Henry Morgentaler recevra la médaille de l'Ordre du Canada demain en matinée.
By John-Henry Westen
QUEBEC CITY, October 8, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) -
LifeSiteNews.com has learned that abortionist Henry Morgentaler will be awarded the Order of Canada on Friday at 10am in Quebec City.
Official announcement is planned only for Thursday late afternoon.
LifeSiteNews.com broke the story on Morgentaler's nomination to the Order of Canada two days prior to the official proclamation, launching a media frenzy.
The news service has since published over 70 news articles on the subject.
Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) the political arm of the pro-life movement has led the public outcry against the nomination with a petition of over 30,000 Canadians, commissioning the largest poll in the country on the subject (finding 56% opposed), and polling all Members of Parliament (finding over 100 MPs publicly in opposition).
Source: Lifesite
FRC Defends Conscience Law
U.S. Newswire
Tuesday, October 7, 2008, p. n/a
FRC Defends Conscience Law
866-FRC-NEWS, both of Family Research Council
WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Family Research Council (FRC) has released comments that FRC and several other groups filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in strong support of regulations to enforce statutes now on the books that protect health care providers' right of conscience. Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed regulations that increase public awareness of, and require governmental compliance with, these conscience protection statutes. HHS asked the public to comment on the proposed rules.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080930/FRCLOGO)
Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council released the following statement:
"The Church, Coats, and Weldon Amendments should be strongly enforced by the government just as every other civil rights law is. Many of the intended beneficiaries of these landmark federal statues, which are intended to protect health care providers' right of religious and moral conscience, do not know their rights under the law. The proposed HHS regulations are needed to educate health care workers about their conscience rights and implement these statutory protections.
"Recognizing that a right of conscience among healthcare workers needs to be enforced to ensure that health care providers are not discriminated against, such regulations would not undermine women's access to healthcare, despite what pro-abortion groups would have Americans believe. Rather, these regulations would implement conscience protections that are constitutionally guaranteed and have been embodied in statutory law for the past 35 years.
"Family Research Council urges the Department to enact the proposed regulations for the civil right protections guaranteed to health care workers."
Download a copy of FRC's comments at http://downloads.frc.org/EF/ EF08J02.pdf
SOURCE: Family Research Council
FRC to Host Panel Discussion on Post-Abortion Mental Health Effects
U.S. Newswire
Tuesday, October 7, 2008, p. n/a
FRC to Host Panel Discussion on Post-Abortion Mental Health Effects
866-FRC-News
WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Thursday, October 9,at 10:00 am, Family Research Council,will host a panel discussion with leading researchers and clinicians on abortion history and associated mental health effects. Data from numerous studies will be discussed and analyzed to explore associations between abortion and mental health, and substance abuse disorders. Additionally, results from a national poll conducted through the Elliot Institute examining politics and post-abortion awareness will be presented. Join us to learn more about the body of research the American Psychological Association failed to assess in its recent report on abortion and mental health.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080930/FRCLOGO)
Who:Priscilla K. Coleman, Ph.D., Bowling Green State University;
Catherine T. Coyle, RN, Ph.D., Alliance for Post-Abortion
Research & Training; Tom McClusky, Vice President for Government Affairs, FRC; David Reardon, Ph.D., Elliot Institute; Vincent M. Rue, Ph.D., Institute for Pregnancy Loss; Martha Shuping, M.D., Shuping & Associates
What:Panel Discussion: Post-Abortion Mental Health Effects, Awareness, and Politics
When: Thursday, October 9, 2008
10:00am - 12:00pm
Where: Family Research Council
801 G St, NW
Washington,DC20001
RSVP:1-800-225-4008
http://www.frc.org
*Complimentary lunch will be served*
SOURCE Family Research Council
Abortion Opponents Launch Campaign in 179 Cities Today
U.S. Newswire
Wednesday, September 24, 2008, p. n/a
Abortion Opponents Launch Campaign in 179 Cities Today
804-852-2979, [email protected]
40 Days for Life mobilizes thousands of volunteers for focused pro-life initiative during weeks prior to elections
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "During an election season in which abortion has emerged as a critical -- and potentially decisive -- issue, people across the nation need to be made aware of the reality of what abortion does to women, men, children, communities and our nation. So 42 days before Americans go to the polls to select new national, state, and local leaders, thousands of volunteers are launching a massive 40-day pro-life campaign simultaneously in 179 cities -- an initiative focused on prayer, fasting, and peaceful action that could have a profound effect on our nation at this crucial time," said David Bereit, national campaign director of 40 Days for Life.
40 Days for Life is a community-based campaign that is being conducted from September 24 until November 2. The focused effort is made up of 40 days of prayer and fasting, round-the-clock peaceful vigil outside an abortion facility or Planned Parenthood center, and grassroots educational outreach. 179 communities in 47 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa and two Canadian provinces are launching local campaigns today, making 40 Days for Life the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history. The full list of locations is online at http://www.40daysforlife.com/ location.cfm.
"With abortion in the forefront of the national debate during this heated political season, people of faith and conscience are coming out to 40 Days for Life kick-off events and getting involved in local campaigns in record numbers," said Bereit. "I am seeing a greater sense of urgency to end abortion in America right now than I have seen in the last decade."
Bereit explained that 40 Days for Life neither endorses any candidate nor campaigns against anyone seeking public office. "I am convinced that the change in the abortion status quo will begin as a spiritual change," he said. "The nation is beginning to undergo a spiritual conversion that will ultimately turn our society away from abortion. That spiritual change will then be reflected in the political realm, as elected officials will recognize the will of the people and respond accordingly to protect the life of every human -- born and pre-born."
CONTACT:
Amber Dolle
40 Days for Life
804-852-2979
[email protected]
SOURCE 40 Days for Life
2008 U.S. Newswire
Family Research Council to Defend Ireland Abortion Ban
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Family Research Council announced today that that the European Court of Human Rights has granted permission for the organization to defend Ireland's ban on the practice of abortion. FRC will be represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and organizations.
"Family Research Council is proud to be working with the Alliance Defense Fund in this important battle," said Bill Saunders, FRC's Human Rights Counsel and Senior Fellow of the Center for Human Life and Bioethics, "Ireland has wisely chosen to protect its most vulnerable citizens and we will work tirelessly to ensure that unborn children remain protected in Ireland."
"No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless. ADF and FRC are looking forward to defending Ireland's abortion ban so that scores of pre-born children are guaranteed the protection the Irish people gave them," said ADF Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull. "This case is not only pivotal to Europe; it's pivotal to America. With greater frequency, the U.S. Supreme Court looks across the ocean to see what other countries are doing when considering its own cases. This case could be the Roe v. Wade of Europe."
The case was filed initially by three women who sought abortions in Ireland and were unable to do so. The European Court granted the opportunity for three pro-life organizations to file a brief defending Ireland's abortion ban. A hearing could occur as early as next year.
For more information, including the court order, visit http://www.telladf.org/
SOURCE Family Research Council
© 2008 PR Newswire
Family Research Council to Defend Ireland Abortion Ban
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Family Research Council announced today that that the European Court of Human Rights has granted permission for the organization to defend Ireland's ban on the practice of abortion. FRC will be represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and organizations.
"Family Research Council is proud to be working with the Alliance Defense Fund in this important battle," said Bill Saunders, FRC's Human Rights Counsel and Senior Fellow of the Center for Human Life and Bioethics, "Ireland has wisely chosen to protect its most vulnerable citizens and we will work tirelessly to ensure that unborn children remain protected in Ireland."
"No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless. ADF and FRC are looking forward to defending Ireland's abortion ban so that scores of pre-born children are guaranteed the protection the Irish people gave them," said ADF Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull. "This case is not only pivotal to Europe; it's pivotal to America. With greater frequency, the U.S. Supreme Court looks across the ocean to see what other countries are doing when considering its own cases. This case could be the Roe v. Wade of Europe."
The case was filed initially by three women who sought abortions in Ireland and were unable to do so. The European Court granted the opportunity for three pro-life organizations to file a brief defending Ireland's abortion ban. A hearing could occur as early as next year.
For more information, including the court order, visit http://www.telladf.org/
SOURCE Family Research Council
© 2008 PR Newswire
Open Letter from Head of the Knights of Columbus to Senator Joseph Biden
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following open letter from the head of the Knights of Columbus, Carl Anderson, to Senator Joseph Biden was published in major newspapers on Friday, September 19, 2008, including USA Today, the Washington Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN
Dear Senator Biden:
I write to you today as a fellow Catholic layman, on a subject that has become a major topic of concern in this year's presidential campaign.
The bishops who have taken public issue with your remarks on the Church's historical position on abortion are far from alone. Senator Obama stressed your Catholic identity repeatedly when he introduced you as his running mate, and so your statements carry considerable weight, whether they are correct or not. You now have a unique responsibility when you make public statements about Catholic teaching.
On NBC's Meet the Press, you appealed to the 13th Century writings of St. Thomas Aquinas to cast doubt on the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church on abortion.
There are several problems with this.
First, Aquinas obviously had only a medieval understanding of biology, and thus could only speculate about how an unborn child develops in the womb. I doubt that there is any other area of public policy where you would appeal to a 13th Century knowledge of biology as the basis for modern law.
Second, Aquinas' theological view is in any case entirely consistent with the long history of Catholic Church teaching in this area, holding that abortion is a grave sin to be avoided at any time during pregnancy.
This teaching dates all the way back to the Didache, written in the second century. It is found in the writings of Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine and Aquinas, and was reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council, which described abortion as "an unspeakable crime" and held that the right to life must be protected from the "moment of conception." This consistent teaching was restated most recently last month in the response of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Statements that suggest that our Church has anything less than a consistent teaching on abortion are not merely incorrect; they may lead Catholic women facing crisis pregnancies to misunderstand the moral gravity of an abortion decision.
Neither should a discussion about a medieval understanding of the first few days or weeks of life be allowed to draw attention away from the remaining portion of an unborn child's life. In those months, even ancient and medieval doctors agreed that a child is developing in the womb.
And as you are well aware, Roe v. Wade allows for abortion at any point during a pregnancy.
Finally, your unwillingness to bring your Catholic moral views into the public policy arena on this issue alone is troubling.
There were several remarkable ironies in your first appearance as Senator Obama's running mate on the steps of the old state capitol in Springfield, Illinois.
His selection as the first black American to be the nominee of a major party for president of the United States owes an incalculable debt to two movements that were led by people whose religious convictions motivated them to confront the moral evils of their day - the abolitionist movement of the 19th Century, and the civil rights movement of the 20th Century.
Your rally in Springfield took place just a mile or so from the tomb of Abraham Lincoln, who in April 1859 wrote these words in a letter to Henry Pierce:
"This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it."
Lincoln fought slavery in the name of "a just God" without embarrassment or apology. He confronted an America in which black Americans were not considered "persons" under the law, and were thus not entitled to fundamental Constitutional rights. Today, children of all races who are fully viable and only minutes from being born are also denied recognition as "persons" because of the Roe v. Wade regime that you so strongly support. Lincoln's reasoning regarding slavery applies with equal force to children who are minutes, hours or days away from birth.
The American founders began our great national quest for liberty by declaring that we are all "created equal." It took nearly a century to transform that bold statement into the letter of the law, and another century still to make it a reality. The founders believed that we are "endowed by [our] Creator with certain unalienable rights," and that first among these is "life."
You have a choice: you can listen to your conscience and work to secure the rights of the unborn to share in the fruits of our hard- won liberty, or you can choose to turn your back on them.
On behalf of the 1.28 million members of the Knights of Columbus and their families in the United States, I appeal to you, as a Catholic who acknowledges that life begins at conception, to resolve to protect this unalienable right. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues personally with you in greater detail during the weeks between now and November 4.
Respectfully,
Carl A. Anderson
Supreme Knight
SOURCE Knights of Columbus
© 2008 U.S. Newswire
'I Am Sarah, Watch Me Act'
National Post
National
Issues & Ideas, Wednesday, September 10, 2008, p. A20
'I Am Sarah, Watch Me Act'
Barbara Kay National Post
How I wish I'd been the proverbial fly on the wall watching the changing expressions on Barack Obama's face as Sarah Palin delivered her already-legendary speech at the Republican convention last Wednesday.
I imagine his pre-speech expression as alert, but relaxed paternalism, like a chief surgeon set to supervise a lowly resident's clumsy initial attempt at an appendectomy. Then puzzlement as the surgeon realizes that he's to be the patient, and finally horror as, strapped to the table and, before a nation of fascinated onlookers, he is subjected to ... a palinoscopy!
Oh, she got through to him all right. For eight months critics haven't really laid more than glancing blows on Obama, because they were jabbing away at his exterior. Sarah got him right in the gut.
Humour is permitted entry to dark cavities closed to straight criticism, so Palin used steady-handed wit as her probe. As every comedian and experienced public speaker knows, failed on-stage humour is first cousin to death. Factor in the supreme importance of the occasion, an audience of 39 million voters, the greedy gaze of slavering media hyenas and the enormous additional risk of "dissing" an African-American saint: What we witnessed on that Minnesota stage, my friends, was an awesome demonstration of raw courage.
Palin's mockery tickled Obama's worrisome polyps of swollen self-regard (the "styrofoam pillars"), his history of words over action ("two memoirs, but no major bills"), his curious pattern of risk avoidance (unlike community organizers, mayors have "actual responsibilities") and his tendency to solipsism(presidential journeys are not "voyages of personal discovery").
Peggy Noonan, doyenne of American political-trends commentary, was galvanized by Palin's performance: "It is starting to look to me like a nation-defining election ... This campaign is about to become: epic," she wrote in the weekend Wall Street Journal.
I agree. But win or lose the election, Sarah Palin has already altered the cultural landscape of America, possibly of the Western world. In years to come, social archeologists will mark her speech as the official beginning of an end to the gender wars, and, one hopes, a return to trust and collaboration between the sexes.
Because Palin proved you don't need the Sisterhood to pierce the glass ceiling. In her single calculated comment about women, she said, "This is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity."
Got that? It wasn't Gloria Steinem that put me on this podium. It was my made-in-small-town-America traditional social values combined with old-fashioned patriotism and Alaska-instilled pioneerism.
Palin isn't "redefin[ing] the feminist ideal," as Jonathan Kay put it yesterday in his column's misguided paean to Palin as a kind of multi-function iFeminist for the postmodern woman. Ideologybased behaviour of any kind is irrelevant to Palin, and millions of other small-town women -- and always was. Love of family, community, country -- not conspiracy theories -- is what guides their political compass.
The ultimate American individual, Palin wasn't ever committed to any collectivity but America itself. She was never "I am Woman, hear me roar." She was always, "I am Sarah, watch me act." Palin represents what would have happened to American women without a feminist revolution. For legal and social equity for women was bound to arise organically through political and cultural reform, as more and more women entered university and the work force, a process well underway before feminism became an organized movement.
In a free society a cat may look at a king. Feminists thundering disdain at Palin's lack of experience (as a surrogate for their panic over her indifference to feminism) would do well to remember the trajectory of their own movement's cat that looked at the patriarchy.
Betty Friedan, author of The Feminist Mystique, the 1963 book that kicked off the modern feminist movement, was no Adam Smith or Karl Marx. She was a political nobody, a bored, disgruntled housewife who mistook her own tiny world of white, urban, middle-class, university-educated peers as representative of all American women.
In fact, Friedan's true acolytes always were, and remain, "dormitory feminists," a small, but noisily aggrieved iceberg calved from the real female masses Palin so brilliantly champions.
What were Friedan's credentials for changing the world? Friedan studied psychology at Smith College, dabbled in journalism, flirted with communism(it shows in feminism's Marxist stripes), mothered three children and gave domestically violent tit for tat to her husband in a failed marriage before writing her famous book. Some resume.
The "methodology" behind her "research" consists of her interpretation of a 1957 questionnaire she sent to former Smith College classmates. Friedan claimed that 60% of her respondents "could not honestly say" they found homemaking "totally fulfilling." From this she concluded that the home was a "comfortable concentration camp" for mothers, all of whom (even if they mightn't admit it) suffered from "the problem that has no name."
And yet she emerged from her utter political obscurity and academic amateurism as the matriarch of an enormously consequential movement. Following the book's landslide success -- one of its direct offshoots was the disruption of the Miss America pageant Mr. Kay details in his column-- Friedan became the guiding force for the National Women's Political Caucus and the National Abortion Rights Action Council (NARAL). Her reign had more impact on American life than the work of any 50 vice-presidents combined.
So feminists, enough with the hypocrisy. Show some respect for Sarah Palin, who is far more credentialed to advance America's interests than Friedan was for yours. (Note to Jonathan: There was no need even to think of waking up your daughters and "dragging them to the TV" for inspiration from Sarah Palin, as she'd probably be the first to tell you. Their own mother's achievements, and, more important, the reliable presence and loving encouragement of a strong father are the best predictors for women's self-confidence and worldly success. So relax.)
It may cause some "discomfort," the medical parlance for pain, but if, as I believe, we have just seen the curtain begin to fall on the sexually adversarial, anti-family wing of the feminist movement, Sarah Palin's -- er-- rear-guard invasion of Obama and, by extension, the feminism-marinated liberal establishment, will already have performed wonders for America's cultural health.
[email protected]
2008 National Post
Richard Viguerie: She's Perfect
Palin a 'Natural Choice for Catholics'
Palin a 'Natural Choice for Catholics'
312-276-5119, [email protected]
CHICAGO, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- John McCain's decision to pick a pro-family and pro-life running mate will make the McCain-Palin ticket a 'natural' for Catholic voters, said Brian Burch, President of Fidelis Political Action.
"A presidential candidate's first major executive decision is selecting a running mate and John McCain's unexpected choice of Sarah Palin inspires real confidence that a McCain Administration will be a strong ally in the pro-life and pro-family cause," said Burch. "Governor Palin is the most pro-life vice presidential candidate ever to run. We are thrilled with this choice."
"John McCain and Sarah Palin have matched their public defense of life with their own personal commitment to life," said Burch.
Burch noted that earlier this year Palin made news with the birth of her fifth child, whom she welcomed into life despite a pre-natal diagnosis that revealed the child had Down Syndrome. The governor made national headlines when she proclaimed: "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection. Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"
John McCain also matched his 20-year pro-life voting record with his family's own commitment to life. John and Cindy McCain brought two orphaned girls from Bangladesh to receive medical treatment in the United States. The McCain family adopted one of them, Bridget. McCain's friend adopted the other girl.
"In both cases, we see true pro-family leaders. They stand up strong for life in the halls of power but also live the message of life in their families," said Burch.
"The inspired choice of Sarah Palin highlights the radical views of Obama- Biden on life and marriage. Catholic voters couldn't have a starker contrast this November," said Burch."Catholics, like most Americans, are cautiously optimistic that the troop surge has calmed Iraq. Catholics will naturally turn their attention to which candidate will stand strong on behalf of families," said Burch.
"Barack Obama is not that candidate. Barack Obama wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. His first act as President has nothing to do with energy or Iraq. He wants to enshrine the right to abortion in federal law by signing the Freedom of Choice Act," said Burch.
"Barack Obama is so extreme on abortion that he thinks that babies who survive an abortion and are miraculously born alive should be refused food and water and be left to die," said Burch."John McCain, together with Sarah Palin, is a natural choice for Catholics. McCain has a strong pro-life record and he has made a commitment to selecting judges who will respect the Constitution. McCain has even bucked his own party on immigration and torture. We think these positions align John McCain closer to Catholic teaching and we are proud to stand with him as he prepares for a very difficult election ahead," said Burch.
"The stakes of this election are too large to ignore. Abortion supporters are awaiting the opportunity to eliminate years of progress on pro-life legislation by electing a President who supports abortion. There are six justices on the Supreme Court over the age of 68, and granting President Obama the opportunity to fill possible vacancies would be disastrous.
SOURCE Fidelis
2008 U.S. Newswire