Young prolife women!

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200707/CUL20070710b.html

Study Sees 'Turnaround' in Young Adults' Positions on Abortion By Kevin MooneyCNSNews.com Staff WriterJuly 10, 2007(CNSNews.com) - Younger voters, especially women, are embracing a pro-life position in surprising numbers and in sharp contrast to attitudes that held sway 15 years ago, according to a new study.The study by Overbrook Research, a public consulting firm in Illinois, examines public opinion data from Missouri. With proportions of blacks, Catholics and union members in line with national averages, the state is viewed as "highly representative of the American electorate," the study says.Over 30,000 survey interviews were conducted in the state between 1992 and 2006. Participants were asked: "On the debate over abortion policy, do you consider yourself to be pro-life, pro-choice or somewhere in between?" Those who gave a definitive answer were then asked how strongly they held their view. Results in 1992 were largely in step with what study authors Christopher Blunt and Fred Steeper call the "self-interest hypothesis." Women and men under 30 were the most ardently "pro-choice" (39 percent) and the least likely to be strongly "pro-life"( 23 percent).Today, by contrast, among the current generation of 18- to 29-year-olds, 36 percent say they are strongly "pro-life," while just 18 percent say they are strongly "pro-choice," the study authors said.The trend was particularly evident among women in that age bracket. Forty 40 percent identify themselves as strongly "pro-life" and only 20 percent as strongly "pro-choice."The data reverses a two-to-one ratio that was evident in 1992, the study noted.Where previous generations may have been inclined to "divorce sex from its consequences," new voters are entering the electorate at a time when medical advances highlight development in the womb and when public attention is focused on the "gruesome procedure" of partial birth abortion, the authors argued. Blunt, who is president of Overbrook Research, told Cybercast News Service in an interview that "Generation Y" voters have a very different frame of reference on abortion now than was evident in 1992."The most surprising and compelling findings we have are on young people," he said. "They've grown up with high-quality ultrasound images of unborn babies, and their passage into adulthood coincides with the ascendance of partial-birth abortion as the issue's dominant frame."The authors also examined the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, drafted following attacks on abortion clinics in the 1980s and 1990s and signed into law by President Clinton in 1994. Over time, Blunt said, more dramatic demonstrations at clinics gave way to prayer vigils and sidewalk counseling. For young voters the "abortion wars" of the 1980s and 1990s amount to a "dim memory," overshadowed by the attention now given to partial birth abortion, Blunt and Steeper suggest."As grisly details of partial birth abortion procedures replaced confrontational and often violent clinic protests on the evening news, voters seemed to have changed their minds about who the 'abortion extremists' were," they wrote in their analysis.Recent data from Gallup indicates that the apparent trend is not restricted to Missouri. In the mid-1990s, Americans identified with the "pro-choice" over "pro-life" label by a 56-33 percent margin, but the gap narrowed considerably during the late 1990s and beyond.In May of this year, Gallup found the "pro-choice" label leading by just four points (49-45 percent.)Repeated attempts to get reaction to the study from major abortion-rights groups were unsuccessful.Ann Stone, chairperson of Republicans for Choice, was dismissive of the poll results, saying in an interview that the public's fundamental support for "the right to choose" has not changed."What has shifted is the public's perception of the pro-life label," she said. "So you have a lot of people who are really pro-choice saying they are pro-life. But you can be pro-choice and be personally opposed to abortion. It's about allowing individuals to decide for themselves instead of the government, which is a Republican position."Nonetheless, Stone acknowledged that the pro-life movement had successfully framed the issue around partial birth abortion and as a result, scored important gains. "They [pro-lifers] have won the battle, they have not won the war," she said. Kiera McCaffrey, the communications director for the Catholic League, said the Overbrook Research data was "spot on."Young people are drawn to the pro-life movement, she said, because they are better informed nowadays about what having an abortion entails, and of how devastating the aftermath of an abortion can be for a woman.McCaffrey said there also appeared to be a link between recent scientific and technological advances and a growth in pro-life sentiment."Showing the wonders of life at the earliest stages has done a lot for the pro-life cause," she said.

Remembering Terri Schiavo: Terri Schiavo's family and Brownback for President

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback is embarking on a campaign trip with the brother of the late Terri Schiavo, whose fate touched off a political firestorm over government intervention and end-of-life issues.
The Kansas senator is less well-known than leading GOP candidates for president, but he is a favorite of anti-abortion conservatives who influence Iowa's nominating caucuses. Brownback is calling the tour "Pro-Life, Whole-Life."
He is traveling this weekend in Iowa with Bobby Schindler, Schiavo's brother, and Francis Bok, an escaped slave from Sudan.
Schiavo, who was in a permanent vegetative state since 1990, died in 2005 after her feeding tube was removed by court order.
Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, fought her husband, Michael Schiavo, to keep him from cutting off artificial feeding so she could die, in a battle that reached beyond the courts to Congress and the White House. Many conservatives, including several lawmakers, backed the Schindlers.
Recently, Brownback has criticized rivals Mitt Romney and Tom Tancredo over abortion, assailing Romney for switching from pro-abortion rights to anti-abortion rights and targeting Tancredo for taking money from donors who also support Planned Parenthood.
"I have been pro-life my whole life," Brownback said. "Those have been consistent messages for me. I think elections are about ideas and choices, and we're laying those out for people."
___
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Republicans have set Feb. 5 for their caucuses next year, joining voters in 17 other states in what is shaping up to be a national presidential primary.
The state GOP's executive committee voted late Tuesday to hold caucuses in which 41 GOP delegates are at stake four weeks earlier than previously, spokesman Mark Drake said. No further approval is needed, and state Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has said he doesn't have a problem with the date.
Minnesota Democrats are poised to move their caucuses up, too. The party's executive committee has already recommended the move, but an official vote won't happen until a party meeting in late September.
"We're a battleground state and we think it's important that Minnesotans — Democrats and Republicans alike — have their voices heard early in the process," Drake said. "We didn't want to get left behind."
Iowa kicks off the presidential winnowing process on Jan. 14. Thus far, at least 18 states, including Minnesota, have set Feb. 5 for presidential primaries or caucuses, including California, New York and Illinois.
___
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070711/ap_on_el_pr/on_the2008_trail_25

Honour Terri's memory by voting for the most pro-life candidate!

Alan Chambers is the President of Exodus International and was also on the Pastoral care team at one of the biggest churches in his Florida community. According to Mr. Chambers he is happily married with two beautiful kids following an adolescence and young adulthood where he was in gay relationships. He is an author, a guest speaker, and has been drawn into public debates on issues related to whether or not people can stop being gay. He is also quite politically active against same sex marriage. In the christian community he is seen as a powerful leader. At the same time he is not seen in a positive light by those people who are gay, who have someone they love who is gay, or who are just socially progressive on principle.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhyVMmrPrdM&mode=related&search= is a video showing Mr. Chambers on CNN - there are interjections that come from a gay positive perspective.

He also has a blog and has commented on the recent controversy where people have come out and apologized for teaching that being gay is wrong. His apology has been controversial and the posts have been quite heated. From allanchambers.org


In the early 1990's I was a participant in an Exodus Member Ministry and was negatively affected by Darlene Bogle's decision to go back into homosexuality. To have a leader who had written a book, led a ministry and spoken at conferences make such a decision was challenging for me in those early days. I was disappointed and mad. But, I also understood as an adult that we all make mistakes and that just because Darlene went back didn't mean that I couldn't make it. I appreciate the apology she made, but I don't think she was apologizing to people like me. Nonetheless, I forgave her a long time ago for saying things that she now indicates she didn't mean and for causing many to doubt that change was possible.
As for Michael, a man that I genuinely like, I think you have said everything about Exodus that needs to be said. You were involved in an integral part of Exodus in the early days and for that I will always honor you and be grateful as will thousands of others. Exodus helped save my life and you are a hero for pioneering this great work. But, you left very shortly after you came and truth be told, I have now been a part of Exodus far longer than you. I, and so many others, are the ones who have chosen to remain faithful to the mission of this ministry. I encourage you to move on--live your life. People are choosing to live their lives how they see fit---just as you are. You chose something different than me and so many others. Like Darlene, I don't think your apology was for people like me, but I do think both of you owe one to those you hurt when you left this ministry.
To all three of you: Darlene, Michael and Jeremy, your time with Exodus is over and you have said your peace. I encourage all of you to serve the Lord, live your lives and respect the fact that others have, can and will continue to choose a path different than the one you all are on respectively.
I am thankful for Exodus International and the leaders like Frank Worthen, Bob Davies, Joe Dallas, Sy Rogers, Andy Comiskey, Pat Lawrence, and countless others who have shown that people can live beyond homosexuality and that freedom is possible.

Pro-Life Youth to Hold Sit-in at the Los Angeles Presidential Campaign Office of Senator Hillary Clinton
Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust will call for Senator Clinton to end the senseless violence against women and children through her radical support of abortion.
Contact: Kortney Blythe, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, 704-778-2702
LOS ANGELES, July 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- The demonstration will take place on Friday, July 6, at 1:00 P.M. at 600 Lafayette Park St. in downtown Los Angeles, California.
Survivors say that this emerging generation is embracing the pro-life message in greater numbers than ever as the youth of this nation are loudly standing against the brutal killing of their brothers and sisters through abortion.
The group says that Senator Clinton should expect to see similar emerging generation pro-life witnesses over the next 16 months all across the nation.
Survivor spokesperson, Kortney Blythe, states, "We will not allow a president who claims she will fight for children, yet fails to protect the most weak and vulnerable among them, the unborn."
Survivor Kelly Antonczak adds, "This is not about a political party, but rather about youth taking a stand against anyone who promotes an act that kills a child, permanently scars a woman, and has wiped out one-third of our generation."
For more information or interviews call:Kortney Blythe at 704.778.2702

Dr. Alveda King Calls on NAACP Leadership to Address the 'Inconvenient Truth' of Abortion's Impact on African Americans
Contact: Jerry Horn, Priests for Life, 540-220-0095
ATLANTA, Ga., July 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., today called for the national convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to adopt a resolution passed by the group's Macon, Georgia, chapter addressing the impact abortion has had on the African American community. The NAACP opens its 98th Annual Convention this weekend in Detroit.
"The NAACP has always been about justice," said Dr. King. "Today, there is no greater injustice facing black people than abortion. Over 13 million African Americans are not here because they died by legal abortion. It’s as if a plague swept through our cities and towns and took one of every four blacks. Talk about inconvenient truths – the national leadership of the NAACP needs to address what abortion has done to the African American community and our nation as a whole, even if it means making some people in high positions uncomfortable."
The Macon Chapter of the NAACP this year adopted a resolution urging the national NAACP to undertake efforts to reduce the high abortion and infant mortality rates in the black community and to reduce the disproportionately high black inmate population, which the group says has a dramatic impact on the black family. A similar resolution was submitted to the national NAACP convention by the Macon Chapter in 2004, but was not considered due to an alleged technicality.
"In my travels across the country, I have met countless fellow NAACP members who are praying and marching for justice for all, including justice for unborn babies," said Dr. King. "The National Board of the NAACP needs to know that its membership loves our children and wants what is right for them, and what is right is for them to be allowed to live."

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/619983581.html

Genetic screening may endanger fetuses
Screening unborn children for genetic defects appears to reduce the chances of a healthy pregnancy and live birth, new research suggests.
The findings, published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that checking embryos before using them in in vitro fertilization, and implanting the ones that seem more genetically and structurally healthy, may actually lead to lower rates of pregnancy.
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Ironically, this technique -- known as preimplantation genetic screening, or PGS -- is aimed at finding the healthiest embryos. Most experts thought it would not change the odds for women trying to get pregnant, and the technique has even become routine for women over 35 who wish to get pregnant.
"In contrast to what would be expected or what many people are saying who are currently offering this technique, PGS actually decreases pregnancy chances in these groups of women who are 35 years or older," said Sjoerd Repping, director of the IVF lab at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and one of the main authors of the study.
Many doctors expressed surprise at the findings.
"This is the first study that suggests that not only does it not improve the outcome, but it may actually be harmful," said Dr. Steven Ory, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
"I'm a little bit surprised to see a decreased rate," said Dr. Marcelle Cedars, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of California at San Francisco. "But I'm not really surprised to see an absence of a positive effect."
Reducing Reproductive Chances
PGS is often done as a part of in vitro fertilization.
In IVF, a sperm and an egg are joined together outside a woman's body. As the newly formed embryo grows, it splits into more and more cells.
PGS involves taking a single cell from the growing embryo and, in this study, looking to see if it has the proper complement of two of each chromosome --

Read more http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3344846&page=1

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56534

A team of Coloradans wants to exploit a loophole in the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned state laws banning abortion – by simply stating that an unborn child, from the moment of fertilization, is a person.
In a comprehensive plan that would ban all abortions, the Colorado Equal Rights organization is trying something that hasn't been accomplished – yet – in the battle against abortion.
"It is the only way we're going to bring before the Supreme Court the issue of personhood. It's a subject they have dodged for the last 30-plus years. It's an issue that needs to be addressed," spokesman Mark Meuser told WND.
The "hole" in Roe v. Wade is the little-publicized comment from Justice Harry Blackmun, author of the 1973 opinion, in which he noted, "[If the] suggestion of personhood [for the unborn] is established, the [abortion rights] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment."
The same approach, Meuser said, was attempted in Michigan, where not enough signatures were verified, and is in process in Mississippi. In Georgia, as WND has reported, lawmakers are reaching for the same goal through a legislative process.

Doctor hastened babies' death, court told

hospital doctor administered a massive dose of a paralysing drug to two terminally ill babies, hastening their deaths, the General Medical Council heard yesterday.

Dr Munro denies misconduct
Michael Munro, a consultant neonatologist, gave 23 times the normal dose of pancuronium, a muscle relaxant, to the children moments before their deaths, contrary to medical guidelines in an act "tantamount to euthanasia", the GMC was told.
The doctor failed to record his actions in the medical notes of either child.
Dr Munro, 41, was working in the neonatal unit of Aberdeen Maternity Hospital on Dec 5, 2005, when a child, known only as Baby X, was born more than three months premature.
The GMC's fitness to practise panel, sitting in Manchester, heard that the child suffered a brain haemorrhage and the decision was taken to withdraw treatment after its condition worsened.
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Shortly after 11.30am on December 20, the baby's breathing tube was removed and doctors began a course of morphine to ease the child's suffering.
As Baby X became weak, it began to struggle to breathe - a normal consequence of treatment withdrawal and a condition known as agonal gasping.
Dr Munro told Baby X's parents he could give the child a drug but "it was on the verge of what society finds acceptable", the hearing was told.
He then injected the child with 2,000 milligrams of the drug which, he admits, hastened the death of Baby X.
Colleagues raised doubts about the treatment and an investigation was launched into the doctor's actions.
Despite telling investigators that he had never administered pancuronium before, the inquiry discovered he had injected another child with the muscle relaxant six months earlier.
Andrew Long, outlining the case for the GMC, said: "Dr Munro administered a muscle relaxant drug called pancuronium to both babies which stopped them breathing and hastened their death. These primary facts are admitted and indeed Dr Munro admits his conduct was outside accepted professional practice, but Dr Munro does not accept it was inappropriate, contrary to guidelines or below the standard expected of a medical practitioner.
"The GMC asserts it was all of these things and tantamount to a form of euthanasia even though death was inevitable."
Dr Munro denies his conduct was below standard, dishonest or inappropriate.
Mr Long described how Baby Y was born on June 20, 2005, two weeks premature.
Following complications in pregnancy, the child was born with pulmonary hypoplasia and pulmonary hypotension and needed help breathing.
Again, after consultation with the family, the decision was made to withdraw care.
Mr Long said: "At about 8.30pm care was discontinued and the child was started on a morphine injection and was then given to his parents to nurse while his life ebbed away.
"In the terminal phase of life the child began gasping. This can be painful and distressing for both parents and staff to see."
Dr Munro instructed a nurse to get a phial of pancuronium and he administered a dose to the child.
The doctor admits he failed to note in the child's medical records that he had administered the drug.
Mr Long stressed that neither set of parents was unhappy with the doctor's treatment of their children.
The hearing continues.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/06/nbabies106.xml

Parental rights? Youth Rights? What is the balance?

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/parental_rights_submerged_by_m.php The Christian legal group Liberty Counsel says it is considering whether to file another federal lawsuit challenging a sex-education program in Maryland's largest school district


Last week the Maryland State Board of Education ruled in favor of a sex-ed program in Montgomery County that affirms homosexuality, transgenderism, and teen condom use. In the 17-page opinion, the state panel said it would not "second-guess the appropriateness" of the curriculum. It also claimed that the right of parents to control their children's upbringing "is not absolute" and "must bend to the state's duty to educate its citizens."
Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver says such a claim is contrary to common sense and American history. "Schools should not be an adversary to the parent," he says; "they should be an extension of the parents' wishes -- because, after all, they are engaged in helping the parent bring up the child in the parents' value system."
But according to the Christian attorney, that is no longer the case in public education. "[W]hat we're now seeing is exactly the opposite," he laments. "We're seeing schools, and even some courts, say that indeed there could be this adversarial relationship, and that parents' rights cease to exist, essentially, when they drop their child off at the schoolhouse gate."
Staver succeeded in getting a federal judge to block implementation of the district's previous sex-ed program, which denigrated religions that oppose homosexuality on biblical grounds. According to the Washington Post, many parents in Montgomery County oppose the new curriculum, which opponents say presents a favorable viewpoint of homosexuality and restricts religious expression by suppressing the view that homosexuality is a sin. The attorney believes the new curriculum may also be subject to litigation.
"We don't have any timeframe as to when [we'll decide] to file a federal lawsuit," he explains. "In fact, what we may end up doing is either consider the federal lawsuit prior to the implementation of this curriculum, or even see how this curriculum is applied in real life and consider a challenge at that stage. But either way, we're going to give this a serious look."
Staver says state and local boards of education should be operating under dictates and parameters set up by parents -- not undermining parents' values, as is the case in Montgomery County. He argues that every state in the country should have statutory protections that recognize the role of parents in the education and well-being of their children.

Planned Parenthood gets a spanking!

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07070502.html

SAN DIEGO, July 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties "failed to report in a timely manner" the death of Edrica Goode, a 21 year old woman who died of toxic shock after being given a laminaria at the facility. California Department of Health Services have filed a deficiency ruling against the facility that said, "Based on medical record reviews and staff interviews, the [clinic] failed to report an unusual death occurrence involving a patient's death within 24 hours to the department." The clinic is now required to submit a plan of correction to the state within 10 days. A department spokesman said Health Services is also investigating whether Goode received proper medical care.Goode was 14 weeks pregnant when she went without telling her family to the Riverside Planned Parenthood facility. A laminaria was inserted to expand her cervix and which helped an infection spread throughout her body. Goode's mother, Aletheia Meloncon, has filed a wrongful death and medical malpractice suit against the abortionist group. Meloncon says she had taken her daughter to hospital but because she had not been informed of her daughter's decision to abort, she was unable to provide staff with sufficient information to save her life.

The blessings of Ireland: Largest pro-life rally ever

Organizers are describing a pro-life rally to be held in Dublin this coming Saturday, 7 July, as Ireland's largest pro-life event in fifteen years. Abortion remains illegal in Ireland, despite the legal quandary left by the X case ruling in 1992. Two things protected the unborn child from abortion in Ireland. Firstly the provisions of the 1861 Offences against the Persons Act and secondly, a Pro-life Amendment to Ireland's constitution in 1983. The latter was, however, later interpreted, in 1992, by Ireland's Supreme Court, to allow for abortion in the case of suicide. This outraged the Irish electorate whose intention, in voting for the 1983 amendment, was to protect the unborn fully in all circumstances; and so they brought their voices to the streets. In what was seen as hugely significant in keeping abortion out of Ireland, thousands of people attended four pro-life rallies in Dublin, during 1992, to make their voices heard. Those rallies stalled the political momentum to legalize abortion in Ireland.Since 1992, even though the Irish people have had the anti-life Supreme Court interpretation hanging over them, not one abortion has been carried out in Ireland. Successive Irish governments, fearful of the backlash from Ireland's pro-life movements, have balked at abortion legislation. The pro-life lobby, who have remained extremely active since those four mass rallies in 1992, are now celebrating 15 years of keeping Ireland abortion-free. On Saturday the 7 July, at 1pm, pro-lifers from all around Ireland will gather outside the main post office (the GPO) in Dublin's main street O'Connell Street. They will then walk to the Irish Parliament (Dail Eireann) where they will be addressed by numerous pro-life speakers. Eoghan De Faoite Chairman of the Rally Committee and leader of the Irish pro-life group Youth Defence, hopes the weather will 'be sunny and dry' and said that 'this rally intends to send a strong message to the Irish government; "Keep Ireland abortion free".'Significantly, last week, only 80 people turned up for a pro-abortion demonstration in Dublin, which was addressed by Irish politicians. Eoghan De Faoite said that 'it is striking that such a small number turned out. It makes it abundantly clear that the pro-abortion lobby in Ireland has very little support from the Irish people.'For further information please phone our head offices in, Dublin, Ireland on: Ph: 353-1-8746858 or e-mail eoghan@youthdefence.ie or visit the web-site www.truthtv.org

Thanks to christianwire for publishing this story. Url is

School fieldtrip of Planned Parenthood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qut4FaJGzv0&mode=related&search=

For those who follow USA issues there was a recent incident where a school brought children on a tour of an abortion facility.

Don't throw away your miracle

Whitney Houston struggled with infertility and with miscarriages. She knows the challenges that can sometimes accompany the desire to be a mother and has walked the heartache of losses. She wrote a beautiful song about abortion - a young woman grappling with the decisions she has made. Here is the url if you wish to listen to the video clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOJfxKtRMy4

How could I throw away a miracle?How could I face another day?It's all of my doing, I made a choice And today, I pay My heart is full of pain How could you understand, the way I feel? How could you relate to so much pain? Seems as though nothing can comfort me So today, I pray That someone should listen, for...Chorus: Nothing should matter Not when love grows inside you The choice is yours There's a miracle in store...Nothing should matter Not when love grows inside you A voice of love is crying out Don't throw love away There's a miracle in store...How could I let go of a miracle? Nothing could ever take its place Thought I was looking, out for myself Now it seems the pain Is all that I have gained I wonder if I could be your miracle I wonder if I could spare you pain Seems as though nothing will comfort me Lord, less today, I pray That you should come listen chorus Don't ever throw away your miracle Don't let it slip away Nothing should matter

School threatening pro-life mother's right to an education

If a young woman wore this t-shirt to a public school I wouldn't think it would be appropriate to ban her despite my own feelings on the subject of abortion. Disappointingly the pro-choice do not believe that young people have the right to express their views if the views are distinct from their own. Here is the story of a young mother who was so motivated by the birth of her child to defend the right of children to live that she faced threats of expulsion. The prochoice want to create barriers for young mothers trying to complete their studies by threatening their education if they share that they are pro-life!
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- A teenager in the UK is facing threats from her school for wearing a t-shirt that has a message opposing abortion. Sarah Scott, a 16 year-old who gave birth just four months ago, says the staff at Banff Academy complained when she wore a shirt with the message "Abortion is Murder” printed on it.
Scott attends the Aberdeenshire, Scotland school and wore the shirt on a day when students are permitted to wear casual clothes instead of their normal uniforms.
While the school maintains the shirt was offensive and threatened to kick her out if she wore it again, Scott says other shirts are more offensive.
She pointed to shirts worn by students promoting pornography or lewd magazines.
“I was wearing the T-shirt when a teacher approached me and that I was never to wear it again because she found it offensive. I was told I could be excluded from school if I wear it again," she told the BBC about what happened.
Scott talked about why she wore the shirt, saying the recent birth of her son solidified her pro-life views.
“I was not just wearing the T-shirt for the shock factor -- it is something I am passionate about; it is wrong to kill a baby," she explained.
"I feel I am the one being targeted because I am anti-abortionist. It's not fair because other people get to air their views -- wearing a crucifix, for example, as a sign of religion," she told the BBC.
Responding to the situation, an Aberdeenshire Council spokesman told the BBC: "It was felt the statement on the T-shirt was inappropriate in a school setting and had the potential to cause offense."

See more at lifenews.com

Conservatives Award Order of Canada to Gay Pastor Who Attacked Vatican, Performed Illegal Gay "Marriages"
OTTAWA, Ontario, July 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Rev. Brent Hawkes of the Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto, the same man who flouted Canadian law by illegally "marrying" a homosexual couple in 2001, and who subsequently pushed homosexual "marriage" on Canada through the back-door of the judicial system, has now been awarded the highest honor that can be given to a Canadian civilian. This past Friday, Rev. Brent Hawkes was awarded, along with several dozen others, the high honour of the Order of Canada, given in recognition of "a lifetime of distinguished service in or to a particular community, group or field of activity." The award given under the Conservative Government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come as a shock to social conservatives and Catholics since Hawkes, in addition to flouting the law on marriage has attacked the Vatican. In an affidavit before the Supreme Court of Canada Hawkes bashed a Vatican document on homosexual unions and statements by Catholic bishops on the same as "expressions of hatred that should not be tolerated in our society." According to the Globe and Mail, Hawkes recognized the "irony" of the situation: "I'm used to picketing governments," said Hawkes, according to the Globe, "taking them to court." "It's amazing. My head's spinning a little bit," he said. "It's just an amazing moment to focus on what a great country this is." In 2001 Hawkes illegally "married" a lesbian couple in his Toronto church, and when the Canadian government would not recognize the "marriage" as valid, he took the government to court. Subsequently, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice recognized the "marriage" as legal, beginning a process of judicial activism that eventually culminated in the legalization of homosexual "marriage" by Canada's Parliament. Brian Rushfeldt, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Canada Family Action Coalition (CFAC), who has worked to defend traditional marriage in Canada, lamented the naming of Hawkes to the Order of Canada. "Awarding the Order of Canada to someone who has worked tirelessly to destroy the foundation of marriage is a very questionable act," Rushfeldt said in an interview with LifeSiteNew.scom. "I like the award, but to give an award to someone who has spent his energies undermining the foundation of man/woman marriage is certainly a wrong reason." Rushfeldt also pointed out that the fact that this award was given while the Conservative government is in power does not bode well for conservatives. "The fact that we continue to reward activists that are undermining the conservative values and the conservative value base is not going to fare well. Even if it was not something that that the government itself or the prime minister or a minister of the department would or could step into, for the governor general to approve this kind of an award is clearly an indication that she herself is in support of undermining marriage, the very essence and foundation of our society. And obviously the conservative government did nothing to change that or stop it."

Make no mistake that I have not changed my view that gay individuals in Canada have the right to a secular marriage or a marriage within a church, mosque, or temple that teaches that their lifestyle is appropriate. My disagreement is with Mr. Harper and his dishonesty. He nurtured many votes from people who were against same sex marriage by attending rallies and by making it an integral value in his party. He paid attention to the fact that it was a vote-grabber and then did an about face after he was elected. Shame on him for his dishonesty and for taking misusing the trust and confidence of so many people.

It is also especially shameful that he would choose the Order of Canada to acknowledge someone who has said hurtful and controversial things about the Vatican when so many faithful Catholics are his base.

With many tears last election I saw supposedly pro-life people decide to swallow their concerns and vote for Stephen because of his views on gay marriage. They voted for the most pro-choice PM in history in order to prevent two men from marryijng. Something I won't ever understand. It is amazing now to watch them all have to come to terms with the reality that not only did they elect a pro-choice man but a man that has rejected his campaign promises about the traditional family as well.

Knights of Columbus breaks its record for charitable giving

Something that the prochoice might never get around to telling you............

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) -- The Knights of Columbus, the largest lay Catholic organization in the world, has announced that it set new records for charitable giving and volunteer service in 2006. Data from the order's annual survey of fraternal activity showed that total contributions to charities reached close to $144 million. The amount exceeded the previous year's donations by more than $4 million. Of this total, the supreme council donated about $35 million, and donations from state and local councils, fourth-degree assemblies and squire circles gave more than $108 million. The number of volunteer hours performed by Knights for charitable causes surpassed the 2005 figure by more than 4 million hours, amounting to more than 68 million. Many volunteer hours were spent serving the Gulf region after hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused devastation in the area in 2005. Soon after the hurricanes, the Knights donated more than $10 million to relief efforts and continued to make donations of time and money to those affected by the hurricanes through 2006

The pro-choice are notorious for conveying that abortion is a safe and legal procedure with no or few complications. While I do believe that the pro-life is guilty of sometimes overstating the implications, physically, of a first-trimester abortion I believe that the pro-choice side is guilty of never presenting the reality of when things go wrong.

Here is the true story of a young mother who lost her life.
http://www.catholicexchange.com/en/node/63104

Erica Goode died of toxic shock syndrome at the age of 21 after an abortion at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Riverside, California. Her mother, Aletheia Meloncon, has filed a wrongful death and medical malpractice suit against the abortionist group.
"I'm hoping to shed light and expose the negligent and improper care my daughter received," Meloncon said Wednesday at Schuler's Riverside office. "I hope this sends a message to Planned Parenthood."
Goode had gone for an abortion on January 31, 2007 but was taken to hospital after developing a fever. A laminaria and gauze had been inserted and Goode was expected back at Planned Parenthood the next day. But because Meloncon was not informed of her daughter's intention to have an abortion, she was not able to inform hospital staff, so treatment was delayed.
The suit names the laminaria, a medical product meant to stretch the cervix preliminary to some types of abortion, as the conduit for the infection that killed Goode. She was taken to Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley on February 4 and found to be 14 weeks pregnant. Goode miscarried her unborn child on February 13 and died the next day.
Attorney Jack M. Schuler stated, "If it wasn't for the negligent medical care that Erica Goode received, she would be alive today."
"My daughter made a choice, but she didn't choose to die," Meloncon said.
Planned Parenthood, the largest and best funded abortion agency in the world, is subject to regular lawsuits from families of women who have died as a result of seeking abortions.
LifeSiteNews.com asked Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics Inc., the Texas-based pro-life group, how many of these types of lawsuits are currently pending against Planned Parenthood in the US. Life Dynamics focuses on gathering new data on abortion facilities and pro-abortion lobbying organizations.
"There's absolutely no way of knowing that," Crutcher said. "It's not a matter of there being too many to track, it's that you can't find out; they're so good at covering their tracks."
Crutcher explained that lawsuits of this kind will keep coming. "Deaths and injuries, sexual assaults, all of these things are indicative of the fact that they can only attract the lowest calibre practitioners to go work at an abortion clinic."
"Some are ideological zealots, but most are the moral degenerates, washouts and losers of medicine. No one goes into medicine to work at Planned Parenthood."
Crutcher predicted that this suit against the Riverside Planned Parenthood will end in a settlement that includes a confidentiality agreement.
"The settlement will include a confidentiality agreement binding the lawyers never to talk in public about this. It's universal."

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07070302.html

Of all things a pro-choice NUN!

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, July 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Barry Jones has indicated that he will not remain silent as an American nun, infamous for her opposition to the Catholic Church's pro-life teachings and advocacy of female priesthood, preaches her agenda in his diocese.
The Catholic Bishop of Christchurch has told his priests that this week's visit by Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister is unauthorized and unwelcome according to The Press, a New Zealand newspaper.
Chittister, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania-a dissident congregation in the Catholic Church - was invited by the Adult Education Trust to speak in Christchurch and elsewhere in New Zealand about "Spirituality & Culture: Sacred Challenges to a Secular World."
The US nun has garnered a well-earned reputation as a vociferous advocate of contraception, abortion, and homosexuality, and has lambasted the Church's teachings on the latter as "spiritual violence and abuse."
Bishop Jones made clear that he could not allow Chittister to speak in his diocese as if she were any Catholic in good standing on account of the scandal and confusion her message would give among Catholics.
"The point is that silence generates the misunderstanding that this is all approved, when it's not. I have made my position clear to the priests," Jones said. "I don't see how I, as a bishop, can advance the teachings of the Catholic Church by appearing to condone other views."
Chittister is scheduled to speak at St Margaret's College Chapel in Merivale on July 6th and 7th. Afterwards she leaves Christchurch to spread her gospel in Wellington on July 10 and 11, followed by a visit to Auckland on July 14 and 15 that will include speaking engagements at colleges and parish churches in those dioceses.

Louisiana poised to ban partial-birth abortion at state level

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/louisiana_poised_to_ban_partia.php

Louisiana is on its way to banning a gruesome late-term abortion procedure and becoming the first state to do so since a Supreme Court decision in April upholding a federal ban on the procedure.

On a 99-1 vote, Louisiana's House has passed a ban on partial-birth abortion. Governor Kathleen Blanco is expected to sign it into law. The bill would make it a state crime for a doctor to violate the ban, subject to a fine between $10,000 and $100,000 and one to ten years in prison. The measure would only allow the procedure when the mother's life is in danger.
Gene Mills, president of the Louisiana Family Forum, says pro-lifers in his state felt there was no time to waste following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.
"Louisiana needed to be on record as being opposed to this barbaric procedure known as partial-birth abortion," says Mills. "And in the event that someone would make the charge that the federal law doesn't apply here, or in some case would try to make a district court or state court appeal, we felt like the legislature in the state of Louisiana needed to be on record as [being] opposed to this procedure."
Mills admits that the ban, like the federal statute, will not stop all abortions. But he feels it is at least a good step in the right direction toward "incrementally cornering" abortion advocates who he claims have "used the courts and the state statute and federal statute in their favor."
But the American Civil Liberties Union's Sondra Goldschein calls the Louisiana law unnecessary and a waste of legislators' time. She tells Stateline.org that it is "clearly about intimidating doctors."

If you go to the url you can hear an audio clip as well!

Steven Mosher Releases First in Series of YouTube Videos

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/662143557.htmlFRONT ROYAL, Virginia, July 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, has released the first in a series of short, high-impact YouTube videos designed to grab the attention of the internet generation.
"There a new generation of pro-lifers out there," says Mosher. "They are used to getting their news and information from the Internet, rather than from print publications. Our YouTube videos--state-of-the-art, visually exciting, and superbly edited--are designed for this audience."
The flagship video runs about 5 minutes long, and details Mosher's experiences in China, where he first discovered the one-child policy in 1979. Future videos will include, according to Mosher, "snapshots of our baby-saving work around the globe," making them "a must-see for anyone who supports the cause of Life."
These videos will be available in English and Spanish, and can be found by typing the words "Steven Mosher" into the YouTube search engine.

Baby Carriage not required

While I could not enjoy having a life without children I believe that couples have the right to make the decision not to have children. I don't agree with this perspective but I find it interesting - here is the article.


Children rank as the highest source of personal fulfillment for their parents but have dropped to one of the least-cited factors in a successful marriage, according to a national survey to be released today.
In a study that shows how separately marriage and children are viewed, Americans expressed great passion for their sons and daughters but clearly did not see them as the glue of their adult relationships.
Monday, July 2, Noon ET
To Be Happy In Marriage, Baby Carriage Not RequiredFewer couples consider children to be an important part of a successful marriage, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Senior researcher
On a list of nine contributors to success in marriage, children were trumped by faithfulness, a happy sexual relationship, household chore-sharing, economic factors such as adequate income and good housing, common religious beliefs, and shared tastes and interests, the nonprofit Pew Research Center found.
"Marriage today, like the rest of our lives, is about personal satisfaction," said Andrew J. Cherlin, a sociology and public policy professor at Johns Hopkins University, noting that there are mixed consequences for the changing views of marriage.
"It allows us to grow and change throughout our lives, and most Americans value that," Cherlin said. "On the other hand, our relationships are much more fragile, because we think we should leave them if they become unsatisfying."
The 88-page report, bringing together demographic trends and survey results from interviews of 2,020 adults this year, underscores a widening gap between parenthood and marriage -- at a time when living together out of wedlock has grown increasingly common and nearly one in four births is to an unmarried woman.
As Sarah Vassiliou, 42, of the District described it: "When I think of marriage, I don't think of children at all. I have them. But with marriage, I think of a husband and a wife, and I don't think it's the children that make it work."
Her views are reflected in several statistics. Asked about the purpose of marriage, for example, Americans said by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio that it is the "mutual happiness and fulfillment" of adults rather than the "bearing and raising of children."
When given the list of nine features to consider as part of a successful marriage, 41 percent of Americans said children were "very important," compared with 65 percent in 1990, a 24 percentage-point drop the report calls "perhaps the single most striking finding from the survey." The other major difference was in chore-sharing, which went up in importance by 15 percentage points to 62 percent.
This might be explained by a greater emphasis on soul mate relationships in marriage and an increasing recognition of the stress involved in raising children, said Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. There is also a more widespread belief that having children is a choice, she said.
"Marriage and kids were kind of hyphenated before," she said, "and now the hyphens have been removed."
However, parental love and appreciation are not in dispute.


About 85 percent of parents with children younger than 18 described those relationships as a top source of personal fulfillment -- slightly more than relationships with spouses and partners and much more than relationships with mothers, fathers and friends. Free-time activities, along with careers and jobs, were cited as the lowest-ranking sources of fulfillment.
And although marriage for the sake of children is on the wane, many parents talk about how much better a healthy marriage gets when children are added.
Monday, July 2, Noon ET
To Be Happy In Marriage, Baby Carriage Not RequiredFewer couples consider children to be an important part of a successful marriage, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Senior researcher Cary Funk will be online to take your questions about the study.
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D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, center, with his pick for schools chancellor, Michelle A. Rhee, beside him. She is set to become the city's first non-black schools chief in 40 years. (

'Children rank as the highest source of personal fulfillment for their parents but have dropped to one of the least-cited factors in a successful marriage, according to a national survey to be released today.','Donna St. George') ;?



In Takoma Park, Dianne Mock, 38, said the decision to marry was not based on having a baby. At the time, her husband said he did not want children. Now, nine years later, they have a 15-month-old son, she said, and "it didn't necessarily improve our marriage -- the marriage was great -- but it opened up a whole new area."
The Pew report says that blacks and Hispanics were much more likely to list children as a key to marital success but that both groups are more likely to have children outside marriage and are less likely to be married in general.
The report also says people with lower education and income levels of any race or ethnicity were more likely to describe children as being important to a successful marriage in addition to good housing and adequate income.
Americans expressed a high regard for marriage overall, the report says, even as it loses ground. Births are up among unmarried mothers, not because of teens giving birth but because more unmarried women in their 20s are having children. Nearly half of people in their 30s and 40s have lived with a partner, the study found. And overall, about half of "cohabiting" relationships end within five years, the study notes, and those that last longer often lead to marriage.
Doreen Byrne, 53, a Baltimore nurse who was part of the survey, remains a believer in marriage despite hers ending in a painful divorce after 23 years. "There aren't a lot of things that people can commit to and stick with," she said. "It's the fact that it's a constant, and I think that in our lives we need that; it grounds us."
Not everyone is happy with the changes in family life. More than 65 percent of Americans say single women having children is bad for society, and 59 percent say the same about unmarried couples. The public is more accepting of divorce when parents are unhappy with each other.
Nearly 70 percent of those surveyed said a child needs a home with a mother and a father to grow up happily.
"I feel like marriage is so important for the parents and the kids," said Temika Stover, 27, of the District, who was interviewed by researchers. "I feel like life will be so much better if people just do it the right way."
But in her own circumstances, Stover acknowledges a certain reluctance. For much of the past 11 years, she has lived with the father of her three children, and they have not married.
"That's a lifetime commitment," she said. "I want to make sure we are strong enough as one before we sign those papers."
It is that sort of complexity that underlies many of the changes presented in the study.
David Joyce, 57, of Forestville, who was also interviewed, said his views have shifted over the years. "I thought children were very important to a marriage, and then I had kids, and I realized that the two people have to agree on things, and if they can't, the children aren't going to help at all," he said. "Having another stress factor isn't a solution."
Joyce, a father of two, has been married 29 years. "Marriage is not a picnic," he says, but it's worth the bumpy road, the highs and lows -- and he laments what he sees as a self-centeredness that has taken hold.
"I think what we're running into a lot anymore is people saying, 'It needs to be about me.' And it doesn't. It needs to be about 'us' or about 'we.' Anything that's based on a 'me' scenario isn't going to last very long."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/30/AR2007063001071_2.html?hpid=topnews&sub=AR

Teens and Young Adults: The hope of the future

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll conducted by a three media outlets finds that teenagers and young adults are more likely than older adults to say that they don't think abortion should be legal or that it should be subject to stricter limits than it is now. The poll confirms the findings of other surveys showing the next generation of Americans are more pro-life.
The New York Times, CBS News and MTV teamed up for the survey of 659 Americans between the ages of 17 and 29. They conducted the poll from June 15-23.
Although the polling question was poorly worded in obtaining the true views of the young Americans on abortion, it provides some insights compared to older Americans.
The media outlets asked responded if they believe abortion should be "generally available to those who want it," "available but under stricter limits then it is now," or "not be permitted."
A total of 62 percent of young Americans say abortion should not be permitted (24 percent) or more strictly limited (38 percent). That's higher than the 58 percent of older adults who give the same answers (split 21 and 37 percent respectively).
The poll also found fewer young Americans saying abortion should be available at any time with 37 percent favoring that compared to 39 percent of older adults.
While older adults favored no abortions or limited abortions by a 19 percent margin, that number rose to a 25 percent margin for the teens and young adults.
A January 2006 Hamilton College poll found high school seniors take a pro-life position on abortion saying it's morally wrong and supporting legislative proposals that would limit abortions and help women find alternatives.
The poll also found 72 percent of females in the class of 2006 would not consider an abortion if they became pregnant.
The Hamilton College poll found a majority of high school seniors do not believe abortions should be allowed for sociological reasons such as when women are too poor to afford another child or unable to have a baby at the time.
Studies from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, find approximately 95 percent of all abortions are done for such reasons, while less than 5 percent are for rape or incest or to save the life of the mother.
When asked, some 67 percent of high school seniors said abortion is either always (23%) or usually (44%) morally wrong. Just 31 percent said it was a morally correct decision.
Meanwhile, an April 2004 Zogby poll found 51.6% of 18-29 year-olds call themselves "pro-life."
"This is remarkable, not just because it confirms that a majority of the post-Roe generation is pro-life, but that they label themselves so," says Holly Smith, director of youth outreach for the National Right to Life Committee.
Though a majority call themselves pro-life, a much larger percentage actually take a pro-life position on abortion.
In the Zogby poll, 60 percent of 18-29 year-olds took one of three varying pro-life positions on abortion while only 39 percent agreed with the three pro-abortion stances.
"Anecdotal evidence and polling over the last several years have demonstrated a clear trend of youth becoming more and more pro-life," Smith indicated.
"America's youth will never know the unborn victims of abortion, but we know that between one-fourth and one-third of our classmates, friends, teammates and even siblings never saw the light of day because of legal abortion," Smith explained.
"They weren't with us in the sandboxes and playgrounds, at slumber parties and at high school proms, nor in our college dorms or graduation exercises. And they should have been," Smith said.

Noelia Garcia: Society chucks away babies they don't want.

“Modeling uses women as objects. I was surrounded by other models having abortions and became disgusted by it. I have used my body and my face to sell products. Now I am using them to protect unborn children against the consumer society that chucks away babies it does not want.”

Jack Nicholson: I am positively against abortion. I don't have the right to any other view

I'm very contra my constituency in terms of abortion because I'm positively against it. I don't have the right to any other view. My only emotion is gratitude, literally, for my life

Darrell Green: Carry that child to term as your mother carried you

"The most simple answer is to look in the mirror. If you appreciate your life and the opportunity you've been given to live, you should reciprocate that to any child in your womb. Carry that child [to full term] just as your mother carried you."

Former Miss America on abortion

"If I found out a friend was planning to have an abortion tomorrow, I would tell her that I was worried about her safety. Believe it or not, like sex, abortion isn't just physical. It is very emotional and spiritual. Not only can it do a 'number' on her body, but it can also hurt her in other ways too."

Kim Alexis: Pregnancy is a gift from God

"I think that our whole country needs to have more love and compassion for all children. All life is valuable and a gift from God. Pregnancy is not something that "just happens." Pregnancy is a gift from God. I think it is God telling us "OK, you are responsible enough to raise this new young life that I, God, am going to give you." And for people who can't conceive children, God may be asking you for an even more generous response -- to adopt and raise a child."

Naomi Judd: Those babies are real

Having "worked as a labor and delivery nurse ... I've seen ultrasounds ... you know that those babies are real." She reminded the audience that if she had had an abortion, the world would have been deprived of the great singing talent of her daughter and fellow performer, Wynonna Judd.

Sadly her youngest daughter has grown up to be a pro-choice activist.

Actress Kate Mulgen: A feminist for Life

"I practiced my belief at great cost to myself," the actress told the American Feminist, a publication of Feminists for Life. Mulgrew had become pregnant at an early age and decided to place her baby girl for adoption. They were reunited two years ago.
She said that though "adoption or abortion almost always promises the mother a legacy of shame and regret, I have to be frank about my experience, I survived it. Women often don't believe that they can survive nine months of pregnancy and place the child with an adoptive family. Life is not always easy."

Lakita Garth and her husband: "I loved you before I even knew you. I saved myself just for you.'"

Lakita Garth is a pro-life activist and someone who spent more than a decade promoting abstinence until marriage. She is a devout Christian. She is a former Miss Black America.

"If you're pregnant, don't compound the problem by seeking an abortion. Getting an abortion doesn't solve anything. You are much better off in that situation to put the baby up for adoption because you might be able to help a couple that can't have children."

Regarding saving sex for marriage, Lakita says: "I look forward to the day I can look my husband in the face and say, 'I loved you before I even knew you. I saved myself just for you.'"

Kathy Ireland: Recognizing the gift of life

"I was once pro-choice and the thing that changed my mind was, I read my husband's biology books, medical books, and what I learned . . . At the moment of conception, a life starts. And this life has its own unique set of DNA, which contains a blueprint for the whole genetic makeup. The sex is determined. We know there's a life because it's growing and changing."

Is post-abortion syndrome real?

Unlike many pro-life people I don't believe that every abortion translates into a sustained period of regret and remorse. I believe that indivdual women have individual reactions - for some they have relief, for some they feel sad at the reality of their choice but this is overshadowed by an ongoing sense that it was the right decision, and there are women that are haunted by their decision.

This story is not intended to represent all women who have experienced an abortion but it represents the woman in the article.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/322065_projectrachel02.html


It was August 1955, in a small town outside Sydney, Australia. A 16-year-old girl walked into a house, 10 weeks pregnant with a grown man's baby. The man -- a family friend -- had given the teenager an envelope stuffed with money and put her on a train to go have an abortion.
Nearly 45 years later, Julie Kelly confronted her deeply buried feelings about that abortion while passing through Seattle. A pamphlet for retreats with a group called Project Rachel promised healing. Two years later, in 2000, Kelly flew to Seattle from her home in Australia to attend one of those weekend retreats, sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church. There, she and other women shared stories of their abortions.
In a recent e-mail from Australia, Kelly said Project Rachel validated the grief, shame and regret she had been masking from herself and her family for more than four decades.
Katherine Murphy had an abortion at 19. Unlike Kelly, the now 24-year-old Olympia resident said she didn't have ambivalent feelings, nor did she become depressed. She had supportive friends and knew that her mother had three abortions and wouldn't judge her for it. At seven weeks pregnant, she went to a clinic with three girlfriends and her boyfriend.
She said she is not surprised some women feel guilt and shame about having abortions.
A lot of the shame is imposed from the outside, she believes. And because abortion is such an emotional and polarizing topic, it can be difficult for some people to be supportive, even among friends.
What helped her was knowing that women she trusted and respected also had chosen to have abortions. They talked about their experiences and supported one another.
"I knew that I wanted to have an abortion and felt no shame," Murphy said. "I am still confident that I made the best choice to abort. I have never looked back with regret."
The two experiences represent the debate raging since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the United States in 1973, but with a twist.
Many anti-abortion activists insist there are proven, profound emotional and psychological effects from having an abortion -- a so-called post-abortion syndrome. One outgrowth has been religiously affiliated retreats such Project Rachel, aimed at helping to purge guilt.
Others say the syndrome is non-existent and just a new way to push the "pro-life" agenda, and that most women live productive, psychologically and emotionally normal lives after an abortion.
Confessing guilt
Project Rachel is the Seattle chapter of Rachel's Vineyard, a national, non-profit organization. Many of the independently operated chapters, including Seattle's, are affiliated with the Catholic Church. Others are non-denominational, according to Rachel's Vineyard.
Rachel's Vineyard leaders say they want to help reverse the damage abortions do to women.
The organization, which relies on funding from Priests for Life, a $7 million anti-abortion group that is independent of the Catholic Church, and Life and Gospel of Life Ministries, began after Theresa Burke wrote a book in 1994 called "Rachel's Vineyard: A Psychological and Spiritual Journey for Post Abortion Healing," which talked about the emotions women experienced while grieving the loss of their aborted children.
A year later, the curriculum was expanded and adapted for weekend retreats that have grown from 18 nationwide in 1999 to more than 500 a year now, according to the Rachel's Vineyard Web site. Retreats are held in 47 states, including Washington, and 17 other countries.
Organizers insist women who have had abortions suffer severe psychological damage and need to be helped.
"When we suppress one of our emotions, it affects all of them. This is the basis of post-abortion trauma: the denial of the baby and the denial of our feelings. This causes symptoms of re-experience, avoidance and impacted grieving," the Web site says.
During the weekend away, women -- and sometimes men -- share abortion experiences, often for the first time. They can confess to a pastor, if they want, and they mourn. They also name and write letters to their unborn children, asking for forgiveness.
"For women who feel this is a horrendous experience, as a church we are interested in healing them," said Rev. John Madigan, pastor of Holy Rosary Church in West Seattle, which is involved with the Seattle Project Rachel retreats.
During Kelly's Project Rachel retreat in Seattle in 2000, she read aloud her letter to the unborn child she named Anthony. Afterward, she said she cried for him for the first time.
I'm so sorry that, when you were holding tight to life and looking forward to being with me in the big world, I didn't have the courage to let you keep growing inside me, she wrote. Instead, I went to that awful place and let the man rip you out so cruelly -- and throw you away -- my baby -- he threw you away -- and I let him.
She said it wasn't until she attended the retreat that she was able to have pride in herself. She had spent her whole life pleasing others, becoming a Catholic and devoting herself to church work, but still considered herself a fraud because of the guilt she fostered inside.
"These were the tears I had bottled up for more than 40 years, and the sobs came from the soles of my feet and racked my whole body," she said. "My self-esteem was so damaged by the abortion that I allowed myself to be abused in many ways."
'Misuse of science'
"If people have moral or religious objections to abortion, that's fine, but I have objections to making up a syndrome to put back-door barriers to people getting medical care," said Nada Stotland, vice president of the American Psychiatric Association. "It's a misuse of science co-opting a serious medical problem by using a similar name."
Stotland, who has testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate saying the syndrome doesn't exist, said its name is so similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, people are fooled into believing it is a real condition.
Feelings of guilt or regret after an abortion don't constitute a disease, she said, and don't necessarily mean the decision was wrong.
Atonement may be helpful, but soliciting people who are emotional and making them feel worse is wrong, she said.
"There is no sufficient evidence (post-abortion syndrome) exists, and it is not anywhere in the literature of psychology," Stotland said. "The evidence is quite strong that the most accurate psychiatric position you'll be in after an abortion is the condition you're in before one."
Dr. Craig Kinsley, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said talking about a post-abortion syndrome is "putting a name on something that doesn't exist."
He said he has spent more than a decade researching the effects of pregnancy and motherhood on the female brain. During pregnancy, women's brains undergo significant hormonal changes, preparing them for motherhood.
Once an abortion happens, those changes come crashing to a halt and some women will be depressed, he said, but an actual condition that needs fixing doesn't occur. Having religious groups masked as therapy sessions foster the guilt and have women to atone for their decision isn't going to help them, he said.
"That self-crucifixion with this group is hitting her from all sides with guilt and shame," Kinsley said. "The likelihood of it being beneficial is very low."
Shauna Fitzgerald, counseling manager for Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, said the great majority of women she encounters are fine after an abortion and very few return for post-abortion counseling available throughout Seattle.
Moving on
After her experience in Seattle, Kelly returned home and became co-founder of Project Rachel in Australia. It has since been introduced into nine dioceses across the country, and 27 retreats have been held.
She had been married for 32 years before telling her husband about her abortion. She said Project Rachel gave her the strength to do that. No matter if people question the need for the retreats; she said her life wouldn't be the same without them.
"Even something as heinous as abortion can finally produce something good," said Kelly in a recent e-mail. "If I hadn't lived a whole lifetime of post-abortion grief, I would never have known how destructive it is and that it simply doesn't go away without help."
IS POST-ABORTION SYNDROME FOR REAL?
IT IS: Organizers of post-abortion ministries such as Project Rachel say there is a post-abortion syndrome that can appear anywhere from soon after an abortion to years, even decades later. Symptoms include low self-esteem, grief, depression, guilt, shame and a sense of alienation from family and friends. They also cite abortion-related nightmares, flashbacks or even sounds of a baby crying, alcohol and drug problems, to dull the sorrow.
IT IS NOT: Many psychiatrists and groups such as Planned Parenthood say post-abortion syndrome is a made-up condition. They say the sadness and guilt some women may feel after an abortion don't stem from a condition that needs treating, and using their guilt against them is wrong.

It was August 1955, in a small town outside Sydney, Australia. A 16-year-old girl walked into a house, 10 weeks pregnant with a grown man's baby. The man -- a family friend -- had given the teenager an envelope stuffed with money and put her on a train to go have an abortion.
Nearly 45 years later, Julie Kelly confronted her deeply buried feelings about that abortion while passing through Seattle. A pamphlet for retreats with a group called Project Rachel promised healing. Two years later, in 2000, Kelly flew to Seattle from her home in Australia to attend one of those weekend retreats, sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church. There, she and other women shared stories of their abortions.
In a recent e-mail from Australia, Kelly said Project Rachel validated the grief, shame and regret she had been masking from herself and her family for more than four decades.
Katherine Murphy had an abortion at 19. Unlike Kelly, the now 24-year-old Olympia resident said she didn't have ambivalent feelings, nor did she become depressed. She had supportive friends and knew that her mother had three abortions and wouldn't judge her for it. At seven weeks pregnant, she went to a clinic with three girlfriends and her boyfriend.
She said she is not surprised some women feel guilt and shame about having abortions.
A lot of the shame is imposed from the outside, she believes. And because abortion is such an emotional and polarizing topic, it can be difficult for some people to be supportive, even among friends.
What helped her was knowing that women she trusted and respected also had chosen to have abortions. They talked about their experiences and supported one another.
"I knew that I wanted to have an abortion and felt no shame," Murphy said. "I am still confident that I made the best choice to abort. I have never looked back with regret."
The two experiences represent the debate raging since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the United States in 1973, but with a twist.
Many anti-abortion activists insist there are proven, profound emotional and psychological effects from having an abortion -- a so-called post-abortion syndrome. One outgrowth has been religiously affiliated retreats such Project Rachel, aimed at helping to purge guilt.
Others say the syndrome is non-existent and just a new way to push the "pro-life" agenda, and that most women live productive, psychologically and emotionally normal lives after an abortion.
Confessing guilt
Project Rachel is the Seattle chapter of Rachel's Vineyard, a national, non-profit organization. Many of the independently operated chapters, including Seattle's, are affiliated with the Catholic Church. Others are non-denominational, according to Rachel's Vineyard.
Rachel's Vineyard leaders say they want to help reverse the damage abortions do to women.
The organization, which relies on funding from Priests for Life, a $7 million anti-abortion group that is independent of the Catholic Church, and Life and Gospel of Life Ministries, began after Theresa Burke wrote a book in 1994 called "Rachel's Vineyard: A Psychological and Spiritual Journey for Post Abortion Healing," which talked about the emotions women experienced while grieving the loss of their aborted children.
A year later, the curriculum was expanded and adapted for weekend retreats that have grown from 18 nationwide in 1999 to more than 500 a year now, according to the Rachel's Vineyard Web site. Retreats are held in 47 states, including Washington, and 17 other countries.
Organizers insist women who have had abortions suffer severe psychological damage and need to be helped.
"When we suppress one of our emotions, it affects all of them. This is the basis of post-abortion trauma: the denial of the baby and the denial of our feelings. This causes symptoms of re-experience, avoidance and impacted grieving," the Web site says.
During the weekend away, women -- and sometimes men -- share abortion experiences, often for the first time. They can confess to a pastor, if they want, and they mourn. They also name and write letters to their unborn children, asking for forgiveness.
"For women who feel this is a horrendous experience, as a church we are interested in healing them," said Rev. John Madigan, pastor of Holy Rosary Church in West Seattle, which is involved with the Seattle Project Rachel retreats.
During Kelly's Project Rachel retreat in Seattle in 2000, she read aloud her letter to the unborn child she named Anthony. Afterward, she said she cried for him for the first time.
I'm so sorry that, when you were holding tight to life and looking forward to being with me in the big world, I didn't have the courage to let you keep growing inside me, she wrote. Instead, I went to that awful place and let the man rip you out so cruelly -- and throw you away -- my baby -- he threw you away -- and I let him.
She said it wasn't until she attended the retreat that she was able to have pride in herself. She had spent her whole life pleasing others, becoming a Catholic and devoting herself to church work, but still considered herself a fraud because of the guilt she fostered inside.
"These were the tears I had bottled up for more than 40 years, and the sobs came from the soles of my feet and racked my whole body," she said. "My self-esteem was so damaged by the abortion that I allowed myself to be abused in many ways."
'Misuse of science'
"If people have moral or religious objections to abortion, that's fine, but I have objections to making up a syndrome to put back-door barriers to people getting medical care," said Nada Stotland, vice president of the American Psychiatric Association. "It's a misuse of science co-opting a serious medical problem by using a similar name."
Stotland, who has testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate saying the syndrome doesn't exist, said its name is so similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, people are fooled into believing it is a real condition.
Feelings of guilt or regret after an abortion don't constitute a disease, she said, and don't necessarily mean the decision was wrong.
Atonement may be helpful, but soliciting people who are emotional and making them feel worse is wrong, she said.
"There is no sufficient evidence (post-abortion syndrome) exists, and it is not anywhere in the literature of psychology," Stotland said. "The evidence is quite strong that the most accurate psychiatric position you'll be in after an abortion is the condition you're in before one."
Dr. Craig Kinsley, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said talking about a post-abortion syndrome is "putting a name on something that doesn't exist."
He said he has spent more than a decade researching the effects of pregnancy and motherhood on the female brain. During pregnancy, women's brains undergo significant hormonal changes, preparing them for motherhood.
Once an abortion happens, those changes come crashing to a halt and some women will be depressed, he said, but an actual condition that needs fixing doesn't occur. Having religious groups masked as therapy sessions foster the guilt and have women to atone for their decision isn't going to help them, he said.
"That self-crucifixion with this group is hitting her from all sides with guilt and shame," Kinsley said. "The likelihood of it being beneficial is very low."
Shauna Fitzgerald, counseling manager for Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, said the great majority of women she encounters are fine after an abortion and very few return for post-abortion counseling available throughout Seattle.
Moving on
After her experience in Seattle, Kelly returned home and became co-founder of Project Rachel in Australia. It has since been introduced into nine dioceses across the country, and 27 retreats have been held.
She had been married for 32 years before telling her husband about her abortion. She said Project Rachel gave her the strength to do that. No matter if people question the need for the retreats; she said her life wouldn't be the same without them.
"Even something as heinous as abortion can finally produce something good," said Kelly in a recent e-mail. "If I hadn't lived a whole lifetime of post-abortion grief, I would never have known how destructive it is and that it simply doesn't go away without help."
IS POST-ABORTION SYNDROME FOR REAL?
IT IS: Organizers of post-abortion ministries such as Project Rachel say there is a post-abortion syndrome that can appear anywhere from soon after an abortion to years, even decades later. Symptoms include low self-esteem, grief, depression, guilt, shame and a sense of alienation from family and friends. They also cite abortion-related nightmares, flashbacks or even sounds of a baby crying, alcohol and drug problems, to dull the sorrow.
IT IS NOT: Many psychiatrists and groups such as Planned Parenthood say post-abortion syndrome is a made-up condition. They say the sadness and guilt some women may feel after an abortion don't stem from a condition that needs treating, and using their guilt against them is wrong.

A laste minute change of heart

Rosario Dawson describes herself as a "broken-condom baby".
The 'Sin City' star's mother planned to have Rosario aborted, but had a last minute change of heart.
Rosario said: "I'm a broken-condom baby. I was conceived on Avenue X in Brooklyn.
"My mom was about to have an abortion when she felt something move in her stomach.
"It was probably gas but she decided to keep me."
The 28-year-old has not been in contact with her biological father Patrick Harris since she was four-years-old.
Her mother, Isabel - who is half-Puerto Rican, half Afro-Cuban, fell pregnant by the half Irish, half-Native American when she was just 16.
The brunette beauty recently revealed the men in her family are struggling to deal with her sex symbol status.
She said: "My brother was really upset recently. He said, 'I see you at all these premieres and they are screaming out your name and grabbing you. I can't protect you.'
"I never think about being Rosario Dawson, but it's a big deal being Rosario Dawson's family."

http://people.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1324582.php/Rosario_Dawsons_abortion_revelation