I just found some articles I’d submitted to The Orange and Blue Observer on March 1, 2010. That’s been a while ago! To my knowledge, they were never published, so you’re the first to see them. They certainly show what was happening on the University of Illinois campus then!
Located downtown at 115 W. Mulberry Street in Kokomo, Living Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center helps families in the midst of unexpected pregnancies. Whether it’s a listening ear, parenting advice, or baby clothes, the staff and volunteers at Living Alternatives are committed to helping pregnant women and girls during their journey of motherhood. The Center is open Tuesday through Friday and visitors can make an appointment or stop by. For more information, see their website and Facebook page.
Each year, Living Alternatives hosts an annual banquet to share what the Lord has done through their ministry and to cast a vision for the next year. This year’s banquet will be held at First Church of the Nazarene (2734 S. Washington St., Kokomo) on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014 at 6:30PM. These banquets are an excellent way to learn more about their work and get involved. It is free and open to the public. This year’s theme is, “..He rescued me…” from Psalm 18:19, which is directly related to the story of this year’s keynote speaker, Sue Thayer.
Sue Thayer worked at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Storm Lake, Iowa, in 2002 when a deceased infant was found in the county’s recycling center. Law enforcement subpoenaed pregnancy records from all local medical providers, but Planned Parenthood was the only agency that refused to supply patient information. Sue was directly in the crossfire of what became a national controversy regarding the privacy of medical records. Then, in December 2008, Planned Parenthood began introducing webcam abortions in every clinic in the state. Sue was fired from her role as the Center Manager when she refused to offer this new “on demand” product.
Sue has gone on to become a strong voice for life. She is a tireless advocate for children, with a special love for the unborn. As the founder and director of Cornerstone for Life Pregnancy Resource Center, Sue is dedicated to advocating for the unborn, beginning at conception. Her story is living proof of God’s mercy and grace.
To RSVP for the banquet, call (765) 454-5566 or email kokomo@hopeforafuture.com.
The following article was originally published by Illinois Review.
There’s something more convincing than statistics, and that’s pain.
As I stood outside an abortion clinic this summer, I caught just a glimpse of the crushing pain—physical, spiritual, and emotional—that abortion inflicts on all it touches. I saw that there’s times when statistics just insulate me from what I don’t want to see, and inure me to the thought that trends pile up one life at a time.
The building itself was a hideous block building with a tiny parking lot. The waiting room must have extremely cramped, because even though the sun was beating down, family members would check in their sweethearts, wives, sisters, mothers, or friends, then stand in the parking lot, drive away to return later, or wander around aimlessly.
I had no undercover camera to see what was happening inside, but the horror of these moments was reflected in the faces of those enduring it outside.
One man paced around, puffing on a cigarette a few times, then feverishly stamping it out. Another man wept uncontrollably. One of the prolife counselors asked him what was wrong. He said that his girlfriend was inside having an abortion, but he had wanted to keep the baby. He never even got to meet his child.
At that very moment, I’m sure there were delivery wards full of people of the exact same age, socioeconomic class, and ethnic background, just as distracted and distraught. But at least they could talk to one another about the baby’s name, rearrange the baby clothes for the umpteenth time, or speculate on whether she’d have her mom or daddy’s eyes.
What did the people here have to talk about?
Their wife or girlfriend would come out in pain, and there would be no precious bundle. There would be no congratulations, cards, or baby bows. Just pain. And shame.
A prolife counselor greeted each person coming up to the clinic, and told them about a free ultrasound and other resources for their child. His gentleness sometimes elicited a response, and one woman, after checking her sister into the clinic, came back to talk.
She wanted to know if we had any advice on sterilization. She said she knew her sister would never talk to us, but she needed help: this was her eighth abortion. A tall, spare woman, she nervously crossed and recrossed the street several times, always clutching her purse to her arm. Finally she asked us if we knew where she could get a drink. When the procedure was finally done, she pulled her car into the clinic’s narrow lot and helped wheel her sister down toward the car. When the wheelchair was as close as possible, she helped her sister stand and move into the front seat. The woman was visibly in pain; she walked deliberately, seemed drugged or extremely tired, and slumped into the front seat.
Not everyone had the support of their family. One beautiful African-American woman, probably in her late teens and dressed to the hilt, was escorted in by a forty-something white guy in a stylish jacket. The next day a man who looked strikingly similar was back with a different girl. I wondered what questions, if any, the front desk asked those who checked in patients.
A young family with a father, mother, and boy about seven years old came up. The father and son checked in the mother, then left. I wondered what you told your son about something like this. If Mom was going to bring a new baby home, you’d need to prepare your son over a course of months so he could get ready for a new baby sister or brother. He might think about which toys to share, and ask all the questions about where they were going to sleep, and if he’d get to hold him or not. With something like an abortion, I figured the parents just said it was a routine doctor’s appointment. How do you tell your son he had a sibling you decided he would never meet?
One threesome that came up to the clinic was a mother, a daughter, and the daughter’s boyfriend. The girl was silent, but the mother and boyfriend were either extremely cheerful or doing their best to act as if they were. They smiled, laughed—and deliberately avoided eye contact with any of us there on the prolife side. I’ve heard so many women talk about how much they’d love to have grandchildren. Some are desperate enough to start talking about their kids’ pets as grandkids. What would it be like to talk yourself out of grandkids?
The women who breezed by the quickest were well-dressed, on their way to or from work, and evidently just picking up birth control. Those in PJs and flip-flops were there for an abortion, and often entered more slowly. But how many women in the loose-fitting clothes and sandals had originally visited in slacks and high heels?
The only other time I had been to a clinic was when I was a child, and the women looked so much older than me. It was easier to distance myself from what was happening then. These were old people doing things I couldn’t fathom. Now, some of the women I was saw were my age, and most were younger. I saw a girl who could have been ten years younger than me, coming in with her mom. I began to realize that whether I acknowledged it or not, this was my world. The people coming in and out were Americans overlapping with me in space and time. I could have been one of them, leaving behind a medical record and my first, or eighth, child.
Abortion has ingrained itself so thoroughly in our culture that abusive boyfriends and supposedly loving mothers often pressure young women into the same decision. I saw only a single time point in a drama that had started long before. We have got to get engaged so much earlier in this process, so a child’s life doesn’t come down to keeping or rejecting a certain card on a certain day. We’ve got to build a culture where abortion is unthinkable. Where parents decide to be the stewards of their children’s education. Where a girl doesn’t rely on a twerp telling her she’s hot because her dad’s told her he loves her. Where a twenty-something proudly wears a “Virginity Rocks” t-shirt. Where God’s definition of marriage is celebrated.
There is this blessing in the midst of the pain: the further our culture erodes, the more distinct the options become.
Freedom can be inconvenient. It can demand things of us we’d rather not give, and demand us to think when we’d rather coast. But it’s better than the alternative.
Noah Webster defined a slave as:
“1. A person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has no will of his own, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another…
“2. One who has lost the power of resistance; or one who surrenders himself to any power whatever; as a slave to passion, to lust, to ambition…”
If we refuse to think, others will do our thinking for us. If we cede our right to conscience, the battle is over. Without the ability to personally decide and act upon what we believe to be right and true, we will be utterly defenseless. What’s “right,” or “politically correct,” will then be what those who rule us determine it to be. This is the logical result of relativism: alternate realities must reconcile somehow, and force is the simple, direct method.
All this is nothing new. The current administration’s slogan may be “Forward,” but it’s leading us down a path rejected centuries ago. Collectivism? State-induced infanticide? That’s so 5th century. Progressives are regressing.
Of course there’s the argument that new civilizations need new methods. But we Americans already vetted and rejected these long ago.
It’s ironic that President Obama would deliver his “You Didn’t Build That” speech in Virginia, because this is where we already put collectivism on trial. It didn’t go so well. The Jamestown colony nearly starved. As Jamestown Secretary Raphe Hamor wrote in a letter in 1614:
“[F]ormerly, when our people were fedde out of the common store and laboured jointly in the manuring of the ground, and planting corne, glad was that man that could slippe from his labour, nay the most honest of them in a generall businesse, would not take so much faithfull and true paines, in a weeke, as now he will doe in a day, neither cared they for the increase, presuming that howsoever their harvest prospered, the generall store must maintain them, by which meanes we reaped not so much corne from the labours of 30 men, as three men have done for themselves…”
If a colonist was assured a share in the reapings, why should he break his back bringing it in? The trouble was, not enough food was brought in. Killing the profit motive killed the profit.
As Mr. Hamor further explained:
“Sir Thomas Dale hath taken a new course, throughout the whole Colony, by which meanes, the generall store… shall not be charged with any thing: and this it is, he hath allotted to every man in the Colony, three English Acres of cleere Corne ground, which every man is to mature and tend, being in the nature of Farmers… and they are not called unto any service or labor belonging to the Colony, more then one moneth in the yeere, which shall neither be in seede time, or in Harvest, for which, doeing no other duty to the Colony, they are yearly to pay into the store two barrells and a halfe of Corne: there to be reserved to keep new men… thereby the lives of many shall not onely be preserved, but also themselves kept in strength and heart, able to performe such businesses, as shall be imposed upon them: and thus shall also the former charge be well saved, and yet more businesse effected.”
When a wise Jamestown governor abolished collectivism and put each colonist in charge of his own life, the colony thrived. Over two hundred years later, the Founders encouraged personal ingenuity, for example by placing Article 1, Section 8 in the Constitution. It gives Congress the power “[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
Instead of creating bloated agencies such as the National Endowment of the Arts or the National Science Foundation which redistribute funds bled from the productive private sector, the Founders created an environment where an individual could protect and benefit from his own ideas.
But, of course, that required that an individual himself be protected. “Intention to abort” was first grounds for conviction in Maryland in 1652, and Virginia classified abortion as murder in 1710. The Declaration of Independence affirms each American’s “right to life,” and throughout American history this was increasingly interpreted as encompassing unborn children. By 1965, abortion was illegal in all 50 states. Roe v. Wade turned the clock backward. We regressed from what we already knew.
In May, 1857 the American Medical Association appointed a Committee on Criminal Abortion. It investigated the causes of criminal abortion and ways to reduce them, presenting three major findings about “this general demoralization”:
“The first of these causes is a widespread popular ignorance of the true character of the crime — a belief, even among mothers themselves, that the foetus is not alive till after the period of quickening.
“The second of the agents alluded to is the fact that the profession themselves are frequently supposed careless of foetal life…
“The third reason of the frightful extent of this crime is found in the grave defects of our laws, both common and statute, as regards the independent and actual existence of the child before birth, as a living being. These errors, which are sufficient in most instances to prevent conviction, are based, and only based, upon mistaken and exploded medical dogmas. With strange inconsistency, the law fully acknowledges the foetus in utero and its inherent rights, for civil purposes; while personally and as criminally affected, it fails to recognize it, and to its life as yet denies all protection.”
After hearing these findings, the Association adopted resolutions “against such unwarrantable destruction of human life.” This remained the official position of the Association until 1970.
How far we’ve fallen. Redistribution is so widespread it’s become commonplace, and on August 1, 2012, the Health and Human Services’s mandate that all insurance companies cover sterilizations, abortifacients, birth control, and abortion took effect.
George Washington’s words ring true today:
“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own… The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission.”
This article was originally published by Illinois Review.
There’s a two-tier system of abortions in the U.S.: those for the haves, and those for the have-nots. President Obama may fundraise for Planned Parenthood, but he’d never send his daughters there. Who would, if they could send them anywhere else?
The Left’s public enthusiasm for Sanger’s brainchild plasters splashy wallpaper on prison walls and plants a smiley face on an urn.
Planned Parenthood is corrupt to the core. Just look at their marketing. The more sexually active the population, the more Planned Parenthood stands to profit. Expecting Planned Parenthood to give abstinence information is like waiting for McDonald’s to hand out dieting advice. It may talk about “safe sex,” but not even “protected sex” halts the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. No matter. This isn’t about health; it’s about sales. If people want birth control, Planned Parenthood can sell it to them. When the birth control fails, they can sell them an abortion. And, while Planned Parenthood promotes equal opportunity sexual activity (females with females, males with males) we can’t neglect females-with-males, because that’s what keeps the abortion stream going.
It gets worse. The standard of care is that if a patient is going to undergo a procedure, they should give informed consent. This implies two things: that the patient has been adequately informed of the risks and benefits of the procedure, and that they are freely choosing to carry out the procedure. Planned Parenthood can market to the desperate mother who feels she must have an abortion at any cost, or the mother who needs convincing.
Former Planned Parenthood staff have confessed the levels of manipulation they have used to convince a woman to abort. Even when this line isn’t crossed, there’s still a highly emotional decision happening, with possible pressure from family, friends, husband, boyfriend, or pimp. But if you have been sexually exploited or emotionally manipulated, don’t expect Planned Parenthood to help you. As Live Action has abundantly demonstrated, implausible deniability even in cases as clear-cut as sex trafficking is alive and well at Planned Parenthood.
Adequate information is another fiction. While claiming “We’re here to give you the medically-accurate information you need to decide what is best for you,” Planned Parenthood misrepresents the inherent risk involved in having an abortion. Their website states, “Abortion is legal in the U.S. and is one of medicine’s safest procedures.”
Given the fact that many medical procedures are no more than skin deep, such as removing a mole, it’s surprising that the organization would make such a bald-faced claim. But then, those kinds are less likely to be suspected. No supporting information is given to support this claim, and the probability of various complications from abortion is not presented. One key risk factor that gets inadequate treatment is late-term abortions. All of the women and girls presented in Planned Parenthood’s featured tutorial video on in-clinic abortions are 14 weeks or less pregnant, and none has even an inkling of a baby bump.
While 88% of abortions are done within the first trimester of a child’s life, Planned Parenthood provides abortions through the third trimester. It makes sense to have one tutorial directed toward women at an earlier stage of pregnancy, but where is the tutorial for women further along? Toward the end of the video, the calm, measured voice of the narrator promises that Planned Parenthood will provide referrals for women who experience complications from their abortion.
Elsewhere, it’s claimed that abortions through 20 weeks are 11 times safer than childbirth, but that after that abortion and natural childbirth have equal risk. Again, no evidence is given to substantiate this claim. Instead of bracing for serious complications, wouldn’t it be better if women were told there are viable options beyond abortion?
The results of a procedure depend not only on the inherent risk, but also on the skill of the individual physician. The average rate of mishap for a certain procedure may be very low, but with a careless physician it will be very high. But a Planned Parenthood patient shouldn’t expect to know anything about their abortionist before they show up. If she was going to a doctor or a dentist for the first time, she could look up their name, specialty, and most likely even their picture online. Not with Planned Parenthood. The Illinois Planned Parenthood website assures potential clients:
“For nearly 90 years Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) has been Illinois’ most trusted provider of reproductive health care. Our skilled health care professionals in the Chicago area and central Illinois work to ensure that each woman receives personal, sensitive and confidential care in a professional setting. All of our physicians are board certified or board eligible in Obstetrics and Gynecology or board certified in Family Medicine.”
It declines to list anything more than this, so it’s impossible for a first-time visitor to research their physician by name. Clients put their lives into the hands of a complete stranger. If abortionists were gifted physicians, wouldn’t they be proud to list their credentials publicly?
Placing clinics in low-income neighborhoods increases Planned Parenthood’s access to minorities, but it also removes accountability and ready access to emergency personnel and resources. Of course, even great physicians sometimes make mistakes, which is why hospitals regularly hold Morbidity & Mortality conferences. It’s here that the medical staff discusses cases that went wrong so that the core issues can be identified and mended.
For abortionists running solo practices, who provides this level of accountability? Are they ever questioned by their medical peers on their techniques, or botches? The ghastly findings in Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s abortion practice in Philadelphia last year spurred nine abortion clinic inspections in Illinois. Some hadn’t been inspected for over 15 years, and two were closed because of what was found. The inspections stopped short of any Planned Parenthood clinics, however, because these clinics are not licensed or inspected due to their similarity to doctor’s offices. This includes the clinic where Tonya Reaves was treated.
Tonya Reaves Planned ParenthoodIf the Planned Parenthood clinics had been adequately monitored, might Tonya Reaves be alive today? How many abortion clinics have emergency plans? Who vets the skill levels of physicians applying for jobs? Is the convenient location of clinics enough justification for their isolation from trauma units?
If Planned Parenthood of Illinois had fully informed Tonya Reaves of the risks she faced in her second-trimester abortion, would she have continued with her decision? It’s a question we will never know. But each woman should be given a fully informed choice. When it comes to abortion, it’s not just a woman’s body that’s at stake: it can be her life.
The following article was originally published by Illinois Review.
With his uptilted chin and elitist policies, President Obama has proved how little he understands the average American or cares to represent him. Case in point: his abortion policies.
Mr. Obama’s voting record as a state and U.S. senator proved his support for pre- and postnatal infanticide, an intentness he sometimes toned down on the campaign trail:
Rick Warren: “[A]t what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?”
Barack Obama: “Well, you know, I think that whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.”
But such agnosticism did not keep him from shilling to Planned Parenthood or taking a definite stance on the fate of the unplanned unborn:
“I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
The social media prowess of President Obama’s campaign helped propel him into office in 2008, but it certainly did not help him understand the views of average Democrats, let alone average Americans. This May, Gallup reportedthat a majority of Americans (50%) self-identify as prolife, while only 41% self-identify as prochoice. This prolife majority is comprised not only of Republicans, but also of Democrats and Independents. Members of all three political affiliations increasingly see themselves as prolife.
Even though a majority of Americans disagree with him on abortion, President Obama shows no sign of damping his relentless abortion agenda. Instead, he lobbied for Obamacare. Before Obamacare, many Americans (myself included) had grown used to what seemed to be the abortion status quo. Roe v. Wade survived, but state and national prolife laws provided checks on particularly egregious abortion techniques and practices. It was tempting to think that abortion could be contained and eradicated slowly. That in the meantime the Hyde Amendment would prevent taxpayers from being forced to subsidize abortions. We tried not to think about the financial support we already were forced to give Planned Parenthood, and the lives claimed as the slow-motion strategy played out.
Obamacare changed all that. President Obama has destroyed the all-powerful illusion of the abortion status quo, and we begin to see there’s no emergency brake on evil. New methods of assaulting consciences are continually being revealed. “Abortion-free” health insurance is becoming an endangered species. And Obamacare is increasing the country’s prolife/proabortion divide as nothing else could.
As John-Paul Deddens, the founder and executive director of Students for Life of Illinois puts it, “Obamacare gives unprecedented power to the executive branch to use insurance requirements to buy votes. The abortion lobby has already gotten its pay-off through the contraception mandate and the abortion surcharge instituted by the HHS. These mandates will not only constitute political favoritism but also the largest expansion of abortion since Roe forcing everyone to pay for the contraception, sterilizations and abortions of others.”
As disturbing as the implications are for the prolife community, it’s even more frightening for the unborn of America. “Safe, legal, and rare” is becoming “Just as unsafe, legal, and subsidized.” Indeed, the 2008 Democratic Party’s platform, which was patterned from Obama’s campaign, dropped the word “rare” in reference to abortion entirely.
Even in Illinois, there is hope amid the heartache. This is where President Obama came of political age, and where he first voiced his support of postnatal infanticide. But it’s also where Jill Stanekbegan her political and ethical career. As a nurse in Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Mrs. Stanek saw multiple children who survived abortions but were abandoned in a soiled utility room to die. Her testimony to Congress on behalf of the unborn has been strategic in bills such as the Born Alive Infant Protections Act, and she now maintains a prolife blog that earned her the title “Worst Person in the World!” from Keith Olbermann.
Mrs. Stanek is not alone. Prolifers from across the state participate in events such as 40 Days for Life and Life Chain to pray for the end of abortion. This year, five Illinois cities participated in the spring 40 Days for Life campaign, and there are already 96 confirmed locations for Life Chain in Illinois. Meanwhile, prolife organizations such as the Illinois Family Institute are keeping Illinoisans abreast of prolife bills, news, and perspectives.
Young people in Illinois are finding ways to voice their prolife convictions. Live Action’s investigations in Illinois have complemented the work of prolife elected officials in the statehouse. Thousands of students gather in Washington, D.C. on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade for March for Life, and Illinois students are among them. (Here is a video from the 2012 March).
And four years ago, Illinoisans Mike Schaefer and Jimmy Becker combined their love for biking with their concern for unborn children, and Biking for Babies was born. This year, over the course of nine days, ten bikers rode the 1100 miles from New Orleans to Chicago, to encourage others to become involved in the prolife movement. They also raised $31,000 for eight Midwest prolife organizations, including the Living Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center in Champaign, the Life Network in Waterloo, and Students for Life of Illinois in Champaign.
On the last day of the ride, Mike Schaefer blogged,
“I can simply say that it was a real blessing to bike with and be supported by such wonderful friends. It really isn’t a cause for which we ride. It’s because life is worth living that we ride. The linguistic, political, and social framework of that which is ‘pro-life’, in as much as it may look similar to any other social platform, only attempts to share with others the far bigger and more meaningful reality of something that we are certain of because there is something ultimately very beautiful about it–something so valuable and noble at every stage in life that we fear doing damage to our own humanity should we take it away from someone else, no matter the circumstance.”
The tenacity it takes to plan and execute such a trip is also needed on college campuses, where faculty and peers are often openly hostile to those who take a prolife stance. Students for Life of Illinois is standing in the gap, and offering encouragement and resources to students on 24 Illinois campuses.
Recently this organization recognized three students for their outstanding contributions to the prolife effort in Illinois. Christina Foreman and Pam Suresca have been outstanding leaders on their campuses (the University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola University), and were named Passionate Leader of the Year and Outstanding Student Leader of the Year.
Videos made by others from their campuses show the contagious enthusiasm these young women have about building a prolife culture: “What stands out the most to me about Christina is the loving way in which she communicates the prolife message. Christina is utterly fearless when speaking about the prolife movement.”
The third award recipient was Anne Marie Dust, an alumna of Bradley University, was named the Courageous Student of the Year. When Miss Dust was applying for a nursing residency at Vanderbilt University, the University required her to agree to participate in abortions. Understandably shaken, she weighed her options. Objecting might limit her chances to take her nursing examinations, or even find a job. Finally, she made her choice. “At the end of the day you have to stand up for what is most important to you,” she says. With the help of the Alliance Defense Fund, she filed a federal complaint. Here is the result of her actions:
The legacy of Illinois and this nation hangs in the balance. Each of us must decide whose vision will shape the future: the proabortion vision of Barack Obama, or the prolife vision of Jill Stanek, John-Paul, Anne Marie, Mike, Jimmy, and others. Here in President Obama’s home state, our fight to defend the unborn is just beginning. But where there’s life, there’s hope.
The following was originally published on the Howard County Right to Life blog.
On January 22, 2012, community members from across Howard County gathered at the courthouse in Kokomo, Indiana to remember the unborn children claimed by abortion. Mr. Bill Federer, a historian, author, and President of Amerisearch, spoke about the Christian roots of our nation and the God-given mandate to care for all humans.
Mr. Federer began with a look at the changes in America over the last three decades: “I look at the Scriptures: Deuteronomy 28. It says, ‘These are the blessings if a nation hearkens to the voice of the Lord. They will be a lender and not a debtor. And these are the curses if a nation does not hearken to the voice of the Lord: they will be a debtor and a stranger amongst them will rise up and be their ruler.’
“Do you realize in the last thirty years America has gone from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation? We are the most in-debt nation in world history. So, ladies and gentlemen, we’re on the judgement side of the page.
“What has happened in the last thirty years? Well, we have aborted millions of children. And the same thing that God told Cain [applies today]: ‘Your brother Abel’s innocent blood cries out from the ground.’ There’s a cry that’s going up to Heaven and I believe that what’s staying the hand of judgement is us: is you and me, here.”
He then looked back at the U.S. during the days of slavery, when we were also under judgement. Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address, said:
“Fondly we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsmen’s 250 years of unrequited toil should be sunk and every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be repaid by a drop of blood drawn by the sword, let it be said: The judgements of the Lord are altogether true and righteous.”
As Mr. Federer pointed out, “Here’s Lincoln. He had the audacity to connect the judgement of the war with the sin of slavery. Is anybody going to connect the dots today?”
History provides more than cautionary tales, however. Mr. Federer relates how President Lincoln lead a national day of fasting and praying, and three days later the course of the Civil War was staggeringly altered.
This course is open to us today: “You are here because you’re stirred in your heart to leave your nice, warm home and come here and stand in the cold because there’s something burning on the inside of you: a flame that’s strong that says I’ve got to do something for our country.”
“I was with Alan Keyes last week. We were talking about the Constitution and he explained that the judge that gave the Roe v. Wade decision said if it could ever be proved that the unborn are considered by our Constitution to be citizens, then this decision is void. And Alan Keyes says, ‘I found it. I found where the unborn are mentioned in our Constitution.’
“I said, ‘Wow! Where?'”
“He says, ‘In the Preamble. It says, “To secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, we establish this Constitution.”‘
“Posterity. What’s posterity? Well, those are your descendants that you’ll never meet. Well, if you’re going to care about these descendants that are generations in the future, you’re going to care about the ones that are just one generation in the future. You’re going to care about the ones that are right there in the womb about to be the next generation in the future. You’re going to care about the unborn.
“Our Founders sacrificed their prosperity for their posterity. They pledged their lives and their fortunes and their sacred honor for a generation yet unborn. Today our government is doing the opposite. We’re sacrificing our posterity for prosperity, saddling the unborn with an unpayable debt–besides killing the unborn.
“George Washington, in 1776, stands before his army and he says, “The fate of unborn millions now depends on the courage of this army. We have to resolve therefore to either conquer or die.”
Though the lives of heroes loom large above our mind’s eye, Mr. Federer reminded the crowd assembled that God has placed them here on earth at this time for a reason, and thought forward to the day when our lives are over and we’re listening to the heroes of the Bible tell their life stories.
“One by one, Gideon, the Apostle Paul, and Deborah–all of them [are going to tell their stories]–and then everybody’s going to look at you and say, ‘You: we haven’t heard from you yet! What did you do when it was your turn to be on earth? Tell us what was going on… all the courage and faith you had to stand against injustice and [stand] up for righteousness.’
“Y’know, I don’t want to squirm in my seat and say, ‘Uh, can you call on someone else for a minute and let me think about this?’
“No, I want to say, ‘Let me tell you what they were doing! They were killing babies, they were changing marriage, they were doing everything and I said I’m going to stand up. I don’t know all the stuff they know. I just have my little sling. I’m just going to let the Lord use me.’ Y’know, if anybody’s around when I die, I’ll tell them to put on my gravestone, ‘Not ability, but availability.’ Y’know, you make yourself available and the Lord’ll add the ability. So I look forward to the day that we’re all up there and you get to tell your story and we’ll remember together being here this day.”
For more information about the events at the rally, see this article by Splash!Kokomo. For more of Mr. Federer’s research into the history, see www.americanminute.com.
Spring break for many of us evokes sublime visions of palm trees or the family couch. But for three students here at UIUC, spring break will involve something entirely different. Like many of us, Mike Schaefer, Stacy Hague, and Jimmy Becker will be traveling hundreds of miles. Unlike us, they’ll be biking.
The name of their trip says it all: Biking for Babies. Each of the three will bike 600 miles, in five days. While we may start preparing for break soon – buying a plane ticket or clearing out the fridge – these students have already started their preparations, with intense physical conditioning.
Writing on the team’s blog at www.bikingforbabies.com, Mike recently described what’s motivating him to do this: “My mom, especially, always instilled in me the value of respecting life at every stage and growing in my faith… I’m pumped to be having all of the new riders joining the B4B ride with such determination and commitment to fight for this most serious of causes that we face today.” In another post, Stacy wrote: “Each mile we ride and each calorie we burn is really our burning desire for the freedom and right of every individual to LIVE, no matter how small. This ride is making the invisible, visible.”
Stacy, a junior majoring in nutrition and psychology, Mike, a junior majoring in crop science and minoring in Spanish, and Jimmy, majoring in materials science and engineering, are all raising funds for local crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life initiatives. Their goal is to raise a total of $25,000. All funds will benefit the babies and families who are impacted through the Champaign Pregnancy Resource Center and Students for Life of Illinois.
Last year Mike and Jimmy teamed up to travel 600 miles, and this year they’re back at it, though the enterprise has expanded. Now, instead of just one trip, the two will be leading two different teams. Both teams will be biking 600 miles, so between March 24th to April 2nd, they will cover a total of 1200 miles of long, cold asphalt. First, Team Illinois (Mike and Stacy) will bike north from Cairo to Peoria. Then Team Wisconsin (Jimmy and a trio of University of Wisconsin students) will bike south in an S-shaped curve starting in Aurora and ending in Champaign.
You can follow Team Illinois and Team Wisconsin as they train and bike! See their website at www.bikingforbabies.com to read team members’ blogs, buy a $5 t-shirt, spread the word, or support their team! Because it’s all about saving babies.
Martin Luther King Jr. once described his dream that “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
In direct contrast to this dream, Planned Parenthood has targeted its services to those of particular skin colors, with the result that minorities are disproportionately affected by abortion. What’s the leading cause of death among African-Americans? Heart disease? Stroke? Cancer? Abortion? If you guessed abortion, you’re correct. Abortion accounts for more deaths among African-Americans than the seven next-most common causes of death.
Students on our campus are gathering together to change this grim reality, and help increase the life expectancy of all African-Americans.
Illini Collegians for Life (ICFL), an RSO dedicated to sponsoring a culture of life on campus, recently sponsored a viewing and discussion of the film Maafa 21. This film documents the racist agenda motivating Planned Parenthood to target minorities by, among other things, overwhelmingly locating its clinics in minority neighborhoods and accepting donations earmarked for minorities.
ICFL is also sponsoring the local initiative of 40 Days for Life. Students and other community members, now through April 4th, are gathering at the local Planned Parenthood clinic to pray and fast. Some hold signs with pro-life messages, others pray the rosary, while still others provide sidewalk counseling.
Since this clinic focuses on abortion services and does not offer prenatal counseling or services, sidewalk counselors often tell those entering the clinic about other local organizations such as Living Alternatives and Birthright that provide free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, prenatal counseling, and maternal and infant clothing.
As a result of 40 Days for Life initiatives, and consistent efforts of dedicated sidewalk counselors throughout the year, numerous women have decided against abortion. One woman who several years ago decided not to go through with her abortion recently told a sidewalk counselor that whenever her little boy puts his arms around her and tells her he loves her, she knows she made the right decision.
May other children be given a chance to live out Martin Luther King’s dream.
(6:08PM Friday, February 19, 2010)
Hi!
You’re invited to a film showing and discussion held in honor of Black History Month. The film is Maafa 21, and it features many different speakers, including Alveda King, Martin Luther King’s niece. It addresses the leading cause of death among African-Americans, which is not heart disease, stroke, or cancer — it’s abortion [refs 1, 2].
Maafa 21 shows how Planned Parenthood has been killing Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. (As Alveda says, this is the civil rights issue of our day). It documents the racist roots and current strategies of the modern abortion industry. From the beginning, Planned Parenthood has been targeting minority populations. Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood’s founder, did not see abortion as a choice for a woman dealing with a difficult decision, but as a necessity for subjugating others. The effects of Planned Parenthood’s marketing is seen today, in the neighborhoods that Planned Parenthood places its locations, and in the number of minority deaths that it is accountable for. I know that it’s time to address Planned Parenthood’s aggressive agenda against minorities, and I know that it starts with raising awareness about their history.
[2] Gamble, Sonya, et al. “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2005.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Nov. 2008 (SS13): 1-32.. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 12 Feb. 2010 <http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/
(4:41PM Saturday, February 20, 2010)
cnsnews.com is a right-wing information machine that enjoys the support of fundamentalist, evangelical Christians and Neo-conservatives.
——
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/
http://www.campusprogress.org/
(5:56PM Saturday, February 20, 2010)
Here we go again, with the stupid abortion debate… The M1 social list is STILL not an appropriate venue for this conversation.
Hannah:
I can only assume that your email was intended to be inflammatory.
If you’re going to criticize Margaret Sanger & Planned Parenthood, at least get your facts straight. Sanger advocated for birth control & sex education, not abortion. She repeatedly condemned abortions, calling them “a disgrace to civilization.” And as for planned parenthood… This is a fantastic organization that provides birth control, STD vaccination & testing, sex education, counseling and prenatal services to people who might not otherwise have access to such things. By “Planned Parenthood’s aggressive agenda against minorities,” do you mean showering them with condoms and birth control pills?
(11:18PM, February 10, 2010)
Cynthia:
Thank you very much for your reply. The film itself accurately represents Margaret Sanger’s preference for birth control, while in my email I mistakenly conflated Sanger and Planned Parenthood’s methods of subjugation. I appreciate your correcting me. Sanger and her organization have the same goal, it’s just that their preferred methods do not always coincide. Their “eugenic” goal is to build a race of “thoroughbreds” by exterminating those races deemed inferior. Sanger preferred birth control and sterilization, while abortion among other methods currently suits Planned Parenthood best.
Here’s what Sanger had to say about those in the African-American community who might object to what she called her “Negro Project”: “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out the idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” As quoted in Linda Gordon, Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right (New York: Grossman, 1974, 1976) 332-333.
In 1970, then-Planned Parenthood President (and former Vice President of the American Eugenics Society) Alan Guttmacher wrote: “If you’re going to curb population, it’s extremely important not to have it done by the [expletive] Yankees, but by the UN. Because, the thing is, then it’s not considered genocide. If the United States goes to the black man or the yellow man and says slow down your reproductive rate, we’re immediately suspected of having ulterior motives to keep the white man dominant in the world. If you can send in a colorful UN force, you’ve got much better leverage.” Article: “Dr. Guttmacher – Still Optimistic About the Population Problem.”
(Further notes on sterilization): Sanger outlined her “Plan for Peace” in the April 1932 issue of her publication The Birth Control Review. Part d of her plan was “…to apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.” (p. 107) Part f was “to give certain dysgenic groups in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization.”