Free Republic

Health Reform: A critically ill premature baby is moved to a U.S hospital to get the treatment she couldn't get in the system we're told we should emulate. Cost-effective care? In Canada, as elsewhere, you get what you pay for.Ava Isabella Stinson was born last Thursday at St. Joseph's hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. Weighing only two pounds, she was born 13 weeks premature and needed some very special care. Unfortunately, there were no open neonatal intensive care beds for her at St. Joseph's — or anywhere else in the entire province of Ontario, it seems.

"Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame! Wake up the echoes cheering her name. Send a volley cheer on high; shake down the thunder from the sky. What though the odds be great or small, old Notre Dame will win over all, while her loyal sons go marching onward to victory." (Notre Dame Fight Song) I used to sing these words with tremendous zeal while a student at Notre Dame (ND) in the '80s and especially as a member of the ND Glee Club for a year. How proud we were to belt out this most famous of college fight songs...

Almost anyone with a high school education can correctly answer the question “When does human life begin?” by responding “at conception” or at “fertilization” of a human egg by a sperm cell. While we may not understand, or only vaguely recall, the precise process by which an egg and sperm combine to create a new unique human being, this basic truth about human life falls into the category of things we can’t not know. Yet today, many educated people who do know better assert that human life begins at some later stage of development.They arbitrarily push forward the starting point...

Family Research Council recognizes and respects the inherent dignity of every human life from conception (whether by natural or artificial means) until death. FRC desires to help build a culture of life, holding that all human life is a gift to be treasured. The life of every human being is an intrinsic good, not something whose value is conditional upon its usefulness to others or to the state.Threats to human life include abortion, euthanasia, and many new forms of biotechnology. However, human beings need not prove their moral worth by demonstrating sentience, or self-awareness, or a certain level of cognitive...

by Gina L. DiorioNote: Yesterday marked the 149th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life – more commonly known as The Origin of Species. I wrote the following piece several years ago but believe this week in particular merits its reprint here. ***Revival of the Fittest: The Reestablishment of ManHumanity is in danger of extinction. Earth’s physical environment does not seek to destroy the human race; neither does any non-human species attempt to extinguish it. Rather, humanity presents...

After a test showed that one of her twins had Down Syndrome, a 38-year-old woman in Italy had the handicapped fetus aborted this summer -- only to find out that the hospital killed the healthy twin. So she came back for a second abortion and filed a complaint against the medical staff. It turns out that the twins had switched places between the last scan and the actual abortion. This is just one of many cases showing that, as often as not, aborted fetuses get the last laugh. In incidents like this one, you can almost hear them. Yes, when...

Friday Five: Jill Stanek by Jennifer Mesko, associate editorA life-changing event catapulted her into the pro-life movement, and now she's obsessed with it. (Editor's Note: This is the second in our series of Friday interviews with people of interest to family advocates. The format is simple: five questions every Friday.)When Planned Parenthood tried to sneak an abortion clinic into suburban Chicago this year, it forgot to do its homework on local life advocate Jill Stanek. She, along with thousands of other pro-lifers, helped to delay the opening of the nation's largest abortion clinic for 14 days.Eight years ago, Stanek...

New York Times Poll: Evangelicals Agree with Dr. Dobson by Jennifer Mesko, associate editorMajority only will support a presidential candidate who shares their values. A New York Times/CBS News poll shows white, evangelical Republicans agree with Dr. James Dobson.Nearly 60 percent of those who plan to vote in the primaries said they could not support a candidate they didn't agree with on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Eighty-six percent said presidential candidates should be judged on both their political record and their personal life.Dr. Dobson has taken a beating in the media for promising to vote only...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 8, 2007Des Moines, IA (LifeNews.com) -- Campaigning in Iowa over the weekend, pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama attempted to moderate his views on abortion and abstinence education. However, he made it clear he has no interest in limiting or reducing abortions and his pro-abstinence stance is tempered by his backing of sexual education.Speaking in the northeast town of New Hampton late Friday, Obama responded to a question in a forum from a Denver resident in the first primary state for a family reunion.The questioner asked Obama to reconcile how society gets upset at someone like Michael...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 8, 2007Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Millions of pro-life advocates lined the streets of hundreds of communities across America on Sunday braving cold winds or heat and humidity to tell their neighbors an important message. The annual LifeChain is an opportunity to let people know that abortion kills children and hurts women.Demonstrators pray and stand silently as cars passed through the busy intersections. Some honk and wave in support of the pro-life message while others give participants rude gestures.Some 200 people joined the event in Roanoke, Virginia, including 59 year-old Barney Arthur."We want to reach out to...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 8, 2007Stockholm, Sweden (LifeNews.com) -- Three researchers who work with controversial embryonic stem cells shared the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for their role in looking at mouse genes and using their studies to determine the human genes that cause diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Pro-life advocates oppose embryonic stem cell research on human beings because days-old unborn children must be killed to obtain their cells. They support the use of animal and adult stem cells.Americans Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies and British scientist Sir Martin Evans split the prestigious award and its prize of...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 8, 2007Wellington, New Zealand (LifeNews.com) -- The leading pro-life group in New Zealand has won the first court battle on its challenge of a 1977 abortion law. Right to Life of New Zealand took the law to the nation's high court saying that it was intended to provide abortion guidelines but has, instead, been used to promote unlimited abortions for any reason.Right To Life New Zealand filed suit against the Abortion Supervisory Committee saying the agency has misinterpreted the law. The measure was approved "with the objectives of stopping abortion on demand and to provide effective...

Forensic investigators leave the rented home of Angela Kuehl in Kanata yesterday afternoon. Kuehl has been charged with the second-degree murder of her newborn son in April. (BLAIR GABLE/SUN) A 26-year-old Kanata woman faces a charge of second-degree murder after police allege she gave birth to a baby boy, killed him and put him in the trash. Police Staff-Sgt. Monique Perras said Angela Kuehl was arrested yesterday morning without incident and charged later that afternoon following a five-month investigation into the death of her newborn. Kuehl is expected to make her first court appearance this morning. Police were first...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 2, 2007Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Rudy Giuliani has tried every trick in the book in order to persuade pro-life voters to consider him for the Republican nomination for president. Now a congressman with a long record of opposing abortion has labeled the former mayor pro-life and said he would have voted mostly pro-life if he had been a congressman as well.Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, says that if Giuliani were a member of Congress today, he'd be considered pro-life."In a hypothetical comparison of congressional votes, Mayor Giuliani's voting record would mirror the voting record of...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 5, 2007Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life group has filed an official complaint against late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller in what is the latest skirmish in the battle to prosecute him for allegedly doing illegal abortions. The group says Tiller and a colleague broke state laws on late-term abortions but also provided women a substandard level of care.The latter complaint is what is most germane for the State Board of Healing Arts, which licenses and oversees physicians in the state.Operation Rescue relied on medical records from Michelle Armesto, a Topeka resident, for its complaint. Armesto testified...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 5, 2007 Frankfort, KY (LifeNews.com) -- Kentucky's gubernatorial candidates, abortion advocate Steve Beshear and pro-life Gov. Ernie Fletcher, debated the issue of abortion on Wednesday in a televised debate. Beshear, a Democrat, tried to play down his pro-abortion views in a state that is strongly pro-life, regardless of political party.Kentucky is one of just handful of states to have significant off-year elections this year."Abortion is a tragedy anytime it happens, under any circumstances, and as governor, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that women have choices other than that," Beshear said in...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 4, 2007Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Gallup poll finds an overwhelming majority of Democrats say they trust pro-abortion New York Sen. Hillary Clinton to handle the issue of abortion. She obtains much higher support on the issue from Democrats in the survey than pro-abortion rivals Barack Obama and John Edwards.Sen. Hillary Clinton, who currently leads the Democratic race for the 2008 presidential nomination by more than 20 percentage points according to two recent polls.Part of the lead is explained in a new Gallup survey which shows Democrats perceive Clinton as the best prepared of the...

US National Life Chain Sunday 2007 - October 7 - Life Chain's 20th Year WASHINGTON, DC, October 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On National Life Chain Sunday, October 7, pro-life Americans will, for the 20th year, line sidewalks in over 1,300 cities and towns to seek God's forgiveness and His help to end abortion and related evils in our culture. Participants will hold signs that include Abortion Kills Children; Adoption: The Loving Option; Lord, Forgive Us and Our Nation; and Abortion Hurts Women. Royce Dunn the Director of Life Chain calls it a "a peaceful witness against a violent public enemy...

Young Pastor's Powerful Sermon Encourages Parishioners to Take Part in Life Chain By Steve Jalsevac MANOTICK, Ontario, October 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Sunday, Sept. 23, a week before Canada's Life Chain Sunday, Fr. Geoff Kerslake gave what was seen as a powerful sermon encouraging his parishioners to take part in the local Life Chain the following Sunday. Fr. Geoff is the young pastor of St. Leonard's parish in Manotick, Ontario, located on the fringe of Canada's capital city of Ottawa. Fr. Geoff's sermon so encouraged one couple who heard it that they had the text re-printed in the bulletin...

Campaign Life Coalition Presents Candidate Information for Ontario Pro-Life Voters Will assist voters to cast informed vote Oct. 10 By Steve Jalsevac TORONTO, Ontario, October 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Many candidates for the Oct. 10 Ontario Provincial election have been very reluctant to provide voters with their position on the life issues or they have been responding as if those issues are now irrelevant and "settled". Nevertheless, with enormous effort, Campaign Life Coalition, Ontario has been able to assemble an impressive amount of candidate information to assist pro-life voters to cast an informed vote on election day this coming Wednesday,...