Should abortion be legal or illegal? Iowans for LIFE works hard to support pro-life legislation that reduces the incidence of human abortion. For today, though, let’s set aside the question. Instead, let’s take the emotion out of the subject and consider THE foundational abortion ethics question: Is ending the life of a human fetus moral?
Dennis Prager discusses the question dispassionately in the Prager University video above. To answer it, one must answer additional questions, such as:
• Does a human fetus have any values and any rights?
• Is it moral for a woman to end the life of a fetus in her womb?
• On what moral grounds does the mother alone decide a fetus’s worth?
• Society protects a person after they are born; why should that be different BEFORE the human being is born?
• Why should one person, the mother, determine if another person, a fetus, has the right to live?
• Can a good society survive if it calls immoral things ‘moral’?
Prager unpacks abortion ethics in five compact minutes. This is worth viewing, especially if you consider yourself more of a ‘pro-choice’ person instead of a ‘pro-life’ person.
Abortion laws become less relevant when abortion ethics are clarified and people stop aborting. Is ending the life of a human fetus moral? Please … watch the video.
[Abortion ethics are discussed in dramatic fashion at our upcoming October 24th fundraising banquet: “A Clash of Creeds.” Get your tickets today.]
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From 1980 to 1988, there were 1 million deaths due to the Iran/Iraq war.
From 1980 to 1988, there were 14 million deaths in the U.S. due to abortion.
Mass graves
Before the U.S./Iraq war began, there were an estimated 270 mass graves in Iraq.
It is estimated that those graves hold the bodies of 400,000 people.
In the U.S., our mass graves are found in the dumpsters behind Planned Parenthood. Millions of bodies have been disposed there.
In 2006, 846 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq. Thirty-four thousand Iraqi civilians died. One million, two-hundred fifty thousand babies were aborted in the U.S.
By 2010, the number of U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq had dropped to sixty. The number of Iraqi citizen fatalities dropped to twenty-four hundred. The number of abortion fatalities in the U.S. “dropped” to a mere one million, two-hundred thousand.
War casualties
In the entire 242 year history of the United States of America, we have lost 1.3 million people to war.
We lose that many to abortion in a single year.
Interestingly, the incidence of civilian casualties in Iraq dropped dramatically with our intervention and the ouster of Saddam Hussein, one of the 20th century’s more prolific mass murderers.
In the U.S., Planned Parenthood is the most prolific agent of death. They are supported with taxpayer money at the insistence of one political party, which views abortion as morally just and a Constitutional right.
Even more, the former president required Catholics and other faith-based organizations to violate their conscience and provide abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception for free to their employees in their health care plans, a policy reversed by the current administration.
What is the price of inhumanity?
Inhumanity takes a tremendous toll on civilization. Often, the killing is done in the name of hate.
In the U.S., it is a little different. It is far worse. It is done in the name of apathy and greed, for Planned Parenthood makes billions on the little backs of their victims.
What is the price of inhumanity? Civilization decays, one life at a time.
What is the solution? That is simple: God. We must remember we were made in His image.
Anything else? Yes, we must elect pro-life politicians.
Let us leave you with a question. Which is worse: war or abortion?
Do the math.
[The way you answer this blogpost’s rhetorical question may be a function of your ‘creed.’ Iowans for LIFE, in conjunction with the Natural Journey Alliance, will explore three dominant creeds at our October 24th banquet, “A Clash of Creeds.” Tickets now on sale.]
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Even the Wall Street Journal is writing about Natural Family Planning Awareness Week. NFP is gaining traction as 50 years of cultural carnage wrought by the sexual revolution has become increasingly manifest.
“Fertility awareness method”
Writing in the WSJ today, Ashley McGuire expressed the relevance of the topic well:
Ashley McGuire
“The teachings on contraception found in “Humanae Vitae” are often described as arcane and anti-science. To the contrary, the science on female fertility is slowly catching up with the document. As Paul VI argues, there are natural ways to preserve a woman’s fertility while still respecting her and her family’s needs in limiting and spacing births. The church calls it “natural family planning,” though thanks to its increasing popularity with the organics crowd, “fertility awareness method” has become more widely used.”
Ms. McGuire is a senior fellow at the Catholic Association. She authored “Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female” (Regnery, 2017).
Another leading contemporary voice on NFP is Dr. Janet E. Smith, who spoke in Iowa just last week on the eve of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week. Iowans for LIFE director, Maggie DeWitte attended and had this to say about Dr. Smith:
Maggie DeWitte, Dr. Janet Smith & Renée McGuire
“Dr. Janet Smith gave a powerful talk on the anniversary of Humanae Vitae in Cedar Rapids, last week sponsored by the Archdiocese of Dubuque Marriage and Family Life. She gave a thorough history of what was happening in the church and culture that led to the prophetic encyclical written by Pope Paul VI. She noted that all Christian churches were opposed to contraception prior to 1930, including John Wesley, Martin Luther, and Ghandi.
Dr. Smith weaved in the prophetic teaching of St. John Paul II as well and in particular his teaching on Theology of the Body and Love & Responsibility in 1958 and 1960.” Her talk fit right in with Natural Family Planning Awareness Week.
Writing in the June issue of the Columbia magazine, Dr. Smith contrasted the moral differences between artificial birth control and Natural Family Planning:
What is wrong with contraception?
SMITH: Those who use contraception treat fertility as a defect. They act to prevent a potential life-giving act from being life-giving. Moreover, contraception greatly reduces the meaning of the marital act, which by its very nature is meant to express complete self-giving and commitment. What expresses this better than saying, “I am willing to be a parent with you?”
Why is Natural Family Planning better?
SMITH: The nature of married love calls couples to give themselves wholly to one another in an intimate language that says, “I make a complete gift of myself to you. I want only what is good for you. I am willing to be a parent with you.” Couples using NFP acknowledge the gift of fertility and do not contradict the intimate language of the body, thereby respecting God’s plan for sexuality.
She contrasted the effect each have on relationships:
What are the harmful effects of contraception?
SMITH: The availability of contraception encourages promiscuity. It leads many men and women to engage in sexual relationships with persons they may not know well and have no intention of marrying, and sometimes with persons they don’t even like. Even when they have contraceptive sex with those whom they believe they love, the use of contraception can seem to make unnecessary such conversations as: “What happens if our contraception fails?” That question alone can put a relationship in danger! Contraception also facilitates cohabitation, which generally is bad preparation for marriage.
What are the beneficial effects of NFP?
SMITH: NFP fosters chastity and requires commitment. Those who have practiced abstinence before marriage find NFP easier than those who have been sexually active. They know abstinence can be an expression of love rather than a deprivation, and they generally have a larger “tool kit” for showing love and affection — e.g., going for walks, dancing, cooking together and cuddling. NFP also facilitates strong communication skills, which is one of the important glues for a relationship.
Take-away point from Natural Family Planning Awareness Week
Let us leave you with a final thought during Natural Family Planning Awareness Week: In last week’s talk here in Iowa, Maggie DeWitte was struck by the way Dr. Smith described the procreative nature of married life:
”You are participating with God to create a new immortal soul; how can you say no to that?” She stated that when looking for a future spouse you should ask yourself, “Would we be good parents together?” She called this conscience parenthood: we are aware that God has given us a gift of becoming a parent and in doing so you are helping God populate heaven.”
[This is Natural Family Planning Awareness Week. Be sure to read our Women’s Reproductive Health Resource Book for more detailed info on the subject.]
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The Catholic view on contraception can be perplexing to the layman. And yet its goal is uninhibited intimacy.
The secular world certainly doesn’t understand it. But even evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, who agree with Church teachings on sanctity of life and marriage, can’t grasp Catholicism’s apparent animus toward artificial birth control.
A non-Catholic reader expressed the issue well:
“Sometimes, though, it seems the Catholic religion takes an odd stance (on contraception) that doesn’t seem to have a biblical reason.
I am sure you could point to a passage here or there that may support your argument, but I have personally never seen one.
I think if a man and his wife want to make love without the likelihood of creating a child, that they should be able to do so without condemnation from the church.
My wife and I decided we were going to have 2 children. At the time, I think it was the right decision, because we were not making a ton of money.
Now we make a good living and I wish we had more children, but I am still happy with the ones I have. And choosing not to have more allowed my wife to finish college and allowed us to make a good living. We may foster, or even adopt. I think there are many children in America who could use a good home.”
We asked Dr. Matt Halbach, Director of the St. Joseph Educational Center in West Des Moines, IA, if he could clarify Church teaching on the subject:
“Interesting topic.
All that I would add to it is that while to many the Church appears to be attempting to control sexual behavior through its teaching against contraception, in reality it is only trying to preserve the sacredness of the sexual act, which is supposed to be uniting and fruitful.
By identifying contraception as a barrier to authentic couple intimacy, the Church is only trying to help people experience sex in its most fulfilling and meaningful (natural) form: the way God intended it to be.
And what is this way? Four words: free (uninhibited), total, faithful, fruitful love-making. In other words, no barriers. No fear. The two are free to embrace the totality of each other and face their future with a trusting confidence in each other and God.
Uninhibited intimacy
Now, doing away with contraception is the first step to uninhibited intimacy.
What truly frees people to be themselves, to not feel like they have to protect themselves from each other or a potential child is . . . wait for it . . . marriage!
Who would have thought?
Marriage is the institution God has given us so that we can have the freedom to love (and make love) without fear. Now, of course, married couples do need to be responsible about their family planning, which is why the Church recommends various forms of NFP (Natural Family Planning).”
[This is Natural Family Planning Awareness week. Be sure to read our Women’s Reproductive Health Resource Book for more detailed info on the subject.]
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By Tom Quiner
This is Natural Family Planning Awareness Week. Continue reading ONLY IF you see nothing wrong with artificial birth control, as I once did.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops promotes Natural Family Planning Awareness Week to help people like me better understand the beautiful underpinnings of natural family planning as well as the consequences of artificial birth control.
Heaven’s Song
I was profoundly moved reading a book by Christopher West a number of years ago titled, “Heaven’s Song, sexual love as it was meant to be.” (You can purchase it in Des Moines at Divine Treasures Book Store.) And what exactly is Heaven’s Song? It is a foretaste of Heaven revealed in the marriage act between a man and woman who give themselves totally to the other, holding back nothing.
Sacramental marriage is meant to be an image of Trinitarian love. Through this we unveil the love of God to the world. The act of life giving love in the marital act is meant to be a mirror of the love Christ has for his Church.
In the marriage act, we are able to participate in creative, life-giving love, which is what the love of God is. This is a profoundly beautiful gift we should not say no to.
On the other hand, contraception is a deliberate violation of the design God built into the human race, also known as the “natural law.”
A foundation of barriers
Artificial birth control is built upon a foundation of barriers. As someone born into a mainline Protestant religion, I was raised believing that there was nothing wrong with artificially holding back the potential for God to fully reveal Himself through this marriage act.
I didn’t fully understand that God is Love, and that Love is creative. I didn’t understand that artificially denying the potential for God to be creative in the union between a husband and wife is working against God’s will, not with it.
What I also didn’t understand is that society’s acceptance of artificial contraception is the root cause of legalized abortion.
As background, I became pro-life while still Protestant. Pro-life positions struck me as simple matters of justice. Arguments that presented the pre-born as being less than human were simply illogical. Assertions by abortion rights advocates that suggested there was a difference between a human being and a person were simply weak straw man arguments.
It took me three decades to realize that when contraception fails, as it inevitably does, the resulting pregnancy is a ‘mistake.’ In fact, our previous president made it clear that he wouldn’t want his daughters saddled with such a mistake. He embraces the view that the human person in the womb is simply disposable if inconvenient.
Pope John Paul VI warned of the consequences of unfettered contraception half a century ago. He was right. Sixty Million abortions later, here we are.
Natural Family Planning benefits
By contrast, Natural Family Planning is safer (because it truly is natural), more effective than artificial birth control, and more affordable ($0). You can learn more in Iowans for LIFE’S “Women’s Reproductive Health Resource Book.”
I wish I had read “Heaven’s Song” before I got married instead of after my wife and I were beyond child-bearing years. It’s not too late for you.
“Americans use 500 million drinking straws every day.”
Says who? Says ten year old Milo Cress, that’s who.
Young Milo became convinced that drinking straws pollute our oceans. He put together a campaign called “we go strawless.” As John Stossel points out, the media, environmentalists, and leftist politicians all embraced his 500 million number and ran with it. Straws are beginning to be banned in major cities, even though there is no evidence that the ten year old boy’s data is accurate, or that American straws are responsible for polluting the ocean. Even the National Park Service is quoting the boy’s numbers.
Real scientists tell a different story
By contrast, real scientists point out that it is Asia, not the US, that is responsible for the overwhelming quantity of debris floating in the oceans. Banning straws is a proverbial drop in the ocean when it comes to reducing pollution. But that doesn’t seem to matter to these activists.
Iowans for LIFE takes no position on the merits or demerits of drinking straws. We are concerned at the impact slippery data can have on public policy. We’ve noticed that environmentalists have had an adversarial relationship with human beings for a long time. They view man as an enemy to the environment, and have made apocalyptic predictions for half a century.
“The Population Bomb”
Dr. Paul Ehrlich, author of “The Population Bomb,” famously claimed that mass starvation would rack the world, leading to the deaths of 65 million Americans in the 1980s in what he characterized as the “Great Die-Off.”
Why? Overpopulation.
He and fellow environmentalists claimed we’d run out of oil by 1985, and that citizens would have to wear gas masks in their daily living to survive in our polluted atmosphere.
Dr. Ehrlich and his minions had special antipathy towards the Catholic Church because of her opposition to artificial birth control, characterizing the Church as terrorists:
“Thus you have ‘God-fearing’ people trying to maintain their rigid positions, especially trying to control the lives of women. I consider that their rigid opposition to something so basic, so critical to the future of life on Earth, as controlling reproduction to be just as unethical as any major affront to the environment or terrorist act.”
Babies are the worst
Of course, the apocalypse never came. Just the opposite. Their data was bogus, fueled by a tactic of deceit. But to this day, environmentalists’ discomfort with babies continues. Last year, NBC News ran a piece that asserts that,
“having a child, especially for the world’s wealthy, is one of the worst things you can do for the environment.”
A few days ago, the New York Times ran a piece by an English professor at Notre Dame who bemoaned the birth of his daughter. Roy Scranton said he cried when his daughter was born. Why? Because of his belief that,
“… in our selfishness, [we] doomed our daughter to life on a dystopian planet, and I could see no way to shield her from the future.”
Scranton accepts the most draconian assertions of the climate change crowd and states that,
“the most effective steps any of us can take to decrease carbon emissions are to eat a plant-based diet, avoid flying, live car free and have one fewer child, the last having the most significant impact by far.”
What concerns IFL about this rhetoric is the fervent belief in the environmental movement that babies are bad, that abortion is good, and that the power of the State should be used to control the population.
Are forced abortions and sterilizations in our future?
Paul Ehrlich actually believes in forced abortions and sterilizations. Planned Parenthood founder, Margaret Sanger, believed in government bribes to compel people from “undesirable groups” to agree to sterilization.
A lot of unserious data is pounced upon as fact by zealots willing to use these “facts” to impose drastic anti-life public policy on an unsuspecting public.
Big Abortion embraces the tactic of deceit
Former abortionists have come clean on their shameless use of the tactic of deceit to grease the skids for unfettered human abortion. As NARAL founder, Dr. Bernard Nathanson later admitted, Big Abortion lied when presenting data to make the case for legalizing abortion:
“We claimed that between five and ten thousand women a year died of botched abortions. The actual figure was closer to 200 to 300 and we also claimed that there were a million illegal abortions a year in the United States and the actual figure was close to 200,000. So, we were guilty of massive deception.”
An unhealthy link between abortion and environmental zealots
IFL sees an unhealthy link between abortion advocates and environmental zealots who view babies as polluters. After all, you can see how quickly a gullible world accepts a ten year old boy’s data.
Ironically, Iowans for LIFE advocates for Natural Family Planning which uses no chemicals to pollute a woman’s body or our environment. By contrast, the UN’s World Health Organization classifies The Pill as a class-one carcinogen.
The impact of artificial chemicals
Even more ironically, environmentalists, such as Al Gore and Robert Redford, legitimately fret about the impact of artificial chemicals on our environment. Mr. Gore went so far as to write the introduction to a book titled, “Our Stolen Future” by environmentalist Dr. Theo Colborn. Said Gore:
”We must find out if there are ways to protect children, who appear to be at greatest risk for birth defects and developmental disorders from such hormonally active compounds.”
And yet these same environmentalists express no concern for the artificial chemicals ingested by 11 million American women a day, chemicals that the United Nations say cause cancer.
While environmentalists get worked up over 500 million drinking straws used a day, Iowans for LIFE is more concerned about the reproductive health of American women consuming some 4 billion birth control pills a year.
[Iowans for LIFE invites you to attend the most provocative, fun, and celebratory pro-life fundraising banquet ever! Register today for “A Clash of Creeds.” Yes, it’s not until October 24th, but two-thirds of our tables are already sold! Don’t wait!]
Catholics are well-represented on the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Sonia Sotomayor are Catholics. Retiring justice Anthony Kennedy is Catholic.
Three justices are Jewish: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan. The only Protestant on the Court is Neil Gorsuch, who was raised Roman Catholic, but now attends an Episcopal church.
Catholic dogma
Amy Barrett is on President Trump’s short-list to replace Justice Kennedy. Interestingly, she also is a Catholic, which should be a non-issue. After all, religious litmus tests are un-Constitutional, and after all, the Court has confirmed a number of Catholics in recent decades.
And after all, the Senate confirmed her to the circuit court by 55-43 last October.
However, Judge Barrett’s Catholicism was a significant impediment to Democrats in her confirmation hearing last year. Their unspoken concern seems to be that she takes her Catholicism seriously. In other words, she appears to be a practicing Catholic who embraces Catholic dogma.
Member of “People of Praise”
As the Wall Street Journal points out this morning, she is also a member of a “parachurch” called People of Praise , which one Democrat has labeled as a cult (it’s not). The group cultivates small communities of faith around the world modeled on the Sermon on the Mount and animated by the Holy Spirit.
In other words, these are people of faith who sincerely try to live out their Christian faith in the public square by helping those who need help. They embrace the American ideal of God-given rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Watch the video below which describes their outreach.
Nine out of ten members are Catholic. But some Catholics have been critical of the group for being too ecumenical and not enough Catholic. Secularists have been critical since women don’t hold positions of authority in the group.
Democrats’ concerns towards Ms. Barrett come down to a single reason: Roe V Wade. The Left suspects she’s a raging pro-lifer. After all she has five biological children. Even worse, she adopted two more children from Haiti, exposing the lie promulgated by the Left that pro-lifers don’t care about babies after they’re born. Ms. Barrett shames these abortion zealots by modeling adoption as a better solution than abortion.
This is a woman who clearly cares about life. And she’s Catholic. And she lives out her faith.
Democrats are aghast
Senator Diane Feinstein uttered the clumsiest, most bigoted comment we’ve heard from a Senator in a long time:
“I think in your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for years in this country.”
Ms. Barrett is too Catholic for the good Senator. Ms. Feinstein has no problem with dogma, since her party is dogmatic when it comes preserving human abortion. Catholicism’s pro-life belief system threatens liberal sensibilities since liberal judges tend to decide cases based on feelings and personal political views, not the substance of the law. They’re afraid she’ll do the same, despite her comments to the contrary:
“Judges cannot — nor should they try to — align our legal system with the Church’s moral teaching whenever the two diverge. They should, however, conform their own behavior to the Church’s standard. Perhaps their good example will have some effect.”
Barrett’s reaction to Roe V Wade
For her part, Ms. Barrett does not believe that Roe V Wade will be overturned, but that the issue ultimately comes down to who decides the issue, the feds or the states:
“It brings up an issue of judicial review: Does the court have the capacity to decide that women have the right to obtain an abortion, or should it be a matter for state legislatures?”
The pro-abortion group, NARAL, issued a dire warning regarding Judge Barrett:
“Barrett’s record speaks for itself: She is aligned with extreme, anti-choice organizations, and her writings make clear that she believes Roe v. Wade was incorrectly decided. With a lifetime appointment, Barrett can impose her extreme anti-choice ideology onto women and families for much longer than Donald Trump will occupy the White House.”
What is this extreme, “anti-choice” organization? The Roman Catholic Church. May the pro-life Catholic dogma be with you!
[Speaking of dogma, be sure to attend the Iowans for LIFE banquet called “A Clash of Creeds” on October 24th. Three “dogmatic” women, Margaret Sanger, Ayn Rand, and St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta will discuss their respective creeds. GK Chesterton will try to keep the peace!]
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A young woman is standing outside a caravan in a trailer park with her baby in a wrap
Facebook prevented Iowans for Life from “boosting” last week’s blogpost: “Pro-lifers don’t care about the mother or child after she gives birth. HOGWASH!” Did you read it? If not, read it now as background to today’s blogpost which reveals how Facebook censors pro-life messages.
For those of you not familiar with the process of boosting a Facebook post, publishers of content, such as IFL, can pay Facebook to promote our postings on the feeds of audiences we target.
Last week’s post highlighted the pro-woman and pro-child outreach of InnerVisions HealthCare after mothers give birth, a direct refutation of Big Abortion’s assertion that pro-lifers don’t care about the baby after she is born.
Our Facebook and website traffic skyrocketed.
When we went to boost the post, Facebook rejected it, deeming it “too political” in nature.
We’re not alone.
LifeNews has had their content blocked by Facebook. So has LiveAction, Birthright, Right to Life of Michigan, and Warriors for Christ. Even Academy Award winning actor, Jon Voight, had his crowd-funding campaign blocked. Why? He’s starring in a pro-life movie, “Roe V Wade: The Movie.” It’s not just Facebook. Multiple pro-life groups accuse Twitter of doing the same.
Zuckerberg testifies
Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress in April regarding a variety of issues, including use of private data and censorship.
He was asked by pro-life Senator Ben Sasse,
“Can you imagine a world where you might decide that pro-lifers are prohibited from speaking about their abortion views on your platform?”
Here is Zuckerberg’s response. Read it carefully:
“I certainly would not want that to be the case.
SASSE: “It might really be unsettling to people who’ve had an abortion to have an open debate about that, wouldn’t it?”
ZUCKERBERG: “It might be, but I don’t think that that would fit any of the definitions of what we have but I do generally agree with the point that you’re making which is as we’re able to technologically shift especially towards having AI [artificial intelligence] proactively look at content, I think that’s going to create massive questions for society about what obligations we want to require companies to fulfill.”
“I do think that that’s a question that we need to struggle with as a country because I know other countries are and there putting laws in place. I think America needs to figure out and create the principles we want American companies to operate under.”
Facebook promises “transparency”
Facebook has put out new regulations which promise more “transparency” but which really restrict free speech by conservatives generally and pro-life causes specifically. In other words, it seems Zuckerberg told the Senate what he thought they wanted to hear in his first sentence, and then went ahead and disregarded his own testimony.
Good news
The news isn’t all bad. The Supreme Court overturned an anti free speech law (NIFLA v. Becerra) passed in California which compelled pro life health centers to advertise abortion services provided by their competitors. Even more, Anthony Kennedy’s retirement has raised hopes in the pro-life community for a new jurist who honors the pro-life principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
You can help
In the meantime, you can help us on social media platforms. Since Facebook provides us a very narrow range of acceptable content we can promote, it’s up to you to share the content on your personal pages. Can you imagine them allowing us to promote this post?
Iowans for LIFE is all about educating our culture on the dignity of human life from fertilization to natural death. Facebook is one platform we utilize to advance this mission.
When they say no to IFL, we need you to say yes. SHARE our message of hope.
[Iowans for LIFE invites you to attend the most provocative, fun, and celebratory pro-life fundraising banquet ever! Register today for “A Clash of Creeds.” Yes, it’s not until October 24th, but two-thirds of our tables are already sold! Don’t wait!]
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A young woman is standing outside a caravan in a trailer park with her baby in a wrap
Mary (not her real name) walked into a pro-life health clinic. She got a free ultrasound. She saw her baby on the screen, and decided not to abort her child.
Days passed. She had a change of heart and went to Planned Parenthood and paid them to abort her child.
A few more days passed and Mary deeply regretted her decision. Guess who she called for emotional support: Planned Parenthood or the pro-life health clinic?
You guessed it. She called InnerVisions HealthCare, also known as IVHCare, the unplanned pregnancy and STD medical clinic where she received her free ultrasound.
Iowans for LIFE are big supporters of IVHCare, because they are an authentic “women’s reproductive health clinic.” They have saved the lives of hundreds of babies by empowering women to make better health decisions when faced with unplanned pregnancies. IVHCare can provide the best facilities and medical equipment (probably brought through companies such as Global DSR or another similar service provider), along with expert doctors and additional assistance required by the patient.
The rest of the story …
There’s more to the story with Mary. IVHCare told her to come in and talk about regrets, which ran deep. They listened to her. They cared about her as a human being and determined that the emotional trauma caused by her abortion required professional psychological counseling they didn’t offer. So, do you know what they did? They referred her to a licensed psychologist and paid for her first six sessions.
We’re sharing this real story in response to the unrelenting attacks from abortion rights supporters who claim pro-lifers and pro-life health clinics don’t care about the baby after he or she is born.
Hogwash!
A melting pot of organizations comprise the pro-life movement locally and nationally, each with their own unique mission. Missions certainly overlap in this movement since they embrace common themes, such as authentic empowerment of women, authentic reproductive healthcare, and protection for our pre-born brothers and sisters. Each can offer rich stories on how they’ve helped mother and child after the baby is born.
IVHCare is a classic example of an organization that helps babies AND their mothers after the child is born, not just before.
Executive Director, Theresa Welch, and Director of Development, Bryan Gonzalez, told us that 90% of their efforts focus on helping the mother. ‘Empowering women’ is their mantra.
More examples of helping mother and child after birth
They met with a young woman with an unplanned pregnancy who contemplated an abortion. She explained that if she had a baby, she couldn’t work and afford to pay for her tuition at DMACC. Innervisions offered her a scholarship to solve the problem.
Can you imagine Planned Parenthood or any other abortion provider doing the same?
Innervisions has been known to help women find jobs after their baby was born.
Can you imagine Planned Parenthood or any other abortion provider doing the same?
Another IVHCare patient called up and told them her father died and that she didn’t have a car or any way to attend his out of town funeral. They bought her bus fare.
Even more, they got IVHCare supporters to donate furniture for her apartment. They even rented a truck and got volunteers to load and unload it.
Abortion clinics just don’t do that kind of thing. They’re done with a woman after her check clears, until her next abortion, that is.
Relationships matter
Free diaper bags for patients
IVHCare is all about relationship. And the relationship continues even long after when a client walks out the door. IVHCare follows up with three phone calls to see how she’s doing.
They offer one-on-one pre-natal education and vitamins to bolster a woman’s health during her pregnancy. When her baby is born, they call her up and invite her to come in to pick up a gift they have for her: a beautiful diaper bag stocked with diapers, footies, baby bottles and more.
They even offer free photo shoots for mom and baby.
IVHCare is but ONE pro-life organization helping mothers and babies AFTER the child is born.
Questions for abortion providers
In light of this remarkable, Christ-like outreach, it is certainly fair to ask:
-
- What are abortion clinics doing to help women recover from the psychological and physical wounds inflicted by abortion, like IVHCare has?
- How are abortion advocates helping women AFTER their babies are born, like IVHCare does?
You know the answer.
[Iowans for LIFE’s website has more crisis pregnancy resources here. Don’t forget to register for our annual banquet today. Tables are going fast!]
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Holly Patterson ingested the poison on a Saturday.
The eighteen year old girl had been perfectly healthy up to that moment. Before the day was through, she began experiencing cramping and constipation. Within a week, she was dead from septic shock.
All of this occurred in California a decade and a half ago when Holly walked into a Planned Parenthood clinic and met with their onsite doctor. They dispensed to her the RU-486 pills which induces human abortion. The girl was pregnant and thought this was a safe way to procure a human abortion.
She was tragically wrong.
The abortion pill lie is promoted by Planned Parenthood
Iowans for LIFE revisits Holly’s tragic death in light of Cecile Richard’s latest comment on the safety of RU-486, also known as the Abortion Pill. Planned Parenthood’s former CEO wrote in the LA Times:
“There is no medical or health reason for this ban on medication abortion. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, non-invasive medication abortion is safe by all measures — safer than Tylenol and Viagra, even.”
Yes, Viagra warns men to call a doctor if they experience a four hour erection. On the other hand, the Abortion Pill can cause 4 or more hours of heavy bleeding, vomiting, headaches, and abdominal pain.
The abortion pill lie downplays your potential for violent illness
In the case of another former Planned Parenthood employee, Abby Johnson, the side effects were nightmarish for far MORE than 4 hours:
“… I started to feel pain in my abdomen unlike anything I had ever experienced. Then the blood… was gushing out of me. I couldn’t wear a pad… nothing was able to absorb the amount of blood I was losing. The only thing I could do was sit on the toilet… for hours… bleeding, throwing up into the bathroom trashcan, crying and sweating. I used to watch shows about childbirth. I would see these women in labor… covered in sweat. I would always think, “Gosh, do they keep it hot in the delivery room, or what?” But at that moment, sitting on the toilet, I knew it wasn’t from heat… it was from pain.
“It looked like a crime scene”
“After several hours on the toilet, I desperately wanted to soak in the bath tub. …My bathwater was bright red. It looked like I was sitting in the middle of a crime scene …
“I stood up…. I began to sweat again and felt faint…. Then I felt a release… and a splash in the water that was draining beneath me. A blood clot the size of a lemon had fallen into my bath water. Was that my baby?…. Then came the excruciating pain again. I… sat on the toilet. Another lemon sized blood clot. Then another. And another. I thought I was dying. This couldn’t be normal. Planned Parenthood didn’t ever tell me this could happen…. I decided that I would call them in the morning… if I didn’t die before then. It was around midnight and I had been in the bathroom for a good 12 hours.”
Abby Johnson called Planned Parenthood the next day to ask if what she was going through was normal. Yes, they said that what she was experiencing was “not abnormal.” She experienced another 8 weeks of blood clots, cramping, and nausea.
For the record, the potential side effects of taking Tylenol include nausea, stomach pain, itching, rash, headache, loss of appetite, dark urine, and clay-colored stools.
Is Cecile Richards really serious when she nationally proclaims that a four hour erection or clay-colored stools is worse than a half a day of hell … and a dead baby?
No, she’s not. She just thinks you’re gullible. Dr. Donna Harrison of The American Association or Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) doesn’t pull any punches:
The abortion pill lie is based on your gullibility
“The claim that medical abortion is safer than Tylenol is just plainly a lie. And what is even more heinous is that medical abortions are being pushed on poor and rural women, who don’t have access to emergency treatments. Those women are much more likely to die as a result.”
Just ask Holly Patterson.
[Tables for Iowans for LIFE’s annual banquet are selling shockingly fast. We’re down to only 15 tables left, and the banquet isn’t until October 24th. Don’t delay. Get your table today!]