The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I recommend seeing the movie first, if you haven't read the book. And then, treat yourself to a copy of the book, which, while the film has some of the wit, presented in a form with is pleasing to both the eyes and the ears as well, does not have the same lasting impression as the written word on the imagination. It's a shame they didn't just do the entire five part Hitchhiker's trilogy all at once, because alone without promise of more, it barely has legs, aside from the fact that we know there is more to come. At least you can read the rest, but do yourself a favor and read the first book as well, because there are great scenes with witty banter that would have played out spectacularly on film, and I think I could have done a much better job interpretting this for the screen. A complimentary Lord of the Rings style film, this is not.

Abortion Clinic Workers Refuse to Save Live Child

ORLANDO, FL — Angele, a single mother in her thirties with two children, thought that abortion was the answer to her circumstances. At almost 23 weeks gestation, she entered the EPOC Clinic in Orlando, Florida. Little did she realize that the next day she would give birth to a live, perfectly healthy boy whom she named Rowan. Cradling Rowan's moving body, her screams for help were ignored by abortion clinic workers while her son took his last breath.

The clinic is known for late-term abortions and for its well-known founder, Dr. James Pendergraft. A few years ago, he served time in a federal prison regarding an alleged scheme to extort the city of Ocala, Florida by means of his other abortion clinic in that city.

On April 1, Angele was given Valium, and Laminaria were inserted in her cervix to begin dilation. She was told to return the following day. On April 2, Angele took prescribed medicine to induce labor. Cramping and crying, she went to the clinic and knocked repeatedly on the door. Eventually someone came and directed her to a room that had dried blood on the wall. She was given a blanket that was still wet. She began to bleed and go into labor. Despite her cries, no one assisted her. After one hard push, the baby was born, fully intact and definitely alive. Angele said, "His right leg moved. He curled up a bit, like he was cold; I screamed but no one came." She pleaded for the clinic workers to call 911, but they did not.

Angele caressed and comforted her son by rubbing his back, tummy and chest. "I stroked his precious little head and kept telling him I loved him, and we would be okay," she said. Still no one came to help. Eventually, Angele, holding the baby still attached to the umbilical cord, ran to get her cell phone. Help did not arrive in time. Rowan took his last breath. "After a few minutes, I realized for certain that he was gone. I picked up my son. I held him to my chest. I rocked him and prayed. I could not stop crying," said Angele. "I felt so bad. I felt so helpless. I had been so wrong to come here … I wanted to fix and change everything once I saw Rowan's precious little face and body. All we needed was someone to get us to safety," Angele said.

Mathew D. Staver, President and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, which represents Angele, told LifeSiteNews.com, "Angele's baby Rowan's birth and death unmasked the tragic abortion and infanticide that occurs every day in America. Most victims are nameless and we never hear about them. We need to replace the abortion rhetoric with a culture of life."

Staver recalls, "When I visited baby Rowan at the funeral home and saw his precious little body, fully formed with blond eyelashes and growing fingernails, I wondered, 'How can we continue to kill our children and hide behind the rubric of choice?'" He added, "Rowan's short life will not be in vain if his story can give life and hope to mothers who believe their only choice is abortion. We must protect our precious, innocent children. We must extend a healing hand to mothers like Angele."

thanks to LoungeDaddy for this post

National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day

Rock for Life

You will not silence my message
You will not mock my God
You will stop killing my generation

Newsflash: The Pope IS Catholic

My friend Pat sent me a link to this story. Granted, it's Fox News and not a lot of people trust Fox News, but this article takes the taco:

Like a Rock

Thursday, April 21, 2005

By Neil Cavuto

Here's a newsflash: The pope is Catholic.

I say that because so many seem to forget that — seemingly demanding Pope Benedict XVI be something he is not.

Well, here's another news update: He will never be for abortion. He will never be for euthanasia. And if you ever say the Catholic Church should be a democracy, he will never say it is. Because it isn't.

Most Catholics know that. A lot of Catholics hate that. But I think we'd all be wise to get over that. Because of this: The pope is here to espouse not the whims of our times, but the values that stand the test of time.

Some can quibble over whether priests should marry or laypeople should be more involved. The church evolves on such matters.

But on basic matters — matters of life and death, right and wrong — there are no ifs, ands or buts.

On these matters, any pope — including this pope — stands firm. As so he should.

Some Catholics hate it. They say they don't like this club and don't want to be part of this club.

Well, there's another cardinal rule here: No one says they have to be.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,154225,00.html

Pope Benedict XVI

Text of Speech Delivered by New Pope

``Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me - a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.

``The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.

``In the joy of the risen Lord, trusting in his permanent help, we go forward. The Lord will help us and Mary his very holy mother stands by us.''

Pope Benedict XVI

German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the strict defender of Catholic orthodoxy for the past 23 years, was elected Pope on Tuesday despite a widespread assumption he was too old and divisive to win election.

He took the name Benedict XVI, a cardinal announced to crowds in St. Peter's Square after white smoke from the Vatican's Sistine Chapel chimney and the pealing of bells from St. Peter's Basilica announced that a new pope had been chosen.

Roman Catholic cardinals elected Ratzinger on just the second day of secret conclave to find a successor to Pope John Paul II.

Billed as the front-runner going into the conclave, Ratzinger, 78, was widely seen as a standard-bearer who would fall short of the required two-thirds majority and have to cede to a more conciliatory compromise figure.

But he sounded very much the candidate before going into the conclave on Monday, defending orthodox Catholicism and warning the other 114 cardinal electors against following godless modern trends.

"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires," he declared at a pre-conclave Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

Ratzinger's stern leadership of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern successor to the Inquisition, delighted conservative Catholics but upset moderates and other Christians whose churches he described as deficient.

Born in Bavaria on April 16, 1927, Ratzinger was a leading theology professor and then archbishop of Munich before taking over the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981.

In that office, Ratzinger disciplined Latin American "liberation theology" theologians, denounced homosexuality and gay marriage and pressured Asian priests who saw non-Christian religions as part of God's plan for humanity.

In a document in 2000, he branded other Christian churches as deficient -- shocking Anglicans, Lutherans and other Protestants in ecumenical dialogue with Rome for years.

As dean of the College of Cardinals, he presided over John Paul's funeral Mass and the daily meetings of cardinals to discuss the next papacy.

Ratzinger was the oldest cardinal to be named pope since Clement XII, who was also 78 when he became pope in 1730. He is the first German pope since Victor II (1055-1057).

Reuters

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the wisdom to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Amen

Classic Scrubs

J.D. and Dr. Cox are there. Elliot rushes up to them.
Elliot: Dr. Cox! I'm so glad I caught you! I need---
Dr. Cox: And there it is again -- that ringing in my ears. It's kind of an "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" but it's more piercing, more of an "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"---
J.D.: She's trying to ask you a question.
Dr. Cox: Now you, you're more of a low-pitched "Ooga-ooga-ooga." It's more masculine, which, quite frankly, is surprising considering the source, but make no mistake -- oh, just equally annoying! Luckily, though, I know how to make the pain go away!
He walks away from them.
Dr. Cox: [from down the hall] Ahhhh. Much better.
Elliot: Can you believe that!? I mean, every time we even try to talk to him, he starts going off on one of these random tangents and....
She continues to spew, but is drowned out by....
J.D.'s Thoughts: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Elliot: --You know?

Star Wars

Time for a general entry. Not to say that this will be a boring entry by any means. I was having a conversation with my friend Deb, when I realized something simple, yet profound.

I know what it is about Star Wars that made like it more, and makes me love it. My mom once told me that my Grandpa loved Star Wars, and loved talking about the spiritual elements of the films, and how much fun it would have been, talking to him about the new ones. She also said that he would have LOVED talking to me about the Lord of the Rings.

My Grandpa was a convert to the Catholic Church, a Father of nine, and the Doctor for a small town. He passed on when I was 12.

Somehow, I feel a connection to him, through Star Wars. I realize now, that is why I defend the prequels, and part of why I enjoy them. I look beyond the surface, of what people would consider a "bad" movie, to the things that I think my Grandpa and I would have talked about. We would have had some mighty good discussions about both of the new films.

Now with the third film coming out, people are scared that they'll be let down, again. I've got no fears about this film. While Episode I is a flawed film, it's not without its' moments. The same goes for Episode II. I've felt they could have covered the material of Episodes I and II in film one, the clone wars in film two, and the third film to be, well, pretty much what it is: The purging of the Jedi, the rise of the Empire, and the birth of Darth Vader.

I've got here, two review samples. The first, is of the Novelization of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, by a man named LargeFarva, on FilmRot.com:

At least, in print, it does appear that the movie will tie together all of the plot threads successfully. The major issues most fans have speculated and dared Lucas to explain are included in the novelization, from Qui-Gon Jinn's non-disappearance, to Kenobi's claims that Yoda was his master. There is even strong evidence that a few characters in the original trilogy knew quite more than they let on, and with plenty good reason. Also, it is true that the first character to speak in the original trilogy has the last line of the prequels. Finally, after reading the epilogue, I'm finding it hard to continue laughing at Lucas' claims that Sith is "a real tear-jerker".

I've read the other novelizations and this is by FAR the best, the one we've been waiting for since the announcement of the prequels.

I'm predicting that most fans of the [Original Trilogy] will consider there to be four films-the [Original Trilogy] and Ep. 3 is the single prequel to them.

This is very promising news. Another review, is of the Screenplay, now available as an ebook, by Bill Hunt, Editor of TheDigitalBits.com:

I have to tell you that I was awfully uneasy as I began reading the script. The first third of Revenge of the Sith feels very much like parts of The Phantom Menace... and I don't mean the good parts. There's a lot of Anakin and Obi Wan bantering back and fourth as they fight scores of battle droids, and the dialogue is pretty bad. BUT don't despair, because once you get past this, the film gets a lot better. About a third of the way in, the Sith lord's nefarious plot really starts unfolding... and it's all dark and intense action from there on out. The script finishes well, setting up A New Hope beautifully. There are a couple of great surprises, and the plot threads all tie up nicely. You're going to be left with a strong sense of "Wow... so THAT'S how it all happened." I've heard from people who have seen most of the film that the action and visuals are astonishing - the best yet from Lucas. Add to that John William's final score, which you KNOW is going to kick ass, and I think the vast majority of Star Wars fans will enjoy this film. If Lucas pulls it off, it'll easily be the best of the three prequels. Whatever you think of them so far, there's nothing like a strong finish. When I get the chance to SEE this film, you can be sure that I'll post a review.

Both of those reviews sum up pretty much all I know about the movie, save for the footage I've seen in the trailers, commercials, and some of the music I've heard on the official site, StarWars.com. And from what I know, we're in for a real treat.

Go into this movie expecting it to be just what it was meant to be. Entertainment and the origin of Darth Vader. This is how it happened folks.

I'm not looking for comments on this post to talk about whether or not you've seen Star Wars, or if you think the prequels suck, or that this one will suck. Any comments like that will be deleted, no questions asked.

I want to give this last Star Wars film a shot at being a great film, and to expect anything less from it, would be contrary to what it very well could be. The third film of any trilogy should justify the first two. However, this film isn't meant to end the story, it's to set the stage for the beginning of the original trilogy, and to build the arc that puts Darth Vader right where he's always been: the main character and centerpiece of all six Star Wars films. The Fall and Redemption of Anakin Skywalker. Redemption is the theme, folks, but redemption from what?

"Do what must be done, Lord Vader. Do not hesitate, show no mercy."

We talk about forgiveness a lot, and it is one of the hardest things to ask for, and the hardest things to do for others. This story is about one man who fell, and for years walked a dark path, and finds forgiveness in people that weren't even there when he fell. That is a testament of how we should live our lives for others. Forgiving everyone, everything, NOW! Not WASTING TIME holding onto hatred or anger. There's just no point. Save the anger for true evils.

On Birth Control

Q. What are the failure rates and side effects of each kind of birth control?

A. There are many methods of contraception, but the most common are the birth control pill, the condom, Norplant, Depo-Provera, the diaphragm, spermicides, the intrauterine device (IUD), and sterilization surgeries. Each method of contraception carries with it some risk of harmful side effects, many of which are downplayed in our culture. Although some are rare, men and women should be aware of all of the possible consequences.

Sterilization surgeries, such as a tubal ligation or vasectomy do not have a perfect "success" rate in preventing pregnancies, but they are very effective (99.6-99.8 percent). However, a woman who has her tubes tied may experience complications from the surgery such as severe bleeding or pelvic infection. She will also be 3.4 times as likely to have a subsequent hysterectomy(1) and three times as likely to have an ectopic pregnancy (this is when a baby is conceived but develops outside the uterus; for example, in the fallopian tubes or the abdominal cavity).(2) She also may experience heavier menstrual bleeding, ovarian tumors, and increased intensity of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) as a result of the decrease in progesterone produced by the ovaries.(3) Besides the physical complications, couples who undergo sterilization often suffer from the guilt and regret of mutilating their bodies. They often experience reduced marital satisfaction.

Men who have vasectomies may be two-and-a-half times as likely to develop kidney stones(4) and they experience an 85 to 90 percent increase in the risk of prostate cancer.(5) Following a vasectomy, a man's testes will still produce sperm. However, because the vas deferens has been severed, the sperm have no way to be released and instead enter the bloodstream, where antibodies have to destroy them. This may lead to diabetes, heart and circulatory diseases, and thyroid and joint disorders.(6) (This does not apply to men who abstain from sex but who have not had a vasectomy, because their sperm are not forced unnaturally into the bloodstream.)

The birth control pill has a three-fold mechanism that works to prevent pregnancy. First, the chemicals convince a woman's body that it is constantly pregnant, so that the ovaries do not release eggs, which must be present for fertilization to take place. Sometimes a "breakthrough ovulation" takes place, but the Pill's second mechanism may thicken her cervical mucus, making it difficult for the sperm to travel to the egg.

Should this also fail and the woman becomes pregnant, the Pill has a third mechanism that may cause an early abortion, before a woman knows that she is pregnant. While some pills allow ovulation in only about five percent of cycles,(7) research shows that the popular "mini-pill" does not even suppress ovulation for about three of every four women who use it.(8)

Should the woman become pregnant while she is on the Pill, her child's new life is endangered. This is because the Pill chemically alters the lining of the woman's womb (the endometrium), making it hostile to the implantation of an unborn child.(9) In simpler terms, when the child is conceived, the effects of the Pill may keep him from being able to attach in the womb. The child may be aborted without the mother ever knowing it.

Sometimes all three mechanisms fail; for women under twenty-two years of age, the birth control pill has a 4.7 percent failure rate in preventing pregnancy.(10) For typical sexually active Pill users between the ages of twelve and eighteen, 20 percent of them become pregnant over the course of six months!(11)

There are numerous health risks in taking the Pill, since even the low-dose birth control pills contain steroid hormones that are a thousand times more powerful than any natural hormone in the woman's body.(12) Few young women are informed of the risks.

For example, if a woman uses oral contraceptives prior to her first full-term pregnancy, her risk of having breast cancer increases forty percent.(13) Back in the 1970s the studies on this matter went back and forth. But with more time and research, the findings have become more conclusive.

Since 1980, twenty studies have been done on women who have taken oral contraceptives prior to having their first baby. Eighteen of the twenty studies showed that such women have an increased risk of developing breast cancer.(14) This risk increases according to how long she takes the Pill prior to having her first baby.(15) The Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs states that "Early-age use of the Pill carries a greater risk of breast cancer, of developing larger tumors and having a worse prognosis."(16) Studies also show that "the risk of breast cancer is two to four times higher for women under nineteen years of age who use the Pill compared to women twenty to twenty-four years old because of the rapid tissue and hormonal maturation process in younger women.(17)

Besides the increased risk of breast cancer, the Pill's potential side effects include moodiness, weight gain, increased blood pressure, gall bladder disease, liver tumors, reduced blood levels of essential vitamins, and the development of depressive personality changes. Several studies indicate an increased risk in contracting HIV.(18) The risk of stroke is five times higher for Pill users as compared to non-Pill users (19) and the risk of heart attack is three times as high.(20)

The Pill also increases a woman's chance of developing cervical cancer, since "the Pill causes the production of a type of cervical mucus which makes it easier for cancer-causing agents to gain access to a woman's body."(21) Beyond this, the Pill increases a woman's chances of infertility(22) and it offers no protection from STDs. If anything, it harms a woman's immune system and decreases her ability to fight off venereal infections.(23) Over one thousand women die each year in the United States from using the birth control pill.(24)

Norplant is another popular form of contraception. It consists of a series of rods or capsules that a doctor inserts into a woman's upper arm. The rods or capsules release progestin that prevents the ovaries from releasing eggs. The implants last for five years, although the effectiveness of Norplant in preventing pregnancy decreases with time.(25) They must be surgically removed.

Norplant works to suppress ovulation in only about fifty percent of cycles,(26) and because it alters the lining of the uterus, it causes first trimester abortions before the mother is aware of her pregnancy. Like the Pill, Norplant provides no protection from STDs. Its potential side effects include: severe lower abdominal pain, prolonged or heavy vaginal bleeding, absence of periods (amenorrhea), arm pain and infection, migraine headaches, blurred vision, ovarian cysts (experienced by one in ten users), high blood pressure, increased risk of heart attack or stroke, hair loss, nervousness, liver tumors, and gall bladder disease.(27) Over fifty thousand American women have hired lawyers to assist in their lawsuits against the manufacturer of Norplant, Wyeth-Ayerst.(28)

Depo-Provera (The Shot) is an injection that inhibits ovulation in order to prevent pregnancy for three to six months at a time. It offers no protection from STDs and since breakthrough ovulation occurs about half of the time,(29) it can also cause early abortions, like the Pill and Norplant. Potential side effects of Depo-Provera include: major disturbances of menstrual pattern, prolonged and unpredictable delay in return to fertility, severe and prolonged bleeding, decrease in breast milk production, depression, reduction in libido (sexual desire), a tendency to develop benign and malignant breast lumps, danger to a child in the event of a pregnancy, fetal abnormalities (birth defects)--mainly some masculinizing effects in female children--and a possible link to cervical cancer.(30)

The Medical Institute for Sexual Health also warned, "Recent studies report a decrease in bone density among younger women on Depo-Provera. This may lead to osteoporosis in later stages of life."(31) The two largest studies of women who took Depo-Provera revealed that if a woman took it for between two to three years before the age of twenty-five, she had a 310 percent statistically significant increased risk of getting breast cancer.(32)

The intrauterine device is inserted into a woman's uterus, and mainly acts by inducing abortion. The IUD is not as common in America as it used to be, largely because of the lawsuits pending against its manufacturers. Potential side effects include: perforation of the uterus or cervix requiring surgery, increased risk of miscarriage even after it has been removed, tenfold increase in the likelihood of ectopic pregnancies, possible sterility, excessive menstrual bleeding, and increased risk of HIV infection.(33) The effectiveness rate of the IUD in preventing pregnancy is 84 percent.(34)

Spermicides are foams, creams, or gels that are used to kill a man's sperm before it reaches the woman's egg. Studies have shown a link between spermicides and birth defects in children, such as Down Syndrome, limb reduction malformations, and cancerous tissue growths. In regard to its effects on women, there is an increased risk of vaginal infections, and a possible link to increased risk of HIV and other STDs.(35) This mode of contraception fails 30 percent of the time.(36)

The diaphragm is a rubber disk that is inserted as a barrier into the woman for the purpose of preventing the sperm from reaching the egg. The diaphragm may cause a local skin irritation because of sensitivity or allergy, and the New England Journal of Medicine reported a link between diaphragm use and toxic shock syndrome. This mode of contraception has an 84 percent effectiveness rate, which worsens with the user who is less than thirty years of age.(37)

The male condom is a much more common form of contraception, but few people are aware of its disadvantages and failure rate. For example, the condom has not been proven to prevent the transmission of some of the most common STDs. When it comes to preventing HPV (human papillomavirus), the American Cancer Society reported, "Condoms cannot protect against infection with HPV." Young people often think that the condom has a 99 percent effectiveness rate in preventing pregnancy. However, this figure has been arrived at in laboratories by calculating the size of a man's sperm as compared to the pores in a latex condom. Should a couple use a condom perfectly every time, the failure rate in preventing pregnancy is 2 to 3 percent. But, the condom's typical failure rate in preventing pregnancies among people aged fifteen to twenty-four is 18.4 percent.(38)

It is also becoming clear that barrier methods of contraception, such as the condom and the diaphragm, are potentially harmful to a woman. These methods do not allow the womb's immune system to develop a gradual tolerance to the antigens on sperm and seminal fluid. Imagine that a couple decides to use a barrier method such as the condom for a few years, until they wish to have children. When they try to conceive, the womb is not accustomed to the sperm, and may treat them as foreign bodies. As a result, the woman's immune system may attack the fetus, thereby disrupting the delicate balance of hormones, and causing the woman's blood vessels to constrict, leading to higher blood pressure in the expectant mother.(39) This condition (preeclampsia) is the third leading cause of maternal death, and it is more than twice as common in women who used barrier methods of contraception.(40)

A man's seminal fluid includes prostaglandins, which are considered among the most potent biological substances known.(41) During intercourse, the woman's uterus absorbs these and they aid the health of the woman, help mature her uterus,(42) and may even protect the mammary gland from cancer.(43)

The protective effects of semen are so significant that the Journal of the American Medical Association referred to intercourse where barrier contraceptives are used as "unprotected" sexual intercourse,(44) because the woman is not given the natural protection of semen.

As you can see, God has created a woman's body to work in a precise way with a man's. a woman's body works in a precise way with a man's. When we tinker with mother nature, and try to flip fertlity on and off like a light switch, it often ends up backfiring. After all, pregnancy is not a disease and should not be treated as one.

1. A. Stergachis and others, "Tubal Sterilization and the Long-term Risk of Hysterectomy," Journal of the American Medical Association 264 (12 December 1990): 2893-2899. As reported by Tubal Ligation (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Couple to Couple League International, 1995).
2. Fleet and others, British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 95 (August 1988): 740-746. As reported by Denis St. Marie, "Sterilization, Pervasive and Insidious" (www.familyplanning.net/birth-control9.htm).
3. The Couple to Couple League, Tubal Ligation.
4. R. A. Kronmal, J. N. Kriegar, J. W. Kennedy, and others, "Vasectomy and Urolithiasis," The Lancet 331 (1988): 22-23. As reported in Vasectomy (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Couple to Couple League International, 1995).
5. Wilson, Love & Family, 293.
6. Wilson, Love & Family, 292.
7. N. van der Vange, "Seven Low-dose Oral Contraceptives and Their Influence on Metabolic Pathways and Ovarian Activity" (master's thesis, Reijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 1986), 88. As reported by Bogomir M. Kuhar, Pharm. D., Infant Homicides through Contraceptives, 4th ed. (Bardstown, Kentucky: Eternal Life Publishers, 2000), 42.
8. I. Aref, F. Hefnawi, O. Kandil, M. T. Abdel Aziz, "Effect of Mini-pills on Physiologic Responses of Human Cervical Mucus, Endometrium and Ovary," Journal of Fertility and Sterility 24:8 (August 1973): 578-583. As reported by Nicholas Tonti-Filippini, "The Pill: Abortifacient or Contraceptive?" Linacre Quarterly (February 1995): 9.
9. R. L. Kleinmann, ed., Hormonal Contraception (London: International Planned Parenthood Federation Medical Publications, 1990), 21; Patient package insert for Ortho-Tri-Cyclen (Raritan, New Jersey: Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation [Johnson & Johnson], 1992). As reported by Kuhar, Infant Homicides through Contraceptives, 5.
10. Robert A. Hatcher and others, Contraceptive Technologies (New York: Irvington Publishers, 1994), 229. As quoted by Wilson, Love & Family, 271.
11. L. M. Dinerman and others, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 149:9 (September 1995): 967-972. As reported by Westside Pregnancy Resource Center, "Teen Sex and Pregnancy: Facts and Figures."
12. David Kingsley, "The Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill: Abortifacient and Damaging to Women" (www.lifeuk.org/speech3.html).
13. Chris Kahlenborn, M.D., Breast Cancer (Dayton, Ohio: One More Soul, 2000), 260.
14. Kahlenborn, Breast Cancer, 36.
15. I. Romieu, J. Berlin, and others, "Oral Contraceptives and Breast Cancer: Review and Meta-analysis," Cancer 66 (1990): 2253-2263.
16. John B. Wilks, Pharm. M.P.S., A Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs, 2nd ed. (Stafford, Virginia: American Life League, Inc., 1997), 70.
17. Patrick McCrystal, "So They Say the Pill is Safe?" (www.hli.org/publications/hlir/1999/hr049909.html).
18. Kahlenborn, Breast Cancer, 230-231; Michael Specter, "AIDS Infection and Birth Control Pills: Case of Nairobi Prostitutes Raises Questions of Possible Risk Factor," The Washington Post, 2 June 1987, A10.
19. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Facts About Oral Contraceptives, by Maureen D. Gardner (www.mdadvice.com/topics/contraception_vasectomy/info/2.htm).
20. Maureen D. Gardner, Facts About Oral Contraceptives.
21. Wilks, A Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs, 30.
22. Wilks, A Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs, 93-95.
23. Blum and others, "Antisperm Antibodies in Young Oral Contraceptive Users," 41-46.
24. S. Harlan, K. Kost, J. D. Forrest, Preventing Pregnancy, Protecting Health (New York: The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1991), 98-99. As reported by "Can the Pill Kill You?" Lovematters.com (newspaper supplement) 4:2001:24.
25. Johns Hopkins University, Population Information Program, Decisions for Norplant Programs, supplement to Population Reports, November 1992, 20-K:4. As reported by Wilson, Love & Family, 273.
26. Thomas Hilgers, M.D., "Norplant," Linacre Quarterly (1993): 64-69.
27. Wilson, Love & Family, 274-275.
28. D. Taylor, "Spare the Rod," The Guardian (United Kingdom), 12 March 1996, 11. As quoted by Wilks, A Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs, 107.
29. E. M. Belsey, "Vaginal Bleeding Patterns among Women Using One Natural and Eight Hormonal Methods of Contraception," Contraception 38:2 (1988): 181-206; R. E. Lande, "New Era for Injectables," Population Reports 23:2-K5 (1995): 1-31. As reported by Kuhar, Infant Homicides through Contraceptives, 44.
30. Wilson, Love & Family, 276-277.
31. Sexual Health Update 7:1 (Spring 1999): 2.
32. Kahlenborn, Breast Cancer, 38.
33. Wilson, Love & Family, 282.
34. Wilson, Love & Family, 281.
35. Wilson, Love & Family, 289; Wilks, A Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs, 126¥128; Sexual Health Update 7:1 (Spring 1999): 3.
36. Wilks, A Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs, 124.
37. Wilson, Love & Family, 290.
38. R. A. Hatcher, Contraceptive Technology, 1986-1987, 13th ed., rev. (New York: Irvington Publishers, 1986), 139; Kim Painter, "Disturbing Data on Birth Control Failure," USA Today, 13 July 1989, 1D.
39. Wilks, A Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs, 136.
40. Hillary S. Klonoff-Cohen, David A. Savitz, Robert C. Cefalo, M.D., Margaret F. McCann, "An Epidemiologic Study of Contraception and Preeclampsia," Journal of the American Medical Association 262:22 (8 December 1989).
41. A. N. Gjorgov, M.D., "Barrier Contraception and Breast Cancer," Contributions to Gynecology and Obstetrics 8 (1980): 61.
42. Editorial, "Semen and AIDS," Child and Family 21:2 (1990): 90-96.
43. "Semen and AIDS," 91.
44. Klonoff-Cohen and others, "An Epidemiologic Study of Contraception and Preeclampsia," 3143.
_________________________________________

"The way to plan the family is Natural Family Planning, not contraception. In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self and so destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily."
- Mother Teresa (in front of Bill and Hillary Clinton)

"I am supposing, then, although you are not lying [with your wife] for the sake of procreating offspring, you are not for the sake of lust obstructing their procreation by an evil prayer or an evil deed. Those who do this, although they are called husband and wife, are not; nor do they retain any reality of marriage, but with a respectable name cover a shame. Sometimes this lustful cruelty, or cruel lust, comes to this, that they even procure poisons of sterility [oral contraceptives] . . . Assuredly if both husband and wife are like this, they are not married, and if they were like this from the beginning, they come together not joined in matrimony, but in seduction."
- St. Augustine

"No Christian married couple can want to block the well-springs of life. For their love is based on the love of Christ, which entails dedication and sacrifice. . . Moreover, as Tobias reminded Sara, a husband and wife know that 'we are children of saints, and we cannot come together in the way of the gentiles, who do not know God.'"
- St. Josemaria Escriva

"Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self."
- Mother Teresa

"Intense love does not measure . . . it just gives."
- Mother Teresa

"The person who does not decide to love forever will find it very difficult to really love for even one day."
- Pope John Paul II

"Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This is why Christ the Redeemer 'fully reveals man to himself.'"
- Pope John Paul II

"There is no place for selfishness—and no place for fear! Do not be afraid, then, when love makes demands. Do not be afraid when love requires sacrifice"
- Pope John Paul II

"Real love is demanding. I would fail in my mission if I did not tell you so. Love demands a personal commitment to the will of God."
- Pope John Paul II

THE HARMS OF CONTRACEPTION

There are several reasons why we believe that the use of contraception harms everyone involved. The first reason is that the use of contraception leads to abortion. Several "contraceptives" are in fact abortifacients. That is, they cause early abortions. All oral contraceptives, Norplant, Depo-Provera, and IUDs cause abortions before a woman even knows she's pregnant. According to Dr. Bogomir Kuhar, in Infant Homicides Through Contraceptives, these forms of birth control take an estimated 8.1 to 12.75 million lives each year in the US alone. Contraceptives also cause abortions through their failures. All contraceptives fail, some quite often. Even surgical sterilization has a failure rate. Each "failure" results in a new human life, a new baby, an actual woman facing an unplanned and often unwanted pregnancy. These pregnancies are at risk for abortion.

The invention of the birth control pill was revolutionary and, in fact, caused the sexual revolution. Once people thought they could have sex without the possibility of pregnancy, or with a greatly reduced risk of pregnancy, they began to disregard the traditional structures that had protected children and sex for centuries. Contraceptives pills were soon prescribed for younger and younger unmarried women. Since contraceptives fail, this led to an upsurge in the numbers of out of wedlock and teenage pregnancies, and the number of single parent families. With the increase in premarital and extramarital sex, and the number of partners one person might have, the rate of infection from sexually transmitted diseases skyrocketed. Even the number of serious sexually transmitted diseases soared, from about twelve known diseases thirty years ago to over fifty today. This plague has even struck our senior citizens as, empowered by Viagra, they have contact with multiple sex partners. Several retirement communities now report epidemics of STDs. Nature is telling them that even after fertility is naturally gone, the marriage vow is still sacred. The diseases themselves have changed, from easily treatable, known diseases, to more and more destructive ones, including the AIDS virus. Some contraceptives, especially hormonal contraceptives, even make the user more susceptible to STDs.

Contraceptives can help destroy marriages. Only four years after contraceptives were first tested, researchers found that marriages in which contraceptives were used were twice as likely to end in divorce than marriages in which there was no contraceptive use¹. Why this huge difference? Well, using contraceptives means that a couple's fertility is suppressed, and treated like a disease. They are no longer able to share themselves with each other totally in the sex act. There is a barrier not just physical, but also emotional, erected between them. They are closing one part of themselves off from each other, and from God. Often the couple begin to be dissatisfied. The wife starts to feel that the husband does not desire her, only her body. The husband begins to feel that his wife doesn't really want to have sex with him, that she is cold and tired. These attitudes can poison their whole relationship. With this crucial part of their marriage gone bad, soon other problems develop. Before they know it, the couple is in divorce court, dividing up their mutual property.

Contraceptives treat children like a disease. We take medicine or have surgery done to prevent them. When a couple does become pregnant in our modern culture, it may be seen as an occasion for condolences rather than congratulations. A pregnancy after a couple has one or two children may be treated as an unfortunate mistake. As Christians, we know that this attitude is wrong. The Bible tells us that children are a gift from God. They are His blessings. An abundance of children is an expression of God's special favor. What right do any of us have to refuse a gift from God? Instead of the world's attitude that children are bothersome nuisances that prevent us from enjoying our hard-earned wealth, we need to see each child as a marvelous assist to full human life. We believe that all children are good and beautiful. Although some pregnancies may occur under tragic circumstances, each child is an occasion for celebration.

Contraceptives degrade women. From the day in junior high when a woman menstruates for the first time, a woman's fertility is a huge part of her life. If her constantly changing hormones were not enough, for five to ten days every month she gets powerfully reminded again and again that this body of hers was designed to conceive and bear children. When a woman uses contraceptives, she and her partner are actively rejecting this essential fact about herself. Her ability to become pregnant, one of the greatest blessings of her life, becomes unacceptable and a burden. Because most contraceptives are designed to be used by women, when they fail, and a pregnancy occurs, it is "her fault." She is expected to "deal with" her mistake, usually by having an abortion. The father of the child, although he is as responsible for this child as the mother, feels free to abandon both of them. After all, since the contraception wasn't his responsibility, why should he be responsible for the result of the contraceptive failure?

Hormonal contraceptives, besides being abortifacient, have horrific side effects for the women who use them. From high blood pressure to blood clots², to heart attacks³, to migraine headaches, to menstrual problems after you quit taking the drug, hormonal contraceptives (the pill, Norplant, and Depo-Provera etc) can wreak havoc on a woman's body. It is no coincidence that the rise in breast cancer followed ten to fifteen years after hormonal contraceptives first became readily available⁴. It is also no coincidence that many women who have been on the pill for years and now want children, find they are now infertile⁵. Infertility has become a national epidemic, with couples spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying desperately to conceive. Unethical doctors continue to become wealthy prescribing contraceptives and then treating the side effects.

Finally, we believe that the use of contraception is wrong, because that is what our Church teaches. Although it has come under serious fire both from within and without, the Roman Catholic Church has never changed its centuries-old teaching that contraception is morally wrong, and that its use is immoral. Many Catholics have been deceived into believing that the Catholic Church has changed its teaching, or that it doesn't matter anymore. The truth is that the Church cannot change the Creator's design. What is intrinsically immoral will always remain so. We challenge all believers to find out the truth, examine their own consciences, and live up to the standard that our Church has set for us. It's never too late to make a change.

Doctors who provide healthy alternatives to the Pill
One More Soul Directory
Pope Paul VI Institute for Human Reproduction
Culture of Life Family Services

Pope John Paul II

A man whose courage in standing up for his morals is one that I admire. His morals are that of my Church. I adhere to the same beliefs, the same morals, the same standards. I am not as strong as he was, but can only hope to become so. In the face of a "changing" world, he stood on the firm ground of Truth, and would hear nothing of "forward thinking." He stood on the shoulders of giants, and had a louder voice than all of them. He refused to let failing health stop him from doing his job, and in doing so, became an example for us all. He embraced his suffering. He was a beacon of light in this dark world. People from all walks of life respected him, even if they didn't have the same faith.

Learn what he taught. But not only what he taught, but why he taught it. And most importantly: Be Not Afraid.