"Bella" To Start Showing At Theatres In Toledo And Columbus November 9th and 16th!

Pro-lifers can go to the movie theater and see a miracle: a film that embraces the sanctity of human life. "Bella", winner of the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival's "People's Choice Award," opened October 26th in 31 markets nationwide. It is the story of a Mexican soccer star, Jose (played by Eduardo Verastegui), who endures tragedy and later works quietly as a chef in a New York restaurant. There he meets Nina (Emmy Award-winning actress Tammy Blanchard), a waitress who is fired just as she learns she is pregnant and is considering abortion. "In one irreversible moment, a simple act of kindness brings them together and turns an ordinary day into an unforgettable experience," according to the film's production notes. "Before the day is through, Jose must confront his own haunting past to show Nina how the healing power of love can help her embrace the future. Inspired by true events, "Bella" is a heartwarming story about friendship, family and our capacity for love in the face of the unexpected."

While the film had only a limited release on October 26, a successful initial run will now bring it to a wider audience. In Ohio, initially only theatres in Cleveland were showing the movie. Now after its successful initial run, theatres in Columbus and Toledo have been added for the weekends of November 9th and 16th. Find a theatre near you by going to the "Bella" movie website at: http://www.bellathemovie.com/

Ohio Right to Life Staff and Board members have seen this movie and were deeply moved by the profound "respect life" message. We strongly encourage you to go see this amazing and powerful movie and request that you encourage others to go see it as well.

Take a On-Line Course in How to Be a PRO-LIFE Spokesperson!!

http://americancitizensacademy.com/

American Citizen’s Academy Home

Welcome to the American Citizens Academy, where you can get answers to many of the questions facing today’s citizens. In the comfort of your own home, at a time convenient for you, and at the cost of $1.00, you can learn:

WHO represents you in the halls of government

HOW to contact and speak effectively with your elected officials

WHAT the process is for a bill to become a law

WHY our society is being re-shaped before our very eyes

Check out our Resources and download the 15 minute mini-courses that will help you the most.

We also want to learn from you. Join our weekly discussion blogs and share your own insights.

FAMILY MATTERS – where we can share our triumphs and challenges as
parents in the 21st century

THE HOME AND THE STATE – where we can examine and analyze the on-
going battle over the central unit of our society

Become a Life Leader! - Register at National Right to Life Committee

http://lifeleaders.nrlc.org/

As a Life Leader you will be asked to do some simple tasks like making phone calls and recruiting more volunteers. If you have the ability to speak on the phone while working at your computer than you can be a Life Leader!

Working from your home computer you will receive a contact one at a time with an easy to follow script. Simply pick up the phone, call the number on the screen and follow the script provided to you. Mark the responses and hit submit. Then you're automatically on to the next call! It is that easy, but it will only be effective if Life Leaders like you are willing to take a little time out of their week to make the calls.

In order to accomplish our goal of protecting innocent human life in the United States, we need to identify every Americans position on life issues, and then we need to ask them to support our cause. That is why making phone calls is so important, and why recruiting other volunteers is essential, because our success in the pro-life movement depends on identifying, educating, motivating, and activating every pro-life American to defend life.

You will have plenty of time to complete each task, and every task can easily be done through your home computer with internet access at your own pace.

Life Leaders is easy, it is fun, and more than anything it is effective!

The success or failure of the pro-life cause could depend on our Life Leaders. If we are to succeed we need you!

So please, take the time to volunteer, it is one of the greatest contributions you can make to our important cause.

CONTACT YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE NOW TO URGE THEM TO VOTE YES ON THE ULTRASOUND VIEWING OPTION BILL!

Ohio Right to Life Update
Friday, November 02, 2007
President Tracie Johnson


H.B. 314, the Ultrasound Viewing Option Bill, is scheduled for a possible vote in the Ohio House Health Committee on Wednesday, November 7. H.B. 314, which is sponsored by Rep. Shannon Jones (R, Springboro), would require that, if an ultrasound examination is performed prior to or during an abortion, the abortionist must give the woman an opportunity to view the active ultrasound image of the unborn child and an opportunity to receive a physical picture of the ultrasound image.

ACTION REQUESTED
If your State Representative is one of the members of the House Health Committee listed below, please contact your Representative and urge him or her to vote for H.B. 314, the Ultrasound Viewing Option Bill. You can tell your representative that, just as patients are often shown x-rays before surgery, ultrasounds provide scientifically accurate information that women should have an opportunity to view in order to make a more informed decision about abortion.

Members of the Health Committee are:
John White (R, Kettering) Chair district38@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-6504
Barbara Boyd (D, Cleveland Heights) district09@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 644-5079
Edna Brown (D, Toledo) district48@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-1401
Michael DeBose (D, Cleveland) district12@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-1408
Lorraine Fende (D, Willowick) district62@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-7251
Bruce Goodwin (R, Defiance) district74@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 644-5091
Robert Hagan (D, Youngstown) district60@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-9435
Jay Hottinger (R, Newark) district71@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-1482
Matt Huffman (R, Lima) district04@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-9624
Shannon Jones (R, Springboro) district67@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 644-6027
Tom Letson (D, Warren) district64@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-5358
Robert Mecklenborg (R, Cincinnati) district30@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-8258
Scott Oelslager (R, North Canton) district51@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 752-2438
Robert Otterman (D, Akron) district45@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 644-6037
Jim Raussen (R, Springdale) district28@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-8120
Chris Redfern (D, Catawba Island) district80@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 644-6011
Carol-Ann Schindel (R, Leroy Twp.) district63@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 644-6074
Fred Strahorn (D, Dayton) district40@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-2960
Joe Uecker (R, Miami Twp.) district66@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-8134
Lynn Wachtmann (R, Napoleon) district75@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-3760
Shawn Webster (R, Hamilton) district53@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 644-5094
Brian Williams (D, Akron) district41@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 644-5085
Kenny Yuko (D, Richmond Heights) district07@ohr.state.oh.us (614) 466-8012

SUPPORT Ohio Right to LifeClick here to make a secure online donation

Ohio Right to Life665 East Dublin-Granville Rd.Suite 200Columbus OH 43229 Telephone: (614) 547-0099Fax: (614) 547-0096 www.ohiolife.org

Ohio Sees a 12.1% Decrease in Abortions Since 1998!

Ohio Right to Life Update
Friday, November 02, 2007
President Tracie Johnson

The Ohio Department of Health has just released the â?oOhio Induced Abortions in Ohioâ? report for 2006. Ohio Right to Life continues to have an impact on lowering the numbers of abortions. Since 1998 when Ohio Right to Life introduced their new strategy to reduce the numbers of abortions in Ohio, induced abortions have decreased by 12.1% (3.5% from 2005)! Although we have experienced great success, there is still much work to do in order to end all abortions in Ohio.

Ohio Right to Life is currently analyzing the information contained in the report in order to compare and contrast historical trends. Ohio Right to Life is also awaiting further zip code information from the Ohio Department of Health. The final analysis will be released in a later emailing. The entire report is now available on the Ohio Right to Life website at: http://www.ohiolife.org/resources/Documents/2006_DOH_Abortion_Report.pdf

National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day Helps Youth Stand Against Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 7, 2007

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- On April 24, pro-life youth in high school and middle schools across the country will join in opposition to abortion through another National Pro-Life T-shirt Day. The event is sponsored by Rock for Life, which uses partnerships with Christian rock bands like Sonicflood to encourage youth to stand up for their beliefs.

Erik Whittington tells LifeNews.com that "The momentum is building as pro-lifers nationwide are preparing to participate in the fifth annual National Pro-Life T-shirt Day."

He says this is the "one day out of the year that can help to save an untold number of lives as young people bravely put the pro-life message on their backs.”

This year's event is expected to be a success as hundreds of schools, youth groups and individuals across the country have pledged to participate. The event got an extra boost when the award-winning popular Christian band SONICFLOOd signed on in support.

“We are in full support of young people actively living out their faith by wearing a pro-life t-shirt and spreading the truth about the sanctity of human life,” said Rick Heil of SONICFLOOd. “This is what it is all about – not being afraid to stand for the truth.”

Whittington said his group was excited that the popular band, known for its praise and worship songs, got behind the day.

“It’s always encouraging when groups and individuals who are in the position to influence so many use that power for a greater good," he told LifeNews.com.

"That is what SONICFLOOd does every day with their music and concerts and now they are taking it another step further by supporting the protection of the innocent babies in the womb," he added.

On April 24, young people across the country will participate by wearing shirts with pro-life messages. The group has formed relationships with pro-life law firms to protect student rights if school administrators give them trouble in wearing the shirts.

Related web sites:
National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day - http://www.NationalProLifeTshirtDay.com

Understanding Abortion Kills Children: Are We Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

by Bryan Kemper
March 18, 2007

LifeNews.com Note: Bryan Kemper is the director of Stand True Ministries, a pro-life outreach for young people.

Last night I was sitting on the couch with my 2 year old son after we came home from the gym. I was looking down at him and he looked up and said, "Daddy, I like apples." It's funny how such a simple, little statement can melt your heart as a parent. It was nothing profound, just a smile as he told me he liked apples.

I looked up at the television and saw what triggered that statement. It was a new game show called, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? They use apples on the set, and that is what Jaemison saw that made him tell me that he likes apples.

Now the premise of the show is that most adults can't answer simple questions that fifth graders can answer. If you can answer 11 first to fifth grade test questions you win a million dollars. It's hilarious to see college graduates not able to do simple math or answer English questions.

Now I know how real this is because I see it every day--adults not knowing simple truths that are obvious to children. I can take a set of fetal models or pictures of babies in the womb to any first or fifth grade class room in this country.

I can ask the kids to identify what is in the picture, and they will tell me that it is a baby. I see it all summer as parents bring their kids to the booth and, when they see the fetal models, they say, "Baby, baby," as they try to reach down to pick one up.

Now you take these same models and pictures to a group of adults and you will get the most ridiculous answers to the same question: "a blob of tissues," "a potential life," "just a fetus." I have even heard them call the baby "a parasite" many times. It is sad that adults have to cloud a simple truth to justify a horrific action like abortion.

When it comes to something so simple as looking at a baby and knowing that it is a baby, we as a nation are obviously not smarter than a fifth grader. In fact we have killed over 1/3 of the fifth graders before they ever got a chance to go to school.

Terri Schiavo's Brother Endorses Sam Brownback's GOP Presidential Bid

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 13, 2007

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Since Terri Schiavo was killed by her former husband via a painful euthanasia death two years ago, her family has largely avoided the political scene and preferred to build their foundation to help other disabled patients like her.

But a presidential race could have a significant effect on how patients like Terri are teated and her brother Bobby Schindler endorsed Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback's bid for the GOP nomination for president on Tuesday.

In a statement he sent to LifeNews.com, Bobby Schindler said “My family will never forget Sam Brownback’s valiant efforts to save my sister’s life."

“Sam Brownback is the pro-life conservative we can trust to stand for all life, regardless of political calculations," he said.

In 2005, Brownback joined the Schindler family to launch the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the rights of disabled, elderly, and vulnerable citizens against care-rationing, euthanasia, and medical killing.

In response to the endorsement, Brownback talked about the effects of Terri's death.

"Terri's plight highlighted the core question about the protection of human life: does the dignity with which we treat individuals depend on their physical or mental status as human beings?" he said in the statement LifeNews.com received.

"If a person's dignity depends only on his or her physical status, then life and death decisions about the most vulnerable among us become relative matters to be determined by doctors, judges, lawyers, and legislatures," he said.

"Once we go down the path of valuing some lives more than others, of saying that people with disabilities don't have the same dignity and right to life as others, there are very few means not justified by the sinister end of a disability-free society," Brownback explained.

Ironically, the endorsement comes just days after pro-life advocates criticized Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who said he didn't think the Florida legislature or former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush should have gotten involved in trying to save Terri's life.

"I think it's probably best to leave these kinds of matters in the hands of the courts," Romney said yesterday to Bay News Channel 9 in Florida.

“Mitt Romney’s alleged pro-life conversion evidently does not to apply to all human life,” Schindler said in response. “The pro-life movement needs a leader we can trust in 2008 and I know Sam Brownback is that leader.”

Schindler made it clear that the endorsement was on his own behalf and not related to the foundation.

Related web sites:
Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation - http://www.terrisfight.org

Italy Doctors Try to Save Baby Boy Who Survived Mistaken Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 8, 2007

Florence, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- Doctors in Italy are furiously working to save the life of a baby boy who was born alive after he survived an abortion that should never have happened. The boy was slated to become the victim of an abortion but physicians realized they had misdiagnosed a physical deformity.

Doctors at the teaching hospital Careggi performed two ultrasounds on the boy and his mother and they said he had a defective esophagus. That's a disorder that surgery could have corrected after birth in some cases.

However, when they went to abort the baby boy, the discovered he was healthy and desperate tried to resuscitate him.

The baby, born at 22 weeks into pregnancy, weighed 500 grams (less than 18 ounces) at birth but physicians say that he had a brain hemorrhage during the abortion and they doubt he will survive.

According to The Australian newspaper, the boy was transferred to the city's children's hospital because Careggi didn't have room for follow-up care in the intensive care unit.

Hospital officials are defending the doctors saying their physicians advised the mother to have further diagnostic tests but that she opted for the abortion after consulting with a private doctor.

Doctors later said the ultrasound tests did not completely show the baby's body and that an incomplete diagnostic test with an ultrasound happens in one percent of the cases.

The Catholic Church is outraged by the abortion and the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said a human life had been "thrown away in the horrible bureaucracy of a culture that rejects diversity and disability."

It condemned the physician who suggested the abortion as "not only morally but also ethically censurable."

February SFLA Conference Call Podcast

Listen in on the Feb. conference call. I believe there are 7 schools represented here in Ohio.

http://207.177.49.95/fcc/cgi-bin/play.mp3?id=7127757000:1051872

CEDARVILLE STUDENTS COLLECT SIGNATURES URGING SENATOR BROWN’S SUPPORT ON UNBORN CHILD PAIN AWARENESS ACT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

CEDARVILLE STUDENTS COLLECT SIGNATURES URGING SENATOR BROWN’S SUPPORT ON UNBORN CHILD PAIN AWARENESS ACT

CEDARVILLE -- Students for Life of Cedarville University have already acquired more than 1,000 student signatures and counting in support of a petition to U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, requesting his support for the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act which requires a woman seeking an abortion after the 20th week be told by a physician the pain her unborn child will experience and be given the option of having pain reducing drugs administered to the child.

“We are deeply concerned about the excruciating pain that tens of thousands of unborn children are subjected to every year through abortion. Women have the right to receive full information about the pain their child will experience; it is unconscionable that this is often withheld,” said Murray Vasser, President of Cedarville Students for Life.

Senate Bill 356 was introduced by U.S. Senator Sam Brownback and is strongly opposed by the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU. The Act acknowledges that an unborn child can feel and even experienced heightened pain. “Consider the D&E abortion. During this procedure, commonly performed after 20-weeks -- when there is medical evidence that the child can experience severe pain -- the child is torn apart limb from limb. Think about how that must feel to a young human. We would never allow a dog to be treated this way. Yet, the creature we are talking about is a young, unborn child," said Senator Brownback.

The full text of the petition can be found on the Cedarville Students for Life website: http://people.cedarville.edu/stuorg/studentsforlife/

For more information please contact Murray Vasser at (937) 605-4017 or studentsforlife@cedarville.edu

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Paid for by Students for Life of Cedarville University • 251 North Main St. • Cedarville, Ohio • 45314 • studentsforlife@cedarville.edu

Sam Brownback Says Wilberforce His Pro-Life Model, Condemns Human Cloning

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 1, 2007

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Sam Brownback, the Kansas senator seeking the GOP nomination for president, told LifeNews.com on Thursday that he's upset that the state of Iowa has approved a bill overturning its ban on human cloning. He also explained how anti-slavery advocate William Wilberforce is his model for his pro-life advocacy.

The Iowa legislature has approved a bill that would repeal its ban on all forms of human cloning and Brownback, who has sponsored congressional legislation to ban it, is dismayed by what's happened.

"Unfortunately, we have a bad trend starting and hopefully it's not a permanent trend," Brownback said in a telephone interview with LifeNews.com.

"The creation of human life for research purposes that was supposedly banned has now been overturned," he added. "Unfortunately, it appears [Iowa Gov. Chet Culver] will sign it into law."

Brownback said that, like slavery, human cloning for either research or reproductive purposes turns human beings into property.

"This is the creation of human life specifically for research," he said. "Any time we have done this in human nature, we have always regretted it. Are we going to make the same mistakes today?"

The senator explained that, with advanced in adult stem cell research, "we don't need to do this. We don't need to demean human life this way."

Brownback said the state of Delaware is considering a similar proposal to allow and promote human cloning and he urged lawmakers there to "reconsider what they're doing and think about the message they're sending to society if we can treat human life as property."

"It is not consistent with the values of the people. The science is going the other way and we can work together to find ways to research that are legitimate and morally acceptable," he said.

The Kansas senator responded to a question from LifeNews.com and said William Wilberforce, who is profiled in the recent movie "Amazing Grace," has been a model for his pro-life efforts to stop both abortion and cloning.

"I have modeled much of my work off of what he did," Brownback explained, saying Wilberforce often crossed party lines or other political issues to press his cause. "I will work with anybody on the political spectrum regarding these causes."

Brownback said that Wilberforce would likely be a strong pro-life advocate if he was an elected official now.

"If he were alive today, one of the greatest causes he would take up is the cause of human dignity and that applies to the child in the womb," Brownback said.

Brownback said that, like the British statesman's slavery fight, he thinks the battle against abortion and the mistreatment of unborn children will eventually be won.

"I believe Roe v. Wade will be overturned because it's not the right way to go -- because it treats human life as a piece of property. It was wrong then and it's wrong now."

New York Court Rules Girl Can Sue Over Injuries Sustained Before Birth

Brooklyn, NY (LifeNews.com) -- In a landmark ruling, a New York state appeals court has ruled that a seven year-old girl can file suit against the city of Brooklyn for injuries she sustained while she was an unborn child. The ruling is an important decision hailing the rights of unborn children.

When Sarah Elizabeth Leighton was 14 weeks into the pregnancy, her teacher mother was injured when a public toilet collapsed at the school where she worked.

That January 1999 accident ruptured Esther Portalatin-Leighton's placenta and caused Sarah's premature birth less than four months later.

Sarah was eventually born with both physical and mental disabilities and her family contends they were the result of the injury and the premature birth it caused. The Leighton family sued the city for $1 million in damages.

Steven Ferber, the family's attorney, told the New York Daily News that the family is "thrilled" with the decision allowing Sarah's lawsuit to move forward.

During the hearing on the suit, city attorneys claimed that Sarah didn't have the right to sue because she would have had to have been able to survive outside of her mother's womb in order for her to file suit and win an award.

The newspaper reported that Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Martin Solomon agreed in a September 2005 ruling, but the state appeals court overturned that decision.

The court handed down a strong ruling saying that any unborn child has the right to have a lawsuit filed on their behalf as long as injuries occurred after conception and the child was born alive.

The court made certain the decision did not touch on the abortion issue.

"Abortion cases are genuinely distinguishable from the [Leighton] case since fetuses which are aborted are not born alive," Brooklyn Appeals Court Justice Gloria Goldstein wrote, according to the Daily News.

"However, if the abortion fails and causes injury to the fetus who is later born alive, the child may have a cause of action sounding in medical malpractice to recover damages for the injuries sustained," Goldstein concluded.

Heartbeat International Conference, April 18-21st

	Heartbeat International's 36th Annual Conference St. Louis, Missouri Mark your calendars now! April 18-21, 2007

Register Online Now or View the Conference Brochure...

Why Attend the 2007 Heartbeat International Conference?
Invest in You & Your Center – For Today & The Future. This unique learning and networking experience focuses on equipping ministries through education, inspiration and relationship.

Who Should Attend?
Heartbeat’s Annual Conference is designed for ministry leaders, staff, Board members, and volunteers of life-affirming pregnancy resource centers, medical clinics, maternity homes, and non-profit adoption agencies, and for professionals in the areas of medicine, counseling, social work, and education.

Come to St. Louis and receive:
New Insights in to Best Practices Reliable, Proven Practices Performance Improvement Tools Valuable New Professional Relationships Diversity of Forward-thinking Ideas

Registration
Executive Roundtable Registration begins at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17, 2007. In-Depth Day Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 and start promptly at 9:00 a.m. Conference sign-in begins Wednesday, April 18 at 1:00 p.m. kicking off with dinner Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m.

Your registration includes all general training and ministry sessions and evening meals. All lunches may be purchased on your registration form for $65.

• $210 - Early Bird: Registration received before March 30, 2007
• $250 - Registration received after March 30, 2007
• $210 - Group Rate: Four or more individuals from the same center

Cancellation Policy: Full refunds may be issued until 5:00 p.m. EST April 10, 2007. A 50% refund is available from 5:00 p.m. EST April 10 – April 13, 2007 5:00 p.m. EST. No refunds will be issued past 5:00 p.m. EST April 13th.If you have any questions, please contact us.

Additional Training Information

Regional Information Meeting: Focus on the Family® will be holding its Regional Information Meeting (RIM) just prior to the Heartbeat Conference for those participating in the Option Ultrasound Program™. For more information, please contact Focus on the Family at 800-232-6459.

Ultrasound Training: Hope Imaging, a Christian NonProfit is offering the class: "Using your Skills in the Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic" Class is taught by an RDMS [registered diagnostic medical sonographer] with over 10 years of clinical and pregnancy help experience.

This is an interactive, didactic class for those medical professionals interested in serving their local pregnancy care centers. Training is focused on applying skills to the unique mission and setting of the PRC. Participants receive 8 CMEs trough the SDMS. Those who complete the training also receive a complimentary one year membership to Sonographers for Life as well as access to upcoming local and international mission opportunities.

For more information or to register log onto www.hopeimaging.org, email admin@hopeimaging.org, or call 706-577-3713.

Exhibitors/Advertisers
There are many ways your organization can advertise at the Heartbeat International Conference. Click here to learn more.

Exhibit space is limited. Heartbeat reserves the right to allocate spaces at their discretion.

We are planning a prescreening of Bella at the 2007 Conference!

This true story is about a man who had everything and lost it all, but by losing it all, he found everything that matters.

The story focuses on the value of every human life and the plot involved death, abortion, adoption, importance of family, and what love is all about.

It stars Eduardo Verastegui, the "heartthrob" of Latin American films and television.

Heartbeat President Peggy Hartshorn who has seen the movie said, "When in real life he moved to Hollywood to make a name and fortune in American film, instead of the fame he thought he came for, he found the Lord and rekindled the faith of his youth. This film which he not only stars in, but also wrote and directed, is a powerful movie that will appeal to 'the masses,' but will also make the public think and feel about life issues in a way that we hope will be life-changing for them and have a major influence in moving us more toward a culture of life! The movie may even save lives and bring people who have been touched by abortion to healing." Learn more about Eduardo Verastegui

It is an unforgettable film shot in New York City with strong performances and outstanding cinematography. What people love most about this story is that it makes them laugh, cry, and think about what's important in life. It is completely different and unpredictable and no one is sharing the ending. Click here to learn more about this powerful movie.

Heartbeat is working with The Metanoia Team to provide our conference attendees the opportunity to see this award-winning independent film.

Where can I purchase CDs of past Conferences?
Loving & Caring recorded the sessions at this year's conference and you can order CDs or tapes through them by calling 717-293-3230. Click here for a Loving & Caring order form* with a listing of all the recorded sessions.

*All orders need to be made through Loving & Caring.

Note: Due to technical issues with the master recording, the following sessions are not available: Connecting with the Hispanic Community - Mary Hamm; Something to Talk About - Option Line; Consulting with Clients with Personality Disorders - Sr. Paula Vandegaer; Selling Death-Selling Life - Carol Everett; Recognizing Depression and Anxiety Disorders - Dr. Elaine Eng; and A Time to Remember - Ken Schmitt.

Planned Parenthood Launches Nationwide Pro-Abortion Cell Phone Service

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation's largest abortion business has started a new wireless communications system partnering with a long-time pro-abortion long-distance carrier. Planned Parenthood's new cell phone service will allow pro-abortion activists to not only make calls but get action alerts from the organization.

Planned Parenthood Wireless is a new affinity program that allows its supporters to sign up for a mobile phone service and see 10% of their monthly bill go back to the abortion business.

The pro-abortion group will also use customers' monthly bills to include action alerts and information and will provide 30 free minutes of calls every month to encourage its members to talk to friends about abortion issues.

"Planned Parenthood members care passionately about women's reproductive health and rights," Cecile Richards, PPFA president said in a statement LifeNews.com received. "Now they have a smart, simple way to support our work and express that passion with every phone call they make, through a wireless service provider that cares."

The service is handled exclusively by Working Assets, a company that exists to sell phone service to left-wing political activists who want to see their favorite groups supported. It has provided long-distance phone services for Planned Parenthood for years.

Like many other affinity phone service companies, Working Assets contracts with a larger phone company (in this case Sprint) to provide telephone access to its customers.

In fact, the two companies partnered to generate phone calls to South Dakota residents urging them to defeat a statewide abortion ban on the ballot last November.

Customers who sign up will also get pro-abortion text messages from Planned Parenthood. New customers keep their current cell phone number and can get a free phone for signing up.

Not to be outdone, the pro-life side of the abortion debate also has companies that provide telephone service.

The Missouri-based Pro Life Communications offers long-distance, local telephone, nationwide cellular, Internet, and will soon be adding satellite television to its lineup. The company says it donates all of its profits to pro-life organizations, which is currently about 15% of the monthly bill customers pay.

Joseph Dalton, the head of the company, says it only contracts with networks and providers that do not support Planned Parenthood or pro-abortion groups.

Another company, Amerivision Communications, has been working with pro-life groups for many years to provide them with affinity long-distance services for their members. Also known as LifeLine Communications or Affinity 4, the company offers Internet services as well as wireless communications, credit cards, and DirecTV service.

The company gives 10% of the monthly usage bill back to the pro-life organization of the customer's choice and has contributed more than $75 million to Christian and pro-life groups.

Related web sites:
Pro-Life Communications - http://www.prolifecomm.com
Affinity 4 - http://www.affinity4.com

Ohio Governor Chooses Not To Protect Women From Dangerous Abortion Drug

Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- New Ohio Governor Ted Strickland won't fight to save an Ohio law that protects women from the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug which has killed seven women in the United States and injured more than a thousand more. With little fanfare, Strickland quietly dropped a legal effort to salvage a law that puts safety limits on the drug.

The Ohio state legislature previously approved a bill to bring the use of the abortion pill in Ohio in line with Food and Drug Administration guidelines.

The law also tells abortion practitioners not to encourage women to use the abortion drug vaginally, which experts say could be partially responsible for why the RU 486 abortion drug has killed four women in California.

Abortion advocates took the law to court and a federal judge ruled against it. The battle shifted to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals but Strickland is pulling the state out of the fight.

"Because Gov. Strickland does not wish to seek reversal of the lower court's order, he seeks to withdraw his appeal," Attorney General Marc Dann wrote in a brief filed with the appeals court, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Pro-life advocates condemned the governor's decision for hurting women's health and safety.

"I'm quite disappointed the governor is not going to pursue it," Denise Mackura, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, told the newspaper.

Despite Stricland's decision, the case is not over as Dann or county prosecutors who would be responsible for enforcing the law could pursue the appeal further.

In the initial decision, Judge Susan Dlott ruled that the Ohio law is vague and claims it could put women's health in jeopardy. She claimed the law is confusing and that abortion practitioners couldn't be reasonably expected to understand and implement it.

Al Gerhardstein, an attorney for plaintiff Planned Parenthood who represented the abortion business in the lawsuit, called the law something "intended to scare doctors away from providing reproductive health care."

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists filed legal papers supporting the abortion businesses that brought the lawsuit saying that the abortion drug could sometimes be in the best interest of women, despite its numerous health problems.

The 6th Circuit upheld a previous ruling by Dlott preventing the law from being implemented and then sent the case back to her to determine haw far an injunction against it should extend. Dlott's second ruling prohibited any enforcement of any part of the law during the appeal process.

The 6th Circuit also ruled that Ohio cannot put in place protections for women on the abortion drug unless it allows exceptions for those who may face a greater health risk having a surgical abortions.

Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati also supported the law and told LifeNews.com it would ensure that only doctors could prescribe the abortion drug.

The group said the law was important because it made sure abortion businesses followed FDA guidelines which include "a complete medical exam before prescribing RU-486, careful monitoring during the abortion process, and that any physician who provides RU-486 report any serious complications to the state medical board."

An abortion practitioner who violated the Ohio law protecting women could have received as much as an 18 month prison sentence.

The FDA is currently examining why so many women have died from using the abortion drug and has placed its highest black box warning on it.

ACTION: Send your complaints about the decision to Governor Ted Strickland, Riffe Center, 30th Floor, 77 South High Street, Columbus, OH 43215-6108. You can also call (614) 466-3555, fax a letter to (614) 466-9354 or email the governor by going to this web site: http://governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=101.

Related web sites:
Governor Striclland - http://governor.ohio.gov
Ohio Right to Life - http://www.ohiolife.org
Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati - http://www.cincinnatirighttolife.org

Effects of Abortion on Men Frequently Ignored, Says UCLA Psychology Professor

Los Angeles, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A psychology professor at UCLA says the impact abortion has on men is too frequently ignored. Dr. Miriam Grossman, who is a psychiatrist at the university's student health service, says that men involved in abortion decisions have become "invisible" to researchers and members of her profession.

While research on the medical and mental health problems women face following an abortion has only barely scratched the surface, fewer scholars have examined the impact on men.

Grossman says a sociologist named Dr. Arthur Shostak is about the only researcher to examine how abortion affects men.

Shostak looked into the situation because he and his girlfriend reached the decision to have an abortion when she became pregnant unexpectedly. He was curious to know how similar decisions affected other men.

Shostak surveyed 1,000 men who accompanied their wives or girlfriends to an abortion facility at various spots around the country. He then tracked the men over subsequent years to see how abortion changed their lives.

He found that 80 percent of the men he surveyed said the trip to the abortion center was the worst day of their lives.

Grossman, speaking with Agape Press, said the number of men who regretted their decision went up over time.

"The number of men who reported that day feeling some guilt and some ambivalence about what they were doing; the number of men who were asked ’Do you think that in the future you might have some troubling thoughts about this ?’ — the percentages went up," she explained.

"So a few years afterwards, they were reporting that it was worse than they had anticipated," she added in the AP interview.

Grossman told the news service that her colleagues too readily ignore men's involvement in abortion and how it affects them.

"There is a significant number of people who do have those scars and that painfulness and if we are going to be open to victims of every sort, then we in mental health need to be acknowledging them even if they don't advance a particular ideology," she said.

Grossman says Shostak has suggested that the mental health community do more to help people recover from the problems associated with an abortion.

The UCLA professor has previously spoken out about the lack of response from academics and mental health professionals.

Grossman sat down with Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review for an interview about her latest book, Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student.

She says the wrote the book in part to "highlight the existence of an invisible group: women (and men) with emotional scars from an abortion."

"They are out there in numbers; many must seek support from networks outside our mental-health system," she said. "This is because although individual practitioners may be sensitive to the trauma of abortion, the mental-health establishment denies it exists."

As a psychiatrist, Grossman criticized "the refusal of my profession to formally acknowledge and reach out to those who suffer with severe emotional disorders following an abortion."

"And mind you, these are professionals who are normally eager to identify and assist victims of all sorts of other traumas — be it child abuse, sexual harassment, or natural disasters," she told National Review.

Portugal Low Birthrate Shows Abortion Not the Answer

The global hand of the human extermination movement has taken hold of Portugal, a small country that has long had a low birthrate. Only four nations in Europe offer strong protection in law for unborn children: Ireland, Portugal, Poland, and Malta.

The European Union and the pro-abortion organizations it generously funds, along with the United Nations and others, have been trying for decades to get these EU members to conform to their abortion orthodoxy. Now, in the wake of a failed referendum last Sunday, they are on the verge of succeeding in one of those nations.

The referendum legalizing abortion-on-demand in the first 10 weeks received the approval of 59% of voters and the disapproval of only 41%. Yet, since so few voters showed up to vote-turnout was only 44%--the referendum failed.

No matter. Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates says he will use the referendum to justify what he has long wanted to do anyway, and get a law through parliament legalizing abortion in the first 10 weeks. This unwise leader plans to do so by July.

In this 90th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady at Fatima, Portugal may be about to turn her back on the Catholic Faith and life itself. The legalization of abortion would only be another symptom of Portugal's terminal decline, another signpost on her way to eternal oblivion.

Portugal's birthrate dropped below replacement level over 20 years ago and now stands at a meager 1.5 children per woman. An astonishing 30% of Portuguese will be 65 or over by 2050, way up from 17% today-and that assumes that Portugal's birthrate will start rising by 2015, a questionable prediction. More likely, it will continue downward, making Portugal's median age 54 by 2050 (right now, it's an already-high 38).

So, setting moral principle aside, is this the time to legalize abortions of convenience in Portugal?

Portuguese law already allows abortions for the health of the mother and for rape. The birthrate is suicidally low. Portuguese women can and do pop over the border to Spain for abortions, anyway. What rational reason can there be for making abortion-on-demand a
priority in this dying land?

Some "yes" voters for the referendum may have been confused by the government's publicity campaign, which emphasized ending unsafe illegal abortions that sometimes result in the mother's death. The government argued that since these abortions occur anyway, they may as well be safely regulated and taxed. And some pro-legalization campaigners argued that legalization would reduce the number of abortions, though that has been proven historically false.

"We believe that those that voted 'yes' to relax the abortion laws were in fact voting against illegal abortions, we in the Church support that," said Carlos Azevedo, Church spokesman in Portugal. "What we want to see is improved education among the young and improved support for mothers."

Yet it is hard to believe that with a strong pro-life campaign in Portugal spreading the word, most of the 59% who voted yes don't favor liberalizing abortion laws. But it's possible that enough people were confused and enough too lazy to vote that only a minority of all Portuguese voters really favors what the referendum does.

"The favorable result for the 'yes' is a sign of accentuated cultural mutation by the Portuguese people, which we have to confront with realism," said the Portuguese bishops' conference in a statement. It blamed "the globalization of ways of thinking and opinions by the media" and said, "We appeal to doctors and health professionals not to hesitate in turning to the statute of 'conscientious objector' that the law guarantees."

The Dean of the College of Medicine of Portugal said that its Code of Ethics says life begins at conception and thus he expected most doctors to refuse to perform abortions. However, abortionists haven't wasted any time, already promising to build a $3.5 million abortion clinic in Lisbon.

Sadly, the supposedly pro-life leader of the primary opposition party in Portugal, Luis Marques Mendes of the Social Democratic Party, has already caved, saying he will not fight abortion legalization now that the referendum received a majority of those who voted. Instead, in the mantra of conservative politicians everywhere, he wants to extract a small
concession or two from the Left.

"The will of the Portuguese must be respected," he said. "It's important to include in the final version of the new law a compulsory period of counseling for the woman who is thinking of having an abortion."

Portugal's president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, is close to Marques Mendes and could veto a new law. Yet the main political opposition in parliament is giving up before the parliamentary battle has even begun.

But there is still hope.

Pro-lifers in Portugal organized to fight the referendum and can remain organized to fight the bill in parliament. Hopefully, they will understand the reality that in this fallen world, politicians respond weakly to appeals based on principle--"Defend life!"--and more strongly to threats--"Vote against this or we'll vote against you."

The Left never gives up. Portugal voted down an abortion referendum in 1998, so they tried again this year. They did the same with divorce in Ireland until they won there. We must take the same attitude, remembering the promise made at Fatima: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph."

Time Article - "Grassroots Abortion War"

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1590444,00.html?cnn=yes

Michigan Invites Ohio Students to March Conference

CONFERENCE TIME!

What: The Annual Students for Life of Michigan Conference

When: Saturday, March 31^st

(with an overnight at a hotel the night before)

Where: Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor

Why: To gain resources to better fight against abortion, meet fellow Pro-Lifers, and renew our inspiration for the cause through a day of great speakers and training session…

not to mention a whole lot of fun!

Who: College students from all over the state, influential Pro-Life speakers like Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, Pro-Life organizations that want to give YOU resources…

**Register Online Starting March 1^st at www.SFLMichigan.org!**

Texas Legislation Challenges Futile Care Law That Hurts Patients

Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- A coalition of pro-life legislators and those concerned about protecting the disabled are banding together to promote a bill in the state legislature that would revise the state's futile care law.

The law has come under fire because it allows medical facilities to tell the family of a patient that they have 10 days to find another medical center willing to treat the patient because their doctors think the case is hopeless.

Families who have been affected by the law told lawmakers it needs to be changed so others don't suffer the same fate.

Sen. Bob Deuell, a physician and a Greenville Republican, is one of the prime sponsors of the bill.

"I understand the cost of health care; I'm not insensitive to that. But our medical system is so complicated now that I don't think that 10 days is enough," he told the Dallas Morning News.

"If we're going to err, let's err on the side of life and give families a chance to get loved ones transferred without a 10-day window," he added.

Some health care professionals oppose the bill and say lifting the 10-day limit hurts the Advanced Directives Act, which they say is one of the best laws in the nation.

Dr. Robert Fine, oversees end-of-life cases at Baylor University and helped write the law for the Texas Medical Association, called the bill a publicity stunt.

"It's a fundraising gimmick. ... They have accused us, the providers, of murdering people," he told the newspaper.

But, that's not the way patients and their families see it.

Lanore Dixon, who battled with St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital over the fate of her sister Andrew Clark represents many families who have had problems with the futile care provision.

"This law allowed a hospital to steal precious time from our family during a loved one's end days," she said, according to the Houston Chronicle. "Was that really necessary?"

Clark, 54, suffered complications following open heart surgery and required a ventilator and dialysis to survive. Her motor control faculties were damaged but, her family says her cognitive abilities were unaffected.

The hospital informed her family that her medical care would be discontinued in 10 days after a hospital committee decided Clark's condition was beyond hope and refused further medical treatment.

It took legal action from a family attorney to prevent Clark's treatment from being withheld, in an act of euthanasia.

Cynthia Deason, who took Houston's Memorial Hermann Hospital to court to stop it from taking her disabled daughter off life support added, "I just don't want anybody else to go through what I've gone through."

John Carroll Send 35 Students to March for Life,2007

Students,
members of
John Carroll
community join
thousands in
march for life
in nation's capital

Approximately 35 John Carroll students and accompanying staff and faculty last week (Jan 22) participated in a march through Washington DC calling for an end to abortion in the United States.

Earlier they had joined students from Jesuit universities from across the country at the Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life at Georgetown University, followed by a "powerful"
liturgy at St. Aloysius, a downtown parish.

Before departing on the trip participants had gathered for a workshop led by Emma Hayes of Campus Ministry and Dr. Paul Lauritzen of Religious Studies / Applied Ethics on the "Consistent Ethic of Life," defined as opposition to abortion, capital punishment, economic
injustice, assisted suicide and euthanasia, and unjust war.