(Prolifer)ations 2-28-12
by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN, and Kelli
We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.
- Americans United for Life posts video of the PBS debate between Dr. Charmaine Yoest and Nancy Keenan of NARAL regarding the pending Virginia legislation mandating ultrasounds prior to abortions. I loved hearing Keenan say “listen to the heartbeat”:
Watch Va. Proposal Mandating Ultrasound Before Abortion Debated on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
- Big Blue Wave discusses an article by two Italian scientists who argue in favor of infanticide, or, as they prefer to call it, “after-birth abortion.” They argue that it takes a couple of weeks for the infant to move from “potential person” to “actual person,” and that “killing a newborn could be ethically permissible in all the circumstances where abortion would be.”
- At Coming Home, Dr. Gerard Nadal starts a series investigating whether Charles Darwin was an “architect of the culture of death.”
- Albert Mohler discusses Rick Santorum’s potential electability issues and the mainstream media’s philosophy of “everything you say [even in speeches to religious groups] can and will be used against you” in the court of public opinion.
- Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and Wesley J. Smith discuss in separate posts the recent comments by Rick Santorum on the status of euthanasia in the Netherlands. Again, shining a light on a life issue appears to rankle some.
- Ethika Politika examines the assertion that 98% of Catholics practice birth control, and points to a much larger issue: almost a third of American Christians have been permanently and voluntarily sterilized.
- At Live Action, Nancy Flanders notices a post from Babble on what not to say to a woman who suffers a miscarriage – one statement being, “It was not a real baby, just a fetus.” The post’s author responds, “A ‘fetus’ is a baby. The mom will feel changes from very early on, making the transition to motherhood already there in her mind. It was a real baby.”
- Down on the Pharm shares commentary on the Obama Administration’s contraceptive mandate by Fr. Sammie Maletta, of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Indiana:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltTd81XpDnc[/youtube]
Feb.28, 2012 3:30 pm |
Blogs |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Why did the PBS interviewer not know about Kermit Gosnell. I swear I thought I saw Ms. Keenan smile when she learned of the interviewer’s ignorance of Dr. Gosnell.
Tyler,
I find it hard to believe that she didn’t know about Gosnell. Wow. The MSM usually doesn’t care much about abortion. If they saw it for what it is and reported on it, they would lose their viewership and abortion would be illegal by now.
Kudos to Woodruff for doing this interview. ”Pro-woman’s health” Yoest is awesome in this PBS interview (Let’s hope it stays up on PBS’s website). I’m going to email it to everyone I know, especially young girls who are most vulnerable to being hooked by the pro-abort propaganda. Notice Keenan looked defeated at the end when she called pro-life supporters bullies, or something similar. Praying for a conversion of heart and mind for all pro-aborts.
~Janet
I believe the statement, “almost a third of American Christians have been permanently and voluntarily sterilized. ” is questionable. I’ve read the Guttmacher report, and found the data do not support that conclusion:
First, the legend for the entry on sterilization says “female and male”. In other words, a married couple in which the husband has a vasectomy would count as a “woman using sterilization” as a birth control method.
Second, the figures for birth control method (Figure 3 in the Guttmacher report) have a footnote: “*Restricted to sexually active women who are not pregnant, post-partum or trying to get pregnant.” This limits the focus to those who are sexually active but do not want to have children.
Third, the survey was limited to women between 15- and 44-years-old who have ever been sexually active. Right there, that leaves out all those younger and older women, all those who are celibate…. and ALMOST ALL of the men.
Nowhere in the report does it mention what portion of religious women surveyed were “at risk of unintended pregnancy”, in other words, trying to prevent pregnancy. We don’t know from the report how representative these numbers are of the general population of Christians. That may be intentional, given that the Guttmacher Institute is a research arm of Planned Parenthood. Certainly they’ve gotten a lot of press for their “98% of Catholics use birth control” claim.
My computer won’t let me copy and paste again..Grrr! Anyway… as to the Live Action post above….AMEN!
That homily was wonderful! I wish ALL priests would speak about relevant issues like he speaks about this one.
A question for others here concerning how to comfort those who suffer a miscarriage:
One thing that I’ve heard can help is to ask what the child’s name is. In doing so, you do three crucial things:
1) You acknowledge that she lost a child, not merely a “clump of cells”.
2) You acknowledge that this child is worth remembering BY NAME.
3) You assure her that she will not be the only one to remember her child.
Any constructive opinions on this approach would be very much appreciated, as I know several people who have known this pain and others who likely will in the future (family medical history) and for their sakes, I would prefer to be better able to help comfort them.
Maestro- thanks! Reaching out to women- and men- who have lost a child through miscarriage is caring and only serves to acknowledge the life of unborn little girl and little boy fetuses. The prolife community can and should be doing more in this regard.
If you asked me the question you posed above, I’d probably tear up and tell you-
Anna Kathleen- 3/2005
Teresa Benedicta- 9/2007
Patrick Ignatius- 12/2011
Losing three little ones through miscarriage has nearly broken my heart. I simply
make a choice to trust Jesus to put it back together again- and smooth out the rough places.
Thanks again for asking. While I don’t bring them up too often, I do love the babies I’ve lost before birth, and appreciate the chance to honor their very short
lives.
Maestro, two more thoughts-
the weeks and months following miscarriage have been difficult and disorienting for me and other moms and dads I know.
Offering to bring a meal or babysit so the parents can have some alone time is one of the greatest gifts I’ve had from our circle of friends.
If the parents are Catholic, or maybe even Catholic friendly, you might also consider having a Mass offered for the little one, or even for the whole family, including the baby’s name. This is a strong prayer, a healing consolation, and a way of honoring the child by name.
I am indeed sorry for the loss of three of your children, Mary Ann, and I thank you for sharing their names with us.
While reading your two thoughts in your second post, I was reminded of the funeral for my cousin five years ago and how the most common show of support actually was providing all the food to feed everyone who came, relieving her parents of any concern in that regard. Their appreciation of the efforts of others was very evident, and they made sure to thank everyone individually in the months that followed.
And I fully agree with having a Mass offered for the child. While I can’t speak from experience, I imagine this would also help bring a sense of peace (or at least closure) to the family, knowing that the child truly is with the Lord in His Kingdom.
Heaven forbid women get information, Nancy Keenan…