Pregnancy Support
Pro-Life Blogs
Announcement
The Gospel of Life Institute invites you to "illuminate hope" in the lives of mothers and their babies by joining us as we Ride, Run or Walk 4 UltraSound on Saturday, September 20, 2008, at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. As many of you know, 4US (formerly known as Ride4US) raises money to purchase ultrasound machines for clinics, illuminating hope for mothers in crisis. Benefitting clinics offer entirely free services to pregnant women, bringing the joy of motherhood into focus within a loving network of support. Ride one of four distances (5, 25, 42 or 62 miles) beginning at 7:30 a.m.; run a 5K or 10K timed race at 10:30 a.m.; or walk (5K) through the pristine beauty of an old-growth forest at 11:00 a.m. All participants will enjoy the Family Fun Festival with a free pancake breakfast, live Christian music, food and inflatables for the children from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Registration may be completed online or via snail mail. You are encouraged to join the Gospel of Life Institute's team (Father Ed White is the team captain) and save $5 per person on registration.
Please consider making a donation to 4US via one of our team members.
Commentary and News
"We cannot make peace with the barrenness of contraception, abortion and homosexuality, precisely because these evils deny the most fundamental God-given principle. They contradict life, fruitfulness, hope; and they deny the family which exists to cooperate with God in the procreation of life."
~ Fr. Allan Hawkins,
www.stmarythevirgin.org, Salve, June 6, 2008 ~
Please read the letter below which explains some of the dangers of physician-assisted suicide and then consider visiting the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide and making a donation to help them oppose I-1000.
Dear Friends:
I’m writing to you today because I am working on the campaign against Initiative 1000, a measure which will legalize physician-assisted suicide in Washington state. If passed, the victory will be used by the pro-euthanasia special interests as the lever to bring about the next step down the path to a culture of death.
We know this because the supporters of the measure have labeled the campaign “Oregon Plus One.” Despite losing in 25 other states (including here in Washington in 1991), the proponents believe that if only one state besides Oregon would legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS), the rest of the states will fall like dominoes.
Washington is a very liberal state. It is the only state in the union to have legalized abortion by a vote of the people prior to Roe v Wade. And the same arguments are being used to support I-1000. They claim that it is a matter of “choice”. And for the predominantly wealthy white men who advocate this, it may well be.
Yet there is word from Oregon that some of those who asked for the lethal dose of pills were being manipulated by adult children wanting their inheritance sooner. Not one of those requesting PAS was evaluated for depression in the latest 2007 statistics. And as to the rest, who knows--the Oregon law does not allow investigation of assisted suicide cases and requires the destruction of all records within a year, so it is nearly impossible to track who is requesting PAS and how people actually died.
I-1000 goes even farther. It actually re-writes the definition of suicide. It will require physicians to lie about the cause of death--they must ascribe it to the terminal illness that the patients did not have the chance to die from. Tracking use of PAS will be impossible. Neither will surviving families be able to sue unscrupulous doctors for malpractice; I-1000 gives doctors prescribing PAS immunity from law suit. How is this good for consumers?
Even worse, families will not be notified if a loved one requests PAS. And as in Oregon, those who suffer from depression may not be evaluated first and treated. Anyone over 18 who is diagnosed as being 6 months from dying can request this--no questions asked. Nor are there any safeguards to protect the poor from exploitation by heartless insurers. In Oregon, coverage of end of life treatment has been slashed while lethal prescriptions are covered as “pain management.”
What happens in places which have legalized PAS? Recently the London Telegraph reported on new legislation introduced in Belgium where PAS was legalized several years ago. The proposed legislation would allow teenagers to request PAS for themselves and for parents of handicapped children to ask for PAS for their minor dependents. In Holland, which is the pioneer of the pro-euthanasia movement, doctors euthanize patients without permission. One physician told how he had killed an elderly nun because he knew that her religious scruples would never have allowed her to request this herself -- so he did it for her.
In Oregon, people who voted for PAS are now getting nervous, contacting the pro-life physicians group to find out if their doctor is one of those who prescribes death pills. Pro-life doctors now hang signs in their waiting rooms which are meant to reassure patients that they will only pursue life-affirming therapies.
Is this the culture we want? The doctor-patient relationship has always been a sacred trust where we know that the physician is the patient’s advocate and tireless defender against premature death. But in Holland, people now carry cards in their wallets asking not to be euthanized in the case of illness or accident.
Can you help us? Pro-lifers in Washington state have managed to raise approximately $100,000 from residents while the proponents of PAS have raised over $1.2 million, the majority from out of state. The people in the pro-euthanasia movement believe the election in Washington is crucial to their plans for the rest of the country.
This is a David vs. Goliath battle. We need prayers and we need funds.
Our research has shown that if even a little information is given about the realities of PAS, voters change their minds. We have to get the message out to voters that the so-called “Death with Dignity” initiative, as the proponents have called it, has little to do with dignity and everything to do with death.
We hope to buy time in various media markets to inform voters about how dangerous this initiative actually is. I am writing to as many of my friends as I can asking that they donate just a little, perhaps $25, to the No Assisted Suicide campaign. If you follow this link to www.noassistedsuicide.com, you can donate securely.
Please consider helping us especially by praying for our efforts to protect the vulnerable among us who may be easy prey for unscrupulous relatives or suffering from undiagnosed depression. They need us to speak out for them.
As one of our speakers said, “If you see someone on a ledge, you don’t yell ‘jump!’ and you certainly don’t push.” Our goal is to return to the attitude that every part of life is worth living, that where there is life, there is hope.
With all of the advances in pain control therapies, there is little excuse for surrendering to despair. Note that the American Medical Association and Washington Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the Washington State Hospital Association all officially oppose physician-assisted suicide. Join us in promoting a culture of life and fighting the suffocating despair of the pro-euthanasia movement.
You can find more information about our campaign for life and how to donate at www.noassistedsuicide.com.
Yours in life!
Suzanne Harmon
PS Please remember that even if you cannot afford to donate, your prayers are just as important in helping us.
Sioux Falls, Jul 29, 2008 / 12:11 am (CNA).- South Dakota pro-life advocates continue to report that the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is no longer performing abortions after a rigorous informed consent state law took effect earlier this month, though they say further investigation is required for confirmation. “We were the first state that ever made Planned Parenthood put up a closed sign,” one pro-life leader said.
Dr. Allen Unruh, a leader in South Dakota’s Vote Yes for Life campaign, wrote a statement last week describing how on Monday, July 21 a sign on the Planned Parenthood clinic door said it was closed and women who had scheduled abortions were turned away.
“On this Monday, no unborn babies died in South Dakota by an abortion,” he said.
The clinic normally flies in a doctor from Minneapolis, Minnesota to perform fifteen to twenty abortions every Monday.
Dr. Unruh credited the state informed consent law for discouraging doctors from performing abortions. Read more...
July 30, 2008
Please read this PDF brochure, Washington Initiative 1000, from the American Academy of Medical Ethics and share it with your families, friends, fellow parishioners, and co-workers. As the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide recently shared, the citizens of Washington state need to know that 1-1000:
- Allows the mentally ill and those suffering from depression to be given a lethal overdose of drugs.
- Requires doctors to falsify death certificates and cover up what they’ve done.
- Lacks any requirement that family members be involved, or even notified.
- Opens the door for heath insurers and the State to pressure the most vulnerable among us to end their own lives early.
Additional resources to help you oppose physician-assisted suicide can be found here.
July 16, 2008
Please read the message below from ProLife Washington and send them a donation, today!
PROLIFE WASHINGTON has launched its new Summer Campaign featuring three new themes and YOU helped make it happen in Yakima and Spokane! Watch for our latest:
"Adoption can be a Life-saver" with Baby P.J.
"Cherish LIFE - born and unborn" with Baby Jack
"18 Days from conception my HEART was beating" with Baby Jacob
This is Baby Jack, tenderly held in his mother's arms. Like Jack, all babies, born and unborn, need protection and loving care. That's our goal – to create an awareness of the beauty and preciousness of each and every human life!
So often abortion is "chosen" without really knowing or considering just what and WHO is involved. Our ads and 800# Hotline featured on every ad, offer the Truth and alternatives.
PROLIFE WASHINGTON again joins PROLIFE Across AMERICA'S goal of 1100 New Billboards this Summer- reaching into as many cities and states as possible. It's a proven fact that the more ads that are out there – the more people reached and babies' lives saved.
Please help launch this New Summer Campaign in and around Seattle and Tacoma.
This is Baby P.J. reminding viewers that Truly –“Adoption can be a Life-Saver!”
Many of us know first-hand what a blessing adoption can be to a family. Each one was a gift in his or her own way.
Dear friends, the pro-abortion establishment pedals “death” – not life- as their solution for an untimely pregnancy. They will never promote adoption as a loving alternative. To the contrary, abortion is their business. And it is big business, bringing in millions of dollars each year.
It's up to you and me to promote life and the loving alternative of adoption. Will you help PROLIFE WASHINGTON in our new Summer Campaign? It's so needed.
As one young woman who called the 800# Hotline said: “I'm pregnant and never even thought about adoption until I saw your ad.” Unfortunately, this young mother, like so many others, thought abortion was her “only real option.” Thankfully, our ad and Hotline was life-saving – for her and her baby. After all, we must never forget that abortion carries a lasting affect (sometimes like a “time bomb” that goes off years later) for the mother and perhaps father as well.
Sadly, over 4,400 babies die by surgical abortion in America every day. Over One million are aborted every year. Just think of the couples who would love to welcome one of those little ones into their lives. Many call the Hotline in desperation pleading.
“We've tried for years to have children. Can you help us adopt a baby?”
That's why PROLIFE WASHINGTON'S work is so vital. We promote LIFE and the concept of adoption which has almost been forgotten – if not deliberately stigmatized in today's culture. In fact, the National Council for Adoption estimates there are nearly “Two million couples in America today, waiting to adopt – and that includes children of all races and those with special needs.” This information can be encouraging and nothing short of “life-saving” to those on the brink of an abortion decision.
This is Baby Jacob reminding viewers:”18 Days from conception my HEART was beating.” It's a medical fact and yet many are still unaware. (New technology verifies that a baby's heart may be beating as early as 12 days from conception.)
We cannot rely on the dominant secular pro-abortion media or abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood to tell the Truth and offer real information and accurate medical evidence that would promote life. To the contrary, they intentionally use verbiage such as “tissue,” “embryonic life,” or “potential life” that ignores or dehumanizes the child in the womb.
Our billboards have proven to be vital and life-saving. Many who had planned abortions, chose life after learning that their baby's heart was already beating.
Why so many Billboards? Because we know that the more ads that are out there – the more people reached with the truth and alternatives. Remember our 800# Hotline for Help is posted on every billboard and (radio ad). Truly, babies' lives are being saved.
Pro-Life Washington knows that you have already given. But we ask again – not for ourselves – (we receive no salary) but we ask on behalf of all of those who desperately need to see their tender and touching messages.
IF WE DON'T PROMOTE LIFE AND ADOPTION WHO WILL?
Remember, Pro-Life Washington's Billboards do more than advertise. Our ads create an “atmosphere of life” – giving honor to motherhood, family life and the children God so generously bestows on us.
This Billboard outreach is costly, but has proven to be life-saving. Billboards range in price from $500 - $3500.00 per month depending on the location. Please give whatever you can! If you cannot give at this time, please pray for this Media Mission.
Thank you and God Bless you,
Matt and Georgene Ulrich
Please print the attached donation form and send it along with your tax-deductible donation to:
PROLIFE WASHINGTON
PO Box 1090
Bothell, Washington 98041
July 11, 2008
The Washington State Medical Association recently reiterated their stance against physician-assisted suicide. The statement can be found at WSMA Press Releases.
Please tell your friends and family about the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide and if you have not already done so, make a donation to this organization to help them defeat I-1000. The Coalition also needs volunteers to contact senior centers, service clubs, and faith organizations in your community and help them schedule a speaker who can give an educational presentation about assisted suicide and I-1000. Please take the time to educate yourself regarding I-1000 by visiting the question and answer section of www.noassistedsuicide.com.
Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, has killed 18 and caused 140 serious reactions. Please think twice before allowing your daughter(s) to receive this vaccine. Visit LifeSite News and American Life League for more information.
July 9, 2008
Below is a copy of the press release issued by the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide on July 2, 2008:
Assisted Suicide Initiative Paid Signature Campaign Delivers Bad Law to Capitol, Opponents Say
Saying that paid signature gatherers are endangering Washington’s elderly, low-income and disabled, The Coalition Against Assisted Suicide today called on voters to reject I-1000, the assisted suicide initiative.
“Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy signatures,” said Duane M. French, head of the disabilities rights group, Not Dead Yet – Washington, and a member of the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide.
“The initiative backers spent almost a million dollars and unleashed a small army of paid mercenaries to collect signatures. It shows they have very little public support and a very small volunteer base,” said French. “All this is being orchestrated by highly paid PR consultants for a fee. After all – how do you convince people that killing and suicide are good things? It isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap.”
French, who is a quadriplegic, also noted that the majority of funding for I-1000 came from out-of-state contributors.
“To all the people in California and New York who sent money so we in Washington can more easily kill ourselves, I think we have to say “thanks, but no thanks,” French added.
At a press conference in the Secretary of State’s office in Olympia, opponents of assisted suicide sharply criticized Initiative 1000 and the million-dollar signature campaign.
The Washington State Medical Association also issued a press release today reiterating they are “emphatically” opposed to I-1000, which they condemned as “contrary to good medical practice.”
Two doctors at the press conference, Dr. Susan Rutherford and Dr. Patricia O’Halloran, highlighted serious problems with I-1000: it gives HMOs and insurers the opportunity to exploit assisted suicide to cut costs, inadequately protects depressed patients from committing suicide and establishes a secret process that lacks any provision for investigating abuse. In fact, it requires that participating doctors falsify death certificates, they said.
The physicians also voiced grave concerns that some of the most vulnerable, low-income and disabled patients would feel pressured to end their lives prematurely with this option on the table.
"We're concerned that an option to die by assisted suicide will, for some folks, come to be perceived as a duty to die," said O'Halloran.
“I-1000 is dangerous because it permits bad medical practice and shrouds it up with secrecy, “ said Rutherford. “It has no peer review, no requirement for competence in end of life care, and even a mandate for doctors to falsify the death certificate. On top of that, I-1000 provides immunity for the participating doctors, who cannot be disciplined or sued for malpractice under the law.”
“Proponents often tell us to look how well things have worked in Oregon,” said O’Halloran. “The truth is that Oregon is a black box. Due to limited reporting requirements and a prohibition on outside review of records there, we really can't be sure what's going on in Oregon. We do know that a woman in Eugene, Oregon was told last month that her coverage would not pay for chemotherapy, but that she could consider assisted suicide – which was covered under her plan. That’s not what we want to see here.
July 3, 2008