Children Who View Adult-targeted TV May Become Sexually Active Earlier In Life

Early onset of sexual activity among teens may relate to the amount of adult content children were exposed to during their childhood, according to a new study released by Children's Hospital Boston. Based on a longitudinal study tracking children from age six to eighteen, researchers found that the younger children are exposed to content intended for adults in television and movies, the earlier they become sexually active during adolescence. Science Daily

Potential parents willing to donate embryos

According to an article in Human Reproduction, 70 per cent of Swiss couples surveyed who received or are receiving medical help with in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) said they would be open to donating their excess embryos for research. Although Swiss law currently forbids the practice, 52 per cent of those surveyed also said they would prefer to donate the embryos to another couple rather than have them destroyed. Swiss Info These are not "potential parents," but actual parents.

National Bible Bee

If you're looking for a fun way to introduce more Scripture into your child's life, why not enroll them in the first-ever National Bible Bee? The Shelby Kennedy Foundation is launching the first-of-its-kind, world-class National Bible Bee Competition. The competition will begin with local contests in communities nationwide on September 12, 2009. The top 100 finalists from each age group will advance to the National Contest in Washington D.C. to compete on November 5-6, 2009. Over $260,000 in prize money will be awarded to the students (ages 7-18) who excel at memorizing the Word of God. National Bible Bee

Abortion clinic celebrates 50,000 abortions

Pro-Life Wisconsin’s Rock County affiliate regularly prays outside the Northern Illinois Women’s Center, an abortion mill in Rockford, Illinois. Last week, a sign was posted in the window boasting about the 50,000 abortions that have been perpetrated there. Pro-Life Wisconsin

Discovering Purpose in Suffering

God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters. — J.H. Jowett
Sometimes finding God’s purpose in the midst of adversity requires us to make major personal changes over a period of time. At other times, our God-given purpose may be right in front of us. To discover it, we simply need to open our hearts to God’s leading and lift our eyes to opportunities we could easily overlook. Troubled With

Legalization of assisted suicide would have dangerous consequences

Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy - whatever the person's age. Most people who attempt suicide do not want to die; they want to end the pain they are suffering. Moreover, we should remember that as soon as a second person is consciously involved in the suicide of a person, and that this is accepted by society, it is then society as a whole that gives its consent to this suicide. This would give rise to very dangerous consequences concerning the manner in which the whole of society would consider the value, meaning and worth of a human life. The Herald

Doctors face orders to 'kill on demand'

Physicians in Montana could be facing "kill-on-demand" orders from patients who want to commit suicide if a district court judge's opinion pending before the state Supreme Court is affirmed. Oregon and Washington, states that allow a "right to die," include an opt-out provision for physicians with ethical or religious opposition to participating in killing a patient. Montana's situation, created late last year in a decision from First District Court Judge Dorothy McCarter in the Baxter et al. v. Montana case, is different. There is no provision for a doctor to refuse such "treatment" for a patient. WND

Abstinence Education Backers Present Evidence of Success to Congress

In Congressional hearings on April 29, leading abstinence education experts presented evidence showing these programs use an evidence-based approach that works for young people. The hearings featured new evidence-based analysis called Abstinence Works, which identifies 40 national studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of abstinence education among students. Two students spokes about the positive effects of abstinence education that extend to all areas of their lives. LifeNews, Abstinence Works, Healthy Respect

City blocks plans to turn church building into PCC

A dissolved church's plan to donate its building to the Alpha Women's Center of Grand Rapids has been blocked by Wyoming, Michigan, city officials. Wyoming's Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5-2 Monday against letting the PCC move into Newhall Baptist Church, which held its final service Sunday. The main objection was allowing a non-residential use in the neighborhood. Carolyn Koole, executive director, said Alpha is having trouble meeting the $3,000 monthly rent at its current location. The center's board meets Tuesday to consider its options. Grand Rapids Press

340,000 Support Doctors' Freedom of Conscience

Through the efforts of nearly a dozen pro-family groups, more than 340,000 Americans have sent comments to the Health and Human Services Department in support of health care professionals' right of conscience. Citizenlink, LifeSiteNews

Couples save first kiss for wedding day

In a culture where casual sex is the norm, some Tennesseans have taken the purity pledge to a whole new level, through a practice that some teens refer to as the "Virgin Lips Movement." Religious leaders say these examples of super-abstinence deserve admiration, not derision. Especially in a time when the only social taboo seems to be violating the "third-date rule." The Tennessean

A Commentary on Stem cells: Still Much Confusion

There are stem cells (derived from adult tissue and cord blood), and then there are embryonic stem cells. The two are not the same. In fact, they are quite different. The former have always been a natural part of the body tissues; the latter term was contrived. Life Issues

Attempts to Redefine "Embryo"

An old Nature editorial decries the sophistic attempt within bioethics and the life sciences to pretend that an embryo before implantation in a uterus isn't really an embryo. Nature supports ESCR, but its 2005 editorial notes that the redefinition of the term "embryo" is being pursued for political purpose rather than scientific accuracy. Secondhand Smoke; see Dianne Irving's comment on the difference between a cell and an organism (in better form) here.

Oppose Obama ESCR regulations

On March 9, 2009 President Obama issued an executive order creating an incentive to create and destroy human embryos. He directed the National Institutes of Health to draft guidelines for the distribution of funds for more embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). On April 23, NIH posted these proposed guidelines that would designate your tax dollars for experiments on human embryos supposedly "leftover" from in vitro fertilization. Instead of promoting the adoption of these human embryos, these guidelines would result in their deaths. The public has 30 days to comment on these guidelines. You may submit comments to oppose these regulations on or before May 26, 2009. Please go to this website and fill out the form: Draft NIH Human Stem Cell Guidelines Comments Form

Austin PRC in the news

BFL board member Lori DeVillez reports that her center was mentioned in an article by Senator John Cornyn that not only appeared in the Austin American Statesman on April 2, 2009, but also sent across the nation through his office. That same week Lori was quoted in the Daily Texan (the University of Texas campus newspaper) and interviewed on KVUE. Austin Pregnancy Resource Center

Public takes conservative turn on abortion

Public attitudes on abortion have moved in a more conservative direction over the past year. The proportion saying that abortion should be legal in all or most cases has declined to 46% from 54% last August. The decline in support for legal abortion has come entirely in the share saying abortion should be legal in most cases (from 37% to 28%); 18% say abortion should be legal in all cases, which is virtually unchanged from last August (17%). Currently, 44% say abortion should be illegal in most (28%) or all cases (16%), up slightly since last August (41%). Pew Research

When health begins

Fertilization produces a single-cell embryo prior to the onset of cell division. The number of cells in an adult is estimated to be between 30 trillion and 100 trillion. To reach these large numbers from a single cell, 46 to 47 generations of cells, to a first approximation, are required. Most cell generations appear before birth while most cells appear after birth. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to think that the quality of the prenatal environment in which the first 41 generations of cells develop before birth will influence the health of all the cells that develop after birth. Endowment for Human Development

PCCs reduce abortion

Pregnancy centers are known as the “compassion wing of the pro-life movement,” and they work. After receiving the help of a PCC, nine out of ten women served are empowered to carry their pregnancy to term, according to statistics gathered by Care Net, a network of 1,160 centers. . . . Care Net is after one thing from the new administration and Congress (and it’s not funding). We’re simply asking that those leading the “abortion reduction” discussion merely acknowledge the contribution of pregnancy centers in helping to achieve this goal and promote a national environment that allows us to do what PCCs do best – help women in need in our local communities. Care Net; Melinda Delahoyde video presentation

Women Not Delicate Flowers, Despite What NARAL and Planned Parenthood Think

NARAL claims that crisis pregnancy centers mislead woman. In New York, abortion rights groups lobbied to shut down such centers because they allegedly “scared” women. As a life-long feminist, I find this approach by so-called women’s rights groups perplexing and more than a little insulting to women. . . . A few years ago, I was curious about crisis pregnancy centers so I signed up for the counselor training at one in Manhattan. I was ready to be outraged by their manipulation but in fact all they did was present information about the development of the fetus and advice on how to counsel women seeking abortion, with most of their focus on how to be loving to women seeking counseling after having an abortion. Fox News blog

Kathy Ireland speaks out for life

Most Hollywood stars advocate a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy, but former supermodel Kathy Ireland has gone against the grain and spoken out against abortion. "My entire life I was pro-choice. . . . But when I was 18, I became a Christian and I dove into the medical books. . . . I learned that at the moment of conception a new life comes into being." Ireland admitted she did everything she could to avoid becoming pro-life. "I called Planned Parenthood and begged them to give me their best argument and all they could come up with that it is really just a clump of cells and if you get it early enough it doesn’t even look like a baby." That answer didn't satisfy her. Fox News

Center enlists prayer support

The Pregnancy Resource Center in Maryville, TN, has established a prayer ministry and seeks men and women who will include the needs of PRC in their prayers. Executive director April Westburg says, "We're out there fighting . . . on the front lines. It would seem that this ministry might appeal especially to persons who are shut in at home or have limited transportation options and who may not be able to participate in other ministries. We also hope that Sunday school classes and church prayer ministries will include us in their prayers." The Daily Times, PRC Blount County, TN

Report from Metro Women's Center in Crystal, MN

Director Colleen Tronson reports, "I had a visit Friday from a former client, her boyfriend, and their new baby. . . . We thank the Lord for Faith Baptist Church in St. Paul that has stepped up to help this young couple with practical help as well as by welcoming them into their church services." Metro Women's Center

Ultrasound ministry in Papua New Guinea

Missionary Lori Smith, with ABWE, writes about a young woman who came to her medical clinic seriously contemplating abortion. "She had come a month ago and I had prayed over and over again that she would make the choice of life for her little one. 'J' did try to abort her baby four times, but what a blessing that her attempts failed. She had finally come to the place that she felt God must really love her baby and she should love it as well. We prayed and cried together as the ultrasound revealed a healthy happy little baby still going strong. How gracious God is to protect us even from ourselves." Bill & Lori Smith homepage

California Man Symbolically 'Adopts' Wife's Two Aborted Fetuses

A California man signed papers to symbolically "adopt" and give his last name to his wife's two aborted fetuses. Stan Musil said he filed the posthumous "adoption" on Monday as a way to support his wife, Lisa, and help her heal from the pain of having those abortions. "He told me 'I love you and you are a part of me. Your babies are a part of you, and so that makes them a part of me also,'" she said. Fox News

First 100 Days: Change You Can Bereave In

Has the President used his term so far to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies? FRC, video