Pro-Life Help Needed in Joplin!

ChelseaPregnancy2 Comments

lifechoices.pngLet’s not forget the littlest victims of Sunday’s deadly tornado in Joplin, MO. From the St. Louis Review:

LifeChoices Medical Clinic and Resource Center, a pro-life pregnancy resource center located in Joplin, is seeking help as the organization reaches out to mothers affected by the May 22 tornado there.

LifeChoices has been visiting moms in shelters and in damaged homes and apartments around the city to assess their needs and offer assistance.

The office of LifeChoices is located several blocks from the tornado damage. None of the staff or volunteers was seriously injured. The office remains open, but is quickly running out of supplies. Items needed include diapers, wipes, pre-mixed formula and infant clothing. The organization also has a Facebook site, with regular updates, at facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_137526882937737.

Monetary donations also can be sent to LifeChoices either online at lifevoices.org or by check and mailed to: LifeChoices, 531 E. 7th St., Joplin, Mo., 64801. Donations are tax deductible. Missouri residents and corporations are eligible for an additional 50 percent state income tax credit for donations of $100 or more. Visit dss.mo.gov/dfas/taxcredit/pregnancy.htm for more information.

Pro-life pregnancy care centers in other parts of Missouri are also stepping up and collecting items for LifeChoices to distribute to Joplin moms and babies. Items needed (besides money) include diapers, wipes, pre-mixed formula and newborn clothing.

There are six drop-off spots to leave items that will then be taken directly to LifeChoices – at some point in the future. At the moment, however, no one except emergency personnel are allowed to enter Joplin. The drop-off locations are:

–St. Louis – Frank Block at Love Basket – email: frankb@lovebasket.org or call 636-797-4100
–Springfield – Cindi Boston at Pregnancy Care Center – email: director@pccchoices.org or call 417-877-0800
–Branson – Jeanie Williams at Options Clinic – email: optionspc@centurytel.net or call 417-336-5483
–Kansas City – Marsha Middleton of the Alliance for Life – Missouri in Lee’s Summit – email: allianceforlife.mo@gmail.com or call 417-598-1040
–Lake of the Ozarks – Patricia Dascher at Pregnancy Help Center – email: pdascher@pregnancyhelpcenters.org or call 573-365-2345
–Macon – Michele Jorgenson at Ray of Hope – call 660-651-2652

Please be generous.

Pray for Joplin *UPDATED*

Chelseavideo1 Comment

*Update* Death toll now at 116, makes Joplin tornado one of the top ten deadliest in US history at number 9…and the death toll is expected to continue to rise as search and rescue efforts continue.

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As the death toll (right now at 89) rises and more storms are forecasted, please keep the city of Joplin here in Missouri in your prayers. Both the local high school and the hospital were severely damaged along with most of the rest of the city when it was hit by the deadliest single U.S. tornado since 1953. Along with your prayers, these people are going to need supplies – and I mean everything. Not just clothes and food, but things like extension cords, batteries, gas cans, all infant supplies (especially sensitive formulas), toiletries, feminine hygiene products, pet food, insulin, chainsaws, rakes, shovels, hammers, work gloves, etc…
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As far as where you can send donations and how to volunteer, I pulled this list from MSNBC:

Donations

    -The American Red Cross has set up a page for Missouri tornado and flood relief.
    -The Joplin Red Cross could use some donations. You can contact it at (417) 624-4411 or info@redcross-ozarks.org in order to find out what supplies are most necessary.
    -The Missouri SEMA has set up a donation page.
    -A list of major non-profits that operate regularly in Missouri can be found on the National Donations Management Network website. You can also call (800) 427-4626 for further information.
    -The Missouri Interfaith Disaster Response Organization is taking donations for longterm recovery efforts.
    -The Community Blood Center of the Ozarks is in need of blood — particularly type O. A list of donation sites can be found here.

Volunteering

    –211 Missouri is helping organize volunteers in the affected areas. More information can be found by calling (800) 427-462.
    -Nurses or doctors looking to help can call (417) 832-9500 for the Greater Ozarks chapter of the Red Cross.
    -Health professionals can register to volunteer through the Show-Me Response website.

Animal rescue

    -For those in the Joplin area: Emergency Pet Center of the Four States at 7th & Illinois near the Sonic is OPEN and accepting found/injured animals. Its phones are down at this time.
    -The “Animals Lost & Found from the Joplin, Mo tornado” Facebook page is tracking lost and found pets.

Safety Information

    -The National Americorp Volunteers are setting up a national hotline for residents to call to check on loved ones. The number is (417) 659-5464 and should be active later today.
    -The American Red Cross has set up a site on which you can check in, report on the safety of others, or look for information on loved ones.
    – The “Joplin people accounted for after the storm” Facebook page is helping people track loved ones who fell out of touch during the storm.
    -The St. John’s Health System has been updating its Facebook page regularly with information relevant to the aftermath of the storm.

Other efforts

    -The recently organized “Joplin Volunteer & Outreach Station” Facebook page appears to be focused on aiding relief efforts.
    -The “Joplin Tornado Citizen Checks (neighbors helping neighbors!)” Facebook page appears to be a gathering place for a lot of Joplin locals who are in need of aid or able to provide aid to others.
    -The “Joplin, MO Tornado Recovery” Facebook page is one of the bigger ones dedicated to aid efforts and contains a great deal of up-to-the-second information on where help is necessary.

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Video:

Here’s a video of the actual tornado and the damage immediately after:

This ariel footage really gives you a sense of just how massive the destruction is there:

This video of several people trapped inside a convenience store in Joplin when the tornado it is just heartbreaking and gives you a sense of just how terrifying the entire situation was for everyone involved. These people managed to survive by running into the store’s walk-in storage fridge.

*images via FoxNews

The Little Flower on Little Flowers

ChelseaPro Life1 Comment

In my last post here I highlighted the BBC’s program Human Planet, which shows the amazing diversity of the human race. It reminds me of one of my favorite passages from the autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux in which she explains how God loves and is occupied with all human life equally despite such diversity:

nullJesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature; I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the Lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wild flowers.

And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus’ garden. he willed to create great souls comparable to Lilies and roses, but He has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God’s glances when He looks down at His feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be.

I understood, too, that Our Lord’s love is revealed as perfectly in the most simple soul who resists His grace in nothing as in the most excellent soul; in fact, since the nature of love is to humble oneself, if all souls resembled those of the holy Doctors who illumined the Church with the clarity of their teachings, it seems God would not descend so low when coming to their heart. But He created the child who knows only how to make his feeble cries heard; He has created the poor savage who has nothing but the natural law to guide him. It is to their hearts that God deigns to lower Himself. These are the wild flowers whose simplicity attracts Him. When coming down in this way, God manifests His infinite grandeur. Just as the sun shines simultaneously on the tall cedars and on each little flower as though it were alone on the earth, so Our Lord is occupied particularly with each soul as though there were no others like it. And just as in nature all the seasons are arranged in such a way as to make the humblest daisy bloom on a set day, in the same way, everything works out for the good of each soul.

~St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul

Human Planet

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After all the stunningly filmed documentaries highlighting every plant and animal species known to man, it’s nice to see one focused on…well, man – the one creature that the rest of the living world was created specifically for. From the BBC:

Check out Human Planet Explorer. h/t to I Am Whole Life on Facebook, who said: “Human Beings. Worth knowing, worth saving… worthy of value.” All of them, from conception to natural death.

Trouble in iPS Cell Paradise?

ChelseaAdult Stem Cell Research, iPSC BreakthroughLeave a Comment

Ever since the process was discovered, pro-lifers have held up induced pluripotent stem cells – adult cells that have been reprogrammed back to an embryonic-like (pluripotent) state – as a great ethical alternative to creating, using and destroying human embryos to obtain embryonic stem cells. Even some ESCR proponents have abandoned their previous work with ESCs to work exclusively with iPSCs and a few years ago, Oprah’s Dr. Oz declared on her show that “The stem cell debate is dead” now because of this discovery. Like everyone else, I, too, am delighted that scientists have discovered a way to reduce the perceived “need” to tear apart tiny human beings in the name of science, however, I’ve remained very cautiously optimistic about the promise of this research, mostly because, if true ESCs are plagued with problems like tumor formation and tissue rejection, wouldn’t embryonic-like stem cells have similar problems?

Turns out my suspicions are not without merit. The NY Times reported last week that in a recent study in mice iPS cells made from skin cells were rejected by the recipients, even though they were derived from the patients’ own cells.

“The path to the clinic has just gotten a lot murkier,” said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology, a company trying to develop medical treatments using both embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells.

He said it was not clear that the results in mice would hold true for humans, though some other scientists said they assumed they would.

The new report is just the latest to take some of the shine off iPS cells. In recent months other researchers have reported that the cells are prone to various types of genetic abnormalities.

Now, as long as it’s ethical I have no objection to this research being done despite discouraging results such as this, it is still in its infancy, after all (and Rebecca Taylor points out that there is also some iPS cell good news), but I still say adult stem cells are the way to go. As Dr. Prentice points out today, ASCs are treating thousands of patients – now – and advancements are being made everyday – from discovering new sources of pluripotent cells to growing human organs in the lab.

Other smarties commenting:
Rebecca Taylor
Wesley Smith

Cute Ninja Baby Fights for Kisses

ChelseaCute Baby Blogging, video1 Comment

What a silly commercial:

h/t AlphonseComic

Interview With Man Cured of HIV by Adult Stem Cell Transplant

ChelseaAdult Stem Cell Research, videoLeave a Comment

Here’s another follow-up to a story I mentioned here a few years ago:
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Timothy Ray Brown tested positive for HIV back in 1995, but has now entered scientific journals as the first man in world history to have that HIV virus completely eliminated from his body in what doctors call a “functional cure.”

Brown was living in Berlin, Germany back in 2007, dealing with HIV and leukemia, when scientists there gave him a bone marrow stem cell transplant that had astounding results.

“I quit taking my HIV medication the day that I got the transplant and haven’t had to take any since,” said Brown, who has been dubbed “The Berlin Patient” by the medical community.

Brown’s amazing progress continues to be monitored by doctors at San Francisco General Hospital and at the University of California at San Francisco medical center.

“I’m cured of HIV. I had HIV but I don’t anymore,” he said, using words that many in the scientific community are cautiously clinging to.

Read more – with video interview.

This is incredible – and accomplished using ethically derived stem cells. Pass it on!

Previous posts:
Did Adult Stem Cells Cure an AIDS Patient??
More on Possible Future Stem Cell Trials for AIDS Treatment

TOB Tues: Benedict on the TOB

ChelseaLove, Theology of the Body, TOB Tuesday, video2 Comments

On May 13, Pope Benedict met with the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family to help celebrate its 30th Anniversary. There he talked about the importance of ‘connecting the theology of the body with the theology of love.’

The National Catholic Register has more:
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The human body is a God-given instrument for communicating love, although it also can be used to inflict harm on others or for one’s own selfish pleasure, Pope Benedict XVI said.

That the body is designed for true love is what gives value to chastity as the virtue that takes seriously the power of the body to communicate something profound if given the respect and time it needs, the Pope told participants in a meeting sponsored by the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family.

…

Pope Benedict told the group that by “connecting the theology of the body with the theology of love” they could help Catholics reach a greater understanding about the purpose of their lives.

“The true fascination of sexuality stems from the greatness of this horizon which it opens: the integral beauty, the universe of the other person and of the ‘we’ that is born of union; the promise of communion hidden there, the new fruitfulness, the journey that love opens toward God, who is the source of love,” the Pope said.

“In this light,” he said, “the virtue of chastity receives new meaning. It is not a No to pleasures and to the joy of life, but a great Yes to love as a profound communication between persons, which requires time and respect as a journey together toward fullness, and as a love that becomes capable of generating life and generously welcoming the new life that is born,” the Pope said.

Pope Benedict said having a body is a reminder that there really is no such thing as a “self-made man,” but that we are born of our parents and, ultimately, of God the Creator.

“Only when one recognizes the original love that gave him life can he accept himself, reconcile himself with nature and with the world,” the Pope said.

That God created human beings male and female is a clear sign that he wanted it to be possible for a man and a woman to love each other, unite and have children, he said.

Read the rest

Music for Your Monday: a Pro-Adoption Rap

ChelseaAdoption, Music, videoLeave a Comment

Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels and Sarah McLachlan, both adopted, sing “to every life and every soul that has been touched by the reality of the experience of adoption” (h/t Jen)

The girl gave birth to a baby boy
He’s not a burden, he’s a bundle of joy
She was just a young girl in her youth
And her parents tried real hard to hide the truth
Is there a chance for the baby to live?
That is a chance that you gotta give

The Delicate Pro-Life Balancing Act

ChelseaAbortion, IVFLeave a Comment

Gift-From-God.jpgThe tagline of a recent Pampers commercial states: “Every baby is a little miracle to celebrate, support and protect.”

To which Patheos blogger Julia Becker asks:

Is it a trite advertising tagline? Or a profound truth?…

Should we celebrate babies born to teenagers? Babies born through in vitro fertilization? Is there a way to celebrate the life of every baby without supporting every means of reproductive technology? What do you think?

This is where I think pro-lifers walk a very fine line. Of course we should celebrate the life of every human being regardless of how they came to be. But at the same time, we do not want to condone or encourage harmful, sinful behavior like IVF and pre-marital sex (and in that regard we have to be careful that the message we send isn’t so negative that it has an adverse effect).

It’s a delicate balancing act, to be sure, but it’s important. Roughly 40% of children in America are born to unwed mothers. While it’s certainly preferable that these women choose life for their unborn children, the breakdown of marriage and family life is corrupting our society and should never be encouraged. Likewise, though the many people whose lives came about through the technology are no less valuable than those conceived naturally, IVF is a grave moral evil that is contrary to the dignity of the child, the dignity of the spouses and their relationship, and Man’s status as a creature.

What do you think? What has been your experience…with a friend or family member pregnant out of wed-lock or turning to IVF because of infertility? Have you found it difficult to strike the balance between loving the innocent child and his parents while not encouraging or approving of the circumstances by which the child came into the world…without coming across as mean or judgmental?