Don't Abort, Parents are Waiting to Adopt Down Syndrome Kids

Don't Abort, Parents are Waiting to Adopt Down Syndrome Kids | LifeNews.com: Many sources report that there are long waiting lists in the U.S. for parents who want to adopt children with Down Syndrome. The National Down Syndrome Adoption Network both supports parents in choosing adoption of their own children with special needs if they feel they are not in a position to parent them, and helps parents interested in adopting to link up with such families or with older children.

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Climategate (Part II): A Sequel as Ugly as the Original

Cornwall Alliance :: Stewardship Notes :: Climategate (Part II): A Sequel as Ugly as the Original: The new batch of emails, over 5,300 in all (compared with about 1,000 in the 2009 release), contains a number of fresh embarrassments and huge red flags for the same lovable bunch of insider scientists. … Beyond the purely human element, the new cache offers ample confirmation of the rank politicization of climate science and rampant cronyism that ought to trouble even firm believers in catastrophic climate change.

Related:

Scientists behaving badly

Bias in scientific research

New emails rock the climate change debate

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Where is Mr. or Mrs. Right? Matrimony suffers slump

U.S. News - Where is Mr. or Mrs. Right? Matrimony suffers slump, report shows: It’s no secret that the “market share” of marriage has been in decline for decades — from 72 percent in 1960 to 51 percent today, a trend that has been accompanied by a rising tolerance for single parents, cohabitation without marriage and other alternatives. At the current pace, the share of U.S. adults who are married will dip to less than half within a few years, the Pew study says.

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The Decline of Children and the Moral Sense

The Decline of Children and the Moral Sense | Psychology Today: The way we raise our children it seems that the USA is increasingly depriving them of the practices that lead to well being and a moral sense.

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Obama Admin Blocks Texas' De-Funding of Planned Parenthood

Obama Admin Blocks Texas' De-Funding of Planned Parenthood | LifeNews.com: The Obama administration has turned down a request from Texas to run its Title X family planning program, funded with federal taxpayer dollars, without funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business.

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US to use foreign aid to promote homosexual rights

News from The Associated Press: The Obama administration is announcing a wide-ranging effort to use U.S. foreign aid to promote rights for gays and lesbians abroad, including combating attempts by foreign governments to criminalize homosexuality.

In a memorandum, President Barack Obama directed U.S. agencies working abroad, including the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, to use foreign aid to assist gays and lesbians who are facing human rights violations. And he ordered U.S. agencies to protect vulnerable gay and lesbian refugees and asylum seekers.

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Sex-Selective Abortions Come Home

Sex-Selective Abortions Come Home - By Steven W. Mosher - The Corner - National Review Online: “There is such a thing as too many daughters, but not too many sons,” Dr. Sunita Puri was told by the Asian-Indian women she was interviewing. The physician, who practices in the Bay Area, wanted to find out why so many immigrant Indian women in the United States were so eager to find out the sex of their unborn children, and why so many of them choose abortion when they found out they were carrying a girl.

What she discovered over the course of 65 interviews conducted over several years profoundly shocked her. Fully 89 percent of the women carrying girls opted for an abortion, and nearly half had previously aborted girls. Puri’s report, published in Social Science and Medicine this last April, makes for grim reading.

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A different kind of purity pledge: The Road We Know

The True Love Waits campaign, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, has since 1993 urged young believers, by way of youth-group talks and paper pledges and purity rings, to abstain from premarital sex. The program and others like it root their argument for abstinence in the logic of payoff: "If you wait for marriage, your future sex life will be hot." As communications expert Christine Gardner told CT recently, these campaigns "are using sex to sell abstinence. They are using the very thing they are prohibiting to admonish young people to wait."

The Road We Know, a laudable new documentary about HIV/AIDS prevention in Botswana (is about a youth-led abstinence campaign of an entirely different kind. (Watch thetrailer here, and watch the entire film here.)"

The Sanctity of Human Life by David P. Gushee

The Sanctity of Human Life by David P. Gushee: Most Christians would at least give lip service to the idea that human life is sacred. Indeed, after a generation of fighting over issues such as abortion, stem cells, and euthanasia, “the sanctity of life” has become a slogan wielded by many Christians as justification for their positions. But sometimes little thought goes into that slogan.

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Keeping the Embryonic Stem Cell Hype Alive by Creating a False Impression

Keeping the Embryonic Stem Cell Hype Alive by Creating a False Impression » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: A front page story in the SF Chronicle, headlined “Keeping Hope Alive,” purportedly concerns local young woman named Katie Sharify, who was the last patient to receive an injection (adult stem cells made from embryonic) in Geron’s now defunct ESCR human trial. But her poignant personal story is wrapped around a meme seeking to convince readers that ESCR remains the great hope for cures.

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Who Qualifies for Charity?

Who Qualifies for Charity? | Inspiring Faithful Stewards: The Bible is very specific about who should and who should not receive charity. . . . This is just one of the many reasons that I don’t believe the Bible supports the position that government be the provider and caretaker of the poor. As with all public policy, if we fail to follow God’s direction, we end up with problems for everyone. That’s why we now have a system of dependence on government for perpetual welfare in many forms that is unsustainable. All the while, many are demanding even more government handouts of one sort or another.

Related: The Rich Are Getting Richer; So Are the Poor

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The devastating choice: to abort or not to abort our unborn child with a lethal condition

The devastating choice: to abort or not to abort our unborn child with a lethal condition | LifeSiteNews.com: "Brad and I were expecting our first child and received some potentially devastating news at our 20-week ultrasound on November 11, 2005. Up to that point, the pregnancy was textbook. We had been joyfully anticipating the arrival of our new baby and all the things that go with being first-time expectant parents."

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A growing, changing God lobby in D.C.

Living | Religion: A growing, changing God lobby in D.C. | Seattle Times Newspaper: It was easy to describe the groups doing this work in the years after World War II. They were "largely denominational,"explained Hertzke, each representing a specific body of believers — Catholics, Jews, Baptists or mainline Protestants, such as Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians and Lutherans.

By the start of the 1970s, evangelicals were gaining power through the growth of nondenominational groups, educational institutions and media ministries. Then Roe v. Wade changed the shape of American politics — especially for evangelicals and traditional Catholics.

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LifeWay admits mistake, pulls Komen Bible from market

LifeWay admits mistake, pulls Komen Bible from market | LifeSiteNews.com: The publishers of the Komen Here’s Hope Cancer Awareness Bible have responded to criticism that they are giving money to an organization that gave over half a million dollars last year alone to the nation’s number one abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, and have announced they are pulling the Bible from the shelves for this very reason.

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Remembering Christopher Hitchens, atheist pro-life apologist

Fetal Distraction | Politics | Vanity Fair: "That the most partially formed human embryo is both human and alive has now been confirmed, in an especially vivid sense, by the new debate over stem-cell research and the bioethics of cloning. If an ailing or elderly person can be granted a new lease on life by a transfusion of this cellular material, then it is obviously not random organic matter. The original embryonic blastocyst may be a clump of 64 to 200 cells that is only five days old. But all of us began our important careers in that form, and every needful encoding for life is already present in the apparently inchoate. We are the first generation to have to confront this as a certain knowledge."

Editor: Not a perfect apologist, but still a strong voice. Now he knows the truth, as so ably expounded in today's Daily Spurgeon.

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Pressured to abort twin daughters, woman fights India’s sex-selective abortion epidemic

Pressured to abort twin daughters, woman fights India’s sex-selective abortion epidemic | LifeSiteNews.com: A woman who says she was pressured to the point of torture by her husband and in-laws to abort her twin daughters, has taken her grievance to India’s legal system, filing a complaint against her relatives and giving a face to the victims of India’s epidemic of sex-selective abortions in the process.

“Female foeticide is a thriving industry in India,” writes Mitu Khurana, whose story has attracted widespread media attention, on her blog. “The practice is rampant. Private clinics with ultrasound machines and other latest technologies are doing brisk business, making a complete mockery of law. Everywhere, people are paying to know the sex of an unborn child and paying more to abort the female child. The technology has even reached remote areas through facilities like mobile clinics.”

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Soft, Effeminate Christianity

CBMW » Soft, Effeminate Christianity: "I know that charity covereth a multitude of sins; but it does not call evil good, because a good man has done it; it does not excuse inconsistencies, because the inconsistent brother has a high name and a fervent spirit. Crookedness and worldliness are still crookedness and worldliness, though exhibited in one who seems to have reached no common height of attainment." --Horatius Bonar

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The Road to Roe (and Doe)

The Road to Roe (and Doe): Tuesday, December 13, 2011 | Americans United for Life | AUL.org: Today is the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court oral arguments in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179 (1973). (Actually the first round of arguments, though they didn’t know that at the time. The re-arguments in Roe and Doe (second round) were presented on October 11, 1972.

Roe was argued at 10am on Monday, December 13, 1971. Sarah Weddington, at 26, represented the Texas plaintiffs; Jay Floyd, an Assistant Attorney General, represented the State of Texas. That argument was immediately followed by the argument in Doe. Margie Pitts Hames represented the Georgia plaintiffs. Dorothy Beasley, an Assistant Attorney General, represented the State of Georgia.

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Scientists Have Trouble Accessing Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines

Scientists Have Trouble Accessing Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines, Says Survey: A survey of more than 200 human embryonic stem cell researchers in the United States found that nearly four in ten researchers have faced excessive delay in acquiring a human embryonic stem cell line and that more than one-quarter were unable to acquire a line they wanted to study.

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Pastors Double-Dare the IRS

Pastors Double-Dare the IRS | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction: A 1984 federal ruling told the IRS it needed a regional commissioner to sign off on any audits done on churches. But when the IRS reorganized in 1996, it eliminated the regional commissioner position. A Minnesota church recently argued that its IRS audit wasn't authorized by a high-enough official. In January, a federal court agreed.

Until the IRS sorts out who can authorize church audits, churches are left in limbo, said Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) senior legal counsel Erik Stanley. "It has become an intolerable system of self-censorship," he said. "Society labels biblical issues as political, and pastors just back away."

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Conscience question

WORLD Magazine | Conscience question | Emily Belz | Dec 17, 11: President Obama is considering expanding the religious exemption of the healthcare law, giving more latitude for religious organizations that don't want to pay for coverage of contraceptives, sterilization, or abortifacients. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced in August that the healthcare mandate for preventative services would include contraceptives. She also detailed a paper-thin religious exemption from that mandate: Only religious groups whose central purpose is "the inculcation of religious values" qualify for an exemption, and the group's employees must be primarily of one faith and primarily serve members of that faith—leaving out most religious hospitals, relief organizations, and the like.

Some religious groups pointed out that Jesus' ministry would not count as religious under this guideline if serving people of different beliefs is disqualifying.

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A Mother's Comfort - devotional

A Mother's Comfort - Book: This 52 week devotional is written for mothers during their babies’ first year. Each devotional is written to speak to a new mother’s heart. The Scripture passages will teach and remind her that just as she loves and comforts her child, she has a Heavenly Father who loves and comforts her. There is a place for her to record her thoughts and dreams for her child each week as she watches her baby grow and develop into the person God made him to be.

Idea for churches: Purchase quantities to give local pregnancy care centers. They, in turn, can use them to encourage new moms!

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Puah and Shiprah: God's women in Egypt

Alarmed over the rapid increase of the population of Israelites in Egypt, Pharaoh ordered two Egyptian midwives to destroy all male children as soon as they were born (Exodus 1:15-20 ). He would never have employed Hebrew women to destroy the males of their own nation. The answer of the two named midwives, Puah and Shiprah, to Pharaoh’s anger when he discovered that his cruel edict was not being carried out, implies that they were used to wait upon Egyptian women who only employed them in difficulty at childbirth (Exodus 1:19). Hebrew women seldom employed midwives for they were more “lively,” or had far easier births than the Egyptians.

Puah and Shiprah are Egyptian names. Aben Ezra, the ancient Jewish historian, says that these two women “were chiefs over all the midwives, who were more than 500.” As superintendents of such a large staff to which they had been appointed by the Egyptian government, Pharaoh ordered them to carry out his terrible command just as he would give orders to any other of his officials. As it is likely that only the chief Hebrews could afford the service of midwives, probably the order of Pharaoh only applied to them. Although Egyptians by birth, it would seem as if they had embraced the Hebrew faith, for we are told that Puah and Shiprah “feared God.” Women of the Bible

China: Organ harvesting from religious, political prisoners

The Xinjiang Procedure | The Weekly Standard: Chinese medical authorities admit that the lion’s share of transplant organs originate with executions, but no mainland Chinese doctors, even in exile, will normally speak of performing such surgery. To do so would remind international medical authorities of an issue they would rather avoid—not China’s soaring execution rate or the exploitation of criminal organs, but rather the systematic elimination of China’s religious and political prisoners.

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New Bible allows you to support abortion funding with its purchase

New Bible allows you to support abortion funding with its purchase : Moral Outcry: The sign might as well read, “Buy a Bible and support abortion!” In the latest twist of commercialism invading Christianity, now breast cancer pink has merged with the Word of God. The Susan G. Komen Foundation, who as recently as last week was handing out cash to the nation’s number one abortion provider, makes the latest thematic Bible stand out on retailers’ shelves across the nation.

The Bible is published by B&H Publishing, a division of Lifeway Resources, which is connected with the Southern Baptist Convention -- a strong supporter of the right to life.

Update: LifeWay admits mistake, pulls Komen Bible from market

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Santorum: GOP Should "Not Surrender" on Pro-Life Issues

Santorum: GOP Should "Not Surrender" on Pro-Life Issues | LifeNews.com: Kicking off a new funding drive, Rick Santorum said, “A number of Republican leaders have suggested that the best way to win back the White House is to call a truce on talking about social issues. Issues like abortion, marriage, school prayer, and immigration. In my book that’s not a truce…it’s a surrender. But not on my watch. The day we stop fighting for the unborn child, or fighting to protect the sanctity of marriage, expel God from the public square, or decide we will no longer enforce the laws of our land, is the day we surrender all our founding fathers created.”

Related: Santorum campaigns with seriously ill daughter at home -- his reason for running

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Pro-life work is essential to Catholic Church’s social justice efforts

Pro-life work is essential to Catholic Church’s social justice efforts: Vancouver Archbishop | LifeSiteNews.com: The Gospel “transcends the artificial separation of the ‘pro-life’ and ‘peace and justice’ camps that we sometimes find in the Church.”

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Argentinean province officially declares itself ‘pro-life’

Argentinean province officially declares itself ‘pro-life’ | LifeSiteNews.com: The Argentinean province of Corrientes has declared itself to be officially “pro-life,” in a statement signed by Governor Ricardo Colombi. The decree states that “the effective protection of the right to life from its conception is a fundamental obligation of government, and therefore the unborn child has the complete enjoyment of this right and of its consequent protection.”

Colombi signed the decree at a conference held by local representatives of the Catholic and Evangelical churches, called the “Multisectoral and Ecumenical Encounter in favor of Life.”

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Sex-selective abortion causing massive gender imbalance in Taiwan

Sex-selective abortion causing massive gender imbalance in Taiwan | LifeSiteNews.com: A report released December 7 from the Control Yuan, the Taiwanese government’s highest watchdog body, warns that sex-selective abortion is creating a serious gender imbalance in the country, second only to China.

According to data compiled by the Department of Health, Taiwan’s gender ratio at birth from 2004 to 2010 was between 108 and 112 males for every 100 females, compared to a natural ratio of about 106 males to 100 females. The government agency estimated that this has resulted in up to 3,000 missing female babies each year.

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NLT giveaway

Starting on November 29th until December 24th at the New Living Translation Facebook page we're giving away lots of great prizes and something free for you just for singing up.

By visiting the giveaway entry page (located on the NLT Facebook page, the link is under the profile picture) and entering your name and e-mail address you'll be entered to win the following prizes:

• One random person each day will win a Life Application Study Bible Family Pack (Guys Life Application Study Bible hc, Girls Life Application Study Bible hc, Student's Life Application Study Bible hc, Life Application Study Bible hc, Life Application Study Bible Large Print hc). 
• One Random person each week will win an Apple iPad 2! 

Everyone that signs up gets a free download copy of the Life Application Bible Study – Book of Luke!

Pregnancy begins at conception, docs say

LIFE DIGEST: Pregnancy begins at conception, docs say: A majority of American obstetricians and gynecologists believe pregnancy begins at conception, putting them at odds with the leading medical association in their field.

A new survey showed 57 percent of the 1,000 obstetricians and gynecologists who responded to a questionnaire said pregnancy starts at conception, according to Reuters News Service. The questionnaire found 28 percent said pregnancy begins at implantation of the tiny embryo in the uterine wall. That occurs about a week after conception, also known as fertilization. The remaining 15 percent said they were uncertain.

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Abortion factor in grant denial

Abortion factor in grant denial reinforces need for conscience protections: In 2006, HHS awarded the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services a five-year $19 million grant for the express purpose of aiding those who have been victimized by human traffickers. The grant program had been established as part of an anti-trafficking law supported by the Southern Baptist's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which has since been reauthorized. But in September the relief group’s grant renewal request was denied. At issue is the group’s refusal to support abortion services as part of assistance to trafficked persons.

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God’s Perspective On Children: A Scriptural Reminder

. . . In Leviticus 20:1-5 any Jew and even non-Jew found sacrificing a child to the demonic god Molech was to be stoned to death along with his whole family. But there was a catch. If someone finds out about another person sacrificing their child to this god Molech and does nothing about it they will suffer the same punishment as if they had done it themselves! This is the only place in all of the Old Testament law where the moral responsibility of the sin of one man is placed on the shoulders of another man just because he knew about it and didn’t do anything to stop it.

. . . [W]hat is it about babies that makes them the ultimate example of a citizen of heaven such that if we don’t understand it ourselves we’re disqualified as citizens? Babies are voiceless, powerless, without influence or rights in this world. They of any class of human are the most vulnerable and defenseless unless someone takes responsibility for them. In fact babies in the womb are the only class of person in the United States of America who has been officially dehumanized. In 1973 the Supreme Court decided in the infamous case of Roe v Wade that pre-born children are not human, thereby stripping them of their God given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So why not abortion? It is ironic that the court of supreme American justice committed the highest crime against humanity by dehumanizing the most vulnerable of citizens paving the way for legalized infanticide. And unless someone stands in the gap and takes responsibility for these babies, they will perish.

The status of powerless babies in the womb in the U.S. mirrors our condition before a holy God. We are without power, influence, and voice. Were it not for the work of Christ on the cross we would have no standing before a just God. Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross we have been gifted with a voice, power and influence before God the Father and we are to wield those tools as Christ did, not for Himself but rather on behalf of others. Jim Harden

Pro-Life Groups Oppose Halligan Nomination

Pro-Life Groups Oppose Caitlin Halligan DC Court Nomination | LifeNews.com: President Barack Obama is attempting to replace Supreme Court Justice John Roberts on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals with Caitlin Halligan. Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council says Halligan should face strong opposition from pro-life members of the Senate when Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid brings her nomination to the Senate floor.

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Dolly scientist: abandon embryonic stem cell research

Baptist Press - Dolly scientist: abandon embryonic stem cell research - News with a Christian Perspective: Ian Wilmut told a crowd of stem cell researchers in La Jolla, CA, that because embryonic stem cells tend to lead to tumors, scientists should spend their time on non-embryonic forms of research, particularly on a new method called direct reprogramming. In direct reprogramming, scientists avoid stem cells altogether and, for instance, reprogram a skin cell directly into a nerve cell. Researchers have had success doing just that with lab mice. It has the support of ethicists who have opposed embryonic research.

Wilmut wasn't making his argument on ethical grounds but mere feasibility.

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Sperm donor children speak out

Sperm donor children speak out | LifeSiteNews.com: Alana Stewart is one of an estimated 30,000 – 60,000 children conceived each year in the United States through sperm donation. A former egg donor herself, Alana is now a vocal critic of the practice, which she calls “the violent act of buying and selling a child.”

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A Revealing Examination of the Strategy behind the Embryonic Stem Cell Hype

A Revealing Examination of the Strategy behind the Embryonic Stem Cell Hype | NRL News Today: Democrats used the dispute to paint conservatives as uneducated religious opponents of science, while also painting themselves as science-loving, kind-hearted funders of life-saving cures for ailing voters and their families. In fact, the Democrats’ strategy may actually have slowed the development of therapies for sick Americans. Daily Caller

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Brain cells from embryos: two successful mouse implant studies

BioNews - Brain cells from embryos: two successful mouse implant studies: Two separate studies have successfully transplanted neurons into the brains of mice. The transplanted neurons are able to send and receive electrical impulses, and can be used to compensate for faulty brain cells, restoring normal function. Both studies sourced the transplanted neurons from embryos – mouse embryos in one case, human embryonic stem cells (hESC) were used in the other – and both reported that the neurons fully integrated the mice's brain circuits.

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Cleft lip genetically repaired in mice

BioNews - Cleft lip genetically repaired in mice: Scientists have genetically repaired cleft lip and palate in mouse embryos in a breakthrough that could pave the way for new treatments of the common birth defects in humans.

The team identified mutations in the Pbx family of genes that resulted in complete cleft lip, with or without cleft palate. These genes produce proteins which have previously been identified as playing a part in skeletal and organ development, but their role in face shape is a 'new and surprising finding.'

They found Pbx genes regulate a signalling pathway that includes a number of proteins known to be involved in cleft lip formation. By restoring the activity of one gene, known as Wnt, which plays a prominent role in embryo development, the researchers were able to repair cleft lips in mouse embryos.

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First of three women in US 'baby-selling' ring sentenced

BioNews - First of three women in US 'baby-selling' ring sentenced: A former lawyer convicted of wire fraud and other charges after her involvement in a 'baby-selling' ring has been sentenced to five months imprisonment by a Californian court.

Hilary Neiman, along with Theresa Erickson and Carla Chambers, who are due to be sentenced in January, recruited American women to act as surrogates who would then conceive through IVF using donated gametes.

The offenders would then 'shop' the babies by falsely telling prospective adoptive parents that those who had intended to adopt the babies had backed out of the scheme. When a new couple had been found to adopt a future child, they were asked to pay over $100,000 in fees, while the surrogates were paid between $38,000 and $45,000.

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On Abortion and Defining a 'Person'

On Abortion and Defining a 'Person' - NYTimes.com: "Those who reject the personhood of a fertilized egg have no grounds for opposing abortion. But they cannot consistently claim that all abortions, even at very early stages or in special circumstances, are wrong. They can still regard some (later-term) abortions as the killing of an innocent human person, although, to establish this, they need to provide a criterion for personhood beyond that of having human DNA."

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Stem Cell Research—Lifesaving Alternatives

Stem Cell Research—Lifesaving Alternatives - Answers in Genesis: Should Christians support stem cell research? If you quickly answer no, perhaps it’s because you assume there is only one source of stem cells—human embryos. News media often fail to report an alternative source of stem cells—adults.

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Romneycare and Abortion

Romneycare and Abortion | The Weekly Standard: Romney doesn’t need to win Iowa’s social conservative activists, but he does need to allay the concerns of enough social conservatives to win the state—and the nomination. One big stumbling block for Romney is the Massachusetts health care law’s coverage of elective abortions. The law passed in 2006—after Romney’s pro-life conversion.

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Ohio Bill Splits Anti-Abortion Forces on Legal Tactics

Ohio Bill Splits Anti-Abortion Forces on Legal Tactics - NYTimes.com: In Ohio, a bill before the state legislature that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detectable, usually six to eight weeks into pregnancy, is the latest effort by activists to force a legal showdown. The so-called heartbeat bill is tearing apart the state’s powerful anti-abortion forces.

Ohio Right to Life, which has been the premier lobby, and the state Catholic conference have refused to support the measure, arguing that the court is not ready for such a radical step and that it could cause a legal setback. But the idea has stirred the passions of some traditional leaders, even winning the endorsement of Dr. John C. Willke of Cincinnati, the former president of National Right to Life and one of the founders of the modern anti-abortion movement.

“I was Mr. Incremental,” Dr. Willke, 87, said of his career promoting the more modest restrictions. “But after nearly 40 years of abortion on demand, it’s time to take a bold step forward.”

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Famed pollster's interest in religion went beyond numbers

Famed pollster's interest in religion went beyond numbers » Abilene Reporter-News: "We revere the Bible, but don't read it," warned the famous pollster George Gallup, Jr., in an address to the Evangelical Press Association. "We believe the Ten Commandments to be valid rules for living, although we can't name them. We believe in God, but this God is a totally affirming one, not a demanding one. He does not command our total allegiance. We have other gods before him." The bottom line is that most American believers simply "want the fruits of religion, but not the obligations."

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People not the same as animals

People created in God's image are not the same as animals » Abilene Reporter-News: "I volunteer in an animal shelter, and I don't agree with those who say there's a big gap between humans and animals. Animals have the same range of emotions we do — fear, love, anger, and so forth. One of the worst things we can do is abuse animals, because they're just like us, and we're just like them." Really?

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Christian environmental group says the EPA's new rule on mercury pollution is a pro-life issue

Christian environmental group says the EPA's new rules on mercury pollution is a pro-life issue | MLive.com: Rev. Tracey Bianchi, an evangelical pastor and mother from suburban Chicago, argues mercury poisoning is a pro-life issue because it can cause permanent brain damage and developmental disabilities in the unborn.

The campaign also includes billboards in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Ohio and emails to nearly 10 million evangelicals and Catholics. "One in every six babies in the U.S. are born with harmful mercury levels in their blood," said the Rev. Mitch Hescox, Evangelical Environmental Network president. "Pro-life members of Congress should be doing everything they can to protect the unborn from this threat, For the life of me, I can't understand why some are trying to block the EPA from regulating mercury levels when they know the unborn will pay the price."

Cal Beisner, founder and national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, responds

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Challenging the Powers of Death with the Gospel of Life

Bloodguilt reflects God's intention to vindicate each precious life---created in his own glorious image---and to avenge innocent lives cut down. For such things there is a reckoning (Lev. 24:17). [See also Genesis 9:5-6]

According to Deuteronomy 21, the shedding of innocent blood leaves everyone in the community under bloodguilt. Those who actively shed blood are guilty. Those who watch it or take no steps to stop it are guilty. Even if you can pray, "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed" (Deut. 21:7), the whole community is still under bloodguilt. An act of atonement is required (Deut. 21:8). Only then will the bloodguilt be "purged" (Deut. 21:9).

If someone you love is murdered, you have no trouble understanding the preeminent nature of this evil. Everything is affected. When a stranger is murdered (Deut. 21:1), you are apt to shrug, go to work, and believe things are not much affected. This is the corrupting lie.

. . . We need to bring the main thing---the cross---to bear on the one thing that most plagues the conscience of this generation and hamstrings their service to God: the disaster of sexual sin that so often ends in the death of the weak and innocent. Tragically, many addressing the bloodguilt of abortion today offer a sprinkling of gospel on a plateful of Kübler-Ross. The abortion-recovery materials now in circulation tend to be anthropocentric, therapeutic Band-Aids over the wasting disease of the soul produced by abortion.

We need you, preachers and teachers. We need theologically rigorous instruction about the sufficiency of the gospel to cleanse away the bloodguilt of abortion and to reconcile us to God. Abortion needs to be called out by name, confessed with tears, and brought under a gospel that atones, justifies, propitiates, expiates, and brings us peace. Gospel Coalition

Gingrich: "Life begins at implantation"

In a new interview with Jake Tapper of ABC News, Newt Gingrich said human life begins at implantation rather than conception.

Tapper asked him, “Abortion is a big issue here in Iowa . . . and Rick Santorum has said you are inconsistent. The big argument here is that you have supported in the past embryonic stem cell research and you made a comment about how these fertilized eggs, these embryos are not yet “pre-human” because they have not been implanted. This has upset conservatives in this state who worry you don’t see these fertilized eggs as human life. When do you think human life begins?”

“Well, I think the question of being implanted is a very big question,” Gingrich said. “My friends who have ideological positions that sound good don’t then follow through the logic of: ‘So how many additional potential lives are they talking about? What are they going to do as a practical matter to make this real? I think that if you take a position when a woman has fertilized egg and that’s been successfully implanted that now you’re dealing with life. Because otherwise you’re going to open up an extraordinary range of very difficult questions.” LifeNews

Editor: "Make this real"? Also, I don't get how LifeNews decides Newt is pro-life. It would seem these statements betray what he really thinks. Here's National Right to Life's take on it, which is even more confusing. In another LifeNews article he's allowed to restate his view. Blogger Jill Stanek is not convinced. For the record:


Pregnancy Begins at Conception/Fertilization, Not Implantation

Protect Pro-Life Conscience Rights

Protect Pro-Life - CapWiz: Congress is currently drafting the final package of nine appropriations bills for fiscal year 2012, and the draft of the one bill funding the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services contains the "Abortion Nondiscrimination Act" (ANDA). However, pro-abortion pressure is making it difficult for House Leadership and pro-life Members to keep ANDA in the final package of spending bills. While other "pro-life riders" such as the Hyde Amendment (banning abortion funding in the Health and Human Services), and the Dornan Amendment (banning funding abortion in the District of Columbia), are likely to be maintained, adding a permanent conscience clause into law is urgently needed.

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Why it's easier to battle abortion than same-sex marriage

Speak to conservative college students and you’ll generally find enthusiastic pro-life support and deep ambivalence about — if not outright hostility to — preserving traditional marriage. Younger conservatives want to talk about life. They don’t want to talk about sexuality.

. . . The life argument is simply easier to make. You don’t have to appeal to scripture or other holy texts to argue that a child should not be dismembered in his or her mother’s womb. By contrast, marriage arguments tend to be more abstract, especially since there’s no readily identifiable “victim” of gay marriage.

. . . After more than a generation of no-fault divorce, the very concept of “traditional marriage” is seeping out of our cultural DNA, replaced, sadly, by the core conviction that marriage is no longer a covenant, but a contract — specifically a contract for the fulfillment and enjoyment of adults. Our churches not only acquiesced in this cultural change, many of them continue to facilitate it even as they argue against same-sex marriage. There are many taboos in the modern evangelical church, and one of them is “judging” anyone’s divorce.

. . . The battle over marriage, frankly, needs to broaden. We shouldn’t necessarily speak of “defending traditional marriage” when traditional marriage has already been mortally wounded by no-fault divorce. Perhaps we should instead emphasize marriage restoration over marriage defense. National Review

Related: Young People’s Attitudes Toward Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage

Embryonic Stem Cell Research Not Dead Yet

Embryonic Stem Cell Research Not Dead Yet Despite Geron Pullout | LifeNews.com: ESC’s are taken from embryos that are destroyed in the process, with the hopes that the biotech company can patent a successful line of cells and perpetuate that line of cells indefinitely in the laboratory. With a perpetually growing and dividing line of cells, it is thought, therapy will be less expensive than the more labor-intensive process of retrieval and processing of the patient’s own cells. That’s a powerful business model for modern day gold prospectors, and one that will keep ESC’s in the game for quite some time to come.

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‘Occupy’ movement targets pro-family pastor

‘Occupy’ movement in Massachusetts targets pro-family pastor | LifeSiteNews.com: Members of Occupy Wall Street in Springfield, Massachusetts, targeted Pastor Scott Lively and his inner-city Christian mission two Fridays ago with a loud, well-organized protest, accusing the pastor of “hate” crimes against homosexuals. Pastor Lively is the author of two books opposing the homosexual agenda: The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality and the Nazi Party and Why and How to Defeat the ‘Gay’ Movement.

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One in six cohabiting as marriage rate decline

One in six cohabiting as marriage rate declines - Telegraph: One in six people [UK] are now cohabiting as the number of unmarried adults reaches record levels, figures have disclosed, with 53 the most common age for divorce.

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Intelligent Design: Atheists to the Rescue

Intelligent Design: Atheists to the Rescue | First Things: Two recent books by atheist philosophers of science have joined with ID theorists in the criticism of neo-Darwinism.

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Behind Romney’s change of heart on abortion

Behind Romney’s change of heart on abortion - The Washington Post: Romney’s own change of heart evolved not from personal experience but rather from a purposeful course of study. . . . The politically expedient choice was obvious, but Romney took a more thoughtful approach and sought to educate himself before staking out a position. Enter William Hurlbut, a physician and professor of biomedical ethics at Stanford University Medical School. For several hours, Hurlbut and Romney met in the governor’s office and went through the dynamics of conception, embryonic development and the repercussions of research that targets nascent human life. It was not a light lunch.

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Newsweek admits the obvious: America is in the grip of sex addiction

Newsweek admits the obvious: America is in the grip of sex addiction | LifeSiteNews.com: Some hair-raising statistics Newsweek’s “The Sex Addiction Epidemic”: 40 million people a day are logging into porn websites, (about 13% of the US population). Up to 9 million may qualify under the strict clinical definition of a “sex addict.” Psychologists specializing in the the disorder have multiplied from 100 a decade years ago to over 1,500 today. Surprisingly, the magazine admits that at least some homosexual activity is related to sex addiction.

Editor: Sex addiction? To me it's obvious LifeSiteNews has bought into the idea that sin is a disease.

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India’s proposed two-child policy

India’s proposed two-child policy: targeting freedom and the privacy of the bedroom | LifeSiteNews.com: According to the Population Research Institute, elements in the Keralan government are attempting to pass what they innocuously call “The Women’s Code Bill.” This bill, if passed, would create a two-child policy in the state of Kerala, in an attempt to curb India’s “overpopulation” problem.

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Pro-Life Nurse Asked to Assist Abortion Told: “You just have to catch the baby’s head. Don’t worry, it’s already dead.”

Pro-Life Nurse Asked to Assist Abortion Told: “You just have to catch the baby’s head. Don’t worry, it’s already dead.”: A dozen pro-life nurses in New Jersey are fighting for their right to follow their conscience and not be forced to assist at abortions. This quote in the Washington Post by one of the nurses stopped is chilling:

“One of the nurses, Fe Esperanza R. Vinoya, said a manager told her: ‘You just have to catch the baby’s head. Don’t worry, it’s already dead.’ ”

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