After 100 Years, Are Evangelical Christians Lining Up For Another Major Split?

Here’s a very intriguing look into the current state of America’s evangelical community from Sunday’s New York Times. I warn you though—it is a very long article. It amounts to ten pages online.

But if you’d really like to get a great overview of the intersection of American evangelicalism and politics, this is the best, most up to date primer I’ve seen for a while.

The primary engine driving these Christians from the pulpits and pews into politics and keeping them there—aside from the generic “culture war” concern—seems to be abortion. I’m not surprised. It’s just a wonder there’s not more following them.

I’ll introduce the article by quoting from the first page which sets the pace for the rest of the piece.

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The Evangelical Crackup

The hundred-foot white cross atop the Immanuel Baptist Church in downtown Wichita, Kan., casts a shadow over a neighborhood of payday lenders, pawnbrokers and pornographic video stores. To its parishioners, this has long been the front line of the culture war. Immanuel has stood for Southern Baptist traditionalism for more than half a century. Until recently, its pastor, Terry Fox, was the Jerry Falwell of the Sunflower State — the public face of the conservative Christian political movement in a place where that made him a very big deal.

With flushed red cheeks and a pudgy, dimpled chin, Fox roared down from Immanuel’s pulpit about the wickedness of abortion, evolution and homosexuality. He mobilized hundreds of Kansas pastors to push through a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, helping to unseat a handful of legislators in the process. His Sunday-morning services reached tens of thousands of listeners on regional cable television, and on Sunday nights he was a host of a talk-radio program, “Answering the Call.” Major national conservative Christian groups like Focus on the Family lauded his work, and the Southern Baptist Convention named him chairman of its North American Mission Board.

For years, Fox flaunted his allegiance to the Republican Party, urging fellow pastors to make the same “confession” and calling them “sissies” if they didn’t. “We are the religious right,” he liked to say. “One, we are religious. Two, we are right.”

His congregation, for the most part, applauded. Immanuel and Wichita’s other big churches were seedbeds of the conservative Christian activism that burst forth three decades ago. In the 1980s, when theological conservatives pushed the moderates out of the Southern Baptist Convention, Immanuel and Fox were both at the forefront. In 1991, when Operation Rescue brought its “Summer of Mercy” abortion protests to Wichita, Immanuel’s parishioners leapt to the barricades, helping to establish the city as the informal capital of the anti-abortion movement. And Fox’s confrontational style packed ever more like-minded believers into the pews. He more than doubled Immanuel’s official membership to more than 6,000 and planted the giant cross on its roof.

So when Fox announced to his flock one Sunday in August last year that it was his final appearance in the pulpit, the news startled evangelical activists from Atlanta to Grand Rapids. Fox told the congregation that he was quitting so he could work full time on “cultural issues.” Within days, The Wichita Eagle reported that Fox left under pressure. The board of deacons had told him that his activism was getting in the way of the Gospel. “It just wasn’t pertinent,” Associate Pastor Gayle Tenbrook later told me.

Fox, who is 47, said he saw some impatient shuffling in the pews, but he was stunned that the church’s lay leaders had turned on him. “They said they were tired of hearing about abortion 52 weeks a year, hearing about all this political stuff!” he told me on a recent Sunday afternoon. “And these were deacons of the church!”

[Source]

Great Britain Passes the 40 Year Mark for the Abortion Act—Killings Will Continue

I was alerted to this “reality-check” YouTube video through Blogger Mac McLernon in Great Britain who opens up a big window for us on the current debate in that country over abortion law reform. I touched upon this subject previously in the Vote Life, Canada! blog.

In her posting she describes an online petition which called for the UK government to reduce the time limit for abortions and she signed the petition herself but had serious reservations in doing so.

She points readers to a posting by Fr John Boyle who blogs at “South Ashford Priest.” Fr. Boyle reported that he wouldn't sign the petition, even though the petition is very much in line with last week’s statement from Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor. In fact Fr. Boyle is directly opposed to the Cardinal’s stance. Blogger Mac now says the more she thinks about it, the more she agrees with Fr. Boyle and now she regrets signing the petition.

She also reports that Damian Thompson has weighed in at The Telegraph with his views. Thompson describes two polarities in the pro-life movement in Great Britain, much the same as what exists wherever people fight the evil of abortion.

On one side stand the incrementalists or “realists” such as Thompson and Cardinal Murphy O’Connor in Great Britain, the Family Research Council in the US or Campaign Life Coalition in Canada. On the other side stands the “purists” or “hard-liners” such as the SPUC in Great Britain or the American Life League in the US. There’s much debate over which is the most effective—or even morally correct—strategy. In my mind it’s largely a matter of strategy versus principle.

But that could easily be the subject of another posting.

In any case, read through Mac’s posting and Father Boyle’s blog as well. It will certainly expand your perspective on many fronts.

The Brits Are Offering Good Abortion Commentary These Days

Abortion—the “sanitized, legal” version—is much in the news in Great Britain these days with MPs inquiring into whether the 24-week cut-off point for abortions should be lowered.

Here are three very solid abortion commentaries issued in English newspapers today.

A calamity for women...just as the doctor predicted
Dr Bourne himself, asked to support the change, had refused to do so, saying: "Abortion on demand would be a calamity for womanhood." He predicted the 'greatest holocaust in history' if the Bill were passed.
[h/t BigBlueWave]

Like a slave, is an unborn child not a brother?
On the same day as I opened my invitation, Dawn Primarolo, whose name sounds like a brand of margarine, but is actually the health minister, was telling the Commons Science and Technology Committee that there was no justification for lowering the limit for abortion below the current 24 weeks.

Shameful anniversary, sham inquiry
The Abortion Act of the United Kingdom was voted through on October 27, 1967 and implemented the following April. Termination of pregnancy is permitted provided it is performed by a registered practitioner and subject to certain conditions, including the signed approval of two doctors on specific grounds relating either to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman, or the physical or mental health of the baby.

Stand Your Ground Live Blogs the Canadian Pro-Life Conference in Moncton

Stand Your Ground blogger, Leonard, has been live blogging the 2007 National Pro-Life Conference in Moncton, N.B. since Thursday. Check out his lively and interesting reporting on the latest in pro-life efforts and pro-life leadership in Canada.

The Conference theme is “From Sea Unto Sea - For Life!”

I had hoped to be able to attend this conference but circumstances simply did not permit it.

Leonard’s first posting can be found here.

Pro-Life Correspondence to the CCCB, the Catholic Bishops of Canada

In April of this year, just one month after the launch of Vote Life, Canada, correspondence was forwarded to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, advising the Bishops of the Vote Life, Canada! project, offering them assistance in the fight to ensure legal protection in Canada for the unborn, and imploring their prayers for the success of Vote Life, Canada!

A cover letter was included, addressed to the CCCB General Secretary, so that the correct steps might be taken in order for the Bishops of Canada to receive this important message.

To this date, no response to this correspondence has been forthcoming from either the General Secretary or any other Canadian Bishop.

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April 27, 2007

Rt. Rev. Msgr. Mario Paquette, P.H.,
General Secretary,
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops,
2500 Don Reid Drive,
Ottawa, ON K1H 2J2

Dear Monsignor,

Greetings in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ!

I have enclosed a letter addressed to the Bishops of Canada and I would like to have it referred to the Pastors of the Canadian Church in the proper and official manner. If some reason exists to prevent this, kindly inform me of the nature of the reason and I shall endeavour to correct the difficulty and/or resubmit the letter as per your requirements.

With every good wish and blessing in Christ,

Sincerely yours,
Eric Alcock
President, Vote Life, Canada!

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April 27, 2007

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops,
2500 Don Reid Drive,
Ottawa, ON K1H 2J2

Dear Pastors of Christ’s Church,

Grace and peace be multiplied to you through Jesus Christ our Lord!

I respectfully request your consideration and attention to the attached news release outlining the mission and objectives of Vote Life, Canada! and particularly the enclosed booklet “How to Vote Life: The Christian’s Guide to Successful Voting.” I trust it will fittingly introduce you to this new organization which seeks to protect innocent human life in Canada.

I consider it very important to share with you, the Pastors of the Canadian Church, some observations and concerns as I set out on the very ambitious and demanding task charted out for Vote Life, Canada! Please forgive my lengthy letter and I do thank you in advance for your attention and interest.

Imagine a situation where a desperate woman sought your help, claiming her husband was returning home in the evenings and physically assaulting her and her child on a regular basis. By shrewd and devious means this man was able to foil the justice system at every turn and the abuse continued unabated. The woman and her child suffered cruelly at the hands of the vicious father, often appealing for help, but exhaustive efforts to remedy her crisis had failed to protect her.

An important question presents itself from this scenario: At what point does God relieve the Christian of responsibility to bring justice to bear upon this woman’s plight? Would six months or a year suffice in God’s eyes? Would five or ten years of determined advocacy by the Christian satisfy God’s demands? After all, the Christian might be tempted to reason that the difficulty here is a flaw in the justice system and proper vigilance by authorities. So when does God grant permission for the ears of the Christian to close to the plea of the woman and her child? When is it acceptable to walk away, speak no more of their plight and to address the more common, everyday cases of injustice?

In this parable, the “vicious father” is legalized abortion and the mother and child are its typical victims, the child paying by the most violent means with his/her life at the rate of about 288 lives per day in Canada alone.

Has the Church in fact been discharged of this responsibility by God the Father? Can Christians by analogy dispense with the woman and child, closing their ears and heart to the cry of the unborn, and proceeding with the business of the day?

Does it not seem obvious that we in Canada are behaving as though this were the case? If this claim is questioned let us ask ourselves what specific steps are being taken by Christians as a whole to ensure protection for the unborn and what unified strategy is being implemented by Christians to restore justice to the very least of God’s little ones? What reduction has been seen in the numbers of lives destroyed yearly as a result of this strategy?

Scarcely a Sunday will go by, dear Pastors, that we do not hear some reference to the theme of social justice, be it homelessness, poverty, immigration inequities, clean water shortages, human trafficking and others. Yet rarely, if ever, is the subject of the killing of unborn children included in a list of injustices referred to in our homilies or prayers. It is as though this most heinous crime against God were not happening! Tragically, we might imagine much the same took place in churches in Nazi Germany while non-person Jews were being butchered and in many of the white churches of America while non-person Blacks were being lynched, all under the protection of the law.

In our day we remember such societies, and especially the Christians therein, with shame, disdain and yes, even contempt, because it is apparent to us that their neglect, indifference and cowardice sustained such evil. Considering that in our society over 100,000 unborn children per year perish in the womb, this reality constitutes the most horrendous discrimination and violence and dwarfs all other injustices around us. Can one be blamed for thinking that our omission of the atrocity of abortion when speaking of injustice is something incredible, even bizarre?

Dare we contemplate answering God with the argument that child killing was legal at the time and Christians in Canada after long years were thereby excused from serious thought, prayer or action in the matter? If so, what then of the same argument used by Nazi war criminals, slave traders and white supremacists? Would theirs not be an equally valid excuse?

It would seem, I believe, that God has already spoken His answer to this entire matter through the prophet Isaiah:

Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke; is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house? When you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

But again, have we not in some real sense hidden ourselves from our own flesh? The unborn in Canada surely deserve to be considered as our own flesh many times more so than those in other countries who suffer from a host of other injustices, diseases and misfortunes in which we have had no direct part. What right do we have to be practically silent regarding the most heinous injustices taking place daily within our borders and then speak out loudly with dollars and manpower on behalf of those in foreign lands?

God forbid! And God have mercy! Does this not present the most serious kind of contradiction, one where we allow our own innocent children to be killed through silence and inaction but then expend time and money to bring clean water, food and medicine overseas? Ought we not to have first purged the evil from our own shore and then we should see clearly to right the injustices faced by those in far away lands? Better still; why not seek, with duly proportionate resolve and strategy, to do both?

In the midst of such contradiction, surely our credibility as Christians in Canada is being questioned in the eyes of the world and by our fellow Christians abroad. Is it not possible that the Apostle Paul was addressing in the New Testament the very same principle as Isaiah in the Old when he declared,

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

Always I am challenged deeply, yet often inspired, by the words of John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae.

(#73) Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them [emphasis mine] by conscientious objection.

It is precisely from obedience to God -- to whom alone is due that fear which is acknowledgment of His absolute sovereignty -- that the strength and the courage to resist unjust human laws are born. It is the strength and the courage of those prepared even to be imprisoned or put to the sword, in the certainty that this is what makes for "the endurance and faith of the saints" (Rev 13:10).

(#90) I repeat once more that a law which violates an innocent person's natural right to life is unjust and, as such, is not valid as a law.

Yes, challenging, because I must ask myself: If my obligation to oppose them is “grave and clear,” what actions must accompany an obedient attitude? Certainly this would demand serious steps. By no means, least of all by my simple silence, must I ever allow the impression or appearance that I accept such unjust laws as legitimate or valid. The matter of “obedience to God” to the point of imprisonment or at the risk of physical injury speaks to the seriousness of these crimes and to the seriousness of my response as a Christian.

From these words of John Paul II, it does seem clear to me that should we Christians accept abortion as a legal and valid act in Canada, as I believe we have, we stand in grave danger of the judgment of God. Unfortunately I can see no other possible reason for our silence. Granted, the current law in Canada makes abortion legal only because it does not prohibit it, but the result is the same and according to John Paul II we can NEVER stop protesting the evil of abortion and agitating until the evil is outlawed and until our law conforms finally to the law of God. As I read the spirit of Evangelium Vitae, for the Christian who desires to be obedient to God, no measure of resources or self- sacrifice can be spared in the accomplishment of this goal.

Dear Pastors, is the Christian called ever to accept the status quo on evil? Is not God ready and willing at any time to smash and defeat the power of evil? Does He not await the Christian who will rise up and say, “No more, with God’s help, no more.” Was this not David’s attitude when he accepted the challenge of Goliath?

Surely then, we have the means to accomplish this task, however formidable the task may seem. Consider, Pastors, has not the key been laid in the hands of we Christians? We have only to declare the truth to God’s people and have them apply that truth in the voting booth. Let us place Christian truth in tandem with democracy, a wondrous gift of God through nineteen centuries of Western Christianity, and achieve what we today might consider the impossible. Indeed, God is the God of the impossible, and we can take Him as our Helper.

The truth is that abortion is intrinsically evil and NEVER to be accepted or justified under any circumstances. The application of that truth in the voting booth is merely an educational objective, one which can be accomplished through the same means used to achieve any other educational objective. It IS attainable. To me the Vote Life, Canada! concept and project is a component of the mobilization spoken of by John Paul II (EV #95),

“a general mobilization of consciences and a united ethical effort to activate a great campaign in support of life.”

Dear Pastors, Goliath does truly stand before us but for my part I have determined to step out in faith and undertake those tasks, however small, to achieve that which God has placed within my heart. Furthermore, by means of this letter, please be advised that I stand ready to assist the Pastors of Christ’s Church in any way possible in order to ensure, ultimately, legal protection in Canada for not only the unborn, but for all human life from conception through natural death.

I humbly request your prayers for the success of the Vote Life, Canada! project.

Your servant in the Truth, and on behalf of the Unborn in Canada,

Sincerely in Christ,
Eric Alcock
President,
Vote Life, Canada!

Michael Coren Tells Canada We're Ignoring the Most Important Right of All

Yesterday, one of the National Post writers had the courage to say what really needs to be changed in Canada. Michael Coren spoke out very clearly.

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Ignoring the most important right of all

In an ongoing series, National Post writers are being asked a simple question: If you had the power to change a single thing about Canada, what would it be? In today's installment, Michael Coren argues that Canada's lack of an abortion law is a national disgrace.

It is tragically ironic that the most vital and profound issue facing this country is considered by many of its citizens and most of its establishment to be at best irrelevant and at worst a dangerous digression championed by zealots. The issue is, of course, abortion. And Canada is almost unique in the civilized world in having no abortion law at all. In other words, any unborn child can be aborted and in most of the country the taxpayer will finance the procedure.

Can we, however, genuinely regard ourselves as part of a "civilized world" if we treat our most vulnerable with such indifference? What is supposed to be the safest place for a human being -- the womb -- has been transformed into a slaughterhouse for humanity, with more than 100,000 abortions in Canada each year.

The biting hypocrisy of Canada's attitude toward the unborn was demonstrated particularly clearly last week when it emerged that a Winnipeg woman had been murdered in February for refusing to have an abortion. Even though the general and natural response was to regard this crime as being especially repugnant, and as the taking of two lives, her killer cannot be charged with double homicide. Instead of simply intellectualizing the instinctive and accepting the self-evident truth of unborn life, we twist and turn to deny what we know to be true.

If, for example, an obviously pregnant women sat in a bar smoking heavily and drinking profusely, the reaction would be one of disgust. If the same woman told friends that she wanted an abortion, the reaction would often be entirely supportive.

The inconsistency applies equally with dis-ability-based abortion. Our country boasts that it cares deeply for the handicapped, yet provides publicly funded testing so that handicapped children can be aborted. The gene for Downs Syndrome was discovered by a man who thought it would help us to prepare for Downs babies and improve their lives.

Instead, it's being used to commit a form of pre-birth genocide on some of the most innocent, loving and beautiful people on Earth. Leave your car in a handicapped parking spot and you'll be fined. Abort your handicapped child and you'll receive government financing.

Some of the contradictions around the subject are acutely political. The Canadian feminist movement has campaigned obsessively for abortion rights but now finds itself in a quandary because so many female unborn babies are being selectively aborted in the developing world.

We swim against the tide of natural law and pretend that life is not life and killing not killing. With the help of overwhelming propaganda from the media, the entertainment industry, activists and politicians, an artificial world has been constructed.

But we still know that it's not tissue, it's not a fetus, it's not an accident and it's not unwanted. Most of all, it's not about "choice." The right to choose implies that the equation involves one person. It doesn't. A baby is a separate being, accepted by science as being unique at conception. It has its own distinct DNA, its own genomic character. At 12 weeks, an unborn baby is complete. It matures but nothing new develops. A toddler is different from an unborn child only to the extent a teenager is different from a seven-year-old. In other words, it is always a person. With inalienable rights and privileges.

The fact that it is dependant on its mother while in the womb is irrelevant. A newborn baby is also dependant on an adult to feed it and keep it alive. So for that matter are the seriously ill and the aged.

We have allowed the cult of the self to blind our vision of what is good and bad, right and wrong. Choice has become taste, sexual love has become appetite, people have become disposable. Unless we allow the weakest to be born we are denying what underpins the very compassion, fairness and progress we claim to admire. Some rights are more important than others and none is more sacred than the right to life.

[Source]

Baptist Press Reports on Abortion-Breast Cancer Link

Baptist Press is carrying a very good article on the abortion—breast cancer (ABC) link.

Read this insightful report.

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Studies point to abortion-breast cancer link

WASHINGTON (BP)--Ireland has the lowest rate of breast cancer out of nine selected European countries, and it also has the lowest rate of abortion.

These findings are part of a study that may provide new evidence for a connection between abortion and breast cancer. It is one of two such reports released in separate medical journals in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

"The South East of England has more breast cancer than other parts of the British Isles. It also has the highest abortion rate," Patrick Carroll wrote in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

Carroll, a scientist who researches epidemics, mapped the trends of high rates of breast cancer with rates of abortion in nine different European countries, including Scotland, Finland, Denmark, Ireland and England, and found the two to be correlative.

His report was published just two days after the journal Cancer Research published its findings on the connection between the existence of fetal cells in a mother's blood stream and the occurrence of breast cancer.

The fetal cell study, conducted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, was an attempt to explain the known effect of child bearing in reducing a woman's chances of breast cancer.

Although many are unaware of the link between a woman's reproductive history -- especially a previous abortion -— and breast cancer, it is an important risk factor, says Karen Malec of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer.

There is resistance among some organizations that educate women about breast cancer to making the connection between abortion and the disease. These include the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Baptist Press contacted the Internet site breastcancer.org but was not granted an interview with its president, Marisa Weiss. The website describes itself as the "world's most trafficked online resource for medically reviewed breast health and breast cancer information" but makes no mention of reproductive history as a risk factor.

Most of these organizations cite a study conducted by the National Cancer Institute.

"In March 2003, the National Cancer Institute's Board of Scientific Advisors and Board of Scientific Counselors unanimously agreed that epidemiological evidence does not support any association between abortion and breast cancer," according to information on the Komen website.

While most agree there is a link between the first pregnancy and reducing the risk of cancer, the independent link between abortion and the risk is disputed.

Researchers like Carroll and activists like Malec insist there is a link.

"This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and there is no mention of this issue on [my opposition's] websites," Malec said. "I think it's egregious."

The correlation that is often cited between abortion and breast cancer exists in the development of breast tissue during pregnancy. At the beginning stages of pregnancy, hormones start the maturation process of breast lobules to prepare the body for breast feeding, Malec told Baptist Press.

"These lobules progress from type one ... [to] type four. Once they become type four, they are permanently cancer resistant," Malec said.

A report produced by the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute also shows this link.

"Induced abortion leaves a woman with more places for breast cancer to start," according to the BCPI report. "A woman who has a full-term pregnancy decreases her breast cancer risk."

A woman who has an abortion often has more vulnerable, type one breast tissue than she did before she got pregnant. A higher risk of malignant growths results, with "95 percent of all breast cancers known to arise in type one lobules," Malec said.

"A little bit of pregnancy doesn't protect women from cancer," she said.

Induced abortion has a higher risk than spontaneous abortion (miscarriage), according to BCPI, because of the exposure to pregnancy hormones. When a woman miscarries because of an abnormality, the hormones estrogen and progesterone do not reach the same levels as a normal pregnancy, and the maturation of breast tissue does not progress, the report said.

The Cancer Research study on fetal cells was looking for another reason other than breast tissue maturation to explain why child bearing might be more protective. During normal pregnancy, fetal cells enter the mother's bloodstream. These cells, called fetal microchimerism (FMc), stay in the mother's peripheral blood stream and possibly could act as watchdogs against malignant cells in the mother's body, according to Vijayakrishna Gadi and J. Lee Nelson, the researchers who conducted the study.

In-depth looks into the societal trends of women's reproductive habits and high breast cancer rates can be used as a predictor across entire countries, Carroll said. He chose the nine European countries as case studies because of the comprehensive data available on abortion incidence. He looked at seven different risk factors, including hormonal contraceptives and a low age at first birth, that might be used to determine breast cancer rates.

Carroll concluded the best predictor for breast cancer is induced abortion.

He also observed certain trends among social classes and found breast cancer to be more common in upper-class women, who may be busy pursuing their careers and college degrees, and choose abortion.

"Higher-class women have a later age at first birth and consequently higher-class women have nulliparous [never giving birth] abortions, which are more carcinogenic," the study said.

Reducing the risk of breast cancer is possible even if a woman has had an induced abortion, according to BCPI.

"There is some data to suggest that the sooner a woman delivers and nurses a child after having had a prior induced abortion, the smaller the risk increase from the abortion," the BCPI report said. Having babies earlier in life, breast feeding those babies, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking are ways to reduce risk for breast cancer, according to BCPI.

[Source]

Speaking as a Former Fetus, I was Always a Human Being—According to Theology

This is Part 5 of the "Scream Bloody Murder" series of postings. [For a list of all the postings in this series, scroll to the end of the initial post “Scream Bloody Murder.”]

Since there are some people who claim that a fetus is not really a human being, they believe that it's ridiculous to go around “screaming bloody murder” about the killing of human beings in the womb. To answer their claim we are continuing to look at arguments which show that I was always a human being—before I emerged from my mother’s womb and even from the time of my conception.

The last posting looked at the evidence presented by philosophy. This posting deals with the basic argument from theology.

Theology Certified my Humanity as a Fetus

I will make a very simple yet profound case for the claim of being a child, i.e. a human being, from the time of my conception by noting two truths from Holy Scripture.

First, nowhere in the entire Bible is there a distinction made between a child and a fetus. In fact, the word fetus is never found in Scripture. The words used for the living entity inside the womb are exactly the same as the words used for a little human being living outside the womb—child, babe, etc. In fact Luke 1:41 tells us “when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe [John the Baptist] leaped in her womb” and Genesis 25:22 tells us, concerning Jacob’s plea, that “Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her.”

Secondly Scripture itself tells us that God has given us in His Word and through His Church all that is necessary in the way of truth in order to live godly lives pleasing to Him. The truth about the sanctity of human life from conception onwards has been taught from the Holy Scriptures and defended by the Church for two thousand years. No amount of revision or modern “revelation” from abortion advocates will change that.

To suggest that Holy Scripture or the Church has been wrong—or even unenlightened—on this central social doctrine is akin to questioning the second great commandment. The whole of Christian theology is suddenly at stake.

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For a more thorough treatment of this subject the reader can consult the excellent online treatise by Dr. Stephen Schwarz entitled The Moral Question of Abortion. Also, Dr. Francis Beckwith’s new book Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice can now be purchased. I blogged a little about this book recently.

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So it's time for a recap of the last three postings.

In regard to whether the unborn (fetus) is a human being or not, we have seen that science, philosophy, and moral common sense, to say nothing of two thousand years of Christian teaching and tradition, convincingly argue in favour of the full humanity of the unborn.

And now hopefully we can return to our original question without further objection: “Why aren’t we screaming bloody murder about the killing of unborn children in Canada?”

"But still, I protest! Just because the unborn is a human being and granted—even a child—it doesn't mean the child is a person.

Being human is not really the issue.

Being human simply means belonging to the species homo-sapiens.

The issue is whether the unborn is a person."

Clever dodge—but ok.

We’ll again put away our original question for the time being in order to answer your claim that there’s a difference between a human being and a person.

Part 6 Who Says There’s A Difference between a “Human Being” and a “Person?”

Speaking as a Former Fetus, I was Always a Human Being—According to Philosophy

This is Part 4 of the "Scream Bloody Murder" series of postings. [For a list of all the postings in this series, scroll to the end of the initial post “Scream Bloody Murder.”]

Many people express doubt that as a fetus I was really a human being and so they see no need to go around “screaming bloody murder” about the killing of human beings in the womb. To answer such a shallow claim we are continuing to look at arguments which show I was always a human being—before I emerged from my mother’s womb and even from the time of my conception.

The last posting looked at the evidence presented by science and medicine. This posting deals with the basic argument from philosophy.


Philosophy Certified my Humanity as a Fetus

[excerpts from Life Training Institute “The Case for Life”]

As Stephen Schwarz points out using the acronym SLED, differences of size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency are not relevant in the way that abortion advocates need them to be.

S-Size: Yes, embryos are smaller than newborns and adults, but why is that relevant? Do we really want to say that large people are more valuable than small ones? Men are generally larger than women, but that doesn’t mean that they deserve more rights. Size doesn’t equal value.

L-Level of development: True, embryos and fetuses are less developed than you and I. But again, why is this relevant? Four year-old girls are less developed than 14 year-old ones. Should older children have more rights than their younger siblings? Some people say that self-awareness makes one valuable. But if that is true, newborns do not qualify as valuable human beings. Six-week old infants lack the immediate capacity for performing human mental functions, as do the reversibly comatose, the sleeping, and those with Alzheimer’s Disease.

E-Environment: Where you are has no bearing on who you are. Does your value change when you cross the street or roll over in bed? If not, how can a journey of eight inches down the birth-canal suddenly change the essential nature of the unborn from non-valuable tissue mass to valuable human being? If the unborn are not already human and valuable, merely changing their location can’t make them so.

D-Degree of Dependency: If viability bestows human value, then all those who depend on insulin or kidney medication are not valuable and we may kill them. Conjoined twins who share blood type and bodily systems also have no right to life.

In short, it’s far more reasonable to argue that although humans differ immensely with respect to talents, accomplishments, and degrees of development, they are nonetheless equal (and valuable) because they share a common human nature. Humans have value simply because of the kind of thing they are, not because of some acquired property they may gain or lose during their lifetimes.

If humans have value only because of some acquired property like skin color or self-consciousness and not in virtue of the kind of thing they are, then it follows that since these acquired properties come in varying degrees, basic human rights come in varying degrees. Do we really want to say that those with more self-consciousness are more human (and valuable) than those with less? As Robert George points out, this relegates the proposition that all men are created equal to the status of superstition.

Sadly, opponents of the pro-life view believe that human beings that are in the wrong location or have the wrong level of development do not deserve the protection of law. They assert, without justification, the belief that strong and independent people deserve the protection of law while small and dependent people do not. This view is elitist and exclusive. It violates the principle that once made political liberalism great: a basic commitment to protect the most vulnerable members of the human community.

We can do better than that. In the past, we used to discriminate on the basis of skin color and gender, but now, with elective abortion, we discriminate on the basis of size, level of development, location, and degree of dependency. We've simply exchanged one form of bigotry for another.

In sharp contrast, the position I have defended is that no human being, regardless of size, level of development, race, gender, or place of residence, should be excluded from the moral community of human persons. In other words, the pro-life view of humanity is inclusive, indeed wide open, to all, especially those that are small, vulnerable and defenseless.

Next posting in this series:

Part 5 Speaking as a Former Fetus, I was Always a Human Being—According to Theology

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For a more thorough treatment of this subject matter covered in this posting the reader can refer to the information available at Life Training Institute or consult the excellent online treatise by Dr. Stephen Schwarz entitled The Moral Question of Abortion. Also, Dr. Francis Beckwith’s new book Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice can now be purchased. I blogged a little about this book recently.

Big Blue Wave Now a Social Conservative Newsgathering Site

Suzanne at BigBlueWave issued the following news:

Hello all

I have revamped BigBlueWave.ca into a social conservative newsgathering site. Please check it out:

http://www.bigbluewave.ca/

Bookmark it and come back often!

God Bless,
Suzanne

I've taken a look and it seems like an excellent approach. It's a much needed service, and one that will benefit many of us.

As Suzanne suggested, be sure to bookmark and visit her site often.

Thanks Suzanne!

Over 100 British Babies Confirmed Aborted for Minor Defects

Early this morning the Telegraph reported that

54 babies with club feet, 37 with cleft palates or lips, and 26 with extra or webbed fingers or toes were aborted in south-west England between 2002 and 2005.

Note that these figures pertain to only one part of England. The department that keeps such records, the South West Congenital Anomaly Register, expressed concerns

over the number of babies aborted due to minor defects which could be corrected with simple surgery.

Apparently even doctors seem confused as to whether club foot, a minor disability which can be corrected without surgery, is a serious birth defect.

The story indicated that the definition of "handicap" in Britain’s Abortion Act seems to be widening as scanning technology develops.

Britain is currently involved in an inquiry examining whether the 24-week upper time limit for an abortion should be reduced.

Much is being made of the fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury has made “a rare public foray into the debate,” questioning Britain’s loose abortion laws. It seems he is warning his countrymen that the public

no longer regards abortion as a last resort and is in danger of losing its "moral focus" on the issue.

Doesn’t this story illustrate well the dynamics of legalized evil? Once the evil is introduced into society it is extremely difficult to apply the brakes. Evil begets more evil. The consciences of people are deadened and society even loses touch with the horror of the evil.

And how does the evil get into the door in the first place? Church leaders charged with the responsibility to keep watch over the spiritual and moral formation of a nation lose touch with God and then fall prey to seducing spirits. Totally ignorant to spiritual realities, some of them later claim to have been hoodwinked by men.

Imagine the following statement from the Telegraph article, referring to the nation’s highest ranking Church of England cleric.

Although the Archbishop was widely believed to oppose abortion, earlier public pronouncements on the issue had been obscure.

Isn’t it a little late to be speaking up Archbishop? After all, this week does mark the 40th anniversary of Britain’s Abortion Law.

Who pays the price for such neglect and wanton failure?

The weakest and most defenseless in our society.

How much longer can God contain His outrage?

Speaking as a Former Fetus, I was Always a Human Being—According to Science

This is Part 3 of the "Scream Bloody Murder" series of postings.

Parts 1 & 2 can be found here:
Part 1 Scream Bloody Murder
Part 2 Only One Question To Ask: What Is The Unborn?

We are about to tackle the question “What is the Unborn?”

For many people, until we settle that all-important question there's little point raising our original question: “Why aren’t we screaming bloody murder about the killing of unborn children in Canada?”

**********

Ok, it’s true I looked a little different when I was a fetus but when I was a newborn I also looked more than a little scary compared to nice attractive grown-ups.

But seriously, what—if any—were the significant differences between the fetus (or embryo) I once was and the adult which I am today?

I will use arguments from three sources (other than common sense) to show that from the time of my conception I was always a human being, even before I emerged from my mother’s womb.

The three sources are science, philosophy and theology. It’s enough for me as a Christian to know what the Holy Scriptures and the Church have taught on this subject for thousands of years but many people are either uninformed or simply unbelievers so I start first with the claims of science and philosophy.

This posting deals with basic arguments from science and medicine.

Science and Medicine Certified my Humanity as a Fetus

[adapted from Life Training Institute “The Case for Life”]

The facts of science make it clear that from the earliest stages of my development in the womb of my mother, I was a distinct, living, and whole human being. To make this perfectly clear on a personal level, if my mother had "successfully" aborted me while in the fetal stage, it would have meant the end of THIS living human being—ME!

The Medical community has been on record for a very long time regarding the fact of the humanity of the unborn “child” as a “living being.”

In its 1859 Report on Criminal Abortion, the American Medical Association (AMA) understood that "the independent and actual existence of the child before birth as a living being" was a scientific truth. Nothing has changed since that time. For the past 150 years doctors have known that life begins at conception.

Embryology textbooks make it clear my life as a human being started at fertilization (conception).

"It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoan and resultant mingling of the nuclear material that each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual." (Bradley M. Patten, Human Embryology, 3rd ed., New York: McGraw Hill, 1968, page 43.)

Any Old Cell Will Do?

Does it make any sense to say that I was once a sperm or somatic cell? No, because it’s simply bad biology. However, the facts of science make clear that I was once a human embryo.

Robert George and Patrick Lee say it well.

“Somatic cells are not, and embryonic human beings are, distinct, self-integrating organisms capable of directing their own maturation as members of the human species.”

From conception forward, says Dr. Maureen Condic, human embryos clearly function as whole organisms.

“Embryos are not merely collections of human cells, but living creatures with all the properties that define any organism as distinct from a group of cells; embryos are capable of growing, maturing, maintaining a physiologic balance between various organ systems, adapting to changing circumstances, and repairing injury. Mere groups of human cells do nothing like this under any circumstances.”

In the next posting we'll look at the question "What is the Unborn?" from the point of view of philosophy.

...to be continued in Part 4

Part 4 Speaking as a Former Fetus, I was Always a Human Being—According to Philosophy

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For a more thorough treatment of the subject matter covered in this posting the reader can refer to the information available at Life Training Institute or consult the excellent online treatise by Dr. Stephen Schwarz entitled The Moral Question of Abortion. Also, Dr. Francis Beckwith’s new book Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice can now be purchased. I blogged a little about this book recently.

Life Issues News—Daily Report October 19, 2007

Details of this form of daily news report can be found on this blog posting.

Love life!

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Recent postings from Vote Life, Canada!

Press Release: Vote Life, Canada! Welcomes New Archbishop of St. John’s NL and Calls for Rebirth of Catholic Leadership and Defense of Unborn Children

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Daily news report

BLOGGER ALERT: Needs more coverage?
Lab suspends DNA pioneer Watson
The Nobel Prize-winning DNA pioneer James Watson has been suspended by his research institution in the US. Dr Watson has drawn severe criticism over remarks he made in a British newspaper at the weekend.

Watch this video to learn more about the question “Do you want to live forever?”

SOUTH AFRICA--AIDS IN AFRICA: A desperate situation.

Lake of Fire: Moral suppression
After the first operation, a second-trimester abortion, the doctor sorts through a tray of fetal parts, including a perfect-looking tiny hand and a foot, to make sure that nothing has been left inside the patient, which might lead to ...
CounterCulture - http://countercultureblog.com/

Abortion Shown On British TV Programme
As one doctor stated the unborn are their own best advocates. The programme was hardly made from a pro life point of view, really focusing on the foetal pain issue, however seeing the images of the unborn in the womd, the callous calm ...
Hidden Ireland - http://hiddenireland.wordpress.com

Laws propose giving abortion seekers chance to see ultrasound
Akron Beacon Journal - Akron,OH,USA
Sam Brownback of Kansas, which would require doctors to take ultrasounds before abortions and compel women to look at them or sign a written waiver. ...

Umbilical cord donation helps stem cell research
The stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow have treated dozens of diseases. In 1988, doctors performed the first cord blood transplant from a donor who was a sibling of the patient. Five years later, Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg of Duke University Medical Center performed the first successful cord blood transplants from a donor not related to the patient. Doctors have performed about 8,000 cord blood transplants worldwide.

Should a pro-life voter prefer Hillary to Rudy?
(By the way, “death” here refers to issues like abortion and embryonic research, not war, since presidents from both parties send troops into combat.) My Catholic Democrat grandparents and aunts and uncles are no doubt rolling over in ...
Warren Throckmorton - http://wthrockmorton.com

Brownback’s views popular with conservative Christians but maybe not enough
By Eileen Flynn | Thursday, October 18, 2007, 06:01 PM
Christianity Today has posted this interesting Q&A (done in late September) with Sen. Sam Brownback. Apparently, the Kansas Republican is going to withdraw from the race.

BLOGGER ALERT: Needs more coverage?
Amnesty, abortion and the abuse of women
Ekklesia - UK
Amnesty International's policy on sexual and reproductive rights does not promote abortion as a universal right and the organization [does not take a ...

BLOGGER ALERT: Needs more coverage?
The Deafening Silence
Huffington Post - New York,NY,USA
It's been a week since The Lancet published the comprehensive Guttmacher Institute study which found that bans on abortion fail to reduce abortion rates. ...

Op-Ed: Neither man nor beast
Fact, it has been said, is stranger than fiction. And fiction can be pretty strange. Take, for instance, an 1896 novel by famous English thinker, H.G. Wells, “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” As one can see from the date of its publication, the book was written on the threshold of a new century, and Wells, famous as a “futuristic” thinker, was trying to look ahead.

UN Praises Vietnam Population Control, But Abortion Skews Gender Ratio
Hanoi, Vietnam (LifeNews.com) -- The United Nations issued a new report praising the population control efforts in Vietnam, but the paper acknowledges the devastating effects the program has had there.

Japan and Religion
No bans on abortion, no mandatory prayer in schools, no abstinence-only programs, no demands for reshaping biology, geology, or history curriculums to allow for the creation of the Japanese islands by Izanagi and Izanami some three ...
The Blog from Another Dimension - http://blogd.com/wp

Capital punishment
Sunday - Catholic Weekly - Czestochowa,Poland
... repression in the above-mentioned book. He also emphasizes that one cannot credibly oppose abortion and euthanasia, being indifferent to the death penalty.

"State, anti-abortion groups battle over 'Choose Life' plates"
"State, anti-abortion groups battle over 'Choose Life' plates": The Business Journal of Phoenix yesterday posted online an article that begins, "Anti-abortion advocates and state attorneys argued before a federal appeals court Monday ...
How Appealing - http://howappealing.law.com/

Abortion and Canadian Judicial Appointments
By Garry J. Wise, Wise Law Office, Toronto(Garry J. Wise, Wise Law Office, Toronto)
I guess women shouldn't worry about the anti-abortion right-wingers who are being appointed as judges by the Harper Conservatives -- like Lawrence O'Neil, who will be sworn in next week to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, and David Brown, ...
Wise Law Blog - http://wiselaw.blogspot.com/

NEEDS PRO-LIFE REBUFF!
Abortion Protest Misses the Point
Given the facts and the experts’ agreement, one might reasonably expect anti-abortion activists to favor greater contraceptive availability and broader sex education policies. By and large, they do not. So let us examine what we have. ...
University of Pennsylvania Democrats - http://blog.penndems.org/

Ex-Kansas AG Still Anti-Abortion Leader
The Associated Press -
Last year, GQ magazine called him the future of the anti-abortion movement, while Planned Parenthood put him on a list of 15 Americans it saw as major ...

Pope Benedict XVI Tells Chile President to Not Abandon Pro-Life Views
Vatican City (LifeNews.com) -- Pope Benedict XVI met with Michelle Bachelet, the new president of Chile, for 40 minutes on Thursday and pressed home to her the importance of keeping the pro-life perspective there.

AP Interview: Perry says Giuliani will help overturn Roe
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
The election of Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton would be "devastating" to the economy, the military and to the anti-abortion movement, ...

US Firm Proposes Using 'Spare' Human Embryos For Stem Cell Experiments
LONDON -- A private firm in the US that has proposed a scheme to turn "spare" embryos left over from in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments into stem cells, has come under criticism in the UK by fertility experts. Full story...

The evangelical crisis of faith that threatens to sink the Republicans
Guardian Unlimited - UK
A defection of anti-abortion activists could devastate Republican prospects next year. Ralph Nader won less than 3% of the vote when he ran as a Green party ...

Feminists For Life: Colleges should aid pregnant students
Worcester Telegram - Worcester,MA,USA
By Mark Melady TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF WORCESTER— Abortion opponents and abortion rights advocates on college campuses can join forces to keep pregnant ...

Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007 – Family Planning Associates, San Diego
“You have time to go up there and help her to change her mind”

Any clinic, anywhere
Pro-life group unveils web page with interactive map of every Planned Parenthood facility in the US

Open Letter from John Lofton to Gary Bauer: You're Wrong, Dobson Right on Fred Thompson; and Tell Us, Please, About Your Neo-Conmen Connection

One step at a time
KeepMEcurrent.com - Scarborough,ME,USA
Her parents have admitted to tying Katelyn’s hands following a fight and driving her to New Hampshire with the hope of convincing her to have an abortion. ...

Anti-abortion crusader to be sworn in as judge
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
Taking an anti-abortion or pro-choice stance shouldn't preclude someone from being named a judge, he said. But he says Canada lacks a strong enough ...

Kansas Official Files Charges Against Planned Parenthood Abortion Center
Kansas City, KS (LifeNews.com) -- Another battle over the allegedly illegal abortions done at a Kansas City Planned Parenthood abortion center is brewing. Late Wednesday, Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, the former state attorney general, filed over 100 criminal charges against the abortion business in Overland Park.

Killed for refusing an abortion
Winnipeg Free Press - Winnipeg,Manitoba,Canada
Teen pleads guilty to murder after Roxanne Fernando was beaten, buried in snowbank

Maybe a prochoicer saying it makes it more credible
By GrannyGrump(GrannyGrump)
We can see that the abortion mortality trends didn't change much, as evidenced in this chart from the National Center for Health Statistics: How accurate were their numbers? Pretty good, judging by studies done in California, Minnesota, ...
RealChoice - http://realchoice.blogspot.com/

Embryos Have Souls, Says Stem Cell Scientist
The ethical concerns regarding the destruction of human life
Markus Grompe / Nature.com
To me, the very fact that embryos produced in IVF clinics become babies and eventually adult humans means that they are human (and have a human soul) from the very beginning. Full story..

Women's Right to Know Act shows positive results across Georgia
Walker County Messenger - LaFayette,GA,USA
Because of the Women's Right to Know Act, women seeking an abortion are now given information about abortion procedures, the medical risks associated with ...

MPs hear case for low abortion limit
Church Times - London,UK
... described as "an opportunity for us all to come before God with our feelings about abortion, the tragic statistics that were never envisaged in 1967, ...

Confronting the Issue of Abortion: Two Press Briefings at the ...
PR Newswire UK (press release) - London,UK
The latest statistics show that figure has remained virtually unchanged over the last decade. What actions can those in power take to stop these deaths? ...

Hillary and Rudy Snub Cardinal Egan, Tony Blair
... a lot of heat from the Church about his stance on abortion, and also he's been kind of a jerk about New York lately. Plus, he's already had his photo op with the Brits. But Hillary? Cardinal Egan has stood up for her in the past, ...
Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine - http://nymag.com/daily/intel/

Third-party Talk
October 17, 2007
If the walkout of Republicans grassroots were dramatic enough and if it enticed major figures to join, a third party could work.

Mitt Romney "Proudly" Pro-Life on Abortion, Opposes Embryonic Research
Pawleys Island, SC (LifeNews.com) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigned in South Carolina on Thursday and had a local voter ask him where he stands on the issue of abortion.

FDA Documents Show Dangerous Abortion Drug RU 486 Made in China
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A public interest group has obtained copies of Food and Drug Administration records showing that agency knew the dangerous abortion drug RU 486 was made in China before it was approved for use in the U.S. at the end of the Clinton administration.

Fred Thompson Says Abortion Advocates Out to Defeat His Presidential Bid
Kennesaw, GA (LifeNews.com) -- On the campaign trail in the state of Georgia, Republican hopeful Fred Thompson said that abortion advocates are trying to destroy his presidential bid.

Pro-Life, Pro-Family, Pro-Rudy?... albeit one that he may not have welcomed, as Protestant and Catholic leaders alike questioned whether his presidential aspirations were invalidated by his pro-abortion beliefs. Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. ...
Wide Awakes - All Discussions -

Christians confusing meekness with weakness
WorldNetDaily - Grants Pass,OR,USA
The first example of gutlessness came from the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco. Last Sunday, Archbishop George Niederauer was celebrating mass at ...

Catholic priest to appeal excommunication for misconduct
Inquirer.net - Philippines
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz, an expert on canon law, explained that for a Catholic, excommunication means that one is separated from the life ...

Former Kansas AG Still Anti-Abortion Leader
John Milburn / The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. -- To [some] abortion opponents, Phill Kline is a standard bearer. For abortion rights [sic] activists, he's a dangerous ideologue. Full story...

Supreme Court appointee’s anti-abortion views draw fire
ChronicleHerald.ca - Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada
By SUE BAILEY The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Opposition justice critics say the swearing-in next week of a former Tory MP and anti-abortion crusader is proof ...

Scientist Suspended Over Race Remarks Also Discussed ‘Defective’ Children
(CNSNews.com) – One of the world’s most highly regarded scientists was suspended late Thursday by his New York research institution amid a row in Britain over reported comments that blacks are less intelligent than whites. His latest comments are causing an uproar, prompting the Federation of American Scientists to declare Thursday, “It is a sad and revolting way to end a remarkable career.”

Funds for Schools That Give Birth Control to 11-Year-Olds?
(CNSNews.com) – Cybercast News Service hit Capitol Hill on Thursday to ask members of Congress whether U.S. taxpayers should fund public school districts that provide contraception to children as young as 11 without parental notification...

Drug Firm, FDA Deny Link Between Deaths and HPV Vaccine
(CNSNews.com) - Three states have passed laws requiring sixth-grade girls to be inoculated against a sexually transmitted disease. Now government documents show that eight deaths and more than 3,000 adverse reactions were reported after the vaccine, Gardasil, was administered...

GOP Won’t Choose Pro-Choice Presidential Candidate, Brownback Says
(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, who’s expected to drop out of the GOP presidential race, was asked on Friday if he would support a pro-choice candidate such as Rudy Giuliani. Yes he would, the pro-life Brownback told Cybercast News Service -- but Giuliani will not be the Republican presidential nominee, he insisted...

U.S. Appeals Court to Decide on Fate of Arizona's 'Choose Life' Plates

Planned Parenthood Calls Charges 'Baseless'
Calling charges filed against Planned Parenthood this week “baseless,” the Overland Park clinic’s top official said in the end his agency will be exonerated. Full story...

Brownback to Pull Out of Presidential Race
The second-tier candidate running on a social conservative platform had trouble raising funds necessary to keep his campaign going, people close to the Kansas senator told The Associated Press.

Bob Jones Dances With The Devil
Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
Bob Jones' endorsement of the former Massachusetts governor illustrates just how low the Religious Right will go in compromising bedrock principle for the sake of political expediency. Jones says he is supporting Romney so as to help defeat Rudy Giuliani. I very much want to see what Jones will do if and when Giuliani gets the Republican nomination. I would anticipate that he will continue to follow his current modus operandi and support Giuliani, because he would then say that Giuliani is the "lesser of two evils."

From the Supreme Court to Abortion 'Ground Zero' in Aurora: Thomas More Society of Chicago Celebrates 10th Anniversary

'America's toughest sheriff' cracks down on Phoenix day laborer site
A public-interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption is praising an Arizona sheriff for conducting raids against a day labor site in Phoenix -- resulting in the arrests of six illegal aliens.

Harkin puts freeze on embryo destruction amendment
Conservative groups are welcoming the removal of an anti-life measure from a massive appropriations bill that includes education funding.

Maine school offers birth control to students in grades 6-8
Students at a Maine middle school will now have access to birth-control pills and patches at their school health center.

No Cut In Federal Money For Abortion Providers
4,600 clinics in U.S. receive federal Title X tax funding
CAPITOL HILL -- The Senate has blocked a bid by anti-abortion forces to cut off money for clinics that provide family planning and other health services in addition to abortions. By a 52-41 vote, the Senate rejected a proposal by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to stop funding health clinics, Planned Parenthood and other providers of reproductive health services if they use money from nonfederal sources to perform abortions

Ron Paul's Revision to Sanctity of Life Act of 2007: H.R. 2597
2007-2008 (110th Congress) H.R. 2597
Full story...

Romney uses Columbus visit to trumpet evangelical's support
Attempting to allay evangelical Christians' suspicions about his Mormon faith, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney touted an endorsement today by Bob Jones III, founder of the fundamentalist Christian university in South Carolina that bears his name. Romney, making his first public appearance of the campaign in Columbus, told reporters that Jones' backing was "a positive step" in his effort to reach out to evangelicals who...

Babies at a Premium: Canadian Women Opting out of Motherhood

Dallas minister urges vote for a Christian, not Romney
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, encouraged his congregation to elect a Christian. 'Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and don't let anybody ...

Woman's passion leads to a rite to life song
Intermountain Catholic - Salt Lake City,UT,USA
Wade decision in 1973 legalizing abortion. Higgins said the song lay dormant until last February when Father Erik Richtsteig, pastor of St. James Parish in ...

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Also check the following websites for daily pro-life reporting and commentary

LifeSite - Your Life, Family and Culture Outpost featuring daily ...
Daily news, links, and information on abortion, euthanasia, politics, religion, and entertainment.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/

LifeNews.com - The Pro-Life News Source
Pro-life news source covering abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and stem cell research.
http://www.lifenews.com/

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And be sure to visit Suzanne's blog and Jill Stanek's blog

BIG BLUE WAVE
A Canadian blog about fetal rights, pro-life issues, Catholicism, religion, and social conservative issues in general.
http://bluewavecanada.blogspot.com

Jill Stanek
http://www.jillstanek.com