Quite often we find some of the best pro life statements in the form of letters to the editor. You don’t have to have a degree or be a pro life leader in order to write a letter of compassion, understanding, teaching, etc. pertaining to life issues.
We will be checking our local papers for good pro life letters. If you come across a letter in your local papers that you would like to see possibly put on our web site, please make a copy and e-mail or snail mail it to us and we will have our staff decide if we can include it on our own site.
Christopher Clukey was born and raised in Portland, Maine and its suburbs and now resides in Freeport, Illinois.
He served proudly in the U.S. Air Force during the Gulf War/late Cold War era as a ground crew chief on KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, eventually crewing the 380th Wing’s “VIP jet”, The Spirit of Plattsburgh.
He is a graduate with high honors from Highland Community College.
Mr. Clukey has written over 100 short humor pieces for the Grudge Match website, is a columnist for the Freeport Ink and has also written for The Opinion.com.
He and his lovely wife Carol have three children.
He enjoys building scale models, rousing the rabble and leading a Tiger Cub Scout Den.
If you wish to make any comments, he can be reached at clukey@prolifecorner.com.
Christopher Clukey
May 19, 2005
What does the recent flurry of legal activity surrounding one aspect of abortion mean, and does it have implications for Northwest Illinois?
In all 50 states, medical personnel are required to inform child welfare of evidence of child abuse, including statutory rape. Even in states like Illinois where there’s no parental notification required for an abortion, pregnancies resulting from abuse require a report. Though some underage pregnancies involve underage fathers, a pregnant 13 year old is certainly as much evidence of abuse as an unexplained bruise or fracture. That’s where the flurry comes in.
The Attorneys General of Kansas and Indiana are demanding a total of about 180 medical records from abortion clinics in their states, including every Planned Parenthood clinic in Indiana. They claim they have credible evidence that the clinics covered up the statutory rape of minor girls by adult males.
Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio is being sued over an abortion performed on a 14 year old. Though she gave her father’s name and address to the clinic, they did not notify her parents as required by law, or make a report to child welfare, even though she was brought to the clinic by her 21 year old boyfriend. After he claimed to be a “stepbrother,” he was put in the driver’s seat for her medical care; later he was put in jail for sexual battery.
An Alaskan lawsuit doesn’t involve statutory rape, but is a chilling case of an adult taking bizarre liberties with a child. Frantic parents reported their 15 year old daughter missing when she failed to come home after school. It turned out a social worker from an Anchorage hospital had taken her on an overnight trip to Washington State to obtain an abortion.
Isolated cases? A fishing expedition by “anti-choice” politicians and lawyers? Not according to a two year investigation by the pro-life group Life Dynamics. A member of the organization called over 800 clinics, claiming to be a 13 year old girl impregnated by a 22 year old man, and made the age difference very clear. In 91% of the phone calls (including 21 calls in Illinois) the clinic workers said they would not report the abuse to authorities. For example, clinic workers in Pekin and Chicago described the legal issues to her in detail, including the fact that the abuser could “got to jail.” A Peoria worker said she’d put a note in the girl’s appointment file so the clinic counselor would know not to ask her for details was and they could avoid reporting the abuse.
And at Rockford’s Northern Illinois Women’s Center, they were no less helpful. The clinic worker first offered to establish a line of communication that would hide the relationship from the girl’s parents. Then she and the girl decided that the best way to avoid reporting was to have the girl come alone, or omit information. The clinic worker finishes this part of the discussion by saying, “I mean, he has nothing to do with this…It has everything to do with you. We don't require any information about him at all. I mean, we do ask who you came with, but all you have to say is ‘my boyfriend.’” See, this surgical procedure has everything to do with a girl who can’t consent to get her own ears pierced, and nothing to do with her abuser or her parents. Transcripts and MP3’s for this and other Illinois clinics can be found at http://www.illinoisleader.com/news/sectionview.asp?s=170.
How would you feel about a liquor store that helps teenagers organize keggers? A gun shop selling handguns to minors and telling them how to keep the gun hidden from Mom and Dad? A local physician willing to give steroid injections to student athletes? How about an orthopedic surgeon willing to repair abuse fractures without reporting the abuse? A surgeon doing any non-emergency procedure without parental permission? Are these “don’t ask, don’t tell” situations? Would anyone say it’s a matter of privacy, or keeping kids safe, or helping them? Would anyone even debate whether it was right or wrong?
Commenting on their efforts to stop the subpoena of medical records, Planned Parenthood of Indiana’s CEO told WTHR TV in Indianapolis, "It is very important that our patients know that when they come through our door for service that it is private, it is safe." The question is who is made safe? Not the girl or her child, but only the abuser.
Is that a status quo we’re willing to accept?
How would you like to receive (or buy and send) Christmas cards from the NRA with the message “Peace on Earth through the use of magnum hollow points?” How about a set of “Jesus loves welfare reform” cards from the American Conservative Union? A card from David Duke wishing you and yours “an all-white Christmas?” Or AFL-CIO cards that reminding those on your Christmas card list that the Christ Child was wrapped in swaddling clothes proudly made in the USA by members of United Textile Workers Local 402?
Sorry if I got your hopes up, because none of those particular cards are available, though the NRA folks do sell some nice non-political cards with Terry Redlin paintings on them. But if you’d like to send a card that promotes abortion on demand, I have something right up your alley. Planned Parenthood is selling Christmas cards again this year.
Yes, you read that right. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States (or on the planet, for that matter) is selling holiday cards with the uplifting message “Choice on Earth.” The inside message reads, “Warmest wishes for a peaceful holiday.” I guess they can put that message in there because they know that children in the womb (who they are anything but peaceful toward) don’t read Christmas cards. The cards are also available with “Peace Hope Justice” on the cover. An organization whose core competency is turning small children into medical waste has as much business selling “Peace Hope and Justice” cards as Enron has going into the retirement planning business.
Of course, if you already have purchased your Christmas cards, you could always do your Christmas shopping at their online store (located at www.plannedparenthood.com/pp2/portal/store/) where you can find any number of delightful items to stuff those stockings. For example, there’s the “Choice is sexy” short sleeve tee. Yes, what could be more arousing than evacuating “products of conception” from the womb? And for the littlest ones on your list, don’t forget the “Brought to you by Planned Parenthood” baby onesies and “Choice” baby beanie hats. Of course, I figure those clothing items are the equivalent of taking out your Sharpie and writing “Brought to you by Trim-Rite” on the side of a pig, but it’s your money.
Some readers will be offended by my remarks above. But what could be more brazen and offensive than trying to turn the celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace into a celebration of the death of 40 million innocent kids? What could be more hypocritical than the folks who brought you “keep your rosaries off my ovaries” deciding to play the Jesus card? The Left in general has been making desperate attempts to churchify their movement, because it turns out they really believe their own press about conservatism being run by religious zealots and therefore they want to rescue Christianity from us. Getting religion saves the Left from having to defend the disastrous effects of their policies here in the earthly realm: “It doesn’t seem to work, but trust me, God likes it.” But don’t forget, only conservatives can be theocrats trying to mix politics and religion.
The abortion movement has followed the trend: Planned Parenthood recently added a chaplain to their senior staff, presumably so they can have a teacher who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not even angry about it. I feel great sadness for all the women the abortion movement has damaged, but I think all this gear (don’t forget the “I had an abortion” T-shirts) is a sign of a movement that is dying off in the age of ultrasound. They want to be in our faces with it, because when you come right down to it, being in our faces is the only thing they’ve got left.
Since not even the most irreligious person would back killing a child, abortion is only a religious subject to the extent that people of religious faith are involved in the debate, but since the folks at Planned Parenthood want to stake out religious ground, I’ll close with two Nativity-related questions:
If an unmarried teen girl from a poor community is romantically involved with an older man and finds herself pregnant, what would Planned Parenthood advise her to do? What worth would they place on her offspring’s life?
And does the “choice” Planned Parenthood loves so much borrow from “let the little children come to me” or does it have more of a King Herod vibe?
Did you know that privacy rights extend to the activities of sexual predators, in practice? They do across our great nation and right here in Northwest Illinois.
This discovery was made by the Life Dynamics organization in a recent two year investigation. A member of the organization called over 800 clinics, claiming to be a 13 year old girl impregnated by a 22 year old man, and made the age difference very clear. The clinics were all members of either Planned Parenthood (PP) or the National Abortion Federation (NAF) and all either perform abortions or refer patients for them.
Even though medical personnel are “mandatory reporters” of such child abuse in all 50 states, in 91% of the phone calls the clinic agreed to hide the sexual predator’s crime from the authorities. Many times she was told to lie about her age or give a false name and/or contact information. In a few cases, clinic workers told the girl to take advantage of “judicial bypass” to avoid parental notification. The problem is they would also tell her to lie to the judge about her adult boyfriend’s age. Referrals to clinics in states without parental notification were common. Over and over again, the girl was offered “help” which ensured her abuser would continue to abuse her.
It should be noted that Life Dynamics isn’t a neutral party. They want abortion to go away except where it saves the mother’s life. The list of abortion clinics on their website is headlined “American Death Camps” and their report on the child rape investigation openly discusses how this information can be used against the abortion industry in lawsuits. Unfortunately for the pro-abortion crowd, Life Dynamics’ taped evidence is as ironclad as their pro-life convictions. If you’re an adult male who wants to use young girls for sexual gratification, your local PP or NAF affiliate is almost certainly ready to assist.
Fortunately, others are catching on. The Attorney’s General of Kansas and Indiana are demanding a total of about 180 medical records from abortion clinics in their states, including every Planned Parenthood clinic in Indiana. Both want the records for the same reason: They have credible evidence that the clinics engaged in exactly the sort of cover-up that Life Dynamics was documenting.
And what about Northwest Illinois? I spoke to Life Dynamics founder Mark Crutcher, and the results were eye-opening. Both of the nearby facilities were solidly in the rapist-friendly camp. When the girl asked if her boyfriend could come with her, a clinic worker at Monroe’s Planned Parenthood said he could “as long as he has the money.” At the Northern Illinois Women’s Center in Rockford they were no less helpful. The clinic worker first offered to establish a line of communication that would hide the relationship from the girl’s parents, i.e., using a number with a Caller I.D. block. Then she and the girl decided that the best way to avoid reporting was to have the girl come alone, or omit information. The clinic worker finishes this part of the discussion by saying, “I mean, he has nothing to do with this…It has everything to do with you. We don't require any information about him at all. I mean, we do ask who you came with, but all you have to say is ‘my boyfriend.’”
See, this surgical procedure has everything to do with a girl who can’t consent to get her own ears pierced, and nothing to do with her abuser or her parents. Transcripts and MP3’s for this and other Illinois clinics can be found at http://www.illinoisleader.com/news/sectionview.asp?s=170.
Abortion providers in Kansas and Indiana are refusing to cooperate with authorities, claiming that the investigations are a fishing expedition that violates privacy. If a date rapist using a prescription sedative on his victims could count on his pharmacist to stonewall the authorities in the name of privacy, would we be outraged? Would we figure that catching the rapist would be bad for the victims? Privacy is not the issue; protection of kids is the issue.
Commenting on their stonewalling efforts, Planned Parenthood of Indiana CEO Betty Cockrum told WTHR TV in Indianapolis, "It is very important that our patients know that when they come through our door for service that it is private, it is safe." But when a baby ends up dead and a girl ends up in a cycle of abuse, who’s being kept safe? The criminal is kept safe, and your friendly neighborhood abortionist counts the cash for services rendered.
If you’ve paid any attention to the abortion debate, you’ve heard some variant of an already old chestnut: “Anti-choicers want all these babies born, but they don’t want to adopt them, help the mothers, do social work or pay higher taxes. They’re part of the problem.” That accusation may come from rhetorical expedience or simple ignorance, but those who make it have never met Sherrie Bicksler.
Bicksler is the director of the Freeport Pregnancy Center, and caring for disadvantaged mothers and children is her full-time job. The Center’s staff (mostly volunteers) provides assistance, prayer and listening ears to hundreds of clients each year. They have personal contact with between 175 and 200 clients per month, including 35-40 new clients. They offer free and confidential pregnancy tests and can refer a client to other agencies for any need, from education to domestic violence counseling.
The aim is to show God’s love, to be, as Bicksler says, “Jesus with skin on” in the client’s hour of crisis. Donations are accepted “as from God,” she observes, “and He always makes sure it goes to someone who needs it." For example, five times in the last four years she’s seen Center supporters completely equip and furnish the apartments of formerly homeless clients with donated items. She credits the success to the Center’s dedicated prayer team.
Yet this special place isn’t unique. The Center is a member of CareNet, an organization of over 700 pregnancy centers across the United States and Canada. Each is a place where a woman backed into a corner can find kindness and real solutions. It’s not unique in our area, where a Yahoo search on “abortion alternatives” brings up 16 results within 50 miles. Strangely, a search on “Planned Parenthood soup kitchens” returned no results.
Pregnancy centers aren’t the only area pro-lifers impact. I look around my church, and I see mentors, volunteers for NHS and the school district, people who preach in nursing homes and jails. If all the pro-lifers in town gave up on helping “the least of these,” how would it all get done? Pro-lifers also put their parenting where their mouth is and adopt. A member of our county Right to Life Committee wrote, “We are not, by any means, wealthy financially; but the love and joy our adopted child has brought into our life makes us rich indeed. We asked for a special needs child; we found the only special need the child had was the need for a loving family.”
Even if pro-lifers weren’t devoting themselves to making lives better, would they be such hypocrites? If you don’t have to be a civil rights activist to be outraged about a lynching, why would you have to adopt a handicapped child before you could legitimately object to children’s lives being snuffed out? It’s thick irony that the vast majority of pro-choicers are political liberals. For decades, they’ve told us that we need ever more bloated government programs to take care of every need of the downtrodden. Yet when some of us want to put a stop to the killing of small children, they demand to know why we haven’t handled all the problems they said the state would cure.
So why does the myth of the uninvolved pro-lifer exist? Sadly, such wordplay is all that is left for the advocates of abortion. In the age of ultrasound, one can’t really argue that a fetus isn’t a baby. It’s easier to say that your opponents are hypocrites who should shut up, but like so many other pro-abortion arguments, it collapses immediately upon contact with facts.
I won’t pretend supporters of abortion never do anything to help the community. Still, it strikes me that community service is often prescribed as punishment for non-violent criminals. Since abortion is violent, but not technically criminal, perhaps area pro-aborts could throw in a few extra hours each week to atone for the blood this vaunted “right” has cost us. Roll up your sleeves, folks: there are about 4,000 abortions per day, and you’re already 40,000,000 kids behind.
Christopher Clukey
March 3, 2005
A priest walks into a patient’s room on St. Patrick’s Day and offers to sing “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,”…in Polish.
Does that sound like a joke to you? It got a laugh out of Terri Schiavo.
Schiavo, as you’ve no doubt heard, is a patient at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, who suffered brain damage after collapsing in 1990 and is the focus of a long court fight between her husband Michael and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Barring a legal win for the Schindlers, her feeding tube will be removed on the 18th. Michael claims she will never recover and would want the tube removed; she’d expressed worry about being a burden or living on a machine. The Schindlers say she’s been denied treatment, has a chance to recover, and would be no burden at all, because they’ll take care of her.
One of the Schindlers’ supporters is Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, the Polish priest I mentioned. He filed an affidavit swearing (among other things) that Terri recognizes him, and that one Saint Patrick’s Day he really did walk into her room and offer to sing her an Irish diddy in Polish. Her response was to laugh. That’s a remarkable response from a person who supposedly is operating on little more than a brain stem, a “vegetative” person. Quick, go to the fridge and tell a cucumber a knock-knock joke! OK, did you get a laugh? I didn’t think so.
The problem is, for every piece of evidence like that, there’s one that makes it look like Terri might just be vegetative, and so on in circles. But I submit there are at least two things we know for sure.
First, this case at its core is about whether we will cause a woman to die of starvation. That’s Terri’s most likely fate if her tube is removed, and it’s one of the most horrible deaths any human can endure. It is so drastic that this alone should be reason enough to let her live; nothing so horrible could ever be merciful or dignified, and to be quite frank, feeding isn’t exactly a heroic measure.
Second, Michael Schiavo has been acting so weird he makes Hunter S. Thompson look like Joe Friday. If we believe his court testimony, the timeline goes like this: Some years prior to Terri’s collapse she told him that she would never want to “live on a machine” or be a burden. Yet in 1992, his lawyer told a jury Michael might need enough money to take care of her for another half-century. Michael proclaimed from the witness stand that he would become a nurse and take care of her “for the rest of [his] life.” By 1993, he had stopped rehabilitation (which was showing promising results), had put a “Do not resuscitate” order in her chart, tried to deny her antibiotic treatment for an infection, melted down her wedding ring and euthanized her cats. In other words, he ignored what she said about being a burden, then swore in court to take on the burden, but decided a few months later it was too much of a burden.
He isn’t doing it for the money that was awarded in the malpractice suits—it’s all been used up in legal fees. Sure he could be a loving husband trying to carry out her wishes, but then why risk her death through sepsis and whack her cats? A woman may die based on the testimony of this one man, and our best hope is that he’s loopy and greatly misunderstood.
This isn’t about turning off a respirator or carrying out a living will, this is about a court deciding that casual, decade-old conversations about life support translate into begging to be starved. If the judicial system can make that leap, are we far from the days when the judges just go ahead and decide our fates for us? Why bother with a living will when you can have some black-robed potentate decide for you?
Some people think Terri is a very special person, but she’s not. She’s just like the rest of us.
That’s the part that scares me the most.
Christopher Clukey
February 3, 2005
Ah, February! Winter is getting pretty old, but the turn of the calendar means one thing for sure: We’ve all received our W2s and 1099s, and that means we get to file our taxes!
Hmmm…probably not many of you are very enthusiastic about that, and I’m sure my wife (who does our taxes) will read this and ask, “What do you mean, ‘we,’ Kemo Sabe?” Okay, so tax time is painful. And I’m sorry I’m about to make it even less fun by telling you where some of your money might end up. But before I do that, let me throw a scenario at you.
Remember the AIDS drug cocktail? It took thousands of HIV-positive Americans off death row and gave them a reprieve of years, even decades. Imagine if the president had walked into those drug research labs, pointed at some mice that weren’t producing results and said, “I’ve got a feeling the medicine you’re using with this group is the one that will work eventually. So concentrate on them and throw taxpayer dollars at this until you get something.”
Doesn’t make any sense, does it? Well, my little parable isn’t far from what’s happening right now with embryonic stem cell research (ESCR).
Embryonic stem cells are obtained by letting a human embryo develop to a certain size, then harvesting cells that haven’t differentiated themselves into specific types. Theoretically, these cells could be coaxed into becoming any cell type: nerve cells, pancreatic cells, etc. After this harvesting, the embryo is destroyed. Such research is now being touted as the source for cures for a wide range of ailments, such as diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.
The potential and tragedy inherent in these treatments has led to some high political drama. ESCR advocates have loudly accused opponents of being blind to suffering, willing to choose a microscopic dot over living patients, or of being “flat earth” types who are simply against scientific progress. Opponents have been painting the ESCR researchers as modern day snake oil salesmen sacrificing human lives for fat research grants.
So, let’s put aside the politics. What does the science tell us?
James Kelly, a paraplegic and ESCR opponent who has publicly debated Christopher Reeve on this subject, wrote last October, “[Embryonic stem cells’] tendency toward uncontrollable growth and tumor formation has so far made them unfit for any trials in humans. Even in animal trials they have not been able to treat long-lasting or chronic injury.”
Meanwhile, the number of ailments with working treatments using adult stem cells—cells taken from non-embryo sources such as a patient’s own body, or umbilical cord blood—is at 56 and rising. The diseases covered run from brain and ovarian cancer to limb gangrene.
That’s 0 to 56, and the camp with the big score doesn’t have to clone or kill a single embryo to do it. Fifty-six medical breakthroughs, zero ethical dilemmas.
Last year when Christopher Reeve passed away, John Edwards said that when John Kerry became president, he would dramatically increase ESCR funding and people like Reeve would get out of their chairs and walk. Well, two years ago a paraplegic named Erica Nader received a stem cell treatment in her spinal column, cells taken from her own nose. And now, with leg braces, Erica is walking.
Well, it appears we’ve circled back to politics, but why is this even an issue? Perhaps it’s just a lack of proper economic perspective, the bioethical equivalent of the $600 government hammer. Perhaps it’s about knee-jerk political reactions: Many secularists think pro-lifers don’t care about anything older than the third trimester, and many pro-lifers hear “bio-ethics” and think of people like Jack Kevorkian. It could be about the power that legislators gain when they pass out money, or about helping the pro-choicers by making fetal research easier to do down the line.
Just keep this in mind: A pro-ESCR bill that would have opened the way to funding it with Illinois taxpayer dollars failed in our Senate last year--by only one vote. If we aren’t careful, by next tax time we may be paying for futility and death at premium prices.
Christopher Clukey
July 15, 2004
If you’ve paid any attention to the abortion debate, you’ve heard some variant of an already old chestnut: “Anti-choicers want all these babies born, but they don’t want to adopt them, help the mothers, do social work or pay higher taxes. They’re part of the problem.” That accusation may come from rhetorical expedience or simple ignorance, but those who make it have never met Sherrie Bicksler.
Bicksler is the director of the Freeport Pregnancy Center, and caring for disadvantaged mothers and children is her full-time job. The Center’s staff (mostly volunteers) provides assistance, prayer and listening ears to hundreds of clients each year. They have personal contact with between 175 and 200 clients per month, including 35-40 new clients. They offer free and confidential pregnancy tests and can refer a client to other agencies for any need, from education to domestic violence counseling.
The aim is to show God’s love, to be, as Bicksler says, “Jesus with skin on” in the client’s hour of crisis. Donations are accepted “as from God,” she observes, “and He always makes sure it goes to someone who needs it." For example, five times in the last four years she’s seen Center supporters completely equip and furnish the apartments of formerly homeless clients with donated items. She credits the success to the Center’s dedicated prayer team.
Yet this special place isn’t unique. The Center is a member of CareNet, an organization of over 700 pregnancy centers across the United States and Canada. Each is a place where a woman backed into a corner can find kindness and real solutions. It’s not unique in our area, where a Yahoo search on “abortion alternatives” brings up 16 results within 50 miles. Strangely, a search on “Planned Parenthood soup kitchens” returned no results.
Pregnancy centers aren’t the only area pro-lifers impact. I look around my church, and I see mentors, volunteers for NHS and the school district, people who preach in nursing homes and jails. If all the pro-lifers in town gave up on helping “the least of these,” how would it all get done? Pro-lifers also put their parenting where their mouth is and adopt. A member of our county Right to Life Committee wrote, “We are not, by any means, wealthy financially; but the love and joy our adopted child has brought into our life makes us rich indeed. We asked for a special needs child; we found the only special need the child had was the need for a loving family.”
Even if pro-lifers weren’t devoting themselves to making lives better, would they be such hypocrites? If you don’t have to be a civil rights activist to be outraged about a lynching, why would you have to adopt a handicapped child before you could legitimately object to children’s lives being snuffed out? It’s thick irony that the vast majority of pro-choicers are political liberals. For decades, they’ve told us that we need ever more bloated government programs to take care of every need of the downtrodden. Yet when some of us want to put a stop to the killing of small children, they demand to know why we haven’t handled all the problems they said the state would cure.
So why does the myth of the uninvolved pro-lifer exist? Sadly, such wordplay is all that is left for the advocates of abortion. In the age of ultrasound, one can’t really argue that a fetus isn’t a baby. It’s easier to say that your opponents are hypocrites who should shut up, but like so many other pro-abortion arguments, it collapses immediately upon contact with facts.
I won’t pretend supporters of abortion never do anything to help the community. Still, it strikes me that community service is often prescribed as punishment for non-violent criminals. Since abortion is violent, but not technically criminal, perhaps area pro-aborts could throw in a few extra hours each week to atone for the blood this vaunted “right” has cost us. Roll up your sleeves, folks: there are about 4,000 abortions per day, and you’re already 40,000,000 kids behind.
Frank Munda is one of the founders of Stephenson County Right to Life, which was formed in 1986. He is currently serving as vice president of the organization. He has been active in pro-life work for over 25 years. He has been married for 39 years and is the father of four and grandfather of nine.
We would like to thank Bishop Doran of the Diocese of Rockford, IL. for his courageous statement on abortion and how it effects all our lives, now and in the future. Bishop Doran’s column, which was printed in the newspaper of the Rockford Diocese, was dated August 10, 2006. In his article he stated, in part, “that no doubt, we shall soon outstrip the Nazis in doing human beings to death.” How dare we judge the Germans as a nation when we Americans, as a nation, are doing the same murderous acts as the Germans in the 1940’s? It’s all in semantics; we call our death camps abortion clinics and instead of war on Europe our war is called by some, the “right to choose” more correctly stated as “the war on the unborn”. The Bishop correctly stated that we should not lament for the aborted, “they passed from their lives quickly in this world and have gone in to the hands of the Lord of Life and Mercy for all eternity.” I would like to add that over 4000 times a day through surgical abortions, mothers are, for whatever their reasons, saying no to the will of God by aborting the gift of life. Couple this to the known effects of post abortion syndrome (PAS); “guilt, anxiety, psychological numbing, depression and thoughts of suicide, anniversary syndrome, re-experiencing the abortion, preoccupation with becoming pregnant again, anxiety over fertility and childbearing issues, inability to bond with other children, survival guilt, development of eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, self-punishing or self-degrading behavior, reactive psychosis.” Is there any doubt that this adds to the “clear and present danger to our survival as a nation.”
Bishop Doran did not name any political party in particular but referred to the seven sacraments of our culture as “abortion, buggery, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, feminism of the radical type, and genetic experimentation and mutilation. These things they (pro-abortion politicians) unabashedly espouse profess and promote. Their continuance in public office is a clear and present danger to our survival as a nation.”
At times it is difficult to choose a candidate for whom to vote. Both might be pro-abortion. Sometimes one candidate is less radical than the other. At times we might have to hold our nose and vote for the lesser of two evils and then keep in contact with that person in hopes of educating them and changing their position on abortion. No, I am not telling you how to vote but what I am saying is that if you belong to one of the major world religions, know your faith, practice it, live it, and vote according to your faith’s teachings. Is the following passage relevant for America today?
Psalms 105 “And they shed innocent blood: the blood of their sons and of their daughters which they sacrificed to the idols of Chanaan. And the land was polluted with blood.”
Today this could read: And they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters which they sacrificed on the altar of their mother’s womb. And the land was polluted with blood. Abortion is nothing less than human sacrifice which was done in pagan times; it’s just a different ritual that is called “the right to choose”. We must pray to end abortion.
Please take time to read all of Bishop Doran’s letter. The good Bishop encourages us to think for ourselves; good advice. I will add we need to know who are the enemies of life and freedom and resist the culture of death with every fiber of our being.
Until next time,
Yours for life,
Frank
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Bishop Doran's Column
(8/10/2006)
Reaping the whirlwind of abortion
I want to touch on this matter before we get too close to the November madness. As human beings, as citizens of a “first world country,” as Americans, and as Catholics, most importantly, we have to take count of the circumstances in which we live. We know that the only creatures of God that outlast time are those created having intellect and will. All other things, with the passage of time, break up or break down.
Many of the issues that confront us are serious, and we know by now that the political parties in our country are at loggerheads as to how to solve them. We know, for instance, that adherents of one political party would place us squarely on the road to suicide as a people.
The seven “sacraments” of their secular culture are abortion, buggery, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, feminism of the radical type, and genetic experimentation and mutilation. These things they unabashedly espouse, profess and promote. Their continuance in public office is a clear and present danger to our survival as a nation.
Since the mid-1940s we have been accustomed to look askance at Germans. They were protagonists of the Second World War and so responsible for fifty million deaths. We say, “How awful,” and yet in our country we have, for the most part, allowed the party of death and the court system it has produced to eliminate, since 1973, upwards of forty million of our fellow citizens without allowing them to see the light of day. They have done their best to make ours a true culture of death. No doubt, we shall soon outstrip the Nazis in doing human beings to death.
I do not think that we should spend a great deal of time in lamentation over the children whose lives have been snuffed out by the barbaric practice of therapeutic abortion. They passed from their lives quickly in this world and have gone into the hands of the Lord of Life and Mercy for all eternity. We must make it clear too, that many who have sought to have practiced on themselves therapeutic abortion are in many instances driven to it by persons heedless of their welfare, or by well- meaning but inept parents or guardians who regard abortion as a solution and not as what it is — an immense problem. There are some, I think few, largely given over to immoral lives who regard abortion as a good, but their number is not great.
What we have to remember is that violence breeds violence. When we tolerate unjust attacks upon the tiniest innocents among us, we habituate ourselves to violence. And so we have allowed these barbaric practices to corrupt our laws, our medical practice, and even our ordinary lives. How accustomed we have become to the immense loss of life in our wars throughout the world! Those who have killed millions under their mother’s hearts cannot be expected to balk at a mere few thousand killed in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Somalia, in Darfur, in Bosnia, in Madrid, in London, in Baghdad, in Beirut, in Washington, in New York. The violence of abortion coarsens the lives of all of us.
Once it was said, “... for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) So we see the rise in the number of predations among youth, even among the youngest, the rise of domestic violence. We speak of road rage as a common thing. It is true what the theologians have said, that sin darkens the intellect, and weakens the will.
Having sown the wind of abortion we now reap the whirlwind. This appears in every quarter of our culture and on every day. And that just from the first of the “sacraments of death” of our secular human culture.
The toleration of sexual perversions among inverts, widespread contraception, easy access to “no fault” divorce, the killing of the elderly, radical feminism, embryonic stem cell research — all of these things defile and debase our human nature and our human destiny. Should we cry out with the prophet “To the mountains, ‘Cover us,’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us’” (Hosea: 10:8), lest other peoples see and, God forbid, imitate us?
I ran across, in one parish, prayers of the faithful with the intention that “we pray for those who work and demonstrate for the cause of life and the unborn, the aged and the defected, that they may persevere in spite of the ridicule they receive sometimes, even from pastors and priests.” I shudder to think that might be true. We know from the sad experience of recent years that some Catholics (even among priests) are so warped and perverted from their Catholic vocation, that they are capable of enormities. But, they should know that it was no prelate or bishop or pope that said, “Suffer the little children to come to me and do not hinder them” (Matthew 19:14). The Invisible Head of the Church will one day come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire, particularly those who have either by acts of omission or commission, destroyed innocent human life.
It is the duty of every Catholic to support the work of the parish Pro-Life directors and commissions and to work for the extirpation from our society of all those who in any way foster or promote these things. I wholeheartedly endorse the activities of our Pro-Life Office in the sure and certain knowledge that divine justice will not allow those who act against human life to prosper.
These unholy sacraments of our secular culture are the seeds of the destruction of our nation.
Think for yourself: what nation that kills its young, perverts marriage, prevents new life, and destroys the family, kills those deemed useless, makes the war of the sexes into a real war, and manipulates the genetic basis of human nature, can long endure?
Many different ways; one heart and mind.
By Frank Munda
www.prolifecorner.com
My wife Chris and I have been involved in the pro-life movement for close to 30 years.... As I reflect on this experience, many things come to mind, but one thing in particular stands out; that is all the wonderful Christ centered people we have met. We have worked with Catholics Protestants, and even a self-proclaimed atheist named George.
As I think of some of the people who have had an effect on my pro-life formation, certain names come to mind.: Fr. John Powell, Fr. Pavone, Dr Dobson, Phyllis Schlafly, Judie Brown, Patricia Bainbridge, Dr. James Kenney, John Paul II, Mark Crutcher, Joe Scheidler, Mother Theresa and Mother Angelica are but a few.
I have not even attempted to name the hundreds of prominent local pro-life leaders and activists we know in a 5 county area. We have met many of these activists in person or through some form of mass media. I have respect and admiration for each and every one of these people and each has had an effect on our lives. If I were given the task of declaring one of these leaders as the most important or effective pro-life leader, I would have to decline for it would be an impossible task.
When it comes to their approach to the abortion-euthanasia problem their methods are varied indeed. Some simply pray, some do sidewalk counseling, some picket, some preach from the pulpit, some write letters to the editor to keep the message before the general public, some run pro-life websites. Some feel a need to cry out while others are silent in prayer.
My dear brothers and sisters, I tell you in all sincerity at one point or another I catch myself saying I wish I could be as strong as he, or as prayerful as she, as humble as so and so. It is impossible to say that one approach is better than another. I love each and every one of these leaders and their different approaches. These different approaches are what put life in the pro-life movement.
Please understand this: God has called each and every one of us, from all eternity, to be present at this moment in time; to be here, to be His instruments, to do His will. Know that you are unique and special; God has His plan for you! Ask God to bless you in your efforts to save lives. If you are not involved, tell God you are ready now to do His will if He will lead you.
So the next time you see a brother or sister pro-lifer and you’re tempted to say they’re too loud or too timid, too bold or not bold enough, too prayer like, etc., try to see the Christ that lives within them. Thank God for their presence. Ask God to help you be all that He wants you to be. Then we can boldly go out united in Christ, united in purpose, and save lives.
For local pro-life information please go to www.prolifecorner.com
Pat Gaumer has served as Excecutive Director of Hope Pregnancy Centers in Dixon and Sterling for 8 years.
She lives in Sterling with her husband and four children.
You may contact her at: gaumer@prolifecorner.com
Pat Gaummer
October 2005
What Elephant
What a gloriously beautiful fall we have had! I had heard late summer that it wasn’t going to be a colorful fall because of the lack of rain. They aren’t always right are they? The trees have been breathtaking! As fall progresses, it’s just a matter of time before those strong winds and rain strip the trees of their beauty. I would like to thank everyone who participated in our Fall Festival of Hope. Dan Pearson was wonderful and really spoke from the heart. A big thanks to you Dan!
Once again it is October, the month that is set-aside for Breast Cancer Awareness. I count it a blessing that I have the vehicle of this column to inform the readers of crucial information pertaining to issues relevant to our ministry. A dear friend of mine, CJ Payne, director of two pregnancy centers in the quad cities, recently wrote an article about a subject that is dear to my heart that being the subject of abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer. She entitled it Let’s Not Ignore the Elephant in the Room. She caught a news story on TV about the link scientists have found between eating French fries as a child and breast cancer. She wondered if the world had gone crazy or was she just getting old and cranky? Why do we get that kind of information in the news but not the fact that abortion is a breast cancer risk factor? There have been more studies done on the abortion risk factor than the French-fry connection. Don’t get me wrong; I am not stating that the French fry factor should be ignored. ALL risk factors for breast cancer should be identified! I am amazed that the issue of abortion is so steeped in political correctness in our society that we ignore medical research when it pertains to abortion!
Abortion interrupts the natural process of breast development, leaving the breast with more cells that can become cancerous. Elevated levels of estrogen during pregnancy cause both normal and pre-cancerous cells to multiply dramatically. Third trimester hormones of a full term pregnancy turn cells into milk producing cells and turn off their growth (cancer-forming) potential. Carrying a pregnancy full term gives protection against breast cancer that cannot be gained if abortion is chosen.
In her article, CJ sited numerous studies that have been done around the world. Of the 41 studies which have been previously published, 29 show increased risk of breast cancer among women who have chosen abortion. According to the Breast Cancer Prevention Institution (BCPI), some 16 of those studies are “statistically significant”. This is a technical term which means the data provided at least 95% certainty that the association measured was not due to chance. Abortion was legalized in the United States in 1973. According to the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, there has been a 40% increase in the incidence of breast cancer among American women in the last quarter of the 20th century.
The abortion breast cancer link prominently affects teenagers. According to BCPI, a teenager who has an abortion between 9 and 24 weeks of pregnancy- when most are performed has a 30% chance of developing breast cancer in her lifetime, compared with a 12.5% risk among all women. Please understand, not all women who have breast cancer have had an abortion, but it has been determined to be the most preventable cause of breast cancer! Breast cancer is the leading cancer in women with an estimated 193,700 American women being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and 40,600 women dying from breast cancer disease each year, yet women are not being told of the connection between abortion and breast cancer. We at Hope Pregnancy Center care about all women. The women who come to us who are experiencing indecision about an unplanned pregnancy as well as those who have chose abortion. We’re here to help them all. For more information about our ministries please visit our website at hopepregnancy.com. For further information about the Abortion/Breast Cancer link visit www.AbortionBreastCancer.com. Another website that may help anyone wanting more information about breaking the silence that surrounds the pain of abortion can go to www.HelpAfterAbortion. com. This is the official site for Silent No More an organization dedicated to conveying the message that abortion does hurt women but that there is help and hope for those who do choose abortion.
Pat Gaummer
August 2005
Our Clients: What are they looking for?"
There is a commercial for “Friskies” cat food that starts with the question, “Is your cat searching for something new?” It’s a clever commercial, but let’s remember- the advertisement is directed at us.
As a society, we’re always looking for something new, aren’t we? Some educators are always looking for a “new” approach to teaching our children. And every other week, there is a new study on how to parent kids-telling us something “new”. The tried and true- many believe- is simply quaint and out of date.
However, those clients that come to Hope Pregnancy Center are looking not for something new, but for something they can count on. And that is precisely what we offer. With that in mind, what can they count on from us?
The truth
This generation (the Millenials) wants the truth, without the sugar coating. They live a life where there are few boundaries and fewer truths they can rely on. Research has shown that the Millenials are more positive, optimistic, and community and service minded. Here, we love them enough to tell them the truth- not in a judgmental way- but in a way they can relate to. That’s why the overwhelming majority of our clients recommend us to friends. They trust us enough to be truthful with their friends. They want the truth, and they get it here.
Love- without conditions
Unconditional love does not mean that we condone every lifestyle choice. It does mean however, that we are here for our clients and that we will listen. So many of our clients come in so wounded! Their lives are incredibly complicated. But when we put ourselves aside and truly put them first, walls are broken down and true relationships are built, one client at a time. With a trusting relationship built, we are then able to reach out to them with the love of Jesus Christ, who loves us as we are- and loves us so much that He wants to make us more like Himself. That’s true love, and we offer it to those we see.
Hope
From a human perspective, some situations appear hopeless. Yet when one of our clients tells us her situation is hopeless, we provide the hope that only the Lord can offer. No situation- not one- is impossible for Him. We want a client to know that, and to know that we are also here to provide practical assistance for her situation. Again only through that relationship building can we show the hope that is within each one of us.
What are our clients searching for? We believe they want those three simple things: truth, unconditional love- and hope. To many of those we see, these three gifts are truly something new- which will and does change their lives forever.
Hello everyone! What happened to the summer? I’ve already taken my third college-aged child off to school and our Fall Festival is right around the corner. I don’t know if you have seen any of the ads for this annual event but we are blessed to be having Dan Pearson, a local celebrity and sportscaster, as our keynote speaker. I’m looking forward to hearing him present life through the eyes of a sportscaster. You are invited to join us for “Dessert with Dan” on Monday, September 26, at the Holiday Inn of Rock Falls. The silent auction will begin at 6:00 with the program and dessert beginning at 7:00 p.m. Like last year, the bearer of tickets to the event will be entitled to a 15% discount on a meal at Bennigans (excluding alcohol) to be used that evening. Call us at 625-5300 to purchase your tickets. I’m looking forward to enjoying the evening with you!
Pat Gaummer
April 2005
The early spring of 2005 will be remembered for the story of Terri Schiavo’s tragedy. For weeks, the story dominated the news, talk show hosts of every persuasion bantered it about, and newspapers headlined the details of the event over and over. During this time I compiled as much information as I came across to try to help me sort it all out. Well, it’s been over a month now since Terri died, killed by her husband in the sense that he chose to deprive her of food and water, an act supported by what many are calling a culture of death.
In gathering the information about Terri’s plight, I heard one of the best commentaries I’d heard done by Rosalie de Rosset. Roset is a frequent guest commentator on Christian radio. I heard her on our local station out of the quad cities, WDLM 89.3. Her commentary was titled Death by Language. She feels that one of the issues that has gotten too little attention is that this crime against Terri was assisted by the distortion of language. This is a moral problem, she says, that George Orwell predicted a long time ago in his well-known novel 1984 calling it “new speak”.
One very blatant error that the media kept reporting was the portrayal of Terri’s poor physical condition. At the time of this final tube removal, Terri was NOT in a coma. Medical experts confirmed that 41 year old Terri was aware of her surroundings. She was a healthy individual with a disability, she breathed on her own and her body operated normally. Terri also responded to the people around her. She could have lived for years if given sustenance, as we all live because we eat and drink. Pretty basic isn’t it? Rosalie quotes Rich Lowry, editor for National Review Online as saying “We cannot “pretty up” this killing”. Those in favor of ending her life say she was being “allowed” to die. No, I say she was made to die! Here is a huge difference in the use of words blurred by the misuse of language that I alluded to earlier. If we did the same to the people across this country in hospitals, mental wards, and institutions for the severely disabled, people would mortified. We wouldn’t call it “allowing” we would call it “criminal neglect”.
I ask you now, who are the next victims to fall prey to this warped thinking? Those with Alzheimer’s? Those with incurable cancer? Those who are paraplegic? Terri’s lawyer, George Felos, said ”I firmly believe in the right of individuals to make their own medical-treatment choices”. Terri didn’t make her own medical choices; choices were made for her without any legal foundation but just on hearsay. She signed no will stating her desire to be starved to death. How her injury occurred remains a mystery. Her parents offered her home and care at no expense to anyone than themselves. Interesting that Terri’s husband refused to divorce her but was overheard to say he wanted her dead. Strange that he said nothing about wanting her to die until seven years into her disability. For the past 14 years he had denied Terri any therapy. Thirty allegations of abuse, neglect or exploitation were filed in court by the Florida Department of Children and Families. That all seemed to be clearly stated and easy to understand. But the judges disregarded all of it.
Then there is the misuse of words again that were directed at the Republicans and conservatives that they weren’t respecting the sanctity of the Schiavo’s marriage. What marriage? Michael Schiavo long ago abandoned Terri and moved in with another woman with whom he has had two children. That’s not a committed marriage partner that’s called an adulterer! Language games to avoid guilt and personal responsibility have been around since the Garden of Eden when Adam blamed Eve for his failure, and then she turned around and blamed the serpent. The rest is history and humanity has been affected forever. The playing of these word games has the potential to take us very quickly down the already slippery slope we are on. The Bible is full of references to the power of the tongue-“It is like a sharpened razor”. It is capable of bringing about death and life. Our language is a precious gift that must be used honestly and correctly but just as importantly heard carefully.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers, aunts, stepmothers, nieces, and Godmothers and sisters.
Pat Gaummer
March 2005
Happy spring and Happy Easter! I would like to take care of some business before I add my 2 cents to the feature article about Stephanie and Brian’s pregnancy that caused such reactions.
Our annual Walk for Life is coming up on Saturday, April 2, 2005, at Northland Mall, Sterling, and we’re looking for more walkers. The Walk is important because one time each year, supporters of Hope Pregnancy Center ask friends to join them in publicly making a stand for life.
The Walk is effective because many of those who sponsor friends in the Walk would never think of writing a check to this ministry otherwise. Because of this, Walkers are actually multiplying support of the center and reaching out to people we would never find. And because the Walk brings in needed funds, lives are changed-one at a time.
Registration begins at 9 a.m., the Walk at 9:30 a.m. and we will be done with our two-mile walk in less than an hour. We’re not going to dominate your day, and we won’t even make you collect the money. We’ll take care of that. All you need to do is turn in your form. And back by popular demand is the Basket Auction. Come see the beautiful and interesting variety of baskets, then bid on your favorite one! Bidding begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 11 a.m. Hope to see you there!
In regard to the above mentioned article, I would first like to thank both Lisa and Jonie for their continued effort to keep all sorts of issues in front of the people in the Sterling/Rock Falls / Dixon and surrounding communities. Upon first reading it, it does appear to have a very flippant, unrealistic, childish message to it. But maybe that is what Lisa was trying to convey. They are in fact two children having children. Along with that, I’m not sure how you can put the two words complicated and fun together when talking about a pregnant teen soon to give birth to twins!
But I can’t help but see the many positives that have come from running the story. A story that is not so uncommon in all of our communities.
The first positive is that Stephanie and Brian chose to continue with the pregnancy instead of ending the baby’s life. Life is precious at any stage.
Secondly, I am so encouraged by the outcry and reactions to the article. What’s encouraging is that so many people expressed their negative and positive opinions. I had two people leave me messages on my home phone about how upset they were about the article and what was I going to do! Many months ago I expressed my discouragement about the lack of response to “issues” I had written about in my columns. I asked if anyone was out there. I said “Doesn’t anyone have anything to say, positive or negative, about the things I was writing about?” “Doesn’t anyone care out there?” Well the readers have shown that they do care! You just have to hit the right buttons.
Another positive is the evidence that there are so many people in way of services that really care about the teen pregnancy and sexuality problem. They are the volunteers and employees at Lee, Ogle and Whiteside County Health Departments and Hope Pregnancy Center. The one thing we all know and agree on is that abstinence only, not being sexually active, is the only, 100% “safe“ and effective way of preventing not only pregnancies but also the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases (STD)s. In the article, Stephanie advised teen girls to “try to prevent getting pregnant if you can” Well you can and that would be by not being sexually active! She went on to say that she and Brian used protection but not regularly. Doesn’t that say enough there? That is why we do not promote birth control here at the center. It doesn’t work! Abstinence only works. That is the only thing we can truthfully tell our clients. People say we are unrealistic in using that approach. Let’s talk unrealistic. Expecting our teens to be responsible about something that adults can’t even be responsible about is unrealistic. Telling them to use condoms, that are known to be ineffective in preventing the contraction of four very serious, rampant STDs is not only unrealistic but deceptive!
What is realistic is that we believe our teens can hear an abstinence only message, understand it, believe it and then follow it! In defense of abstinence education, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows abstinence only education is working as fewer teens are having sex and that the age in which young people begin having sex is on the rise. Teen pregnancy rates are on the decline. In fact, the report shows that abstinence education has been so successful the total number of teens abstaining from sex before marriage nearly achieves the 2010 targets previously set.
Well hopefully with reaction comes action. That is what we are all about at Hope Pregnancy center. No, we are not real happy about the situation like Stephanie and Brian’s but what we can do is be there for those finding themselves in an unplanned pregnancy situation, like we have been for the past 15 years.