Banning Cloning in Missouri!

ChelseaCloningLeave a Comment

I told you it was coming and now it’s finally underway! The petition to prohibit human cloning in the state of Missouri has officially been launched today. Dr. Lori Buffa, of St. Peters, Missouri, who serves as chair of the coalition Cures Without Cloning, filed proposed ballot language with the Secretary of State’s office this morning. The coalition seeks to ban human cloning in Missouri and focus on research that leads to lifesaving cures and treatments:

THE MISSOURI CURES WITHOUT CLONING INITIATIVE

NOTICE: You are advised that the proposed constitutional amendment may change, repeal, or modify by implication, or may be construed by some persons to change, repeal or modify by implication, Article III, Sections 36 and 38(d), Article IV, Sections 23 and 28, and Article X, Sections 1, 2, and 3, of the Missouri Constitution.

THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF MISSOURI

Be it resolved by the people of the state of Missouri that the Constitution be amended :

One new section is adopted by adding one new section to be known as Section 38(e) of Article III, to read as follows:

Section 38(e) 1. It shall be unlawful to clone or attempt to clone a
human being. Researchers may conduct stem cell research to discover cures
for disease and develop stem cell therapies and cures, provided that the
research complies with the limitations of this section and, in addition,
the limitations of Section 38(d).
2. For all purposes within this constitution:

(1) “Clone or attempt to clone a human being” includes the
creation of or the attempt to create, by means other
than fertilization of a human egg with human sperm, a
new human organism that is virtually identical
genetically to an existing or previously existing human
organism or human organisms.
(2) “Human organism” means human life in any stage. Human
life begins with an initial stage, when a single human
egg cell receives a complete set of forty-six
chromosomes, and continues through any subsequent stages
of embryonic, fetal, postnatal, and later development.

3. No taxpayer dollars shall be expended: (1) to clone or
attempt to clone a human being; or (2) to research or
experiment using a human organism, or any part of a
human organism, derived from cloning or attempting to
clone a human being.

If you would like to contribute to this effort please contact Missouri Right to Life. I am so excited to start working on this campaign!!

Abortion Support Losing Ground?

ChelseaAbortion, Women1 Comment

A spoke previously about post Roe policy and pro-choice Anna Quindlen’s Newsweek article, How Much Jail Time?. In his August 15 op-ed for the West Branch Times, Gregory R. Norfleet reflects on that column and the pro-choicers’ ultimatum for pro-lifers: either throw women and jail for having abortions or keep abortion legal:

Quindlen’s column seems to imply that she’s getting tired of abortion opponents’ constant pounding away at the law as written. Indeed, since Roe v. Wade, abortion opponents have successfully chipped away at it with things like parental notification laws, rights for the unborn and “partial-birth abortion” restrictions. Quindlen does not try to advance the discussion, but to end it.

Here’s another question: Put yourself in place of the baby — how would you feel if your mother weighed the pros and cons of an abortion based upon how it affected her future without giving the same weight to how if affected yours?

When John Roberts was facing a Senate panel before becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, abortion proponents in the Senate wondered how he would handle an abortion case, and kept referring to the 1973 decision as “settled law.” It should be easy to argue that a law that has stood for 34 years is “settled,” but not when it comes to abortion. The fight still rages, and it has been a major question of presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races ever since then.

It could be that Quindlen and other “pro-choicers” realize they are starting to lose ground and would rather someone come along and say the game should end while the abortion proponents are still ahead.

It seems unlikely.

Also, leaders from the Silent No More Awareness Campaign responded to Quindlen saying, “women are already serving time for abortion right now in our own prisons.”

Harry Potter, Magic and Contraception

ChelseaContraception, Euthanasia, Pro LifeLeave a Comment

As a Harry Potter fan, I love this article by Catholic columnist Matt C. Abbott (via MICH News) about Harry Potter and the historical link between witchcraft and contraception:

In contrast to this historical sorcery and witchcraft, most of the characters in Harry Potter appear to follow the natural law in terms of marriage, family, and those rights and obligations reserved to these venerable institutions. For example, the Weasley family provides the main supporting characters for the protagonist, Harry Potter.

Arthur and Mollie Weasley are the parents of seven children. (One of whom is Harry’s best friend, and another who is the object of his romance). Mrs. Weasley, the matriarch, is positively portrayed as a stay-at-home mother who sacrifices her own wants for the good of her children. Her husband, Mr. Weasley, has sacrificed advancement and higher salary so that he can partake in his children’s moral upbringing. Despite being a witch and a wizard, the two appear to have a fertile marriage in keeping with the natural law. One would think they could conjure up some contraception given its close historical link to witchcraft.

The courtship between Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour provides a younger example of a witch and wizard appearing to avoid historic sorcery in favor of the natural law. The oldest Weasley sibling is a very handsome young man. Miss Delacour is a young woman of magical beauty who dearly loves her fiancé. Yet the couple appears to maintain separate bedrooms prior to marriage.

When they find themselves under the same roof on the night before their wedding, both sets of parents are present. Fleur shares a bedroom with her sister, while Bill bunks with his best man. They do not share a bedroom until after the couple is married.

Conclusion:
The witchcraft of Harry Potter is for the most part pure fantasy. On the other hand, contraception — which is never mentioned in the Harry Potter books — is accepted as morally licit by many who claim to be Bible-believing Christians. As such, Harry Potter offers orthodox Catholics an opportunity to evangelize Protestants in the spiritual dangers of contraceptive sorcery.

I forgot about Bill and Fleur’s pre-wedding sleeping arrangements when I was writing my “pro-life” HP post last month. Also, in one of Rowlings quirkier moments, in book 6, when the students were maturing in their male/female relationships (which involves some common room “snogging”), in Ch. 17 she changed the password to the Gryffindor common room abstinence (p. 331, paperback).

Incidentally there was also a column last week in the American Spectator about the apparent endorsement of euthanasia in book 7 regarding the agreement between Snape and Prof. Dumbledore (that Snape would kill Dumbledore if his death was inevitable). Admittedly this had many HP fans, like myself, scratching their heads. I don’t have a lot of time to go into too much detail, but Dumbledore’s murder/suicide or whatever it was, was not your standard “I’m getting old and sick and I just can’t go on anymore” kind of thing. It was a difficult situation which involved him, I believe, trying to save one of his students who had a promise to Voldemort to kill Dumbledore. Also, we find out in book 7 that Dumbledore is not the virtuous man we all thought we was and not someone to be emulated.

Greetings From Naples!!

ChelseaPersonalLeave a Comment

I know I kind of disappeared for a while there. It was a pretty crazy week at home. My baby sister went away to school and I was playing musical dressers and packing. So now I’m here in Naples (Florida) for a few days visiting some friends. Besides going to the beach I hope to take a trip out to Ave Maria and see the new campus. If I never mentioned it before, I went to Ave Maria University for a year while it was still in Naples. The wireless is a little touchy at my friend’s place, so I’m not sure how much posting I will do, if any. I will be posting few stories I didn’t have time to get to last week. Here are a few pics from the pier in Naples a few years ago when I was in school down here. The person with me is the friend I’m staying with, Nina.

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World’s Most Famous Fetus

ChelseaFamily, Media, Pro Life, Ultrasound4 Comments

The most popular person on Facebook today hasn’t even been born yet. In order to keep their family and friends updated on their first pregnancy, an Australian couple joined the social nullnetworking group. Instead of putting their profile in either, or both, of the couple’s names, they turned it into a profile for their unborn child – “Bubba” – using the child’s ultrasound as it’s profile pic. Bubba, however, is fast receiving friend requests from all over. The couple reports over 100 already. I’ve been on Facebook for almost two years and I’ve only got about half that! This story has been picked up on several news outlets outside of Australia already. It’s great to see the humanity of the unborn recognized so widely. Though Fox News had to add this little comment:

At present, 25 people are listed as the baby’s “friends”, but publicity surrounding the profile has prompted others to come forward and apply to be part of Bubba Waring’s (as yet unstarted) life*.

Nice try, but I think it’s pretty clear that this little child’s life has already started.

*It looks like that line was an add in on Fox’s part. The line from the original story they took it from reads:

So far, 25 people are listed as the baby’s “friends”, but publicity surrounding the profile has prompted others to apply to share in Bubba Waring’s journey.

More Stem Cell Research Whining in MO

ChelseaAmendment 2, Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Pro Life2 Comments

I find it amazing that, in a state which guarantees researchers a constitutional right to conduct ESC research and create and destroy human embryos for scientific research, supporters of such research can still find something to complain about. The NY Times ran this article last week about how the cloning amendment passed last year has changed very little in the area of life sciences in Missouri. Besides the lack of state funds, their other major grievance is that the darn opposition just won’t lay off. Last session, not even a year after the constitutional amendment passed, Rep. Jim Lembke attempted to pass a resolution to get a real cloning ban in front of Missouri voters in 2008. The resolution went nowhere, but it was an attempt the pro-cloners were not expecting and were not happy with.

If the pro-cloners are frightened of pro-life opposition in Missouri, they have very good reason to be. And if they’re not, they should be. When Missouri pro-lifers get serious, big things can happen. In 1999 pro-life Democrats (yes, they do exist) listened to the cry of the pro-life citizens who put them in the majority, and, wishing to stay in office, stood up to their pro-choice Democrat Governor (the late Mel Carnahan) and sent him a ban on partial birth abortion. Then they came back and overrode the governor’s veto. The House’s veto override took place during the largest pro-life rally the Capitol has ever seen (5 to 7 thousand red-clad pro-lifers were in attendance). If that doesn’t show the tremendous impact of Missouri’s pro-life movement, I don’t know what does. Except, perhaps the unbelievable headway we made against Amendment 2 last year. Instead of maintaining even a comfortable majority, cloners were shocked by a slim margin of 51 percent to 49 percent, with 97 of the state’s 114 counties voting against the amendment – an amazing accomplishment when you consider the deceptive nature of the supporters’ campaign and the fact that we were outspent by tens of millions of dollars.

How did we do it? The majority, if not all, of our success can only be attributed to the grace of the Holy Spirit which armed us with one simple thing – truth. Post election studies revealed that the main message that helped convert amendment supporters was cloning. Pro-lifers didn’t run around the state talking about religion and citing Scripture passages, though faith and traditional moral values were the driving force behind the anti-A2 campaign. We brought in scientists, doctors and other medical professionals to explain to the public the science behind human cloning and how it was being redefined by the other side. The more the people heard the truth about human cloning the more the pendulum would swing in our direction – no wonder the cloners tried to change its definition.

So now, with Lembke’s cloning resolution defeated in the legislature, the ball to give voters a real cloning ban is now in the people’s court and we’re ready to play. Sorry, cloners, defeat is just not in our vocabulary. This is certain, the passage of amendment 2 strengthened the resolve of the pro-life lobby in Missouri and for that we probably owe it a debt of gratitude. The cloners are finally starting to realize, much like the Democrats did in ’99, that Missouri really is a pro-life state – I’d be scared, too, if I were them.

Read Wesley Smith’s assessment of the bias in the NYT article.
Previous post: Pro-Life Efforts Paying Off in Missouri

Personal, non-relevant, factoid: the 1999 pro-life rally and House override was held on Sept. 15 – my 17th birthday. I am ashamed to say that I was not in attendance, nor did I know it was even going on – I was in my own little world at the time.

These People Really Are Fooling Themselves

Chelsea2008 Election, Politics, Pro LifeLeave a Comment

Or, more accurately, they are trying to fool the rest of us: SoCons For Rudy

Jay Anderson nailed it:

If they were TRULY either social conservatives or pro-lifers, they would NOT support Rudy. They have other priorities completely unrelated to building a culture of life.

Visit my Giuliani archive

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Praying and Picketing at Planned Parenthood

ChelseaAbortion, Activism1 Comment

Here I am with the same group of kids that help me out downtown on the 4th of July. We went to Columbia, MO last Friday to picket the Planned Parenthood there. It’s something we used to do on a fairly regular basis, but haven’t in quite some time. We do hope to pick up the pace again in the future. This is one passionate and dedicated group of kids and I am privileged just to know them.

The PP we were at is the same PP I posted on last month which says that it will stop killing children once HB 1055 (the new law regulating abortion clinics) goes into effect on Aug. 28 – that’s in two weeks! We should probably all go up there on that day for prayer and thanksgiving! We will continue to show up there (and at the PP in our hometown, which does not do abortions) for picketing even after the 28th, however, because PP is still the largest abortion provider in the United States and their message of sex without consequence is polluting the moral fabric of this nation.

Reclaim the truth of human sexuality:
John Paul II’s Theology of the Body
What is the Theology of the Body & Why is it Changing so Many Lives?
Theology of the Body, the original audiences by JPII

“A Person is a Person No Matter How Small”

ChelseaPro Life, videoLeave a Comment

That famous pro-life mantra, adopted from the late Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, will be heard on the big screen next March (HT: Pro-Life With Christ). It’s a re-write of the original, but I hope they leave that now famous phrase in there! Here is a trailer:

You can also watch the original animated version from 1970 on You Tube in 4 parts: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

Seuss’ widow, Audrey Geisel, serves as one of the executive producers of this film and, according to Life Site News is a supporter of Planned Parenthood, abortion and the homosexual movement. Neither Geisel, nor her late husband, were ever fond of pro-lifers using that phrase and even threatened legal action against one group. Hopefully her charities and her involvement in the film don’t make it questionable for pro-lifers to financially support the movie (as if this would be much different or worse than supporting anything else that comes from Hollywood).

Contraception Videos

ChelseaContraception, videoLeave a Comment

If you haven’t been on You Tube lately you might want to check out some of their videos about contraception.

I have always thought there was something wrong with taking medication when there is nothing physically wrong with you. Fertility is not a disease or condition that requires medical attention. Ovulation, and even pregnancy, is a normal, healthy part of a woman’s reproductive cycle, though, admittedly it is, at times, a nightmare to experience. So what happens when women start taking hormonal contraceptives to repress normal, healthy ovulation or otherwise alter the natural (and, again, healthy) cycle of female fertility and reproduction? SoConTV has been posting a series of videos on the medical consequences of contraception as explained by noted endocrinologist Dr. Maria Kraw (HT, Pro-Life Blogs).

Part 1:

It is a 12 part series recorded at the Humanae Vitae 2006 conference in Canada. You can catch the rest of the videos here.

I also found an excellent video explaining how the birth control pill (yes, the normal one, not just “plan b”) works as an abortifacient. This is something BC manufacturers still do not like to make public. Most women taking the pill still think that they are just preventing ovulation, when in fact may also be preventing the implantation of their already conceived unborn children:

I love these videos on NFP vs. Contraception, directed, written, acted, and edited by Catholic seminarians at the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha. This is my favorite of the 4 videos. It points out the cooperation between men and women using NFP and how it increases marital intimacy:

Find out more on NFP at, The Family of the Americas, NFP Outreach and the Couple to Couple League

Bottom line, fertility is not a disease. It is not a medical condition which should be eradicated. It is a beautiful gift from God which helps us to share in his life giving love. It is time to reclaim the truth and meaning of human sexuality:
John Paul II’s Theology of the Body
What is the Theology of the Body & Why is it Changing so Many Lives?
Theology of the Body, the original audiences by JPII

Previous posts:
NFP vs. Contraception
Contraception Prevents Abortion, Doesn’t It?
Married Life and the Gift of Love