Pro-Life Movement on Fire in the States

from The Washington Flyer

While the abortion debate seems to be fading from the national platform, several states have taken on the fight to protect the unborn. Alaska made history this past week after voters passed a parental notification law, mandating a minor notify her parents before an abortion is administered. This marked the first time in history a parental notification law was passed by voters and not by the state’s legislature. The measure passed with 55% of the vote.

Alaska is not the only state turning to voters rather than its legislature to ensure protections for life. Colorado has also begun a massive campaign to urge voters to support a personhood amendment to the state’s constitution. The amendment defines a “person” as any human being beginning at conception through natural death. In order to garner support, a website dedicated to the ballot initiative MyCampaignTracker.org was created and designed to “encourage the grassroots personhood movement in Colorado” and “to reach local communities across our state with our campaign message of ‘Persons not Property,’ through November’s election.” The campaign has seen overwhelming support from pro-lifers in the state as well as from many candidates seeking election.

South Carolina and Virginia have also been supportive of the pro-life movement. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford signed into law H3245, a bill that would require a 24-hour waiting period for a woman seeking an abortion and would require that the doctor offer the woman an opportunity to look at an ultrasound of the child before an abortion. In Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli stated this week that abortion clinics will now be legally regulated just as any other medical establishment. Brian J. Gottstein, a spokesman for Mr. Cuccinelli stated, “The state has long regulated outpatient surgical facilities and personnel to ensure a certain level of protection for patients. There is no reason to hold facilities providing abortion services to any lesser standard for their patients. Even pharmacies, funeral homes and veterinary clinics are regulated by the state.”

While the economy and jobs have dominated the federal debate, the pro-life movement continues to gain support among constituents at the state level, winning major victories throughout the nation.

Fraudulent Billing by Planned Parenthood

On Friday, the New Jersey Right to Life released three separate audits conducted by the U.S. Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, which show that state Planned Parenthood providers have been over-billing the federal government. The audits, conducted between 2001 and 2005, found that nearly $3 million should have been refunded to the government. Clinics improperly billed everything from prescription medications to outpatient services. [CitizenLink.com, 8-19-2010]

Comment:

I find it so interesting that when Planned Parenthood “serves” women that they charge them, their insurance, or the government for their services. MWC and hundreds of pregnancy care centers around the country serve women and their families for FREE. There is no “profit motive” at pregnancy care centers. We are motivated by a love for those we serve, a sense of urgency to protect the lives of the unborn, and a passion to see individuals come to know the Lord in a personal way. Check out www.frc.org to see the first ever report that attempts to assess the good work that is being done by hundreds of pregnancy resource centers in the US and around the world.

This report can also be useful in correcting the attacks on PRCs by organizations like NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League), as they attempt to create negative impressions about pregnancy resource centers. See http://www.fwhc.org/abortion/fake.htm.

I am sure that not every Center is perfect but serving women and men in crisis with integrity and love is at the heart of Metro Women’s Center and other centers like ours.

Liberty Baptist Kids Donate Birthday Funds

Liberty Baptist Church Children’s Choir recently donated over $50 to MWC from their birthday funds. Every month when one of the children has a birthday, they put some funds in a container for missions. MWC was blessed to receive these funds! Thanks, kids, for sacrificing for others!

FDA Approves Ella Drug; Pro-Life Groups Say It's Untested, Causes Abortions

Read about another way to experiment on women and terminate early pregnancies by the release of the new drug, ellaOne:
http://www.lifenews.com/nat6632b.html.

Blessings at Waterville!

We had a great time at First Baptist Church in Waterville on Sunday, August 8th, even though it was a sweltering hot day!

I had the opportunity to share a message on purity with the women and girls in the church, about 60 ladies all together. We had a great time around God’s Word.

One of my clients came and shared her testimony with the church folks about choosing open adoption for her son and about her experiences in one of our shepherding homes. I am always encouraged when our clients are willing to publically share their stories because it can be an encouragement to others who may be privately struggling with the same issues or who may need to “see” the reality of someone’s life being changed by God. Many of our clients are “works in process,” (aren’t we all?) and this young lady has made some great changes in her life but has not yet yielded to the Lord. Please pray for her salvation.


Above is a picture of my client when she was still pregnant. She was able to balance her cup on her tummy, something that is not hard when you are 10 months pregnant (she was 2 weeks overdue!). Below is a picture of her and her adoptive family -- what a blessing to see love extended through open adoption!


I was able to thank the folks at the church for their ongoing support and to give them a report of the goings on at the Center. When a missionary comes to speak, they have a practice at the church that after the presentation, members of the church come to the platform and pray for the ministry represented. Pastor Gene Witte is the pastor there, and his prayer is that the Lord would raise up more godly men for leadership positions in the church so that those coming to the church could be ministered to individually. First Baptist Church is celebrating 150 years of ministry this year!

Free Ways to Donate

Donate to support LIFE by searching the internet - at no cost to you. Check out GoodSearch.com.

What if Metro Womens Center earned a donation every time you searched the internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 30% of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, eBay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop, and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting your favorite cause.

And if you download the GoodSearch – Metro Womens Center toolbar, our cause will earn money every time you shop and search online - even if you forget to go to GoodShop or GoodSearch first! Add the Metro Womens Center toolbar at http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/metro-womens-center or http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=847941.

Encouragement: I'm Yours (ukulele)

Just when you think you have seen the "cutest kid ever," along comes another one to make you smile.

This little guy makes me think of all the potential that that has been lost by abortion in the past almost 40 years. He inspires me to keep fighting the good fight for the lives of children. We are crazy to continue destroying lives in the face of so much truth -- we are blinded by our own shortsightedness. Lord, please help us not to take even one life for granted. We lose so much when we lose one life. (Thanks to my friend, Liz, for sharing this clip.)

Encouragement: Robby's Story

from James White:

This is a beautiful, touching, and true story of love and perseverance. Well worth the read, it will give you chills.

At the prodding of my friends, I am writing this story. My name is Mildred Honor, and I am a former elementary school music teacher from Des Moines, Iowa. For over 30 years I have supplemented my income by teaching piano lessons.

During those years I found that children have many levels of musical ability, and even though I have never had the pleasure of having a prodigy, I have taught some very talented students. However, I have also had my share of what I call 'musically challenged' pupils - one such pupil being Robby.

Robby was 11 years old when his mother (a single mom) dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer that students (especially boys) begin at an earlier age, which I explained to Robby. But Robby said that it had always been his dream, so I took him as a student.

Well, Robby began his piano lessons, and from the beginning I thought it was a hopeless endeavor. As much as Robby tried, he lacked the sense of tone and basic rhythm needed to excel. But he dutifully reviewed his scales and some elementary piano pieces that I require all my students to learn.

Over the months he tried and tried while I listened and cringed and tried to encourage him.

At the end of each weekly lesson he would always say, "My mom's going to hear me play someday," but to me, it seemed hopeless. He just did not have any inborn ability.

I only knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby off or waited in her aged car to pick him up. She always waved and smiled, but never dropped in.

Then one day Robby stopped coming for his lessons. I thought about calling him, but assumed that because of his lack of ability, he had decided to pursue something else. I was also glad that he had stopped coming - he was a bad advertisement for my teaching!

Several weeks later I mailed a flyer recital to the students' homes. To my surprise, Robby (who had received a flyer) asked me if he could be in the recital. I told him that the recital was for current pupils and that because he had dropped out, he really did not qualify. He told me that his mother had been sick and unable to take him to his piano lessons, but that he had been practicing. "Please, Miss Honor, I've just got to play," he insisted. I don't know what led me to allow him to play in the recital - perhaps it was his insistence or maybe something inside of me saying that it would be all right.

The night of the recital came and the high school gymnasium was packed with parents, relatives, and friends. I put Robby last in the program, just before I was to come up and thank all the students and play a finishing piece. I thought that any damage he might do would come at the end of the program and I could always salvage his poor performance through my 'curtain closer'.

Well, the recital went off without a hitch. The students had been practicing, and it showed. Then Robby came up on the stage. His clothes were wrinkled, and his hair looked as though he had run an egg beater through it. 'Why wasn't he dressed up like the other students?' I thought. 'Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?' Robby pulled out the piano bench, and I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen to play Mozart's Concerto No. 21 in C Major. I was not prepared for what I heard next. His fingers were light on the keys, even dancing nimbly on the ivories. He went from pianissimo to fortissimo, from allegro to virtuoso; his suspended chords that Mozart demands were magnificent! Never had I heard Mozart played so well by anyone his age.

After six and a half minutes he ended in a grand crescendo, and everyone was on their feet in wild applause! Overcome and in tears, I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby in joy. "I have never heard you play like that, Robby. How did you do it?" Through the microphone Robby explained, "Well, Miss Honor .... remember I told you that my mom was sick? Well, she actually had cancer and passed away this morning. And well .... she was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she had ever heard me play, and I wanted to make it special."

There wasn't a dry eye in the house that evening. As the people from Social Services led Robby from the stage to be placed into foster care, I noticed that even their eyes were red and puffy. I thought to myself then how much richer my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil. No, I have never had a prodigy, but that night I became a prodigy ... of Robby. He was the teacher and I was the pupil, for he had taught me the meaning of perseverance and love and believing in yourself, and may be even taking a chance on someone when you don't know why.

Robby was killed years later in the senseless bombing of the Alfred P. Murrow Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April, 1995.

And now, a footnote to the story. So many seemingly trivial interactions present us with a choice: do we act with compassion or do we pass up that opportunity and leave the world a bit colder in the process?

If we cannot seek God in quiet moments of our lives, we are not likely to find Him when trouble strikes. We are more likely to panic.

40 Days of Prayer: Day 40

Praying today for women and girls who are victims of incest, specifically those who become pregnant and are forced to have secret abortions, to have the strength to expose the abuser and to stand against the abortion of their baby.

Video: Hand in Hand

Dave Sebald, MWC board member, passes along this amazing video.
He says, "This is a very encouraging and beautiful presentation.
It is sad that many children are aborted because they are missing an arm or a leg, yet these young people have not allowed their missing limb to stop them from shining!"

Happy birthday, Colleen!

MWC wishes a very happy birthday to our wonderful, godly, self-sacrificing director, Colleen Tronson!

We pray God's richest blessings for you and your family, Colleen! Thank you for your unmatched contributions to the ministry of Metro Women's Center, for your sacrificial love to our clients, and for your faithful leadership for almost 20 years.

40 Days of Prayer: Day 39

Praying today for the friends or relatives of a pregnant woman who have encouraged, supported, or in some cases forced/coerced her to have an abortion, to recognize their part in the death of a child and seek the Lord’s forgiveness for their participation. Also praying for the spiritual return of those who were once walking with the Lord but have turned away from their relationship with Him through their involvement in an abortion.

Today's Turning Point from David Jeremiah

Twelve Feet of Criticism

"Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married."
Numbers 12:1 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

In May of 1922, when the famous rescue mission in Chicago, the Pacific Garden Mission, had to relocate from Van Buren Street to 650 South State Street, a firestorm of criticism erupted. Some who had been converted at the old location refused to move. "Do you see that plank right there on the platform?" asked one converted alcoholic. "Twelve years ago my tears fell there when Jesus saved me." The reaction was so emotional that mission leaders wisely hired carpenters to take out a twelve-foot square from the platform and move it to the new location.

In church life and in our personal relationships, we can react strongly and critically at something we don't like. Often our response is more emotional than thoughtful, and we sometimes heap criticism on people who are themselves under pressure. We make their work harder.

When someone is leading or when they're struggling, why do people add to their burden by second-guessing their decisions? Our goal should be to encourage others at all costs. Get hold of your critical reactions, and prayerfully try to be an encourager.

Fault-finding is dreadfully catching; one dog will set a whole kennel howling.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Encouragement at work!

Well, since we're focusing on encouragment in August, I want to tell you about two wonderful encouragement responses this week! One was a great big hug and an “I’m praying for you” from a dear sister in the Lord, and the other was from a client who said she really “appreciated all that MWC did for her and hoped that [we] could continue to help other women in need.” Yipee!

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21

It is so true that the tongue has the power to encourage or discourage and to promote peace or bitterness. It is a little member of the body, but a royal pain when not used properly! We can encourage life and hope with our words and with the WORD!

The Irena Sendler Story

Here is a wonderful story about an amazing women who did remarkable things under adverse circumstances.

40 Days of Prayer: Day 38

Praying today for the Amazing Grace Home project, that the right location and property will be found at the right time.

40 Days of Prayer: Day 37

Praying today for pregnancy care centers all over the world, especially our friend Carolyn in Liberia and her center in Gbonga.