September 2006 Archives

From Terrisfight:

The brother of Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman who died last year in Florida after an epic court battle, said he is disturbed over the direction the country is going in cases like his sister's.

"Unfortunately, the laws now err on the side of killing rather than protecting the disabled," Bobby Schindler said after a broad indictment of many of the main players in Terri Schiavo's death March 31, 2005, after a feeding tube was removed on court order.

Update: Eight (cowardly) Democratic senators -- Ken Salazar (Co.), Tom Carper (De.), Bill Nelson (Fl.), Daniel Inouye (Hi.), Evan Bayh (In.), Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan (both ND), and Herb Kohl (Wi) -- who voted yes on S. 403 in July yesterday refused to send the bill to the floor for a full-senate vote. The cloture vote failed, 57-42, with one abstention. - WorldMagBlog

WASHINGTON -- A bill to generally require notification of one parent before a minor obtains an out-of-state abortion died Friday when Senate Democrats voted overwhelmingly to block it.

Hours before Congress adjourned for pre-election campaigning, 57 senators voted to remove the final procedural obstacle to S. 403, which would have cleared the bill for transmission to President Bush for his signature. But 57 was three votes short of the 60 required under Senate rules to break through a procedural roadblock erected by the Senate Democratic leadership.

The Senate Democratic leadership had been obstructing the progress of the legislation for months. This week, pro-life Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tn.) made a bold attempt to overcome the minority's obstructionism by forcing the decisive cloture vote.

The cloture motion was supported by 51 of the chamber's 55 Republicans (93%), but by only six of the 45 members of the Democratic caucus (13%). The complete roll call can be viewed here.

The New York Times reputation took another blow as one of that paper’s reporters has ripped into those who would “threaten abortion rights.” Linda Greenhouse has reported on abortion in at least 138 articles since 1981 as part of her a Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of the Supreme Court. During a recent appearance she complained of a “sustained assault on women’s reproductive freedom and the hijacking of public policy by religious fundamentalism. To say that these last few years have been dispiriting is an understatement.”

more here

Jared John Raymond left Swampscott, two years ago, about a month after graduating high school. On Thursday, hundreds filled St. John the Evangelist Church and thousands lined Swampscott streets as legions of police officers and firefighters guided U.S. Army Spc. Jared John Raymond's flag-draped coffin on a procession to the town cemetery to say good-bye. He had been killed in the line of duty Sept. 19 in Balad, Iraq, when the tank he was driving struck an explosive.

Speakers at Raymond's full military funeral reminded the congregation that "Jared was a hero" and told his grandmother her grandson was "everything a Catholic Christian is meant to be." Today, Peter Gelzinis has "A tearful tribute to a 'genuine American hero" at BostonHerald.com that you don't want to miss. He also has a video of the procession that is sure to leave you with watery eyes.

We need to get past fighting among ourselves, here in America, and get on with defeating our radical Islamic enemies in Iraq so we can bring our troops home without the damned jihadists following behind them. Jared Raymond had vowed soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America that he must do something for his country. Not even his love for fast cars could deter him from his mission. As Jared refused to be deterred from fighting to prevent further terrorist attacks on his country, so must the rest of us. You'd think that America could come together as one body and as one voice in doing the same. By doing so, we'd be honoring men like Jared, while seeing to it that their lives were not given in vain.

We salute Spc. Jared John Raymond, and offer his family our prayers for their great loss. America has truly lost one of her finest. Raymond has been posthumously awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. God bless his family, and God bless America.

From Deutsche Welle

The skeletons of 20 children and five adults believed to be victims of the Nazi euthanasia program have been found in a mass grave in western Germany, officials said Thursday.

The bones of 20 children were discovered this week during excavation work at a cemetery in the German town of Menden, close to where a World War II hospital run by Hitler's personal physician Karl Brandt was located.

The children, aged from one to seven years, were found alongside the bodies of five adults, Hans-Bernd Besa-von Werden, a spokesman for the district administration said.

Investigations of two of the children's skulls indicated the victims might have been handicapped.

Read the rest at Marlowe's Shade

Hi from DC. Had preplanned a trip here for another reason; got involved in the fight over the interstate parental notification bill yesterday. And it has quickly escalated to an all-out Senate war, because the Child Custody Protection Act would have a major impact on abortion in the US. Read backdrop here.

Senator Frist's bold move took everyone by surprise. But to our side it was a "yee, haw!" moment; to pro-aborts it was an "oh, no" moment (or something like that). So we organized much more quickly than they did. In fact, the other side is still reeling. God forgive me, I'm loving that.

That said, Democrat Senator Dick Durbin, ever earning his name, quickly became the Senate force behind stalling/stopping CCPA, throwing nails, glass, and even his pitchfork on the road to blow out CCPA's tires. Goal? Slow it down at least until Saturday, when senators may leave town for campaign events. CCPA needs 60 votes to overcome procedural roadblocks. Last time the Senate voted on CCPA, there were 65 ayes. And if senators don't leave town, Republicans will suffer more than Democrats for missing opportunities to get their message out at home.

So, our side's goal is to call CCPA for a vote THIS AFTERNOON. Therefore, calls are critical this morning. If you called yesterday, call again today. And make those calls to DC offices if possible, not in-state offices. The Capitol switchboard is 1-202/224-3121. I was proud to hear you ringing Senator Obama's phone off the hook while I was waiting to waste my time speaking to his staff yesterday afternoon. But I did it because someone told me the other day that while some people may seem impossible to convince, placing a pebble in their shoe at least makes it harder for them to walk.

Calls to 14 Democrats who previously voted for CCPA are top priority. If you live in those states, have everyone in your family call, even the dog. Then tell your friends and their dogs to call:

Mark Pryor (AR)
Ken Salazar (CO)
Thomas Carper (DE)
Bill Nelson (FL)
Daniel Inouye (HI)
Evan Bayh (IN)
Mary Landrieu (LA)
Ben Nelson (NE)
Harry Reid (NV)
Kent Conrad (ND)
Byron Dorgan (ND)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Robert Byrd (WV)
Herbert Kohl (WI)

I cannot overstate how important this bill is. More on that when the dust settles. Thanks.

With the word “terrorism” embedded today in America’s psyche, National Life Chain will line sidewalks in over 1,200 North American cities and towns Sunday afternoon, October 1, 2:30 – 3:30 in each time zone, (for time in each city, see www.LifeChain.net). Committed to the sanctity of human life, participants will stand silently and pray, while holding signs that include Abortion Kills Children; Adoption: The Loving Option; Lord, Forgive Us and Our Nation; and Abortion Hurts Women. As the signs imply, the event is devoted to repentance, peaceful public witness, and ultimately to ending legalized abortion—which has mutilated and killed far more innocent preborn American and Canadian citizens than have decades of foreign terrorist activity.

Said Royce Dunn, Life Chain’s director: “Adult America equates terrorism with brutal beheadings and heartless bombings perpetrated by radical Islamists; but if tens of millions of our fellow citizens could speak to us, with their questioning eyes piercing our hard hearts, they would recall fellow Americans who mercilessly suctioned, dismembered, tore, cut, crushed, burned, and starved them to death, while no institution in their culture defended them with serious resolve. Instead,” said Dunn, “denial ruled the day. Denial by millions of Americans who advocate abortion but would never say they support the killing of preborn boys and girls. Denial by a citizenry who esteem America for her civility when in fact, notwithstanding our Judeo-Christian heritage, America now ranks among the earth’s most violent nations. And denial by an institutional Church that claims to be prolife but has yielded much of its heart and integrity to self-indicting rhetoric, passivity, and hypocrisy.” Anti-Nazi leader and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer noted that no civil law compels the Church to defend the innocent and helpless, but God’s moral law surely does.

Right now, I'm reading a fantastic book that I just have to tell you about. It's called A Return to Modesty. Now, I'm only on page 27, but I have realized the wisdom inside it. Written in 1999, this book by Wendy Shalit upholds women's beauty and how that has been lost in today's society.

Thus far, she has addressed the connection between just-do-it sex education and the increase in abuse of women, sexually transmitted disease, unwed pregnancies, abortion, divorce and more.

More to come as I finish reading the book! I think we in the pro-life movement have a lot to learn in this area- to create a new sexual revolution to bring an end to the tragedy of abortion.

Buy the book online through ProLifeShopping.com.

National Right to Life Committee

THIS IS AN URGENT CONGRESSIONAL ALERT FROM THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE IN WASHINGTON, D.C., ISSUED ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, AT 10:30 PM EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME

DO-OR-DIE U.S. SENATE VOTE ON PARENTAL NOTIFICATION BILL -- PLEASE ACT NOW!

PLEASE FORWARD THIS ALERT TO ALL AVAILABLE LISTS! IMMEDIATE ACTION IS REQUIRED!

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate will conduct a do-or-die vote on one of the most important pro-life bills ever to come before the Congress -- the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA) -- as early as Friday, September 29.

All pro-life groups and citizens must immediately TELEPHONE the offices of their two U.S. senators to urge them to vote in "in favor of cloture on the parental notification bill, S. 403."

It is this simple: If a senator really believes that a parent should be notified before an abortion is performed on a minor, he or she will vote yes on S. 403, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. If a senator wants abortionists to be able to perform abortions on girls of any age without knowledge of a parent, he or she will vote no, or skip the vote. Because of the procedural situation, an absence will have the same effect as a pro-abortion vote.

Sixty votes (out of 100 senators) will be required to send the bill to President Bush. This vote is winnable. But you must act immediately!

WASHINGTON, D.C. — "Pro-lifers across the country are preparing to pay their respects to the estimated 47 million babies lost through surgical abortion by participating in American Life League's Pro-life Memorial Day on October 2," said Erik Whittington, director of youth outreach for American Life League. "The innocent children who have fallen victim to this American tragedy have no voice of their own. It is our job to speak up for the babies."

October 2 was the date chosen for the second annual event because it marks the U.S. Supreme Court's first day in session. "It was the Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that decriminalized abortion and began more than three decades of slaughter," said Whittington. "Each of us should take time on this day to pray for an end to the tragedy of abortion, which has scourged our nation for the past 33 years."

Life Chain 2006 is an annual pro-life event that attracts thousands of people to line the sidewalks with signs bearing the simple messages of: ABORTION KILLS CHILDREN, JESUS HEALS AND FORGIVES, ABORTION HURTS WOMEN and LIFE THE FIRST INALIENABLE RIGHT, ADOPTION THE LOVING OPTION and LORD FORGIVE US AND OUR NATION. Website: NationalLifeChain.org and LifeChain.net.

The promoters of Life Chain hope that many Americans and Canadians (and Africans) will join in this gentle Life affirming event. Life Chain is a peaceful, prayerful, legal event that is intended to bring an awareness of the humanity of the pre-born child. Additionally, Life Chain is a challenge for the community to give those women in a crisis pregnancy the help they need so that they will not see the need for abortion, and to find forgiveness for past abortions through the saving work of Jesus Christ.

For more information 530-671-5500 or visit NationalLifeChain.org and LifeChain.net.

From LifeNews

As Chinese people continue to use sex-selection abortions and infanticide to bring only boys into the world, the country's gender imbalance continues to rise. The sex preference is historical in this Asian nation but it's exacerbated by family planning policies that prohibit more than one child per family. A new report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences finds that the gender imbalance rose to 121 males were born for every 100 females in 2004. The rate was 117 boys to every 100 girls in 2000.

Continued at Marlowe's Shade

Mobilise Your Congregation to Take Part in the Life Chain (1 October 2006)

LIFE CHAIN Sunday 1 October 2006

“For You created my innermost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb…my frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body…” Psalm 139:13-16

Sunday, 1 October 2006, is International Life Chain Sunday. Over 1 million Christians in over 900 locations worldwide are expected to stand for the right to life of pre-born babies. Will you be part of this great chain of Christian love and concern?

Life Chains have been held every year since 1987 in the USA and since 1992 in South Africa. Over 600 000 babies have been killed through abortion in South Africa since 1 February 1997 – legally.

The Life Chains which will be held throughout the country on 1 October will be one of the positive and practical ways that we can stand up for the sanctity of life and speak up for the right to life of pre-born babies.
We certainly hope that you will show that you care by standing in a Life Chain near your home. If you are in Cape Town, please join us at the entrance to the Waterfront in Buitengracht Street, downtown Cape Town, on Sunday 1 October 14:00-16:00PM. Please also encourage your church leaders to promote and pray for the Life Chain. Do bring as many friends and family with you as possible.

This just in from DC: "Senator Frist filed cloture on ccpa/ciana tonight, as soon as was possible. Cloture will ripen in 30 hours. Then we will vote. And we need to win."

Yes! Good for Senator Frist! A very real pro-life legislative drama is unfolding. Next, 60 senators must vote aye to stop a filibuster and get this important pro-life bill to the President's desk. Session ends Friday. Please call your senators TOMORROW.

The text below is from an e-mail from Right to Life of Michigan. The original press release is available online here.

The day after Right to Life of Michigan issued a press release exposing false and plagiarized information on the web site of the Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures (MCSCRC), the web site filled with plagiarized information "is temporarily down for maintenance."

A 52 year old man with muscular dystrophy wrote a letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano begging for the right to assisted suicide. Now, after a similar request, Napolitano has called for public debate on the subject:

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has sparked controversy by calling for the European nation's parliament to debate the subject of euthanasia. His calls comes after he received a letter from a terminally ill man who wants the nation to legalize mercy killing so he can be spared from his condition.
Piergiorgio Welby, a 60 year-old man who is afflicted with advanced muscular dystrophy, wrote to Napolitano saying that Italians should have the same access to euthanasia and assisted suicide that residents of Switzerland, Holland and Belgium do.

More at Marlowe's Shade

Is it possible during the tenure of a Republican-controlled Congress and presidency that pro-life legislation with an 80 percent public approval rating won't pass?

Yes. And if that happens, the responsibility will rest solely with one man: Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

The measure in question would make it a federal crime for non-parental adults to traffic minor girls for abortions across state lines without notifying her parents....

We pro-lifers have done our part during the two months since Senate Democrats blocked this bill from advancing. We have focused our ire on the obstructionists....

Last night House Republicans brilliantly called those Senate Democrats on their ruse by passing a
new version of this legislation including an amendment they claimed to want, which pro-lifers approve, and kicking it back to the Senate.

Does Frist have the resolve to defend our girls from rapists? Does he have the guts to battle Democrats head-on to do so? He must call for a vote on this legislation by Friday, the last day of session before the election.

By the way, all this last-minute stuff is Frist's own fault. DC pro-lifers implored him to present this interstate parental notification bill in 2005, but he....

Continue reading my column today, "Blame Frist if parental notification bill fails", on WND.com.

Wesley J. Smith has a post concerning the possibility that embryonic stem cells may be obtainable from embryos that are already dead. This would mean that the act of harvesting the stem cells would not need to be the act that killed the embryos--they might have been killed or died in some other way.

Rather surprisingly, Smith thinks this is possibly a breakthrough for "ethical" embryonic stem cell research. I disagree. We would be foolish if we did not realize right at the outset that funding for such research would directly encourage the killing of the embryos so that their stem cells could be harvested.

The Plantation police officer who killed her firefighter boyfriend, then herself last month was distraught over a recent abortion, a friend of the couple told investigators.

The unnatural, unjust violence of abortion cannot help but traumatize both body and soul...for everyone involved. - Vital Signs has the commentary

Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo’s brother, submits for publication the following letter in response to the Sept. 15, opinion piece by Ellen Goodman, “Playing vegetative mind games.”

Ms. Goodman:

I read your recent column, "Playing vegetative mind games".

The lengths that you and many of your colleagues continue to go to in order to somehow justify the barbaric killing of my sister, Terri, are truly sad and in my opinion a tragic reflection of how you and those that think like you have truly misplaced your humanity.

What is so profoundly frightening about what you wrote is the effort to use this scientifically inaccurate persistent vegetative state (PVS) label to indiscriminately decide when it’s permissible to kill those that are disabled. As you pointed out in your column, there are tens of thousands of people that have experienced a brain injury. The idea that certain lives have somehow lost their meaning because they exist in this so-called PVS, which according to you, is some type of "horrifying" state of consciousnesses or lack thereof (not quite sure how you or anyone would have knowledge of this) is equally alarming. It is this form of lethal bigotry that my family battled in our efforts to get help for my sister.

Recently, a British research study concluded that the PVS diagnosis is in fact misdiagnosed more than 40% of the time. Recognizing this finding along with this most recent discovery, and others similar to it, one with any common sense would have to agree that using the completely subjective PVS “diagnosis” as the basis to kill the disabled is clearly outrageous.

Denver, CO - Pink ribbons currently decorate the trees surrounding the Cherry Creek Mall promoting the October 8, 2006 RACE FOR THE CURE.

Despite the festive look, the campaign can’t sugar coat the deadly correlation between abortion and breast cancer which has been substantiated by The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer (www.abortionbreastcancer.com) for years.

Eve Sanchez Silver, who resigned from the Susan G. Komen Foundation will address the Colorado Right to Life annual Light on Life Banquet, September 30, 2006 at the Doubletree Denver Tech Center at 6:30 P.M.

Silver, a medical researcher and Executive Director of Clear Research, is an abortion survivor. She will discuss her personal experience with abortion and breast cancer and the reason she left the Komen Foundation. Eve Silver has also designed a post surgical tool for women with breast cancer.

At least three abortion clinics in New York have advertised themselves as "Abortion Alternatives" in vying for The Unmitigated Gall Award of the Century. They're now being sued to make them stop it. Click here for details.

Miami-Herald
September 22, 2006
Fight over abortion preceded police officer's murder-suicide
By Trenton Daniel

An argument over an abortion preceded an incident last month in which a Plantation police officer killed her firefighter boyfriend, then herself, a mutual friend told investigators.

Plantation police officer Laura Grunas shot Robert Peat dead, then killed herself at his home, 823 NW 98th Ave. after a loud argument that spilled into the street on Aug. 4, police say.

A few weeks before the fatal shooting, Grunas, 30, and Peat, 31, decided that Grunas needed to terminate her pregnancy, according to a police report obtained by The Miami Herald on Friday.

On the day of the shooting, neighbors say, Grunas was especially hysterical. She stood outside in front of Peat's garage yelling, Why is everyone blaming this on me? He killed my baby.''

Michael Roth, a friend of the couple and a volunteer Plantation firefighter, witnessed the argument.

Referring to the abortion, he told police, ``He was enormously upset about it. He was a lot more religious than me and didn't believe in that, but they had felt that that was the right thing to do for whatever reasons.''

Peat was a diver for the Plantation Fire Department and also worked full time as a firefighter in Palm Beach County.

Faith2Action’s Janet Folger gave an entertaining, lively and compelling case for the life of the unborn at her Saturday Workshop during the AZRTL conference. I especially appreciated how she engaged the audience, leading them down a rational path that enabled each individual to form a final thoughtful conclusion. In one presentation, she played a game show host and divided a white board in half, asking the audience to choose between the “right to life” on one side and a litany of numerous other rights, a red Ford Mustang (I wish I had a photo ), cash and a house on the other. As you might suspect, the list of rights and gifts became somewhat meaningless when weighed against the right to life, although a few of the young people really wanted the Mustang.

I spoke briefly with Janet afterwards and appreciate the autographed copy of :30 Seconds to Common Sense she allowed me to purchase on credit. [you can get your copy here]

One of the important points that was brought up by Scott Klusendorf during Arizona Right to Life's conference is the proper use of graphic images to convey the Truth about abortion. Our friends at the Lighthouse Blog attended Scott's Friday evening talk and link to this abortion video, noting, "The scenes are highly graphic, but unfortunately necessary in a culture where abortion is nothing more than a mere "choice." " Scott showed the video to 1,200 students at two Catholic high schools while presenting the case for the pro-life view.

From the mailbag:

I am the founder of a pro-life homeschooling group called Homeschoolers For Life. Our mission is to help families promote the culture of life throughout their homeschool curriculum and family life. To this end, we are sponsoring a pro-life essay contest for homeschoolers. Would you please consider passing our email address along to homeschoolers you think might be interested or perhaps post it on your blog?

The pro-life movement is at a pivotal time in its history. Consider the recent developments with the "morning after" pill and the upcoming referendum on the South Dakota abortion ban. Our teenagers need to learn to be articulate as they defend the culture of life. This project is designed to encourage precisely that.

The deadline for entries is October 16, and all pertinent details are published on our website at www.homeschoolersforlife.com.

Thank you,

Mei-Li Beane, Founder www.HomeschoolersForLife.com

Tiffany Hall of Chicago faces criminal charges for the gruesome killing of two individuals, her pregnant friend and the unborn baby she carried. The case is shocking so I won't go into details beyond supporting authorities for recognizing that two people were killed and seeking justice and their behalf. Details here

In a world of confusion, anti-reason and post-modernism, the Arizona Right to Life conference has been refreshing. Starting with LTI's Scott Klusendorf on Friday night, the conference began with practical philosophy: truth is not ice cream (i.s., not a personal preference) and human life is intrinsically (not instrumentally) valuable. Today (Sat.) my only disappointment is that I'm unable to attend all of the sessions featuring an exceptional line-up of speakers.

I'm presently listening to Dr. John Mark Reynolds talk on cultural engagement and epistemology. I was pleased when he highlighted the changing media and the opportunity for each individual to make a difference by simply blogging the truth - the news that they see.

Dr. Reynolds speaks authoritatively, clear, with reason, and in a rapid yet systematic fashion making it difficult to capture his message in a few sentences. One of his points that struck home with me is that the constant consumption of media and government schools has undermined reason leading his students to religious prejudice rather than reason.

That is, our culture is not epistemologically self-conscious. People do not know what they believe and why. Although philosophically and scientifically we are now more sure that a baby is a person we fail to act on that knowledge. Why do we wait for certainty? Because we have a bad "theory of knowledge." This is the fundamental pro-life problem.... Let's stop watching TV and start producing it.

I really wish I was recording the session for our readers. The session is giving me ideas.... more later.

At the conference mentioned in yesterday's post the speakers came out swinging and they were unanimous as to who their archenemies were: Christians. And the Catholic Church in particular is being singled out.

TORONTO, September 19, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “The March of the Religious Right - Where Does it Lead?” was the first major talk offered at the international “Challenge in Choice” conference of euthanasia advocates held in Toronto September 7th to 10th.

The talk featured Robert Raben, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs, and a major figure in the US Democratic party and Jon Eisenberg, an attorney and author of the book, “Using Terri.”

Raben, a political organizer and strategist for the Democrats, offered insight into the strategy of the Right to Die movement and emphasized that the religious right, particularly the Catholic Church, was their most powerful foe.

More at Marlowe's Shade

From my experience, proponents of human cloning for research (also referred to as "therapeutic cloning") are often not 100% accurate in describing what somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is. SCNT is, as the President's Council on Bioethics says, "the technique by which cloning is accomplished."

Many groups, such as the Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures (MCSCRC), try to assert that somatic cell nuclear transfer (which they often falsely equate with therapeutic cloning) does something like: "creates a line of stem cells genetically identical to the originating cell for use in research" or something similar.

But somatic cell nuclear transfer does no such thing. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is the technical name for a cloning procedure used to created a cloned embryo. It's true that stem cells would be inside the embryo but somatic cell nuclear transfer doesn't create a stem cell line anymore than shooting a deer creates a venison steak. Instead of just admitting that SCNT is cloning (regardless of the intent of the researchers), proponents of human cloning for research try to put the intent of the researchers on a procedure which has no such intent.

In April 2004, a nurse named Abby* made an appointment with Richard Collier of the Legal Center for Defense to tell him of an incident she thought violated the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

Abby worked in the labor and delivery department of a major regional hospital in New Jersey. Abby told Collier about a baby boy who was aborted alive there earlier that year and placed in the "dirty room" until he died several hours later....

The boy was between 20-23 weeks old and aborted after a doctor noticed on ultrasound his limbs were not measuring properly. He told the mother the baby would be born with abnormal arms and legs and sword-like feet.

The procedure of choice was induced labor abortion, wherein a pill called Cytotec is inserted in the mother's birth canal every 4-8 hours to irritate the cervix until it opens....

The baby was aborted alive. The nurse noticed he was clutching something in one fist. She pried the baby's fingers opened and saw he was grasping a Cytotec pill....

Collier reported the incident to the U. S. Department of Justice. Abby began reporting other incidents to Collier, who reported them to the DOJ, such as that doctors were ordering nurses to chart live aborted babies' APGAR scores as "zero-zero," indicating they were born dead, not aive....

*pseudonym

Continue reading my column, "DOJ: Betraying aborted-alive babies?", on WND.com.

Go to nplr.net to hear the rebroadcasts of the days top pro-life speakers and news at National Pro Life Radio.

You will hear Father Pavone, Alveda King, Day Gardner, Steve Peroutka and more!

evariste at Discarded Lies comments about a recent admission of volunteers of the "right to die" group Compassion and Choices that they are actively helping their "clients" commit suicide, even in states where physician assisted suicide is illegal:

American euthanists were recently bragging to their foreign peers at an international conference that they do everything they can to kill people, short of breaking the law. I don't believe them. I think they go farther than that. I think they encourage, bait, bully, guilt, and very likely, snuff the candle.

Read the rest at Marlowe's Shade

NPLR.NET, the National Pro-Life Radio Network, an Internet based radio network has been launched with financial backing from two private foundations. NPLR features talk shows, commentary programs and a daily news program that reports on developments in the pro-life movement in the US and other countries.

The radio network is the brainchild of Stephen Peroutka, Paul Schenck and Jerry Gietka.

Monday, September 18, 2006

MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Parents kidnap daughter to force abortion on her

Couple tie up, gag woman to drive her to clinic, 19-year-old calls police from cell in restroom
Posted: September 18, 2006
6:35 p.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

The parents of a pregnant 19-year-old have been arrested after she told police that they kidnapped her and tied and gagged her, and were taking her to New York for a forced abortion.

Authorities in Maine said federal investigators may get involved in the case since it allegedly involved kidnapping someone to take them across a state line.

According to a report in the Manchester Union-Leader, arrested were Nicholas Kampf, 54, and Lola Kampf, 53.

(Story continues below)

It's not too late to register for Arizona's premier pro-life conference:

Arizona Right to Life 28th Annual Pro-Life Conference
September 22-23, 2006

A weekend of dynamic teaching from some of the best and most dynamic pro-life speakers in the country. Designed to equip and motivate pro-life champions of all ages and walks of life.

Click here for more information

Arizona's Republican and pro-life candidate for Governor has challenged his opponent, Gov. Janet Napolitano, to a blog-off. Apparently the Governor is too busy to debate Len Munsil in person (hmmm.... something doesn't sound quite right here).

Munsil proposed the technological solution after developing what has become a popular and growing blog. The online debate will save the governor time and will properly inform the voters by allowing the candidates to directly square off on the issues rather than through the lens of the media. Munsil writes:

In addition, you can take your pokes at me directly, rather than sending out your surrogates to attack me while you act like you are above the fray.

C'mon, Janet -- whaddya say?

WASHINGTON, D.C. — "Pro-lifers across the country are preparing to pay their respects to the estimated 47 million babies lost through surgical abortion by participating in American Life League's Pro-life Memorial Day on October 2," said Erik Whittington, director of youth outreach for American Life League. "The innocent children who have fallen victim to this American tragedy have no voice of their own. It is our job to speak up for the babies."

October 2 was the date chosen for the second annual event because it marks the U.S. Supreme Court's first day in session. "It was the Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that decriminalized abortion and began more than three decades of slaughter," said Whittington. "Each of us should take time on this day to pray for an end to the tragedy of abortion, which has scourged our nation for the past 33 years."

We've covered several distressing cases involving the infamous Texas Futile Care Law that grants hospitals "the immoral power over life and death and forces beleaguered families into an 11th-hour scramble to save their loved ones." Howard Witt, a Chicago Tribune senior correspondent, has written an excellent article (HT: BlogsforTerri) covering the case of Kalilah Roberson-Reese:

HOUSTON -- If it had been up to her doctors, the Houston hospital where she was treated and the laws of the state of Texas, Kalilah Roberson-Reese would be dead by now.

Instead, the severely brain-damaged 29-year-old woman is being cared for in a Lubbock nursing home, where she's become a focal point in a growing struggle over a controversial Texas law that permits hospitals to withdraw life support from patients whose conditions they deem hopeless -- even if family members object.

"This law allows doctors and hospitals to abandon patients and provides them safe harbor and immunity to do it," said Jerri Ward, an Austin attorney who has filed several lawsuits to prevent doctors from ending treatment. "The Hippocratic oath has morphed from treating illness and saving people's lives to allowing doctors to make subjective quality-of-life decisions about ... who should die."

Wesley Smith has more: dying isn't dead: It is living. If doctors and bioethics committees are given the right to refuse wanted life-sustaining treatment--including tube-supplied sustenance--based on their judgments about the quality of a patient's life, then the most fundamental purpose of medicine has been subverted.

From the Guardian:

Making it easier for women to get emergency contraception has had no effect on cutting abortion rates, an expert has said.

LifeNews has picked up the story:

New reports are backing up the contentions pro-life groups have been making for months saying that the morning after pill will fail to reduce both abortion and teen pregnancy rates even if it's made available for sales over the counter. New British figures back up those from Scotland showing it's not the case.

Figures show abortion rates in England have risen from 11 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in 1984 to 17.8 per 1,000 in 2004.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

South Dakota pro-lifers need your help
Posted: September 16, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Rev. Jerry Falwell
© 2006

The pro-life movement in South Dakota needs your help. In a moment, I'll tell you how you can help, but first, please allow me to explain the situation in the state.

Abortion-rights advocates have gotten a measure on the November ballot that, if passed, would repeal the state law (HB 1215) forbidding all abortions, except those that would save the life of a mother. The ban, which hasn't yet taken effect, will be activated if it survives the ballot initiative (even though it likely would be challenged in the courts). The law states that individuals performing abortions would be fined $5,000 and be jailed for five years.

Here's the key problem: Planned Parenthood is now pouring money into the state in hopes of killing this legislation without having to go to court.

(Column continues below)

Ad Hominem is a logical fallacy one uses to illegitimately strengthen a position by attacking (e.g., name calling) someone who holds an opposite view. Ironically, those running the state of Arizona, individuals who should know better, have already employed this tactic by addressing the (pro-life) Republican candidate for governor as an “inexperienced zealot.” Unfortunately (although somewhat typical), Gov. Janet Napolitano’s spokesperson has addressed Munsil in this manner because he holds to a “simple Christian faith.”

We look forward to some substantial remarks beyond the present over-the-top rhetoric. In the meantime, we hope our friends in Arizona will rally behind Munsil as he begins the final campaign stretch to election day.

A group of pro-life individuals and disability proponents plan to protest a Dr. Peter Singer speaking event tonight at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL. According to group organizer Pamela Hennessy (ForEthics):

Singer promotes euthanisation and infanticide of disabled and ailing persons. Has called them 'unpersons' and 'nonpersons'. He is an absolute threat to those amongst us who deal with physical and neurological challenges because he promotes a strong bigotry against those who may not be able to do for themselves.

WorldNetDaily today reports on comments Singer made to a series of questions reported in the UK Independent. "Would you kill a disabled baby?" he was asked.

"Yes, if that was in the best interests of the baby and of the family as a whole. Many people find this shocking, yet they support a woman's right to have an abortion," he said.

He added that one point on which he agrees with the pro-life movement is that, "from the point of view of ethics rather than the law, there is no sharp distinction between the foetus and the newborn baby."

The statement furthers the arguments that Singer's position is just an extension of the culture of death that has developed in the world, with euthanasia legal in some locations, abortion legal in many and even charges that in some repressive societies there's an active business in harvesting healthy organs from victims in order to provide transplants for the wealthy.

She had a connection with her daughter few understood but for those who viewed Mary Schindler interacting with Terri Schiavo the obvious was an "emotional dagger to the heart." Pamela Hennessy writes a griping article about one mother's love for her daughter and the belittling she underwent by so-called right-to-die activists who were accepted by the court as unbiased medical experts.

Mrs. Schindler asked, "What harm could it do to just allow new tests?" The courts and Terri's husband said, "No!"

Now, BBC is reporting of an extraordinary development in assessing the clinical diagnosis of persistent vegetative state.

According to a report, published September 7, 2006, a 23 year-old woman, previously diagnosed PVS, produced remarkable fMRI results when asked to imagine a game of tennis and walking around her home. The measured responses were found to be consistent with the responses of volunteers with no brain injuries or neurological insults.

Worldnetdaily.com reports that Peter Springer, an "internationally known Princeton "bioethicist" and animal-rights activist says he'd kill disabled babies if it were in the "best interests" of the family, because he sees no distinction in the child's life whether it is born or not, and the world already allows abortion".

Infanticide has been used to kill disabled children in the Netherlands for many years.

Article comparing this to Nazi practicies

American Life League is promoting the 2nd annual Pro-Life Memorial Day which will be held on October 2nd. Go to all.org to pick up your t-shirt and participate in this important event

On June 29th, a doctor in Pennsylvania had his license revoked by the Pennsylvania Department of State for performing abortions without proper certification. He performed over 2400 abortions in facilities known as "American Women's Services" from 2001 to 2004.

Continue reading at ProLifeNews.tv

Len Munsil today won the GOP nomination for Arizona Governor and will face Janet Napolitano in November's election. We couldn't be happier. Arizona voters now have the ability to elect a Reagan conservative who is committed to the sanctity of human life.

Update: photo from LenMunsil.com

Despite opposition from critics, former Apprentice contestant Tarek Saab is committed to support the pro-life movement through his successful business venture, Lionheart Apparel. Earlier today, I spoke with Tarek and was impressed by the innovative manner he has chosen to stand for life. Here is his company's latest release:

Former Apprentice 5 contestant Tarek Saab is causing quite a stir with , his new line of men’s Christian clothing. Saab and business partner, David Colletti, Jr, both Christians, produce designs that are “subtle, symbolic, and stylish.”

Lionheart Apparel offers a variety of hats and T- shirts displaying Christian symbols, some of which are common, like the fish, while others are less common. Additionally, the T-shirts have short scriptural phrases.

“We don’t think wearing a Christian T-Shirt makes a man any more Christian. We simply want to encourage men to identify with their Christian beliefs through what they wear. There is something more inherently meaningful in a Lionheart Apparel product than in something from a sports team or rock group,” says Saab.

For nearly 25 years I have served as a sidewalk counselor, seeking to dissuade men and women from going into abortion clinics. In this 10-minute "Vital Signs" radio program I outlined the essence of this ministry, explaining what sidewalk counselors say and why they engage in such a disquieting task.

Whether you yourself are a sidewalk counselor or simply one who appreciates and prays for them, I think you might find this program helpful.

Primary election day is here and Arizona voters have a principled pro-life leader running for Governor. Today Arizona pro-lifers can make a difference by voting for Len Munsil.

From: Len Munsil

PRIMARY ELECTION DAY IS HERE! PODCAST WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR ME

WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR ME

I am a Reagan conservative who has spent the past two decades effectively advancing core Republican principles. I began as a college student defending the re-election of President Reagan as editor of my college's daily newspaper. I have drafted conservative laws, defended conservative values in court, and made the case for conservative ideas in public policy.

Michael Fumento from the Hudson Institute had this great piece on LifeSite about the ongoing fiasco at Advanced Cell Technology over their "ethical" embryonic stem cell "breakthrough":

The fierce public debate over killing human embryos to create lines of embryonic stem cells is over; tout fini; the end. It was buried with a stake thrust through its heart by a study published in the world's most prestigious science magazine, Nature. Trust the media:

• “Stem Cells Created With No Harm to Human Embryos” (Washington Post)

• “In New Method for Stem Cells, Viable Embryos” (New York Times)

• “Embryos Spared in Stem Cell Creation” (USA Today)

• “Stem Cell Advance Spares Embryos” (L.A. Times)

On second thought, don't trust the media.

Continued at Marlowe's Shade

Operation Rescue reports that a late term abortion facility in Cleveland, The Center for Women's Health, will be closed due to "over a dozen code violations".

The closing of this facility adds yet another to the string of abortion facilities that have been forcibly shut down for health violations in the last two months.

One of the tactics of the pro-life movement has been to push for health and safety standards at abortion facilities, and then encourage the enforcement of those laws after they are passed.

“The closure of Ruddock’s clinic shows that the implementation of standards are effective at stopping abortion until it can be banned nationally. Standards are useful tools that are putting abortionist clinics out of business in droves,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “As a result, our land is not only a safer place for women, but also for the child in the womb.”

The more history I read the odder our post-modern world seems. How strange that we constructed two gigantic towers only to call them "the North Tower" and "the South Tower".

No wonder our commentary on the fifth anniversary of 9-11 is for the most part so meaningless. This morning on the radio an announcer recalled wistfully how the tragedy for a short time brought us all together as a nation.

Personally I would have preferred never to have had that moment of unity. I would have gladly traded it for a return to the world I lived in then. We lost so much that day that will never be restored in our lifetimes. Our children will never experience the innocence and security of that era. I was on a different side then held different views. I didn't want to leave my comfortable place with it's comfortable notions. But after 9-11 that place, like the Towers, was gone.

Read the rest at Marlowe's Shade

Stacy Dow tried to kill her twin children. The doctor only succeeded in killing one of them though, so she sued the hospital.

(photo http://thescotsman.scotsman.com)

Hat tip WorldNetDaily.com

Article

I wonder how her child will take this when she grows up. She will know that not only did her mother try to kill her, succeeding in killing her sister, but also that she sued the hospital for failing to kill her.

In the article Stacy says:

"All this over the past months has been a stress, and sometimes I don't know if I can go on," Miss Dow said.

I know one thing for sure Stacy, your other daughter will never be able to "go on". Hopefully your living daughter doesn't have a failure complex because she didn't succeed in dying for you.

How much did President Clinton have to do with our intelligence failures? Maybe you will never know.

Remember Sandy Berger? He was his National Security Advisor who stole documents from the national archives which might have been important to the 9/11 investigation. We'll never know what was in them since he shoved them in his socks & underwear only to destroy them later on.

What about the ABC mini series controversy? You'll never know what Clinton had removed from the movie in the last few days...unless you go to this site that is.

You decide

I am writing this letter to you as a friend, perhaps as an acquaintance or perhaps simply as someone in Arizona concerned about the upcoming elections.

Yes I am the past president of Arizona Right to life. And yes, AZRTL-PAC has made its political recommendations. And yes I agree with them for the most part. You an check www.azrtl.org for more information.

But my reason for writing is personal tonight.

I have known Len and Tracy Munsil for many years. I remember when he was at ASU on the school newspaper. I remember his law school days and his work as a lawyer and later as a policy maker. I watched Tracy and Len start their family and welcome the eight beautiful children God blessed them to race.

I may have sent you emails that encouraged you to get involved. If you have read my blog, you have seen that encouragement for Len and other pro-lifers.

So now with less than a week to go, I want you to pass the word – vote for Len – vote for Len Munsil for governor.

I want to see Len Munsil elected governor. I think he will be good for the state in a lot of ways.

I think he has the best chance to beat the current governor in the general election.

This race is more than a race about name ID. In Munsil we have someone committed to the future and the best interests of the state and her citizens.

So this Tuesday September 12, 2006, I invite you to join me in voting for Len Munsil for Governor.

And if you want a complete list of the AZRTL-PAC endorsements, go to www.azrtl.org

Please feel free to pass this message on and to add your own thoughts in support of Len.

John Jakubczyk

The Washington Post carries a story about the use of ultrasounds in pregnancy help centers:

After they saw a picture of the fetus at 21 weeks with arms and legs and a face, their thoughts of termination were gone.

Makiba Smith, 16, returned to Severna Park Pregnancy Clinic last month with boyfriend Gregory Byrd. On a visit in June, she had planned to get an abortion.

"As soon as I seen that, I was ready. It wasn't no joke. It was real," Makiba Smith, 16, said. "It was like, he's not born to the world yet, but he is inside of me growing."

[snip]

The sonogram showed the beating heart, the rib cage, the right hand a tiny fist held close to the face. The fetus yawned, fell asleep, woke up again.

"He's a cutie," the nurse said, taking screen captures of different poses.

"He's fat!" cried Cheryl Smith.

The language suicide advocates use is truly good marketing. Heavy sale, if you will. We know what they're after, but they color things with 'kind' and 'compassionate' schmuck. We need to find the appropriate and true words to call out this movement for what it is -- riddance of people with needs. – Pamela Hennessy

Wesley Smith provides a recent example:

Euthanasia Radicals Show Their True Colors in Canada

Euthanasia radicals are always trying to pretend that all they want is access to assisted suicide for the terminally ill in unbearable pain for whom nothing can be done to alleviate suffering. This is a false premise, of course. But it is not the true agenda of the movement, which is really about eventually getting to the place of near death on demand.

Arizona is fortunate to have a 100% pro-life candidate with a proven track record on the ballot for governor, one who was endorsed by Arizona Right to Life's PAC back in February of this year. Len Munsil is the pro-life candidate of choice in Arizona, a man who stands out among his peers despite recent claims to the contrary:

In a recent mailing by the Goldwater campaign the literature states that “Don is recognized as a strong pro-life candidate by Arizona Right to Life.” Well, that is not quite the whole story. So to quote a veteran newscaster, "Here is the rest of the story.”

Arizona Right to Life has a Political Action Committee that endorses candidates in elections. AZRTL-PAC endorsed Len Munsil in February 2006. Len Munsil completed the AZRTL-PAC survey and was 100% pro-life. Len Munsil has long been an advocate for the right to life and we in the movement have worked with Len during his years at CAP to pass pro-life legislation and to promote a Culture of Life. Len is a long time friend of AZRTL and AZRTL-PAC was proud to endorse him.

Anti-Choice Black Clergy Charge Genocide
Run Date: 09/05/06
By Erika Beras
WeNews correspondent
The Reverend Clenard Childress preaches that abortion is a form of black genocide. While his message is discordant for pro-choice African Americans, it doesn't seem to surprise anti-abortion leaders. Some began recruiting black clergy in the 1990s.

(WOMENSENEWS)--When the Rev. Clenard Childress addresses his congregation he speaks of Jesus, of loving thy neighbor and about black genocide.

"Abortion," he says, "is the greatest injustice to black women in this country since slavery."

From the pulpit of his New Jersey baptist church Childress preaches about many of the same subjects he addresses in his biweekly radio program, "The Urban Prophet," and posts on his Web site, blackgenocide.org.

His message is simple: that abortion is being used as a tool of genocide against blacks who are, as he puts it, "becoming extinct."

Childress is the most sought-after speaker in Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN), the nation's largest African American anti-abortion organization. Formed in 1993 by a fellow minister, Johnny Hunter, LEARN serves as an umbrella group for several dozen anti-abortion religious groups. Childress joined in 1997, heads its Northeast Chapter, and is national social outreach coordinator.

LEARN's best-known march was 1999's Say-So March, as in "If you love the children, say so!" Childress led roughly 1,500 people--a number that organizers specifically aimed for to represent the 1,452 abortions black women have every day--on a 10-day trek from New Jersey to Washington, D.C.

His church-based anti-choice demonstrations haven't received much media attention and Childress feels that is part of the conspiracy. "They don't want you to know what they are doing. They don't want you to know that we are being killed off."

The findings challenge the standard diagnosis of a vegetative state, implying that some patients might have what Dr. Lionel Naccache of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research called "a rich mental life" ...

A 23-year-old car-crash victim has preserved conscious awareness despite her vegetative state:

A car crash severely injured the woman’s brain, leaving her in a vegetative state. But British scientists found startling signs of awareness when they peered deeper into her brain: She seemed to hear and follow — mentally — certain commands.

This novel brain-scanning experiment, reported Thursday, is sure to elicit pleas from families desperate to know if loved ones deemed beyond medical help have brain activity that doctors didn’t suspect.

The motor-control regions of her brain lit up, again just like they did in the healthy people

Wow.

Today's "must read" comes from Anne Barbeau Gardiner and is published in the September edition of New Oxford Review. It is a compelling, incisive look at the woman behind Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger. It really should not be missed; in fact, this article is definitely one to print off and keep handy in your files.

In a story that I meant to get up yesterday, it was reported that Father Paul Rutten, director of the Pius XII Newman Center at South Dakota State University in Brookings, awoke to seeing the results of an overnight visit from vandals who had spray painted a female symbol on a pro life sign in front of the church and painted “NO IRAQ WAR” on the front of the church.

The sign which was painted on is part of a display which travels to different locations around South Dakota each week. The sign displays the number of abortions done in South Dakota in 2002, which was 826, and lists the 44 million abortions done in the U.S. since the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in the U.S. in 1973. The display has been at the Newman Center since last Saturday, and is to remain until this Saturday. Father Paul said he is checking into what it will take to replace the sign.

Father Paul saw no logical connection between the attack on the pro life display and the anti-war graffiti painted on the side of the church. Since the official stance of the Catholic Church generally frowns on war, a Catholic church seems an unlikely target for such a sentiment.

The church also hasn’t made any bold public statements on the issue of abortion recently, other than the display which was vandalized, and the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) last year.

You can see a video of the vandals' work here.

As for there not being an obvious logical connection between the attack on the pro-life display and the anti-war graffiti painted on the side of the church, most would agree. But in the twisted minds of the people that committ acts of vandalism against a church, and do so protesting in favor of taking the life of unborn children, and against a war to defeat those that kill innocent human beings in the name of a perverse ideology, apparently there is a connection - albeit a poorly misquided one based on a perverse ideology of their own.

From the Weekly Standard

Fred Barnes has a great piece on the moral crossroads faced by himself and four other prominent Americans that led to a decision for Life:

HOW DO PEOPLE BECOME PRO-LIFERS? What turns people into passionate foes of abortion and related issues like euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research? I'm not referring to those who supported the pro-life position because of their family upbringing or religious faith or because of a political requirement as, say, a Republican candidate in a red state. I'm talking about people who, as adults or mature teenagers, were either pro-abortion or basically indifferent to the issue. Then something changed their mind, prompting them to take up the anti-abortion cause. Perhaps they began defending the pro-life position without realizing they'd flipped. In any case, what caused the change? What happened?

Continued at Marlowe's Shade

From Scientific American

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, said on Thursday his administration's new restrictions on stem cell research are aimed at heading off an "Orwellian" future.

The state's Department of Public Health this week issued regulations banning the creation of embryos for research purposes. Scientists say stem cell research could lead to breakthroughs in treatments for diseases including cancer. But the issue has become ethically and politically volatile because extracting the cells entails destruction of an embryo.

"I believe it crosses a very bright moral line to take sperm and eggs in the laboratory and start creating human life," Romney told reporters. "It is Orwellian in its scope. In laboratories you could have trays of new embryos being created."

More at Marlowe's Shade

This clip is from the Associated Press stylebook. It is used by newspapers across the country to provide guidelines in how stories should be written. By and large, many guidelines are neutral and simple are matters of style (i.e. capitalization, punctuation, etc). However, in this one entry, standing unique in comparison to the whole guide, the AP picks sides in the abortion debate and insists that the pro-abortion side be the one supported in news coverage.

If Planned Parenthood wants to use pro-choice and anti-abortion, that's there perogative. However, the Associated Press, as journalists, pretend to be objective in their reporting. In this case, they choose propaganda terms to portray those against abortion in the worst light and those who support it in the best light. Framing, apparently, is not just for politicians anymore.

Today, AAPLOG distributed the following letter from Dr. David Hager. Hager took tremendous heat in 2004 as one of four (of 27) members of an FDA advisory panel voting against making Plan B available over the counter:

I have been interviewed so much recently regarding the FDA's Plan B decision and subsequently misquoted so much that I wanted to make sure each of you were aware of what "I really think" about the issue.

As you know, from the very beginning I attempted to emphasize at the FDA level that we lacked any data on long-term or multiple dose use of levonorgestrel. I also emphasized that the Label Comprehension Study presented by the sponsor revealed that 1/3 of the women did not comprehend that EC was not for routine use. In addition, there was no literacy evaluation for women <18 years of age.

We are talking about a hormonal medication (high-dose progestin) that will not require a prescription for women (or men) who are 18 years of age or older. This in spite of the fact that the FDA still requires a prescription from a medical provider for birth control pills, even in very low-dose strengths.

The safety profile for Plan B is excellent, but those data were gathered from single-dose use with careful followup in a research setting.

We have no data on the effects on women of multiple dose use. Recent information from Europe indicates that when EC is available OTC [over-the-counter] or by advanced provision, the average sexually active female uses the medication multiple times during the month in place of routine contraception.

Since the window of opportunity for conception for a woman is approximately 36 hours a month, 95% of all uses are unnecessary. (60 twelve hour segments in a 30 day month with 1 1/2 of those segments available for conception = 5%.) I was asked by reporters, "Do you think the 18 year old age limit is better than the 16 year old limit?" I answered, "It is better, but it is not the answer since it will not be enforceable." I was quoted in the press as saying, "Hager favors 18 year old age limit."

Finally, in PP own studies they have shown that advanced provision of EC does not reduce abortion rates (Glasier A, Fairhurst K, Wyke S, et.al. Advanced provision of emergency contraception does not reduce abortion rates. Contraception 2004;69:361-66), nor does it reduce unintended pregnancies (Raine TR, Harper CC, Rocca CH, et.al. Direct access to emergency contraception through pharmacies and effect on unintended pregnancy and STIs: A randomized control trial. JAMA 2005;293:54-62.)

I have never claimed to be the brightest light in the house, but it doesn't take a genius to realize that this was not a good decision from a medical perspective. I still believe that this can be argued from a scientific perspective without having to even address the issue that the PDR lists an endometrial effect as a possible mechanism of action.

Translating Hager's last sentence: The Physician's Desk Reference (doctors' bible) still lists the potential for Plan B to stop an embryo from attaching to the wall of the uterus (endometrium).

To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51775

Friday, September 1, 2006

Battle the 'anointed elite'
Posted: September 1, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Editor's note: This Letter of the Week is in response to a letter to the editor that appeared Aug. 29. It is reprinted here for the reader's convenience:
Just thought you'd like to know that most, if not all, medical personnel here in Miami are endorsing and voting for Charlie Crist for governor. I'm a physician in Miami and my colleagues, both doctors and nurses, have been strong advocates against any public official who had the audacity to interfere in what should have been a family medical decision. Yes, that's right. Our hospital had a poll two weeks ago which showed that 96 percent of us are voting for Crist, and we hold politicians accountable.
Terri Schiavo had the cognition of a bag of lettuce. We've had many cases like hers since, but we're smarter now. We'll never let the religious fright know. The psychochristians, like you, have no place in the medical field. Neither do ignoramuses like the Schindlers. If you're interested, we're having a huge celebration after Charlie wins next week. Gallagher doesn't have a chance in hell of winning. Sorry!

Dr. Linda

Hello friends of the unborn, it's time to Call For Life!

Go to Monthlycallforlife.com where you will find everything you need to know to speak for the unborn today. This Call for Life only comes once a month, so don't miss your opportunity. Also, be sure to click the Tell A Friend link.

Why is this going to make a difference anyway?