Abortion Advocates Call Faithful Nuns as "Dirty"

During a tough interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News Channel, Patricia Ireland speaking on behalf of the  National Organization for Women (NOW)  sought to justify NOW's labeling of the Little Sisters of the Poor as part of the "Dirty 100" in light of the recent Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014) Supreme Court ruling.

Ireland deflected the denigration of the Catholic nuns as being like the "Dirty Dozen" with other corporations, presumably for fundraising efforts.  But Kelly does not let her off than easily, suggesting that the nuns be considered "Groups with whom we disagree".

The former NOW President kept insisting that the Little Sisters could "opt out" of the Obamacare contraception mandate.  Except the alleged work around forces the Sisters to sign the Form 700 document permitting others to provide the abortifacients which are anathematic to their faith. 

Ireland offered patronizing lip service to the nuns' living their faith and helping the indigent infirmed. But what she does not realize is that if the Little Sisters of the Poor are eventually forced to pay for such unwanted services ordered by former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius then they will move out rather than contravene their consciences.  

Ireland insisted that I.U.D.s, which is one of the abortifacients in question, does not kill eggs in the uterus.  Well, that's not quite true.  Generally, inter-uterine devices act as spermicide to prevent fertilization but copper I.U.D.s are touted as an emergency contraceptive for five days after intercourse.  Most sperm dies within two days after ejaculation (even in the uterus), thus the emergency contraceptive quality of such I.U.Ds intimates that it prevents the implantation of the blastocyst thereby killing a fertilized egg. 

Ireland incorrectly asserted that the Supreme Court had ruled on the "opt-out" provision.  Hobby Lobby covered closely held corporations with conscience objections but Obamacare opt-outs for non-profits has not been decided yet (although SCOTUS has offered a unanimous injunction pending appeal on January 24th, 2014). 

Ireland's fatal rhetorical faux pas was her bon mot that Supreme Court decisions do not affect the reality.  The hostess of the Kelly Files jumped in and asked if Roe v. Wade affected the reality. T o borrow an oft uttered Ireland phrase from the interview "Bless her heart."

Gosnell: The Movie--Trying to Tell the Story of an American Serial Killer Which Strikes Too Close to Home

[L] Ann McElhinney and [R] Phelim McAleer

Last spring, husband and wife veteran filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Anne McElhinney were publicizing their feature documentary Fracknation as the murder trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell was occurring in Philadelphia.  McAleer was amazed at the lack of coverage of a prolific serial killer that murdered two women in botched late term abortions in unsanitary conditions, used a brutal snipping technique to kill a thousand children beyond the legal limit for abortion and also dealt prescription drugs.

Yet the national mainstream media ignored the Gosnell case, dismissing it like a local murder case while lavishing attention on the concurrent Jodi Arias murder trial. McAleer did man on the street interviews in California to learn about what the public knew about sensational murder trials.

As Katherine Graham, the former publisher of the Washington Post, proclaimed: "What we cover and what we don't matter a lot...The power is to set the agenda."  Fox News commentator Greg Gutfeld recently speculated about the reasons why most of the mainstream media (including Fox) did not cover the Gosnell trial closely:

"The reason why they don't do this one is not because the evil is so grotesque.  It's that it's too close to a moral choice they've made.  That's what it's about.  It's not that like, ah it's so hard to do something on this man who butchered babies.  It's because it's too close to the pro-choice mindset."

However, McAleer and McElhinney were so haunted by the Gosnell trial that they backed away from other crowd-source funded projects so as to make a movie about Gosnell.  Yet Anne & Phelim Media encountered more velvet gloved censorship by Kickstarter, which claims to not curate projects but would not allow them to describe their dramatized movie idea as being about a mass murderer who killed a thousand children as it allegedly violated community standards which Kickstart "encourages and (selectively) enforces".  McAleer believes that it is within Kickstarter's right to not facilitate funding but that it should be forthright that it is due to the project matter not a transparent lie about community standards which it does not enforce for sundry other offensive projects.

So they moved their crowd-source funding efforts to Indiegogo, where they have raised $1.2 million  of a fixed target $2.1 million.  If they do not make their designated funding mark by May 12th, the money reverts  back to the prospective investors.

There is already an excellent documentary film 3801 Lancaster, which interviews victims of Gosnell's House of Horrors.  So McAleer and McElhinney want to make dramatized version of the Gosnell story which would run on the Lifetime  Movie Network rather than a feature documentary to reach a wider audience.

 It is easy for seaboard elitists to dismiss a film about Gosnell as just being by religious zealots with pro-life propaganda, which is a touch charge to apply to McAleer and McElhinney. In addition, this dismissive instinct ignores how Dr. Gosnell was a racist as he gave his white patients much better and cleaner abortion services than his clients of color.

A film about Gosnell must also include a political angle.  Former Governor Tom Ridge (R-PA) was elected as chief executive of the Keystone State as a moderate Republican.  The governor's office made it clear that the Commonwealth should do nothing to impede abortion services, so Gosnell's clinic was not properly inspected for 17 years, despite gruesome reports and several deaths. 

Gosnell's clinic was raided because Gosnell was writing prescriptions like a pell mell pill mill for Oxycotin and the ilk.  That raid permitted police to stumble upon an unsanitary abortion butchery, where Gosnell kept severed limbs as trophies.

Hearing the filmmakers promote their project, it is clear that they yearn to tell a compelling true story about a prolific American serial killer and pull back the curtain on details which a progressive public would rather ignore.

If one wishes to help actuate the Gosnell movie project, one can contribute to the efforts at www.gosnellmovie.com.  Those who contribute $25 will get a DVD of the film.  But the filmmakers also implore people to contribute anything to show that people care.

Michael Bloomberg on Heaven

As Michael Bloomberg engaged in a publicity campaign with the New York Times which highlighted his $50 million personal contribution to support gun control, the three term former  Mayor (D,R,I, D- NYC) offered some insightful opinions on his eternal reward
.

While Mr. Bloomberg is Jewish in origin and agnostic in practice, he is confident that his nanny state policies banning Big Gulps, trans-fats, salt and his efforts to grab guns has earned him an easy pass through the Pearly Gates, should it exist. 

Bloomberg's metaphysical musings seem counter to Christian concepts of sacrificial redemption from the Cross, which will be celebrated this weekend during the Triduum and Easter. 

Over-the-Counter Eugenics?

Part of the pharmaceutical publicity roll out for Plan B One-Step by Teva Pharmaceuticals includes this ad. The model for this campaign clearly does not look over 17.  But  this is in line with the April 2013  Food and Drug Administration ruling that women and children can purchase the abortifacient over-the- counter provided the purchaser can show an ID proving that they are over 15.  In June 2013, the Obama Administrated aborted its attempt to block over-the-counter availability of pill to all women and girls. 

The marketing of this pill is targeting youthful minorities as an alternative to birth control pills, which might require a pesty and embarrassing visit to a physician while skirting some state's parental notification requirements. 

When a dozen New York City high schools announced that they would be distributing  the so called "morning after pill", New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan  objected to distributing powerful drugs with serious potential side effects to girls as young as 14 without parental consent as being "tragic and misguided".  Cardinal Dolan's modest proposal that: 

The public schools would be better advised to promote what truly works rather than continuing to follow a failed experiment that will only lead to further problems for society and for young people.

But of course inculcating an approach of abstinence before marriage is advocating morality and that can not be allowed in secular schools.  But freely distributing morning after pills like Plan B while limiting aspirin, ear-piercing, tattoos or tanning beds without parental consent is fine because of potential health risks. 

In New York City, 60% of all pregnancies to non-Hispanic blacks end in abortions. Nationally, it is the largest cause of death for African Americans since 1973.

Abortion advocates have long advocated that such a delicate decision should be made between a woman and her doctor.  Now Plan B eliminates the doctor which may ameliorate those horrific statistics.  And since it is an Over-the-Counter purchase, it eliminates the cost strain on the free birth control and abortofacients prescribed in Obamacare. 

Abortion opponents like Dr. Alveda King have observed that the most dangerous place for African Americans is the womb. 

The Plan B One-Step and the marketing towards minority youth seems to fulfill Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger's plan to weed out undesirable elements from the population.  The irony is that the eugenics occurs at the hands of targeted population.  What progress!

Then again,  consider President Obama's blessing of Planned Parenthood during his re-election campaign in 2012. 

A Bit of Brooding About Born Never Asked

It is fascinating to witness how the gory details of the Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s capital murder case has made pro-choice people uncomfortable.  The elite liberal media had to be shamed to cover the serial killing string infanticides of seven babies who were born but had their spinal cords “snipped” to “ensure fetal demise”.   The New York Times, whose mast proclaims “All the News that is fit to print”, which tends to be the vanguard for the mainstream media (really the elite liberal media) stopped covering it because it had already published six articles.  The New York Times’ editorial editor Andrew Rosenthal rationalized the Old Gray Lady’s lack of curiosity over the gruesome details of Gosnell by opining: 

What does the trial of a Philadelphia doctor who is accused of performing illegal late-term abortions by inducing labor and then killing viable fetuses have to do with the debate over legal abortion?

That rhetorical question is easy to answer– it gives insights how some of our high ranking elected officials actually hold political positions which condone Gosnell’s acts of infanticide and how government officials and medical turn a blind eye to existing law protecting the newly born to ensure the viability of their perceived sacred right of abortion on demand.

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Although this author is appalled by abortion, it is currently the law of the land with some caveats (like the 24 week rule, and Born Alive).  But consider the appalling medical conditions described in the Gosnell trial, and the aforementioned Orlando abortion instance and the lack of regard for the Born Alive Protection Act.  Does this type of treatment represent the sentiments which President Obama alluded to when quoting President Bill J. Clinton that “Abortion should be rare, safe and legal”.

***

If abortionists routinely skirt the law on infants born alive and give sub-par medical treatment to women wanting abortions on the cusp of legally recognized viability, then how does it bode for other medical treatment, especially under Obamacare? 

Those who oppose abortion know that pro-choice people become uncomfortable when the ghastly  facts about abortion as practice are exposed.  That is why the Lamestream Media ignores cases like Gosnell and Hollywood stereotypes pro-lifers as hayseed, obsessed bitter clingers.  But as we are all being fed into the machine of Obamacare, people should be fully cognizant how medical ethics are being skirted for profit and professional integrity as well as the ethics of removing the voice for the defenseless such as  the unborn may soon imperil you.

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com 

Philadelphia Fallout From the Abortionist Kermit Gosnell Trial

The horrific testimony about Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who is being tried for
the murder of seven newborns and a Bhutanese female refuge after a botched abortion has shown that ideology isolates opinion on mass murder.  While America is outraged over the cruel killing and maiming that the Boston Marathon Bombers inflicted, the media had to be shamed into briefly covering a doctor who's groundbreaking technique was to snip the spinal cords of infants after being born to "ensure fetal demise" and storing dozens on jars of dismembered body parts on shelves.

Kermit Gosnell's attorney Jack McMahon

Through his lawyer Jack McMahon, Gosnell claims  that: "Everybody's made him the butcher, this, that and the other thing without any trial, without anything being exposed to the public and everybody's found him guilty, that's not right"..  Furthermore, the Gosnell's legal mouthpiece asserted that: "This is a targeted, elitist and racist prosecution of a doctor who's done nothing but give (back) to the poor and the people of West Philadelphia."  If that were the case, why did Gosnell's defense not bring it up in trial--after all, the two year gag order was moot in court.   Instead, the  Gosnell defense rested without calling a single witness.


The lack of curiosity in the Lamestream Media over the testimony for the  House of Horrors at 3801 Lancaster is understandable as political partisans who do not want the sacrament of abortion on demand to be endangered.

 But even for those who fervently support the right of a mother to an unborn baby, they should be concerned at the basically unregulated health and sanitary conditions and disparate treatment of their desperate customers.

Public health officials found unsterile medical instruments, with rusty and outdated equipment covered with dust. Gosnell admitted that perhaps 20% of his procedures were on women after their 24th week, which is in violation of Commonwealth of  Pennsylvania law. In fact, during trial a worker at the clinic testified that Gosnell joked that one baby that he aborted was big enough to walk him home.

The clinic had a string of violations which were never corrected. Then Pennsylvania Health officials stopped inspecting for ten years for what observers might conclude were willful political ignorance about protected procedures.

There was testimony that rang of medical malpractice of women being injured by careless surgical technique on the cervix. And then the clinic had non-licensed individuals, including a 15 year old high school student aiding in surgeries.

When Gosnell applied to become a member of the National Abortion Federation, the Evaluator reported that the records were a mess, that patients were not properly informed of medical risks, that anesthesia was misused and that equipment was not available.  While the invigilator from NAF rejected Gosnell's establishment terming it the worst abortion clinic that she ever inspected, this cornucopia of snafus was not reported to authorities.  So much for caring about womens' health or civic duty.

 It is rich to hear Gosnell's defense talk about racism and targeted treatment when Gosnell himself gave disparate treatment to white women as it was the "way of the world" because they might report him, unlike his Black and Asian clientele.

Pro Life people were dismayed when the trial court judge threw out three counts of the first degree murder for newborns as not having enough evidence to present at trial.  This was probably aided by the documented fact that  Gosnell' destroyed clinic records before he was raided.  The trial judge later reinstated one count on the newborn thrown in a shoe box. Thus Gosnell is still being tried for five first degree murders and the third degree murder of the botched abortion. While this records cleansing may spare him some jail time, the publish should know his record.

If the Lamestream Media would do its job, there would be little need to have a slew of summer Horror flicks as all one would need to do is review Gosnell trial coverage. However the elite liberal media reports on what it cares about, ignores the rest while disparaging journalists who do not follow the party line. For those who can stomach the gory details, it is worth watching the documentary 3801 Lancaster (2013)  by director David Altrogge.



 


h/t: Conrad Friedersdorf, the Atlantic

Sounding the Alarm for Religious Liberty

Eric Metaxas, the author of Amazing Grace and Bonhoeffer,  and Ruth Institute founder Jennifer Roback Morse, team up in a short but compelling video to expose the HHS mandate as not  only a threat to religious freedom but to the United States.

Some may scoff that the Obamacare qualified health plan mandate does not force individuals to go against their will in using contraception, sterilizations and abortafacients.  Besides, President Obama claims that they won't even have to pay for those services but insurance companies will bankroll the "free" services.  To add insult to injury, the same day the President announced this so called compromise in February, HHS Secretary Sebelius published the final rules that remained unchanged since August 2011. Oh, and the "free" abortions will be funded by taxing every American $2 a month for these services.

This Acton Institute video was adept at noting that it is not just insurance coverage that is repugnant to religious liberty.  The Federal Government, through the cudgel on the HHS mandate, will force Catholic Hospitals to offer services like abortion or else face crippling fines and the threat of being taken over by Uncle Sam.

Forcing Catholics Institutions Out of Charity Not Fine with US

The HHS final rule on qualified health plans imposes a Contraception Mandate that poses a poison pill for faithful Catholic and other institutions that believe that life begins at conception. Mark Rienzi, the Becket Fund For Religious Liberty attorney who represents Ave Maria University, Belmont Abbey College, Colorado Christian University and ETWN , is confident that the outcome in federal courts will come out the right way and protect religious liberty in America. However, if Rienzi’s optimism is misplaced, he believes that Catholics could end up engaging in civil disobedience against an unjust law.


The civil disobedience with religious liberty protestors will not be like the sit-ins of the civil rights movement. Instead, Rienzi anticipates institutions not paying for the contraception, sterilizations and abortifacients. This would lead to crippling fines which eventually would put the charitable and educational missions out of existence.


In a perverse way, such a shuttering of Catholic identity might be the aim of the Obama Administration. The Obama Administration budgetary proposal for FY2013 sought to limit the deductability of charitable contributions for those making over $250,000 a year, exactly the demographic which makes substantial gifts to non-profit causes. As for Catholic hospitals, they make up 15% of all bed-space in America and they are often the only provider in rural regions. If conscientious Christians cede the field due to the Contraception Mandate (or being fined out of existence), the federal government will dominate the health-care playing field and be a major step towards a single-payer system.

It is not fine to force charitable institutions from living their faith by penalizing them for not acquiescing. It may be time to recall the Man of All Seasons, St. Thomas More who was a martyr for not submitting to an unjust law proffered from English King Henry VIII, the secular power that be.



h/t: CNS News