Friday, February 20, 2009

Life Links 2/20/09

Reverend Walter Hoye has been sentenced to 3 years probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for holding a sign (which read "Jesus loves you and your baby. Let us help you!") in front of an abortion clinic in Oakland and saying to women, "May I talk to you about alternatives to the clinic?"

Hoye actions violated a recent ordinance imposed by the city of Oakland which bars from coming within 8 feet of women entering an abortion clinic.
In a statement, Katrina Cantrell, associate executive director of Women's Health Specialists, said, "When anyone restricts access to reproductive health services, every woman affected is a living example of a colonized body."

Defense attorney Mike Millen said there had been a "conspicuous absence" of patients at the trial who said they felt threatened by Hoye.


Wesley Smith comments on the recent case of a woman in Japan being implanted with the wrong embryo, having an abortion and then suing the government-run hospital.
As for me, I think it is all upsetting, and--yes I will say it--the field increasingly epitomizes a society that thinks we are all entitled to everything we want, regardless of the moral costs in the lives harmed or sacrificed in the obtaining. But wisdom tells us that sometimes we have to live within limits and make do as best we can. That hurts individuals, and we should all be there to empathize and help ease the pain. But it also helps build a healthier society. It is a forgotten lesson that is costing us dearly.


At First Things, Yuval Levin has a long piece in which he attempts to estimate what will happen in during the Obama administration with regards to biotechnology, stem cell research and cloning. With regards to the Dickey Amendment, he writes,
At this point, such support could fund only the use of cells from embryos but not the actual process of destroying the embryos. The Dickey Amendment, attached to the federal budget since 1995, prohibits funding for work in which embryos are actually destroyed. The new Congress may choose to remove the Dickey Amendment in next year’s budget, allowing for essentially no restriction on federal funding for the destruction of human embryos.

Opponents of the amendment certainly have the votes to remove it, but they will need to judge whether there is sufficient demand in the scientific community to merit the political cost, which means that the pro-life movement needs to prepare its case on the Dickey amendment, to make plain that there would be a cost.


The BBC News has a story of a young couple in the UK who decided to give birth to conjoined twins after doctors strongly pushed for abortion. The twins were born alive and then later died after being separated.
Mr Williams, 28, from Anglesey, said: "It was the best decision we made."

He added: "Now we have memories and pictures and we can always remember these two beautiful girls, which they were......"

"They didn't really tell us much else about it apart from abortion. I didn't know what to say, it was just like someone smacking you in the face."


An Oklahoma man who had a homemade sign that read, "Abort Obama Not The Unborn" in the back of his car was pulled over, had the sign confiscated and was interviewed by the Secret Service.
While stopping Harrison was up to the officer's discretion, Oklahoma City Capt. Steve McCool said the officer should not have confiscated the sign.

"We feel it was a bad decision to confiscate the sign. It's kind of a First Amendment issue -- freedom of speech -- and that probably shouldn't have been confiscated," McCool said.

He said the decision to contact the Secret Service is also up to the officer.

However, Harrison said his sign was in no way meant to be a threat against President Barack Obama.

"My sign is about anti-abortion. It's not about killing the president," Harrison said.

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