Priests for Life on Fetal Pain

HELP US PROTECT CHILDREN FROM PAINFUL DISMEMBERMENT!

November 18, 2013

Three Things to Do

Priests for Life is heavily involved in the effort nationwide, at the local, state, and federal level, to pass legislation known as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that protects children in the womb from 20 weeks fetal age and beyond, because of their ability to feel pain.

On Tuesday, November 19, there will be a vote in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to protect children there from the painful dismemberment abortion procedures that are carried out in that city at 20 weeks and beyond (as they are in many other cities as well).

There are three specific action items we are asking you to carry out:

a) Say the prayer below, and pass it along to as many as you can.

b) Visit this link http://www.priestsforlife.org/resources/medical/deexplanation.htm to read about and see a diagram of the painful dismemberment procedures that the Nov. 19 vote would prevent, and pass it along to as many as you can.

c) If you know anyone in Albuquerque, urge them to vote on Tuesday to protect children from 20 weeks forward! Ask people on your email list to do the same!

My column below gives a further reflection on this situation. Priests for Life has also released a press release today announcing major plans to protect pain-capable children throughout the nation. See http://www.priestsforlife.org/ for details.

Also, I invite you to order my e-booklet called Christmas for the Unborn: How the Mystery and Magic of Christmas Call us to End Abortion. This e-booklet is meant to enrich your Advent and Christmas. My hope is that you will draw strength and courage from it for your work to defend human life, which is central to the Kingdom. Advent is a perfect time to re-dedicate ourselves to proclaim, celebrate, and serve the Gospel of Life. To obtain it for a small donation go to https://www.priestsforlife.org/store/c-66-e-booklets.aspx . Once you purchase the e-booklet you will be sent an email with the download information.

A Prayer for Albuquerque and its Children

God of Compassion and Life,

You created all people for your glory

And you promise us life in its fullness.

Yet we live in the shadow of death and injustice

As children throughout America are dismembered each day

In painful abortion procedures

Performed throughout pregnancy.

Today, Lord, you give us the opportunity

To bring an end to this violence

Through measures that would prohibit these late, painful abortions

And bring protection to many children in the womb.

In particular, we ask your blessing on the people of Albuquerque

As they go to the polls on Tuesday

To decide whether children in the womb who can feel pain

Should be protected.

Lord, there is only one right way to vote in this situation.

The only legitimate purpose of government is the protection of life,

And not its destruction.

Protect your people from indifference and error,

And from the lies of the abortion industry.

Give them grace to rise up and say "No!" to child-killing in their city.

Grant protection to these children.

And may the victory of the Culture of Life in Albuquerque

Spread to every city and state throughout America,

That the violence of abortion may cease

And all your children may live, to the honor and glory of your Name.

We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessings,

Fr. Frank Pavone

National Director, Priests for Life

Albuquerque, Lead the Way!

As I often say, the last thing abortion supporters want to talk about is abortion.

The level of abstraction in which defenders of abortion take refuge is at times as comical as it is tragic and irresponsible. Take, for instance, Daniel Maguire’s book Sacred Choices. Rather than face up to what the “choice” of abortion is and describe it concretely, the author discusses why he thinks “the Roman Catholic position on abortion is pluralistic” and writes about things like Pope Gregory IX’s Decretals of 1230, or the Christian Penitentials of the early Middle Ages, or “global poisoning.” How about describing the poisoning of the child in the womb? How about describing what the abortionists say about abortion before trying to justify it by an abstract comparison of Roman Catholic statements or of “Dharma,” “Karma,” “Ahimsa,” “Yin and Yang,” and “Zakat and Hay’a”?

Or take Daniel Dombrowski and Robert Deltete’s book A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion. To give you a taste of how unwilling these authors are to actually describe the procedure they claim to defend, consider that in a chapter titled “Importance of Temporal Asymmetry,” they say, “[A]s Thomists might put it, nerve cells alone do not constitute the sense organs that provide the dispositio materiae for hominization to occur.” (p. 56). Enlightening. How about exploring the “asymmetry” that takes place when an unborn little girl’s arm is twisted and pulled off the rest of her body by the surgical forceps?

No doubt, those who are trying to keep voters from voting to protect such children in the city of Albuquerque this Tuesday (November 19, 2013) will resort to abstract arguments and talk about anything except the violence that the voters can now bring to an end.

The voters of Albuquerque will be able to enact, on the local level, a measure that protects children in the womb who can feel pain (that is, from 20 weeks of fetal age forward). These children would be protected from the forceps of the abortionist who, in these late term abortions, goes into the womb, grabs an arm or leg, and tears it off the living child. It's barbaric.

And it's true. Consider this quote from a well-known medical textbook on abortion:

"The procedure changes significantly at 21 weeks because the fetal tissues become much more cohesive and difficult to dismember. …. The calvaria [head] is no longer the principal problem; it can be collapsed. Other structures, such as the pelvis, present more difficulty….A long curved Mayo scissors may be necessary to decapitate and dismember the fetus…" (From the medical textbook Abortion Practice – Dr. Warren Hern, p.154)

This procedure is occurring legally in Albuquerque, and it's time to stop it. Pass along this quote, as well as the diagram you find at http://www.priestsforlife.org/resources/medical/deexplanation.htm to as many people as possible.

Brothers and sisters of Albuquerque, lead the way! Come out on Tuesday and vote to protect your (our) children! Let's end this violence, in Albuquerque and in every other city as well!

Read and listen to this column online at http://www.priestsforlife.org/library/4820-albuquerque-lead-the-way

Comments on this column? Go to http://www.priestsforlife.org/questions/

Fr. Frank's columns are podcast. See http://www.priestsforlife.org/podcast/

Remember to support our work at http://www.priestsforlife.org/donate/

Priests for Life

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Phone: 888-PFL-3448

718-980-4400

Fax: 718-980-6515

Email: mail@priestsforlife.org