Pro-life

There has been much talk about "Is there such a thing as "Post-Abortion Syndrome?" the cover story for the NYTimes Magazine today which is really a smear of post-abortive women and their suffering. Yes liberals have finally found a psychological syndrome that they say doesn’t exist.

The writer of the article Emily Bazelon, is a contributing editor of Legal Affairs, senior editor of Slate magazine, has written for Mother Jones, and featured by NPR.

Dawn Eden tipped me off about about Emily Bazelon advocacy and background.

Here is just a selection of some of the articles she has written in regards to abortion.

The Front-Runners on Roe

Alito v. O’Connor How the nominee tried to restrict Roe

Suffragette City A unfavorable look at Feminists for Life which over and over again quotes Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice.

She is also s the granddaughter of pro-abortion judge David L. Bazelon and a relative of Betty Friedan (her grandmother was Betty’s cousin). She has wrote favorably of Betty Friedan who wrote the Feminine Mystique and was one of the founders of NARAL.

Now the NYT containing an extremely biased articles is not exactly news but their having her write an article on this subject is like asking Rep. Tom Tancredo to write a balanced article on the border fence.

Amy Welborn looked at the same article the other day and had some excellent critiques of the article and its obvious bias. She ended saying:

I must be getting old. I remember a time when it was all about "listening to women’s stories."

I guess that day is over.

At least when the stories don’t have the ending you want.

Annie at the After Abortion blog has some good advice of what we can do to help post-abortive women and that there is in fact healing available – regardless of what the NYT says.

A reader sent me a column written by Bishop Allen H. Vigneron of the diocese of Oakland. The column is really good and is called Remembering Roe v. Wade – a call for prayer and penance. Please read the whole thing because it is too good to snip.

One of the interesting parts of his column was his mention of paragraph 373 from the American adaptation of the GIRM under Chapter VIII Masses and Prayers for Various Circumstances and Masses for the Dead. The following is the full paragraph from the USCCB site.

373. Masses for Various Needs or Masses for Various Circumstances are used in certain situations either as matters arise or at fixed times.

Days or periods of prayer for the fruits of the earth, prayer for human rights and equality, prayer for world justice and peace, and penitential observances outside Lent are to be observed in the dioceses of the United States of America at times to be designated by the Diocesan Bishop.

In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. The Mass "For Peace and Justice" (no. 21 of the "Masses for Various Needs") should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate liturgical observance for this day.

I wonder how many people are aware of this? The bishop gives plenty of ideas for what to do in response to this infamous day.

Update: The excellent excellency Bishop Robert Vasa also writes a column on this sad date
Ultimately a life is a life, no matter expedient definitions.

From Diogenes:

Columnist Ellen Goodman goes searching for "Abortion’s Elusive Middle Ground," and finds– now get ready for a shock– that the "moderate" position is the one she occupies.

On one side, to her right, you’ll find the "extremists" who oppose abortion. And on the other side? Well now here’s the funny thing: Goodman doesn’t identify the other extreme position. You might be tempted to think that she can’t find anyone far to her left because the territory to the left of her is so very sparsely occupied. But that can’t possibly be right, can it, because she’s in the middle; she’s just told us that. All very confusing.

I guess she would hold that King Solomon took a moderate position when he said he would cut the baby in half. Though I guess once again a moderate position does indeed cut the baby and half or other fractions under the cover of choice. She then goes on to talk about the appointment of Dr. Eric J. Keroack as the new head of the new head of the Office of Population Affairs.

His appointment has produced a furor that has yet to diminish.

Funny I detected applause not a furor at his appointment – but then again I am not a "moderate" on abortion whatever that may be. Funny how a moderate can only find a Planned Parenthood spokesman to quote in their articles.

It’s not an accident that one of the first bills in the Senate with a new Democratic majority was the Prevention First Act, a wide-ranging family planning initiative. Representative Louise Slaughter of New York will follow next week with a similar bill described in one mouthful as a "bipartisan, bicameral, pro choice, pro life innovative approach to reducing unintended pregnancies." Then Representatives Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Tim Ryan of Ohio , a pro choice-pro life duo, will reintroduce an omnibus family planning and support bill with the lumbering title, "The Reducing the Need for Abortions and Supporting Parents Act."

If only all politicians like Louise Slaughter had names to match their pro-abortion advocacy. Rep. Dice Emm and Sen. Sly Some. Once again the question is why do we have to reduce abortion if there is nothing wrong with it in the first place? If Ellen Goodman really thought abortion was not morally wrong then why care about unintended pregnancies if getting an abortion is like taking a Tylenol for a headache?

Not when the president has handed the deed for common ground to the Count of Oxytocin.

Her parting shot against the good Doctor goes way over my head. Oxytocin, as far as I know, is used to induce labor or with partial birth abortions. So exactly how does a pro-life doctor become the Count of it? I only wish he was because we could Count on him not to dispense in to induce labor for abortions.

A reader sent me a link to an actual stand by the Unitarian Universalist. In Unitarian you can pretty much believe anything you want about the nature of God or deny God exists at all, but when it comes to abortion and Roe v. Wade they of course "Stand for Choice."

In other news Diane of the Te Deum blog let me know that Abortion Survivor Gianna Jessen will be on EWTN’s Life on the Rock tonight. She is truly an amazing speaker and Diane has some details up about her. Of course according to AP Gianna is still a fetus since she survived abortion.

Jill Stanek points out this gymnastic twist of AP language is support of Barack Obama.

[Obama] voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive….

One vote that especially riled abortion opponents involved restrictions on a type of abortion where the fetus sometimes survives, occasionally for hours. The restrictions, which never became law, included requiring the presence of a second doctor to care for the fetus….

Abortion opponents see Obama’s vote on medical care for aborted fetuses as a refusal to protect the helpless. Some have even accused him of supporting infanticide….

Obama — who joined several other Democrats in voting "present" in 2001 and "no" the next year — argued the legislation was worded in a way that unconstitutionally threatened a woman’s right to abortion by defining the fetus as a child.

Laura Ingraham has some nice "Former Embryo" T-Shirts on her webstore and now I know why she doesn’t have "Former Fetuses" shirts. By the AP’s definition there would be no such thing since once you are born you are still a fetus.

LONDON, January 16, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Observer in the UK reported Sunday that Catholics in the UK have taken to carrying special ID cards informing doctors that they do not wish to be deprived of food and fluids in the case of admission to hospital.

In a growing worldwide trend, doctors in the UK consider what used to be routine care–administration of nutrition and hydration, by artificial means if necessary–to be "treatment" which can be refused or denied.

The UK’s Association of Catholic Women (ACW) which produced the ID cards, had sold nearly 26,000 by 2005.

"We were greatly concerned that ANH (artificial nutrition and hydration) was considered as ‘treatment’, and could be withdrawn if the patient was deemed to have a ‘poor quality of life,’ thus leading to death by starvation/dehydration," explained a spokesperson for the ACW.

The card is a simple blue card stating: "In case of my admission to hospital please contact a Roman Catholic priest. I would like my nursing care to include fluids – however administered."

Good idea, but I think I would like a card more specific than to just contact a Catholic priest. With my luck they would contact Rev. John ("Pull the plug") Paris, SJ or someone like him. To quote the Little Shop of Horrors, Audrey II: Feed me, Seymour.

Leonardi posts on a diocesan e-Pistle that a Cincinnati parish has signed-on to an ambitious project to donate up to $100,000 a year for five years to the Millennium Promise. The Millennium Promise derives from The United Nations and its Millennium Project.

It might be hoped that the parish is only aware of the more nobler aspects of the Millennium Project and not it pro-abortion and contraception slant that even talks about "girls" as well as women’s reproductive rights. Of course you have to be pretty naive in the first place to not know just how much most U.N. programs and bureaucracies are co-workers in the culture of death in the first place. A half a million dollars would be much better served by their local crisis pregnancy centers than any well-meaning but seriously flawed U.N. program.

Looking for some other information I came across something rather strange. "The Mediation Room" at the United Nations Headquarters which is built in the shape of a truncated pyramid. In the center is an altar made out of magnetite, the largest natural piece of magnetite ever mined. This goes together with some abstract mural. This room for years was maintained by Lucis Trust (formerly the Lucifer Publishing Company) so for conspiracy theorists that’s a pretty big chunk of red meat.

From Archbishop Chaput’s recent column.

The day after Governor Ritter’s speech, Denver’s Channel 9 reported that he “would take steps to allow organizations such as Planned Parenthood to get state funding again if they can prove state money isn’t used to fund abortions [emphasis added].” Mr. Ritter ran as a pro-life candidate and has always stated that he opposes abortion. As he begins his public service, it’s reasonable to believe him. The new governor has been engaged and active in his Catholic faith for many years, and remains so.
Nonetheless, it’s very hard to reconcile anyone who is “pro-life” with any support for Planned Parenthood and its destructive record.

In the opening weeks of his first term, Governor Ritter has a right to be taken at his word. He also has a responsibility to show Coloradans what he means. What his words do actually mean will become clear in the demands he places on Planned Parenthood for proof that state funds truly are segregated from abortion services and don’t materially support the killing of unborn children. As Vincent Carroll implied in his Jan. 12 Rocky Mountain News column, that will be a difficult task, if not impossible.

We urge the governor to reconsider pursuing this bad policy, and failing that, at a minimum, to be rigorous in the controls he places on state funding for family-planning services. No unborn child should be forced to die as a result of this flawed policy — precisely for the sake of the future “of our children and our children’s children.”

There was some question previously about the scheduling of a Inauguration Mass at Holy Ghost Parish for the governor by Diogenes. This Mass occurred on Jan 9th of this year and some wondered about this considering Archbishops’ Chaput previous column about pro-abortion politicians receiving Communion. Dom latter took up the same topic and the rather perplexing statement by the diocesan communications directory on this.

Gov Ritter did run "as being strongly pro-life" with the typical "I am pro-life as a matter of personal faith" Cuomo defense and the rape, incest, and life of the mother exemptions. He also basically stated that he would pretty much do nothing as far as state laws go until Roe v. Wade is overturned, except veto any bills that passes a ban. Of course the life of the mother exemption creates a hole so wide that – well an abortion doctor could easily drive his RV through it and perform an abortion.

I was also thinking about the term pro-abortion politician and how it really needs to be expanded. We now have pro-abortion, pro-embryonic stem-cell research, and pro-euthanasia politicians. Pro-death isn’t really accurate and it is hard to think of a term more inline with the wide variety of issues regarding life. Calling them Culture of Death Politicians is pretty accurate, but it doesn’t exactly roll off your tongue or keyboard. COD politicians, probably won’t catch on either. Though truly we can say of these politicians In COD we trust. They really do believe that all the issues relating to the Culture Of Death are going to improve and help mankind for the most part. Promises, promises. You of course remember how contraception and abortion helped marriages and every child became "a wanted child." You also are sure to remember how dignified Terri Schiavo became when she at last was given the chance to be dehydrated to death. Plus with all the state funding of ESCR you also remember people like the late Christopher Reeve’s standing up and walking like Sen. Edwards said would happen. Though maybe COD would be a good term. Instead of snake oil we now get all the exaggerated promises of COD oil.

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) — Cells taken from embryos hold therapeutic promise, but it is simply wrong to destroy human life in its early stages.

That’s the opinion of the chief stem-cell researcher at a medical school hospital in what some would say is one of the nation’s most liberal cities.

Dr. Markus Grompe, director of Oregon Health & Science University’s Stem Cell Center since 2004, is a devout Catholic and a member of St. John Fisher Parish in Portland.

"I support the church’s view on protection of embryonic life," Grompe told the Catholic Sentinel, Portland archdiocesan newspaper, in an interview in his office at the hospital. "That has sometimes put me in a difficult situation."

Grompe is looking forward to the day when a method is discovered to provide embryonic stem cells — or their equal — without destroying embryos. But for now, his lab works with cells taken from adults, and he is keen on those advances.

Grompe and his team are devising a way to repair diseased livers by injecting adult stem cells into the organs. The work has a special focus on children with genetic liver disorders. The method, which would nix the need for liver transplants, has worked in lab animals.

"There is a lot in favor of embryonic stem cells," said Grompe, a German citizen who studied at the University of Ulm in southern Germany. "But we need to make a choice based on ethics." He said the colleagues who disagree with him are not evil, but want to advance medicine.

The German-born Grompe has been active on the international level in the stem-cell debate. In April 2006, he went to the Vatican and addressed the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Grompe allows that the question of the therapeutic use of embryonic stem cells is still open. But he insists that embryonic cells are likely to lead to a therapy that adult cells cannot reach.

"What makes embryonic stem cells so different is that they can be grown to unlimited quantities," he said. "You can make a lot of what you need to make and you can do it again and again. Adult stem cells don’t do that."

That potential makes the Catholic stand all the more difficult yet necessary, he said. "As Catholics, we need to stick to the facts and the truth. The reason we object to embryonic stem-cell research is not because the cells are not good or the adult cells are better. The real reason is that we have moral and ethical objections. We have to stick to our guns. Just because a medical procedure is immoral doesn’t mean it will not work."

This is an important point to make. Right now there is a lot of effort in the pro-life movement used in debunking ESCR because of the lack so far of actual cures. The main point should be that it is simply wrong to use a human person in experiments. Though you can easily understand by the ineffectiveness of ESCR so far has been much touted since it is an easy point to make. Much harder in the current culture to speak of the personhood of the human embryo. It is quite unlikely that in a sound bite society that arguments made by Peter Kreeft in his excellent article Human Personhood Begins at Conception are likely to be heard.

The January issue had a real good view of the science of ESCR and the fact that the morality of it goes beyond killing embryos for research and that it involved serious health risks to women who donate eggs for this research.

SYDNEY, Australia: Australia’s conservative health minister on Tuesday defended his decision to give the Roman Catholic church part of a multi-million-dollar pregnancy counseling contract that critics say will discourage women from having abortions.

Tony Abbott, a staunch Roman Catholic who once warned of an "epidemic" of abortions in Australia, conceded that the Catholic-run organization awarded the contract did not condone abortion, but said it would not lecture women against having the procedure.

"It’s not the philosophy of the organization providing the counseling that is important, it’s the professionalism," Abbott told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "If anyone thinks they are being lectured … there’ll be a mechanism in place for reporting that and for action to be taken."

I wonder if this is really any different than the program in Germany. The Catholic Church was involved with diocesan sponsored counseling centers where women would have to go before getting an abortion and then-Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the CDF put a stop to it.