Archive for the 'Life Before Birth' Category

Tough Questions for the Opposition is the title of one of the articles in our Pro-Life Curriculum.

It’s taken from an article written by Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics, in which he lays out 15 very specific questions pro-lifers can should use when we find ourselves in a debate with someone who is “pro-choice”.

One of these questions is:

Why don’t we each look at the downside of our respective positions? Have you ever thought about the ramifications if you are wrong?

He then explains that we’re “better off taking the risk of being pro-life and wrong than pro-abortion and wrong.”

I thought of Mark’s article when I saw this video:

HT: Jill Stanek

There are several things I’ve been wanting to post about for a while now, but I’m just getting around to it now.

Here are a few of those “several things”.

Exposing the Truth about Pornography

Bishop Paul Loverde of the Diocese of Arlington (Virginia) has a must-read column titled “Letters from Teens about Pornography”, in which he includes excerpts from dozens of letters he has received from teenagers in response to a pastoral letter he wrote last year titled, Bought With a Price: Pornography and the Attack on the Living Temple of God.

Bishop Loverde’s column begins:

Recently I have been hearing a lot about pornography.

The mail I have received on this issue from Catholics and others around the country gives me hope, even as it confirms the gravity of the threat this scourge poses to us all.

Here is what one high school senior wrote

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I spent yesterday giving talks at Proviso West High School in Hillside, IL. The presentation I gave is titled “Pro-Life 101″, and covers several different topics, including:

• Fetal development
• How abortion became legal
• Why do women have abortions?
• What effects does abortion have on women?
• What happens in an abortion?
• How can we build a Culture of Life?

It’s a talk that Annie and I have both given to classes and youth groups dozens of times before, and one that we’re continuously tweaking.

After each of the talks yesterday, I asked the students to fill out an anonymous survey — basically asking what their opinions on abortion were before and after the presentation. (more…)

Baby Innocence is one of the best fetal models I have ever seen. It probably looks more like a miniature size full term baby than a fetus, but I think that’s okay.

If you’re interested in getting some for your club or to use when counseling at the abortion clinic, you can contact Heritage House. They are a bit pricey so if you would like something more reasonable, check out their other models. They’re not as visually appealing, but still effective I’m sure.

Some quick links:

Miss Kelly at Modestly Yours has a must-read post titled “Sexual Freedom Is Damaging to Students”. It’s about a new book called Unprotected, written by an anonymous psychiatrist at the student counseling center of a major American university who has seen firsthand the horrible effects inflicted — especially on women — by so-called “safe sex” and “sexual freedom”.

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Christina at RealChoice has a great post titled “Pre-Roe Mortality, Redux”:

Just about anybody that’s paid attention has heard the claim that “thousands” — or, more specifically, “5,000 to 10,000″ maternal deaths a year in the United States from criminal abortions back in the bad old pre-Roe days. In fact, Planned Parenthood’s amicus brief filed with PP v. Casey still cited this bogus “fact”.

Let’s start with the numbers. Where did they come from?

Find out here.

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JivinJ reports on some disturbing statistics from the United Kingdom about the number of teens having “two or three abortions”. (more…)

Take this quiz.

HT: Mary Meets Dolly

There’s a great article in Friday’s Chicago Tribune about a home for unwed mothers run by the Missionaries of Charity in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.

The article is titled “Sanctuary for moms-to-be”, and is subtitled, “Nuns in Chicago offer unwed mothers safety and support during their pregnancies.”

Read it here.

LifeNews reports on a local case with some very interesting implications:

Pro-Life Groups Support Illinois Parents’ Wrongful Embryo Death Lawsuit

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 21, 2006

Chicago, IL (LifeNews.com) — Several pro-life organizations have filed legal briefs in support of a lawsuit filed by Illinois parents in connection with an in vitro fertilization clinic’s destruction of their human embryos. The lawsuit is one of the first of its kind in which a fertility clinic is under fire for destroying human embryos without the consent of the parents.

Alison Miller and Todd Parrish filed a lawsuit against the Center for Human Reproduction (CHR) in Chicago over the wrongful death of their frozen embryos.

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Last night we got an e-mail from a fellow named Dave:

It has recently come to my attention that my favorite grocery store, Albertsons is issuing canned apologies to anyone who calls or writes criticizing Patricia Heaton. In others words they make efforts to apologize for being associated with a pro life spokesman but couldn’t care less for their pro life customers. There was a similar incident reagarding the Terry Schiavo affair. Could you mention in your publications for suscribers to take a minute to contact Albertsons Customer Service or albertsons.com to voice their support for recent statements made by Patricia Heaton?

We’d be glad to. The customer service number for Albertsons — the parent company of Jewel-Osco — is 877-932-7948.

Some background info: Actress Patricia Heaton has been a spokeswoman for Feminists for Life for the past several years. She’s also been doing commercials for Albertsons in recent years. Within the past few weeks, she appeared in a TV commercial that encouraged Missouri residents to vote no on Amendment 2, which makes human cloning a constitutional right. (You can view the commercial here.)

You can get a sense of the level of hostility Heaton is facing here (more…)

***scroll for updates***

LifeSite posted yesterday the second installment of its two-part interview with Dr. Peter Hollands, the Chief Science Officer of the UK Cord Blood Bank. (Part one is here.)

As pro-lifers have been saying for years, the future of stem cell technology isn’t in embryonic stem cells, but adult stem cells — a major sub-category of which are umbilical cord stem cells. (These are obtained from a baby’s umbilical cord following delivery.)

Hollands states:

As a scientist, and even as a lay person, it is simple to see that cord blood as a source of stem cells for therapy and research is the easiest route to take. We have a never ending supply of cord blood and if we can start to collect and store this valuable resource instead of discarding it then we will start to make real progress in stem cell therapy and research…

To claim that there are enough “spare” embryos in IVF clinics is nonsense. These embryos could not support the demand for stem cell transplants.

Hollands goes on to plainly state a fact that cannot be said often enough:

It is important to note that embryonic stem cells have never been used to treat anyone and that there are no plans to do so. In the UK for example we have invested millions in a national stem cell bank which contains approximately 6 different embryonic stem cell lines none of which are suitable for transplant [emphasis added].

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JivinJ blogged last week on “possibly the worst pro-choice column I have ever read”.

The column, titled “Wad of cells does not equate to human life, abortion isn’t murder”, was written by Shane Krouse, a Michigan State sophomore, and appeared in The State News, an MSU paper.

Krouse writes:

If anything, a fetus is merely a parasitical creature that uses the mother as its host.

Tapeworms are parasites that house themselves in the intestinal tracts of humans, feeding off the food the host consumes. Comparatively, a fetus is little more than a tapeworm. It is quite common for humans to annihilate parasites with medications or toxins, so why not allow for fetuses to suffer the same fate?

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3D Ultrasound

So sweet and beautiful!

JivinJ gives an update:

Heh.

If this really were a game, the “Adult” team could be justifiably accused of running up the score.

Potentially life-saving research, however, isn’t a game. That’s why it’s so terribly important to pursue avenues that are most likely to yield positive results.

Embryonic stem cell research has been repeatedly shown to hold little scientific promise. Not to mention that it reduces small human beings to the level of disposable specimens.

On the other hand, adult stem cell research has been repeatedly proven to hold remarkable scientific promise. And the whole “disposable specimen” issue is a non-factor. (See here and here for a smattering of references.)

Yet we “far right anti-choicers” are not infrequently dismissed as a bunch of Galileo-condemning, evolution-denying, life-begins-at-conception-believing dupes.

Perhaps this helps explain why our world is still plagued by the ridiculous notion that Christianity and science are incompatible.

I just finished reading a Mary Higgin’s Clark book - a little light reading before bed.  Part of the plot involved an embryo mix up at an in vitro clinic which got me thinking about the logic behind, “my body, my choice.”

Let’s say there was a mix up at an in vitro clinic where a woman found out that she was not carrying her own baby.  Could she have an abortion if she decided she did not want to carry someone else’s baby?  Or should the biological mother have a say in the life or death of her own child?

Similarly, would a surrogate mother have the right to abort the baby in her womb if decided she didn’t want to be pregnant anymore?  What if the pregnancy was making her ill?  Or what if her life was “at risk” because of the pregnancy?  After all it’s her body.  Or what if the biological mother of the baby decided she didn’t want her baby anymore.  Could she force the surrogate mother to get an abortion?

Planned Parenthood says, “Every Child A Wanted Child.”  But wanted by whom?

It gets complicated.  But it helps to bring up the ultimate question:  Is an embryo a separate human being?  If not, who has rights to it?  If yes, then should it be protected?

Today we received a strange request via e-mail at the Pro-Life Action League, Generations for Life’s parent organization. It was from a woman purportedly seeking a surrogate mother for some frozen embryos, which she refered to as “fertilized eggs” and “potential humans.” She said she’d pay $8,000 for this service, which she admitted was quite a lot less than the going rate.

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