Illinois Right to Life Committee
PRO-LIFE BLOG
Friday, May 30, 2008 -- Challenging the "right" to abortion First, South Dakota, and now Colorado, have confirmed ballot initiatives for November 2008. South Dakota voters will vote on whether to ban abortions with the exceptions of rape, incest, and serious physical health threats to the mother. If passed, this initiative would ban almost 98% of the abortions currently committed in South Dakota. Colorado will vote on a personhood amendment that would define unborn children as persons under state law from the moment of fertilization. Passage would initiate a statewide battle over abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and other practices that kill people before birth. IRLC supports all such efforts to defend the lives of preborn children from the culture of death that considers these children disposable whenever they are inconvenient or useful for research. We pray that the voters of South Dakota and Colorado will vote in favor of human life.
Thursday, May 29, 2008 -- IRLC Radio Messages This week IRLC again has four radio messages airing on WVON 1690 AM. We are receiving positive responses by telephone. I have organized reference information to provide details about the tragic facts presented in these radio messages. They will air again during the week of June 9th. Next week we will record new radio messages to air on WIND 560 AM. These messages will begin playing during the week of June 9th. From June through October, IRLC radio messages will play on WIND. Topics covered will include: A Natural Alternative to In Vitro Fertilization, The Deception of Choice, Abstinence is the Right Choice, Defund Planned Parenthood, Focus on Successful Stem Cell Research, End of Life Choices? and Persistent Vegetative State and Living Wills.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 -- Planned Parenthood helps young adults? Today I received an email from LaTaina (see her email at the end of this response). She raised some concern about my criticisms of Planned Parenthood. Here is my response: Thank you for your response about my article on Planned Parenthood. You stated: "But what I'm trying to point out is this: what would you rather have us young adults do? Go to a doctor that would share information with your parents that you wouldn't want them to know?" First, if you are an adult, no doctor will notify your parents. Since teenagers cannot receive most medical care without the permission of their parents, both parents and the government recognize that teenagers are not necessarily ready to make medical decisions on their own. Planned Parenthood engineered an exception in the law to allow distribution of birth control to and performing abortion on teenagers without parental consent. Many states have now reinstated parental notification or consent before abortion, but teenagers can still get contraceptives without parental involvement. This is very unfortunate and a real disservice to the long-term welfare of teenagers as they progress into adulthood. Your question demonstrates that Planned Parenthood drives a wedge between parents and teens. In most families parents are much more concerned about the welfare of their children than Planned Parenthood. Did you read the testimony at the end of the article you referenced that was written by a Planned Parenthood employee about how carelessly they practice medicine? Might Planned Parenthood be able to get away with those poor medical practices because there is no accountability for their actions when many of their customers are trying to hide something from their parents? What does it say about what you are doing when you need to hide it from your parents? Maybe you should reconsider the wisdom of what you are doing that you need to hide it from them.Maybe you or someone you know has abusive parents who do not care about their children. Such children need help, but Planned Parenthood is not the right place to get that help. There are lawsuits against Planned Parenthood in a number of states because they provided abortions to young women who were being forced to have sex with older men (e.g. high school coach, etc). Planned Parenthood ignored the mandated reporting laws in those states and failed to tell the authorities about the possible rapes they were facilitating by performing abortions to destroy the evidence. I do not know your religious affiliation, but Christian teaching still considers abstinence until marriage and fidelity within marriage to be the norm for good (and wise) behavior. Anyone who practices their Christian faith will never need Planned Parenthood. That is one reason why Planned Parenthood is working so hard to convince teenagers that all sexual activity is fine as long as it is consenual and done "safely" (but so-called safe sex is not safe!). Selling that casual sex message is how they generate customers, and keep those customers coming back, because "safe" sex is not safe -- it leads to STDs and pregnancies and abortions. You are selling yourself short if you are giving yourself to men without first demanding the commitment of marriage. If they loved you, they would respect you rather than demand sexual favors with no strings attached. You might want to check out the following web sites to consider wiser alternatives: Based on your comments, it appears that you feel Planned Parenthood explains all the risks of contraception and abortion to their customers. I have heard many testimonies that disagree with that assessment. Using Planned Parenthood for any medical services is not a wise choice. There are many other points that I could make, but you should be able to find most of them in the other articles located where you found the one you responded to (http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/PlannedParenthood.htm). Good luck on your research paper. Please respond again if you have more comments or questions.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 -- Standing up to a grim reality LifeSiteNews has a report headlined "South African Teachers Union: 'We Won't Give Condoms to Kids'." Can you believe it? The teachers want to teach abstinence! Maybe the NEA should check this out. Even though the international condom pushers continue to ignore the grim reality of condom failure, has the truth reached the teachers union? Medical journalist Sue Ellin Browder, who writes for Crisis Magazine, said, “So far, there’s no good evidence that condoms will reverse population-wide epidemics like those in sub-Saharan Africa.” She offered evidence that dramatic increases in condom distribution in African nations paralleled an explosion in HIV/AIDS infection rates within the population. "Promoting abstinence and marital faithfulness has had the only significant measurable impact on reducing HIV infection rates in Africa, she added.
Friday, May 23, 2008 -- What's wrong with this picture? The loss of human life is hard to imagine. Cyclone Nargis left at least 133,000 people dead or missing in Myanmar. The International Federation of the Red Cross estimates 2.5 million people are in desperate need of clean water, food, medicine and shelter with 500,000 of them being children. Making matters even worse, the Myanmar government has not allowed foreign aid workers into the country for three weeks now, but apparently has finally agreed based on a meeting today with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Ironically, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is working to provide 220,000 condoms "to help needy survivors with no access to contraceptives." UNFPA aid advisor Chaiyos Kunanusont said 72,800 condoms had so far been delivered to "survivors struggling to maintain their family planning after the storm hit in early May." Who delivered these condoms when the people need food, water, and shelter? For these millions left homeless and in desperate need of food, the idea of allocating limited distribution resources to pass out condoms must seem absurd; or might we say insane? The Red Cross says an estimated 375 tons of food a day are needed in the hardest hit areas to hold off starvation. UNFPA is consistently outrageous in their approach for providing disaster relief. They are also providing condoms to the victims of the China earthquake and provided this same relief to victims of the tsunami disaster of 2004 in Indonesia.
Thursday, May 22, 2008 -- Playing God with human life because of IVF A Texas nurse has lost her long-running court battle for custody of the three embryos created from her ova and the sperm of her estranged husband. Recently the US Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of Augusta Roman of Houston, who has tried for five years to secure the right to save the lives of the embryonic children after her divorce from former husband, Randy Roman. This situation is just one more example of how in-vitro fertilization in effect becomes playing God with human life, thus turning what should be treated as sacred into a commodity. Almost since its inception in the late 1970s, the world of artificial procreation has been tangled in complex lawsuits. As other techniques and practices are developed, the situation of the mothers, fathers, sperm and ova donors, surrogate mothers and “spare” embryos involved has been a legal quagmire. In 2004, a California woman was awarded $1 million in damages after a San Francisco fertility clinic implanted the wrong embryos and doctors hid the mistake until her son was ten months old. The same year, an investigation into in-vitro fertilization (IVF) practices was ordered after a white UK couple gave birth to black twins following an IVF procedure from a Leeds hospital. A two-year legal battle ensued over the true parentage of the twins, with a UK court ruling in February 2004 that the legal parent was the black biological father. In 2003, an Irish mother lost a legal challenge to save the lives of her frozen offspring in a similar situation to that of Augusta Roman. Her former husband suggested the embryos be donated for medical experimentation. Children cannot be treated as unique persons with inalienable rights under these humanly contrived circumstances. No one has a right to a child when the process violates the rights of the child to come into this world with two loving parents, both a father and a mother, who will be committed to helpiing that child reach adulthood. Any other arrangement is detrimental to the child. Later adversities do not justify beginning life with no chance for the ideal family structure, which is then denied by choice rather than by other intervening tragedies of the human condition. Real life evidence that condoms offer no protection When I returned from vacation I had a long list of emails and stacks of paper mail to go through. One piece of mail came from Human Life International (HLI). The letter described the new HLI billboard in Africa showing a skeleton labeled “Faithful Condom User” [click here to see a picture of the billboard]. Reports indicate that the condom pushing organizations are outraged by the billboard, so it must be having a solid impact of sharing the truth that condoms are nothing more than playing Russian roulette. Later in the same letter, convincing facts were provided from real world circumstances showing a shocking comparison of results of "safe sex" with condoms versus abstinence and marital fidelity. HLI cites the case of two Asian countries with similar populations: Thailand ( pop. 63,753,000) and the Philippines (pop. 88,351,000). Both nations saw their first cases of AIDS appear in 1984. Both embarked on campaigns to combat the threat and spread of this deadly disease. That’s where the similarity ends. The Philippine government educated its people and stressed the importance of chastity, fidelity in marriage and abstinence outside of marriage. Thailand, on the other hand, embraced “King Condom” and distributed massive numbers of condoms to its people, without any attempt to change people’s behavior. Here are the results. As of 2007, there have been a total of 2,965 individuals infected with AIDS in the Philippines, over 23 years. In Thailand, the number is a shocking 1,106,000 infected with AIDS. In other words, one out of every 21,850 Phillipine citizens have become infected with AIDS while one of every 90 citizens of Thailand are infected. As a comparison, here in the U.S.A., one out of every 200 citizens contracts AIDS. The next time you hear the charge that abstinence does not work, remember how well the condom works in Thailand versus abstinence in the Phillipines -- proof that "safe sex" is not safe!
Friday, May 9, 2008 -- How much risk from HPV vaccine Gardasil? Parents may want to give serious consideration to risks versus benefits if they are encouraged to allow their daughters as young as 11-years-old to be vaccinated with Gardasil. A report done by a Miami TV station in April 2008 reveals some of the very real risks that could affect your child in a very serious manner. As reported by CBS4, "Christina Bell's daughter, Brittney, was one of the young girls who recieved the vaccine. Just weeks later, her life took a radical turn for the worse. Seemingly, in a moment's time, Brittney's left leg became paralyzed, her ankle swinging like a rag doll's. Even with a shoe brace, she walks with a limp." Merck's response hides behind the lack of proven cause and effect relationship between Gardasil and the paralysis. Do you want your daughter to be a guinea pig for a vaccine that is no more than 70% effective and could be far less effective than that? Is the limited benefit worth the risk?
Thursday, May 8, 2008 -- If there are two, how many more? Citizens for a Pro-Life Society found aborted babies in the dumpster of one Michigan abortionist (Albert Hodari) earlier this year. Now they have reported finding aborted babies in the dumpster of another Michigan abortionist, Reginald Sharpe. Aborted babies, biohazard waste, and medical records were found at the Women's Advisory abortion mill in Livonia. The bodies of six aborted babies from 16 to 20 weeks gestational age were found. Neither abortionist received more than a warning from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which seems to have little interest in enforcing Michigan's illegal dumping laws when abortionists are involved. Could we expect to find other Michigan abortionists violating the law as well? Maybe the better question would be, which abortionists are not violating the law?
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 -- Can justice be obtained in Kansas? Operation Rescue has been the force behind attempts to bring George Tiller and Planned Parenthood to justice for violating abortion laws in Kansas. Unfortunately, corruption gets revealed at every turn, protecting the abortion industry from numerous criminal charges. Finally, some rulings by the Kansas Supreme Court seem to favor allowing the prosecution to move forward. Most recently, the court ruled against late-term abortionist George Tiller, who had asked the Court to rule that a citizen’s called grand jury was unconstitutional and should be dismissed. Instead the Court found that such grand juries are indeed constitutional. The case was sent back to lower court to determine what scope of grand jury subpoenas should be allowed. The catch is the time required to resolve such issues before expiration of the grand jury. Earlier, the Kansas Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Planned Parenthood to retrieve records needed by District Attorney Phill Kline to prosecute his case against them. But now Jill Stanek reveals new possibilities that Planned Parenthood's stalling tactics could again prevent Kline from making his case before the end of his term in office. Stanek even raises concerns that for potential political reasons, even staunch Pro-Life U.S. Senator Sam Brownback could be helping Planned Parenthood's stalling strategy work. Pray that the complexity of applying loopholes and political deals to overcome the rule of law finally catches up with Kansas abortionists so justice will be done. Only then will unborn babies actually receive the protection intended when the Kansas laws restricting abortion were passed.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 -- Darwin, Hitler, and the Culture of Death LifeSiteNews includes a commentary covering "Darwin, Hitler, and the Culture of Death." written by Michael Baggot. Two quotes from this article reveal the very real connection between Darwinism and the culture of death found in our world today: If man is the accidental byproduct of blind natural forces and not the planned creation of an Intelligent Creator, then his worth is something to be earned rather than gratefully received. The denial of man's intrinsic human dignity is at the heart of every eugenics movement from Hitler's Germany to early 20th century America to Planned Parenthood's continued mission to eliminate the "unwanted" children of the world. It should not be surprising then that the prominent bioethicist Peter Singer appeals to Darwinian evolution when attacking the sanctity-of-life ethic and defending abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. When human life is not recognized as a gift from God created in His image, one can also see the relationship between this lack of respect for human life and the push for "plant rights" that I mentioned yesterday. Baggot's commentary was inspired by Ben Stein's movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." Thanks to Ben Stein for demonstrating by example why clear thinking is not being practiced today in things passed off as modern science and philosophy. This demonstrated lack of intelligence and common sense is in stark contrast to the sound principles expressed by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the USA.
Monday, May 5, 2008 -- Plant "rights" to supersede human rights? Wesley Smith reports, "At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the 'dignity' of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of what could be called 'plant rights' is being seriously debated." A "clear majority" of the panel adopted what it called a "biocentric" moral view, meaning that "living organisms should be considered morally for their own sake because they are alive." Thus, the panel determined that we cannot claim "absolute ownership" over plants and, moreover, that "individual plants have an inherent worth." That sounds like principles that should apply to unborn children, but no such luck! As Smith notes, "Leading bioethicists argue that for a human, value comes from possessing sufficient cognitive abilities to be deemed a 'person.' This excludes the unborn, the newborn, and those with significant cognitive impairments, who, personhood theorists believe, do not possess the right to life or bodily integrity." Thanks to post-Christian bioethics, we are reaching the point where human beings who cannot qualify as "persons" have no value, but plants must be preserved because of their inherent "dignity." This bogus bioethics serves utilitarian purposes from abortion to euthanasia, but now recent prestigious medical and bioethical journals advocate using profoundly brain impaired patients in medical experimentation or as sources of organs. It's time for some good, old-fashioned morality!
Friday, May 2, 2008 -- The Chicago Sun-Times printed part of my letter I have rarely had success in getting letters to the editor printed in the Chicago Sun-Times, but my letter written on April 30th, responding to their editorial appeal for defunding abstinence education, was partially printed in today's Sun-Times. If you missed it, or refuse to read the Sun-TImes, the printed version follows: Abstinence works You can find my complete letter here. This topic must have generated feedback from parents who disagree with giving up on abstinence as the reliable means to prevent pregnancy and STDs. Might we expect that most parents are smart enough to realize that a mixed message just sets the bar too low and encourages experimentation with casual sex? Unbiased surveys confirm over 80% of parents want their teenagers to choose abstinence.. Barack Obama's view (that children need "comprehensive" sex education in case they make a mistake so they will not be punished with a baby or an STD) is not supported by most parents. The problem with the "comprehensive sex ed" approach is that teens will still end up pregnant, or contract STDs, because "safe" sex does not work; and that is before we even get to the psychological consequences of immoral sexual activity that can lead to serious depression or even suicide!
Thursday, May 1, 2008 -- Funeral Mass and burial for 18 aborted babies Bishop John Quinn of Detroit will offer the funeral Mass prior to the burial of 18 aborted babies on Saturday, May 3rd. These babies were discovered in dumpsters at the Woman Care abortion clinic on Southfield Road in Lathrup Village, Michigan thanks to the efforts of the Pro-Life group Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, headed by Monica Migliorino Miller. She brought the matter to the attention of the police, but abortionist Alberto Hodari was only required to retrain his employees about proper disposal of "medical waste." This funeral Mass and burial bring back memories of a similar situation in Chicago that actually led to expansion of the NOW v. Scheidler lawsuit to include those involved in burying aborted babies as "co-conspirators plotting to shut down the abortion industry." Of course, after 20 years the abortion industry finally lost that case so now it should be safe to bury aborted babies and uphold their dignity. Thank you to the defendents in NOW v. Scheidler for their persistence and their legal counsel for their expertise in preserving these rights!
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