Monthly Archives: April 2010

Does Pro-Life Movement Trust in God or Politics?

Judie Brown wrote in her wonderful Celebrate Life Magazine, Jan-Feb 2010 30-Year Anniversary edition,  about her fears for the pro-life movement:

Just Between You and Me by Judie Brown, President of the American Life League

I know about your activities; how you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were one or the other, but since you are neither hot nor cold, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of My mouth.—-Revelation 3:15-16

These words from the Book of Revelation ring true in today’s era of "tolerance," false compassion and cultural gridlock.  We are at a juncture in history  that I never thought would occur in my lifetime.  This is not a good feeling!  I fear that the pro-life effort, if not unified and strengthened based on the fundamental principle of human personhood, will fall into the chasm of anonymity.  We are at a crossroads, my friends, and the hour is late.  We have heard all the arguments about the supposed need to be pragmatic and politically realistic, and the claim that we are otherwise incapable of stepping out to challenge the status quo. 

Judie is talking about NRLC.  Remember when ORTL stalled lobbying Oregon in the Fall because "they’re all Democrats"?

And where has all of this stalling gotten us?  The time for lukewarm pabulum is over.  Either we pro-lifers unite in our goal of ending the murderous practices that have become commonplace in our culture, or we step aside and usher in an era of evil never before imagined.

So, what happens next?  Will we dedicate ourselves to God or just continue with the violent status quo?  It’s time to decide. Trust in God or trust in the religion of politics.

Judie is calling on all pro-life organizations to work toward a Personhood Amendment.  She is saying that NRLC and its affiliates, like ORTL, focus on politics.  

Pro-Life Action of Oregon  agrees with her. 

The Innovation Vacuum

In his booklet "Access:  the key to pro-life victory," Mark Crutcher writes about The Innovation Vacuum.

  • "It’s uncomfortable to hear but the reality is that there are people within the pro-life community who no longer see their primary objective as stopping abortion but perpetuating their own organizations.  Their mindset is what creates this innovation vacuum.  The fact that the pro-life establishment isn’t doing anything today that it wasn’t doing 25 years ago is a clear indicator that they just don’t have any new ideas.  But that’s only half the problem.  The other half is that they don’t want anyone else to introduce new ideas either.  Innovation by other pro-life organizations is seen as a challenge to their self-appointed ownership of the movement and I have seen them try to destroy worthwhile pro-life initiatives only because those initiatives did not originate with them."

Mom Fights Birth Control Mentality

Posted with permission of Human Life International.

HLI welcomes Mrs. Jenn Giroux as our Spirit and Life guest writer this week.  She is a dynamic mom of nine, a registered nurse and former Executive Director of One More Soul.  She has been fighting birth control and the contraceptive mentality all her life and is therefore perfectly suited for HLI’s mission!

The Dawn of Demonic Deception
By Jenn Giroux

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of “The Pill” the Wall Street Journal ran a lengthy and misleading article (“The Birth Control Riddle” April 20, 2009) by Melinda Beck, calling the arrival of The Birth Control Pill the “dawn of dependable contraception” which “ignited the sexual revolution, ended the post-war baby boom and helped millions of women enter the work force.” Ms Beck then proceeds to lament all of the “unplanned pregnancies” which still occur today before detailing for us how safe it is now to use new and improved birth control methods.

Marshall McLuhan, the late, great expert on the media, who converted to Catholicism before he died said, “The major media are engaged in a Luciferian conspiracy against the truth.” How true! Ms Beck’s column is a prime example of this conspiracy, including such blatant lies and misrepresentations as:

“the benefits outweigh the risks” when taking “The Pill”

“…the longer a woman uses the pill, the lower her risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer”, and

“…the pill does not seem to increase the risk of getting [breast cancer]“.

Beck then goes on to reassure the readers with sources such as the Guttmacher Institute (Planned Parenthood’s own research arm) and a quote from Planned Parenthood’s VP of Medical Affairs who explains away the damaging side effects by saying, “We have to keep these things in perspective. A woman’s risk for problems is substantially higher during pregnancy.”

click here to read full article

Planned Parenthood and Contraceptives

Planned Parenthood sells more contraceptives than any other.  They regularly honor the steroids in works of art.

This photograph is from Planned Parenthood’s “Sexy Tuesdays” Facebook photo album.

Photo of PPCW contraceptive art taken at New Deal Vodka Distilleries, Portland OR

If you do not have a Facebook account you can still see many photographs.  Notice on the left of their Facebook page those supporters whom you can boycott.

Readers Respond to Contraception Controversy

j0423098 Our Position on Contraception, posted last week, which includes an Open Letter to Gayle Atteberry, director, Oregon Right To Life, drew a number of responses, pro and con.  Note:  Even though the readers who spoke out against our expose of ORTL’s silence on contraception, they DO AGREE with our position,  i.e., there is a connection between contraceptive usage and abortion rates.

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Thumbs Up

Dear Nina,

I want to congratulate you for taking this stand:  that of showing that there is a profound contradiction between working to stop abortion while keeping silent about contraceptives. A few years ago, one of my teenage children entered ORTL’s essay contest.  She wrote an essay on the topic of the connection between abortion and contraceptives but it was very poorly received.  I backed down of that battle then, thinking that maybe focusing on a single issue (abortion) would be more efficient, but I think differently now. The problem of turning a blind eye to contraceptives is that the connection between abortion and contraceptives is intrinsic, so to ignore the facts in this instance is suicidal for the cause of life. Thank you for standing up for the truth in this crucial matter, and may God and the Blessed Mother guide your steps and work in His service.

We have supported ORTL for some time but after reading what you wrote regarding their total silence on contraceptives, I am going to write to them about this and if they do not “ease” their policy, I will tell them I will have to refrain from supporting them at this time. I do not expect them to take up two causes here (namely to fight against abortion and contraceptives).  I can see how that may be trying to take too much at once. However, while not fighting against contraceptives per se, they can at least not be opposed to it and permit booths and essays on the topic; for there is an intrinsic connection between the two.—-Amelia Volz

Note to readers:  American Life League has ALWAYS

taken on both contraceptives and abortion.

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Dear Nina,

Just a quick note to thank you for sending this material.  I was confused about the positions of NRTL and ORTL on contraception.  I took a couple of days to read through your email and all of the links. Thank you for putting all of that together.  It was very well done. Thank you for clarifying things. It’s a shame, really, that there is division in the ranks of the right to life army. It needs prayer and educating action such as yours.

Thank you, also, for speaking for the unborn in your communications and decisions regarding the ProLife Action of Oregon’s position on contraception/abortion. I agree with you and support your position completely. I remember you and ProLife Action of Oregon daily in the Rosary.—-Name Withheld

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Nina,

If opposition to contraception is merely a “Catholic issue,” that would come as a surprise to the Hindu Mahatma Gandhi, the Jewish-born atheist Sigmund Freud, and the growing number of evangelical Protestants who have thrown their contraceptives in the toilet and followed the Bible’s teaching on life and its transmission.  If contraception is merely a Catholic issue, then so is abortion.  Incorrect.  The perennial teaching against contraception has to do with the demands of the natural law, which is binding on humanity, not just humans who happen to be Catholic.  Which is why Paul VI did not address Humanae Vitae to bishops only, nor even to Catholics only, but to “all men of good will.”—-Patrick Coffin, radio hoPatrick Coffin webst of Catholic Answers Live; and author of new book, Sex Au Naturel:  What It Is and Why It Is Good For Your Marriage.

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Thumbs Down

Those who wish to bring a stop to abortions have two choices:  work together or spend time working against each other.

I have no question whatsoever concerning the interlinking of artificial birth control and abortions.  And I may disagree with the unwillingness of Right to Life to address the issue, but I am not going to spend time trying to change their mind, nor am I going to stop supporting their work.

Entering into a pissing contest with them over the issue is non-productive.  If they don’t want you to have a booth there, then for God’s sake and the sake of the unborn, find a way to support them and move on.

I do not disagree with your position on artificial birth control.  But demanding moral purity of position is not going to get our (you, me, NRLC, the LDS Church, Muslims, and anyone and everyone else engaged in trying to limit and stop abortions) goals accomplished.

The internecine warfare didn’t start yesterday; you are not the first to enter into this fray.  And I seriously doubt you are going to win your argument.  Getting warfare going between the various groups who wish to bring a halt to killing our children is a subtle or not so subtle distraction from our common goal and looks like, smells like, and has every appearance of the work of Satan.

Spend your time productively.  Do something positive for Right to Life and move on.

I do not have a problem with you differing with Gayle on the approach to take about abortion, nor for that matter do I disagree with your approach to that issue.

What I am writing you about is the wisdom, or lack thereof, of taking your dispute with her public in the way that you have.  There was an interesting article in Our Sunday Visitor some time ago on this issue specifically – the internecine warfare that has been going on between different groups fighting abortion.  I suspect if you contacted the Visitor they could provide you with the article.  I would encourage you to do so.

Taking your dispute with Gayle public did no good for Right to Life; it did not and will not change their position; but it certainly can work to cause some of her support to fall off.  They do good work and they oppose abortion; they do not do it with the moral stance you and I both agree is important and is the truth; but that does not make them enemies.  Christ ate with sinners; we might do wisely to understand that if both Right to Life and you work for an end to abortion, both are working for a moral good, and to understand that we are required to work for the moral good, not to try to enforce moral purity in a way that can damage the work of others who also seek, albeit not perfectly, for the same moral good.

I admire your fire; I just disagreed with your first post.  I am not mad – or for that matter, angry.  I do think there is more than one way to achieve an objective.

He is risen!  May He guide both you and I to do His will.   Even if we might disagree as to how to go about it.  ;) —-Tim Moore

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Contraception—the Bitter Pill

Contraception—the Bitter Pill

by George Sim Johnston.  Crisis Magazine.  1996.

The Church’s insistence on the link between contraception and abortion occasionally gets support in surprising quarters. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey the U.S. Supreme Court, on its perennial search for the most plausible-sounding sophistries to uphold legalized abortion, stated:

For two decades of economic and social developments, people have organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society, in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail.

In other words, we need abortion so that people can continue their contraceptive lifestyles.

Our Position on Contraception

Updated 9:03 a.m., 04/14/10

Why was Pro-Life Action of Oregon’s “Contraception” Material Banned from Oregon Right To Life’s Conference?

Our position, and that of Judie Brown, president, American Life League, on the connection between the use of abortion pills and the rate of abortion has been rejected by Gayle Atteberry, director, Oregon Right To Life.  But that position is also the party line of National Right To Life.

Atteberry banned our educational material on the contraception-abortion connection from the upcoming ORTL conference.  Rather than compromise our beliefs we won’t be participating in the conference.

Silence on birth control’s role in abortion rates will continue to mislead and misinform pro-lifers.  More babies will die.

BACKGROUND

Pro-Life Action of Oregon requested a table at the upcoming ORTL 2010 pro-life conference.  Atteberry asked to review our educational material (from American Life League) due to ORTL “policies” about ALL.

She banned them all.

Which material did she censor?  Anything about contraception!

  • Contraception and Abortion:  The Deadly Connection
  • Emergency Contraception
  • Birth Control Pills:  How They Work
  • Flawed Condoms

Each of these are available for viewing at the American Life League store.

Atteberry characterized these as “minutia.”

“As I see it, Judie Brown is focused on the minutia and ORTL does not agree with that.”

Updated 5:32 PDT 04-15-10 –
“Minutia?”!!!  According to the Guttmacher Institute, 54% of women who abort their babies were using The Pill or condoms during the month they became pregnant.  Of those, 76% were using The Pill — “inconsistently.”
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Open Letter to Gayle Atteberry, Oregon Right To Life
April 13, 2010 – Portland, Ore

Gayle, in light of your censoring American Life League (ALL) material which makes the connection between contraception and abortion — material I wanted to bring to the April Oregon Right To Life conference — Pro-Life Action of Oregon will not be participating.

Our Position On Contraception

We are  very grateful that you took the time to inform us of Oregon Right To Life’s policies which illustrate the philosophical and theological differences between National Right To Life / ORTL and Judie Brown/A.L.L.  You expressed being uncomfortable with Brown’s criticisms of NRLC.  Your characterization of her criticisms is as follows:

A.L.L. puts a great emphasis in opposing birth control. While it is true that some birth control methods are abortifacients, not all are. Judy Brown adamantly opposes the birth control pill. While sometimes the bc [birth control] pill acts as an abortifacient, it does not always work that way, and many pro-life doctors say there is no proof that it does.

It is obvious that your assessment of Judie’s opposition to The Pill is restricted to its abortifacient action.

We are  aware of its abortifacient action.  Yet, we are struck by your silence on its rate of failure which leads to “unplanned” pregnancies.

As a serious pro-life activist, we are  in total 100% agreement with Judie Brown.  The Pill increases abortion.

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