FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: March 22, 2012

Contact: Andre Kim
347-286-7277

NEW YORK, NY — Friday’s Rally for Religious Freedom, taking place in more than 100 cities across the country, will mark the second anniversary of the passage of the abortion-friendly Patient Protection Affordable Care Act.

But Janet Morana, executive director of Priests for Life and co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, notes the rallies will take place just one day after another infamous anniversary. March 22, 1972 marks 40 years since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized contraception for unmarried people.

“It’s taken 40 years, but we finally have a president with the audacity to violate the First Amendment and call for free contraception for all Americans,” said Mrs. Morana, who will offer a keynote address at the noon rally tomorrow at the Federal Hall National Memorial. “We have to stand up and say ‘We will not surrender our freedom of religion in favor of a blister pack full of carcinogens.’”

The rallies have been organized in protest of the Health and Human Services Mandate that calls on all employers to provide contraception, sterilization services and abortion-inducing drugs to their workers free of charge, even if they have religious objections.

Priests for Life, which is organizing the New York City rally, filed the fourth of nine lawsuits against the Obama administration over the contraception/abortifacient mandate.

Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, urged all Americans who treasure the rights guaranteed them in the U.S. Constitution to attend one of the rallies.

“Please join thousands of your fellow citizens as they gather in prayer and public witness in cities and towns all across the US to oppose this mandate,” Father Pavone said.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, will send a representative to read a letter at the rally. Also speaking at the bilingual rally in Manhattan will be Dr. Alveda King, director of African-American Outreach for Priests for Life; Father Victor Salomon, Director of Hispanic Outreach for Priests for Life; Father Agustino Torres of the Franciscan Friars; Chris Slattery, founder of Expectant Mother Care; Monsignor Philip Reilly of Helpers of God’s Precious Infants; Bronx City Councilman Fernando Cabrera; Chris Bell, founder of Good Counsel Homes, and Dr. Anne Nolte of the St. Gianna Center for Women’s Health.

The lawsuits and rallies are accompanied by a prayer campaign to reverse the mandate; prayers for each day can be found at www.PrayerCampaign.org.
Federal Hall National Memorial is at 26 Wall St. For information, visit www.StandUpForReligiousFreedom.com, email Rally@PriestsForLife.org or call 347-286-7250.

Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit Priests for Life.

Abortion: A Choice Against Women

There are nine lawsuits addressing the unconstitutionality of the HHS ACS MANDATE. Added to their legal argument is the fact that abortion and it’s “cousins” are not health care. Many in the pro-life movement versus anti-life debate are reluctant to make a connection between contraception and abortion. They insist that these are two very different acts–that there is all the difference in the world between contraception, which prevents a life from coming to be and abortion, which takes a life that has already begun.

To the contrary, with some contraceptives there is not only a link with abortion, there is a relationship. Some contraceptives are abortifacients; they work by causing early term abortions. The IUD likely prevents a fertilized egg–a young human being- from implanting in the uterine wall. The pill does not always stop ovulation, but sometimes prevents implantation of the growing embryo. And, of course, the new RU-486 pill works altogether by aborting a new fetus/baby.

Few talk about how abortions and artificial birth control not only kill and/or prevent the birth of babies, they are also very bad for women’s health. Both, for instance, are linked to controversial breast cancer discussions.

A gray area – forced or coerced sterilization. The most visible and classic case of forced sterilization is noted in the testimony of Elaine Riddick. Her case, and those of other women who were sterilized in North Carolina is currently being considered for new litigation.

Dr. Chris Kahlenborn’s book: Breast Cancer, Its Link to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill brings seven years the research, review and analysis of more than 500 studies and related works. It is very timely because of the breast cancer epidemic, which currently threatens every woman. Both abortion and artificial birth control are linked to breast cancer.

Research shows that induced abortion increases the risk of breast cancer for all women with Black women and other minorities having higher rates. Black women number higher and also tend to develop more aggressive cancers. There is also a greater risk in women who have had abortions if they were under age 18 at the time; if they do not have any more children after aborting; or if they have a family history of breast cancer. Family history of breast cancer sometimes also shows family history of abortions.

In 2009, in a study of more than 50,000 African-American women, Boston University epidemiologist Lynn Rosenberg found a 65 percent increase in a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer among those who had ever taken the birth-control pill. The risk doubles for those who had used the contraceptive within the past five years and had taken it for longer than 10 years.

Rosenberg studies black women because they have been underserved in cancer research so far, even though they suffer from higher rates of “triple negative” breast cancer. Rosenberg’s findings linked these cases to the “pill.” A number of other studies of women of multiple ethnic groups support her research linking the pill to breast cancer, including research done in New England; South Carolina; Long Island, N.Y.; and Scandinavia.

Breast cancer in the U.S. is more prevalent in young black women than in white women of equivalent age, and is the second leading cause of cancer death (after lung cancer) among black women. This may be a consequence of more common hormonal contraceptive use and/or a greater frequency of abortion among young black women. Black women who develop breast cancer generally have more aggressive cancers resulting in a shortened life expectancy.

It has been noted that while Black American’s make up approximately 13% or less of America’s population, nearly 33% of abortions reported since the passage of Roe v Wade in 1973 have occurred on Black Women. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, who also distributes free or low cost artificial abortion drugs has a highly targeted market to Black Women. So Black women are at a higher risk for abortions and breast cancer and other health related problems as a consequence of being marketed for the causes.

How does abortion impact breast cancer?

At the beginning of pregnancy there are great increases in certain hormone levels (eg estrogen, progesterone, and HCG) that support pregnancy. In response to these changes, breast cells divide and mature into cells able to produce milk. Abortion causes an abrupt fall in hormone levels, leaving the breast cells in an immature state. These immature cells can more easily become cancer cells. Read more HERE.

As of January 1999, 11 out of 12 studies in the United States, and 25 out of 31 studies worldwide, showed that women who experienced an induced abortion had an increased risk of breast cancer. In 1996 Joel Brind, PhD [1], assembled the results of all the studies up to that time. Brind concluded that women who have an abortion before their first full-term pregnancy have a 50% increased risk of developing breast cancer while those who have an abortion after their first full-term pregnancy have a 30% increased risk.

A 50% increased risk means a 50% higher risk than someone would have otherwise. For example, if a person already had a 10% risk of developing breast cancer, then a 50% increase would bring the risk up to 15%.

ABC Breast Cancer Link: Breast cancer is the worldwide leading cancer in women and is the most common cause of cancer death for U.S. women age 20-59.In the U.S. every year about 175,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 43,000 women die from this disease. This means that about one U.S. woman out of eight will develop breast cancer at some time in her life and about one fourth of such women will die from this disease. Induced abortion, especially at a young age, markedly increases a woman’s risk for developing breast cancer. This risk is increased even further by other breast cancer risk factors such as synthetic hormones (including hormonal contraceptives like the Birth Control Pill, Norplant and Depo-Provera), family history of breast cancer, and others.

Abortion and Fibromyalgia

Psychiatrist and researcher Dr. Philip Ney relates the story of a patient of his who developed fibromyalgia, which causes chronic pain without any apparent cause. He found that she had undergone an abortion just before this pain began, and since then, has developed a theory that in some cases, the pain of fibromyalgia may in fact be caused by chemicals released by the aborted baby’s flesh when it is torn apart. These chemicals cross the placenta, and lodge in the mother’s nervous system. In reality, she is feeling not her own pain, but that of her aborted child. We have not yet begun to understand all the implications of abortion, and of how destroying a child in the womb destroys the rest of us. Let’s pray that our society may forsake abortion and find healing.

Physical Effects and Psychological Effects of Abortion (WEBA)

-Sterility –Guilt

-Miscarriages -Suicidal impulses

-Ectopic pregnancies -Mourning/Withdrawal

-Stillbirths -Regret/Remorse

-Bleeding and infections -Loss of confidence

-Shock and comas -Low self-esteem

-Perforated uterus -Preoccupation with death

-Peritonitus -Hostility/Rage

-Fever/Cold sweat -Despair/Helplessness

-Intense pain -Desire to remember birth date

-Loss of body organs -Intense interest in babies

-Crying/Sighing -Thwarted maternal instincts

-Insomnia -Hatred for persons connected with abortion

-Loss of appetite -Desire to end relationship with partner

-Exhaustion -Loss of sexual interest/Frigidity

-Weight loss -Inability to forgive self

-Nervousness -Nightmares

-Decreased work capacity -Seizures and tremors

-Vomiting -Feeling of being exploited

-Gastro-intestinal disturbances -Horror of child abuse

Additional Effects of Harm Caused by certain “reproductive health care” procedures

-Premature Labor and Births due to weakened cervix, scarred and/or perforated uterine walls, etc. (Note: the IUD and surgical abortion procedures have been known to cut or scar the woman’s reproductive organs)

-Trauma to Mammary System

-Trauma to Reproductive System

-Exposure to STD germs where failure to properly sterilize instruments occur

-Permanent Sterility (leaving the woman no option to changing her mind later)

Conclusion

It may not be immediately obvious that there is any connection between contraception and abortion, but on further examination, a relationship between the two becomes apparent. Ignoring the issue of contraception leads to a lost opportunity to respect life to the fullest degree. Neither abortion nor artificial contraception are health care. There are at least three connections between contraception and abortion to consider:

1. Many contraceptives can directly cause early abortions.

2. Contraceptive use creates a perceived need for abortion as a “back-up.”

3. Contraceptive use causes a devaluation of human life.

4. Both abortions and artificial contraceptives are bad for women’s health.

End Notes:

Somehow, for political reasons, selfish gain, lack of knowledge and other variables, there are very obvious solutions that are not on the general or public radar.

BREAKING NEWS!

1. Women do not have to have unplanned or undesirable pregnancies in most cases. It is a scientific and medical fact that a woman can’t become pregnant if she is not ovulating. There are inexpensive ovulation kits on the market that women can obtain and exercise power and control over their right to get pregnant or not. A woman should have the right to say when she will and will not have sex. She should have the right and knowledge to control her reproductive rights.

2. There are natural and relatively inexpensive solutions for women who have irregular cycles and ovulation schedules. There is generally no need for invasive measures such as artificial drugs and such in these cases.

3. The $365 million a year, $1 million per day that our government tax dollars pay to Planned Parenthood who is the nation’s largest abortion provider does not provide information and resources regarding reproductive freedom regarding ovulation and pregnancy choices to women.

4. If women do not have sex when they ovulate, there is no reason for them to take harmful chemical and surgical birth control measures, many of which are known to cause heart attacks, strokes, exposure to possibility of cancer and other illnesses.

So the question is why is it so hard to break through the information barriers surrounding women’s health and reproductive rights? Could it be that people on each side of the isle, each side of the arguments have so much vested in their own interests that everyone has forgotten the women and the babies in the midst of the melee?