I am always amazed at the stark contrast between the pro-life and pro-choice activists and the Walk for Life West Coast seems to point this out most vividly:
Ethical Standards for Conducting Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Now there’s an oxymoron for you. The International Society for Stem Cell Research has come out with Guidelines for the Conduct of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research that specifies, “rigorous ethical standards for scientists working with human ESCs, and seek to promote responsible, transparent and uniform practices worldwide.” What they don’t appear to understand is that as long as they continue to create and destroy human embryos for scientific experimentation there will be nothing ethical about this research no matter how many guidelines they put in place.
What DO We Do With All Those Left Over Embryos?
The ethical problems of IVF are becoming more and more apparent. On the surface IVF seems harmless and indeed even a positive thing, and it is hard to say to someone who has children through IVF that what they did was wrong. But there are moral and ethical problems to be considered and they far outweigh the good that results. The major dilemma has been what to do with all of the left over embryos. That’s a question that Ingrid Jansson and her husband are having to ask themselves now that they consider their family complete. The couple have two children already and do not intend to have any more, but there are still eight embryos left over from IVF treatments and the couple cannot agree on what to do:
So now we have helped many infertile couples have children. Meanwhile we have essentially “leftover” human beings that nobody really wants but they can’t decide what to do with them. I find it very sad that the woman would rather see her “own child,” as she described it, destroyed for scientific research rather than born to another loving couple. That is a tremendous shame.
I will warn you that this article gets pretty disturbing, especially the last section that deals with donating embryos for scientific research. It is also full of misinformation about the legality of ESC research in the United States. The irony in this article comes from one scientist who says that his inspiration comes from his Jewish grandfather who taught him the concept of tikkun olam, which means to “better the world.” This is ironic because reading the process by which these embryos are brought in to research facilities is eerily similar to the way in which human beings, mostly Jews, were brought in to Nazi research facilities 70 years ago. This statement in particular: “When the embryos arrived, they were given a registry number,” caused me particular concern.
IVF embryos are either used by the couple, adopted, donated for scientific research, kept frozen in a lab or are finally thrown away. This is not how human beings should be treated, even when the goal is to “better the world.” Now that we do have all of these “leftover” human beings, I would say that the best option is to provide them with loving parents who are willing to bring them into the world and give them the love and care that all human beings deserve. That is the greatest good that can come out of this situation.
Adventures in Politics
Today was the beginning of my latest adventure. I accepted a position as an intern for one of our state reps. and will be working at the Capitol 3 days a week. I am working for Representative Ed Emery from the southwest corner of Missouri. He is wonderful and very pro-life and I am really looking forward to working with him! He has some great legislature in the works for this session. He sponsors a bill to protect pro-life pharmacists from being forced to provide the abortifacient pill, Plan B. I am also looking forward to being up at the Capitol on a regular basis to help lobby our legislators to support the joint resolution for a ban on human cloning that would close the loopholes in Amendment 2 that allow for the creation and destruction of cloned human embryos for scientific research. So I’m very excited and I hope you will all keep me (and our legislators) in your prayers!
From Rep. Emery’s website:
Ed Emery is committed to:
•smaller government and lower taxes
•protect the unborn and the elderly
•local control of education dollars
•protect your right to keep and bear arms
•eliminate excessive govt. regulations
•guard personal property rights
•promote strong families
•emphasize personal responsibilityEd Emery opposes all so-called medical techniques that would give mere men the right to sacrifice a life in the womb by their own arbitrary choice. He is against taxpayer funding of abortion. He is in favor of informing and appropriately counseling those seeking abortions to encourage them to do the right thing (choosing life) for both their babies and themselves. Ed is for free speech and for speaking the truth about abortion’s consequences, whatever the opposition. Ed knows the fight to protect God-given life must go on.
Democrats to Fight for ESC Research Funding
Advocates of ESC research in the US House and Senate are facing an inevitable Presidential veto of the ESC research funding bill that passed in the House and will likely pass through the Senate sometime in the near future and are looking for another way to push this legislation through. They now plan on attaching the measure to some other must-pass bill. This is to signify to the American people that they are serious about promoting and expanding ESC research at all costs and we should not give in without a fight. The science and hope is on our side, especially after the recent discovery of the pluripotency of stem cells found in amniotic fluid. Let your congressmen know that you do not want more of your tax dollars to be spent on unethical and unproven medical research.
Contact:
Senators
Representatives
Fr. Frank Pavone on Sen. Sam Brownback
Fr. Frank Pavone’s column on Sen. Brownback:
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas is a man you want to know if you care about human rights. Whether you’re talking about the poor in Africa or the unborn child scheduled to be killed by abortion, you will find an advocate for them in Senator Sam Brownback.
For us in the pro-life movement, Senator Brownback is a key ally. There are many in Congress who will vote the right way on pro-life bills. Fewer are they who will take initiatives to advance the cause – and not for purposes of political gain, but rather because the cause is right, and they believe the cause can, must, and will prevail. Sam Brownback is that kind of Senator.
In the Summer of 2004, the Human Life Review published an article by Senator Brownback titled, “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation,” Revisited. As you may recall, President Ronald Reagan, one of the most pro-life presidents in our history, wrote an essay called “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation” in 1983. As Senator Brownback writes, “Twenty-one years later, and 31 years after Roe v. Wade, we need to revisit “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation.” We need to reflect on whether we are closer to – or further away from – having a culture of life. “We need to contemplate what personal and legislative steps we must take to draw out the best in the freedom-loving, life-loving American spirit.”
Senator Brownback goes on to examine why the American conscience cannot continue to tolerate abortion any more than it tolerated slavery. He discusses how Mother Teresa of Calcutta influenced his life and thinking. He examines how Roe v. Wade has damaged our society. And he expresses the firm hope that we will win: “I believe that I will live to see the end of the abortion industry, and the sanctity and dignity of every human life affirmed. …Great labors remain before us, but the rights and lives of unborn children are absolutely worth our efforts.”
The Senator makes those efforts, not only by sponsoring legislation like the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, but also by taking the initiative to hold hearings in the Senate on various aspects of abortion. For example, on June 23, 2005, Senator Brownback convened a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee on the topic, “The Consequences of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton.” He had Norma McCorvey (former “Jane Roe”) and Sandra Cano (former “Mary Doe”) there to testify, along with various legal experts. The Senator declared, “To put it simply, Roe was a mistake. A very, very costly one.”
On March 3, 2004, Senator Brownback held hearings called “Examining the Impact of Abortion on Women,” and he is a strong supporter of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. On May 25, 2006, he held hearings on “The Consequences of Legalized Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.”
Selected Pro-Life Addresses, Articles, Essays, Remarks, Speeches & Statements from Sen. Brownback.
The Pit Bull of the Gateway
If Pope Benedict is our “German Shepherd” then Archbishop Raymond Burke from St. Louis is our pit bull. At the March for Life Rose Dinner in DC last weekend he warned those in attendence that the legalization of abortion has lead to the devaluation of human life in our country and unless there is a ‘re-awakening’ to the culture of life there will be a growing acceptence of euthenasia and legal infanticide.
“Given the legalization of procured abortion in our nation, we should really not be surprised that now the agents of the culture of death seek a constitutional guarantee of the right to generate artificially and destroy embryonic human life. A nation that permits abortion at any stage, including the practice of partially delivering a baby into the world in order to destroy it brutally, has so deadened its conscience that it is no longer horrified at the thought of embryonic stem cell research, which has rightly been called Frankensteinien…“[we must] keep our eyes fixed on the moral principles upon which the foundation of our nation rests – those expressed eloquently in the Declaration of Independence – namely, that man is endowed by his Creator with certain inalienable rights among which the first place is held by the right to life.”
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False Hope
Here is a similar article by Charles Krauthammer
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Janet LaRue has a great column highlighting the fantasy and the false hope perpetuated by ESC research advocates.
Proponents of ESCR consider acceptable the destruction of human embryos after we extract their cells. Unlike Munchkinland, however, there are no talking embryos to prick a conscience. ESCR fans should heed the signpost outside the Haunted Forest on the way to the Witch’s castle, which warns, “I’d turn back if I were you!”
…After promising Dorothy he could get her back to Kansas in his hot air balloon, the Wizard launches it without her. When Dorothy screams for him to come back, he shouts, “I can’t come back! I don’t know how it works!” The congressional wizards should be so honest.
…Once the federal funding balloon is launched for ESCR, it will be even more difficult to keep the cloning balloon tethered to terra firma. If Congress doesn’t intend to permit human cloning, it should have banned it by now. Instead, the House of Representatives voted down an amendment to H.R. 3, the ESCR funding bill, which would have banned cloning.
…ESCR advocates in Congress “don’t know how it works,” yet they are intent upon taking us down the Yellow Brick Road from which we will never “come back.”
If you want real hope and help for those suffering from disease or in need of organ replacement, tell Congress to launch its funding balloon in the right direction – toward ASCR. Tell them that the destruction of innocent human life is a road on which “I’d turn back if I were you!”
Read the Full Article
“Fatherhood Begins at Conception”
Here is a great article by a father encouraging father’s to be present in the lives of their children. The role of fathers in the lives of children has gotten completely lost on our society, especially when it comes to abortion. The entire pro-choice movement is centered around the woman and leaves out the man completely, eventhough there would be no pregnancy and thus no “choice” without the presence of a man. In fact the father is told that he should have no opinion whatsoever on whether his baby lives or dies. We should not forget that the victim’s of abortion also include fathers.
Men and Abortion
The Impact of Abortion on Men
Post Abortion Stress Syndrome for Men