Scientists say Life Begins at Conception with a Flash of Light

The Pulse

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The Pulse

Scientists say life begins at conception with a flash of light

Cassy Fiano

May 3, 2016 (LiveActionNews) — Abortion advocates often claim as a defense of abortion that no one can really, truly define the moment life begins. Without knowing that, they say, there’s no real argument against abortion. Consider, for example, Melissa Harris-Perry’s insistence that life begins “whenever you feel like it does.” Obama famously said that the question of when life begins was above his pay grade. While the science of embryology has long been settled, it’s still not good enough for abortion activists.

But a new scientific breakthrough might go a long way towards changing hearts and minds: scientists have been able to capture the moment life begins, with a bright flash of light as a new life is conceived…

Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film.

An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.

Scientists had seen the phenomenon occur in…animals but it is the first time is has been also shown to happen in humans.

The photos included were not of actual embryos being created — the scientists used a sperm enzyme to replicate the incredible moment that life begins.

Unfortunately, rather than using this discovery to defend life, scientists are using it to better discern which lives to destroy.

Researchers from Northwestern University, in Chicago, noticed that some of the eggs burn brighter than others, showing that they are more likely to produce a healthy baby.

… “This means if you can look at the zinc spark at the time of fertilization, you will know immediately which eggs are the good ones to transfer in in vitro fertilization.

“It’s a way of sorting egg quality in a way we’ve never been able to assess before. “All of biology starts at the time of fertilization, yet we know next to nothing about the events that occur in the human.”

So basically, the scientists are advocating for embryos to be created in order to facilitate IVF, and then destroyed if they don’t seem to be the healthiest, strongest embryos. The ones with a dimmer glow are deemed to be weaker, perhaps because of a genetic abnormality, and so after creating their unique lives, scientists plan to destroy them. This is even though science has also just confirmed that babies with abnormalities can self-correct while still in the womb. People who are undergoing IVF are often encouraged to destroy “defective” embryos, ending the lives that were just created, without giving the embryos any chance at all to grow and develop, and certainly without placing any value on the uniqueness of each human life.

Click “like” if you are PRO-LIFE!

As Secular Pro-Life pointed out:

[T]he article is refreshingly clear about conception being the point where life begins. There is no obfuscation. The very first line of the article is “Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film.”

Which is why the rest of the article is so incredibly disturbing.

Agreed. It’s sad that such a life-affirming discovery is being used to further the culture of death.

Reprinted with permission from Live Action News.

Source: https://www.lifesitenews.com/pulse/scientists-say-life-begins-at-conception-with-a-flash-of-light

Why you must teach your kids about the culture of life before high school

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Why you must teach your kids about the culture of life before high school

Mary Kizior

May 3, 2016 (American Life League) — A few minutes on a major television network is enough to convince any parent that the world is a dangerous place for young people. With the current laws in our country, parents must be constantly vigilant if they want to protect the innocence of their young children from the snares of the culture of death.

In recent years, the cultural climate has become so polluted that many parents might be tempted to wait on certain subjects, like a preborn baby’s development, until their children are more mature. But as a people of life, we cannot afford to wait. Here are five reasons why you need to start teaching respect for the dignity of every human being before your students reach high school:

Time is scarce

With added sports, college preparation classes, and science labs to complete, high school students have very little time to start learning about the basics of human development. The culture of life is not built by 50-minute classes three times per week.

Rather, it is a way of life that informs the intellect on the beauty of every human person, born and preborn. In our current society, it would be a travesty for any child to arrive at high school not knowing that a human being deserves dignity, respect, and protection from the very first moment of existence at creation.

While high school students are fully capable of learning basic biological facts in school, there is not enough time for them to build the same kind of foundation for their beliefs in those four short years. Instead, grade school should focus on learning a basic understanding of the culture of life so that high school can be spent looking deeper.

High school is the time to dig deeper

Once kids have a firm foundation in basic facts of biology, they are better able to explore more complex philosophical ideas concerning the respect for all human beings. In high school, students have the ability to start examining the attitudes and opinions of society around them.

They can begin to question and debate the lies of moral relativism in popular culture and multimedia. An early education in the culture of life allows teenagers to be more than simply consumers of knowledge. An early formation in the culture of life turns students into doers.

A high schooler’s first response to a question about euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide should not be “What is that?” but rather, “What can I do to create respect for the elderly or terminally ill in society?”

The fight gets harder

The culture of death targets kids in high school. Under pressure from peers and with so many new experiences available, high schoolers experience a minefield of new topics like abortion, contraception, euthanasia, and population control.

No matter whether your student is homeschooled, enrolled in private school, or attends public school, he will come across friends, teachers, and authority figures who demean the sanctity of human beings through lessons and passing comments.

By that time, your student needs to be not only prepared to speak with eloquence if the topic arises, but also to be emboldened and unafraid, knowing he is defending the least of his brothers in our world. Students can’t be prepared for moments like these if they only learn about pro-life issues one day per semester in their religious education class.

High school is the time to make a difference

Lila Rose started LiveAction when she was only 15 years old. David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress which released the shocking videos of his investigation of Planned Parenthood, credits his crucial involvement in the pro-life movement to his early formation and involvement in his high school pro-life group.

Click “like” if you are PRO-LIFE!

As they mature into young adults getting ready to go to college, high school students become fully capable of defending the preborn and protecting the rights of the innocent. Young people are the hope of the pro-life movement, but we must encourage them to use their knowledge and skills to challenge society to respect human dignity.

Even young children appreciate the science of preborn babies

The earlier children understand that preborn babies are people, the better equipped they will be as they continue their education in the culture of life. It’s never too late to start teaching about the beauty and sanctity of all human beings, but your child will be so much more prepared to step out into our broken world if his formation in the culture of life starts by unconsciously living the truth that every human being is of inestimable value.

The future of the culture of life starts with you and how you will prepare the next generation. Will you take the challenge?

Mary Kizior is a content developer for American Life League’s Culture of Life Studies Program, which stresses the culture of life as an integral part of every academic discipline. CLSP is dedicated to helping students become effective communicators of the pro-life message. Sign up for our email newsletter to see how we can help you foster a culture of life at home and in school. Reprinted with permission from American Life League.

Source: https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/why-you-must-teach-the-culture-of-life-before-high-school?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f293690855-LifeSiteNews_com_Intl_Headlines_06_19_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0caba610ac-f293690855-397584261

 

Changing death from biological to sociological would open the door to profound evil

NRL News Today

Changing death from biological to sociological would open the door to profound evil

By Wesley J. Smith

culture-of-death-the-age-of-do-harm-medicine-by-wesley-smith-1594038562Maintaining the concept of “death” as a biological, rather than sociological, event is one of the few remaining impediments to exploiting the most weak and vulnerable among as mere natural resources.

If death can be “redefined”–an ongoing project in bioethics–to include the end of the subjective concept of being a “person,” then the unborn–supposedly, not yet persons–and those who through injury or illness have lost the ability to express personhood, can be deemed dead, or perhaps better stated, as good as dead.

This issue is discussed regularly above the public’s awareness in bioethics and medical journals.

Every once in a while, I think it worth the time to bring some of this advocacy to a wider readership to alert my readers to what the elites in bioethics would like to impose upon us.

From, “The Death of Human Beings” by bioethicist N. Emmerich, in the medical journal, QVM:

When we say that someone has died, we do not merely mean that some biological entity no longer functions. We mean that they, some unique mind or person, understood as a cognitive phenomena or psychological entity, has ceased to exist.

Despite being a non-biological term, personhood admits of the application of the terms life and death and, furthermore, reflects the ordinary meaning of the terms.

We should think very seriously about the consequences of changing death from the irreversible biological end of the integrated organism, to the subjective determination that personhood and relevant “capacities” have ceased.

It would mean that clearly alive individuals could become exploitable–or used instrumentally–in the same way as we do biologically dead bodies now.

That wouldn’t just mean live organ harvesting of persistently unconscious or minimally conscious patients–often proposed in organ transplant journals–but also experiments conducted on their living bodies.

Such uses could also be applied on living fetuses, perhaps even, infants, who would be deemed not yet “alive” as human beings because they haven’t yet attained the self-awareness deemed necessary for personhood, and hence, “earned” their equal moral value.

You think I exaggerate? Ponder the profound and adverse consequences of this [ed. Note. “zoe” and “bios” are Greek terms]:

A severely anencephalic neonate is a human organism that may be alive (or dead) in the sense of zoe. However, they will never have a life in the sense of bios. On the account offered by Schofield et al. life begins at conception. We should, therefore, distinguish between the commencement of biological or organismic life and the point at which the fetus becomes a subject, and not just an object, of life.

This does not mean the matter is easily settled; as with brain death, brain life remains a contested notion. Nevertheless such conceptual difficulties should not lead us to simply reject such notions. Rather, we might accept that situating an essentially metaphysical and philosophical conception of personhood in the empirical and practical context of biomedicine presents inherent epistemological challenges.

Changing death from biological to sociological would open the door to profound evil.

Illustrating how mainstream this subversive approach to human life and death has become among the medical/bioethics intelligentsia, this article was listed as the “editor’s choice.”

I explore these and other dangers of “personhood theory” much more deeply in my just released book: Culture of Death: The Age of ‘Do Harm’ Medicine.

Editor’s note. This appeared at Wesley’s great blog.

Source: http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2016/05/changing-death-from-biological-to-sociological-would-open-the-door-to-profound-evil/#.VyqGoIcUWM8

Abortion clinic director angered by Precious Feet pins

NRL News Today

Abortion clinic director angered by Precious Feet pins

By Sarah Terzo

feet-pinCarol Everett, former owner of two abortion clinics and director of four, on the “precious feet’ pins prolifers wear:

“You know those little feet pins? Those things used to irritate me to death when I was in the abortion business. I couldn’t stand them. In the grocery line, a girl of about 16 was wearing the feet. That just about drove me crazy because, of course, she was shining the truth on me. I didn’t understand that then, but I hated them.”

Judy Madsen Johnson, Stories from the Frontlines: the Battle against Abortion (2014), p. 55.

Editor’s note. Sarah Terzo is a pro-life author and creator of the clinicquotes.com website where this appeared. She is a member of Secular Pro-Life and PLAGAL.

Source: http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2016/05/abortion-clinic-director-angered-by-precious-feet-pins/#.VyqCvocUWM8

Mom in her 39th week captures baby’s “rolling in her womb”

NRL News Today

 May 3, 2016   Unborn Children

Mom in her 39th week captures baby’s “rolling in her womb”

By Dave Andrusko

unnamedAs it turns out, this video has been on the Internet since last October. But that doesn’t make viewing it any the less stunning.

Tip of the hat to the British publication, The Daily Mail for alerting readers to what it describes as “A 39-weeks-pregnant woman [who]has captured her baby rolling in her womb; The video shows the baby start to wriggle around before flipping over.”

It’s easy to exaggerate, I suppose, but in this case the use of the term “amazing” is utterly justified.

If you watch–and you don’t even have to watch closely–you can see the baby’s movements as he/she pushes up against their mother’s stomach. Here’s how reporter Laura House describes what she saw and heard on the video:

“Ah, she’s starting,” the mother is heard saying, before the outlines of the baby’s arms and legs start to become visible.

The baby continues wriggle around before, incredibly, it decides to completely roll over.

The legs and feet of the baby become visible through the mother’s stomach as she pushes out towards the left and flips over.

Small wonder that as of this afternoon, the video has been watched 5,481,355 times!

Source: http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2016/05/mom-in-her-39th-week-captures-babys-rolling-in-her-womb/#.VyqBMocUWM8

Ohio Right to Life

Statement: Thank you, Governor Kasich
Pro-life Governor Suspends Bid for Presidency

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE       CONTACT: Katherine Franklin
DATE: Wednesday, May 4, 2016     PHONE: 614-547-0099 ext. 304

The following statement is Ohio Right to Life’s response to Governor John Kasich’s announcement that he is suspending his bid for the presidency.

“On behalf of our board, our staff and our statewide membership, Ohio Right to Life thanks Governor John Kasich for his bid to serve the American people with compassion and proven pro-life leadership. Ohio Right to Life has been honored to work with Governor Kasich and his team over the last five years and achieve the enactment of 17 strong pro-life laws in our state. Undoubtedly, America would prove itself a stronger, more compassionate and more protective country for the right to life under Governor Kasich’s leadership. But we in Ohio rest assured knowing that as our Governor, he will continue to strengthen Ohio’s pro-life laws, standing with us to protect the dignity of human life and reminding us all: ‘If you save one life, it is as if you saved the world.'”

Click here to read statement in web browser.

5-4-16_Thank_you_Governor_Kasich.jpg

Founded in 1967, Ohio Right to Life, with more than 45 chapters and local affiliates, is Ohio’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement in Ohio, ORTL works through legislation and education to promote and defend innocent human life from conception to natural death. 

Wyandot Co Right to Life’s Annual Geranium Sale

Think Spring! Our Annual Geranium Sale is going on now at Jean Ann Hoepf’s at 12051 State Highway 103E just east of Carey, OH. Call Jean Ann at 419-396-3217 to order your Red, Salmon, White, Violet or Pink plants. They are sold in sets of 3 plants. Flats of 36 are $24.  This is our major fundraiser of the year. Beautify your home and promote the dignity of human life from conception till natural death by purchasing these LIFE geraniums. Life is God-given.

 

The Ugly Truth About Abortion

Priests for Life in the Media

April 11 – April 18

Defending Life on EWTN: The ugly truth about abortion

Brand new shows airing now

Airing on EWTN TV:  Wednesday, April 13 at 3:00 a.m. ET  and Thursday, April 14 at 11:00 p.m. ET.  Listen on EWTN Radio and EWTN shortwave on Sunday at 5 a.m. and 1 p.m.  Also on EWTN shortwave every Saturday at 6:30 p.m.  On EWTN RadioPlus Sunday at 9 a.m. and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (All times Eastern) You can also stream EWTN online by going to EWTN.com and clicking on the “television” tab..

Undercover videos of Planned Parenthood facilities and personnel helped Americans fully grasp what abortion is, the callousness of those performing it, and what it does to its innocent victims.

For more information and details, go to DefendingLife.tv.

The Gospel of Life on Radio Maria: Missing from the family portrait

Airing: Tuesday, April 12 at 6 p.m. ET and rebroadcast on Thursday, April 14 at 2 a.m. ET and Monday, April 18 at midnight ET (11 p.m. CT Sunday). Go to radiomaria.us to listen online. 

Father Frank Pavone will interview the Griffin family of North Carolina, a devout Catholic, committed pro-life family that lost a child to abortion. Learn how siblings mourn the loss of that child, and how their mom’s abortion experience fuels their activism.

Call in with your questions to 866-333-6279 or ask questions by emailing us ahead of time at info@gospeloflife.com.

Shows are archived at PriestsForLife.org/RadioMaria and radiomaria.us/the-gospel-of-life.

The Catholic View for Women on EWTN: Waiting for Prince Charming

Airing on EWTN TV: Wednesday, April 13 at 11:00 p.m. ET and Friday, April 15 at 10:30 a.m. ET.  You can also stream EWTN online by going to EWTN.com and clicking on the “television” tab.

The co-hosts discuss the advantages of teaching daughters to live a chaste life. Chastity advocates Pam Stenzel and Leslee Unruh will be interviewed, along with Leslie Knopf, a student at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

Go to TheCatholicViewforWomen.com for more information.

Gospel of Life TV on NRB and SkyAngel: Abortion is the Primary Issue

Airing Schedule: Watch on National Religious Broadcasters network (NRB), Wednesday, April 13 at 4:30 pm ET. The NRB Network is on DIRECTV, channel 378. Gospel of Life is archived on the NRB Network Roku channel for seven days from the original air date. Also airing on SkyAngel 2 on Friday, April 15 at 6 am. ET. 

More Special Appearances

Alveda King will be on American Family Radio at 11:15 a.m. ET on Wednesday, April 13. Tune in online at www.afa.net

Hear us on EWTN radio on Catholic Connection with Teresa Tomeo.  Fr. Frank will be on with Teresa on Wednesday, April 13 at 8:35 am.  Call-in to the live show with questions at 877-573-7825. For more information and to listen to the live show on the internet, go to www.avemariaradio.net/hosts/teresa-tomeo.

Father Stephen Imbarrato will talk about his pro-life ministry on The Wendy Wiese Show on Relevant Radio at 2:30 p.m. ET on April 26. Tune in online at www.RelevantRadio.com

Source: Priests For Life

Mother of ‘Miracle’ Baby: UK Abortion Law is a Disgrace

NRL News Today

 April 11, 2016   Abortion
Mother of ‘miracle’ baby: UK abortion law is a disgrace

Editor’s note. This comes from our friends at SPUC–the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.

Baby Meabh was born at just 23 weeks weighing barely a pound

Baby Meabh was born at just 23 weeks weighing barely a pound

Recently we reported on Meabh McArdle, the ‘miracle’ baby who was given less than a 1% chance of surviving after being born at 23 weeks.

Now her mother is speaking out about the ‘disgraceful’ abortion law operating in the UK, saying that “every baby deserves a fighting chance”.

Abortion-on-demand

In England, Scotland and Wales, where the 1967 Abortion Act applies, abortion is allowed up to 24 weeks for a range of reasons. This has led to a situation where abortions are carried out virtually on demand up to this 24-week limit.

Abortion is allowed up to birth if doctors believe the baby will be born with a disability.

The law is more restrictive in Northern Ireland, despite continued attempts by powerful lobby groups – such as Amnesty International and numerous UN committees – to weaken it.

Fionnuala, who gave birth to her baby daughter in Belfast last year weighing just one pound, says she cannot believe that abortion laws are so weak in mainland Britain.

“It makes me sick to my stomach”

“The fact I could’ve had an abortion after she was born [i.e. after her due date] is an absolute disgrace – it makes me sick to my stomach,” said Fionnuala, speaking to the Daily Mail.

“I want people to see how beautiful she is and how every baby deserves a fighting chance.

“When I gave birth to her she had hands and feet and a gorgeous little face – I think some people don’t realise how developed they are at that age.

“Breaks my heart”

“It breaks my heart that people can abort a baby when I see what she looked like at 23 weeks…”

She added: “It took Meabh five and a half months to be well enough to come home, but it’s all been so worth it. It’s still hard now, but she’s brilliant and such a happy little baby.”

The mother-of-one previously suffered three miscarriages due to a septate uterus, which didn’t allow her pregnancies to get past 12 weeks.

Fighting for her life

Meabh spent the first six months fighting for survival on the neonatal intensive care unit at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital.

Meabh was born with Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), a congenital heart defect meaning she had an abnormal source of blood flow to the lungs.

She also suffered with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), meaning her eyes were not developed properly and her retina did not receive enough oxygen.

“The scariest thing I’ve ever been through”

She was given a fifty per cent chance of being blind and underwent two operations to preserve her sight. She is still being tube-fed and is also on oxygen.

“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through,” Fionnuala said.

“When I was admitted to hospital with the discharge the doctors told me the chances of her surviving were so low.

“I’m just so happy to have her home”

“They said that it was like she was lying in a bag of pus inside the womb. That was five minutes prior to me giving birth, so I was terrified.

“Now, I’m just so happy to have her home.

“She’s still only the same size as a newborn, but her weight has gone up to 8lbs and 15 ounces which is definitely an improvement.

“Meabh is such a bubbly, beautiful and amazing little girl who defied all of the odds that were stacked against her.”

SOURCE: http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2016/04/mother-of-miracle-baby-uk-abortion-law-is-a-disgrace/#.Vw0LapUUWM8

Pro-Choice Writer Visits Abortion Clinic, Finds Out It’s Not Like She Imagined

NRL News Today

 April 11, 2016   Abortion Clinic

Pro-choice writer visits abortion clinic, finds out it’s not like she imagined

By Sarah Terzo

pregnanttummy45Pro-choice writer Hannah Selinger describes her visit to an abortion clinic.

In all the years I have spent writing and thinking about a woman’s right to choose, I have never set foot in an abortion clinic, because I have never needed to. In my mind, I had always pictured a clean and comfortable place…

This was no Westchester clinic. The place was dirty and dark and the women in the room outside were standing, as there were no chairs. A woman beside me was crying. .. In the press, the issue of the right to choose will be reduced to the terminology of precedent and privacy. But the visceral reality of abortion–the grimy clinic, the sobbing and hapless young woman…cannot be understood by such desensitized vocabulary.

From Hannah Selinger “The Raw Story: The real state of abortion rights, before Alito” 01/12/2006

SOURCE: http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2016/04/pro-choice-writer-visits-abortion-clinic-finds-out-its-not-like-she-imagined-2/#.Vw0KRpUUWM8