WHEN YOU LOSE RESPECT FOR ONE LIFE, YOU LOSE RESPECT FOR ALL LIFE

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[This Review Originally Published On JULY 31, 2006.]
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AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE
The Life Guide Series -- Vol. 3
"The Facts About Abortion"
by Judie Brown
copyright: 1998
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Although I'm not Catholic, through the years I have made monetary contributions to American Life League (ALL), a Catholic antiabortion organization which publishes quality literature in support of the pro-life movement. (One magazine in particular that would be beneficial to teens regardless of Christian denomination is called, 'REALITY CHECK.') Several years ago, ALL sent me Volumes 1-4 of their 'Life Guide Series' as a premium in appreciation for my years of support.
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Volume 3, 'THE FACTS ABOUT ABORTION' is dedicated "to every mother who welcomes God's blessing in the reality of His child within her."
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This booklet of 117 pages was well worth reading as it made me aware of some IMPORTANT FACTS about abortion that I did not learn in my previous 45 years. I am single; always have been single and -- looking like a corpulent bulldog with a glass eye and a nervous tic (pun alert!) -- I probably always will be single. And since my religious convictions exclude premarital sex, the information I found herein will not likely impact my lifestyle. But since it may be relevant to your circumstances, I'll share some interesting facts with you that I gleaned from my reading:
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* Sir A. William Liley said in 1977: "The baby or zygote with his cargo of genetic information is much more than a mere blueprint of a new human being. A blueprint is simply a plan, and does not include the machinery to fulfill that plan -- but a zygote does." [page 6]
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* Week 6 -- The brainwaves of this little boy [or girl] can be recorded. His [her] different muscles begin working together.
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Week 8 - His [her] fingers and toes are fairly well defined, and fingerprints, a unique and defining feature of every human being, are permanently engraved on his [her] skin. All of his [her] organs are present, complete, and functioning (except the lungs). Fifty percent of the abortions performed in America take place between now and Week 9. [page 8]
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* Month 4 -- Rapid eye movement (REM) can be recorded, indicating that he [she] is dreaming.
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There is no question that a unique human being exists from the moment fertilization occurs. If this little person is left undisturbed, he [she] will grow and flourish. [page 9]
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* Abortifacient birth control includes the Pill, Depo-Provera, Norplant, and the intrauterine device (IUD). Other methods of chemical abortion, also known as medical abortion, include: RU-486, methotrexate + misoprostol and the "morning-after-pill" -- a mega-dose of birth control pills designed to prevent implantaion of a newly-conceived child. [page 16]
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* Many of the methods of birth control that are most popular today (and those that are currently being developed, including the anti-pregnancy vaccine) do by chemical what surgical abortion does by instrument: they kill tiny boys and girls. They are not designed to protect a woman from pergnancy but are designed to eliminate the child if the child is conceived. [page 63]
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* It is clear that the U.S. Supreme Court, lower courts and most politicians view abortion only in terms of women's rights and as a matter of the ideology of political correctness. The reality of the child as a human being totally escapes most of them. We, the people of this nation, have allowed this to happen. We have failed to focus constantly on whose life is at stake when a mother seeks the abortion of her child. It is a serious mistake to expect the Supreme Court to reverse itself and hand down a ruling that would restore the basic moral and biological truth that it has ignored and distorted for more than 30 years. [page 31]
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* Dr. John F. Brennan wrote: I have delivered babies for over 50 years. I have never encountered a pregnancy where an abortion would have "saved the life of the mother." [page 36]
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* Choosing to do what is wrong is not choice. It is license ... The pro-aborts who cry "keep the government out of the bedroom" are the same ones who got the government in. [page 58]
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* One human being's rights should stop short of threatening the rights of another. That is why no woman should have the right to abortion -- an act that kills a human being. The preborn baby is not part of the mother's body; he or she should not be devalued because of where he or she lives. [page 61]
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* Dr. Albert Schweitzer devoted his life to Africans afflicted with leprosy. He taught that when you lose respect for one life, you lose respect for all life. It appears he was correct. [page 66]
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* There is strong evidence that having an abortion can increase the risk of breast cancer, especially if the woman's first pregnancy is aborted. [page 70]
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* Expectant mothers who have had previous abortions have a 200 percent increased risk of miscarriage. [page 71]
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* The claim of 5,000 to 10,000 deaths per year from illegal abortion in the 1960's is totally false. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a physician, former abortionist, founder of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League and author of 'ABORTING AMERICA' wrote: "In 1967... the federal government listed only 160 deaths from illegal abortion. In 1972, the total was only 39 deaths ... hardly an overwhelming rate." [page 72]
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* The California Medical Association ... said less than three years before Roe v. Wade ... "The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous whether intra- or extra-uterine until death." [page 96]
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* Lost in most of the Roe and Doe decisions is the object of abortion -- the preborn child. While the Court refers to a pregnant woman as a "mother", it refers to the baby in the womb as "the developing young" or "potential life." [page 94]
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And that reminds me of one of my own observations of many years ago (which so impressed my Brother when I mentioned it to him). When a woman who was looking forward to motherhood loses a child in miscarriage, she always loses the "baby". You would never ever say to her, "I'm so sorry about the loss of your fetus". And yet political correctness dictates that we refrain from saying that a woman aborted her "baby" -- suddenly the baby is referred to as a mere "fetus". It's odd (and very sad) how that works, isn't it?
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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