This fall LawSFL will launch the first ever Law Students for Life Fall Debate Tour.  Bringing together some of the top pro-life lawyers, in Constitutional law and abortion, the debates will be entitled, “The Constitutional Debate About Roe, 40 Years Later.”  Harvard Right to Life will be hosting the final debate of the tour on October 24th.  If you would like to bring the LawSFL Fall Debate Tour to your campus please email us.

While Planned Parenthood struggles under a U.S. Congressional investigation, we must expose their pro-death events on campus nationally – now more than ever! Know of any VOX-sponsored events on YOUR campus? Email us and let us know!

Earlier this year, Stearns requested documents from Planned Parenthood about their financial information and a number of their policies. He has since received over 130,000 signatures from Americans urging him to seize his investigation.

During his interview yesterday, Rep. Stearns credited numerous national pro-life organizations for helping to motivate his efforts in regards to looking into the financial and structural documentation of Planned Parenthood. Students for Life is proud to join the ranks of pr-life organizations across the country who are working closely with Stearns in his attempts to hold Planned Parenthood accountable and, hopefully, work toward restricting the abortion giant immensly.  

The infertility industry in the United States has been a booming industry for decades, including the multi-billion dollar business of egg donation. Young girls are showered with provocative ads promising big checks and the satisfaction of helping others who aren’t able create a family by simply donating her eggs. But the lesser-publicized side of this seemingly selfless act include the deception behind coercing young donors for their eggs, exposing them to the sometimes lifelong damaging methods of extracting them, hormone overdoses, unsafe medical practices, lack of informing women of health risks attached to donating, and, all to often, no follow-up care at all. I urge anyone interested in learning more about the risks and hazards of egg donation to check out Eggsploitation, a documentary that exposes the industry’s dirty little secret.

Similar to egg donation, IVF comes with its own unique set of risks. Many people have replaced the truth about IVF’s damaging and destructive processes with the widely-accepted notion that conceiving via IVF helps couples with fertility problems, promotes the growth and importance of a family unit, and finally allows struggling parents to enjoy the blessing of a child or children.

And it can do all those things.

But it doesn’t come without a cost. And I don’t just mean its hefty $5,000 – $25,000 price tag.

Here are some talking points on this controversial issue that tend to slip through the cracks:

1. IVF promotes the discarding of “extra” human embryos – or developing humans, in layman’s terms.

IVF usually entails the creation of multiple human embryos to ensure a greater chance of successful implantation. These human embryos are then screened for genetic disorders, handicaps and sometimes even a particular gender. The “undesirable” embryos are discarded. Normally, an IVF practitioner transfers around four of the selected embryos into a woman’s uterus. If more than one (or two) successfully implant, a physician will selectively abort (kill) the remaining embryos (Nadya “Octomom” Suleman refused this “embryonic discarding”, resulting in her delivering octuplets). This selective mentality leads to the death of little humans based on their gender, physical and mental handicaps, and how many exist simultaneously. This segues into the second point:

       2.   IVF fosters the idea that we can have whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want it.

A LifeSiteNews.com article from June highlights the life of Anthony Caruso, a former IVF practitioner who was horrified when he realized that his efforts to help women struggling with infertility was actually counterintuitive to the design of marriage and the view of children. Caruso points out that IVF works against the self-sacrificial nature of a marriage and a family, putting an IVF practitioner and, ultimately, a conceiving couple in control of something meant to have a natural design. This is echoed in a New York Times cover story about a woman named “Jenny” who aborts one of her twins conceived after IVF. “Had the pregnancy occurred naturally, she said, ‘I wouldn’t have reduced this pregnancy, because you feel like if there’s a natural order, then you don’t want to disturb it.’ Nevertheless, ‘The pregnancy was all so consumerish to begin with, and this became yet another thing we could control.’”
Both points illustrate the statistic that:

       3.   IVF often results in the conception of multiples, which in turn results in selective abortions after implantation, as well as a dangerous situation for both mother and children when the number of children who implant is unnaturally high. 

I referenced the “Octomom” above, who refused to allow her IVF practitioner to discard of “extra” fertilized embryos selectively. Kate Gosselin of Jon and Kate Plus 8 fame had a similar situation, and, thankfully, both mothers refused to kill any of their children, thus bearing octuplets and sextuplets, respectively. Suleman and Gosselin by no means followed the status quo when it came to multiple implantations resulting in IFV. All too often, the unchosen embryos are destroyed, thrown out, or washed down the sink. Additionally, a mother pregnant with multiple children is naturally put in the category of high-risk pregnancy. Therefore, even if a pro-life woman refusing selective abortion carries all IVF-created children, this unnaturally creates a dangerous situation for herself and her babies.

       4.   IVF has proven to lead to an array of physical and mental birth defects.

Illinois Right to Life released a story on IVF, noting a study done by the New England Medical Journal which showed evidence that babies conceived by IVF have a 1 in 10 risk of birth defects – twice the rate of babies born naturally – including holes in their hearts, the development of only one kidney, brain abnormalities, and cleft lips and palettes. Studies by researchers at Johns Hopkins and Washington University discovered that children conceived from IVF have a six-fold increase in risk of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, which causes malformations and cancer. This fact alone should cause us to question the morality of IVF.

       5.   Prepping for IVF requires significant alterations to hormone levels, which can lead to or increase the risk of health problems.

Many women need to undergo hormone therapy before and during IVF to prepare their bodies to accept the implanted embryo. Estrogen levels are usually boosted during IVF (as well as natural pregnancies) to strengthen the endometrial wall of the uterus. There are a slew of chemical-related side effects that come with a number of the hormone therapies used, but simply altering hormone levels alone can come with consequences. Having high levels of estrogen can cause irregular periods, depression, uterine fibroids, osteoporosis, memory loss, and infections.

With all this in mind, the pro-life movement does not want to stamp out any hope for couples struggling to conceive. As always, all people – born or pre-born – deserve respect, dignity and love.

And this is an issue that hits close to home for me. My oldest son, Gunner was born with cystic fibrosis and will battle a number of health problems his whole life. 97% of men with CF are infertile, and many of them were born without fully developed reproductive systems. Gunner’s infertility will affect the lives of himself, his future wife and whatever grandchildren I may be blessed with in the future forever. Many people with CF choose IVF to combat low fertility rates and start a family, but it can’t be accepted as a band-aid for the natural design of our lives.

One major breakthrough that exists in monitoring and maintaining women’s reproductive health is NaProTECHNOLOGY (Natural Procreative Technology), a medical and surgical alternative that has been proven effective to treat infertility, ovarian cysts, polycystic ovarian disease, repetitive miscarriage, and hormonal imbalances among other health complications. NaProTECHNOLOGY monitors women’s hormonal events during the menstrual cycle and identifies when gynecological systems operate abnormally, identifying the problems which may be able to be corrected.

State-of-the-art advancements like this along with education and resources will go a long way in maintaining reproductive health in women and protecting the rights of the preborn. And let’s not forgot the beautiful, loving and moral option of adoption. Both NaProTECHNOLOGY and adoption provide ethical alternatives to the dangers and ethical problems with IVF.

You can review North Carolina’s law by clicking here.

North Carolina adopted the law when Governor Beverly Perdue’s veto with the Senate was overturned by the House during a 72-47 vote.

The 8th Circuit decision would be “instructive” if the state’s statute is challenged in Federal court. Since no appeal has been made since last week’s decision, both North Carolina and South Dakota share a similar “informed consent” law.

I’m not the only one who has gotten this question; people want to know how the pro-life movement as a whole feels about this.

In fact, the medical students we reach out to face this question on a daily basis.

This question is a hard one to answer, which is why many avoid it: What is the pro-life movement’s stance on contraception, including methods that prevent conception?

As a physician, what is the right decision to make when a woman asks for birth control? What if she is living below the poverty line, has 3 or 4 children, hasn’t obtained a high-school diploma, and is co-habiting with a man who needs to support her financially? Presumably, she’s aware of the possibility of pregnancy and could be afraid of how she will feed and clothe another child.

What do you say?  What’s the pragmatic response here?

Here’s how I think that conversation should be started:

1) Birth Control, no matter what form, doesn’t prevent abortions. In fact, it provides a false sense of security.

The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s own research arm, released study showing thatcondoms fail 14% of the time. That’s enough to provide some concern, especially when coupled with the Guttmacher’s own numbers showing that over half of all abortions are on women who were using some method of birth control. This is a cry in the face of pro-abortion propaganda claiming that if women had better access to birth control, abortions would become unnecessary.

Well, clearly not.

Contraception gives women a false sense of security, and condoms and birth control clearly can’t be relied on as a fail-proof method of stopping a pregnancy from occurring.

2) Birth control comes with it’s own complications and risks. It some cases, it’s deadly for both the child and mother.

Aside from condoms, oral and invasive methods of birth control come with their own complications. In addition to blood clots and strokes, chemical contraceptives have been proven to end the life of a preborn human mere hours or days after conception by thinning the uterine lining and making implantation more difficult for the developing person. Invasive methods that are implanted into your upper arm or uterus come with the same set of risks to both the mother and child. The most common form of hormonal contraception, the pill, has been categorized by the World Health Organization as a Group I carcinogen. That’s the highest possible ranking; cigarettes are also in Group I.

One only has to read the inserts that come with chemical contraception, listen to commercials for hormonal birth control that spew out a long list of side effects, or glance at Facebook ads calling for women who took Yaz birth control pills to contact a law firm to join the lawsuit (google Yaz and lawsuit!) to grasp the unbelievable amount of life-altering consequences of imbibing hormonal birth control.

3) Condoms and birth control are everywhere. You can obtain them for free, yet the abortion and STD rate hasn’t fallen.

Planned Parenthood and county health departments have been giving out free condoms and birth control for years. Yet, the unplanned pregnancy, abortion, and STD rate in America has failed to fall and, in the case of STDs, has significantly increased. Despite this evidence, the Obama Administration just issued a new ruling forcing all health insurance plans to cover birth control with no deductible.

What’s even more scary is that Planned Parenthood knows this. They actually rely on the failure of the contraception they provide to increase their abortion profits.

4) Finally, and most importantly, birth control – in any form – is a Band-Aid.

It seems like the best way to answer the question regarding the pro-life stance on contraception is to emphasize helping women as a whole instead of handing out a temporary “fix”.

Dolling out free condoms isn’t social justice. Handing over a pack of pills to an uneducated mother living in poverty with a man who doesn’t respect her enough to marry her isn’t restoring proper relationships in her life. At the end of the day, what have you accomplished? You’ve just acknowledged her tragic situation by implying, “I don’t know how to help you”, or, “I don’t have timeto help you, but here, use these and hope for the best.”

Protecting women from the scarring trauma of abortion and repairing broken relationships in her life seem to be the best way the pro-life movement can restore true social justice – Christian justice – to this woman’s life.

These are my thoughts on how we can make a real impact, but the pro-life movement needs to come together and agree on one answer to this question.  Unity will only help us protect more women and the pre-born from the injustice of abortion.

This year, we were absolutely blown away by Liberty University School of Law student Matt Mihelic, who was first drawn to our fellowship by its namesake.

“I see how closely Wilberforce relates to the pro-life movement,”Mihelic said while reading his undergraduate thesis on the social justice leader during Fellowship training last month. “He’s been a huge inspiration for me.”

Mihelic is entering his second year at Liberty and has already made a huge impact on the pro-life movement.

As President of the Student Government Association at LU, Mihelic helped organize the campus’ first pro-life conference, R.O.S.E. – or Reclaiming Other’s Sacred Existence – in 2009 that featured pro-life leaders from across the country, including Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff “Jane Roe” in the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case of 1973.

Mihelic described his introduction to the pro-life movement.

“When sitting in class one day as an undergraduate at Liberty, I heard a lecture that described abortion procedures and the history of abortion law in America. I was stunned that such a heinous act could be legal in my country [and] I committed myself that day to walk through any open door that God would give me to help end abortion.”

Mihelic has plans to use his law degree to advance pro-life ideals after graduation. We are thrilled to work with him this year and wish him all the best!

Today, Judge Royce C. Lamberth for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, issued his ruling against the plaintiffs, in the Sherley v. Sebelius case.

Since 2009, the case has sought to overturn the controversial guidelines for public funding of destructive human embryonic stem cell research from the National Institutes of Health. The case has been filed by adult stem cell researchers who contend that President Obama’s embryo-destructive stem cell research funding policy violates the ban on federal funding for research that involves harming or destroying embryos.

On September 3, 2010, the plaintiffs, James Sherley and Theresa Deisher issued their declaration, but on April 29, 2011, The District Court of Appeals overturned the preliminary injunction, allowing federal funding of embryo-destructive research to continue until the case reached final verdict.

Earlier today, Judge Lamberth denied Sherley and Deisher’s motion for summary judgment, thus ruling against the plaintiffs.

This is a huge advancement in pro-life legislation! Not only is the Tide Turning in America with individual states picking up abortion-restrictive legislation, but now human embryonic stem cell research is catching the eye of pro-lifers, too. We can – and will – keep advancing toward a completely pro-life nation.

Recently, I was in touch with Kelsey Hazzard, a former Students for Life leader and founder of Secular pro-life, a group she started in 2009 to combat pro-abortion initiative across the spectrum of faith. This is her story:

“I became involved in the pro-life movement while I was pursuing my Bachelor’s degree at the University of Miami.  When I realized that my college had a VOX group (Planned Parenthood’s student chapter), and no pro-life group to counter them, I knew I had to do something.  Coincidentally, a Students for Life of America field agent arrived on campus just a couple of weeks later!  I served as the first president of University of Miami Respect Life, which quickly became far more active than VOX and is still going strong two years after my graduation.

SFLA has provided crucial support in my growth as an advocate for the rights of unborn children.  Shortly before I graduated, I started Secular Pro-Life, in an effort to bridge the divides between pro-life activists of different faiths.  It has been a great success, and Secular Pro-Life regularly participates in SFLA’s annual conferences.  SFLA has also supported me by having me as part of the inaugural class of Wilberforce fellows, teaching me valuable leadership skills.

Right now, I’m working with Secular Pro-Life and a great team of volunteers to produce a website (AbortionSafety.com) that will warn pregnant mothers about abortion providers in their communities who have injured or killed women.   SFLA has endorsed this project.

In my spare time, I attend law school at the University of Virginia.  My goal is to become a public interest attorney, possibly with a focus on pro-life and/or free speech litigation.”

The group, who has been traveling to high schools, college campuses, and conferences across the nation to introduce their presentation, “Speaking of Motherhood”, is led by Giroux, who founded and served as the Executive Director of Human Life International America as well as Association of Large Families of America (ALFA). You can also add Registered Nurse and author to her list of impressive titles, but motherhood is her crowning achievement.

In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com last year, Giroux said that, “There is a huge need out there for us to show the positive side of motherhood and to once again elevate motherhood to the respect that it deserves. It is the greatest profession on earth for women and it has really been completely denigrated by the feminist movement.”

Since “Speaking of Motherhood” had its inaugural presentation at Notre Dame last February, the group has done sessions across the U.S. and continue to market themselves. The presentation seeks to show the beautiful and the positive aspects of motherhood lost in society, said Giroux.  “We really need to show them the beauty of children, which is the actual positive message of showing them the beautiful fruits of accepting God’s gift of children.”

To book Giroux and her group to speak at an event, please contact Jenn directly at jenngiroux9@gmail.com or on her cell, 513-293-6762.