Pro-life

From an article on Planned Parenthood Quick-Service Clinic [Via Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex]

…Planned Parenthood wants to expand its services to more areas, and the organization’s leaders hope a plush fast-service clinic coming to this well-heeled St. Paul suburb next month will attract a new group of women who value convenience and can afford to pay full price.

…The Woodbury clinic is designed to be a cut above even the nicest Planned Parenthood express clinics _ like the one in Somerville, Mass., near Boston and Harvard University. That one sits in a storefront across a plaza from a Starbucks, amid a shopping area near a major transit line.

Well not surprising since they see sex like a fast food commodity that they want to now move into the malls. I thought that the following comment from the president of PP in Minnesota, North and South Dakota to be enlightening.

"We’re going to the women where they spend their lives, to help them solve some of the problems in their lives."

Yes the mall is where women "spend their lives." How’s that for an enlightened view of women.

…The clinic will not perform abortions. Instead, lotions, essential oils and decorative carrying cases for pills and condoms will beckon shoppers inside, where they can also get oral contraceptives, pregnancy tests and screening for HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhea _ all in about 20 minutes. If customers are interested, the clinic may add massages and other spa services later, spokeswoman Marta Coursey said.

Get your coffee and contraceptives as you stroll through the mall. Though why not also offer abortions since they keep saying that this is so mainstream? Why be defensive on that "service." They could offer latte term abortions.

…"I think it’s a good idea. For one, since our public health system has really gone downhill, we certainly have a need for that education, provision of birth control and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases," Kelley said. "It’s certainly worth a try."

Obviously 24/7 messages from the media on the subject and sex education classes hasn’t yet done the trick, there just couldn’t be any connection between this public health going "downhill" and the contraceptive culture. We don’t need no stinkin’ casual effects.

Jokingly I would almost like to see Planned Parenthood move into Whole Foods and other organic stores. Though unfortunately the irony of people looking for chemical free foods and then pumping their bodies with hormones nad chemicals will be lost on most.

People use InVitro fertilization every day, to become pregnant when they otherwise might not have been able to. But a new form of family planning says insemination methods aren’t the answer… and doctors say they’re having great success following a more natural approach. The system is called NaPro Technology.

Gary and Angela Weisbrich say kids have always been part of their plan.

"We had discussed in our engagement that we wanted to start a family right away," Angela said.

Angela knew when she should start trying to conceive, because she was using "natural procreative technology," or NaPro. Women track their monthly cycle on a chart to tell when they’re most fertile.

"I thought we would have children right away," said Angela.

But after a year of trying and still no baby, the Weisbrichs saw a NaPro-trained fertility specialist… who was able to look at the charts and give some answers.

"And she said, ‘I can find out exactly what’s wrong and start you on different medicines,” Angela said.

Doctor Jane Gaetze is an OBGYN at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, and she’s also certified in NaPro Technology. She says the system is often used by women who have had problems conceiving, even with other fertility methods… but it’s also for those wanting to avoid pregnancy. And unlike traditional birth control, NaPro Technology is centered around a woman’s awareness of her own body.

"It isn’t a control, because it’s using the woman’s natural cycle, so there’s nothing controlling," Dr. Gaetze said.

One of the key differences in NaPro Technology is what happens on the operating table. When a woman finds out she can’t conceive because of ovarian cysts or scarring, surgeons use thread no wider than a strand of hair to repair the ovary after surgery, letting it heal naturally.

"Able to functionally operate and open and ovulate when it needs to," Dr. Gaetze said.

Angela’s problems with ovulation were treated outside the operating room, with a hormone called progersterone. Shortly after she started taking it, she learned she was expecting.

"Gary and I were able to conceive our first baby, and unfortunately, we were unable to carry our baby to term," Angela said.

Angela miscarried after just seven weeks. She became pregnant again a short time later… but miscarried a second time.

"It’s so frustrating, because you know some things are just out of your hands," Angela said.

Even though they’re not parents yet, they say NaPro Technology has given them hope. At least now they know they can conceive.

"We really believe one day we’ll be able to conceive and carry a child to term," said Gary Weisbrich.

And they’ll keep working with their doctors until they do. For Gary, being involved in his wife’s fertility has made him feel closer to her.

"It’s been an eye-opener for me, and I feel like I’m more a part of the marriage, but more than that, part of creating a child together,” Gary said. “We’re in this together."

Their journey led them to reach out to other young couples who are trying to conceive. The Weisbrichs were recently trained as NaPro facilitators, which means they help teach the program to others. They also explain how it’s affected their lives.

"Part of grieving is feeling like you’re giving life to other people," Angela said.

And soon, they hope to be able to share news of their own little miracle.

NaPro Technology is supported by the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese as a choice for family planning.

It’s nice to actually see an article on NaPro technology in the press for a change.

Nurse Jill Stanek writes on contraception.

I am a Protestant who opposes contraception, not only because some of its forms may cause abortions, but also – moreso – because the thinking behind contraception makes it the forerunner to abortion.

I base my thinking on several Biblical concepts. The foremost concept is that God is always described in Scripture as the sole procreative decision-maker. To my knowledge, every incident in Scripture describing pregnancy or barrenness gives God complete credit.

If that premise is true, who has the right to say no to God? Who can say they have a better grip on timing than God?

Pro-aborts are right. Contraception is next issue after abortion. And pro-lifers must work it through.

It seems to me there is a growing awareness among Protestants on this issue. The issue of abortafacients has been largely ignored among people who were otherwise pro-life and MAP is somewhat bringing it up to the foreground. Maybe next we will see a growing acknowledgement about the consequence of the contraceptive mentality in the first place.

Dawn Eden previously reported
about the certified physician’s assistant working for Planned Parenthood
who posted on his myspace site that he found that patient care was not a concern
where he worked, but mass volume was the highest priority. Now this is a person
that seems to have had no problem with abortion, just the way the patients were
treated. He later apparently left a comment on Dawn’s blog.

He writes:

"thanks to this site I lost my job at planned parenthood orange
county and san bernardino county. apparently an affliate who stands up for women’s
reproductive rights don’t also believe in an individuals right to freedom of
speech. the best they cud do was to say that the reason for termination was
I made negative and inappropriate comments about the organization that was accessible
to the public. never thought that was grounds for termination. now i’m stuck
with a mortgage i’m scrambling to find a way to pay. nice how things turned
out…."

Well I guess he should consider himself lucky. Most people terminated
by Planned Parenthood are not alive to write about it later.

Excellent article at Mercator.net on contraception and the very slight trend in decline of use.

Dawn Eden reports on Planned Parenthood now selling e-cards for Mother’s Day. In years past she had previously suggested creating Mother’s Day cards for them and I had suggested this one.

One of PP’s slogans used for their cards is "Every child a wanted child." Unfortunately the wanted is as in wanted dead or alive.

With further thought for this year I thought the following would be appropriate.

Simply because it is quite impossible for babies now living with God to be able to pick out cards for their mothers. The handicap of not being alive kind of puts a crimp on that one.

Marie Bain insists she’s a private woman, the kind of person who keeps her opinions to herself. But she’s also an entertainer.

Which is why, she says, she developed "Baby Killer," a one-woman show based on her experiences last fall being fired from teaching drama at Loretto High School because of her previous tenure as a Planned Parenthood volunteer.

Nothing like a shocking title to jump-start the controversy again. So much for a quiet, private life.

"I come from show business," says Bain. "You need to get people’s attention. The title comes from … what they scream at us at the clinics. Extremists say horrible things to everybody. People don’t get that.
[Via Stand Up and Speak Out]

Maybe people don’t get that calling someone a baby killer on their way to escort a women to have her baby killed should be seen as more horrible than the act itself. Not that I think screaming at someone is the most prudent way to help to change their mind, but it is certainly and act much less in magnitude than being the willing cooperator to escort someone to have their innocent child killed.

The teacher probably was able to spend some time to write her play since she received a settlement from the Catholic school for having the audacity to fire an abortion escort working in the Catholic school. Not that the school would probably have taken the action without the Bishop stepping in in the first place.

Bishop Lynch speaks out on immigration and capital punishment. [PDF]

We know that innocent men and perhaps women have already been executed in this country.

I bet a ironic disconuity has ripped the space-time fabric around the diocese of St. Petersburg. That much irony must release a hugh amount of energy.

Jay Anderson gives the Bishop’s statement a well deserved fisking.

In similar news there is breaking news on Andrea Clark via Catholic Fire. Andrea Clark is the woman in St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital whose staff has decided to vote her off the planet because caring for her would be futile. Not only is resistance futile, but I guess a hospital actually caring for a person is also now futile when the bottom line is affected. It won’t be long before when someone offers to take someone to a hospital that they will reply "No thanks, I want to live"

The excellent and fairly new website Death Roe.com has as section on Roebots.

Roe•Bot \ro-bät\ n (1973) [American] 1 : a self-delusional member of the species homo-sapien with the ability
to substitute basic human reason and morality for brain-dead devotion to Roe v. Wade 2 : a man
or woman characterized by an unlimited capacity for ignoring proven biological realities while chanting
the pro-abortion "party line" 3 : someone who can mindlessly, and without question, regurgitate totally
discredited arguments over long periods of time.

Good definition to go with my previous parody Attack of the Killer Roebots.

* Found via Musings of an Expagan.

I like Thomas’ reply to Cardinal Martini’s recent comments on a range of subjects including condom use. He links to various articles that discuss the subject. The Cardinal seems to take the "lesser evil" tact over and over again. Be Holy as your Heavenly Father is Holy becomes do lesser evils than the evils you would commit otherwise. His view of condom use seems to elevate the body over the soul. That you can commit a sin to remain in good health, when in fact it is a greater evil to commit this act. Even if you thought otherwise and your though our main concerns should directed towards health than still recommending condoms would be the wrong solution. Condoms are not one even close to one hundred percent effective for reducing pregnancy and women are not even fertile all the time. So as far as preventing STDs goes they are even less effective. The Cardinal only recommends this solution for married couples with AIDS, but over time the failure rate of condoms will make the chance of the other partner contacting HIV almost a certainty.

Thomas also says that this is a difficult situation for the Holy Father to be able to tacitly reprimand him. As for me I think that Cardinal Martini should be shaken not stirred.