Students for Life of America published an article today reporting that close to 80% of Planned Parenthood clinics are located within five miles of a college or university. The statistic is unsurprising given the hook-up culture on college campuses that creates a demand for Planned Parenthood’s “services,” especially among young women who find themselves pregnant and unsure of where to turn for help.
In response, Students for Life has begun an initiative called Pregnant on Campus, which provides material goods to college women facing a crisis pregnancy so that they can choose life even in the face of financial difficulties.
Feminists for Life is another group that advocates for pregnant college women with its College Outreach Program, which seeks to “[Provide] practical resources for pregnant and parenting students, so they can complete their education.”
While many women do not choose life because they believe that abortion is their only solution, SFL and FFL have confidence that offering women a loving environment and providing them with resources can give them hope in a secure future for them and their children.
Since beginning my internship at C-FAM last week, I’ve had the incredible opportunity of attending congressional meetings and seeing the U.S. government at work. Yesterday I attended the House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the status of Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese activist against forced abortion and sterilization who recently escaped house arrest and is planning to travel to the United States. I had the privilege of not only listening to testimony from various Chinese human rights advocates, but also of hearing Chen’s voice on the phone from China.
The first witness was Pastor Bob Fu of ChinaAid Association. He described the uncertainty of Chen’s situation as well as the danger his family and supporters face. While Chinese officials have ferociously prevented anyone from visiting Chen, including U.S. diplomats, he believes that China’s promise to allow Chen to come to the U.S. is encouraging.
The next testimony came from Wei Jingsheng, a human rights activist and head of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition. Through a translator, Wei told the story of his eighteen-year political imprisonment and the abuses he suffered at the hands of the Chinese government. He emphasized that the Chinese respond to U.S. demands for human rights in proportion to the level of American pressure; therefore, the U.S. must be “all in” on human rights in order for the situation in China to improve.
Following Wei was Reggie Littlejohn of Women’s Rights without Frontiers, who testified on behalf of two of Chen’s supporters in China. The first supporter wished to thank the House committee for its help, since its intervention has prevented her from being tortured (although she has been kidnapped and assaulted more than once in the past for assisting Chen). The second supporter was Chen’s lawyer, who was so brutally beaten after trying to visit Chen in the hospital a few days ago that he has lost hearing in one ear. Nevertheless, he has continued to advocate for Chen’s extended family, including Chen’s nephew, who was recently charged with “intentional homicide” despite not killing anyone; the nephew defended himself from Chinese officials who severely assaulted him and his parents in their own home because they are relatives of Chen. Littlejohn expressed concern at the disregard for rule of law in China, since the very lawyers trying to uphold it have been violently harassed and intimidated.
Next was Chai Ling, head of All Girls Allowed, a group that seeks to end the “gendercide” of female children in China that has resulted because of the one-child policy. She told the stories of two women who suffered greatly because of the policy: one died because of a forced abortion, while the other saw her house demolished and her family separated because her parents violated the policy; she was ultimately sold as a child bride and forced into prostitution. According to Chai, these situations are not exceptions, but a persisting reality in China today. Most disturbing, however, was the testimony of Mei Shunping, a victim of five forced abortions who described (through Chai as her translator) how all of the women in the factory where she worked had to undergo monthly pregnancy tests and were all punished severely if a single worker disobeyed the policy. Mei attempted suicide after the trauma she faced, but eventually escaped to the United States and found peace in her Christian faith. In fact, both Mei and Chai ended on positive notes, explaining that they had hope because they knew that God would not abandon them.
Finally, Fu called Chen, put him on speakerphone so everyone could hear, and translated as Chen spoke about his situation. Chen is unsure of the status of his paperwork and legal documents that would allow him and his immediate family to travel to the United States, but he insisted that Chinese officials’ brutality toward his family and the false charge of intentional homicide on his nephew violate the Chinese constitution. When asked what he would like to say to the United States as a whole, Chen thanked the American people for their help and support and reminded everyone that justice and equality are universal values. After Chai praised him for being a hero to Chinese women, Chen responded that he is not a hero, as he is only acting according to his conscience; he cannot be silent on the evil the Chinese government has committed against women and children. In his final words, he reiterated his concern for his extended family.
The hearing yesterday served not only to update the world on Chen’s situation, but also to bring to light the brutality of the one-child policy and its degradation of women and children. The witnesses disputed the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) claim that women comply with the policy voluntarily. While undoubtedly some do, many comply only because of intense social pressure and fear of retaliation; women who defy the policy face not only astronomical fines, but also forced abortion and sterilization. Unfortunately, economic interests have made the United States reluctant to demand protection of human rights in China in issues ranging from the one-child policy to free speech. Activists here and abroad, however, have made it clear that that they will not rest until China recognizes and defends the rights of all.
Pro-life activists in the United States have been encouraged lately at the growing percentage of American young people who oppose abortion. But what’s going on in the rest of the world?
Last week, several thousand people gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada for the annual March for Life to show their support for the right to life. While estimates of attendees vary from 10,000 to 19,500, pictures of the event show an unmistakably youthful crowd. As of now, there does not appear to be polling data specifically on Canadian youths’ views on abortion, but abortion rights activists are noticing the surge in youth-based pro-life campaigns in the country. Canada, however, is not the only place where this is happening.
In March, tens of thousands of Filipinos, including many young people, participated in the annual Walk for Life in Manila. While abortion remains illegal in the Philippines, a bill currently being debated threatens to bring the country closer to legalized abortion by weakening conscience rights and funding contraceptive services using taxpayer money. Young pro-lifers voiced their opposition to the bill recently by attending a congressional session and by declaring a youth manifesto calling on the government to reassess its methods of alleviating national problems.
A March for Life has also been organized for three years now in Brussels, the capital of the European Union. Though much smaller than its foreign counterparts, attendance has doubled from 1,700 participants in 2010 to 3,400 this past March. Notably, while all ages are represented, the March for Life in Brussels is actually student-organized and features youth delegations from several European countries.
While a majority of people in the U.S., Canada, and Europe still support legalized abortion, pro-lifers should have hope that the millennial generation and its progeny will make strides in protecting life from conception until natural death.
For the past few weeks, U.S. foreign news media has closely monitored the plight of Chen Guancheng, a Chinese human rights activist who is famous internationally for opposing forced abortions in China. Chen escaped house arrest in late April and made his way to the U.S. embassy in Beijing, where he was able to make a deal with the Chinese government to leave the embassy to receive medical treatment. Meanwhile, it appears that his relatives and supporters have faced harassment from Chinese officials. While it is unclear whether Chen opposes abortion in general, his struggle against forced abortions in China should serve as a reminder of the brutality of China’s one-child policy.
China has enforced the one-child policy since 1979 as a response to the government’s inability to address the needs of its massive population. Since many citizens do not comply, forced abortion and sterilization are common, even though those measures are technically illegal. The policy has also created other dilemmas, such as discrimination against female children that has resulted in a gender imbalance and has led to problems such as bride trafficking. Meanwhile, in a recent interview, C-FAM’s Senior Vice President for Research, Dr. Susan Yoshihara, explained the impact of the demographic change the policy is projected to have on China’s growth and strength. She argues that demographic decline in both Asian and Western European nations will cost them economic and political clout in the coming decades. Dr. Yoshihara’s discussion underscores the idea that the need for a culture of life is not for the sake of intangible religious and philosophical principles; on the contrary, society’s moral decisions have practical implications on economic and social well being.
Ideally, Chen’s situation will result in a broader discussion about the one-child policy and the issue of population decline in the developed world.
Caution, some of the words in this article maybe offensive and may contain vulgar language.
The youth of today are influenced by many factors and social pressures which directly influence how they act and shape the future in which they will live. One of the biggest pressures facing youth today is sexuality. From teenage years and puberty, the first desire and instinct most young children feel is to be in love and to learn about sexual intercourse. Most sexual education classes educate young people what sexual intercourse is and what types of ways, one could engage in sexual intercourse.
The 1960’s and 1970’s were a time in American society, where sexuality and ethics changed drastically. The influx of feminist ideology, led to the famous court case Roe v. Wade which essentially gave women the right to abort their unborn child. Since then, we have seen millions of children aborted, countless unlawful marriages, the rise of pornography, and a lower age of women bearing children. A recent article by CNN, written April 10, 2012 titled, “U.S. teen birth rate drops to a record low” describes recent statistics which notes that the teenage birth rate in the US has fallen to a record low in the past 7 decades, when data on teenage birth was calculated. The article notes that according to the National Center for Health Statistics the teenage birth rate fell 9% from 2009 to 2010.
The article went out to suggest that “teenage pregnancy is linked with several health and social issues such as poverty, out of wedlock births and education, as well as developmental issues, welfare and physical and mental health issues of the child.”
It is interesting to note how pop culture, sociological influences, peer pressure, etc. are hardly mentioned in light of the other contributing factors to teenage pregnancy. Pop culture has a major impact in shaping the mindset for young women to become pregnant.
For example take Lil Wayne’s song “Time For us to *****”
The neighbors goin’ think I beat her
I’ll Throw that ***** much deeper
Come be my wide receiver
I’ll give that girl a seizure
This type of music is easy to access and easy to understand.
Another example is Color Me Badd’s song “I Wanna Sex You Up”.
Let me take off all your clothes
Disconnect the phone so nobody knows
Let me light a candle
So we can make it better
Although the lyrics are not as offensive as the previous song, the motive of the song is to elicit a feeling of sex as something enjoyable and fun. Besides music, television shows such as Teen Mom and 16 pregnant, capture the lives of young women struggling to maintain a relationship as well as a, child. There are indeed many pressures which influence and directly impact the lives of teenage women. Bringing a child into the world is the greatest joy and miracle of all. Women should never see it as otherwise. As a society we must defend and protect life in all of its stages. Our mothers had the choice to abort us and they didn’t.
Like a famous theme song to a popular TV soap opera notes,
“Like sand through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives.”
After watching a recent episode of The Simpsons called “The D’oh-cial Network” I came to think about the reality of Facebook and how oddly enough as connected as we are on this social networking website, in many ways are disconnected. The episode begins with a court case where Lisa is on trial for the demise of the city of Springfield, for literally getting the whole city addicted to the D’Oh-cial network, a similar concept to Facebook. Lisa who doesn’t have many friends, hopes that the new social networking website will make her dreams of making friends come true. What Lisa realizes is that people start to loose their sense of conversation and really begin to loose contact with one another.
When was the lost time we had conversations face to face with someone, or picked up the phone to call them?
When was the last time we wrote a letter or an email to a long lost friend?
Instead of liking a Facebook status, why don’t we dialogue and discuss why we agree or disagree rather than upload, comment, or like?
Why is that sometimes although we have people on our Facebook contacts, they become ghosts and we neglect to answer and acknowledge them?
If Facebook was its own country it would be the 3rd largest country in the world. As of April 2012, Facebook has more than 900 million users and has a net revenue of $3.71 billion. An average Facebook user has 130 friends and gets 8 Facebook requests a month.
As Facebook allows us the opportunity to connect with others, express our selves, and literally display our life in matters of seconds, let’s never forget the meaning of a friend.
Let’s also use social networking to bring truth and light to a world filled with darkness.
A man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The reason why God is so great a lover of Humility is because he is the great Lover of Truth. Now Humility is nothing but Truth, whilst Pride is nothing but lying.”
-St. Vincent de Paul
Sometimes I ask myself why Americans like superheroes so much. We thirst for superheroes. Batman, Superman, Luke Skywalker, Captain America, Iron Man, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, Wolverine, Professor X. . . the list goes on and on. We re-write, re-film, and re-tell their stories in different ways in order to get a new take on their superhuman lives. And when we exhaust that, we simply create new heroes.
I normally try to avoid the superhero media, but today my roommate was watching episodes of the TV show Heroes, and I stepped over to watch for a few minutes. I stayed for probably an hour, and was reminded of how powerful the imagery can be.
The premise of every superhero story ever created is that there is a massive problem. The problem is so massive, in fact, that no normal human can possibly remedy it. Thus, the need for the superhero is created–A person who, by their nature or by some properties they possess, has transcended the powers of the human race and can meet the monstrous problem and defeat it. Their actions satisfy this deep need that we have, to know that when the world gets so out of control that we can’t handle it anymore, Luke Skywalker will be there to whip out his lightsaber and save us.
But it’s at this point where a lot of people (And most Americans) make a fatal mental transition. We think that we’re Luke Skywalker.
Nothing could be further from the truth. We are not superheroes. None of us are.
We’re told at a young age that we can change the world. While it sounds nice, encouraging, and inspirational, it is simply not true. And this is the problem that the U.S. and the United Nations seem to have gotten themselves into. They are under this illusion that they have the power to save the world, eradicate evil, and create a perfect society, when they can do nothing of the sort.
The only way the world will ever become any better is if the hearts of people change. And the only way that can ever happen is if God gets a hold of their hearts and transforms them into the likeness of his Son. And no amount of legislating, promulgating, or howling on the part of Congress or the U.N. Bureaucrats will make that happen. Peace, Justice, and Good-will can only come through God leading people, day after day, to follow his will instead of their own. And when we recognize that, we come to the conclusion we should have reached after watching all those superhero movies:
We are not Luke Skywalker. God is Luke Skywaker. He is the hero whose powers transcend ours. He is the one who can and will save the world. We need to stop waving our plastic lightsaber around and instead, follow Him. As the writer of the book Blue Like Jazz said:
“At the end of the day, when I am lying in bed and I know the chances of any of our theology being exactly right are a million to one, I need to know that God has things figured out, that if my math is wrong we are still going to be okay. And wonder is that feeling we get when we let go of our silly answers, our mapped out rules that we want God to follow. I don’t think there is any better worship than wonder.”
The attitude that we can somehow “save” or “change” the whole world is not just wishful thinking or a positive attitude: It is the height of Pride itself. It is believing the great Lie that we can somehow take God’s job upon our shoulders and fix our broken world without making it worse. We can’t. We can only obey the simple, daily commands of God to love those who cross our paths and do Justice to them. For us to be Humble, the first thing that is required is for us to embrace the truth that God, not us, will save the world, and that all we ever have to do is obey him–here, now, in this moment. This Humility will save us from the disobedient excuse that we must go outside our country to do God’s work of Justice. Do Justice to your neighbors here, and if God calls you to leave, then Go.
But only if God calls you.
If you have time, take a look at this video. It illustrates this point very well.
The famous Rio Summit will take place this summer June 20-22, 2012 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the UN Conference on Environment and Development which took place in 1992. As a world summit on the environment the key focus for Rio is to focus on sustainable development, a term which seeks to meet the needs of the present moment without obscuring the capability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Rio Summit elevated the importance of environmental protection and sustainable development as international institutions began to be involved in addressing environmental problems. Among the many issues which will be discussed at this year’s conference, gender is unequivocally one which will attract much attention. But why would gender be such an important part of discussion of the environment, climate change, and the global community? To answer this question, I will address some of the key points addressed in a short book published by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) entitled “ Gender, Climate Change, and Community- Based Adaptation” which essentially is to be used as a guidebook for designing and implementing gender- sensitive programs and projects.
Incorporating men and women into sustaining the planet and become independent rather than dependent on resources is an important part of any society. According to the guidebook gender is defined as follows, “gender refers to socially constructed roles, responsibilities, and opportunities associated with men and women, as well as hidden power structures that govern the relationships between them.” The definition furthermore notes that “inequality between the sexes is not due to biological factors, but is determined by the learnt, unequal, and inequitable treatment socially accorded to women”. The role of gender and its relation to development essentially characterizes the ways in which the roles of men and women hold different positions and responsibilities which inhibit their ability to contribute to the benefit of their community and society at large.
There is some evidence for women’s subordination relative to men according to Box 2.1 of the handbook. It notes that 70% of those who live on less than $1 are women, women work 2/3 of the world’s working hours, yet receive only 10% of the world’s income, women own 1% of the world’s property, and 75% of the world’s 876 million illiterate adults are women. How then should gender quality be promoted? The handbook notes that gender equality is defined in various ways but deals mainly with the following five key points (rights, opportunities, value, situation, outcome and agency).
A well-known Samoan legend about gender tells of men and women who were given a job to finish roofing two sides of a house. The men stopped working at the end of the day, leaving their work unfinished, the women worked through the night and the side was completed by the morning. The moral of the story here is that if you need something to be done you give it to women.
The points mentioned above are examples of how gender has become a universal approach in the international community and in international law. Incorporating gender equality in the environment is one of the ways the Rio Summit has changed over the years. Hopefully, the Rio Summit will answer and offer solutions to the problems that inhibit men and women from developing a better future for their families and for future generations.
“Cristiada” Shows the true mexican history in times of Calles, a president who attacked religious freedom.
The cristeros, in those times organized as a civil society to defend the institution of the Church and their faith. Most of them died as martires screaming “Viva Cristo Rey”.
In the movie act Andy García, Eva Longoria and Peter O’ toole
Article Taken from http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/30/hunger-games-star-elizabeth-banks-promotes-planned-parenthood/
by Steven Ertlet
The movie Hunger Games is the most popular film in the nation and star Elizabeth Banks is already trading in her newfound popularity for a chance to get on the soap box and preach her values to the public.
Banks has written a blog for the iVillage blog series CelebVillage in which she talks about the birth of her son Felix, who turns 1-year-old today, via a surrogate. Pro-life advocates have long held concerns about surrogacy because it takes the focus off of adoption of children who are seeking good homes and because surrogates could change their minds about the surrogacy contract and decide to have an abortion.
Banks also credits birth control pills for allowing her to have her son and promotes their usage.
But the portion of Banks’ column that is sure to draw the strongest condemnation from pro-life advocates is her promotion of the Planned Parenthood abortion business. While it also promotes “women’s health” services, Planned Parenthood is the biggest abortion company in the nation, doing more than one-quarter of all abortions in the United States on an annual basis and aggressively lobbying against any pro-life laws to limit or reduce abortions or to help inform women about alternatives or risks and dangers.
Just over a year ago, my son Felix was born via gestational surrogacy. He came out of me nine months early and because of my broken belly, his babycake was baked in a wonderful angel’s oven and now — I can’t believe it — he’s a year old and walking. He has expanded my capacity for joy a thousand-fold.
His life would have been much harder to come by if not for the birth control pill. How’s that, you ask? Well, it’s a simple fact: The pill is used for many situations that have nothing to do with the prevention of pregnancy. The pill was prescribed to me when hormonally induced migraines kept me locked up in dark rooms for days at a time. It was prescribed to me to regulate insanely painful cramps every month — cramps so painful that I often vomited. And here’s a little secret I am happy to blow the lid off of: The pill is often prescribed during the IVF (in vitro fertilization) process to help MAKE BABIES! That’s right, women dealing with infertility are often put on the pill to help regulate a cycle so that they might have a more successful IVF. The pill is used to manage ovarian cysts, endometriosis and other conditions too. Not to mention, it helps couples plan for wanted children.
Obviously, I’m not a doctor. I’m just a woman grateful for my necessary and very helpful medication. And I’m sure glad I don’t have to discuss any of these conditions, including infertility, with my employer.
A girlfriend and I recently wondered what would be more mortifying: having to tell her male employer she needed birth control to mitigate a heavy flow or just bleeding all over herself in the office?
So with that image in mind, I encourage all women — and the men in their lives — to protect access to birth control, and encourage our politicians to take women’s health issues out of the political process.
For more information, please visit the most comprehensive and willing advocates for women’s health in America: Planned Parenthood.
* I hope you reconsider viewing the Hunger Games after reading this.
