Human life begins at conception, with the fusion of the egg and sperm. This remains true no matter what circumstances, ideal or otherwise, surround the conception. God gives every baby a soul.

"From the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with its own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already"( CHARTER FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS      by the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance paragraph 35)

...each of us has a unique beginning, the moment of conception...As soon as the twenty-three chromosomes carried by the sperm encounter the twenty-three chromosomes carried by the ovum,the whole information necessary and sufficient to spell out all the characteristics of the new being is gathered...(W)hen this information carried by the sperm and by the ovum has encountered each other, then a new human being is defined which has never occurred before and will never occur again...[the zygote, and the cells produced in the succeeding divisions] is not just simply a non-descript cell, or a "population" or loose "collection" of cells, but a very specialized individual, i.e., someone who will build himself according to his own rule. (As quoted in Linacre Quarterly, February, 1993 - emphasis added by Dianne Nutwell Irving, PhD.)

Current leading scientific texts all confirm that human life beings at fertilisation:

1. "The formation, maturation and meeting of a male and female sex cell are all preliminary to their actual union into a combined cell, or zygote, which definitely marks the beginning of a new individual. " (Arey, Developmental Anatomy)
2. "Individual life begins with conception by the union of gametes or sex cells...Growth and development continue thereafter…" (Brookes and Zietman, Clinical Embryology, 1998)
3. "Conception: 1. The beginning of pregnancy, usually taken to be the instant that a spermatozoon enters an ovum and forms a viable zygote. 2. The act or process of fertilisation." (Anderson et al. Morsby's Medical, Nursing and Allied Health Dictionary, 2002)
4. "An egg is programmed to form a new individual when activated by a sperm…"(Alberts, Molecular Biology of the Cell.)
5. "The beginning of the development of a new individual is the fusion of …sperm and ovum… the result of this fusion is the formation of the first cell of the new individual, the zygote." (Hamilton and Mossman, Human Embryology).
6. "Almost all higher animals start their lives from a single cell, the fertilised ovum…The time of fertilisation represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual." (Carlson, Patten's Foundations of Embryology, 1996).
7. Moore and Persaud's Clinically Oriented Embryology, Sadler and Langman's Medical Embryology, O'Rahilly & Muller's Human Embryology & Teratology, Moore's Essentials of Human Embryology, Sweeney's Basic Concepts in Embryology, all define human life as commencing from fertilisation.
 

Fetal Life and Abortion:  Human Personhood at Conception HUMAN BEINGS MATURE; THEY DO NOT DEVELOP FROM "POTENTIAL HUMAN BEINGS." Because the conceptus is a human being, the moral treatment of abortion must consider the right of the conceptus to life , since this is a right of all humans .

Your heart was already beating 24 days after conception, and every cell was alive and rapidly developing all that time. Abortion stops a beating heart. Dr. William Matviuw, an obstetrician/gynecologist, says that the nerves that sense pain reach the skin of the fetus by the ninth week of gestation. A specialist in pain control, Dr. Vincent J. Collins is a diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiologists. He estimated the age at which a preborn child feels pain:
"As early as eight to 10 weeks' gestation, and definitely by thirteen and a half weeks, the human fetus experiences organic pain."
The fetus at this age can feel the pain of being aborted.

 Pro-choice people would put the beginning of human life at implantation within the endometrium, not conception, giving them some 7 odd days of development to experiment or discard the conceived human without affording it any human protection. Yet even frozen embryos have become subject to court battles over their right to live.
Even adoption of the implantation criteria for humanity of the embryo would rule out ethically all surgically induced abortions, as well as abortions induced by RU486, since all these occur after implantation. Indeed, some devices normally thought of as contraception, such as the IUD also work to prevent implantation, making them very early abortifacients.
Pro-choicers and scientists wishing to do stem cell research and research on aborted feotuses thus put the definition of humanity and life worthy of protection back as far as possible, arguing need for at least pain awareness and brain awareness as proof the unborn have interests to protect.
Indeed, Professor Peter Singer (quoted in Washington Post "A Professor Who Argues for Infanticide" by Nat Hentoff September 11, 1999; Page A21) has put forward the view "the life of a newborn is of less value than the life of a pig" and that no newborn child deserves protection until it is capable of showing that it is enjoying itself! This is advocating infanticide!!

'I have argued that the life of a foetus ..is of no greater value than the life of a non-human animal at a similar level of rationality, self-consciousness, awareness, capacity to feel etc., and that since no foetus is a person, no foetus has the same claim to life as a person...If we can put aside ...emotionally moving but strictly irrelevant aspects of killing a baby, we can see that the grounds for not killing persons do not apply to newborn infants.' ('Writings on an Ethical Life' by Peter Singer)

On the other hand, we would argue that every human life, no matter how imperfect,  is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death, and worthy of protection. The initial DNA present ensures that life is human, and there is a continuous rapid development which matures at sexual maturity, with cells continuing to divide until death.
Disability should not be used to discriminate; nor should lack of mental ability, or genetic screening for potential
susceptibility to disease, be sufficient reason to kill a human being.

Links to info on fetal development:
The miracle of life NSW Right to Life Assoc
members.aol.com/SLV80/main.htm
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/wdlb/wdlb.html
Window to the womb:
4D Ultasounds give a wonderful view of the unborn:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/3847319.stm
http://www.gemedicalsystems.com/rad/us/4d/virtual.html
www.unborn.com

When does each human life begin?- the answer of science
Fetal psychology,senses and mental awareness

By 42 days, the child's skeleton is formed (in cartilage, not yet bone). The brain co-ordinates movements of muscles and organs. Reflex responses have begun. (And the mother misses her second period.)
At 7 weeks, lips are sensitive to touch.
At 8 weeks, the child is a well-proportioned, small-scale baby, measuring just 3cm (1 1/8 in.), weighing a gram (1/30 oz.). Every organ is present. The heart beats sturdily. The stomach produces digestive juices. The liver manufactures blood cells. The kidneys begin to function. Taste buds are forming.
At 8 1/2 weeks, fingerprints are being engraved. Eyelids and palms of the hand are sensitive to touch.
At 9 weeks, the child will bend his or her fingers around an object placed in the palm. Thumb sucking occurs. Fingernails are forming.  

Abortion is touted as a "woman's right to do what she likes with her own body", but it is not her own body but the body of the unborn child that is the object of the abortion operation.The victim of abortion has no "choice" at all. It is not just "choice", but "choice to kill". In most cases this results in the death of the child, though some are born alive and then left to die or actively killed. Gianna Jessen is a survivor of a saline abortion. ( see the book by Jessica  Shaver   “Gianna: aborted and lived to tell about it”) Listen to Audio interview with Gianna at Vital Signs Ministries. See also the real story of Tiny Tim , who survived a late abortion, only to die in the nurse's arms.

If a parent tortures and abuses a newborn child, there is outcry, but somehow the unseen is different. Why?
Cruelty to animals is morally wrong and legally prohibited, because it is wrong to cause pain/painful death to sentient animals.
There was an outcry among gardeners in the UK in July 2004 about the effects of proposed legislation to stop the killing of
snails and worms if there was any chance that they felt pain.Protection would extend to creatures such as insects, slugs, worms and butterflies if it can be proved they suffered pain and distress.The government's draft Animal Welfare Bill is set to be the largest overhaul of animal welfare legislation since1911. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3882261.stm
Yet the unborn, who can feel pain from about 6 weeks after conception, about the same time brainwaves can be recorded,
are painfully suctioned or dismembered in abortion with no legal protection. At seven weeks, a child will pull his lips back if you tap on his mouth. By 10 weeks, the palms of the hands are sensitive to touch. By 11 weeks, the face and all parts of the limbs will respond to touch. "By thirteen and a half weeks, organic response to noxious stimuli occurs at all levels of the nervous system, from the pain receptors to the thalamus." Hall, Stephen S. "Adult Stem Cells" Technology Review magazine    November 2001 and reinis and Goldman "The Development of the Brain" 1980.
"...those anatomical structures subserving the appreciation of pain...are present and functional before the tenth week of life"'Foetal sentience' The All Parliamentary Pro-life Group (UK) London 1977 p 5.(quote byPeter McCullagh, retired senior fellow John Curtin School of Medical Research, Canberra)

Abortionists claim one in four Australian pregnancies end in abortion.
Actual danger to the mother's life from pregnancy is very rare.

"Protection of the life of the mother as an excuse for an abortion is a smokescreen. In my 36 years of pediatric surgery, I have never known of one instance where the child had to be aborted to save the mother's life.  If toward the end of the pregnancy complications arise that threaten the mother's health, the doctor will induce labor or perform a caesarean section.
His intention is to save the life of  both the mother and the baby. The baby's life is never willfully destroyed because the mother's life is in danger." -C. Everett Koop, M.D., former U.S. Surgeon General

Many childless couples on the other hand face long waiting lists in the hope they can adopt. Some 50,000 Australian couples a year apply to adopt children.There are few children to adopt.There are over 131,000 abortions in Australia every year.
If a mother feels unable to raise a child, adoption is a wonderful way to allow the child to live, and to maybe meet again later in life.
Many panic when faced with pregnancy that is opposed by partner or parents, and it can be lack of support and lack of any other choice that drives a woman to do what is against her own instincts. This is not really free choice.
(See http://www.poorchoice.org)
For this reason, many Christian organisations seek to support the woman in crisis pregnancy, to offer her
help even at the doors of the clinic ( eg. Helpers of God's precious infants), and to help her seek healing and forgiveness in cases of post-abortion trauma. Psychologists know that there is a memory of motherhood which cannot go away with the termination of a pregnancy. Motherhood is a deep part of being a woman which lies at our very core.There is a great difference between abortion and adoption for that reason. Abortion requires the mother to agree that someone kill her child, while the second completes the pregnancy process and though a hard sorrowful decision, allows the child to live. It is not accompanied by the agonising grief and guilt that follows an abortion, requiring a lot of counselling to heal the woman with the forgiveness of God and self-forgiveness she needs to recover.

Abortion is not a pretty procedure. It depends on the stage of development of the unborn child how it is done. It is described at this site. Abortion facts site   In all but a few cases, the child is killed. Some have survived botched abortions, and have either been left to die, killed by staff, or rescued and live to tell their story, as in the case of prolife Gianna Jesson.

There are real risks that even so-called "safe" (non-backyard) abortions cause physical damage to the woman, plus medical complications including sterility ( later finding the child they aborted may be the only child they could ever have) and heavy bleeding requiring further medical care.

Emotional traumas such as grief, guilt, remorse, depression also occur as reality sets in. This is post-abortion syndrome.

Counselling Services * Pregnant? Need help? Need to talk things through? Please ring one of these numbers: Pregnancy Help Line     1300 737 732 Pregnancy Counselling link     1800 777 690 Pregnancy Problem Centre 1800 090 777 (Brisbane/Ipswich 3219 4288 or  Caboolture 54994366 ) Centacare Rockhampton   49 271 700 Pregnancy Help Mackay 49511498 (between 10am-2pm) * How can women find help after an abortion?            Survivors of Abortion      is online  Offering Confidential Christian healing- They understand your pain- Toll Free Number within Australia: 1800 819951 Women hurt by Abortion 1300 363 500 counselling   Pope John Paul 2 speaks to women who have had an abortion of the forgiveness and mercy of God * How does abortion affect women physically and emotionally? What is Post-abortion syndrome ? For real women's accounts of this, read Melinda Tankard-Reist's book "Giving sorrow words" Links to some websites which deal with these issues... www.opendoors.com.au abortionconcern.org projectrachel

Abortion linked to breast cancer risk, especially in a first pregnancy! Research findings Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a 40 year old patients' advocacy group which prides itself on its scientific integrity, said that the elevated risk is "substantial, particularly in women who abort their first pregnancy at a young age and who have a family history of breast cancer."  In 1981, a University of Southern California study found a 140 % increased breast cancer risk among young women who had chosen to abort their first pregnancy. This was also reported in the British Journal of Cancer in the same year. In 1989, a New York Department of Health study showed a 90 % risk increase for women with any history of abortion, and a 300 % increased risk for those who had two in a row. According to Dr. Joel Brind,a professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York, similar studies in Russia, Japan, Denmark and France echo these findings. Brind and his colleagues at Penn State found a 30% increased risk for women choosing an abortion after first full term pregnancy and a 50% risk elevation for women choosing an abortion before a first full term pregnancy. More information is available at:  http://www.abortioncancer.com ,   www.abortionbreastcancer.com      and Endeavour Forum March 9, 2004 Elizabeth Shadigian, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor in theDepartment of Obstetrics at the University of Michigan, testified to the US Senate about the increased risks of breast cancer, placenta previa,maternal mortality and suicide associated with induced abortions.She identified groups of women who are at especially high risk for the disease if they have abortions and said that women who carry their first pregnancy to term, rather than having an abortion, reduce their risk for contracting the deadly disease. "[H]aving an abortion instead of a full-term pregnancy at age 18 can almost double her five-year and lifetime risk of breast cancer at age 50, regardless of race," Shadigian said. Dr. Shadigian slammed the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for censoring this life-saving information from women.

• SPIRITUAL ISSUES:

Other prolife songs and MP3s listed on Pro-life resources Page

The Catholic Church and Abortion:
Since the First Century, the Catholic Church has affirmed the moral evil of abortion:
"You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish"  Didache 2, 2 (first century)
ATHENAGORAS OF ATHENS (ca. 177 AD)
"What reason would we have to commit murder when we even say that women who induce abortions are murderers, and will have to give account of it to God? For the same person would not regard the fetus in the womb as a living thing and therefore an object of God's care, and at the same time slay it, once it had come to life." (A Plea Regarding Christians, chapter 35) TERTULLIAN (ca. 223 AD)
"We acknowledge, therefore, that life begins with conception, because we contend that the soul begins at conception. Life begins when the soul begins."
"God, the Lord of Life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes" Gaudium et Spes 51 n3

See also the United States Bishops Conference 2002 statement "A matter of the heart" , issued in observance of the upcoming 30th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.
 

See also  Baptists for life
           Catholic quotes page
           Lutherans for life
           Randy Alcorn's biblical perspectives on the unborn

• Abortion statistics for Australia
• ACT Right to Life's report "Missing children, damaged mothers: ACT abortion statistics 1999-2000''
  Commonwealth Dept of Health and Ageing Medicare statistics show total abortions for Qld 2000-2001 for first and second trimester abortions -15,005 (data only for those for which Medicare benefits were paid, therefore excludes statistics from publicly funded programs)
  

• 2004 Newspoll survey, conducted for The Australian newspaper, showed that 18- to 34-year-olds were the age group most inclined to oppose abortions in the latter stages of pregnancy. The survey also showed that, overall, only 15 percent of Australians support late-term abortion.The poll showed that fifty percent of Australians believe women should have access to abortion on demand. Thirty-nine percent support abortion if it can be proven the pregnancy will cause psychological or medical harm to the mother.The poll results seem to reaffirm the need for greater support for women facing unexpected pregnancies. Meanwhile, pro-life leaders concede that Australian culture must change before its abortion laws can be changed.

• LEGISLATION LINKS:

• 21st August 2002 ACT removes all reference to abortion from their criminal code, so that in that state the unborn child has now no legal protection under the law. This is a complete setback from the previous laws which aimed at informed consent and independent counselling. See www.actrtla.org.au

• "BAD NEWS" STORIES
• BlackGenocide.org run by LEARN group, in speaking about history, points out that between 1882 and 1968 3,446 blacks were lynched in the United States. That number is now surpassed in less than three days by abortion.Every day no fewer than 1,452 black children die as a result of abortion, and overall, 3 out of 5 pregnant African-American women will abort their child. Since the 1973 legalization of abortion in the United States, more than 13 million black children have died as a result. In fact, black women account for about 36% of abortions, though they only constitute about 26% of the female population (ages 15-44), the group says.
  LEARN also affirms that the largest abortion provider in the United States, Planned Parenthood, has situated 78% of its clinics in zones populated by minority communities. The group observes that Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger, was well known for her racist views. "Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated," LEARN quotes Sanger as saying. The group asks: "Is her vision being fulfilled today?"
  
  
• South Australia. The local Advertiser newspaper Oct. 28 2004 reported that from 1998 to 2002 there were 377 abortions carried out on women who had passed the 20th week of pregnancy. More than half of these involved healthy babies. The mother's "mental state" was the most common reason given for justifying the abortions. Dr. John James, vice president of Right to Life Australia, said the figures "confirmed what we have always suspected." He told the Advertiser: "The proponents of late-term abortion always insist the majority of late-term abortions are done almost entirely for severe congenital abnormalities. We have always maintained it is not the case and these figures show that it is not the case."
  
• 9 November 2004 Australian media bash male politicians who say there are far too many abortions happening in Australia. Since the federal election, senior Liberal and National MPs, including Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson and Health Minister Tony Abbott, have called for a debate on reducing the 73,000 procedures and abortions last year. Mr Fielding said he would not introduce a bill but would use his position in the Senate to lobby for changes.He said women about to undergo publicly funded abortions should attend a formal information session that might include counselling and viewing a scan of their unborn baby.Mr Abbott's Parliamentary Secretary, Christopher Pyne, called for a ban on abortions of fetuses beyond 21 weeks. Both the Governor-general and Tony Abbott came under fire for their comments that the number killed is close to the emigration quota, therefore the ageing population crisis in Australia is not being addressed. The media continued to see this as a private women's health decision. For the media, the death of the unborn children did not come into the matter, nor the fact that the trauma  of making a difficult choice due to circumstances is less than the later regrets and post-abortion mental reactions suffered.
• "If Health Minister Tony Abbott and his parliamentary secretary Christopher Pyne want to engage in a debate about abortion, they have every right to do so without being shouted down by hysterics. Mr Abbott and Mr Pyne did not begin the renewed discussion of the ethics of abortion: it was begun by a British documentary, 'My Foetus', that questions abortion from a pro-choice perspective. Given the marvels of modern pediatric medicine, which mean babies born at less than 25 weeks gestation have a vastly improved shot at life, it was inevitable that new questions would emerge about the ethics of late-term abortion. Is there anything so wrong with that?"

  "In short, there is nothing to be feared in a civilised public debate about abortion or any of the other great ethical issues of our time. And support for the status quo should not imply the view that abortion is a good thing, because it is anything but. Many young women who terminate their pregnancies and think little of it at the time experience profound pain and regret later in life. Leaving aside cases involving serious fetal abnormality or pregnancies that endanger a mother's life, abortion should be the last resort, with contraception and abstinence easily the best ways for men and women to regulate their reproductive lives. Moreover, we need to address doctors' concerns that a national approach to abortion would make much more sense than the current system, which can mean that what a doctor does legally in NSW is a criminal act in Western Australia. Far from being sinister, a renewed dialogue about abortion that brings these points to the fore is a healthy reflection of a mature society."
  Editorial: 'Nothing to fear in a new debate about abortion' The Australian  November 03, 2004
  

• "The strangest aspect of the recent debate about abortion is that it began with second-wave feminists. It was Eva Cox and Wendy McCarthy who called for a reconsideration of late-term abortions. As they said, new technology and the enhanced chances of survival for premature babies meant that the subject should be revisitedThe only procedures anyone is thinking about banning are late term – and even then with exceptions where the health of the mother is endangered.The other reforms under consideration are also hard for serious people to dismiss out of hand. One is for compulsory counselling by an independent professional rather than as part of an abortion provider's one-stop-shop service. The other is for a renewed emphasis on adoption and providing practical support for women who choose to go through with a pregnancy and adopt out. Melinda Tankard Reist's research, published in her book Giving Sorrow Words, is most enlightening on the quality of the advice often given to women before abortion."'The Australian' Christopher Pearson: 'Abortion debate on demand' November 06, 2004

• Ex-Catholic priest and Brisbane ex-mayor, Jim Soorley, has written in his Courier Mail column of his support for abortion and voluntary euthanasia.
• This media blitz on abortion continues the trend that government is unwilling to comment, legislate or act in moral areas now seen as private conscience decisions, even if they involve killing. With the ageing population, it is becoming a scary prospect that in the future, the state may even be willing to stop medical treatment prolonging the lives of the sick and elderly due to financial burdens on the state. It is becoming increasingly unfashionable in Australia to be Christian and publically pro-life, yet the re-election victory of George Bush was strongly based on pro-life support of his policies on life issues, and in America, abortion is becoming less accepted as a real solution for women.
  

• Three good reasons why abortion should not be decriminalised:
  *It would mean: All reference to abortion would be removed from the Queensland Criminal Code, allowing abortion to be performed on any unborn child for "any" or "no" reason up until the child is born. There would be no legal safeguard to protect the lives of the unborn child or the pregnant mother. The real impact would be the removal of all legal protection for the nine months of life in the womb. Queensland would rank along the most permissive countries in the world.
  *Effect: With no criminal law, abortions would increase because many equate lack of legal sanction with acceptable behaviour. People would see lack of legal protection as indicating abortion is moral. There would be no moral restraints on this industry or individuals. More clinics would open and abortions would become normal behaviour. Hospitals would be expected to perform abortions and risk losing Government funding if they refuse.
  *Basics: Society exists to to preserve and protect its members. All of us, no matter how weak or disabled, have worth. Any law which by omission, condones the destruction of a helpless human for convenience, erodes and exposes that society to other attacks on the unwanted and helpless. It places itself outside the rule of natural justice and its basic principle that "all human life is inherently valuable and must be protected by law". The aim of medicine is to cure, and not to kill.       Pro-lifers believe Abortionists should be prosecuted for breaking the law, not the mothers.

NIH CONSIDERS NEW FETAL TISSUE RESEARCH GUIDELINES WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN 30 2000 (ZENIT).- The National Institute of Health (NIH) has issued new guidelines that would change U.S. policy toward fetal tissue research. The guidelines include standards for harvesting "stem cells" from living embryos, a procedure that kills the unborn child.  Previously, the destruction of live embryos for federal research was not permitted. The children that will be used are "spare" embryos from fertility clinics that are "in excess of clinical need."  Pro-life leaders  point out that the same research could be done with umbilical cord blood, adult stem cells, or placental cells. More details
This legislation was forerunner to 2002 federal legislation in Australia which allowed research on "spare" embryos from IVF clinics.

 American Life League has an article on Varivaxa chicken-pox vaccine, and Maruvax II, for rubella. Both vaccines were generated through the use of fetal tissue Human cell line WI-38 and MRC-5 originally obtained from aborted fetuses. Only viral vaccines require cells within which the virus will reproduce.
Most other vaccines do not require human cell lines.  Many viral vaccines (e.g., polio; mumps) can use chicken embryos or monkey kidney cell lines.
Bacterial vaccines (e.g., diphtheria; tetanus) require the cultivation of the bacteria in a culture medium only.
While fetal tissue harvesting and research are widely discussed, a more insidious moral dilemma remains unmentioned: the use of fetal tissue obtained from abortion and used to generate vaccines. Is it morally licit to use such vaccines? This issue demonstrates the moral situation is at its most extreme. Non-tainted vaccines are available and are to be preferred.
See also E. J. Furton,“Vaccines Originating in Abortion” in Ethics & Medics , published by the National
Catholic Bioethics Center (Boston) 24:3 (March 1999) pp. 3-4.

Dead baby parts industry uncovered: In the US, the ABC television news magazine, 20/20, has scheduled an alarming broadcast.  Their three-month investigation has helped uncover an industry that traffics in fetal body parts, turning abortion clinics into wholesalers for human experimentation. When President Clinton lifted the ban on fetal tissue research, after just two days in office, organizations like the Anatomic Gift Foundation seized the opportunity.  They quickly entered into relationships with abortion clinics to, as they put it, "harvest" and distribute the tissue and organs of aborted babies. Certain forms of abortion are specifically used to harvest intact and fresh body parts.  And this may explain the abortion lobby's support for partial-birth abortion despite overwhelming public opposition. They need intact body parts that are not too mangled to use.
 

• GOOD NEWS STORIES
• 2005  USA NARAL, one of the country's leading abortion advocacy groups released a new report on the status of abortion in the fifty states. The survey indicates states are passing pro-life laws at an increasing rate and that nineteen states would quickly ban abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned.In fact, in 2004 alone, the group says state legislatures passed 714 pro-life laws, a 28 percent increase over 2003.
  
•  Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mrs. Wangari Maathai, said "abortion is wrong," in a conversation with Norway's Dagen newspaper reporter Jostein Sandsmark. Professor Maathai, who received the Nobel Peace Prize 18th Dec2004 in Oslo, is Kenya's deputy minister of the environment.
  "There is no reason why anybody who has been conceived, shouldn't be given the opportunity to be born and to live a happy life. The fact that a life like that is terminated is wrong," said Maathai. When we allow abortion, we are punishing the women - who must abort their children because their men have run away - and we are punishing the children whose lives are terminated," she continued. "But it is because we are not willing to put the men where they should be, and that is taking up the responsibility."
  
  "I want us to step back a little bit and say: Why is this woman and this child threatened? Why is this woman threatening to terminate this life? What do we need to do as a society?" While abortion is still illegal in Kenya, Maatthai suggests that the 1960's law making fathers financially responsible for any children they conceive be re-instated. "That law was removed by men in this Parliament," she said. "Now I think we are too lenient on men. We have almost given them a license to father children and not worry about them. That is part of the reason why women abort, because they do not want to be burdened with children whose fathers do want to become responsible." (LifeSiteNews.com, 12/7/04)
  
• Sydney, Australia  An ecumenical effort for pro-life initiatives by Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other faiths are banding together in an unprecedented effort to reduce the number of abortions by changing hearts, minds and the law.Leaders from various religious denominations met in Sydney in an effort to make abortion a top issue on Australia's political agenda.The coalition is pushing for restrictions on late-term abortions, greater awareness of alternatives to abortion, and better information given to pregnant women about abortion's risks and alternatives.The clergymen called on governments to end the profit incentive for private centers that perform late-term abortions.

  A spokeswoman for the Anglican Church, Tracy Gordon, said the meeting was called in response to last year's nationwide debate on abortion. The controversy erupted after Health Minister Tony Abbott said Australia's abortion rate was too high. The number of abortions performed in Australia is estimated to be between 70,000 and 100,000 a year.

  Spokesmen for the coalition say the group is hoping to close the information gap many pregnant women face when considering abortion.“It is a united call on governments to provide meaningful initiatives for women confronted with an unexpected pregnancy,” Gordon told the Advertiser newspaper. “For the first time in this country religious leaders have gathered to declare their opposition to abortion and to call for something better for women and their babies."

  Members of the clergy also want women to be given accurate information about physical and psychological risks of abortion, along with calling for improved education programs on pregnancy and abortion. The group is setting up a fund to study the consequences of abortion. Coalition members are also lobbying for better statistics on abortion rates.

  A number of politicians attended the meeting as observers, including Liberal MP Alan Cadman, Labor's John Murphy, National Party Senator Ron Boswell, and independent Brian Harradine.

  Senator Boswell told the Australian press, "So many different figures have been used and claims made in the recent public debate on abortion that I've asked the minister for the latest data, so we can be sure of the basic facts. Let's see what the facts are now. There's nothing to be gained from hiding from them."

• Fetal surgery -Pro-life help for the unborn: Vanderbilt Uni Medical Center's fetal surgery doctors are having great results operating on the unborn to correct/reduce hydrocephalus and spina bifida! See the happy baby photos and learn more about this amazing medical assistance at http://www.fetalsurgeons.com/
  See the photo of the unborn baby's hand grasping the doctor's hand during surgery .
  Julie Armas, the baby's mother explained:"The decision to do the USA Today interview stemmed from the fact that it is believed that the vast majority of babies with spina bifida are aborted in this country"   "We wanted people to know that there is an educated, professional couple out there who love and value their child even though he is 'defective' by society's definition ...," she wrote. "No matter what Samuel's outcome is, we know that God has allowed him to impact others with a photograph of his tiny, unborn hand."

• Dr. Bernard Nathanson was one of the principal architects and strategists of the abortion movement in the United States. He tells an astonishing story: "In 1968 I met Lawrence Lader," says Nathanson. "Lader had just finished a book called 'Abortion,' and in it had made the audacious demand that abortion should be legalized throughout the country. I had just finished a residency in obstetrics and gynecology and was impressed with the number of women who were coming into our clinics, wards and hospitals suffering from illegal,infected, botched abortions... We sat down and plotted out the organization now known as NARAL. With Betty Friedan, we set up thisorganization and began working on the strategy."

30 YEARS IN 2003 40,668,335 US abortions have followed since 1973.... Roe has changed her mind, and become pro-life RoeVWade.org and www.abortiontv.com/JaneRoe.htm