Lutherans For Life of Iowa

GOOD NEWS! 
CONTINUED SUCCESS WITH
ADULT STEM-CELL RESEARCH

Those who support embryonic stem-cell research claim it holds promise for curing diseases such as Parkinsons, MS, etc.  But, use of embryonic stem-cells has not produced a single treatment.  it is a tragedy that the hype over embryonic stem-cell research has blinded people and diverted their attention away from the promising field of adult stem-cell research.  To date, at least 73 cures or treatments have been provided by way of adult stem-cells.

68-year-old Max Eaton can testify to one such treatment.  His heart had swollen 11 years after suffering a heart attack.  Doctors from the University of Miami Medical School's Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute took Eaton's own stem cells and inserted them into his heart.  The patient's swelling went down by as much as 25 percent; medication and pacemakers typically reduce the size of the heart by about 5 percent.  The study appears in the March 18, 2011, issue of Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association.   SOURCE: Citizenlink

You can learn more about the success of adult stem-cell research by visiting Lutherans For Life and National Right to Life.

Planned Parenthood: Good for Women and Children?

Planned Parenthood is the  nation's largest abortion provider.  In one year, more than a quarter million abortions were performed, but only 2,410 adoption referrals were made (only 1 for every 1000 abortions).  Over one in four pregnancy tests given end in abortion.  (Source: Planned Parenthood Federation of America Annual Report 2006-2007 - accessed 7-25-08)

Planned Parenthood actively lobbies for abortion rights.  It rigorously pursues its own interests of making abortion legal at all stages and profitable for its affiliated clinics.

In 2006, Planned Parenthood hired Cecile Richards (daughter of Ann Richards, former governor of Texas) as president of the organization.  Her experience is not in health care, but in political action.  Her previous work was as a union organizer, as the founder of "Texas Freedom Network" (formed to battle pro-life groups in Texas), as director of prochoice projects for the Turner Foundation, and as founder and president of America Votes, a coalition of 32 of the biggest and richest unions and liberal interest groups in the country.

Planned Parenthood actively opposes every parental consent law now in effect and works to prevent new laws from passing.  This includes the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006.  The law would prohibit transporting minors to other states to circumvent parental notification laws, allowing minors to get abortions without notifying their parents.  Planned Parenthood labels this Act a "dangerous family restriction" and a "federal intrusion in family decision making."

Life Dynamics, Inc., in a remarkable expose, details how Planned Parenthood, "in case after case . . . willingly ignored state law to cover up molestations and violations of statutory rape."  You can listen to the actual conversations at Child Predators.

Unborn Heal Themselves in
First Five Days of Life

Professor William G. Kearns told the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that a three-day-old embryo (called a cleavage stage embryo) with an incorrect number of chromosomes (known as "aneuploidy") was capable of undergoing "a dynamic process of genetic normalization" so that by day five, when it had developed to the blastocyst stage, it had become euploid, with the correct number of chromosomes."

It is amazing to think that the God who "knit" a person together in the womb enables that embryo to direct the process of healing him or herself!  There is significance in this biological marvel for the practice of in vitro fertilization.  In vitro often involves removal of a cell from a developing embryo and evaluation of this cell for all chromosome abnormalities.  This is called "preimplantation genetic screening" (PGS).  If the screened embryo is normal, it undergoes either uterine transfer or is frozen for future use.  If the embryo is abnormal, standard practice is to discard it.

Discarding a human being is immoral.  All human beings must be treated with the dignity and respect due every member of the human species, created as imago dei (in God's image).  Christians have long believed that abortion is a sin against the Creator and Redeemer of life.  Now, with research presented by Professor Kearns, we learn that discarding embryos considered "abnormal" is unnecessary as 64% (in the study) were completed healed.  What does this tell us?  Life News (7-11-11)

Planned Parenthood Forming Massive Midwest Abortion Business

Planned Parenthood (PP) of the Heartland, the Iowa-based abortion business, is preparing to grow to approximately 30 centers located throughout Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, and Eastern Oklahoma by January 2012.

A major concern for pro-lifers is Iowa's expanded use of the telemed or webcam abortion practice.  PP in Iowa makes use of this procedure because of the expense and difficulty in recruiting doctors to do abortions.  The "procedure" consists of a woman "visiting" with an abortion practitioner via the internet before going to PP where a nurse or other employee gives her the RU 486 abortion-inducing drug.  The woman or girl goes home to begin the abortion and deal with the consequences alone.  RU 486 causes more than normal bleeding.  The woman may see parts of her baby.  PP tells the girl that if she requires an ER, to "act like she is having a miscarriage."  This means the treating doctor won't know she's had a chemical abortion.  RU 486 drug-induced abortions have killed dozens of women and injured at least 1,100 more.  Visit Life News or Iowa Right to Life.

Abortion is the Number One Killer of Children in the World. 

In the U.S. alone, 53,310,822 babies have been killed by abortion since 1973. 

What civilization attempts to solve human problems by doing away with the humans?

What does abortion say to the Creator God who formed each person in the womb (Ps. 139)?  Can abortion please God?

Who dries the tears of those who are sorry for desperate, but wrong choices and now mourn the loss of life?  (Jesus does.  And, because of the mercy Jesus has on us, we have it for others.)

Is Human Life Disposable?

Jackie Burkle was charged January 11, 2012, with the killing of her twin newborns after she gave birth at home.  She was a 2008 graduate of Northeast Hamilton high school and a music major at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls.  As of this writing, she is being held in the Story County jail on a million dollars bond and faces two counts of first degree murder.  The Judge told her that she will face "a mandatory life sentence in prison if convicted."

Police found her twin daughters in the trunk of her car.  She confessed to the crime.  The DCI special agent handling the case said, "She acted to terminate the lives of both of her newborn infants.  She also stated that she intended to end their lives and was not at any time intending that these children would live."  Police were called to check on the young woman after someone noticed that she wasn't pregnant anymore."

How do we make this kind of behavior unthinkable?  Believers in the Creator of life need to ask ourselves some important questions:

1. Did Jackie know about Iowa's Safe Haven Law?  If a parent takes an "unwanted" baby to a hospital or health care facility and leaves the infant with staff, no questions will be asked.  Fourteen Iowa newborns since 2001 have been dropped off at a safe place.

2. Did anyone tell Jackie about the Lighthouse Center of Hope in Iowa Falls or any one of the many caring pregnancy centers in Iowa?

3. Did Jackie have anyone who cared enough to ask her questions about her pregnancy?  How she was doing?  If she was in need of emotional, financial, or spiritual help?

4. Did anyone invite Jackie to a support group, Bible study, or even out for lunch?

5. Did anyone explain to Jackie that she and her babies are "fearfully and wonderfully made?"  That each is a treasure for whom Jesus gave His life?

6. Was Jackie schooled by years of sex education classes, made comfortable with her "sexuality," and taken captive by a sensualized culture?  Had Jackie been convinced by Planned Parenthood-style education that she could separate the act of sex from procreation?

7. Did a man use words of love to lead Jackie into intimacy and then abandon her?

8. Was Jackie influenced by Planned Parenthood messages such as, "Children are loud, smelly, and burdensome... unless you want one...?"

9. Did Jackie rationalize that if it's o.k. to abort a baby's life a few days before birth, whats wrong with aborting a baby a few days after birth?

10. Will anyone help Jackie confront her sin and lead her to hope and healing in Christ?

Storm Lake PP Manager Tells Story

Sue Thayer managed a Planned Parenthood clinic in Storm Lake, IA., until 2008.  Her clinic was scheduled to start doing telemed abortions.  Sue voiced her concern even though, as a single parent, she was uneasy with the possibility of losing her job and the benefits and health insurance that came with it.  But, she had seen... and she couldn't un-see.  Nor could she remain silent.  So she was fired. 

Sue became a PP center manager in 1991.  It was required that she and staff observe at least one day of surgical abortions.  She did just that at the Central PP Clinic in Des Moines.  During that eight hour day, the doctor performed about 30 abortions.  Some of the women were further along in their pregnancies than they had reported.  "Contents of the uterus" were placed in glass bowls, then examined under a light.  Sue said, "One bowl clearly contained three perfect, tiny arms.  I asked why there would be a third arm.  'Twins' was the response and because it might upset the mother, this information wasn't shared."

Sue set about trying to prevent the need for abortion during her next 17 years at PP in Storm Lake.  But, in 2008, PP of Greater Iowa announced that all PPGI clinics would be offering telemed abortions.  Sue explained, "A doctor in Des Moines would be connected via webcam with a patient at any one of the PPGI's 17 centers.  According to PPGI, this constituted a doctor's visit.  After speaking briefly via webcam, the doctor would push a button in the Des Moines office whereupon a drawer in front of the patient at the remote center would open.  Inside the drawer were two different medicines -- one to kill the baby, taken immediately at the clinic, and a second one to take later at home which would cause contractions and eventually expel the dead baby."

Sue continued, "PPGI ordered that all staff, medical and non-medical alike would be required to do vaginal ultrasounds.  I asked what qualifications were required to perform this invasive procedure and was told that 'if you are breathing, you can do a vaginal ultrasound' . . . I asked if they would be notifying doctors and hospitals in each community and was told that they definitely would not be sharing any information . . . PPGI wanted to establish a 'standard of care' with the goal of 500 to 1000 [telemed] abortions completed before any public announcement was made."

Telemed abortions, Sue was told, would be done through 63 days from conception.  "We were all familiar with using the morning after pill ("Plan B"), but this was only given up to five days after unprotected intercourse."  Now, patients seeking abortions wouldn't have to drive to a surgical center.  And, no waiting.  Sue was told "forty five minutes, in and out."  She remembers one PP manager commenting, "It's about time women can get an abortion whenever and wherever they want.  It's no different than getting a Pap smear."

Sue was concerned about safety -- for the patient, staff, and herself.  What would the complication rate be?  Would women be alone when they took the second pill at home?  Sue continued to insist that "we were all about preventing abortions."  Now, she was being forced to be involved in every aspect of an abortion.  Sue had more questions.  What about the local doctors who might have to attend to women coming in with symptoms of an incomplete abortion?  Sue's boss explained that telemed abortion patients are told that if they do have to go to the ER, not to mention the two pills they've taken.

Once you have seen, it is difficult to un-see.  The new ultrasound machines, Sue explained, "were so high-tech that even little fingers and toes could be seen.  Long time surgical staffers struggled when they would see images of the baby they were about to abort . . . [yet] this amazing image of the baby is never shown to the mother."

Sue voiced what she knew to be wrong.  She expressed serious concerns.  She was willing to be different.  To take a risk... for life.

(Note: PP in Storm Lake closed its doors in late January 2012.  For more information on PPGI and Sue's story, please visit Iowa Right to Life.)

 Preborn Babies Feel Pain

Nebraska broke new ground on the pro-life front when its fetal-pain law went into effect in October 2010.  The law protects babies after 20 weeks unless the mom's life is in danger.  It has been successful in forcing late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart to leave the state.  Lawmakers in Kansas, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and Iowa are drafting similar bills to keep Carhart from moving in.

Dr. Paul Ranalli, a neurologist at the University of Toronto explains, "At 20 weeks, the fetal brain has the full complement of brain cells present in adulthood ready and waiting to receive pain signals from the body, and their electrical activity can be recorded."

Monica Schleicher knows firsthand how preborn babies react to stimuli.  Twenty-five weeks after her baby's conception, Monica wrote, "No longer do I theoretically talk about a child developing in the womb; I now feel life quicken and move inside me.  This new dimension of reality is one that has had far-reaching implications for me as a Christian, a voter, and an advocate for life . . . [T]o think that, at 25 weeks along, I would still be able to get an abortion breaks my heart -- after all, she is not just a 'clump of cells' or 'pregnancy tissue' . . . My preborn baby is a living, breathing human being who I know and love.  She helps her 'not-a-morning-person' momma wake up at 6 a.m. by doing a little dance . . . Science and technology bear out what I know to be true: My daughter can react to and interact with the outside world.  If I drink a cold beverage, I can expect her to wake up and move about.  She's been able to sense light since 15 weeks, moving away from a flashlight shining at mom's tummy . . . loud noises have been startling her since about 17 weeks."

You can learn more about the wonder of fetal development by visiting Babycenter or Lutherans For Life.  Learn about fetal pain at Doctors on Fetal Pain.

Satan vs. Jesus Christ

Jesus called satan, "a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).

Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).  ("Abundantly" does not mean material goods or worldly success, but eternal life with God through faith in Jesus Christ.)

People were bringing children to Jesus so he might touch them, and even the disciples rebuked those people.  But when Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to Me; do not hinder them . . . (Mark 10:14).

The Next Christians &
Their Respect for
Human Life

Gabe and Rebekah Lyons received a scary diagnosis: Their newborn son, Cade, had Down syndrome.  But, as Gabe writes in his new book, The Next Christians, "Cade has taught us so much about life and love.  His smile and delight bring a warmth to our world we never knew could exist."  Gabe, writes Chuck Colson, "is one of today's truly promising young evangelical leaders.  he's a graduate of our first Centurians class . . . I so appreciate Gabe's fidelity to Scripture and his focus on the fundamental truths of Christianity.  But what's really exciting is how he's applying the Truth in new ways, ways that really speak to young people."

The Lyons were shocked to learn that 90% of all mothers faced with a Down syndrome diagnosis end up aborting their child --  many of them under pressure from the medical community.  The Lyons wanted to find a positive way to advocate for Down syndrome children, so they produced a booklet titled Understanding a Down Syndrome Diagnosis.  It includes photos that "capture the extraordinary and quite normal lives individuals with Down syndrome lead.  It offers advice and support.  The booklet was delivered to every Ob-gyn office in town.

This is another example of doing the right thing.  Not blaming someone for the culture of death, but "displaying for people what the Kingdom of God might look like when it shows up."  Breakpoint.org (7-14-11)