The Washington Examiner reported June 4 that pro-life Congressman Chris Smith recently reminisced about meeting his wife Marie:

Smith noted that even his wife is deeply involved in the anti-abortion movement, something that brought the two together at Trenton State. He said that when he helped create a pro-life caucus at the school, she joined in but rejected his requests for a date. So he made her treasurer of the group and eventually they became a couple.

‘I wore her down,” he joked, adding, “this movement is also a dating service.”

Together, the two comprise a powerful pro-life couple.

Pro-abortion site Dammit Janet! mocked the pairing:

*Seduction* tactics from the deeply paternalistic.

Who would have guessed that anti-choicers were limited to such a small breeding dating pool? And that they’d have to resort to bullying tactics to wear down women’s resistance and to coerce them into marrying them?

Cute, but there is a valid question lurking here. Do you think a pro-lifer should date and/or marry an abortion proponent? The ideological divisions are quite deep, but are they surmountable for compatible coupling?

What a great idea. As a young male student busy with classes, sports, and glee club, you just don’t have time to figure out who to date any more. The line at the clinic reduces confusion.

Conversely, if you never see a female classmate there, you can assume she’s no fun at all, or worse, God forbid, a virgin. Don’t ask *her* to the prom.

~ Greg Gutfeld, conservative commentator on Fox News’ The Five, commenting on the Los Angeles School District’s decision to host a Planned Parenthood clinic on one of its campuses, June 7

by Kelli

We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• Albert Mohler discusses the reasons why “American evangelicals are rethinking birth control even as a majority of the nation’s Roman Catholics indicate a rejection of their Church’s teaching.”
• Suzy B and Wesley J. Smith discuss the disturbing eugenic implications of a “potential new test to chart the entire genome of a developing fetus.”
• ProWomanProLife links to the National Post’s article on a recently-passed, “under the radar” amendment in Canada which states that all public sector businesses must increase their financial accountability reporting- unless that business is an abortion provider.

• At New Feminism, National Organization for Women board member Kathleen Sloan speaks out against the commodification of women and children through surrogacy.
• At Moral Outcry, Susan Tyrrell eviscerates the United Methodist Church, which is actually a member of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. The UMC states:
  

  Our belief in the sanctity of unborn human life makes us reluctant to approve abortion. But we are equally bound to respect the sacredness of the life and well-being of the mother, for whom devastating damage may result from an unacceptable pregnancy.

What are we to make of this in light of Christ’s conception, a culturally “unacceptable pregnancy” for his mother, Mary, who was unwed and could have been stoned to death (“devastating damage,” to be sure) for assumed fornication/adultery?

• Secular Pro-Life remarks on the Slate article in which Allison Benedikt says pro-choicers should “gulp and get over” any squeamishness about sex-selective abortion:
  

  Once pro-choicers get uncomfortable with a reason for an abortion, they are revealing the fact that they place some value on the fetus….

Ignore that hesitation, is what she is saying. Push that feeling of value to the back of your mind. Avoid confronting it….

But emotions occur for a reason. Why is Allison discouraging her comrades from privately investigating the reason behind their discomfort? If it’s an emotion brought on only by pro-lifers, then what threat is that to the validity of the pro-choice perspective? However, if it’s an emotion brought on by innate value in that which you are allowing to be destroyed… well doesn’t that deserve investigation? If the woman’s needs are truly more important, won’t truth prevail?

[Photo via mtholyoke.edu]

by LauraLoo

Tiffany Rent, who is eight months pregnant, was tased by a Chicago police officer this week after she tore up her ticket due to a parking dispute.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-f_8_ifHmU[/youtube]

First, what should the ground rules be for tasing anyone?  Does a parking dispute and tearing up a ticket justify being tased?  I think not.

Finally, how would anyone on the police force determine if a woman they have pulled over is pregnant or not (unless it’s just plain obvious)?  After all, women come in a variety of sizes so it’s hard to know for sure (especially if a woman who is small framed is pregnant).

Email LauraLoo with your Lunch Break suggestions.

[HT: 89WLS Chicago]

6/9, 8:40a: Fox News provided great coverage of the Rally for Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C.:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8mXdzOPEX8[/youtube]

CatholicVote.org has photos from rallies around the country.

StandUpForReligiousFreedom.com is reporting crowd totals of 45,409 so far of 99 cities reporting.

The rally I attended in Chicago featured a jazz band, balloon trees, a flash mob, and confetti. It was awesome. Speakers on the dais included a Jewish rabbi, Muslim, Protestant pastor, and Catholic priest. The fight is not about contraception, as the Obama administration would have Americans believe. It is about religious freedom.

Eric Scheidler and his crew at Pro-Life Action League did a great job organizing all of these events.

6/8, 9:23a: Today, for the second time, pro-lifers in 164 cities from coast to coast will Stand Up for Religious Freedom to protest President Obama’s healthcare mandate, which will force religious entities to provide contraceptives, abortion drugs, and sterilization in their insurance plans. All rallies will start at noon local time.

I will be speaking at the rally in Chicago, which promises a delightful surprise!

Check out locations, all of which are at federal buildings across the country, and plan to attend the nearest rally now. These are historic times. Be a part of the resistance!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sbnDjj7WbU[/youtube]

I’m glad that I was never approached to be sterilized, because if I was, I wouldn’t feel the self-worth and the self-value that I feel today.

~ Recovering drug addict Devikah, countering the claims of Barbara Harris, founder of Project Prevention, “a program that offers $300 for current and former drug users to get sterilized or to use certain long-acting birth control methods,” via RH Reality Check, June 7

by LauraLoo

Highlights of the pomp, processions and pageantry of Queen Elizabeth II’s four-day Diamond Jubilee celebration.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PhtUmfZ3xI[/youtube]

There is also talk of renaming the Big Ben Clock Tower to the Elizabeth Tower.  Your thoughts?

Email LauraLoo with your Lunch Break suggestions.

[HT:  Joshua, United Kingdom]

This morning 10a to 11:30a EST the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services will hold an online Women’s Health Town Hall.

This affords pro-lifers a fabulous opportunity to send unfiltered and public messages to HHS, the mainstream media, and the social media world by submitting questions and comments via Twitter and Facebook.

Per HHS’s instructions, submit questions and comments via Twitter by using the hashtag #WomensHealth and also at HHS’s Facebook page. Then watch the town hall live streamed to see if they address any of our concerns (taking bets that they don’t).

Scheduled to on the call are a who’s who of pro-abortion leaders in the Obama administration, including:

• Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls
• Tina Tchen, Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls and Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama
• Cecilia Muñoz, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council
• Judy Waxman, Vice President of the National Women’s Law Center

Sample tweets, submitted by reader Julie (@LifeLetter):

• Pres Obama, didn’t you promise to protect conscience rights? Why will you not allow us to opt out of paying for #abortions? #WomensHealth

• Ms. Seblius, why is it illegal for insurance providers to call attention to the #abortion charges we will pay every month? #WomensHealth

• Ms. Sebelius, since your newest #HHS regulation refers to #abortion as a “service”, why hide the abortion charges every month? #WomensHealth
• Ms. Sebelius, don’t I at least get to know how much money I’m being required to pay for other people’s #abortions every month? #WomensHealth
• When we begin purchasing coverage in 2014, exactly how much of our monthly premiums will be set aside to pay for #abortions?#WomensHealth
• Why does the new HHS regulation require us to pay an abortion surcharge every month when we begin purchasing coverage in 2014? #WomensHealth

You get the idea. Let’s flood Twitter and Facebook so we cannot be ignored.

[HT: Eric Scheidler at ProLifeAction.org]