Click here to view the live video feed of the Blogs for Life conference
7:45 Kevin McCullough, looking very tired after driving down from NY at 2:00am, opens the conference. Thank you Kevin for making the early morning trip.
7:50 Barbara Curtis
Barbara, of Mommylife.net and author of several books, gives seven pointers for pro-life bloggers:
1. Increase your compassion
2. Study your culture
3. Serve your community (get outside of your Church)
4. Find common ground
5. Improve your communication - drop jargon, etc
6. Prepare for confrontation - make sure you do your homework
7. Trust your creator
8:15 Jill Stanek
Jill Stanek, the former nurse who helped expose the born alive abortions at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, gives tips on how to bloggers can grow their blog.
Concerning blogs, Jill notes "If you feed it, they will come"
She also makes a point that blogs must be meaningful, and that it's better to say nothing than to say something inaccurate. She also stresses the importance of hat tips and crediting authors when their material is used in a blogger's posting.
8:30 Dawn Eden
Dawn talks about how to find news tips by searching Technorati.com. She also mentions about a press release concerning the blessing of an abortion clinic.
8:50 Michelena Fredenburg
Michelelna speaks about the website Abortion Changes You as well as her personal experience with abortion healing.
9:10 Peter Shinn
Peter Shinn, one of the founders Blogs4Life and Prolifeunity.com, talks about how the Blogs4Life conference was formed. He talks about how we have to win this battle and how we have to use technology to help win this battle. Peter says that the movement needs to come together on a regular basis, and to put differences in faith aside.
9:19 Michael Illions
Michael talks about a how a prenatal screening disclosed that their unborn child had fluid in his brain (hydrocephelus), and they couldn't see his brain at all. The "counseling" that doctors gave them was to terminate the pregnancy - 10 NOs wasn't enough, 100 NOs wasn't either, and the even told him about Tiller's "services" in Wichita, KS. He details how they prepared for their son's birth and arrival at their home, and how Fr. Peter West of Priests for Life provided encouragement during this difficult time. Their beautiful child, who doctors tried to get them to abort, was at the conference as well.
9:39 Senator Sam Brownback
Senator Brownback talks about the decline in abortion and rise in birth rates and how the March For Life is largely made up of young people. The Senator mentions that the enemy is not pro-choice activists or abortion doctors, but rather death, despair and fear.
10:00am Maggie Datiles, Esq.
Maggie, Staff Counsel at Americans United for Life, discusses the overall trends in 2007. She spoke about the Oklahoma Omnibus Measure, which amended Oklahoma's definition of abortion to include the use of abortifacients and funded crisis pregnancy centers. Maggie discusses NY RHAPP, which would prohibit a state ban on partial-birth abortion, consent laws, etc.
10:20am Dr. Michael New
Dr. New on the "good news about abortion." His primary observations as follows:
1) Why study Pro-Life Legislation? First, to adopt better legislative strategies. Second, to document the real pro-life progress taking place. Third, to continually strengthen the case for pro-life political activity.
2) Declining Abortion Rates. Abortion rates are falling. Why? Well, NOT because of the election and re-election of President Clinton. More because of pro-life legislation on local levels. Also, in '92, Casey V. Planned Parenthood provided an opportunity to reconsider PP's activities constitutionally. Also, Republicans start to win more state legislature seats.
3) The Academic literature is normally insuffitient or slanted, or both.
4) Outside the literature, it is difficult, but not impossible, to find the raw statistics.
5) The only conclusion from the data is that abortion rates are down significantly.
6) Pro-life legislation does not occur in a vacuum - it is often caused by pro-life mentalities in the populace and among the lawmakers and lobbyists.
7) New also summarized a great deal of case studies.
8) Laws like informed consent and parental notification impact the bottom line for abortion numbers in a noticable, even dramatic manner.
9) Conclusion: The recent laws that have been passed are helping drive down abortion rates and ratios. In other words: "We Have Made Progress."
10:30 Judy Brown, president of ALL
1) ALL just launched a new website.
2) We focus on education, and we dont get involved in politics.
3) The internet is the wave of the future regarding education, discussion, and debate.
4) We need to be totally commited to reaching out to the American public, one person at a time.
10:48 Phil Kline
Phile Kline talks about how Planned Parenthood and the Guttmacher Institute detail their work with providing abortion and contraception services to children under the age of consent. He also spoke of the corruption and the soon to be former Attorney General of Kansas.
11:15 Congressman Chris Smith
Congressman Smith talks about Planned Parenthood and how they are "Child Abuse Incorporated." He talks about efforts to end Title X funding for Planned Parenthood. Congressman Smith also spoke about how abortion organizations are trying to hijack HIV/AIDS funding for Africa to include "reproductive health" spending.
11:32 Hadley P. Arkes
Amherst Professor Arkes spoke about people who insist that Roe v. Wade has to be overruled before anything else can be done. He spoke about how Roe can be slowly cut back with restrictions that most people find to be reasonable. Dr. Arkes also discussed how President Bush did not want to take a leadership position on abortion, but instead asked that Congress take the lead. He pointed out many times that President Bush can take a leadership position on late term abortions, one that will put the pro-abortion Democrats in a serious bind, but refuses to.
Well done Ruben!