What women want and what women need

Hmm. Interesting perspective..

The 'Roe Effect'

"The Roe Effect theorizes that "pro-choice" women are more likely to have abortions than pro-life women and that children tend to espouse the views of their parents. Thus, there are fewer and fewer children growing up to become "pro-choice" adults - and, this, according to the theory, has political ramifications.

But can we know how they would have voted? No, of course not. Still, as a general proposition, children tend to absorb the values of their parents, including their political views, and tend to develop the same lifestyle as their family. So if pro-lifers beget pro-lifers, then pro-choicers beget pro-choicers, unless they abort them instead.

A recent Wirthlin Worldwide survey found that, of the Americans who call themselves politically "conservative," 25% are having abortions. In contrast, 40% of self-described political "liberals" are having abortions. As Eastland wrote, "Liberals have been remarkably blind to the fact that every day the abortions they advocate dramatically decrease their power to do so."

.. if the Roe Effect is true, then it's not a stretch to say that the "pro-choice" movement is quite literally killing itself."

Woman who had five abortions says Project Rachel saved her

Was just reading transcripts of an interview with Terri Schiavo's parents on Larry King Live, my heart goes out to the Schindlers. I think one can only imagine what it must be like to have to watch your child.. I mean which mother (parent) can stand there and watch her child starved to death?

Here's more at Life Matters,

"The Florida Chief Justice (whose name, by the way, is recognizable as one of the participants in that same court's absurd performance during the famous 2000 Florida presidential election recount) is telling us that "[O]ur hearts are not the law."

On one level that statement is certainly true. We may feel sorry for the hard-working illegal immigrant but recognize that he must be deported if our borders are to be meaningful. Yet, on a more fundamental level, she is dead wrong.

If by "our hearts" she means some free-floating compassion not grounded in reason or tradition, then she is right. But in the historic Western legal tradition, our hearts contain the natural law and its precepts. The most fundamental precept of the natural law is to pursue good and avoid evil (see Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Pt. I-II, 94.2). Great judges throughout history have used their hearts, minds, and skills to honor that fundamental precept."

Bush Administration appeal rulings against PBA ban
Attorney General John Ashcroft has appealed decisions by two judges finding the federal ban on partial-birth abortions unconstitutional. They said the ban ran afoul of a 2000 Supreme Court decision because it lacked a health exception doctors say is unnecessary.

I think this guy should have been aborted. Hell, it's bloody scary when humans try to play God, especially for the selfish purpose of an exploitative and unethical research...

When baby has no brain

"I remember sitting in the office of the vice president of nursing at the hospital where I worked. She and I began discussing the hospital's induced labor abortion practice, which I had recently discovered.

I thought I had an ally. This woman professed to be a born-again Christian. She said she felt called to her leadership position to be a good example to those around her. She talked about distributing Christian books to colleagues. She said she felt good to have been asked to give the dinner prayer at our staff Christmas party.

But then she surprised me, the first of many Christians to surprise me by their support, and sometimes participation in, abortion. She became defensive about the hospital's abortions practices, particularly in regard to anencephalic babies, because 'they have no brains; they're not human.'"

Princeton daily prints pro-life message; shocked critics, raised strong support from pro-life students

I want to share this article from the Princeton University daily - written by student and Princeton ProLife president, Ashley Pavlic.

Kudos to Ashley for this excellent article:

"While I was never a sperm or an egg, I was once an embryo - or more properly, an embryonic human being. Regardless of how many people claim that an embryo is merely a "clump of cells," the facts of science prove that it is a human being. To have destroyed the entity that I was in the embryonic stage would have been to have destroyed me; it would not have been merely to prevent a possible human being from coming into existence.
..
A vote for a pro-abortion/embryo-destruction candidate is a vote for the direct and intentional killing of innocent human beings.

It is time to put away tired cliches. You cannot be "personally" opposed to abortion while thinking others should have the choice. You may as well be personally opposed to slavery, but in support of others having the choice to own slaves. In this case, however, that "choice" is a choice for murder.
..
More than 1.3 million children currently die every year from abortions, and even more will die if unbridled embryo-destructive research is permitted. No candidate's tax, educational, or foreign policy can be so good - and certain of its promises that it justifies extending certain death to millions of innocent human beings.

Pro-life citizens disagree over the justification of the current war. But we see that no candidate is running on a platform of waging unjust war intentionally targeting innocent humans, particularly not one that will result in the direct, intentional death of 1.3 million people a year. Though we know every war is a serious concern, we must unite in identifying the war against the unborn as the graver evil."

You can read the full article here.

Hmm. Less that 2% of abortions are due to rape/incest, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute.

Father of child offered to marry, keep baby but could not save his child from abortion

The boy is thirty-seven weeks today. Time goes by so quickly sometimes.. like a gazelle that you cannot catch your breath.

Anne Sexton, one of my all-time favourite literary icon, in her poem, 'The Abortion' described the experience of an abortion (child loss) as a 'loss without death'. And here in this article, we look at the abortion damage - what it does - and how it can affect a woman's perception of her own maternal nature and that of others.

"Whenever I see a pregnant woman, I panic. They make me so sad. I think, how come they can have their baby and I couldn't? I know this sounds bizarre, but I start to feel jealous and angry. I know abortion was my choice, but it was because I had to.. not because I wanted to. What gives pregnant women the right to have a baby when I couldn't? I hate pregnant women. I hate to see them."

Yet another fascinating piece on the Iraq war and abortion..

"From where I stand, I see something unfolding and I wonder what God wants us to do with it, and why it's happening now... I see a bottom line being drawn in the sand, with the war in Iraq on one side and abortion on the other. Each side is appalled at what they see tolerated by the other side-the one thing they abhor. Each side offers a cohesive worldview, but with one large, blind spot. And in the end, we will all suffer, unless we are able to take the beam out of our own eyes first.
..
War and abortion are - "in themselves and of themselves" - different faces of evil. Pray to see the evil which is not obvious to you. And then actively listen rather than dismissing the others as crazed and heartless. We still have six weeks to go, a short window of opportunity to stop looking only at what's in our neighbor's eye, and examine the beam in our own."

From an Associated Press report: Bush and Kerry on abortion

Mama.. mamaa, he said. Lying there quietly in his cot, he smiled, and looked at me, bright eyed when I leaned over to kiss him hello. I picked him up, and held him close, rocked him in my arms. He's getting heavier each day, but he looked so perfect, so angelic. I tickled his tummy, and he giggled as he placed his tiny, perfect hand on my lips. And I wonder what it would be like to wake up and not hold this tiny body in my arms again.

Eight years ago, she told me that 'the truth is never negative'. She was six then. And I, stunned, probably didn't understand it as well as I do now. Truth hurts, but the truth is, the truths will set us free.

Testimonies of fathers of aborted children

Here's a good article following Jill Stanek's piece on the live birth abortions at U.S Catholic hospitals:

".. consulted with Fr. Thomas Lynch on the issue of early inducement of labour. Fr. Lynch is consultant on bioethics for the Toronto archdiocese and is Dean of Studies and professor of moral theology at St. Augustine's, a major Canadian seminary. "There have to be very grave, not just proportionate but grave reasons to induce an early delivery - usually the precariousness of the health of either the mother or the pre-born child. This would include (the mother's) heart condition, difficulties with (cancerous) tumors."

Fr. Lynch said he did not know of any health risk for the mother from simply carrying a handicapped child. "I don't know what the physical complications are that would be made worse by full gestation... I'm trying hard to think of some and perhaps this is outside my area of expertise. But there may be some but I haven't 'heard of any."

Regarding concerns about the 'mental health' of the mother, Fr. Lynch was skeptical. "The concept of 'mental health' just sets off all kinds of buzzers... I would have to ask, what could be the benefit of having this child die earlier? I don't know what the benefit is."

Fr. Lynch questioned the claim that there is no difference since the child is going to die anyway. "You are inducing without the possibility of any sort of improvement or benefit for the child. They would say it's the same thing whether you induce or not and I would say no it isn't. You never know if that child could be stronger afterwards or whatever, but you certainly know that you've increased the odds that that child will die even quicker. Especially if you don't give it the kind of care that you would give a healthy premature child which is very intensive neo-natal care and I would venture to say that this child isn't going to get neo-natal care. So you're already biased against it on the basis of its disability, a grave, a chronic disability, but a disability and I don't think that's a good thing." "

My heart is drenched in wine
But you'll be on my mind
Forever

The Cost of "Choice": Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion

More details on this book here

Check out Ashli's SICLE Cell for time-to-time updates on "Sidewalk Talk", which feature fascinating excerpts from the sidewalk counselor's journal. Here's one..

Heads up: United Way supports abortion

Ohio judge blocks law prohibiting distribution of RU 486.

It's about abortion, stupid

"A recent Zogby poll shows that in key battleground states including Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, Catholic voters are far more likely than the general public to vote for President George W. Bush over Kerry. In Minnesota, for instance, 60% of Catholics say they'll go for Bush, versus 44% of all Minnesotans."

This is from Earl at Times Against Humanity, a statement from Citizens United Resisting Euthanasia (CURE) in the wake of the 8-0 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court striking down Terri's Law:

Kangaroo Courts are Killer Courts

"While those seeking to murder Terri have denied her the opportunity that she deserves for rehabilitation and while they have distorted Terri's condition in their Goebbels-style campaign to dehumanize her, this battle has never been about the medical facts.

Nor should it be! The life of a person living in coma deserves no less protection than the healthiest TAB (temporarily able bodied person). In fact, it requires and deserves greater protection, and any civilization that has transcended the jungles of social Darwinism would provide it."

I've also added a link to CURE's Life Matters.

(Thanks to Earl for the mail)

I am beautiful no matter what they say..

Ang moh boy smiled at me this morning. I think I look a tad like a crossed between Boy George and Chucky's Bride today. Hmm. Somebody get some light in my room! Yikes.

I haven't really been writing I know. These days I get tired a lot, I don't know why. Dr Yeow, my neurologist that I shouldn't strain myself, but well, a mommy's gotta do what a mommy's gotta do. Tyler's doing great, although I wish I can spend more time with him. He's creeping all right, and I think he might start crawling anytime soon. He's beginning to really try, I mean, he's really trying to work on those arms and chubby legs. Hmm. Ivan wants to me host this roundtable and I'm working my ass off on the research and case studies. Been meaning to do the profiling for Sprouty too, but I just don't have the time at present.

So in between now and then, I hope you are enjoying the updates (If you got my mail, isn't he adorable?), and stories, so much is happening in the world right now and somedays I just feel ARRRGGHHH! I wish I could do something. I think you just look at things differently when you become a parent. In the meantime, know that I am here - if you need me. Remember, we deserve better.

From the front lines of the battle - saving babies from abortion

Vatican cardinal rips the UN for promoting abortion, UNFPA teams with Norwegian abortion groups.

Americans are still divided over abortion, as are President Bush and Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Pollsters say abortion is a key wedge issue being employed during the campaign to drive voters toward a candidate during the election. It also has been connected in this campaign to several other family-related issues - funding of Planned Parenthood groups overseas and research on stem cells, which uses cells gathered from aborted fetuses.

I looked into the deep blue sky
And I wonder
If you are there
Among the clouds
And looking down on me

And the battle rages on..

Choosing 'safe, legal, rare'

Former president Bill Clinton said he has "never met anybody that was pro-abortion, and that's not what pro-choice means. It just means we don't criminalize mothers and the doctors."

Whatever their view of the legal and political issues associated with abortion, most Americans see the procedure as a failure, a necessary evil, not a moral good. Our political elites, however, both pro-life and pro-choice, know something they don't frequently share. The prospect of recriminalizing abortion in the United States is astonishingly small. President Bush, to his credit, has said as much, noting that liberal abortion laws won't be overturned without a significant change in culture, something that seems unlikely anytime soon.

Just months after Planned Parenthood began selling its controversial "I had an abortion" T-shirts, Kentucky magazine, K Composite, cause an outrage with its line of "I Love Abortion" merchandise, including a baby's bib and an infant's t-shirt.

Abortion and the election: Who will you vote?

"I have a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, and she changed my life,"Armendarez said. "I mean, think about it - what if you had been aborted?"

Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision to make abortions legal, Americans have debated the issue and its need in society. Presidential candidates have drawn clear lines about where they stand. Candidates John Kerry and Ralph Nader are pro-choice, while President George W. Bush is pro-life. Armendarez believes life begins at conception, and the candidate he votes for in November will have to agree.

"I don't believe in abortion because there's always adoption," he said. "I'm going to vote for George Bush because I know he's pro-life, and that makes a big difference."

Nursing junior Susan Bei knows what she would do no matter what the situation.

"I'm not for abortion because once the egg and sperm meet, it becomes a life," Bei said. "To take the life of a human being would be killing."

She said this is an important issue for any election, and she will be voting for the candidate who is pro-life, especially when it comes to partial-birth abortions.

And the pro-choicers..

Bethany Herrera, supervisor at the Routh Street Women's Clinic in Dallas, said itis only right that abortion should be an option for women.

'It's a civil rights issue. It's about women being recognized fully as citizens instead of second class citizens," Herrera said. "That's why we should vote to protect women's rights. Without it we lose everything."

As for partial-birth abortions, Herrera said some politicians are trying to undermine Roe v. Wade by making the fetus a person. (FFS, huh?)

"They just try to chip away at it until it collapses," she said.

"Electrical engineering junior Isaac Labauve said his views on abortion will definitely affect his vote, and he's voting for the pro-choice Kerry. But Labauve, although labeling himself pro-choice, does caution that abortion should have limits.

"I don't have any problem with it, but I don't think it should be the main choice for birth control," he said. "If the baby can't survive on its own once aborted, then it's not a life."

A lot of men don't speak out about abortion and the way it affects their lives... The 26-year-old's girlfriend became pregnant when he was 15 years old, and her parents forced him to pay for an abortion. He said the death of his child through abortion 11 years ago has caused him years of depression and suicide attempts. Steven Grgach said he's still in the process of healing.

New study now links abortion to preterm birth

According to researcher Brent Rooney, with the Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition, Dr Emilie Papiernik (the French doctor who is internationally renowned for cutting the French preterm birth rate in half) and colleagues released a study of 10 European countries, including France, that reported that prior IAs (Induced Abortions) boosted the risk of very preterm (i.e. before 32 weeks' gestation) birth. One IA elevated very preterm risk by 1/3 and two prior IAs boosted the risk by 47%.

A new poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times shows pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry losing his lead among women voters. Though abortion advocates want him to place more emphasis on his position in favor of abortion, Kerry's decline could be because women are less interested in backing abortion than in years past.

Because I was abandoned on the altar of desperation, with none or very little choice.

Because I was made to believe abortion was the only choice I had, the RIGHT thing to do, yet none told me WHAT it would DO to me.

Because I wasn't given a chance to be heard and decide what I want.

Because abortion is murder and I will not murder my own flesh and blood

Because I am forced to a corner to "fix it" and get on with my life

Because I was made to feel guilty for conceiving a child out of wedlock, and convinced that that child IS an unwanted child.

Because I was ALMOST a victim of that whole abortion lie and I hated that.

When life and death matter: Kerry (re)defines abortion stance

Birth control patch linked to 17 deaths

A trendy contraceptive patch which has been aggressively marketed using sexy ads, fashion models and Olympic athletes has been linked to the deaths of at least 17 young American women in the past two years. Scores of other women using the Ortho Evra patch have suffered complications, including 21 "life-threatening" cases of blood clots and other ailments, according to Food and Drug Administration reports.


'It's called a chemical abortion'

Advice for John Kerry and my third grader


Values vs policy

A voter's guide: Pro-choice candidates and church teaching

"Cardinal Ratzinger stated that a 'Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of a candidate's permissive stand on abortion.' But... a Catholic may vote for a pro-abortion Catholic politician only 'in the presence of proportionate reasons.'

What are "proportionate reasons"? To consider that question, we must first repeat the teaching of the church: The direct killing of innocent human beings at any stage of development, including the embryonic and fetal, is homicidal, gravely sinful and always profoundly wrong. Then we must consider the scope of the evil of abortion today in our country. America suffers 1.3 million abortions each year--a tragedy of epic proportions. Moreover, many supporters of abortion propose making the situation even worse by creating a publicly funded industry in which tens of thousands of human lives are produced each year for the purpose of being "sacrificed" in biomedical research.

Thus for a Catholic citizen to vote for a candidate who supports abortion and embryo-destructive research, one of the following circumstances would have to obtain: either (a) both candidates would have to be in favor of embryo killing on roughly an equal scale or (b) the candidate with the superior position on abortion and embryo-destructive research would have to be a supporter of objective evils of a gravity and magnitude beyond that of 1.3 million yearly abortions plus the killing that would take place if public funds were made available for embryo-destructive research.

Frankly, it is hard to imagine circumstance (b) in a society such as ours. No candidate advocating the removal of legal protection against killing for any vulnerable group of innocent people other than unborn children would have a chance of winning a major office in our country..

As Mother Teresa reminded us on all of her visits to the U.S., abortion tears at our national soul. It is a betrayal of our nation's founding principle that recognizes all human beings as "created equal" and "endowed with unalienable rights." What evil could be so grave and widespread as to constitute a "proportionate reason" to support candidates who would preserve and protect the abortion license and even extend it to publicly funded embryo-killing in our nation's labs?"

According to a new report based on Michigan Department of Community Health data, African-American women in the state have three times as many abortions of women of other ethnic groups. This year was the first that the Department of Community Health released abortion statistics broken down by the ethnicity of the mother. African-American women make up 16% of the state's women, but obtained 38% of the abortions performed in the state last year. African-American women were three times as likely to have an abortion compared to other women in the state, receiving 10,911 abortions last year.

Curtain pulled on church play:

When Chicago writer Delle Chatman launched a play about abortion, she didn't do it to be controversial. All she wanted, she said, was to create a forum to address a painful and polarizing subject.

Her show, the story of a Catholic politician denied communion for his support of abortion-rights legislation, was set to run Oct. 1-3 at her North Side parish, St. Gertrude, with the full support of the pastor. But on Tuesday, she received word that Bishop Francis Kane had decided "The Answer" was inappropriate for production in a Catholic church.

Smelly and I had Oreos today (oh yes, you heard me, Smelly - he loves the cream) while Tyler looks on curiously. I took half of it, the creamy side and put it near his mouth when he licks it and squeal with delight. Maha.

Judge blasts Supreme Court over Roe:
"Though she voted not to reopen the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision, one of the judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals nevertheless hammered the Supreme Court that handed down the original ruling, saying it was an 'exercise of raw judicial power'.The three-judge appeals panel dismissed the case, which was designed to overturn the 1973 decision, Wednesday, saying the issue was moot because it did not present a "live case or controversy."

In her concurring opinion, Judge Edith Jones lamented the case was moot, which prevented McCorvey's evidence from being heard: "If courts were to delve into the facts underlying Roe's balancing scheme with present-day knowledge, they might conclude that the woman's 'choice' is far more risky and less beneficial, and the child's sentience far more advanced, than the Roe Court knew." Jones wrote, "The perverse result of the Court's having determined through constitutional adjudication this fundamental social policy, which affects over a million women and unborn babies each year, is that the facts no longer matter. This is a peculiar outcome for a Court so committed to 'life' that it struggles with the particular facts of dozens of death penalty cases each year." "

Because we cannot see Christ, we cannot express our love to him; but our neighbors we can always see, and we can do to them what, if we saw him, we would like to do to Christ. Here in the slums, in the broken body, in the children, we see Christ and we touch him.

- Mother Teresa

Zachary's story

"As soon as I recovered from the effects of the epidural, I went to see my special child. My heart just melted as I held him in my arms. He was breathing heavily, noisily - he looked different - he had a protruding forehead, and bulging eyes, his skull was oddly shaped, his fingers and toes were fused. One elbow was fused. Even in spite of these, although I was scared, as I held Zach closely, and he slept soundly in my arms, I somehow knew that we had done the right thing. Zach was our precious little boy. I remember someone saying, "Only special parents are chosen for such kids"...

Just looking at him, it is hard to believe that he has been through so much. If we had made the decision to abort Zach, it would have been OUR loss. We would not have had the chance to look after and love this sweet and loving cheeky little boy. He remains a source of hope and inspiration to a lot of people around him, and we believe that he is part of God's plan. God will never give you a cross which you cannot carry."

There will be an interview with Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer's Karen Malec on the program, 'Faces of Abortion'. The first nationwide television program hosting post-abortive women and others regarding the injury to women caused by abortion, will be aired at 7:00 p.m. EST Sundays on Angel One on the Sky Angels Satellite Network. It can be viewed on the Dish Network.

The program will be launched by Operation Outcry: Silent No More and is expected to reach 200,000 to 300,000 homes.


On a separate note, Karen is asking for financial assistance for her travel expenses to the recording studio, click here for more details if you'd like to help, and help her tell the truth about abortion.

If this didn't make you sick:
Live birth abortions

"I saw a lot of babies born alive... Dr. X said that was a side effect of a medication. They always said to leave the baby alone, and they would stop breathing.. Two hours was the longest I saw a baby live... One girl was 26-27 weeks...

They put the babies in red biohazard bags when they were still moving.. tied the bag up... put them in a biohazard box. The biohazard medical service would pick boxes up Monday and Thursday.
...

I, too, witnessed a similar incident during one very long night shift in the ER. We were summoned to get a "pregnant woman in distress" out of her car. The first to arrive was a paramedic, who reported hearing a little cry as she approached. She tried to give the baby rescue breaths, but a new infant can't tolerate more than a couple minutes without O2 before permanent brain damage occurs, as you know. By the time we got the infant inside, she was already cyanotic [blue] and, with the parents' urging, the ER doc pronounced her almost immediately.

The focus turned to stabilizing the mom who was bleeding profusely. I felt so badly for her and tried to comfort. She was quite cold to my attempts, which, of course raised suspicions.

When mom's "primary physician" arrived on scene, we all realized what was going on - that it was, in fact an abortion.

This was a perfectly formed 26-week baby. Someone laid her on a table. As soon as I saw her I nearly fell apart. The image of that beautiful, fully formed, perfect little infant haunts me to this day. I've seen it in my sleep. I've seen it every time I see a pregnant woman."


(Thanks to Emily at After Abortion for the story)

Catholic hospitals commit - and U.S. Bishops condone - live birth abortion

"'Save a Mother, kill a baby' seems to be the most popular excuse for abortion. Doctors, feminists, and others say that abortion should be legal to practice since a mother's life might be in danger.

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a "whopping" 6.1% of all abortions are due to maternal and fetal heath risks. If you think about it, only 2.8% really concerns the woman's health. If we speak solely of the health of the child, this is indeed a risk, but not a definite risk. But maternal risk seems nonexistent..

So maternal health risk is no longer a valid issue. Supporters of abortion will then use rape and incest as a primary excuse to abort unborn children. This makes up an "astounding" 2% of all abortions. This leaves 92% of abortions without any justification.

So what excuse will abortionists justify the 92% of unborn children's death? Pro-abortionists will claim that a fetus is not a human being."

Protests against award for Mike Leigh's 'Vera Drake':

The Associations of Victims of Abortion in Spain lamented this week that the Venice Film Festival gave its top award to a film that does not tell the whole truth about abortion.

'When there is no true information about what happens after an abortion and about other real alternatives, there is no freedom, but instead pressure from society and the State towards that one way out," the group said in a statement.

According to the Association's president, Carmina Garcia-Valdes, "by presenting Vera Drake in this film as a good person, a gentle mother and a helpful neighbor, one can get the wrong message that abortion is something good for women, when we know today that it has grave physical and physiological consequences that have been scientifically proven."

Court rejects motion to overturn Roe v. Wade

"Norma McCorvey's motion asserted she had new information that would affect the case, but the panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Louisiana, rejected her claim, said Rhonda Flowers of the clerk's office.

"The case has been dismissed," Flowers said."

Check out Annie's post at After Abortion, plus the release at Operation Outcry for more.

From an NRLC email I received..

Bush vs Kerry: Find out where the candidates stand on abortion

Gina's story:

"When Gina's parents were pushing for the abortion, they honestly believed that the abortion would benefit her life. They could not... imagined the psychological toll it would exact upon either their daughter or their family.

The same is true of most families who pressure or encourage their loved ones to abort. It is all too easy to imagine that abortion is a "quick fix" that will "turn back the clock" and allow a woman's life to go back and be the same as it was before. But this is a very superficial view. Once a woman is pregnant, the choice is not simply between (1) having a baby and (2) not having a baby. The choice is between (1) having a baby and (2) having the experience of an abortion. Both are life-changing experiences. Both have significant psychological consequences, either contributing to or hindering a person's mental health.

Defenders of abortion have often tried to sidestep the question of abortion's psychological risks by arguing that having an "unwanted" baby is even more "traumatic" than having an abortion. This argument, however, is always raised in the context of dismissing evidence regarding post-abortion trauma. It is never accompanied by research citations showing that women who give birth suffer more psychological injury than women who have abortions, because no such studies exist. Instead, this argument is an unsupported assertion that is really an attempt to shift attention away from the real issue at hand: the fact that abortion does have significant psychological consequences"

Hal, my attorney just sent me this site - for those of us who's brave enough to choose the road less travelled.

This amazing photograph was taken by Robert Wolfe, Medical Photographer at the University of Minnesota. This tiny unborn child was yet alive at this moment, only 6-7 weeks after the first day of last menstrual period, a just removed tubal (ectopic) pregnancy.


An embryonic heart beat at 6.5 weeks..

(Thanks to Annie for the links)

".. it is inconceivable that 'nobody wants to admit the truth and adequately inform society'."
Mexican bishops demand hazardous effects of morning after pill be made known

Horror of 20 foetuses found at dumpsite in Nairobi

"We counted 10 almost fully developed foetuses- but police later called, saying they had discovered 10 more at the dumping site.

Most of the babies were between the ages of five and seven months as some had hair on their heads. They were wrapped in black small polythene bags and stuffed in bigger ones with the medical documents."

I think, no matter where you stray,
That I shall go with you a way.
Though you may wander sweeter lands,
You will not soon forget my hands,
Nor yet the way I held my head,
Nor all the tremulous things I said.
You still will see me, small and white
And smiling, in the secret night,
And feel my arms about you when
The day comes fluttering back again.
I think, no matter where you be,
You'll hold me in your memory
And keep my image, there without me,
By telling later loves about me.

- Dorothy Parker, 'But not forgotten'

Ashes of aborted babies fall on pro-lifers at Wichita abortion mill operated by abortionist George Tiller.

"Tiller operates an industrial-sized incinerator at his abortion facility where he routinely burns the broken remains of pre-born babies that he and his staff have aborted."

Check out the comment page - interesting how some of us still think that abortion "does not kill anything" because you "Can't kill what is not yet alive, and babies still in the womb do not have life. That is the difference between abortion and the Holocaust. An abortion does not kill anything, and that is the biblical truth." Hmph.

Canada sending women to Kansas for late term abortions by controversial abortionist "Tiller the Killer"

"Is he crawling yet?" Chad asked over the phone last night. Jules and the other have been asking the same question too, as though failure to crawl is a sign of development delay. Grr. I guess I am just as anxious as everyone else. But he's been creeping (and that is a good sign, right?), and Dr Lee told me that there is nothing to worry about as long as he is active and is using his arms and legs equally. Babies develop differently, it will be a while before he gain control of his lower body, and by the time he does that, he'd probably be proficient at rolling and creeping he doesn't feel the need to crawl. Well, he's become quite an explorer, that little munchkin.

I just lurrrrve the way they put it, "doomed pregnancies". Hmph.

Babies suffering from anacephaly do not lose their dignity as human beings and should not be aborted, Brazilian bishops remind judges.

Thanks to Ashli at The Cell for this story. We need to pray for this girl.

The truth? My heart broke when I read her story. I felt her tears, her pain but I guess all I can do is pray that some day she will find forgiveness in His grace.

Once again I'm glad, so glad that I didn't let circumstances and Jay's abandonment make me do something that I would regret for the rest of my life.

Survivors of abortion is an Australian-based Christian ministry that reaches out to all who are hurting following abortion and to women in unplanned pregnancies.

Judge Casey: Pro-life, pro-law?

And following yesterday's article on inducing abortion using Misoprostol, abortion advocates have admitted that using misoprostol as an abortion drug is dangerous for women.

The group came under fire yesterday for encouraging women to misuse the ulcer drug as an impromptu abortion pill. "Abortions with misoprostol are less safe and less reliable than a normal abortion by a doctor," the group said on its web site. Women on Waves (WOW) admitted that the makeshift abortion drug could fail as much as 10 percent of the time, leaving women in dangerous medical situations. "There is a risk of heavy bleeding for which a woman will have to be treated by a doctor," WOW said on its web site. "Also Misoprostol can cause very strong cramps, nausea and vomiting."

"WOW's website states that women die from illegal abortions because they have no doctor while simultaneously telling women how to self induce, knowing full well that this can result in death," said Feminists for Life president Serrin Foster.

PBA injunction: A third federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is unconstitutional, saying it fails to include an exception when a woman's health is in danger.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln, Nebraska said that Congress ignored the most experienced doctors in determining that the banned procedure would never be necessary - a finding he found "unreasonable."

"According to responsible medical opinion, there are times when the banned procedure is medically necessary to preserve the health of a woman and a respectful reading of the congressional record proves that point," Kopf wrote. "No reasonable and unbiased person could come to a different conclusion."

The abortion ban was signed last year by President Bush but was not enforced because three federal judges, in Lincoln, New York and San Francisco, agreed to hear constitutional challenges in simultaneous non-jury trials. The three rulings are expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Before you choose...
Pregnancy is for nine months, but abortion is forever.

I can't believe this:

"Prevented from taking Portuguese women aboard their ship to distribute abortion drugs, operators of the Dutch abortion boat appeared on a Portuguese talk show and told women to misuse an over-the-counter ulcer medication to induce an abortion.

Appearing on the talk show "SIC 10 horas," Rebecca Gomperts, an abortion practitioner who founded the group operating the ship, told women to use the ulcer drug Misoprostol to abort a pregnancy. However, makers of the drug, also known as Cytotec in the U.S. or Arthrotec in Portugal, have issued warnings saying it is not safe to use in abortions.

In August 2000, more than a month before RU-486 was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Searle, the maker of Cytotec, sent out a strongly worded letter, with the cooperation of the FDA, saying misoprostol "is not approved for the induction of labor or abortion." The letter said misuse of the drug can cause adverse effects such as a ruptured uterus, vaginal bleeding and "maternal or fetal death." "

The hardest choice..

"Yet when I suggested terminating the pregnancy, I hoped, against all the evidence, that William would pull me back from the precipice, assure me that we would work things out, that he would take care of me. He didn't. Panicked about the impact a child would have on his career, he readily agreed to an abortion. I scheduled the procedure for the earliest date I could have it.

It took another year and a half before William and I could untangle our lives and separate. The abortion blindsided me: humiliated and humbled, I could not believe that I was capable of terminating an intentional pregnancy. My big fear had been that we would be biologically unable to have a child; it turned out that we were emotionally unable to do so.

The abortion never troubled my husband deeply: it wasn't his body; he had never wanted a child all that much to begin with. While I don't regret ending that pregnancy, it still hurts to be childless. I shut the door on motherhood, quite possibly for ever, and in the starkest way possible.

When, as happens with ever-increasing frequency these days, a friend announces that she and her partner are expecting, it quietly knocks the wind out of me. When I come home from spending a long weekend with my raucous two-year-old niece, my apartment seems filled with too much quiet, empty space. At those moments, I tell myself that I have ruined my life."

(Thanks to Emily at After Abortion)

I almost couldn't make it to work this morning, because Tyler was crying so much and wants to be carried. My sister tried to take him, but he refused to pull away from me. The little munchkin was just being naughty, and "that's because you spoilt him to death", my sister said. Hmph. Thankfully she managed to appease him with Barney and that fresh strawberry cake which I swear I'm gonna kill her if she feed it to the boy.

Tyler will be spending the day with my mother and Aunt Renee at the club later today, while I will steal some time away to visit the hospice with Kay later.

If you missed the story on Rebecca Porter's encounter at the Kerry campaign some time ago, here it is again. The story is featured in this issue of Priests for Life's newsletter.

Love me or let me go : As prenatal tests become widespread, more parents are facing heart-breaking decisions

More abortion on the screen: Mike Leigh's Vera Drake

British stage and film actress Imelda Staunton, who received a standing ovation at the press conference, anchors the movie as a working mother who risks her close-knit family's love after a girl on whom she performs an abortion falls seriously ill.

"I believe she absolutely thinks she is doing the best for those women and makes no judgment on those women," Staunton, looking much younger than in the film, said of her character.

Ah, good question.

"Women and their families in China are being brutalized by population control officials who have no regard for human rights.. But where are abortion advocates in all this? Where is the condemnation from Planned Parenthood and NARAL?

They're too busy to notice, apparently.

When they're not promoting abortion at the U.N. or sailing to pro-life nations, abortion advocates are blasting the Bush administration -- for taking a stand against the abortion thuggary occuring in China. To his credit, President Bush has taken a hard line against the United Nations Population Fund and yanked U.S. taxpayer funding from the agency because of its tolerance of and participation in the brutal Chinese population control policy.

Groups that claim to be pro-choice couch their rhetoric in pro-woman terms. But when it comes to women and their families fleeing forced abortion in China, there's no boat for them."

Abortion is destroying black America, say pastors.

According to Center for Disease Control statistics, 1,500 black babies are aborted each day in the United States. That amounts to more than 500,000 children per year out of a community that already faces challenges to its survival.

So you got pregnant or had an abortion, and that makes you a "slut"? Oh GEE.

".. I was attending a concert at my daughter's high school when I asked her about a particularly lovely girl who played the violin beautifully. My daughter responded that she was considered the class "slut". At only 14 years of age!

This horrible designation was not the result of boys talking but rather because of a secret abortion confided to a close friend who told others. Soon the story sped throughout the school, victimizing this poor child even more. But it soon became even worse. The distraught girl had also tried to commit suicide after the abortion, another "secret" that couldn't be kept. But instead of increasing their concern for their fellow student, some of the other students now called her crazy as well as the class slut"

The night, it is deserted
from the mountains to the sea.
But I, the one who rocks you,
I am not alone!

The sky, it is deserted
for the moon falls to the sea.
But I, the one who holds you,
I am not alone!

The world, it is deserted.
All flesh is sad you see.
But I, the one who hugs you,
I am not alone!

- Gabriela Mistral, "I am Not Alone"

New studies unmask high maternal death rates from abortion:
Abortion is four times deadlier than childbirth

".. in his simplicity, George Bush was magnificent.

Four years ago, I didn't get George Bush. Didn't want him. Didn't trust him. Didn't vote for him.

Now, we're approaching one of the most important elections of a lifetime - a choice between a liberal empty suit whose ideology twists and turns with focus-group results, and a strong, if flawed, proven leader.

Like a recently deceased president, a man I also once distrusted, George W. Bush has the optimism and strength of his convictions. We need this kind of strength abroad, where our troops must finish a difficult job. We need it at home, where our economy is staging a comeback.

[But] how can someone like me, a conservative who supports a liberal social agenda - particularly abortion rights - vote for Bush.

Four years ago, I didn't think it was possible. Today, I believe we may disagree on some issues. But our core values - a strong America, personal responsibility, optimism - cannot be compromised.

Maybe one day I'll even become a Republican." - Andrea Peyser, NY Post

Earl's got quite a coverage on the RNC at Times Against Humanity. Meanwhile, here's one on the Bush's twins:

Tiller the killer: Another botched abortion

You HAVE TO look at this amazing picture.

Nearly 70,000 women die each year from unsafe abortions, almost half in Asia. Imagine that. Just because it's legal, doesn't mean it is safe. According to this article, in some region unsafe abortions account for 50% of all pregnancy-related deaths for women.

There is a better choice

"Pictures can look pretty, but they don't change lives. With this, it could actually save a life."

Good Lord. I can't believe I'm reading this.

Here is a letter sent by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) to members of the U.S. House of Representatives on September 1, 2004, urging cosponsorship of the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (H.R. 4420). A similar letter was sent to U.S. Senate offices regarding the Senate companion bill, S. 2466:

"Dear Member of Congress:

The National Right to Life Committee urges you to add your name as a cosponsor to the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act(H.R. 4420), if you have not already done so.

This legislation, introduced by Congressman Chris Smith on May 20, recognizes that under the legal policy imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court in cases such as Roe v. Wade and Stenberg v. Carhart, every day in the United States unborn children are subjected to trauma that causes them excruciating pain, and that would be illegal if inflicted on animals in commerce or research.

This bill would require every abortionist to provide, whenever a woman seeks an abortion past 20 weeks after fertilization, specified information about the capacity of her unborn child to experience pain during the abortion. After that, the woman must either accept or refuse (by signing a form) the administration of pain-reducing drugs directly to the unborn child. The woman's decision regarding such drugs is entirely voluntary. The bill would apply to all abortions past 20 weeks, regardless of the method used.

The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act also contains a number of proposed congressional findings regarding the scientific evidence that unborn children would experience great pain during abortions at 20 weeks (and perhaps earlier). The findings also cite a number of existing federal laws that seek to diminish the suffering of animals, such as restrictions on how livestock are slaughtered and restrictions on the use of animals in medical research.

In a Zogby poll conducted in April, 2004, the public supported "laws requiring that women who are 20 weeks or more along in their pregnancy be given information about fetal pain before having an abortion" by a 77-16% margin.

Congress took note of the pain inflicted by partial-birth abortion in the findings contained within the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (Public Law 108-288), as follows:

The vast majority of babies killed during partial-birth abortions are alive until the end of the procedure. It is a medical fact, however, that unborn infants at this stage can feel pain when subjected to painful stimuli and that their perception of this pain is even more intense than that of newborn infants and older children when subjected to the same stimuli. Thus, during a partial-birth abortion procedure, the child will fully experience the pain associated with piercing his or her skull and sucking out his or her brain.

In order to evaluate that congressional finding, expert testimony from both sides was heard this summer in a trial held in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, as part of a legal challenge to the law brought by the National Abortion Federation and the ACLU. In his ruling issued on August 26, U.S. District Judge Richard C. Casey summarized this testimony as follows:

A D&X procedure [partial-birth abortion] may subject fetuses beyond twenty weeks' gestational age to "prolonged and excruciating pain." Because the density of receptors is greater in the fetal skin at about twenty weeks of gestation, and because the mechanisms that inhibit and modulate the perception of pain do not develop until after thirty-two to thirty-four weeks' gestation, there was testimony that a fetus likely feels severe pain while the procedure is being performed.. When questioned about whether they spoke to their patients about fetal pain, Plaintiffs' answers ranged from uncertainty about whether fetuses feel pain to a lack of caring on the matter... Most of Plaintiffs' experts acknowledged that they do not describe to their patients what the D&E and D&X [partial-birth abortion] procedures entail in clear and precise terms.

After evaluating the pertinent expert testimony from all sides, Judge Casey made certain formal "findings of fact," among these:

The Court finds that the testimony at trial and before Congress establishes that D&X [partial-birth abortion] is a gruesome, brutal, barbaric, and uncivilized medical procedure. Dr. Anand's testimony, which went unrebutted by Plaintiffs, is credible evidence that D&X abortions subject fetuses to severe pain. Notwithstanding this evidence, some of Plaintiffs' experts testified that fetal pain does not concern them, and that some do not convey to their patients that their fetuses may undergo severe pain during a D&X.

Despite these and other damning findings regarding partial-birth abortion, Judge Casey ruled that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act may not be enforced because he said it conflicts with the Supreme Court's 5-to-4 ruling in Stenberg v. Carhart (2000). "The Supreme Court in Stenberg informed us that this gruesome procedure may be outlawed only if there exists a medical consensus that there is no circumstance in which any women could potentially benefit from it," Judge Casey wrote.

It is expected that this ruling will be appealed, as will other rulings on the law by other federal courts, and the law is likely to ultimately be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime, however, Congress can and should act to prevent, to the extent possible, terrible suffering from being inflicted on unborn children by partial-birth abortion AND by "D&E" procedures that dismember them by brute force while they are still alive. H.R. 4420 would be a worthwhile step in that direction.

The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act has also been endorsed by the Family Research Council, the Christian Medical Association, the Southern Baptist Convention (Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission), and Concerned Women for America, among others. Please add your name as a cosponsor of the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (H.R. 4420).

Sincerely,

Douglas Johnson
NRLC Legislative Director
Legfederal@aol.com"

Action: You can help pass this bill by sending a mail urging any lawmaker to cosponsor this legislation, or to thank him or her for already cosponsoring it, by going to the Action Alert at the NRLC Legislative Action Center here, and here and here for the lists of cosponsors.

"Children change your life. They're supposed to. And they change it for the better."

How true that is. Sadly, not everyone of us see them as blessings, as some of us have. Some of us will never know what it's like to love a child, to feel for a child, and how having a child makes you a better person.

Three dead, one living

"But rather than tell the story of the thousands of women who regret their abortions each year, the Times decided to give a "voice" to one who not only doesn't regret it, but who is a pro-abortion activist that flaunts her decision on the very clothing that she wears. Welcome, one and all, to the "Culture of Death" in the 21st century.

How sad that our most precious resource, a human being, has been reduced to a so-called "choice," a commodity that can be thrown away because of his or her perceived inconvenience."

"Women, by their nature, have a sacred function. They are the only beings in the world who can have two souls in their body at the same time."

- Susan Hogan/Albash, Newsday

(Thanks to Earl at Times Against Humanity)

Ooh la laa

It's four-thirty in the morning and I'm awake. I'm tired, but I couldn't sleep. Tyler has been awake for a while too, cooing and playing quietly with his toys. I am glad he didn't cry, and I am glad to have some time to myself, just to lie back and think. There is just so much in my head I couldn't say. With all that has happened, I feel kind of lost suddenly, I don't know why. Sometimes I wish I have done certain things or said the things I needed to say. Life is so short, so fragile.

Pro-life advocates "violent extremists"? Judging on how the advocates and supporters of the 'other side' treated pro-lifers (including our Annie) at this year's "death march".. hmph. Makes one wonders, eh?

I heard him stirred early this morning, and I went to see him in his cot. He looked like an angel. I looked at him, and then he opened his eyes and smile at me, and said, "mama". My heart broke.