They say the performance of the stock market in January predicts the rest of the year. If attendance at Student Lobby Day predicts how our pro-life work will go for 2012, things will be very good! The youngsters kept coming and coming and coming - from as far as the First Congressional District to as close as Brighton. Attendance was four to five times that of last year, which was our first year. We could not have dealt with a bigger crowd and given them the tour and visits. We are considering offering field trips during school next year as well.
We are most grateful to Reps. Sheila Harrington, Groton, and Matthew Beaton, Shrewsbury, who each spent a great deal of time with the youngsters and shared with them the pro-life way they look at legislation and procedures. Also, Eva Murphy did an excellent job coordinating and making it all run smoothly. And I enjoy very much touring our beautiful State House with the youngsters. A good day was had by all and we look forward to expanding next year. I'll let you know when pictures are posted in the MCFL website. Anne
-Meet and hear prolife legislators
-Learn about prolife legislation
-Learn dangers of Doctor Prescribed Suicide Bill.
-Find out how to lobby
-Take a tour of the State House
-Enjoy a complimentary lunch
-Visit the offices of your State Representative and Senator.
Meet in Room 437
RSVP to action@masscitizensforlife.org or by phone (617)242-4199
Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) issued the following statement on the Department of Health and Human Services mandate under the 2010 health care law that religious organizations either participate in health care plans that violate their religious beliefs or face punitive fines:
"One of our most cherished liberties is freedom of religion. Like Ted Kennedy before me, I support a conscience exemption for religious organizations in health care. No one should be forced by government to violate the teachings of their faith. I encourage President Obama to re-examine his health care law and make sure no one is being forced to do something that is contrary to their religious beliefs."
We just learned that the Judiciary Committee will hear the Bill, which is the same as the ballot question on doctor prescribed suicide, H3884, on March 6th at 1:00pm. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend. We will need a major presence. The legislature could pass H3884 and it would be all over.
I listed the wrong date for the lawyer's meeting with Jennifer Popik. The actual date is Thur, Feb 16th at 6:00pm at the MCFL office.
We are changing the date for the nurses' meeting so that you nurses will have more time to reach out before the hearings. There will be another nurses' meeting in the western part of the state later.
Also, because the hearings are close, we invite all pharmacists to attend the nurses' meeting. The process for developing Nurses Against Doctor Prescribed Suicide and the information members need will be the same for the Pharmacists.
All the correct information is now listed below. The actual fight is beginning. We are ready. We need to get moving.
If you are a doctor, please visit www.doctorsagainstsuicide.com. Drs. John Howland, Mark Rollo, and many others are doing a stellar job of identifying doctors in the state who are opposed to DPS. I know you will want to work with them.
If you are a lawyer or law student, you are invited to the MCFL office at the Schrafft Center in Charlestown at 6:00pm on Thursday, February 16th for a special evening. Jennifer Popik, JD, from the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics in DC, is coming to give a legal analysis of the proposed law in Massachusetts. Jennifer and the Center have been involved in all the other states where DPS has come up. She will go into many interesting aspects of the proposal. I hope this will help prepare you to speak out and write Letters to the Editor. Please reply to this email or call 617-242-4199, X 230 to let us know you are coming because we will provide a light supper.
If you are a nurse or a pharmacist or a student in either area, you are invited to the MCFL office at the Schrafft Center in Charlestown from 9:30am to 11:30 am on Saturday, February 18th. We will talk about the petition, it implications for you and what you can do as an individual and as part of a nurses' or pharmacists' group. Please note that retired professionals are every bit as necessary as those still in the field.
There is no protection to keep pharmacists from being required to fill those deadly prescriptions!
Please pass this along to all doctors, lawyers, nurses, and pharmacists whom you know and anyone else who might want to testify. Thanks! Anne
~Meet and hear pro-life legislators
~Learn about pro-life legislation
~Learn dangers of Doctor Prescribed Suicide Bill.
~Find out how to lobby
~Take a tour of the State House
~Enjoy a complimentary lunch
~Visit the offices of your State Representative and Senator.
Meet in Room 437
RSVP to action@masscitizensforlife.org or by phone (617)242-4199
Or use our easy registration application on the MCFL website (CLICK HERE)
In the wake of the Komen-Planned Parenthood controversy, Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor, champion cyclist and Livestrong founder and chairman announced that his cancer group will donate $100,000 to the nation's biggest abortion business.
He issued the following statement:
"For 15 years, the Lance Armstrong Foundation has served people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities. We join Mayor Bloomberg and our partners in the philanthropic community today in their efforts to preserve access to cancer screening for women throughout the U.S. The Lance Armstrong Foundation will add an additional $100,000 to Mayor Bloomberg's matching challenge for Planned Parenthood's cancer services fund."
January 4, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A standard pro-abortion argument hinges on the premise that a baby inside his mom's womb attacks her bodily integrity. The developing baby is seen in this light as an intruder, a parasite, a threat to the woman's autonomy. From this perspective the pregnant woman is viewed as being occupied. The only way she can continue to exercise her interest in bodily integrity, the argument goes, is to be liberated through the termination and expulsion of the invader.
But science paints a vastly different picture about the actual relationship between a baby in utero and his or her mother, showing that, far from being a parasite, the unborn child can help heal his mother for the rest of her life, as beneficial cells from the child pass into the mother's body during pregnancy
The MCFL Caucus was amazing! At one point I had to ask some people to move out to the foyer because I was concerned about fire laws.
It is wonderful to see the number of young people, but I also saw many who have come every year since the 70's.
I will be sharing with you information from all our wonderful speakers. Prof New closed the caucus with his usual great analysis of state laws. She told us that planned parenthood has announced that 2011 was their worst year ever! Twenty-Four states passed 92 pro-life laws. Prof New's figures along with those reported by Texas at the NRLC Board meeting, indicate that states have defunded PP by more than $120 million.
A local radio station is broadcasting live.
Congressmen are lined up to speak. The drizzle is very heavy as we set off.
Today's story of the woman whom a judge ruled should be forced by her parents to have an abortion and then be sterilized is not, unfortunately, bizarre in our world.
Thank goodness another judge has overruled.
When you read it you will see that the woman's severe mental problems could very well have been caused by a previous abortion. She certainly needs prayers.
What we have wrought! Anne
"Moe, who also suffers from bipolar disorder, has been pregnant twice before. On the first pregnancy, she had an abortion. On the second she gave birth to a boy, who is now in the custody of her parents, according to the Appeals Court ruling.
"At some point between her abortion and the birth of her son, she suffered a 'psychotic break', and has since been hospitalized numerous times for mental illness.
When she was in college, she began believing people were staring at her and saying she killed her baby. She becomes agitated when discussing her abortion, and has refused obstetric care and testing, the ruling stated. "
Brent Rooney of Justice for Kids, which looks at the connection between previous abortions and problems in subsequent children, brought to our attention this recent study from Harvard. It is so powerful that I sent his press release to all the media outlets in Massachusetts. Take a look at their website, http://www.justiceforkids.webs... It has intuitive but still-amazing information like the fact that the incidence of cerebral palsy went down by 71% in Poland when abortion was made illegal. You and Mother Nature have been right all along!
Following the press release, I have the link to a study showing that some stem cells of unborn babies stay with their mothers and protect them for a life-time! Not bad!
Anne
Harvard Study Links Autism to Prior Abortions
9 January 2012
Press Release: Third Study Links Autism Risk to Prior Abortions
Source: Brent Rooney (MSc; Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition)
In 2011 Harvard University researchers led by Kristen Lyall
reported that women with prior IAs (Induced Abortions) elevate
their relative odds of delivering a newborn later diagnosed with
Autism by a significant 26%.[1, Lyall] This makes at least the
third published study finding that prior IAs significantly raise
Autism risk in a newborn baby. In 2002 Ball State University
researchers led by Diana Wilkerson reported significantly
higher Autism risk for women with prior abortion surgery, a
finding that was NOT mentioned in the abstract (i.e. summary)
section of their study.[2, Wilkerson]. In 1999 Professor Larry Burd
and colleagues found that women with prior IAs tripled their odds
of having newborns later diagnosed with Autism.[3, Burd]
The total lifetime cost ( medical + non-medical + lost income )
for a U.S. citizen with Autism was estimated by Harvard U. Professor
Michael Ganz to be $3.2 million.[6, Ganz]
We pro-lifers are keen political observers and participants because we know that politics is part of the process to restore the Culture of Life. Last night a good chunk of the country joined us to watch the results of the Iowa caucuses. Of course, pro-lifers are very fond of Rick Santorum!
We in Massachusetts wish Governor Romney would recognize the failings of state-controlled health care and come up with a better way to accomplish his laudable goals but we do not fault his pro-life position.
In the last few days we have had calls at the MCFL office from operatives of other campaigns trying to get us to criticize Romney's positions on life. The governor's positions are pro-life and we feel confident that they will stay that way.
During the fall, national media called for interviews. This 11/11/11 article from the Wall Street Journal, about the Romney turning point in 2005, is an example of where we have referred these operative,
"Mr. Romney as governor pressed forward with a health-care law that he saw as his legacy, a market-driven approach that was in vogue with many conservative thinkers at the time. Now, it appears he may have miscalculated: The Massachusetts health-care law remains a major burden on his quest for the Republican nomination.
Mr. Romney met with abortion-rights activists while running for governor in 2002. He assured them he would protect women's right to choose abortion and said he would neither expand nor restrict such a right as governor, according to Nicole Roos, chairwoman of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts' political-action committee. She adds that he said he didn't wish to be called "pro-choice" and didn't like the "pro-life" label, either.
A leading abortion foe, Anne Fox of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, says she didn't even bother to reach out to Mr. Romney during the 2002 campaign, presuming that he was no ally.
Both groups found a change in 2005. In July of that year, Mr. Romney vetoed legislation that would have widened access to the Plan B emergency-contraceptive pill, by requiring hospitals to offer it to all rape victims and allowing some state-approved pharmacists to sell it without prescription.
To Mr. Romney, this was a principled decision consistent with his pledge not to change Massachusetts law relating to abortion.
Ms. Roos of NARAL says that although Mr. Romney had made such a pledge orally, he had stated in the group's written questionnaire that he supported efforts to expand access to emergency contraception.
The day after the veto, Mr. Romney wrote in a Boston Globe op-ed piece that his convictions on the issue had "evolved," and declared "I am prolife"-embracing a label Ms. Roos says he had avoided as a candidate in 2002.
Ms. Fox of Citizens for Life says her antiabortion group began having regular contact with a Romney aide and through him asked if Mr. Romney's wife, Ann, would become an honorary chairwoman of its new capital campaign. She did so."
Ah, yes, the Duchess, "Tut, tut, child! Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it."
As you are marking your new 2012 Calendar, please note these important dates:
Jan 14: Open House for anyone who is thinking of speaking on the life issues. You are invited to the MCFL Office to hear current speakers present what they say and what it is like to be an MCFL Speaker. All are welcome, 9:30 am - noon. Please call 617-242-4199 X 230 to register.
Jan 23: Massachusetts Caucus, Kennedy Caucus Room, Russell Senate Office Builiding, Washinton DC, 9:30 am - 11:30 am. We will hear from Hadley Arkes, Dwight Duncan, Karen Cross, Jennifer Popik, Dan Avila, Thea Rossi-Barron, Michael New, and Michael Pakaluk. They are experts in areas affecting us - like the Scott Brown election and the Doctor Prescribed Suicide petition. Coffee and pastries provided
Jan 23: March for Life, noon to 3:00. The buses are filling up quickly. Check http://www.masscitizensforlife... for bus information.
Jan 29: Assembly for Life, Faneuil Hall, 2pm - 4pm. Nationally known Wayne Cockfield, USMCR, who lost both legs and partial use of his hands on active duty, will speak about the dangers of the Doctor Prescribed Suicide petition. The Treblemakers from The Montrose School were so popular last year. They have agreed to sing again.
Feb 21: Student Lobby Day at the State House: meet legislators, learn the process, have a private tour.
Dec 31, 2011: Last day for matching gift challenge. I am so grateful to all who have given. If you have not yet supported our life-saving efforts, please help right now, http://www.masscitizensforlife... Thank you all! Anne
During the 1800's abortion was despairingly common. The abortion rate in the US was the highest in the world. Abortion was used almost exclusively by upper class, urban, married women for the usual reasons: they had vacations planned, wanted to wear their fashionable clothes, etc. Abortionists and abortifacients were openly advertized in the newspapers.
The abortion rate in Boston was twice that of New York City, which was 10 times the national average.
Is it any wonder, then, that the doctors at Harvard Medical School were among the pioneers of the pro-life movement? As early as 1805 they were talking about human life beginning at conception. In the 1860's they were talking about fetal pain at 15 weeks.
I was reminded today - on the Feast of the Holy Innocents - that their papers at both the Mass. Medical Society and Harvard Medical School quote these doctors calling abortionists "Herods".
We reviewed Frederick Dyer's books about Horatio Storer and these other courageous physicians in a recent MCFL News (reprinted below). You can read more from Dr Dyer. Dr Dyer has donated both books to the MCFL Library. You may borrow either book by calling the MCFL office. They are thick but so quotable!
I want to thank those of you who have taken the Dec 31, 2011 matching grant challenge and urge the rest of you to donate at
http://www.masscitizensforlife...
Thank you! Anne
From the MCFL News, May/June, 2011
For those of us who get a real satisfaction from proof that we are right all along, The Physicians' Crusade Against Abortion and its companion, Champion of Women and the Unborn, by Frederick Dyer, are must reads. Horatio Robinson Storer, Harvard Medical School, 1853, was probably the most powerful anti-abortion crusader ever.
In the 19th century abortion drugs and devices, as well the actual procedure, were openly advertized in leading newspapers. The abortion rates were very high - mostly among privileged, married women. The US had the highest abortion rate in the world and Boston's abortion rate was twenty times that of the rest of the country!
Doctors at the time noted that the Catholic women were not aborting. The doctors, who were the pro-life leaders, bemoaned the lack of clergy instruction from the pulpit. They felt it was the priests speaking in the confessional that kept the Catholic abortion rate nil. Dyer stresses, that, if the reader has Protestant ancestors in the US in the 19th century, that reader is very lucky to exist.
Dyer used Storer family papers, which he then donated to the Mass. Medical Society and HMS. Remember Justice Blackmun's claims in Roe v Wade that 19th century anti-abortion laws were all for the health of the mother? As early as 1805, doctors talked about the humanity of the unborn baby from the moment of conception. In the 1860's doctors were talking about fetal pain at 15 weeks. Doctors consistently referred to abortionists as "Herods". Just the direct quotes about the humanity of the unborn from conception, and the absolute evil of those who would destroy them, would make a power point presentation at least two hours long. This meticulously documented analysis exposes the tendentious character of the arguments in Roe v Wade.
A weekend article by WorldNetDaily has the Salvation Army facing new criticism for its position on abortion, - which supports the pro-life position on most all abortions but allow for rape and incest exceptions.
The Salvation Army is not new to criticism for supporting exceptions to its pro-life position, as Life Decisions International, which compiles frequent lists of corporations to boycott for donating to the Planned Parenthood abortion business, has cited the Salvation Army for criticism. LDI has included the red kettle organization in its list of groups that deserve scrutiny because of less than absolute pro-life positions.
The Salvation Army's abortion position statement starts off with a pro-life theme.
Living Waters released Ray Comfort's 180 Movie in September. In this award-winning documentary, Comfort interviews people on the streets about their knowledge of the Holocaust and compares it to the modern-day holocaust that is legalized abortion. The majority of the interviewees admit to having their views swayed to favor life after the short, pithy interviews. The 180 Movie in which Comfort stars is quickly approaching 2,000,000 views on YouTube and thousands of DVDs have been distributed on college campuses around the nation. It has been endorsed by pro-life heroes such as Abby Johnson, Jill Stanek, Randy Alcorn, and Dr. Alveda King. Ray Comfort's 180 Movie has caused one of the most impressive waves in the pro-life movement in 2011.
The Massachusetts Alliance Against Doctor Prescribed Suicide has posted on their website the contents of the media packet which they sent to media outlets before their press conference last week. http://nodoctorprescribedsuici...
The packet contains, among other helpful information:
a wonderful map showing where DPS is legal - Oregon and Washington - versus the rest of the country
eighteen abuses in Oregon
a televised interview with Barbara Wagner. The Oregon Health Plan told Barbara they would not pay for cancer treatment but would pay for her lethal dose.
The Doctor Prescribed Suicide ballot question puts Massachusetts in the cross-hairs of the anti-life movement. You and I must be prepared to show the dangers to everyone we know. This web site is a huge help!
Very important: newspapers have been running pro-death articles. Please use the information on the MAADPS web site to write a Letter to the Editor. Please use the talking points on the website - they will appeal to the readers.
Letters are the backbone of the fight right now. Thank you for writing! Anne
Six Rules of Pro-Life Philanthropy Donating in the most effective pro-life way
1. Make the organization explain what it measurably does that advances the pro-life movement
Every group should have a 15-30 second pitch for what it does, and why what it does is vital to the pro-life mission. It should have numbers and be immediately persuasive. National Right to Life should tell you that they identify, support and promote federal pro-life political candidates so they can pass federal pro-life laws and confirm pro-life judges to the court, and they have helped X number of pro-life people get elected in the last election. A group that passes legislation should tell you how many pieces of legislation it passed, and what those bills did. A pregnancy center should be able to tell you how many women it helped, and how many babies it helped.
A group that can't tell you these things is a major red flag. It's a sign that the group wastes its time and its donor's resources. A group that can't define its mission is one that is wasting time and money. A group that can't tell you what it's done is likely doing little to nothing.
2. Don't support groups that attack other pro-life groups
Marxist theorist Herbert Marcuse once explained to motivated Marxists to be tolerant to anything to their left, and intolerant to anything to their right. The pro-life movement can't make progress if we spend most of our time attacking and tearing down pro-lifers.
If a group is more known as a 'purist' group that spends a majority of its time being divisive and tearing down pro-lifers, you shouldn't support it.
American Dark Humor and Abortion's Collective Consequences: Have you heard the latest dead baby joke?
Obscene humor is nothing new to society, lewd jokes and pushing the envelope have always been around. Dead baby jokes, though, are not for the faint of heart and not for your normal comedian.
What's the difference between dead babies and an onion? You don't cry when you chop up a dead baby.
Where do these jokes come from? Why would people tell these jokes? To people of pro-life principles, they are the clear demonization and dehumanization of the unborn. Dead baby jokes in post-abortive America are a complicated mass social response to the trauma of legalized abortion. Rationalizing and justifying the "missing generation" aborted away, the young resort to dead baby jokes in order to detach, distance and deal with the anxiety of what they are witnessing.
That distance and detachment pales in comparison to the trauma suffered by those who carried dead children, the women who are post-abortive or who have suffered miscarriages.
Dr. Brad Imler, President of the American Pregnancy Association knows this well, "miscarriages are one of the hardest types of losses to work through. Society does not know how to provide support or what to say to deliver comfort." Dr. Imler added, "And often even the patented attempts to help fall short or add to the hurt."
Pennsylvania's Budd Dwyer committed suicide on live television in 1987. His death affected the children who witnessed it to the point where they were later caught quietly telling distasteful jokes about Dwyer such as "what was the last thing the press secretary said to Dwyer? Don't go shooting your mouth off." These distasteful jokes are similar to the continuing 'dead baby jokes' which serve the same purpose to the youth of today: to subconsciously allow post-abortive youth to cope with those missing in their generation.
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