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Home Hotline 2008 Apr 14-20

The Pro-Life Action News Hotline is issued by Joe Scheidler three times a week, usually on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Occassional Hotlines are by other League staff. To hear the Hotline call 773-777-2525.

Monday 14 April - Sunday 20 April

by John Jansen

Make plans now to attend our next big event at the Abortion Fortress of Aurora on Saturday, April 26 from 9:00-11:00 a.m.

"It's a Matter of Life and Death" Special Event in Aurora

Highlights of the event will include:

Parking is available at Our Lady of Mercy Church, 801 S. Eola Road (map). Please park at back of the lot, adjacent to the Waubonsie H.S. soccer field. A free shuttle bus will run continuously from the parking lot to the rally site, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

You can promote the rally by inviting your friends to attend. Friends who have never attended an event like this may be reluctant, now knowing what to expect. More information and updates are available here along with a video playlist of past rallies shows just how peaceful, prayerful and upbeat they are.

No Compassion for Unborn Children at So-Called Compassion Forum

On Sunday night, Pennsylvania's Messiah College hosted a so-called Compassion Forum, whicih allowed "Democratic presidential candidates to focus on the issues of faith and compassion," according to CNN's Campbell Brown, who emceed the event along with , Newsweek religious writer Jon Meacham. CNN's transcript of the event is here.

Pro-life blogger Jill Stanek observes:

"Conversation touched on aspects of our issue. It was frustrating that neither Brown nor Meacham had the knowledge, inclination, or wit to delve beyond easy answers," citing exchanges like this:

Meacham: Senator [Clinton], do you believe personally that life begins at conception?

Clinton: I believe that the potential for life begins at conception. I am a Methodist, as you know. My church has struggled with this issue. In fact, you can look at the Methodist Book of Discipline and see the contradiction and the challenge of trying to sort that very profound question out.

But for me, it is also not only about a potential life; it is about the other lives involved. And, therefore, I have concluded... that individuals must be entrusted to make this profound decision.... I think abortion should remain legal, but it needs to be safe and rare.

Stanek offers several follow-up questions that should have been asked but weren't:

Obama: Not to Be Outdone by Clinton

Still, Stanek notes that Obama too would not let himself be outdone by Clinton:

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president, National Hispanic Leadership Conference: The terms pro-choice and pro-life, do they encapsulate that reality in our 21st Century setting and can we find common ground?

Obama: I absolutely think we can find common ground.... [I]t requires us to acknowledge that there is a moral dimension to abortion, which I think that all too often those of us who are pro-choice have not talked about or tried to tamp down. I think that's a mistake because I think all of us understand that it is a wrenching choice for anybody to think about.... [t]hat nobody wishes to be placed in a circumstance where they are even confronted with the choice of abortion....

Stanek once again offers some follow-up questions that, alas, were not forthcoming:

There was also this exchange, in which Obama too acknowledge he, like Clinton, does not know what anyone who has ever taken a remedial biology class knows—that life begins at conception:

Meacham: Senator [Obama], do you personally believe that life begins at conception? And if not, when does it begin?

Obama: This is something that I have not, I think, come to a firm resolution on. I think it's very hard to know what that means, when life begins. Is it when a cell separates? Is it when the soul stirs? So I don't presume to know the answer to that question. What I know, as I've said before, is that there is something extraordinarily powerful about potential life and that that has a moral weight to it that we take into consideration when we're having these debates.

Intellectually honest abortion advocates openly acknowledge that abortion takes the life of a baby. Curiously, though, "pro-choice" politicians seeking elected office never do.

Go figure.

"Haunted by the Decision to Abort"

We recently got word of a powerful testimony about a couple's regret over their decision to abort their child nearly thirty years ago. Dan and Julie Zanoza's testimony can be seen on YouTube here. Dan writes movingly about their decision that still haunts them here.

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The Pro-Life Action News Hotline is issued by Joe Scheidler three times a week, usually on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Occassional Hotlines are by other League staff. To hear the Hotline call 773-777-2525.