The autonomy of the human person is a remarkable concept. By nature of my humanity – and yours – my value as a being, as a person, is actually intrinsic to my existence. That’s wild! And it’s a tough sell in a culture which puts performance before personhood, and requires proof of productivity before full rights are granted. How many times have you heard the phrase, “meaningful contribution to society,” uttered in reference to the worthiness – or unworthiness – of some pitiful specimen of human flesh?
It’s a fairly common piece of rhetoric, typically engaged in order to justify the termination of a terminal nuisance such as an elderly victim of dementia, a coma patient who has entered a “persistent vegetative state,” or a deficient “product of conception” who genetic testing has indicated, will most likely be born “defective – if at all.
Why waste resources, then, on someone who lacks the fundamental ability to ever make a “meaningful contribution to society?” That’s the argument used by pro-abortion legislators. That’s the logic employed by Terri Schiavo’s husband, Michael, in deciding to deny her food or water. And that’s the rhetoric behind an OB industry which pushes routine panel screenings and amniocentesis testing for pregnant women, lest they discover too late the deficiencies of their own offspring.
I wonder what arrogance has led us to believe that we – that you, or I, or anyone else walking the streets or wandering Capital Hill – are actually qualified to make an executive decision on the merits of one life versus another. If we are all created equal – which even the most withered anti-theist will claim to believe – then what could possibly entitle one person to assign value to another?
Age? That’s a common rationale for the pro-abort crowd. Mom’s lived experience trumps baby’s inconvenient existence, hands down. Fair enough. Except the logic doesn’t carry. Because if baby does survive to the ripe old age of 47, then eventually she’ll be calling the shots on mom’s hospice care… despite mom’s obvious chronological advantage. At some point, the tables turn and suddenly the “younger, fitter, stronger” argument trumps “but I was here first.”
Maybe the value of a human life hinges on accomplishment, and we can somehow work ourselves into worthiness. If that’s the case, then, I can think of a few prominent national leaders I would personally nominate for a discontinuation of existence… but I don’t think that’s quite it, either.
Maybe it’s experience. Maybe a cumulative body of accomplishments is what it takes to merit one’s next breath. Then again… see above.
The truth is, each and every human being who has ever existed or who will ever exist has worth. Inestimable, infinite worth. More crucial to the planet than the most precious of natural resources, more critical to history than the greatest of social movements, and more enduring than the universe itself.
The moment we reduce this reality from an absolute to an abstraction is the moment we cease to be fully human, ceding our intellects and our wills to the trends of our time. In so doing, we are trading our humanity for a passing fad that has us each playing the part of little gods, choosing life or death for our neighbors, often under the pretext that we “know what’s best:”
“I know best,” says the family member persuading a teen mother to end her pregnancy.
“Science knows best,” intones the obstetrician grimly relaying test results to a terrified expectant couple.
“Our culture knows best,” insists a guidance counselor, pressing a Planned Parenthood brochure into the hands of a shaking 15 year old sophomore.
“The doctors know best,” agree all three siblings, signing over the release forms to deny dad hydration and nutrition for the rest of his hospice stay.
“The Reich knows best,” nodded Nazi soldiers to one another, herding passengers onto boxcars.
Different stories, same tired line. All in defense of a lie as old as the human race: you will become like gods.
But we’re not gods. We’re people. Broken, defeated men and women pushing our own concept of “right” onto those who cannot speak for themselves. Those whose silence leaves them vulnerable to our violence. Because the honest to God truth is this: every life is valuable, or no life is valuable.
Take your pick. Because you cannot have it both ways.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Life and Family: Humanae Vitae, Control, and Fear – By Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for Life :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Fail to the Chief
President Obama’s pro-abortion record: (hat tip to Chris, a fellow FOCUS missionary, for the link)
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The following is a compilation of bill signings, speeches, appointments and other actions that President Barack Obama has engaged in that have promoted abortion before and during his presidency. While Obama has promised to reduce abortions and some of his supporters believe that will happen, this long list proves his only agenda is promoting more abortions.
Post-Election / Pre-Inauguration
November 5, 2008 - Obama selects pro-abortion Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel has a 0% pro-life voting record according to National Right to Life.
November 19, 2008 - Obama picks pro-abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle as his Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle has a long pro-abortion voting record according to National Right to Life.
November 20, 2008 - Obama chooses former NARAL legal director Dawn Johnsen to serve as a member of his Department of Justice Review Team. Later, he finalizes her appointment as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Legal Counsel in the Obama administration.
November 24, 2008 - Obama appoints Ellen Moran, the former director of the pro-abortion group Emily's List as his White House communications director. Emily's List only supported candidates who favored taxpayer funded abortions and opposed a partial-birth abortion ban.
November 24, 2008 - Obama puts former Emily's List board member Melody Barnes in place as his director of the Domestic Policy Council.
November 30, 2008 - Obama named pro-abortion Sen. Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State. Clinton has an unblemished pro-abortion voting record and has supported making unlimited abortions an international right.
December 10, 2008 - Obama selects pro-abortion former Clinton administration official Jeanne Lambrew to become the deputy director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Planned Parenthood is "excited" about the selection.
December 10, 2008 - Obama transition team publishes memo from dozens of pro-abortion groups listing their laundry list of pro-abortions actions they want him to take.
Pro-Abortion Presidential Record - 2009
January 5, 2009 - Obama picks pro-abortion Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as the chairman of the Democratic Party.
January 6, 2009 - Obama chooses Thomas Perrelli, the lawyer who represented Terri Schiavo’s husband Michael in his efforts to kill his disabled wife, as the third highest attorney in the Justice Department.
January 22, 2009 - Releases statement restating support for Roe v. Wade decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions and has resulted in at least 50 million abortions since 1973.
January 23, 2009 - Forces taxpayers to fund pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other nations. Decison to overturn Mexico City Policy sends part of $457 million to pro-abortion organizations.
January 26, 2009 - Obama nominee for Deputy Secretary of State, James B. Steinberg, tells members of the Senate that taxpayers should be forced to fund abortions. Nominee erroneously says limits on abortion funding are unconstitutional.
January 29, 2009 - President Obama nominates pro-abortion David Ogden as Deputy Attorney General.
February 12, 2009 - Obama nominates pro-abortion Elena Kagan to serve as Solicitor General.
February 27, 2009 - Starts the process of overturning pro-life conscience protections President Bush put in place to make sure medical staff and centers are not forced to do abortions.
February 28, 2009 - Barack Obama nominates pro-abortion Kathleen Sebelius to become Secretary of Health and Human Services.
March 5, 2009 - The Obama administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White House-sponsored health care summit. Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, made the invitation list as did other pro-abortion groups.
March 9, 2009 - President Barack Obama signed an executive order forcing taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research.
March 10, 2009 - Obama announces the creation of a new foreign policy position to focus on women's issues. He names Melanne Verveer, an abortion advocate, to occupy the post.
March 10, 2009 - Reverses an executive order to press for more research into ways of obtaining embryonic stem cells without harming human life. The order Obama scrapped would have promoted new forms of stem cell research.
March 11, 2009 - Obama signed an executive order establishing a new agency within his administration known as the White House Council on Women and Girls. Obama's director of public liaison at the White House, Tina Tchen, an abortion advocate, became director of it.
March 11, 2009 - Obama administration promotes an unlimited right to abortion at a United Nations meeting.
March 11, 2009 - Obama administration officials deny negative effects of abortion at United Nation's meeting.
March 17, 2009 - President Barack Obama makes his first judicial appointment and names pro-abortion federal Judge David Hamilton to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
March 26 - President Obama announced $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that has been criticized for promoting abortion and working closely with Chinese population control officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations.
April 7 - The Vatican has rejected three Obama ambassador nominees because of their positions in favor of abortions.
April 7 - Obama has named pro-abortion law professor Harold Hongju Koh as the top lawyer for the State Department.
April 7 - Put more abortion advocates on his White House advisory council for faith-based issues.
April 8 - Obama nominee for assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, Ron Weich, is pro-abortion.
April 14 - Obama administration releases document that claims pro-life people may engage in violence or extremism.
April 17 - Obama administration releases the proposed guidelines that implement his decision to allow taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research that involves the destruction of human life.
April 23 - Refused to appeal a ruling requiring the FDA to allow 17-year-old girls to purchase the morning after pill without either a doctor visit or parental involvement beforehand.
April 27 - Obama's women's ambassador Melanne Verveer touted Obama's decision to send $50 million to the United Nation's Population Fund.
May 5 - Details emerge about a terrorism dictionary the administration of President Barack Obama put together in March. The Domestic Extremism Lexicon calls pro-life advocates violent and claims they employ racist overtones in engaging in criminal actions.
May 8 - President Obama releases a new budget that allows the Legal Services Corporation to use tax dollars to pay for pro-abortion litigation.
May 8 - President Obama's new budget calls for taxpayer funded abortions in the nation's capital.
May 8 - President Obama's budget eliminates all federal funding for abstinence-only education.
May 15 - Appointed pro-abortion New York City health commissioner Thomas Frieden as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
May 17 - During his commencement speech at Notre Dame, Obama deceived listeners into thinking he wants a conscience clause, promoted embryonic stem cell research and misstated his pro-abortion record.
May 26 - Appoints appeals court judge Sonia Sonotmayor as a Supreme Court nominee. Sotomayor agrees that the courts should make policy, such as the Roe v. Wade case. Sotomayor is later opposed by pro-life groups and supported by pro-abortion groups and those who know her say she will support abortion on the high court.
July 2- Calls for an unlimited right to abortion at a United Nation's meeting.
July 7- The Obama administration admits it ignored the majority of Americans who opposed the proposed guidelines that would implement Obama's decision to force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research.
July 14 - Obama science czar nominee John Holdren is revealed to have written before that he favors forced abortions.
July 30 - Awards several pro-abortion activists with the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
July 31 - Tells the National Institutes of Health to adopt rules that allow embryonic stem cell research.
August 4 - Information becomes public that Ezekiel Emanuel, an Obama advisor at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research, supports rationing health care for disabled Americans that could lead to euthanasia.
August 6 - Obama criticized for asking for people to "snitch" on groups and people who oppose the pro-abortion health care bills in Congress.
August 13 - Obama wrongly said a senator backed the pro-euthanasia components of the health care bill.
August 23 - Said pro-life advocates were making "phony claims" about the health care bills. Also said the claims were false.
August 24 - Releases veterans guide promoting euthanasia.
September 13 - Misleads on the federal conscience clause in a health care speech and misleads on abortion funding.
September 13 - Obama waits two days to comment on shooting of pro-life advocate whereas he commented immediately on shooting of abortion practitioner.
September 15 - Senate confirms Obama's new regulatory czar Cass Sunstein, who is pro-abortion.
October 5 - Selected pro-abortion lawyer and Georgetown University law professor Chai Feldblum for the EEOC.
October 5 - Anounces he will give the keynote speech for pro-abortion group Human Rights Campaign.
October 19 - Obama's serve.gov web site promotes the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
October 21 - Obama administration web site promotes pro-abortion health care bills.
November 6 - Endorsed the House version of the health care bill that, at the time, contained massive abortion funding, rationing and assisted suicide promotion.
November 26 - Copies Thanksgiving proclamation of President Bush but leaves out pro-life message.
December 2 - Authorized taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research that kills days-old unborn children.
December 3 - A pro-abortion Obama judicial pick, Louis Butler, is approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
December 7 - Announces his endorsement of the pro-abortion Senate health care bill.
December 16 - Obama administration forces Americans a second time to spend millions more on embryonic stem cell research that destroys human life.
December 17 - Signed a bill that overturned the 13-year-long ban on funding abortions with tax dollars in the nation's capital.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The following is a compilation of bill signings, speeches, appointments and other actions that President Barack Obama has engaged in that have promoted abortion before and during his presidency. While Obama has promised to reduce abortions and some of his supporters believe that will happen, this long list proves his only agenda is promoting more abortions.
Post-Election / Pre-Inauguration
November 5, 2008 - Obama selects pro-abortion Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel has a 0% pro-life voting record according to National Right to Life.
November 19, 2008 - Obama picks pro-abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle as his Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle has a long pro-abortion voting record according to National Right to Life.
November 20, 2008 - Obama chooses former NARAL legal director Dawn Johnsen to serve as a member of his Department of Justice Review Team. Later, he finalizes her appointment as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Legal Counsel in the Obama administration.
November 24, 2008 - Obama appoints Ellen Moran, the former director of the pro-abortion group Emily's List as his White House communications director. Emily's List only supported candidates who favored taxpayer funded abortions and opposed a partial-birth abortion ban.
November 24, 2008 - Obama puts former Emily's List board member Melody Barnes in place as his director of the Domestic Policy Council.
November 30, 2008 - Obama named pro-abortion Sen. Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State. Clinton has an unblemished pro-abortion voting record and has supported making unlimited abortions an international right.
December 10, 2008 - Obama selects pro-abortion former Clinton administration official Jeanne Lambrew to become the deputy director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Planned Parenthood is "excited" about the selection.
December 10, 2008 - Obama transition team publishes memo from dozens of pro-abortion groups listing their laundry list of pro-abortions actions they want him to take.
Pro-Abortion Presidential Record - 2009
January 5, 2009 - Obama picks pro-abortion Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as the chairman of the Democratic Party.
January 6, 2009 - Obama chooses Thomas Perrelli, the lawyer who represented Terri Schiavo’s husband Michael in his efforts to kill his disabled wife, as the third highest attorney in the Justice Department.
January 22, 2009 - Releases statement restating support for Roe v. Wade decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions and has resulted in at least 50 million abortions since 1973.
January 23, 2009 - Forces taxpayers to fund pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other nations. Decison to overturn Mexico City Policy sends part of $457 million to pro-abortion organizations.
January 26, 2009 - Obama nominee for Deputy Secretary of State, James B. Steinberg, tells members of the Senate that taxpayers should be forced to fund abortions. Nominee erroneously says limits on abortion funding are unconstitutional.
January 29, 2009 - President Obama nominates pro-abortion David Ogden as Deputy Attorney General.
February 12, 2009 - Obama nominates pro-abortion Elena Kagan to serve as Solicitor General.
February 27, 2009 - Starts the process of overturning pro-life conscience protections President Bush put in place to make sure medical staff and centers are not forced to do abortions.
February 28, 2009 - Barack Obama nominates pro-abortion Kathleen Sebelius to become Secretary of Health and Human Services.
March 5, 2009 - The Obama administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White House-sponsored health care summit. Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, made the invitation list as did other pro-abortion groups.
March 9, 2009 - President Barack Obama signed an executive order forcing taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research.
March 10, 2009 - Obama announces the creation of a new foreign policy position to focus on women's issues. He names Melanne Verveer, an abortion advocate, to occupy the post.
March 10, 2009 - Reverses an executive order to press for more research into ways of obtaining embryonic stem cells without harming human life. The order Obama scrapped would have promoted new forms of stem cell research.
March 11, 2009 - Obama signed an executive order establishing a new agency within his administration known as the White House Council on Women and Girls. Obama's director of public liaison at the White House, Tina Tchen, an abortion advocate, became director of it.
March 11, 2009 - Obama administration promotes an unlimited right to abortion at a United Nations meeting.
March 11, 2009 - Obama administration officials deny negative effects of abortion at United Nation's meeting.
March 17, 2009 - President Barack Obama makes his first judicial appointment and names pro-abortion federal Judge David Hamilton to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
March 26 - President Obama announced $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that has been criticized for promoting abortion and working closely with Chinese population control officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations.
April 7 - The Vatican has rejected three Obama ambassador nominees because of their positions in favor of abortions.
April 7 - Obama has named pro-abortion law professor Harold Hongju Koh as the top lawyer for the State Department.
April 7 - Put more abortion advocates on his White House advisory council for faith-based issues.
April 8 - Obama nominee for assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, Ron Weich, is pro-abortion.
April 14 - Obama administration releases document that claims pro-life people may engage in violence or extremism.
April 17 - Obama administration releases the proposed guidelines that implement his decision to allow taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research that involves the destruction of human life.
April 23 - Refused to appeal a ruling requiring the FDA to allow 17-year-old girls to purchase the morning after pill without either a doctor visit or parental involvement beforehand.
April 27 - Obama's women's ambassador Melanne Verveer touted Obama's decision to send $50 million to the United Nation's Population Fund.
May 5 - Details emerge about a terrorism dictionary the administration of President Barack Obama put together in March. The Domestic Extremism Lexicon calls pro-life advocates violent and claims they employ racist overtones in engaging in criminal actions.
May 8 - President Obama releases a new budget that allows the Legal Services Corporation to use tax dollars to pay for pro-abortion litigation.
May 8 - President Obama's new budget calls for taxpayer funded abortions in the nation's capital.
May 8 - President Obama's budget eliminates all federal funding for abstinence-only education.
May 15 - Appointed pro-abortion New York City health commissioner Thomas Frieden as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
May 17 - During his commencement speech at Notre Dame, Obama deceived listeners into thinking he wants a conscience clause, promoted embryonic stem cell research and misstated his pro-abortion record.
May 26 - Appoints appeals court judge Sonia Sonotmayor as a Supreme Court nominee. Sotomayor agrees that the courts should make policy, such as the Roe v. Wade case. Sotomayor is later opposed by pro-life groups and supported by pro-abortion groups and those who know her say she will support abortion on the high court.
July 2- Calls for an unlimited right to abortion at a United Nation's meeting.
July 7- The Obama administration admits it ignored the majority of Americans who opposed the proposed guidelines that would implement Obama's decision to force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research.
July 14 - Obama science czar nominee John Holdren is revealed to have written before that he favors forced abortions.
July 30 - Awards several pro-abortion activists with the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
July 31 - Tells the National Institutes of Health to adopt rules that allow embryonic stem cell research.
August 4 - Information becomes public that Ezekiel Emanuel, an Obama advisor at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research, supports rationing health care for disabled Americans that could lead to euthanasia.
August 6 - Obama criticized for asking for people to "snitch" on groups and people who oppose the pro-abortion health care bills in Congress.
August 13 - Obama wrongly said a senator backed the pro-euthanasia components of the health care bill.
August 23 - Said pro-life advocates were making "phony claims" about the health care bills. Also said the claims were false.
August 24 - Releases veterans guide promoting euthanasia.
September 13 - Misleads on the federal conscience clause in a health care speech and misleads on abortion funding.
September 13 - Obama waits two days to comment on shooting of pro-life advocate whereas he commented immediately on shooting of abortion practitioner.
September 15 - Senate confirms Obama's new regulatory czar Cass Sunstein, who is pro-abortion.
October 5 - Selected pro-abortion lawyer and Georgetown University law professor Chai Feldblum for the EEOC.
October 5 - Anounces he will give the keynote speech for pro-abortion group Human Rights Campaign.
October 19 - Obama's serve.gov web site promotes the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
October 21 - Obama administration web site promotes pro-abortion health care bills.
November 6 - Endorsed the House version of the health care bill that, at the time, contained massive abortion funding, rationing and assisted suicide promotion.
November 26 - Copies Thanksgiving proclamation of President Bush but leaves out pro-life message.
December 2 - Authorized taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research that kills days-old unborn children.
December 3 - A pro-abortion Obama judicial pick, Louis Butler, is approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
December 7 - Announces his endorsement of the pro-abortion Senate health care bill.
December 16 - Obama administration forces Americans a second time to spend millions more on embryonic stem cell research that destroys human life.
December 17 - Signed a bill that overturned the 13-year-long ban on funding abortions with tax dollars in the nation's capital.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Get up, Stand up...
Hunky + super talented + deeply faithful = Heisman material? You betcha. One more reason to loooooove Superbowl Sunday.
(Plus, let's be honest, anything that get's NOW hot and bothered makes me very, very happy.)
(Plus, let's be honest, anything that get's NOW hot and bothered makes me very, very happy.)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
byoEthics
This blog is a fabulous resource for educating oneself on many of the stickier points of bioethics and the like. Thanks, Natasha, for the link!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Marching On
300,000 souls turned out in Washington last Friday at the 37th annual March for Life, reportedly the biggest crowd to date. Not surprisingly, CNN didn't cover a lick of it, and FoxNews was busy broadcasting footage of a golden retriever getting airlifted out of the L.A. River. So there's that.
Luckily, our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. So good media coverage or not, we're doing it, America. Let us remember that Roe v. Wade is a law, and that laws - just like Senate seats - can be changed by the sheer force of the people's will. Particularly if they are unjust.
JPII, pray for us.
Luckily, our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. So good media coverage or not, we're doing it, America. Let us remember that Roe v. Wade is a law, and that laws - just like Senate seats - can be changed by the sheer force of the people's will. Particularly if they are unjust.
JPII, pray for us.
Friday, January 22, 2010
37 Years
50,000,000 deaths. And only 1 solution.
Stand up for life, America.
"We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, killings, of wars, or of hatred...If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other?" -Bl. Mother Teresa of Kolkata
Stand up for life, America.
"We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, killings, of wars, or of hatred...If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other?" -Bl. Mother Teresa of Kolkata
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