Archive for January, 2011

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Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Rally for Life in Milwaukee

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Nearly 100 people joined Pro-Life Wisconsin for our annual Rally for Life, held in Milwaukee the week before Roe v. Wade. Thank you to all those who braved the cold (see photo, above) and those who kept us in prayer. Thanks to 40 Days for Life-Milwaukee for providing pancakes for us at St. Rita’s! It was especially encouraging to see a number of families and youth turn out in opposition to abortion.

Sidewalk counselors had two possible saves on Friday in Milwaukee, and we ask that you keep the mothers, their babies and our sidewalk counselors in your prayers.

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“Luckily for abortion providers, after decades of Communist rule, the Chinese don’t believe the preborn have a right to life”

Friday, January 14th, 2011

The leaf-strewn median on Eternal Peace Road hides a grim secret: Numerous tiny fetuses lie in unmarked graves dug by women from the abortion clinic across the street.

That quote is from an Associated Press article in today’s Washington Times. The article discussed the increasing abortion rate in China among young, single women.

Abortion has been legal in China since the 1950s. When China instituted its one-child policy, with that came forced abortions and mandatory sterilizations, “In 1983 alone, China sterilized 21 million people and fitted 17.8 million women with intrauterine devices.” As the UK Sunday Times reported in 2010, those sterilizations often occur en masse, at the hand of the Chinese government, regardless of whether couples/women want to sterilized [but what about the "woman's choice?"]

The AP interviewed a Beijing sociologist, Li Yinhe, for the article.  Yinhe [it is entirely plausible Yinhe works for the Chinese government, which has a vested interest in protecting its one-child policy and defending its coercive activities] makes a number of insinuations that don’t line up from what pro-lifers know about the country. Our comments below, in bold.

“Luckily [really? for who?], in Chinese culture, people generally feel that before the actual birth, you don’t yet have an actual person, so we have cases of induced abortion at seven and eight months along,” Ms. Li said. “I think this is to China’s advantage from a population control point of view [that if people are desensitized long enough, eventually they will fall in line?] … . China has absolutely no need for the so-called ‘right to life’ argument [I bet the women who are dragged in for forced abortions would disagree with that], no need to introduce ideas about abortion as murder [so... what is it?], and so on.”

China’s few anti-abortion campaigners are usually Buddhists or Christians [is a Communist government seriously going to provide figures on pro-life activity?]. But their activities are low-key because the government keeps a tight rein on grass-roots organizations and religious groups [and the few who dare to protest wind up dead].

In January 2008, the London Telegraph reported on a Chinese woman who sued [wonder if she's still alive?] due to a forced abortion at nine months pregnant:

“Mrs. Jin’s crime was to have become pregnant by her fiance five months before she married him at the age of 20, the legal minimum… Mrs. Jin is now infertile as a result of the abortion.”

In October 2010, Al-Jazeera (yes, THAT Al-Jazeera) sent a reporter to China. They heard reports of a woman, eight months pregnant with her second child, forced to have an abortion by the Chinese government. Read the husband’s heart-wrenching account of the loss of their baby here.

Despite decades of Communist rule, the God-given human desire to procreate lives on with the Chinese people. The Chinese government’s effort to extinguish its own people — cultural genocide — is resulting in a graying population that will not be able to support itself. From TIME magazine in 2009,

“China has 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20. The total number of young people is a problem as well; factories have reported youth-labor shortages in recent years, a problem that will only get worse. In 2007 there were six adults of working age for every retiree, but by 2040 that ratio is expected to drop to 2 to 1.”

When they are of no use to society, will the bodies of the elderly be discarded along the side of the road, next to their aborted grandchildren?

If the Chinese do not respect the preborn right-to-life, as the sociologist Yinhe claims, why would the mothers save the bodies of their aborted children to bury?

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Nine consecutive days of prayer at Madison Planned Parenthood

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Photo, above: Fr. Heilman leading more than 150 pro-lifers in the Stations of the Cross outside Planned Parenthood this summer.

Starting this morning at 6:30am, and every morning until the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 22, Fr. Rick Heilman and the Knights of Divine Mercy will be leading the Stations of the Cross at the Madison Planned Parenthood, located at 3706 Orin Road. This Planned Parenthood is one of Wisconsin’s four stand-alone abortion facilities. It is also the site of abortionist Dennis Christensen’s former abortuary, before he sold his “practice” to Planned Parenthood. Click here to read more about the effort on the Knights of Divine Mercy website. Join them if you can! If you can’t join them in body, join them in a novena of reparation leading up to Roe v. Wade. If you know Fr. Heilman or any of the Knights, please take the time to thank them personally. Priests have many demands on their time, and it’s cold out there!

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2008 abortion statistics remain the same nationwide; Wisconsin’s declined slightly

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

The Alan Guttmacher Institute (the research arm of Planned Parenthood, by the way) recently released nationwide statistics on abortions in 2008. From USA Today, “The 2008 rate of 19.6 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15-44 is also statistically virtually unchanged from the 2005 rate of 19.4 abortions. It is far below the peak in 1981 of 29.3 abortions.”

In 2008, Wisconsin abortions dropped, contrary to the slight increase that occurred nationwide. Wisconsin abortions declined every year from 2003-2008. In 2007, a total of 8,267 abortions were performed in the state; in 2008, a total of 8,229 abortions were performed in the state. This means that for every 100 live births in Wisconsin, 11 babies were aborted.

Unfortunately, the use of RU-486 has risen while the total number of abortions has declined. Both chemical and surgical abortions are reported to the state of Wisconsin and are covered by the statistics. The use of the drug regimen RU-486 results in a chemical abortion. In 2007, there were 1,248 chemical abortions; in 2008, there were 1,533 chemical abortions.

In 2009, abortions in Wisconsin rose, a statistic that will most likely be reflected nationwide. The total number of abortions in Wisconsin in 2009 was 8,542, up from 8,229 in 2008. That increase is the first since 2003. The number of chemically induced abortions rose as well, accounting for 27% of the total, or 2,251 abortions.

The nationwide Alan Guttmacher analysis reflects the trend toward RU-486 as well.

USA Today has an interactive map (above) that shows each state’s abortion statistics, if you care to see how Wisconsin ranks against the rest of the country.

In the New York Times article on the Guttmacher report:

Abortion facilities consider 40 Days for Life to be harassment, by the way. Read more about that in a blog post from September. Keep praying and keep sidewalk counseling! Our peaceful pro-life efforts are making a difference.

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MU president’s defense of Feingold’s professor spot

Monday, January 10th, 2011

We have written about Marquette University’s invitation to U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), extending a professorship to one of Wisconsin’s most pro-abortion Representatives ever.

If you would like to share your opinion regarding Feingold and MU, contact Fr. Robert Wild, SJ, president of Marquette University. Fr. Wild’s email is robert.wild@marquette.edu. Keep it civil and clean, people.

The following is an email response from Fr. Wild, SJ. In the email, Fr. Wild strongly defends MU’s/his decision to invite Feingold:

Thank you for your message regarding the Marquette University Law School’s appointment of former United States Senator Russ Feingold as a Visiting Professor of Law.  Senator Feingold will teach an elective course, “Current Legal Issues: The U.S. Senate,” to upper-level law students.  The course will deal with institutional issues facing the Senate, the way the Senate interfaces with the Constitution and the Supreme Court, as well as the relationship between the Senate and the executive branch. His current commitment is to teach for one semester, with the option to extend it by mutual agreement.

Senator Feingold is almost uniquely qualified to teach such a course. He earned his undergraduate degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a former Rhodes Scholar, and an honors law graduate of both Oxford University and Harvard University. He practiced law for six years with two major Wisconsin law firms, Foley & Lardner and LaFollette & Sinykin. Feingold served for 10 years in the Wisconsin Senate and 18 years in the United States Senate, where he was a member of the Foreign Relations, Intelligence, Budget and Judiciary Committees.

As Law School Dean Joseph Kearney noted in his blog post on this matter, the appointment of Senator Feingold does not in any way endorse his public positions or votes on any given topic.  While some of the senator’s views are controversial, his appointment at Marquette Law School does not suggest that all of them are right. But a university and its Law School—and that includes a Catholic university—are especially well suited to explore multiple dimensions of many of these issues.

I have been president here at Marquette for almost fifteen years and have thought a great deal about this question of having political leaders as part of our university community. As I suspect you would acknowledge, none of them are very likely to hold no position whatsoever that does not pose some problems in terms of the considered moral judgment of significant groups of people in this country or in terms of religious teaching, including Roman Catholicism.  So if on that basis alone we would exclude a political leader from this campus, then on that same basis we had better exclude all of them.  To exclude all politicians seems contrary both to the cherished democratic values of our country and the four and a half centuries of efforts by Catholic, Jesuit educators to form their students into individuals that will be engaged members of their respective civic communities. With that said, and given both his extensive qualifications for the course he is teaching and the firm statement that we do not endorse his views on any given topic, I must respectfully disagree that we should not have hired Sen. Feingold as a visiting professor.

Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns.  Whether you agree with the perspective I am advancing here or not, I do hope that it helps you understand better Marquette’s position.  God bless.

Sincerely,
Robert A. Wild, SJ
President
Marquette University

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NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin extends deadline to sponsor baby killing

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

We’ve written in the past about NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin’s annual Roe v. Wade celebration. According to an email NARAL sent this morning, the event sponsorship deadline has been extended. Perhaps it’s difficult to drum up excitement for writing out a check to sponsor 38 years of baby-killing?

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Infanticide proponent (and former Senator) Russ Feingold rewarded with professor spot at Marquette University

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will join the “Marquette University Law School faculty as visiting professor of law beginning the spring semester 2011,” according to a release from MU. In a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, Feingold states Marquette approached him first about the position.

In a 1996 Senate floor exchange, Feingold stated, in effect, he supported the killing of a baby if the abortion resulted in a live birth. The following exchange between Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) took place on the Senate floor on September 26, 1996.

Sen. Santorum: Will the Senator from Wisconsin yield for a question?
Sen. Feingold: I will.
Sen. Santorum: The Senator from Wisconsin says that this decision should be left up to the mother and the doctor, as if there is absolutely no limit that could be placed on what decision that they make with respect to that. And the Senator from California [Sen. Barbara Boxer] is going up to advise you of what my question is going to be, and I will ask it anyway. And my question is this: that if that baby were delivered breech style and everything was delivered except for the head, and for some reason that that baby’s head would slip out — that the baby was completely delivered — would it then still be up to the doctor and the mother to decide whether to kill that baby?
Sen. Feingold: I would simply answer your question by saying under the Boxer amendment, the standard of saying it has to be a determination, by a doctor, of health of the mother, is a sufficient standard that would apply to that situation. And that would be an adequate standard.
Sen. Santorum: That doesn’t answer the question. Let’s assume that this procedure is being performed for the reason that you’ve stated, and the head is accidentally delivered.Would you allow the doctor to kill the baby?
Sen. Feingold: I am not the person to be answering that question. That is a question that should be answered by a doctor, and by the woman who receives advice from the doctor.   And neither I, nor is the Senator from Pennsylvania, truly competent to answer those questions.  That is why we should not be making those decisions here on the floor of the Senate.

Why all the fuss over a law school professor, you ask?

For starters, Marquette University identifies itself as a “Catholic and Jesuit” university.  The Catholic Church opposes abortion in all cases. An institution that identifies as Catholic but strays from Catholic principles only furthers pro-abortion attempts to create division where there is none.

Feingold is hardly Marquette’s first controversial professor, however. Two current Marquette professors are also on the Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin board – Jacqueline Boynton and Daniel Maguire..

Jacqueline Boynton is an adjunct professor at the Marquette University Law School [perhaps her and Feingold can discuss how they would make partial-birth abortion legal?] and an ex-officio member of PPWI’s board.

Daniel Maguire is a tenured professor in the theology department at Marquette and an emeritus member of PPWI’s board. Maguire’s views on Catholicism and abortion resulted in Archbishop Dolan banning Maguire from all Archdiocesan churches.

Feingold’s appointment is hardly a surprise to anyone familiar with Marquette, but why do we content ourselves with sighing and shaking our heads at news such as this, rather than demanding more from our “Catholic” universities?

In January 2010, the Marquette Law School included Planned Parenthood in its list of community organizations recommended to students. Read an article from Catholic Culture here. Planned Parenthood has since been removed from that listing.

Update, 1/6: As the Cardinal Newman Society blog notes:
Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic universities, Ex corde Ecclesiae, stipulates, “All teachers and administrators, at the time of their appointment, are to be informed about the Catholic identity of the institution and its implications, and about their responsibility to promote, or at least to respect, that identity.”

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Kohl’s: No support of Planned Parenthood will occur, from any level of the company

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

We have written in the past about Kohl’s and its ties to Planned Parenthood (read about the smoking gun here and the admission of the donation here). Life Decisions International, which compiles a boycott list of companies that support Planned Parenthood, confirmed January 3 that Kohl’s has been removed from the list.

Kohl’s is based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., and many people take pride in supporting a Wisconsin company. Kohl’s employs thousands across Wisconsin, and everyone knows someone who works there. So the news of Kohl’s support of Planned Parenthood struck especially close to home.

We would like to thank the thousands of Wisconsinites who expressed their displeasure with Kohl’s! It is because of the actions of all of you that Kohl’s discontinued its relationship with Planned Parenthood, and further took a stance on ensuring that Kohl’s will not be tied to Planned Parenthood in the future. To those of you who wrote letters, emails, made phone calls, sold your stock, canceled credit cards, refused to shop there — thank you! Your efforts were not in vain. Pro-life activism works!

This is what Life Decisions International had to say about Kohl’s:

“It was made clear to us that ‘no support of Planned Parenthood will occur in the future; from any level of the company’. All store managers too, by now, should have received a memo stating that ‘Planned Parenthood is not to be included in any donation made by individual stores’. However, anyone who is pro-life understands that the Kohl’s form-letter response over the past 6 months avoided the Planned Parenthood topic, but proclaimed support of Susan G. Komen; and is just as bad. Our boycott list though is strictly of companies that directly support Planned Parenthood.”

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Vigil for Life formally affiliates with Pro-Life Wisconsin

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

We wanted to let Vigil for Life make the announcement first, so here it is:

After years of close partnership, Vigil for Life has formally affiliated with Pro-Life Wisconsin—an arrangement that will lead to increased collaboration and foster new opportunities to build a Culture of Life in Dane County and beyond. From the moment Pro-Life Wisconsin invited Vigil for Life founders to start Madison’s first fall 40 Days for Life campaign, to side-by-side efforts to derail the proposed Madison Surgery Center abortion site, to the new 365 for Life Initiative, the VFL-PLW partnership has proven extremely beneficial to pre-born babies in Southern Wisconsin. We look forward to continuing to work together to save the lives of those threatened by the abortion industry.

Welcome!

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Wisconsin observances of Roe v. Wade

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

Below is a list of Wisconsin-area observances of Roe v. Wade. Our affiliate list is first, followed by various Wisconsin diocese observances. We will post more information as it comes in, so check back!

Pro-Life Wisconsin affiliate observances of Roe v. Wade:
- PLW Jefferson County: Watertown Pro-Life Group is holding a Roe v. Wade Memorial Event on Saturday, Jan. 22 at St. Henry’s Catholic Church, 412 N. Fourth Street, Watertown. Fr. Brian Wilk will celebrate Mass at 8:30 am, followed by 1 hour Eucharistic Adoration & Benediction. Pro-Life Wisconsin’s Steve Karlen will close the event around 10 am. For additional information, call Tracy at (920) 988-6288 or Ann at (920) 342-7858.
- PLW Winnebago County and Outagamie County: Prayer Vigil on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 10 am. at Planned Parenthood, located at 3800 Gillett St., Grand Chute.
- PLW Marathon County: Pro-Life Rally at St. Mary’s Oratory, 325 Grand Ave, Wausau, Sunday, January 23. Outside Rally begins after Mass at 11 a.m. with prayer services inside and outside. 12 p.m. is lunch. Program begins at 1 p.m. Main speaker is Mercedes Arzu Wilson, Founder/President: Family of the Americas Foundation (FAF), appointed by His Holiness John Paul II – Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Topic of speech: Why are we ignoring the root of the problems that lead to abortion?
- PLW Juneau County: The Juneau County March For Life will be held Thursday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. It starts at the Juneau County Courthouse. The 38 minute Prayer-March will be followed by Prayer, Speakers and Reception at the First Baptist Church, 148 Grayside Ave., Mauston.
- PLW Milwaukee/Waukesha County: The 2011 Rally for Life will be held on Jan. 15 at Three Holy Women – St. Rita’s campus, 1601 N. Cass St., Milwaukee, WI. Schedule for the day as follows: * 8:10 a.m. Rosary; * 8:30 a.m. Mass with Fr. James Kubicki, SJ, as the main celebrant; * Prayer and witness at Affiliated Medical Services will follow Mass; * 10:30 a.m. Breakfast at St. Rita’s.
- PLW Bayfield County: On January 22, Pro-Life Wisconsin-Bayfield County will hold prayers for all nascent human life at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church after the 4 p.m. Mass.
- PLW Crawford County: Cenacles of Life will observe Roe v. Wade with the Divine Mercy Chaplet, three Rosaries and Fasting on Friday, Jan. 21 at 3 p.m. at St. John’s in Prairie du Chien, 710 S Wacouta Ave. PLW-Crawford County will also hold a prayer vigil from 10:30-11:30 a.m. at Options in Prairie du Chien (103 N Wacouta Ave, Prairie du Chien, WI 53821) on Saturday, January 22.
- PLW St. Croix County: Prayer Service for Life, January 22, Saturday, Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul, MN, 10:30-11:30. Immediately after the Prayer Service for Life, we will promote the culture of life by walking to the St. Paul State Capitol to listen to speakers and participate in other public events. Please call Darla Meyers at (715) 386-1089 for carpooling information. We will depart from the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Hudson, parking lot at 9:30 a.m. January 22.
- PLW Rock County will join the Rockford Pro-Life Group on Jan. 21 at 7:30 a.m. at Rockford’s Abortion Mill, 1400 Broadway, Rockford, Ill. Our prayers will include: The Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Stations of the Cross, and the Litany for Life in Rockford. At 9 a.m. an ecumenical prayer service and Scripture reading will also be held at the Rockford abortion mill. For more information please contact Kevin at everylifematters@comcast.net  or (815) 494-0333. On Saturday Jan. 22, PLW Rock County will hold prayers in the South Beloit Adoration Chapel, 11 a.m. to noon. We will pray together as well have time for silent prayer.  If you are not able to come, please do spend time at home or in the Adoration Chapel at another time.
- Vigil for Life of Madison: Prayer vigil at Planned Parenthood, Saturday Jan. 22 at 1 p.m. Planned Parenthood, 3706 Orin Rd., Madison. Father William Vernon, from the Diocese of Madison, will lead prayers.
- PLW Kenosha County will hold a prayer vigil on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 11 a.m. in front of Planned Parenthood,  3601 Roosevelt Rd., Kenosha.
- PLW  Hayward County: Queen of Peace, Protector of Life will participate in two pro-life Masses at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 10586 Dakota Ave., Hayward. The 4pm Mass on Saturday, Jan. 22 and the 10am Mass on Sunday, Jan. 23 will have special pro-life prayers said and pro-life information will be distributed to the congregation.

If you’re Catholic:

- Diocese of Green Bay: The Most Reverend David L. Ricken will celebrate the Green Bay Diocesan Respect Life Mass at 7 p.m. at St. Bernadette’s Parish in Appleton on Tuesday, January 18 and at St. Peter and Paul Parish, Green Bay on Friday, January 21. Join with others to pray for the sanctity of all human life.
– Diocese of La Crosse: Holy Hours for Life will be held at parishes across the Diocese on Friday, January 21. Click here for locations and times.
- Archdiocese of Milwaukee: Holy Hours for Life will be held across the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on January 21, the Vigil of the National Day of Penance and Prayer, praying in solidarity with thousands across the country. For more information, contact the Respect Life Office of the Nazareth Project at (414) 758-2214 or go to their website.
- Archdiocese of Milwaukee Respect Life Mass: On Saturday, January 22, Archbishop Listecki will preside at the Archdiocese’s observance of the National Day of Penance and Prayer. The Archdiocesan Respect Life Mass will be held at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in West Bend (1025 South 7th Avenue). Seminarians from St. Francis de Sales Seminary will lead the Rosary for Life at 10 a.m., followed by Mass at 10:30 a.m. A reception will follow.

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