians, especially to white church groups who then passed them on to members of their parish.

Also note that churches are apparently damned if they don't and damned if they do:

The Times also included a great pro-life guest editorial by Thom Little Moon, countering Fire Thunder and Giago.

Hat tip: Stacy

The newly formed Northern Right to Life group at Northern Kentucky University ran into strong opposition to their temporary display of crosses that were set-up to symbolize the short life and death of aborted children. A group of vandals destroyed their exhibit [from the Northerner, HT: Michelle Malkin]:

According to University Police reports, several young females removed about 400 white crosses from the grass in front of the University Center plaza at about 5:30 p.m. on April 12.

The crosses, meant to represent a cemetery for aborted fetuses, had been temporarily erected last weekend by a student Right to Life group with permission from NKU officials.

Public universities cannot ban such displays because they are a type of symbolic speech that has been protected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sally Jacobsen, a longtime professor in NKU's literature and language department, said the display was dismantled by about nine students in one of her graduate-level classes.

"I did, outside of class during the break, invite students to express their freedom-of-speech rights to destroy the display if they wished to," Jacobsen said.

Asked whether she participated in pulling up the crosses, the professor said, "I have no comment."

She said she was infuriated by the display, which she saw as intimidating and a "slap in the face" to women who might be making "the agonizing and very private decision to have an abortion."

Jacobsen has admitted the attack on the display was violent but justified:

"Any violence perpetrated against that silly display was minor compared to how I felt when I saw it. Some of my students felt the same way, just outraged," Jacobsen said.

More on the Defend Life 2006 Guide from LifeNews, but with a different emphasis:

A leading pro-life organization that monitors state legislation says that abortion would still be legal in 43 states even if the Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe v. Wade. The group says the pro-life community would still have significant work ahead to stop abortions because the laws of most states would need to be changed.

Shane Wikfors, Director of Arizona Right to Life has strong words for Governor Janet Napolitano's recent veto of the Fetal Pain Bill:

Yes, I am calling the governor a hypocrite.

On Tuesday, April 11th, Janet Napolitano vetoed the Arizona Right to Life-supported Fetal Pain bill.

It was a travesty of justice.

In her statement to the press, Napolitano wrote, "The Legislature should not attempt to substitute its judgment for that of trained physicians with respect to professional advice given to patients."

Wow!

This runs contrary to what the Governor said when she vetoed a bill that would have allowed pharmacists and other health care providers the right to conscientiously object to dispensing abortifacients.

In that veto, Napolitano said, "Pharmacies and other health care service providers have no right to interfere in the lawful personal-medical decisions made by patients and their doctors."

Have you ever thought that the legalizing and widespread practice of abortion might have led to some of the factors pro-abortion activists believe lead to abortion?

Is abortion the answer to unloving homes and indifferent parents?

Check out Jivinjehoshaphat.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Arizona House gave final approval to HB 2666, the bill to require that a parent�s signature authorizing their minor daughter to have an abortion be notarized. That�s all the bill does � require the parent�s signature be notarized just like numerous other medical and school forms that require a notarized parental consent signature. In the Senate and House hearings, a mom and a dad testified that their teenage daughter obtained an abortion on the basis of a fraudulent parental consent � an e-mail sent by the daughter�s boyfriend from a public school computer. Their courage in sharing their personal heartbreak remains one of the most moving testimonies I�ve seen in my ten plus years of working at the Capitol on family issues. Their willingness to step forward so that other parents and daughters don�t have similar experiences is an example for us all. The bill passed the Senate with 18 votes and the House with 39 votes. Now, its fate rests with Gov. Janet Napolitano.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Call Gov. Napolitano at (602) 542-4331 or e-mail her at azgov@az.gov. Politely ask her to sign HB 2666 into law. Forward this action alert to others who would make the same phone call. Consider this bill a matter of prayer for the next few days until its fate is resolved.

Source: Center for Arizona Policy

Thanks to Right to Life of Michigan for providing the following:

Americans United for Life, a premier prolife legal advocacy organization, recently assessed the status of abortion in the United States. Michigan was highlighted in their 520-page report as a state which has an enforceable abortion ban when Roe is overturned. Michigan has also followed a life-saving strategy of passing prolife laws which has reduced the number of abortions in our state by nearly 50 percent.

... and you'll find a constant redefining of what constitutes a "human being" in order to motivate technologies coming out of destructive embryonic research... LifeEthics

Do you think the feminist movement was pro-abortion in the early days? Think again.

Early feminists weren't rallying for the right to kill their children. As a matter of fact, even Planned Parenthood wasn't pro-abortion in the beginning.

Do you really think candidates want his endorsement?

Michael Schiavo's political action committee set up to target candidates and elected officials who supported Terri Schiavo and her family's efforts to prevent her euthanasia death has made its next endorsement. The PAC has endorsed Hillsborough County Commissioner Kathy Castor, a Democrat running in Florida's 11th congressional district.

Castor is seeking the seat pro-abortion Rep. Jim Davis, a Democrat who is running for governor to replace outgoing pro-life Gov. Jeb Bush, who backed Terri's parents and signed legislation Florida lawmakers passed seeking to stop the euthanasia.

Just 3 days later we reported that little 1-1/2-year-old Sebastian Rosado lost his battle for life.

Yesterday in Tampa, ABC Action News interviewed The Society of St. Vincent de Paul concerning their assistance to the Rosado familiy, in response to what is called by ABC News as a "a tragedy that's hard to fathom".

You can view the video and the story here.

Americans United for Life has created a "State-by-State Legal Guide to Abortion, Bioethics, and the End of Life" called Defending Life 2006 and posted it online (you'll have to fill out a quick form to get to the table of contents). The report is kind of the prolife version of NARAL's Who Decides? This should be a good resource for individuals who want to know which states have various laws regarding abortion and other life issues in place.

Michigan was ranked as the #1 state for defending life.

A press release from the Schindlers:

"We are not the people you think we are." Terri Schiavo�s family recounts the infamous and highly controversial life or death case that thrust their private family in to the spotlight in A LIFE THAT MATTERS: THE LEGACY OF TERRI SCHIAVO � A LESSON FOR US ALL [Warner Books: March 28, 2006].

This new book may well change every assumption that the American public has about Terri Schiavo�s too-brief life and prolonged, agonizing death.

In the Schindler family�s highly personal and extremely emotional re-telling of Terri Schiavo�s life, spirit, and the terrible legal battles that surrounded her death, America will learn of the love Bob and Mary Schindler had for their daughter, the closeness of the family that supported her, and the missing pieces of the story that were suppressed by the mainstream media and excluded from the courtroom evidence.

It's all about the money:

Suppose Grandmother has a living will. It says that if she falls into a vegetative state, like Terri Schiavo did, she wants to be kept alive on a feeding tube. How long? "Until the good Lord takes me away." One terrible day, she is thus stricken, and in goes the feeding tube. OK, who pays for her care?

HT: Pamela

Excerpt from Stanek column today on WorldNetDaily.com:

In my previous column I wrote about Oglala Sioux president Cecilia Fire Thunder, who has threatened to open an abortion clinic on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation if the new state abortion ban is enacted.

Speaking of embezzlement, Fire Thunder is accepting donations for her abortion clinic at her personal post office box in Martin, South Dakota. Checks can be made out to "OST Planned Parenthood Cecelia Fire Thunder," even though Planned Parenthood apparently isn't participating....

_______________

Read complete column, "Sioux 2: More on leader planning tribal genocide," at WorldNetDaily.com.

[Photo courtesy of WND.com.]

My thanks to two Native Americans in particular - Terry and Stacy - who provided helpful background information. My impression over the last two weeks from research and emails is that Native Americans by and large consider children sacred from conception.

A recent Zogby Poll released on March 22, 2006 has raised very little waves in the mainstream media, thus confirming a long known bias in the press in favor of the abortion lobby.

Over the years whenever a poll purported to reveal the pro-abortion views of the American public, the press would make it page one news or address the poll during the nightly television broadcast. Conversely, whenever a poll claimed a more nuanced view or a pro-life slant, the story generally died on the vine.

Now comes reported a poll that surveyed over 30,000 people on a whole host of abortion related questions.

I work with many Pro-Life organizations, individuals & bloggers. Most say we have to get to the grassroots. I tell them to start blogging & communicating with bloggers, because the MSM isn't going to do us any favors.

When was the last time you saw the MSM broadcast a save at an abortion mill? I would be willing to bet there are dozens every week, but they're not as interested in showing Life successes as they are in defending the abortion movement and making it seem as if we are psycho idiots who want to take away a "woman's right to choose".

From a LifeNews.com article:

Hollywood, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A group of Hollywood producers have purchased the rights to Michael Schiavo's book to produce what will likely be a biased, one-sided movie on his victorious legal battle in his efforts to euthanize his former wife Terri.

According to Variety, a group of four producers, including Mike Farrell and Lawrence Bender, purchased the movie rights to the book, Terri: The Truth. The movie could either appear in theaters or be a made-for-television special.

Read the full story here.

Remember when the Clarence Thomas hearings were being held when he was nominated for the Supreme Court? When Anita Hill accussed him of sexual harrassment, all kinds of testimony came out, and America got to watch it live on their televisions.

After seeing for themselves what the whole story was, every poll showed a large majority of Americans believed Clarence Thomas.

Cut to around a year later, after the media put their spin on the story day after day, and suddenly you had Americans believing Anita instead. The truth became so twisted and distorted, and unfortunately, not only do most people have short memories, but they believe what the media tells them, too. And the media kept telling them repeatedly that Anita was right until they believed it themselves.

American didn't get to see the real Terri Schiavo story. There were no live hearings, no congressional testimony. So it's been an uphill battle to get the truth to the public as it is.

Now this news? The public is going to see a monster portrayed as a hero and they're going to buy it. They're going to see a woman with dignity and rights who laughed, smiled and responded to her environment as a worthless piece of disposable garbage that "died with dignity" (i.e. was starved to death, but you won't get to see the suffering from that, of course).

A three-judge New Jersey appeals court panel agreed unanimously Friday that doctors must inform a pregnant woman of all relevant information regarding her unborn child when she contemplates getting an abortion. The question arose after a New Jersey abortionist told Rosa Acuna that her first-trimester fetus was not a human being. The child was subsequently aborted, and Acuna filed suit with funding support from ADF.

While political turmoil boils over intelligence leaks and immigration reform, and political opportunist spin each new crisis to their personal advantage, a family in Florida grieves over the loss of their two boys. I don�t know what political party the Rosado family holds its allegiance to, but I do know that a fire destroyed their meager home and took the lives of their kids, Sebastian and Gavin.

The names of these two are unlikely to make national headlines or peak the interest of election minded politicians, but a community in Florida has noticed the plight of this poor family and is surrounding them with compassion and love. Perhaps you�d like to know more about their story, offer a prayer or lend a hand. Visit RosadoKids.org to find out how you can help.

LifeSiteNews reports that Florida abortionist Scott Pendergraft will keep his medical license after the Florida Board of Medicine decided not to take disciplinary action against him:

Pendergraft, who spent seven months in prison for extortion before his conviction was overturned through lack of evidence, was facing complaints to the Florida Department of Health for criminal and inhuman treatment of a woman and her baby when she gave birth to a living child during an abortion at one of his clinics.

The complaints were filed in April 2005, on behalf of the mother, Angele. After taking drugs to induce labour, Angele was left alone during the delivery of her 23-week son, who was born alive.

On Friday the 7th I was at the Supreme Court from noon till 2:00 pm with my MarchTogether.com sign, which I also used at the LifeGuard event on Saturday. The LifeGuard event is going to be the main focus of our local Saturday MarchTogether.com effort. As a matter of fact, we are going to help them close the faciliy at 900 S. Washington Street in Falls Church, Virginia. If you are local & want to participate, go to ProLifeUnity.com & fill out the online volunteer form, which is located on the right side. You don't have to print out & mail anything, just click, type & send.

From Reuters:

One of two recent deaths of women taking the abortion pill RU-486 was unrelated to an abortion or use of the drug, but the second case is still under investigation, U.S. regulators said on Monday.

VirtueMedia, Inc., a 501C(3) non-profit, pro-life media group launched a massive crisis pregnancy television ad campaign in eight major U.S. cities. During the Fall of 2005 and Jan 2006 VirtueMedia commercials were aired portraying young women, from all backgrounds openly discussing the fear and confusion that resulted from and unplanned pregnancy. Abortion vulnerable women who saw these ads in Atlanta, Birmingham, Charleston, Indianapolis, Washington, DC, Phoenix and Los Angeles were directed to the Option Line, a toll-free crisis helpline managed by Care Net and Heartbeat International. The Option Line that directs callers to local crisis pregnancy center affiliates.

In Atlanta, $20,000 was invested in VirtueMedia�s January 2006 crisis pregnancy ad campaign. In one month 2,646 phone calls were generated, from abortion vulnerable women needing help. These results have set an all time record for the most productive crisis pregnancy TV campaign, according to the national pregnancy help line that fields the initial calls, and partnered on the Atlanta area campaign.

From a wonderful tribute at the National Catholic Bioethics Center:

April 3 marked the 12th anniversary of the death of noted Catholic physician and genetic researcher, Dr. J�r�me Lejeune who passed away on Easter Sunday, 1994. Dr. Lejeune is most remembered for discovering the chromosomal abnormality, or trisomy, that causes Down syndrome. He was an ardent defender of the dignity and inviolability of life and considered the assault against those diagnosed with genetic abnormalities a form of "chromosomal racism."

In our culture where the moral status of the embryo is being questioned and where Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) can now be diagnosed as early as the 9th or 10th week of pregnancy the threat to unborn children is tremendous. For Dr. Lejeune, however, the issue was clear. "Life begins at the instant that all the required and sufficient information is combined in order to define the new being. It therefore begins exactly at the instant that all the information brought by the spermatozoon is combined with the information contained in the ovum. As soon as the spermatozoon penetrates, the new entity begins its existence. Not as a theoretical human, but already an entity who we shall later call Peter, Paul or Mary."

California's Prop 71 was a real con job. Somehow CA voters were dupped into spending 3 billion dollars just on research into cloning embryos for spare parts. Adult stem cell research probably won't get a dime. Nevermind that no one has successfully extracted stem cells from a cloned embryo yet, or that no cure has ever come from cloned embryonic stem cells, or even from regular embryonic stem cells for that matter.

So what happens when Californians ask for a share of the profits from research that they are funding?

Read the Rest

On April 6 we posted on the firefighter in Tampa, Florida that dove through the window of a burning mobile home in a failed attempt to save 3-year-old Gavin Rosado. Gavin's brother, Sebastion, was critically injured at the time and taken to Tampa General Hospital where he clung to life in the pediatric intensive care unit. The family's rented mobile home was completely destroyed in the fire, as was all of their worldly possessions.

Sadly, this afternoon little 1-1/2-year-old Sebastian Rosado lost his battle for life.

A funeral for both children is presently being scheduled for some time later this week and will be held at the Marsicano Funeral Home on Henderson Blvd. in Tampa. The children will be buried side by side.

Our prayers go out to Will and Lisa Rosado, and all of their family - many of whom I have personally met with during these last few days of great sadness over Gavin's death, and prayerful hope that Sebastian would survive. I have never met a more loving family, and have been deeply moved by their willingness to allow me to share their sadness with them.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is accepting donations in behalf of the Will and Lisa Rosado - at Rosadokids.org. The family's needs are significant, and their tragedy is beyond words. The family had no insurance of any kind.

Those seaking further details should email Hyscience for further information.

The original story is here. The family's temporary website is here, still under construcion.

Join us today for the The Monthly Call for Life at MarchTogether.com. Today is the first Saturday after the first Friday & is the day of our new event. Go to an abortion mill in your area and pray, stand with a sign, or whatever you want to peacefully do for a couple of hours. Click here if you want to print out flyers, Life Cards or the sign that we use. It is a picture of my daughter 20 years ago. She agreed to be the poster child for our efforts. :)

No matter what, go to the mill, even if all you do is stand there. Women drive by & see if there is a Pro-Life person standing there. If there is, some continue driving & don't come back.

Note: This report is called �The Hillcrest Report� in honor of the many innocent babies slaughtered at the, now closed, Hillcrest abortion mills over the years.

Click here to continue

An attorney for the Schindler-Schiavo Foundations says that Jon Eisenberg, the California attorney who has filed a complaint against the organizations, has presented no evidence to substantiate his claim. - read the rest

Related: BlogsforTerri

... premature babies feel pain as intensely, or even more intensely, than we do - UC London specialist in developmental neurobiology.

A research team from University College London analyzed brain scans of premature infants taken when blood samples were being drawn using a heel lance, reported BBC News yesterday. They found records of a surge of blood and oxygen to the babies' brains during the procedure, showing conclusively that the pain registered in the sensory levels of the brain.

"We have shown for the first time that the information about pain reaches the brain in premature babies," said lead researcher Professor Maria Fitzgerald, a specialist in developmental neurobiology at the Thomas Lewis Pain Research Centre at UCL

"Beforehand, although we could assume it, we did not know for sure that these babies could feel pain."

Dr. Paul Ranalli, professor of neurology at the University of Toronto, said last year in reference to the pain felt by premature babies, "The only difference between a child in the womb at this stage, or one born and cared for in an incubator, is how they receive oxygen--either through the umbilical cord or through the lungs. There is no difference in their nervous systems."

Michelle Williams was injured in a car crash but her unborn child was fine. Doctors said she needed surgery to avoid long-term complications and, to avoid exposing the child to radiation and "other risks", they recommended an abortion:

Williams followed the doctors' advice.

Now, in the first case of its kind in Illinois, Williams has sued the man for wrongful death because she claims his actions led to the death of her fetus. Under Illinois' Wrongful Death Act, a fetus is considered a person.

[snip]

In an interview Wednesday, Williams -- an out-of-work bartender at the time of the collision -- said she had bought clothing and toys and was excited about her first pregnancy. "I planned on having this child,'' she said. "I was crying. I didn't know what to do.''

Because I don't know the details, I'm not going to add commentary beyond suggesting that this is a sad case in which decisions made that reflect a blatant disregard for the life of the child.

William (Will) Rosado couldn't stop his tears Wednesday when he saw Tampa firefighter Mark Neal. Only the night before Rosado's 3-year-old son, Gavin Orion Rosado, had died when flames and smoke swept through the mobile home he shared with his wife Lisa and their two children.

His 23-month-old son, Sebastian, now lies in critical condition, clinging to life in Tampa General Hospital. The mobile home and all of his family's wordly possessions were destroyed by the fire. Now they can only pray that Sebastian can hang on and survive the burns over 30% of his little body and the damage to his lungs from smoke inhalation.

Upon meeting Neal, Rosado hugged him and broke down in tears:

(tbt.com) "Thank you," Rosado, 33, told Neal, as he crumpled into his arms.

It was Neal who pulled the lifeless body of Gavin Rosado from trailer No. 113 at Britts Mobile Home Park, at 3125 W Hillsborough Ave. Neal, who has a 2-year-old son, cried as he embraced Rosado.

In his hands, Rosado clutched a wooden plaque that had a picture of a young boy and the partial Bible text, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.'' He had salvaged it from the charred remains.

Rosado spoke of his surviving son, Sebastian, who is in Tampa General. " He's really bad. I'm hoping he pulls through it, because I don't want to bury two babies this weekend. Just one is enough."

Join us today & tomorrow for the nationwide Monthly Call for Life at MarchTogether.com.

LifeNews - Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich, a Republican, plans to sign a stem cell research funding bill state lawmakers approved, but Catholic officials sent him an eleventh-hour letter asking him to reconsider his decision.

Ehrlich plans to sign the bill on Thursday that would spend $15 million in taxpayer funds on stem cell research.

The measure originally was very strongly biased in favor of embryonic stem cell research, which involves the destruction of human life. It called on the state to give priority to funding it and did not include and religious leaders on a state panel that will determine how the money is spent.

Read the rest

"Enactment of this legislation means that tax dollars will be used to pay for the destruction of innocent human life," says a letter signed by Cardinal William H. Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore; Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop of Washington; and Bishop Michael A. Salltarelli of Wilmington, Del.

"Human life is not to be treated as a commodity, as a raw material in science experiments. Taking innocent human life is always a great evil, regardless of whether society as a whole stands to benefit."

Contact: Maryland Gov Bob Ehrlich

Operation Rescue has published the following story concerning notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller:

Abortionist George R. Tiller struck a pro-life supporter with his vehicle yesterday afternoon while leaving the parking lot of Women�s Health Care Services (WHCS), his late-term abortion facility. This incident occurred just two days before a grassroots coalition plans to submit signatures to call for a Grand Jury to investigate him.

Signatures demanding the convening of a Grand Jury to investigate George R. Tiller in the third-trimester abortion death of Christin Gilbert will be presented to Sedgwick County, KS after a Petition Presentation Ceremony that will be held at noon at the Sedgwick County Administration Building on Friday, April 7.

The National Pro-Life Religious Council today concluded its board meeting in Washington, DC, during which it passed the following resolution. The document will be disseminated to church officials, religious organizations, theological schools and pro-life activists throughout the United States:

Via BP News

A new congressional effort to police advertising by crisis pregnancy centers is unnecessary, pro-life advocates said, and unconstitutional, free-speech defenders charged.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has long promoted itself as the leading defender of freedom of speech and civil rights, is right in the middle of the controversy, promoting the new legislation to the surprise of some.

However, this is not suprising to us at all. The ACLU have a long history of being selective in defending free speech, especially when it comes to pro-lifers. Besides, defending the first amendment is only third on the ACLU's list of priorities, abortion is their number one priority.

By Kathryn Jean Lopez:

You might have heard talk of a "Roe v. Wade for men" by now. It's a despicable matter, but may also be an unintentional opportunity.

On March 9, the "National Center for Men" filed a lawsuit in a Michigan court on behalf of their headline-maker in a 25-year-old computer programmer, Matthew Dubay, who doesn't want to pay child support to his ex-girlfriend for the baby he says she chose to have. He didn't want a kid, and he wasn't kidding. He wants the "right to choose," too.

The American View has published an exclusive interview with Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo. Host John Lofton asks Schindler to comment on a recent interviewed of Michael Schiavo by Dateline's Matt Lauer (more info).

One of the statements by Michael Schiavo that Bobby Schindler was asked to respond to concerns the reason Michael did not give up guardianship of Terri after he became engaged to a different woman, whom he was living with.

MS: Why do I have to divorce her? Terri was not an inanimate object to pass back and forth; just because your wife gets sick you give her back?

Kenny Rogers is, of course, a country music superstar. And even at age 67, he's going strong --- and taking chances. Rogers has a new album, "Water and Bridges," and the title song of that new album deals with a subject so hot, so controversial that it has never been dealt with in the ascendant entertainment circles reserved for such stars. The issue? The pain and regret felt by a father who has been involved in abortion.

"Water & Bridges" was released just two weeks ago and it debuted at No.14 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart and No. 5 on the Country Albums chart. That's Kenny Rogers' highest album chart success in more than 23 years. Nice. With all of the other indications of a cultural shift away from abortion, will others in the entertainment field follow Kenny Rogers' bold example? Let's hope and pray. You can order it at many places, including Overstock.com for $13.22.

On Tuesday, the Arizona Senate voted to require abortionists to inform pregnant women that their unborn child will feel pain during an abortion when the unborn baby is 20 weeks in the pregnancy.

The Senate approved the bill on a 17-13 vote, with Democrat Linda Aguirre siding with 16 Republicans in voting for it and Republicans Toni Hellon of Tucson and Carolyn Allen of Scottsdale joining 11 Democrats in voting against it.

What stuns me is that 13 senators voted against this bill. Two Republicans (Carolyn Allen and Toni Hellon) voted against the bill and one Democrat voted for the bill (Linda Aguirre). The vote should have been close to unanimous for the bill.

[Related to a post earlier today, I am going to comment here on a NY Times article on declining laborers in China.]

China has had a strictly enforced one-child per couple policy for over two and a half decades. In an attempt to avoid a baseless threat of overpopulation, the communist regime implemented a program by which wives had to have permission to conceive, married couples were forced to use contraception and abortion became the widespread backup method for all the conceptions taking place outside of the government�s strict policy. Through the watchful eye of family planning program workers, their policy has been a success, at least as far as prohibiting more than one child to be born per couple. But, was it really a success? Recent revelations from the world�s largest nation would suggest not prestige and power, but societal suicide that is desperately out of control.

Under this one child per couple policy, girl babies have been and continue to be aborted or abandoned in hopes of having a boy child to carry the family name and care for the parents in old age. Almost every single one of these Chinese children have grown up without siblings (except for a very rare sibling born illegally). But, these �only child�s are now reaching their early twenties and entering into the work force. Common sense and pure logic won�t be surprised, but the mainstream media and the so-called population control workers sure are: These young adults are met with more job opportunities than they can possibly fill. It�s quite simple; one child is filling the place of two retiring workers. And in the next generation, there will be half as many workers again. A story in today�s New York Times highlights this growing problem.

Zimbabwe has a thoroughly corrupt government that has brought the once prosperous nation to ruin by systematically destroying the economy while engaging in fraudulent elections, encouraging campaigns of intimidation and murder, eliminating the free press, creating massive groups of homeless squatters and persecuting critics.

I have been reading more and more about fetal stem cells lately. Here is an example from Genetic Engineering News:

Stem cells are cells that can produce additional stem cells as well as one or more other types of cells. Pluripotent stem cells can develop into most, if not all, of the tissues of the organism. To date, two types of mammalian stem cells have been shown to be truly pluripotent: the well-known embryonic stem cells (ES cells), which are cultured from very early embryos... and the lesser-known embryonic germ cells (EG cells), which are developed from fetal gonadal tissue.

While the widespread use of ES cells has been hampered by ethical issues and government funding limitations, Congressional legislation treats fetal tissue differently. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has stated that research involving the derivation and use of EG cells may be conducted with Federal support.

Not surprisingly, most stories on fetal stem cells fail to mention where the fetal tissue comes from. So what exactly are fetal stem cells and where do they come from? Well, read here and here and then come back and I will comment.

Now that we know how researchers obtain fetal stem cells (in case you missed it or are "click-challenged", fetal stem cells usually come from aborted babies), why are researchers looking at them as a source of pluripotent stem cells?

The Independent Conservative has a startling commentary on the reported decline of New York's Black population. A New York Times article covers various contributing factors but failed to consider the dominant role of abortion:

Available CDC data shows that in 2000 over 94,000 babies were killed in the womb in New York City. Of that number 49.3% of those babies were in the wombs of Black mothers. In 2000, 46,595 Black mothers had their babies killed in New York City. That is the highest total number of Black babies killed in any part of the United States

The NY Times article mentions 30,000 fewer Blacks in 2004 than 2000. Over 50% more than that number of Black babies were killed in 2000 alone.

You're not alone:

America broke my heart last year. And I just came to doubt whether any political conversation could ever matter again. I gave everything I had in me as a blogger to trying to convince people that "where there is doubt as to what a person would want, err on the side of life" and American yawned.

I entered the deepest and most long-lasting depression of my life and am still clawing my way out of it. The memory of so much effort and passion and tears in the faces of such anger and ugliness still haunts me.

I've written before how my daughter was given a bad grade on a test in her 11th grade class because she answered a question correctly. When she asked why the teacher marked it wrong, the teacher remarked "because that's not what I taught you". My daughter said "but I answered the question correctly", to which the teacher just said once again, "that's not what I taught you".