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Abortion Push Being Engineered in Queensland |
The three newspaper articles below were published in The Courier-Mail on Monday 5 July, Wednesday 7 July and Friday 9 July 2010. So perhaps a little sooner than we had anticipated, the abortion industry is gearing up to push their deadly agenda of decriminalisation here in Queensland.
We URGENTLY need your financial aid to help us wage a strong campaign against this carefully engineered push for the legalisation of abortion for any reason up until the completion of birth.
Enclosed is a DONATION FORM. Please donate as much as you possibly can — this truly is a matter of life and death. There is no second chance.
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Another 12 months has raced past culminating in Cherish Life Queensland’s Annual General Meeting and annual Conference held at the Parliamentary Annex on Saturday 26 June.
Our Conference speakers were excellent and we journeyed through the lives of three women Karen Pearce, Lori Cartagena and Helen Glen — all finding themselves unexpectedly pregnant, all taking a different path and all now living with the consequences of those paths. We were blessed to have Kay Painter (speaker at our Dinner in 2006) and Julie Thomas fly out from the USA and speak about Operation Outcry and the Silent No More Awareness Campaign that is flourishing there.
We had three short spots during the day with Chiang Lim, Aidan McLindon MP and Zac Bavas. Chiang Lim of NSWRTL gave a brief overview of what is happening in NSW in regards to abortion legislation and what their group is doing to ‘hold the fort’. Aidan McLindon MP spoke briefly on the planned formation of his new Queensland Party and his commitment to the value of human life. (Mr McLindon, as an LNP MP, accepted the petition against the decriminalisation of abortion at the Rally For Life in March this year.) Zac Bavas, Producer, showcased a video clip of his upcoming short film Stacey (see www.staceymovie.wordpress.com) about the experience of an unborn baby called Stacey.
Geoffrey Bullock of Family Voice Australia spoke passionately on how to lobby and influence politicians and Associate Professor Stuart Reece presented the issue of how the unborn are affected by illegal drugs taken by their mothers. We thank Dr Louise Welch from Palliative Care Australia for stepping in at short notice due to the unavailability of our two advertised speakers from Katie Rose Cottage — one lady having to urgently fly overseas and the second lady needing to unexpectedly care for her ill mother. Tempe Harvey rounded off the day speaking about the serious downside of Paid Parental Leave and we thank Tempe for rearranging her plans in order to speak so late in the afternoon.
On behalf of Cherish Life, a sincere thank you to Andrew who spent many hours videoing our Conference, editing the footage and is in the process of putting it up on our website. During the year Andrew also takes time out from his own business (www.studiosolutions.com.au) to do the artwork and layout for our newsletter, photographing and videoing all our events and uploading it on to our website. We are grateful for his skills in these areas.
We are also indebted to Justin who spent time both before and during the Conference keeping the technical side of things running smoothly on the day. Justin also works hard behind the scenes in between running his own business (www.netvantage.com.au), doing much of the work required to look after the Cherish Life website. This is a time-consuming task and we appreciate it.
As you will be aware, a federal election is looming. For the first time we have a female prime minister, Julia Gillard, who is a member of EMILY’s List. EMILY’s List is a pro-abortion women-only network within the Labor party set up to have pro-abortion females elected to parliament in both state and federal elections. According to the mp3 of an interview between Gillard and a Radio JJJ announcer on the EMILY’s List website (www.emilyslist.org.au), Gillard states that she considers Joan Kirner (a previous Victorian Premier) to be a “friend and mentor”. (Gillard at one time shared a house with Kirner’s son.) Gillard states Joan Kirner was pivotal in setting up EMILY’s List here in Australia and during the interview, proudly announces that she was asked by Kirner to help write the constitution for EMILY’s List Australia due to her experience as a lawyer.
Currently there are no federal candidates listed under Queensland on the EMILY’s List website, however current sitting members listed are Kerry Rea, MHR for Bonner, Senator Jan McLucas and Senator Claire Moore. Whilst Senator Moore’s six year senate term won’t be up this time around, both Senator McLucas and Ms Rea will be facing the electors. We strongly encourage you to make everyone aware of their membership of EMILY’s List and oust them at the forthcoming federal election. This was achieved with Bonny Barry (previous Member for Aspley) in the last state election; it can be done again at a federal level — at least with Ms Rea in the Lower House.
Teresa Martin
State President
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Cherish Life Queensland Inc Conference Report |
A bright sunny June day greeted those attending our Conference at the Parliamentary Annex on Saturday 26 June. We were also greeted by the usual rabble of about 10 noise-makers unhappily screeching out their trite pro-abortion slogans. Undaunted, our wonderful Cherish Life members filled the Undumbi Room for a full day’s program.
Our first three speakers took us with them through their individual and very different outcomes of their unexpected pregnancies.
Karen Pearce (via video) was a young woman who was pressured unrelentingly by her boyfriend to abort their baby. Sadly she eventually buckled under the pressure and found herself in a hospital toilet being handed a glove and a plastic bag and being told by a nurse to take her dead baby out of the toilet bowl, place the little baby in a bag and hand it to her! Karen is now bravely speaking out about the harm of abortion and we encourage anyone else wishing to speak out to contact Cherish Life.
Lori Cartagena, author of the book The Heartbreak Option, was having the time of her life working in America in the entertainment industry when she found herself pregnant to a much older man who was living in Canada. Lori gifted her baby to a childless couple through adoption. Five years ago her son contacted her and this year Lori was thrilled to spend her first Mother’s Day with both her sons (the second from her later marriage). We thank Lori for kindly donating a small portion of her book sales to Cherish Life.
Helen Glen took a short break from studying for a teacher’s degree at university and was holidaying in New Zealand when she found out she was pregnant. Her boyfriend was back in Australia and Helen had to make the difficult phone call across the sea to tell him. After two phone calls to her boyfriend, she felt abandoned and called off the relationship. Returning home, her thoughts turned to adoption (she herself being adopted), however she feels that God stepped into her life and into her boyfriend’s life and they decided to marry and keep their baby. That baby is now 25 years old and has six other siblings.
 Julie Thomas and Kay Painter generously came out to Australia from the United States at their own cost — a big thank you to them for this. Julie and Kay are from Operation Outcry — an organisation that is giving encouragement and a voice to post-abortive women. They will be silent no more. Julie spoke about her own abortion experience and the work she is doing for Operation Outcry, travelling both in the US and overseas to encourage other women to speak out about the lie that abortion “fixes” a problem. She would like to see Operation Outcry start here in Australia — for details contact the Cherish Life office.
Kay also spoke about her abortion experience and subsequent horror upon the almost instant realisation of what she had done. She spoke about how it affected her relationship with her children and how the abortion stood between her and her husband as an accuser in their marriage, a marriage that subsequently failed. Kay informed us of the great work being done by the Justice Foundation representing women harmed by abortion. (The Justice Foundation is a non-profit, public interest litigation firm in the US supported by tax-deductible contributions with an interest in real women’s health issues.)
Geoffrey Bullock of Family Voice Australia spoke on Persuasion in the Public Square, i.e. how to lobby and influence politicians to be appropriately compassionate rather than have misguided compassion that leads them to allow embryonic stem cell use, abortion and euthanasia. Appropriate compassion is always life-affirming rather than life-taking. Geoffrey quoted TM Moore of the Colson Centre, who said: “God instituted governments among men to help ensure that His good purposes of order, justice, fruitfulness, peace and love flourish.”
“That is what government is designed for,” Geoffrey said. He also quoted Abraham Cooper, who said: “When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling and peace has become sin. You must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy with all the fire of your faith.”
Associate Professor Stuart Reece spoke about the life issue of drug addiction and how it impacts the unborn in the womb. One of his patients was invited on stage by Prof. Reece and she spoke briefly about the damage done to her unborn baby due to her cannabis use — she was encouraged by her doctor at the time to continue to use cannabis throughout her pregnancy. Her baby was born with 4 holes in her heart and after numerous medical operations, died. Prof. Reece also gave statistics of the frightening increase of babies being born with no eyes or no ears due to drug use by their mothers whilst pregnant.
Dr Louise Welch from Palliative Care Queensland defined palliative care as “an approach, understanding or idea that improves the quality of life for patients, their families and those suffering a life-limiting illness; to provide prevention and relief from pain and suffering through early identification, impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems whether they be physical, psycho-social or spiritual problems. Palliative care is neither hastening nor postponing death,” she explained. “One of the biggest problems facing those in palliative care is finding appropriate accommodation for people who are at the end stage of life, and to have enough appropriately trained medical staff and palliative care specialists to care for these people,” she said.
 Tempe Harvey addressed the Paid Parental Leave legislation that has just been passed in Federal Parliament. The worrying piece of legislation will ultimately make it extremely difficult for mothers to actually mother their own children. Mothers mothering their own children will be financially disadvantaged. An 18 page submission written by Tempe is available from the Cherish Life office and we encourage you to request this by emailing us —
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. Tempe urged those present to write to their politicians to express their opposition to this piece of social engineering as this legislation can still be prevented from being implemented.
Celebrating 40 years of standing for life, a large cake was cut by Teresa Martin, State President, and our wonderful Branch Presidents present at the Conference. All those attending the Conference agreed that the variety and quality of speakers was excellent and went away invigorated and ready to again take up the pro-life fight.
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‘British Fetal Pain Study – it’s flawed!’ says Family Research Council |
Excerpt from LifeNews.com 12 July 2010.
Washington, DC — The Family Research Council released a new report that refutes claims made recently by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) saying an unborn child is not able to feel pain before 24 weeks of development. The FRC is concerned that detractors are using RCOG’s study to uphold Britain’s current legalization of abortions up to 24 weeks.
The pro-life organization is also worried abortion advocates in the US could also try to use this study to argue against Nebraska’s new law that states an unborn baby can feel pain at 20 weeks and which, as a result, prohibits abortions from that point. Jeanne Monahan, Director of FRC’s Centre for Human Dignity, responded to the study saying it is seriously flawed and could lead to a profound moral injustice — the more cavalier taking of unborn life. “The report appears to be politically timed and motivated, given the growing momentum in the UK to protect the life of the unborn by lowering the time limits for legal abortion,” she said. “They are using a faulty definition of pain in this study,” Monahan said.
“A number of experts in the field of fetal development, who were not consulted for this report, previously have refuted the idea that the cortex needs to be fully developed for an unborn baby to feel pain,” she noted. “On the contrary, it is possible that unborn babies between 20-30 weeks of development can experience greater pain than a full-term newborn or older child.”
“At 20-30 weeks, an unborn child possesses the highest number of pain receptors per square inch he or she will ever possess, and the baby’s nerve fibers are located closest to the surface of the skin,” she said. “They are trying to dehumanize the baby to make abortion appear somehow more palatable ... The humanness of the unborn child is not contingent on its capacity for pain. Whether or not an unborn child can feel pain is irrelevant to the respect that an unborn person deserves — respect sufficient to be protected by law from conception until natural death,” Monahan concluded.
Dr. Steven Zielinski, an internal medicine physician from Oregon, is one of the leading researchers into the concept of fetal pain. He has testified before Congress that an unborn child could feel pain at 8½ weeks and possibly earlier.
Dr. Vincent J. Collins, Zielinski and attorney Thomas J. Marzen were the top researchers to point to fetal pain decades ago. “Functioning neurological structures necessary for pain sensation are in place as early as 8 weeks, but certainly by 13½ weeks of gestation. Sensory nerves, including nociceptors, reach the skin of the fetus before the 9th week of gestation. The first detectable brain activity occurs in the thalamus between the 8th and 10th weeks. The movement of electrical impulses through the neural fibers and spinal column takes place between 8 and 9 weeks gestation,” they wrote.
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How To Help Elect Pro-life Candidates and Support Pro-life Sitting Members |
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GET ACTIVE NOW! AN ELECTION CAN BE CALLED AT ANY TIME
(especially while your newsletter is at the printery)
YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO DO ALL OF THESE THINGS, BUT EVERYONE CAN DO SOMETHING.
- Join a political party
- As a member, start to have a say in party policy
- Talk to those up for pre-selection and help them understand the pro-life issues
- Give them pro-life information (without drowning them in it)
- Encourage others to find out if their candidate or sitting member is pro-life and suggest they vote accordingly.
- Visit your local MP – establish his pro-life stance: if not pro-life, inform him you will be helping his opposition who is pro-life. If pro-life offer to: hand out his/her flyers, letterbox drop for them, man their street stands, man their polling booths. You do not need a lot of political knowledge to do this.
OTHER Pro-life ACTIVITIES THAT HELP MOVE US FORWARD
- Start a prayer group to stop abortion.
- Join the prayer vigils — peaceful, prayerful presence — outside abortion places.
- Have pro-life pamphlets, brochures and bookmarks visible to visitors to your home — great conversation starters.
- Invite family, friends and work colleagues to pro-life events.
- Write letters to newspapers, politicians. They may not get printed but at least the editor knows pro-life people are out there — and you may have educated him/her in the process.
- Get on talk back radio — as above, you may not get on but at least the receptionist now knows a little more about the pro-life issues.
- Be involved in school talks and other public speaking events to spread and encourage the pro-life message.
- Be brave — Talk to people one on one, courteously and kindly. Many people think the way you think but may be too timid to say. You may help them have a voice and speak up in the process.
- Volunteer your time to help in a pregnancy counselling centre.
- Educate yourself with the wide range of free videos on pro-life topics. Watch the video content on the Cherish Life website, and/or purchase DVDs from the Cherish Life office. (Yes, you have permission to make copies for friends!!!)
- Join or become more active in your local Cherish Life branch or start one in a new area!
Atherton Tablelands
Carol O’Connell
Ph: 4095 4766 |
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Emerald
Margaret Smith
Ph: 4987 5270 |
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Nambour
Con Hughes
Ph: 5313 6341 |
| Toowoomba
Dr Donna Purcell
Ph: 4633 1447 |
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Bundaberg
Pastor Brian Robertson
Ph: 4154 7036 |
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Gold Coast
Mary Elaine Partridge
Ph: 0402 214 412 |
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Redcliffe
Brendan Gormley
Ph: 0439 949 972 |
| Townsville
Terry McAuliffe
Ph: 4771 2346 |
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Cairns
Dr Tim Coyle
Ph: 4051 5409 |
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Mackay
Dr Graeme Cumming
(email Graeme)
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Rockhampton
Noelle Melrose
Ph: 4928 9425 |
| Warwick
Rita Seed
Ph: 4661 2230 |
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EVENTS YOU SIMPLY CAN’T MISS! |
Bob Lalonde (priests for life) & Theresa Burke visit — Tuesday 14 September
Details soon. Call the office on 07 3871 2445.
RACHEL’S VINEYARD RETREATS 2010 — 15-17 October
For further details call Lisa on Ph 3376 7078 or email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Cherish Life Annual Dinner — Friday 12 November
Indooroopilly Golf Club, Meiers Rd, Indooroopilly. Details closer to the event.
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Takin’ it to the streets ... |
Our wonderful helpers on the Cherish Life stand at the Pregnancy Baby & Children’s Expo in June. The most popular attraction is the set of life size foetal models of the babies throughout development. Both men and women are amazed at how advanced the development of the unborn baby is, considering the stage of gestation. We also have a video presentation running on a screen showing 4D ultrasound imagery of the development of the baby in the womb, catching the attention of visitors.
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Irrespective of which side of politics you are on, here is some important information about our new prime minister Julia Gillard. She is a member of EMILY’s List and helped write its constitution.
EMILY is an acronym — it stands for “Early Money Is Like Yeast”. What that means is if someone (in this case, an abortion advocate) is given financial and political help when standing as a candidate or hoping to be returned to their seat if they are a current MP, they are more likely to get voted in as they can keep a higher profile in the public eye.
To have the financial and political support of EMILY’s List, a candidate must support the abortion of a full-term baby right up to the moment of birth.
Do not be fooled into voting for our first woman prime minister just because she is a woman.
Many people voted for Obama as he was the “first black president” — the colour of one’s skin does not qualify you for a job, nor does having a female anatomy. This is not a time to vote on appearances.
Obama has allowed many pro-abortion changes to laws in the USA. We are deeply concerned, based on Gillard’s current membership of EMILY’s List, we may see many changes start to creep in here in Australia that pave the way for more abortions.
With her having been the Education Minister, the introduction of a nationwide curriculum is of major concern. What will now be included in the national curriculum in relation to abortion if it is to encompass “sex ed”? While at this point it seems to concentrate on the main 4-5 school subjects, it is merely a stroke of the pen to extend this.
With the federal election imminent, your mission is:
- Please educate everyone on what EMILY’s list is
- Encourage them to contact their federal candidate or sitting member and ask them how they will vote on pro-life issues (Note: not what they believe — often they bow to pressure to vote along party lines irrespective of what they believe)
- Vote pro-life at the next federal election
- Encourage and educate your family and friends why they should vote pro-life i.e. if we can’t trust a politician with the most defenceless of society — the unborn — why should we trust them with our taxpayers’ dollars?
- Offer to letterbox drop pamphlets for your pro-life politician prior to polling day
- Offer to hand out their “how to vote” cards on polling day
We are all “busy”, but it’s more than worthwhile to invest time in helping elect pro-life politicians. |
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