Tag Archives: Pro-Life

News

Pro-life couple decides to allow extra embryos from IVF to be adopted

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This story is from Life News.

Excerpt:

One of the problems with in vitro fertilization is that unused or unwanted embryos are often discarded or destroyed. Unfortunately in 2011, a study in the journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine revealed that 19% of unused embryos are discarded and 3% are donated for scientific research.

However, thankfully, there are many people advocating for “embryo adoptions,” which is the implanting of unwanted or unused embryos in an adoptive mothers’ womb. Although this doesn’t remove all the ethical concerns with artificially creating human beings, it does provide an alternative to discarding embryos and destroying lives.

[…]When Becky and Chris Henderson decided to use in vitro to start their family, they decided to keep their 11 unused embryos on ice because they believed life began at conception. Now another family has been blessed by the Henderson’s unused embryos.

They link to this story from the Christian Post for more:

Two couples have been blessed by one couple’s decision to donate their unused embryos and adopt them out to other couples in need.

“We have been blessed with three when we didn’t think we’d have one, so, what kind of awesome thing is it to bless another couple and let them experience the same kind of joy we did?” Becky Henderson told USA Today.

Henderson and husband Chris gave birth to twins via in vitro fertilization and then had a “miracle baby” five years later. After the twins were born, the couple still had 11 embryos frozen; they decided to keep them on ice until they could come to a decision about what they wanted to do. They both believe that life begins at conception, so they decided to place the embryos up for adoption. Eventually, they found Kelli and Dan Gassman, who were looking to have a family of their own.

The four decided to have an “open adoption” and after the Gassmans welcomed son Trevor and, two years later, daughter Aubrey, they still remain close. They share pictures of the children, who are biologically related.

“It was kind of like a joining of hearts,” Gassman said.

“Having an open adoption with communication helps you get over the fears and the doubts,” Becky said. “The what-ifs? It helps get beyond that.”

Now that the Gassmans have their own children, they have returned the remaining unused embryos to the Hendersons. The Hendersons have found another family to help and will continue to do so until all of the embryos are used.

One of the reasons why I blogged about infertility yesterday is because I wanted to people to plan to marry early and about using IVF. The trouble with IVF, as the Life News article notes, is that there are often leftover embryos. Most people, as they noted, just discard the extra embryos, but this is wrong. Each embryo is a distinct genetic code for a male or female human being. Each one is a boy or a girl. Each one has a right to life equal to any able-bodied adult. You and I were all embryos when we were started off. So in order to avoid having to make tough decisions with these extra embryos, I recommend that people plan to marry earlier and have children normally.

News

How pro-life apologetics helps strengthen your evangelism

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From Scott Klusendorf’s Life Training Institute.

Excerpt:

Beyond the obvious obligation we have as thinking human beings to clarify the status, and defend the value, of innocent, unborn human life, engaging in the pro-life project is also a way to make the case for the truth of Christianity in general. It stands to reason that if the scientific, philosophical, and moral arguments we offer in defense of the humanity of the unborn also happen to align exactly with the biblical notion of what it means to be a human being made “in the image of God,” then the Bible might also have something to say about other things of importance.

This is a point Scott makes repeatedly but it was recently driven home in a very concrete way by, of all people, a hard core atheist in the most recent issue of Salvo magazine. A secular skeptic, law school professor, renowned blogger, and mocker of deluded “Godiots,” the “Raving Atheist” attended a blogger party where he serendipitously sat next to a Catholic blogger named Benjamin. As the “Raving Atheist” explains:

At one point the conversation turned to abortion, and I asked Benjamin’s opinion of the practice. I was stunned. Here was a kind, affable, and cogently reasonable human being who nonetheless believed that abortion was murder. To the limited extent I had previously considered the issue, I believed abortion to be completely acceptable, the mere disposal of a lump of cells, perhaps akin to clipping fingernails.

This unsettling exchange spurred me to further investigate the issue on Benjamin’s blog. I noticed that pro-choice Christians did not employ scientific or rational arguments but relied on a confused set of “spiritual” platitudes. More significantly, the pro-choice atheistic blogosphere also fell short in its analysis of abortion. The supposedly “reality-based” community either dismissed abortion as a “religious issue” or paradoxically claimed that pro-life principles were contrary to religious doctrine. Having formerly equated atheism with reason, I was slowly growing uncertain of the value of godlessness in the search for truth.

Though the “Raving Atheist” continued to rave, there was now a stone in his God-rejecting shoe, placed there by a reasoned defense of the pro-life view. He couldn’t disconnect himself from it and later admitted that the “selfless dedication [of pro-life advocates] to their cause moved [him] deeply.” Later, he met a woman named Ashli whose work in pregnancy care drew him to further consider the pro-life position. Soon thereafter, the “Raving Atheist” became, in part, a pro-life blogsite …

Click here to read the astonishing conclusion. Then come back here.

Back? Ok, so what did we learn from this? Well, the moral of this story is that it is very important for Christians to have a good understanding of moral issues like abortion and same-sex marriage so that they can talk about these issues based on what they know. When someone can stake out a moral position on these kinds of issues, using science and history and other hard evidence – not just the Bible – then it helps non-Christians to take us seriously as thinkers.

Unless we demonstrate the ability to reason out there in the real world – outside the church – then we are not going to be viewed as authoritative on any subject – especially on spiritual subjects. We really need to study up on other issues, and show that we care about the unborn (abortion issue) and children (same-sex marriage issue). We have to show that there is more to us than just doing what feels good. We have to show that we are smart and that we are willing to be unpopular in order to do the right thing. That we didn’t just inherit these views from our parents, or from our culture. That we have actually thought things through more than just reading the Bible, and that it makes a difference in how we view the world, and in how we live. We don’t want people to continue in their perception that Christians are just people who play follow-the-leader – we want to show them how we have worked through these issues on our own.

Ignorance is never a good idea when you are trying to do good – and you can’t know what is really good just by your feelings and intuitions. If you want to do good, you need to be 1) convincing and 2) effective. And that takes study. Don’t choose policies based on what makes you feel good and what sounds good to others. Push for effective policies – what actually does good – and then have your arguments and evidence ready to convince people, using evidence from authorities that they accept as non-Christians. If you have the will to study a little, you can be passionate and convincing. Non-Christians respect passion and knowledge. They don’t respect fideism and mysticism.

Scott Klusendorf is the author of the best introductory book on pro-life apologetics, entitled “The Case for Life“.

News

Pro-life governor John Kasich passes laws to promote adoption

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I'm Scheming Unborn Baby, and I approve this decision
I’m Scheming Unborn Baby, and I approve this decision

Story from Life News.

Excerpt:

On Friday, Governor Kasich signed Ohio Right to Life’s adoption reform legislation, S.B. 250, following historic bipartisan majority votes from the Senate, 29-1, and the House of Representatives, 81-4. This adoption reform will eliminate unnecessary costs, protect birth parents and adoptive families, prevent fraud and minimize the bureaucracy in the Ohio adoption process.

The following is a statement from Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life:

At present, middle-class and low-income Ohio families are essentially unable to adopt due to the accumulation of expenses during the adoption process. The adoption reform legislation targets these expenses by increasing the current $1,500 tax credit up to $10,000.

Thanks to an increased tax credit and a shortened adoption decree challenge period, Ohioans will now partake in a more simplified, affordable process that remains compassionate and supportive to birth parents.

John Kasich is definitely in the top rank of governors, along with Scott Walker, Mike Pence, Rick Perry and Bobby Jindal. Each of these governors has signed into law policies that were helpful to unborn children.

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker signed an ultrasound bill that reduced the number of abortions:

Last year, abortions in Wisconsin dropped 4.4 percent and they declined 7.4 percent the year before. Now, Wisconsin Right to Life informs LifeNews abortions int he Badger State are down another 16 percent.

“Last week, Wisconsin abortion providers stated under oath that abortions have decreased from 6,927 in 2012 to roughly 5,800 in 2013,”  stated Barbara L. Lyons, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life.  “This is another sharp decline of approximately 16%, continuing Wisconsin’s record as having some of the lowest abortion numbers in the country.”

[…]The abortion drop comes after pro-life Governor Scott Walker signed multiple pro-life bills into law.

In 2012, Walker added to his pro-life list of accomplishments today by signing bills the pro-life movement supported, including measures to stop abortion funding in Obamacare and webcam abortions.

Last year, Walker signed Senate Bill 206 (Sonya’s Law) into law.  This important new law requires that women seeking abortions in Wisconsin be given the opportunity to see their unborn children through ultrasound.

Texas governor Rick Perry signed a ban on late-term abortions, and a law that closed abortion clinics:

Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a pro-life bill into law July 19 banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at hospitals close to their abortuaries. The immediate result was Planned Parenthood’s decision to shutter three of its clinics even as pro-abortion activists vowed to work to overturn the law — and as at least one abortionist reportedly indicated he would defy the law.

[…]The Associated Press reported that in addition to the ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, the law “restricts abortions to surgical centers and requires doctors who work at abortion clinics to have hospital admitting privileges. Only five of the 42 abortion clinics in Texas … currently meet those new requirements. Clinics will have a year to either upgrade their facilities or shut down after the law takes effect in October.”

Immediately after Perry signed the bill into law, Planned Parenthood threw in the towel on three of its abortion facilities, closing their doors rather than shelling out money for the requisite upgrades.

Lousiana governor Bobby Jindal signed pro-life bills to close abortion clinics:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal today signed pro-life bills that could close three of the state’s five abortion clinics. Jindal has been a staunchly pro-life governor and he is putting into law more pieces of pro-life legislation that has, under his administration, made Louisiana one of the most pro-life states in the nation.

The Louisiana state legislature sent to Jindal HB 388, the Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, that the Planned Parenthood abortion business says could close three of the five abortion clinics in the state.

“This bill will give women the health and safety protections they deserve,” Jindal said.

When the state of Texas clamped down on abortion clinics that could not follow basic health and safety standards and failed to ensure abortion practitioners had admitting privileges at local hospitals in cases where women are injured in botched abortions, abortion clinics closed down because they couldn’t comply. As many as 20 Texas abortion clinics have closed or stopping doing abortions.

Now, Louisiana is following suit.

Indiana governor Mike Pence signed a bill to stop insurance coverage of abortions:

Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest commended Indiana Governor Mike Pence and leading pro-life legislators for enacting a measure that protects Hoosiers from forced funding of abortion-related services via their health insurance plans.

This week Governor Pence signed into law HB 1123, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Thompson, which is based on AUL model legislation.

The bill prohibits “accident and sickness insurance policies” from covering abortion in most circumstances except through a separate rider. This law makes Indiana the ninth state to prohibit private insurance plans operating within their states from covering most abortions.

Republican governors do more than just balance the books and grow the economy. You will never see Democrat governors signing bills to help unborn children like this.

In case you’re wondering, Scott Walker is my pick for President in 2016, but I’ll take any of the governors in this post. At least we know they can marshal pro-life bills into pro-life laws.