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PA Pro-Life Federation

PA Pro-Life Federation On-Line News

December 17, 2007

by News Release

Pennsylvania Pro-Life Online News from the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

December 17, 2007

A publication of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation
4800 Jonestown Rd., Suite 102
Harrisburg, PA 17109
717-541-0034

If you have trouble accessing any of these stories, you can find them on our website at http://www.paprolife.org/resources/e_news.html.

For Breaking News updates daily, visit our website at www.paprolife.org.

Pregnant? Need Help? Go to www.realalternatives.org.

Had an Abortion? Need Healing? Visit www.rachelsvineyard.org.

In this issue:

Headline Says "Man Who Helped Start Stem Cell War May End It"
"Stem Cell Hoax" Presentation for Your Next Event
Senate Bill Designed to Help Pregnant Women
The Privacy Ruse
Testing Your Roe IQ
Reducing Abortions Would Cut Incidence of Subsequent Premature Births
Heisman Winner Could Have Been an Abortion Statistic
Help Us Spread the Pro-Life Word!
Chapter Information from Around the State!

Help us in our life-saving work! Quick, easy online donation now available. Donate by logging onto http://www.paprolife.org/donate.

Headline Says "Man Who Helped Start Stem Cell War May End It"
Huge Breakthrough--Two Studies Reprogrammed Human Skin Cells To Resemble Embryonic
By Mary Beliveau, Legislative/PAC Director (beliveau@paprolife.org)

The headline read: "Man Who Helped Start Stem Cell War May End It." Would you believe it was in the New York Times! This was probably the response of nearly everyone who saw the headline and read the article in the New York Times about the huge breakthrough in stem cell research where scientists were able to induce plain skin cells to behave much like embryonic stem cells. Other major newspaper headlines also echoed the accomplishment. "Major Stem-Cell Advance Reported," was the headline given in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Two separate research teams--scientists at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Kyoto in Japan--announced that they had reprogrammed ordinary human skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells. Evidently, they had used the same approach for their simultaneous breakthrough. more...

"Stem Cell Hoax" Presentation for your Next Event

By Michael Ciccocioppo, Executive Director (ciccocioppo@paprolife.org)

Looking for a pro-life topic for your next event? Confused as the next person about the truth regarding stem cell research? What is the "hoax" that seems to have been bought into by many Americans?

I have been giving PowerPoint presentations on stem cell research around the Commonwealth for a couple years now. Earlier this year I gave it in Williamsport for the pro-life breakfast sponsored by the Susquehanna Valley Pennsylvanians for Human Life. Earlier this month I gave it as the keynote address at a fund-raising banquet for Mom's House in Lancaster, a center that provides childcare, lifeskills classes, clothes, food and more for unwed parents so they can go to school and meet their personal goals. The talk was well-received and many people commented that it helped them understand the issue more clearly.

This presentation went very well for church group meetings in Bethlehem and Harrisburg, and at high schools in Lebanon and Harrisburg. Tomorrow, I'll teach it to six classes at Lancaster Catholic High School. Students and adults appreciate the way I break this complex topic down into understandable parts and expose the misconceptions popularized in our society today.

If you would like to invite me to your event, church or school, please contact me directly by email, ciccocioppo@prprolife.org, or you may call me in Harrisburg at 717-541-0034 to discuss availability. The Federation does not charge speaker fees for our presentation. It is our mission to educate. Donations for our life-saving work are always gratefully accepted.

Senate Bill Designed to Help Pregnant Women

A bill has been introduced by Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey to provide resources and support to pregnant women. The Pregnant Women's Support Act (S. 2407) will "empower pregnant women to make healthy choices for themselves and their children, born and unborn," according to Deirdre McQuade of the USCCB's Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. The bill includes a number of provisions designed to make the choice for life easier. Among them: ensuring pregnant women are not denied coverage by insurance companies; establishing a toll-free number for resources during pregnancy and after birth; providing parenting education in maternity group homes; and expanding adoption credit and adoption assistance programs. A nearly identical bill, H.R. 3192, has been introduced in the U.S. House by Representative Lincoln Davis of Tennessee.

The Privacy Ruse

By Maria Vitale, Education Director (vitale@paprolife.org)

Candidates who are running for President like to show how they differ from their opponents, as evidenced by their issue stands, resumes, and political preferences.

Yet, in a recent debate, candidate after candidate for the Democratic nomination for President spoke of how any U.S. Supreme Court justice they would nominate would have to believe that the Constitution contains a right to privacy.

In culture of death doublespeak, "right to privacy" means "right to abortion" which means "right to kill."

When I hear pro-abortion politicians insisting on the right to privacy, I have to laugh. You can go on the Internet and find driving directions to my private residence. Spyware allows you to see what I've been up to on my computer. A supermarket chain recently sent me cat food coupons--the store knows from my discount card that I often shop for a feline friend.

As a telemarketer, you can call my private residence every night of the week and interrupt my private dinner time. You can glance at my private cell phone and find out who I've been calling through my call log. An entire cottage industry has sprung up attacking identity theft because private financial information lands in the wrong hands. Popular talk shows routinely run public confessions of private sins. Reality TV and YouTube show us that the most private conversations or observations can become public events. The Paparazzi have proven that no celebrity can expect some private time in the car or at the local Starbucks.

While I agree that we all have a right to privacy, that right seems to be seldom respected. Except when it comes to an act which robs children of their lives and women of their motherhood. Whole political campaigns are waged on that right which, in the light of nearly 35 years of evidence, is clearly a wrong.

Testing Your Roe IQ

You now have an opportunity to test your knowledge of Roe v. Wade, courtesy of the Roe IQ website. The website is the brainchild of a number of pro-life groups, who hope to clear up some of the myths surrounding the ruling that allowed abortion for any reason throughout all nine months of pregnancy. To test your own Roe IQ, visit http://www.roeiqtest.com/ui/

Reducing Abortions Would Cut Incidence of Subsequent Premature Births

Two scientists say that reducing the number of abortions in the U.S. would lead to a decrease in the incidence of subsequent premature births. Canadian Brent Rooney and Texan William Robert Johnston have published a letter in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, arguing that banning abortion would reverse the increase in premature births and also reduce cancer and medical costs. "We predict that cutting the high rate of induced abortion in the U.S. would not only decrease future breast cancer incidence but also reduce pre-term births." For more on this story, visit http://www.lifenews.com/nat3527.html

Heisman Winner Could Have Been an Abortion Statistic

Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow could have been a casualty of the abortion wars--had his mother not stood firm and resisted advice to abort. In the '80s, Pam Tebow became comatose after contracting amoebic dysentery, an infection resulting from a parasite found in contaminated food and drink. Doctors said the treatment would cause damage to Pam's unborn baby. However, Pam and her husband refused to have an abortion, citing their Christian faith. Little Timmy was born healthy and grew up to become a star quarterback for the University of Florida. For more on this story, visit http://www.lifenews.com/nat3523.html.

Help Us Spread the Pro-Life Word!

If you've been enjoying what you've been reading in the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Online News, please forward it to your friends and encourage them to sign up to receive our informative e-mail newsletter twice a month. It's more important than ever that those pro-lifers have up-to-date facts on the life issues, and the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Online News is a wonderful way to stay abreast of the latest pro-life information, both in the state and nationwide. Anyone interested in subscribing should send an e-mail to lifelines@paprolife.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.

Chapter Information from Around the State

Live in Southeast PA? Contact SE Regional Coordinator Gail Kilby to find out more about joining a chapter in Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, or Philadelphia County. You can reach Gail by e-mail at kilby@paprolife.org or you can call her at 215-884-5805.

Live in the Southwest? If you'd like to become involved in a chapter, contact Southwest Regional Coordinator Bryce McMinn, who recently set up a regional office in Washington County. Here's his contact information: Bryce C. McMinn, Southwest Regional Coordinator; Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation; 74 Oak Spring Road, Suite 101; Washington, PA 15301; Work Phone: 724-228-1162; Cell Phone: 412-835-2812; E-Mail: mcminn@paprolife.org.

More Chapter Info:

The PA Pro-Life Online News is a publication of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation; 4800 Jonestown Rd., Suite 102; Harrisburg, PA; 17109. It is never sent unsolicited. To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to lifelines@paprolife.org.

IN THIS ISSUE:

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