"Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done."

That was the Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale in 2007, repetitiously inciting her disciples to be not just pro-choice but fanatically pro-abortion. This is significant because, according to standard journalistic stylebooks, Ragsdale does not exist. We're told that pro-choice folks don't like abortion; they're just trying to help a woman facing tragedy. . . . The tragedy of abortion is bad enough, but the origin of the tragedy, and so many others of our time, emerges from worship not of Christ but of "me, me, me." Katherine Ragsdale may show this tendency in a heightened form, but all of us display it to some degree. May God have mercy on her, on her students, and on all of us. Townhall, World

A Human Embryo is to the Baby He or She Becomes as a Caterpillar is to the Butterfly It Becomes

Let's look at the caterpillar that becomes a butterfly. It is the same animal when it is a worm-like creature with many legs that it is later after it has metamorphosed into a beautiful butterfly that can fly. The butterfly isn't a different individual member of that species. It is the same member of that species--it is just in a different stage of development with different capacities. When it is a caterpillar, it can eat leaves but it has no wings. Still, it has the developmental potential to fly. It isn't any less a member of its species of butterfly when it is a caterpillar than after it leaves the cocoon. Secondhand Smoke

Clergy fight for abortion rights

Pro-choice clergy are speaking with state legislative leaders today in Albany, NY, about affordable primary health care for women and ways lawmakers can continue to safeguard "reproductive rights" in New York state. The Rev. Tom Davis of Saratoga Springs spoke at the event and was one of the early organizers of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, a religious coalition established in 1967 to help women find safe, but not illegal, abortions before and after the procedure was made legal in the state. Representatives from Family Planning Advocates of New York State, Concerned Clergy for Choice, and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice were represented. Legislative Gazette

Get to Know: The Institute for the Study of Disability & Bioethics

Worldwide, more than 650 million people have a disability. ISDB is a multinational response to medical and cultural trends impacting people with disabilities, upholding the valuable lives of people of all abilities.

The principle at stake at Notre Dame

Mary Ann Glendon — a Harvard University law professor and a respected author on bioethics and human rights — quietly declined the honor of receiving Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, in part because Barack Obama was invited to be commencement speaker and to receive an honorary degree. But the more compelling reason seems to have been her sense that she was being used to deflect criticism. . . . Is there really ever a time when we should be comfortable with the ratification of abortion? While one may prefer to preserve the legality of individual discretion, it is nonetheless consoling that there are still those who relentlessly defend life's sanctity. JWR, Glendon's letter to ND on First Things

Obama Claims He's Not Pro-Abortion

The president of the national conference of Catholic bishops recently elaborated on the March meeting he had with President Barack Obama. Cardinal George thinks Obama wants to make pro-life advocates appear as if he is on their side. "It's hard to disagree with him because he'll always tell you he agrees with you. . . . You have to say, again and again, 'No, Mr. President, we don't agree (on abortion).' . . . He would say, 'I know I have to do certain things here. ... But be patient and you'll see the pattern will change.' I said, 'Mr. President, you've given us nothing but the wrong signals on this issue.'" LifeNews, CNS

Reproductive rights "key" to Obama foreign policy

The new U.S. ambassador for global women's issues, Melanne Verveer, pledged the Obama administration's "deep commitment" to a UN blueprint aimed at slowing the world's population explosion and empowering women. At the heart of the action plan adopted at a UN population conference in Cairo 15 years ago is a demand for women's equality through education, economic development, access to modern birth control and the right to choose if and when to become pregnant. [Editor: As we know, it also demands the right to end a pregnancy.] Hillary Clinton, now secretary of state, told a conference of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in Houston last month "that reproductive rights and the umbrella issue of women's rights and empowerment is going to be a key to the foreign policy of this administration." Kansas City Star

Morning-after pill & the end of parenthood

"Plan B" is the commercial name of the morning-after pill (levonorgestrel). The tablet is indeed a form of birth control, and some believe it potentially to be an abortifacient. According to the Plan B Web site, the pill works this way: "Plan B contains two pills taken 12 hours apart that contain a higher dose of levonorgestrel, a hormone found in many birth control pills that healthcare professionals have been prescribing for more than 35 years. Plan B works in a similar way to prevent pregnancy." The commercial name of the pill just about says it all. When "Plan A" doesn't work, use "Plan B." Plan A, we should note, means using birth control. No one in these circles would dare suggest that Plan A should mean not having sex. Albert Mohler, Jr.

Playing with genetics

Atlas Genetics claims it has a patented DNA test that can reveal a child's genetic predisposition for certain sports. Parents can send in a saliva sample from their child and for $150 dollars, the DNA is processed to detect what's known in science, as the "fast twitch muscle" gene, which the company claims can be found in some Olympic athletes. ABC 30

Experience affects stance in stem-cell debate

Yes, he’s a GOP lawmaker (TX). Yes, he’s against abortion. But as a man with multiple sclerosis, and a father whose daughter died of cancer six years ago, Rep. Rick Hardcastle doesn’t want to see lawmakers put limits on potentially life-saving research. “I am 100 percent for any of the science,” said Hardcastle, who hopes researchers can find an early way to detect the cancer that claimed his daughter. Raising a hand in the air for emphasis, Hardcastle said, “I am anti-abortion.” But he added, “I am fervently anti-waste. . . . Is it not pro-life to use what we’re going to destroy to save lives down the road?” Houston Chronicle

You're not a "terrorist" unless you're pro-life

Shortly after assuming office, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano banned the use of the word "terror" to describe events like 9/11, or "terrorist" to describe those who perpetrated them. Mass casualty attacks would henceforth be known as "man-caused disasters," she decreed. But then DHS used the word "terrorist" in a fact-free report approved by Ms. Napolitano to describe veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who might join right wing groups. Jewish World Review

Cloning Heats Up as Next Bioresearch Fight

As the Obama administration prepares to greatly expand the government’s investments in embryonic stem cell research, the next big biomedical research debate in Congress is shaping up: whether to allow government funding of experiments using cloned human embryos. Congressional Quarterly

Sebelius: The Real Public Health Scare

This week, as panic spreads over a potential swine flu pandemic, liberals are scheming how they can use the health scare to win the confirmation of pro-abortion extremist Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Although the Senate leadership will use the urgency of the flu to try to force Sebelius through the chamber, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the government's response to the outbreak "has not been hindered by the lack of a secretary at HHS." FRC

'Enhanced interrogation' should be safe, legal, and rare

The Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web blog notes that the New York Times is not squeamish about using words such as "harsh" and "brutal" to describe various interrogation techniques (a.k.a. "torture"): "When the paper needs a short description, the word brutal is accurate and appropriate, whether you think the acts were justified or not." But in 2005, when partial birth abortion was the topic, the Times took the trouble to only ascribe such terms to opponents of the procedure, as in, "Opponents of abortion refer to the method as partial-birth abortion and denounce it as brutal and uncivilized." Best of the Web

Abortion not the answer to unwanted babies

The National Council of Churches in Samoa says abortion is not the answer to the problem of unwanted pregnancies. The comment, from the chairman, Reverend Oka Fau’olo, follows a call for the legalisation of abortion. According to him, abortion is taking a life and cannot be condoned. “In a case of those who were raped I think there are other ways God can provide to look after the unwanted, if you can use that word, it’s not a nice word to use, but God can raise some loving hand and loving heart to look after the unwanted baby if it’s the result of a rape case but rather than just taking it away, I’m not for it.” Radio New Zealand International

Baby Steps DVD

The Baby Steps DVD, produced by American Life League, continues to inspire, motivate and touch hearts. Help others see the miracle of life develop throughout a baby's 16 stages of growth. This video can also be viewed with audio narrations in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin), Chinese (Cantonese) or Spanish by clicking here: Baby Steps DVD

Baby Steps (English) from American Life League on Vimeo.

Archbishop: Sex ed should teach love, not mechanics

Dr. Barry Morgan claimed too many mothers and fathers refuse to accept that they may have to make compromises in their careers and work at their relationships for the sake of their families. The senior Anglican cleric said that young people must be taught that parenthood is a serious commitment, yet sex education and Government policies only deal with the "mechanics" of pregnancy. Telegraph, Times Online

Maverick's human clone claim scorned by experts

A controversial fertility doctor, Panayiotis Zavos, claimed yesterday to have cloned 14 human embryos and transferred 11 of them into the wombs of four women who had been prepared to give birth to cloned babies. None of his attempts to implant the cloned embryos into women’s wombs have yet led to a successful pregnancy, and leading fertility experts say there was no “credible evidence” to back up Dr Zavos’s claims. The Independent, The Christian Institute

Some Pro-Lifers Like New NIH Guidelines on Embryos

Some anti-abortion religious leaders are welcoming new draft guidelines from the National Institutes of Health on embryonic stem cell research as a balanced approach to the controversial procedure. The guidelines, issued April 17, permit federally funded research on stem cells derived from embryos that are no longer needed for fertility treatments. Most embryos that are not planned to be used in fertility treatments are discarded or kept in a type of frozen limbo. The draft guidelines presumably would not allow federal funds to be used to create embryos solely for research purposes. Christianity Today Critics say this is only one step away from creating embryos for research.

Foolproofing Suicide with Euthanasia Test Kits

When someone with a terminal illness decides to end his or her life by overdosing on barbiturates, they may hope the drugs will lull them into a peaceful and permanent sleep. But if the drugs have passed their expiration date or lack a sufficiently lethal concentration, the would-be suicide victim may actually survive — risking an array of complications including coma, reduced physical functioning and the opprobrium of disapproving friends and family. Now, in an effort to provide certainty to those contemplating suicide, one of the world's leading euthanasia advocates plans to sell barbiturate-testing kits to confirm that deadly drug cocktails are, in fact, deadly. Time magazine, commentary

Embryo adoption becoming the rage

Embryo adoption recently celebrated its 11th birthday. In just three years — 2004 to 2006 — 988 babies were born by this process, says one medical researcher, citing federal data. The total number born since Snowflakes Frozen Embryo Adoption Program was founded in November 1997 might conservatively be closer to 3,000, says Ron Stoddart, executive director of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, the agency that pioneered the process. Washington Times

Dead when the doctor says you are

We sometimes treat people as already dead once they are deemed terminal. Organ donations most often take place after brain death, a concept articulated 40 years ago at Harvard University and meaning the irreversible end of all brain activity. In a brain dead patient, the brain no longer tells the body to keep living, so machines do that, instead. Brain dead soon came to replace the historic understanding of death – the heart stopping. After all, a stopped heart no longer seemed relevant when machines could keep a heart beating indefinitely. However, the increased popularity of donation after cardiac death, or the harvesting of organs from patients whose hearts have been allowed to stop beating, has once again got the medical community looking at how to define death according to the functions of the heart. The Star

Iran at forefront of stem cell research

Despite Iran's conservative Islamic rule, there is broad government approval for embryonic stem cell research, which Muslim clerics say is permissible under Islamic law. Shi'ite Muslim scholars believe that the fetus is given a soul at 120 days, before which abortion is permissible when there is a physical or emotional threat to the mother - thus avoiding the abortion debates common in the United States. Washington Times

An embryologist talks about when human life begins

Human Embryologist, Dr. C. Ward Kischer, defines when human life begins and identifies false information resulting from Roe v. Wade.

A Human Embryologist answers, "When does life begin?" from Evan Davis on Vimeo.

Silent Fall Documentary

Adoption success a reality

Compared with the truly stunning number of unwed pregnancies - almost 3 million in 2004 - adoption is clearly becoming an option that few women are choosing for their babies.There are, however, some successful adoption programs. In Erie, Pa., for instance, counselors affiliated with the Women's Care Center of Erie County help birth mothers “design” adoption plans for the children they have decided not to raise. Washington Times; Adoption: Another Winning Choice

Are we a terrorist risk?

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was briefed before the release of a controversial intelligence assessment and that she stands by the report sent to law enforcement that lists veterans as a terrorist risk to the U.S. and defines "rightwing extremism" as including groups opposed to abortion and immigration. Washington Times; view the assessment here.

Prom: Protect teens

With prom season coming, now is the time to reinforce the abstinence message with teens. Have your teen take the Sexual Health Quiz, review the Sexual Risk Exposure Chart, the Contraception Failure Rate Chart, and the STD Epidemic Statistics Chart. Let them know the Health Consequences of Contraception and Abortion. Concerned Parents Report

Is Sebelius out?

Family Research Council has obtained a copy of a 2002 fundraising letter from late-term abortionist George R. Tiller in which he claims he personally contributed $200,000 to ProKanDo, a political action committee dedicated to defeating Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius's pro-life opponent. Dr. Tiller's PAC receives funding not only from his own clinic but from other late-term abortionists from across the nation. FRC; PDF of the letter (in which he says he was "too busy" to participate during the civil rights movement, but calls abortion "the single greatest issue of civil rights.")

Stats to use in fighting Planned Parenthood

Here are some handy facts from the Stopp Report:

• Planned Parenthood performs 24 percent of total abortions in the United States.
• Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion chain in America.
• Planned Parenthood killed over 305,000 babies in 2007.
• Abortion is one-third of Planned Parenthood’s clinic income.
• One out of every four abortions is committed in a Planned Parenthood facility.
• Taxpayers gave Planned Parenthood $349.6 million in 2007-2008. This is an increase of $12.9 million from 2006-2007.
• In 2007-2008, Planned Parenthood put $85 million of taxpayer money right into its savings account.
• Planned Parenthood has murdered over four million preborn babies.

Caution Over "Ethical" Stem Cell Breakthrough

A method of creating embryonic-like stem cells from ordinary skin cells is being lauded as the solution to the embryo research problem, but Dianne Irving, a former bench biochemist with the NIH and bioethics expert at Georgetown University, said there must be caution among pro-life advocates in endorsing the work. "If it can be shown that the research is truly accurately performed and does not involve the use of embryo DNA or foetal material at any stage, then it should be at least given a chance," Dr. Irving said. But she warned, "The human studies reported so far have all used human embryos or human fetuses as sources of materials for cell culture, for genes that are transferred, and for assays, as well as for the original cells that are transformed." LifeSiteNews; see also LifeIssues

Abortion history

A Chronology of Endangered Unborn Human Life - US
Abortion History - ancient to modern

Is There Not A Cause?

In our struggle to uphold the sanctity of human life and to protect as well as provide a voice for the unborn, do you feel like David going up against Goliath? As our government is attacking the unborn more fiercely than ever before and the forces of evil stand emboldened against us, the odds seem overwhelming. Feelings of hopelessness and defeat search for footholds in our spirit, and the enemy seems to laugh at any attempt to resist. At the Center

A person's a person, no matter how small

Psalm 139 remarkably tells us that all human beings are knit together by God while in our mothers' wombs. This passage clearly states that God's love and concern for the unborn exists at the earliest point of human development. The Hebrew word golem, meaning fetus or embryo, is used here and translated as unformed body. Clearly in the eyes of our Creator, unborn life has value and, thus, personhood, as He is intimately involved from the beginning of a pregnancy in the development of every human life. At the Center

God in a graveyard?

"Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes and on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

"While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, 'Why do you seek the living One among the dead?'" Luke 23:55-24:5 NASV

Other translations ask "why do you seek the living among the dead," and it's a logical enough question. Why, indeed, go looking for a living person in a cemetary, especially when he told you he'd meet you in Galilee? But if, as the NASV puts it, the one sought is the Living God, then the idea is even more incongruous.

Why would the Living God be in a tomb? Why would the One who created life and gives life and sustains life be with the dead? This rendering of the angels' question shows the absurdity of disbelieving the resurrection and attests to the deity of Christ. As John 5:26 says, "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself." With God, life is irrespressible.

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

We hear much of death with dignity these days. Our Lord's death was anything but dignified. . . . Some people today prefer not to be called Christians. They tell reporters that this word has too much "baggage." Imagine the baggage -- the weight of all the sins of the world -- that Jesus carried along with that rugged cross. Being called Christian is our greatest hope. Being despised for His sake is our greatest honor. Tony Perkins, FRC

Real nonsense

Planned Parenthood is trying to sell its material and ideology not only to youth, but also to parents. If PP can’t reach every young person directly, then it will try to desensitize their parents into thinking PP actually knows what it’s talking about! One of their methods is a program called “Real Life. Real Talk.” This program’s purpose is to indoctrinate parents with PP’s philosophies and convince them to pass these dangerous ideas onto their children. Stopp International

Planned Parenthood: Abortion rate corresponds to government funding

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America has released its annual report for fiscal year 2007-2008, which shows the nation's largest abortion business is growing. According to the data from 1997 to the present, the increase in government funding corresponds with an increase in the number of abortions (see chart). Yet, prenatal care and adoption referrals resulted for only 5 percent of the total services provided to women in 2007 while abortions accounted for 95 percent of the services that year (see chart). LifeNews, PPFA 990, PPFA annual report, FRC analysis

Humanity Even for Nonhumans

John Maynard Keynes wrote that ideas, “both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else.” This idea popularized by Professor Peter Singer — that we have ethical obligations that transcend our species — is one whose time appears to have come. In recent years, the issue has entered the mainstream, but even for those who accept that we should try to reduce the suffering of animals, the question remains where to draw lines. However we may answer these questions, there is one profound difference from past centuries: animal rights are now firmly on the mainstream ethical agenda. Nicholas Kristof, NY Times

God Still Isn't Dead

The Christian right has certainly stirred up an angry reaction to its attempt to marry religion to political power. But it would be a mistake to regard this reaction as evidence that America is losing its religion. Wall Street Journal

The End of Christian America

To the surprise of liberals who fear the advent of an evangelical theocracy and to the dismay of religious conservatives who long to see their faith more fully expressed in public life, Christians are now making up a declining percentage of the American population. Newsweek

Early Christians on Abortion and Infanticide

"If men fight and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely… [and] if any lasting harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." Exodus 21:22-23

"Indeed, the Law of Moses punishes with appropriate penalties the person who causes abortion. For there already exists the beginning stages of a human being. And even at this stage, [the fetus] is already acknowledged with having the condition of life and death, since he is already susceptible to both." Tertullian (c. 210, W), 3.218.

"The womb of his wife was hit by a blow of his heel. And, in the miscarriage that soon followed, the offspring was brought forth, the fruit of a father’s murder." Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.326.

Jesus People

Joseph Fletcher Would Be Proud

Fifty-five years ago, Joseph Fletcher, father of “Situational Ethics” wrote, “[W]e shall attempt, as reasonably as may be, to plead the ethical case for our human rights (certain conditions being satisfied) to use contraceptives, to seek insemination anonymously from a donor, to be sterilized, and to receive a merciful death from a medically competent euthanasiast.” Morals and Medicine, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1954), p. 25. Today, 9 April 2009, is the final day for the public to make comments regarding the right of conscience protections for health care workers put in place by the federal government late last year. Bioethics.com

Pastor, anti-abortion leader released from jail

After 18 days in jail for violating a city law designed to protect women entering abortion clinics, Berkeley church elder Walter Hoye went free Tuesday with a wider, louder network of anti-abortion supporters than before he went to trial. Contra Costa Times

“Indisputably viewpoint-based”

President rounds out Faith Council with pro-aborts

Bishop Charles E. Blake and Harry Knox will fill out the roster of 25 people on the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Knox is the director of the religion and faith program at Human Rights Campaign, a Washington gay rights group that also strongly supports abortion. Obama also appointed Rev. Peg Chemberlin, the president-elect of the National Council of Churches USA, a collection of mainline Protestant church -- many of which hold pro-abortion positions. Nancy Ratzan, board chair of the National Council of Jewish Women, has also been named to the White House office; her group is a longtime abortion supporter. It helped organize the pro-abortion march prominent pro-abortion groups organized nationally in April 2004. LifeNews

Imposed Death - 2009 version

Find out how you can protect yourself and your loved ones from the encroaching danger of euthanasia. Includes good summary articles about living wills, pain control, good and bad hospice care, "Persistent Vegetative State," and more. Download the entire document; order copies

My son Zane

Nine out of every 10 Down syndrome babies are aborted. Zane was a number 10. My wife and I don’t think we are better than anyone else, but the thought of aborting our baby never crossed our minds. We didn’t have an amniocentesis done because of the possibility of it causing a miscarriage. But we thought, “What difference does it make? We plan to keep this baby even if there is some birth defect.” We did not learn of Zane’s condition until the moment of his birth. It was one of the happiest moments of my life while at the same time it was also one of profound sadness. Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Get to Know: The Christian Institute

The Christian Institute's main object is “the furtherance and promotion of the Christian Religion in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.” Get to know them through their web site and their annual report. The annual report's 'what we believe' section, starting on page 26, helpfully offers biblical teaching on government, marriage and family, religious liberty, transexualism, gambling, and other subjects.

‘If we don’t save marriage, we can’t remain pro-life’

Speaking at an anti-abortion event in eastern Iowa Monday night, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, warned that legalized same-sex marriage would lead to a complete dissolution of society and religion. “The values we have we pour through marriage into our children and into the next generation. Our religious values. Our values of faith. Our values. Our work ethic. Our entire culture comes through a man and a woman joined in holy matrimony, being blessed with children and pouring those values into the children and then living vicariously through them as they go off and we are blessed with grandchildren.” Iowa Independent

Montana doctors exercise rights of conscience

Four months after District Judge Dorothy McCarter opened the door for Montana to join Oregon and Washington in allowing the grisly practice of assisted suicide, some patients say they aren't finding any doctors who will aide them. "I feel as though my doctors do not feel able to respect my decision to choose aid in dying," wrote 67-year-old Janet Murdock. "Access to physician aid in dying would restore my hope for a peaceful, dignified death in keeping with my values and beliefs." Dr. Kirk Stoner, the president of the Montana Medical Association, says he is not surprised that doctors are not stepping up to kill patients because they don't view that as their proper role. LifeNews

Defend conscience rights

Congress has passed numerous laws over the past 35 years protecting such rights; however, no regulations had ever been implemented until January 20, 2009, when regulations were put into effect to defend the conscience rights of healthcare workers. These regulations, which President Obama is planning to rescind, would ensure that programs that receive federal funds, including federal, state and local government programs, do not discriminate against health care workers who object to participating in such practices as abortion and sterilization. Please submit your comments to HHS in support of these regulations to enforce current law because groups like Planned Parenthood have supplied thousands of comments to HHS asking them to rescind these pro-conscience regulations. The deadline for submitting comments is April 9, 2009.

Catholics similar to mainstream on moral issues

Americans who are the most religious also tend to be the most conservative on moral issues. Among committed Catholics, however, a slim majority seem to be at odds with the church's positions on premarital sex, embryonic stem-cell research, divorce, and the death penalty. Regular churchgoers who are not Catholic are more conservative (i.e., less likely to find a given practice morally acceptable) than Catholic churchgoers. Gallup Poll

Study: Induced abortion and intimate relationship quality

For men and women, the experience of an abortion in a previous relationship was related to negative outcomes in the current relationship; perceptions of improved quality of life if the current relationship also ended and intimate partner violence. Read the study

Dignitas founder plans assisted suicide of healthy woman

The founder of the Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas was criticised yesterday after revealing plans to help a healthy woman to die alongside her terminally ill husband. Ludwig Minelli described suicide as a “marvellous opportunity” that should not be restricted to the terminally ill or people with severe disabilities. Times Online; Dignitas defends assisted suicide

The Death Pact

Max Lom was depressed. His eyesight had failed. The 88-year-old Sarasota man wanted to die, although physically, he was healthy, according to his daughter. Last May, he swallowed a handful of pills in the hope of never waking. It didn't work. Shortly after, Lom began communicating with Final Exit Network, a national organization whose members provide support to those seeking a "peaceful end." Lom was found dead January 4. Family members are outraged at the group, as Lom wasn't terminally ill or suffering. Read more

Layla's Legacy

Layla was prenatally diagnosed with hydrocephalus, but before delivery, the severity of her condition was uncertain. Upon birth, a dismal report surfaced quickly. Layla’s condition was severe, and the initial MRI revealed that only her brainstem was functioning. Even though the doctors felt Layla wouldn’t respond to light or sound, she responded to the flash of a camera, appeared ticklish to the touch, her heart rate seemed to slow as we read to her, and she made noises as if to acknowledge our presence. Layla had one of the longest visiting lists in the NICU. Visitors came to hold, rock, and sing to her. Read more about how Bethany Christian Services ministered to Layla

Lost children

Pastor John Hayden of Columbia Road Baptist Church in Mason, Michigan, came up with a sad statistic. He researched the state's abortion statistics between 1990 and 2002. Those dates represent the birth years of the current kindergarten through 12th grade population. He found there were over 400,000 abortions from 1990-2002. With a current enrollment of 1.6 million in grades K-12, that figure represents 1/5th of the possible enrollment missing! Abortion is one factor making a significant contribution to our state's declining economy.

Why we legislate morality

What happens if religiously informed moral values are excluded from public policy debates? The alternative is allowing only those who have secularly informed moral values to make the decisions—or else we have a government that doesn’t make decisions based on any moral values at all. We eliminate questions of right and wrong from the government’s decision-making process. Do we want a government that looks like that? Richard Land