November 2006 Archives

The No Room for Contraception Campaign published The Role of Contraception in Increasing Abortion today.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

It’s a common assumption that contraception reduces the need for abortion in the United States. Yet the history of contraception and abortion in the 60s and 70s shows this assumption to be incorrect.

Unlike the various forms of contraception used in the 50s, the pill offered convenience. While the pill didn’t cause the sexual revolution, it certainly amplified it and changed people’s perception of the purpose of sex. If the sexual revolution had been in its embryonic stage in the 50s, the advent of the pill brought it to its maturity in the 60s.

The 60s and 70s demonstrate that contraception doesn’t reduce or make abortion rare. Instead this period of time proves that contraception drives the demand for abortion in our culture. Contraception advocates seem to forget this when they call for increases in contraceptive spending. Interestingly enough, the same arguments they used in the 70s are being repeated today: Easy access, better compliance, and more contraceptive funding – a formula that has failed miserably at reducing abortion over the past three decades.

(c) 2006 Ruben Obregon, reprinted on Prolifeblogs.com with permission.

From The Boston Herald

GRANADA, Spain - Inmaculada Echevarria has spent much of her life watching muscular dystrophy ruin her body. She’s been in a hospital bed for 20 years, her movements are now reduced to wiggling her fingers and toes and she wants to die.

“For me, life stopped having meaning a long time ago. I want them to help me die because I have spent my whole life suffering,” said 51-year-old Echevarria, whose case has triggered debate in Spain on the rights of people with incurable diseases to seek help in dying.

Continued at Marlowe's Shade

Live brtoadcast now from an abortion mill in Chicago - 11:45 to 12:00 pm

Click here to view the live broadcast at ProLifeNews.tv

Posted by Ruben on ContraceptionBlog.com

Getting snippy over the male 'Pill' illustrates the fact that men often feel that the burden of contraception falls upon women.

'This Pill sounds way too scary,' says Matt, a 25-year-old entertainment executive. 'I can't imagine anyone I know taking it. I know I wouldn't.'

I'm sure people like Matt have no problem with women using oral contraceptives, despite the risk to their health (cancer, blood clots, depression, etc.)

The contraceptive mentality that has a grip on society has led to men placing the burden of casual sex onto women. Women bear the health risks of hormonal contraceptives, unplanned pregnancy, and abortion.

Many men do want to use women for sex, but they don't want to use anything which could harm their own health. For these men sex is about self satisfaction, and anything else is a secondary concern (if at all). This contraceptive mentality is degrading to women and cannot be the sign of a healthy society.

Joe & Ann Scheidler will be speaking at Chicago University at 4:00 pm central time.

Click here to view the live broadcast at ProLifeNews.tv

We will upload this lecture at a later date.

Click above to view larger image. Largest.

faithmouse

Background photograph of baby Patrick from Priests For Life

Posted by Genevieve at ContraceptionBlog.com

I thought this little blurb from the Kaiser Network was rather interesting (the full story also appear in Reuters). Both indicate that most women who received abortions in 2002 were using contraception at the time of conception. Interesting...I thought one of the biggest claims of the contraceptive movement is that birth control is necessary in order to reduce abortion rates. In these cases, however, it has actually led to abortion. Yet, family planning associations seem to believe that better contraceptive education for abortion clients will reduce contraceptive failure rates and also reduce abortions. You have to wonder, if most women who get abortions are contracepting at the time of conception, is contraception really reducing abortion rates? Or is contraception actually enabling abortion?

Despite their bluster last week, Advanced Cell Technology has modified its claims in its now notorious Nature paper.

From LifeNews

Los Angeles, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A leading biotech firm that came under fire for claiming to have created a new technique to obtain embryonic stem cells without destroying human life has modified its claims. In a new paper submitted to the scientific journal Nature, Advanced Cell Technology confirmed previous LifeNews.com reports indicating the assertions were false. In an addendum to the original report, ACT admitted that none of the 16 human embryos in the original experiments survived the attempt at creating a new technique.

More at Marlowe's Shade

Posted by Ruben at ContraceptionBlog.com

Scientists have developed a contraceptive pill for men which can be taken a few hours prior to sex. So when this pill is released in the future, there will be both a "morning after" pill and a "before the date" pill. One has to wonder if there will be a "in the moment" pill as well..

In the future, a man will be able to take this pill while getting ready for a date - in anticipation of using a woman for his selfish desires. And if a woman is "playing it safe" she can take a "morning after" pill the next morning, just in case.

It won't be surprising if there is an increase in sexually transmitted infections (STI) when this pill hits the market.

As with other contraceptives, this pill will to allow men to treat women as sex objects.

Whatever the form, regardless of who takes/uses it and when it is used, contraception harms the family, marriage, society, and the health of men and women.

Associated Press admits "Choice" is a euphemism, a "fuzzy word" for abortion, but blames Washington politicians...?

In Washington, words are a moving target that conceal at least as much as they reveal. ... The right to an abortion is the right to "choose" ... doublespeak — an outgrowth of the doublethink and newspeak of George Orwell's "1984." ... Democrats will go to the wall in defense of abortion rights without uttering that unpleasant word, abortion. Instead, they are champions of "choice" or, in a less guarded moment, "reproductive choice." (The cause is advocated by progressives, formerly liberals.)

There have never been any controlled randomized trials on "Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge," according to this review published in the British Medical Journal in December 2003. And yet, in the nearly 3 years since it was documented in a prestigious peer-reviewed journal that the evidence supporting the use of parachutes by those who jump from planes is anectotal, Federal, State and private entities continue to support the private parachute industry.

The Government Accounting Office released a review (in pdf) on the accuracy and effectiveness of abstinence sex education programs, in response to a request by several members of Congress. Editorials from the Bangor (Maine)Daily News, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and others on the review indicate that abstinence education is "scientifically invalid."

More, including more links . . .

No one should be shocked that there was a conference of scientists (put on by the self-described "CSPAN for science") who condemned religion while outlining ways to replace religion with science. After all, these guys want to launch a TV cable network and Richard Dawkins has to sell his book, The God Delusion.

But, wow, when these "Scientism"-ists let go!

The big challenge, according to Porco, will be dealing with awareness of our own mortality. The God-concept brings a sense of immortality, something science can't offer. Instead, she suggested highlighting the fact that our atoms came from stardust and would return to the cosmos - as mass or energy - after we die. "We should teach people to find comfort in that thought. We can find comfort in knowing that everyone who has ever lived on the Earth will some day adorn the heavens."

and,

Tyson spoke with an evangelist's zeal, and he had the heretics in his sights. Referring to a recent poll of US National Academy of Sciences members which showed 85 per cent do not believe in a personal God, he suggested that the remaining 15 per cent were a problem that needs to be addressed. "How come the number isn't zero?" he asked. "That should be the subject of everybody's investigation. That's something that we can't just sweep under the rug."

More . . .

Posted by Ruben at ContraceptionBlog.com

Here at No Room for Contraception we've maintained that emergency contraception will allow child rapists to cover up their crimes. Though this man used an abortion clinic to cover up his crime, in the future people like him will use Plan B emergency contraception instead.

A 41 year old man accused of rape by an underage teen has been arrested after photos placed his car at an abortion clinic.

Members of a Christian ministry which has been photographing clinic workers, physicians, and clients for 14 years provided the evidence of a cover-up of the rape to a police detective.

Angela Long, a member of this ministry, said the following in a WorldNetDaily article:

"I remembered how upset she was, and pleading with him (the suspect) not to make her go in," she said. "The detective asked, 'Do you have the car?' 'Yes.' 'Do you have the plate?' 'Yes.' And I read it to him."

"And in the background I heard the clicking of the handcuffs," Angela Michael said, along with the comment "We've got him." The suspect now is being held on $75,000 bond on counts being developed in two counties, authorities said.

This man used a forced abortion to cover up his crime and got caught. Unfortunately for many young girls, over the counter access to Plan B emergency contraception will provide child rapists with "get out of jail" tickets.

With Plan B being available over the counter, these men will resort to their own plan b to prevent getting caught. They won't have to force underage girls into abortion clinics or drive across state lines to avoid parental consent laws any more -- they can just force the victims to take Plan B emergency contraception (and possibly cause an early abortion). No evidence, no remains of a dead baby to test for DNA, nothing.

In the future, it won't be surprising if Plan B becomes known as the "child rape" drug.

The U.S. did not legalize abortion in a vacuum in 1973. The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's research division, states abortion laws worldwide were undone "rapidly" between 1950 and 1985.

Guttmacher estimates 46 million babies are aborted worldwide each year. This means almost 1 billion babies have been aborted worldwide just during the past 20 years.

If current world population is 6.5 billion, as the U.S. Census Bureau indicates, all must acknowledge the profound impact of abortion on the human race, no matter where they stand on abortion.

In that regard, I have some theories on the impact of abortion on world history....

Continue reading my column today, "Abortion and the end of the world," on WND.com.

Click here to continue reading at ProLifeNews.tv

Here's a KCTV (Kansas City) report on Senator Sam Brownback's consideration of a 2008 Presidential bid.

..."I think there's room for a full-scale Ronald Reagan conservative in the field," Brownback said. "I fully agree that other people have much higher name identification than I do. No question about that. But I think what you have to look at is the policy positions they get out once you have an effective campaign.

"Brownback, who was elected in 1996, is a forceful foe of abortion and embryonic stem-cell research. He also has taken a prominent role in the fight against genocide in Sudan's Darfur region...

With the mainstream media already penciling in moderate Republicans (for moderate, read weak or AWOL altogether on the social issues) like John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Bill Frist, it is certainly not too early for "Comprehensive Conservatives" to get actively involved in promoting someone with the character, principles and track record that Sen. Brownback has.

Go, Sam, go!

Two important critics of embryonic stem cell research have been threatened by a biotech firm recently lambasted in the Senate and the press for an embryonic bait and switch.

From LifeNews

Los Angeles, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A leading biotech firm that engages in cloning and embryonic stem cell research has launched a scathing attack on LifeNews.com, the pro-life newswire service. The CEO of Advanced Cell Technologies sent LifeNews.com a heated letter late Wednesday threatening the news service if it didn't stop reporting the truth about its research.

Read the rest at Marlowe's Shade

Have a look at this article in the Washington Post regarding Bush's recent appointment of Dr. Eric Keroack as chief of the Department of Health & Human Service's family planning arm. According to the article, Dr. Keroack serves as medical director for A Woman's Concern, a non-profit pregnancy counseling organization in Massachusetts that encourages abstinence before marriage & does not support contraceptive use. Needless to say - as the article indicates - family planning organizations are not happy about his appointment.

Posted by Genevieve Parker at ContraceptionBlog.com

As a "P.S." to my last post about Plan B, I want to highlight a few more aspects of the underlying mentality of contraception proponents. Let me draw you attention to an article from an Australian news service. The article itself basically laments the underusage of the morning after pill (levonorgestrel), marketed as Plan B in the U.S. & (according to the article) under 3 different labels in Australia (Postinor-2, Norlevo and Levonelle-2), where it's been available at pharmacies for nearly 5 years. Some of the remarks made by supporters of the "back up your birth control" campaign are rather telling:

Studies have shown such a plan was very cost effective when compared to the costs of each unplanned pregnancy, she said.

"It will be controversial for sure, especially among people that believe kids don't have sex at that age when we know that they do," Dr Calabretto said.

A public campaign urging people to "back up your birth control" and adding emergency contraception to sex education classes in high school would also boost awareness.

"It's quite negligent to talk to young people about condoms and then to not talk to them about emergency contraception, especially when inexperienced users are the most prone to condom mishaps."

I just want to point out how very utilitarian this approach is toward the human person and his/her sexuality; they speak of one's sexuality in terms of cost effectiveness.

Additionally, I want to highlight - yet again - that the whole point of this "back up" campaign really just reinforces irresponsible sexual behavior. Is there anything that would keep someone from using this as birth control? Plan B gives people more reasons not to practice true sexual responsibility BECAUSE they have no consequences to suffer (in the short term - who knows what sort of long-term medical repercussions this drug will have on women).

Also, this mentality totally warps any idea of sex as something meaningful, something intimately shared between two people who are in a committed (married) relationship. When so much effort has to be put into "protecting" sexual partners from one another with barriers such as condoms, or else getting rid of the evidence (which is what Plan B does), how can sex maintain the fulness of which it is capable?

Posted by Genevieve Parker at ContraceptionBlog.com

It seems that about all I write on anymore is reporting bias. However, when the coverage of a report on a successful retroviral gene therapy, the identification of a specific population of stem cells, and the apparent cures in animal models of a devastating genetic disease using these discoveries downplays or dismisses the importance of the (yes) breakthroughs achieved by the scientists and ignores the history and previous research, I believe that the reporting becomes a story in itself.

More . . .

The Nuffield Bioethics Council has published its report, "Critical care decisions in fetal and neonatal medicine: ethical issues." You can read the entire report in pdf form , my summary at LifeEthics.org, which includes links to other people's summaries, including one from the chair of the Council.
Beverly Nuckols, MD

Scientists from Switzerland have grown heart valves from stem cells found in amniotic fluid.

The goal is to grow the valves in the lab during a pregnancy and then implant them into a baby with heart defects after it is born.

"Even though by itself it may not lead to a complete cure, it would ameliorate the condition and then step by step we could work on this to the point of getting a real cure," he told Reuters.

After more tests on dogs, Cossu and his team hope to begin trials of the stem cell treatment in humans in a few years' time.

Well, girls - if you're 18 or older you no longer have to get a prescription to pump tons of hormones into your body as a back-up plan for irresponsible sex. Oh wait - Plan B IS (supposedly) the responsible thing to do after having irresponsible sex. Silly me...

According to the Boston Herald, Plan B is now available over-the-counter for use among those who are 18 or older. It's really frightening to think about women using such high doses of hormones willy-nilly without knowing the long-term effects. My suspicion is that any risky side effects of regular oral contraceptives (increased risk of blood clots, stroke, exacerbation of diabetic conditions, not to mention the breast cancer link) are exponentiated by Plan B. Seriously, are they going to regulate the frequency with which women use this potentially toxic drug?? And this says nothing of the other consequences, such as potential abortion if conception has occurred....

Posted by Genevieve Parker at ContraceptionBlog.com, the official blog of the No Room for Contraception Campaign

U.S. Bishops adopted the draft document "Married Love and the Gift of Life".

The full text can be found at:

http://www.usccb.org/laity/marriage/MarriedLove.pdf

Adobe Acrobat is required to read the document.

Posted at ContraceptionBlog.com

As previously posted, billboards proclaiming "Birth Control is HARMFUL" have been placed around the diocese of Tulsa, OK.

The signs are a response to Planned Parenthood's "Birth control is Easy" billboards. KOTV covers this story in an online article.

We really like the idea of this billboard project - so much we are going to launch our own separate and secular version in 2007.

Imagine the nation peppered with signs stating "Birth control is harmful" or "Contraception is harmful". In addition to this simple message, the billboards will list a web address for further information -- most likely the website www.BirthControlIsHarmful.com (go ahead and take a peek).

We hope the folks in Tulsa inspire other organizations to confront the contraceptive mentality in creative ways. They certainly inspired us... Stay tuned to ContraceptionBlog.com for more details..

Click here to watch a live stream from the Towson University GAP from 12:30 pm till 4:00 pm.

Yesterday we were at the Towson University Pro-Life GAP protest.

Click here for pictures of yesterday's event

Conducting an interview for ProLifeNews.tv was Louis Jay, a Towson student. He spoke with John, Co-President of Towson PROLIFE.

I wrote in my previous column that revelations during the final weeks of the autumn 2006 election season shifted my thinking on why national Republican Party leaders have been reticent to advance the life issue.

It may be too easy to dismiss them as cowards. It may well be they are compromised.

The revelations were of corruption and homosexuality among legislators and influential staff....

The homosexual and abortion lobbies are evil twins with the same agenda. They work together. This is
something pro-lifers must get. We may focus on one issue, but homosexual activists focus on two, and one of those is ours.

In October gay activists circulated a paper called "The List" to conservative groups outing several high ranking queer GOP staffers. The List supposedly included names of homosexual legislators along with nine chiefs of staffs, two press secretaries and two directors of communications. It listed conservative legislators those staffers worked for....

Continue reading my column today, "GOP + Gays = Anti-Life," on WND.com.

By Genevieve Parker, posted at ContraceptionBlog.com

Greetings to all! First off, I'd like to thank the No Room for Contraception campaign for the cordial welcome as I begin my blogging efforts here. I really look forward to participating in this work!

So, I just thought I'd bring up a little media blurb on Science Daily about an implantable form of birth control - called Implanon - that has recently hit the U.S. and is currently being used in the Cincinatti area. According to Science Daily, this new birth control option works as follows:

"The implant is injected underneath the skin of the upper arm during an in-office procedure that takes about one minute. The implant, the size of a matchstick, releases a steady stream of the female hormone etonogestrel (Implanon) over a three-year period...Etonogestrel works by thickening the cervical mucus, which prevents sperm from fertilizing an egg and also stops any egg that does get fertilized from implanting itself in the uterine wall. Etonogestrel completely inhibits the release of eggs from the ovaries during the first two years. In the third year, it begins to lose its effectiveness."

Click here to continue reading and to see the video at ProLifeNews.tv

Hormonal contraception is safe, right?

Not so for 23 women who have allegedly died as a result of using the Ortho Evra birth control patch. This article, published by the No Room for Contraception Campaign, provides an update to the ongoing issue of lawsuits over Ortho Evra:

"Serious health problems have been associated with Ortho Evra including fatal and non-fatal blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, and death. From April 2002 to December 2004, over 27,974 'adverse effects' were reported by users of Ortho Evra. Many of the complaints are serious, and the patch is alleged to be responsible for over 23 deaths, including the death of 14 year old Alycia Brown."

The election news could not have appeared grimmer in the immediate aftermath. South Dakota's abortion ban went down. Parental notification lost in California and Oregon. Missourians approved the embryonic stem cell initiative. Kansans condoned child rape and illegal late-term abortions by ousting Attorney General Phill Kline.

Add to that the loss of the GOP Senate majority, which means for starters no more conservative judges, and the loss of the GOP House majority, which means for starters a promised bill within the first 100 hours of the new session to federally fund embryonic stem cell research, and, well ...

But as I reviewed and processed, I became angry.

Why? With whom?

Continue reading my column today, "11/7: Day of disaster for pro-lifers?" on WND.com.

Genevieve joins the effort as a featured author on the campaign's blog, located at http://www.contraceptionblog.com

Genevieve hails from Louisiana and currently resides in the metro Washington, D.C. area, where she has worked as a registered nurse for the past three years. Her experiences as a woman growing up in the post-Roe, radical feminist era have led her to the conclusion that a recovery of authentic womanhood is in order. Genevieve hopes to be a part of that recovery by exposing the way in which women have been deceived by the false "liberation" of contraception.

We look forward to her efforts in this campaign as we continue to work toward a culture free of dependency on contraception.

Genevieve Parker

Some of you will already have heard that a prestigious body of United Kingdom doctors has suggested "opening up debate" about active infanticide.

Now comes the Leftist Economist to editorialize on the matter. And who is their Exhibit A of a baby who should have been killed? Why, Charlotte Wyatt, of course.

How quickly she forgets

From oral arguments during the Partial Birth Abortion Ban hearing, November 8:

Justice Ginsberg: "But up until now, all regulation on access to abortion has been state regulation and this measure is saying to the states, like it or not, the Federal Government is going to ban a particular practice and we are going to take away the choice from the states, in an area where up until now it's, it's been open to the states to make those decisions. How should that weigh in this case? And it is something new."

Justice Scalia: "The best example where government has gotten involved in overriding what the states want to do is Casey. It seems rather odd for this Court to be concerned about stepping on the toes of the states."

Created to abort

From the Argus Leader, November 4, about South Dakota's Oglala Sioux Tribe impeached president Cecilia Fire Thunder, who lost her job earlier this year after she vowed to open an abortion mill on her reservation should the abortion ban pass:

Fire Thunder said the loss of her tribal office was like a shower of gasoline on the abortion ban blaze, and she's been speaking nationally about the controversy in South Dakota.

"An Indian woman at Pine Ridge created a national discussion on women's choices. Is that exciting or what?" Fire Thunder said.

"I love it. That's why the creator put me on earth."

Thanks for the advice

From the Associated Press, November 9:

South Dakota legislators had passed the law in expectation that it would trigger a court challenge and lead to a possible Supreme Court reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion. Abortion-rights leaders said yesterday that such strategies should be abandoned.

From WebMD:

"We don't need any eggs or embryos at all," says Shinya Yamanaka, MD, a professor at the Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences in Kyoto, Japan.

Yamanaka describes his lab's early successes in mice creating stem cells from adult cells. His research involves isolating two dozen chemicals that give embryonic stem cells their ability to grow into nearly any tissue in the body.

How long does it take for news of embryonic-like cells from the patient's own cells and from umbilical cord blood cells to make it to the mainstream media and the daily medical news pages? This article was published election day, although Dr. Yamanaka published his report months ago. Perhaps the stem cell scientists could begin to share their information more openly and much more quickly. Perhaps they could start a new tradition: prestige for rapid and frequent sharing of information that is immediately used and referenced by other scientists. Sort of like the prestige we bloggers aspire to.

The cells that Dr. Yamanaka has developed have the same properties as the cells derived from destroying embryos, they even cause tumors when emplanted in mice:

That property, called "pleuripotency," is what makes scientists think stem cells can be coaxed to form new tissues that could help cure Parkinson's and other diseases.

The Japanese researchers found that four of the chemicals, in the right mixture, transformed connective tissue cells from adult cells into pleuripotent cells Yamanaka says are "indistinguishable" from embryonic stem cells.

Still, significant problems remain.

"I have to point out, the efficiency … is very low," Yamanaka today told the scientific conference hosted by the Institute of Medicine. Only one in 1,000 attempts to transform adult cells into stem cells was successful.

Also, the cells formed tumors when implanted in mouse tissue -- a significant roadblock to using such cells for human treatments.

As a matter of fact, one of the classic tests of "stemness" is the ability of embryonic stem cells to make teratomas, a mass of several different types of cells, when injected into the body of mice. This is what other scientists look for when some lab, somewhere, reports they've derived embryonic stem cells. The next step is to induce these cells to grow "indefinitely" while maintaining this "stemness" and avoiding genetic mutations.

All embryonic stem cells are rare, efficiency is low and the property of making tumors must be overcome. This is the nature of the cells.

However, Dr Nico Forraz and Professor Colin McGuckin, working with scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and NASA have been able to produce embryonic-like stem cells from umbilical cord cells, have been able to cause the cells to divide to make larger numbers of cells, and induce some of those cells to turn into functional masses of liver cells.

In addition, researchers at the University of Michigan have produced functional type II alveolar lung cells from umbilical cord blood cells. These cells make surfactant, the mixture of lipids and proteins that line the airways of the lungs and allow us to breathe by preventing the alveli (the little pockets that take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide) from collapsing. This is one of the types of cells that give patients with cystic fibrosis trouble and study of these cells may help us learn to treat the disease.

In their rush to be the next superstar of stem cells, scientists appear inefficient and definitely disorganized to those of us who are watching from the sidelines. From UK scientists who want to make embryos using cow eggs and human nuclear DNA, to scientists who brag that they used mouse embryonic stem cells - rather than Dr. Nicco's human liver cells - to create an artificial liver.

Then, we have confirmation from Glenn McGee, over at blog.bioethics.net, of news shared here in the past that "as much as half of stem cell revenue" from embryonic stem cell scientists who honor the US patent laws will go to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Fund.

It's easy to criticize when you're not sitting at a lab bench 20 hours a day. However, that's what ethicists (and critics and bloggers, etc.) do, I'm afraid. I believe the criticism has a valid point, though: Embryonic stem cell researchers need to realize the rate of change in their field, and utilize modern methods of sharing information and awarding prestige in order to help human patients sooner and more ethically.

As popular Fox News host Bill O’Reilly exposes the practice of late-term abortionist George R. Tiller, a leading pro-life organization is calling pro- lifers from across the nation to come Wichita January 20-22, 2007, over the Roe v. Wade memorial weekend, to call national attention to Tiller’s horrific child-killing business.

Tiller is notorious for his operation of an abortion mill that will destroy an unborn child up until the point of birth for a "mental health exception". The cost is $5000.

In last night’s Talking Points Memo aired during Th e O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly told viewers that the situation with Tiller was the worst case he’d seen in 30 years of journalism. “There should be thousands of people protesting outside Tiller’s abortion clinic in Wichita,” O’Reilly said.

“We couldn’t agree more with Mr. O’Reilly,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “That is why we are putting out the call for all men and women of conscience to come to Wichita on January 20-22 and send a loud, clear message to America that we will not tolerate Tiller’s shameful attacks on the defenseless.”

Referring to Tiller’s late-term abortion business, O’Reilly said, “Is this what we want in America? Is it? This is the kind of stuff that happened in Mao’s China, Hitler’s Germany, and Stalin’s Russia. The American people cannot turn away from this – cannot ignore it. This kind of stuff simply cannot be tolerated in a civilized society.”

On November 6, the Chicago Tribune nicely advanced the abortion industry's talking points regarding the Partial Birth Abortion Ban.

Those talking points, which I was in court to hear Wednesday, were that Congress "absolutely betrayed" a 2000 Supreme Court ruling against Nebraska's partial-birth abortion ban by basically resubmitting the same ban in 2003 that the Court previously ruled was vague and excluded a health exception.

The Trib article will likely be typical of the mainstream media, so I want to address its bias.

You'd think the Trib would have analyzed the issues of vagueness and health between the two bans, but it did not. You'd think the Trib would have at least explained what partial-birth abortion is, but it did not.

Rather, the Tribune led with a tragic story of a mother who "may" have undergone a partial-birth abortion after discovering she was carrying a terminally ill baby, only admitting at the end of the story she didn't have a partial-birth abortion at all....

Continue reading my column today, "Legitimizing partial-birth abortion" on WND.com.

Just as Republicans were unable to agree on a campaign message before the election, party leaders now cannot come to a consensus over the reasons for the resounding defeat. As it licks the wounds inflicted by an aggressive values victory for Democrats, the GOP is split over its future policy platform. In the rubble of election returns, two distinct philosophies have emerged--the party of Rep. Mike Pence and the party of Sen. Arlen Specter.

In a statement yesterday, Sen. Specter said the Republicans will have to become "a lot more progressive and a lot less ideological." Contrast his strategy of moral regression to the vision of Rep. Pence, who defines progress as restoring values to their place of party prominence. A press release announcing Rep. Pence's intention to run for minority leader read,

"I am running for Republican leader because we didn't just lose our majority, I believe we lost our way....

"Our opponents will say that the American people rejected our Republican vision. I say the American people didn't quit on the Contract with America, we did. And in so doing, we severed the bonds of trust between our party and millions of our most ardent supporters....

"Only by making a dramatic turn in the direction of the agenda of the Republican Revolution can we hope to attain majority status again..... We must again embrace the notion the Republicans seek power not simply to govern but change government. We are the agents of change and we must return to that reformist vision....

As they try to set the course for the coming term, our nation's leaders would be wise to heed Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) advice: Republicans and Democrats don't need to govern from the middle, they need to govern from conscience.

The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins commented,

The values voters of 2004 could be called the integrity voters of 2006. The message is that values are not just something you talk about at election time; values should guide public policies and personal conduct. This should be a clear message to both Parties that values voters vote values, not party. Their focus is not on party politics, but rather on government guided by core values.

A recent study in the Journal of Sex Research links depression in women to casual sex. This flies in direct contrast to a campus culture that tries to celebrate "uncommitted sex." The problem is it flies in the face of our internal nature, and is the case in most emotional matters, comes down hardest on women.

Like most campuses, the University of Illinois hosts an annual celebration of uncommitted sex called "Sex Out Loud." It presents a generally one-sided account of sex which doesn't represent reality. Sex has consequences and those consequences are felt mostly by women.

One interesting feature of the study shows that it is more typical for uncommitted sexual encounters to take place between friends instead of strangers. What this indicates to me is that women and men have a hard time in this society relating to each other in non-sexual ways. "Friends with benefits" used to be a joke a decade ago when I was an undergrad, now it's a sad reality.

The study shows what many on the right (particularly religious) have always known, that sex has meaning beyond the physical. People long to be in an intimate relationship and meaningless sex does nothing but break down those relationships. Women begin to feel like little more than objects instead of people to who deserve to be cherished.

Likely this story will be ignored on campus and the general media but it's another statement that the sexual revolution got it wrong. Those who surfer most from that error is women.

John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for Blogcritics and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. He is a freelance columnist who blogs at Part-Time Pundit and the executive director of The Tumaini Foundation which helps AIDS orphans in Tanzania with education. He is the current owner of BlogSoldiers, a blog-only traffic exchange.

Bishops Prepare Brochure on Married Love, an article to be published in the upcoming issue of the National Catholic Register, describes the development of the document Married Love and the Gift of Life. The document is intended to provide guidance on marriage and why Catholic couples aren't supposed to use contraception.

The article, written by Barb Ernster, also includes comments from various groups on how contraception is being discussed in the pro-life community.

"Many pro-life leaders, especially evangelicals, have maintained that contraception is not their issue, but they’re coming to see that it leads to abortion," said Ruben Obregon, co-founder of No Room for Contraception, a website that addresses the personal and cultural consequences of contraception.

By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, November 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Moments after the hearing of oral arguments in the partial-birth abortion case before the United States Supreme Court today, a pro-life lawyer involved in the case is predicting a "major victory". Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), said that he is convinced the ban on partial birth abortion will be ruled constitutional.

The ACLJ has filed amicus briefs in both cases before the Supreme Court - including one on behalf of some 80 members of Congress - including the sponsors of the federal ban on the gruesome procedure.

In 2000, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to reject the state ban on partial-birth abortion by Nebraska. Now, the high court - with two new Justices - heard oral arguments in two cases challenging the federal ban on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. "Three of the Justices - Justices Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas - already have compared this procedure to infanticide when the court rejected Nebraska's state ban six years ago," said Sekulow.

Although there is significant political uncertainty and the polls are fickle, crisis pregnancy centers remain faithful, helping woman and their children:

“As the tide turns in Congress, pregnancy centers will play an increasingly strategic role in the pro-life movement,” said Care Net President Kurt Entsminger in response to the 2006 mid-term election results. “As the gavel is passed to abortion advocates in leadership positions, pro-life legislative advances will inevitably be shut down. In the years ahead, pregnancy centers remain the best and last hope for reducing abortion in America.”

Yes, it was a rough day for the pro-life community and conservatives in general. South Dakota rejected a law banning most abortions, Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment protecting marriage and voters in Missouri appear to have approved a measure backing stem cell research. Liberal and pro-abortion governors, from Janet Napolitano to Jim Doyle, have succeeded in their election campaigns.

Democrats have won the House and may also gain a majority in the Senate:

Democrat Jon Tester held a narrow margin of just 3,317 votes over incumbent Republican Sen. Conrad Burns with nearly 83 percent of the vote counted. Election officials in Yellowstone County, Mont., said voting machine problems were delaying reporting of any votes in the Montana Senate race until later Wednesday.

There will be a variety of post-mortem analyses of the results but ultimately the election was the Republican's to lost. Hugh Hewitt comments,

"In this election year, Democrats won the day, largely because of the failed track record of the GOP."

"Handed a large majority, the GOP frittered it away. The chief fritterer was Senator McCain and his Gang of 14 and Kennedy-McCain immigration bill, supplemented by a last minute throw down that prevented the NSA bill from progressing or the key judicial nominations from receiving a vote. "

Len Munsil, a pro-life conservative candidate who was defeated yesterday by the incumbent governor in Arizona, gives his take on the results:

I believe in living life with no regrets. This life is an adventure, and we are only here for a season. I remain committed to leaving it all out on the playing field of life, and to continuing to engage our state and nation on the important issues of our time.

When I began to participate in battles over important policy issues 20 years, one of the first political axioms I learned was this -- no political victory or defeat is ever final. Everything is up for grabs all the time. It is up to us to engage for the things we believe in and for the great principles of our democracy.

If you are discouraged tonight -- and you should be -- let that motivate you to be more engaged, more active and more dedicated next time. After the American people remember what it is like to be ruled by liberals, our political prospects will improve.

La Shawn Barber provides perspective:

... our system of government is still the best around. Democrats wanted a chance to govern, now they have it. Campaigning for 2008 begins now. So spend the day, if you must, moaning in this thread about last night’s losses.

Apparently, the Respect Life office of the Diocese of Tulsa has put up billboards around the diocese with the message that states "Birth Control is Harmful". Along with these billboards, the office created a website loaded with great information regarding the harms of contraception. Here is an excerpt from the site:

"So, how is birth control harmful? Our proposal to you is, that birth control is harmful at every level of our being, physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. Because we are people made for communion, birth control has a negative effect on our personal relationships and on society as a whole. "

NationalProLifeRadio.net and ProLifeNews.tv will be broadcasting live from the Supreme Court today.

Troy Newman from Operation Rescue will be on at 10:15, followed by Chris Slattery from Expectant Mother Care.

Go to NationalProLifeRadio.net and ProLifeNews.tv for all day information and interviews.

We have entered a new age in technology. Last night was the first live broadcast from ProLifeNews.tv and NationalProLifeRadio.net!

I interviewed Rev. Patrick Mahoney on the steps of the Supreme Court on the eve of the partial birth hearings. The broadcast was only in a small size, but that was only because we wanted to make sure it worked without a problem.

Click here to continue reading and to see the video at ProLifeNews.tv.

More pro-life cartoons at faithmouse

Today you have the opportunity to make a difference by making a reasoned and purposeful vote for a candidate who will take a stand for life. To see how your politicians have voted, please see the National Right to Life legislative scorecard. A comparison of Senators on life issues can be found here.

Hugh Hewitt answers election day questions and La Shawn Barber has already begun her coverage of the election.

The Dignity of Human Life Blog has a great state-by-state run down of pro-life resources. Arizona Voters: click here for voting resources (and please, vote for Len Munsil!)

See also: COLLECTIVE PRAYER AND FASTING FOR THE 2006 ELECTIONS

Just listen to what these experts on child seduction have to say about parental notification laws..

"I hang out in internet chat rooms, where I meet plenty of young underaged girls. I chat with them tell them how beautiful they are, and form a relationship with them. Eventually I have my way with them or I move on to another girl. There are so many to choose from, I don't need to waste too much time with one who wont give me what I want. I may get some pregnant, but so what, the clinic can fix that, and nobody has to know. It's like getting away with a crime! Parental notification for abortion? That would put me behind bars!"-- Chet Chatter, 34, Fort Bragg, CA

Read more from the experts at http://www.iwantyourdaughter.com/

PS... Share their testimony with your friend via email....

The pro-life community has been buzzing about the proposal by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology to discuss actively euthanizing sick and disabled newborns in England. Read about it in this TimesOnline article.

There are several important points to this article. The first and most important is that fact that there is no doubt eugenic abortion leads to infanticide:

The college’s submission was also welcomed by John Harris, a member of the government’s Human Genetics Commission and professor of bioethics at Manchester University. “We can terminate for serious foetal abnormality up to term but cannot kill a newborn. What do people think has happened in the passage down the birth canal to make it okay to kill the foetus at one end of the birth canal but not at the other?” he said.

From The Independent

How cold-blooded is this quote?

"We would like the working party to think more radically about non-resuscitation, withdrawal of treatment decisions, the best interests test, and active euthanasia, as they are ways of widening the management options available to the sickest of newborns."

That was the opinion of the The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology in a submission to the medical regulatory body, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.

Read the rest at Marlowe's Shade

From Human Events, November 4:

For weeks, commentators have speculated that significant numbers of conservatives, alienated by over-spending, the Iraq War, and other perceived GOP disappointments, will stay home on Election Day, giving one or both Houses of Congress to Democrats. But for those who care about reforming the Supreme Court, sitting this one out may soon look like a mistake of historic proportions.

For the past several weeks, there has been a rumor circulating among high-level officials in Washington, D.C., that a member of the U.S. Supreme Court has received grave medical news and will announce his or her retirement by year’s end. While such rumors are not unusual in the nation’s capital, this one comes from credible sources. Additionally, a less credible but still noteworthy post last week at the liberal Democratic Underground blog says, “Send your good vibes to Justice Stevens. I just got off the phone with a friend of his family and right now he is very ill and at 86 years old that is not good.”

Normally, this news might be too ghoulish to repeat publicly. Nevertheless, with the election just days away, it is news that should be considered....

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline told news talk show host Bill O'Reilly (Nov. 3 broadcast) that the medical records that were produced by two Kansas abortion clinics all indicate that later-term abortions were done for reasons other than exceptions found in Kansas law.

K.S.A. 65-6703 states that there are only two exceptions to the Kansas ban on post- viability abortion. “(1) The abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman; or (2) a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”

From LifeNews

Michael J. Fox’s ads exemplify what is so wrong with the larger pro-cloning political campaign: Long on hype, steeped in deceit, preying on the fears of disease victims, exploitive of our national fixation with celebrities, and appealing strictly to the emotions so that we will "feel" rather than "think," the ads were a profound disservice those striving to grapple with the crucial ethical issues surrounding embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.

Crossposted at Marlowe's Shade

NativeLife

Preserving Native Lives

NATIVE PEOPLE of the world, from every nation,
tribe and tongue have wept in silence for too long;
We Know the Truth: They say, There is no child.
THEY LIE:
ABORTION IS GENOCIDE
THE CHILD IS ALIVE

www.nativelife.us

Doctors encourage Californians to vote YES on proposition 85....

From Lifenews.com:

November 2, 2006
Open Letter from Experts in Science, Medicine, Law and Ethics on the
Cloning Provisions of Missouri's Amendment 2

A key question regarding Missouri's proposed Amendment 2 is: Would this constitutional amendment prohibit or promote "human cloning"? As individuals who have studied this issue in depth, we hold that it clearly authorizes and promotes human cloning.

A number of us have served on the President's Council on Bioethics, which discussed human cloning extensively and issued a book-length report, Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry (2002). While the Council members disagreed sharply on moral and policy issues surrounding human cloning, they all agreed on what it is:

Human cloning is the asexual production of a new living organism, at any stage of development, that is genetically virtually identical to an existing or previously existing human being. It is done through somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which introduces the nuclear material of a human somatic cell into an oocyte (egg) whose own nucleus has been removed or inactivated, to create this new organism. And it is designed to produce (and when successful, does produce) a new living organism of the human species, that is, a human embryo.

Researchers may then want to use this embryo for various purposes.

Sandra Cano, who was “Mary Doe” of Doe v. Bolton, joined by 180 women hurt by abortion, has asked the Supreme Court in an amicus brief to uphold the federal ban on killing a child during delivery, known as partial birth abortion procedure.

On November 8, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments in Gonzalez v. Carhart, the partial birth abortion case. The Justice Foundation represents Sandra Cano, the original plaintiff in Doe v. Bolton, the companion case to Roe v. Wade. The landmark ruling in the Doe case created the “health exception” that is at the heart of the partial birth abortion case now before the Supreme Court.

Sandra Cano said, “I never wanted or sought an abortion. I desire with all of my heart to see the Supreme Court reverse Roe v. Wade and my own case, Doe v. Bolton.” See Sandra’s testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee at www.operationoutcry.org.

The amicus brief has the unique perspective of 180 women hurt by abortion showing the many devastating effects of abortion on women and that abortion endangers “their physical, emotional, and psychological health. Therefore the law banning partial birth abortion, which does not include a health exception, should be upheld.” The brief is available at www.operationoutcry.org.

See: www.operationoutcry.org for statements.

By Anita Crane

November 2, 2006

Michael J. Fox breaks my heart. I'm sad to see him suffer with Parkinson's disease—but sadder to realize that someone has given him false hope about human embryonic stem cell research. In his Maryland, Missouri and Wisconsin political ads, plus national interviews, I'm further distressed to watch him mislead millions more onto that same path toward despair.

Regarding Missouri's proposed Amendment 2, which would forge a constitutional right to clone, destroy, buy and sell embryonic human beings, Fox told ABC News, "You know, I campaigned for Claire McCaskill. And so I have to qualify it by saying I'm not qualified to speak on the page-to-page content of the initiative. Although, I am quite sure that I'll agree with it in spirit… On full disclosure, I haven't read it, and that's why I didn't put myself up for it distinctly."

As a brittle diabetic who has survived at least 50 bouts of near-death paralysis from insulin shock, I beg your indulgence. After all, embryonic stem cell proponents trumpet the cause of curing my condition as often as they cite Michael's affliction.

Nancy Pelosi, possible next Speaker of the House of Representatives:

• Voted YES on allowing human embryonic stem cell research. (May 2005)


• Voted NO on restricting interstate transport of minors to get abortions. (Apr 2005)


• Voted NO on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (Feb 2004)


• Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (Oct 2003)


• Voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. (Feb 2003)


• Voted NO on funding for health providers who don't provide abortion info. (Sep 2002)


• Voted NO on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad. (May 2001)


• Voted NO on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes. (Apr 2001)


• Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)


• Voted NO on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)


• Rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record. (Dec 2003)


• Supported funding contraception and UN family planning. (Jul 1999)

Source: Birth First - please do check out this excellent pro-life blog

Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson was born Jesse Louis Burns on Oct. 8, 1941, to 16-year-old and unmarried Helen Burns. Helen had herself been born to teenage and unmarried Matilda Burns.

Helen became pregnant with Jesse by next-door neighbor Noah Robinson, a prosperous married man in his 30s with other children. According to laws on the books in all states, Robinson committed statutory rape against Burns. Jesse was the product of that rape.

It is most remarkable that Jackson is pro-abortion given the circumstances of his birth. He would have to counsel to abort himself....

It is too bad Jesse won't support South Dakota's abortion ban referendum, particularly since South Dakota contains the poorest counties in the country, and there is a high rape rate among minority Native Americans....

But Jesse actually does have hope and advice to offer South Dakotans considering their abortion ban, from an essay he wrote when he was still pro-life in 1977....

Continue reading my column today, "Products of rape Jesse Jackson on SD abortion ban" on WND.com.

The FDA is issuing guidelines to the pharmaceutical industry for developing vaccines using several ethical cell lines - and several ABORTED FETAL CELL LINES - both new and existing. They are inviting Public Response through December 28th on Docket Number 2006D-0383. We need to use this unique opportunity to absolutely bombard the FDA, CDC and HHS with our letters!

Please note this is open to all countries as well - not just US Citizens!

I cannot express enough the URGENCY for everyone reading this to take a few momenst to register at our website and file your comments with the FDA. You have the ability to change the direction of all future immoral research and development !

A MASSIVE PRO-LIFE RESPONSE CANNOT BE IGNORED!
TAKE ACTION NOW AND LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD LOUD & CLEAR!

For full instructions go to our website at www.cogforlife.org/fdaalert.htm We have a wealth of information including our press release, suggestions and instructions for writing and filing electronically or by US Mail. We are also offering downloadable bulletin inserts and flyers and will run a full page ad in Our Sunday Visitor the week of December 3rd.

IT ONLY MAKES SENSE TO UTILIZE NON-OBJECTIONABLE CELL LINES IN VACCINE PRODUCTION SO THAT ALL PEOPLE CAN BENEFIT FROM THEM WITHOUT COMPROMISING THEIR MORAL BELIEFS AND PRO-LIFE CONVICTIONS. THERE IS AN ABUNDANCE OF ETHICAL SOURCES - TELL THE FDA AND PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES TO USE THEM!

www.cogforlife.org/fdaalert.htm

Register now - and please help spread the word!

God bless you all!

Debi Vinnedge
Executive Director
Children of God for Life