+Metropolitan Herman To Lead Orthodox At Pro-Life March

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+Metropolitan Herman Leads March

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http://www.oca.org/News.asp?ID=914&SID=19

Metropolitan Herman leads Orthodox Christian Marchers in US Capital

Article posted: 1/27/2006 10:26 AM
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Metropolitan Herman leads Orthodox clergy and faithful in prayer for victims of abortion at this year's "March for Life" in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON, DC [OCA Communications] — Orthodox Christian marchers from across the US descended on the nation's capital on Monday, January 23, 2006, to bear witness to the sanctity of life at the annual March for Life.

His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, and His Grace, Bishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, led the marchers to the steps of the US Supreme Court, where they offered prayers for the countless victims of legalized abortion.

On the eve of the March, Metropolitan Herman and some 200 faithful gathered at the OCA's Saint Nicholas Cathedral on Massachusetts Ave. for the celebration of Vespers. Metropolitan Herman offered the marchers words of encouragement and distributed prints of the icon of the Mother of God, the Joy of All Who Sorrow, especially printed to mark the OCA's 2006 Right to Life Sunday.

Immediately before the march, the Very Rev. John Kowalczyk, a noted pro-life activist, introduced Metropolitan Herman to the tens of thousands of assembled marchers. In a stirring address, Metropolitan Herman challenged the marchers to proclaim that all life is a sacred gift from God while lamenting the deaths of millions of unborn children who fell victim to abortion on demand since the practice was legalized some three decades ago.

On the evening of the march, Metropolitan Herman also addressed nearly 800 pro-life notables from across the US at the annual Rose Dinner.

This year marks the 19th consecutive year that Metropolitan Herman has addressed the marchers and led them in witnessing to the sanctity of life.

Click here for pictures of the march.

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Women Demand Tougher Laws To Curb abortion

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http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffa ... %2C00.html

Women demand tougher laws to curb abortions

· Poll reveals growing concern over late terminations
· Blair under pressure to agree review as MPs urge change

Denis Campbell and Gaby Hinsliff
Sunday January 29, 2006
The Observer

A majority of women in Britain want the abortion laws to be tightened to make it harder, or impossible, for them to terminate a pregnancy.
Evidence of a widespread public demand for the government to further restrict women's right to have an abortion is revealed in a remarkable Observer opinion poll. The findings have reignited the highly-charged debate on abortion, and increased the pressure on Tony Blair to review the current time limits.

The survey by MORI shows that 47 per cent of women believe the legal limit for an abortion should be cut from its present 24 weeks, and another 10 per cent want the practice outlawed altogether. Among the population overall, reducing the upper limit was the preferred option backed by the largest proportion of respondents, 42 per cent, made up of a 36-47 per cent split among men and women.
Only one person in three agreed that 'the current time limit is about right', with slightly fewer women (31 per cent) than men (35 per cent) saying that. Just 2 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men think the last possible date after which a woman can end a pregnancy should be increased from 24 weeks.

The leader of the 4.1 million Catholics in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, called on politicians last night to heed the evidence of a growing demand for a rethink on abortion policy, to include The Observer's findings. 'There has been a moral awakening over the last few years about abortion; the British public have been undergoing a reality check,' said his spokesman, Dr Austen Ivereigh. 'The Cardinal sees in this moral awakening a growing unease with, and erosion of, the idea of abortion as simply a woman's right.'

Increased awareness of the realities of abortion, and the impact of ultrasound images of a 23-week-old foetus smiling and grimacing, have made people change their views, said Ivereigh. The latter 'very dramatically showed that what had been depersonalised in many people's minds as a foetus was clearly seen to be a baby, a human being in formation, and that has come as a shock to many people', he added.

Abortion became a key issue in last year's general election campaign when Michael Howard, then the Conservative leader, said he wanted to see the maximum time limit cut to 20 weeks.

Former Liberal leader David Steel, the architect of the pioneering 1967 Abortion Act which made abortions legal for the first time in Britain, wants the upper limit reduced to 22 weeks.

The limit was originally set in 1967 at 28 weeks, because that was then taken to be the age at which a foetus would not be 'viable', but it was reduced to 24 weeks in 1990. Around 200,000 women a year undergo an abortion in Britain, although between 85 and 90 per cent occur within 12 weeks and only about 1.5 per cent after 20 weeks. Abortion is still illegal in Northern Ireland.

David Cameron, Howard's successor, backs a new limit of between 20 and 22 weeks. 'He thinks because of the advances in medical science there's now a case for it being lowered, although not dramatically. He would support it being reduced. That is his personal view,' said his spokesman.

Moves to reduce the time limit are now beginning to win the support of liberal-minded MPs who support the right to abortion. Dr Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat MP and a former GP, called for an in-depth parliamentary inquiry to examine the scientific evidence about the survival rates of babies born at under 24 weeks, and then recommend any necessary changes to the law. 'The question has been raised about whether we are going to base the limit on viability - that was the basis under the existing law - and if it's on viability then viability is subject to change based on medical advances,' he said.

'The longer we don't debate this, the less confidence the public will have that Parliament is doing its job which is reviewing and keeping in mind how scientific advances impact on public policy.'

Abortion law has always been altered through private members' bills tabled by backbenchers rather than by government in the past, with MPs voting according to their conscience. However the tacit support of the government is vital to get private members' bills through, making the views of the Prime Minister and Health Secretary crucial.

Amid the debate last year, prompted by the images of unborn babies in the womb, Blair indicated that the government could be prepared to review the limits on abortion law. The then Health Secretary, John Reid, personally supports a lower time limit.

However, Patricia Hewitt, the current Health Secretary, seemed yesterday to rule out any reduction: 'I think it is very difficult for a woman contemplating a late termination and they need to be given very clear advice and support.'

Toni Belfield of the Family Planning Association, which opposes any reduction, said: 'The argument about medical advances misses the point. There needs to be access to late abortion after 20 weeks because a woman may not find out she is pregnant until 18 or 19 weeks, or be in a non-consensual relationship, or be told about a foetal abnormality.'

Julia Millington, of the Pro-Life Alliance of anti-abortion groups, said the findings were 'very encouraging'.

Ipsos MORI interviewed 1,790 people aged 16 to 64 by online questionnaire between 6 and 10 January.

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Pharmacists Sue Walgreen Over Contraceptives

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http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11076621/

Updated: 5:28 p.m. ET Jan. 28, 2006
CHICAGO - Four Illinois pharmacists have sued U.S. drugstore chain Walgreen Co., saying they were wrongly fired for refusing to dispense the “morning-after” emergency contraceptive pill.

The four are represented by the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal group founded by Christian evangelist Pat Robertson.

The suit, filed Friday in Madison County, Illinois, charges that the company violated the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which allows health care providers to opt out of procedures they object to on moral grounds.

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“It couldn’t be any clearer,” ACLJ attorney Francis Manion said in a statement. “In punishing these pharmacists for asserting a right protected by the Conscience Act, Walgreens broke the law.”

The contraceptive prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, but opponents equate it to abortion.

Walgreen spokesman Michael Polzin said the four were not fired but placed on unpaid leave in November and offered jobs in other states.

Groups challenge governor's decree
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last April ordered pharmacists to make the morning-after pill, known as Plan B, available to customers “without delay.” The ACLJ along with several pharmacists have challenged the measure.

Polzin said Walgreen had all of its Illinois pharmacists file an electronic, online statement saying they would follow Illinois pharmacy regulations including Plan B. The four pharmacists refused to agree by a set deadline, he said.

“We have to follow the law. We don’t have a choice in this matter,” Polzin said.

Walgreen’s policy allows pharmacists to decline to fill a prescription if they have a moral objection. However, they must refer the prescription to another employee who can arrange to fill the order swiftly.

Polzin said the four pharmacists worked the overnight shift at 24-hour facilities, and as the only ones on duty, they could not have the prescriptions filled without delay, as state law requires.

He said Walgreen, which operates more than 5,000 stores, offered to transfer them to stores in Missouri or elsewhere where they would not be subject to Illinois law, and to keep them on the payroll while they applied for new state licenses.

“We would be able to put them in nearby stores to where they live now, just over the state line. They are all close to the border,” Polzin said.

The Plan B pill is distributed by Barr Laboratories, a unit of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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the "choice" to kill your child...

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http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=48563

The 'choice' to kill your child


Posted: January 30, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

With the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, we're inundated with rhetoric by those who act as though life as we know it will end if women can't "choose."

It does bring out the "best" from them, including the shameful young woman who bared her very pregnant belly to the news cameras during the "Walk for Life" march in San Francisco, exposing a message painted on her skin: "My baby is pro choice."

I doubt her baby would choose to be killed, but she did get her picture in the paper.

Then there was the male pro-choice supporter who carried the sign "F#$* the Unborn."

Classy, eh? And the law supports them?

Who would have thought that in the day of car bombs, maniacal terrorists, not-so-veiled threats about wiping countries off the map and ending whole civilizations, that it appears the focus of our elected politicians is on something so small, that at the beginning it's invisible to the naked eye.

What is this supposedly greatest challenge facing our country and our future? It comes under the medical term "abortion" – the ending of a human pregnancy.

Abortion can happen naturally for a variety of reasons, some of which are known. When that happens, it's medically called a spontaneous abortion. Because doctors want to be kind to the parents, they call it a miscarriage. It's not something the mother desires. She wants her baby.

The other kind of abortion is the one we read about in our headlines – the one which demonstrators demand as a "right" – the one about which our politicians rail and pontificate, making it seem that if women don't have that right, it's all over.

I decided to check definitions and what I found in my trusty Webster's New World Dictionary is fascinating.

What is this state called "pregnancy"? What is this condition that women "find" themselves in and that women want the right to end? Regarded in those terms, it sounds as though it's a condition that applies only to the woman. Look further.

The definition of pregnant: "having (an) offspring developing in the uterus; with child."

In the event you don't know, the definition of "offspring" is: a child or children; progeny; young."

Those definitions make it difficult for one to defend the position that there's no baby in that uterus or that it isn't "alive" or that it isn't a human.

Unless I missed something in my biology education, there's no way a mammal species is going to have the young of another species in its uterus. When a mammal is pregnant, it's carrying its own developing young.

That's why when a woman is pregnant, the physician has two patients – the woman and her baby.

Unless, of course, the woman doesn't want the baby; then it's not a baby. It's a fetus, a blob of tissue – anything but a baby and she claims she has the right to end the pregnancy.

You'll notice that those women, and the men who take the same position, and the medical people who do the deed, and the politicians who champion all those actions never say they are ending a life. They are, they say, terminating a pregnancy – it's a medical procedure.

It sounds so much cleaner.

The only problem is that it isn't clean. Yes, they are terminating (intentionally ending) the pregnancy and the procedure is called an abortion. It's done with the prior intent that the child growing and developing in the womb not survive.

I mean, after all, if he or she lived, that would spoil everything, wouldn't it? On the other hand, it's a fact that if babies survive being aborted, they are left alone until they die. Nice, eh?

Consider the definition of "abortion": "premature expulsion of a fetus so that it does not live, especially if induced on purpose."

How much more clear do you need it? The purpose of an abortion, regardless of the reason or rationalization, is to end life.

Note the last phrase: "induced on purpose." When you intentionally end the life of something – anything – you are killing it.

Seems to me, abortion is the intentional killing of a developing human being.

Very often, abortion is done in the months before the child could survive outside the womb and that's the rationalization that it's OK – it couldn't live anyway, so it's fine to kill it – oops ... I'm sorry, terminate the pregnancy. Kill is such a harsh word. Then again, so are the words "end the life." (See the above definition.)

It can get worse – and it does.

Consider the "medical procedure" called "partial-birth abortion." In this, a pregnancy is ended (terminated) just prior to the normal birth date. When the head of the child comes out, the "doctor" pierces the skull, sometimes crushing, sucking out the brain.

Quick, neat and effective – rapidly ending the life of the child and then the rest of its body is pulled out.

What a neat way to avoid murder. If that child took a breath outside the womb that doctor and his accomplices might spend the rest of their lives at the Graybar Hotel.

As it is, they can go to real bars to toast their support of a woman's right to choose.

Of course, what they are choosing is the death of a baby, but after a few drinks, reality gets a bit fuzzy and that's exactly where we find ourselves.

It's all fuzzy because words are played with. You are not "pro-abortion," you are "pro-choice." But if you are "pro-life," you are called "anti-abortion."

Women, it's insisted, have the right to "choose" to end pregnancies with an abortion, but they aren't usually given the option of other choices, for example, adoption or even ways to have the baby and make her life work out.

Pregnant women who, we are told, need to be fully informed medically about whatever is done to them, are routinely denied or never offered the opportunity to see what her baby looks like with ultrasound before the abortion.

We wouldn't want her to really see that that blob of tissue has a human form, arms and legs and eyes.

It's more than difficult to decide to kill your own child when you can see what it looks like. It's much easier to abort when you don't fully know what you are doing. That is exactly what's happening every single day in this country.

I know one woman who had already had an abortion, who'd had other children out of wedlock and was pregnant again. She decided to abort – until she saw the ultrasound picture. She couldn't go through with it – she couldn't kill her baby. And she didn't.

She gave birth and gave her perfect child in adoption to a couple who couldn't have children of their own.

Her courage and generosity were heroic. She saved an innocent life and helped create a family.

This did not happen in the United States.

It's not too farfetched to think that if ultrasounds were a U.S. requirement before an abortion, innocent lives would be saved and millions of people desiring to adopt would have their prayers answered in our own country. And more women would be heroic instead of child killers.


Get your copy of Kelly Hollowell's eye-opening new book, "Struggling for Life: How our Tax Dollars and Twisted Science Target the Unborn."

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US abortion activists Losing Battle

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Abortion Activists in U.S. Say They Are Losing the Battle

By Gudrun Schultz

January 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) After thirty-three years of abortion-on-demand in the US, abortion activists are saying they can feel their grip on the country starting to slide away.

"I think [Roe vs. Wade] in the short term will be dismantled," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, to Reuters. "We have an anti-choice president, an anti-choice Congress and now ... with the confirmation of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court, we are seeing the potential for a very right-leaning, anti-choice Supreme Court."

Judge Samuel Alitos nomination to the Supreme Court has given pro-life advocates concrete hope that Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 judicial activist decision to make abortion a constitutional right, may finally be overturned. There are many other factors, however, which are contributing to the sense among both pro-life and pro-abortion groups that the balance is beginning to shift toward the side of life.

A survey conducted in November 2005 by the Pew Research Center showed that a majority of Americans think abortion is the central issue before the Supreme Court. John Green, senior researcher at the Pew Forum on religion and Public Life, said the flood of anti-abortion legislation is linked to conservative religious groups.

"I do think it is a critical moment," Green said. "A lot really hinges on Alito and other judges who may be appointed in the near future. I could imagine in the next 10 years or so there could be steady changes in the law regarding abortion."

Organizations working for the protection of the unborn say research that shows babies complex development at very early stages has undermined support for abortion. Testimonies of women who have suffered emotional and physical damage from aborting their babies have also helped turn public opinion.

Above all, technological advances have had an impact. Ultra-sound improvements that let pregnant women see the faces of their babies have been a significant force in turning people away from abortion.

"The technology has allowed someone who before had no face and no voice to become an actual child," said Mary Spaulding Balch, director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee. "In the 70s and 80s whenever you debated abortion you talked about the mother. Now the baby is being brought into the debate."

Across the country, state legislation restricting abortion is being brought forward, ranging from laws banning abortion outright, to laws restricting access, requiring parental notification, longer cooling off periods before obtaining abortions, and even restrictions on birth control and sex education.

Every state now has anti-abortion legislation either established or under way. Twenty-six states have laws banning abortion after three months of pregnancy. Legislation underway in four states, South Dakota, Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio, would ban abortions entirely unless the mothers life was clearly in danger.

"There is a growing public realization that abortion is an injustice, the destruction of an innocent human life," said American Life League executive director David Bereit.

The up swell of anti-abortion measures cannot be activated while Roe vs. Wade stands, however, which barricades state legislation.

See related LifeSiteNews coverage:

Abortion Ban Considered in Growing Number of States: South Dakota, Indiana, Ohio
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jan/06012303.html

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