Parents of Former Frozen Embryo Speak Out Against ESCR

ChelseaEmbryonic Stem Cell Research, IVF, Right to Life2 Comments

This is why IVF gives me the willies. Erin is a former frozen embryo who was adopted by Tim and Dawn Smith after being conceived in a petri dish and left frozen on a shelf for 11 years because her biological parents didn’t want her. Now her adoptive parents are speaking out against embryonic stem cell research in their state. In a radio commercial against a pro-ESC research bill, Tim says, “Some would call Erin medical waste. I call her my daughter.”

And here, again, we have the difference between wanted and unwanted human life. Wanted embryos, those embryos whose parents still, for whatever reason, wish to keep them, are kept, for a fee, frozen in a lab, with a faint possibility of adoption. Those who are no longer wanted or needed are discarded as biological waste and thrown away or donated for scientific research. For either one of these scenarios to be the fate of anyone is beneath the dignity of any human person.

For more on this visit Jill Stanek’s post today about couples arguing over the fate of their frozen embryos.

Stem Cells Gave Don Ho 15 Extra Months to Perform

ChelseaAdult Stem Cell ResearchLeave a Comment

Don HoFrom PRWeb: Entertainer Don Ho, a household name in the U.S., who died last week after a long battle with heart failure, gained an extra 15 months doing what he loved with the help of Theravitae’s VesCell adult stem cell therapy. His story has inspired many others to seek the benefits of adult stem cell therapy.

The entertainer was forced off the stage because of his failing heart, but his doctor wisely informed him that this was not the end of the road. Adult stem cells are doing wonders for patients with heart disease and Don was no exception. After a trip to Asia for his stem cell treatments he was able to return to the stage for 15 more months of standing ovations. What’s more, Don went public with his experience and so encouraged other patients who, like him, thought they had no options. One patient had this to say:

We are especially grateful for his ‘going public’ with his stem cell procedure, for that is how we learned of TheraVitae, and came to Thailand for Pat’s procedure. We are grateful that we had the opportunity to thank him both personally and publicly, and to have been colleagues with him in the “Hawaii stem cell cohort.

This is an amazing story and proof of the effectiveness of adult stem cells in treating disease which the media and ESC research advocates continually downplay.

America’s “Moral Free Fall”

ChelseaAbortion, Right to LifeLeave a Comment

I just found this video via Human Life International. It is from the CBS Evening News’ “Free Speech” segment. In it, Father of Columbine victim, Brian Rohrbough, responds to the shooting of the Amish school children last year and explains how these school shootings are a direct result of America’s moral freefall and the devaluation of human life. In light of this week’s events I thought it would be appropriate.

Check it out: School Shootings: A Moral Free Fall

Previous posts:
Rooted in Abortion?

Cures Should Not Devalue Human Life

ChelseaEmbryonic Stem Cell Research, Right to LifeLeave a Comment

From and op-ed in the Reno Gazette Journal:

Harvesting embryonic stem cells destroys (kills) the embryo–so there is an ethical problem: at which stage or stages in life is it acceptable to take a life? Ethicist Levin writes (NY Times) that “[m]any advocates of federal financing for embryo-destructive research…argue that the human embryo is just too small, too unlike us in appearance, or too lacking in consciousness or sensitivity to pain or other critical mental capacity to be granted a place in the human family…” He points out that this was not the position of our founding fathers who said “equality is self-evident.”…

It’s springtime: the time of rebirth and rejuvenation and optimism. Today there is ground for great optimism for the cure of many debilitating and deadly diseases, but cure shouldn’t come at the cost of degrading the value of any human life.

Amen to that! Yes, we all want cures. Cures are good! But no good can justify participating that which is intrinsically evil – the destruction of human life for scientific research.

h/t: bioethics.com

Can’t Trust Rudy

ChelseaAbortion, Politics, Pro LifeLeave a Comment

Man, I’m really picking on this guy, huh? I might not spend so much time on this if it wasn’t so important. Please check out Jay Anderson’s post at Pro Ecclesia on Giuliani’s partial birth abortion stance (I think if I tried to do my own post on this I’d just end up copying the same thing). It is worth noting and passing on considering he made a statement today agreeing with the Supreme Court ruling to uphold the PBA ban. GRRR!! I’m not looking forward to 2008.

Previous Posts:
Will the Republican Party Lose its Soul?
Rudy Does It Again
I Fear This Man’s Nomination
More on Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
We Must Win This Culture War

Justice for the Unborn

ChelseaAbortion, Politics, Pro Life, Right to LifeLeave a Comment

In a 5-4 ruling, Chief Justice John Robers joined Justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia in upholding the ban on the barbaric partial birth abortion procedure. God bless them all!

A daily prayer for the Supreme Court: “May the Guardian Angels of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices guide them today.”

PBA Information:
Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act
Priests for Life
National Right to Life

Will the Republican Party Lose its Soul?

ChelseaAbortion, Marriage, Politics, Pro Life1 Comment

Republican elephantIt seems to me that many on the right are so frightened by the thought of a second Clinton presidency that they are willing to back any candidate who has the potential to beat her in the general election. Don’t get me wrong, I am equally as terrified by this woman, but what frightens me more is the nomination of a clearly pro-abortion Republican.

I consider the soul of the Republican party to be its solidly pro-life platform. The nomination of Rudolf Giuliani, who thinks tax payers should fund abortions and thinks that his party should “get beyond” social justice issues like abortion, would suggest that the party has lost its soul. The “conservatives” who are backing Giuliani at this stage of the game suggest that this time Republicans are just going to have to suck it up and compromise our pro-life principles if we have any hope of beating the likes of Hillary or Obama. I say if we do that, it means that we care more about winning and retaining our power more than we care about sticking to our core beliefs.

Come election time, if both the Democrat and Republican candidates for presidency have relatively the same views on abortion and traditional marriage, our country is in bad shape. The presidential nominee, in essence, becomes the face of his or her party. What would it mean if the leader of the Republican party were suddenly pro-abortion? Kudos to HillBilly White Trash for also recognizing that, yes, we can survive a Hillary presidency, but we cannot survive having both major political parties unwilling to stand up for some of the most important issues of our time.

This is a test of our fidelity. I just pray that we don’t fail.

Previous Posts:
Rudy Does It Again
I Fear This Man’s Nomination
More on Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
We Must Win This Culture War

Rooted in Abortion?

ChelseaAbortion, Pro Life, Right to Life3 Comments

The killings of yesterday at Virginia Tech University, inevitably cause us to ask the question “why?”. Why, or how, is it so easy for one person to just open fire and senselessly murder 32 random people and then turn the gun on himself? Is it fair to say, as Mother May I points out, that these killings could be rooted in abortion? No, abortion did not cause murder to come upon the human race. Indeed, senseless killing has been around since Cain slew Able. But one has to think that the continual legally sanctioned slaughter of literally thousands of children every day does something to the moral compass of our society.

Rudy Does it Again

ChelseaAbortion, Politics3 Comments

Rudy GiulianiIn case you needed more proof that Giuliani is not with us on life issues and will not be if he is elected president; when asked about abortion he recently told the Des Moines Register, “Our party has to get beyond issues like that.” You hear that? It sounds like he’s really getting sick of being asked about this topic. I guess he thought that it really wouldn’t be a big deal for him because he’s just soooo conservative on so many other issues (which is debatable). It sounds like he’s actually getting quite defensive, even daring conservatives to vote against him as he warned GOP activists that Republicans will be defeated in 2008 if they insist on a nominee who always agrees with them.

I’m still praying for a Brownback miracle, but others are hoping that this will secure former Sen. Fred Thompson’s presidential bid. Either way, something’s got to give sooner or later.

Hat Tip: LTI Blog

Previous posts:
I Fear This Man’s Nomination
Rudy Giuliani
We Must Win This Culture War
Fr. Frank Pavone on Sen. Sam Brownback

Destroying Love in Our Society

ChelseaAbortion, Disabled, Euthanasia, Pro Life, Right to Life, WomenLeave a Comment

Gift From GodWesley Smith has a post asking whether infanticide qualifies as murder and should be a crime. It is a response to a recent news story about a teenage girl who gave birth on the floor of her laundry room and then proceeded to stab her child 135 times; dumping the dead baby’s body in the trash can when she was done. Wesley concludes that he believes newborn infants are human beings and infanticide is murder, but acknowledges those, like Peter Singer, who believe otherwise and asks his readers to chime in on their own thoughts.

The way Mr. Smith words his question is key: should the intentional killing of a newborn baby who is not wanted be a crime? This is the dilemma in our society and this is where the culture of death is ultimately leading us. In 1973 the Supreme Court determined that it was perfectly legal (a constitutional right even) for one group of living human beings, unborn children, to be killed simply because they are not wanted. By legalizing abortion in our society we have categorically decided that the child within the womb is not actually “alive” or is not a “person” (as long as it is not wanted) and therefore it is alright to “terminate” it. So what happens to that life after it is born? What if a woman gives birth to a child and decides that she doesn’t want it?

To our credit, American society and the American justice system has determined that it is wrong to deliberately kill a newborn infant in cases like the one mentioned above. Nicole, was charged with first-degree murder with bail set at $1 million. This case isn’t anything new either. Who can forget 10 years ago when young Melissa Drexler gave birth in a bathroom stall at her senior prom, suffocated the baby boy, put his body in a trash can and continued on with the prom festivities? Originally charged with first-degree murder, she was eventually sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter.

But not all American born infants killed after delivery receive the same justice. According to Jill Stanek, “Induced-labor abortion is one of the best-kept secrets within American hospitals.” This procedure does not always kill the infant in-utero. Many times the infant is delivered alive, only to die on a shelf sometimes minutes or hours later. Despite the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, these cases are not heavily pursued.

And what about disabled newborns? With all that has been happening in Texas with baby Emilio, one has to wonder if we might one day face a push by doctors for active euthanasia for disabled infants – like what we see happening in the UK.

Bottom line: we must win this culture war! We must continue to spread the word and encourage women to love and care for the child that God has blessed them with – even if that means giving it up for adoption. All human beings are precious in the eyes of God and they all have the right to life. “We cannot solve all the problems in the world, but let us never bring in the worst problem of all, and that is to destroy love” (M. Teresa), which is what happens when we permit abortion and the killing of the most vulnerable in our society.

Read Jill Stanek’s testimony on induced labor abortions.

Previous posts:
Abortion Has Progressed to Infanticide
Lives Not Worth Living