Massachusetts Citizens for Life Convention followed by Annual Meeting and Election of Directors
DoubleTree by Hilton, 11 Beaver St, Milford (new location), Saturday, June 9, 2012, 8:30am - 5:00pm
HADLEY ARKES is the Edward Ney Professor of American Institutions at Amherst College, Senior Fellow of the Claremont Institute, and connected with the Madison Program at Princeton University. He will give his predictions about the Obamacare SCOTUS ruling coming at the end of June."
MARY BEERWORTH, Executive Director of Vermont Right to Life, architect and organizer of the recent defeat of Doctor-Prescribed Suicide in Vermont
MARK DISCHER is the Academic Dean and Professor of Moral Theology at Magdalen College. He will discuss the implications of the HHS Mandate.
AUSTIN RUSE (invited) is President of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM). Instrumental in the Susan G. Komen situation, he will share the background on the Planned Parenthood scandals.
BEARKOUT SESSIONS will feature the MCFL Federal and State PAC's, the Massachusetts Alliance Against Doctor-Prescribed Suicide, the latest on anti-life efforts in the schools, pro-life education, and Chapter resources. We will also introduce our comprehensive new web presence and the ways each of us can become involved in using the web more effectively to advance the cause of life. Presenters: Linda Thayer, Madeline McComish, John Rowe, Mary Beerworth, Mark Rollo, MD, Robert Joyce, Esq., Aaron Rodriguez, and Gabriel Nicolau.
The Convention will be followed by the Annual Meeting of Members convened to elect Directors at Large to the Board of Directors and to approve new MCFL Bylaws. That will be followed by the Annual Meeting of the Directors to elect officers. All voting members are encouraged to attend the Meeting of Members and to stay for the Board Meeting. There is no charge for the meeting and members need not have attended the Convention.
First I want to thank everyone who helped to make our pro-life Mother's Day Funding Bouquet such a great success. Your gifts to defend life and honor motherhood will help us to keep our efforts both to stop legal Doctor-Prescribed Suicide and to identify, educate and activate pro-life people across the commonwealth running through the summer. Thank you so much for all you do.
For those of you who couldn't find the time to participate or just plain forgot, I have good news. Because of the great success of the Funding Bouquet, we've decided to extend to effort until noon tomorrow (5/15/2012). (CLICK HERE)
That means you still have a chance to contribute to funding the effort to educate the public about the danger posed by Doctor-Prescribed Suicide and there's still time to make your gift in memory of a departed mother (CLICK HERE to go directly to our donations page and make a gift).
Don't forget that Massachusetts will be voting on the so-called "Death with Dignity" Act on the ballot this November.
This proposed law would allow doctors to prescribed supposedly "terminal" patients with a lethal dose of poison. The sick, infirm, elderly and helpless are all at risk.
Make no mistake, Doctor-Prescribed Suicide targets the vulnerable. For example, despite the fact that severe, but treatable, depression is the most common cause of thoughts of suicide, there is no required screening for depression or mental illness included in the proposed law. Depression screening in cases like this is a precaution so obvious that its omission seems almost intentional.
What are proponents expecting to happen? What are they hoping will happen?
This terrible bill can be defeated but only if we work together. That's why I need everyone who has yet to participate in the Mother's Day Funding Bouquet to CLICK HERE and do so now. Your gift of $10, $20, $50 or whatever you can afford will go a long way toward beating the radical pro-death lobby in this critical fight.
People who are suffering with serious illness need compassion and real care, not poison pills. Let's ensure that we stay a state which tries to treat the sick rather than sending them off to die.
Let's not forget that in the Northwest, where Doctor-Prescribed Suicide is legal, so-called "Death with Dignity" has been used as a means of containing healthcare costs.
Cancer patients in Oregon have been told that while the expensive medicines they need to extend their time with family and friends are not covered by their health plan, cheap suicide tablets would be paid for. Do we really want to put such a cost-cutting tool into the hands of unknown bureaucrats?
Indeed, Doctor-Prescribed Suicide does fly in the face of all the finest traditions of Western Medicine.
For two and a half millennia, doctors have taken as their ethical guide promises to "do no harm," and to "never give deadly medicine, even when asked." These standards have provided the foundation for a medical profession that looks to the patient's life and health as their first real concern. Now, the radical death lobby wants to change all that.
Doctors don't want the change. That's why the Massachusetts Medical Society and the American Medical Association have firmly rejected Doctor-Prescribed Suicide. They recognize the danger of turning healers into killers.
If the proposed law passes, how could a sick and elderly person know that he can trust his doctor to do everything he can for him? How could anyone?
The implications are terrifying.
That's why I'm asking everyone who has yet to contribute to the Mother's Day Funding Bouquet to please do so now. We have had good success with this effort but your gift of $10, $20, $50 or whatever you can afford would make a real difference to our abilities as we conduct this campaign to defend Life.
Remember, even though it is too late for cards you can still make a gift in honor of a mother or in memory of a departed mother by including a note to that effect in the comments section of our donations page.
This fight is so important and the only way we can win is by working united. I'm so glad we're standing strong for life together.
Keep on fighting!
Yours for Life,
Anne Fox
President,
Massachusetts Citizens for Life
PS-Thanks again to everyone who has already participated. Your gift to the Mother's Day Funding Bouquet is making such a difference in this critical battle. It is wonderful to think about everything you do for the cause of Life.
PPS-Remember, despite the work we're putting in to stopping Doctor-Prescribed Suicide, we can't afford to let up on our efforts to protect the unborn. It would be terrible to have to make tough choices about which effort needed our resources more. Please, if you plan on giving, be as generous as you can. CLICK HERE to donate
Happy Mother's Day! Especially to all you mothers, but really, to everyone.
I think it's safe to say that everyone involved in the pro-life struggle understands the importance of motherhood, so I won't go on at length.
I did want to share a poem which Christina Rossetti used as the dedication of her fourth volume of sonnets. I think it is just lovely--and very true. In the end, how much of what we accomplish, how much of the good we do, is an attempt to live up to our mothers' expectations for us? How much is an attempt to return in some measure the love they gave to us?
Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome
Has many sonnets: so here now shall be
One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me
To her whose heart is my heart's quiet home,
To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee
I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;
Whose service is my special dignity,
And she my loadstar while I go and come
And so because you love me, and because
I love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath
Of rhymes wherewith to crown your honored name:
In you not fourscore years can dim the flame
Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the laws
Of time and change and mortal life and death.
Again, happy Mother's Day. Let's keep trying to be the people our mother's knew we could be. Let's keep fighting for Life.
I want to thank those of you who have contributed to MCFL's Mother's Day Funding Bouquet. Yesterday I revealed that we hadn't even made a dent in our funding goal. I asked you to please do what you could. I knew I could count on you (Didn't give yet? CLICK HERE).
Once again, you are proving me right.
Thanks to the contributions of so many of those who received my earlier emails we are now within striking distance of our goal! If you are among those who gave, you deserve to be congratulated on your generosity. Thank you for standing strong for life.
If you have yet to give, don't worry. It isn't too late to strike a blow for life and against Doctor-Prescribed Suicide by contributing $10, $20, $50 or whatever you can afford to MCFL's Mother's Day Funding Bouquet (CLICK HERE to contribute).
Don't forget, along with your contribution you can honor motherhood further by signing up to five (5) of the best mothers, or honorary mothers, you know up for a lovely pro-life Mother's Day e-card.
You can also make a gift in memory of a departed mother by simply including a note in the comments section of the donation form. (CLICK HERE to make a gift in memory of a mother)
The money raised in the Mother's Day Funding Bouquet will help keep our efforts to educate the public about the danger posed by Doctor-Prescribed Suicide running through the summer.
The radical pro-death activists, unsatisfied with the carnage they have wrought on the unborn, are now targeting the depressed, infirm and elderly with a law that will allow doctors to prescribed sick patients with a lethal dose of poison.
If the measure passes, the disabled, ill and otherwise "inconvenient" are all at risk.
People in pain or suffering from depression need compassion and treatment--not medical abandonment and a poison pill. By fighting this bill we are saving lives, maybe even the lives of elderly mothers.
Remember that in the Pacific Northwest, where Doctor-Prescribed Suicide is already legal, cancer patients have been denied life-extending drugs and offered offered suicide doses instead. Do we really want a tool like Doctor-Prescribed Suicide placed in the hands of cost-cutting bureaucrats?
Proponents may call the law "Death with Dignity." But where's the dignity in pressuring someone's elderly mother into killing herself?
I'm proud that so many of us have chosen to stand up for real dignity and honor motherhood by participating in our Mother's Day Funding Bouquet (Haven't given? CLICK HERE). Together we can win this critical fight.
What better way to honor a beloved pro-life mother who's gone on to her reward than giving a gift in her memory that will protect the lives of other mothers as well as unborn babies? CLICK HERE to make a gift in honor of a beloved mother.
This fight is so important. I'm glad we're in it together.
Thank you for all you do in support of Life!
Best wishes for a happy Mother's Day,
Anne Fox,
President,
Massachusetts Citizens for Life
PS-The money raised from the Mother's Day Funding Bouquet will ensure that our efforts both to stop Doctor-Prescribed Suicide and protect the unborn can continue. It also gives us a chance to honor departed mothers by making a gift in their memory by including a note in the comments section of the donations page. Your gift in honor of motherhood of $10, $20, $50 will protect the vulnerable from Doctor-Prescribed Suicide, including many elderly mothers (CLICK HERE).
PPS-Many have already given in support of this effort. If you've already contributed thank you. Your gift will make a difference for the better. Please forward this message to anyone who might be interested-we need to spread the word!
As you know our religious freedom is under attack. We need all hands on deck and that is where you come in.
I am simply asking my friends to send this to two people. It's that simple! Jesus used the same concept when he sent out his disciples two by two. Quoting one of the organizers,
National organizer Eric Scheidler of Pro-Life Action League says:
"The nationwide Rally have exploded into what may well be the single largest nationwide pro-life event in history. You'll be telling your grandchildren about it one day!"
I hope to see you at the Boston rally.
"Stand up for Religious Freedom"
Rally in Boston
June 8, Noon Boston Common, across from the State House
Please consider making copies of the attached fliers (bxw or color) and posting them at churches, prayer groups, etc.
For more information go to www.standupforreligiousfreedom.net
Thank you for your help and please join me in saying the following prayer:
Almighty God, Father of all nations,
For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (GaI5:1).
We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty, the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good.
Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties;
By your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness, and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
When I emailed you on Wednesday, I explained that MCFL needed to raise $10,000 by Mother's Day to effectively continue the fight for life (CLICK HERE to donate). As of today, we've only raised a fraction of that amount with out Mother's Day Funding Bouquet. If you're unsure of what to do, please read the entire letter before deciding.
The extremely well-funded radical pro-death lobby has once again turned its attention toward Massachusetts. This time they seek to pass a Doctor-Prescribed Suicide law which would allow doctors to give a lethal dose of poison to sick, depressed, elderly and vulnerable patients (CLICK HERE to help stop them).
They are marking our grandparents, aunts, uncles, fathers and even our beloved mothers for death. We have to stop them but we need to raise funds to do it.
Please help raise the $10,000 we need by contributing to our Mother's Day Funding Bouquet (CLICK to donate). Your generous gift honoring motherhood of $10, $20, $50 or whatever you can afford will help us keep our effort to educate the voters about this dangerous proposal active through the summer.
Your Mother's Day gift could save the lives of elderly mothers and the children of expectant mothers.
Let's not forget that even as pro-death forces target the infirm and elderly, they are already assaulting Life and motherhood in another way-by slaughtering thousands of this commonwealth's unborn children each year through legal abortion.
The so-called "Death with Dignity" Act, which will be on the ballot in November, is yet another expansion of the death culture which has dominated this country since 1973. As always, like the bullies and cowards they truly are, the pro-death activists are focusing their attack on the most vulnerable.
(CLICK HERE to stand up to these bullies)
For example, the proposed law does not require mandatory depression screening-despite the fact that severe, but treatable, depression is the most common cause of suicidal ideation. The patients targeted by the law will have just received serious medical news: It is reasonable to assume they might be depressed as a result.
Talk of suicide is a cry for help and a compassionate society would offer help-not poison pills.
Sadly my friend, it gets worse.
WGBH and the Boston Globe recently featured the story of a Massachusetts family that "helped" an ailing parent obtain Doctor-Prescribed Suicide in Oregon where it is legal.
The man suffered from a tumor which impaired his brain function. The family and their doctors worked to get him healthy enough so he could kill himself.
The perversity of medical professionals healing a seriously ill, potentially confused man so that he can more easily commit suicide is astounding.
If the law passes, this could happen to anyone; to our friends, to our mothers, even to you and me one day.
That's why it is so important for you to support MCFL's Mother's Day Funding Bouquet. Your gift of $10, $20 or $50 will help make the difference in this fight. It's also a great chance to honor up to five (5) of the best mothers you know by signing them up for a pro-life Mother's Day e-card (CLICK HERE to make a gift).
You can also make a gift in honor of a mother who has passed away by including a note to that effect on the donation page (CLICK HERE).
Proponents of Doctor-Prescribed Suicide have the gall to portray inveigling an impaired person and his grieving family into ending his life as an act of compassion. We know better.
We know that encouraging people at their most vulnerable to kill themselves is as far from compassion as you can get.
The word compassion is drawn from the Latin meaning "suffer together" or "suffer with." Suffering people need caring, effective medical treatment--that's compassion. Offering a sick person poison pills is simply medical abandonment.
Taking care of vulnerable people can be taxing and "inconvenient". Does that make their lives inconvenient? People deserve proper care not self-imposed death sentences.
The arguments change but the reasons never do. The "rights" that pro-death advocates promote are the "right" to total autonomy and the "right" of the strong to prey upon the weak.
We can't afford to lose the battle to defend life. That is why I am asking you to dig deep and help us meet our $10,000 funding goal by this Mother's Day. Your gift of $10, $20, $50 or whatever you can afford will fund our critical educational efforts needed to defeat the pro-death initiatives. Please give. We MUST win but can only do it if we work together for Life.
It's hard to believe, but the radical pro-death activists behind the Doctor-Prescribed Suicide law actually claim that it would promote the dignity of those suffering from a so-called "terminal" illness.
I wonder. Where's the dignity in persuading an elderly patient into killing herself? Where's the dignity in denying a cancer patient life-saving drugs but offering suicide pills (as has been done in Oregon)?
Did you know that in Oregon and Washington where Doctor-Prescribed Suicide is legal, radical pro-death activists will throw "death parties" to celebrate individual medical suicides?
They pack a supposedly "terminal" patient's house with pro-suicide family, friends and even strangers. They serve refreshments and hand out favors. They claim it is to support the often confused patient in his final hours-but it is really to make sure he takes all of his "medicine."
What sort of people would do these things?
The law these people are proposing is wrong. It's just that simple. It's our job, yours and mine, to make sure the voters of Massachusetts are educated about the potential consequences of the Doctor-Prescribed Suicide law.
That's why I need you to CLICK HERE and participate in the MCFL Mother's Day Funding Bouquet. Let's honor our mothers by standing up for Life. After all, without our mothers who would be here?
Your generous contribution of $10, $20, $50 or whatever you can afford will allow our comprehensive efforts to educate the public to continue through at least the first part of the summer (CLICK to contribute). You will also have the opportunity to have a lovely pro-life e-card sent to up to 5 of the best moms you know or make a donation in honor of a departed mother. Your gift to honor motherhood may just save the life of someone's mother when we defeat Doctor-Prescribed Suicide in November. Remember, we need to raise $10,000 by Mother's Day.
My friend, things are looking bleak, for now. Together we can change that.
I know I can count on you!
Yours for Life,
Anne Fox
President,
Massachusetts Citizens for Life
PS-despite the importance of the Doctor-Prescribed Suicide issue, we can't let up for one minute on our efforts to protect the unborn. Funds are scarce and we don't want to have to make any tough choices between these necessary fights. CLICK HERE to make your contribution to the Mother's Day Funding Bouquet and please be as generous as you can.
Our mothers chose life. Let's help a generation of expectant mothers make the same choice.
PPS- Honor a special mother or many special mothers. Donate to the Mother's Day Funding Bouquet. You may sign up as many as five of the best mothers or honorary mothers you know. Best of all, this gift will save lives, including the lives of many elderly mothers.
You can also make a special gift in memory of a departed mother by including a note to that effect on the donations page.
With Mothers' Day approaching it is fitting for pro-lifers to take a moment to express our great gratitude to our mothers and for motherhood in general.
No one, not one of us, would be here without our mothers. They chose life and love and here we are today. This is true even in the case of those who don't share our respect for the sanctity of all human life from conception until natural death.
We need to raise at least $10,000 to help fund our efforts to both defeat the so-called "Death with Dignity" and continue our pro-life educational activities like the MCFL Student Summer Academy.
Honor your mother and motherhood in general by contributing $10, $20, $50 or whatever you can afford. (CLICK HERE to make your gift early)
As you know, this year is an incredibly important one for the cause of Life. In addition to the on-going fight against abortion and the Presidential and Senatorial elections, a measure legalizing Doctor-Prescribed Suicide will be on the November ballot. MCFL is one of the few groups actively engaged in all of these important efforts.
Funds are scarce and the issues are critical. We can win but not without you!
My friend, it is terrible to consider that as we celebrate mothers this weekend, there are those who are actively working to make is legal for doctors to prescribe aging mothers, perhaps sick and severely depressed, with poison to "treat" supposedly "terminal" illnesses. They claim that this is a way of securing the "dignity" for aging parents.
It's easy to participate. Simply go to the MCFL website (CLICK HERE) and fill out the form to sign up for a Mother's Day e-card for your favorite mother. Then proceed to the donations page and make your contribution. Remember to include the word "bouquet" in the notes section.
We pro-lifers need to come together this year and stand up for what's right. We need to promote a society which respects human dignity-our children, and our mothers, deserve no less. What better way to honor our mothers than to contribute in support of the very thing they gave all of us-Life?
I know I can count on you. Thank you in advance.
Yours for Life,
Anne Fox
President,
Massachusetts Citizens for Life
PS-You don't need to wait until Mothers' Day to make your contribution in honor of motherhood. CLICK HERE to go to the MCFL website right now and make your gift while signing up as many as three of the best mothers you know for a lovely pro-life e-card.
PPS-With Doctor-Prescribed Suicide threatening so many of the disabled and vulnerable, including some of our mothers, we need all the help we can get. Please, after you make your gift of whatever you can afford, forward this email to at least three people. It makes a huge difference!
In exactly twenty-six weeks from today we have to defeat Doctor-Prescribed Suicide , aka, "Death with Dignity" in Massachusetts. We cannot have "yes" votes or blanks. We must have "no" votes. That gives us an advantage. As long as we can raise a reasonable doubt in the mind of a voter, that person will vote "no". Every week, we'll present a reasonable doubt with quick background so that you can talk to people that week.
We are starting with "suicide contagion". Massachusetts already has a higher death toll from suicide than from auto accidents. Do we want to make that worse? Please read Dr Howland's letter and TALK to all you know this week.
------
Dear Editor:
Scott Helman's article on doctor prescribed suicide was a good start to the discussion of this troubling subject. I am a family physician and work every day to help patients at the end of life, but I also see many more who are physically healthy but depressed and tempted to see suicide as an answer to their problems. One of the great dangers of legalizing doctor prescribed suicide is that it may lead others to take their own lives. People like my patient Annie, 18 years old who hung herself, or Brian, a young man who killed himself with his father's shotgun.
It is well known that suicide is contagious and leads to copycat suicides. Passage of this dangerous proposal would lead to many collateral deaths by suicide of those who are not terminally ill. Since passage of the law in Oregon, suicide rates have increased 52% higher than the national average. In Massachusetts we are fortunate to have one of the lowest suicide rates in the country. As we think about whether or not to legalize suicide for the terminally ill, let's not forget the many others who will be hurt: the Brians, the Annies, and their families.
Sincerely,
John Howland, M.D.
St. Luke's Health Center
141 Main Street
Southbridge, MA 01550
Before you get to a deliciously tart article about Elizabeth Warren, there are a few FYI's:
Pepsi is no longer using cells from aborted babies to taste test their products.
I am so embarrassed by the way this administration has dealt with Chen Guangcheng and pray that he and his family will finally be safe.
On Saturday, May 12th from 9:30am to noon, the finals of the Dr. Mildred F Jefferson Oratory Contest will be held at St Sebastian's School in Needham. For more information, please see the MCFL email of April 27th.
On Saturday, May 19th, from 9:30am to 1:30 pm, Linda Thayer, our Vice-President of Educational Affairs, will hold a reception at the MCFL office for people who ever have thought they might like to speak onthe pro-life issues. Linda and some of our Certified MCFL Speakers will share what it is like to speak and what preparation is involved. All are welcome. Please call 617-242-4199 X230 for more information and to register.
Second Thoughts, a disability group opposed to DPS, will be holding an educational and organizational meeting on Saturday, May 19, 2 PM-4:30 PM, at the Cambridge Citywide Senior Center, 806 Massachusetts Avenue.
The Globe removed the poll on Doctor-Prescribed Suicide. We are trying to find the results. When I checked it late last Sunday evening, we were at 69+% and rising. Thanks again!
This is a most beautiful, pro-life article which George Will wrote on the occasion of his son's 40th birthday. Please treat yourself, http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
There have been a lot of very clever articles during what the Globe calls Elizabeth Warren's bad week. This one is in a class by itself! http://www.nationalreview.com/...
As but one small example that abortion culture, instead of liberating women and as some sort of sick "solution" to poverty, comes the anecdote that French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault demanded girlfriend model Linda Evangelista to abort their child while dating.
Surely this was not from a lack of money. It was not because the baby would be "unwanted" if it was a demand by the man on Ms. Evangelista, or because the baby would have caused poverty.
From what is said in the story at least, it seems as though the abortion was an issue of mere inconvenience. The child was a speedbump in the life plans of a billionaire, and was a child who could make a claim to an inheritance.
Children are aborted not to save the lives of women or any silly pro-abortion lie, they are often aborted because their parents refuse to take responsibility for the life of the innocent vulnerable life in their midst. Instead of worrying about how to care for the child, or how to perhaps put the child into an adoptive home, the only mindset by this billionaire was to tear the child to pieces.
At 4:10pm we sent out an alert to vote on the Globe article. At that time only 8% of respondents opposed Doctor-Prescribed suicide. Now, at 6:29 pm, 58.8% oppose DPS!
No, you cannot vote more than once but you can encourage someone else to vote and you can, please, write a letter.
Today the Globe Magazine "covered" Doctor-Prescribed Suicide. Before you do anything else, I need you to vote in the poll which accompanies the article. When I voted, the opponents of Doctor-Prescribed Suicide were at 8% (you'll see why when you read the article). Here is the link. http://www.boston.com/lifestyl...
Please vote immediately and spread the word.
After you vote, you should read the article and consider writing a Letter to the Editor or posting a comment. The article starts with a picture of the woman who had to get her father well enough to go back to Oregon so he could kill himself. We saw her at the State House and on the Emily Rooney show. I expect she'll be all over TV ads come fall. There are three other pictures in the article. The one of the proponent is a beautiful cameo. The one of our beautiful nurse is so unflattering even those of us who know her well wouldn't recognize her.
We need letters to the Editor countering the Globe slant. letter@globe.com
Deb O'Hara Rusckowski, John Kelly, and Mark Rollo make excellent points. You could write reiterating or elaborating on one of their points or you could refute some of the points made by the other side.
The box explaining the procedure is noticeable. It stops when the lethal prescription is picked up. That way it doesn't have to deal with lack of safeguards, the indignity involves ingesting 100 capsules, etc.
Also, their polls claim everyone supports DPS when, in fact, it has failed to pass at least 125 times in State Legislatures and four times as a ballot question. It has been voted into only two states.
Twice they stress that the doctor must judge the person making the request to be competent, but no mention is made of whether the doctor must check for and treat depression.
The following links are amazingly helpful. I had planned to send them to you anyway but you will see they are just what we need for responding to the Globe.
Please send us a copy of your letter and any letters you can encourage others to write. This is very important! letter@globe.com Thank you, Anne
BEIJING - The dramatic nighttime escape of a blind rights lawyer from extralegal house arrest in his village dealt a major embarrassment to the Chinese government and left the United States, which may be sheltering him, with a new diplomatic quandary as it seeks to improve its fraught relationship with Beijing.
The lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, one of the best-known and most politically savvy Chinese dissidents, evaded security forces surrounding his home this week and, aided by an underground network of human rights activists, secretly made his way about 300 miles to Beijing, where he is believed to have found refuge in the American Embassy, according to advocates and Chinese officials.
An official in the Chinese Ministry of State Security on Friday said that Mr. Chen had reached the United States Embassy, but American officials would not confirm reports that Mr. Chen had found shelter there.
TOPICS: Each students will research, write and deliver a pro-life speech on abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, or stem cell research. Further instructions.
PRIZES:
First: The winner will go with a parent or guardian to Washington DC to attend the National Right to Life Convention and compete against the Oratory winners from other states.
Tuesday the California Senate's Economic Development Committee intends to vote on SB 1338 which, if passed, would allow midwives, nurses, and physician assistants to perform first trimester abortions.
Midwives who help bring life into the world would be the same women who could keep a child from taking its first breath.
The California legislature has been attempting to legalize non-doctor, midlevel practitioners' ability to perform abortions for many years. If SB 1338 were legalized this would create a mass abortion expansion that would allow abortions to be performed in places that otherwise did not have an abortionist available for the procedure. Planned Parenthood, other abortion clinics, and many more hospitals would be able to further put women at risk by exposing them to the risky surgical procedure without the supervision of a doctor.
Since you probably don't read NARAL's blog (usually, neither do I), I am sending you the link, http://www.blogforchoice.com/a... They claim that, if Roe v Wade were overturned, abortion would be illegal in Massachusetts. You will see from the legal article below they have greatly exaggerated. Even though some of Massachusetts' pre-Roe laws have not been repealed, it is doubtful they would stand. It would have been nice if NARAL had been right in this one case... Anne
PS Speaking of legal aspects, the Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund Dinner is this Friday, April 27th, at the Marriott in Newton. It is always a fun event. For more information or reservations, please contact Henry Luthin at luthin525@gmail.com.
The legal status of abortion in the States if Roe v. Wade is overruled
by Paul Benjamin Linton
ABSTRACT: This article explores the legal status of abortion in the States if the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179 (1973), as modified by Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992). Although an overruling decision eventually could have a significant effect on the legal status of abortion, the immediate impact of such a decision would be far more modest than most commentators-on both sides of the issue-believe.
More than two-thirds of the States have repealed their pre-Roe laws or have amended those laws to conform to Roe v. Wade, which allows abortion for any reason before viability and for virtually any reason after viability. Pre-Roe laws that have been expressly repealed would not be revived by the overruling of Roe. Only three States that repealed their pre-Roe laws (or amended them to conform to Roe) have enacted post-Roe laws attempting to prohibit some or most abortions throughout pregnancy. Those laws have been declared unconstitutional by the federal courts and are not now enforceable.
Of the less than one-third of the States that have retained their pre-Roe laws, most would be ineffective in prohibiting abortions. This is (1) because the laws, by their express terms or as interpreted, allow abortion on demand, for undefined health reasons or for a broad range of reasons (including mental health), or (2) because of state constitutional limitations. In yet other States, the pre-Roe laws prohibiting abortion may have been repealed by implication, due to the enactment of comprehensive post-Roe laws regulating abortion.
In sum, no more than twelve States, and possibly as few as eight, would have enforceable laws on the books that would prohibit most abortions in the event Roe, Doe and Casey are overruled. In the other States (and the District of Columbia) abortion would be legal for most or all reasons throughout pregnancy. Although the long-term impact of reversing Roe could be quite dramatic, the author concludes that the immediate impact of such a decision would be very limited. This article is current through May 1st, 2007.
MASSACHUSETTS: The principal pre-Roe statute prohibited performance of "unlawful" abortions. (140) Although the statute itself did not define what constituted an "unlawful" abortion, in a series of cases the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court interpreted the statute to allow abortions for reasons of the pregnant woman's physical or mental health. (141) Pursuant to Roe, [section] 19 of ch. 272 was declared unconstitutional in an unreported decision of a three-judge federal district court. (142) The pre-Roe statute has not been repealed. (143) However, in light of the judicially engrafted exceptions for physical and mental health, it is doubtful that the statute would effectively prohibit any abortions even if Roe v. Wade were overruled. (144) Moreover, regardless of Roe, any attempt to prohibit abortion (at least before viability) in Massachusetts would be barred by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decisions recognizing a fundamental right to abortion on state constitutional grounds (due process). (145) Issues in Law & Medicine / Summer, 2007
Warning Bell for Developed Countries: Declining Birth Rates Lee Kuan Yew, 04.20.12, 10:00 AM EDT
Forbes Magazine dated May 07, 2012
There will be a power shift unless birth rates increase in the developed world.
In developed countries today many women receive educations and earn salaries that are on a par with those of men. The fact that women are no longer socially or economically dependent on men has radically altered young people's lifestyles. A woman can now choose to remain single, marrying only when a man adds value to her life or when she desires to have children within such a framework.
This is creating big changes throughout the developed world. The replacement rate--the reproduction rate that keeps a population stable--for developed countries is 2.1, yet nearly half the world's population has birth rates lower than that. The U.S. has a total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.0--nearly the replacement rate--with Hispanic immigrants leading in birth rates. The U.S. is aging but not as fast as many other countries. A 2010 census showed that 31.4 million Americans live alone--27% of all households (equal to the percentage of childless couples). Living alone allows people to pursue individual freedom, exert personal control and go through self-realization, but these people have fewer children.
We have two exciting dinners coming up! On May 3, the MCFL Mothers' Day Dinner, sponsored by the Pioneer Valley Region, will feature Professor Robbie George from Princeton. The Dinner is at Chez Josef in Agawam. Robbie George comes infrequently to Massachusetts so this is an amazing opportunity! I'm still not sure how Dinner Chair, James Brunault, and his committee were able to get Prof. George, but I am looking forward eagerly to hearing him.
On October 19, the MCFL Annual Fund-Raising Banquet will feature Harvard Law Professor Mary Ann Glendon. According to the Chicago Tribune, Prof. Glendon is very busy working with the Romney team on prospective judicial appointments - particularly to the Supreme Court. From the point of view of protecting life, I can't think of a better advisor for Governor Romney.
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