Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Thomas More Society Gets Preliminary Injunction to Allow Prayer at Abortion Clinic

Thomas More Society Gets Preliminary Injunction to Allow Prayer at Abortion Clinic - Christian Newswire: The dispute arose when lead plaintiff, Dr. Bartolo Spano, along with other local residents were forbidden from praying and picketing outside the front entrance of the Crist Clinic for Women --Jacksonville, North Carolina's lone abortion facility.

'via Blog this'

Beyond Roe and Doe

Conflict Of Interest: In the mind of Black America, Roe v. Wade, is at best America's way of providing a "socioeconomic safety net" for the poor or those vulnerable to poverty from falling below a certain status level or deeper into a tax-payer padded pit that's both legal and my right to choose when I can't see my way out of a bad situation.

At worst Roe v. Wade is just the latest weapon America is using to oppress the personhood of communities of color for her own personal profit. The bottom line is Black America has no faith in America and no hope of ever participating in the American Dream. Roe v. Wade can be overturned today and Black America, Planned Parenthood's #1 target and #1 customer, will still struggle with a perpetual pain and an incurable wound which refuses to be healed.

Related: Blacks and Roe v. Wade

'via Blog this'

Science Writer Avoids The Point of Writer's Media Stem Cell Bias Charge

Science Writer Avoids The Point of My Media Stem Cell Bias Charge » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: "Imagine if a human trial using embryonic stem cells had shown improvement to damaged human hearts. You can just see the banner headline in the New York Times and the breathless announcements on the network news. The thought experiment makes blatantly obvious the malpractice that plagues reporting in this field—which is doubly regrettable, since not only are editors and reporters undermining the media’s already tarnished reputation for objectivity, but many suffering people and their families still have not heard the hopeful news generated by the ethical exploration of regenerative medicine."

'via Blog this'

Congressional Bill Bans Sex-Selection, Race-Based Abortions

Congressional Bill Bans Sex-Selection, Race-Based Abortions | LifeNews.com: Congressman Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, has brought back the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act. The measure would prohibit knowingly performing or financing sex-selection or race-based abortions. Franks has said the bill is needed because abortions on black babies are done at much higher rates than abortions on babies of other races.

'via Blog this'

Maryland pro-lifers to carry 720 crosses at Carhart late-term facility

Maryland pro-lifers to carry 720 crosses at Carhart late-term facility | LifeSiteNews.com: Maryland Coalition for Life has announced plans for a pro-life demonstration on December 5th at late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart’s office in Germantown.

'via Blog this'

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Organization stops supporting embryonic stem cell research

Organizations can stop supporting embryonic stem cell research | Stem Cell Research Cures: The list of organizations that support embryonic stem cell research grew shorter recently when one organization, CureSearch for Children (formerly the National Childhood Cancer Foundation) notified us of a change in policy. Though they signed a letter to Congress back in 1999 supporting the legality and federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, their policy has been changed: "As the Foundation reviews requests for funding and makes decisions about types of funding to support, CureSearch for Children’s Cancer neither supports, nor provides funds for embryonic stem cell research."

'via Blog this'

A Response to Oregon's Governor on Capital Punishment

Dennis Prager: A Response to Oregon's Governor on Capital Punishment: The governor of Oregon, John Kitzhaber, announced last week that he would not allow any more executions in his state during his time in office.

Editor: This is the state that let's people kill themselves as
"compassionate care." There's more compassion for killers than for the terminally ill!


'via Blog this'

PETA equates eating Thanksgiving turkeys with eating human babies

PETA equates eating Thanksgiving turkeys with eating human babies | LifeSiteNews.com: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals borrows pro-life terminology to equalize animals with humans.

'via Blog this'

The Onion attempts to explain China's one-child policy, forced abortion

Son, It's Time We Have A Talk About Where Babies Go | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "You know how sometimes I complain about there being too many toys in your room, and how I say that they're making a mess, and in order to not make such a mess, you might need to throw some of your toys out? Well, China is kind of like that, too. . . . Nobody should have to get rid of anything they love."

'via Blog this'

Abortion-immigration dynamic

BLOM & BELL: Abortion-immigration dynamic - Washington Times: English writer G.K. Chesterton said, “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed.” Because of this, immigration is a rich part of American heritage. Immigrants who believe the creed can truly become Americans. The same is not as true of an immigrant to an ethnic nation like France. Waves of immigrants - Germans, Irish, Italians and Hispanics - have entered this country and now serve as a shield against the effects of abortion.

'via Blog this'

Monday, November 28, 2011

Searching for longevity, iPS cells created from 110-year-old people

In search for key to longevity, iPS cells created from 110-year-old people: Aiming to discover the key to longevity, a team of Keio University researchers in Japan has succeeded in creating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) from the blood of people aged 110 or older.

'via Blog this'

Candidates choose life in Iowa

Kathryn Lopez: "Culture is downstream from politics," is how former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum put it before baring his soul at the recent Iowa forum. When asked to share personal stories about challenges they've faced, Santorum chose to talk about fatherhood and his youngest daughter, Isabella Maria, who was born with a condition known as Trisomy 18.

Santorum dealt with the stress of the diagnosis with a novel but painful method: "To not love her ... because it wouldn't hurt as much if I lost her," he remembered. Holding her finger as she lay on an emergency room table at 5 months of age, Santorum realized his mistake.

'via Blog this'

2nd annual index of family belonging and rejection

Marriage and Religion Research Institute: The action of parents determines the belonging or rejection score: whether they marry and belong to each other, or whether they reject one another through divorce or otherwise. Rejection leaves children without married parents committed to one another and to the intact family in which the child was to be brought up.

'via Blog this'

Sexual temptation: 3 facts every Christian should know

  1. We are targeted for sexual immorality.
  2. We are vulnerable to sexual immorality.
  3. We are fully responsible for our moral choices.
Resources: The Purity Principle (EPM newsletter, pages 14-15)

Embryo relinquishment for family building – what's in a name?

BioNews - Embryo relinquishment for family building – what's in a name?: In the US the relinquishment of embryos for family building is the subject of intense ideological debate. This has occurred not least because of the competing discourses of – on the one hand – a model of 'embryo donation', the traditional model espoused by some fertility professionals that to a large extent promotes anonymous donation, and - on the other - a model of 'embryo adoption', promoted by faith-based infant adoption programmes that have branched out into home-finding for unused embryos. The latter incorporates certain aspects of contemporary infant adoption placement practices, such as enabling relinquishing couples to choose recipient families for their embryos, making available information on genetic origins for infants conceived as a result, and promoting information-exchange and ongoing contact between relinquishing and recipient families.

'via Blog this'

Mouse fetal stem cells mend mum's broken heart

BioNews - Mouse fetal stem cells mend mum's broken heart: Mouse fetal stem cells can travel from the placenta to heal their mother's damaged heart, US scientists have found. The discovery may explain why some women who suffer heart failure during or shortly after pregnancy recover faster, and offers hope for new treatment methods using human fetal stem cells.

'via Blog this'

It's Time To Think Differently About Adoption

It's Time To Think Differently About Adoption | Fox News: Adoption is an important option that is not discussed nearly enough in the public debate about choice. While some argue that a “woman’s right to choose” is in peril, others argue that we are becoming a morally bankrupt society as if we are forced to choose between a woman and her unborn child. Rarely is the case for adoption made with the same vigor as the case for abortion.

'via Blog this'

Personhood measure cleared in Calif.

Anti-abortion personhood measure cleared in Calif.: Proponents of a measure that would ban abortions by giving equal rights to fetuses have been cleared to gather signatures in California. The push comes on the heels of a similar effort rejected by voters in Mississippi earlier this month. Mississippi's measure would have banned abortion, and could have deterred doctors from doing in vitro fertilization. It also could have made some birth control illegal. Union City-based California Civil Rights Foundation must collect more than 807,000 signatures by April to qualify for the November 2012 ballot.

Related:
Georgia has personhood bills too
3rd time the charm for Colorado?
Wisconsin pro-lifers launch personhood amendment effort


Editor: Am I missing something? Have personhood amendments been successfully enacted anywhere? If not, why do we keep setting ourselves up for defeat?

Should parents allow their teens to have sex in their homes?

Should parents allow their teens to have sex in their homes? - Daily Dose: A Boston Globe blog with health news, advice, and information.: It’s an unwritten rule in America that teens don’t discuss their sex lives with their parents -- except, perhaps, to obtain contraception -- and that they don’t invite their boyfriends or girlfriends to sleep over in their rooms, at least when mom and dad are at home. Yet in Holland, two-thirds of Dutch teenagers ages 15 to 17 reported in a national survey that their parents allow their significant other to spend the night in their bedrooms, and girls were just as likely as boys to gain this permission.

'via Blog this'

Operation marks another step downward in stem cell research

Operation marks another step forward in stem cell research - CNN.com: In an operation than lasted about four hours, Richard Grosjean received five injections into the cervical, or neck, area of his spinal cord, each delivering 100,000 cells. The cells came from Maryland-based biotech company Neuralstem, which is funding this clinical trial and devised a procedure to grow millions and millions of motor neuron cells from the donated spinal cord tissue of an 8-week-old aborted fetus.

These are not embryonic stem cells, like the ones used by California-based company Geron, which has injected cells grown from human embryonic stem cells into the spines of at least four patients with complete spinal cord injuries.

Embryonic stem cells have the ability to become any type of cell in the body. One week ago, Geron decided to stop its trial because it was too expensive to continue.

The cells in this ALS trial were taken from the spinal cord of the fetus, so they have already gone down the path of becoming nerve cells. Researchers are hoping to show that injecting neural stem cells -- the precursors to nerve cells -- into the spinal cord of ALS patients is safe.

'via Blog this'

Daily Kos Calls Santorum's Pro-Life Position "Sharia Law"

Daily Kos Calls Santorum's Pro-Life Position "Sharia Law" | LifeNews.com: The Daily Kos covered the Saturday night GOP debate in Iowa with a typical headline “Republicans pander to American Taliban.”

'via Blog this'

Uh oh, here comes Climategate II!

Uh oh, global warming loons: here comes Climategate II! – Telegraph Blogs: Two years after the Climategate, a further batch of emails has been leaked onto the internet by a person – or persons – unknown. And as before, they show the "scientists" at the heart of the Man-Made Global Warming industry in a most unflattering light. . . . [A]ll your favourite Climategate characters are here, once again caught red-handed in a series of emails exaggerating the extent of Anthropogenic Global Warming, while privately admitting to one another that the evidence is nowhere near as a strong as they'd like it to be. In other words, what these emails confirm is that the great man-made global warming scare is not about science but about political activism.

'via Blog this'

Cain changes mind, signs pro-life pledge

Cain changes mind, signs pro-life pledge | LifeSiteNews.com: In a recent statement explaining his new decision to sign, Herman Cain said he would do “everything that a President can do constitutionally to advance the culture of life.”

'via Blog this'

Standing up for the pre-born while sitting in a wheelchair

Standing up for the pre-born while sitting in a wheelchair | LifeSiteNews.com: Taylor Hyatt is a 19-year-old girl who has been engaging the public on abortion through “Choice” Chain, working as a part of both Carleton Lifeline and the youth activist group “Ottawa Against Abortion.” However, she faces difficulties that most pro-life activists do not: she has the spastic diplegia cerebral palsy. She uses a computer to write, uses a wheelchair, and can only walk short distances with a walker. Yet, no obstacle is strong enough to deter Taylor from speaking out on behalf of those that are more vulnerable than her.

'via Blog this'

The horror of selective abortion

Horror: 32-week unborn twins killed after hospital accidentally aborts healthy twin | LifeSiteNews.com: A 32-week set of twins were both aborted after staff at an Australian hospital initially killed the healthy twin by accident, and then also aborted the sick sibling after realizing their mistake, reports the Herald Sun.

The paper reports that the mother of the children was told that one of her twin children had a congenital heart defect that would require years of surgery, and that the child may not survive. After she decided to have the child aborted, doctors then gave the wrong child the lethal injection.

Related: Hospital says sorry for baby's death . . . for the death of the healthy one, not for aborting the one with a heart defect (just to be clear)

'via Blog this'

The Six Days of Creation and Evolutionary Theory: Are They Compatible?

The Six Days of Creation and Evolutionary Theory: Are They Compatible? - Answers in Genesis: The claim that no conflict exists between biblical Christianity and proponents of evolutionary theory is false. What is at stake, if the idea of billions of years of evolution is true, is nothing less than the authority of Scripture and the character of God.

'via Blog this'

Judging the conservative psyche

BioEdge: Bad news for conservatives!: People who have conservative moral judgements on a number of hot-button issues tend to have the “dark and socially destructive” personality traits of machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy, according to an article in the journal Neuroethics.

Related "research:"
Easily grossed out? Obviously you're conservative
How to tell a liberal from a conservative: check out their rooms
Voting patterns genetically determined?
Liberals are smarter, say neuroscientists

'via Blog this'

New documentary explores pain of children of anonymous sperm donors

BioEdge: New doco explores pain of children of anonymous sperm donors: Anonymous Father's Day features the reflections of now adult children fathered anonymously. They share the pain, longing and uncertainties created by the secrecy of their conceptions. The producers have taken a rather negative view of the IVF industry.

'via Blog this'

All the News That’s Fit to Forget

All the News That’s Fit to Forget | The Weekly Standard: Year after year, the media dutifully informed readers and viewers that [embryonic stem cell] cures were imminent. When the FDA finally did approve a tiny human trial for 10 patients in January 2009, the news exploded around the world. This was it: The era of embryonic stem cell therapy had arrived!

Not exactly. Last week, Geron issued a terse statement announcing it was not only canceling the study, but abandoning the embryonic stem cell field altogether for financial reasons.

You would think Geron’s failure would be very big news. Instead, it turns out that the mainstream media pay attention only when embryonic stem cell research seems to be succeeding—so far, almost exclusively in animal studies. When, as here, it crashes and burns, it is scarcely news at all. More commentary from Wesley Smith

'via Blog this'

Pro-Life Prayer-a-Day

Join in praying specifically for these issues this week:

1. For women who are having ultrasounds at pregnancy centers around the country to see the image of the developing child, hear the heartbeat, and choose life for the child.

2. For pastors to have courage to confront the moral issue of abortion from their pulpits, yet communicate the grace and mercy that God provides to those who have participated in abortion.

3. For the salvation of men and women involved in crisis pregnancy situations.

4. For those who minister to post-abortive men and women through Biblical post-abortion counseling.

5. For maternity homes throughout the country that offer a place of safely and security to pregnant women.

6. For the governing boards of life-affirming ministries to have wisdom in guiding the ministries where they serve. For our government officials to see the importance of protecting life from conception to natural death.

The Fred Meijer that few knew

Superstore magnate Fred Meijer, who died this past week, was not afraid to take risks. Neither was he your typical entrepreneur. In the introduction to the 1995 book Fred Meijer In His Own Words, his son Hank described him as a “puritan with a rebel’s disdain for convention." He may have inherited that rebellious streak from his maternal grandfather, Gerhard Mantel, a man he met only once as a child.

Mantel, who remained in the Netherlands, associated with Dutch anarchists and socialists. He was a vegetarian, an advocate of birth control, women’s rights and a pacifist. He opposed Nazism, the church and capitalism. Meijer, though clearly a capitalist, shared some of his grandfather’s concern for the disadvantaged and skepticism of government. He was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and favored a woman’s right to choose abortion.

As his wealth grew, so did his influence. He became active in the Urban League and advocated for civil rights and affirmative action. He was not overly religious but was interested in religion, figuring there were positive things in all organized faiths. He once recalled that a prominent member of the community, worried about Meijer’s salvation, once told his wife, Lena, “We have to get Fred right with Jesus." mLive

Friday, November 18, 2011

Trans lesbian couple marry after one half has sex change

Trans lesbian couple marry after one half has sex change | News | The Christian Institute: Two divorced fathers who became a transsexual ‘lesbian’ couple have been allowed to legally marry after one of the men had a sex change operation.

Paul, 65, now known as Jenny-Anne Bishop, and Alan, 68, now named Elen Heart, initially divorced their wives and lived together as a gay couple. They then both became transsexuals and lived as a ‘lesbian’ couple.

In the UK same-sex couples cannot legally marry but Paul underwent a sex change operation last year. Under the Gender Recognition Act a transsexual with a gender recognition certificate can marry according to their assumed sex.

Editor: I'm confused.

'via Blog this'

The Face of Modern Slavery

The Face of Modern Slavery - NYTimes.com: But the scale is larger today than 19th-century slavery. By Nicholas Kristof's calculations, at least 10 times as many girls are now trafficked into brothels annually as African slaves were transported to the New World in the peak years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

'via Blog this'

Children Conceived After Father’s Death Draw High Court Review

Children Conceived After Father’s Death Draw High Court Review - Businessweek: In a case that will determine how a Depression-era law applies in an age of reproductive technology, the justices said today they will review a ruling that the Obama administration contends improperly expanded eligibility for benefits.

'via Blog this'

Geron Bails Out of Stem Cells

Geron Bails Out of Stem Cells - ScienceInsider: Stephen Kelsey, Geron's chief medical officer, said that so far patients showed neither significant side effects nor any improvement in their condition. Given the small scale of the study, he said, stopping early may not be such a loss. "We applied for and received permission to run a very small safety study with a low dose of cells," he said. "We're halfway through, and the data have been remarkably consistent. We will be reporting the results, and it will be a fair reflection of what would have happened if we had completed the study."

Related: Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week (see page 3)

'via Blog this'

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Faith is No. 1 reason for teens' abstinence

Baptist Press - Faith is No. 1 reason for teens' abstinence - News with a Christian Perspective: The most frequent reason teenagers give for abstaining from sex is that the behavior is against their religion or morals, according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Oct. 12. Teenagers were least likely to choose "don't want to get a sexually transmitted disease" as the reason for not having had sex.

"Adults have to decide whether teenagers are like barnyard animals, incapable of moral decision-making and at the mercy of primal urges," Richard Ross, cofounder of the True Love Waits abstinence movement, said. "Adults who tend to believe that assume all we can do is try to prevent some of the consequences of their amoral behavior."

Start a Church Adoption Fund

FRC Blog » Start a Church Adoption Fund: One of the most daunting obstacles to adoption is its up-front cost, which can be as much as $40,000 per child. Although the federal adoption tax credit is very helpful, it does not cover what can be, for families of ordinary means, a great financial challenge.

It’s for that reason that the adoption ministry Lifesong (a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) has set-up a program to help churches develop adoption funds. An adoption fund is a designated line-item in a church’s budget that helps church members pay for their adoption costs, either through a direct financial gift or low-or no-interest loan.

Related:

Nicholas Kristof and Toddlers: When You Really Need a Fact Checker

Nicholas Kristof and Toddlers: When You Really Need a Fact Checker « Public Discourse: It took only a 30-second Google search to demolish the thesis that the birth of the world’s 7 billionth person is the result of too much unprotected sex that contributes to all these ills. The 30-second search confirms that population growth is not fueled by an excess of babies, as Kristof contends; it is fueled by more folks living longer than ever.

Related: Nicholas Kristof was wrong

'via Blog this'

Science Can Help Define Personhood

RealClearReligion - Science Can Help Define Personhood: Scientists define an organism as a complex structure of interdependent elements constituted to carry on the activities of life by separately-functioning but mutually dependant organs (to paraphrase from the National Institutes of Health). The human zygote meets this definition with ease.

'via Blog this'

All the Married Ladies: A Response to Kate Bolick

All the Married Ladies: A Response to Kate Bolick | Politicalistas: Though I was deep in the throes of childbirth, I couldn’t help smiling at the nurse’s shocked face. She’d noticed my wedding ring. “You’re married?” She paused, and I watched her count backward on her fingers. “This baby wasn’t conceived until after we were married” I gasped, as another contraction took hold. The look on her face made me laugh out loud, despite the pain. “You waited?” She was shocked. “I deliver babies every day and I never see married couples in here!”

'via Blog this'

An Economic Case for More Kids?

An Economic Case for More Kids? « Public Discourse: Bryan Caplan’s latest book argues that we don’t need to over-invest time and money on our kids, because our lasting influence on their characters is negligible, while their contribution to our material well-being is significant.

'via Blog this'

Pastors say porn impacts their churches, but many unsure to what degree

Pastors say porn impacts their churches, but many are not sure to what degree: Though pastors know generally that pornography is harmful, many may not realize that it is coming into the homes of their members. Large numbers of church attendees are included in the nearly half of all Internet users who visit porn sites. We were surprised that so many were unable or unwilling to estimate considering how pervasive pornography is inside the church. If a third think that less than 10 percent of the men are looking at porn and almost a half have aren’t sure, we may very well have a lack of awareness of porn’s presence. Studies show that committed Christians engage pornography less, but the issue is still a big one that the church must face.

'via Blog this'

The Persecution of Religion Has Begun

The Persecution of Religion Has Begun: The persecution of religion in the United States will be a tight-lipped campaign of secularist inspiration in which the coercive power of the state is brought to bear on church-related institutions to act against conscience or go out of business.

'via Blog this'

Jesus the Economist? Or Something Else?

FRC Blog » Jesus the Economist? Or Something Else?: Biblical propositions about Him are striking enough without the other claims being made about Jesus in the political world, which are many. Consider some recent headlines:

“Occupy London are true followers of Jesus, even if they despise religion”
“What Would Jesus Drive?”
“Best-selling socialist publication of all time remains the Bible”
“Jesus was a Communist” – new movie by Matthew Modine
“From Jesus’ Socialism to Capitalist Christianity”
“Marx, Capitalism, and Jesus”
“What Would Jesus Hack?”
“Was Jesus an Early Applied Economist?”

'via Blog this'

40 Days reports more than 700 babies saved

LIFE DIGEST: 40 Days reports more than 700 babies saved: As of Nov. 16, the 40 Days staff had received reports of 732 unborn babies protected from abortion during its latest campaign, which ran from Sept. 28 to Nov. 6. More than 5,000 unborn children have been saved from abortion since the 40 Days effort began in Texas in 2004. The effort went national in 2007. The semi-annual campaign – which focuses on peaceful, pro-life prayer vigils outside abortion clinics – was held at a record 301 sites this fall.

'via Blog this'

The American-Western Europe Values Gap

Americans also distinguish themselves from Western Europeans on views about the importance of religion. Half of Americans deem religion very important in their lives; fewer than a quarter in Spain (22%), Germany (21%), Britain (17%) and France (13%) share this view.

Moreover, Americans are far more inclined than Western Europeans to say it is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values; 53% say this is the case in the U.S., compared with just one-third in Germany, 20% in Britain, 19% in Spain and 15% in France. Pew Forum

Parents beware: ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn’ features disturbing treatment of abortion

In a society that largely accepts abortion-on-demand, let alone abortion to save the mother’s life, the storyline comes across as strongly counter-cultural. Indeed, the book sparked fan protests over a perceived “anti-abortion” theme when it was released in 2008.

But Dr. Christine Schintgen, assistant professor of literature, argues that the pro-life angle is “superficial” and is “counter-balanced” by stronger anti-life messages that are communicated by the power of imagery.

She noted that director Bill Condon has described Breaking Dawn – Part I as a combination of romance and horror. But according to Schintgen, “There’s a way in which the fetus acts as the source of the horror.”

Schintgen emphasized that the example of Bella’s heroic act is counter-balanced by Edward’s intense efforts to coerce her into an abortion. She said Edward’s actions are a particularly strong counter-witness given that he is repeatedly held up for his “traditional” values, and served as the primary model of purity for those contending the books carry a chastity message. LifeSiteNews

LIFE celebrates their best covers

As LIFE magazine approaches its 75th anniversary, LIFE presents, in chronological order, the 75 most moving, most striking, most beautiful LIFE covers of all time, as chosen by the site’s editors. This is the cover for April 30, 1965: The Days Before Birth. Sixteen photos excerpted from Swedish photojournalist Lennart Nilsson’s book A Life Is Born were published in the April 30, 1965, issue of LIFE — but perhaps none as breathtaking or memorable as this cover image. Every one of the 8 million copies of LIFE printed sold out with four days.

Parental Rights Amendment

PRA Letter to House 11-15-2011: The PRA would amend the U.S. Constitution to declare that “the liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children” is a “fundamental right.” Proponents of the PRA have explicitly argued that “direct the upbringing” must be very broadly construed, and would include, among many other things, “health care” decisions.) The amendment goes on to say that no level of government may “infringe upon this right” except by “demonstrating that its governmental interest . . . is of the highest order and not otherwise served.”

'via Blog this'

Republican Candidates on Abortion

Republican Candidates on Abortion - Yahoo! News: It is essential to have a sense of where the candidates stand on abortion before voting.

'via Blog this'

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

White House Knew Obamacare Abortion Funding "Ban" a Sham

White House Knew Obamacare Abortion Funding "Ban" a Sham | LifeNews.com: Efforts by the watchdog group Judicial Watch to demand that Justice Elena Kagan recuse herself when the Affordable Care Act (Health Care Reform) is brought before the Supreme Court later this year resulted in the release of emails between Kagan (back when she was Solicitor General) and a top Department of Justice official.

They unsurprisingly, confirm what pro-lifers have been saying all along about the phony agreement which Democrats have claimed prevented health care reform from creating new abortion funding streams.

'via Blog this'

Mercury reg. proposal 'watering down pro-life message'

Mercury reg. proposal 'watering down pro-life message' (OneNewsNow.com): The Evangelical Environmental Network claims one in six babies born in America are exposed to harmful levels of mercury through their mother's consumption of fish that ingest mercury from power plants. They're casting it as a pro-life issue.

Cal Beisner, founder and national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, says the left-leaning group is "grossly" exaggerating the numbers that are actually more like one in 1,000. "In abortion, you have the intentional killing of a baby in every procedure, and to compare that with a hardly detectable delay in neurological development that disappears in two to seven years we think is quite mistaken, and we recognize that it's an attempt really to water down the pro-life message."

Extreme Weather Events Are Killing Fewer People Than Ever Before

Reason Foundation - Extreme Weather Events Are Killing Fewer People Than Ever Before: Despite concerns about global warming and a large increase in the number of reported storms and droughts, the world’s death rate from extreme weather events was lower from 2000 to 2010 than it has been in any decade since 1900.

'via Blog this'

“Abortion Express Train” derailed!

Pro-Life Senators, NRLC Derail “Abortion Express Train” in Senate! | NRL News Today: To the surprise of many, an attempt by Senate Democrat leaders to fast-track a funding bill laden with pro-abortion provisions today ran into an immovable procedural wall — erected by a group of pro-life senators with the strong encouragement of National Right to Life.

'via Blog this'

Geron Shutting Down Stem Cell Clinical Trial

Geron Is Shutting Down Its Stem Cell Clinical Trial - NYTimes.com: There were “no signs” that the treatment was helping the patients. But that was not expected in the initial trial, which was mainly looking at safety. And so far, he said, there had been no sign of safety problems.

National Adoption Month: Be a Child's Hope

National Adoption Month: You Can Be a Child's Hope | LifeNews.com: For Christians, adoption should be second nature. There is no salvation without spiritual adoption. And yet, a small number of orphaned children, right here in the United States of America, await salvation in the form of physical adoption and the love that flows from this form of beautiful sacrifice.

'via Blog this'

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Was Darwin right? Free Download

Origin of the Species - Video Download - Answers Bookstore: Did you know that natural selection and beneficial mutations do not support the “theory” of evolution? Rather they confirm the biblical accounts of creation, the Fall of Adam and Eve in sin, and the Flood of Noah’s day.

'via Blog this'

After 15 years and $150 million Geron stops experimenting on human embryonic stem cells

After 15 years and $150 million Geron stops experimenting on human embryonic stem cells: The first company ever permitted to test human embryonic stem cells on people, announced Monday it is halting the studies to focus on developing two cancer drugs. Researchers have long held out hope that embryonic stem cells would be the key to treating a variety of ailments because they can turn into any type of tissue in the body and be reproduced in vast quantities in laboratories. But studies to develop treatments from them have been subject to delays in part because of ethical concerns surrounding the cells, which are harvested from discarded 3-to-5-day-old embryos. Monday's decision throws into question the future of the most-advanced study so far and puts a cloud over the commercial viability of stem cell treatments.

Editor: What happens to those already in the study?

'via Blog this'

Stem Cells Improve Heart Function in Heart Failure Patients

Stem Cells Iprove Heart Function in Heart Failure Patients - ABC News: "For the first time, stem cells from patients' own hearts have been shown to battle heart failure. In a small study of 16 patients, cardiac stem cells improved heart function and reduced the amount of tissue damage in patients with heart failure -- a disabling and lethal condition caused by the death of heart muscle tissue.

'via Blog this'

Monday, November 14, 2011

Breast-milk stem cells may bypass ethical dilemmas

Breast-milk stem cells may bypass ethical dilemmas - health - 14 November 2011 - New Scientist: Peter Hartmann at the University of Western Australia in Crawley and his colleagues first announced the discovery of stem cells in breast milk in 2008. Now they have grown them in the lab and shown that they can turn into cells representative of all three embryonic germ layers, called the endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm – a defining property of embryonic stem cells.

'via Blog this'

Abortion ground for divorce?

Abortion ground for divorce, rules HC - Indian Express: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled that a wife not informing about the factum of abortion undergone by her to her husband and in-law amounted to act of cruelty.

Editor: But is it also cruelty for a husband and the in-laws to force a woman to have an abortion when the unborn child is a girl?

'via Blog this'

Romney's political shifts stir criticism

Romney's political shifts stir criticism - Boston.com: With Romney's positions evolving on everything from abortion to gay rights, embryonic stem cell research to health care, the Republican presidential candidate has faced charges of political opportunism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

'via Blog this'

"Abortion can be life enriching"

It's an idea, among many, that Linda Weber discusses in her book, Life Choices: The Teachings of Abortion. Weber was one of the founding members in 1973 of Boulder Valley Women's Health, then Boulder Valley Clinic, the first clinic in Colorado to offer abortions. 

"The choice to say no to a pregnancy creates an opening for other things to happen in a person's life," she says. "Life becomes more than it was when she made the decision ... job, creative endeavor, relationship, another pregnancy. There is a creation of something that came from saying no. I think life is one whole thing. Life is one unity and has many different aspects," she says. "I wanted to bring that perspective (to) a discussion of abortion."

Weber's choice of the word "life" is intentional. "I've been concerned for some time about the monopolization of the word 'life' by people who are anti-abortion," she says. "I think it's inappropriate. We need to reclaim that." Daily Camera

Editor: Oh, the leaps of faith that the religious radical makes!

Personhood and IVF

Conflict Of Interest: Personhood amendments will not ban or outlaw in vitro fertilization. They will require ethical standards to forbid the intentional mass production, genetic selection and harvesting of embryos for research.

'via Blog this'

Abortionist and Baptist minister: "Am I killing? Yes, I am. I know that."

Late term abortionist and Baptist Minister Dr. Curtis Boyd said that when he performs abortions he is "killing," and he has no issues with it whatsoever. "Am I killing? Yes, I am. I know that," Boyd said during a video interview with the news station following the opening of the Southwestern Women's Surgery Center abortion facility. By law, Boyd must have a surgery center in order to abort a child more than 16 weeks along.

The abortionist said he was a friend of the late Dr. George Tiller, a fellow later-term abortionist in Witchita, Kansas, who was gunned down earlier this year. Like Tiller he professes to be a Christian who prays about the abortions he does. Boyd told WFAA-TV he is an ordained Baptist minister who has now joined the Unitarian church. He said he prays often. "I'll ask that the spirit of this pregnancy be returned to God with love and understanding," he said. LifeSiteNews

Editor: He says he's done abortions on girls as young as 9 and 10. Did he report their pregnancies to authorities? The only way a girl that young is pregnant is by rape. Instead of reporting the abuse he enabled it to go on. Nice guy.

Pro-Life Prayer-A-Day

Join in praying for these issues:

Monday: For those who invest their lives in the service of others at adoption agencies, both domestic and international, by offering free support to families who cannot, for whatever reason, parent their children.

Tuesday: For sidewalk counselors at abortion clinics to be encouraged as they provide "last front line" outside abortion clinics, offering life-affirming options to individuals.

Wednesday: For families that adopt children with medical, physical and/or emotional challenges to have a special measure of grace and patience with these children.

Thursday: For women who are experiencing post-abortion trauma, spiritually, emotionally and/or physically.

Friday: For men who are experiencing post-abortion trauma, spiritually or emotionally.

Saturday: For the extended families of babies who were aborted even after the family tried to encourage the mother to choose life.

Sunday: For women who are victims of sexual assault (by anyone -stranger, intimate partner, or from incest) who become pregnant as a result of the assault to have the support they need to choose life for their child rather than abortion.

Friday, November 11, 2011

The right to riot

Jonah Goldberg: Riots "aren't simply a product of football culture, they're a product of a campus culture that teaches students they have an absolute right to whatever their hearts desire, starting with a fun-filled college experience and, afterwards, a rewarding career.

"Imbued with a sense of victimhood, entitlement and cultivated grievance that can only be taught, their preferred response to inconvenience is a temper tantrum. Sometimes, as with the Penn State riots, they are physical. Other times, they are intellectual or theatrical. But the tantrums are always self-justifying. Arguments are correct not if they conform to facts and reason, but if they are passionately held. Unfairness is measured by the intensity of one's feelings."

'via Blog this'

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Victory in Mississippi

Election Trifecta: Mississippi Pro-Lifers now control both Houses and retain Governor’s Office | NRL News Today: Mississippi Right to Life is pleased with the victory of so many pro-life candidates in yesterday’s elections. As a result of Tuesday’s elections there are now a majority of pro-lifers in the House and the Senate and one pro-life governor was replaced with another pro-life governor. “We are very happy to see the election of pro-life candidates to all levels of government,” stated Barbara Whitehead, President of Mississippi Right to Life “We flipped the House and increased the number of pro-lifers in the Senate. Now the real work begins.”

'via Blog this'

Mississippi Didn't Need Personhood Amendment to Ban Abortion

Mississippi Didn't Need Personhood Amendment to Ban Abortion | LifeNews.com: John McCormack, a pro-life writer at the Weekly Standard, a conservative publication, says the defeat of the personhood amendment “should not be taken as a “major setback” for abortion opponents” in part because it “did not have the backing of major pro-life groups, such as National Right to Life Committee and Americans United for Life, or major religious institutions. Mississippi’s personhood amendment was counterproductive, imprudent, and ill-defined. Had it passed, it wouldn’t have stopped a single abortion and would have merely given the Supreme Court another opportunity to re-affirm Roe v. Wade.” But McCormack says Mississippi doesn’t need the personhood amendment to ban abortion: “Mississippi already has a “trigger law” on the books to ban 99 percent of abortions when Roe v. Wade is overturned.”

'via Blog this'

Russia on Moral Crusade to Ban Abortion

Russia on Moral Crusade to Ban Abortion - Europe - News - OnIslam.net: With a resurgence of religion after the collapse of the communist Soviet Union and declining birth rates, Russia is on a moral crusade to ban abortion.

"Our two main motives are the fact that Russia is dying out and our religious tradition," Yelena Mizulina, chair of the family issues committee at the Russian parliament, told Reuters. "We cannot forget our faith."

'via Blog this'

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Kill by software, not by humans

Nat Hentoff: On this planet, perfecting killing capacities is a powerful motive for research. But one particular look ahead scares me: "A Future for Drones: Automated Killing.". . . How many Americans -- so intimately conversant with Herman Cain's alleged amorous intentions -- are even aware of this debate about how humans will be able to prevent self-directing Predator and Reaper drones from committing atrocities? But there are experts who believe that there are indeed people who can create ethical, responsible robots.

'via Blog this'

Hitler’s Best Kept Secret?

Hitler’s Best Kept Secret?: "Mass Jewish murder of the wealthy was an extremely attractive, lucrative, and lawful business in Germany, and the economics even trickled down to the not-so-wealthy Jewish families. It all added up--from the taking of their homes, their vehicles, their paintings, their savings, the extracting of gold from their teeth, the cutting the rings from off their fingers, to the valuable hair on their head—all of it added up to big money for Adolf Hitler and his cause. His love of the money that gave him the power that he so craved, was just as incendiary as his hatred of the Jews."

'via Blog this'

The Half Truth: How Radical Environmentalism Twists Biblical Stewardship

The Half Truth: How Radical Environmentalism Twists Biblical Stewardship - YouTube: Radical Environmentalists use selective language and half-truths to emote Christian feelings for an unbiblical worldview. Christians should be good stewards, but radical environmentalists believe caring means not interfering with nature. Man cultivates the earth, making it productive, safe and clean; nature is wild, unproductive, dangerous, and disease-ridden.

Related:
Is Flood Magnitude in the USA Correlated with Global CO2 Levels?
Honduran Farmers Slaughtered In Name Of Global Warming

Eugenics Still Drives the Abortion Industry

State of Same: Eugenics Still Drives the Abortion Industry | LifeNews.com: One can’t possibly speak of Eugenics without attributing its tragic successes to our nation’s most prolific champion for it—Margaret Sanger, member of the American Eugenics Society (AES) and founder of Planned Parenthood. Most Planned Parenthood affiliates, staffed with AES members, clearly reflected their true objectives such as the Arkansas Eugenics Association (which became the Planned Parenthood Association in 1942).

In state after state and city after city, Planned Parenthood affiliates pushed for the heinous crime of forced sterilizations as well as racially targeted birth control efforts such as the Negro Project. Today’s mainstream media (spun by Planned Parenthood’s multi-million dollar PR machine) refuse to acknowledge the irrefutably historical involvement Planned Parenthood played in eugenic crimes against humanity.

The Mother of Planned Parenthood and the birth control movement, Sanger, was one of many wealthy “progressives” who embraced the long-debunked racist pseudoscience. They often exploited the mythology of overpopulation to justify implementing anti-human eugenic practices.

Canadian pro-lifers launch campaign to completely end abortion within 20 years

Canadian pro-lifers launch campaign to completely end abortion within 20 years | LifeSiteNews.com: One of Canada’s leading pro-life organizations is stepping up its efforts with a campaign aimed at completely ending abortion in Canada within 20 years.

“We don’t exist merely to fight abortion, but to actually end the killing,” says Stephanie Gray, co-founder and executive director of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform.

Last month, CCBR launched ‘EndtheKilling,’ a vision for jump-starting pro-life activism across Canada through targeted educational campaigns and networking with pro-life groups throughout the country.

'via Blog this'

Pro-life victories in Michigan

MI Election Results / Abortion Businesses Closed by Judge: The Right to Life of Michigan Political Action Committee endorsed candidates won in 14 out of 19 races. Pro-life mayors were elected in the cities of Warren, Novi, and Howell. In addition, endorsed pro-life candidates won in the majority of races for the Warren City Council and the Livonia City Council. Endorsed pro-life candidates also won the posts of Warren City Treasurer and Dearborn Heights City Clerk. Thank you for voting pro-life!

'via Blog this'

Pro-life wins

November 8, 2011: Election Day | NRL News Today: One year out from the 2012 general election, voters in parts of the nation have been busy with “off-year” and special elections. Click for an overview of yesterday’s elections.

'via Blog this'

Mississippi Personhood Amendment Loses by Lopsided Margin

Mississippi Personhood Amendment Loses by Lopsided Margin | LifeNews.com: With 1559 of 1876 precincts counted, the amendment failed by a 58 to 42 percentage point margin.

Mississippi follows Colorado, which also rejected the amendment twice in both 2010 and 2008. The 2010 amendment lost by a 70-30 percentage point margin as Amendment 62 failed to gain a majority in any Colorado county. Colorado voters defeated Amendment 48 in 2008 by a 73-27 percentage margin with 1,605,978 voters rejecting it compared to 585,561 who were supportive. The 2010 Colorado personhood amendment received the support of more than 100,000 fewer voters than in 2008.

Related: Can states outlaw abortion?

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Personhood Amendment in Mississippi Likely Won’t Ban Abortion

Assuming the amendment is approved and assuming it does not succumb to state legal challenges from those who say the Mississippi Bill of Rights can’t be amended, the personhood amendment will not ban abortions.

Defining human life as beginning at conception or fertilization is not a new concept in the pro-life movement as states have defined human life in such a scientifically accurate manner for decades — including before the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that invalidated state abortion bans across the country.

The Supreme Court addressed the issue of personhood language in Roe and reaffirmed its view as early as 1983 . . . [and] addressed the issue again in 1989 in the Webster decision. . . . [W]hen the state of Missouri adopted similar language as the Mississippi personhood amendment, the Supreme Court ruled both in 1983 and again in 1989 that such language can’t be used to ban abortion. Further, the Supreme Court made it clear that states can’t even use such language, as Missouri attempted, to justify any sort of pro-life laws that limit or reduce abortions.

Rehnquist makes it clear that the personhood amendment is little more than statement of position, a feel good declaration made by a state that sets forth what it believes in terms of the beginning of human life but not something that has any effect on the status of legalized abortion. . . . At this point in jurisprudence related to abortion, until and unless the Supreme Court’s makeup is changed to the point that it would be ready to consider overturning Roe, state courts will continue to interpret personhood language within the confines of Roe — thus continuing legalized abortion. . . . 

In an interview with Baptist Press, Clarke Forsythe, senior counsel for Americans United for Life, says his group is neutral on the personhood amendment for these reasons and he highlighted that fact that it is being promoted at a time when the Supreme Court is still pro-abortion and not ready to reverse Roe.

“Some are concerned about that, but I frankly don’t think it’s a direct challenge to Roe,” Forsythe told Baptist Press. “A direct challenge to Roe would be a criminal prohibition on abortion. This is not a criminal prohibition on abortion.”

He said the personhood amendment is not the right legislative vehicle to end abortion, such as the proposed bans on abortion proposed in South Dakota, even if the court were ready to reverse Roe.

“Imagine a chest of drawers, and you’ve got four drawers,” he said. “On the top drawer you’ve got the constitution. This amendment is being put in the top drawer. But the thing that affects abortion is in the bottom drawer. That’s a criminal statute.” LifeNews

Incompatible with life?

Incompatible with life? | LifeSiteNews.com: "Thank God my daughter, Emily, rejected any prenatal testing with her son Max, who is a beautiful 20-year-old autistic young man. If the government and insurers don’t want to pay to help families raise children with severe medical needs, who will? Will churches stand in the gap by helping to provide for these families emotionally and financially?"

'via Blog this'

Compromise at Christian schools

Revived and Refreshed | Dr. Georgia Purdom's Blog: "[A] woman told me that she was physically unable to continue homeschooling her children and had recently put them in a local Christian school. To her shock and concern her daughter came home from school one day and reported that they were learning about millions of years as truth. I shared with her some of the findings of Already Compromised. . . . I discussed with her the compromise that is occurring—not just in Christian colleges, but also in Christian schools of all levels and even in homeschool curriculum. These places are supposed to be building our child’s faith, and instead they are tearing it down. I’m thankful for mothers like her who are doing their best to equip and train their children to give answers in the world of compromise that is occurring even within Christianity."

'via Blog this'

Appeals court backs Obama healthcare law

Appeals court backs Obama healthcare law | Reuters: President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law got a boost on Tuesday when an appeals court agreed with a lower court that dismissed a challenge and found the law's minimum coverage requirement was constitutional.

'via Blog this'

Abortion Through a Grandmother's Eyes: Forgiveness, Healing

Abortion Through a Grandmother's Eyes: Forgiveness, Healing | LifeNews.com: For every daughter that has aborted a child, there is a mother and a father who must find healing from the guilt and pain they feel. There are so many emotions that we feel…abandonment, shame, sadness, fear, depression, confusion, and failure. I have wrestled with “where did I go wrong?” and “what else could I have done?”

'via Blog this'

Bear witness

It is the oldest of temptations: Eat of the fruit of this tree and ye shall be as gods, having the knowledge of good and evil, deciding who shall live and who shall die. . . . We've become very good at preaching to the converted, those of us who still believe in life. So good at it we may have forgotten what Martin Luther King Jr. tried to teach us -- that we have a hidden ally in the hearts of our opponents. And we must never cease appealing to it. They are not our enemies, but allies in waiting. They have consciences. They may yet come around. I did. Paul Greenberg

Victims speak out about North Carolina sterilization program, which targeted women, young girls and blacks

Rock Center with Brian Williams - Victims speak out about North Carolina sterilization program, which targeted women, young girls and blacks: “I was raped by a perpetrator [who was never charged] and then I was raped by the state of North Carolina. They took something from me both times,” she said. “The state of North Carolina, they took something so dearly from me, something that was God given.”

Janice Black's story: A painful reminder of our dark period of eugenics
'via Blog this'

Woman who became mother at 57 admits she was too old for IVF

Woman who became mother at 57 admits she was too old for IVF - Telegraph: At the time, Mrs Tollefsen defended her choice and pointed out that her partner Nick Mayer was 11 years her junior – and would therefore be around to care for their daughter Freya during all of her childhood. However, she says the couple have now split and concedes her critics were right as she encounters the difficulties of bringing up a three-year-old child alone at the age of 61. Mrs Tollefsen, who is deaf in one ear and having a knee replaced, also agrees that, with hindsight, there should be an age limit of 50 for IVF treatment for women in this country.

'via Blog this'

Monday, November 7, 2011

In the name of life

Kathryn Lopez: "I understand that Planned Parenthood is in the business of self-preservation. But surely we can do better than demonizing the investigation of this taxpayer-funded behemoth that relies on abortion as a business model. And yet this is the quality of debate over the organization's future. It receives a million dollars a day in state and federal funding. Surely credible questions about fraud and abuse and failure to protect women and girls from sexual abuse and sex trafficking are legitimate ones. As well as transparency about just what Planned Parenthood is -- an organization that continues to support a radical idea of just what the human person is and what our relationships with one another are about."

'via Blog this'

Touring Pol Pot's Cambodian killing fields

Touring Pol Pot's Cambodian killing fields - By Sarah Collman | Michael Dobbs: The most disturbing spot in the notorious 'Killing Field' is the 'Killing Tree,' used by executioners as a stump to batter babies.

Despite the different methods used in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda, the outcome was the same. Mass graves filled with thousands of skeletons. The extinction of an entire generation. A gaping hole in the lives of millions of people. There is no need to determine which genocide was worst. All were horrific, and all left dark stains on the history of mankind.

'via Blog this'

DNC Chair: Saying Life Begins at Conception "Extreme"

DNC Chair: Saying Life Begins at Conception "Extreme" | LifeNews.com: "The chair of the national Democratic Party, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, issued a statement on a vote taking place next week in Mississippi on an amendment saying human life begins at conception or fertilization. “For the vast majority of Americans, including people on both sides of the abortion issue, this is an extreme and radical step,” she told reporters.

'via Blog this'

Personhood and birth control

Conflict Of Interest: Genuine birth control is contraception, as long as no embryo is killed. The goal of contraception is prevention. The entire focus of Prevention is keeping the female oocyte (i.e., "ovum" or "egg") from joining with the sperm cells from the male, which by God's design, results in a single cell embryo or the biological beginning of sexually reproduced human life. Preventing the fertilization of the ovum by sperm cells can include the use of various devices, drugs, medications, agents, sexual practices such as abstinence, or surgical procedures. Therefore genuine contraception helps women plan if and when they want to have a baby. So let's be very clear. Will a personhood amendment outlaw birth control? No, because no child would be killed!

'via Blog this'

Friday, November 4, 2011

Democrats Hire NAE Board Member for Religious Outreach

Democrats Hire National Association of Evangelicals Board Member for Religious Outreach - Christian Newswire: "A prominent Washington, D.C. pastor and board member of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is to lead the religious outreach program of the Democratic National Committee.

The Rev. Dr. Derrick Harkins is senior pastor of the prestigious Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, one of the largest historic black congregations in Washington, DC. In addition to serving on the NAE board, Harkins serves on an advisory board for the pro-abortion rights Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC). He also serves on the board of the liberal advocacy group Faith and Public Life, funded by leftist philanthropies like George Soros and the Tides Foundation.

Editor: What does this say about the NAE?

'via Blog this'

RLM-PAC's endorsements

Elections: Here are Right to Life of Michigan's endorsements for local elections on November 8.

'via Blog this'

MS voter on personhood amendment next week

Liberty Counsel: On Tuesday, Mississippi voters will vote on a state constitutional amendment which will recognize personhood from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.

If passed, the proposed amendment, Proposition 26, will make Mississippi the first state to recognize human life, regardless of one’s age or location. The amendment could trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade, which invented a “right” to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.

The amendment to the state constitution’s Bill of Rights, reads: “The term person or persons shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.” Under the proposed amendment, the personhood of the unborn at all stages of life inside the womb will be recognized and protected under law.

'via Blog this'

Taking personhood back

The question at hand is whether the law will protect every human being as a legal person. The 14th amendment to the Constitution states in part, “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The fact that the law does not protect children in the womb from abortion is rooted in the words of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, “the word person as used in the Fourteenth Amendment does not include the unborn.”

Ironically, eight months before Roe vs. Wade, personhood was also discussed in relation to protecting the environment. In the decision, Sierra Club vs. Morton , Justice Douglas argued the following words in his dissent:
“The ordinary corporation is a “person” for purposes of the adjudicatory process. So it should be as respects valleys, alpine meadows, rivers, lakes, estuaries, beaches, ridges, groves of trees, swampland, or even air that feels the destructive pressures of modern technology and modern life...With all respect, the problem is to make certain that the inanimate objects, which are the very core of America’s beauty, have spokesmen before they are destroyed...”
Eight months later, he ruled with the majority in Roe vs. Wade that “the word person does not include the unborn.” Washington Post

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Pro-Life Aristotle

Pro-Life Aristotle - Interview - National Review Online: Aristotle understood justice as giving to each what is due. Abortion is clearly a justice issue. If defenders of abortion are right, then critics of abortion are doing something unjust in trying to curtail and criticize the legitimate actions of women who are terminating their pregnancies. If pro-life advocates are right, then those who perform, obtain, or defend abortions are doing something that is unjust, depriving innocent human beings of their lives. Whatever your view of abortion, justice is involved.

'via Blog this'

The New Singleness

The New Singleness « Public Discourse: Is it "time to embrace new ideas about romance and family—and to acknowledge the end of ‘traditional’ marriage as society’s highest ideal”?

'via Blog this'

Pro-life devotionals: Archives

Archives: Baptists for Life of Wisconsin has compiled a series of pro-life devotionals from pastors in the state.

'via Blog this'

Planned Parenthood Teams Up With Occupy Wall St. Movement

Planned Parenthood Teams Up With Occupy Wall St. Movement | LifeNews.com: Awake the State, which organized the rally, was accompanied by Planned Parenthood and Occupy Orlando at Senator Beth Johnson Park to stand “in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and the larger Occupy movement against corporate greed and control over government.”

'via Blog this'

Chinese woman caught, sterilised after second child

Chinese woman caught, sterilised after second child: The woman was nabbed and brought to her hometown in southeast Fujian province and was then made to have the surgery a week ago, reported the Shanghai Daily citing the Beijing News.

Family planning officials from Fujian province had tracked down the woman, who delivered the second child four months back, in Guangdong province Oct 24.

The media report said that the officials locked her up and threatened that she wouldn't be allowed to leave till she undergoes surgery.

Hong Yanna, an official, said they searched for the woman as unauthorised births would impact their job performance. The official said it was not an isolated case.

'via Blog this'

Smiley Faces in Grass and Laminin

This is a cross-section of sand dune grass showing internal structures that form a smiley face. It elicited a tremendous response on Dr. Georgia Purdom's Facebook page. Some of the comments concerned her. "They seemed to indicate that God purposely created smiley faces in the grass to give us evidence of His existence and greatness. While I agree that God designed the internal structures of the grass, the fact that they appear to us as smiley faces is most likely a coincidence of the design."

On her blog, she goes on to write, "A few years ago I wrote an article called Laminin and the Cross. I addressed how Christians were using the shape of the laminin protein in the form of a cross as evidence of certain biblical truths." That article makes several salient points:
Laminin is used to prove a biblical truth. However, we should never use our fallible, finite understanding of the world to judge the infallible Word of God. What we observe in the world can certainly be used to confirm God’s Word (and it does), but our finite observations are not in a position to evaluate the infinite things of God. Only if we start with the Bible as our ultimate standard can we have a worldview that is rational and makes sense of the evidence. 
The structure of laminin was not made popular until 2008, yet I have no doubt that many Christians before that time have trusted the truth presented in Colossians 1:17 because it is God’s Word. Would Colossians 1:17 be any less true if laminin were not in the shape of a cross? No. If five years from now we discover that the laminin protein actually has a different shape (in fact, some electron micrographs of the protein do not resemble a cross at all, see here, p. 149), would that change the truth found in Colossians 1:17? No, because our belief in the truthfulness that Christ holds all things together should start and end with God’s Word alone! 
Unfortunately this type of argument—which effectively treats our fallible, finite knowledge of the evidence as superior to God’s Word—is very popular in today’s society, especially among young people.

Occupy protesters' attacks on Christianity mount

Occupy protesters attempt to occupy Vancouver cathedral as attacks on Christianity mount | LifeSiteNews.com: The effort to occupy the church in Vancouver comes after a call on October 13th by former Evangelical leader Frank Schaeffer for the Occupy movement to begin targeting Evangelical and Roman Catholic churches.

In a blog post, Schaeffer argued that “fundamentalist religion” has made the “rape” of the 99 percent possible by pushing moral issues such as abortion and same-sex “marriage,” thus encouraging the less fortunate to “vote against their own class” by backing the Republicans over the Democrats.

“The source of the empowering of the top 1 percent super wealthy and the economic rape of rest of us is the religion of Evangelical fundamentalism,” he wrote.

Frank’s father Francis Schaeffer was credited as a major theological inspiration for the conservative Christian political movement, including the U.S. pro-life movement. While still widely regarded as an Evangelical leader, Frank has joined the Greek Orthodox Church and renounced his former pro-life views.

'via Blog this'

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Teaching Stewardship: Helping Your Children Understand God's Design

Teaching Stewardship: Helping Your Children Understand God's Design - YouTube: The environmentalist movement uses every propaganda tool at its disposal to indoctrinate children: schools, movies, social opinion and repetition. Christians must be vigilant in training their children to recognize God's truth as revealed in scripture and effectively using it as the lens by which all claims are judged.

'via Blog this'

Cult of Global Warming Is Losing Influence

Cult of Global Warming Is Losing Influence - Page 1 - Michael Barone - Townhall Conservative: All the trappings of religion are there. Original sin: Mankind is responsible for these prophesied disasters, especially those slobs who live on suburban cul-de-sacs and drive their SUVs to strip malls and tacky chain restaurants.

The need for atonement and repentance: We must impose a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system, which will increase the cost of everything and stunt economic growth.

Ritual, from the annual Earth Day to weekly recycling.

Indulgences, like those Martin Luther railed against: private jet-fliers like Al Gore and sitcom heiress Laurie David can buy carbon offsets to compensate for their carbon-emitting sins.

'via Blog this'

Abortion allowed parents to cover up incest and rapes

Abortion allowed parents to cover up repeated incestuous rapes of 12-year-old daughter | LifeSiteNews.com: A Quebec couple was able to cover up the father’s repeated rapes of his 12-year-old daughter by taking her in for an abortion when she became pregnant, a court case in the province revealed.

'via Blog this'

Shortage of women in India giving rise to ‘wife-sharing’

Shortage of women due to sex-selective abortion in India giving rise to ‘wife-sharing’ | LifeSiteNews.com: Reports from some northern Indian states that have the worst gender imbalance in the country due to sex-selective abortion say that “wife-sharing” among brothers is becoming a common occurrence.

“In every village, there are at least five or six bachelors who can’t find a wife. In some, there are up to three or four unmarried men in one family. It’s a serious problem,” said retired police constable Shri Chand, 75, in a Reuters report. “Everything is hush, hush. No one openly admits it, but we all know what is going on. Some families buy brides from other parts of the country, while others have one daughter-in-law living with many unwedded brothers.”

'via Blog this'

Details of brutal beating emerge

Details of brutal beating & torture of blind pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng emerge | LifeSiteNews.com: Even as questions swirl about whether Chinese pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng is alive or dead, details have emerged about a vicious four-hour beating that the blind lawyer underwent in July.

'via Blog this'

72% of Canadians want legal protections for the unborn

72% of Canadians want legal protections for the unborn: poll | LifeSiteNews.com: A new Environics poll shows that 72% of Canadians want legal protection for children in the womb, with 28% supporting protections from conception. The national pro-life educational group LifeCanada, which commissioned the poll, says it is further evidence that Canadians oppose the status quo of state-funded abortion-on-demand and are calling on the government to act immediately.

'via Blog this'

'Wrongful life' - the children who sue for being born

BioNews - 'Wrongful life' - the children who sue for being born: Increasing numbers of Israeli children with birth defects are suing medical professionals for failing to detect abnormalities and allowing them to be born, says the New Scientist. The magazine reports that such is the Israeli Government's concern over the rise in 'wrongful life' lawsuits it has launched an investigation into the validity of the claims.

High rates of consanguineous marriage in some traditional Jewish communities have resulted in an increased likelihood of birth defects in the resulting children.

'via Blog this'

Collusion, complicity, and consent

Conflict Of Interest: "If AGI's data is scientific, and over 1.2 million children lost to abortion each year does not move you to call the Body of Christ to a solemn assembly of prayer and fasting to break the blood thirsty stronghold of Satan in our Churches then how many abortions are too many? If AGI's data is reliable and over 54 million children brutally lost to abortion as they were dismembered in the wombs of their own mothers since 1973, does not move you to publicly fight to end abortion, then where do you draw the line?"

'via Blog this'

Yes On 26 doesn't ban birth control

Yes On 26 doesn't ban birth control - YouTube: No On 26 and Planned Parenthood confirm birth control will not be banned by the Mississippi personhood amendment.

'via Blog this'

Black pastor: don’t let the abortion in your life stop you from defending the unborn

Black pastor: don’t let the abortion in your life stop you from defending the unborn | LifeSiteNews.com: The number one reason black leadership rejects the pro-life movement is that he or she is post-abortive. In other words, there is an abortion in his or her life somewhere.

'via Blog this'

Cain stands by ‘Planned Genocide’ statement

Planned Parenthood hits back as Cain stands by ‘Planned Genocide’ statement | LifeSiteNews.com: The Planned Parenthood Federation of America shot back this weekend after GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain restated his antagonism towards the organization, which he said supports the “planned genocide” of African-American children in the womb.

'via Blog this'