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1
Human Life When?
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
The battle has been joined. Is this a fully, truly living human
in the first week of life? Does lethal experimentation really kill him
or her? Will Planned Parenthood, the anti-life forces, and the
big biotechnology research companies be able to convince the public
that the answer is no? If they succeed, the value of human life
will be transferred from an absolute, unalienable, and sacred value, to
that of a commodity. It will be a product to be made and
destroyed, to be bought and sold, to be used and discarded.
The battle today is just the beginning. It
will point the way that our civilization will go for decades to
come. The anti-life forces will not quit, and certainly we should
not. We must hang in there. This issue is simply
non-negotiable. This is Dr. Willke. (toc)
2
First Cell Stage
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
We must say again and again that human life begins at the first cell
stage; it does not begin at implantation. The entire controversy
around stem cells and about cloning has brought this issue back to the
forefront. Let’s just keep repeating again and again that the
spark of human life begins at fertilization, at that first cell
stage. That’s when we were alive, each of us was sexed, we were
certainly human and we were complete, for nothing was added from that
time until the old man dies—nothing except nutrition and oxygen.
Implantation occurred when each of us was one week old. That’s
when we affected the body of our mother and our presence could be
measured, but that wasn’t when our life began. Each of us was one
week old when we planted in the nutrient lining of our mother’s
womb. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
3
Timing of Conception
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
It has long been thought that if human conception begins when the
female egg is aging, or the same for the sperm, that in such a case the
chance for an abnormality of the baby is greater. Accordingly, a
major study was done through Natural Family Planning and was recently
published in the prestigious medical journal, Lancet.
This study found no significant differences between the infants
of women who conceived when egg and sperm were fresh, so to speak, or
when conception occurred when they were aging. While it would be
reassuring to have more studies to confirm this, this particular one
concluded, “At this moment it looks like couples do not need to worry
about timing of their attempted or completed conceptions as we found no
apparent fetal problems in our study.” This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
4
Clone Double Talk
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Therapeutic cloning has been renamed research cloning. That’s
because it has nothing to do with therapy and it has everything to do
with research. They, however, continue to hide what they are
doing by using language that is highly confusing. For instance,
let’s take creating a human clone and then killing him or her after the
research has been performed.
In a medical journal it sounded like this: “Cell replacement
through nuclear transfer requires a deliberate creation and
disaggregation of the human embryo. Because therapeutic cloning
requires this creation and disaggregation, ex-utero of bastocyst stage
embryos, this technique raises complex ethical questions.”
Did you get that? I would simplify it by
saying; research cloning stripped to its bare essentials is basically
the technique of clone and kill, and we oppose it. (toc)
5
Clone & Kill?
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Apparently, most lawmakers, worldwide, would forbid cloning if it
involved carrying the cloned child to term. On the contrary, it
seems that perhaps a majority would favor cloning if there was a
guarantee that the cloned human would then be killed before he or she
got too old.
Now let’s just say for the minute that would be the law. But now
we have a young lady, Susan, who has had a cloned human embryo
implanted and announces that she’s pregnant and intends to carry to
term. What can such a law do? Force her to have an
abortion? Prosecute her? Can she be forced to kill her
child or go to jail? She doesn’t have to reveal the name of the
laboratory that impregnated her. This whole thing is
nonsense. Any laws that only allow cloning to kill, will, in
practice, open the door to cloning on request. (toc)
6
Cloning Objections
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
The vast majority of Americans object to human cloning. And they
object on multiple grounds: This constitutes unethical
experimentation on the child-to-be, subjecting him or her to enormous
risks of bodily and developmental abnormalities. It threatens
individuality, deliberately saddling the clone with a genotype who has
already lived and whose previous life his or her life his or her life
and to whose previous life his or her life will always be
compared.
It confuses identity by denying the clone two biologic parents and by
making it both twin and offspring of his older copy. Cloning also
represents a giant step toward turning procreation into manufacture; it
is the harbinger of much grizzlier eugenic manipulations to come.
Permitting human cloning means condoning a despotic principle:
that we are entitled to design the genetic makeup of our
children. (toc)
7
A Clone Alone
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Just think a moment…What if you were a human clone, successfully born
and raised. You would have no father or mother. You would
not have been related to anyone, as you have no genealogy. You
would have no roots. Your beginning would not have been in a love
embrace. You’d be a single individual appearing from
nowhere…alone…the pure product of technology.
You would only be yourself, with all relationships severed from all
other individuals in the past. You would simply have appeared one
day with no roots, no family. I think this would put a terrible
psychological burden on this new individual, who would realize that he
or she was not conceived in love, in a relationship, in a family, and
has no past, but is purely and simply biologically a human, generated
technologically. This is Dr. Willke. (toc)
8
Frozen Embryo Alive
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
All of us were created the same. Each of our lives began at
fertilization. We each once were a single cell, which subdivided
and then we called you an embryo. Have you ever thought of a
frozen human embryo as a Mary Doe?
You see, such a Mary Doe, today a frozen embryo, can be thawed and
placed in the womb of a woman who wants to adopt her. When this
Mary Doe is removed from the concentration can in which she is frozen,
and returned to the warmth of life and implanted in the temple of the
womb of an adoptive mother, she is then is given the opportunity to
fulfill her destiny. Frozen human embryos are not, as so many
politicians and judges say, potential life. No, they are fully
human lives with vast potential. (toc)
9
Identical Twining
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
If the human embryo still has the ability to twin, it isn’t human yet?
Therefore, a human clone, prior to definite single individualization is
not human and can be killed for his or her embryonic stem cells.
This argument is being put forth to justify cloning and then killing
the 4-day-old human embryo for those stem cells.
Is this true? No, the argument is
ridiculous. Naturally occurring identical twins start from a
single fertilized egg. In such natural twining, the human embryo
develops from his or her original single cell, splits into two, each of
which then becomes a fully human life, at the time the splitting
occurs. It is thought that this naturally occurring identical twinning
happens in the first few days of life, just when the scientists want to
clone and kill. (toc)
10
Human Sacrifice
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Heard of human sacrifice? Yes, all through history. The
Mayans and Aztecs had their sun temples. The American Hurons sent
a virgin over Niagara Falls. Babylonians had their
ziggurats. Israelites at times sacrificed their children to
Baal. In India, widows are cremated with their dead
husbands. All of these human sacrifices were by high priests and
for the benefit of that nation. But today we sacrifice in a
cleaner way.
Dressed in white coats, scientists of today are the high priests, and
what they sacrifice doesn’t even yet look human – embryos,
blastocysts. But it’s also to be done for the good of the
people. Might we ask what is the difference between the first
group and today’s group? Today’s human offering doesn’t look
human, but the reality is the same. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
11
Pill Causes Abortion
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Did you know that the common birth control pill sometimes does
something more than prevent pregnancy? Every birth control pill
made today does this and the makers of these pills agree that it
happens. You see, there are three mechanisms of actions by the
Pill.
The first is suppress ovulation, the second, thicken the mucus at the
cervix to prevent sperm from entering the womb and reaching the
ovum. Third, and most controversial, it hardens the endometrium
or lining of the womb, making it inhospitable to the tiny developing
embryonic unborn baby. So, if she is on the pill and it doesn’t
prevent ovulation, and conception does occurs, this new embryonic human
cannot implant when one-week-old. This third function kills this
new human embryo and is clearly called an abortion. This is Dr.
Willke.(toc)
12
Emergency Abortion
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
The terms “emergency contraception” and the “morning after pill” are
used to describe a way to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. We are
told that, if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex, pregnancy
can be prevented. This is a falsehood. The most likely
thing these pills will do is to cause an abortion.
These chemicals are simply a six- fold dose of birth control
pill. If ovulation has occurred, fertilization will likely
result, but the pills will harden the lining of the uterus and not
allow the one-week-old, tiny, developing baby to implant in the
womb. As a result these pills directly result in killing this
child and this is quite simply an abortion. By promoting these
drugs they hope to blur the line between contraception and abortion and
make abortion seem less ugly. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
13
Maternal Ultrasound
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Here’s a true story from a pregnancy help center in Houston. A
college student, 12 weeks pregnant, came to the center. She was
abortion-minded but was persuaded to come in and have an ultrasound
examination done. When she saw the ultrasound image of her unborn
child, the baby seemed to be kneeling with hands folded.
She burst into tears and cried out, “He’s praying! My baby is
praying so that he won’t be killed and will be allowed to live.”
Needless to say, that was the end of any abortion thoughts in her
mind. She did carry the baby to term. Now, if you don’t
have ultrasound at your pregnancy help center, do give it some very
serious thought. With a determined effort, most help centers that
want an ultrasound machine have been able to raise the funds, and
you’ll save babies. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
14
3-D Sonogram
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Three-dimensional ultrasound is a new technology it gives a remarkably
detailed and clear picture of unborn babies. Recently, a woman
came into a pro-life women’s help center to confirm her
pregnancy. She still wanted to schedule the abortion – even after
she had seen a traditional sonogram. She was persuaded, though,
to postpone her abortion and return for a 3-dimensional sonogram the
next day.
As the technologically advanced equipment moved over the unborn baby’s
face, the pregnant woman gasped and said, “That’s my boyfriend’s
face!” The image was so clear this new mother could see the
resemblance to the baby’s father. From that moment on, she would
have done whatever was necessary to protect her yet-to-be-born
child. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
15
Crisis Pregnancy Center
This is Dr. John Willke with a
Life Jewel:
Words are important. What we call things very definitely helps to
shape in a person’s mind what that thing is. An example of this,
that we are now calling into question, is the term, “crisis pregnancy
center.”
Certainly, many women with an unwanted pregnancy would agree that their
life is in crisis. For many other women, however, that may not be
the best term to use all the time. The title, crisis pregnancy
center has been rethought in recent years and I agree that a better
name to use is “pregnancy help center” or “pregnancy assistance center”
or just plain “women’s center.”
I think these would be a better face to the public
and would be more likely to bring women into the center. It puts
more emphasis on caring and loving rather than the harsher term crisis
center. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
16
Give Baby Life
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
We’ve all heard and I’m sure most of us have used
the term, “give your baby life.” We’ve applied this to a woman
who is pregnant and who unselfishly proceeds to carry her baby to term
and deliver. The phrase itself sounds fine. “She gave her
baby life.”
But, you know, it’s incorrect. The baby was
alive from the first cell stage. If not her baby could not have
grown. So, she didn’t give her baby life, God did. But
we’ve all used this phrase and with the best of intentions, and it is
soft and pro-life. But, the down side is, it may reinforce what
pro-aborts have told her, and that is, abortion is not killing because
her baby isn’t alive yet.
So what’s the answer? Well, maybe instead of
saying, “give her baby life”, let’s say, “give her baby love.”
This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
17
Unwanted Pregnancy
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
A commonly used phrase is to speak of “unwanted pregnancy.” We
also hear the phrase “unplanned pregnancy” and, of course, “unwanted
children” and “unplanned children.” This really turns me
off. If we think a moment, it’s very obvious that a phrase like
this is a comment about the mother or other adults involved, it
certainly is not a description of the baby.
Unwantedness—sounds like you are going to purchase a commodity and
babies aren’t commodities. To use this infers that the child has
no intrinsic value but that only the woman’s situation and the woman’s
feelings and the woman’s desire determines whether that child has worth
or not. So when that phrase is used, let’s remember that it’s a
comment about the pregnant woman and that it sharply devalues the
child. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
18
Place Her Baby?
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
In counseling a woman who is considering adoption for her baby, the
words we use are very important. Certainly we should never speak
of “giving her baby away” or “giving up her baby.” To
put it mildly, this is the wrong approach and might very well turn her
off.
Rather, let’s speak of “placing the baby in a loving
adopted home.” Let’s speak of “making plans with an adopting
couple for the future for your baby.”
Always remember that every woman wants to keep her
child. To place the baby in a pair of loving arms may well be the
greatest act of love she’ll ever perform in her lifetime. She
will never forget her baby. That ache will always be there.
But the memory will be a comforting one and far better than its
opposite of, “I killed my baby.” This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
18
Avoid Poverty?
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
William Galston gave us some simple but sterling advice a few years
ago. Noting that more than two-thirds of African-American
children are born out of wedlock, and that one-fourth of whites are
also born out of wedlock, he noted that no culture can remain healthy
with statistics like these. He noted that a significant
percentage of these children remain in poverty. What to do?
How can such a child rise out of poverty? His advice was very
simple.
He said, you need only do three things in this
country to avoid poverty; finish high school, marry before having a
child, and marry after the age of twenty. Among those who follow
such advice, only 8% are poor, while 79% of those who do follow the
above advice are not poor. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
20
Teen Pregnancy
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Teenage pregnancy—that has a rather ominous and negative sound to it
doesn’t it? But think a minute, many of you listening were the
teenage pregnancy of your mother. There is a vast difference
between a fifteen-year-old unmarried, poverty stricken girl, and an
eighteen or nineteen-year-old married woman who is pregnant.
Both are teenagers, but only one is of concern to us. It is
really foolish to define teenage motherhood as a problem. Rather
we should look at poverty, at low levels of education, and the single
marital status of teenage mothers. Those are the aspects that we
should be concerned about. In purely physical terms, with good
pre-natal care, a pre-natal pregnancy is a very healthy thing for a
young woman to experience. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
21
Letter from Heaven
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
And today a letter from an aborted baby from Heaven: “Momma, I
know you killed me when you aborted me, but you didn’t destroy
me. All you did was send me to Jesus earlier. Should I be
mad at you? Yes, but I’m not. I don’t know why you didn’t
want me. I wanted you. I wanted to have you hold me and
feed me.
I know you’d have loved me if you hadn’t let the abortionist kill
me. But it’s over and I’m in a happy place now, and I will be
praying for you. Yes, I wanted to be born, but you couldn’t hear
me because you didn’t listen to your heart. I hope someday you’ll
come to heaven—then we can be together. Don’t cry; Jesus will
forgive you. Remember I’ waiting for you.” This is Dr.
Willke. (toc)
22
Vaccine from Fetus?
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Can conscientious pro-life parents allow their children to be immunized
with vaccines that have been grown on cultures derived from aborted
babies? We must match this objectionable feature to the
substantial risk of illness and even death to children if vaccines are
not administered.
Make new vaccines from non-aborted human tissue? Yes, and some of
this is underway. But for now what? A national bioethical
authority, Dr. Daniel Maher, has said this: “Parents who understand and
deplore the relation of these vaccines to abortion, who find no other
way to guard against infectious diseases, can morally use these
vaccines.”
Some disagree, but I’ve been a physician for over 50
years and have seen children die before the vaccine came. I’ll go
with Dr. Maher. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
23
Replacement Births
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Population replacement birthrate is crucial to the continuing existence
of a nation. In a developed nation, the average woman in her
lifetime must have 2.1 babies in order to maintain the current level of
population. In an underdeveloped nation, with a higher infant
death rate, the number must be more like 2.4.
Every major western European nation has a birthrate well below
replacement level. The lowest are in Spain, Italy, Austria,
Germany they have 1.2. These low rates add up to a potential
demographic disaster. The U. S. alone is above replacement level,
but only 2.13 according to the 2000 census.
Yet, in the face of this slow national suicide, all of these nations
continue to kill off large numbers of their people through
abortion. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
24
Population Decline
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Did you notice even the extremely biased press and, wonder of wonders,
the United Nations itself is finally admitting that their frantic
warnings of population explosion simply are no longer valid. Not
long ago, the UN world population estimated that the 6 billion people
in the world today will become 10 billion by the year 2100.
But now UN spokesmen say the figure will be more like nine billion or
maybe eight. We are now being told that the world’s population
will peak within the next fifty years and then start an irrevocable
decline, that is, unless some momentous change occurs. You know
what? We pro-life spokespeople have been telling you this for the
last ten years. Now even our radical press and the UN are
admitting this. This is Dr. Willke. (toc)
25
School Problems
This is Dr. John Willke with a
Life Jewel:
I’m in my seventies, but if I think back to what problems in school
when I was a kid, there were problems with us chewing gum, talking in
class, and we’d be disciplined for not doing their homework.
Sometimes we were called to task for stepping out of line when we
walked from one room to another. We also got caught for shooting rubber
bands and spitballs, and obviously for cheating.
But today’s top problems are drug addiction, teenage
pregnancy, abortion, suicide, homicide, gang violence, anorexia,
bulimia. And let’s add AIDS and other sexual diseases, poverty,
homelessness, and single parenthood.
And all of these changes have occurred within my lifetime, and that of
many of your grandparents. The world has truly turned upside
down. This is Dr. Willke.
(toc)
26
Papillomavirus
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Human Papillomavirus, HPV, is a sexually transmitted disease.
Recent studies show that 14% of all female college students become
infected with this virus each year. Tragically, many of
them don’t know it, there are few symptoms. The real tragedy here
is that it causes cervical cancer.
In the U.S. there are 14,000 such cancer cases every year and 5,000 of
these women die. Condoms provide absolutely no protection for
this. It is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact, not merely by
body fluids. The only way to keep from getting this infection is
to abstain from sexual activity until you are married, to marry a
person who is not infected, and to stay faithful for the rest of your
marriage. Sounds downright Biblical doesn’t it? But in
today’s world, this is also just plain common sense. This is Dr.
Willke.(toc)
27
Sexes Are Different
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
For decades now, liberal social thinkers have been telling us that men
and women are basically the same except for their physical differences;
that the way we interact and live, is a result of social conditioning,
of our environment, and training, and that it is not due to any
intrinsic, genetic differences.
Because of women leaving the home and becoming wage earners, men as
househusbands, broad education for both, many thought changes were
occurring. Over three decades now, however, the major findings
have been, “stability and increased sexual differentiation. This
is particularly true in increased femininity of females,” as rated by
both males and females themselves. So gender differences are not
decreasing. To many liberal experts’ surprise, men are still men
and women are still women. That means in the nursery you can
still decorate with either blue or pink. (toc)
28
One Child Policy
This is Dr. John Willke with a
Life Jewel:
What all is involved in China’s family planning program? Well,
briefly stated, women are not permitted to marry until age 23.
All children conceived out of wedlock are aborted. Each married
couple is permitted only one child. And after this, the woman is
forced to use an IUD. Any unauthorized pregnancy, then, is
aborted, and, invariably, after the birth of the second child, which is
permitted occasionally, the woman will be sterilized.
This can involve imprisonment, sometimes their
relatives are detained and held hostage. Not unusually, their
homes are simply destroyed. They may have crippling fines levied
against them. Unauthorized babies, if born, are commonly killed
by injecting a poison into the soft spot in their heads. This is
China’s One-Child-Policy. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
29
China’s Frustrated Men
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
China has had a one-child policy for over two decades now.
Chinese officials tell us that there are almost 117 baby boys born for
every 100 girls. Have we ever had a culture where there are far
more young men than women? They will want to marry, but there
won’t be enough wives.
China is moving toward a culture where there will be tens of millions
of frustrated men who cannot find wives and who will not, therefore,
undergo the taming, civilizing influence that a wife and children
typically have on a man. So what lies ahead? An increase in
violence? More male homosexuality? It certainly doesn’t
look like more internal stability. Rather, perhaps, internal
social turmoil—and possibly even external military aggression.
This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
30
Planned Parenthood & Adoption
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Planned Parenthood runs advertisements claiming that they are
pro-family. But they kill one out of every six unborn babies
aborted in the U.S. If they are pro-family some of these women,
probably, chose adoption? Well, let’s look. The actual
numbers are this: In the year 2000 they did 200,000 abortions compared
to 2,500 adoption referrals.
That means that for every 100 women who walked into one Planned
Parenthood’s death camp, almost 98 out of 100 chose death for their
child. Only two chose life. Are we to assume that these
decisions were the totally free and fully informed choice of each of
those women, or do we assume that Planned Parenthood’s so-called
counselors are very good salespersons, and what they’re selling is
death, not life? This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
31
911 Free One In N.Y.C.
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
After the September 11 tragedy in New York, Planned Parenthood did
their part for humanity by offering
free abortions to women affected by the terrorist attack.
Now, imagine being a widow whose husband was suddenly and violently
taken away. All that remains of him is the precious beating heart
of his unborn child nestled underneath your own.
As a solution to your tragic situation, Planned Parenthood offers to
kill your baby, and free of charge. They are the largest promoter
and provider of abortion-on-demand in America. In comparison, the
pro-life movement offers true compassion and hope for these widows, and
for their babies, and for other women faced with uncertain times during
their pregnancies. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
32
The ABC Link
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Did you know that there is a link between abortion and the likelihood
of developing breast cancer? The major media outlets have been
silent, and so have the major cancer research organizations.
Certainly it’s no surprise that the abortion industry doesn’t want
anyone to know about this. However, the evidence is
overwhelming. 28 out of 37 worldwide studies show a link between
abortion and breast cancer. 13 out of 15 U.S. studies report the
same link.
Seven of these show more than a twofold increase in risk. This is
especially true if she aborts her first baby. It’s time that
women were made aware of the possible physical complications of
abortion. You seem this one may kill her. This
is Dr. Willke.(toc)
33
Biologic Father’s Duty
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
For many years now we’ve been living with a Supreme Court decision that
granted women the choice to have her unborn baby killed. But more
recently, Karen DeCrow, former head of the National Organization of
“Some” Women has come up with another right to choose. She
says that the father of an unborn baby has the right to refuse to
support that child, if the mother chooses to give birth over his
objection. Now that’s a new twist.
We have always held that the biologic father has a duty of helping to
support the child he has fathered. This radical feminist motive
is rather obvious. If the biologic father has the right to say he
will not support his child, then that’s a motivation for the mother to
kill the kid. Let’s hope her opinion is roundly condemned for the
outrageous thing that it is. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
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34
Susan B. Anthony
This is Dr. John Willke with a
Life Jewel:
Susan B. Anthony is known as the first feminist in American
history. Considering that today’s radical feminists are also
pro-abortion, it’s interesting to look at what she said. She
called abortion, “child murder”, and wrote: “No matter what the reason,
if, love of ease, or desire to save the unborn innocent from
suffering, a woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed.
It will burden her conscience in life; it will burden her soul in
death. But, oh thrice guilty is he who drove her to the
desperation which impelled her to the crime.” Susan B. Anthony
considered abortion a form of oppression and a burden to women.
And there is an organization called the Susan B. Anthony List, which is
active politically in electing pro-life women to the U.S.
Congress. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
35
Mandate Training
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Over the years the total number of hospitals that offer abortion
training to their doctors in obstetric training has declined
sharply. Panicked by this, pro-abortion forces have wielded their
political muscle and now we have some government officials who have
mandated that some hospitals must offer surgical abortion
training. In response, pro-life people should loudly publicize
that while a hospital may be forced to offer the training, student
doctors are not required to take it. The simple answer here is
for them to refuse.
We have, in fact, reports of some such hospitals where not a single
doctor wanted to take the training, and so the official order that
required the training to be made simply was moot. Let’s hope
enough young doctors refuse so that this latest pro-abortion effort
fails. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
36
Military Abortions
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Abortions are not permitted in U.S. military hospitals domestically or
overseas. That was the specific policy from President Reagan and
the elder President Bush. But then, President Clinton signed into
law a provision that allowed them. But, amazingly, there wasn’t a
single doctor in a military hospital overseas who went ahead to do an
abortion. 100% of the military doctors and nurses refused to do
abortions.
President George W. Bush also opposes abortion in military
hospitals. But while there have been several close votes in
Congress, nevertheless, Congress has supported this prohibition.
Most members in Congress agree that military treatment centers, which
are dedicated to healing, should not be forced to facilitate the
killing of the most innocent human life—a child in the womb. This
is Dr. Willke.(toc)
37
Reverse Roe & Doe?
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Reverse Roe v. Wade, and Doe v. Bolton? These are the Supreme
Court decisions that gave us abortion on demand throughout the United
States? Most people, I believe, think that if a new Supreme Court
reversed these decisions, abortion would be suddenly illegal throughout
the United States, but this is incorrect.
All this would do, would be to return us to what the lawyers call,
“status quo ante”, which means where we were before the
decisions. Now, before these decisions, any and all laws on
abortions were made by the State. The Federal Government and
Federal Judges, had no part to play, or any judgments to make. So
if Roe and Doe are reversed, what we’ll do is go back to what the law
was and is in each state. A reversal would allow abortion to
still be legal in states occupied by over 50% of our population.
This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
38
Two to Overturn
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Here is a first, friends. Two parties brought a lawsuit to the U.
S. Supreme Court resulting in two historic, landmark, society-changing
decisions. These were the 1973 decisions on abortion These
same two parties have now gone back into the court system and are
specifically asking that what they once supported should now be
completely overturned.
Who are these people? They are Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade and Jane
Doe of Doe v. Bolton or, if you please, Norma McCorvey and Sandra
Canoe. The Texas Justice Foundation is carrying their case.
So far it is still in the very early stages of their legal effort but
such a complete about face is completely unprecedented. Without
question these two gutsy women have legal standing and the case is
moving ahead. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
39
Punish the Woman?
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
In Western nations, abortion has only been legal for about 30 years,
give or take a few, depending on the country. Before that,
induced abortion was a crime, a crime that was punished. But who
was punished? Well, the abortionist was. If apprehended,
the abortionist was convicted of manslaughter and usually sent to the
penitentiary to serve time.
But was the woman’s punished? In the entire history of the United
States, there is not a single case where the woman, however she agreed
and was complicit in this action, there isn’t a single case where she
was even indicted, much less convicted or sentenced. The thinking
always has been that she was the second victim. Only the
abortionist was punished. This is Dr. Willke.
(toc)
40
Accessory to Crime
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Do you know someone who works for an abortionist? Perhaps someday
you’ll run into such a person, and, if so, you may warn them that their
job could land them in jail. It’s very common for people who work
for abortionists to witness illegal or unethical activity.
This could include, Medicare fraud, insurance fraud, money laundering,
physical assaults on patients, sexual assaults on patients, health and
safety violations, consumer fraud, and more. Do tell your friend
that if they are an abortion clinic employee and conceal knowledge of a
crime, that they themselves could be subject to arrest and
prosecution. If they want to learn more about the danger that
they may be facing, and what their options are, contact me at Life
Issues Institute. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
41
Euthanasia A Threat?
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Is legalized euthanasia a threat to America? You tell me.
Recently, the Netherlands finally officially legalized it.
Belgium soon followed by okaying killing patients even if they aren’t
terminally ill, but merely mentally depressed.
In America, the states of California and Maine barely beat back
referenda on euthanasia. And it was recently narrowly defeated in
the Hawaii legislature when three state senators reversed their
previous votes in favor of euthanasia. Tragically, Oregon has
physician-assisted suicide and people are being killed and dying there
prematurely. Yes, euthanasia is at America’s doorstep, and the
advocates of death are determined to not give up until they legalize
it. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
42
5 Last Words
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Almighty God has a special plan for those struggling between the onset
of a terminal illness and its final outcome. This can be a time
to build cherished memories that will sustain family and friends after
the loved one has died. For those left behind, it can change us
forever and helps to mold us into the people our Creator would have us
become.
A dreaded cancer or other terminal illness can teach compassion,
patience and love like none other, and we are often better people for
it. If we accept the argument from those trying to sell a
“dignified” death by euthanasia, many people would miss some of the
most meaningful moments of life. Remember the last words from
Hospice. I forgive you…forgive me…thank you…I love you… good
bye. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
43
Hendin / Holland
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
In a summary of the Dutch euthanasia program by Dr. Herman Hendin, we
read, “Studies sanctioned by the Dutch government reveal that
guidelines for the regulation of abortion include ‘a voluntary, well
considered, persistent request, intolerable suffering that cannot be
relieved, consultation with a colleague and reporting of cases.’
But in practice, these are consistently violated. And of greatest
concern is the number of patients who are put to death without their
consent. Euthanasia, originally intended for the exceptional
case, has become an accepted way of dealing with the physical and
mental distress of serious or terminal illness. Friends, I have
an office in The Netherlands. Dr. Hendin is absolutely
correct. And what happens there could someday come here.
This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
44
Dutch Slippery Slope
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
The slippery slope can certainly be applied to the Dutch euthanasia
program. Once legally permitted for only a very few tragic and
hopeless terminal cases, it slowly widened and spread. The
Netherlands has moved from only considering assisted suicide, to giving
legal sanction to physician assisted suicide and then to legalized
euthanasia.
It moved from euthanasia for physical illness to euthanasia for
psychological distress. Then from voluntary euthanasia, requested
by the patient, to involuntary euthanasia without the patients
knowledge or consent. Finally it has moved from helping a patient
die to direct euthanasia. It is now legal in Holland for a
physician to directly kill a patient by a lethal
injection. This is truly a slippery slope. This
is Dr.
Willke. (toc)
45
AMA Against Euthanasia
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
The ethical prohibition against physician assisted suicide, is a
cornerstone of medical ethics, its roots are as ancient as the
Hippocratic Oath, that a physician “Will neither give a deadly drug to
anybody if asked for it, nor…make a suggestion to this affect.”
Physician assisted suicide remains, “fundamentally incompatible with
the physician’s role as healer. It would be difficult or
impossible to control, and would pose serious risks to society.”
Does this sound like a right to life
statement? Actually, I’m quoting from, from the American Medical
Association, and about 50 other groups, before the U.S. Supreme Court
in 1996. We’re grateful for this support, but must note that
while they oppose euthanasia, the AMA is supportive of abortion on
demand. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
46
Hospice
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Hospices are a wonderful development in the care of terminally ill
patients. They take the patient out of a busy, noisy and
uncomfortable hospital and bring them to a place of peace. Loved
ones can visit and even bring their pets. Pain is
controlled. Spiritual help is available, and the dying process is
made as comfortable as possible.
In the U.S. there are hundreds of hospices; in Britain there are about
three hundred. The Netherlands, which has legal euthanasia, does
not need such palliative compassionate care facilities. In recent
years, due to government effort, they have increased their hospices
from six to ten, and they’re all very small. Their answer is to
simply to kill the patient by euthanasia and be done with it.
That’s what will happen here, too, if we ever legalize assisted
suicide.(toc)
47
Depression & Suicide
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Suicide? 95% of people who commit suicide are suffering from
clinical depression, which is a biochemical illness. It responds
to treatment with oral medication. So what then of requests for
euthanasia? In the Netherlands, where direct euthanasia by
doctors is entirely legal, only 3% of Dutch patients requesting
euthanasia are referred for psychiatric consultation.
In Oregon, where assisted-suicide is legal, psychological referral is
elective at the attending doctor’s discretion and actually happens in
only a small percent of cases. It sounds to me like there’s
something very wrong here. This puts a decision, whether or not
to kill a patient, entirely up to the judgment of a doctor who often is
not qualified to diagnose or to treat clinical depression. This
is Dr. Willke.(toc)
48
Terminal Costs
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Will the final years of your life cost you, your family, and Medicare
heavy expenditures? That certainly is what most people
think. But take note—a study published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association has reported that after age 85, Medicare
expenditures decrease.
To the researcher’s surprise, they found that this was true in hospice
care. Well, maybe with hospice care that’s not too big a
surprise, but it also decreased within conventional hospital and home
care. The findings were that older patients, at the end of their
natural lifespan, are treated less aggressively, and this translated
into the reality that it also was less expensive to care for them than
it is to care for younger patients. This is Dr. Willke. (toc)
49
Most Important
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
I say this as a husband celebrating over 54 years of happy marriage
with my dear Barbara, at the same time, reveling in our six children
and 20 grandchildren. Herewith is a quote from 100 years ago from
then-President Teddy Roosevelt, and I think he hits it right on the
nose. Quote: “There are many kinds of successes in life
worth having.
It is certainly interesting and attractive to be a successful
businessman, or a railroad man, or farmer, or successful lawyer,
doctor, writer, president, or a ranchman, or a colonel fighting
regiment, or killing grizzly bears and lions. But for unflagging
interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go
reasonably well, certainly makes all the other forms of success and
achievement lose their importance by comparison.” This is Dr.
Willke.(toc)
50
Talk Radio
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Pro-life conservative personalities have long dominated talk
radio. To mention but three, Dr.
Laura, Rush Limbaugh,
and Shawn Hannity, plus, of course, dozens of smaller
counterparts. Why? They simply attract the greatest number
of listeners.
Now liberals are chagrinned by this and have attempted, on a number of
occasions, to launch radio shows with liberal talk show hosts.
Needless to say, listeners seem unwilling to listen to them. So
where will this go? Well, until liberals come up with a host who
can attract a radio audience, perhaps the pro-abortion forces should
just be content with the fact that they have almost total control of
the major newspapers, of CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, of entertainment TV and
the movies. This is Dr. Willke.
(toc)
51
Marriage Good for Kids
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Marriage is good for the kids. Children raised in a two-parent
family are much more likely to be better off financially. You
see, only 12% of families headed by married couples are in the bottom
1/5 of income in the U.S. This compares to 31% of those headed by
a single father and 50% when headed by a single mother.
Children of married parents are, on average, more successful in
life. They’re less likely to drop out of high school that’s 13%
compared to 30%. They’re more likely to earn a college degree and
less likely to be unemployed in their early twenties. Children of
married couples are less likely to be jailed, if they are boys.
They begin sexual activity at an older age, and they’re less likely to
become parents prior to marriage. They use less alcohol and
drugs. Yes, marriage is good for kids.
(toc)
52
Married Live Longer – Women
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Married women live longer than those who are unmarried. Unmarried women
have a mortality rate 50% higher than married women. Why?
Why this impact of marriage on a woman’s health and life
expectancy? Well, it’s probably due to an increase in emotional
support and greater stability and level of economic status.
Emotional support is important as a means of increasing and maintaining
general health. Economic stability definitely increases the
likelihood that a woman will have health insurance and/or will be able
to afford proper health care and for her babies. That is to say,
with a caring husband, she’ll be better cared for and certainly is more
likely to be motivated to deliver when she gets pregnant, and less
likely to abort. Yep, I’m in favor of marriage.
This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
53
Married Live Longer – Men
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Married men live longer. This has been thoroughly demonstrated by
the recent work, research, and writings of Maggie Gallagher and
others. They demonstrate that marriage has a profound impact on
health other than sexual health. The risk of death at any given
age is substantially lower in married men then among those who are not
married.
She says, “Compared to married people, the non-married have higher
rates of mortality than married. In fact, mortality is 250%
higher among men.” Looking at it from another direction, we’re
told that being unmarried decreases a man’s expected life span by about
10 years. Reasons? Married men have fewer unhealthy
behaviors, such has smoking, drinking and fighting, and that is because
wives, and the presence of children, motivate husbands and fathers to
behave in a more healthy fashion. This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
54
Teens & Divorce
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
You’re divorced and now you are remarried—and so, how about the
kids? Well, the young little ones adjust better, but teenagers
often have more problems, and those sometimes serious and disruptive
ones. Expressing this from a purely business standpoint, here’s
one viewpoint:
“From the adolescent’s perspective, it’s like discovering that another
layer of management (the step-parent) is being thrust between you and
the boss (your parent), the boss you reported to for 12, 14 or 16
years. Or worse, it’s like the business (your home) has been
bought out from under you, and so, from the teenager’s perspective,
this second marriage can feel like a hostile takeover.”
Needless to say, such feelings don’t encourage them to enter marriage
and, sadly, do motivate them to get abortions. This is Dr.
Willke.(toc)
55
Divorce Hurts Men
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
It is a well-known fact that divorce impoverishes women. Women
who separate from their husbands, with few exceptions, suffer a sharp
drop in income. This is reflected in changes in their lifestyle,
their housing, education of their children, and other aspects of their
lives. On the contrary, it has been generally thought that men
prosper after divorce.
But recent studies show that most men who separate do not experience
gains in their living standards, rather they lose economic status in
the aftermath of separation and divorce. And so, the conclusion
here seems to be that, in most cases, divorce impoverishes both the man
and the woman and enriches only the divorce lawyers. Bad
marriages mean fewer children and more abortions.
This is Dr. Willke.(toc)
56
Newborns Feel Pain
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
Research in London has reported that newborn babies’ nervous systems
have characteristics different from those of older humans. They
are
unique in that their nervous system allows them to feel pain sooner,
more sensitively, and for a longer period of time than adults. Their
pain is more generalized throughout the body; while ours is more
localized in one location.
Obviously, if this is the situation in a baby right after birth, it
will also be true for a baby before birth, and probably to some lesser
degree in the months preceding it. Now, if this is confirmed by
other
studies, then we can say with proven assurance that abortion not only
kills a baby but causes that infant great pain in the process.
This is
Dr. John Willke. (toc)
57
Fewer Abortions
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
The total number of abortions done in the United States is
dropping. The most accurate numbers come from the Alan Guttmacher
Institute, a branch of Planned Parenthood. From a high of 1.6
million abortions a few years ago, they now report less than 1.4
million annually, and this is the lowest rate in the last 20
years.
The federal government’s Center for Disease Control the (CDC), reports
just over 1.2 million. The difference is explainable. The
CDC is the passive recipient of reports sent to it from the
states. But all states don’t report at all but some report rather
inaccurately. The Guttmacher Institute aggressively goes to all
abortion mills and gets their results directly. Even so, figures
from both sources show the same percentage drop. (toc)
58
School Sex Clinics
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
In-school health clinics, which we commonly rename, in-school sex
clinics, continue to increase in numbers. In the last five years,
they have doubled from 600 to 1200 schools having such clinics.
Many or most were initially funded by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, which has as its ultimate goal, the distribution through
them, of contraceptives to students without their parent’s knowledge or
consent. These clinics start with the promise to treat only
non-reproductive health problems.
But once established, however, many move to family planning and
abortion referrals. Interestingly, in Texas recently, the state
health commissioners cut out all state aid to school-based clinics,
giving the reason that they often duplicate existing services but that
they also force family planning counseling on unwilling
communities. This is Dr. John Willke. (toc)
59
Fathers Are Important
This is Dr. John Willke with
a Life Jewel:
Increasingly in recent years, research has shown that a father figure
is absolutely crucial to the proper formation of children. This
applies for both boys and girls. What this country needs is a
much higher percentage of fathers married to and living with the
mothers of their sons and daughters. Further, these fathers
should be good role models for their children.
But sadly, a recent investigation showed that there were only 15% of
recurring fathers in prime time TV, and 11 of these were poor
models. The worst network was NBC, with 12 reoccurring homosexual
characters and overall 25 homosexual, bisexual, or trans-gendered
characters. There was only one father on NBC’s prime time and 8
network shows. How about just turning these shows off? This
is Dr. John Willke.(toc)
60
Call us “Pro-life”
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel:
In general, the media will call a group the name they wish to be
called. Anti-vivisectionist? No—those are animal rights
people. Sodomites, homosexuals? No, they prefer to be
called “gay”.
Fornicators and adulterers? No, they want to be called sexually
active. Pro-abortion people? No—the media will call them
abortion rights activists or pro-choice people. So then, what
about pro-lifers? Oh, that’s the name we prefer. But no,
we’re called anti-abortion or, worse, yet, anti-choice.
But our agenda is broader than only being opposed to abortion. We
also oppose infanticide and euthanasia. Further, we are not
“anti” – we’re “pro” – pro for the life of the baby, pro for the
welfare of the mother. But, contrary to the media’s practice of
honoring others’ preferred names, the media still call us
“anti-abortion”. Quite a double standard, isn’t it? (toc)
61
Marriage Helps Kids
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel. Marriage is better for
unborn babies. Family Planning Perspectives, the house organ of
Planned Parenthood, in a survey of 10,000 abortion patients, reports
that women who live with a partner outside of marriage are almost four
times more likely to have an abortion than women in the general
population.
Another finding is that women who have no religious affiliation are
also almost four times more likely to abort than those who are
believers.
And we should also keep reminding ourselves and young people that
unmarried mothers abort more often than married mothers, and that their
born children have more problems than children from the married. Yes,
marriage is better for all babies, born and unborn. This is Dr. John
Willke. (toc)
62
Hitler and Abortion
This is Dr. John Willke with today’s Life Jewel. There are those
people, down through the years, who have claimed that Hitler was not in
favor of abortion, that he actually forbade it
Well, there is a kernel of truth to this.
He was opposed to abortion for members of his pure blood Aryan race,
the reason? He wanted more babies from these men and women and so
he forbade them to abort.
But he was all in favor of abortions and permitted abortions for Jews,
for Gypsies, for Polish women and for those of other
nationalities. Hitler's opinion and practice on abortion were
shaped by his own “master race” thinking and had nothing at all to do
with whether or not abortion was the killing of an innocent human life.
Thought you'd like to know. This is Dr. John Willke.
(toc)
63
Below Birth Rate
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel. You all know that
almost every developed nation has a birth rate under replacement
levels, but did you know that the birth dearth has spread well beyond
the developed world.
Twenty-seven developing nations now have fewer than 2.2 children per
woman, which means they are not reproducing their own numbers.
In 1985, the world's total rate was 4.2. Now it's 2.9 and dropping.
Seventy-nine countries, containing 40% of the world's population, now
have birth rates below replacement level.
Assuming this trend continues, it is estimated that in twenty years
two-thirds of all people on earth will live in countries that are dying
because of an inadequate birth rate. This is Dr. John Willke. (toc)
64
Death with Dignity
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel. Pro-euthanasia
people make a continuing argument for “death with dignity”. Rather, I
think most of us would want to live with dignity until death. Truly, we
should not equate personal dignity with control of bowel function or
the need to be able to independently care for all of our own bodily
needs at all times. True human dignity is internal, not external.
True human dignity is the person himself. Illness does not destroy
one's inherent dignity. If a patient is treated with dignity by family
and friends, he or she retains all of the respect and dignity that
their personhood is due. Having to dependend upon others at the end of
life should be accepted as a gracious giving back to the patient what
he or she gave to others. This is Dr. John Willke. (toc)
65
Dutch Slippery Slope
This is Dr. John Willke with a Life Jewel. Euthanasia is
legal in Holland, and we are told that it is rare, tightly controlled,
with many restrictions, and done only in the most serious and advanced
cases. But is simply this is not so. The actual facts are far removed
from this. Physician-assisted suicide in Holland has progressed to
direct physician killing of patients.
Euthanasia for the terminally ill has progressed to euthanasia for the
chronically ill. Euthanasia for physical problems has progressed to
euthanasia for psychiatric problems. Voluntary euthanasia has
progressed to involuntary euthanasia. Euthanasia in Holland is a
classic example of the “slippery slope”. I predict that any state
that legalizes physician-assisted suicide will move progressively down
that same slippery slope. This is Dr. John Willke. (toc)
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