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Reader thanks LifeSiteNews for Convincing Her to Not Abort her Fourth Child

Because of LifeSiteNews she says, "I have changed my view to pro-life, not pro-choice"

Below is the text of an email received by LifeSiteNews today, February 5, 2009:

I wanted to thank you for your site because it was truly a wake up call. When I was younger, I had my fair share of abortions reasoning from being too immature to fear of motherhood. My family is pro-life and having my share of these (abortions) was a hard knot to swallow and I never told any of them how many I really had.

I never knew the risks, although many doctors had told me that I wouldn't have any children because of my termination history. I have been married for 6 years now, out of the immature stage, out of the fear stage, we have three beautiful children.

I never considered another abortion after I met my husband until a few days ago when I found out that we were having our fourth child. I finally convinced my husband that I was going to get an abortion, looked at your site, and completely changed my mind.

When my husband walked through the door, I cried on his shoulder. After so many times of having the procedure done, I never knew what really was happening and I never tried to find out. So I just want you to know that your site has been my blessing.

My husband and I may not be ready for our fourth but we will do our best to be just as good parents to this little one as we have been to our existing three. Thank you so much for making this site and having this site out there so that other unaware, unconcerned, unhopeful women and men can actually see what is really happening, and maybe just maybe, a mind like mine will change.

Your site has given me a new mind set and a new chance. I have changed my view to pro-life, not pro-choice. God bless you all

Name withheld by LifeSiteNews.

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University of Calgary Pro-Life Group May Lose Club Status

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

CALGARY, AB, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The University of Calgary Students’ Union has revealed that they will hold a meeting next Tuesday to decide if they will revoke the official club status of the university’s pro-life group, Campus Pro-Life.

Students’ Union president Dalmy Baez said, “We, as the students’ union, are supposed to be representing students and supporting them in any way possible,” according to a Calgary Herald report.

"But there are limits to this,” she added.

“The university issued a written warning to the organization some time ago. ... We issued our own warning [that] if they were to violate any university policy, we would not be defending them and would be putting in some sort of sanctions,” said Baez.

The loss of club status for Campus Pro-Life would mean the loss of student union funding for club events as well as losing the right to use campus facilities for meetings and functions.

On Monday LifeSiteNews.com reported that the university had charged members of Campus Pro-Life with "trespassing" for having set up a Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) pro-life display on campus this past November. The students received court summons, delivered to their homes, to answer to the trespassing charges at the end of this month.

“This makes me more frustrated than the university taking us to court,” Campus Pro-Life president Leah Hallman said, according to the Herald.

“The student union is supposed to represent the students and is supposed to be our voice and to protect us. The fact that they’re possibly going to impose sanctions against us makes me very frustrated.”

Though frustrated, Hallman said she is not deterred by the action of the students' union.

“We could and will still do everything we can. They won’t stop us from spreading the message of life on campus. But it will make things much more difficult for us.”

To express your concern or opinion please contact:

University of Calgary Student's Union
President – Dalmy Baez
251 MacEwan Student Centre,
2500 University Drive N.W.
Calgary, Alberta,
Canada, T2N 1N4
Phone: (403) 220-7048 / (403) 836-8894
Email:

Dr. Harvey P. Weingarten, President
Administration Building, Room 100
University of Calgary
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
Phone: (403) 220-5460
Fax: (403) 289-6800
Email:

See previous LSN coverage:

University of Calgary Charges Pro-Life Students with Trespassing
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020201.html

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Breaking News: Italian Government Ready with Draft Law to Stop the Killing of Eluana Englaro

Measure must be approved by Prime Minister Berlusconi

By Hilary White

UDINE, Italy, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Today, the Italian government announced it has made ready a draft emergency measure that would prohibit the removal of food and hydration from vulnerable patients. As of this writing, the measure, though drafted and ready, has not yet been formally adopted, the final decision being that of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The move comes as pro-life Italians have urgently called upon the government to intervene in the case of Eluana Englaro who had been removed late Tuesday night to a nursing home willing to participate in her killing. 

The measure, called a "decree law" entitled "Urgent Provisions on Nutrition and Hydration," says, "Pending the approval of a complete and comprehensive legislative framework in the field of end-of-life, nutrition and hydration, as forms of life support physiologically designed to alleviate suffering, cannot under any circumstances be rejected by the person concerned or suspended from caregiver subjects unable to provide for themselves".

Under Italian law, a decree law can be put into place by the head of state in urgent circumstances, for a period of 60 days while Parliament considers it for permanent approval. The draft law was announced as an emergency measure after Eluana Englaro, who is often referred to as "Italy's Terri Schiavo," was transferred late Tuesday night to La Quiete hospital in Udine, that has agreed to participate in her killing by removal of her food and hydration tube.

Pier Ferdinando Casini, a member of the Chamber of Deputies and a member of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, said, "We respect the grief of the family of Eluana and we are close to her father, but we believe that nobody has the right to life and death on a person."

Eluana, now 38, has been in a state of severely diminished consciousness for 17 years following a car accident in 1992. Eluana Englaro's father, Beppino, has claimed that his daughter had indicated that she would not wish to live in such circumstances. He has petitioned the courts for over a decade, despite euthanasia being illegal in Italy, to have her food and hydration removed so that she can "be allowed to die". A lawyer for the family told media that the hospital will begin the withholding of fluid and food starting Friday.
 
In November, Italy's highest court of appeals, the Court of Cassation in Rome, upheld the ruling of a Milan lower court allowing the petition. Shortly after this ruling, a prominent Italian lawyer, Luca Silvestri, told LifeSiteNews.com that the best hope of saving Eluana's life would be such a law defining clearly that food and hydration could not be considered "medical treatment" subject to withdrawal at the request of patients.

Under Article 32 of the Italian Constitution, a patient has the right to accept or refuse medical therapies, but this has always been interpreted as excluding food and water. Should the government's draft law be adopted and food and water be clearly identified as not subject to Article 32, this potential "back door" to legal euthanasia by dehydration could be permanently closed.

At the same time, the public prosecutor of the town of Udine, Antonio Biancardi, has announced that his office will undertake an investigation to verify the testimonies of friends and family who claimed that Eluana Englaro would have preferred to die by dehydration than be allowed to live in a "persistent vegetative state". The announcement comes following complaints to police and the prosecutors office, the Italian daily Il Giornale reports. 

The controversy has continued as pro-life advocates have brought lawsuits questioning the legality of the decision and the governor of the Lombardy region, where Eluana had lived and been cared for, attempted to stop the dehydration order. Shortly after the Court of Cassation ruling in November, the Misericordine Sisters in Lecco, issued a letter saying that they would refuse to participate in her killing.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Eluana Transferred Late Tuesday Night to Clinic for Death by Dehydration
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020304.html ;

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Australian Government Blocks Senate Motion to Fund Abortion Abroad

Country remains only first-world nation refusing to fund international abortion Giants

By Kathleen Gilbert

CANBERRA, Australia, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Australian government immediately blocked a motion introduced in the Senate yesterday to lift the country's ban on providing foreign aid to abortion providers.

The Senate proposal followed upon U.S. President Obama's executive order abolishing the Mexico City Poilicy, permitting U.S. taxpayer funds to be given to organizations that provide or promote abortions and abortion lobbying abroad.  The U.S. policy change left Australia as the only first-world country refusing to fund international abortion-promoting organizations.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young of the Australian Green Party proposed the motion Wednesday, calling the ban "draconian" and "archaic," and urging the Government and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith to follow Obama's lead lest Australia "look outdated." 

"These women are real women and by removing these guidelines they can be given real choices," said Hanson-Young.

The proposition was not met without strong resistance from fellow senators.  Queensland Nationals senator Ron Boswell argued that removing the ban would siphon funds away from services that save lives, such as clean water, food and medicine.

"Which services would we have to cut in order to provide abortion services?" he asked.  "Medicine, a village well, food, birthing kits?" 

Boswell also warned the Rudd Government not to betray the religious constituency that backed them by allowing the abortion funding.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Obama Revokes Abortion Funding Policy, Will Fund Overseas Abortions with Taxpayer Money
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012309.html

Victoria, Australia Decriminalises Abortion: Criminalises Doctors' Consciences
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08101014.html

Australian Archbishop Says Catholic Hospitals Set to Close in Face of Mandatory Abortion Bill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08092207.html ;

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GAP Leader Responds to Post's Barbara Kay's Condemnation of Abortion Photos Strategy

By Steve Jalsevac

CALGARY, Alberta, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The February 4 National Post published the lengthy text of a December speech given by National Post columnist Barbara Kay to the "Live for Life" club at King's College, University of Western Ontario. The speech text, titled, "Women deserve better than abortion", has generated controversy for its condemnation of the showing of photos of aborted babies and the Genocide Awareness Project's comparison of abortion to the slavery and Jewish Holocaust catastrophes. Stephanie Gray, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, sent LifeSiteNews her detailed refutation of points made by Kay, who began her talk to the pro-life group admitting, "I am not opposed in principle to legal abortion."

The thrust of Gray's response, titled, "A Warning to Pro-Lifers", is that following uninformed, and thereby  flawed reasoning of the type given by Kay, is certain to harm the cause of ending the grave injustice of abortion.

Gray refers to history and notes that "Resisting activities which ruffle feathers and rock boats is reminiscent of the Alabama clergyman who, in 1963, wrote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., criticizing his peaceful but controversial efforts at social reform, claiming they were not only "unwise and untimely" but "extreme."  History has shown who was right."

Dr. King's response to such clergymen is quoted by Gray: "I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."

Gray, whose full time mission is to develop well reasoned, factual arguments on abortion questions, adds, "Indeed, what is worse: those who cover up abortion while agreeing with abortion, or those who cover up abortion while opposing abortion?"

In her speech Kay accused GAP of exploiting emotions with its strategy and ignoring how this harms the public perception of the pro-life movement: "You must consider whether the emotional impact of your message is so important to you that it is worth burning the narrow but sturdy bridge you could be using to reach people like me."

Gray responds, "The idea that the pro-life movement needs to change its image by eliminating graphic pictures is rooted in the perspective that in order to achieve social change, we need to first be focussed on how we come across or are perceived by society." But that route is flawed according to Gray who claims that historically, successful social reformers did not transform their cultures that way.  They "did not work to change how people perceived them.  They worked to change how people perceived the injustices at hand."

As for Kay's argument that the overwhelming focus of pro-life efforts should be on "the rights of women," Gray responds, "If pro-lifers allow ourselves to be distracted by arguments focussing primarily on why abortion is not in a woman's self-interest, then we are implicitly reinforcing the pro-abortion position and not our own: we are legitimizing the pro-abortion principle that the woman's interests take precedence over the child's life."

She explains, "Abortion is not wrong because it hurts women.  Abortion is wrong because it intentionally kills an innocent human being.  That is why it hurts women both psychologically and physically."

Gray ends by encouraging those who reveal the harsh truths of abortion to "stay the course" and endure "short-term persecution in order to achieve long-term cultural transformation." In other words, serious cultural changes regarding such matters have usually only come about only when some have been willing to endure substantial personal suffering for the greater good.

Gray ends her rebuttal quoting Gandi, "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win."

Stephanie Gray is co-founder and executive director of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform

** See Stephanie Gray's complete article:
A Warning to Pro-Lifers
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/090205a.html

** See the full text of Barbara Kay's speech:
Women deserve better than abortion
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/02/04/barbara-...-

See the LifeSiteNews Abortion Methods page
http://www.lifesitenews.com/abortiontypes/

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NY Judge Grants Estate to Surviving Partner of Same-Sex "Marriage" Effected in Canada

By Kathleen Gilbert

NEW YORK, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Despite the fact that same-sex "marriage" is illegal in New York, a New York Judge has ruled that a man will receive the estate of his deceased male partner, whom he had "wed" in Canada eight months earlier.

Manhattan Surrogate Court Judge Kristin Booth Glen ruled that J. Craig Leiby was entitled, as "the surviving spouse," to the estate of his homosexual partner, H. Kenneth Ranftle, who died either of a heart attack or lung cancer. Leiby, 65, and Ranftle, 54, had "married" in Montreal in June 2008.

The decision is the latest in a series of decision in New York which have set legal precedent in the state in favor of same-sex "marriage."  New York court decisions have recently granted same-sex couples who were “married” out of state employee benefits that are comparable those enjoyed by married couples. They have also recognized same-sex “divorces.” The first such "divorce" in the state was also granted to a couple "wed" in Canada.

In both of the states where same-sex "marriage" is legal, Massachusetts and Connecticut, the change was effected by the judiciary and not the legislature.

Governor Paterson had issued a "recognition of same-sex marriage" directive last year that ordered state courts to recognize all same-sex "marriages" performed outside the state. The directive was challenged in the New York Supreme Court the following September, but the case was dismissed.

See related LifeSiteNews.com articles:

New York Appellate Court Approves Recognition of Out-of-State Same-sex "Marriages"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012307.html

Homosexual "Marriage" Trickling Down to New York as Judge Recognizes Same-Sex Divorce
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08102711.html

New York Judge Permits Lesbian Divorce Despite State's Non-Recognition of Same-sex "Marriage"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08022801.html

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“Gay-Friendly” Miami Archdiocese Features Goddess-Worshipping Nun at Diocesan University

By LexEtLibertas

February 5, 2009, (LifeSiteNews.com) - Just days after the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI has ordered an apostolic visitation of all non-contemplative women’s religious orders in the United States, LifeSiteNews has learned that a notorious Catholic dissenter, known for her promotion of goddess-worship and “eco-spirituality,” is scheduled to speak at the Miami Archdiocese’s Saint Thomas University.

Sr. Miriam Therese MacGillis, O.P will be presenting a lecture, “Cosmology, Faith, & Sustainability,” at Saint Thomas, on 24 February.

Many lay Catholics have documented Sister Miriam’s dissent from official Catholic doctrine on various matters. Sister Miriam is an active proponent of so-called “eco-spirituality,” a quasi-pantheistic religious movement recently chronicled in some detail in Sarah McFarland Taylor’s book "Green Sisters: A Spiritual Ecology." Taylor, an Episcopalian sympathetic to the eco-spiritual movement, has chronicled this heterodox belief system, and her book features Sister Miriam MacGillis and the community she co-founded, Genesis Farm.

Pioneered by dissenter Fr. Thomas Berry, eco-spirituality seeks to counteract a perceived “hyper-anthropocentrism” (man-centeredness) of the traditional Judeo-Christian creation story. According to “Christian” eco-spiritualists, all of creation forms a cosmic unity, and human beings are not at its pinnacle. The entire universe is the “body of God,” and eco-spiritual religious sisters’ worship routine is permeated with non-Catholic religious rites which invoke God and the Earth under various feminist invocations. Eco-spiritualists frequently mimic Catholic sacraments and devotions like the Eucharist and the Stations of the Cross, with their distinctly Christian content removed and replaced with devotions to Mother Earth.

Sister Miriam has been affiliated with Call to Action, long-considered the “mother” of dissenting Catholic organizations. Call to Action endorses divorce and remarriage, homosexualism, abortion, contraception, the complete democratization of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy and doctrine, and moral and theological relativism. The Vatican has censured Call to Action, and its members have been excommunicated in at least one US Catholic diocese.

The website of Sister Miriam’s Genesis Farm features virtually no mention of Jesus Christ or Christianity, and its links page features the website of the pro-abortion Women's Environment & Development Organization. (See: http://www.genesisfarm.org/links.htm)

Sister Miriam’s upcoming lecture is featured on the website of Saint Thomas University, and is also advertised in the latest pastoral bulletin issued by the Miami Archdiocese to all its priests.

Saint Thomas University and the Miami Archdiocese are not new to scandal and wide-spread theological dissent, both of which have been chronicled in some detail by popular Catholic columnist Matt Abbott. Saint Thomas University, along with Miami’s Catholic Barry University, is listed as “Gay-Friendly” in a directory published by the Conference of Catholic Lesbians; the same organization lists two of the Miami Archdiocese’s parishes, Saint Anthony and Saint Maurice, as “gay-friendly.”

In 2007, LifeSiteNews reported Barry University’s awarding of a theology award to another notorious goddess-worshipping feminist Dominican nun. That award was also advertised by the Miami Archdiocese in a pastoral bulletin.

See the announcement on the St. Thomas website:
http://www.stu.edu/CosmologyFaithwithSrMacGillisOP/tabid/2007/Default.aspx

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Catholic University to Give Award to Goddess-Worshipping Theologian
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07111305.html

Further Reading:

"Our Pantheistic Sisters"
http://www.newoxfordreview.org/reviews.jsp?did=0208-gardiner

“US Dominican nun brings the 'New Cosmology' to New Zealand”
http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1999/may1999p9_351.html

(LexEtLibertas is a Juris Doctor Candidate at a top-tier law school in the Southern United States. Visit his blog, “Confessions of a Liberal Traditionalist,” at lexetlibertas.wordpress.com)

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Daughter of Rape Victim Pleads for Life of Unborn Child in Danger of Abortion

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

ARGENTINA, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A woman who is the product of the rape of her mentally-disabled mother is making a public plea for the life of an unborn child in danger of abortion in Santiago de Estero, Argentina.

The child's grandparents have requested an abortion for their daughter, whom they say is mentally disabled and was raped.  Although all abortions are illegal in Argentina, they carry no penalty in such cases under current law.

"I identify with what is happening...I should clarify that it is not from the perspective of justice, nor the young rape victim (even if she is my age), but from the perspective of the baby that is developing inside of that poor woman," writes the woman in a local newspaper, withholding her name to protect her family.

Explaining that her own mother was a mentally disabled rape victim, she notes that "I and my [twin] sister are almost 22 years old today...with a strong desire to make something good of our lives, and I think that that baby of almost three months [of gestation] hopes for the same thing."

She recounts that when she reached adolescence, her mother told her "you don't have a father, I was raped...I didn't tell you before because I couldn't tell a child of 12 years that she was the fruit of a rape, and that I was willing to give you up for adoption."

"She thought of giving us up for adoption," continues the woman in her letter, "but she never considered having an abortion.   She never thought about taking the possibility of life away from us, even though she was mentally ill, she never thought of killing us, despite not wanting us."

"Many times, when she was seized by attacks of insanity she said ugly things to me.  But, do you know what?  I'm very grateful to her for having given me the chance to live, and for giving herself the chance to accept us and give us love.  I love her because she is my mother, and I know that despite the fact that she didn't choose this, at least she had the courage to tell me what happened and I can share the pain with her."

The case of the requested abortion has made headlines in Argentina, where pro-life sentiment is strong.  Although the law does not provide criminal penalties for abortions in such cases, they are often the subject of controversy in Argentinean society.

Last week a lawyer in the province offered his own plea for the child's life, offering to adopt and raise it.

"Don't kill the child, deliver it to the authorities, because there are many Argentineans who can't have children, or give custody to me so that I can raise it, with the intervention of [the Ministry of] Justice," said Dr. Lucian Pavo, in a public letter. "Please, let's save this Argentinean." (See LifeSiteNews coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020303.html).

Contact Information:

Embassy of Argentina in the USA
1600 New Hampshire Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20009-2512
Phone (202) 238-6401
Fax (202) 332-3171

Embassy of Argentina in Canada
81 Metcalfe Street, Suite 700
Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 6K7
Tel: (613) 236-2351
Fax: (613) 235-2659
Email:

Embassy of Argentina in the United Kingdom
65 Brook Street
London W1K 4AH
Phone: +44 (0) 207-3181300


Argentinean Embassies in Other Countries
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/Argentina/Argentina1.html

Previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Lawyer Offers to Adopt and Raise Baby Threatened with Death by Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020303.html

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Pro-Family Groups Denounce New "Sexual Diversity" Program in Buenos Aires' Schools

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

BUENOS AIRES, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-family organizations in Argentina are asking the Chief of Government of Buenos Aires to veto legislation that would establish an ongoing campaign to promote the homosexualist ideology in the city's public schools, the media, and the health system.

The campaign is to be implemented through a "Sexual Rights and Diversity Plan," which will also promote the participation of homosexuals and transsexuals "in the formulation of regulations that guarantee their rights" and the organization of "events, commemorations, and an agenda linked to the issue." It passed the city's legislature 47-0 in December of last year.

The nation's Association of Catholic Attorneys blasted the plan last Friday, noting that it seeks to "do away with the natural order, which sustains a healthy and harmonious society, while upsetting the traditional way of life of the Argentinean population."

"Because of the emblematic character of the city of Buenos Aires, it will inevitably be contagious.  The Association of Catholic Attorneys urges the Chief of Government, Mauricio Macri, to exercise his veto against this attack on the common good."

Their objection was echoed Monday by representatives of Argentina's Action for Life and Family, who acknowledge that people with homosexual tendencies should be treated with respect, but warn that the plan represents a "manipulative" program that "is done in the name of a deceptive invocation of tolerance, among other false or erroneous reasons."

Previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Argentine Government's Mandatory Sexual Education Program Raises Concern among Family Advocates
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08061202.html

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Tiny Fetal Models Cause Uproar in Dutch Media and Parliament

By Michael van der Mast, the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The model of an unborn child carried in the annual March for Life in Amsterdam has caused a firestorm in Holland.  A photo of the tiny fetal model was pictured on the front page of the Dutch Christian newspaper "Het Nederlands Dagblad" in December after the march. The front-page coverage garnered other media attention, television interviews and even angry reactions in the House of Representatives of the Dutch government.

The two inch long model represents a fetus at ten weeks of actual length and weight. "At four weeks the heart of the unborn beats; the model shows that it is a child with hands, feet and a nose even able to bring its finger to its mouth" according to the Dutch pro-life group Cry for Life.

The secular Dutch press picked up rumors that Cry for Life intended to distribute the model to all homes and condemned the plan as hurtful to women who had had abortions, miscarriages or were not able to conceive.  

Infamous Dutch 'abortion boat' abortionist Rebecca Gomperts slammed the plan and the Dutch Association of Abortion Doctors fumed that the intended distribution was aggressive and "highly improper".

Cry for Life President Bert Dorenbos appeared on one of the most popular shows on Dutch national television to defend his actions. Dorenbos explained that it was an educational measure to confront the more than 100 abortions taking place daily in the nation.

Labour Party member Chantal Gill'ard raised questions in the House of Representatives after seeing the show. She wanted to know the opinion of State Secretary of Health, Welfare and Sport, Mrs. J. Bussemaker, about the intention to drop up to five million little dolls on the doormats of civilians.

Answering some weeks later, the State Secretary said she disagreed with the strategy but defended the pro-life group's right to distribute the fetal models.

150 fetal models were sent to all Members of Parliament in mid December along with a copy for each Member of an explanatory letter and book containing women's stories of their hurtful abortion experiences. 

Last month, Cry for Life received a phone call from the House of Representatives noting that the materials would not be forwarded to the Members, and would be destroyed if not retrieved by the group.

Last week Dorenbos wrote the Chair of the House of Representatives noting the lack of democratic freedom.  He noted that Cry for Life would continue to spread the truth about the life of the unborn in this “once so Christian country of tulips and windmills” where now there are one hundred abortions a day. 

See Cry for Life website:
http://www.schreeuwomleven.nl/

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University of Wisconsin Clinic to Begin 2nd-Trimester Abortions

By Kathleen Gilbert

MADISON, Wisconsin, February 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After three hours of emotional debate, the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority Board voted 11-3 Wednesday to offer 2nd-trimester abortions at a clinic owned by the University of Wisconsin (UW).

The decision to open the Madison Surgery Center to the abortions came amid a sizeable pro-life protest, with counter-protesters gathering outside the building in the bitter cold.  A rally of 2,000 had also gathered last Saturday at the UW campus, and marched to the surgery clinic to condemn the proposal.

Abortion advocates urged the UW facility, which apparently does not perform 1st-trimester abortions, to offer abortions at 13-22 weeks because of the recent departure of Planned Parenthood abortionist Dennis Christensen. Christensen left the Planned Parenthood abortion facility, located in Madison, in December, where he had been the city's primary provider of such abortions, which typically require the child to be crushed and torn apart in a procedure known as dilation and evacuation. 

The final decision on the abortion proposal is expected from the Madison Surgery Center as early as this week.

Commenting on the vote, Chairman David Walsh said that Roe v. Wade granted women a "constitutional right" to kill their unborn child.

"The Roe vs. Wade decision has said that women have a constitutional right to make decisions about their body, and that's right into the second trimester, and you can't honor that constitutional right without offering the service," said Walsh.

Three of the four anaesthesiologists at the surgery center are reported to have refused participation in any future abortions.

"We are appalled to learn that our publicly funded University of Wisconsin hospital and medical foundation is planning to directly participate in the dismemberment of second-trimester babies - babies that can suck their thumbs, turn somersaults in their mother's wombs, and whose hearts are pumping gallons of blood every day," said Peggy Hamill, director of Pro-Life Wisconsin.

State Senator Glenn Grothman, who is a UW alumnus, called the vote "unbelievable."  "No other clinic in south central Wisconsin would touch something so barbaric," he said.  "It is amazing every other medical facility in this region takes a pass on these barbaric procedures, but the UW says ‘The public be damned and the babies be damned - we’re going ahead!’” 

Some questions have been raised as to whether the human remains from the abortions would be used for research at the college.  According to a report by Madison's Capital Times, Dr. Robert Golden, dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, said they would not.  However, Dr. Todd Miller of Pro-Life Wisconsin said he was "skeptical," and referred to UW research reports that thanked Planned Parenthood abortionist Christensen for his assistance. 

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Letters to Editor for February 5, 2009

Re: Vatican Official: Bishops Have no Choice But to Refuse Communion to Pro-Abort Politicians
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020402.html

I reside in the LaCrosse Diocese in Wisconsin where Bishop Burke resided for many years. I wish he were back here in Wisconsin to set an example for our local Bishops. Our Catholic Governor Doyle is a strong abortion and embryonic stem cell proponent as are many of our state legislators and yet they continue to categorize themselves as Catholics. I appreciate Archbishop Burke's comments but have no confidence that any action will be forthcoming locally.
 
One final comment/ question, can a bishop be guilty of nonfeasance?
 
E. Svetich - Brooks, Wisconsin
______________________________________________________

Re: Commentary on February 4 News
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020410.html

Dear Steve Jalsevac,

Thank God for your bold and truthful comments; they are right on target! I've been trying for years to pressure the Catholic press and the bishops to proactively expose the reality of the abortion horror. Unfortunately, most of the Catholic media have become just as politicized and secularized as our bishops. ... We need a flood of  articles such as yours to expose the fact that we've become virtually tolerant of the slaughter of our own preborn citizens. When I set up my website, prolifedigest.com, I'll be posting all of the letters I've written over the years on the abortion barbarism. Keep up the great work.   

Charles N. Marrelli, Writers for Life - Irvine, California


I agree with your letter re the bishops paying only lip service to the horrors of abortion. How can we let them know what the rest of us think of their being shrinking violets on that all-important moral issue? We can talk all we want amongst ourselves but that doesn't help the matter. Oh, I know it is a delicate thing to speak thus to our bishops, but still, how?

Mathilde Klassen - Nelson, B.C. Canada.
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The Holocaust

There has occasionally been criticism of what is described as over-use of the memory of the Holocaust.

This has been a truly awful event. It behoves us to be sensitive towards the victims, to continue to enquire how it came about, and to never forget that it has occurred.

Improper parallels tend to heap all the odium on one race. However, evil, as well as good, is hard-wired into every human heart, and all people are capable of doing the same thing.

... as far as we can ascertain, those who lost their lives to Marxist experimentation greatly exceeded those who were murdered in Germany. Cambodia is another unhappy example, where millions lost their lives for similar Marxist social experiment reasons.

The common denominator is power. Once we feel free, in any circumstances, to take human life, civilisation becomes lost and it's survival of the fittest. This is human nature. The chilling fact is that any race or culture can give rise to what occurred in Germany, the USSR, Cambodia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and elsewhere.

Immediately prior to 1945, some 80 to 100 million people lost their lives. Since then, methods have changed, but the basis remains the same, ie, power. Since 1945, approximately double this number (ie 160 to 200 million) of unborn babies have been killed in Europe alone. This with the concurrence of apparently peace-loving people, and often in the name of human rights!

At the other end of the age spectrum, the Netherlands and Belgium, have already approved euthanasia. The principle is no different. In Luxembourg, the head of state has been threatened with removal unless he agrees. In Britain, the respected "ethics" guru, Mary Warnock, considers that (in certain circumstances, of course), there is " duty to die". In Ireland, the opening moves have already been made.

Erstwhile victims can be just as ruthless as their previous oppressors. Ireland need not feel particularly virtuous: the country has bequeathed it’s own legacy to the world.

The foundress of the Planned Parenthood Federation, the world’s biggest promoter and provider of abortion, was Irish. Her name was Margaret Sanger (nee Higgins). Her parents came from Connaught.

We have a holocaust of our own.

Donal O’Driscoll - Blackrock, Co Dublin,  Ireland
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re: Ben Stein "Expelled" from University of Vermont
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020405.html

Someone needs to tell the people in charge of that University, that Universities are supposed to be places where ALL views can be aired, so that students, who are now "young adults" can make their own decisions. We, of course, hope that the students will agree with "our version".  But, if they don't, that is their choice to make. Not ours, and not a "Board of Governors" of a University!

Fred Petrie - Miramichi, New Brunswick

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