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Pope to Pro-Lifers: "How many human lives have you saved from death! . . . do not be afraid"

"Respect For Life is the first form of justice that must be applied"

By John-Henry Westen

VATICAN CITY, May 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Speaking to the Italian Movement for Life organization this morning, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the pro-life movement in their work.  Thanking them for their service to "the Church and society", the Holy Father said, "How many human lives have you saved from death! Continue along this path and do not be afraid, so that the smile of life may triumph on the lips of all children and their mothers".

The Pope told the gathered pro-life activists that he recognized that "in practical terms, defending human life has become more difficult today, because a mentality has been created that progressively devalues human life and entrusts it to the judgment of individuals."  He added, "A consequence deriving therefrom is lessened respect for the human person, a value that lies at the foundation of any form of civil coexistence, over and above the faith a person may profess".

"Respect for life is the first form of justice that must be applied," he said. "For those who have the gift of faith this becomes an imperative that cannot be deferred."

(with files from the Vatican Information Service)

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Colombia's Attorney General Pushes Catholic Hospitals to Provide Abortions

Denounces Medical Personnel and Public Officials for Trying to Dissuade Women

BOGOTÁ, May 9, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com)-Colombia's Attorney General, Edgardo Maya, is disappointed that only 40 decriminalized abortions have been carried out since 2006, when the nation's Constitutional Court decriminalized abortion in cases of rape, incest, fetal deformity, or threats to their life or health.

Maya wants more such certified abortions to take place, and is insisting that to accomplish this goal the nation's private medical institutions will have to provide abortions, despite conscientious objection by Catholic hospitals and institutions in which all doctors have refused to carry out the procedure.

Maya's office has issued a report complaining about "the obstacles and difficulties in gaining access to the service of voluntary interruption of pregnancy".

Among the "obstacles" denounced by Maya is "objections of conscience by institutions as a justification to deny the service" and "interference by public officials and workers in private institutions for the purpose of dissuading women from interrupting their pregnancies."

One such hospital is San Ignacio, a Catholic institution that has refused to do abortions.  As a result of their decision they have been sued and Attorney General Maya has requested an investigation by the nation's Ministry of Health (see LifeSiteNews coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030411.html ).

Maya's report also laments the fact that public officials are still requiring authorization for abortions from parents of children younger than 14 years of age, which the Constitutional Court struck down in its ruling in 2006.

The Attorney General's office has created a monitoring system for legalized abortions "with the purpose of tracking the fulfillment of the norms [of the ruling]".

Maya's menacing statements against Catholic hospitals and pro-life public officials are echoed by Woman's Link Worldwide, an international pro-abortion organization, which recently stated in an editorial that the most "worrying" obstacle to abortion in Colombia is "the misuse and abuse of conscientious objection".

"The Constitutional Court clearly established that only individual doctors and not institutions can be conscientious objectors," observed Monica Roa, of Women's Link.

Roa also complains that doctors in public hospitals are refusing to do abortions on grounds of conscience, which they claim contradicts the Constitutional Court's ruling, and that doctors who object are not being required to make a referral to another physician..

Mónica Roa, the attorney who presented the suit against the nation's pro-life legislation in 2006, recently told the Colombian publication El Tiempo that she wants efforts to be "doubled", in the publication's words, to carry out the Constitutional Court's sentence.

"The period of transition has ended," she told El Tiempo.  "Now it is necessary to have more effective control of the application of the sentence."

Related LifeSiteNews.com Coverage:

Woman Sues Jesuit Hospital to Force it to Provide Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030411.html

"Authorized" Abortions Underway After Colombia Court De-penalized Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06072403.html

Hundreds of Thousands March against Abortion in Bogota Colombia
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/06040409.html

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Pope Reminds Spouses of their "Responsibility To Generate New Children"

Teaching Against Contraception “Does not Change”

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

VATICAN, May 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Saturday, May 10, Pope Benedict XVI addressed participants in an international congress being promoted by the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome to mark the 40th anniversary of the promulgation of the Encyclical "Humanae Vitae".

"The truth expressed in Humanae Vitae does not change," he said, "quite the contrary, in the light of new scientific discoveries its teaching becomes more relevant and stimulates reflection on the intrinsic values it possesses".

The Holy Father recalled that the Encyclical was published by Pope Paul VI on 25 July 1968. The Pope explained how "the document soon became a sign of contradiction" and pointed out that "it constitutes a significant gesture of courage in the confirmation the continuity of the Church's doctrine and tradition."

"That text, often misunderstood and distorted, caused much discussion, also because it was set at the dawn of [an age of] strong dissents which marked the life of entire generations. Forty years after its publication that teaching not only manifests its truth unchanged, but also reveals the vision with which the problem was addressed."

The Holy Father affirmed that "in a culture suffering from the prevalence of "having" over "being", human life risks losing its value. If the practice of sexuality becomes a drug that seeks to enslave the partner to one's own desires and interests, without respecting the times of the beloved, then what must be defended is no longer just the concept of love but, primarily, the dignity of the person. As believers we could never allow the power of technology to invalidate the quality of love and the sacredness of life."

Emphasizing that remaining open to life is not only an affirmation of Natural Law, but also the genuinely given and truly lived spousal "yes" to which Jesus refers when speaking of human love (Matthew 19, 4-6).

"This word of the Lord remains unchanged with its profound truth and can not be erased by the various theories that over the years have succeeded and sometimes even contradicted one another. The natural law, which is the basis of recognition of true equality between people, deserves to be recognized as the source which also inspires the relationship between the spouses in their responsibility to generate new children. The transmission of life is inscribed in nature and its laws remain as an unwritten rule to which all must refer. Any attempt to distract our gaze from this principle itself remains sterile and produces no future."

"New life," said the Pope, "is the fruit of a love capable of thinking and choosing in complete freedom, without allowing itself to be overly conditioned by the sacrifice this may require. From here emerges the miracle of life which parents experience in themselves as they sense the extraordinary nature of what is achieved in them and through them. No mechanical technique can replace the act of love that husband and wife exchange as a sign of the mystery greater than themselves, in which they are protagonists and co-participants of creation."

After recalling the sad episodes that sometimes involve adolescents "whose reactions display their incorrect appreciation of the mystery of life and of the dangerous implications of their actions," the Holy Father expressed the hope that young people "may learn the true meaning of love and prepare for it with appropriate sexual education, not allowing themselves to be distracted by superficial messages that prevent them appreciating the essence of the truth at stake."

The Holy Father concluded by saying that the "teaching expressed by the Encyclical Humanae Vitae is not easy. It is, nonetheless, pursuant to the fundamental structure by which life has always been transmitted, since the Creation of the world, in respect of nature and in conformity with its demands. The concern for human life and the safeguard of the dignity of the person impose upon us not to leave anything untried so that it may be shared with all people, the genuine truth of responsible conjugal love in full adherence to the law written in the heart of every person." 

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Christian Ministry to Disabled Drops its Code of Conduct Under Human Rights Tribunal Pressure

By Mark Westen

KITCHENER, Ontario, May 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Christian Horizons, the non-profit, Christian charitable organization has dropped its requirement that employees sign their basic morality statement, in compliance with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal's ruling against them.

The ruling originates from the case of former Christian Horizons (CH) employee, Connie Heintz, who brought a complaint against CH, claiming that she was forced out of her employment (she was not dismissed but chose to resign) after she publicly admitted to being an active lesbian. She had previous signed CH's code of conduct and worked for them for years prior to 'discovering' her homosexuality. The CH "Lifestyle and Morality Statement" asks that its employees refrain from a number of sexual and other unacceptable behaviours including; "homosexual relationships," "extra-marital sexual relationships (adultery)," "pre-marital sexual relationships (fornication)," "viewing or reading pornographic material," "endorsing" alcohol or cigarettes and "lying." (See previous lifesite coverage)

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal Ordered that CH pay Ms. Heintz two years wages as well as $23, 000 in damages. Furthermore, and of great concern to Canadian Christianity in general, the tribunal ordered that "Christian Horizons cease and desist from using their current pre-employment contract...", that the organization must submit a review of all of its employment practices to the tribunal to ensure adherence to the Ontario Human Rights Code and that all CH employees undergo "human rights" training.

Although CH has launched an appeal in reference to the tribunal's other rulings, it has agreed to drop its "Lifestyle and Morality Statement." This decision on the part of CH has come as somewhat of a shock to many Christians as it severely impacts the current status of Christian rights in Canada.

Speaking of the Human Rights Tribunal's decision and of CH's resulting compliance in dropping their morality statement, Brian Rushfeldt Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Canada Family Action Coalition, stated that this decision brings with it a very "broad public danger" to all Christian groups operating in Canada. As the Tribunal's decision to demand that CH drop its code of conduct "was justified by the fact that CH provides services to the general public", that same standard "could be used against any Christian school, church or other organization that serves the public." It should be noted that through evangelization activities and even simply through the church's open invitation to the public to participate in services, it could, and may well be argued that "Christian churches and schools provide services to the public." If this is the case then Christian institutions "would no longer be permitted to uphold Christian values." 

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All Four Northern Ireland Party Leaders say No to Legalizing Abortion

By Hilary White

BELFAST, May 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The leaders of all four main parties in Northern Ireland have written to the government at Westminster objecting to plans to impose legalized abortion on the country. The British government is proposing to extend the 1967 Abortion Act that leaves few restrictions on abortion, to Northern Ireland where the procedure remains illegal in all but a few circumstances.

Dr. Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party, Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein, Sir Reg Empey, Ulster Unionist, and Mark Durkan of the Social Democratic and Labour party, have written to Westminster that plans to push legalized abortion through amendments to the upcoming Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Bill. The debate on that bill is scheduled to begin today.

Jeffrey Donaldson, chairman of the assembly's pro-life group, said, "I think it's a very powerful message we have here, four political leaders coming from very diverse political perspectives but united in their view that we do not want the 1967 Act, with all its implications, imposed on Northern Ireland."

Donaldson said the hoped "even pro-abortion MPs" would respect the wishes of the Members who voted last October to retain the current restrictions on abortion.

"The issue of abortion is a matter that should be left to the assembly itself," he added. "I don't think it has happened before that the four leaders have lobbied their fellow parliamentarians in this way."

The pro-life organization, Precious Life, said that Westminster "must take heed" of the leaders' message. "We don't want the '67 Act extended," said Precious Life Director, Bernadette Smyth.

At the same time, one British abortion lobby group associated with Planned Parenthood, the Family Planning Association (FPA) has accused MPs of inconsistency and "criminalising women" who travel to England to abort their children.

Audrey Simpson, the head of the FPA said politicians are "completely ignoring the 80,000 people who have travelled to England for abortions since 1967". The group is insisting that the government impose its will on the Northern Irish parliament.

"Our politicians are criminalising women, they are forcing them to leave their country to do something which is legal in another part of the UK," she said.

Precious Life organised press conference on the steps of Stormont, the Northern Irish Assembly building. Bernadette Smyth said that unborn babies and their mothers "must be protected from abortion".

"I urge the MPs in Westminster respect the democratic process here and vote against any amendment to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland."

In October 2007, Precious Life organised a postcard campaign garnering over 120,000 petitions from the people of Northern Ireland opposing abortion. At that time, the Assembly unanimously passed a motion saying the country did not want abortion legalized. 

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Construction Company Backs out of Building Abortion Center for Planned Parenthood after Local Pressure

By Michael Baggot

PORTLAND, OR, May 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After facing local opposition from pro-life grassroots efforts, Walsh Construction has backed out of its plans to build a new Planned Parenthood (PP) facility in northeast Portland.

"It was a nice thing that Walsh got out. The battle still goes on," Bill Diss, Director of the pro-life organization Precious Children of Portland (PCP), warned the Catholic Sentinel.

Andrew Beyer, project manager for Walsh, has expressed support for the PP office and clinic, calling them "an important project in the redevelopment of Northeast Portland."  Beyer added that PP might still be able to build their facilities as their own general contractors.

Some critics of the new PP building project see it as part of a plan for black genocide.  The PCP notes on its website that the new building would move the city's PP headquarters from an area with a population of about 1% African Americans, to an area of about 43% African Americans. 

"Planned Parenthood tries to put their sex product and abortion facilities in Black neighborhoods.  More Blacks are killed by abortion than all other causes of death combined!" explained the PCP.

In his April 25 column, Archbishop John Vlazny encouraged support for PCP and outlined the need to oppose the 13 PP facilities in the Portland metropolitan area.

Archbishop Vlazny warned that PP propaganda has obscured the facts about their vicious practices.

"In 2005, 264,943 surgical and (medical) abortions were performed at PPFA facilities. Furthermore, PPFA claims to serve women's 'choices.' But it reports providing prenatal care to only 12,548 women in 2005 and infertility services to 248."

"PPFA is a major contributor to the spread of that culture. If we keep silent and stand on the sidelines, this dark force will continue to spread and eventually destroy not only the lives of the unborn but even the moral fiber of our nation."

"Promoting respect for life and protecting human life from conception to natural death is not a 'right wing cause.' It is a matter of justice," the Archbishop explained.

On November 4, Portland citizens gathered to protest the planned 40,000-square-foot PP structure.  Catholics, Muslims, and Protestants of multiple denominations joined in a LifeChain, an hour period of prayer to end abortion and change the hearts of those who perpetrate the procedure.

The protest was the culmination of Portland's contribution to the national 40 Days for Life campaign that saw PCP engaged in prayer and brochure distribution at events, churches, and households.

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers of the local Immaculate Heart Catholic Parish expressed concerns that the PP facility would bring promiscuity in addition to abortion.

Sivers' parish plans to conduct a Eucharistic procession from the church to the proposed site of construction on the May 25 Feast of Corpus Christi.

Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr., has praised PCP's work and assured the group that her uncle would not support PP's work.

Local opposition has also delayed Ankrom Moisan Architects of Portland from completing their construction plans due August 13.

Read Archbishop Vlazny's column:
http://www.sentinel.org/node/8990

Learn more about PP's involvement in the Black Genocide:
http://www.blackgenocide.org/planned.html

Learn more about the PCP:
http://www.preciouschildrenofportland.org

Contact Mayor Potter:
1221 SW 4th Avenue, Suite 340
Portland, OR, 97204
(503) 823-4120

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Even the Leaders Think the Homosexual Activist Movement in Canada is Going Too Far

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

TORONTO, May 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) Canada, the homosexual activist group that has consistently worked to silence opposition to homosexual activity, has sent a letter to the president and CEO of Canada Post, asking them to censor the mail.

The letter, from current executive director of EGALE Canada, Helen Kennedy, asked for a meeting with Canada Post to discuss the use of the mail by record companies and bookstores to distribute music that EGALE says may promote hatred based on a person's sexual orientation.

But Gilles Marchildon, the executive director of EGALE from 2003 to 2006, says EGALE has gone too far, especially in asking Canada Post to censor material.

In a surprising about face, Marchildon said, "Regarding offensive lyrics by certain artists, I'm glad EGALE has raised the issue because it never hurts to underline the existence of homophobia. But I'm personally not comfortable with inviting government agencies to play a censorship role."

"The danger, of course, is that once you advocate in favour of curbing freedom of expression, where does it stop and who's going to decide where the line gets drawn?" he asks. "Let us recall history. When governments have played the role of censor they've usually done it at the expense of the LGBT community and of its artistic and/or sexual freedom."

The obvious double standard being pushed by the EGALE executive director seems to be wearing away the groups credibility, even within its own ranks.

Marchildon said Egale has failed to explain its position in inviting Canada Post to censor. "In fact," he said, "EGALE is failing to explain much of anything to its members."

In 2004, Egale discussed launching a campaign to shut down LifeSiteNews.com through harassment lawsuits aimed at bankrupting the news service, which received threatening emails from homosexual activists including those from EGALE list-serve members accusing LifeSiteNews.com of hate propaganda and some suggesting criminal prosecution under Canada's new hate crime law.

Derek Rogusky, Vice President of Family Policy and Community Impact for Focus on the Family Canada said, "The reality is that gay activists want to wipe out any dissenting opinion. It is ironic that those demanding tolerance are not offering tolerance as well."

See related LifeSiteNews.com article:

Canadian Homosexual Activists on EGALE List-Serve Discuss How to Shut Down LifeSite
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/04051102.html ;

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More and More Seeing that "The Pill Kills"

Birth Control Pill Protest Prepared for 43rd Anniversary of Pill's US Decriminalization

By Michael Baggot

STAFFORD, VA, May 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Major pro-life organizations American Life League, Pro-Life Wisconsin, and Pharmacists for Life International, are joining forces to protest the birth control pill on the 43rd anniversary of the landmark Griswold vs. Connecticut Supreme Court decision that decriminalized the pill's use. 

The pro-life organizations are encouraging local groups to peacefully gather in protest in front of facilitates selling the birth control pill for the "Protest the Pill Day '08: The Pill Kills Babies" on Saturday June 7.

Nearly forty years ago, the Griswold decision declared that a "right to privacy" existed in the bedroom that invalidated legal bans on birth control pill use for married couples.

The newly launched ThePillKills.com website provides readers with educational information about the harmful effects of the pill that has become widespread since the 1965 decision.

The site details how common birth control pills alter the uterine lining, thus preventing a fertilized ovum from implanting and receiving the oxygen and nutrients necessary to continuing life.

Because the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists redefined conception to mean implantation rather than the joining of sperm and egg in 1965, birth control pill manufactures and distributors have been able to promote the pill as strictly "contraceptive," despite its abortifacient capacities.

The site notes that linguistic manipulation has led to big business for pill distributors.

"Planned Parenthood and other organizations cover up the reality that the birth control pill can, in fact, kill a preborn baby. They have a vested interest in lying to young women because they exploit them."

"Planned Parenthood brainwashes young girls by telling them that the pill merely prevents pregnancy, when the fact is that the pill can act after fertilization, which is when pregnancy begins, and kill the preborn baby."

"Planned Parenthood says that pregnancy does not begin at fertilization, but this is their biggest lie. In 2006, Planned Parenthood received over $345 million in clinic income. One-third of its clinic income is from selling birth control. Obviously, they make big money by lying to women."

Visit the site:
http://www.thepillkills.com ;

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