(A3) the culture of life

At this date, 05-11-03 this folder consists of 39 items. ******* item 1 NEW TECHNOLOGY BOOSTS PRO-LIFE EFFORTS ******* item 2 BUSH DIRECTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO PROTECT HUMAN EMBRYOS ******* item 3 Subject: BUSH ADMINISTRATION WILL PROMOTE EMBRYO ADOPTION ******* item 4 ARIZONA PARENTAL CONSENT LAW GETS APPEALS COURT OK ******* item 5 PRO-FAMILY VICTORY AT UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S SESSION ******* item 6 GROUPS SEEK BIBLICAL CONTENT IN B.C. PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM ******* item 7 ABORTION HURTS BLACK AMERICANS THE HARDEST ******* item 8 BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO COVER UNBORN CHILDREN IN HEALTH PROGRAM ******* item 9 IDAHO PRO-LIFE GROUP WANTS UNBORN CHILDREN IN CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN COVERAGE ******* item 10 NEW SURGICAL OPTIONS SAVE UNBORN CHILDREN IN THE WOMB ******* item 11 Michigan Court: PREGNANT WOMEN CAN PROTECT THEIR UNBORN BABIES ******* item 12 CALIFORNIA SAFE HAVEN LAW TO STOP BABY ABANDONMENTS OFTEN IGNORED ******* item 13 TEXT OF PRESIDENT BUSH'S REMARKS ON BORN ALIVE INFANTS PROTECTION ACT ******* item 14 LEGAL AGE OF SEXUAL CONSENT ******* item 15 PRO LIFERS IN SPAIN STAGE MARCH FOR LIFE RALLY ******* item 16 CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL AID TIED TO ABORTION, PRO-LIFE DOCTOR SAYS ******* item 17 MISS AMERICA CENSORED ON HER ABSTINENCE MESSAGE ******* item 18 MISS AMERICA WILL BE ALLOWED TO DISCUSS ABSTINENCE ******* item 19 MISS AMERICA WINS BATTLE TO DISCUSS ABSTINENCE ******* item 20 SURVEY SHOWS YOUNGER AMERICANS MORE PRO-LIFE ******* item 21 POPULATION CONTROL NUMBERS FAVOR THE PRO-LIFE SIDE ******* item 22 WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ALLOWED TO HAVE PRO-LIFE GROUP ******* item 23 COLORADO ABORTION RATE DOWN 63 PERCENT ******* item 24 PRESIDENT BUSH KEEPS THE FAITH ON CLONING ******* item 25 PRIESTS NATIONWIDE AFFIRM PRO-LIFE POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY ******* item 26 "SILENT NO MORE" -- A POST-ABORTION AWARENESS CAMPAIGN ******* item 27 SILENT NO MORE: WOMEN SPEAKING ABOUT ABORTION LAUNCH CAMPAIGN ******* item 28 SUPREME COURT GIVES FINAL VICTORY TO CHOOSE LIFE PLATES ******* item 29 POPE SAYS CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES MUST REMAIN PRO-LIFE ******* item 30 ALAN KEYES TELLS LOCAL CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTRE TERRORISM AND LIFE ISSUES HAVE COMMON THREAD ******* item 31 POPE RESTATES STRONG DEFENSE OF LIFE, OPPOSITION TO EUTHANASIA ******* item 32 PRESIDENT BUSH DECLARES SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE DAY ******* item 33 WE REGRET OUR ABORTION DECISION, WOMEN SAY AT "SILENT NO MORE" RALLY ******* item 34 MISSOURI BILL WOULD STRENGTHEN PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT LAWS ******* item 35 FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL SIGNS LANDMARK MANIFESTO ON HUMAN CLONING ******* item 36 [MISSIONAMERICA] SEX ED SURVEY: PARENTS SAY 'YES' TO ABSTINENCE EDUCATION ******* item 37 ABSTINENCE MESSAGE FAVORED, POLL FINDS ******* item 38 ARIZONA PARENTAL CONSENT LAW GOES INTO EFFECT ******* item 39 MONTANA STATE HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 1 NEW TECHNOLOGY BOOSTS PRO-LIFE EFFORTS ******* May 31, 2002 ******* By Steve Jordahl, correspondent ******* NEW MULTIDIMENSIONAL ULTRASOUND TECHNOLOGY IS BRINGING THE ABORTION DEBATE INTO FOCUS. ******* A new television ad airing during such popular shows as NBC's "Friends" hails the advent of a new General Electric product that provides an even clearer view into the womb. ******* "When you see your baby for the first time on the new GE 4D Ultrasound system, it really is a miracle," the ad says. It shows a married, expectant couple gazing at a screen revealing a detailed, moving image of the child in utero. ******* The GE Web site describes the technology this way: "4D Ultrasound takes three-dimensional ultrasound images and adds the element of time to the process. The result: Live action images of your unborn child." ******* But GE's product isn't the only one getting parents closer to their preborn children. Novint Technologies, Inc., based in Albuquerque, N.M., has developed a product called e-Touch that interacts with the GE product to create the sensation of touch. According to a May 7 press release, this allows expectant parents "to feel a vast array of textures including the feel of the baby's face and skin." ******* Tom Anderson, CEO of Novint, witnessed the miracle of his new technology first-hand with his own son. ******* "As a parent, that was just such an amazing experience," Anderson said. "He is still not born, he's due in July, but I've touched his nose and I've touched his cheeks and I know what he looks like." ******* Ironically, Anderson described himself as "pro-choice." ******* But parents aren't the only ones who are excited about the new technology. Laura Echevarria, with the National Right to Life Committee, said this is a boost for the pro-life movement. ******* "We are seeing that as technology rapidly advances, that it will become undeniable that the unborn child is human and deserves protection just like everyone else," Echevarria said. ******* She cited recent polls that show the American public split 50-50 on the abortion issue, with the pro-life viewpoint gaining acceptance. She added that she'll take all the free advertising she can get. ******* "Certainly, having a four-dimensional sonogram commercial air during "Friends" ... there's no way we could have been able to pay for that kind of ad," Echevarria said. ******* And that, she said, is a miracle as well. ******* Copyright 2002 Focus on the Family All rights reserved. International copyright secured. (800) A-FAMILY (232-6459) Privacy Policy/Terms of Use ************************************************************************************************************************ ******* item 2 BUSH DIRECTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO PROTECT HUMAN EMBRYOS ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Associated Press, Washington Post; October 30, 2002 ******* Washington, DC -- The Bush administration has revised the charter of a federal advisory committee concerned with the safety of research volunteers to specify that unborn children in experiments are ``human subjects'' whose welfare deserves special attention. ******* The change does not yet give human embryos used in research any particular protections or have any direct impact on federal policy. But it is another indication that the president believes unborn children deserve special protections under law from destruction in scientific research. ******* The committee, whose members have yet to be appointed, will offer recommendations to the Health and Human Services Department. The agency would have to propose regulations or encourage legislation if it wanted to put new pro-life protections in place. ******* The change was made to recognize that certain populations are particularly vulnerable in today's research, said Arthur J. Lawrence, deputy assistant secretary for health operations, who oversaw the rewriting of the charter. He noted that more women are being included in research studies, and some of them are likely to be pregnant. ******* The charter now directs the committee to provide advice concerning ``research involving human subjects'' including ``pregnant women, embryos and fetuses.'' ******* "It's very important to focus in on the risks to women who are pregnant and their embryos and fetuses," Lawrence said Wednesday. ``It was the intent of the revision of the charter to insert specifically within the charter the populations that needed to get special consideration.'' ******* Other groups mentioned in the charter include newborns, children, prisoners and the ``decisionally impaired,'' meaning those unable to give informed consent. ******* The reference to unborn children could apply to research using human embryos left over from in vitro fertilization treatments or to those cloned specifically for research. Pro-life advocates oppose both because unborn children would be destroyed in the process. ******* Government guidelines only apply to research that is federally funded, noted Rebecca Dresser, an expert on human subject protections who teaches law and medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. ******* Despite the restrictions, scientists increasingly are turning to human embryos as a source of embryonic stem cells which researchers hope to turn into therapies for a variety of degenerative diseases. Other scientists are finding more success with adult stem cells obtained from more ethical sources such as umbilical cord blood or bone marrow. ******* Abortion advocates decried the move as a harbringer for making abortion illegal. ``It lays another stone on the pathway to overturning legal bortion,'' said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. ******* Pro-life advocates cheered the move towards protecting unborn children from harmful experiments. ******* "It's very welcome that HHS is recognizing the need for sound norms on human experimentation across the entire spectrum of life," said Richard M. Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. ******* Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, stated, "We applaud the administration for explicitly recognizing in the charter that the term 'human subjects' includes all living members of the species Homo sapiens at every stage of their development, and that all deserve protection from unethical experimentation." ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 3 Subject: BUSH ADMINISTRATION WILL PROMOTE EMBRYO ADOPTION ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Source: Associated Press, Pro-Life Infonet; August 21, 2002 ******* Washington, DC -- Pushed by Congress, the Bush administration is set to promote ``embryo adoption,'' in which one infertile couple donates leftover human embryos to another. It's the latest move in the heated debate over the moral and legal status of an unborn child in the earliest part of life. ******* The administration plans to distribute nearly $1 million for public awareness campaigns promoting donation of embryos, one of several options available to couples who create more than they need for in vitro fertilization. ******* Pro-life groups have lauded embryo adoptions as a way to protect the lives of those unborn children who otherwise would have been destroyed. ******* The Department of Health and Human Services says it has no political agenda and is simply following orders from Congress. The grant program was inserted into an HHS spending bill by pro-abortion Sen. Arlen Specter, who supports both abortion and the destructive embryonic stem cell research. ******* Specter said the human embryos should be available for research, but only if they are going to be thrown away otherwise. ******* ``If any of those embryos could produce life, I think they ought to produce life,'' he said in a statement. ******* The public awareness campaign, Spectter said, is ``sort of a test program'' for embryo adoption. ``Let us try to find people who will adopt embryos and take the necessary steps on implanting them in a woman to produce life,'' he said. ******* Perhaps the real credit for the grant program goes to pro-life Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN). During the debate surrounding President Bush's decision to prohibit federal funding of any new embryonic stem cell research, Congressman Souder held hearings on the issue. Several children who had been adopted as frozen embryos attended the hearing along with their families. According to John Cusey of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, the grant program is a result of the successful hearing. ******* However, the program is making some people who support destroying human embryos in research nervous. ******* Officials at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine are considering applying for a grant but fear it will suggest that donating embryos to another couple is preferable to donating them for research or destroying them altogether. ******* ``Our biggest concern is to protect all of the options for the patients, not to make any one thing the designated best option,'' said Eleanor Nicoll, spokeswoman for the fertility clinic trade group. ``Some patients are extremely uncomfortable about the idea of other people bearing and raising their genetic offspring.'' ******* Abortion advocates worry that the program lays the legal groundwork for considering embryos human beings with full legal rights. Using the term ``adoption'' rather than ``donation'' makes it appear that the program views embryos as children, said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. ******* If an embryo were a person with equal rights, abortion could be more easily declared illegal, she said. ``It can be used to support their effort to roll back Roe vs. Wade.'' ******* Fertility clinics that offer clients the option of giving embryos to other couples use the term ``embryo donation.'' The phrase ``embryo adoption'' comes from an adoption agency, which uses the same procedures to place embryos as it uses to place babies. ******* That agency, Nightlight Christian Adoptions, plans to apply for one of the grants. Its embryo program, called Snowflakes, has produced 18 babies, with five women pregnant now. ******* Officials there are thrilled by the opportunity to help these children. ******* ``I believe every embryo is a child that deserves a chance to be born,'' said JoAnn Eiman, a spokeswoman for Snowflakes. ``This is more than mere tissue. They need an option they haven't had in the past.'' ******* She hopes the education campaign will inform more people about the adoption option. ******* The embryos are a byproduct of in vitro fertilization, in which an egg is fertilized in the lab and then implanted into a woman's uterus a few days later. Typically, couples fertilize about a dozen eggs, in hopes that they will have enough healthy embryos to produce the children they want. Those that are not implanted are frozen for future use or destroyed. ******* But after a couple has all the children it wants, there are often embryos left over. And tens of thousands of embryos are now frozen in fertility clinics, often because couples don't know what to do with them. ******* Their options are limited. They can throw them away. They can leave them in the freezer. They can donate them for research - though research using newly destroyed embryos is not eligible for federal funding under a decision made by President Bush last year. They can also give them to another woman hoping to get pregnant. ******* The grants being offered by HHS are intended to boost interest in the latter. A total of about $900,000 will be distributed, and federal officials anticipate awarding three to four grants of $200,000 to $250,000 each. ******* HHS officials said they don't know what programs will be proposed. Snowflakes plans to suggest a video promoting adoption, particularly at IVF clinics that don't offer it already, a Web site, a public relations campaign and mailings to obstetricians. ******* Applicants must have experience with embryo adoption and be prepared to evaluate their programs. Applications are due next week. ******* -- Please consider making a donation to help the work of the Pro-Life Infonet. ******* You can send a donation to: Women and Children First, P.O. Box 523143, Springfield, VA 22152. We appreciate your support. ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 4 ARIZONA PARENTAL CONSENT LAW GETS APPEALS COURT OK ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Arizona Republic; October 9, 2002 ******* San Francisco, CA -- A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld Arizona's pro-life law requiring minors to get parental consent to have an abortion. ******* Ruling 2-1, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not address the constitutionality of requiring girls under 18 to get parental or guardian consent to have an abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the validity of that, prompting 32 states to adopt some type of parental involvement law -- either notification or consent. ******* "Finally parents and their teenage daughters in Arizona will be protected from the heavy-handed tactics of the abortion industry," explained Arizona Right to Life executive director Shane Wikfors. "Year after year we have passed parental consent legislation only to have it attacked by Planned Parenthood and the courts. This ruling will finally restore the bond between parent and child that has been broken by Planned Parenthood. We also know this ruling will result in a marked decrease in the number of abortions in Arizona. We are extremely pleased by the decision." ******* The dispute centered on how Arizona's 1999 law dealt with cases in which a girl wants to have an abortion but does not get permission from a parent or guardian. ******* In upholding parental consent laws, the Supreme Court has ruled that states must allow children to seek a juvenile court judge's approval for an abortion if they don't have parents or guardians, or do not want their parents or guardians to know about the pregnancy. ******* In those instances, judges generally are obliged to grant the abortion. ******* Planned Parenthood sued to block the law, arguing that Arizona's law did not guarantee the privacy of girls who sought a judge's approval, and therefore violated the rights of girls to retain their medical privacy. ******* The appeals court did not agree, and said Arizona's statute "satisfies two constitutionally recognized rights of privacy, the right to make fundamental life decisions and the right to avoid disclosure of personal information," Judge Richard C. Tallman ruled. ******* Planned Parenthood said that Arizona's law wrongly allows any court employee or government official connected with the courts to review a girl's file. ******* Judge Warren J. Ferguson generally agreed with Planned Parenthood and said a lack of privacy may unconstitutionally dissuade girls from having an abortion. ******* Arizona Assistant Attorney General Paula Bickett said a girl's juvenile court abortion file would remain confidential, and that Arizona government officials can view it on a need-to-know basis only. The general public, she said, does not have access. ******* "The majority opinion is consistent with our arguments," Bickett said. ******* Pattie Caldwell, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona, said the decision may drive girls to have "illegal abortions or harm themselves through self-induced abortion." ******* An Arizona federal judge upheld the pro-life measure last year, but blocked the law from being enforced pending the outcome of appeals. Despite Wednesday's decision, the law is not immediately enforceable because the court's decisions do not become final for about a month to allow time for fresh appeals. ******* The case is Planned Parenthood v. LaWall, 01-16799. ******* -- Pregnancy Centers Online http://www.pregnancycenters.org *********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 5 PRO-FAMILY VICTORY AT UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S SESSION ******* Fanatical pro-abortion Canadian Delegation Walked out Because of US Pro-Life Stand ******* UNITED NATIONS, May 13, 2002 (LSN.ca) - A LifeSite correspondent at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children reports that the final outcome document of the session does not contain references to "reproductive health services" - language which a former Canadian delegation to the UN revealed includes abortion. The Special Session which ended Friday after heated round-the-clock negotiations saw Canada and the European Union, along with a few Latin American countries, battling for language to promote abortion, homosexuality and graphic sex education for children. ******* See the UN release on the end of the session and related coverage: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/ga10022.doc.htm ******* http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/11/international/11CHIL.html (registration required) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3878-2002May10.html ******** http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-dissect12.html ******* http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/12/1021002414182.html ************************************************************************************************************************ ******* item 6 GROUPS SEEK BIBLICAL CONTENT IN B.C. PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM ******* From Logos BC- a group of parents and teachers desiring the choice for Christian education within the B.C. public school system. ******* "Many of us have prayed and worked for years to help make B.C.'s education system more parent-friendly and more Christian values-friendly." ******* See details at : www.logos-society.edmonton.ab.ca ******* http://www.logos-society.edmonton.ab.ca/ ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 7 ABORTION HURTS BLACK AMERICANS THE HARDEST ******* from The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Birmingham News; October 15, 2002 ******* Birmingham, AL -- A group of black activists who oppose abortion rallied at Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, Alabama on Monday, concluding the "Say So" weekend march they organized to draw attention to the issue. ******* Tiffany "Esther" Fomby, a member of Doers of the Word Church in Birmingham, led a chant: "If you love the children, say so!" ******* About 60 people marched from Kelly Ingram Park to Birmingham City Hall and back, singing "We Shall Overcome" and carrying signs saying, "Stop Black Genocide." ******* The Rev. Johnny Hunter, national director of the Fayetteville, N.C.-based Life Education and Resource Network that organized the effort, said it's hard to draw support from the black community to oppose abortion. ******* "The issue is not popular," Hunter said. Organizers had hoped for 1,452 marchers to descend on Birmingham, which was chosen as the site for its civil rights history, Hunter said. They paraded on the same Birmingham street where blacks marching for equal rights were doused by fire hoses in the early '60s. ******* "We're bringing awareness and exposing the 1,452 African-American babies that are killed in America every day," Fomby said. ******* Hunter said he hopes the march will mark the beginning of increased concern about high rates of abortion among blacks. ******* Centers for Disease Control statistics show that while blacks make up about 12 percent of the population, they account for 34 percent of U.S. abortions. "I think it's even much higher than that," Hunter explained. ******* Hunter said the abortion industry has "targeted" blacks by locating a disproportionate number of abortion businesses in majority black areas. ******* "It's been viewed as a white Republican issue, but there is a disproportionate number of African-Americans getting abortions," said the Rev. Arthur Johnson, pastor of Doers of the Word Church. ******* Star Parker, president of the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education, said she had four abortions before joining the cause. ******* "I realized there has to be something wrong with killing your own offspring," she told the crowd. ******* "When black people stand up for the end of abortion, abortion will end," said Damon Owens, a spokesman for LEARN. ******* A new Alabama law requiring women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours went into effect Monday that should help reduce the number of abortions. In similar states, such as Kentucky, the number of abortions was reduced significantly. ******* The law, dubbed the "Women's Right To Know Act" by pro-life advocates, requires abortion practitioners to provide women with information about abortion's risks and alternatives as well as information on fetal development prior to performing the abortion. ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 8 BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO COVER UNBORN CHILDREN IN HEALTH PROGRAM ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Associated Press, Pro-Life Infonet; September 27, 2002 ******* Washington, DC -- In a major victory for pro-life advocates, the Bush administration said Friday it will consider unborn children as persons eligible for health insurance coverage under the State Children's Health Insurance Program. ******* The administration said it is making the change to enable more low-income pregnant women to obtain prenatal care. Under the new rule, states could extend health insurance to unborn children from the moment of conception by enrolling them in the CHIP program. ******* The debate will now shift to states, which must decide whether to add unborn children to their programs. Both sides of the debate predicted battles ahead. ******* Because CHIP, as the program is known, is aimed at children, it does not typically cover parents or pregnant women, although states can get permission to include adults if they request it. Under these new rules, it will be a routine matter for states to add unborn children to their CHIP programs. ******* ``It represents a speedy new option for states that want to do more to ensure that women get critical prenatal care that will increase the chances that their children are born healthy,'' Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement Friday. He called the change a``commonsense, compassionate measure.'' ******* Pro-life groups applauded the Bush administration's move. ******* "[The rule] should be welcomed by all who care about the health of pregnant women and their children," explained Monsignor William Fay of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "The proposed rule serves an important goal, that of expanding access to quality prenatal care for children at their earliest and most vulnerable stages of development and to their mothers. It serves this goal by acknowledging that the child's need for good nutrition and health care begins when the child first comes into existence, at conception." ******* Other pro-life advocates said the ruling, if implemented in states nationwide, would address some of the financial and medical concerns that sometimes prompt young women to consider abortion and thereby reduce the number of abortions. ******* The final regulation, first proposed in January, will be published next Wednesday in the Federal Register. It will take effect 30 days later. ******* HHS received a whopping 7,783 comments on the proposal, including some from abortion advocates who argued the Bush administration was trying to lay legal groundwork establishing independent rights of the unborn child as a step toward abolishing abortion. ******* HHS argued, ``prenatal care benefits both mother and child and therefore does not create tension between them.'' ******* ``This rule, rather than limiting an uninsured woman's choices in fact expands them by offering important health care that may not otherwise be available to her,'' said the 111-page regulation. ******* Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, praised the Bush administration action but feared it will be stymied at the state level. ******* ``The next question is, will pro-abortion politicians in some states cave in to pressure from pro-abortion groups who insist there is no such thing as an unborn child, and so deny this aid to mothers and their babies?'' he asked. ******* In fact, pro-abortion groups said they will urge states to reject this option. They prefer for states to include pregnant women in CHIP -- something two states, New Jersey and Rhode Island, have already done -- and exclude any mention of children before birth. ******* Or, they said, if the administration really wants to get prenatal care to more women, it could simply support legislation pending in the Senate to add pregnant women to CHIP. Thompson has said he supports the Senate bill. ******* Clarifying one aspect of the policy, the regulation explained that all unborn children are eligible for coverage even if their mothers are immigrants who are not. CHIP bars all illegal immigrants and only covers legal immigrants who have been in the country for five years. But babies born in the United States are citizens and therefore eligible for assistance. In other words, unborn children are considered citizens of the United States under the policy. ******* HHS said this was not the first time a baby before birth has been eligible for government benefits. In the past, unborn children were eligible for both welfare benefits and for Medicaid, which allowed for prenatal care. ******* HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said HHS would count unborn children in its statistics about number of children covered by CHIP. He said it wasn't clear if the department would break out the number of born vs. unborn children. ******* The plan does not include any new money for the coverage. Rather, states that want to participate would simply add participants to their existing programs, which are funded with a combination of state and federal dollars. ******* -- The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and information. ******* To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to: [email protected]. ******* Infonet is sponsored by Women and Children First (http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.org). For more pro-life info visit http://www.prolifeinfo.org and for questions or additional information email [email protected] **************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 9 IDAHO PRO-LIFE GROUP WANTS UNBORN CHILDREN IN CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN COVERAGE ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Associated Press; December 18, 2002 ******* Boise, ID -- Idaho Chooses Life, a statewide pro-life group, wants lawmakers to adopt the Bush administration's declaration that unborn children are persons under the government-financed Children's Health Insurance Program . ******* Pro-life advocates applauded the Bush administration for the proposal saying that additional medical coverage during a pregnancy could help remove one of the factors, lack of financial support, women cite as a reason for obtaining an abortion. ******* Abortion advocates called it an attempt to give a fetus legal status as a person, advancing the campaign to ban abortion. ******* David Ripley, director of Idaho Chooses, argued that lawmakers who qualify unborn children for CHIP will see it as "one of the smartest ways to save taxpayer dollars" because more pregnant women will receive preventive care that keeps them out of expensive emergency rooms. ******* It also would give women another alternative to abortion, he said. ******* Health and Welfare Department spokesman Ross Mason estimated the cost of covering unborn children during pregnancy at $1 million, including $200,000 to the state. CHIP costs about $20 million a year in combined state and federal money. ******* Because CHIP is for children, it does not typically cover parents or pregnant women, although states can get federal permission to include adults. Under the Bush administration's new rules, it will be a routine matter for states to add unborn children to their programs. ******* Rebecca Poedy, president of Planned Parenthood of Idaho, argued that the Ripley has "a clear anti-choice agenda which establishes personhood, putting the fetus before the mother." ******* Ripley and his allies have had significant success in the Legislature in just the past three sessions. They secured a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions through the state Medicaid program. They won a requirement for parental or court approval before minors can get abortions, and the Legislature voted to protect pregnant women who are victims of violent assaults which lead to the death or injury of her unborn child. ******* -- Anne, from Rochester Right-to-Life saw an ad for The Christian Singles Info-exchange here on the Pro-life Infonet, and decided to dig a little deeper. The result of her findings is a new web-page: http://www.righttoliferoch.org/wcsi.htm. This page is fun to read, even if you are not single! *********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 10 NEW SURGICAL OPTIONS SAVE UNBORN CHILDREN IN THE WOMB ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Hartford Courant; November 17, 2002 ******* Boston, MA -- Loren Davis just had a birthday, his first. If he had been born a decade earlier, the Manchester, Conn., boy most likely would be dead. ******* On Nov. 16, 2001, a team of surgeons in Boston pulled Loren's head from his mother's womb during a cesarean section and, while he still was tethered to his mother's umbilical cord, attached a heart-lung machine to his neck. Once the doctors were assured Loren was getting sufficient oxygen, they completed the cesarean and took him to an operating room to remove a tumor the size of a fist that had grown where a lobe of his lung was supposed to be. ******* "He is our miracle baby," said Loren's mother, Susan Davis, who at 42 became a mother for the first time. ******* For centuries, babies such as Loren with serious birth defects entered the world stillborn or died soon after birth. Improvements in ultrasound technology during the last two decades have helped doctors find these physical handicaps well before birth. But it has been only in the last few years that doctors have been able to offer parents an option other than abortion for some of these defects. ******* In fact, Susan Davis said that a doctor advised her to have an abortion after her 18-week ultrasound test revealed her baby had congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation, or CCAM, a growth that blocked the development of the heart and lungs. ******* Having a deeply-held religious faith, Susan and her husband, Ray Davis, searched the Internet for alternatives. Their search led them to Boston Children's Hospital, which three years ago opened the Advanced Fetal Care Center. ******* In Boston, the couple met nurse practitioner Luanne Nemes, who said there might be surgical options to treat their baby's condition. MRI and advanced ultrasound imaging tests would determine whether those new techniques could be used to save their baby. ******* Such imaging technology has been a blessing for many prospective parents, even if they reveal that medical options are limited, Nemes said. ******* "Even if they do not get good news, we are able to counsel and prepare families," Nemes said. "Historically, these people did not get appropriate prenatal counseling about what to expect, what the long-term outcomes might be." ******* Boston Children's is one of a handful of hospitals across the country that offer surgery to treat physical problems such as CCAM and congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a fetal condition in which organs in the abdomen push through the diaphragm into the chest cavity, preventing normal heart and lung development. ******* Doctors also are trying surgical techniques on babies before they are born to correct neural tube defects that can cause conditions such as spina bifida. Even heart valve repairs can be done while the baby is in the womb. ******* But surgery cannot save every baby, said Dr. Renee Bobrowski, who sees several cases a year as a perinatologist at Hartford Hospital. ******* The Davises knew serious risks were involved. "The doctors told me I might lose both," Ray Davis said of his wife and baby. ******* "They said it was 50-50" that her baby would survive the surgery, said Susan Davis, who received two blood transfusions during surgery. ******* Loren decided to come early, precipitating a wild scramble at Children's Hospital while Ray drove Susan to Boston. ******* During delivery, four weeks before full term, Loren was connected to an ECMO--extracorporeal membranous oxygenation--machine, which helped circulate oxygenated blood throughout his body. The umbilical cord then was cut and the tumor removed. Loren remained on the machine for five days. ******* The procedure cost $200,000, of which Ray's insurance "paid only a little," the father said. ******* Doctors have told Loren's parents that his prognosis is excellent. ******* -- See our web site http://www.lifecyclebooks.com for hundreds of exclusive pro life and abstinence education materials. **************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 11 Michigan Court: PREGNANT WOMEN CAN PROTECT THEIR UNBORN BABIES ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: New York Times; October 15, 2002 ******* Lansing, MI -- A pregnant woman may use deadly force to protect her unborn baby even when she does not fear for her own life, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled. Legal experts say the decision has opened another front in the legal wars surrounding abortion. ******* The court emphasized that its decision was a narrow one, concerning only assaults against pregnant women, but it acknowledged that it was entering charged legal terrain. ******* "We are obviously aware of the raging debate occurring in this country regarding the point at which a fetus becomes a person entitled to all the protections of the state and federal constitutions," Judge Patrick Meter wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. ******* The case arose from a lovers' quarrel involving Jaclyn Kurr and her boyfriend, Antonia Pena, the man who had impregnated her. She later testified that after Pena had punched her in the stomach, she responded by stabbing him in the chest with a kitchen knife, killing him. At the time she was 16 to 17 weeks pregnant. ******* She was charged with manslaughter, and the jury rejected her assertion that she had been acting in self-defense. She was sentenced to five to 20 years in prison. ******* This month, the appeals court reversed her conviction and ordered a new trial. It said the trial judge should have let her argue that she was defending not only herself but also "her unborn children." ******* The court noted that the age of Kurr's babies -- she was apparently carrying quadruplets -- meant that they could not have survived outside the womb and that she could abort them under the Supreme Court's decision in Roe vs. Wade. She miscarried a few weeks later. ******* "One is left with a most peculiar legal situation," said John Mayoue, an Atlanta lawyer who is an expert in the various ways the law treats unborn children. "Although she may use deadly force to protect the viable or non-viable fetus, thereby ending someone's life, she also has the constitutional right to terminate the pregnancy herself without consequence." ******* Linda Rosenthal, a lawyer with the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, said the decision was consistent with the Supreme Court's abortion jurisprudence. ******* "When a woman is carrying a wanted pregnancy and she has made that decision, which is constitutionally protected, she has the right to protect the embryo or fetus," she said. ******* About half the states have laws making assaults on pregnant women that cause miscarriages or stillbirths criminal. A proposed bill in Congress, the Unborn Victims of Violence act, would target violent against pregnant women on the federal level. ******* Michigan law allows people to use deadly force to defend themselves when they believe their lives are in danger or when they feel threatened by serious bodily harm. Kurr failed to convince the jury that the punches amounted to either. ******* The law there allows the use of deadly force in defense of others. The trial judge ruled that the unborn children Kurr was carrying were not "others" for these purposes. ******* "I believe in order to be able to assert a defense of others there has to be a living human being existing independent of your client," Judge Richard Lyon Lamb of the Kalamazoo County Circuit Court, said to Kurr's lawyer. "Under 22 weeks, there are no others." ******* In reversing the conviction, the appeals court held that the concept of defending others "should also extend to the protection of a fetus, viable or non-viable, from an assault against the mother." ******* The court stressed that it recognized the defense only in the context of an assault, thus excluding the destruction of human embryos existing outside the body and medical abortions. ******* Gail Rodwan, Kurr's lawyer, said the opinion was limited in its holding but not in its implications. ******* "The opinion certainly does recognize the sense that the fetus was another separate from the mother," she said. "That may be something people could seize on." ******* Through her lawyer, Kurr, who remains in prison, declined to comment. ******* Heather Bergmann, a prosecutor, said the state will ask the Michigan Supreme Court to hear the case. Its principal argument, she said, will be that the right to self-defense is adequate to protect both pregnant women and their babies. ******* -- Please consider a donation to help the Pro-Life Infonet. You can send it to: Women and Children First, PO Box 523143, Springfield, VA 22152. ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 12 CALIFORNIA SAFE HAVEN LAW TO STOP BABY ABANDONMENTS OFTEN IGNORED ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: San Jose Mercury News; May 21, 2002 ******* Sacramento, CA -- In the spring of 1996, Joanne De la Cruz was living in a dorm room at UC-Santa Cruz when she smothered her newborn with napkins, put her son in a plastic bag and tossed him in a dumpster. ******* Nobody knew De la Cruz was even pregnant -- and she wanted to keep it that way, especially from her parents, whom she feared would disown her. Her secret was safe until four years later when the guilt-stricken young woman broke down and confessed the crime to a therapist. ******* De la Cruz, who understood that her therapist was compelled by the law to tell authorities, was arrested. She's expected to enter a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter May 31 in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, but prosecutors are entertaining an unusual plea agreement to resolve the tragic case. ******* Assistant District Attorney Christine McGuire said it's still possible that De la Cruz will receive some time in jail, but what the district attorney's office really wants is for De la Cruz to do 1,000 hours of community service by helping publicize a 1 1/2-year-old law that allows desperate moms to drop off their babies at hospital emergency rooms -- no questions asked. ******* De la Cruz, now 25 and living with her parents in Alameda County, has declined media requests. But her attorney, John Burris of Oakland, said Friday that he's hoping his client's remorse and sincere effort to help other desperate mothers will result in no jail time. ******* ``It's my understanding that she wants to do something to honor her child,'' said Debi Faris of Yucaipa, who founded a group called Garden of the Angels six years ago after hearing about a newborn in a duffel bag tossed out on a Los Angeles freeway. The baby died. ******* Since August 1996, Faris' organization has buried more than 50 Southern California abandoned infants in a ``cemetery within a cemetery'' in Calimesa, about 15 miles east of Riverside. ******* State and local officials say that despite widespread publicity when it cleared the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Gray Davis in September 2000, most Californians are unaware of the law. ******* ``There's been no public awareness campaign and newborn babies have been abandoned and left to die throughout the state,'' McGuire said. ******* In 2001, she said, eight babies were surrendered to hospitals under the provisions of the law, but six others were abandoned and found alive and another 10 were tossed in trash bins and empty fields and died. Others also may have been abandoned. ******* In New Jersey, which has an aggressive media campaign to publicize a similar law, not one abandoned newborn has died in the three years the law has been in effect, said Blanca Castro, spokesman for the California Department of Social Services. ******* In California, however, the deaths of abandoned newborns are still commonplace. ******* Recently, a Stockton high school student was arrested after she allegedly concealed the birth of her infant son. The baby was found dead in a garbage can at a Lake Tahoe casino. Authorities said they are awaiting results from an autopsy aimed at finding out if the baby was born alive or stillborn before deciding whether to file charges. ******* State Sen. Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, pushed through the Safe Haven Law two years ago after being approached by Faris. Similar to laws now in effect in about three dozen other states, it allows a parent to leave a baby less than 72 hours old with an employee of any hospital emergency room. The surrender can be done anonymously and without fear of prosecution. ******* In an interview Friday, Brulte, the Senate's minority leader, said the original bill required social service officials to organize an outreach program. ******* But it never happened, so last year he penned another bill providing $3 million in outreach funding, which was trimmed to $1 million by the Senate appropriations committee. ******* Davis, in the midst of a state budget crisis, vetoed the second Brulte bill, saying it would ``result in the expenditure of general-fund dollars that were not included in the Budget Act of 2001.'' But Davis directed the Department of Social Services to work with other state agencies to develop an outreach plan. ******* Russ Lopez, a spokesman for the governor, said one reason for the delay was that Brulte's original bill didn't allocate funds for outreach. ******* ``There was really no legal vehicle to do it,'' Lopez said. ******* In February, Davis, pointing to the Safe Haven Law, issued a statement saying ``there is no excuse in California for a new mother to abandon her child.'' ******* Castro said Friday that the Department of Social Services planned to use New Jersey's successful ``No Blame, No Shame, No Names'' media campaign rather than reinvent the wheel. She hopes the campaign will start at the end of the summer. ******* The state, Castro said, has found $500,000 in child-abuse prevention funds it can use to launch the campaign. In addition, she's hoping that TV stations will run free commercials and that the California Children and Families Commission will soon bolster the outreach program with money from the state's voter-approved tobacco tax. ******* The Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office hopes De la Cruz will speak to high school students, counsel pregnant moms in distress and, in general, open her heart. ******* Faris said she was recently speaking in a high school in Los Angeles and a young girl came up to her when class was over. ****** ``She said, `I'm one of those mothers. Two years ago I was 15 and I became pregnant and could not tell my parents, so I threw my baby away. I will have to live with that the rest of my life.' ******* ``I held her and we cried.'' ******* When using items from the Pro-Life Infonet in your newsletter, please include our web site (www.prolifeinfo.org) or email address ([email protected]). Thanks! *********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 13 TEXT OF PRESIDENT BUSH'S REMARKS ON BORN ALIVE INFANTS PROTECTION ACT ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Source: Office of the White House; August 6, 2002 ******* [Pro-Life Infonet Note: The following is the transcript of President George W. Bush's remarks as he signed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.] ******* THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you all very much for this bill signing ceremony. I'm pleased to sign it in the great city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The history of our country is the story of a promise, a promise of life and liberty made at our founding and fulfilled over the centuries in our laws. It is a story of expanding inclusion and protection for the ignored and the weak and the powerless. And now we extend the promise and protection to the most vulnerable members of our society. ******* Today I sign the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. This important legislation ensures that every infant born alive -- including an infant who survives an abortion procedure -- is considered a person under federal law. (Applause.) This reform was passed with the overwhelming support of both political parties, and it is about to become the law of the land. ******* I appreciate so very much Senator Rick Santorum and Congressman Steve Chabot from Ohio for sponsoring this important piece of legislation. I also appreciate Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Congresswoman Melissa Hart for coming, as well. I want to thank the Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Wuerl, for being here. It's good to see you again, Bishop. I appreciate Hadley Arkes, the Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions at Amherst University. I want to thank Jill Stanek, registered nurse, Labor and Delivery Unit, Christ Hospital and Medical Center, for being here, as well. I appreciate Gianna Jessen, who is an abortion survivor and a pro-life advocate. I want to thank Dr. Watson Bowes, who is a Professor Emeritus of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University of North Carolina. ******* I want to thank you all for coming. It's important that you're here, to send a signal that you're dedicated to the protection of human life. The issue of abortion divides Americans, no question about it. Yet today we stand on common ground. The Born Alive Infants Protection Act establishes a principle in America law and American conscience: there is no right to destroy a child who has been born alive. (Applause.) A child who is born has intrinsic worth and must have the full protection of our laws. Today, through sonograms and other technology, we can clearly -- see clearly that unborn children are members of the human family, as well. (Applause.) They reflect our image, and they are created in God's own image. ******* The Born Alive Infants Protection Act is a step toward the day when every child is welcomed in life and protected in law. (Applause.) It is a step toward the day when the promises of the Declaration of Independence will apply to everyone, not just those with the voice and power to defend their rights. This law is a step toward the day when America fully becomes, in the words of Pope John Paul II, "a hospitable, a welcoming culture." ******* Our society has enough compassion, wealth and love to care for mothers and their children, and to see the promise and potential of every life. In protecting the vulnerable and the weak, the imperfect and the unwanted, you are affirming a culture of life. ******* I'm grateful for your perseverance on behalf of this noble cause. I want to thank you for your hard work. I appreciate your care for every member of the human family. Thank you for coming today. It's now my honor and pleasure to sign into law the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. (Applause.) ******* (The act is signed.) (Applause.) ******* Please refer a friend to the Pro-Life Infonet. Anyone can sign up at http://www.roevwade.org/roeform.html ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 14 LEGAL AGE OF SEXUAL CONSENT ******* 02-04-23 - from Hansard (record of parliamentary speeches) ******* Mr. Brian Fitzpatrick (Prince Albert, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, I want to make some comments about age and then turn to a question. For young offenders the age is 18 years. In most provinces one has to be 16 to drive a vehicle. To gain employment and not violate labour laws, one has to be 16. Parents are required under the criminal code to provide the necessaries to children under the age of 16. The right to vote is given at 18. In a marital breakdown, the non-custodial parent is required to provide support to the child and it extends well beyond the age of 14. ******* I am curious. I would like to address this question to the hon. member. What would motivate a federal government to reduce the age of sexual consent to 14 and deprive parents of the ability to protect their children from sexual exploitation in view of all these other requirements that the government has seen fit, in its wisdom, to impose, such as minimum ages and so on? They are much higher than this one. Why would a government see the necessity to lower the age for sexual consent to what I think is the extraordinarily low age of 14? ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 15 PRO LIFERS IN SPAIN STAGE MARCH FOR LIFE RALLY ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Source: Vida Humana Internacional; July 10, 2002 ******* Madrid, Spain -- With the motto "Protect Every Life for Life", the Pro-Life Day Platform held a March for Life on Saturday, July 6, in Madrid, the capital of Spain. The occasion is the XVII anniversary of the unfortunate decriminalization of abortion in th European country. ******* The March began at the "La Plaza de la Villa" and ended "La Puerta del Sol." ******* The March seeks not only to raise the conscience of the nation about the crime of abortion, but also about other attacks against human life, such as euthanasia, human embryo manipulation and domestic violence. ******* It also promotes adequate solutions to these problems: crisis pregnancy centers, treatment for post-abortion syndrome, research on adult stem cells (instead of embryo stem cells), legislation to help mothers stay home if they so desire, authentic palliative care for terminal patients as an alternative to euthanasia, better adoption laws and, of course, the outlawing of all abortions. ******* The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and information. ******* To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to: [email protected]. ******* Infonet is sponsored by Women and Children First http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.org). ******* For more pro-life info visit http://www.prolifeinfo.org and for questions or additional information email [email protected] ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 16 CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL AID TIED TO ABORTION, PRO-LIFE DOCTOR SAYS ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute; September 12, 2002 ******* Ottawa, Canada -- The head of MaterCare International (MCI), a group of Catholic obstetricians and gynecologists dedicated to the care of women in the developing world, charges that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has refused to fund MCI's new birth trauma center in the African country of Ghana because MCI does not perform abortions. ******* Dr. Richard Walley said that MCI has "been working with CIDA for some time, but I think now they have found out exactly who we are and they certainly don't like a Catholic/pro-life organization of obstetricians and gynecologists such as ours. CIDA recognizes the significance of MCI, and is therefore out to block it or destroy it." ******* According to Walley, MCI has assembled a "world class team of Specialists" for the trauma center, along with substantial donations of money, land and medical equipment. The government of Ghana supports the project. However, Walley asserts that "CIDA has finally chosen, without adequate explanation, to ignore these accomplishments and thus the suffering of poor African women. ******* It should be a source of complete shame that Canada's development agency has cynically turned its back on the suffering of women in Africa." ******* This is not the first time that MCI has witnessed international organizations, including the United Nations, place the promotion of abortion ahead of the care of poor women. According to Walley, "We have experienced opposition, most recently when we tried to establish essential obstetrical care in East Timor, where there are no obstetricians. It was made clear to us by the UN that we were not welcome unless we were prepared to provide "reproductive health care", which is abortion, the morning after pill, sterilization, etc. Of course, we refused, so the UN has blocked our participation." ******* Walley has also learned how the UN indirectly funds abortion. ******* "While I have not been present as a UN official carried out an abortion," he said, "I have certainly seen their material and it is clear that UNFPA [the UN Population Fund] is pushing manual vacuum aspiration, an early form of pregnancy termination, and there is a kind of money laundering going on. The funding that they had to provide these services had been transferred to an organization known as the International Relief Service." ******* MCI will hold its second international workshop of Catholic obstetricians and gynecologists in Rome, from October 23 to 27. The conference has been organized along with the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC). One of the primary goals of the meeting will be to address how MCI can function in the face of such strong international opposition. ******* Walley believes that MCI must succeed because "UN population controllers have corrupted health care. At the very least, I can only say that abortion and birth control are irrelevant to a mother who has obstructed labor or who is dying from a postpartum hemorrhage. They [the UN] will claim that they are preventing a woman from becoming pregnant, thus preventing her from becoming a maternal death. So they provide so-called 'safe abortion.' What they are not addressing adequately is the essential obstetrical care which women require." ******* Expecting your 1st baby or know someone who is? Christian Life Resources offers New Life Devotions for Expectant Parents book - $4.99 to meet the spiritual needs of 1st time parents for eight weeks before and after the birth. 1-800-729-9535, ask for item # 386506PI. ******* http://www.ChristianLifeResources.com ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 17 MISS AMERICA CENSORED ON HER ABSTINENCE MESSAGE ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Source: Washington Times; October 9, 2002 ******* Washington, DC -- Miss America 2003, Erika Harold, yesterday said pageant officials have ordered her not to talk publicly about sexual abstinence, a cause she has advocated to teenage girls in Illinois. ******* "Quite frankly, and I'm not going to be specific, there are pressures from some sides to not promote [abstinence]," the 22-year-old woman from Urbana, Ill., told The Washington Times. ******* In her first visit to Washington since winning the crown Sept. 21, Harold resisted efforts by Miss America officials to silence her pro-chastity opinions. ******* "I will not be bullied," Harold said yesterday at the National Press Club, as officials tried to prevent reporters from asking questions about her abstinence message. Harold, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Illinois, was "furious" as she arrived for yesterday's press conference, an acquaintance said. ******* George Bauer, interim chief executive officer of the Miss America organization, and other pageant officials had sternly directed her to talk only about the issue of youth-violence prevention and to say nothing about sexual abstinence, said Harold's acquaintance, who asked not to be named. ******* "They laid it on her coming over here" not to promote teen chastity, the acquaintance said before the press conference began. "She's furious about it." ******* Bauer did not respond to inquiries made yesterday through Miss America corporate headquarters in Atlantic City, N.J. The pageant has traditionally been skittish about sexual subjects, and at one time forbade Miss America -- and even contestants -- to be alone in a room with any man, even fathers and brothers, without a chaperone. ******* Harold has advocated premarital chastity through the years as she traveled about Illinois on behalf of Project Reality, a Chicago-based nonprofit that has been a pioneer in the field of abstinence education. By the time she won the Miss Illinois crown in June, Miss Harold had presented that message to more than 14,000 young people. ******* Since 1990, Miss America and affiliated state pageants have required contestants to adopt an official "platform" issue. Harold won the Miss Illinois contest with her platform of "Teenage Sexual Abstinence: Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself." But state pageant officials instead selected "teen violence prevention" as her Miss America contest platform because they deemed it more "pertinent," her father told an Illinois newspaper. ******* Yesterday, Harold said, she is "still in the process of coming up with what it is that I can say," in interweaving her pro-chastity views with her official platform. ******* After winning the Miss America crown, Harold said a young girl from an inner-city Chicago school sent her an e-mail asking her to continue the abstinence campaign. "She said, 'You changed my life because of what you said, and now I made the decision to be abstinent because of what you said. And I really hope that as Miss America you continue to share that because it changed my life and I think it can change lots of others.'" ******* Said Harold: "And I would hate to think that there are kids all over the country who now wonder, you know, 'Did I make the right decision in making that commitment, if this person who inspired me to do it no longer is willing to share that commitment on the national stage?' And so I would feel a hypocrite if I did not." ******* Harold said abstinence education is an important component of youth-violence prevention because violence is directly related to sexual permissiveness and promiscuity. "I think that if a young person is engaged in a promiscuous lifestyle, it makes them vulnerable to other risk factors, so I definitely see a tie-in there," she said. ******* "Many victims of sexual harassment believe what is said about them, and they become very promiscuous. When they're called a whore, when they're called a slut, they think, 'That's what I want to be,' and so they engage in a pattern of self-destruction that can be very detrimental to their lives. ******* "And when I went through that experience, I took the opposite approach, and said I'm going to believe in who I am. I'm not going to be defined by what other people think about me. And so I felt very, very fortunate that I had parents, I had a faith community who reinforced this decision, and I was able to speak about this. I didn't take the route of becoming promiscuous; I took the route of reaffirming what I believed was right and stood for it. And I was very fortunate to be able to speak to thousands of young people about this." ******* The new Miss America had meetings yesterday with Attorney General John Ashcroft and Surgeon General Richard Carmona. ******* -- You can help women make positive, life-affirming choices when confronting an unexpected pregnancy. Please provide a link on your web site to Pregnancy Centers Online at http://www.pregnancycenters.org ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 18 MISS AMERICA WILL BE ALLOWED TO DISCUSS ABSTINENCE ******* Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 19:21:16 -0500 ******* From: "Linda Harvey" ******* PAGEANT PERMITS PROMOTION OF CHASTITY ******* By George Archibald ******* THE WASHINGTON TIMES ******* Miss America 2003, Erika Harold, announced in Illinois yesterday that she has won her battle with pageant officials over the right to talk about teen sexual chastity. Saying that The Washington Times "brought this controversy to the forefront" in an article yesterday, the 22-year-old former Miss Illinois told reporters in suburban Chicago that she is now permitted to talk about sexual-abstinence education as part of her youth-violence prevention platform. ******* Miss America Chief Executive George Bauer removed the restriction after intense discussions during a trip to Washington, she said. "I don't think the pageant organizers really understood how much I am identified with the abstinence message," Miss Harold told reporters at a ceremony in Oak Brook Terrace to crown her successor as Miss Illinois. "If I don't speak about it now as Miss America, I will be disappointing the thousands of young people throughout Illinois who need assurance that waiting until marriage for sex is the right thing to do," she said. ******* Mr. Bauer, who accompanied Miss Harold this week on her first visit to Washington since her crowning Sept. 21, has issued no formal statement. Miss Harold said he would issue a statement publicly affirming her freedom to espouse her views on chastity "in the next few days." ******* Mr. Bauer has not responded to several inquiries by The Times about reports first made by the IllinoisLeader.com, an online journal, that the new Miss America was being muzzled. ******* "It was silly," Dan Proft, president of the online journal, said yesterday about the controversy. Sexual chastity for unmarried girls "is a great message to send from Miss America." "What is more fundamental than freedom of expression?" he asked. ******* Miss Harold could not be reached for comment after her midafternoon press conference in Illinois. ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 19 MISS AMERICA WINS BATTLE TO DISCUSS ABSTINENCE ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2002 02:06:28 -0400 ******* From: "Steven Ertelt" ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Baptist Press; October 11, 2002 ******* Washington, DC -- Miss America is free to talk about sexual abstinence after all. ******* Erika Harold, crowned in September as Miss America 2003, told reporters Oct. 9 she had been informed that morning by Miss America chief executive George Bauer there would be no restrictions on her discussion of chastity as part of her youth violence prevention platform. ******* The announcement by Harold at a suburban Chicago news conference came on the same day efforts by pageant officials to stifle her abstinence message were reported in The Washington Times. The newspaper reported Harold and an acquaintance had acknowledged at a Washington appearance Oct. 8 that Bauer and others had ordered her not to talk publicly about sexual abstinence. ******* "I don't think the pageant organizers really understood how much I am identified with the abstinence message," Harold said at the Oct. 9 news conference. "If I don't speak about it now as Miss America, I will be disappointing the thousands of young people throughout Illinois who need assurance that waiting until marriage for sex is the right thing to do." ******* The Miss America organization will issue a statement soon confirming her freedom to talk about abstinence publicly, Harold said. Bauer has not responded to numerous requests to the organization for an interview, The Times reported. ******* Pageant officials pressured Harold to silence her advocacy of sexual abstinence though she had promoted chastity for the last four years and had made it her platform in the Miss Illinois contest. She has delivered a sexual abstinence message to more than 14,000 students in Illinois, according to Project Reality, an abstinence-centered education program in Illinois. Her platform for the Miss Illinois pageant was Teenage Sexual Abstinence: "Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself." ******* In response to pageant officials' orders, Harold told reporters in Washington Oct. 8 she would "not be bullied." ******* "I've talked to thousands of young people on the issue of abstinence," Harold said. "It is very important that I continue to speak on this issue -- the kids I spoke to need to know that I'm not abandoning this issue simply because I am now Miss America." ******* Harold, 22, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Illinois, has been accepted to Harvard Law School. ******* After Harold won the Miss Illinois title in June, state pageant officials chose youth violence prevention as her Miss America contest platform because they considered it more "pertinent," her father told an Illinois newspaper, according to The Times. According to the Miss America website, Harold's platform is Empowering Youth Against Violence: "Respect Yourself; Protect Yourself." ******* Genevieve Wood, vice president of communications with the Washington-based Family Research Council, called pageant officials' reluctance to allow Harold to speak freely a prime example of political correctness. ******* "With 3 million new cases of teens contracting an STD each year, more and more teachers, doctors and policy makers are seeing the medical necessity of abstinence education," Wood said in an FRC news release. "If Miss Harold's platform was about the hazards of smoking, most likely there wouldn't be any protest. Sexually transmitted diseases have reached epidemic levels." ******* Abstinence, Wood said, is "the one message that will help save people's lives and protect their emotional and physical health." ******* The FRC news release cited Kaiser Family Foundation statistics that up to 15 percent of sexually active teenage women are infected with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), an incurable virus that is present in virtually all cervical cancers. Each year 5,000 women die from cervical cancer, which is the second cause of cancer death among women. Condoms do not stop the transmission of HPV. ******* The Sept. 29 issue of Time magazine, meanwhile, reported that, "A small but vocal cohort of doctors has gone to the abstention side." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose programs had encouraged condom use, "has been quietly recasting its position on abstinence," the article stated. Patricia Sulak, an ob-gyn and professor at Texas A&M University's College of Medicine, told Time, "After reviewing the data [on condoms], I've had to do a 180 on kids and sex." ******* -- Pro Life Christmas Cards! Our 17 beautiful designs, as low as $2.25 per pack of 10 cards/envelopes make fund raising easy. High quality, glossy coated. See our web site http://www.lifecyclebooks.com for these and hundreds of other exclusive pro life and abstinence education materials. ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 20 SURVEY SHOWS YOUNGER AMERICANS MORE PRO-LIFE ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Source: University of California, Berkeley; September 25, 2002 ******* Berkeley, CA -- Young adults have more pro-life views about abortion than their elders, a UC Berkeley study released Tuesday stated. ******* The study, which interviewed over 1,000 randomly chosen Americans nationwide of different age, ethnic and gender groups, assessed the political opinions of different generations. ******* The study noted a significant difference in opinions on abortion between Americans youths aged 15 to 22 and adults aged 27 to 59. Forty-four percent of youths -- compared to 34 percent of adults -- supported government restrictions on abortions. ******* Increased media attention to abortion may be responsible for the difference, said Douglas Strand, the study's project director. Additionally, pro-life groups in recent years have pressed for more coverage of abortion issues, he said. ******* "Youths view abortion in a different light," said UC Berkeley student Bret Manley, president of the Berkeley College Republicans. "The debate has changed. It's a more prominently displayed issue in politics than it probably was before when our parents were growing up." ******* The discrepancy may also be because of a difference in the availability of abortions, since many states restricted abortion prior to the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized unlimited abortion. ******* "Younger women were far less concerned about abortion rights than older women in the last election," said UC Berkeley political science professor Bruce Cain. "And that's because younger women did not live during the era where abortions were not as available. Perhaps people feel abortions are too easy to obtain." ******* The long-term goal of the study is to create a continuing survey to evaluate change in political opinion and how people react to political leaders over time. ******* The study was released by UC Berkeley's Survey Research Center. ******* -- Pregnancy Centers Online http://www.pregnancycenters.org ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 21 POPULATION CONTROL NUMBERS FAVOR THE PRO-LIFE SIDE ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Insight Magazine; December 16, 2002 ******* By James P. Lucier ******* [Pro-Life Infonet Note: By James P. Lucier writes for Insight Magazine.] ******* Washington, DC -- Thirty years ago the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortions in the United States in the case of Roe v. Wade, opening the past three decades to contentious debate over social policy. The battleground has extended not only to the U.S. Congress and the courts, but to the schools and institutions which shape the attitudes of the next generation. The struggle between the pro-lifers and the pro-choicers (as well as those who just don't want to hear about it) is so strong and so deep because it is not just about code words and ideology. It is a bitter conflict about two visions of the future of the nation, and, indeed, the future of humanity. ******* Even as both sides look to the Supreme Court and even to Congress to settle the matter once and for all, the outcome is not so certain. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the annual number of abortions has been declining since 1991. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a New York City pro-choice think tank, reported in October that the overall abortion rate in the United States declined 11 percent between 1994 and 2000, with the decline particularly steep -- 39 percent -- among adolescents age 15 to 17. ******* A Zogby International poll commissioned for the Buffalo News (New York) in December found that 32 percent of Americans changed their opinions on abortion during the last decade, with 21 percent becoming more negative -- indicating that those who changed negatively were twice as numerous as those who changed in favor. More than two-thirds of all queried said that they strongly would advise a pregnant woman not to get an abortion. Moreover, the strongest age group opposing abortion consisted of young people 18 to 20 years old. ******* "The abortion-survivors generation, those kids born since the Roe decision in 1973, are much more prolific than their elders," says Steven Mosher, director of the Population Research Institute in Front Royal, Va. "If you survey people at pro-life meetings, the average number of children is four. If you survey people at a National Abortion Rights League meeting, the average is probably one-half of a child. And it's not just the activists; people who are in church on Sunday, people who pray regularly, average about three while those who don't average about one. What does that mean demographically? It means that the ranks of our opposition are going to be decimated by what we might call a form of self-imposed collective suicide. So their response is to try to use our education system to reproduce themselves intellectually since they are not going to reproduce biologically." ******* According to Mosher, there are geographical differences around the country as well. "The birthrate in the Northeast is about 1.4, 1.5 children, which is about the European average, below the rate of replacement," he tells Insight. "The rest of the country averages 2.5 children, with a somewhat higher fertility in the South, especially in Texas. There are some striking differences in this country, which roughly parallel the famous red and blue states of the maps of the 2000 [presidential] election. It's a very positive sign for the future." Yet the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), which long has argued that the world faces an overpopulation crisis, released a report in early December promoting so-called "reproductive health and rights" -- a code phrase for abortion -- as the key to world prosperity. The UNFPA claims that fertility and poverty are linked. New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, whose district includes the U.N. headquarters, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington at the launch of the UNFPA report. "To overcome poverty, countries must ensure women's reproductive health and rights," she told journalists. "Developing countries that have made wise investments in family planning, smaller families and slower population growth have achieved higher productivity, more savings and more productive investment. ... If the United States continues to ignore our world's population needs, I fear that the world will take a giant leap backward." ******* But Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, pointed out in the solidly centrist journal Foreign Policy that not just the developed countries, but also many third-world countries such as Iran, Russia and China, have embraced population regimes to achieve lower fertility. "It is time to discard the common assumption, long championed by demographers, that no country has been modernized without first making the transition to low levels of mortality and fertility." ******* The result of these below-replacement population regimes is a widespread decline in population. "Once that happens, only immigration on a scale larger than any in the recent past can forestall population decline," Eberstadt says, pointing out in regard to Europe as a whole "that to prevent an eventual decline in the size of the 15-to-64 grouping (often termed the 'working-age' population), Europe's net migration will have to nearly quadruple to a long-term average of about 3.6 million a year. Migration of this magnitude would change the face of Europe: By 2050, under these two scenarios, the descendants of present-day non-Europeans will account for approximately 20 to 25 percent of Europe's inhabitants." ******* Mosher argues that population declines bring not prosperity but social disaster. "Over the long run, the liberal welfare state is not economically, demographically or culturally viable," he tells Insight. "When you sever the links between generations that bind parents to children by taking them out of the home and putting them in Head Start, and sever the links between the elderly and their children by putting them in hospices and old-age homes, and make retirement benefits entirely independent of the family, that along with cultural factors depresses the birthrate. You now have all the pension funds in Europe, except England -- the Italian, the German, the French and the Spanish -- ready to go belly up in the next few years. It is not decades away as with Social Security, but only a couple of years away in the case of Italy." ******* Why isn't the U.S. birthrate below replacement levels? "America is a very unique country, particularly in the strength of religious sentiment," he says. "On Sunday about 50 percent of the people are in church, as opposed to about 10 percent in Europe. It makes a difference if you read the Bible, as opposed to just reading the Washington Post or the London Sunday Times. The Bible says repeatedly that children are blessings, and people respond to that." ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 22 WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ALLOWED TO HAVE PRO-LIFE GROUP ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: St. Louis Post Dispatch; October 15, 2002 ******* St. Louis, MO -- The student government at Washington University Law School reversed itself Monday, voting to recognize a pro-life group it had twice rejected. ******* The 27-6 vote followed a contentious debate lasting more than two hours. But most student body representatives agreed that their earlier votes were misguided. Four students abstained from Monday's vote. ******* "I'll be the first to admit that my argument had more holes in it than Swiss cheese," said Jeff Wax, a student body member. ******* Numerous students petitioned the Student Bar Association to welcome the group and foster free speech on campus. ******* "I just want you to swallow your pride, forget about what's been said and do what's best for students," said Zachary May, a first-year law student. ******* The SBA, the law school's student government, determines which student groups should be recognized and which ones should be eligible to share funds collected from student activity fees. ******* The newly formed group, called Law Students Pro-Life, had sought recognition twice this semester but had not requested money. Both times, the SBA rejected the group, arguing it was too narrowly focused on a single issue. The pro-life group had attracted support from various groups, including from a national organization that advocates free speech on campuses. ******* Joel Seligman, dean of the law school, is among faculty members who encouraged the SBA to reconsider. On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri weighed in as well, demanding the student government reverse itself. ******* Several SBA members said Monday that they stayed with their prior votes, but they were ultimately outnumbered. ******* "We must respond as level-headed adults and not as chastised children," said Geoff Ulreich, an SBA member. ******* -- Please consider a donation to help the work of the Pro-Life Infonet. You can send a donation to: Women and Children First, PO Box 523143, Springfield, VA 22152. ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 23 COLORADO ABORTION RATE DOWN 63 PERCENT ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Source: Rocky Mountain News; October 4, 2002 ******* COLORADO ABORTION RATE DOWN 63 PERCENT ******* Denver, CO -- In a recent announcement, the Colorado Department of Human Services said the state's abortion rate has dropped 63 percent, according to department spokeswoman Liz McDonough. ******* In 1995, there were 9,384 abortions in Colorado, and five years later that number dropped to 4,215. ******* The number of live births to Colorado teenagers isn't declining, but because the numbers of abortions are, that means fewer Colorado teens are getting pregnant. And that presumably means that fewer are sexually active. ******* That's great news to people who want to lower teen births by focusing on abstinence. ******* The Christian Singles Info-exchange (CSI) is the only singles group in America with a pro-life stipulation in its Eligibility Requirements. ******* By the grace of God, CSI is also the largest and most successful singles group in America, with 13 years in business and 50 active state sub-chapters. For more info visit: http://www.christian-singles ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 24 PRESIDENT BUSH KEEPS THE FAITH ON CLONING ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Pro-Life Infonet; November 4, 2002 ******* by Nigel M. de S. Cameron ******* [Pro-Life Infonet Note: Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Ph.D., founded the journal Ethics and Medicine in 1983 and has been called "the father of Christian bioethics" by Focus on the Family. He is dean of the Wilberforce Forum and directs the Council for Biotechnology Policy in Washington, DC. Earlier this year he served as bioethics advisor on the US delegation to the United Nations discussion of a convention on human cloning, but his comments reflect his own position and not necessarily that of the administration.] ******* It's hard to remember that back before 9/11 there were pundits of left and right who agreed on one remarkable thing: that the Bush presidency would have as its "defining issue" his policy on the research use of human embryos and their stem-cells. While such a view may have been overdrawn, it's beyond doubt that this was the theme of his first televised speech to the nation, and was plain he himself had taken the policy decision he announced. 2001 was the year in which bioethics found a home in the Oval Office. ******* While 9/11 changed the world, it did not in any way affect the President's determination to follow through on his conviction that biotechnology must be developed in the context of human dignity; that, in a phrase he has used more than once, "a child is a creation, not a commodity." This phrase is the lynchpin of the great debate that will span the 21st century. Every human biotech question turns on whether, at the end of the day, it treats us as people or as things. ******* The question of human cloning has proved surprisingly complex and difficult to handle in public policy. One reason lies in the two very different ends for which humans might be cloned - the birth of a baby, and the experimental extraction of embryonic stem-cells that will result in the death of the clonal embryo. The first seems wrong to almost (though not quite) everybody. The second is contested, since the voices of scientists and celebrities have regaled both legislators and the rest of us with tales of the amazing "cures" that will follow from the mass-creation and mass-destruction of the products of human cloning. These claims are both hyped and disingenuous, but they have been presented with skill and fervor. ******* So it is no surprise that two quite different legislative approches have been taken, one to ban cloned babies by prohibiting the implantation (and therefore requiring the destruction) of cloned embryos; the other banning their cloning in the first place. ******* The President has consistently advocated the latter view, both in United States law and also in the international community. Within the US the administration's demand for a comprehensive cloning ban has been well-known. In a remarkable speech last spring in the East Room of the White House, he laid out a ringing endorsement for S. 1899 and spoke fervently of the central place of human dignity in the development of these new technologies. ******* What is much less well-known is that in parallel with this domestic policy position the administration has engaged energetically at the United Nations in a campaign to bring about an international ban on human cloning that is equally comprehensive in character. There too there have been competing approaches on offer. The French and the Germans have sought a ban on implantation; the US, working with Spain, the Philippines, and other nations, is seeking a comprehensive prohibition on all cloning of human embryos, for whatever purpose. ******* Americans, and especially American conservatives, are in general not enthusiastic about the United Nations. Unlike many smaller countries and much of Europe that increasingly seek strength in larger bodies, we prize our independence. And we know that the UN has sometimes made weird decisions, sometimes worse. Yet its influence around the world is enormous. It offers our only vehicle for developing global policy, and our best means of seeking to stamp out global evils. And biotechnology is a worldwide enterprise. If its threats to human dignity are to be contained, and it is to become a worldwide influence for good, we have little option but to work for international agreement. ******* In fact, for years UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Socialand Cultural Organisation - has promoted the debate of issues in bioethics. The administration's decision to rejoin UNESCO will give us a major voice as these debates continue. The announcement of this initiative during the President's speech to the United Nations on Iraq neatly brings together these two themes: the war on terror and its sponsors, and "other war" - the struggle for human dignity - the engagement with the new powers that biotechnology has brought to view, to ensure that they serve human being and do not become our masters. ******* So we salute the President for his commitment to prohibit cloning in the United States, and to work vigorously through the United Nations for its prohibition around the world. At the outset of the biotech century, he has taken the high ground. ******* -- Please pass along the Pro-Life Infonet to a pro-life friend. ************************************************************************************************************************ ******* item 25 PRIESTS NATIONWIDE AFFIRM PRO-LIFE POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Priests for Life; November 1, 2002 ******* New York -- Priests for Life, the national association working to galvanize clergy to fight abortion, is receiving thousands of responses a day from priests nationwide who are signing a statement about political responsibility. The statement simply reaffirms what the US Catholic bishops have asserted about the responsibilities of voters and public officials. It reminds citizens of their obligation to vote, and it identifies abortion as the key issue among the many interrelated moral issues facing voters. Regarding public officials, the statement declares that they may not support "direct attacks on innocent human life." ******* Fr. Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, stated, "This is just the beginning of a massive effort to mobilize Christians as never before to bring an end to abortion in this nation, and to declare that those who tolerate abortion are not worthy of public office." ******* Priests for Life will continue to gather signers of this statement over the next two years. The full text of the statement may be viewed at http://www.priestsforlife.org/politicalresponsibility.htm. ******* See http://www.lifecyclebooks.com for pro life and abstinence education materials. ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 26 "SILENT NO MORE" -- A POST-ABORTION AWARENESS CAMPAIGN ******* from Elliot Institute ******* November 20, 2002 ******* A new port-abortion awareness campaign called "SILENT NO MORE: WOMEN SPEAK OUT ABOUT THEIR ABORTION EXPERIENCE" will bring women who have had abortions together at state capitols and in Washington, D.C., in January 2003 to speak out about their abortion experience. ******* According to Georgette Forney a co-founder of the campaign, "We are the voice that hasn't been heard. There is a lot of talk about whether or not abortion should be legal, but very little attention is given to the women who have actually had abortions. I regret having an abortion and I know that there are millions of women who feel the same way. ******* "The truth is abortion affects us physically, emotional and spiritually. It's time to speak honestly about the pain we've lived with and we want to help women who are hurting find healing. After 30 years it's time to listen to the women who have experienced it." ******* "Silent No More" expects to be the beginning of a national campaign to raise awareness about the aftereffects of abortion. The campaign will also seek to reach the many women who are suffering in silence, offering them abortion recovery help and resources. ******* State gatherings are being held in 35-50 states at various times during the week of January 18 -26, 2003. The gathering in Washington, D.C., will take place January 22, 2003 after the March for Life. ******* David C. Reardon, Ph.D., director of the Elliot Institute and an expert on post-abortion research and education, this is the second time the theme "silent no more" has been used by abortion activists. It was first used by the early eighties, by abortion advocates who gathered at "Silent No More" rallies to read the testimonies from women who had suffered from illegal abortions. ******* "Their goal was to educate the public about the horror of illegal abortions in an effort to bolster support for legal abortion," said Reardon. "Ironically, they just assumed that legal abortion must be better for women. Since my research at that time was showing that legal abortions were also harmful to women, I was inspired by these rallies to name my first book, 'Aborted Women, Silent No More.' Indeed, my research led me to conclude that legal abortion might be causing even more harm to women than illegal abortions had. Legalization had created the false impression that abortion had been proven to be safe and beneficial and thereby reduced levels of caution. Even more seriously, legalization made it easier for men to pressure women into unwanted abortions. These, and other effects, led to ten times as many women suffering from abortions each year." ******* Reardon says it is very fitting that this new generation of abortion witnesses should speak out under the same title as the victims of illegal abortions. "Their testimonies prove that while the legality of abortion has changed, it's harmful effects on women have not." ******* Women who are interested in participating in "Silent No More" may sign up by going to the Silent No More website at http://www.HelpAfterAbortion.com or by calling 1-800-707-6635. ******* Learn more about post-abortion issues at our web site: http://www.afterabortion.org ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 27 SILENT NO MORE: WOMEN SPEAKING ABOUT ABORTION LAUNCH CAMPAIGN From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Pro-Life Infonet; January 8, 2003 ******* Washington, DC -- After 30 years of legalized abortion, women from coast to coast who have had abortions will gather in January at state capitols and in Washington D.C. to speak about their experience. Many of the women will share their stories while others hold signs that read "I Regret My Abortion." ******* The Silent No More campaign will tell the truth about abortion's emotional, spiritual and physical consequences. ******* Actress, model and author, Jennifer O'Neill, is joining the Silent No More Campaign as their national spokesperson. ******* As a woman who was forced to have an abortion, Ms. O'Neill understands the pain, "To have the opportunity to encourage and comfort the hearts of women who have suffered is humbling, and making the whole truth known about abortion is absolutely necessary." ******* "We are the voice that hasn't been heard," said Georgette Forney, Executive Director of NOEL, and a co-founder of Silent No More who had an abortion at age 16. ******* "There is a lot of talk about rights and choice, but very little attention is given to women who have abortions. I regret my abortion and I know others who feel the same way. After 30 years it's time to listen to us -- the women who have experienced it." ******* Silent No More will reach-out to women suffering from their abortion experience. Many women can't acknowledge their pain because they are fearful they will be condemned or that their feelings will be dismissed, while others are convinced that they are the only ones hurting. ******* Susan Renne Mosley, Founder of Celebrating Grace and a co-founder of Silent No More who had an abortion at age 15 said, "It's time to speak honestly about the pain we've lived with, we want to help other women who are hurting from abortion find peace. This campaign will let them know they're not alone, they don't have to live their life in pain, there is hope. We've found help and they can too. They need to know about the programs, books and resources available to help them." ******* Silent No More events will be held in every state capitol between January 17-25; and in Washington, D.C., on January 22. To get a list of dates and locations, visit http://www.HelpAfterAbortion.com/stateleaders.htm. ******* -- Order Today! Pro-Life Church Bulletin Inserts. These full color inserts are an excellent educational resource. They are 8.5 x 5.5, double sided, and printed on glossy paper. The front includes a 4-D Ultrasound photo of an unborn child and under it the words, "I am an American." Abortion statistics are on the back side. Cost is $5.00 per bundle of 50 inserts. No Credit Card orders please. We will include an invoice with your order. Email [email protected], or call 202.378.8842. ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 28 SUPREME COURT GIVES FINAL VICTORY TO CHOOSE LIFE PLATES ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Associated Press; December 2, 2002 ******* Washington, DC -- The Supreme Court ended an effort to block specialty car license plates in Louisiana with the slogan ``Choose Life.'' ******* Louisiana is one of seven states that have authorized such pro-life car tags, and abortion supporters argued that the state was giving a forum only to pro-life views. ******* Justices on Monday refused without comment to review the tag opponents' appeal. ******* In 2000, a federal judge had stopped the state from distributing the plates, which have a picture of a baby wrapped in a blanket in the beak of a brown pelican, the state bird. But earlier this year an appeals court said the pro-abortion groups did not have standing to sue. ******* Lawsuits have been filed in other states over the plates, contending they violate the separation of church and state. Besides Louisiana, states with ``Choose Life'' plates include Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Leaders in other states are considering offering them. ******* Louisiana charges an extra $25 for the special tags to raise money for organizations that counsel expectant mothers about adoption. A council of pro-life groups advises the state on how to spend the money. ******* Simon Heller with the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, representing the plate opponents, told justices in court papers that the ``scheme creates a `symbolic union' of the state of Louisiana with fundamentalist Christian organizations'' and could promote religion. ******* Roy Mongrue Jr., an assistant attorney general in Louisiana, said that the legislature may use license plates to encourage pregnant women to consider adoption and other alternatives to abortion. ``The state, acting through ... its democratic process, has the right to speak this message,'' he wrote in court papers. ******* An attorney who brought a similar challenge in South Carolina says it's not the final word on the matter. The development "is obviously disappointing, but not necessarily precedent," said Peter Murphy, a Columbia attorney representing the pro-abortion plaintiffs challenging South Carolina's plans to issue similar Choose Life plates. ******* During last month's Charleston hearing, Tracey Green, an assistant deputy state attorney general, argued the South Carolina plates represent government speech "and communicate the state's oft-expressed preference for child birth over abortion." ******* He also argued Planned Parenthood has no standing because it hasn't really shown the state would deny them a corresponding "Choose Choice" plate. ******* Senior U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman is expected to rule around the first of next year. ******* The case is Henderson v. Stalder, 02-523. ******* Louisiana citizens who want to obtain the plate can get more information at http://www.chooselifela.org. ******* -- See the little cards with big impact - they go where flyers and tracts can't: http://www.victorywon.com/life_choice_cards.htm ******* "I sidewalk counsel and have noticed that when people won't take other literature, they will take these small cards. They put them in their purse or pocket, which is good because then the escorts can't take it away from them." ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 29 POPE SAYS CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES MUST REMAIN PRO-LIFE ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: The Vatican; December 5, 2002 ******* The Vatican -- Yesterday, Pope John Paul II addressed a conference on "Globalization and Catholic Universities," organized jointly by the Congregation for Catholic Education and the International Federation of Catholic Universities. In his remarks, the Pope stressed that "It is clear that university centers that do not respect the Church's laws and the teaching of the Magisterium, especially in bioethics, cannot be defined as Catholic universities." ******* Beyond abortion, the Pope spoke of faithfulness to church teaching on "the big questions in bioethics, such as the statute of the human embryo and stem cells, today the object of disturbing experiments and manipulations, not always moral or scientifically justified." Professors and students, he said, "are called to bear clear witness to their faith before the scientific community, showing their commitment to the truth and their respect for the human person. For Christians, research must in effect be undertaken in the light of faith, rooted in prayer, listening to the Word of God, in Tradition and in the teaching of the Magisterium." ******* John Paul II emphasized that Catholic universities "have the duty to live the teaching of the Magisterium in the different fields of research in which they are involved, while preserving their scientific autonomy." He said university authorities have the obligation to "be vigilant in maintaining rectitude and Catholic principles in teaching and research in the heart of their university. " ******* See the Pope's full address (In Italian): http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2002/december/docume nts/hf_jp-ii_spe_20021205_fiuc_it.html ********************************************************************************************************************** ******* item 30 ALAN KEYES TELLS LOCAL CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTRE TERRORISM AND LIFE ISSUES HAVE COMMON THREAD ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Bradenton Herald; December 8, 2002 ******* Sarasota, FL -- Drawing a direct line between a strong stance against terrorism and strong defense of individual human life, two-time presidential candidate Alan Keyes urged 500 supporters of Manasota Solve Crisis Pregnancy Center to stay the course Friday. ******* The Republican spoke at a $75-per-plate benefit dinner in Sarasota to helpraise the remaining funds needed to build a second maternity home for homeless, young pregnant women. Supporters plan to build it in Bradenton in 2003. The building fund was short $20,000. ******* "This country is coming to the climax of the greatest moral crisis of its existence," Keyes said. "The terrorist movement we are fighting against disregards the worth of innocent human life. . . . For us to be morally consistent in that fight against terrorism, we ourselves must adopt a principle of respect for life and reject the idea that it is ever justified, with malice aforethought, to take the life of another human being." ******* To win the war on terrorism, it then becomes essential for Americans to adhere to the principles of the pro-life movement, Keyes said. ******* Helen Cadoret, the founder of Solve, was thrilled with Keyes' strong pro-life message. Cadoret said she started Solve 26 years ago because she wanted to give young girls an option. ******* "I started Solve because of the abortion issue," Cadoret said. "I used to picket abortion clinics, and I saw young girls being pushed into those clinics and it made me very sad. I decided something must be done." ******* Since Solve opened its doors in 1976, 500 babies have been born to mothers temporarily residing at the crisis pregnancy center and more than 10,000 poor mothers in Manatee and Sarasota counties have received formula, clothes, furniture and help through the organization. ******* The answer Keyes said to helping teens avoid teen pregnancy is to give them a firm moral foundation that will help them make wise choices. ******* The public schools are not capable of providing that education because God no longer has a place in the classroom, Keyes said in an interview prior to the dinner. ******* "We have banished faith and religion from our public schools," Keyes said. "The idea that you can teach about sexual responsibility apart from moral responsibility to our creator is to me an absurdity. When they drove out God, they created an incapacity in the public schools to deal effectively with the moral challenges that we face." ******* -- The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and information. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to [email protected]. ******* Infonet is sponsored by Women and Children First (http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.org). ******* For more pro-life information, visit http://www.prolifeinfo.org ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 31 POPE RESTATES STRONG DEFENSE OF LIFE, OPPOSITION TO EUTHANASIA ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Associated Press; January 13, 2003 ******* Vatican City -- Pope John Paul II on Monday outlined a fresh defense of the ``dignity'' of human life, denouncing abortion and euthanasia and saying human cloning reduces humans to mere objects. ******* In his annual speech to Vatican-based diplomats, the pope called the right to life ``the most fundamental of human rights. ''Abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, for example, risk reducing the human person to a mere object: life and death to order, as it were!'' he said. ******* ``When all moral criteria are removed, scientific research involving the sources of life becomes a denial of the being and the dignity of the person,'' he said. ******* The Pope has long voiced opposition to abortion and euthanasia: in a 1995 encyclical, he declared they were both crimes that no laws can legitimize. ******* The Vatican has more recently voiced condemnation of cloning and research using stem cells from human embryos. ******* Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, for example, called the recent claims that a cloned baby had been born ``an expression of a brutal mentality, devoid of any ethical and human consideration.'' ******* The Vatican is expected to issue a document, possibly this week, touching on cloning, abortion and other issues that clash with the Roman Catholic Church's moral teaching. The document, drawn up by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is intended as a guideline for Catholic politicians. ******* The ful statement can be found at the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2003/january/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20030113_diplomatic-corps_en.html ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 32 PRESIDENT BUSH DECLARES SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE DAY ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Associated Press; January 14, 2003 ******* Washington, DC -- President Bush on Tuesday declared a National Sanctity of Human Life Day and pledging his administration's commitment to ``build a culture that respects life.'' ******* In the document, Bush called on all Americans to "reaffirm our commitment to respecting the life and dignity of every human being." ******* "By working together to protect the weak, the imperfect and the unwanted, we affirm a culture of hope and help ensure a brighter future for all.'' ******* Bush heralded Born-Alive Infants Protection Act he signed last year, which amends the legal definitions of ``person,'' ``human being,'' ``child'' and ``individual'' to include any baby that survives an abortion. The bill came as a response to revelations that a hospital in the Chicago area would induce labor in order to cause an abortion and leave the newborn baby to die afterwards. ******* Bush also underscored his administration's efforts to champion ``compassionate alternatives'' to abortion, such as promoting maternity group homes, encouraging abstinence and adoption and passing parental-notification and waiting-period laws. ******* He called unborn children ``those without the voice and power to defend their own rights.'' ******* ``Every child is a priority and a blessing and I believe that all should be welcomed in life and protected by law,'' he said. ``Through ethical policies and the compassion of Americas, we will continue to build a culture that respects life.'' ******* Bush also took care to speak of the need to honor life at all stages. ******* He proclaimed this Sunday National Sanctity of Human Life Day, urging Americans to mark the occasion at home or in places of worship, to help others in need and to ``reaffirm our commitment to respecting the life and dignity of every human being.'' ******* The six-paragraph document was enthusiastically received by pro-life advocates, who said it precisely summarized the philosophy behind the movement. ******* ``This is exactly where we're at,'' said Darla St. Martin, associate executive director of National Right to Life. ``It helps people to understand our cause. It helps people to understand why we are working so hard to defend unborn children.'' ******* President Bush's pro-life statement can be read at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030114-13.html ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 33 WE REGRET OUR ABORTION DECISION, WOMEN SAY AT "SILENT NO MORE" RALLY ******* from:The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To:Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Washington Times; January 22, 2003 ******* Washington, DC -- Some 800 women who regret their abortions are speaking out against the abortion this week as part of a nationwide campaign called "Silent No More." ******* The campaign, the largest of its kind, is designed to show that women who have abortions often deal with depression, guilt and shame. The hope of those organizing the event is that these stories will persuade women to consider abortion alternatives and to higlight in the public eye how abortion hurts women. ******* "We are the voice that hasn't been heard," says Georgette Forney, executive director of the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life. "There is a lot of talk about rights and choice, but very little attention is given to women who have abortions." ******* Forney, one of the campaign's founders, said she was inspired by God after struggling with the pain and agony of her own abortion. ******* "I regret my abortion, and I know others feel the same way," says Forney. "After 30 years, it's time to listen to us, the women who have experienced it." ******* Organizers are hoping to connect with women across the country. Women who feel remorse about their abortions will relay their personal and sometimes painful accounts at state capitals and other major cities this week as part of mourning the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide. ******* Marion Syverson, 47, looks back at her decision with remorse. A stockbroker from Hampden, Maine, with two sons in their 20s, she expressed regret about the two abortions she had as a troubled teenager. She now works with Feminists for Life to dissuade other women from having abortions. ******* "I know abortion hurts women, so I'd sure like to make it hardly ever happen," she said. ******* To get out their message, pro-life groups are taking a friendlier approach infused with woman-to-woman warmth. They want to teach women that abortion may not be the best choice and that help is available if they choose to continue their pregnancies. ******* "Whether women regret or don't regret their abortions, there are very few who feel they had all the options available to them when they were pregnant," says Michaelene Jenkins, organizer of the Silent No More San Diego, Calif., event. ******* "I don't think we're at a place to close all the doors," Jenkins said. "I want to see options that empower women." ******* -- Find pro-life books, materials and merchandise at Life Cycle Books. Go to http://www.lifecyclebooks.com ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 34 MISSOURI BILL WOULD STRENGTHEN PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT LAWS ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: St. Louis Post Dispatch; January 23, 2003 ******* Jefferson City, MO -- Parents could sue anyone who knowingly helps their minor daughters get an abortion without parental involvement under a pro-life bill presented Wednesday in a Missouri Senate hearing. ******* The sponsor, Sen. John Loudon, R-Ballwin, said he wanted to do something to stop underage girls from going to the Hope Clinic for Women abortion business in Granite City, Illinois where they can get abortions without parental consent. ******* Missouri law says minors must get permission from their parents or a judge before having an abortion. Illinois has no such law. Similar laws in other states have been proven to reduce teenage abortions significantly. ******* Loudon's bill would allow parents to sue anyone who "knowingly" helps a minor get an abortion without the required consent. Loudon said the Illinois abortion business "brazenly" violates Missouri's law, advertising in the yellow pages ad that there is "no parental consent required in Illinois." ******* Larry Weber of the Missouri Catholic Conference testified that the suits would be based on activity in Missouri, such as advertising in the Missouri yellow pages. ******* -- We help more than 25,000 people each week find pregnancy help and information. Every month, women choose life because of Pregnancy Centers Online. Please consider a link to us on your web site at http://www.pregnancycenters.org ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 35 FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL SIGNS LANDMARK MANIFESTO ON HUMAN CLONING ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Pro-Life Infonet; February 6, 2003 ******* Washington, DC -- Joining a coalition of pro-life groups, doctors, ethicists, and national leaders, Family Research Council's William Saunders, Director of the Center for Human Life and Bioethics, said the time is ripe for passing a complete ban on human cloning. ******* Saunders signed the landmark statement, "The Sanctity of Life in a Brave New World: A Manifesto on Biotechnology and Human Dignity" and issued the following statement: ******* "Our nation was founded upon the principle that all people are created equal. This principle is put at risk by certain biotechnologies that, in the name of 'compassion,' would create, use, and destroy some human beings to help others. The question when human life begins is a settled, scientific fact. It is not a theological opinion. Life begins at the single-cell zygote stage, whether created through sexual or asexual reproduction." ******* "Once human life has been created, the burden must be on the proponents of its use and destruction to convince the American public that there is some rational ground to deny the protection we give to every other human life. Those proponents can only do so by arguing that some lives are not worthy of protection. But this is a perilous argument for it leaves to the powerful to decide who is protected. And in so doing, it denies the principle of equal protection that is the bedrock principle of the American republic." ******* "The arguments put forward by Sens. Hatch, Kennedy, Feinstein and others disregard the scientific facts and replace them with emotional appeals, attempting to justify the wrong means to an altruistic end. However, public policy must rest on sound science and responsible ethics. The Biotechnology Manifesto today signals our determination to bring these principles to bear in fashioning policies worthy of the human person." ******* -- Find pro-life books, materials and merchandise at Life Cycle Books. Go to http://www.lifecyclebooks.com ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 36 [MISSIONAMERICA] SEX ED SURVEY: PARENTS SAY 'YES' TO ABSTINENCE EDUCATION ******* Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 11:55:26 -0600 ******* To: "Mission America List" ******* From: "Linda Harvey" ******* From Family Research Council: ******* Here is our latest press release. To see the on-line version, please visit: http://www.frc.org/get/p03a12.cfm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ******* FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 13, 2003 ******* CONTACT: Kristin Hansen, (202) 393-2100 ******* FOR RADIO: Bill Murray ******* WASHINGTON, D.C. - According to a landmark poll released today, parents soundly reject the "safe sex" approach to sex education and strongly support character-based, abstinence centered programs. The Coalition for Adolescent Sexual Health released the results of the Zogby International survey on Capitol Hill Thursday sending a strong message to Congress in support of the $135 million in federal funding President Bush has requested in support of abstinence education programs. The results are posted on-line at www.whatparentsthink.com. ******* Genevieve Wood, Vice President of Communications at Family Research Council said, "What parents really want is for their children to be taught an abstinence-centered education. By an almost five to one margin, parents approve or strongly approve of character-based, abstinence sex education." ******* Major Findings: * 73.5% of parents approve or strongly approve of abstinence-centered sex education. * 61.1% of parents disapprove or strongly disapprove of "comprehensive" or "safe sex" education. * 75.3% of parents disapprove or strongly disapprove of the sex education curriculum promoted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ******* "There is no group more important to stemming the tide of sexually transmitted diseases and out of wedlock pregnancies among our nation's youth than parents," Wood said. ******* "Parents play a major role in whether or not their teen will choose to have sex. Study after study shows that when teenagers perceive that their parents strongly disapprove of them having sex, they are more likely to delay sexual activity. ******* "Interestingly enough, the majority of American teenagers also believe that teens should be given a strong message from society to abstain from sex until at least after high school. ******* "According to the poll results being released today, their parents couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, most of the sex education programs taught in our nation's schools, do little to help parents communicate that message to their children." --------------------------------------------------------------------- ******* Family Research Council is located at 801 G Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001 ******* Phone: 202-393-2100 ******* Fax: 202-393-2134 ******* http://www.frc.org ******* To donate, go to: https://secure.frc.org/gifts.cfm ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 37 ABSTINENCE MESSAGE FAVORED, POLL FINDS ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt Source: Washington Times; February 15, 2003 ******* Washington, DC -- When Americans hear the "exact wording" of sex-education messages, they reject ones that teach safe-sex techniques and support those that promote abstinence and marriage, says a new Zogby International poll released by a coalition of pro-family groups. ******* "When parents are told what 'comprehensive' means, they reject condom-based curricula," Genevieve Wood of the Family Research Council said Thursday. ******* "Congress should see this poll as unqualified support from parents for the Bush administration's goal to raise funding for abstinence-until-marriage education in this year's budget," said Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America. ******* The Zogby poll of 1,245 parents was taken last month. ******* Parents were read verbatim statements from the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education, which were developed in 1990 by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and others. ******* Parents were asked for their views on teaching these guidelines to children. ******* The poll revealed many objections for instance, two-thirds of parents strongly disapproved of telling children ages 5 to 8 details about sexual intercourse. ******* Most parents also disapproved of teaching 12-to-15-year-olds that "two people who live together can have the same commitment and responsibility toward one another as married people." ******* In contrast, more than half of parents supported verbatim statements from National Guidelines for Sexuality and Character Education, developed in 1996 by the Medical Institute for Sexual Health. ******* Parents strongly supported teaching their children that "sexual or physical intimacy should occur between two people involved in a lifelong, mutually faithful, marriage commitment," and "When adolescents abstain from premarital sex, they don't need to worry about sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, having a baby or getting an abortion." ******* "Organizations advocating for the promotion of condoms for adolescents are using deception and sleight of hand to advance their agenda," said pro-life Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL). Parents and the public "overwhelmingly embrace" character-based abstinence education, said Weldon, who is also a physician. ******* Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood, claims the Zogby results were manipulated. ******* The poll showed that 58 percent or "most of the parents surveyed believe it is important for adolescents to have 'good knowledge of condoms/contraceptives and their use,'" she said. ******* On Thursday, the House passed a bill to reauthorize the 1996 welfare-reform law, which includes a $50 million-a-year abstinence-education grant program. ******* The Zobgy poll, which was supported by Focus on the Family, Eagle Forum, Christian Coalition of America, Traditional Values Coalition and the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, also found that: ______* Sixty-two percent of parents strongly disapprove of sex education that teaches children ages 12 to 15 how to "practice" using condoms. ______* Sixty-five percent of parents strongly disapprove of teaching children 9 to 15 that they can become "close" with someone by "body massage," bathing together or viewing erotic materials. ______* When parents were asked about "your child's school" providing birth control "without your knowledge or approval," 69 percent said they disapprove. ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 38 ARIZONA PARENTAL CONSENT LAW GOES INTO EFFECT ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Arizona Right to Life; March 3, 2003 ******* Phoenix, AZ -- After almost three years of court challenges, Arizona' parental consent finally went into effect today. This marks the end of many years battling to restoring rights to parents whose minor daughters have been able to undergo an abortion without parental consent. Beginning today, all minor teenage girls must obtain the consent of at least one parent or a judge in order to receive an abortion in Arizona. ******* In April, 2000, Arizona Right to Life lobbyist, Andrew Thomas, worked alongside Center for Arizona Policy Director of Policy, Cathi Herrod, to pass the law. On the verge of the law's implementation in July, 2000, Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona began a long barrage of legal challenges to block the law from going into effect. Since then, the law has moved through the District Court before finally getting heard by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. On Friday, February 21, the 9th Circuit dismissed all final requests to block the law and today, the law went into effect. ******* The lesson to be learned here is that the abortion industry will stop at nothing to pursue the business of selling abortions. Even now, after the law has gone into effect, Planned Parenthood continues to violate the spirit of the law by attempting to circumvent the authorization process. They have even offered free legal counsel to teenage girls to get a judicial bypass. Anything to sell abortions! ******* -- The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and information. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to [email protected]. Infonet is sponsored by Women and Children First (http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.org). For more pro-life information, visit http://www.prolifeinfo.org ********************************************************************************************************************* ******* item 39 MONTANA STATE HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ******* From: The Pro-Life Infonet ******* Reply-To: Steven Ertelt ******* Source: Billings Gazette; March 18, 2003 ******* Helena, MT -- Twenty-six years ago, Marilyn Hatch lay on a table and asked the abortion practitioner who was about to abort her 11-week old unborn child if he could tell whether the baby was a boy or a girl. ******* "The abortionist said no," Hatch said in an interview Tuesday. "He said it was a blob of tissue." ******* Hatch still cries over the abortion she had over two decades ago. That's why she testified in favor of Senate Bill 274, sponsored by pro-olife Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel, in the House State Administration Committee on Tuesday. ******* McGee's bill seeks to alter the state's strong right to privacy and declare a "compelling state interest" in protecting the unborn child. The bill comes as a response to a ruling by the Montana Supreme Court that effectively overturned all of Montana's pro-life laws on the basis that the "right to privacy" in the state constitution includes an unlimited right to abortion. Should the bill pass and voters approve it on the ballot, it could pave the way for restoring the pro-life laws. ******* McGee said the privacy right is not absolute. "We're talking about life," McGee said. "We're not talking about rights." ******* Supporters of SB274 said the state already takes an interest in unborn children and spends millions of dollars a year on prenatal programs. Julie Millam of the Montana Family Coalition said government programs such as Women, Infants and Children and Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies is a tacit admission by the state that it has an interest in the unborn. ******* "We know there's life from conception in our wombs," she said. "I've felt it as a mother." ******* Beth Brenneman, legal director of the pro-abortion American Civil Liberties Union of Montana claimed the bil would allow the state to prosecute women it deems irresponsible in their pregnancies. For example, women who miscarry could be prosecuted for engaging in exercise or sexual activity or for using alcohol or drugs. ******* To appear on the November 2004 ballot, McGee's proposal needs the votes of at least 100 of the 150 lawmakers. The bill already passed the Senate, with 28 votes, so it needs at least 72 votes in the 100-member House to qualify for the ballot. The state constitution cannot be changed without a public vote. ******* McGee said he wants lawmakers to pass the question onto the people by approving his bill. "This is about whether the people of Montana have a right to make a statement on this issue," he said. ******* Should the committee table the bill, Gregg Trude, executive director of Montana Right to Life, told the Pro-Life Infonet that a pro-life legislator will use a procedural motion to attempt to move the bill to the House floor. ******* ACTION: Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee with your opinions on this pro-life bill. Go to http://leg.state.mt.us/css/committees/standing/Membership.asp?CommitteeID=326 -- We make it easy for you to contribute to the Pro-Life Infonet using your credit card. Point your web browser to https://secure.entango.com/donate/pE6bLWyec4s to make a donation online. ******* To make a contribution via PayPal, email [email protected] for details. ********************************************************************************************************************* should third link below be "building the culture of life?"

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The following warning is a prophetic message given to me, Frank Wagner, in November of 1974. ******* LISTEN TO THE CRY OF THE ABORTED CHILDREN. THEIR CRY IS NO. THEIR CRY IS A CRY OF TERROR. HEED THEIR CRY. ******* This prophecy is now being fulfilled. ******* For details about the source, meaning and fulfillment of this prophetic message go to ******* http://ca.geocities.com/fwagner4/index.html ******* email me at *** [email protected] ***