Born at just 23 weeks, the baby who defied our abortion laws

When Lexie Slater-Folksman was born at 23 weeks - an age at which babies can still be aborted - she weighed just 1lb 8oz.

She was put on a life support machine and her parents were warned their daughter might not pull through.

She was so premature her eyes hadn't even developed properly. At a month old she underwent laser surgery on her eyes and then spent week after week on ventilator machines after she suffered collapsed lungs.

But Lexie defied the odds and gradually gained strength.

Now, six months after her birth, she weighs a healthy 8lb and has finally been allowed home, to the joy and relief of her parents, 20-year-old Sarah Slater and her fiance Richard Folksman, 25.

They say Lexie's case proves that the abortion laws are outdated and should be changed. At 23 weeks, Lexie was born a week before the time limit for termination.

In May MPs voted for the upper time limit for abortions to remain at 24 weeks after rejecting proposals to reduce the limit to as little as 12 weeks.

Anti-abortion campaigners had argued the time limit for termination was too long, saying a baby's rights should be considered at the point it had the 'chance of life'.

It is a stance Miss Slater shares. Speaking at the family home in Wigan, she said: 'We're so glad to have Lexie home with us at last and it just shows how outmoded our laws on abortion are.

'Some mothers-to-be would be able to legally terminate their pregnancy at 23 weeks - yet my Lexie is living proof babies can survive being born so prematurely.

'I never realised a baby would be so well developed at 23 weeks and they do have a chance of life.'

She added: 'I'm so grateful to everyone at the hospital who helped to keep our daughter alive. She's a little fighter and I can't imagine life without her.'

She and her fiance, a roofer, have a two-year-old daughter, Teegan, and they were delighted to discover that Miss Slater was pregnant with their second child in February.

But a week later, she was taken to hospital with severe stomach pains and doctors feared she had suffered an ectopic pregnancy.

The baby was so small it didn't show on a scan. However, hormone tests confirmed she was pregnant.

At 22 weeks, she was taken to hospital again after her waters broke. Doctors attempted to halt the labour amid fears the baby wouldn't survive.

Less than a week later, Miss Slater gave birth to her daughter.

She said: 'Richard was there with me through the whole thing. He's not really one for showing his emotions - but when I went into labour with Lexie, he just cried.

'When she came out they showed me a quick glance of her. She was absolutely tiny.

'They had an incubator all ready for her and took her to the neonatal unit.

'It was scary to see her looking like that, so tiny and surrounded by wires. I couldn't stop crying. Her skin was all red, like she was burnt. Only Richard and I were allowed to touch her. We could put our hands through the side of the incubator at first, then we were allowed to hold her.'

Over the next five months the couple spent countless hours at their daughter's bedside.

'Lexie was obviously very, very ill,' her mother said. 'Her lungs hadn't developed properly and they kept collapsing.'

'She also had surgery early on at five weeks because the back of her eyes hadn't developed. They were glued shut when she was born. When she opened them for the first time, I was so excited and relieved.

'She will probably have to wear glasses when she is older but if that is the only side effect then I'm really not bothered.

'She was in Hope Hospital in Manchester for 15 weeks, and then was in hospital in Wigan. It was such a relief when she got to Wigan - she was closer to all of us.'

Lexie - who was back in time to spend her first Christmas at home - still has an oxygen machine to help her breathe, and will suffer from lung problems for the rest of her life, but she is gaining strength each day.

Mother has healthy baby boy despite abortion warning by doctor

A mother who was twice advised to have an abortion by doctors has gone on to have a 'perfectly' healthy son.

Gaynor Purdy was warned her first child could have a fatal chromosome defect and a life threatening heart condition.

But she rejected two suggestions to terminate the pregnancy and she and her husband Lee are celebrating life with their "perfect" ten-month-old son.

Mrs Purdy, 28, a quality control inspector, said: "We refused to give up on him, and decided throughout the pregnancy that as long as he was fighting, we would continue fighting with him."

The couple from Scunthorpe, Lincs, were delighted when they discovered they had conceived shortly before their first wedding anniversary.

Four months into the pregnancy doctors told them that part of their unborn child's heart was narrow and underdeveloped and would mean open heart surgery if the baby was born.

They were warned the condition could worsen and around Christmas last year, an immediate termination should be considered.

Further tests conducted a few days later on New Year's Eve suggested the baby could also have Edwards Syndrome - the presence of an 18th chromosome - with a life expectancy of only up to four months if birth is survived.

Consultants again recommended the couple consider aborting the baby, fearing he would little to no quality of life once he was born.

For the second time, Mrs Purdy and her husband, a 29 year old forklift driver, declined the suggestion.

Kai was born six weeks premature on March 5 at Scunthorpe General Hospital weighing just 2lb 6oz and immediately admitted to intensive care, but was discharged within six weeks.

One side of his heart was slightly bigger than the other which may need an operation to correct in the future, but regular tests have been showing the condition is constantly improving.

The chromosome disorder, which affects growth, is also being closely monitored and he is due to undergo some corrective cosmetic surgery in the New Year.

Mrs Purdy added: "Doctors told us he was a little miracle baby. They said his heart must have been mending itself.

"Last year we were still on a knife edge thinking things would go wrong. But now he's out of the woods we are delighted that 2009 will be Kai's year."

A spokesman from Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Trust said they cannot comment on individual cases.

But he added: "Where abnormalities are spotted in the scans, our multi-disciplinary team will always offer prospective families the full facts and options as presented at the time.

"The team will then try to accommodate the prospective parents' wishes in the interests of mother and baby. We wish the family well."

Missouri group refiles initiative to ban using taxes for abortion, human cloning

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2008/12/22/daily18.html

A Missouri group has submitted an updated application for a ballot initiative that would ban the use of tax dollars for abortion, human cloning or other similar procedures.

Missouri Roundtable for Life seeks a November 2010 vote on a proposed state constitutional amendment saying “it shall be unlawful to expend, pay, or grant any public funds for abortion services, human cloning or prohibited human research.”

The Missouri Secretary of State’s office on Monday rejected the group’s initial filing due to “technicalities in the way it was worded,” Laura Egerdal, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, said Wednesday.

Missouri Roundtable for Life filed new paperwork on Monday.

It could take anywhere from less than two weeks to a month for the state to act on the latest filing, Egerdal said. The timeline depends on another legal review by the Missouri Attorney General’s office.

The ban proposed by Missouri Roundtable for Life would not directly affect research at the Kansas City-based Stowers Institute for Medical Research, which doesn’t rely on tax support.

However, consistent efforts to limit embryonic stem cell research in Missouri have prompted the institute to hold off on local expansion plans.

With strong backing from the institute, Missouri voters two years ago passed a measure — known as Amendment 2 — to protect all forms of stem cell research authorized by federal law. Before the Amendment 2 vote, Stowers Institute officials pledged that if the amendment passed, they would proceed with plans to add 600,000 square feet of local research space every decade in perpetuity.

Planned Parenthood's own bailout... and what you can do to stop it.

What you can do
The old adage attributed to Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing" was never more applicable than it is right now. The only thing you can do wrong is to be quiet.

Here are specific ways in which you can make your voice heard:

1. Sign American Life League's petition to stop Planned Parenthood's agenda at www.stopp.org/agenda.

2. Call your elected officials in Washington, D.C. and tell them what you think of PP's agenda. If you do not know your representative or senator's name or need their phone number, call the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121.

3. Visit the local offices of your members of Congress and tell them personally that you do not want them to support any part of PP's agenda.

4. Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers and call in to local, regional and national talk shows to discuss this outrage.

5. Schedule a speaker at your church, civic group or school to inform your community of the threat that PP poses to your community. You can schedule a speaker from American Life League by calling 540-659-4171 and asking for Mike Sedlak.

6. Pray that God will bless the effort to defeat PP.


Obama transition team makes PP's wish list public
In a move that reportedly caught Planned Parenthood by surprise, the Obama transition team is making public all of the input it receives from third-party sources – including a 55-page document put together by PP and two dozen other "reproductive health" organizations.

The document, Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration, spells out PP's wish list for the Obama administration.
The main part of the document will be no surprise to our readers, as we covered most of it in earlier WSRs. PP wants Obama to sign the Freedom of Choice Act and the Prevention First Act. But, just in case these acts don't pass, PP has built many of the items covered by them into this new document and has added a great deal more.

In addition, the document has several sections, which need to be cited so that you can have a fuller understanding of PP's political agenda. We will present those sections in the next few items.


PP wants Obama to "improve access to abortion care"
Planned Parenthood always maintains that it is not "pro-abortion"; it is just "pro-choice." Yet, this document clearly spells out that PP wants the unfettered ability to commit whatever abortions it wants and at taxpayer expense, as far as possible.

Over the last three decades, Congress has passed a number of bills that include restrictions on using taxpayer money to fund abortions. PP, of course, is not happy with this and wants to use as much taxpayer money as possible to kill babies in the womb. In this document, PP specifically wants Obama to strike down all restrictions on abortion funding for the following groups:

• Medicaid-eligible women
• Medicare beneficiaries
• Federal employees and their dependents
• Residents of the District of Columbia
• Peace Corps volunteers
• Native-American women
• Women in federal prisons

In addition, it calls for the elimination of the Weldon Amendment. Eliminating Weldon would allow both federal and state government agencies to refuse to give funds to a doctor or organization if that organization refused to commit or refer for abortions – thus ensuring more money for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.


PP wants Obama to include abortion in normal health care
In addition to removing all restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortions, the document submitted by Planned Parenthood and its friends calls on Obama to seek passage of a comprehensive healthcare reform act.

PP specifically states, "Comprehensive benefits must include access to the full range of reproductive health services, including contraception, maternity care, and abortion care."

This document makes it very clear that PP views abortion as just another medical procedure of no particular significance. It believes providing abortion is providing "care" for the woman and child.

We must remember that PP already runs the nation's largest abortion chain and commits 24 percent of all abortions in the country. Thus, any increase of abortion coverage in health plans would benefit PP more than any other entity in the abortion business.

It is clear that PP's demand that healthcare plans provide "abortion care" would result in the deaths of many more babies and would provide additional millions of dollars of income to Planned Parenthood.


Taxpayers' cost for Planned Parenthood's plan
When reading Planned Parenthood's plan for the Obama administration, we were struck by the massive amounts of money it would take to implement it. Especially in this time of economic hardship, it is particularly galling that PP would seek to further fatten its coffers at the expense of the American public. Using the requested dollar amounts in the document, plus a couple of reasonable estimates by American Life League, it is clear that funding the entire package put together by PP would cost the American taxpayer $4.6 billion – most of it in annual expenditures!

These costs break down as follows:

PP's wish list for the Obama administration:

• Increase funding for the Title X Family Planning Program from $300 million to $700 million.
• Expand coverage of Medicaid-funded family planning services (PP estimates three million more people would be covered). ALL cost estimate – $540 million.
• Increase funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's STD Prevention Program from $157 million to $267 million.
• Increase funding for the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health from $40.2 million to $66.6 million.
• Invest in comprehensive sex education – $50 million.
o Authorize annual funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs. Cost – $20 million.
• Strike budgetary restrictions that block women's access to abortion care. ALL estimates that government would pay for as much as 25 percent of all abortions, at a cost of $120 million.
• Increase funding for the Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant from $666 million to $850 million.
• Restore funding to the United Nations Population Fund – $65 million.
o Give back payments to UNFPA of approximately $50 million.
• Increase spending for international family planning programs from $461 million to $935 million.
• Increase funding for international maternal and child health (MCH) programs from $450 million to $900 million.
• Review policies that restrict access to emergency contraception and eliminate restrictions that, according to PP, lack scientific support.
o Authorize important public education programs to inform women and doctors about EC. Cost - $10 million.
• Increase Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Drug Treatment Programs for Pregnant and Parenting Mothers from $12 million to $70 million.

TOTAL OF ABOVE-NAMED PROGRAMS: $4,644,000,000, THAT IS, $4.6 BILLION


Additional elements in PP's plan
There are many additional elements in this plan, most notably, the following:

• Defund all abstinence-only education programs
• Rescind the global gag rule.
• Restore incentives to provide affordable birth control at college health centers and certain safety net providers.
• Select judicial nominees with a demonstrated commitment to fundamental legal protections and civil liberties, including reproductive rights.
• Give money to groups that do not oppose prostitution

Here is the actual wording from the document on the last item in the above list:

The global AIDS law, as a condition of eligibility for funding, requires recipient organizations to have a policy opposing prostitution. This policy has impeded PEPFAR's ability to work with some of the organizations most trusted by the women who are among the most vulnerable to HIV. Moreover, in August 2008, a federal court found the requirement unconstitutional as applied to U.S.-based organizations. The U.S. Agency for International Development and HHS should revise their guidelines as applied to domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations to comply with the court ruling as well as to allow for the most effective foreign groups to partner with the United States in the fight against AIDS.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the sixteenth century. Chronicles of that period tell us the story.

A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.

He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.

Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Diego to try to avoid the lady. The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.
When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared an image of Mary as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531.

Mary's appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary and the God who sent her accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for Native Americans. While a number of them had converted before this incident, they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler, nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days when we hear so much about God's preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God's love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself.

Mary to Juan Diego: “My dearest son, I am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my desire that a church be built here in this place for me, where, as your most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those who love and seek me...” (from an ancient chronicle).

Saint Juan Diego

December 9, 2008
(1474-1548)

Thousands of people gathered in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe July 31, 2002, for the canonization of Juan Diego, to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in the 16th century. Pope John Paul II celebrated the ceremony at which the poor Indian peasant became the Church’s first saint indigenous to the Americas.

The Holy Father called the new saint “a simple, humble Indian” who accepted Christianity without giving up his identity as an Indian. “In praising the Indian Juan Diego, I want to express to all of you the closeness of the church and the pope, embracing you with love and encouraging you to overcome with hope the difficult times you are going through,” John Paul said. Among the thousands present for the event were members of Mexico’s 64 indigenous groups.

First called Cuauhtlatohuac (“The eagle who speaks”), Juan Diego’s name is forever linked with Our Lady of Guadalupe because it was to him that she first appeared at Tepeyac hill on December 9, 1531. The most famous part of his story is told in connection with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). After the roses gathered in his tilma were transformed into the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, however, little more is said about Juan Diego.

In time he lived near the shrine constructed at Tepeyac, revered as a holy, unselfish and compassionate catechist who taught by word and especially by example.
During his 1990 pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II confirmed the long-standing liturgical cult in honor of Juan Diego, beatifying him. Twelve years later he was proclaimed a saint.

God counted on Juan Diego to play a humble yet huge role in bringing the Good News to the peoples of Mexico. Overcoming his own fear and the doubts of Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, Juan Diego cooperated with God’s grace in showing his people that the Good News of Jesus is for everyone. Pope John Paul II used the occasion of this beatification to urge Mexican lay men and women to assume their responsibilities for passing on the Good News and witnessing to it.

“Similar to ancient biblical personages who were collective representations of all the people, we could say that Juan Diego represents all the indigenous peoples who accepted the Gospel of Jesus, thanks to the maternal aid of Mary, who is always inseparable from the manifestation of her Son and the spread of the Church, as was her presence among the Apostles on the day of Pentecost” (Pope John Paul II, beatification homily).

Pennies add up to abortion message: Church fills glass house with symbolic protest

JACKSON -- There's a half million dollars sitting on the corner of Mississippi and President streets in Jackson, but no one could possibly steal it.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/dec/07/pennies-add-up-to-abortion-message/
That's because the cash is in the form of pennies -- 50 million of them -- that collectively weigh 156 tons.

The coins, which fill a glass house outside of the Mississippi Baptist Convention building, provide a visual reminder of the number of abortions performed in the United States since the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973.

"We just needed something to memorialize and help people see the magnitude of abortion over the last several decades," said Rev. Jimmy Porter, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention's Christian Action Commission.

Called the "Memorial to the Missing," the penny-filled structure is a project of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, which set out more than two years ago to collect one penny for each child who would have been born were it not for legal abortion.

Now that the convention reached its goal of collecting 50 million pennies, it plans to invest the money in a fund dedicated to anti-abortion causes.

"I think it's been real effective," said Rev. Clarence Cooper, who was president of the convention when the memorial was erected on Mother's Day weekend in 2006, "especially to those who have taken the time to read the large plaque that is there."

The plaque says the coins not only represent aborted babies but "the difficult process of decision-making, fear and loneliness" involved with abortion. It asks passersby to "stop, pray, consider what we are doing as a nation, ask God to forgive us, seek ways to help those who are struggling with the decision and look to the Lord to restore each of us."

Convention spokesman William Perkins said people often stop at the container to pray and insert their own coins into the structure's penny slot.

"There are a number of stories we've heard about grandparents who walk by and saw it and read the plaque and dug in their pockets and put pennies in the memorial for grandchildren who have been aborted," he said. "It's been an interesting couple of years."

Meanwhile, continued contributions can be made to the Mississippi Baptist Christian Action Commission.

Removing the pennies from the container will be no easy feat.

"It will be interesting to see how that's done," Perkins said. "There's no clear-cut way to do that."

The coins are piled 6 feet deep in the 13-by-7 glass house. The structure weighs more than 300,000 pounds, or the equivalent of 100 sedans stacked on top of each other.

The container is made of steel and bulletproof glass and is reinforced by five concrete pilings buried 14 feet into the ground. The first batch of 20 million pennies were poured into the container when the memorial was dedicated in 2006.

Members of the state's 2,100 Mississippi Baptist Convention-affiliated churches contributed most of the coins that fill the glass house.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

A feast called the Conception of Mary arose in the Eastern Church in the seventh century. It came to the West in the eighth century. In the eleventh century it received its present name, the Immaculate Conception. In the eighteenth century it became a feast of the universal Church.

In 1854 Pius IX gave the infallible statement: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.”

It took a long time for this doctrine to develop. While many Fathers and Doctors of the Church considered Mary the greatest and holiest of the saints, they often had difficulty in seeing Mary as sinless—either at her conception or throughout her life. This is one of the Church teachings that arose more from the piety of the faithful than from the insights of brilliant theologians. Even such champions of Mary as Bernard and Thomas Aquinas could not see theological justification for this teaching.

Two Franciscans, William of Ware and Blessed John Duns Scotus, helped develop the theology. They point out that Mary’s Immaculate Conception enhances Jesus’ redemptive work. Other members of the human race are cleansed from original sin after birth. In Mary, Jesus’ work was so powerful as to prevent original sin at the outset.

In Luke 1:28 the angel Gabriel, speaking on God’s behalf, addresses Mary as “full of grace” (or “highly favored”). In that context this phrase means that Mary is receiving all the special divine help necessary for the task ahead. However, the Church grows in understanding with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit led the Church, especially non-theologians, to the insight that Mary had to be the most perfect work of God next to the Incarnation. Or rather, Mary’s intimate association with the Incarnation called for the special involvement of God in Mary’s whole life. The logic of piety helped God’s people to believe that Mary was full of grace and free of sin from the first moment of her existence. Moreover, this great privilege of Mary is the highlight of all that God has done in Jesus. Rightly understood, the incomparable holiness of Mary shows forth the incomparable goodness of God.

“[Mary] gave to the world the Life that renews all things, and she was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.
“It is no wonder, then, that the usage prevailed among the holy Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin, fashioned by the Holy Spirit into a kind of new substance and new creature. Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the splendors of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is, on God’s command, greeted by an angel messenger as ‘full of grace’ (cf. Luke 1:28). To the heavenly messenger she replies: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word’ (Luke 1:38)” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 56).

Happy Saint Nichoas Day!

December 6, 2008
St. Nicholas
(d. 350?)

The absence of the “hard facts” of history is not necessarily an obstacle to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas shows. Both the Eastern and Western Churches honor him, and it is claimed that, after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured by Christian artists. And yet, historically, we can pinpoint only the fact that Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor.
As with many of the saints, however, we are able to capture the relationship which Nicholas had with God through the admiration which Christians have had for him—an admiration expressed in the colorful stories which have been told and retold through the centuries.
Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married. Over the centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s feast. In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further expanding the example of generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.

Comment:
The critical eye of modern history makes us take a deeper look at the legends surrounding St. Nicholas. But perhaps we can utilize the lesson taught by his legendary charity, look deeper at our approach to material goods in the Christmas season and seek ways to extend our sharing to those in real need.

Quote:
“In order to be able to consult more suitably the welfare of the faithful according to the condition of each one, a bishop should strive to become duly acquainted with their needs in the social circumstances in which they live.... He should manifest his concern for all, no matter what their age, condition, or nationality, be they natives, strangers, or foreigners” (Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office, 16).

Komen Affiliate in California Gives Grant to Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 30, 2008

Los Angeles, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A Susan G. Komen Foundation affiliate in California is the latest to send hundreds of thousands of dollars to the nation's largest abortion business. The money is going to Planned Parenthood even though research confirms abortion increases a woman's risk of contracting breast cancer.

The Orange County affiliate of Komen for the Cure is giving more than $1.3 million to several groups, including Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties.

In a statement LifeNews.com obtained, Lisa Wolter, the director of the local Komen affiliate, said community organizations like Planned Parenthood "are essential in helping us address the health needs of women in our community."

Although Planned Parenthood has received a grant, no pregnancy centers, which provide women with abortion alternatives, are listed in Wolter's statement as receiving funds from the grants.

The Orange County Komen group has planned an awards breakfast for Friday morning to announce the grant, which is one of many that has gone from Komen affiliates nationwide to the abortion business.

A Planned Parenthood watchdog group released information in August showing chapters of the Komen Race for the Cure breast cancer group gave affiliates of the national abortion business over $700,000 last fiscal year.

Figures from STOPP International show Komen chapters giving $711,485 from April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006 to Planned Parenthood affiliates.

The Orange County grant could easily increase that number as only six groups are listed on its statement as splitting the $1.3 million.

The amount of the grants from Komen affiliates to Planned Parenthood appears to be on the rise and 25 Komen affiliates now have a partnership with the abortion business.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure spokeswoman Rebecca Gibson previously confirmed that 19 of the 122 Komen affiliates made grants totaling $374,253 to Planned Parenthood during the 2005-2006 fiscal year.

Komen officials have dismissed the grants saying they are for breast cancer screenings, but pro-life advocates say the money is fungible and that it frees up funds Planned Parenthood could use for breast screenings but instead uses on abortions.

The Komen grants to Planned Parenthood prompted medical research analyst and Hispanic outreach director Eve Sanchez Silver to resign from her leadership position within Komen.

Silver eventually had a meeting with Komen officials about their grants and abortion's link with breast cancer.

"SGK officials did not appear to have knowledge of simple breast facts," Silver said in a statement LifeNews.com received.

Silver explained that the breast is an organ that is not mature at birth and SGK officials appeared to be surprised to learn that the breast does not become fully mature until after 32 weeks of pregnancy.

As a result of that state of development, interruption of pregnancy via an abortion before 32 weeks leaves breast cells exposed to estrogen, which is highly carcinogenic.

She indicated the Komen representatives also appeared to be "more concerned about assisting women after they had contracted breast cancer, than informing them to avoid breast cancer risk by avoiding abortions and having [an] early, full term pregnancy."

"This is an appalling lack of concern for the women the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is supposed to be helping," Silver added.

There are 17 statistically significant studies that show a link between abortion and breast cancer, 8 of which were conducted in the United States.

ACTION: Send your complaints to the Orange County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure by going to this web site. You can also contact Erin Touslee at etouslee@komenoc.org or 714.957.9157 ext. 25.

Related web site:
Eve Sanchez Silver - http://stopabortionbreastcancer.org
National Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer - http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com

Planned Parenthood once again covers up rape of 13 year old

Planned Parenthood of Indiana has caused quite a bit of controversy recently with the release of its “Death Certificates,” but it hasn’t stopped there. Just as we were getting ready to send this week’s Wednesday STOPP report, ALL received news of this horrific video of a PPIN worker convincing a 13-year-old girl to cover up the fact that she had become pregnant after having intercourse with a 31-year-old man. “The video is simply disgusting,” commented STOPP researcher Patrick Daub. “In it you see an older woman, the PP nurse, instructing a 13-year-old girl to break the law. And this is supposed to be an organization that cares?”

This video is just further proof of the fact that PP is willing to go to whatever lengths it takes, including breaking the law, to ensure that it continues to bring in more money and push its “reproductive health” agenda on everyone it can.

Obama selects ex-PP board member for key political position

President-elect Obama has been a longtime supporter of Planned Parenthood and its policies. This became even more evident when Obama selected an ex PP board member to join his staff in D.C. Obama chose Melody Barnes, a staunch PP supporter who has lobbied for the American Civil Liberties Union and served on the boards of EMILY’s List, a pro-abortion organization that is dedicated to funding pro-abortion candidates, and PP’s political arm, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Ms. Barnes has made it clear that she is a proponent of Obama’s comprehensive sexual education plan, “More condoms are needed to fight AIDS, and the Bush administration is to blame for the fact that more blacks have AIDS than whites.” However, what Ms. Barnes fails to recognize is that the very same organization she has devoted so much time to is murdering African Americans by the thousands every year. Its founder, Margaret Sanger, was a well-known eugenics supporter and openly racist advocate for genocide of the African American community. Please pray for the conversion of Mr. Obama and Ms. Barnes, that they see what is going on around them and wake up to the fact that Planned Parenthood is working so hard to kill off their race.