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LifeWorks: November 2011
November 2011 | eVolume 1 Issue 1
Welcome to our first e-edition of LifeWorks! Your monthly news update from New York State Right to Life
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Federal judge gives go-ahead to New York "Choose Life" license plate |
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New York State Right to Life's youth agenda - training a new generation of pro-life leaders |
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Unborn baby and his mom killed on his due date - father charged with one murder |
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Pro-life NY Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle appointed to United Nations position |
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Testimony to a life lived well: Jerry Higgins, who passed from this world August 14, 2011 |
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Obama health law challenge heads to Supreme Court, federal appeals courts split on constitutionality |
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NYSRTL congratulates the pro-life candidates who won their elections this fall.
On November 8, two NYSRTL Political Committee-endorsed candidates for Onondaga County Legislature, Kevin Holmquist and Derek Shepard, won their races. A third candidate, Judy Tassone, is leading in a close race and awaits the counting of absentee ballots.
On September 13, pro-life businessman Bob Turner won a special election to fill the vacancy created by disgraced, pro-abortion former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Turner, a Republican, won in a Queens district holding a 3-to-1 enrollment advantage for Democrats over Republicans against well-known pro-abortion Assemblyman David Weprin. NYS Right to Life Federal Political Action Committee endorsed Turner and worked for his election.
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Federal judge gives go-ahead to New York "Choose Life" license plate
Judge Neal McCurn concluded that “The exclusion of the entire subject of abortion from the forum is not permissible content-based discrimination, but is discrimination based on viewpoint, which runs afoul of the First Amendment.” McCurn added, “New York has run afoul of the First Amendment by giving the commissioner unbridled discretion to engage in viewpoint discrimination.”
The state has 30 days to appeal McCurn’s decision. While McCurn observed that Federal appeals courts have been divided in similar cases from other states, in fact 29 states have “Choose Life” license plates and only one appeals court has held against the license plate.
Attorney Jeffrey Shafer of the Alliance Defense Fund, who argued on behalf of the Children First Foundation, said, “Illinois was kind of an odd turn, an anomalous result,” adding, “We’ve had success in just about every other state we’ve sought to have some progress in this issue.”
Elizabeth Rex, director of Children First, told the Post-Standard newspaper she hoped the state would accept McCurn’s ruling. “Let us have a plate, let all other organizations that meet the criteria have a plate,” Rex said. “It’s called freedom of speech.”
“Hopefully, our great state will end the national humiliation of having shushed up the people by choosing not to appeal,” said Lori Kehoe,spokeswoman for New York State Right to Life. “And with or without a license plate, the simple fact is that the love for life is catching on like wildfire. More and more people self-identify as pro-life and fewer and fewer people are killing their unborn kids.” Kehoe added, “Now, imagine what can happen if we are allowed to speak – dare I say – freely?”
In 2004 a lawyer for DMV thought otherwise. They wrote that the “Choose Life” plate would be “inconsistent with DMV’s regulations in that the message is patently offensive and could provoke outrage from members of the public.”
To which Rex responded, “That’s pretty crazy, isn’t it?”
The Alliance Defense Fund first took the case in 2004 and its lawsuit prompted then-Governor George Pataki to impose a moratorium on all requests for custom license plates. Shafer says about the state has denied about another 100 requests because of the moratorium.
It now remains for Governor Andrew Cuomo to approve the plates. Call Governor Cuomo now to respectfully ask him to do so without further delay. The governor's office can be reached by phone at 518-474-8390 or by email at www.governor.ny.gov/contact/governorcontactform.php.
This article and other up-to-date pro-life news stories can be read at: www.nationalrighttolifenews.org.
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New York State Right to Life's youth agenda - training a new generation of pro-life leaders
“There are so many pro-life young people. We just have to work together for life.” -16-year-old girl, Camp Esther 2011 attendee As this young pro-lifer observed, there is no shortage of youth who acknowledge the need to protect human life at all stages. As we’ve seen through various youth outreach projects this year, this generation of pro-lifers is stepping up as leaders in the fight for Life.
One way teens are working for the cause is by using their voices in defense of the voiceless. In May, NYSRTL hosted our annual oratory contest where winners of local competitions from across the state presented 5-7 minute speeches for the audience and a panel of judges. It was inspiring to see high school juniors and seniors taking the time to educate themselves on the Life issue and using their talent to speak out for fellow members of the human family.
As our 2011 state contest winner, Caitlin Kennedy of Suffolk County, said, “We must fight so that America’s children are given the right to live – from the very moment they are conceived. We must continue to vote representatives into office who will rigorously support the pro-life cause. We must continue to go to pro-life rallies such as the March for Life in Washington D.C.… Let our voices be heard for those who are never given the chance to speak in their own defense.” With her passion for protecting the unborn and her inspiring speech, we were not surprised when Caitlin went on to the final round of the National Right to Life Jane B. Thompson Oratory Contest held in Jacksonville, FL this summer to win fourth place. (Read more about the pro-life oratory contest here.)
Caitlin and the other finalists who participated in our oratory contest are just a few of the many pro-life youth who are standing for Life across the state. NYSRTL had opportunity to train thirty-five committed, pro-life teens at Camp Esther this year, our pro-life leadership weekend held at the Good News Center in Utica, NY. Students heard presentations from experts such as pioneer neonatologist Dr. Paul Byrne throughout the weekend. Beyond the comprehensive pro-Life education offered at Camp Esther, students also learned how to effectively turn their pro-life passion into action.
The nine students who served on the 2011 Camp Esther leadership team played an essential role by offering tangible examples of how teens can be involved in the cause and save lives. NYSRTL worked closely with these peer leaders, who prepared and carried out many of the activities and presentations at camp.
One camper commented on an evaluation form that “connecting with teens who are pro-life and excited to act and make a difference” was her favorite part about the weekend. The opportunity for fellowship at Camp Esther has built strong friendships and many of our camp alumni are now working together for Life in their communities.
Since Camp Esther, students have been volunteering at pro-life events, getting the pro-life message out to their peers and communities, and exercising leadership by encouraging and empowering others to get involved. Several campers have volunteered at pro-life booths and other outreach opportunties during local events such as the Altamont and Otsego County Fairs, and the New York State Fair. Others regularly organize and participate in vigils outside of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities.
We are inspired and encouraged by the ever-growing tide of youth who are willing to stand for Life. We are confident that this generation of young, pro-life leaders will change our culture in a powerful way.
Learn more about our youth outreach activities.
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Unborn baby and his mom killed on his due date - father charged with one murder
Derrick Redd did not want Niasha dead – he wanted his son dead. He carved open Niasha in order to stab to death his son. That child, due to be born that very day, was intentionally, specifically stabbed five times by his father. Niasha was simply in the way.
It’s confounding how the assailant knew who his intended victim was but the NYS legislature can’t see him. Note to Speaker Silver - his name is Aidan. His mother refused to abort him. She made a choice. Derrick made a different choice.
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act is the law of the land for federal crimes of violence. That means that if this had happened at a military base in New York State, and even if Aidan were only a month old in his mother’s womb, the law would recognize Aidan as – Aidan. But because Aidan and most unborn children in New York State are not covered under the protective federal law, nine-month-old Aidan wasn’t, so there could be no crime against him.
Meanwhile, Aidan was named, his nursery was set up, clothes were purchased for him in blue by his grandparents and those who were anticipating holding him that very day now mourn him.
District Attorney Brown said, “It is incomprehensible that this defendant would unleash such a vicious attack on his girlfriend and his unborn child on the date the baby was expected to come into the world – which also happened to be the birthday of the victim’s father. What should have been a joyous day has been forever changed into an occasion of grief.
Senator Patty Ritchie (R) and Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D) are the sponsors of the New York State Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
NYSRTL calls on all legislators to right this horrible and ridiculous law that refuses to acknowledge that Aidan was a victim in the crime intended to kill him.
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Pro-life NY Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle appointed to United Nations position
Pro-life Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle (R-Onondaga Hill) was nominated in September and confirmed in late October to serve as one of
Each year, Congress sends two delegates to the U.N. General Assembly, one Republican and one Democrat. Congresswoman Buerkle, serving with Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Missouri), has already begun her official duties under the State Department and attended sessions at the General Assembly in New York. She will not be expected to cast a vote for the United States unless Ambassador Susan Rice is unable to fulfill her duties, according to the Post-Standard, which added, “even then, those votes would have to reflect the policy of the White House.”
NYSRTL Board Member and U.N. Representative for International Right to Life Federation Jeanne Head, R.N., said the appointment “is a great honor. She’s a very wonderful pro-life woman and will do the best job possible under the current administration.” Jeanne Head has known Buerkle, also a registered nurse, for many years, and looks forward to seeing her in New York at the United Nations. Buerkle also was recently presented with the Leo Holmsten Human Life Award at a dinner honoring her in Rochester on October 7.
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Testimony to a life lived well: Jerry Higgins, who passed from this world August 14, 2011
Jerry Higgins, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Champion for Life, passed away on August 14 at the age of 69. Jerry touched so many lives, known and unknown. He was one of the first persons
NYSRTL Chairman Barbara Meara provided this remembrance… “Jerry Higgins did so much for the pro-life movement on Long Island and in New York State. He was Chairman of the Long Island Coalition, and an active participant in their many activities. He prayed at an abortion clinic every Saturday and lobbied in Albany regularly. In addition, as a member of the Board of Directors of NYSRTL he contributed wisdom, experience, and common sense for many years. Then he did more - serving as Secretary and member of the Executive Committee. Jerry was one of those wonderful people set an example for many as someone who could disagree without being disagreeable. Even as he fought the debilitating effects of cancer, he worked locally and at the state level to continue the fight against abortion. It is said that no one is irreplaceable, but Jerry may prove to be an exception to that truism.” Please keep Jerry’s wife, Donna, and his sons, Brian and Josh, in your prayers.
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
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NYS Right to Life remembers George W. Green
George, born in Pittsburgh, was a longtime pro-life advocate with formal efforts beginning with Rochester Area Right to Life. Later, George took the role of NYSRTL Treasurer and also worked on building the state’s fund raising to a record 600% increase. Hard working but always jovial, George is missed by his wife, Mary Lou, daughters Kathy and Patty, their families and all of us who knew and loved him.
NYS Right to Life remembers George W. Green
NYS Right to Life gratefully acknowledges contributions
In Loving Memory of Grinnell Schofield, husband of Mary Jane Schofield From: Betty Frank St. Joseph Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order, Yorkville, NY Mr. & Mrs. Vincent Zaleski Catherine E. Koscinski, SFO In Honor of Dr. Donald W. Landry From: Elizabeth A. Weiler In Celebration of the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Bernard & Margaret Maher, married August 19, 1961 From: Therese M. Maher & Mary A. Maher Donate to support NYSRTL's life-saving work here.
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Lancet study provides more evidence that patients in so-called "Persistent Vegetative State" may be consciously aware
In recent years a number of ingenious studies have demonstrated that many patients in a so-called “Persistent Vegetative State” (PVS) have been misdiagnosed and are consciously aware. More fascinating and suggestive evidence to buttress this finding comes from a study just published this month.
The authors of “Bedside detection of awareness in the vegetative state: a cohort study” begin by noting that up to 43% of patients diagnosed to be in a PVS were discovered not to be when assessed by experienced teams. But that’s not where it ends. “A further subset of conscious patients could exist who are undetected even after extensive clinical investigations in specialized centers.” Such is the conclusion of the study that appears in the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet.
For both reasons of cost and physical stress to the patients, it is not always practical to use functional MRI studies. What to do? These researchers used EEG (electroencephalography) at the bedside.
Specifically, the teams assessed 16 patients diagnosed as “vegetative” and 12 healthy “controls” at a center in Cambridge, UK, and a center in Belgium. All were directed to imagine that they were making a fist and wiggling toes.
They found that three of the 16 (or 19%) of the “vegetative” patients “could repeatedly and reliably generate appropriate EEG responses similar to those of the conscious controls,” according to the study’s authors. Put a slightly different way (as a commentary that accompanied the article put it), these patients “could generate EEG responses to two commands involving motor imagery, although the patients were otherwise behaviorally unresponsive.”
As the eight authors explain, this finding comes on top of previously published studies using more complex and less readily available functional magnetic resonance imaging technology that demonstrated some patients in a “vegetative” state, when instructed to imagine they were playing tennis, generated brain waves comparable to those of healthy “controls.”
As helpful as the study is there is an important caveat. While the Lancet study shows that EEGs could detect signs of consciousness in patients who had been diagnosed as “vegetative,” it does not follow that such patients are definitely unconscious if EEGs do not detect these signs.
As the study itself notes, the fact that the EEG did not pick up these signs of consciousness in 25% of the healthy and aware patients (the “controls”) “shows unequivocally that a null EEG outcome does not necessarily indicate an absence of awareness.”
Burke J. Balch, director of NRLC’s Powell Center for Medical Ethics, commented, “Many patients, probably thousands, have had their food and fluids cut off and died, based on what we now know may well have been mistaken assumptions that they had lost all capacity for consciousness. The Lancet EEG study, together with earlier functional MRI studies, holds out the hope that we may develop ways to communicate with aware patients who have routinely been diagnosed as ‘vegetative,’ much as today eye movements and blinks are used to communicate with some patients with paraplegia.”
Balch added, “Just as what were once generally accepted mental health diagnoses of ‘idiot’ and ‘moron’ have long been dropped from standard medical vocabulary, it is to be hoped that these studies will help lead to abandonment of the dehumanizing and inaccurate term ‘vegetative’ as an acceptable medical diagnostic term.”
This article and other up-to-date pro-life news stories can be read at: www.nationalrighttolifenews.org.
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Obama health law challenge heads to Supreme Court, federal appeals courts split on constitutionality
On November 14th, the United States Supreme Court announced that it will take a case challenging the Obama health care restructuring law. The nine Supreme Court justices are expected to hear arguments beginning in March 2012 and make a ruling the following June. The announcement follows recent, conflicting decisions by federal appeals courts.
On November 8th, a federal appeals court in the District of Columbia issued a 2-1 ruling upholding a controversial requirement in President Obama’s health care law requiring virtually every American to either buy health insurance or face penalties. This element of the health law, known as the “individual mandate,” is considered the linchpin of the health care restructuring plan.
The D.C. appeals court ruling is at odds with a decision by the Appeals Court for the 11thcircuit, based in Atlanta, that declared that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. The latter opinion, issued August 12th, found that lawmakers cannot require residents to “enter into contracts with private insurance
Pro-life Americans are rightly concerned that, under Obama health law, Americans will be forced to pay for abortions with federal tax dollars and drawn into a system of health care rationing that will limit who is deemed “eligible” or worthy to receive life-saving treatment. New York State Right to Life, National Right to Life and nearly every major pro-life organization opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act over anti-life provisions in the law.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the multiple cases against the Obama health law this month. Though a ruling is not expected until 2012, the court will decide which of the lawsuits it will take.
Because we cannot rely on a closely-divided Supreme Court to overturn the Obama health care law, it is crucial that pro-lifers work strenuously to educate about the dangers of the Obama health law and elect pro-life candidates in 2012. Only a full repeal of President Obama’s health care reform will ensure an end to the law’s massive takeover of the health care system and threats to human life. If the Obama health law is struck down by the Supreme Court, a pro-life President in the White House and pro-life Congress beginning in 2013 will ensure that any new legislation to reform the health care system will protect human life.
*For more on how the Obama health care law will ration treatment, visit the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics page on rationing or read "Four Rationing Dangers of the Obama Health Care Plan."
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two Congressional delegates to the United Nations General Assembly. The 66th General Assembly opened in late September with addresses by many heads of state, and will continue into 2012. The one-year position was formerly held by pro-life Congressman and current co-Chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus Chris Smith (R-NJ).
Executive Director Lori Kehoe met at NYSRTL when she arrived nearly 20 years ago. Kehoe reflected, “I remember calling Jerry at the animal hospital … and him coming out of surgery... as if that was to be expected. As if Life depended on it. Jerry not only knew what was important, he acted like he knew what was important.” Jerry will be sorely missed by NYSRTL and all who knew him.
Referring to patients assessed in two European centers who meet the "vegetative" criteria, the authors conclude, “These findings confirm that a population of patients exists who meet all the behavioral criteria for the vegetative state, but nevertheless retain a level of covert awareness that cannot be detected by thorough behavioural assessment.”
companies for the purchase of an expensive product from the time they are born until the time they die.”
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