BY KIRSTEN ANDERSEN

DALLAS, TX, December 18, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – They’re called sidewalk counselors: the pro-life activists who pray, protest and counsel women outside abortion clinics.  They’re often the last line of defense between a frightened mother and baby and the abortionist, and they’re so effective that the abortion lobby and pro-abortion politicians have targeted them relentlessly with laws aimed at keeping them far away from abortion facilities and the women who visit them.

For those who consider joining their ranks, making the leap from concerned citizen to the front lines of pro-life activism can be intimidating.  Seeing news reports about pro-lifers being arrested, fined, or even subjected to violence outside abortion clinics can make sidewalk counseling a scary prospect.

A new venture called Sidewalk Advocates for Life hopes to fix that, by giving curious would-be sidewalk counselors a one-stop “shop” for information, training and legal support.

Sidewalk Advocates for Life was launched Monday during the “A New Dawn” pro-life webcast.  The program is being headed up by Lauren Muzyka, an attorney, sidewalk counselor and former campaign strategist for 40 Days for Life who says she was inspired to launch the effort by the many people she met during prayer vigils who said they longed to speak directly to mothers in danger of aborting their babies, but didn’t know how.

“In past national pro-life work, serving people on the front lines, peacefully praying at the abortion center, I would often hear that they were struggling in how to properly reach out in love to mothers and fathers entering the abortion facility,” Muzyka told LifeSiteNews.  “Some had training, but didn’t have support, tools or technology to sustain a sidewalk counseling program in their local community.  As a trained sidewalk counselor myself – and someone who had done it full-time at one point – this moved my heart.”

Muzyka said it was the experience of meeting a little girl last spring whose mother had chosen to give birth to her after being sidewalk counseled by Muzyka six years ago that finally pushed her over the edge to start Sidewalk Advocates for Life. “What a life-changing moment that was for me!” Muzyka told LSN.  “I realized soon after that I needed to do everything possible to help others learn this peaceful, loving, woman-oriented method of helping mothers choose life, while also providing the necessary tools and support to keep them going long-term.”

Part of that will be using her legal expertise to train other sidewalk counselors to stay on the right side of the Byzantine restrictions many municipalities have enacted to infringe their free speech rights.

“I am a licensed attorney in Texas, so I have working knowledge of how to help navigate basic first amendment issues on the sidewalk,” Muzyka explained.  “If something rises to the level of being actionable, we are well-networked with Christian attorneys all over the United States who can provide legal resources, pro bono. … In my past work with 40 Days for Life National, it was [part of] my job to line up legal resources for local campaigns when needed, so I have first-hand experience doing this,” she added.

Those who are interested in starting a network of sidewalk counselors in their area, or making a current group more effective, can apply for training and membership in Sidewalk Advocates for Life on a quarterly basis.  Those who get accepted will be given tools, training and technology to organize an effective sidewalk counseling team. For example, members get exclusive access to flyer and press release templates, a training manual and DVD, inclusion in the group’s website directory, and access to a team of advisors.

Muzyka says she isn’t looking to replace currently effective groups, but to work with them and expand their reach so that every woman seeking an abortion will first have access to a trained, quality sidewalk advocate for life.

“In short, we hope to see every abortion facility in the United States covered with at least two peaceful, loving and effective sidewalk advocates or counselors every hour that it is open,” Muzyka told LifeSiteNews.  “While there are some communities that already have training, local infrastructure and support to sustain their current program, there are many local communities that do not – so, if we can be a blessing to those desperately needing this, then we are honored to serve!  We hope to fill the gap!

Read More: 

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/former-40-days-for-life-leader-launches-national-program-to-train-and-suppo

BY DONNA HARRISON

December 10, 2013 (Public Discourse) – Linda Greenhouse was, for many years, the New York Times’Supreme Court reporter. In a guest column published on November 27, she delivered a Thanksgiving gift to the justices, one that would solve—she asserted—the most contentious of their cases this term, those involving the HHS “contraception” mandate. Greenhouse wrote:

The religiously committed owners of the companies whose cases the court will decide—Hobby Lobby employs 13,000 people in its 500-store chain—say they object not to all birth control but only to the methods they believe act after fertilization to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting and continuing to develop. This belief is incorrect, as a brief filed by a coalition of leading medical authorities demonstrates; although there was once some confusion on this point, the disputed hormonal methods are now understood to prevent fertilization from occurring in the first place.

About the medical facts, Greenhouse and the medical brief written by pro-abortion physicians that she cites are certainly wrong. Hobby Lobby and the other mandate complainants are right: several of the required “contraceptives” can work by killing an embryo before or after implantation, just as they assert in court papers. Perhaps because she is relying on the spin involved in the pro-abortion brief, Greenhouse is so utterly confused about the basics of human reproduction that she quite literally does not know what she is talking about.

Let’s start with her confusion, and work our way up to her grossly mistaken conclusions.

Misleading Terms and False Claims

Greenhouse refers to the potential fate of a “fertilized egg.” There is no such thing. Biologically, when a human sperm cell penetrates a human egg cell, which happens within twenty-four hours after ovulation, the membranes of the sperm cell and egg cell fuse. At the moment of membrane fusion, which is called “fertilization,” the sperm cell ceases to exist, as does the egg cell. There is, in other words, no egg left which could be described as “fertilized.”

What does exist is a one-celled embryo called a “zygote.” A zygote has all the characteristics of a unique human organism: it can direct its own development, can repair itself, has specialized parts that work together for the continued existence of the embryo, and—given nourishment and the right environment—can accomplish its own self-directed growth. These are the same criteria that characterize any human organism.

Prior to the 1960s, the word “conception” was understood to be a lay term for “fertilization.” Ordinary people knew that “pregnancy” began at “conception.” That changed when “contraceptive” drugs and devices became generally available. At that time, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists arbitrarily and unilaterally defined “conception” to mean “implantation,” which is defined as the time when an embryo becomes attached to the lining of the uterus.

This definition change had two distinct advantages for manufacturers. The first was that the death of an embryo before implantation could be classified as a “contraceptive” act, because the embryo’s demise occurred before “pregnancy.” The second was that these new embryocidal actions could then be distinguished from “abortion,” because the definition of “abortion” is “the deliberate termination of a pregnancy.”

The use of the terms “fertilized egg” and “conception” obscures the reality that fertilization can anddoes take place while using certain types of drugs and devices labeled as “contraceptives.” From the instant when fertilization happens, a new human life exists. That new human being is called an embryo.

Although clouded by confused terminology, Greenhouse’s central claim is that hormonal contraceptives involved in the HHS mandate—which include Ella (ulipristal) and levonorgestrel IUDs such as Mirena— work only (she claims) to “prevent fertilization from occurring in the first place.” However, Greenhouse is clearly wrong to claim that this is the only mechanism at work with these two contraceptives. Mirena and Ella are both FDA-approved hormonal contraceptives. And both drugs do sometimes work by suppressing ovulation and thereby forestalling the possibility of fertilization. But not nearly always, as Greenhouse maintains.

How Do Hormonal IUDs Work?

Levonorgestrel IUDs such as Mirena may suppress some egg release when first inserted. But within a few years after a woman begins using it, egg release happens almost as often in IUD users as it does in women who are not contracepting at all. Yet in these cases the IUD still prevents “pregnancy.” How does this occur?

The answer about the IUD is no scientific or medical mystery. The embryocidal mechanism of action of IUDs has been known for decades. A careful examination of the recent scientific literature demonstrates that:

– IUDs do not effectively prevent ovulation. Women release eggs only a little less often than normal, even on the LNG IUD. (See academic studies here, here, here, and here.)

– The levonorgestrel IUD can interfere with a woman’s ability to make progesterone, which in turn can lead to an endometrium unable to accept an implantation or unable to sustain an embryo that has implanted. (See this study.)

– Although IUDs can decrease the absolute number of sperm that reach the fallopian tubes, sperm are still capable of reaching the fallopian tube even when copper and levonorgestrel IUDs are in use. Sperm have been directly observed and recovered from the fallopian tubes of women using IUDs. (See studies here, here, and here.)

– Fertilization does take place in some IUD users. Embryos have been directly recovered from the fallopian tubes of IUD users. The documented pregnancy rate of approximately 1 percent also proves that embryos can be created during the use of the IUD. (See studies here and here.)

– Embryos created during the use of copper IUDs develop abnormally. This may be due to toxic effects of the copper on sperm, on the egg, or directly on the embryo. (See studies here, here, here, and here.)

– The IUD changes the lining of the uterus, which makes implantation difficult. This is one of the most widely documented mechanisms of action of both copper IUDs and progestin IUDs. (See studies here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

IUDs have been used as “emergency contraception” and are recommended for use in situations where ovulation has already occurred and the woman is late in her cycle. A 2013 review articleillustrates this point:

Therefore, copper IUDs can be inserted up to 5 days after ovulation to prevent pregnancy. Thus, if a woman had unprotected intercourse three days before ovulation occurred in that cycle, the IUD could prevent pregnancy if inserted up to 8 days after intercourse.

IUDs placed after day 24—when implantation has already taken place—are “effective” in preventing a positive pregnancy test. That effectiveness must by definition involve embryocidal actions, because embryos are created on day 12-14 of a woman’s cycle. Even by ACOG definitions of pregnancy, the termination of a pregnancy after implantation constitutes an abortion.

Read More: 

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/make-no-mistake-about-it-emergency-contraception-can-cause-abortion

BY JOHN JALSEVAC

December 17, 13 (LifeSiteNews.com) – It’s been over 20 years since the abortion, but Jeff Bradford still can’t talk about it without weeping.

Even he seems surprised by this, given that for 15 of those 20 years, he hardly ever gave a thought to that day at the Planned Parenthood clinic, assuming that he and his wife had “put it behind” them.

The Bradford family today.

But then their marriage went through a rough spot, and they decided to seek counseling. And that’s where it all came out into the open.

“We just knew something wasn’t right,” Jeff told LifeSiteNews.com during a recent telephone interview. “We couldn’t put our finger on it. But we would close that door [during counseling] and my wife would cry uncontrollably.”

Jeff was taken aback by his wife’s emotion, and at first thought that perhaps there was abuse in her background that he didn’t know about.

“But as we unpeeled that onion, there was this deep abandonment, and roots of bitterness that had grown over the years,” he said. “And it all really came down to this decision [to have the abortion].” 

‘No one was standing in the gap’

Jeff and his wife Tricia were both in their early 20s and mere months away from getting married in early 1993 when they found out that Tricia was pregnant. Afraid of embarrassing their families, they made an appointment at Planned Parenthood.

Jeff remained in the waiting room. Of that day, all he has are “snapshots” from the clinic. “I think I’ve tried to put it out of my mind,” he says. “It was fairly quick, in and out, and we didn’t talk. We didn’t talk about it…not for 15 years.” 

But during those 15 years the abortion festered. And it is only in retrospect that Jeff can see how much the abortion contributed to many of the problems that quietly plagued their relationship, including their very difficult first year of marriage.

“That experience and that pain, and that one decision 20 years ago, really had so many underlying consequences in our lives, many that we didn’t even realize, that were just deep roots,” he says.

For Tricia, he says, it all came down to feelings “that she wasn’t protected.” Women “are created for life,” he says. But while his wife “would do anything” for the couple’s other four children, “in this instant, 20 years earlier, there was no one standing in the gap.”

After a pause, he adds quietly, “and especially me.”

‘I began to become enraged’

With the abortion out in the open, Jeff and Tricia were able to begin healing. And for the first time, he says, despite their involvement in Christian ministry after a re-conversion several years into their marriage, they finally “began to understand grace and compassion and forgiveness.”

But even still, Jeff hadn’t fully come to terms with the full reality of what abortion was. That all changed when he met Brian Fisher, the COO of a marketing firm that had hired Jeff, who was running his own consulting business, to do some work for them. One day, after they had gotten to know one another, Brian handed Jeff a card for his other “business” – the fledgling pro-life organization Online for Life.

Jeff Bradford

Jeff admits – “embarrassingly” – that when Brian first told him about his pro-life work, his first thought was, “are these the guys that are blowing up clinics?”

“That was the media that had done such a good job for many people who aren’t involved in this, thinking that pro-life people are some radical group,” he says.

But he took the business card and set it on his nightstand, next to where he charges his phone. There it languished for several weeks.

Finally, however, Jeff started researching how Online for Life was saving babies from abortion using cutting edge Internet marketing techniques. “And it was really the first time in my life that I began to really understand the devastation of abortion,” he says. “I had really hidden from it. God began to really drop the scales from my eyes, and I saw what abortion was.”

Then, he says, “I began to become enraged that as Christians that we were aborting 3500 of our children every day.”

Soon thereafter, Jeff began to volunteer for Online for Life, putting his extensive experience in business to work saving lives. Then, last year, “kicking and screaming,” he accepted a full-time position as Vice President for Development for Online for Life, completing his transition to becoming a full-time pro-life activist.

For him, the work of Online for Life – which, to date, has been directly involved in saving 1,368 babies from abortion – is quite simply “compassion and intervention” – a way to reach lost men and women, like he and his wife were 20 years ago.

“It’s exactly what I would have needed and wanted,” he says, “for somebody to have just stood by me and said, ‘This is a life. You can do this. You have support and help. This is your child.’ We would have made a much different decision.”

Read More: 

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/god-is-calling-men-to-rise-up-how-a-post-abortive-dad-is-helping-save-thous

Bill Diss

A well-loved and well-respected high school teacher was fired last night because he questioned a team of Planned Parenthood workers who bombarded his classroom earlier this semester, unannounced, to attempt to enroll Diss’ students in the Health and Human Services’ Teen Outreach Program (TOP).

Diss had not been informed whether or not the team, which turned out to be Planned Parenthood workers, had background checks or the proper sex abuse/child abuse certifications required to enter his classroom and interact with his students. Rather than supporting the conscientious objection of Diss as one of her teachers, the principal not only told Planned Parenthood to continue what they were doing, but also told Diss that he would not be excused from the classroom when he requested permission to leave due to his opposition to the event. The principal essentially told Diss that his moral beliefs did not matter.

Because Diss opposed Planned Parenthood in his classroom, and tried to look out for the welfare of his own students, Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion officials at the school –including the principal– banded together and sought to fire the teacher. The case for dismissal was heard by the school board on November 14, and last night it was announced that the official in charge of reaching a verdict on Diss’ case had determined that the teacher should be fired. To recap: A teacher lost his job today because he listened to his own conscience and acted in what he believed to be the best interest of his students when Planned Parenthood bombarded his classroom.

The decision to terminate Bill is clearly an example of bias against the teacher’s pro-life views, as evidenced by the fact that the decision does not align with existing Portland school laws and a huge outpouring of support from Diss’ students and their parents. Many students and parents have testified that Diss is an excellent teacher, mentor, and example to his students, writing letters of support and showing up at his pre-termination hearing last month.

Evidence was shown that Diss’ behavior, in line with his conscience, did not violate any Portland school law. Nevertheless, as we have seen time and again with Planned Parenthood in the past: the organization takes to bullying when it wants something. This time what it wanted was the career and livelihood of a pro-life teacher, and unsurprisingly that is what it got.

Read More: http://liveactionnews.org/respected-oregon-teacher-fired-for-questioning-planned-parenthood-in-his-school