The Big, Disappointing Apple

Yesterday the Chiaroscuro Foundation held a long-overdue press conference in New York City to call attention to the city's abortion rate.  FORTY-ONE PERCENT of pregnancies in NYC end in abortion.  I haven't had access to the video of the press conference, but there are wonderful analyses at CatholicVote.org and National Review.

God bless Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York for his candid and no-nonsense, yet quite compassionate remarks on the issue:

For the first time in my happy twenty-one months as a New Yorker, I am embarrassed to be a member of a cherished community I now — usually with a lot of pride — call home.



That 41% of New York babies are aborted — a percentage even higher in the Bronx, and among our African-American babies in the womb — is downright chilling.


This New York community is rightly celebrated for its warm welcome to immigrants, for its hospitality, sense of embrace and inclusion, and gritty sensitivity for those in need.


But we are tragically letting down the tiniest, most fragile and vulnerable: the little baby in the womb.


We have to do more than shiver over these chilling statistics!


I invite all to come together to make abortion rare, a goal even those who work to expand the abortion license tell us they share.


A quarter century ago, Cardinal John O’Connor publicly stated: “Any woman who is pregnant and in need can come to the Church and we will help you,” a pledge Cardinal Egan, and now I, reaffirm. Through our Catholic charities, our adoption services, our lobbying on behalf of pregnant women and mothers of infants, our support for life-giving alternatives to the decision all call tragic — abortion, — in our education of youth for healthy, responsible, virtuous sexual behavior, our health care, — we have done our best to keep that promise, … and these haunting statistics only prod us to keep at it.


Mother Teresa remarked that the worst poverty was to take the life of a baby so we could live, as we want. New York does not deserve the gravestone, “Abortion capital of the world.” Our boast is the Statue of Liberty, not the “Grim Reaper.”

 Many more spoke at the press conference.  I encourage you to check the links above and read more. 

Please also make sure to visit nyc41percent.com, a website the foundation set up to address this abysmal statistic.

No Easy Decision?

In the words of the brilliant Mark Crutcher, "Killing your child shouldn't be an easy decision." Yet despite its title, apparently MTV implies that abortion is exactly that -- an easy decision. Their new show, No Easy Decision, trivializes abortion and furthers MTV's liberal agenda by portraying the decision to have an abortion as just another option within the realm of "women's reproductive rights."

Ok, so I readily admit that I haven't actually seen this MTV show that everyone is talking about. Show like this just serve to raise my blood pressure to dangerous levels. But I've read some reviews from trusted sources and frankly, I don't think I need to watch it to know exactly what their goal is. Foremost, it's to coddle their pro-abort supporters like Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the rest of their ilk, since they were so upset that MTV's other teen pregnancy show, 16 and Pregant, didn't show any of the teens having abortions. Could this be a more glaring indictment about what they truly stand for? Certainly not for keep abortion rare if they're upset that teenagers aren't having them! In public!

I'll leave the rest of the commentary to those who have had the brass to watch the despicable show, and point you to Kathryn Jean Lopez, the New York Times (shockingly), and Big Hollywood for some great analyses.

But thanks, MTV, for keeping our culture self-centered, secular, and pornified.

PERSONHOOD!!!

Shaun Kenney at Red State has a brilliant analysis of why Personhood needs to be pursued...and NOW!  Please take a moment to read the article and consider getting involved in Delaware.  We currently have a petition being signed.  Let me know if you're interested.  Email me if you'd like more information!

Deadly drug - Ella

From Americans United for Life on the abortion drug ella.

More on Susan G. Komen Foundation

For those of you who are dedicated to the fight against breast cancer, but don't want to support an organization that awards grants to the nation's largest abortion provider, please click here for a list of ethical breast cancer organizations. The Bioethics Defense Fund is a great resource.

And for further indisputable proof and facts of the Komen/PP connection, click here. Note this very interesting exchange between Komen and Curves:

• KOMEN'S EXPRESS POLICY ALLOWING PLANNED PARENTHOOD GRANTS:Because Komen refused their request to stop providing grants to Planned Parenthood, Curves, a privately held fitness franchise firm owned by women’s health advocate Gary Heavin, ceased supporting Komen events. Here is Komen’s response by its Public Relations Manager Kristin Kelly:
  

"The Komen Foundation is confident that none of its community Affiliates have stopped funding Planned Parenthood as a result of the pressure from Curves, Operation Save America or any other organization. In fact, when faced with opposition from Curves or the threat that Curves franchises would no longer support the Foundation unless Planned Parenthood funding was eliminated, the Komen Foundation told Mr. Heavin (founder and CEO of Curves) that we would not, in any way, undermine the integrity of our grant-making process. In addition the Foundation told Mr. Heavin that it would continue to allow Komen Affiliates to provide breast health education and screening grants to Planned Parenthood if the grant application was approved through the process outlined above. As a result, Curves chose to suspend its support of Komen Affiliate events, including sponsorship of the Komen Race for the Cure (r). In 2003, Komen Affiliates awarded $38.4 million in grants to support community outreach programs, including 21 grants to their local Planned Parenthood chapters totaling more than $475,000."

Source: Komen website as copied into Powerpoint Presentation by Eve Sanchez, former Komen board member,http://stopabortionbreastcancer.org/talks/denver_silver060930.pdf

Don't let all the tap-dancing fool you. Just because Komen claims the money it gives PP is used solely for breast services (as opposed to abortion services), it doesn't take a genius to figure out that that only frees up other monies for them to use for abortion services. For instance, you have two $10 bills in your pocket. Your mom gave you one, and your friend gave you the other. Your mom tells you not to buy cigarettes with the $10 she gives you. That clearly doesn't mean she thinks it's o.k. to buy cigarettes with the other $10 bill. It doesn't matter where the bills come from...you're not supposed to buy cigarettes!

Please, please, please spread the word about this. Support Curves. Pressure Komen. Post it to Facebook, Twitter, blog it, whatever you need to do. I know there are SO many people out there who would not support Komen or would demand they stop supporting PP if they knew this was going on. I'll be the first to admit, that it's a shame that this is going on. Besides supporting PP, this is a wonderful organization dedicated to fighting a horrible disease. But we can't claim to be for saving women's lives if we're funding the killing of girls in the womb.

The Komen-Abortion Link

I really hate to have to bring this to you, and though it's not recent news, it still isn't common knowledge. While we all want to eradicate breast cancer, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation seems like a champion of women's lives, please be aware that there is an unfortunate link between this foundation and the nation's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. How can a foundation as important as Komen in fighting a disease as destructive as breast cancer, also funnel money through an organization that has killed thousands of unborn women each year? Not to mention the obvious abortion-breast cancer link, which is described in detail below. It's a shame. The following editorial was posted on LifeNews.com.*

*LifeNews.com Note: Hannah Carter is the director of education for Georgia Right to Life, a statewide pro-life group. This opinion column originally appeared on the GRTL blog web site.

Like many families, my grandmother and great-grandmother both had breast cancer. The issue of wanting to fight what harms your family or friends is noble. So when I tell people that I do not support Susan G. Komen an organization that exists to “fight breast cancer”, I normally get the look of one: why would you abandon your family or two: oh there goes one of those extremist.

However, my reasons are not that extreme, but rather principled.

I'm sure many of you reading this article have also been confronted with the issue of if I ‘m pro-life then how can I support an organization that supports the nation’s leading abortion provider. Hopefully, the following principles can shed some light on how to respond sympathetically, yet firm with why you cannot wear pink, or join the race, or all the various ways that Susan G. Komen is supported.

Principle # 1 Don't give to organizations that promote the shedding of innocent blood.

If this were a list of commandments, we could start with Thou Shall Not Kill. However, Proverbs 6:17 states that one of the seven things God hates are hands that shed innocent blood.

Unfortunately, Susan G. Komen has given over $3 million dollars between 2003 and 2008 to Planned Parenthood which is the nation’s leading abortion provider.

While Susan G. Komen makes claims that these grants go for breast exams, once the funds go to Planned Parenthood they are fungible. For example, you can throw two twenty dollar bills into a purse one from a friend and one from your own account, but when you go to pay the light bill you use both.

The same is true with Planned Parenthood’s money it receives from Komen. Whenever someone applies for a grant they can say that while this $5,000 is going to breast cancer research, 20 percent of that money is going to pay for administrative costs like keeping the lights on and paying rent. So in essence, the money that people are raising to fight breast cancer is also going to keep the lights on at Planned Parenthood.

According to the 2008 Annual Report from Planned Parenthood, breast cancer services decreased by 4% and abortion procedures increased by 6%. In 2008, Susan G. Komen gave $731,000 to Planned Parenthood.

Principle # 2 Know and Recognize the Risk Factors for the Disease You are Trying to Prevent.

There are certain risks that can increase an individual’s chance of getting breast cancer. While Susan G. Komen says that they believe in knowing your risk factors, they have repeatedly denied the link between breast cancer and one of the greatest avoidable risk factors, abortion.

According to Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, “29 out of 38 worldwide epidemiological studies show an increased risk of breast cancer of approximately 30% among women who have had an abortion.”

When a woman has an abortion she interrupts the natural process of estrogen production and breast development. When a woman first becomes pregnant her body produces a Type 1 carcinogen, cancer causing agent, estrogen in order to nourish and provide for the baby. If the mother has her child, her body stops producing as much estrogen and her breasts mature. However, if that process is interrupted, the estrogen production continues and her breasts stay in an immature state, making them more susceptible to breast cancer.

Groups like Susan G. Komen acknowledge that the level of exposure to estrogen throughout a woman’s lifetime is one of the greatest predictors for breast cancer. Sadly, they do not acknowledge that the increased exposure to estrogen after an abortion could increase risks of breast cancer as well. For an organization whose primary goal is “to have a world without breast cancer”, you would think they would try to let women know of all the risk factors for breast cancer, especially those that are preventable like abortion.

Recently, in an article by Jill Stanek, pro-life author and blogger, asked a very thought-provoking question, “Is it really “morally permissible” to cause breast cancer in one room if screening for it in the next?”

Stanek also noted in her article that recently that the ties between Planned Parenthood and Susan G. Komen are running deeper and deeper. See an excerpt below from Stanek’s article:

Three days ago a diligent pro-lifer in Washington state discovered on Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest’s IRS 990 forms that it has held a 12.5 percent share in Metro Centre, a mall in Peoria, Ill., since 2006. PPGNW is Washington’s largest abortion provider. (It is also currently under investigation for Medicaid fraud.) Metro Centre is owned by Eric Brinker. Eric Brinker is the son of Nancy Goodman Brinker, the founder of SGK.

Eric also sits on SGK’s board. Eric was a stand-up guy and responded to most of my initial questions. He explained in an e-mail, “This share represents a minority, non-operating interest in the business which they inherited from one of the original shareholders, a resident of Peoria. I, Eric Brinker, have controlling interest in Metro Centre.” But when I pursued follow-up questions, Eric wrote he was no longer available. So there is much still unanswered. Why didn't PPGNW cash in its inheritance? Why didn't Eric buy? If the share was willed, it was worth something. The real-estate market was thriving in 2006. It appears both partners are OK with this now four-year-old business partnership.

In essence, Planned Parenthood and Susan G. Komen’s nephew own a mall together.

The bottom line is that Susan G. Komen is not accomplishing its mission every time it gives to Planned Parenthood.

Every time a woman has an abortion and part of the money to fund that center staying open came from Komen, they are putting women at a greater risk for breast cancer.

Every organization no matter how noble the cause they claim to represent seems to be needs to be held accountable.

The question is will you?

Upcoming Pro-Life Events...

Holy Family Pro-Life Youth Rally

On Friday, September 17th, Holy Family Parish will be holding a pro-life youth rally. The event starts with dinner at 6:00 and will feature speakers from Generation Life and the musical talents of Caitlin Jane and Marie Miller. The event is FREE! Ages 13& up.

Please go here to print out the flyer and help get the word out!

DRTL Banquet

This year's Delaware Right to Life Banquet will be held at the Sheraton Dover Hotel on Thursday September 30th. Cocktail hour begins at 5:00 with dinner and presentation to follow. Tickets are only $20.00. The keynote speaker at this year's event will be David Kyle, Director of the abortion business documentary Blood Money.

Help spread the news about the event by printing out the flyer here.