LifeNet

CFF Gala Concert for Adoption at Avery Fisher Hall!

CALL ASAP - deadline April 4th!

The Children First Foundation's Gala Concert for Adoption at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall (Broadway and West 65th Street, New York) takes place on Wednesday, April 11, 2007! The New York Philharmonic Concert begins at 6:30 p.m. Post concert reception at 8:00 p.m.This will be a fabulous evening with great speakers including Senator Sam Brownback, Lawrence Kudlow, Martha Ann Alito - wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, and delightful music to enjoy while helping raise funds for CFF's worthiest of causes - supporting adoptions, safe havens and pregnancy resource centers.

Many of you know of Charles Rex and Dr. Elizabeth Rex's great work on behalf of adoption through the years. This is their premier event and they and we hope you will attend ($250 benefit ticket cost - business attire) or make your personal tax-deductible donation to The Children First Foundation, P.O. Box 326, Eastchester, New York 10709.

Don't delay! For more information, contact CFF at 877-386-3236 or [email protected].

EMC Mobile Crisis Pregnancy Van at New Jersey Clinic

Expectant Mother Care

EMC’s new mobile crisis pregnancy center continues to draw the attention of local media. Chris Slattery announced on March 16 that he plans to park the unit outside of the Metropolitan Medical Associates abortion clinic in

Englewood

,

New Jersey

when it reopens. Metropolitan was closed by the state after inspections prompted by malpractice filings indicated that the mill posed an “immediate and serious risk of harm to patients.” Along with a counselor and a certified ultrasound technician, Chris will have a malpractice attorney aboard, offering free consultations for women who believe they were injured from an abortion.

See the article at: http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk1NCZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NzA5NDEwMCZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI

UPDATE:  Metropolitan Medical Associates reopened on Friday March 23.  EMC Staff were there with the mobile unit and a baby was saved! Read media coverage at: 

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_082142524.html

Activists on Friday protested the reopening of an abortion clinic here shut down in February after state health officials found "immediate and serious" health code violations.

As part of their protest, the activists deployed a motor home equipped with ultrasound equipment across the street from Metropolitan Medical Associates and offered pregnant women who approached the clinic free images of their fetuses.

The activists believe the images will persuade women to reconsider having an abortion.

On Friday, 16-year-old Michelle Younger of Jersey City was one of them.

The teen, who arrived with her mother, said she had an appointment at the clinic to get an abortion but decided against it after having an ultrasound in the motor vehicle parked outside.

Younger said she decided to keep the baby after she was told by an ultrasound technician that she was 24-weeks pregnant and told by activists that other women had been injured at that particular clinic.

"I didn't think I was that far along," she said. "That changed my whole opinion."

The European Union and the "right" to abortion

Countries with pro-life laws continue to be under pressure from the quasi-European government to scrap them. The following is from the excellent Irish pro-life website Family & life.

Family & Life

A woman who had been denied an abortion in Poland won damages against the Polish government in the European Court of Human Rights. The decision, say pro-life leaders, is another effort by European ideologues to pressure Poland to admit to the existence of a “right” to abortion.

Ewa Kowalewska, President of the Forum of Polish Women, called the Court’s decision, “the greatest legal curiosum in court history of the European Council.”

The court ordered the Polish government to pay 36-year-old Alicja Tysiac compensation, upholding her claim that she had been discriminated against by being refused an abortion by doctors and the Polish courts.

>>>>>>>>>

Poland allows abortion in cases where pregnancy is due to rape; where there is a medical threat to the mother and for eugenic purposes in cases where the child is “severely” disabled. Tysiac later revealed the broader political motive for her suit at a news conference in Warsaw where she said that abortion should be a woman's choice.“ Every woman should decide herself whether she wants to have the baby or not and the government should not mix into that at all,” Tysiac said.

Her suit claimed the existence of a “right to abortion,” saying that Poland lacked a “procedural and regulatory framework…to enable a pregnant woman to assert her right to a therapeutic abortion, thus rendering that right ineffective.”

Poland has been under heavy pressure from the European Union, the United Nations and various NGO’s to further loosen restrictions on abortion to bring the strongly Catholic and pro-life country more in line with other secularized European countries.

U.S. bishops issue statement regarding pro-abortion former priest Daniel Maguire's recent publications

Here is link to the full statement: U.S. Catholic Bishops - Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices

and here are excerpts (But read the whole thing!):

The document Statement Concerning Two Pamphlets Published by Professor Daniel Maguire was developed by the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).  It was approved by the Administrative Committee of the USCCB at its March 2007 meeting as a statement of the Committee and has been authorized for publication by the undersigned.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

On June 19, 2006, Professor Daniel Maguire of Marquette University sent two pamphlets to all of the Catholic Bishops in the United States, one entitled The Moderate Roman Catholic Position on Contraception and Abortion and the other A Catholic Defense of Same-Sex Marriage.  These pamphlets do not present Catholic teaching.  His views about contraception, abortion, same sex "marriage", as well as the very nature of Church teaching and its authoritative character, cross the legitimate lines of theological reflection and simply enter into the area of false teaching.  Such mistaken views should not be confused with the faith and moral teaching of the Catholic Church.  Since it is apparent that considerable efforts have been made to give these views the widest possible distribution as if they were a valid alternative to the teaching of the Catholic Church, the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops considers it important to offer a public correction of the erroneous views proposed in these pamphlets.  At the same time, the Committee on Doctrine calls attention to the Catechism of the Catholic Church where correct and authentic teaching can be found.  This readily available source of the faith and moral teaching of the Catholic Church clearly demonstrates the mistaken character of the positions found in the two pamphlets and their unreliability as a guide for Catholics seeking to know and live their Catholic faith.

Church Teaching

The fundamental error in these pamphlets concerns the nature of Church teaching.  In the first pamphlet Professor Maguire argues that there is "no one position on contraception and abortion" that can be called "Catholic," and thus that there is no authentic Church teaching that is binding on all the members of the Catholic Church.[1]  He argues that there is the "extremely conservative view," held by conservative theologians and by the Pope and the bishops, a position that opposes contraception and abortion, as well as the "moderate and sensible view," held by other theologians, which endorses contraception and abortion, at least under certain circumstances.[2]   He concludes that "the Roman Catholic position on abortion is pluralistic.  It has a strong 'pro-choice' tradition and a conservative anti-choice tradition.  Neither is official, and neither is more Catholic than the other."[3]

In the second pamphlet Professor Maguire argues that there is no one position that can be called "Catholic" concerning the morality of homosexual acts and same-sex "marriages."  "In Catholicism" he writes, "there are three sources of truth, (or three 'magisteria'): the hierarchy, the theologians, and the wisdom and experience of the laity (called in Latin sensus fidelium)."[4]  Because there is, according to Professor Maguire, no consensus at this time among these "three sources of truth," he concludes that "Catholic teaching is in transition on this subject and Catholics are free to let their consciences decide either for or against same sex marriages.  Both views — for or against homosexual marriage — are at home in the Catholic world and neither one of them can be called more orthodox or more official or more Catholic than the other."[5]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Archbishop of Milwaukee, exercising his pastoral responsibilities as teacher and shepherd, has made public statements affirming that the views expressed by Professor Maguire in his two pamphlets are erroneous and incompatible with the Church's teaching.[24]  We the Committee on Doctrine of the USCCB concur that, despite his claims to authority as a Catholic theologian, the views of Professor Maguire on contraception, abortion, and same-sex "marriage" are not those of the Catholic Church and indeed are contrary to the Church's faith.  We deplore as irresponsible his public advocacy of his views as authentic Catholic teaching.  Lastly, we trust that this statement will clarify the Church's faith and teaching for all of the Catholic faithful throughout the United States. 

Presidential candidates McCain and Brownback stake out their pro-life positions

Senator McCain -

John McCain Says Human Rights Include Protecting Unborn From Abortion

During the questioning, McCain described himself as "a pro-life person" and said "That's been a solid 24-year record" during his life in political office.

"I have not changed my position" on opposing abortion, he told the audience.

The GOP hopeful also tried to separate himself from the other candidates seeking the party's not by looking at the right to life from an international angle.

"I have been an advocate for human rights -- having been deprived of them for a period in my life -- from Burma to Bosnia to China to Cuba, and I believe human rights also extend to that of the unborn," McCain said, according to an AP report.

And Senator Brownback -

Sam Brownback: Protect Unborn Children From Abortion, After Birth Too

Seeking to respond to that criticism in a state that's not known for its pro-life views, Brownback told a luncheon audience that he's "pro-life, whole life" and that candidates who say they are pro-life can't abandon babies after birth.

"I believe the child in the womb should be protected," Brownback said, according to an AP report.

"America is best when she's good," he added. "It's that fundamental goodness that makes America great, and that goodness to me is based upon our belief that every single person is unique, beautiful and sacred."

"We're going to overturn Roe v. Wade," he said to cheers from the audience. "The right to abortion is not in the Constitution."

But he also added that "we should also protect the person that's in poverty, and the child that's in Darfur, and working with prisoners so they don't have so much recidivism and always back in the system."

The Grim Greeting

There has been a lot of publicity surrounding the new e-cards advertised on "Exhale", an after abortion referral and support system based in San Francisco. http://www.4exhale.org/

If you visit the site, it does not take long for anyone to recognize Exhale is run by pro-choice individuals. In fact, the e cards were made by Aspen Baker, director of Exhale and friend of Jennifer Baumgardner designer of the  "I Had an Abortion" t-shirt. Jennifer is also on the Advisory Board of Exhale along with Francis Kissling and a host of other pro abortion activists.

According to Planned Parenthood, "The I Had an Abortion" t-shirt is intended to challenge the taboo that cloaks abortion in silence. The t-shirt is an affirmation that abortion is not shameful."
No doubt the e-cards are aiming for the same thing.

You can view them here:
http://www.4exhale.org/support/cards/index.php

Personally, I think this is a good thing. If abortion were really "normal", there would not be a need to  try to  "affirm" it is not shameful , and the idea that  the "taboo" of abortion, and not the fact that you have taken the life of your child that keeps you in silence, is ridiculous! 

I say let them make their t- shirts and e cards. Let the New York Times write biased articles saying there is no such thing as Post Abortion Syndrome. I trust human instincts, and I trust women, and all the e-cards or t-shirts in the world are never going to make abortion normal because it is not and women, in their hearts know that. They may have bought into the lie to try to have what they hoped to be an easy solution to a hard situation, they may stay in denial for years, but the bottom line is, they know, and we are not made to kill our offspring. Lumina alone, a small grassroots service, worked with over 150 women last year and reached countless others through speaking and workshops!

Personally the e-cards and t-shirts do not make me angry. In fact, I say great...we are finally bringing the issue to the forefront, and they are getting nervous. So, Jennifer and Amy, keep trying to make abortion normal...like the father of lies you can never win because truth is on our side.

Theresa Bonopartis

New study on the relation between abortion and child abuse

A new study by a researcher at Bowling Green University indicates that women who've had an abortion are more likely to abuse children from subsequent pregnancies.

Study: Women Having Abortions More Likely to Engage in Child Abuse

The study is based on an analysis of data on 237 low-income women in Baltimore who had physically mistreated or neglected at least one of their children or allowed someone else to do so.

While all the women in the study had some connection with child maltreatment or neglect, the authors found that those who reported a history of abortion reported significantly more frequent acts of physical violence, such as slapping, hitting or beating, directed at their children.

Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a researcher at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, was the lead author of the new report.

She talked with LifeNews.com about its findings and said that only a few studies have examined the association between abortion history and child maltreatment.

Pope stands ground on controversial issues

Here is a Washington Times article on the Pope's recent apostolic exhortation (see the prior post), emphasizing the Catholic view on abortion and marriage.

To view the whole article, you may have to register with the Washington Times, but it is free and easy.

Pope stands ground on abortion, gay 'marriage' - Nation/Politics - insider.washingtontimes.com

Pope Benedict XVI yesterday set out "nonnegotiable values" as he urged Catholic lawmakers to oppose laws favoring divorce, abortion, homosexual "marriage" and euthanasia.
    In a long-awaited text, the pope exhorted "Catholic politicians and legislators ... to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature."
    "These values are not negotiable," he wrote, listing "respect for human life, its defense from conception to natural death [and] the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman."
    Benedict's first such apostolic exhortation dashed any hope for a relaxation of the requirement of celibacy for Roman Catholic priests, and comes as draft legislation before Italy's parliament proposes to give legal status to unmarried couples, including homosexuals.

Pope Benedict's apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist makes reference to Catholic politicians and their responsibility to uphold Catholic moral values

Here is an excellent summary of the Pope's Apostolic Exhoration "Sacramentum Caritatis" (The Sacrament of Charity) released on March 13th. In it he says there must be a consistency between reception of the Eucharist and politics (and politicians' positions). See the excerpt below, but we urge you to hit the link, and read the entire summary.

www.chiesa

In paragraph 83, the Pope writes: "Here it is important to consider what the Synod fathers described as Eucharistic consistency, a quality which our lives are objectively called to embody. Worship pleasing to God can never be a purely private matter, without consequences for our relationships with others: it demands a public witness to our faith. Evidently, this is true for all the baptized, yet it is especially incumbent upon those who, by virtue of their social or political position, must make decisions regarding fundamental values, such as respect for human life, its defence from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one's children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms. These values are not negotiable. Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature. There is an objective connection here with the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-29). Bishops are bound to reaffirm constantly these values as part of their responsibility to the flock entrusted to them."

Memorial Mass for Milvia Cacich

A memorial Mass for Milvia will be held on Tuesday evening, March 13, 7 p.m. at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Shrub Oak. Sara Koshofer tells us there will be a small reception afterwards. Please join us if possible.

Great-Great Granddaughter of Dred Scott is Pro-life

Here's something you won't read about in the newspaper.

Dred Scott's Great-Great Granddaughter Holds Pro-Life View on Abortion

The great-great granddaughter of Dred Scott says she opposes abortion and believes the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade in the same way it reversed itself in the landmark civil rights case. Just as the 1857 high court case ruled black Americans were not persons, the 1973 decision said unborn children aren't people with a right to life.

In the decision in the Scott case, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court and seven of the nine justices agreed that Dred Scott should remain a slave....

Jackson said her pro-life views were solidified when she saw a video of an abortion procedure.

“You see this beautiful form of a darling baby just floating around, doing well, and then you see the introduction of these pincers that go in and the baby starts to flinch and move back and forth, as if to get away from this thing that’s poking and prodding at them," she explained.

"Then it becomes pretty violent," she added.

"So now you’re just looking at stuff floating, where a minute ago you were looking at a baby. And it is a baby, and life does begin at conception," Jackson concludes.

...

Leading Catholic newspaper rejects Giuliani as candidate

The National Catholic Register

Top Catholic Newspaper Tells Pro-Life Voters Rudy Giuliani Too Pro-Abortion

Editors at the National Catholic Register say the former New York City mayor is too pro-abortion to be considered.

In an editorial that appears on the newspaper's web site Tuesday, and will be published in their next edition, the Register editors say they won't go along with the notion that the pro-life movement has to support a pro-abortion president candidate this election.

"They hope that pro-lifers will 'be reasonable,' not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and go along quietly," the editorial says. "We won’t."

NOTE: The National Catholic Register should not be confused with the National Catholic Reporter.

Congressional No-shows Mar 'March for Life' by Regina Riely

        Two buses from northwestern Westchester County sponsored by the HVCL and Holy Name of Mary Parish in Croton carried some 85 souls (some from Yonkers and White Plains) to the March for Life in D.C. This year we asked them to sign a prepared letter on the bus or write personal letters to New York’s pro-abortion Senators Clinton and Schumer and to their respective Congressional reps, Lowey, Engel and Hall – all pro-abortion. I took their letters and delivered them to the three House members. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, none were there REPRESENTING US, even though they were due from New York later that day to vote on non-binding resolutions at 6 p.m.

        I saw one of Engel’s aides first. He was polite and told me Engel voted for tax-funded embryonic research and backed abortion vis a vis choice. None of the aides in any of the offices used the “A” word. The next office I found was Lowey’s. Her aides were mostly women, quite polished and adept at wowing Joan Q. Public. They acknowledged that Lowey voted for tax-funded embryonic research. The aides said Lowey knows that an abortion clinic is in the same building where she has her White Plains Congressional office. The 222 Mamaroneck Avenue killing clinic has its door on Maple Avenue and has the largest letters in its Yellow Pages ad saying, “ABORTIONS UP TO SIX MONTHS”. When I asked if Lowey would protect minors by making it a felony to transport young girls across state lines for a New York abortion and to pressure federal, state, and county health officials to do thorough inspections of abortions, the legislative aide said to write it down. I expressed disappointment at Lowey’s absence since I represented the 35 people who wrote her letters. Both aides assured me that she would get them.

        With 20 letters in hand I went to my own newly elected Congressman, John Hall, also not present. The young, 20-something aide listened as I told him what was in the letters. Felony to drive minors across state lines to get abortions in NY; pressure on health officials to make surprise inspections to abortion mills; and funding for researchers at the Westchester Medical Center and New York Medical College to continue adult and cord blood stem cell research, instead of giving my tax money to destroy embryonic babies for their stem cells. He kept mentioning a prepared statement Hall had left for his pro-life constituents and the blank page for comments on the back. I reluctantly gave up the letters from the 15-20 people I represented to this young man. I took one of the prepared statements and began writing my own letter to Hall. The presiding aide behind the partition began talking to the young aide who scurried around, went through the door, but one could hear the conversation. Later she opened the door, my back to her, and she said, “Someone called from the New York Times and left a message. Always call the Times and any of the media back as soon as possible. If you are present, always speak to them. Does everyone understand that?"

        Later Brigid, Joe and Tim Faranda and others from our bus came. Twenty-something talked to them about five minutes and handed them the prepared statement and they chose to write more letters on the spot to Hall. Tim seemed especially keen on it. Later two Putnam or Dutchess constituents told the receptionist that they had an appointment to see Hall. They had not been contacted to the contrary and there were no apologies from the young aide, and utter silence from behind the partition. I said to the men writing their comments, “Too bad you are not the New York Times since the media get the preferential treatment.” Less than five minutes later superaide/office manager comes out from hiding to say, “You’ve been here for 1-1/2 hours. You’ll have to leave; other people want to come in.” No other constituents but the two who were “stood up” by Hall were present besides me. I said I needed to finish my letter, which she begrudgingly allowed. She was between 55-60 years old. As I handed my letter to the new receptionist I mentioned that Hall was a Catholic and if he practices his faith should understand that any vote to help deliberately destroy an embryonic or fetal child was an automatic excommunication from the Church. I turned to the gentlemen and they said, “We have room, you don’t have to go because of us.” I smiled at them and replied as I left, “Remember that these congressmen and their staff are paid by our tax money so don’t be over-awed by them. They are our employees.”