Pro-Life Advocates Urged to Renew Efforts Against Abortion After Election Loss

Life News ^ | 11/5/08 | Steven Ertelt

[wagglebee]

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Several pro-life leaders are hoping the majority of Americans who take a pro-life position on abortion will re-charge and re-energize following Tuesday night's election defeats. They say the pro-life movement must prepare themselves to take on a pro-abortion president and renew educational efforts.

"We have long known that the work of advancing a culture of life is not a short-term project," Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest told LifeNews.com.

"Recall that William Wilberforce fought against the slave trade for 45 years before he ultimately prevailed in his defense of life," she said.

"In 2008, it is clear that, despite the challenges still remaining, the pro-life message is steadily gaining ground," Yoest contends. "Momentum in the states has enabled us to make significant gains in protecting women and unborn children. Young people today self-report as pro life at a higher rate than their parents' generation."

After the elections, Father Frank Pavone spoke of a "great mistake" but an "abiding hope."

"Americans have made a grave mistake in electing Barack Obama to the presidency," he said. "Yet America herself remains great and is not a mistake, which is why so many of her citizens will continue, with even greater energy and determination, to defend her founding principles."

Pavone urged the pro-life community to rally together to oppose the coming Obama administration's efforts to roll back pro-life laws.

"The pro-life movement has made significant gains in the courts and in the law in these last eight years. For the next four, the movement will work to prevent the erosion of that progress," he said.

Bradley Mattes, the director of Life Issues Institute, encouraged pro-life groups and advocates to focus on education with the reality that legislative goals of ending abortion are now stalled.

“With federal legislation no longer an option for a minimum of two years, pro-life education is absolutely central and critical to our future efforts of ending abortion," he told LifeNews.com.

"The key to countering this devastating political loss is to change the hearts and minds of Americans on abortion and related life issues. That can only be done through effective pro-life education," he added.

Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue said he thinks the pro-life movement will ultimately prevail.

"Yesterday's losses are just a speed bump on the road to victory for the innocent," he told LifeNews.com. "Overall, Americans are more pro-life than ever before. Election cycles tend to be cyclical, and we are confident that we will once again have our day."

"These setbacks will only energize us. The fight is on," Newman explained. "We will continue to work though every available legal means to stop abortion. The person occupying the White House will not diminish that work."

"Now is not the time for discouragement, but a time to roll up our sleeves and continue the fight, having peace knowing that the results in God's hands and, ultimately, victory is assured," he concluded.

[wagglebee]

Haleigh Poutre update...

Despite the efforts of the defense, Haleigh's case will go forward.

No mistrial in Haleigh case

AP PhotoAssistant district attorney Laural Brandt, left, holds up a pajama top belonging to Haleigh Poutre for detective Roxanne Bradley of the Westfield Police Department to identify during the trial of Jason Strickland in Springfield. Strickland is charged in the 2005 beating of his stepdaughter, Haleigh Poutre.

By BUFFY SPENCER
bspencer@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - Hampden Superior Court Judge Judd J. Carhart denied a defense lawyer's request Friday for a mistrial in the child abuse case of Jason D. Strickland.

Alan J. Black asked for the mistrial after state trooper Ronald Gibbons testified that an aluminum baseball bat found at Stickland's home had "tested positive." The search of the Westfield home occurred on Sept. 14, 2005, three days after Strickland's 11-year-old stepdaughter Haleigh Poutre was brought to the hospital with serious head injuries.

Gibbons, while being cross-examined by defense lawyer Richard J. Rubin about why certain items were seized by police, said that the bat had tested positive. Gibbons did not say what the bat tested positive for.

The bat was found in a basement closet and had Haleigh's name written on it in several places, Gibbons said.

The judge heard Black's request for a mistrial while the jury was out of the courtroom. Black told Carhart that the jury already had heard the statement which he termed very misleading. He said testimony by others he intended to call later would show that while initial tests were "positive," a more exhaustive test found no human blood on the bat.

Carhart said that although Gibbons should not have made that statement, he would order jurors to disregard it, and denied the request for a mistrial...

[SJackson]

Perhaps what we have to look forward to under reimbursement for outcome health care.

I suspect the vast majority of Americans, even a majority of Freepers, would have no problem disconnecting life support in this case based on systemic costs. Overriding the family’s wishes, their willingness to pay, and the availability of the needed services. Surgery to extend the life of an 80 year old by a year, open heart surgery for smokers and the overweight. That’s where this case takes us.

[wagglebee]

The UK deathbots are cheering their American comrades.

Thread by me.

UK campaigners welcome support from Washington for assisted suicide

British campaigners seeking to decriminalise assisted suicide today welcomed news from the US election that voters in the state of Washington had backed the introduction of legislation to permit a form of euthanasia.

The measure, called "Initiative 1000" was approved by about 58% of voters in the north-western state, according to the latest figures today, and will allow terminally ill people, who have been diagnosed as having six months or less to live, to be prescribed life-ending medication, which would be self-administered.

The law would also remove the threat of prosecution to people who may wish to help a terminally ill person end their life.

A number of British MPs and campaigners such as Debbie Purdy, a terminally ill woman who last week lost her legal challenge to the UK's system of prosecuting assisted suicide cases, are fighting to legalise assisted suicide in the UK.

The legislation in Washington state follows similar moves in the state of Oregan and a number of European countries, including Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland, where assisted suicide is already no longer a crime...

[wagglebee]

I think the past few decades have resulted in America misplacing its priorities and what it spends money on. There is no reason that anyone should have to die if we have the means to prevent it.

[Salvation]

**I have been wounded in my heart by the election results to a degree that truly amazes me. There is the kind of pain in my heart that comes from a deep sense of betrayal.**

I, too, felt this. In fact, it was so monstrous that I had to go to Confession and talk with the priest about it.

The lives of these children are in God’s hands right now, and we must trust God. (Hard to do for me — letting go and letting Obama have a hand at the wheel — but possibly that is what needs to happen to wake up the longing for life, liberty and happiness held by all Americans.)

[Salvation]

Fight FOCA!

Obama reviews Bush orders on stem cells, drilling
Obama reviews Bush orders on stem cells, drilling (Be prepared for the gas prices to go up)
Let us Celebrate Barrack Obama, Let us Celebrate Life
Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions Stem Cell, Climate Rules
Pro-Life Dem Breakthroughs (Bad News for FOCA?) Stopping FOCA: EWTN TV w/ Gianna Jessen, Sister Nirmala, Archbishop Burke, among others(?)
Dr. Alveda King to Pro-Lifers: Forward, March
What America Has Done (Was the election about racial equality or the right to life?)
The Freedom of Choice Act: Radical Attempt to Prematurely End Debate over Abortion
Becket Fund to Award Canterbury Medal to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap.
Doug Kmiec to give election ‘post-mortem’ at Calif. seminary [Catholic Caucus]

Fighting FOCA (the time to act is now!)
Billy Graham Won't Advise Obama Because of Strong Pro-Abortion Position
Bishop Carlson: Our witness must grow stronger (Statement on election results)
Back to the Drawing Board (several bishops calling for Faithful Citizenship to be overhauled)
On Eucharistic Consistency (Florida bishop urges Biden to examine conscience before Communion)
Future Obama abortion legislation will violate conscience rights, PRI president says
THERE IS STILL A GOD IN HEAVEN!
Bill Berkowitz: Religious Right Down but Not Out
Freedom of Choice Act - Election Implications

[Patriotic1]

I always think of the 5th Glorious Mystery of the Rosary. The ultimate triumph of God over evil. Be of strong heart - we do God’s work.

[wagglebee]

I had been thinking a lot recently about re-reading some of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s (who I truly believe the Church should recognize as a martyr) later works (like “Ethics” and “Letters and Papers from Prison”) because I have a feeling that they may seem more real now than ever before.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[wagglebee]

Eluana Englaro update

Pro-life forces are lining up to fight for Eluana.

Thread by me.

Pro-life Advocates Rally in Rome for Italian “Terri Schiavo”

ROME, November 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With a verdict expected this week by the Italian high court in the case of Eluana Englaro - who some are calling the "Italian Terri Schiavo" - pro-life Italians from up and down the peninsula held a torchlight rally in front of the Palazzo di Giustizia (Palace of Justice) in Rome on Saturday night.

The Catholic action group, Militia Christi, organised the rally to show support for Eluana. Demonstrators held torches, flags and banners, attracting attention of passing traffic and tourists on the historic Ponte Umberto, which spans the Tiber directly in front of the Palazzo.

Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, the director of the Rome office of Human Life International told LifeSiteNews.com, “We are here to defend the life of Eluana Englaro.”

“Now we are arriving to the end of the judicial road,” he said. “No more appeals. It’s a very serious problem because the highest tribunal could decide that feeding and hydration could be disconnected from Eluana. And it could constitute a precedent to other cases.”

Eluana Englaro, 36, was severely injured in a 1992 car accident that left her in a state of minimal consciousness. However, she can breathe on her own and is not on a ventilator. Her “life support” has consisted of assisted feeding and hydration. Her father, Beppino Englaro, has been petitioning courts to remove his daughter's assisted nutrition and hydration since 1999.

In July, a lower court ruled that doctors could remove Eluana’s food and hydration tube. The state appealed the decision, saying that the ruling against Eluana constituted an attempt to change existing law. While this argument was rejected, a ruling on the government’s appeal from the Supreme Court of Cassation is expected tomorrow.

Eluana’s father Beppino Englaro has stated that, although he is legally entitled to remove his daughter’s food and hydration, he is not willing to proceed until all appeals are concluded.

Although media reports say that she is in a “persistent vegetative state” or a “deep coma,” her supporters report that Eluana has moments of minimal consciousness. Despite this, the previous court ruled that it had been shown both that her coma is irreversible and that she has expressed her desire not to live if she were in a "persistent vegetative state." The Court of Appeal said the decision was "inevitable given the extraordinary duration of a state of permanent vegetation," and given that her "vision of life” was “irreconcilable with the total and irreversible loss of her mental faculties."

The decision will not only affect Eluana’s life, Msgr. Barreiro said, but is a crucial one in the fight against legalised euthanasia.

The decision will set a precedent for many other similar cases that are ready to be argued; it could also have a strong bearing on a proposed bill on “living wills” which could establish the right to remove the food and hydration of patients.

“That’s passive euthanasia,” Msgr. Barreiro said. “It is a form of assisted suicide; and there is a risk of that in this law. That’s why we are afraid that this law will serve as a Trojan horse to introduce in a limited way, passive euthanasia.

“It’s a crucial decision because it could open the door to euthanasia in Italy.”

About Eluana, Msgr. Barreiro said, “She is not in a deep coma, because she opens her eyes. But at the same time, that is irrelevant. We have to insist that it is irrelevant whether she is in a deep coma or gives some signs of being able to relate. Because any human being has a right to food, water and bed rest independent of his or her condition.”

If the court upholds the father’s request, “that would be a very negative antecedent,” Msgr. Barreiro added.

"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest."

[wagglebee]

It hasn't escaped Obama's attention that, though WORTHLESS from a medical standpoint, embryonic stem cells are still an "untapped" market for infanticide.

Thread by tcg.

Opinion: President - Elect Set to Remove Protection of Embryonic Life?

So, with the stroke of a pen human embryos would become property, capable of being “manufactured” like a commodity, and available to be used as spare parts in experimentation which has produced no discernible scientific results. It is all even more troubling because adult stem cell research and fetal chord blood research have actually shown significant promise but have received little or no attention or research support. Most importantly, the use of these stem cells is never deadly. Every so called “extraction” of embryonic stem cells kills a living human embryo. I write as a Catholic Christian who warned of the implications of the new administrations’ pledge to Planned Parenthood to pass the evil “Freedom of Choice Act” which would enshrine the results of the Roe and Doe opinions into Federal law and remove every limiting restriction on abortion on demand. Now, this news from inside the transition team of the President elect indicates that the grave dangers to human life may begin even before the new President has a chance to make good on that promise...

[wagglebee]

Hitler did a better job masking his agenda.

Thread by pissant.

President-elect Obama Reveals his Position as 'The abortion President' with Proposed Executive..

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- On Sunday, transition advisors to the President-elect have revealed a potential list of executive orders that Mr. Obama would reverse once he became President.

They include reversing a provision barring international organizations that receive American aid from counseling about the availability of abortions and reversing President Bush's ban of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.

The Christian Defense Coalition, along with other faith organizations, warned that if Barack Obama were elected he would be the "most radical pro-abortion President" in American history.

[wagglebee]

What's next, Tiller the Killer for Surgeon General?

Thread by Salvation.

Kathleen Sebelius waiting to pounce? [Lead Dept. of Health and Human Services]?

Kathleen Sebelius waiting to pounce?

Rocco reports that extreme pro-abortion advocate (and Catholic) Kathleen Sebelius, governor of Kansas (previous AmP mentions here) ... is being considered to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees such things as abortion, and who would be tasked with shepherding FOCA through Congress.

Even if she is not picked to lead that department, it is highly likely she will be offered some prominent position in Obama's cabinet. She was, after all, one of his early, vocal supporters, and has tirelessly supported him since.

A local columnist isn't happy about this development, saying "[Sebelius] appears poised to skip out of the job she was elected to do in Kansas. If that happens, she won't be around to deal with Kansas' huge and looming budget challenges in 2009."

[wagglebee]

Obama's take on funerals -- "the most disgusting and manipulative kind of hate politics around."

Thread by Sopater.

Obama's Startling Reaction to Funeral Service for Baby Killed After Failed Abortion

HIALEAH, FL, Nov. 10 /Christian Newswire/ -- In the wake of her long-anticipated funeral, inflammatory comments by President-elect Barack Obama have renewed calls for charges to be filed in the death of Baby Shanice Denise Osbourne, who was born alive after a failed abortion at a Hialeah, Florida, abortion clinic, shoved into a plastic bag, and tossed on the roof of the abortion building to die in July, 2006.

Rev. O'Neal Dozier, of the World Wide Christian Center where Baby Shanice's funeral took place last month, used the opportunity to expose Obama for opposing legislation in Illinois that would have provided protection for babies like Shanice.

In startling response to the media, an Obama spokesperson accused Rev. Dozier of engaging in "the most disgusting and manipulative kind of hate politics around."

"In trying to defend the indefensible, all Obama and his henchmen can do is demonize those who are telling the truth about his voting record," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "No smear tactic can erase the fact that Obama clearly voted to deny protections for babies like Shanice. In spite of opposition from Obama, there are clear laws protecting live babies from being murdered in cold blood."

The Obama camp's inflammatory remarks only served to call attention to the lack of enforcement of laws that are designed to protect babies who die during failed abortions, and have renewed demands for prosecutors to end the delay in charging unlicensed abortion worker Belkis Gonzalez with Baby Shanice's murder...

[wagglebee]

I prefer my ideology that be "offensive" to Marxists!

Thread by klfcmi

“Controversial.” “Onerous.” “Ideologically offensive.” These are the words used by Washington Post reporters Ceci Connolly and R. Jeffrey Smith to describe the pro-life policies of President George W. Bush. The liberal slam came in an article about some of the early actions President-elect Obama will seek to take when he is inaugurated next year...

[wagglebee]

Let's try this again with a link.

Wash Post: Pro-Life Views "Ideologically Offensive"

[mware]

Hey wagglebee, are you planning to attend the march for life in DC this coming January???

If I am not mistaken it will be two days after Obama is inaugurated.

Talk about the irony.

[wagglebee]

I’m going to make every effort to attend, but the next six months are extremely busy for me.

[wagglebee]

More on the "offensiveness" of not applauding the murder of 50 MILLION INNOCENT AMERICANS.

Thread by rhema.

Washington Post Admits Bias for Obama, Calls Pro-Life Policies "Offensive"

In a weekend article, the ombudsman for the Washington Post admitted that the liberal newspaper had a bias for pro-abortion candidate Barack Obama during the elections. The paper followed the article with a report on how the President-elect would overturn "ideologically offensive" pro-life policies...

[wagglebee]

An amazing dose of reality.

Thread by Daniel T. Zanoza.

Abortion in America: A Voice From The Womb--If Only We Could Hear It

Editor's Note: Dan Gura is a conservative activist, free lance writer and a contributing editor to RFFM.org. The following column is a touching reminder of the humanity we lose through the act of abortion. Gura does not indict the mother in his piece. Gura attempts to approach the issue of abortion from a perspective of a child who will never have the opportunity to speak for him or herself. The column is thought-provoking and is meant to give a voice to the voiceless.

It is my honor to interview unnamed fetus, male. Forever 20 weeks old.

Q. Fetus, that's an interesting name. What does it mean?

A. Fetus is Latin for "Little One." Every man, woman, and child who lives, or has ever lived, started their life sharing my name. But make no mistake of it, I am a unique child of God.

Q. You look mighty small? How old did you say you are?

A. I am a second trimester baby. I may look small, but I am an individual human being, with DNA unique from both my mother and my father. God breathed an eternal soul into me at the moment of my conception.

My body is growing rapidly...I weigh 9 1/2 ounces and I'm 6 1/2 inches long. I've been told that my brain is developing at an amazing rate...something about millions of motor neurons forming which allows me greater control over my muscle movements. I don't understand what that all means, but I sure do like sucking on my thumb!

And my eyes have been functioning for three weeks now. There's not a lot to see, but I do turn away from bright lights...