Newsletter Winter 2009

From The President’s Pen                                                By Aaron Hankins.
 Life: The Most Precious Christmas Gift
 
Christmas is always a special time of the year.  Although in most parts of the country the winter air is cold, most Americans’ hearts are warm and filled with cheer.  Many people are excited for the time they will be able to spend with their families, for the company they will share with loved ones and for the gifts they will both give and receive.  Yet, despite whatever gifts we may open on Christmas day, the most precious gift we will receive that day is Life.
 
Yet, we take for granted Life and our right to Life.  Pro-choice advocates believe that some should not be afforded the right to life because they argue these “unwanted” children will either lead a lower quality of life or that they will lower someone else’s quality of life, mainly the mother.  A person’s life should not gain its value or worth based on someone else’s opinion, but rather on the intrinsic value granted by God.  
 
Life is sacred because we are created in the image of God.  Life is a gift given to us by God and must be secured by government as an unalienable right.  More importantly than the gift of Life He has given to each one of us is the Life of His Son Jesus Christ whom He gave unto all men. 
 
God gave His only begotten Son who was born of the virgin Mary as a sacrifice to die upon the Cross for our sins.  Jesus lived a sinless life, became the Word in flesh and laid down His life so that others may gain it.  That is the precious gift God gave to the world on Christmas day. 
 
This Christmas as we celebrate with our families, let us remember the precious Life God gave in His Son Jesus, the Life He has given us and the Life that He gives to all children starting at conception.  Let us rejoice in the Lord and with a somber spirit pray for those unborn children whose lives have been prematurely taken.  May we continue to labor this coming year to protect the innocent lives of unborn children and to protect the lives of women from being destroyed by abortion.    
 
May God Bless you, your family and the Pro-Life Movement this Christmas.  

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Bartholomew County Right to Life Set to Eliminate Phone Number

Due to high costs and little to no activity, Bartholomew County Right to Life will be eliminating our phone number so that we can save money and spend it on other initiatives that will better strengthen our local Pro-Life efforts.  You can still contact our local organization by going to our website at www.BarthCoRightToLife.org and sending us your request/comments from our contact page. Or you can send us your email directly to: Info@BarthCoRightToLife.org.  In addition, you can look up the individuals who serve on Bartholomew County Right to Life’s board in the phone book and contact each individual as necessary.  You can also contact us by sending your mail to:
BCRTL,
P.O. Box 1613,
Columbus, IN 47202. 
BCRTL maintains its commitment to staying available, accessible and highly visible to our community. . 

B C R T L
PO BOX 1613
COLUMBUS, IN 47202
 

BCRTL Needs Board Members

Bartholomew County Right to Life has a great need for others in our local community to step up and serve on our Leadership Board.  We have had the great honor and privilege of having a hard working and dedicated board for several years.  We know there are many more other committed Pro-Lifers in our community who are looking for an opportunity to get more involved in the Pro-Life cause.  If you are interested in learning more about the positions available and the duties/responsibilities that come along with serving on our leadership board please send us an e-mail at Info@BarthCoRightToLife.org.  with your name and contact information so we can follow up with you.  Thank you so much for praying about and considering this opportunity. You can also contact us by sending your mail to:
BCRTL,
P.O. Box 1613,
Columbus, IN 47202.   

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This web-site is provided and funded by Seven Baskets Ministries. We invite you to visit their web site for links to wonderful Christian sites and more information about Seven Baskets
SevenBaskets.org.

Right to Life Annual Signature Ad
 

Are you Pro-Life?

Do you want your friends, your neighbors and your community to know about your strong commitment to protect the Life of the unborn?

If so,
Bartholomew County Right to Life wants you to participate in our annual signature ad drive.  We will be placing a full page ad in a Sunday edition of The Republic this coming January near the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade court decision that legalized abortion in all fifty states. This ad will not only call our Congress, our Supreme Court and our country to restore the sanctity of Life but will also show Bartholomew County the collective strength of local Pro-Life citizens.  We need your signature and we need your help to get other signatures as well.  We are challenging each one of you to get signatures from at least 5 of your family and friends who support the Pro-Life cause.  Each signature costs five dollars and will go towards the total cost of buying the ad.  Please send us your names and five dollars each to
Bartholomew County Right to Life,
P.O. Box 1613,
Columbus, IN 47202. 
All signatures and money must be sent in or collected by Monday, January 18th.  Thank you so much for taking part in such a critical initiative that will keep the spotlight and pressure on the most important moral issue of our day.

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PAIN of the UNBORN

While an unborn child cannot verbally express the pain she experiences, all biological
indicators suggest unborn children are capable of feeling pain by at least 20 weeks.

18 Days Brain
The brain begins to take shape only 18 days after conception. By 20 days, the brain has already differentiated into forebrain, midbrain, and hind brain, and the spinal cord has started to grow.(1)
5 Weeks Pain Receptors
Four or five weeks after conception, pain receptors appear around the mouth, followed by nerve fibers, which carry stimuli to the brain. By 18 weeks, pain receptors have appeared throughout the body. Around week 6, the unborn child first responds to touch.(2, 3)
6 Weeks Cortex
In weeks 6-18, the cerebral cortex develops. By 18 weeks the cortex has a full complement of neurons. In adults, the cortex has been recognized as the center of pain consciousness.(3)
8 Weeks Thalamus
During weeks 8-16, the thalamus develop s, functioning as the main relay center in the brain for sensory impulses going from the spinal cord to the cortex.(1)
14-18 Wks Nerve Tracts
In week 18, nerve tracts connecting the spinal cord and the thalamus are established, and nerves from the thalamus first contact the cortex in week 20. Nerve fibers not routed through the thalamus have already reached the cortex by 14 weeks. (3,4)
18 Wks Stress Hormones
As early as 18 weeks, stress hormones are released by an unborn child injected by a needle, just as they are when adults feel pain. Hormone levels in those babies decrease as pain-relievers are supplied.(7)
Before 18 Weeks?
Even before nerve tract s are fully established, the unborn child may feel pain; studies show anencephalic infants, whose cortex is severely reduced if not altogether missing, may experience pain as long as other neurological structures are functioning.(6)
20 Wks All Parts in Place
With pain receptors, spinal cord, nerve tracts, thalamus, and cortex in place, all anatomical links needed for pain transmission to the brain, for feeling pain, are present.

 “The neural pathways are present for pain to be experienced quite early by unborn babies.”
– Steven Calvin, primatologist, University of Minnesota

 Scientific evidence suggests abortion is excruciatingly painful for the unborn child

 “At 20 weeks, the fetal brain has the full complement of brain cells present in adulthood, ready and waiting to receive pain signals from the body, and their electrical activity can be recorded by standard electroencephalography (EEG)”
– Dr. Paul Ranalli, neurologist, University of Toronto

An unborn child at 20 weeks gestation “is fully capable of experiencing pain... Without question, [abortion]
is a dreadfully painful experience for any infant subjected to such a surgical procedure.”
– Robert J. White, MD., Ph.D. professor of neurosurgery, Case Western Reserve University

 Highest Pain Receptor Density Before Birth
Between weeks 20 and 30, an unborn child has more pain receptors per square inch than at any other time, before or after birth, with only a very thin layer of skin for protection.(4)
Pain Inhibition Not Fully Developed Until Later

Mechanisms that inhibit or moderate the experience of pain do not begin to develop until weeks 30-32. Any pain the unborn child experiences before these mechanisms form is likely worse than the pain an older child or adult experiences.(4)

The unborn’s experience of pain may actually be heightened

An unborn child has less legal protection from feeling pain than commercial livestock.

In a slaughterhouse, a method of slaughter is deemed legally humane only if “all animals are rendered insensible to pain by a single blow or gunshot or an electrical, chemical, or other means that is rapid and effective, before being shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut.” (Section 2 of the Humane Slaughter Act, 7 USC 1902).
By contrast, D&E abortions, performed as late as 24 weeks (well after the child begins to feel pain), involve the dismemberment of the unborn child by a pair of sharp metal forceps.(9) Instillation methods of abortion (performed even in the third trimester) involve the replacement of up to one cup of amniotic fluid with a concentrated salt solution, which the unborn child inhales as the salt burns her skin. The child lives in this condition for up to an hour. In neither of these techniques is the unborn child provided with any form of anesthesia.(10-13)

Maternal anesthesia offers little pain protection for the unborn child.
For maternal anesthesia to provide adequate pain protection for the unborn child, it would have to avoid metabolism by the mother’s liver, enter her blood stream, cross the placental membrane, reach the unborn child’s circulation system in sufficient concentration, and cross the child’s blood/brain barrier. The dose of anesthesia necessary to pass all five steps would endanger the mother.(4)
Only anesthesia administered directly to the fetus can sufficiently curb the pain caused by surgery or abortion. In fact, a London Telegraph survey found that 80% of British neuroscientists responding favored the use of fetal anesthesia for abortions conducted between weeks 11-24.(14)

The public supports the dissemination of information on fetal pain.
An April 15-17, 2004, Zogby poll of more than 1,200 people found 77% saying that they favored laws requiring that women who are 20 weeks or more along in their pregnancies be given information about fetal pain before having an abortion.

Abortionists callously ignore the suffering of the unborn.
In a lawsuit seeking an injunction on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, abortionist Dr. Timothy Johnson was questioned on fetal pain:
“Does the fetus feel pain?” Judge Richard C. Casey asked Johnson, saying he had been told that studies of a type of abortion usually performed in the second trimester had concluded they do.
Johnson said he did not know, adding that he knew of no scientific research on the subject.
The judge then pressed Johnson on whether he ever thought about fetal pain while he performs the abortion procedure that involves  dismemberment. Another doctor a day earlier had testified that a fetus sometimes does not immediately die after limbs are pulled off.
“I guess whenever I...” Johnson began before the judge interrupted.
“Simple question, doctor. Does it ever cross your mind?”
Casey pressed.
Johnson said it did not.
“Never crossed your mind?” the judge asked again.
“No,” Johnson answered. (excerpted from AP, 15)

Notes: 1. Blackburn, ST. Maternal, Fetal, and Neonatal Physiology. 2nd ed (2003). 2. Ibid. 573 3. Vanhatalo, S & van Nieuwenhuizen, O. “Fetal Pain?” Brain and Development. 22 (2000) 4.“Expert Report of Kanwaljeet S. Anand, MBBS, D.Phil.” Northern District of the US District Court in California. 15 Jan 2004. 5. Blackburn 6. Van Assche, FA. “Anencephalics as Organ Donors.” Am J Obstet Gyn 163 (1990) 7. Garg, A & Rovnaghi, C. “Fetal Response to Intra-Uterine Needling: Is It Pain? Does It Matter? Pediatric Research. V 51, No 1, 2002. 8. Collett, TS. “Fetal Pain Legislation: Is it Viable?” Pepperdine Law Review. Jan 2003. 9. Hern, W. Abortion Practice. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott, 1984. 10. Kerenyi, T. “Intraamniotic techniques.” Abortion and Sterilization. ed. Hodgson, 1981. 11. Galen, RS and Chauhan, P et al. “Fetal pathology and mechanism of fetal death ...” Am J Obst Gyn 120 (1974). 12. Lyon, J. “Abortion Paradox: A Live Baby.” York Daily Record. 21 Aug 1982. 13. Corson, S, et al. Fertility Control, 1985. 14. Sheridan, M & Highfield, R. “Growing Pains.” London Telegraph. 12 Oct 2000. 15. Neumeister, L. “Judge Asks Doctor If Fetus Can Feel Pain,” Associated Press, 1 Apr 2004. Where an author measured fetal development by gest ational age, all numbers have been converted to fetal age. 9/04

Washington, DC 20004 NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE EDUCATIONAL TRUST FUND www.nrlc.org
 

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        —Roe v. Wade—
Not a solution then . . . Still a tragedy Today.

The Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion for any reason. Now, after more than thirty-three years under Roe more than 47 million unborn babies have been aborted. The overwhelming majority of those abortions were performed for social  reasons. Yet polls continue to show that an increasing majority of Americans are opposed to abortion as a method of birth control. And in 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that Roe v. Wade allowed and protected the brutal partial-birth abortion procedure ~ a practice opposed by well over 70% of Americans. It’s time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade and restore laws that protect the lives of unborn children.
More than thirty-six years and counting . . . More than 50 million babies Lost.     

The Legalization of Abortion in the United States
The Supreme Court decided two abortion cases on January 22, 1973: Roe v. Wade, challenging a Texas abortion law, and Doe v. Bolton, challenging a Georgia abortion law.
Together, the cases struck down all state laws restricting abortion in the United States and replaced them with a national policy which effectively legalized abortion for any reason throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Here is a closer look at each case:

Roe v. Wade : The Court divided pregnancy into three three-month periods or trimesters:

First trimester: The Court ruled that states could not restrict or regulate abortion in any way (although the Court clarified in a later decision that states could require that abortions be done by a licensed physician).

Second trimester: The Court ruled that states could regulate abortions only to the extent necessary to protect the “health” of the mother as broadly defined in Doe v. Bolton (see below).

Third trimester: After the unborn child becomes “viable” (able to survive outside the womb with or without medical support), which the Court said occurred at approximately the beginning of the last three months of pregnancy, the Court said states could regulate or prohibit abortion, except when an abortion was done to protect the life or health of the mother.


Doe v. Bolton : In this companion case to Roe, the Court defined “health” to include “all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age – relevant to the well-bring of the patient.” Under this broad definition of “health,” any woman who is unhappy about being pregnant may have an abortion, even in the last months of pregnancy, to protect her “health.”
The core holding of Roe, i.e., that a woman has a constitutional right to abortion, was reaffirmed in 1992 in the Supreme Court’s Planned Parenthood of S.E. Pennsylvania v. Casey decision. The Casey decision also suggested the possibility of life-protective laws after the baby’s viability. Thus, although the so-called right to abortion remains (and abortion facilities continue their grisly trade largely unrestricted), the Court has said that states may enact certain protective regulations, including some that hold promise for reducing the number of abortions.