Posted By cmbuuck on January 12, 2017

 

Life Affirming News

 

 

Where to Start When Adoption is Tugging at Your Heart: Embryo Adoption

Kim Laube, B.A. / LifeDate / Fall 2016

Embryo Adoption, also known as Embryo Rescue, involves accepting embryos of another couple who created them through in vitro fertilization but no longer intend to implant or carry them to birth for various reasons.

Embryo Adoption legally speaking is not an adoption but rather is a legal transfer of property —though, of course, we as Christians would never settle for referring to a fellow human being in such terms—where the genetic family (donating) cannot accept any payment from the receiving family (adopting). Costs are associated with the social and legal work and medical procedures involved.

Risks include implanted embryos not resulting in pregnancy. Commonly, however, there is more than one embryo in the property transfer, so an additional attempt for pregnancy is possible in some cases.

Frozen embryos whose genetic family has determined not to implant them are extremely vulnerable. Many will be thawed and discarded. Their only chance at birth may be an adopting family. Frozen embryos are not merely “potential life” but rather life with potential.

 

More Effective Killing

clinicaltrials.gov

Obstetrics and Gynecology has published a new clinical trial looking at digoxin doses to kill fetuses more effectively, performed by  Dr. Nucatola of Planned Parenthood, who is now famous for her quote about changing abortion techniques to “less crunchable” procedures in order to harvest better fetal specimens.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27741192

The callous inhumanity with which these clinicians kill their patients and report their outcomes would have made the Nazi’s proud.

As medical professionals, we will continue to speak out against that calloused inhumanity with the voice of medical professionals who still value their oath to do no harm.   But we need your help to continue to do so.

Donna J. Harrison M.D. Executive Director

American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists

 

Michigan Appeals Court Rules Unborn Children Deserve Legal Protection

LifeNews.com(Reprinted from the Right to Life of Michigan blog.)/Oct. 27, 2016

What happens in Michigan when a pregnant woman is assaulted? Recently Michigan’s prenatal protection laws came in handy in making sure a criminal spent more time behind bars.

Samuel Demetrious Ambrose was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for some pretty heinous actions:

Allegan County Circuit Court Judge Kevin W. Cronin sentenced Ambrose to a minimum of four years in prison for the May 2014 assault and witness intimidation. His sentence was lengthened because the judge counted the woman’s unborn child as a second victim.

“I can’t remember when I’ve been so appalled at a defendant’s behavior of what – what cruelty, what total disregard for human life and decency there was in this particular incident,” Cronin said at sentencing. He compared the assault to water-boarding.

The trial court ruled that Ambrose harmed two victims, classifying the mother’s unborn child as a victim. Ambrose challenged the terms of his sentence; his lawyer argued that the unborn child should not be counted as a second victim because the child is not a “person.”

On October 26 the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the child can be considered a victim, because Michigan’s law clearly refers to “victims,” not “persons,” and based on our state’s Prenatal Protection Act, the Legislature clearly intended unborn children to be counted as potential victims of a crime. Ambrose’s enhanced sentence of 32 to 48 months in prison for felonious assault will stand.

Keep up with the latest pro-life news and information on Twitter.

Michigan updated protections for unborn children by passing the Prenatal Protection Act in 1999. Previously the child had to be born alive and then die in order to be counted as a victim of a crime committed while the child was in the womb.

The born-alive rule was necessary as a matter of evidence before the advent of ultrasound, because the only way to know a child in the womb was alive at any point (and harmed by the criminal action) was the mother reporting her experience of the baby moving. Thanks to modern medicine, documenting the life of the child in the womb is easy and undeniable.

 

Proposition 106 to Legalize Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in Colorado is Full of Problems

Attorney Margaret Dore, president of Choice is an Illusion, which has fought assisted suicide and euthanasia legalization efforts in many states, made the following statement in connection with Prop. 106, a pending ballot measure that seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in Colorado.

“Choice is an Illusion has launched a new website, “Choice is an Illusion Colorado,” specifically to fight Prop. 106 in these last ten days before the election,” said Dore. “The website’s purpose is to set the record straight on a deceptive and fraudulent measure that promises choice and control for individuals, but takes that choice away.”

“Prop. 106 seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined,” said Dore. “Prop. 106 is described as ‘aid in dying,’ but its reach is not limited to dying people. ‘Eligible’ persons may have years, even decades, to live.”

Dore said, “The patient’s heir, who will financially benefit from the patient’s death, is allowed to actively participate in signing the patient up for the lethal dose. There is no oversight over administration.” Dore elaborated, “No doctor, not even a witness, is required to be present at the death.” Dore said, “Even if the patient struggled, who would know? Prop. 106 creates the perfect crime.”

“I live in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal,” said Dore. “Oregon is right next door.”

Dore continued, “So far, I have had two cases where there was trauma suffered in connection with legal assisted suicide.”

“In the first case,” said Dore, “one side of the family wanted my client’s father to take the lethal dose while the other side did not. The father spent the last months of his life caught in the middle and torn over whether he should kill himself. He died the old fashioned way, but his family was torn apart.” Dore said, “In the other case, it’s not clear that death by the lethal dose was voluntary.”

Dore added, “Prop. 106 seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia for people who are ‘terminal,’ which is defined as a prediction of less than six months to live. In real life, such persons can have years to live.”

“One reason,” said Dore, “is that the ‘six months to live’ is determined without treatment.” “To illustrate,” Dore said, “I have a friend in Oregon who was talked out of assisted suicide sixteen years ago. Her doctor convinced her to be treated for cancer instead.”

“If Prop. 106 becomes law, there will be new lethal paths of elder abuse, which will be legally sanctioned and hidden from view,” said Dore. “People with years, even decades to live, will be encouraged to throw away their lives. Even if you like the concept of assisted suicide and euthanasia, Prop. 106 is the wrong law.”

 

 

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Posted By cmbuuck on January 12, 2017

 

Life Affirming News

 

TODAY’S SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

 

8TH UNDERCOVER VIDEO OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD AND BABY PARTS TRAFFICKING RELEASED

[SOURCES: 8/25/15 – NRL News Today; 8/25/15 – Center for Medical Progress Press Release]

Latest video reveals business end of baby parts procurement and the psychological toll taken on many fetal research workers.

The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) Tuesday released its 8th video exposing the harvesting and trafficking of baby body parts.

During the lunch meeting, Cate Dyer, chief executive officer of the fetal tissue procurement company StemExpress LLC, casually discusses the purchase and shipment of aborted baby organs — some of which are fully intact — with undercover CMP investigators. Dyer further suggests the need for “another 50 livers a week.”

In the discussion, Dyer also explains the shipping of whole baby cadavers to labs and recommends a warning label for workers opening the package — since some don’t want to see the heads, hands, and feet of unborn children. Her conversation provides insight into the psychological toll organ harvesting takes on many of the employees in the fetal tissue research industry. “Their lab techs freak out and have meltdowns,” Dyer explains, while laughing over lunch.

 

Harrison on Planned Parenthood controversy: ‘God is not silent’

By Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

“It is the deadly hatred with which Satan attacks Christ. It is the thirst for a vengeance against Christ, which Satan cannot satisfy. It is the anxiety before Christ the judge. It is the rage of the fatally wounded beast.” — Rev. Hermann Sasse’s sermon on the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, 1942

Tuesday morning, the Center for Medical Progress released another video exposing Planned Parenthood and the evil and immense pain that occur inside its clinics. The video is graphic. Little arms and legs are ripped from tiny bodies. They are callously referred to as “specimens,” sold at a price.

Jesus warned us about this. He reminded us that the devil would be hard at work, seeking to devour hearts and minds. He told us the world would try to silence His Word of life, and that His truth would be shunned. Satan will stop at nothing to rage at Christ, even if it means murdering the tiniest of people and selling their bodies for profit.

But God is not silent. He has a word for us, too. He comforts us in the knowledge that the devil’s attempts are desperate and futile, for Jesus came to save people, regardless of their size. He reminds us that He has “overcome the world” (John 16:33) and “came that [we] may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). His point? Satan is fighting a losing battle, and he knows it.

So also, we pray, is Planned Parenthood. Its leadership can make excuses and attempt to justify its actions, complain that the videos are edited or that the Center for Medical Progress isn’t a legitimate organization. The chatter doesn’t matter. In Christ, the tide has already turned. God is not silent. He will not allow Satan to prevail.

Even now, He is causing young people to rise up, no longer content to let this genocide continue. His Church is standing up, too, as congregations and individuals show mercy to those who suffer the emotional pain of an abortion and come alongside moms and babies in financial and spiritual need. LCMS Life Ministry carries on its joyful work as well, supporting crisis pregnancy centers, providing educational life materials, teaching youth about chastity and working closely with our friends at Lutherans For Life and the National Pro-Life Religious Council.

Satan will roar for a time, but his evil, murderous ways won’t last. Sasse reminds us, “Before the power of Jesus the unbridled power of Satan has to stop,” for Jesus “takes the dominion of the world away from Satan.

“Satan cannot overpower us,” Sasse continues. “He cannot stand before this Lord Jesus. That’s why he rages.” Be comforted. Pray boldly. Speak bravely. Defend life. Act courageously. Let your frustration and disgust be turned to prayer and action on behalf of our littlest neighbors, for Satan cannot win, and God is not silent.

 

Researchers Grow First Almost Fully-Formed Brain

[SOURCE: Center for Bioethics and Culture Network’s “This Week in Bioethics Ending August 21, 2015”]

Researchers at the University of Ohio announced success in growing an almost fully-formed brain using adult human skin cells. One bioethicist, Wesley Smith, suggests there is no need to pursue unethical human cloning for further research and no need for fetal tissue or organ experimentation.

 

Indiana U says important research on Alzheimer’s disease is imperiled by new state abortion law.

May 26, 2016,By Rick Seltzer

Indiana University on Wednesday challenged a new state abortion law in federal court, arguing it restricts academic freedom by criminalizing the acquisition or transfer of fetal tissue used for research.

The move stands out because the university is challenging the actions of the state that supports it. The dispute also comes at a time when many state and federal legislators are proposing laws to curtail abortion. And it arrives as lawmakers scrutinize fetal tissue research in the wake of a series of controversial videos released in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the use of fetal tissue.

The Indiana law in question was approved as House Bill 1337 in March, and it goes into effect at the beginning of July. Its provisions include requiring miscarried and aborted fetuses to be buried or cremated. Other parts of the law prohibit individuals from acquiring, receiving, selling or transferring fetal tissue. It makes the transfer or collection of fetal tissue a felony punishable by up to six years in prison.

Supporters of the law have argued it is a moral move affirming the value of human life. But IU leaders claim it leaves the university in an untenable position. The university legally obtained fetal tissue for important research, they said. Yet the law would leave it trapped with that tissue and unable to transfer it, putting its researchers at legal risk.

The law would also prohibit any researchers from obtaining additional fetal tissue for future needs.

 

NEWS #2: FINAL EXIT NETWORK SENTENCED IN MINNESOTA WOMAN’S ASSISTED SUICIDE

[SOURCE: 8/24/15 – Euthanasia Prevention Coalition]

Judge applies maximum sentence to pro-death organization in assisting in the 2007 death of Doreen Dunn.

Final Exit Network (FEN) was ordered Monday to pay $30,000 — the maximum sentence allowed under Minnesota law. Judge Christian Wilton also fined the group another $3,000 towards the woman’s funeral costs.

Last May the group was convicted by a jury in the death of the 57-year-old Apple Valley woman. Doreen Dunn ended her life with assistance from members of the organization. The conviction marked the first time the group had been found guilty of such a charge.

During trial proceedings, the Dakota County prosecutor said the group provided the woman with a “blueprint” to end her life and then removed the equipment she used to conceal the suicide from family and authorities.

The two FEN members arrived at Dunn’s home on May 30, 2007, to assist the woman in ending her life. They removed the equipment used in the suicide and left — making it appear Dunn died of natural causes. Dunn’s husband arrived home later to discover the woman dead on the couch.

Doreen Dunn suffered from depression after experiencing years of chronic pain but had no life-threatening illness. The family remains puzzled by her death.

Criminal cases against FEN’s coordinator and medical director are still pending.

 

 

Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off on September 2016 Newsletter
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Posted By cmbuuck on August 23, 2016

 

Life Affirming News

 

Harrison Responds to SCOTUS Abortion Decision

The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison / President, The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

Synod President reflects on High Court ruling invalidating Texas law protecting the health and safety of expectant mothers and their babies.

The United States Supreme Court ruled today that 58 million aborted babies is not enough. Our national sin of abortion now dwarfs the atrocities of the genocide of 6 million Jews by the Nazis, and the extermination of 20 million Christians by the Soviet Union. I can find no other words to describe this disgrace than those of Hermann Sasse directed at the Nazi regime:

The lie is the death of man, his temporal and his eternal death. The lie kills nations. Through their lies, the most powerful empires of the world were laid waste. History knows of no more unsettling spectacle than the judgment which comes to pass when the men of an advanced culture have rejected the truth, and are now swallowed up in a sea of lies. As was the case with fading pagan antiquity, where this happened, religion and law, poetry and philosophy, life in marriage and family, in the state and society, in short, one sphere of life after another, fell sacrifice to the power and curse of the lie. Where man can no longer bear the truth, he cannot live without the lie. Where man, even when dying, lies to himself and others, the terrible dissolution of his culture is held up as a glorious ascent, and decline is viewed as an advance, the like of which has never been experienced. Union and Confession, 1936.

O Lord Jesus, author and source of life, cast us not away because of our sins. Change the minds and hearts of the people of this nation, waning under moral ambiguity. Uphold your Church wherever it stands for life. Give us repentance where Christians have failed to speak and act and vote for life. Help us to continue to care for the least, the last, the needy, the downtrodden, and especially those who have succumbed to the lie. We plead it for your sake. Amen.

 

National Black for Life Coalition

VISION

To end abortion by restoring a culture of Life and the foundation of Family in the Black community.

MISSION

We will promote traditional family values, from a Biblical worldview, to produce strong and healthy families where babies are safe and able to reach their full potential in life. Through education and awareness media campaigns, community events, political action, lobbying and coalition building of Pro-Life and Pro-Family advocacy groups, we will restore Life, Family and Hope in the Black community.

STATEMENT OF NON-VIOLENCE

The National Black Pro-Life Coalition, in line with Biblical teaching, unambiguously and emphatically rejects violence as a solution to the abortion crisis. Inflicting harm on any individual or property is not an acceptable way of resolving any social problem the American public currently faces. We respect and cherish the lives even of those with whom we strongly disagree.

No person who carries out, intends to carry out, or theoretically justifies any act of violence has any part in our organization or our efforts. Abortion is a violent reprehensible act that is carried out thousands of times a day. In our efforts to abolish this violence, we are committed to the pursuit of non-violence and will always advance a climate where that understanding is embraced.

OUR CORE VALUES

• We believe we are all deliberate creations, of one blood, made in the image of God.
• We believe children are essential and deserve protection, legal personhood, nurture, and love in the womb and throughout childhood.
• We believe the foundation of a stable and healthy society is rooted in the marriage of one man and one woman.
• We believe the community is the visible expression of life.
• We believe the viability of a nation is dependent upon its value of human life in all stages.

 

Press Release

Associated Press / Indianapolis (AP)

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky says it’s closing six Indiana health centers over the next five months.

It announced Thursday its center in Muncie will close Friday and one in Terre Haute will close on Wednesday.

Planned Parenthood also says its Valparaiso center will merge with one in Merrillville on July 21, its Fishers center will be folded into its Indianapolis east side operation on July 26, its Avon center will be consolidated with one on the Indianapolis south side on Aug. 30, and its East Chicago center will merge with one in Gary on Dec. 15. It says the consolidated health centers will have extended hours.

The nonprofit says patients of its Muncie and Terre Haute health centers are being directed to other nearby health centers

 

166 Die in Quebec by Euthanasia Since December

Life Site News / July 14, 2016

Figures show 252 adults asked for medical help to die since December 10, and 166 received it.

According to an article in Le Devoir published on July 6, 2016, there have been 252 requests for euthanasia in Quebec since December 10, 2015, and 166 people died by euthanasia. Another 249 people were given terminal palliative sedation.

A similar article from Radio Canada published on the Huffington Post Quebec website on the same day put the figures somewhat lower. The Radio Canada report said that 128 people have been euthanized, while 200 people requested the procedure. Radio Canada did not mention a figure for terminal palliative sedation. The Commission on End-Of-Life Care has not issued an official report on the number of euthanasia procedures; their report is expected in September.

The statistics were compiled by each publication from information on the websites of hospitals throughout Quebec. Each media outlet has interpreted the statistics according to its own position on the issue. While Radio Canada’s article is relatively neutral, the piece in Le Devoir implies that people’s rights are being violated if they die before the eligibility evaluation process is completed and euthanasia can be administered.

 

“Guardian Angel” discovers abandoned one-day old baby: 9-year-old says God helped her find the little girl

By Dave Andrusko / NRLNews / July 14, 2016

Nine-year-old Elysia Laub was heading to the family pool when she noticed something moving. Initially she couldn’t make out what the object she’d spotted in her back yard covered in maggots was.

Whatever it was, it was “small and pink that was crying and kicking its little legs in the backyard of her home,” according to Chris Spargo of the Daily Mail.

A piglet which had escaped from its pen on the family farm in Lowell, Indiana?

No, it was a newborn baby with her placenta and umbilical cord still attached!

“’I knew it was alive and I knew we had something,” Elysia said. “I could not second guess myself. I knew we had to get help.”

She ran inside, got her mother.

“I thought it was a robotic doll,” Heidi Laub told NBC Chicago. “Then I ran to the baby and scooped it up and I said, “Elysia run to the house and call 911 as soon as possible.”

“It’s obvious that this child, from the medical reports, was born just a few hours before it was found,’ said Sheriff John Buncich, who added that she could have been left out overnight. Spargo writes that the baby “would have likely died had she spent a few more hours in the yard undiscovered, which has earned her the nickname ‘Miracle Jane Doe.’”

“We’re considering Elysia the guardian angel of that infant,” Sheriff Buncich told CBS News.

However “I didn’t do this myself,” Elysia said. “Somebody helped me.”

Who?

“God,” the girl said.

Indiana has what is called a “Safe Haven” law which allows mothers to put their babies at a designated place without fear of prosecution.

Authorities are running tests, trying to determine who are the baby girl’s parents. As of yesterday, reports were she was fine and being treated at St. Anthony hospital.

 

 

Category: Newsletter | Comments Off on August 2016 Newsletter
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Posted By cmbuuck on July 15, 2016

Life Affirming News

 

Human, Without Exceptions

by Kim Laube / LifeDate / Summer 2106

Subsets of humans have been marginalized throughout human existence, but despite all the efforts for personal freedoms, there is still a group being marginalized, being made to feel less than human, and it’s happening in legislatures all over the United States!

The vast majority of “pro-life” legislation comes with a bitter pill to swallow for many who are left to believe that their lives are not worth sparing—those who were conceived in rape and incest. By the measure God provides, these sons and daughters are no doubt human beings that God designed, adores, and sent His Son to die for.

Offering up a rape or incest exception in legislation has become standard protocol with many groups citing the concept that saving some is better than none—but is it? By allowing exceptions into our belief, aren’t we truly agreeing with our opponents that some human life is worthless? Is that the argument God would have us make?

Consider Matthew 18:10-14 (NIV): “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”

A child conceived in rape or incest is not just “The Child of a Rapist,” he or she is the Child of a Rape Survivor, and more importantly, he or she is a Child of God. Society, by allowing these exceptions, is telling the rape victim that there is no value in her son or daughter’s life, and we expect she will want to have the baby killed! What an incredibly disheartening message to send to the victim of a crime—a crime which by nature leaves many victims doubting their own self-worth in the first place. We compound the wound to the victim by expecting she will want to kill the child she now carries—a child that is a part of her.

To make matters even more pressure-filled, many states allow a rapist to use his parental rights as leverage to get criminal charges dropped. Can you imagine? A rape victim’s choices become: kill her baby and pursue a rape charge, give birth to her baby and attempt to place the child for adoption just to have her rapist intervene and leverage his voluntary termination of parental rights in turn for her dropping any charges, or give birth and parent her child, in which case the rapist could try to trade his visitation and custody rights in exchange for her dropping the rape charge. Is there any justice?

In Iowa, Lutheran Family Service has been working on legislation that would terminate the parental rights of rapists and would not allow them to use their paternity as leverage for dropping criminal charges. Many other states around the nation are enacting similar laws! The Iowa bill unanimously passed the house and senate and was signed by the governor. This law allows a woman both a clear path to choose life for her child without the threat of her rapist having visitation, custody, or any part of their lives and a clear path to seek justice.

We are proud to have been a part of legislation that protects rather than marginalizes the sons and daughters of rape victims. They are our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and their lives are not exceptions!

 

The Physician-assisted Suicide Assault

by Virginia Flo / LifeDate / Summer 2016

By now you have probably heard about the many states that are being targeted with potential bills to legalize physician-assisted suicide. What you may not have heard is that many of those states have had their bills withdrawn or defeated—at least eight states since January 1 of this year. I want to share this because sometimes things seem inevitable and unstoppable when there is a full-scale assault on our religious beliefs.

I live in Minnesota, and our bill was recently withdrawn from a senate hearing by the senate author when support seemed insufficient. We know that probably isn’t the end of it and it could show up again. Yet, we praise the Lord for the heartfelt testimonies of church leaders, pro-life advocates, doctors, nurses, hospice caregivers, lawyers, educators and, most importantly, people with terminal illnesses who shared their stories and pleaded with the senators to set this proposed bill aside.

I had never before sat in on a senate hearing. I went to see how the process works and better understand why people want to legalize physician-assisted suicide. It was clear who was on what side that day as the people from Compassion & Choices—a successor to The Hemlock Society and the group supporting the bill—all wore yellow, while the people against it wore red as a message to “STOP” it. I stood in line for about a half hour and during that time could see groups of people wearing yellow and red talking amongst themselves. It was uplifting to see so many more people dressed in red than yellow that day.

I thought for a bit and then decided to approach a couple of people in yellow standing just a little way away from me. I introduced myself as being from Lutherans For Life, gave them my card, and asked them why they were there. The man immediately said he was a retired internist and was there to support the bill and give testimony. The lady volunteered that she too was Lutheran. She then shared that she was in the final stages of terminal leukemia, which she stated was beyond treatment. She described what she might go through at the very end of her life, saying she wanted to avoid that.

I continued to listen to the woman’s story as she shared that she didn’t know if she would actually use the 90 pills required to induce death. She just wanted them in her medicine cabinet to bring her comfort. She then asked that I not tell her pastor she was there that day supporting the bill. That saddened me, as I would hope everyone would turn to God through his or her pastor to receive comfort through God’s Word which promises He will be with us to the very end.

I asked both of them why they felt death is the only answer to end-of-life issues. The doctor said he felt it was a right. Later, in his testimony, he described how doctors could be over-medicating terminally ill patients and needed the option of assisted suicide. I have to admit that it gave me a shiver down my spine to hear that a doctor wanted to end lives rather than focus on other treatment or pain-relief options in an effort to do no harm.

Many doctors have said they cannot accurately pinpoint when a life will end and refuse to put a timeline on end of life as that could cause undue distress. Bless them for their position and acknowledgement that diagnosing can be inaccurate. God’s timing is perfect, and only He can predict when life ends.

Each of the people who testified that day on behalf of passing the legislation seemed quite sincere. Yet, as I saw this picture unfold, it was apparent there was something horribly wrong when people wanted to use a law to justify the taking of a life or look to a bottle of pills as security to bring comfort. Where is God in this picture?

It was uplifting to hear the side opposed to the bill testify on a need to focus on providing better palliative and hospice care to avoid suffering. When suicide is the first priority, anything that can be done to avoid suffering takes a back seat. Second priorities generally don’t get the same attention as first priorities, and this situation is no different.

When assisted suicide becomes legal, it is deemed a medical treatment. Since the pills are far less expensive than other medical options, it creates a whole new environment in the world of medicine. Doctors have to weigh the advancement of death as an option to other treatments, as will insurance companies.

I thank the Lord that we still have many faithful state legislators who value life, are not fearful of sharing their beliefs and turning back such incredibly harmful legislation. We need to pray for each and every one of them, including those who support these potentially dangerous laws. I am also thankful for the many medical professionals who have spoken up against assisted suicide and who promise not to prescribe lethal drugs that will harm their patients.

As Christians, we have a responsibility to provide comfort to the sick, as we do not want anyone to suffer. That is why we promote work to improve palliative care so doctors will have better means to relieve suffering at life’s end until God calls us home to heaven where there is no suffering.

Let us put our trust in Him.

 

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Posted By cmbuuck on June 28, 2016

 

Life Affirming News

 

Happy Father’s Day to all Fathers!

“Fathers can do no better work and do nothing more valuable either for God, for Christendom, for all the world, for themselves, and for their children than to bring up their children well…For bringing up their children properly is their shortest road to heaven.”

“Now tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other menial task for his child…God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling-not because that the father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith.” (Martin Luther)

 

Finding their voice: Men speaking out about Abortion

NRL News Today / by Olivia Gans Turner / June 1, 2016

Editor’s note. Father’s Day is June 19. Over the next two and a half weeks I’ll be running some new stories, some older stories about one of the most neglected subject areas in the entire abortion debate: a father’s role and responsibility. The following appeared in the January 2008 edition of National Right to Life News.

The phrase that has been used by American Victims of Abortion (AVA) since our early days in the 1980s as an outreach mission of NRLC has been, “We are the mothers, the fathers, the families. They were our children.”

What does this recognize? That every abortion is truly a death in the family and, often, of a family. This grim reality is at the forefront of the message shared by those that told their stories.

But to help people understand that there is a ripple effect from every abortion that extends out beyond the mother and her child has been a rough row to hoe. It was not really until this past November that a professional conference met to address the pain fathers of aborted children feel.

Sponsored by the National Office of Post-Abortion Recovery and Healing, the conference in San Francisco, California, brought together some of the outstanding men and women it has been my privilege to work with since I entered the pro life movement back in 1982 as well as new faces. The synergy between the veterans and the newcomers meant there would be a wider, more free-wheeling discussion.

The presenters were for the most part physicians, therapists, and researchers committed to engaging our culture. We must reach beyond the commonplace but tragically mistaken notion that women have the sole voice in deciding what happens to a child who has a father, two grandfathers, uncles, and, often, siblings.

As highlighted in the June and September 2008 editions of NRL News, pro-abortion forces are terrified that men might actually find their voices and then discover that they have a platform in the pro-life movement to share their pain.

Although it was not yet called that at the time, the first person I ever heard speak about Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS) was Dr. Vincent Rue, at the 1982 National Right to Life Convention. He articulated perfectly what women like me were living though.

He was also daring enough to suggest, even then, that men as well as women were likely candidates for post-abortion emotional problems. It only made sense if one looked at the reality of the life-and-death nature of the decision being made and how men were completely shut out.

Now 35 years later Dr. Rue is still ahead of the curve. He explained that since 1973 only three major studies have ever been conducted to try to determine the effects of abortion on men.

Three-and-one-half decades post-Roe, men are still truly the forgotten players in the story of every abortion.

Pro-abortion forces are deeply troubled that men are beginning to find a place at the table of PAS concerns. They have long since tried to discredit efforts to discuss the degree of problems women may have after abortion, whether mental or physical.

The discussion about men and abortion threatens many on the pro-abortion side. If we do prove that abortion is not only deadly for our children but also damages mothers and fathers, then, as a society, we must ask ourselves, “Who is abortion good for?”

There were many, many outstanding speakers at the San Francisco conference. Greg Hasek is director of Misty Mountain Ministries and a frequent guest at NRL Conventions. He explored the lack of connectedness many men have to their own father and how this anticipates and aggravates the loss of fatherhood many men feel after an abortion.

Many women have shared with me how the apparent ambivalence shown by their baby’s father at the news of the pregnancy was viewed by them as abandonment. Yet the message given to several generations of young men has been, “Stand back and let her decide!” The results have been a recipe for disaster.

Dr. Catherine Coyle, another presenter, is committed to getting honest conversations started between men and women after an abortion. The best path to healing brings all parties together as they learn to remember their children rather than grieving alone.

Her book “Men and Abortion: A Path to Healing,” is the result of an online research project she initiated. It is an invaluable resource for those looking to expand or provide PAS support to men in their community.

Tom Golden presented wonderful insights into the different ways that men and women grieve. Men need to do something with their pain, so active grief tools need to be developed for them. Memorial project ideas are a good place to help men do something with the hurt.

This was not an Americans-only conference either. The sad facts are that abortion is a worldwide tragedy. Another presenter, Andrzej Winkler, M.A., is a therapist and president of the pro-life society in Poland.

A memory that I have of working in Poland during the 1990s was how often men approached us to talk about their abortion stories. That was something that surprised both of us.

Years of working alongside of good, committed, and compassionate people such as Mrs. Vicki Thorn, the executive director of the National Office of Post-Abortion Healing and Reconciliation, made me conscious of how hard it is to get the layers of complexity that surround abortion even discussed.

For many of the nearly 200 people in attendance, most of whom were male, some of the most powerful moments came when several fathers gave their own testimonies. The sincerity and courage with which they told their stories was the touchstone for the rest of the conference.

As it turned out, there were many other post-abortive fathers in attendance that had come only to find out what the whole thing was about. The fellowship that arose from the honest comments of their peers was heartwarming.

Our children have been forgotten by too many in our culture. Telling our stories whether told by men or by women is an important witness to their brief lives.

 

Dutch Pediatricians Seek Child Euthanasia

NRL News Today / by Michael Cook / May 2, 2016

The Dutch Health Minister, Edith Schippers, has earmarked almost 400,000 Euros for a study of whether to expand eligibility for euthanasia to children between 1 and 12. At the moment, children under 1 may be killed with the consent of their parents following criteria set out in the Groningen Protocols.

Children older than 12 are already eligible.

After neighboring Belgium passed legislation in 2014 enabling child euthanasia, doctors and activists in the Netherlands are keen to catch up.

The Dutch Pediatric Association (NVK) kicked off a debate on the topic last year. It strongly supports a change.

At the moment euthanasia of a child between 2 and 12 is only possible by invoking the doctrine of “force majeure” in the Dutch criminal code, which means that the doctor feels compelled to do it as an emergency measure. But this still leaves him open to prosecution.

The NVK believes that age is an arbitrary criterion and that euthanasia should be available for anyone with mental competence. Some children, even if they are under 12 and desperately ill, are astonishingly rational.

A roundtable discussion at the Dutch Parliament amongst experts in medical care for children in January showed that there is a range of opinions on the topic, although most of the participants were broadly in favor of a change. The Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) is in favor of studying the issue further.

Not all organizations at the roundtable wanted to amend the law. A Christian group, the NPV, pointed out that “the suffering of the parents should not be a justification for a request for termination of life of the child.” Their position was that “A society that does not protect its children loses its dignity. Let us commit to good palliative care and guidance to children – and their parents – in the last phase of life”.

A spokeswoman for the Dutch Association of Educationalists (NRC), Dr. Miriam Vos, raised questions about what “hopeless and unendurable suffering,” the main criteria for euthanasia in the Netherlands, means for children.

“Children younger than 12 rarely or never speak in terms of hopeless and unbearable suffering. Their verbal and nonverbal expressions may suggest this, but this is always interpreted by their doctor, parents and other health care workers.”

 

Euthanasia Advocates Come Up With a Disgusting New Word to Describe Killing People

Opinion / by Wesley Smith / May 26, 2016  

The euthanasia movement has always been about finding words and terms to mask the harshness of killing as a response to suffering.

Indeed, the word “euthanasia”–good death–did not originally refer to killing. Rather, it meant dying peacefully in a state of grace.

Now, the suicide fanatic Faye Girsh–former head of the Hemlock Society–reporting from a convention of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies, says the psychiatrist that brought euthanasia to the mentally ill in Netherlands has coined an obscuring word to replace “euthanasia” in the movement’s lexicon.

From her summary:

Boudewijn Chabot (de Einder) disclosed the name of the patient whose death 25 years ago brought him into conflict with the Dutch  Supreme Court and opened the way for help for psychiatric patients. He  is now using the term ”dignicide” (which my spell checker is rejecting)  as the word promoted by some to describe a self-selected rational and  dignified death.

You can call a dung beetle a butterfly–but it is still a dung beetle.

LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D., is a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and a bioethics attorney who blogs at Human Exeptionalism. Hospital Stops Abortions After Every Single Doctor Signs Pledge Refusing to Do Them

 

International News: Warsaw, Poland

Steven Ertelt / May 31, 2016

A hospital in Poland has stopped doing abortions after every single physician there signed a pledge refusing to do them. This good news is a lesson for the United States and other countries where abortion is legal — that getting doctors to stand up for life and the Hippocratic Oath is a method of protecting women and unborn children even within the confines of legalized abortion.

A hospital in Rzeszów, Poland has stopped doing abortions after its doctors signed a clause that allows them to opt out because of conscience.

The Specialist Hospital Pro-Familia has become notorious for performing abortions when a midwife named Agata Rejman exposed its activities two years ago.

In January 2014, Rejman spoke at a press conference and testified to the abortions that were being done in the hospital. She said she and others working there cited the conscience clause and said that they refused to be involved in abortion, Rzeszow News reported.

The management responded by demanding that Rejman retract her statements, especially those saying that Pro-Familia “kills children.” Rejman was asked to pay 50,000 zlotych for Podkarpackie Hospice for Children and was threatened with a lawsuit if she failed to do this.

In the U.S. regarding doctors and abortions, the Obama Administration looks like it’s on a mission to trample religious and conscience protections and force as many people as it can to promote and pay for abortions.

Breitbart reports the pro-abortion administration issued a new nondiscrimination policy in the name of “equity” on Friday that pressures doctors and hospitals to promote and perform abortions. Those that don’t would not be eligible for federal funds including Medicare and Medicaid, according to the report.

The “Final Rule” on Obamacare Section 1557 came from the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday, and it largely had to do with discrimination and “gender identity.” While the rule summary does not mention abortion specifically, it explains that the rule “requires that women be treated equally with men in the health care they receive and also prohibits the denial of health care or health coverage based on an individual’s sex, including discrimination based on pregnancy, gender identity and sex stereotyping.”

David Christensen, vice president of government affairs for the Family Research Council, told Breitbart that the new rule mandates that federally funded health care providers offer abortion, among other services.

“Despite concerns raised by FRC and others that the proposed rule also included abortion, the administration chose instead not to exclude it,” Christensen said. “This action erodes Americans’ freedom to believe and act in accordance with their beliefs, not only as it relates to the privacy of the bathrooms but also now when it comes to the taking of innocent human life.”

The rule also does not include any new religious exemptions. According to the rule summary, “the final rule on Section 1557 does not include a religious exemption; however, the final rule does not displace existing protections for religious freedom and conscience.”

 

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Posted By cmbuuck on May 14, 2016

 

Dr. Christina Francis of the Life Training Institute will illustrate how we can make a reasoned case for the humanity of the unborn.

 

MAKING A PERSUASIVE CASE FOR LIFE

 

Join Dr. Christina Francis of the Life Training Institute as she shows how we can make a reasoned case for the humanity of the unborn. While Christians can point to Scripture which teaches us that children in the womb are fully human and deserve protection, it’s often more difficult for us to make this case in the public square, as we speak to people who do not recognize the truth of God’s Word in Scripture. Dr. Francis will show us how medical science and good reason will lead us to the conclusion that unborn humans are fully human.

Dr. Christina Francis is a board-certified OB/GYN who currently works in Fort Wayne. She completed medical school at IU in 2005, and her residency at St Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis in 2009. As a speaker for Life Training Institute, Dr. Francis offers her medical expertise, knowledge of bioethics, and pro-life reasoning both here in the U.S. and around the globe. She has a passion for human rights and has worked with women and orphaned children in Romania and Burma, university students in Israel, and in a mission hospital in rural Kenya. Dr. Francis left Kenya in 2014 to work on behalf of women and children in her home state and beyond who are often victims of the abortion industry, and to educate people on the greatest social injustice of our time.

 

The event is open to all and there is no charge. If you are attending as a group, please RSVP to the church office at 436-4474 or swlc@southwestlutheran.org.

 

TIME AND PLACE: Sunday, May 15th at 1:00pm

Southwest Lutheran Church

5120 Homestead Rd

Fort Wayne IN 46814

 

 

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