Respect Life - Main Page

• Abortion
  • Abortion Changes You
  • Abortion Statistics
  • African-Americans & Abortion
  • Video on imminent Pro-Abortion NY State  legislation
  • Increases Breast Cancer
  • March For Life ; video clips
  • Planned Parenthood
  • Post-Abortion
  • "Roe" speaks out Video
  • Roe v. Wade
  • Spiritual Adoption
     
• Adoption
• Adverse Prenatal Diagnosis
• Chastity / Abstinence / Theology of the Body
• Contraception / Natural Family Planning
  • MP3 - Download:  Contraception Why Not?
• Culture of life
  • Inspirational Videos
• End of Life Issues
  • Assisted Suicide
  • Euthanasia

• Events
• Family Life Conference
• Facts about a Baby's Development
• High School Resources
• Infertility and Hope/ IVF (In Vitro Fertilization)
  • Naprotechnology
• Parish Respect Life Coordinators
• Pornography
• Prayer and Worship
  • National Night of Prayer For Life
  • A Morning of Prayerful Reflection & Intercession
  • Vigil for all Nascent (Developing) Human Life
• Pregnancy Help
• Pregnancy Loss
• Pro-Life Doctors / Pharmacies
• Respect Life Awareness Month: October
• Respect Life Packet
• Same Sex Attraction
• Spiritual Adoption Program
• Stem Cells and Cloning
• Links
   
• How can I help?

Abortion
Please click here to go to the Abortion Changes You Outreach page.

Oppose the Extremist New York State Abortion Bill

Video on RHA and FOCA

The “Reproductive Health Act” ("RHA") (S.5808) was introduced in the last session of our State Legislature, and is expected to be pushed forward again in 2010. This extremist bill would:

• Establish a “fundamental right of privacy” within New York State law,
• Ensure that abortion is legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy,
• Permit non-doctors (like optometrists and podiatrists) to perform abortions,
• Make abortion virtually immune from any regulation or restriction,
• Allow post-viability abortions to be performed on an out-patient basis in clinics that go virtually unregulated by public health authorities, endangering both women and unborn children, and
• Endanger conscience protections under current law, which could force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions, and could even force Catholic schools and charitable agencies to promote or refer for abortions and contraception.

Cardinal Egan issued a letter regarding this bill last year.  You can download a copy of the letter in English and Spanish.  The bishops of New York State have also issued a joint statement on the bill, which can be downloaded here.

Here is a Fact Sheet with more detailed information about this bill (also available here in Spanish).  Here is the New York State Catholic Conference's position paper on the bill.  You can also download some flyers here.  (Spanish translations are available here.)

Please write to your State Senator and Assembly representative and oppose the RHA bill. You can do so by going to the New York State Catholic Conference Catholic Advocacy Network website, and sending an email to your legislator.  Remember, the most effective emails are those that are personalized, so please feel free to add your own thoughts to the sample email letter.

Here's a sample letter you can print out and mail to your legislator, or you can cut and paste it into an email:

I am writing to oppose the "Reproductive Health Act", which would establish a virtually unlimited right to abortion here in New York State. This radical bill would give New York the most liberal abortion laws in the United States. This bill could:  Eliminate conscience protection in current state law for religious institutions and force religious hospitals to permit abortions; permit non-physicians – like a podiatrist, dentist or even a social worker – to perform abortions prior to viability; make abortion virtually immune from any state regulation, such as parental notification requirements; and allow late-term abortions to be performed in clinics that do not offer the full complement of support facilities necessary to assist women and any child born alive during an abortion.

This is an extreme bill that is out of touch with the attitudes of most New Yorkers, who favor common-sense limitations on abortion. Please do whatever you can to oppose this bill. This bill is bad for women, children, and our society.

More information on legislation such as FOCA (the Federal version of this bill) can be found on our Public Policy page.

Pro-abortion organizations like NARAL are promoting this legislation!

It's important to contact your State Senators over the summer and into the fall to let them know their constituents are opposed to this extreme bill.

The following link is a recent (8-minute) interview with Kelli Conlin, Director of NYS NARAL on "Inside City Hall" on NY-1.  She indicates that NARAL continues to push for a vote on the pro-abortion Reproductive Health Act (S.5808) in a special session, prior to the November 2010 elections.

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Abortion Statistics

How many abortions are taking place in the US and around the world?  Find out here: http://www.numberofabortions.com/.

Watch this clip on abortion stats:

An important study on the women who have abortions has recently been released by the Guttmacher Institute. 

Among the findings: 

• In 2008, the majority of women obtaining abortions (58%) were in their 20s; women in their 30s made up the second largest age-group (22%).

• 42% of women having abortions were poor, a substantially greater proportion than were poor in 2000 (27%).

• The overwhelming majority of women having abortions (85%) were unmarried, including 29% who were cohabiting. 

• Women with no religious affiliation had a relative abortion rate one and one-half times that of all women.

• In 2006, the average woman paid $413 for a first-trimester abortion and $1,300 for an abortion at 20 weeks.

• 61% of women obtaining abortions in 2008 already had children, including 34% who had two or more.

• Half of the women surveyed reported one or more prior abortions; most of these women (37% of all abortion patients) reported both a prior birth and a prior abortion

Here's the press release:  http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2010/05/04/index.html.  Here's the full report:  http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/US-Abortion-Patients.pdf. 

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African-Americans and Abortion

"Black Genocide", the appalling impact of abortion on African-Americans: http://netny.net/currents/video/stories/the-black-genocide-11410/.

Watch the video clip: "Endangered Species" -

 
by TheRadianceFoundation.org.  This clip highlights that abortion clinics target the African-American community.

"Abortion isn't a me issue. It's not a you issue. It's not just a woman's issue. It's a human issue. And with over 51 million lives lost since 1973, it is a human crisis. African-American women abort their children at over 3x the rate of white women and 2x the rate of all other races combined. And all, the while, Planned Parenthood profits from the destruction. Find out more at www.toomanyaborted.com", The Radiance Foundation.

Click here to watch the CNN report on these billboards:

Click here to read the article: "Sandra Bullock Adoption Story Highlights How Abortion Targets Black Children"

For more on this subject please go to www.blackgenocide.org

Video on the number one killer of African Americans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkfdGg76JH0&feature=player_embedded

Watch video - National Black Pro-Life Coalition exposing the abortion rates among their own community.

June 2010 is Abortion and All Acts of Violence Awareness Month  “Come Let Us Defend the Sacredness of Life Together”
is the theme for the 2010 June is Abortion and All Acts of Violence Awareness Month in the African American and African Community as quoted by Franciscan Father James (Jim) Goode, President of the National Black Catholic Apostolate for Life.  “We are marking this month of awareness because there is no room in the African American and African community for abortion or any act of violence that destroys the sacredness of human life.  Despite the difficulties that will surely await us; we will not be discouraged as we evangelize for life and the family. We go forth with the ‘Good News’that we have all been created in the image and likeness of God.  God holds us in His hand and will never leave us alone (Matthew 28 20:).”
Click here for more information.
 

Resources for African American Outreach

USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities African American/Culture of Life web page: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/african_american/index.shtml

USCCB Subcommittee on African American Affairs, Beverly Carroll
http://www.usccb.org/scdc/

National Black Catholic Apostolate for Life, Father James E Goode, OFM, PH.D, President
http://www.blackcatholicsforlife.org/

National Black Catholic Congress, Valerie E. Washington, Executive Director
http://www.nbccongress.org/

The Josephites, Fr. Matthew O'Rourke, S.S.J., Pro-Life Representative
http://www.josephite.com/prolife.html

Bishop's Documents/USCCB Materials

"What We Have Seen and Heard: A Pastoral Letter on Evangelization from the Black Bishops of the United States"
http://www.nccbuscc.org/saac/WhatWeHaveSeen.pdf

A Reflection on the African American Family and the Culture of Life, by Most Reverend Martin D. Holley, 2008
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/holley.pdf

Statements on Life Issues from African American Bishops
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/african_american/quotes.shtml

Media Relations Backgrounder:
http://www.nccbuscc.org/comm/backgrounders/african_american.shtml

Links to National Black Catholic Sites of Interest
http://www.usccb.org/saac/nbcwebsites.shtml

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Abortion increases chances for breast cancer

Click here to read the article: "Abortion Boosts Breast Cancer Risk 193% Study Finds, Giving Birth Lowers It"

Click here to read the article: "Race For the Truth about the Susan G. Komen Foundation: Is Abortion and Hormonal Contraception a Prescription for Breast Cancer?"
 

March For Life 2011  
The March for Life in Washington D.C. began as a grassroots response to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion throughout the 9 months of a woman's pregnancy. The march now consists of 200,000+ people who make a peaceful, prayerful stand against this legislation.  Click hereto find out more about the March For Life 2011.

Monday, Jan. 24^th, 2011 – Join us on a Pilgrimage/March for Life -- with hundreds of thousands of people from all around the country.  The Family Life/Respect Life Office will be sponsoring a bus leaving from NYC for the day – click here for info and to download a flier.     

Click here for current listing of buses going from all over the Archdiocese. 

For events surrounding the March for Life in DC click here.

Local events in the Archdiocese on Sat, Jan. 22^nd, 2011:

Central Westchester

Rally for Life 12pm –1pm.  All Women’s “Health” and Medical Services, 222 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, NY.  Join us for an hour of prayer and public witness on this 38^th Anniversary to remember the young lives lost since 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision and to pray for healing for their mothers and fathers.  Please call Liz @ 914-478-1189 for information. 

 Manhattan
Witness for Life - 8am Mass at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC     Come to all or part of the morning.  Sponsored by the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants http://www.helpersbrooklynny.org/

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (8am) begins our day in Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, http://www.oldcathedral.org/ 

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament follows, then people can either remain in the Church to adore our Lord or attend the rosary procession to the local abortion clinic (2 blocks away - Planned Parenthood).

Upon return from the clinic (approx 10:15am) we will have a social (complete with coffee and donuts) with a short (10 mins)presentation by the Sisters of Life.  You will hear of concrete ways to be of service, as Co-Workers, helping vulnerable pregnant women that are currently being served by the Sisters.  

Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade is the 1973 Supreme Court case which struck down existing state laws nationwide that had heretofore made abortion illegal. Roe v. Wade effectively legalized abortion throughout a woman's 9 month's of pregnancy. While the legal validity of Roe v. Wade has always been considered questionable by those in defense of the sacredness of human life, in recent years this case has come under considerable scrutiny and criticism from the general public and influential media outlets.

Remembering Roe v Wade: A Morning of Prayerful Reflection & Intercession
Saturday January 16, 2010 at Mary's Chapel in St. Patrick's Cathedral New York, NY. 
Click here for more information.

The USCCB’s New “Second Look” Educational Project
www.secondlookproject.org
The USCCB developed a national education campaign, providing facts vs. myths about the Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion nationwide, to members of Congress, the media, and other key public interest groups.

The USSCB has now created an 8-page Roe Reality Booklet Roe Reality Check.

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Planned Parenthood

Parents in Staten Island have created a website that reveals Planned Parenthood's illegal activities:  http://proudparentssi.wordpress.com/

Saturday January 15, 2011 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Women, men, families, health care providers and all of us, directly or indirectly, have been impacted by abortion.  In response, as we anticipate the 38th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we gather to pray and to seek healing and forgiveness.  Personal testimonies, intercessory prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary, Confession, and Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

Our Lady's Chapel in St. Patrick's Cathedral
460 Madison Ave (at 5th Ave)
New York, NY
9:00am to 12:00pm. 
For more information call (877) 586-4621 or email: lumina@postabortionhelp.org
Click here to download a flyer.
  
For Prayerful Remembrance Day Resources, please go to: http://www.postabortionhelp.org/afternoon of remberence/afterremberHome.html

EWTN will be covering the event.  See here for more info  

To watch Brooklyn NetTV coverage of this event click here - http://netny.net/currents/video/stories/a-mass-for-the-victims-of-abortion-12411/

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Adoption
A beautiful adoption website with basic information, testimonials of birthmothers, profiles of adopted families, and places to go to get more resources.  http://www.ichooseadoption.org

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Adverse Prenatal Diagnosis
Please click here for a brochure on Adverse Prenatal Diagnosis. For a brochure en Espanol.

Articles:

• Trisomy 18 daughter ‘a gift from God,’ former Sen. Rick Santorum writes
• The story above is also covered here

BeNotAfraid.net - Online outreach to parents
An online outreach to parents who have received a poor or difficult prenatal diagnosis.  The family stories articles, and links within the site are presented as a resource for those who may have been asked to choose between terminating a pregnancy or continuing on despite the diagnosis.  The benotafraid.net families faced the same decision and chose not to terminate.  By sharing our experiences, we hope to offer encouragement to those who may be afraid to continue on.

Help for those who have suffered a loss following an Adverse Prenatal Diagnosis can also be found on our Bereavement  page.

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Chastity/ Abstinence

Please see information on Chastity, Abstinence, and the Theology of the Body here including upcoming events, speakers and resources for Parents, Teachers and Clergy.