40 Days For Life

This is my first year to participate in this event, so I am not sure what all I will be doing, beyond the prayer and fasting. I would like to attend a prayer vigil at Planned Parenthood so I am going to get in contact with the Nashville folks to see about training. If anyone is interested please let me know and I will pass along any information I get. I encourage you to take a few moments and poke around their website.
40 Days for Life

------------------------------------
40 Days for Life is a community-based campaign that draws attention to the evil of abortion through the use of a three-point program:

Prayer and fasting
Constant vigil
Community outreach

40 Days for Life takes a determined, peaceful approach to showing local communities the consequences of abortion in their own neighborhoods, for their own friends and families. It puts into action a desire to cooperate with God in the carrying out of His plan for the end of abortion in America.

The 40-day campaign tracks Biblical history, where God used 40-day periods to transform individuals, communities ... and the entire world. From Noah in the flood to Moses on the mountain to the disciples after Christ's resurrection, it is clear that God sees the transformative value of His people accepting and meeting a 40-day challenge.

Vision and mission

40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion in America.

The mission of the campaign is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion in America.

-------------------------------------

a final thought from the website
"Mary Comm of In Our Midst Ministries, Inc. sums up the issue best as she writes, "We (the church) have been an unintentional accomplice to the millions of lives lost and to the multiplied millions of lives devastated by abortion. We didn't want them to abort. We didn't mean for them to abort. But, because of our lack of knowledge, because of our fear, we have continued to stand by and do nothing. We, God's hands and feet in this dark and hurting world, have been unintentional, unknowledgeable accomplice, but an accomplice nonetheless."
May today mark the beginning of change within the church, as God's people, in unity, seek His forgiveness."

A "Rush of Love" Saved This Unborn Baby

A couple of things jumped out at me while I read this woman's amazing story---first her name Miriam Virgo. Miriam was Moses older sister who kept protective watch over her little baby brother as he floated down the river in his reed basket. It was Miriam who suggested to Pharaoh's daughter that she get a Hebrew woman to nurse the infant. (Exodus 2:4-8)
And look at her last name --Virgo--the Virgin, how can any Catholic not believe that the Blessed Virgin was close at hand when she made the decision to save her child's life? I dunno...there are no coincidences in God's world. God bless this brave woman.
------------------------------------------------------

Rape Victim says God Granted a "Rush of Love" for her Unborn Child Moments before Abortion
By Hilary White

September 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A British policewoman and born-again Christian says it was a sudden and unexpected "rush of love" that in her mind transformed her unborn child, conceived in a date-rape, from "an alien" to a beloved daughter on the day of her scheduled abortion. Miriam Virgo credits God with stepping in to save her daughter's life.

Now 27, Virgo told her story in an autobiographical piece in Britain's Daily Mail yesterday, saying that, having come from a devout Christian family, she had never expected to find herself a single mother at 19. In 2001, she had attended a party with co-workers at which she believes her single glass of wine was spiked with a date-rape drug. After the attack and with no memory of that night, Virgo was shocked to find herself pregnant and considered obtaining an abortion.
"Coming from such a Christian family," she said, "I've never believed in abortion, but suddenly finding myself pregnant with a rapist's baby, I looked at it differently." She continued, "I just couldn't face the thought of the baby being born and looking like Rob [her alleged rapist] - it would be a constant reminder of what had happened."

After "counselling," Virgo said, she was ready for an abortion; but when the moment came, and she was already dressed in the hospital gown, she changed her mind after what she describes as a moment of help from God.

Ultimately, after she gave birth to Kayleigh, now seven, she found that the child did look like her attacker, and she experienced some difficulty bonding. But ultimately she overcame this, saying, "After all, none of this was her fault." A year after her daughter's birth, Virgo applied to and was accepted by the police force.

She said that when Kayleigh is old enough, she will tell her of the circumstances of her conception, and "I'll also tell her about the moment I decided to keep her, and how I felt all this love for her, love that is even stronger now."

In another interview, Virgo said, "God knew what my life would be without the girl and he knew what it would be with the girl. I prayed to God and asked for his will to be done in my life."
The so-called "rape exception" is commonly accepted, even by many who are inclined to the pro-life position, as a "compassionate" act for a rape victim. But pro-life apologists refute this, saying that it is neither just for the innocent child who is killed, nor beneficial for the mother.
Stephanie Gray, the head and founder of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform, told LifeSiteNews.com that Miriam Virgo's story should be one that inspires others to make the same choice in favor of life.

It illustrates, she said, the basic principle of the entire pro-life cause, that an unborn child has dignity and value, no matter what the circumstances of her conception. "If the unborn are valuable because they're human," Gray said, "then how they come into existence does not change the fact that they are persons with inherent dignity."

Gray illustrated the principle with a hypothetical: had Virgo been married and "had consensual sex with her husband the night prior to her date rape, upon discovering her pregnancy she would not have known the identity of the child's father."

"Imagine if she hoped it was her husband's child and carried on with the pregnancy, and only after birth, with paternity test results, discovered the child's father was a rapist. Would she be permitted to kill the infant then because of the father's crime? Obviously not. Likewise, we may not kill an unborn child because of her father's crime."

Gray said that Virgo's "witness is a powerful example to all people, and that is that we should be other-focused, not self-focused."

"Even amidst her own victimization and deep pain, Miriam chose not to victimize an innocent child."

Having just One Abortion Increases risk of premature birth by

Women who have just one abortion face 35% increased risk of having a premature baby
By Claire Ellicott
Last updated at 6:00 PM on 16th September 2009

A study claims having an abortion may adversely affect future pregnancies

Women who have abortions could be posing a risk to future children, according to research published today.

A Canadian medical study found that those who abort a pregnancy could run the risk of giving birth to premature of low-weight children in subsequent pregnancies.

It discovered that women who had undergone more than one abortion had a 72 per cent increased risk for low birth weight and 93 per cent risk of prematurity.

It also found that women who had an abortion in the first or second trimester had a 35 per cent increased risk of giving birth to a low-weight birth baby and a 36 per cent increased risk of having a premature baby,

The study was set up to investigate why babies are born premature and underweight.


The researchers looked at 37 studies around the world carried out between 1965 and 2001 to determine whether previous abortion may be one of the factors.

The authors of the review, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, say there could be several reasons for their findings - the most likely of which is physical damage to the cervix caused by older methods of abortion.

The author of the review, Dr Prakesh Shah, of the paediatrics department at the at Mount Sinai hospital in Toronto, said: 'When a woman comes for induced termination of pregnancy, she should be counselled about that risk.

'At least she will be able to make an informed choice.'

Josephine Quintavalle of the Pro-Life Alliance said: 'Women having counselling over difficult or unplanned pregnancies should be made aware of all the consequences.'

Bacus Bill Battle Begins

Now that Congress is back in session we have to return to our hill watch and keep vigil over the unborn. Here is the latest round. From Life News today.
-----------------------
Baucus Health Care Bill Draws Initial Opposition, Abortion Funding Ban Needed
by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorSeptember 15, 2009

Email RSS Print
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Members of the Gang of Six, the lawmakers of the Senate Finance Committee who were at work with Senator Max Baucus on legislation that could become the main health care reform vehicle, have said no to his legislation at this point because of concerns about abortion funding.

Baucus had been negotiation with the group, comprised of three Republicans and three Democrat, and eventually crafted the bill on his own.
The committee chairman, and also a Montana Democrat, Baucus is prepared to present his legislation tomorrow. Political observers say it could become the main health care bill replacing the Kennedy bill and HR 3200 that have been dogged by pro-life advocates because they contain abortion funding.

However, CNN indicates two members of the Gang, pro-life Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Mike Enzi of Wyoming, will oppose the bill in its current state over several political issues, including their desire to make sure it does not lead to abortion funding.
The Finance Committee is expected to take up the bill next week and debate amendments to it, which could include language from Enzi or Grassley making sure that abortions are not funded in any way under the plan.

The lawmakers also told the New York Times that they want to make sure there are not abortion mandates for insurance plans or conscience problems for pro-life medical workers who do not want to engage in or refer for abortions.
As such, the bill should “include a conscience clause to protect entities from being required to contract with abortion providers," they said.
The Times says pro-abortion Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, another Democrat participating in the negotiations, told his colleagues the bill should “remain silent” on abortion.
Another Democrat on the panel, Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, said the lawmakers discussed abortion Monday afternoon and said that Enzi and Grassley want the amendment to the bill to make it clear no funds can pay for abortions.

"He said existing law that would apply to a health care bill prohibits federal funding of abortion, but added that the Senate negotiators want the bill to eliminate any doubt on the issue," CNN indicated.

As pro-life advocates have made clear, the Hyde amendment would not apply to the health care bills because it only deals with Medicaid.

These developments set the stage for a vote next week that would be the latest to follow one from this summer in which another committee defeated an amendment to stop tax-funded abortions.
When the Finance committee does vote, the pro-life side starts with a disadvantage as the committee is dominated 14-8 by abortion advocates with all of the Democrats on the panel and one Republican, Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, backing abortion.
CNN also indicates other members of the Gang oppose the bill as well, with Snowe having her own reasons and pro-abortion West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller saying he wants it to include the government-run health care plan known as the public option.

"I want to make clear that in its current form I cannot put my support behind the Finance bill — it will not have my vote," he said today.
"The way it is right now, now we have an amendment process coming up next week. I'll have many, many, many amendments and we will see what happens on that. But now, there is no way that I can vote for the Senate package," he added.

Baucus released a framework for legislation last week and he intends to introduce an actual bill to his full committee on Wednesday.
A LifeNews.com analysis of the framework shows no language preventing abortion funding or on abortion in any manner.
Leading pro-life groups have said that, without a specific ban on abortion funding, any health care legislation could pave the way for tax funding of abortions by either the Obama administration or interpretation by the courts.

ACTION: Contact members of the Senate Finance Committee and urge them to support amendments to make sure abortion funding and coverage are specifically excluded from the Baucus bill. You can find members of the panel here. http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/committee.htm

Meeting Notes --September*UPDATED*

Sept 15, 2009*
Spent entire meeting brainstorming for ideas for both spiritual growth and worldly ideas we can keep the pro-life message in the front of the public discussion.

Next week we will continue to sort out the ideas and work on a time table for both categories.
-------------------------





Very informative meeting with Caring Choices representative. She will provide us with updated pamphlets (as soon as the new version is complete)

* Discuss fund raising efforts which included: pro-life booth at Craft Fair and International day. Because of tax issues we decided to seek legal guidance regarding monthly fund raiser in the Family Life Center

* ProLife Rosary and Adoration --October 2-3 in the Chapel. We need Rosary leaders as well as 4 individuals for to be with the Holy Eucharist at all times. Security will be provided by the Knights of Columbus. Sign ups will begin after all Masses on Sunday 13, September.

* Process with image of Our Lady of Guadalupe before all Sat/Sun Masses October 3 & 4.

The Catholic Position on HR3200

This is one of the most clear and concise statements on HR3200 by a Church leader I've read. It really helped me solidify some of my own concerns.

---------------------------------------------------

Voice Your Concerns Over Healthcare Reform
Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless

The current national debate about health care reform should concern all of us. There is much at stake in this political struggle, and also much confusion and inaccurate information being thrown around. My brother bishops have described some clear “goal-posts” to mark out what is
acceptable reform, and what must be rejected.

First and most important, the Church will not accept any legislation that mandates coverage, public or private, for abortion, euthanasia, or embryonic stem-cell research.
We refuse to allow our own parish, school, and diocesan health insurance plans to be forced to include these evils. As a corollary of this, we insist equally on adequate protection of individual rights of conscience for patients and health care providers not to be made complicit in these evils. A so-called reform that imposes these evils on us would be far worse than keeping the health care system we now have.

Second, the Catholic Church does not teach that “health care” as such, without distinction, is a natural right. The “natural right” of health care is the divine bounty of food, water, and air without which all of us quickly die. This bounty comes from God directly. None of us own it, and none of us can morally withhold it from others. The remainder of health care is a political, not a natural, right, because it comes from our human efforts, creativity, and compassion. As a political right, health care should be apportioned according to need, not ability to pay or to benefit from the care. We reject the rationing of care. Those who are sickest should get the most care, regardless of age, status, or wealth. But how to do this is not self-evident. The decisions that we must collectively make about how to administer health care therefore fall under “prudential judgment.”

Third, in that category of prudential judgment, the Catholic Church does not teach that government should directly provide health care. Unlike a prudential concern like national defense, for which government monopolization is objectively good – it both limits violence overall and prevents the obvious abuses to which private armies are susceptible – health care should not be subject to federal monopolization. Preserving patient choice (through a flourishing private sector) is the only way to prevent a health care monopoly from denying care arbitrarily, as we learned from HMOs in the recent past. While a government monopoly would not be motivated by profit, it would be motivated by such bureaucratic standards as quotas and defined “best procedures,” which are equally beyond the influence of most citizens. The proper role of the government is to regulate the private sector, in order to foster healthy competition and to curtail abuses. Therefore any legislation that undermines the viability of the private sector is suspect. Private, religious hospitals and nursing homes, in particular, should be protected, because these are the ones most vigorously offering actual health care to the poorest of the poor.

The best way in practice to approach this balance of public and private roles is to spread the risks and costs of health care over the largest number of people. This is the principle underlying Medicaid and Medicare taxes, for example. But this principle assumes that the pool of taxable workers is sufficiently large, compared to those who draw the benefits, to be reasonably inexpensive and just. This assumption is at root a pro-life assumption! Indeed, we were a culture of life when such programs began. Only if we again foster a culture of life can we perpetuate the economic justice of taxing workers to pay health care for the poor. Without a growing population of youth, our growing population of retirees is outstripping our distribution systems. In a culture of death such as we have now, taxation to redistribute costs of medical care becomes both unjust and unsustainable.

Fourth, preventative care is a moral obligation of the individual to God and to his or her family and loved ones, not a right to be demanded from society. The gift of life comes only from God; to spurn that gift by seriously mistreating our own health is morally wrong. The most effective preventative care for most people is essentially free – good diet, moderate exercise, and sufficient sleep. But pre-natal and neo-natal care are examples of preventative care requiring medical expertise, and therefore cost; and this sort of care should be made available to all as far as possible.

Within these limits, the Church has been advocating for decades that health care be made more accessible to all, especially to the poor. Will the current health care reform proposals achieve these goals?

The current House reform bill, HR 3200, does not meet the first or the fourth standard. As Cardinal Justin Rigali has written for the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-life Activities, this bill circumvents the Hyde amendment (which prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortions) by drawing funding from new sources not covered by the Hyde amendment, and by creatively manipulating how federal funds covered by the Hyde amendment are accounted. It also provides a “public insurance option” without adequate limits, so that smaller employers especially will have a financial incentive to push all their employees into this public insurance. This will effectively prevent those employees from choosing any private insurance plans. This will saddle the working classes with additional taxes for inefficient and immoral entitlements. The Senate bill, HELP, is better than the House bill, as I understand it. It subsidizes care for the poor, rather than tending to monopolize care. But, it designates the limit of four times federal poverty level for the public insurance option, which still includes more than half of all workers. This would impinge on the vitality of the private sector. It also does not meet the first standard of explicitly excluding mandatory abortion coverage.

I encourage all of you to make you voice heard to our representatives in Congress. Tell them what they need to hear from us: no health care reform is better than the wrong sort of health care reform. Insist that they not permit themselves to be railroaded into the current too-costly and pro-abortion health care proposals. Insist on their support for proposals that respect the life and dignity of every human person, especially the unborn. And above all, pray for them, and for our country. (Please see the website for the Iowa Catholic Conference at http://www.iowacatholicconference.org/ and www.usccb.org/healthcare for more information)

Your brother in Christ,
Most Reverend R. Walker NicklessBishop of Sioux City http://www.scdiocese.org/

WoW What a Ship!

Commentary: Clowes: "Women on Waves" Finally Runs Aground

Dutch doctor Rebecca Gomperts, medical officer for the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior II, found that reputable medicine "didn"t fulfill her." In 1997, she performed her first abortions. She enjoyed ending preborn life so much, she decided to make it her life's work.
Two years later, the newly minted abortionist established the Women on Waves Foundation (WOW), and equipped a trawler named the Sea Change with a mobile abortion clinic in a small converted shipping container put together by an artist.

She intended to take the boat to South America and Africa, providing abortions just outside the territorial waters of nations where abortion is still illegal. The purpose of the whole charade was to promote abortion law liberalization with a concerted media blitz.
One of the primary missions of the abortion boat was to "train local service providers in techniques of vacuum aspiration." In other words, WOW intended to leave hastily trained illegal abortionists behind to cause the very carnage it claimed it was trying to end.

The ship's three abortionists hoped to fund the project with what they called their "reproductive battleship" by performing at least 4,000 abortions annually, thereby killing more human beings than most actual Navy warships.
Fortunately, the performance of WOW's staff resembled a gaggle of escapees from a Three Stooges convention.

WOW's first mission was in June 2001 to Ireland, the most pro life nation in Europe, to highlight the "hypocrisy" of the nation's abortion law. However, the bumbling WOW staffers not only forgot to bring the right equipment, they neglected to get their floating abortion mill licensed by the Dutch government.
Even the pro abortion Irish press panned Gomperts' trip. The Sunday Telegraph headline was "Abortion Boat Admits Dublin Voyage Was a Publicity Sham," and another trumpeted "Abortion Ship Sails Into Disaster."

During WOW's visit, Human Life International Ireland launched its "Operation Babe Watch" prayer and fasting campaign, which included putting a vessel entitled the Life Boat to sea, and the widespread distribution of pro life literature.
Because of the determined prolife defense, the abortion boat had to retreat to the Netherlands without killing a single Irish unborn child.

Gomperts kicked off her next debacle during WOW's June 2003 visit to Poland as she tried to set up what she called a "sexual workshop cruise" for Polish women.
WOW's converted East German tugboat Langenore ignored Polish berthing regulations at Wladyslawowo and promptly sailed into mayhem. A rowdy crowd threw eggs and red paint and released a bucket of rats on board the ship. Polish officials boarded the floating abortion mill and found that most of its medications were expired, and the rest were illegal for use in the country.Church and state alike condemned the abortion boat, calling it a "death ship" and decrying the "deliberate provocation" it was attempting. The Warsaw Voice labeled WOW "Ship of Fools," and the Polish government levied a $3,150 fine for numerous safety violations.

This time, however, the crew aborted 11 women offshore with the RU 486 death pill. On its web site, WOW tried to reassure women that there was "no risk at all" that complications from RU 486 could occur on the "high sees" [sic], despite the fact that more than a dozen women had died from using the drug under much better conditions.

Gomperts took some time off to straighten out her licensing problems, and picked up several awards along the way, including the Ms. "Woman of the Year" Award and Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger "Woman of Valor" Award. WOW's next failure took place in Portugal in September 2004. Human Life International worked with a local pro life group that persuaded the Ministry of Defense to stop the floating abortion mill from entering the nation's ports, and two warships kept it in international waters, thus not allowing it to kill any Portuguese babies during its mission of death. Gomperts, again demonstrating her disdain for the laws of pro life countries, went on national TV to show women how to perform their own abortions, and then fled the country under threat of prosecution because she had publicly promoted an illegal act.

When you see abortionists driven out of a country under threat of prosecution, you know the prolifers have won decisively.

Gomperts next traveled to Malta in October 2007 to give a lecture on abortion. HLI's Paul Vincenti organized a candlelight vigil outside Gomperts' hotel and talk, with pro lifers outnumbering proabortionists by five to one. Yet WOW claimed that support for abortion in Malta was widespread and growing. The Maltese, to their credit, did not budge on their traditional protection of human life.

During WOW's October 2008 visit to Valencia, Spain, its supporters passed out boxes of matches with the picture of a burning church and the caption, "The only church that brings light is the one that burns. Join us!" Meanwhile, these same feminists complained about how "violent" all pro lifers are.

In 2008, Women on Waves traded in its trawler for a high end 130 foot sport fishing boat ironically named Harmony, donned what crew members called their "bullet free vests" for the media, and headed for Ecuador. Pro lifers watched closely, wondering just how Gomperts and her merry band would botch things up this time.

They didn"t have long to wait. Gomperts chose Esmeraldas as her landing site, because, as she said, it "already has a history of liberation. In 1553 a Spanish slaving ship ran aground and 23 Africans freed themselves, swam ashore and settles [sic] in Esmeraldas."

So the captain of the Harmony decided to copy the slavers, and promptly ran the Harmony aground. After two fruitless weeks of trying to salvage the vessel, Gomperts and her crew set about spreading their message through vandalism and mockery of the Catholic faith.

Perhaps Gomperts should rename her foundation "Women Under the Waves."

Pro abortion activists spread across Quito in the night, spraypainting their slogan Aborto Seguro ("Safe Abortion") everywhere. The next day, the WOW women draped a huge banner saying "Safe Abortion/Your Decision" from the 135 foot tall statue of the Virgin de Panecillo, high above Quito and visible from most of the city.

Gomperts had previously complained that her group had been "offended and intimidated" by pro lifers -- but, as we know, proabortionists, who have such very tender feelings, have no problem with ridiculing the most cherished beliefs of others.

Gomperts could have draped her banner from any tall building or bridge in Quito, but chose instead to insult the Catholic faith, our Lady, and the Ecuadorian nation, which is 95% Catholic. Poetic Justice Finally, the Dutch government grounded WOW for good in May 2009 when it passed a law stating that the RU 486 abortion pill may only be distributed by approved clinics, in light of the fact that it has killed 30 women. This law was intended to protect women, but Gomperts alleged that it represents "a growing tendency toward restriction and intolerance" in Dutch politics.

After a decade of hype and media promotion, we can see Rebecca Gomperts for exactly what she is -- just another rich white European seeking to deprive poor cultures of their most valuable resource -- their children. She is doing her best to impose Western non values on other cultures and hold down their populations (and therefore their power) in the tradition of her infamous predecessor, Margaret Sanger.

As Bert Dorenbos of the Dutch pro life group Cry for Life sadly observed, "In the past the Dutch have been missionaries for good, but now we are missionaries for evil."

Women on Waves has proven that it is just another manifestation of pro abortion hypocrisy and contraceptive imperialism. While WOW shouts at pro lifers to "obey the law" and "don"t offend us," it deliberately sets out to offend the populations of entire nations, blithely ignoring their laws while doing so.

There is plenty of poetic justice in the termination of this killer boat. Let us hope and pray that this ridiculous chapter in abortion extremism remains where it should have been all along -- at the bottom of the deep blue sea.