LifeNet

Another abortion survivor speaking out

Claire Culwell, who survived because the abortionist only located her twin brother.

Hit the link for the whole story and a picture of the young lady.

Twin Who Survived Abortion Shares Her Amazing Story

“My birth mother was 13 years old at the time she became pregnant with me. Her mother took her straight to an abortion clinic where she had a surgical abortion. After thinking she had “fixed the problem,” a few weeks later she realized her belly was still growing. Her mother took her back to the abortion clinic where she learned that she had been pregnant with twins,” Culwell recalls. “One was aborted; one survived.”

Culwell says she can’t imagine not sharing her story with others.

“My life is a miracle and I would be selfish to keep this gift of life to myself,” she says. “I want to tell everyone what a gift I and even they have been given!! I want to encourage them to seek alternatives to abortion because I would never want any woman/man to go through the grief and the pain that my birth mother went through simply because she didn’t know she had any other option.”

“I also want to be a vessel to offer God’s forgiveness to the men and women who have previously had abortions. I know healing is possible and I have been given the gift of surviving an abortion so that I can tell these men and women that they are forgiven…coming from an aborted child, I hope they know the power of forgiveness and healing through meeting me,” Culwell continues.

“My life is a testimony that there are wonderful alternatives to abortion (such as adoption in my case) and an accidental/unwanted child still deserves life…even a child with disabilities,” she says. “I was born 2 1/2 months early, weighed 3 lbs 2 oz, had dislocated hips and club feet. I had to wear casts on my feet, a harness and eventually a body cast. The abortion still affects me today.”

That said, Culwell makes it clear, “Life is still worth it!”

Pro-abortion lobby goes BERSERK after Astorino's veto of anti-free speech clinic bill

Wow. Of course this is the sort of drivel you often hear from pro-abortion demonstrators outside of abortion mills, but you'd think their lobbyists would be more circumspect about putting a rant like this online.

Of course, their "market" is not normal people. The lobby constantly needs to raise money so they put out stuff like this for the benefit of financial supporters for whom abortion is akin to a sacrament.

Astorino Supports Terrorizing Women – Vetoes Clinic Access Bill

Of interest to Catholics: Cardinal Burke writes book on the Eucharist

COUNTY EXECUTIVE VETOES CLINIC BILL!

From the office of the County Executive, Rob Astorino:

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  May 18, 2012 

ASTORINO VETOES CLINIC ACCESS LAW CALLING IT LEGALLY FLAWED

Says access to reproductive health facilities is already well protected by state and federal laws

 

Saying the bill is legally flawed and unnecessary, County Executive Robert P. Astorino today vetoed a bill that purports to guarantee women access to certain reproductive health clinics.

“The legislation is unnecessary, unfair and unconstitutional on its face, all of which put the public at risk,” said Astorino in his message to the Board of Legislators. “My veto is a principled attempt to spare our residents of these harmful consequences.”

            The legislators approved the bill on May 7 by a 10-7 vote. It was opposed by a coalition of pro-life and pro-choice legislators. It would take 12 votes to override the veto.

            Astorino gave the following reasons for his veto:

• The legislators who supported the bill and their supporters had failed to provide any evidence that the law was needed. In fact, he said, existing federal and state statutes already restrict protesters outside clinics and there was no evidence that these laws were insufficient or not being enforced.
• The law’s enactment would violate the First Amendment’s guarantees and result in an “unacceptable potential to chill freedom of speech and assembly.”
• The law subjects law-abiding citizens to frivolous lawsuits and exposes them to unreimbursable legal fees.
• The bill itself is legally flawed and vague and could be costly for the county to defend in legal proceedings.

“At a time when your Honorable Board has failed to act on $80 million in pending and much needed capital projects and has failed to act on 37 pending appointments to various Boards and Commissions why is so much time being expended on a matter already addressed by two separate levels of government?” Astorino asked rhetorically.      

Chilean study shows making abortion illegal does not raise maternal mortality rate

This was a large scientific study with 50 years of data.

The research entitled “Women’s Education Level, Maternal Health Facilities, Abortion Legislation and Maternal Deaths: a Natural Experiment in Chile from 1957 to 2007” was conducted on behalf of the Chilean Maternal Mortality Research Initiative (CMMRI) and published in the journal PLoS ONE.

During the fifty-year study period, the overall Maternal Mortality Ratio or MMR (the number of maternal deaths related to childbearing divided by the number of live births) dramatically declined by 93.8 per cent, from 270.7 to 18.2 deaths per 100,000 live births between 1957 and 2007, making Chile a paragon for maternal health in other countries. “In fact, during 2008, the overall MMR declined again, to 16.5 per 100,000 live births, positioning Chile as the country with the second lowest MMR in the American continent after Canada and with at least two points lower MMR than the United States” said Koch.
 
One of the most significant findings is that, contrary to widely held assumptions, making abortion illegal did not result in an increase in maternal mortality. In fact, after abortion was made illegal in 1989, the MMR continued to decrease from 41.3 to 12.7 per 100,000 live births (69.2 per cent reduction). “Definitively, the legal prohibition of abortion is unrelated to overall maternal mortality rates,” emphasised Koch.
 
The variables affecting this decrease included the predictable factors of delivery by skilled attendants, complementary nutrition for pregnant women and their children in the primary care clinics and schools, clean facilities, and fertility. But the most important factor and the one that increased the effect of all others was the educational level of women. For every additional year of maternal education there was a corresponding decrease in the MMR of 29.3 per 100,000 live births.

There's a good deal more to this article; well worth hitting the link and reading it entirely.

 

Fr. Norman Weslin

We just received this notification, from Tom Dixon, one of the attorneys who defended the "Notre Dame 88". Please pass along to the many people  who knew Father.

Father Norman Weslin passed away last evening very peacefully.  He spent the last few years of his earthly life bringing joy to the residents and staff of Cherry Hill Haven, a senior living facility in Traverse City, Michigan owned and run by my wife, Patti and her incredible staff, headed by Administrator Evon Ryan.  

>>

Around the time of the ND 88 arrests, Father was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimers.  As the disease progressed and he required placement, the Holy Spirit's divine setups kept him closely in our lives.  Even after his placement, we were able to frequently pray the Holy Rosary outside the Planned Parenthood in Traverse City, and to arrange a trip for him to be with his friends in the Washington D.C. area for a week long prayer vigil.  He also received visitors from all parts of the country... many Lambs from the Omaha area, friends from Detroit, the Upper Peninsula, and throughout the country. 

>>

In the last weeks of his earthly life, Father was filled with excitement and anticipation of his reunion with the Blessed Mother, his beloved wife Mary Lou, and all of his family and friends who went before him, as they accompany him into the eternal presence of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Friends from Omaha were with him at his death, and a prayer community in Traverse City kept almost constant vigil.  Even in retirement and battling the effects of Alzheimers, Father Weslin touched many lives, brought many people to Christ, and spread the joy of his faith with contagion.  

>>

I think Dr. Charlie Rice has said it best, "while we have been praying for him, we will soon start praying to him."  

>>

Father Weslin increased my faith and deepened my devotion to the Blessed Mother.  Each day, when I pray the Holy Rosary, I now include at the end of each mystery "Our Lady of Guadalupe pray for us" and the "Ave Maria"  both included in his daily devotion.  And, I  now pray the Memorare as I begin my daily travels.  His legacy in my life is much greater than these things, but he will always be with me as I continue in these devotions.

>>

May God bless you all, and may we all celebrate having been bestowed the grace of being in the presence of Father Norman Weslin, and pray for our own reunion with him.

VERY important: Call and email Rob Astorino re: vetoing the anti-free speech clinic access bill

It is important that we contact Westchester County exec. Rob Astorino asking him to veto the anti-free speech bill that profiles and singles out prolife speech.

We need to show, and he needs to show, that this veto is widely supported. You can bet the pro-abortion side is calling and sending emails.

Phone number - 914-995-2127.

Email - CE@westchestergov.com

Good article in the NY Daily News about the "Choose Life" license plate struggle

An initiative of Elizabeth Rex of the Children First Foundation. The purpose of this particular custom license plate is to raise money for adoption initiatives. It's approved in plenty of states, but New York - still fighting against it. Hard to believe, really. It just never ends.

Here's what the plate looks like -

 

New York, choose free speech

It’s often said that one bit of censorship by the government will inevitably lead down a slippery slope to more censorship. In this case, New York has not gone down a slippery slope. It has strutted right off a cliff.

To buttress its legal case, in 2004 the state issued a moratorium on all new specialty license plates — so it can’t be accused of singling out any particular message. The end result is that the Boy Scouts, the Seneca Park Zoo, even a group honoring 9/11 first responders, can’t get a license plate.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What is behind this pigheaded response? Choose Life is, of course, a rebuttal to the pro-choice mantra of those who favor allowing unrestricted abortion.

But the state’s position should offend anyone who values free expression, regardless of where they stand on abortion. Veteran civil libertarian Norman Siegel, who is pro-choice, says that the denial of the license plate is classic “government censorship” by state officials “with a different ideology than the message they are trying to suppress.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The latest twist arrived late last year, when a federal district judge in Syracuse ruled in favor of Children First, saying the state was guilty of viewpoint discrimination because the group had met all the requirements for a specialty plate.

Courts have long allowed states to deny license plates if the prohibition is based on specific content like vulgarities. But Judge Neal McCurn, consistent with reams of opinions over the decades, ruled that “the exclusion of the entire subject of abortion from the forum is not permissible content-based discrimination but is discrimination based on viewpoint, which runs afoul of the First Amendment.”

“The DMV,” he said, “created a public forum where it allows the display of messages, slogans, logos and toll-free numbers for advocacy groups. The state cannot permit free speech for some but not for all.”

The DMV, represented by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, filed its appeals papers April 13 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York with virtually no public notice. Apparently, it’s not something that the otherwise voluble Schneiderman wants to brag about.

 

 

Happy Mother's Day!

New Yorker's Family Research Foundation (NYFRF) at www.nyfrf.org reminds us why we celebrate Dads and, especially this weekend, Moms:

 

    We would never dream of referring to Mother's Day as "Parent 1" or "Parent 2" Day, but in essence that is what President Barack Obama has told an entire nation.

 

    For the first time in American history a sitting president has endorsed same-sex "marriage". Earlier this week, in an interview with ABC News, President Obama stated he affirms the right of same-gender couples to enter marital relationships.

 

    New Yorker's Family Research Foundation (NYFRF) reaffirms its conviction that both mothers and fathers are important to a child's upbringing. NYFRF believes that state and national policies in regard to the definition of marriage should reflect this truth.

 

    Rev. Jason J. McGuire, President, NYFRF, said, "Same-sex relationships ignore the reality that children do best when raised by their biological mother and father. President Obama has chosen to ignore thousands of years of history, religion, culture and social science research in his support for same-sex nuptials."

 

    "Each parent, mom and dad, provides something unique, first to the conception, and later to the rearing of a child. Same-sex relationships always, by design, deny children either a mother or a father," continued McGuire.

 

    McGuire concluded by saying, "Moms matter. Fathers and mothers are both vitally important to the future of a strong and stable nation. As a nation pauses to celebrate the unique contribution that moms make to their children's lives, it is my hope that a nation will reclaim this truth."

 

Happy Mother's Day, MOMS, from LifeNet! All of you are in our prayers, especially those post-abortive Moms who we remember most especially on this day.

Reminder: Call County Executive to VETO Clinic Access Bill!

THE PROCESS GOES ON! The clinic access act passed with a 10-7 party-line vote in the Board of Legislators on May 7, 2012, and it must now be approved or vetoed by the County Executive.

Please contact County Executive Rob Astorino and urge him to VETO the Reproductive Heath Care Facilities Access Act! 

His phone number (914) 995-2127, his e-mail CE@Westchestergov.com

As you might imagine, he is receiving many calls from people who want him to sign the bill despite its problems, so it's very important that he hear from all of you who have worked so hard for so long against this unbalanced and legally flawed piece of legislation. Our work is not over yet!

Also, if you have not already done so, please contact those Legislators who voted against this Act's passage and thank them for their vote.  You should also call your Legislators who voted in favor of it despite its obvious legal problems as summarized by Legislator James Maisano at the May 7th session of the Board of Legislators. They should be held accountable for their vote, so ask them why they would ignore the procedural problems and the obvious legal ramifications and vote in favor of it anyway. Their concern for women's health does not mean they should sponsor laws that invite litigation and fines that are paid for by the taxpayers.

The following Legislators cast a vote against this bill:  Gordon A. Burrows, David Gelfarb, James Maisano, Sheila Marcotte, Michael Smith, Bernice Spreckman, John Testa.

The following Legislators voted in favor of this bill:  Catherine Borgia, Peter Harckham, Ken Jenkins, Michael Kaplowitz, Judith Myers, Virginia Perez, William Ryan, MaryJane Shimsky, Alfreda Williams, Lyndon Williams

Other contact information can be found at http://westchesterlegislators.com/legislators.html.  Or scroll down to prior postings on LifeNet for telephone numbers.

LifeNet thanks you for your efforts!

P.S. Thank County Executive Astorino for all his hard work every day for our County, too!