Discord Among Brothers Standing for the Life of the Unborn

¹⁶ There are six things that the Lord hates,
   seven that are detestable to him: 
¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
   and hands that shed innocent blood, 
¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked plans,
   feet that hurry to run to evil, 
¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies,
   and one who spreads strife among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

I was out at the Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois this morning.  We regularly go out there each month.  Also there today, as usual for the third Saturday, were the Knights of Columbus praying the rosary, begging Mary's intercession to end abortion.

While they were praying someone from Abolish Human Abortion (AHA) was razzing them on his battery powered, loud megaphone.  He explained later to the person replacing him, also from AHA, that he had to yell things into his megaphone to keep him from throwing up as they were praying to a false god, etc. etc.

Two of the Knights came over to him after they finished praying the rosary, and explained that they understood he didn't agree with how they prayed, but could he please either move away or otherwise ignore them so they could pray in peace.  He said it was his right to say whatever he wanted.  Things escalated a bit--verbally, and a squad car drove up and honked loudly to get them to separate.  

I was standing on the clinic side, with information on the nearby pregnancy center and was pretty much staying out of it.  I didn't like what the AHA megaphone guy was saying about the Catholics or Mary, but I just ignored it because I wasn't there to argue.

The Knights and the others that prayed with them left.  The AHA guy did not, and continued to mouth-off citing scripture that doesn't exist to say how the Catholics were dark and he was salt and light.

Again I heard him, but ignored him.

Then he said, "God doesn't want them to pray the Hail Mary.  Their Hail Mary prayers just fall to the ground.  God doesn't hear their prayers.  Their prayers are as worthless as the ground they were standing on."

"No where in the Bible does it say Hail Mary."

That is when my adrenaline fired off, and I yelled.  "Yes it does!  How can you say that?  The angel Gabriel greeted Mary with 'Hail full of Grace.'  The rest of the prayer is from her sister Elizabeth, 'Blessed are you among women.'"

At this point, in their eyes, I became a lost soul in need of saving.  

Prior to this they assumed I was a Protestant since I am a chaperone for my kids' non-denominational Christian school's pro-life events.

I continued yelling, "You are ignorant saying these things.  You keep telling everyone what God says but you are not quoting anything that is actually in Scripture.  Most scary you are as bad as Naral or Planned Parenthood.  These people are on the same side of us.  Here praying to end abortion.  They are our brothers and sisters in Christ and you are judging them.  That is a terrible example for your children.  Do you know the Parable of the Steward that was forgiven much but could not show mercy?"

The second AHA guy came over to me.  I looked up and began reading beginning at Luke 1:26.  

He said, "That is an angel greeting her.  Are you an angel?  It doesn't say you should pray the Hail Mary in the Bible."

I said, "Where in the Bible does it say to not pray the Hail Mary?  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created Mary of all women to be the vessel to bring Jesus into the world.  It says Jesus will be the Son of the Most High God.  He is also the son of Mary.  You are going to have to answer one day for not honoring his Mother.  The Catholics are right to venerate her.  He gave her to be our Mother too as he hung on the cross."

He turned to John 3:3 and told me how I needed to be born again.

I yelled, "I am born again.  That is what Baptism is."

Then he turned to some other verse--I couldn't hear because he was shouting over me, but it was something about preaching a doctrine other than Christ.  Maybe 1 Timothy 6:3?  

"Catholics preach Christ.  Christ is the only mediator between us and God.  St. Therese taught her sisters to beg the Father to look at them through the holy face of Christ.  Here tell me what doctrine of Christ the Catholics don't preach and I'll check the Catechism for you."  

Him, "Do you think Mary never sinned?"

Me, "No she didn't.  She was preserved from sin from her conception. That is what full of grace means."

At this he walked back to the other side of the street.

Our group leader tried to get me to calm down, but the only thing that re-focused me was when a couple started walking into the Planned Parenthood and I wanted to try to get them the information on the free clinic.

I have a feeling I'll be counseled to not lose my cool again.  I failed this time.  I guess there is a way to gently disagree, but you have to admit, it is hard to do that with someone using a battery operated megaphone.

The policeman came by and talked to me and said remember what Paul said in Philippians about fighting among each other.  

I told him, "I don't like it either officer."

And he said, "Peace be with you."

I speed read the whole book of Philippians afterwards and didn't find the verse he mentioned, but I did find this one in 1 Corinthians 1

10 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you should be in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose. (1 Corinthians 1:10)

So I failed to be a peaceful, gentle, meek witness today.  Did get to talk to one man whose wife was in for an abortion.  I told him to plead with her to please come to the Waterleaf clinic for a free ultrasound.  Not sure what happened with that. 

What do you think?  Would you have held your tongue?

Now if you use a version of the Bible other than the Douay Rheims it is true you are likely to just see Greetings, Favored One.  But this doesn't mean that is the correct translation from the Greek.

Please see http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/a116.htm.

You'll find the the angel Gabriel's salutation to Mary: "Chaire, Kecharitomene" (translated in the Douay-Rheims and other Catholic versions as "Hail, Full of Grace" or "gratia plena" in the Latin Vulgate) is valid.

" 'Highly favoured' (kecharitomene). Perfect passive participle of charitoo and means endowed with grace (charis), enriched with grace as in Ephesians 1:6 . . . The Vulgate gratiae plena [full of grace] "is right, if it means 'full of grace which thou hast received'; wrong, if it means 'full of grace which thou hast to bestow' " (A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, p. 14)
"It is permissible, on Greek grammatical and linguistic grounds, to paraphrase kecharitomene as completely, perfectly, enduringly endowed with grace."(Blass and DeBrunner, Greek Grammar of the New Testament).

Back at the Front

Yesterday morning it was chilly and windy.  Still there was no question I was going to the "Witness to Life" at the Planned Parenthood Aurora with my kids' school.  Before I went my youngest was asking me how come I went so often.  He also said he knew why they made so much money killing the babies.  It was because, "The babies are worth more than millions of gemstones."

We didn't have a great turnout kid wise.  We almost had as many chaperones as kids, but we did have three new kids, 7th graders, come for the first time.

Sadly it was very busy yesterday, and there also seemed to be larger percentage of teenagers going in.  My "sidewalk counseling" position was on the side of the Planned Parenthood driveway that most cars turn-out of exiting the parking lot.  I saw the girls in particular crying.  I saw a woman in her 20s scrambling for her cigarettes as if that would make her feel better.

Because we were down in high school girl attendance, only 1 this time, I was the other primary counselor.  At this site, it is more parking lot yeller than counselor.  It was the first time I took this role as part of this is to give the girls the chance to act on their faith and love in a supported setting before they graduate high school, so they'll have the confidence and experience to do this in life.  So I usually just stand near-by, encourage them, keep them safe from traffic and any rude passer-bys.

Today was my turn though.  I was reading and posting scripture on the drive down, and felt strengthened by the Holy Spirit to make the most of my opportunity.  I've been going on these visits for 14 months now and this was the first time it was my role.

The window of opportunity for loudly speaking words that you hope will prick the mind, heart, and conscience of a woman, her friend, mother, father, grandmother, boyfriend are very brief.  It is also quite challenging as we know from personal experience when you are in pain you turn inward.  We also know from experience and scripture, that when one has made the decision to do evil, and suspend conscience and guilt until the follow-through is complete, you do not want to encounter anyone trying to get you out of auto-pilot and back into thinking with the better part of your God-formed mind and soul.

Also, as we were discussing on the bus, despite what Time magazine says about the pro-choice side losing, there is an increase of people that have had their thinking transformed by evil.  More and more we are encountering pro-choice advocates who acknowledge what is being destroyed is not a mass of fetal tissue, but a human pre-born baby, and their position is that life being extinguished is acceptable under various circumstances.  They'll begin with the emotionally charged circumstances of rape and incest (less than 1% of all abortions) and then increase it to include financial, emotional, relationship health of the mother.  This reminds me of a quote from a father who had incestuously abused his daughters over a long period of time, that the evil was so strong he believed that what he was doing was good for them and evidence of his love.

Similar, isn't it, to those who accuse us of intolerance and lack of compassion, when we consider ourselves to be the ones trying to defend life?  As I once explained to an anti-legislation Liberterian, if you as a parent or an uncle would be moved to action if your son or nephew were getting bullied and injured in the school playground and those in charge were doing nothing, turning a blind eye that it was some kind of social Darwinism or some other concoction to support their inaction and cowardice, so are we motivated to come out here in the face of legalized slaughter of innocent babies within the wombs, while our officials, many of them shamefully "Christian" or "Catholic" in their belief system justify its continuation and tax-supported funding (Planned Parenthood received $500+ million funds in 2011 while earning $1 Billion in profits).

The first moment for yelling something is when the car initially turns past you, to say something loud enough that it can be heard over the speaker.  Usually I can only get out, "If you are here for an abortion appointment today, we are here to help you.  There are other options.  The Waterleaf Women's Clinic is only a block and a half away and everything there is free."

Then you vigilantly wait until they emerge from their parked car.  Many times they try to park as far away from you as possible so as to not have to see or hear the pro-lifers across the street from the parking lot.  Far away is actually good, because then there is time to fire more comments, again - meant to prick the conscience and heart of those walking in.

Yesterday I said these things, not all of them with each woman walking in, just as they popped into my mind, praying and trusting the Holy Spirit would give me the words, better than a script:

"The joy and love of holding your newborn baby cannot be surpassed in this life."

"Planned Parenthood lies to you and to the public.  If you are here for an abortion appointment, we are here to help you.  There is women's center a block away, privately funded to help women choose to give their baby life, instead of death inside this center."

"90% of all women regret their decision to have an abortion.  If you care about your daughter, friend, girl friend, please get encourage her to reconsider."

"Women aren't the only ones wounded by abortion.  Men too are wounded and regret lost fatherhood."

After one woman gave me the finger quite strongly out her window while turning in I yelled all the louder as she was turning onto the sidewalk toward the escorts and the door, "Your baby, your little girl or boy, could have your smile, your eyes, your laugh. This is a life-ending and life-altering decision that you cannot undo."

Something about her belligerently giving me the finger gave me the fire to hit her with the strongest thing I thought I could say.

A gentleman that is in the field across from the center every Saturday yelled over to me, "Wow, a strong voice."  I let him know I was a basketball coach.  A strong voice is good for coaching and last minute defense of life witness.

On the more humble side, not everything came out of my mouth as smoothly as it does my keyboard now.  I wasn't studdering, but it was not in any means a smooth delivery.  There is this time pressure.  They want to get in and away from hearing you, and you want to get as many messages out as you can so that when they go in one of them will resonate and change their mind.

When the women come out after having an abortion, we try to let them know that we are still here for them.  I yelled,

"If you just had an abortion, we are here to help you.  Please get this counseling phone number.  There is healing and forgiveness."

"There are other women who have experienced the pain and grief you are going through, and they want to help you with Post-Abortive Depression.  Please stop and we can give you the information."

"If your daughter, grand-daughter, girl friend, friend is suffering, please look up Project Rachel, if you won't stop.  It can help her find healing and forgiveness."

Still very much aware of my inadequacy, which is why I kept praying the Jesus prayer for the women, the escorts, clinic workers, and all those working with me to defend life.  It is a consolation to trust in the power and effectiveness of God.  Of course I was also praying that the walls of the monster center would fall into rubble and gravel like the walls of Jericho as I was leaving.  Even just a small earthquake tremor would have been nice.  But that is my fallen nature.  Wanting to see God's action externally rather than trusting the same Holy Spirit that loves and strengthens me was also pursuing those on the other side of the private property line.

Here's the link to the video of our visit to Planned Parenthood, Aurora, IL on 1/19/2013:  http://youtu.be/Guk1NkdJXb8

Quick Takes - Not Giving Up on Truth

1. Factcheck.org, Snopes, Politifact.com, fact checker - claim to present facts but have been known to demonstrate some left-leaning, liberal bias.  And none have footnotes of the caliber you find on Wikipedia. I am really seeking an edited site that has facts cross-referenced and a credibilty score given to the reference source . . . e.g. if the source is an opinion or a claim vs. a fact. For example factchecker.org and politifact.com used a candidate's campaign website as a source for proving or disproving a claim by an opponent. Sometimes the answer is for the site to just declare a claim and a counter-claim as noise since neither is based on record and only a detailed, defended plan passes a threshold of legitimacy versus an empty promise to satisfy a voting segment.
   
   Philippians 4:8 -
   
   Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
2. Robert Feldman, author of The Liar in your Life, found in his research that two people, meeting for the first time, will lie to each other an average of three times in the first ten minutes of a conversation.
   
   Proverbs 12:22 -
   Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
3. Forget the politicians, who distort the truth in small and large ways in order to maximize votes. What about our friends, family, or better yet - me . . . how often do we lie? Why do we lie? Sure there are lots of degrees of "Not True".
   
    Remember when Happy Days (and other shows) would have a whole show premise being the difference in how the same event was remembered, with each reteller reshaping the telling to vindicate or augment the positive for how they acted?
   
   My own reflection is that we lie out of fear and distrust. Politicians lie because they fear their opponents will use the truth against them or that the people they want to vote for them are too uninformed, unintelligent, uneducated, selfish to appreciate their position relative to the truth.
   
   Proverbs 6:16-19
   There are six things which the LORD hates, seven which are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers.
4. Had to admit to myself that I had been sucked in by the bias of some of the pundits on Fox News channel, particularly Dick Morris and Karl Rove, to believe that the polls were incorrect, and Romney had a chance to pull out victories in the battleground states and the election.  Gallup has earned my respect.  I thought I was too educated to fall for hope over facts and polling science.  Nope.  I believed Dick Morris.  I rationalized that Conservatives had to be underrepresented in the polls because they are not home by a landline to receive a survey call.  Wrong, wrong!  Some of the articles on lying that I was scanning said that we are more likely to accept deceit as truth when it matches what we want to hear.
5. Remember when you first hit the internet and you found out bulletin boards, discussion groups, chat rooms were a source of unlimited information, but then discovered that much of it was not from primary, or secondary, or any source worth believing?  We were taught in high school and college to develop critical thinking skills and research skills and not to accept claims at face value.
   
   Whether your source of information is friends, family members, teachers, professors, lawyers, doctors, Fox News, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, Newsweek, Time, US News and World Reports, your husband, your child you will universally find that the truth is misrepresented, contradicted, distorted and transformed into a non-truth . . . ok a lie.
   
   Even when it is on your side that it occurs, it is still pretty disappointing.  As recently as today one of my pro-life sources of news was reporting that Abortion is the most common surgical procedure in the U.S.  It doesn't state in the news report the source of the quote, nor in a footnote after the news report.  After good 20 minutes of googling I found the source was a 1981 Chicago Tribune article.  But this is 2012 and that fact is now 31 years old.  Plus, there is trend toward "chemical" vs. surgical abortions now.  It is so hard to get at the facts.
   
   Planned Parenthood opted out of doing an annual report for 2011.  Why?  Well why provide facts that are good ammunition in an election year, right?  How about President Obama multiple times claiming Planned Parenthood provides mammograms?  Isn't that a convenient lie to tell in October, breast cancer awareness month, when even my son's tackle football organization has to wear pink socks, pink shoelaces, and pink ribbon sticker on their football helmets?  Yes it is.  Lots of positive heartfelt emotion to trigger in the desired female voting block that has some experience with a family, or friend that has battled breast cancer, and is now painfully aware of the importance of mammograms in catching the disease early.  I am going to look into what fact checking sites there are, and give them some kind of credibility score.  I am hoping we can find a source that's first priority isn't convincing, just accurately reflecting the truth with as little distortion, bias, belief filter as possible.  I would prefer being told this is what I know and why I am sure of it instead of, this is what I know, this is what probably follows from that, and this is why you should agree with me that this is the conclusion.  Wouldn't you?
   
   
6. John 18:38a - Pilate said to him (Jesus), "What is truth?"
   
   Why did Planned Parenthood spend $12 MILLION DOLLARS to re-elect President Obama and defeat pro-life candidates, and why did the PP President focus her daily efforts on campaigning rather than the business of Planned Parenthood?  These following answers that campaigning to protect government funding are mission critical to Planned Parenthood.
• According to its latest report, in 2010 Planned Parenthood Federation of America performed 329,445 abortions. In 2009, the number of abortions was 332,278 and in 2008 the number was 324,008. The Guttmacher Institute (originally founded to be the research arm of Planned Parenthood but later becoming an independent body) reports that the total number of abortions in the United States in 2008 was 1,210,000.16 Therefore in 2008, PPFA provided approximately 27 percent of abortions in the United States.
• Since the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, over 54,000,000 children have died from abortion in the United States. To put this number in context, this is more than twice the population of Texas in 2011, and is approximately 87 times the population of the District of Columbia in 2011. Almost every year has seen an increase in the number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood, even as the nation’s abortion rate is decreasing.
• According to estimates, a first trimester non-subsidized abortion costs approximately $550. As reported in their 2010 annual report, Planned Parenthood performed 329,445 abortions, yielding approximately $181,000,000 in revenue—solely from abortions performed that year. In contrast, Planned Parenthood made 841 adoption referrals in 2010.
• While PPFA holds non-profit status, it continues to pull in a sizeable profit each year. In the annual report for fiscal year 2010, the organization claimed an excess of revenue over expenses of 18.5 million dollars.  In fiscal year 2009, the organization claimed an excess of revenue over expenses of $63 million; in fiscal year 2008, PPFA’s excess of revenue over expenses was $85 million. 
• In addition to the financially profitable practice of performing abortions, PPFA’s 2010 annual report indicates that it received approximately 46 percent of its income from federal, state and local government grants and contracts. In other words, taxpayer dollars fund nearly half of PPFA’s budget. In 2010, $487,400,000 was paid to PPFA by the government.
• While the federal government does not pay directly for elective abortions performed by PPFA, it appears to subsidize PPFA’s least lucrative component, family planning. By funding non-abortion services, the federal government essentially allows Planned Parenthood to cover overhead and other expenses, as it pursues a more lucrative and lethal business—abortions.
• Planned Parenthood increasingly has benefited from state and government funding. In 1994, the group received approximately $163 million in state and federal tax dollars. By 2010, government funding for PPFA had almost tripled to $487 million. During this same period of time the number of abortions performed annually by the group increased from 133,289 in 1994 to 329,445 in 2010.
• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), by far, black Americans are the ethnic group having the greatest number of abortions. They composed only 12.6 percent of the population in the 2010 census, but a staggering 42% of total abortions in the U.S. for 2008, the latest year in which CDC abortion data were available.
  
  This last fact is the ultimate irony to me.  Our country was dead wrong when it legislated in our Constitution the evil of treating African slaves as 3/5ths of a person.  Our country is dead wrong in treating the infant in the womb as 0/5ths of a person.  The irony is our President is half African and his race is most impacted as a result of legalized abortion.  I used to hold hope that his wanting to be a historical figure like Lincoln would actually motivate him to realize this and correct the injustice.
7. I am not giving up on the truth.
   
   

   

   
   Revelation 22:12-15
   

   "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.  Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood."

What about their rights?

If you have had an abortion, and suffer from post-traumatic abortion pain, there is hope and help at Project Rachel's website http://hopeafterabortion.com/.

If you have been raped and are being pressured into an abortion, or considering whether to abort, please see http://hopeafterrapeconception.org/MothersStories.html.

If you are suffering from either having had an abortion, rape, rape conception I have to warn you my passion on this issue (as obvious from overuse of font enhanced emphasis throughout) may have resulted in thoughts being conveyed in ways that will upset you. This is not intended.

Our "Witness to Life" activities are multiplying at my daughter's high school.  This is the group that I ended up being a regular driver and chaperone by chance (definition 7:  Holy Spirit's orchestration).  Instead of just the one Saturday trip to the Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois - which was the largest abortion facility opened in the United States when it opened (since then this evil organization has opened larger facilities) we are now also visiting a facility in downtown Chicago.

Before I start what I hope to be a persuasive, fact filled, inspired rant, I wanted to relay a couple of heart-touching incidents from this past Saturday when we went to the Abortion Clinic at I-90 - "the Kennedy" and Washington Boulevard in the Chicago Loop (downtown Chicago).

• Six escorts were out in yellow traffic vests, and they were replaced at regular intervals by other escorts.  The escorts have their own website and a location for food, beverages, and wind-down after a volunteer shift is completed.  They started immediately telling our high school kids where the 50 feet ended so they wouldn't be in violation of the 50 foot bubble law.  This is a local law that limits the location of free speech to 50 feet + 1 mm (I guess), for the safety of the employees, patrons, and pro-life activists.  Problem is they were inaccurate with what they told our team.  I was ready to set up our sidewalk counselors just past where the escorts told us but the sidewalk counseling woman that had been out there for 3 hours previous, shook her head no.  She said, "I have a measuring tape in my car.  Let's find out where it really is."  One of the escorts said, "I have a better idea.  Let's have the Police come and measure it for you."  I told her "Go ahead and get the measuring tape, I'll help you."  It was about 50 feet in from where the escorts told us, which was one problem.  Second problem was I accidentally bonked the other sidewalk counselor in the head when I was helping to roll the tape back up.  I got this email on Monday from the brave woman with the measuring tape pictured below (also pictured is the escort in front of the door in a pose):
  

• Thank you so much for coming. I have been wanting to measure 50 feet in front of the escorts for the longest time. Attached is the flier we made up. Blessings to you and all your students.

• Our girls, sidewalk counselors, range in bravery, but every single one of them is brave, and self-sacrificing as they are often getting up within 3 or 4 hours to make it to one of these early Saturday morning events.  One of them asked an escort, why she decided to do this.

• The escort, a woman about my age, articulate, and filled with confidence said, "Because something happened to me once where I had to have an abortion.  I was raped and it was necessary for me to get an abortion because I should not have to deliver the rapist's baby."
• I explained privately to our girls, that might be her view, but there are also rape victims who are in the pro-life movement that regret that family and friends encouraged her to have an abortion and that it compounded the trauma.  I didn't express my cynical thought that this might be another inaccuracy handy for young, impressionable teenage pro-life activists to make them rethink how they are spending their Saturday morning.
• Later, shortly before we left, the same two girls went up to the escort and told her, "We are really sorry for what happened to you.  Is there anything you would tell girls that might protect them from something like that happening to them?"
• The escort went up to them and hugged them both!
• They could have been cynical, or uncompassionate, instead they assumed this was a wounded woman and they wanted her to know that they did care about her.  It was a stronger testimony than when I heard a counselor at the Aurora clinic yell to the escort there (they only had one; there were 6 at all times present at the Loop clinic), "You are beautiful on the outside.  Why don't you get beautiful on the inside by repenting of your sin, being complicit in the killing of innocent babies."  Her heart was strong too, but have to think my girls, one of whom was my daughter . . . who is not the bravest sidewalk counselor, had a bigger impact reflecting the compassion of Christ than the woman proseltyizing from the curb of the Planned Parenthood parking lot.   Her intentions were similar to our girls, but her method was different.  The Holy Spirit can certainly use both methods!
• I don't know if that woman was honest with our girls.  She used absolute language and was very quick on the draw with her story, which I don't have anything that traumatic to tell, but seems like wouldn't be that easy to tell to two strangers.  It doesn't matter though.  They touched her heart regardless.
• A teenage black girl and her mother or aunt (don't know) pulled over to an escort to ask where to park.  I was the closest so as the escort blocked off the whole passenger window with her body, I held out with my hand the brochure with the title "Pregnant?  Worried?"
• The older woman in the driver seat was shaking her head no, as she edged away from the escort.  I said to the girl in the passenger seat, "Hi, I am not here to judge you. I am hear to love you.  You don't need to talk to me.  Here is something you might want to take and read."
• The escort said, "She'll love you now, but will she love you after?  We will."
• I said, "Of course, I'll love her after."
• The girl shook her head initially, then stuck her hand out the passenger window to take the pamphlet.

So here are my questions - we are told often by advocates for free, available, tax subsidized abortion facilities and abortions that the woman has the right to choose.  Here are some other obvious and not so obvious people that should have rights but do not currently in our country, and the disregard for their rights is increasing under the current president (Obama the one that needs to be defeated), and as bad as the HHS regulations are now, is their any question that things could get even worse in a second term?

1. The one most pressing on my heart and thoughts:  What about the girl that is being forced to have the abortion?  This is what I suspect when I see an older man, Dad?, driving in a teenage girl that is crying, weeping really, in the passenger seat when she is being driven into the Planned Parenthood parking lot.  Where are her rights, not to mention the rights of her unborn child?  Is this the decision she has come to after careful deliberation and/or prayer, or is it the snap, angry, "I'll fix this for you, dammit!" decision of her Dad?  Maybe she would prefer to not have the experience replayed in her mind, the post-trauma memories reawakened, the thoughts of what might have been for her child coming into her mind if she might have given the child up for adoption or left home, found help and found a way to give the child life and provide for the child?
   
   I imagine it is natural for her to want to trust her Dad and go with his decision, but what if she doesn't have the right to say, "No, Dad.  I can't.  It is my body, and the baby is growing in my womb.  It is my decision, Dad, not yours.  I need time to think and talk to others about this."  Please see related story below related to Grandma's rights.
   
   I wanted to let you know, there was an incident two months ago at the Planned Parenthood in Aurora where a woman was lying on the surgical table when she said, "Is it too late to not go through with this?"
   
   She was told, "No, it isn't too late."
   
   The woman, got up, got dressed, walked out, and then talked to a counselor and went to Waterleaf, the nearby free women's center for help.  Praise God!
2. What about the Father's rights?  Sometimes the man that fathered the child doesn't even know that he has made a girl pregnant.  Sometimes in the case of incest, rape (and all rape is legitimate rape!) the man doesn't deserve to know.  How about the other cases though?  Why is it that the woman has so many more rights than the father?  What if he just needs her to take care of herself for the remaining 8 months of pregnancy and deliver the baby and then he will take care of and provide for the child, or he is willing to bear the brunt of the effort of finding adoptive parents.  Why doesn't he have any rights?  As one of our girls yelled to a man walking a woman in to the abortion facility, "Men mourn lost fatherhood."
3. What about the Grandma or Grandpa's rights?  Here is a story that combines the power of prayer with the rights of the young mother with the rights of the Grandma (yes, I know I haven't mentioned the right to life of the unborn child . . . that one is the most obvious, but bear with me.)  This story, which you would do well to share on FB or a post tells how a girl was being pressured into an abortion immediately after telling her father with no other options allowed, and the Grandma took it upon herself to pray prostrate, all night in her dining room.  The answer to her prayer: the young Mom, 16 and a junior in high school, was given the option of adoption or abortion.  She chose life and adoption for her baby girl, who was adopted into a Christian family and is now friends and co-worker with her Mom in the pro-life movement.  You will like this story:  http://www.lifenews.com/2012/08/23/prayer-saved-from-from-abortion-three-days-beforehand/  The picture shows how the two now look like sisters, since the Mom was so young when she had the baby.  Here is the Grandma's note to her grown-up Granddaugther (Alisha) concerning her intercession for the life of her great-granddaughter (Katie):
   
   
   “I remember years ago you told me that Alisha’s decision had to be made by the morning… but what I haven’t told you before was that I laid face down on my dining room floor and prayed with all my being for that precious infant’s life… and I feel so blessed to see the complete fulfillment of that prayer…first, by being present at the hospital just after Katie was born to see her ‘physical’ life, but also seeing her now…a life abundantly beautiful! And I am so overjoyed to see YOUR joy, because I know that it was not easy for a lot of years. God is good…VERY good!”
4. What about the rights of the individual taxpayer that would not like tax dollars funding facilities that perform life termination on defenseless babies within the wombs of their mothers and consider this an evil practice on par with child sacrifice to Moloch in the Old Testament (part of the reason God gave through Jeremiah for letting the Babylonians destory Jerusalem, and the Temple)?  What you now consider me a fundamentalist, extremist quoting Biblical mythology?  The opposite is true:  it is extreme and opposes truth to not read the Bible, inclusive of the Old Testament as the inspired Word of God and treasure the fact that God reveals himself and what he loves and what he hates through the words of the Prophets, and his actions, whether it was to bring forth Isaac from Sarah's post-menopausal womb, deliver Daniel from famished lions, or to permit the destruction of thousands of Israelites and their temple because they worshipped Molech and sacrificed their children to this false god.  Did you know they banged drums to drown out the cries of the infants as they were burned so that the parents would not be able to hear them?  "When a child was sacrificed to Moloch, a fire was lit inside the statue. The priests would then beat loudly on drums and other objects so that the cries would not be heard."  Similar to the woman being anesthetized for surgical abortions, isn't it? 



21 Weeks from Conception:  Samuel grasps doctor's finger

5. Women are anesthetized but the babies undergoing the procedure that will painfully destroy their life do not receive anesthesia.  In contrast, if a baby is operated on in utero they are given anesthetic http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/magazine/10Fetal-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0.  Forget about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, what about the unborn baby's right to not suffer a painful death where the only mercy shown is quickness so as to maximize the number of revenue generating abortions that can be performed on a given day, by a given abortionist, in a given facility?!  Yes it is all sad, but if this doesn't upset you, compel you to pray and use your voice and presence to stand-up for the rights of the unborn, what will?

Did you know? (Planned Parenthood 2009-2010 Annual Report via Lifesitenews.com)

In addition to its $320.1 million in clinic income and $223.8 million in private donations, Planned Parenthood receives $487.4 million dollars a year from taxpayers. And that number is drastically increasing. Taxpayer funding for the abortion giant has more than doubled in the last decade.

This increase is in part due to the fact that it is now reporting the numbers a little more honestly. For the first time, Planned Parenthood is reporting revenue from Medicaid as revenue from the government, taxpayers. Its latest report states, “In past reports, payments from Medicaid managed care plans have appeared as ‘health center income’ rather than ‘government grants and contracts’ ….”

So now that Planned Parenthood has graciously decided to stop under reporting the money it takes from taxpayers, we can see more fully, how much Planned Parenthood relies on the Government. Over 46 percent of its $1 billion total annual revenue comes from the government – from our tax dollars.

What about our right of conscience?  No where in the Constitution or Declaration of Independence does it state the federal government needs to ensure the right of a woman to terminate the life of the child in her womb through the misappropriation of other people's tax or health insurance dollars.  Yet that is what we are being told, and were inundated with during the Democratic National Convention.  I hope that the consciences of those that are lovers of God, and thankful for the gift of his Son, his Son's redeeming death on the cross, and the gift of the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus are troubled like mad trying to reconcile how it is still OK to vote for the presidential candidate that is ensuring more funding from conscientious objectors who do feel killing innocent children in the womb is evil. 

We believe in the God-given right to life and that a woman's choices, once pregnant with a child, do not justly include the right to terminate the life of the child within her.  Her rights to not have to take care of herself and the baby, not have to endure the discomforts (and joys) of pregnancy and child birth do not logically, or justly, nor in the eyes of God as reflected in the Fifth Commandment:  Thou shall not murder trump the child's right to the health and safety of her womb to prepare for birth, nor the right to life, love, and care once born to pursue life, liberty, and happiness like the rest of us.

Why do some rape and incest victims say "abortion was not a good solution and I would not recommend it to others"?

• "I was an innocent victim of a horrible crime.  I was not to blame for what the rapist did to me.  But in choosing to abort, to kill the innocent child growing within me, I lowered myself to the level of the rapist." victim of rape
• "After the abortion, I wanted to die.  How could I live when I had just ended the life of my child?  The negative feelings resulting from the rape were not eliminated by the abortion.  Nothing was solved; instead, the grief was now doubled." victim of rape
• "Like any woman in a crisis pregnancy, a pregnant sexual assault victim might welcome an instant answer to her problem.  But abortion is too permanent an answer to a temporary problem.  Abortion may sound compassionate--even noble--but it isn't." victim of rape
• "Making it through the pregnancy is a way for a victim to overcome the abuse.  The selfless act of giving birth is proof that she is better than her attacker."  counselor to rape victims who choose life

Did you know? (Sandra Mahkorn, "Pregnancy and Sexual Assault." The Psychological Aspects of Abortion (Malls and Watts 1979), 53-72.):

• Two major studies of pregnant rape victims found that 3/4 of these women chose to give birth.
• None of the women who gave birth said they did not want their children or wished they had aborted instead.
• Of those who aborted, nearly half did so because of the demands of others.
• 94% of women who gave birth said abortion would not be a good solution to a pregnancy resulting from rape.
• 93% of those who had abortions said it "had not been a good solution to their problems" and they "would not recommend it to others in their situation."

Finally, Thank God (!!!) that Romney did well last night.  I don't know about you, but this is proof to me that God heard mine and others' intense prayers that God's favor would be upon him, and that he would have the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to do very well in the debate.  Given that I was rather disheartened by his RNC nomination acceptance speech, thought he seemed a bit plastic, and his doing phenomenally better last night, how could I not be thanking and praising God for answering prayers?  I know not everyone considers him the perfect candidate, so I will tell you I do include, "if it is your will" when I pray.  

Will you join me in continuing to pray for the defeat of Obama's re-election efforts and continued help from God for Romney and Ryan to continue to do better than their human best in the campaign for the leadership of this country?

Pat Buchanan, "Romney did even better than Reagan ever did."

What?  Pat would know, and yes, prayer is powerful!  Romney wasn't perfect, but he was really outstanding, and Obama was just OK.

Seeking Light

My husband and I shared a moment this evening where we were both struck by the beauty of the sky.  I shared with him that one of the reasons I like to run between 8 and 9:30 in the evening is because I love the sky at this time.  I had just cooked the dinner for the family, but seemed like I might as well go for a run.

Before going, I had to take some pictures of the sky.  At first with my husband I noticed the design in the sky of the whisps of clouds.  When I went back out I was struck by seeing how the higher clouds were golden with light by the setting sun, while the lower clouds were dark gray.

I was struck by the imagery of how the clouds closer to the earth reflected not the sun, but the darkness of our world.

The challenge is to get up above the darkness, to seek the light, so that we can reflect the light of the Gospel to those around us.  The closer we are to the Son, through prayer, the Sacraments, Surrender to Holy Spirit to heal and transform us in love, the more we will reflect the light of our Lord.

Some people favor bird watching, I am a sky watcher.  I love the glory of the sky.  Especially the play of the gold on the white of the clouds.

I did go for a run tonight.  It was my longest of the year.  The sky was gorgeous.  As I was running I offered the pleasure I had seeing the beauty of the sky during my run.  I would run a bit faster when I was facing away from the sunset, so I could get more quickly to where I could see the sunset.  It was getting dark as I neared home when I was surprised to see there was still quite a bit of gold left above the horizon.  I thanked God for that too, as it seemed to be a gift since it was after 9:30 PM.

"If you offered Me your joys and your moments of recreation, I would send you few trials because it is only your union with Me that I am seeking, and as a rule you come to Me only when you are unhappy.  Then come - oh, come always."  Jesus speaking to Gabrielle Bossis in He and I

This morning I attended another monthly visit to the Planned Parenthood in Aurora, IL.  I go there almost every month with my daughter's high school Pro-life team.  In another post I reflected on seeing mothers driving and walking daughters in for abortion.  Today I saw two fathers driving their daughters in.  One of the daughters was in the passenger seat when she passed us.  She was clearly crying.  We were attempting to hand out literature as our first attempt at sidewalk counseling.  Neither of the fathers stopped to let their daughter talk to us or take any of our brochures.

The leader of our team told me after that he saw a woman come out and cry while smoking.  He said that sadly he was pretty sure she did go through with it, because she was moving slowly when she left the building.

At about 10:15 a.m. an ambulance passed us with lights and siren blaring.  It pulled right to the front of the center and then it was followed by 3 police cars.  Those praying outside the center started praying more intensely for what was probably a poor girl inside with a complication from an abortion.  Many started taking pictures too.  I was asked to take some as well, so I did.  Here is one of them:

They did not bring the woman out on the stretcher in view of our cameras.  They moved the ambulance round the back and then had her brought out.  The event made things much more tense outside the center as well.  

The one gentleman that is there every week with the graphic sign from Operation Rescue, decided he needed to clarify for the Police where he could stand.  He was threatened with arrest, but not taken in.

Later there seemed to be more critiquing of the advocates for the unborn and the mothers and fathers from their fellow advocates.  Some were yelling to others where they could stand.  Others were confronting each other saying not to yell over each other.  Only one should talk at a time. 

I also saw a woman that I think did have an abortion, follow her mother, and walked past the sidewalk counselor that was boldly going up to the property line, and trying to persuade the girls to go to the nearby woman's center instead. The woman lit up a cigarette quickly just so she could blow smoke at the counselor.  

This counselor was completely unaffected.  I think she has been doing this for a long time.  She was even trying to engage the escort from Planned Parenthood "to humble herself before God."  She said, "You are beautiful on the outside.  Why not get beautiful on the inside and stop facilitating the murder of the unborn?"

Before this all happened a woman came up to me and the two high school girls I was with.  She said, "You all are saved right?  That's why you aren't just standing around praying the rosary."  I said, "Actually the two can coexist."  I showed her my rosary ring.  "I've been praying the rosary on this, and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior."

One driver passed us and and yelled across the street from us, "Do you have to have the aborted fetus picture.  Really?  Do we need aborted fetuses out here?"

It wasn't our sign.  This is our sign:

If I were quicker or more experienced (only have 7 months experience visiting centers), I might have crossed the street and explained to the gentleman that  we were actually in agreement with him.  He doesn't want to see any more pictures of the aborted babies, and we don't want there to be any more aborted babies.  I don't like the signs that show the truth of the outcome of an abortion.  They are effective though.  They tend to increase the anguish as Mary has recently commented, and intensify our prayer and actions to stand against this evil.  

Also the same Operation Rescue gentleman I mentioned argued with the Police, he said he was with a group that had a bunch of these signs and a woman pulled over her car, got out and brought her baby over to show them and thank them.  She said that had she not seen those signs, she would not have had her little boy.

When I was riding back on the bus I reorganized some of the brochures so they would be in good order for our next trip.  Seeing the fathers driving daughters stuck in my head, and hit a nerve when I read this in the Pro-Life Action League brochure entitled, "Abortion for victims of rape and incest?  No:  They deserve better."  I read the following:

• Nearly all incest victims who had an abortion reported no input in the decision; instead, their parents, or the abuser made the decision for them.

These quotes from actual incest victims were included:

• "Abortion on demand, no questions asked, makes it easier for incest and child abuse to continue.  Abortion for incest victims sounds compassionate, but in practice it is simply another violent and deceptive tool in the hand of the abuser." 
• "After the abortion, I wanted to die.  How could I live when I had just ended the life of my child?  The negative feelings resulting from the rape were not eliminated by the abortion.  Nothing was solved, instead, the grief was now doubled."
• "Like any woman in a crisis pregnancy, a pregnant sexual assault victim might welcome an instant answer to her problem.  But abortion is too permanent an answer to a temporary problem.  Abortion may sound compassionate--even noble--but it isn't."

Another pamphlet "Sharing the Pro-Life Message" explained that incest is only .03% of reasons for abortion.  Rape is .3%.  Protection of a mothers's life is .2%.  They don't even add up to 1% of the reasons for abortion, but they are often cited as the reasons it is important that abortion stay safe, legal, and soon, free.

Again recalling the fathers driving their daughters, I would suspect the incest number would be low, because if the abuser is driving the girl for the abortion, it is unlikely he would let her check incest as a reason, or he would otherwise intimidate her not to say anything.  And of course I have no idea why the fathers were driving their daughters.  Just when you see a teenage girl being driven by a man that appears to be her dad, and the girl is in tears, and the father is stone faced, it makes you wonder.

98% of abortions are from "personal choice":

• 32% say not emotionally capable
• 25% say not financially capable
• 16% say having a child would drastically alter her life

50% of women having abortions say they were using contraception the month they got pregnant with 16.9% saying they used it properly but it failed.  You'll remember one of the arguments for free contraception is to reduce abortions.

Please join me in continuing to pray, act, and vote as advocates for the unborn, and their mothers.  Babies come to violent ends in these centers.  It does sicken me that there is nothing we can legally do to stop this. We have prayer, which is far stronger and more effective than we can imagine.  We have our presence, our words, and our signs.  We can also vote.  If anyone is unclear who to vote for in the next election, it is the one that can defeat Obama, and whichever candidate for House and Senate is approved by the Susan B. Anthony list.

2 Chronicles 7:14

¹⁴If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

If you are a woman or man that regrets and suffers from having an abortion, there is hope and healing.  Please follow this link to Project Rachel.

Outrage

The house bill to ban gender selection abortions was not passed today as it needed a two-thirds majority to pass, and the vote was 246-168. 

Jake Tapper reported that while initially Jay Carney, the Press Secretary didn't know the President's position, he got back to him later to let him know Obama opposes the bill.

I've been overdosing on learning about how to advocate for the unborn including attending Sidewalk Counseling training this past Saturday.  

What put me over the edge was watching the first of the two sting videos that clearly showed that gender selective abortion, if determined from ultrasound, would need to occur in the 2nd Trimester when the painful D&E procedure is commonly used.  On top of that, I received a pack of DVDs from a pro-life activist during my last trip to the PP in Aurora.  I was watching the sorrowful testimonies of women on-and-off during the past two days.  

I found out via the Crescat and ABC News that there are many countries that do have laws banning sex-selection abortions including Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Vietnam.  Even China has "officially" outlawed it.

But not the U.S.A.  I can't even spell out our full name for shame . . . well I could, but I'm trying to make a point!  Here we have a President (yes, not proud of him or his accomplishments at all), and 168 representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives that stood up to be counted and voted in favor of protecting the legality of a mother's choosing to have the child within her killed if she would prefer one of the other gender.

I've prayed regularly that through the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus there would be a changing of hearts and minds in this country, similar to what occurred with slavery, as to the evil of killing the pre-born child in the womb.  Do you pray for this intention regularly too?

Maybe, and please join me in this hope and prayer, this will be the galvanization needed to make the choice not capitalism vs. socialism or conservatism vs. liberalism but truly moral vs. immoral.  Let's be a society that defends the innocent against extreme acts of violence.

My hope is that somehow this again strengthens all of us whether single, married, religious, priests, bishops, Pope to speak out against this evil.

The devil is going to have to employ all the stops to ensure the moral confusion and brain fog necessary for the U.S. electorate to keep B.H.O. in the oval office.

What evil?  It is clear if you listen to this testimony.  It won't haunt you like watching one of the youtube videos showing "real-time ultrasounds" of the "silent scream" when a baby is being killed in the womb or the bloody pictures that some say are necessary to show so that the horrific truth is known.  When you combine it with the non-chalance and commitment by PP to perform an abortion at a woman's request for any reason without any judgment of her reasons, how do you end up with any conclusion other than evil?  I guess you can call it reproductive health or privacy rights or something that sounds positive, you know spin it to appeal to our American value of freedom, but it remains evil.

The O'Reilly Factor featured this in the Talking Points Memo and in a segment last night.  He didn't seem as prepared as he should have been to discuss it . . . not as bad as Obama's "Polish Deathcamps".  Today there have been lots of commercials and it is going to be his main topic of coverage tonight.  Here are the two "sting" videos in full.  The transcript on the right is really helpful.

If you can stand anymore, here is another video I watched last week that again, opens your eyes to the horrors, and how it is the money and not the care of women and helping them to plan their families that is behind the fierce tactics of Planned Parenthood and other Abortion Providers.