Re: Protest Event Thursday evening

We took part in a vigil to protest Planned Parenthood's 49^th annual fundraising dinner at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel on Park and Harbor Drive by the bay.  There were a bit more people this time than the last time I was there (though not as many as had been at the "Cocktails for Choice" dinner near 30^th and Upas).  Roger Lopez, Pat Hansen, and Elena di Ventra were there along with about forty others.  Sue and Tim Houze, who I knew years ago, were there, I'd last run into them at USD a few months ago.  We held up a lot of the graphic signs.  One of my favorite signs is the "Abortion Kills Children" sign, which has no pictures.  Here's an interesting picture I saw on Facebook. 

Mom will be getting back the results of her biopsy next Monday to see if her angiosarcoma has returned.  They had earlier checked for masses with ultrasound, but they still want to do this.

In the news, Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng has told the Associated Press that his situation is dangerous and American officials and friends have been blocked from seeing him, and even beaten up when they tried to visit him.  Chen is the blind activist who has called attention to China's forced abortion policy, where pregnant women who already have a child are arrested, restrained, and forced to undergo mandatory abortions, regardless of how far along they are. I wonder if we shouldn't go back to calling that country "Red China".

The screening of "October Baby"

I attended a screening of October Baby at USD earlier tonight.  Sarah Rigby, one of the actresses in the movie, told us about her role in the movie and an abortion she had years ago.  Claire Culwell, a woman who survived an abortion attempt, also spoke.  Unfortunately I felt I had to leave because I was getting kind of tired, and I had to drive back to El Cajon at night.

Mom was at the doctor having some of her old surgery wounds cleared up (seems like she's always doing that).  She'll have a biopsy done soon to see if there's a recurrence of her angiosarcoma.  Earlier an ultrasound hadn't detected anything unusual, but they're doing this procedure to further check on things.

Some news items: Westchester legislators are considering creating a 25-foot buffer zone around clinics.

 In Boise, Idaho a crisis pregnancy clinic is operating right next to a Planned Parenthood clinic.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has ordered closed two abortion facilities that had a history of public safety violations.

LifeNews has posted an editorial about sex-selection abortions.

The 40 Days for Life Closing Ceremony

I attended the closing ceremony for the 40 Days for Life program.  Roger Lopez and Gene Villinski ran the ceremony along with Vicki Whitmire, Trippy Seelig, and Bishop Flores.  I also saw Elena di Ventra and Timmerie Millington, both of whom have worked on the project in the past.  Timmerie has a few blogs on pro-life activities.  I also saw Pat Hansen, Barbara Sheddy, and a few others from the vigils.  A post-abortive woman from Silent No More spoke of how many women aren't able to forgive themselves after an abortion; it hits close to home, but not for the reason the reader might think.  When I was younger my dad and I were close, but as we grew older a number of things went terribly wrong.  Now my mom has had a recurrence of angiosarcoma; they may know in April whether the gleevec has helped.

The next pro-life activity will be the Pro-Life Stations of the Cross, which I also did last year.

Other news:  Planned Parenthood is building a $6.5 million facility in Fort Worth, Texas.  A contractor walked out after learning the project was for a Planned Parenthood building.

A Florida dad relates that he wanted his then-girlfriend to have an abortion in 1964 when he was 19, and now thanks his lucky stars that it was illegal at the time.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010)

The start of 40 Days for Life

I went to the 40 Days for Life Kickoff vigil in El Cajon last night.  There were I guess about 40 people there including a few regulars.  I also went to the kickoff vigil in Miramar earlier tonight.as well, and there were I think about 60 people. Roger Lopez and Dr. Delgado were among the speakers. LifeNews and LifeSiteNews have also covered the start of the campaign.  I was away from pro-life for far too long, but at the same time pro-life often seems empty now with my dad gone these past few years.  I try to remember a prayer verse which goes, "There's nothing that destroys more life than abortion."

My mom is back from the nursing home and is receiving Gleevec as chemotherapy.  She also just got back from a trip to Santa Barbara with my two sisters and my cousin.  She's often had high blood pressure,  but it's been lower than usual. Her systolic is 150, but her diastolic is in the 40s.  She'll be seeing her doctor Thursday.

National Review Online published an editorial entitled Mandatory Abortion Coverage? which discussed, among other things, the limitations on the ability of contraception to reduce abortions.  Among the points made were that among low-income co-habiting teens, the failure rate for birth control pills was 48.4% and 71.7% for condoms.  The high failure rate may be in part due to the low educational level of many people in this income bracket, but another point made was that if one is only 3 hours late with progestin-only pills emergency contraception is advised for unprotected intercourse.  In addition, out of 23 studies not one showed that the availability of emergency contraception did anything to reduce the number of abortions.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010)

Changes to my blog.

People who've been following this blog may notice a new picture.  I'm the guy in the middle with the dark shirt, My parents are the ones seated, and you can also see my two sisters and their respective husbands, and my nephew.  Mom has been released from the nursing home and is expected to begin treatment with the Gleevec soon.

Kristy Burton Brown of Live Action posted about media bias when it comes to pro-lifers.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010)

Jan 22 vigil + some news items

There was a pretty good turnout at the candlelight vigil on Grape and Harbor tonight.  In addition to the main body of participants at one corner, there were a few who crossed the lights to hold signs on the other side of the streets.  I remembered the quarters for the parking meters, and also had a jacket for when it got cold.  There were quite a few familiar faces there, Pat Hansen, Roger Lopez, and Fr. Nabil, as well as the Bradels and a few others.  I just found out some people from the Facebook page Pro-Lifers Stand Together attended the vigil.

 

On a personal note my mom is currently in the same nursing home where my dad was at a few years ago.  She's recovering from an infection that occurred as a result of some skin grafts to remove some cancerous growths.  They found a few more and don't think they can remove any more skin; they're going to give her a drug called Gleevec once the infection has healed.  This drug does wonders for a certain type of leukemia, but I don't know whether it will help with her cancer, a form of angiosarcoma.  We're hoping she'll be released from the nursing home in a week or so; she's much more lucid than my dad was during his time there.

 

Some news items: 

Planned Parenthood will be merging some of its clinics in Michigan.

 

Blog writers at the anti-abortion gang and Live Action, among others, have commented on the hideous matter of sex-selective abortions, where couples abort a baby simply for being the wrong sex (usually female).  Way to go, women's rights groups!

Live Action also relays a report by the Chicago Tribune that some abortion centers have gone 15 years without an inspection, while Jill Stanek reports on two botched abortions where they only had one gurney available, and so they had to take out the second patient in a wheelchair.  Safe, legal??

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)