| Life Issues Connector: April 2002 |
NARAL Attacks Women Help Centers
By J. C. Willke, MD
Following NARAL’s how-to manual, “Unmasking Fake Clinics”, a serious assault has begun on pregnancy help centers in a number of locations around the United States. This guidebook is very clear about the reason for these attacks. “Evidence of the strength of the CPC (Crisis Pregnancy Center) movement is drawn not only from their growing numbers, in connection with anti-choice organizations, but also from their enhanced credibility.” It is clear that these women helping centers are “robbing customers” from abortion mills all across the United States. In state after state we are hearing reports that the number of abortions has and continues to drop. In some states the decrease is as high as 50%.
The pro-abortion industry has done its best to discredit what they call “fake clinics.” To date their campaign has been strikingly unsuccessful. During this time, the pregnancy help centers have grown in numbers and have grown in influence and sophistication. A particularly good development, in the last few years, has been that many of these centers are turning themselves into full-service medical clinics. The centers are acquiring ultrasound machines and the technicians to run them. They are staffing them with, or becoming affiliated with, licensed medical personnel. Their help for women is better known as a result of advertising more widely, in some cases on TV which has been very effective.
The pro-abortion industry and media have continued to paint the right to life movement as an isolated minority group, characterized by religious zealotry, violence etc. Apparently, not much of this has rubbed off on the CPCs. Their reputation has only grown more compassionate. One recent thrust is the national push to publicize the slogan “Love Them Both.” This has helped to counteract pro-abortion propaganda assaults.
New York – In January, New York Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, declared open warfare against pregnancy help centers in his state. While he has been known as a pro-abortion advocate, even speaking at NARAL’s meetings, this attack can only be described as bigoted and vicious. It took the form of subpoenas issued against a long list of pregnancy centers. He accused them of practicing medicine without a license, and many other improbables. His subpoenas demanded nearly every piece of printed paper that had passed through those centers in the last two decades. It was quite obvious that his intention was to close them down if possible or bankrupt them. Without question, another reason was to intimidate the thousands of sincere volunteers who operate these centers, in the hopes that they would withdraw out of fear of legal harassment, and leave the centers without staffing.
The Attorney General of South Carolina almost immediately issued a statement strongly criticizing Spitzer and accusing him of pro-abortion motivation without any substantive cause. A national coalition of pregnancy help centers issued an open statement, condemning the attacks as unwarranted and as a thinly veiled attempt by the pro-abortion industry to eliminate “competition.” Several major religious figures weighed in. Then the heavyweight legal defense firm, The Christian Legal Society, entered the fray, as did the legal counsel of many of the centers themselves.
On February 14th, The American Center of Law and Justice filed a motion in the Supreme Court of New York to quash a subpoena issued to the Manhattan offices.
Two weeks after the centers initiated legal action against him, Eliot Spitzer announced an agreement with a center in Victor, New York. With this he revoked the subpoenas issued to the other centers across the state. In a clear retreat, he stated that the agreement he has reached will “clarify acceptable practices for the centers.” Time will tell, but it seems that the agreement is modeled closely on consent degrees that had been mutually agreed upon after a similar assault on the Manhattan centers by previous Attorney Generals in 1987 and in 1995. These will put quite a crimp on the centers, if in fact they are rigidly imposed. They include informing women that the center does not perform abortions or refer for them. In the event they are not staffed with medical personnel, the centers agreed to disclose verbally and in writing the fact that they are not a licensed medical center and not qualified to diagnose or date a pregnancy. Also, the on-site pregnancy test would be done by the woman herself, not by the clinic personnel. The last word has obviously not yet been spoken.
California – The strongly pro-abortion administration of the state of California has also been following NARAL’s how-to manual. NARAL’s California state affiliate, CARAL, held “a special training session (February 27th) on unmasking fake clinics.” Prior to the session, it had announced that it “will expose the hidden agenda and activities that take place behind the doors of CPCs…The session will equip you with the necessary information and training needed to take action against CPCs in your community.”
A reporter for World Net Daily registered for the conference and obtained an information packet, but was then identified and promptly escorted out of the meeting. The papers obtained included a report discussing “the hidden threat to women’s health”…an “Action Kit Booklet”…a list of California CPCs, maps, a case study of a Rockville, Maryland CPC and a tip sheet for abortion activists on how to visit and obtain damning evidence against the centers. Further information was entitled “The Myth of the Free Pregnancy Test, Anti-Abortion Propaganda, Scaring Teens Abstinent, and The Christian Right.”
The Action Kit described CPCs as “anti-choice, stealth organizations dedicated to keeping women from choosing safe legal abortions.”
In a section entitled, “What You Can Do About CPCs”, it offered suggestions:
- Help investigate CPCs in your community
- Organize protests in front of CPCs
- Pass out stickers and information in front, to warn people
- Work with faith-based organizations and religious leaders to support comprehensive health care
- Thank an abortion provider
When clandestinely visiting a CPC, NARAL suggests the person call for the appointment from a blocked number and, “be ready to tell them when your period is due. Be prepared with a story.” It warns its investigators to be on the lookout for “a lot of talk about God, the physical dangers of abortion and the so-called post abortion syndrome.” It gave questions and answers, instructed them to closely survey the center and bring that information back to a pro-abortion center.
CARAL (California Abortion Rights Action League) is attempting to paint CPCs as though they are part of a huge national conspiracy. Most CPCs are telling their pro-life volunteers, if they are doing the job that they’ve been trained to do, they have nothing to worry about. The centers serve women and will continue to do so, including those who may come under false pretenses.
Aside from preparing for more direct assaults and continuing to do the good work that has so panicked the abortion industry, the pro-life California centers will be meeting to discuss this problem, and plan legal retaliation if necessary. Dana Serrano, a pro-life director from San Diego said, “They haven’t picketed us since the 80’s, how desperate are they? Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, Planned Parenthood started the same thing, and out of that our centers grew stronger. We’ve had 20 years of growth, they’ve had 20 years of decline.” An attorney for the US Justice Foundation, Richard Ackerman, said, “They ought to be ashamed of themselves, this is obviously a thinly veiled attempt to interfere with the right of a woman to seek counseling from an entity that thinks differently from CARAL. They are attempting to fraudulently interfere with the business relationships of what they perceive to be competitors. We will seriously consider a retaliation lawsuit. This must come to a stop.”
All of the above adds up to good news and bad news. The bad news of course is that we are being attacked. The good news is that we are panicking the abortion industry. They are becoming desperate and have launched these attacks out of an attempt to eliminate very effective “competition.” More good news is that our side has quietly, persistently and lovingly established almost four thousand such centers across the United States, and an equal number proportionately in Canada. These centers have saved hundreds of thousands of babies’ lives, and have prevented the untold psychic and physical damage that abortion reeks on its women victims. Talk for them is cheap, but the actions of our pregnancy help centers speak louder than their words. These compassionate care centers have proven their worth. We’re sure they will tough it out and continue to save more and more babies as the years go on.
Life
Issues Today
with Dr. J. C. Willke
Coffins Or Cribs
Most of us have become aware of the low birth rate in the western world. This has particularly been pointed out to us because of all the attention centered on the Muslim world. A birthrate in Europe of only 1.5, compared to a Muslim birthrate of 4 or 5 babies per woman in her lifetime, will lead to entirely predictable and almost revolutionary demographic changes. Yes, the US birthrate has just edged up over the necessary replacement level of 2.1, this being due primarily to immigration. Bearing all of this in mind, the decision to have a baby is an intensely personal one, with as many reasons as there are people making those decisions. Nevertheless, an article in the Celebrate Life Magazine recently caught my attention. It’s a very somber commentary and I reprint it here slightly abridged.
“Ahead of me I see the years stretch out with fewer and fewer loved ones I can call my own. The grand march of the generations is dwindling down with mine. Looking around at my relatives within my own generation, I see that there are fewer of us than those we should be replacing; and looking to those whom we have produced, I see very, very few.
"We learned our lessons well, we in the middle. We heard the call of knowledge increased, of possessions gathered, and of opportunities broadened, and we took it to heart. We have responded to the litany of the world which told us to live our lives for happiness, measured by all that the world values. Has the world delivered on its promises? The cost to reap this harvest of worldly happiness is the loss of the joy which the children we don’t have would have given us.
"Was it worth the cost? I have knowledge greater than my mother had. I have seen, and yet may see, many places she had only dreamed of. My child has traveled farther than I when I was her age. My only child.
"My mother finished grade school and went a little father. I finished high school and went father still. My daughter is searching for the right school for a Ph.D. What will her child accomplish, if ever she has time for one? If ever there is time.
"She is not alone in her pursuits, and I am not alone among my relatives who may have no babies to rock. My generation stands often by the coffin, but seldom by the crib.
"My generation saw children as something to postpone until the time was right. We wanted our children to be “wanted,” and set such narrow limits on the times when we would want them. More often we rejoiced at the signs of an empty womb. Did we teach our children that children are something to be avoided? It seems that they have learned this lesson well.
"As we bury our parents and watch our circle of family diminish, will we finally humble ourselves before Almighty God and ask forgiveness for rejecting these precious gifts He had to give us? Will we finally come to understand that the chosen barren womb is the curse of the Prince of Darkness? Or will our own arrogance continue to defeat us even to our grave?
"My time inside the casket is closer
now. I have buried both of my parents. Who will stand
by my casket to bury me? Will my children, that God intended,
the children I do not have, mock me on the Day of Judgment when I
stand before my Maker and give an account of my life and the lives
I rejected? The closer I get to this moment of judgment, the
more sure I become that this, and only this, is what my life is—or
should have been—all about.”
Barbara and I have been married for over 53 years. God blessed us with five children, and we adopted number six. To date, nineteen grandchildren have enriched our lives, but we certainly are an exception in today’s world. Yes, in the springtime of our adult lives, we all were very busy. First it was education, and then it was a job, proving ourselves in our chosen field. When children came, they had to be, more or less, squeezed in too often, rather than being the center of our attention. Life went on, and the above article speaks to it eloquently and somberly.
Our lives were twenty years of preparation and growing up, twenty years of establishing ourselves. For twenty more we were reasonably on top of things and looking forward to retirement and then twenty or thirty more in the twilight, golden, or retirement years, however you care to describe it. What is the most important thing in those final decades? Our experience and that of our friends has been that in those twilight years, the fulfillment, the joy, the fullness of life, is realized in our children and grandchildren.
Enough said.
Croatia Follows Poland
By J. C. Willke, MD
We have reported in detail on the success of pro-life efforts in Poland. In our April 2000 issue we detailed how the number of abortions in Poland, which averaged 150,000 to 180,000 a year under the Communists, dropped to 151 in the year 1999 and 138 in 2000. Poland stands out like a shinning beacon, for no other nation has been able to do this.
No other nation? Well, Croatia is rapidly catching up to Poland’s pro-life stature. Croatia was the northern part of Yugoslavia and is 90% Catholic. To the east is Serbia, which is heavily Orthodox. The population is Muslim in the south and southwest. Perhaps, because of religious differences, these three areas are essentially separate national units and are rapidly becoming officially separate nations. Our interest is in Croatia, the crescent shaped nation that was the northern third of Yugoslavia.
During the cold war, Yugoslavia was not subject to the intense Communist domination, exploitation and religious persecution that the other iron curtain countries were. It was Communist, but it remained a bit of a bridge between the East and the West. So, while it also had its secret service agents, there was a bit more freedom than in the rest of Eastern Europe.
On our first visit to its capital, Zagreb, 20 years ago, Mrs. Willke and I were followed, our hotel room was bugged and there were “observers” in the audiences we lectured to. Our message then was totally non-political or we would not have been allowed in. We spoke in the field of sex education and pro-life. We’ve been back on two occasions since and are pleased to tell you that the West has come to Croatia. Its people are intensely nationalistic and quite religious.
There has been a strong pro-life movement in Croatia. Among its leaders are Marijo and Darka Zivkovic and Dr. Anton Lisec. They have lectured extensively and persistently throughout the nation, spreading the pro-life ethic wrapped in a Christian message.
The invasion by Serbian forces and their ultimate expulsion produced a surge of nationalism and patriotic support, some of it tied into their Catholic beliefs.
The Cathedral and palace of the archbishop
in Zagreb - the capital of Croatia.
In 1987 there were 48,608 legal abortions. By 1990, as the Communist influence drained away and religious and pro-life preaching was able to become more prominent, the number dropped to 38,644. By 1995, there were 14,282 abortions and in the year 2000, it was 7,500. Phrased another way, the abortion rate has dropped from 100 to 15.
Other Signs
In 1990, 13 ˝ % of babies born were the third or more child in
the family. By 1997, 25% of all children were the third or more.
The newborn infant mortality for every 1,000 births in 1980 was 20
˝. In 1999, it had dropped 7 ˝. What are some of the reasons
for this drop? There were serious educational efforts in Croatia
even during Communist time. Their Family Center printed and
distributed about two million leaflets and brochures on family life,
marriage and protection of the unborn. In addition they used
films, slides and books and there were numerous regional, national
and international conferences organized. The Catholic hierarchy
has always been very up front on these issues. If a bishop spoke
four minutes on national TV, he spent one minute pleading for the
rights of the unborn. The government has been most cooperative.
Encouraging births has been a specific effort. After 1996, every
woman, after the birth of her third or following child, now receives
three years of monthly support payments.
Conclusion
Marijo and Darka Zivkovic are part of the staff of the Family Center
in the capital city of Zagreb. They say, “We hope and expect
that, with additional efforts by all concerned people and institutions,
it will be possible to accomplish further positive developments.
We hope this will ultimately bring Croatia to an abortion-free society;
a society in which all killing of the unborn will be illegal and illegal
abortions will be rare. We also hope that Croatia will develop
into a child-loving society in which the prevailing size of an average
family will be three, four, or even more children.”
Well said my friends. You’ve certainly done an extraordinary job to date. We will wish you well and will keep watching.
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Text from the above Ads:
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From The Executive Director
Bradley Mattes
No
News Can Be Deadly News
Here is an issue that is customarily out of the realm of pro-life organizations. That is, the effectiveness of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). This is regularly dealt with by those promoting abstinence, but usually avoided by pro-life organizations not wanting to take a position on birth control.
That is totally understandable. There is a clear difference between preventing human life from starting, and killing that life once it has begun. The staff of Life Issues Institute has varying opinions on the right or wrong of contraception. However, we all have one goal in common, the protection of innocent human life from the moment of fertilization to natural death. That’s what makes our diverse movement so effective. Regardless of our political, religious or economic status, we are united behind this central mission.
Why address this issue now? A report of monumental importance to the health and life of millions of Americans has recently come to my attention. Considering its implications, it should have made front-page headlines in every paper in the nation at the time it was made public. We shouldn’t be surprised that the biased, secular media didn’t agree. Further, this information is crucial to those counseling in women help centers and who face this issue when talking to youth.
On June 12-13, 2000, the Food and Drug Administration, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and US Agency for International Development co-sponsored a gathering of representatives of the sponsoring agencies and other outside experts to answer this question. “What is the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of latex male condom-use to prevent STD transmission during vaginal intercourse?”
The National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases then released a summary report on July 20, 2001 to announce their finding. Keep in mind that these aren’t conservative groups loathed by the liberal media elite, but governmental agencies charged with overseeing the health of Americans.
This report states that an astounding 65 million-plus people are living with an STD. That means one in five adults in the US are infected. You may also be alarmed to learn that most STDs are incurable viral infections. It is estimated that an additional 15 million people are infected with STDs every year. Most STDs are asymptomatic, in other words, they are silent diseases with no or very mild symptoms. Therefore many people don’t know they are infectious and pass them on to other sexual partners. The report also said that many of the STDs promote HIV transmission, increasing the risk between 2 and 5 fold.
The group examined 138 peer-reviewed studies that were subject to independent scientific evaluation prior to their publication. They studied data on eight STDs: HIV infection, gonorrhea, chlamydial infection, syphilis, chancroid, trichomoniasis, genital herpes, and genital HPV infection and associated diseases (i.e. cervical dysplasia, cervical cancer and genital warts). I’d like to very briefly familiarize you with some of these prevalent STDs.
One incurable STD is Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). There are more than 100 variations of this disease which can also be spread by contact with infected area skin including the inner thighs. It is believed that digital (finger) transmission may be possible. You can see why a condom would have no impact on prevention. HPV is believed to be responsible for 95% of all cervical cancer cases, which kill an estimated 6,000 women annually. AIDS isn’t the only fatal STD.
Chlamydia is the most common bacterial infection with 3 million new cases each year. It is usually asymptomatic and often results in pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) which includes chronic pelvic pain, ectopic (tubal) pregnancy and infertility.
Gonorrhea cases increase by 650,000 every year and is the second major cause of PID.
Trichomoniasis, caused by a parasite, infects 5 million every year and is associated with an increased transmission of HIV/AIDS.
Genital Herpes infections increase by 500,000 annually. In addition, there are 10 million recurrences each year.
Gee, I feel like my computer keyboard and I need a disinfecting shower! Now, here are the alarming findings of this prestigious group of experts who studied the data.
The evidence shows that condoms, when used correctly, have a positive impact on the spread of HIV and gonorrhea. However, that should provide small comfort to the sexually active when the rest of the findings are revealed.
The report concluded that published epidemiologic data does not show that the condom reduces the transmission of the other diseases. Further it states that there is “no epidemiologic evidence that condom use reduced the risk of HPV infection”.
The politically correct crowd is sending the wrong message that condoms protect those engaged in multiple-partner sex. We need to spread the truth so that others can make safe and healthy decisions. A copy of this fifty-page report (the first two pages are the executive summary) is available by going to www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/stds/condomreport.pdf
STATES EXCHANGE
Each Day They Kill 540 More...
Every day of the year, Planned Parenthood
persuades 540 women to agree to let them kill their unborn babies.
If you or someone you know thinks that Planned Parenthood is a good
organization that helps poor married couples space the births of their
children – nothing could be further from the truth. Planned Parenthood
(PP) is the leading promoter and the largest single provider of abortions
in our country.
Here are some other facts you may not know about this prominent member
of the abortion industry:
- In 2000 PP took in a record $69 million by
performing abortions – one-third of
their clinic income. - For every adoption referral, they aborted 79 babies.
- Since 1995 the number of PP abortions has increased a whopping 41%.
- As of 1977 PP has killed over 3 million unborn babies.
- From 1985 through 2000, PP has received nearly 2.2 billion tax dollars.
- PP president, Gloria Feldt, receives a salary of $324,217 a year.
Are these alarming facts news to you?
How much do you know about the largest and most well funded organization
working to keep abortion-on-demand legal throughout all nine months
of pregnancy? Since it’s beginning, Planned Parenthood has claimed
millions of victims. Tragically, more unsuspecting men and women fall
prey to their slick messages selling death and emotional devastation.
If you want to be informed about the abortion industry, you need to
know the extent of Planned Parenthood’s escalating pro-abortion agenda.
STOPP International has collected a vast amount of information, full
of documented statistics and illustrative graphs, taken from PP’s
own data. It has been compiled in their April 2002 publication called
the Ryan Report. We highly recommend this as one of the most comprehensive
and up-to-date sources of information on Planned Parenthood. Order
your copies by contacting STOPP International, PO Box 1350, Stafford,
VA 22555. Phone 540.659.4171. Web www.stoppinternational.org