Friday, October 26, 2007

A Sad Day in Maine

I suppose like many of you, I was extremely appalled at the news that King Middle School in Portland, Maine has agreed to allow the distribution of birth control pills to middle schoolers who request it.

Particularly disheartening is that, although the children must get parental permission to be treated at the school's health center, they do not have to disclose to their parents why they want treatment. Any parent who is not paying attention, or whose child misrepresents their reason for seeking treatment, could inadvertently support their child's quest for contraception.

I am outraged--not only because of the push for birth control in general--but also because of the fact that parents are being removed from making this decision with their child.

It is a terrible pattern that is developing today, where children are allowed to make series life decisions independent of their parents. I was listening to a radio discussion about abortion in California, for instance, and the speaker said that in California, a pregnant minor can discuss their situation with their friends or anyone they wish, but, if they do not want their parents to know they are pregnant, they can get an abortion without their parent knowing about it!

It is disgusting to think that our culture is drifting to a position where children--minor children--can make life-altering decisions independent of their parents. Particularly disturbing is the implication that a parent's voice is uninimportant or irrelevant to events in their child's life.

When will we learn that throwing birth control at a population of children--such as this middle school--who are troubled by pregnancy, is not the solution?

To listen to part of the debate at the middle school, click on the following link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/18/middleschool.contraception.ap/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

God bless,
Janet

Monday, October 8, 2007

Respect Life isn't just for Sunday!

Clearly, we need more than one Sunday to stress Respect for Life, if the following is any indication of the mindset today . . .

A woman in Italy discovered that she was carrying twins and decided to abort the one twin that had Down Syndrome. The twins shifted position and the "healthy" twin was aborted instead. To make matters worse, the woman and her husband returned to the hospital to have the twin with Down Syndrome aborted.

Everyone's devastated; their lives are ruined; the hospital says it was a "misfortune" and a terrible fatality. Why? Because the "wrong" twin was aborted?

Each and every time a child is aborted, it is a terrible fatality!

Then, I read in the National Catholic Register that the UK has "approved in principle" creating a human/animal hybrid embryo. Yes, that's right. They want to clean out an unfertilized cow egg (or other animals as well) and insert human skin cells. Then, after electrically stimulating it to grow, they can use the stem cells and then kill the embryo. The embryo, mind you, contains human, genetic material.

I encourage you to pay attention to what is going on. Now is not the time to remain silent.

God bless,
Janet