Tag Archives: abortion

Has Abortion Becomes A Means of Birth Control?

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24 million: Numbers of viewers that watched the finale of Dancing with the Stars in 2010
8 million: Population of North Carolina
9.2 million: Abortions in China in 2008

You know about China’s one-child policy already, where the government forces women to have an abortion if they get pregnant while already a mom to one child. Then they sterilize her. But maybe what you aren’t hearing is that the abortion rate among China’s young, unmarried women is skyrocketing out of control. The number of abortions increased from 7.6 million in 2007 up to 9.2 million in 2008 but could be as high as 13 million a year since the earlier numbers only account for hospitals. That’s more than the entire population of Pennsylvania.

A clinic manager explains that the shame is much higher in China over having a baby when one isn’t married than having an abortion. The Chinese describe abortion in more truthful language than here in the US:

“Luckily, in Chinese culture people generally feel that before the actual birth, you don’t yet have an actual person, so we have cases of induced abortion at seven and eight months along,” Li said. “I think this is to China’s advantage from a population control point of view … China has absolutely no need for the so-called ‘right to life’ argument, no need to introduce ideas about abortion as murder and so on.”

But then again, they cater to their new clientele:

Clinics and hospitals are stepping in to meet the demand. Online ads and cheery brochures in pastel colors advertise “painless artificial miscarriage,” private recovery lounges and post-surgery massage meant to help shrink the swollen uterus back to normal size.

The abortion clinics blame the lack of education about birth control on the huge increase in abortions. A study in Spain just came out that blew this theory out of the water. The study followed women of child-bearing age since 1997 and checked in with them every two years on their contraceptive method and whether or not they had a child or an abortion.

The study found overall use of contraceptive methods increased from 49.1% to 79.9% during the 10 year time period ending in 2007. Condom usage rates rose from 21 to 38.8 percent while women were more likely to use the birth control pill (14.2% to 20.3%).

Despite the increase reliance on birth control and contraception, the elective abortion rate increased from 5.52 to 11.49 per 1000 women.

In 2008, a Swedish study revealed that abortions increased even as record numbers of the “morning after pill” were sold.

Abortion is clearly being used as a birth control method. In 1968 Pope Paul VI released Humanae Vitae, the controversial document on human life that said Catholics should not use artificial contraception for several reasons. The document was prophetic and the pope pointed out, among other things, that the widespread use of contraceptives would “lead to conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality.” He also predicted that “the man” will lose respect for “the woman” and “no longer (care) for her physical and psychological equilibrium” and will come to “the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment and no longer as his respected and beloved companion.”

How far do we need to look to see both of these prophecies fulfilled? Over 9 million Chinese babies died at the hands of their own parents and millions more in the rest of the world met the same fate. You can’t keep blaming contraceptive failure. What about personal responsibility and the respect for your own and your partner’s body and eternal soul?

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‘No Easy Decision’ Indeed

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The popular pop culture cable station MTV has two huge hits on their hands dealing with teen pregnancy – “16 & Pregnant” and the spinoff “Teen Mom.” 16 & Pregnant just finished up their second season and Teen Mom is heading into season two this month. All of the girls in the series chose to give birth to their children and some gave their babies up for adoption.

The stories are heart wrenching to say the least. A lot of the girls don’t have support from their boyfriends and families yet couldn’t bring themselves to choose to abort their child…until now.

But MTV aired a controversial follow-up to these two hit shows last week called “No Easy Decision.” It was about one of the girls on 16 & Pregnant, Markai Durham, who delivered her baby girl and then found out she was pregnant again with her boyfriend James only eight months later. No Easy Decision follows Markai as she weighs the decision to give birth or to have an abortion.

Your heart will ache for the teen since she’s so close to doing the right thing (she becomes distraught when James calls the unborn child a “thing” and a ball of cells and she points to her daughter and, in tears, says a “thing could turn out just like her”). She voices that she already loves the baby who is doing nothing but making her sick – she had the abortion at 6 weeks gestation.

Pro-life blogger Jill Stanek has a post up questioning the sponsors since the show ran without commercials, unheard of for MTV – plus she includes all the feminist cheerleaders for the girls having abortions.

Dr. Drew Pinsky, who wasn’t exactly an unbiased moderator, hosted the special as well as the reunions for 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom. As a Catholic, watching Dr. Drew hoist condoms on these young couples as the best way to prevent another unwanted pregnancy was sickening. Not once did the issue of self-control, self-respect, the respect of their partners and love come up. Not once did anyone suggest – hey, I really don’t want to get pregnant again so we’re just not going to have sex. Not once. It was all about artificial birth control and contraception, which the Catholic Church adamantly opposes and deems “intrinsically evil.”

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote yesterday about the shock of reality TV that leaves out abortion because, maybe, it’s just a little too real. He said that it’s probably a victory for pro-lifers but also a denial of culture since one in five pregnancies ends in abortion in the US (so much for “safe, legal and rare”). But taking it a step further, Douthat tied in infertility and abortion:

 In every era, there’s been a tragic contrast between the burden of unwanted pregnancies and the burden of infertility. But this gap used to be bridged by adoption far more frequently than it is today. Prior to 1973, 20 percent of births to white, unmarried women (and 9 percent of unwed births over all) led to an adoption. Today, just 1 percent of babies born to unwed mothers are adopted, and would-be adoptive parents face a waiting list that has lengthened beyond reason.

 Douthat printed a poem from Kevin Young in last week’s New Yorker:

 The doctor trying again to find you, fragile,
fern, snowflake. Nothing.
After, my wife will say, in fear,
impatient, she went beyond her body,
this tiny room, into the ether—
… And there
it is: faint, an echo, faster and further
away than mother’s, all beat box
and fuzzy feedback. …

And then ended the column with these lines:

This is the paradox of America’s unborn. No life is so desperately sought after, so hungrily desired, so carefully nurtured. And yet no life is so legally unprotected, and so frequently destroyed. [our emphasis]

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“Women Veterans Bill of Rights” Opens Door to Taxpayer Funding for Abortion at Veterans Facilities

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Today the House will consider HR 5953, the “Women Veterans Bill of Rights”.   This legislation contains language that may be of concern to pro-life groups.

The first section of HR 5953 would establish a “Women Veterans Bill of Rights” which enumerates 24 rights to be “displayed prominently and conspicuously in each facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs and distributed widely to women veterans.”  The rights that women veterans “should have” according to HR 5953 include rights to health care and health care providers.  These rights could then be used as a basis to require funding for abortion and access to abortion at veterans facilities.

The Department of  Veterans Affairs (VA) does not currently provide abortions and abortions are currently excluded from the VA health benefits package, because abortion is excluded from the scope of ”general reproductive health care” that is authorized by P.L. 102-585. But that exclusion does not extend a prohibition to other authorities created by earlier or later legislation, this bill could lay the groundwork and legal precedent for the VA to provide abortions in the future.  More detailed areas of concern are listed below.

Possible pro-life concerns with HR 5953 are as follows:

- A right to “coordinated, comprehensive, primary women’s health care” could provide a legal basis to require funding for abortion because this language would be in conflict with current policy. (Right #1)

-A right to a “primary care provider who can meet ALL her primary care needs, including gender-specific…” could be used to mandate access to abortionists at every VA health facility. (Right #1)

- A “right to innovation in care delivery” raises concerns about the provision of “telemed abortions” through which abortion pills are dispensed without a physician present.  Instead the physician dispenses the abortion pills by entering a code over the internet. (Right #3)

- A “right to request and get treatments by clinicians with specific training and experience in women’s health issues” could be a used as grounds to demand access to an abortion provider and could create a funding conflict as well because it implies a right to have abortion paid for. (Right #4)

- “Gender equity” and “equal access” and “parity” in this context could also give rise to an abortion access and funding demands.  In the past, pro-life groups have oppose the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) unless an abortion exclusion is added for this reason.  The most recent example, New Mexico’s ERA was used as a legal basis for the courts to require state funded abortions.  (Right #6 and 7)

Call your Representative today at 202-225-3121 and urge them to vote no on HR 5953 as it leads to taxpayer funding of abortion.

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The Catholic Vote 2010 — Will You Vote Your Faith?

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We are now just inside of one month until election day.  The question we have for our Catholic family, friends, fellow parishioners and co-workers is:  Are you praying, reflecting and ready to Vote Your Faith in 2010?  Given the nature of the mainstream media today, many folks simply don’t know where candidates stand on issues.  It is our goal to help educate committed Catholics about the issues in this campaign that impact our faith or are in direct conflict with it.

We as Catholics are called to practice our faith in the voting booth.  In fact, in the past two elections cycles Pope Benedict XVI outlined a three point model to reflect on before voting.

Benedict XVI said that the focus of public interventions by the Catholic Church “is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable.”

The Pope spelled out these principles thus:

– “protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception to natural death”;

– “recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family — as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage — and its defense from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its de-stabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role”;

– and “the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.”

Common to all

Benedict XVI clarified: “These principles are not truths of faith, even though they receive further light and confirmation from faith; they are inscribed in human nature itself and therefore they are common to all humanity.”

So, what are some important Catholic issues before us this election cycle? 

1.  Taxpayer funding of abortion in health care.  When President Obama signed the health care law, he signed a law that opened the flood gates for taxpayer funding of abortion.  Americans United for Life Action has launched a “Life Counts” campaign targeting specific members of Congress who voted to force taxpayers to fund abortion.  See if your Congressman is on the list here.  If so, call him or her and let them know you will not be voting for them because they support the radical policy of forcing taxpayers to fund abortion.

Find out:  Did candidates seeking your vote this November, support Obamacare? If they voted for Obamacare, they voted to force taxpayers to fund abortion.  Vote them out and support a candidate running to repeal Obamacare and end taxpayer funding for abortion throughout the federal government by supporting Smith-Lipinski (see number 2).

2. Ending taxpayer funding of abortion in all federal government agencies. Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) have introduced a bipartisan bill to end taxpayer funding of abortion across the federal government.  The bill has 150 original cosponsors, including 16 Democrats.  Read more on the bill here.

Ask candidates for Congress or Senate in your state:  Do you support the bipartisan Smith-Lipinski bill in the House, which would end taxpayer funding of abortion across the federal government?  If they do, support them.  If they don’t, vote them out.

3.  Taxpayer funding of human experimentation through embryo research.  Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) have introduced legislation to not only have taxpayers fund embryonic stem cell research, but also opens the door to taxpayer funded cloning. To learn more about this issue go here.

Find out: Do candidates running for Congress seeking your vote support Specter-DeGette and taxpayer funding of human experimentation through embryo research?  If they do, vote them out by supporting candidates who oppose embryonic stem cell research.

4.  Traditional marriage is under attack across the country and key elections in Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Iowa could weigh heavily on the future of the marriage issue. In each of these states, public support continues to fall on the side of protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman, yet we have elected officials who continue to push against the voters’ say on the marriage issue, and who are taking matter into their own hands – whether it be a Governor or a state supreme court justice. The National Organization for Marriage has all the info you need here.

Find out—do candidates seeking your vote support marriage as defined between one man and one woman?  If not, vote them out by supporting candidates that support marriage.

5.  School choice.  One would think all would agree that parents should have the right to decide what education, including homeschooling, options are best for their kids.  Yet many liberals and unions fight against this very basic civil right across the country from the smallest town to the largest city.  Learn more about school choice issues here.

Find out: Do candidates seeking your vote this November support school choice?  If not, vote them out by supporting candidates who do support school choice.

6.  Supreme Court and Judges:  Senators have amazing power.  They have a vote to determine who will sit on various levels of our federal judiciary and apply laws and bring justice.  Yet the biggest injustice our country faces today is the over 50 million babies who have been murdered thanks to a Supreme Court ruling.

It is important that as Catholics we vote for Senate candidates who commit to voting for judges who apply the law and not support judicial nominees who legislate from the bench.  The most notorious example of legislating from the bench was the 1973 Roe Vs. Wade decision in the Supreme Court, which made abortion on demand the law of the land.

Find out: Do your Senate candidates support judges who apply the law and consider Roe vs Wade legislating from the bench and a bad decision?  If they do, support them.  If they don’t, vote them out.  You can learn more about judicial issues here.

For more information you can also visit CatholicVote and Catholic Answers, both terrific organizations assisting Catholics seeking to learn more about issues important to Catholics and where candidates stand.

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Call Your Representative: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act

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Government prohibition on taxpayer funding for abortion was recently introduced in the House by Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL).  So far over 175 Members of Congress have agreed to cosponsor the Smith/Lipinski bill titled the “ No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (HR 5939).   Read the text of the bill here.
 
It is important for pro-lifers to urge all  Members of Congress to cosponsor the legislation with the goal of demonstrating that there is enough support to pass the bill.  Call your Representative today at (202) 224-3121.

Priority calls: 

Republicans: Biggert, Bilbray, Bono Mack, Capito, Castle, Dent, Djou, Dreier, Flake, Frelinghuysen, Hastings, Heller, Kirk, Lance, Mack, C., Nunes, Putnam, Reichert, Rohrabacher, Rooney, Royce, Young, B., Young, D.,

Democrats: Baca, Barrow, Berry, Bishop, Boccieri, Cardoza, Chandler, Cooper, Costa, Cuellar, Davis (AL), Doyle, Etheridge, Gordon, Hill, Holden, Kaptur, Kildee, Langevin, Lynch, Matheson, Melancon, Michaud, Mollohan, Neal, Obey, Perriello, Pomeroy, Reyes, Rodriguez, Ryan (OH), Salazar, Shuler, Skelton, Snyder, Space, Spratt, Stupak, Tanner, Teague

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Join 40 Days for Life

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Pro Life Activists around the world are taking part in 40 days of prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion in America. “40 Days for Life takes a determined, peaceful approach to showing local communities the consequences of abortion in their own neighborhoods, for their own friends and families. It puts into action a desire to cooperate with God in the carrying out of His plan for the end of abortion in America.”

St Michael Society editors attended the Washington, DC kick off rally and spoke with Alina Arias of Silent No More.  She talks about 40 Days For Life, Silent No More and gives advice to anyone thinking about abortion.

Learn more and join 40 Days for Life here: http://www.40daysforlife.com

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Helping Expectant Mothers and Churning Miracles

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In our ongoing battle to end abortion and help the poor, SMS has been blessed to work with Father Stefan Starzynski in his mission to care for expectant mothers through maternity homes in Virginia.  Over the past three years, the Paul Stefan Foundation – www.paulstefanhome.org has cared for and nurtured over 80 expectant mothers and babies in our homes in Central and Northern, VA.

The PSF not only cares for these women and their newborns before, during and after the baby’s birth, we also help them find jobs, and further their education to help them get back on their feet in society.

We are now raising money not only for the essential daily care of these women and their newborns, but also to open more homes in the region.

On Saturday, September 25, the Paul Stefan Foundation will have its annual Gala Dinner — Celebrating Life.

I hope you will consider either purchasing a table or making a contribution to this heartwarming charity.

Information on gala here: http://www.paulstefanhome.org/celebration-of-life-gala/

Two events happened separately and came together for the formation of The Paul Stefan Home of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The first event was a trip in October, 2005 by Father Stefan Starzynski to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. While there he prayed for Randy and Evelyn James and their unborn child. After many tests, the doctors had advised Mr. and Mrs. James that the baby had a diaphragmatic hernia and could not survive delivery. They recommended an abortion. Randy and Evelyn said the pregnancy would continue and the outcome would be in the hands of God.

Father returned home and brought with him a beautiful picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe which he blessed and gave to Sharon Fentress. She had given him money and requested that he bring her something from Guadalupe.

Sharon subsequently met Evelyn James at mass. When Sharon later found out there was a problem with Evelyn’s pregnancy, she took the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Randy and Evelyn’s home and left it with them. The picture was taken along to the hospital when Evelyn was ready for delivery.

The James baby was born on December 13, 2005. He was given the Name Paul Stefan James. He died about an hour after be was born. To read more about the miracle of Paul Stefan, go to the area on this web site dedicated to Paul Stefan James.

The second event began on November 30, 2005. Father Stefan started a novena to Saint Andrew that was to end on Christmas day. On December 4th, which was Confirmation day at St Patrick church, Father prayed for the Holy Spirit to come down. On that day two parishioners, Kathleen Wilson and Theresa Rousseau, decided to join Father in making that novena. It was decided they would pray for a home for unwed mothers.

Father began to talk to other parishioners and also spoke from the pulpit about prayers being said for a home for unwed mothers. A parishioner told Father Stefan that her husband would arrange to lease fifty acres of land for a dollar a year and the donation of two houses on that land so a home for unwed mothers could be established.

A Board of Directors was formed and what to name the home was discussed. Everyone agreed it should be named in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Paul Stefan James. Thus the home was christened the Paul Stefan Home of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Please pray for the PSF Mission, the women and their babies.

Thank you and God Bless you.

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Ahead of Schedule: NC Forces Students to Buy Health Insurance That Pays for Abortions

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Students for Life of America has revealed that the North Carolina Board of Governors is requiring all of the students of the University of North Carolina institution carry health insurance this year.

 From the Students for Life release:

“Students who do not already have private health insurance are required to buy a state selected policy from Pearce & Pearce, Inc. 

“This mandated policy covers up to $500 toward elective abortions and has 80% PPO coverage for elective abortions.

“The Pearce & Pearce policy costs students $744 per year or $375 per semester. The State of North Carolina will not be paying into the policy; rather, the students who are required to purchase the insurance will be required to pay the entire cost.”

 Sound familiar? It should.

Because a student is enrolled in the University of North Carolina educational institution, they are required to have health insurance. On a national level, just because someone is an American citizen, they are required to have health insurance (the individual mandate provision).

The government has said that supposedly there will be policies that won’t include abortion coverage that pro-lifers can purchase. But what if those policies don’t include everything someone needs to stay healthy and the only plans that work are the ones that include abortion coverage? It’s a likely scenario.

For the pro-life students or even those students who don’t think that their dollars should pay for abortions, there is no other option. They are FORCED to fund something they find morally reprehensible. 

Students for Life of America has a new website dedicated to raising awareness of this issue and is asking people to sign a petition against the forced mandate and contact the NC Board of Governors Chairman on this issue. Go here to check it out: http://www.noabortioninhealthcare.com/NC/Home.html.

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Nancy Pelosi Pretends She’s a Catholic Theologian (Again)

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Because we haven’t written on Nancy Pelosi in awhile and because the things the supposedly Catholic Speaker of the House says are too ridiculous not to bring to your attention, here we go.

Nancy Pelosi said earlier this year, when talking about the massive healthcare bill, that she wanted to pursue policies “in keeping with the values” of Jesus Christ, the “Word made Flesh.” Which is why she passed a bill that allowed for government funding of abortion of course.

At a press briefing last week, a CNSNews.com reporter reminded Pelosi of her previous statement and of the very fact that the bill takes life rather than saves it.

Pelosi, the quick Catholic thinker that she is, declined to say when Jesus obtained the right to life.

“Whenever it was,” said Pelosi, “we bow our heads when we talk about it in church, and that’s where I’d like to talk about that.”

That part where we “bow our heads” is during the Nicene Creed when we profess how Jesus came into this world:

by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.

In other words, we bow because we acknowledge that extraordinary miracle of the Incarnation, the moment of Christ’s conception when God became man, yet still retained his divine nature.

The reporter followed up with a question about Christ’s conception and if that was when Jesus got the right to life. Through her press secretary, the answer was: “The speaker answered the question. Thanks.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, along with science, also makes it very clear when life begins: “From its conception, the child has the right to life.” (2322) 

CNS News has the full story here with the audio clips and the line of questioning – http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70445.

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