LIFE DIGEST: Babies saved through ‘Bella” reach 200
- Nov 2, 2010 -
A special, life-saving project using the movie “Bella” has reportedly resulted so far in 200 babies being saved from abortion.
The report of the 200th child being spared through the Bella HERO project came Oct. 26, the third anniversary of the movie’s theatrical release. The movie portrays the difference a man with a painful past makes in the life of an abortion-minded co-worker.
Also in this edition: Assisted suicide for partners promoted, Mississippi Personhood Amendment survives challenge, IVF extremely ineffective, study reports, and Black, Hispanic youth more pro-life than whites
The Bella HERO effort provides free DVD copies of the move to pro-life, pregnancy care centers to give to women considering abortion. More than 10,000 DVDs of “Bella” have been distributed to nearly 400 pregnancy care centers so far.
“Seeing the reaction that our film got everywhere it was screened, I realized that if we could put this film into the right people’s hands it could literally change and save lives,” said Jason Jones, one of the film’s co-executive producers. He founded the Bella HERO initiative as part of his non-profit, the Human Rights Education and Relief Organization (HERO).
The 200th baby rescued through the project is the child of a woman in Rochester, N.Y., who had scheduled an abortion, according to Bella HERO. When she visited a pregnancy care center two days before the procedure was set, she received a copy of the movie. After viewing “Bella,” she informed a counselor at the pregnancy care center she had changed her mind and canceled her abortion appointment.
Assisted suicide for partners promoted
Swiss euthanasia promoter Ludwig Minelli is calling for lethal prescriptions to be provided legally to the spouses and partners of terminally ill patients even when they are healthy.
“A change in the law is required to give dementia sufferers and their families more opportunities,” said Minelli, founder of the euthanasia clinic Dignitas in Zurich, according to the Oct. 19 issue of the Daily Mail. “The partner should be allowed to have a prescription for these drugs even when they are not terminally ill. In such cases the partners are often a similar age and one does not want to remain without the other.”
Minelli called assisted suicide “a marvelous possibility given to a human being.”
According to the British newspaper, Zurich public prosecutor Andreas Brunner said of Minelli’s recommendation, “In my view, no change in the law should be sought.”
Switzerland allows physician-assisted suicide for those with a terminal illness. Dignitas has become known internationally as a destination for those from other countries seeking aid in killing themselves. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal in Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands.
Assisted suicide involves a doctor prescribing but not administering the lethal drugs. In euthanasia, a physician administers the fatal dose.
Mississippi Personhood Amendment survives challenge
A Mississippi judge has ruled an initiative to amend the state constitution to define an unborn child as a “person” can be on the ballot in 2011.
Hinds County Circuit Judge Malcolm Harrison rejected Oct. 26 a motion to prevent Measure Number 26, also known as the Mississippi Personhood Amendment, from being voted on next November, The Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger reported.
Amendment foes who filed suit to block the initiative from the ballot said they would appeal to the state Supreme Court, according to the newspaper.
The proposed amendment says, “The term ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.”
Amendment sponsor Les Riley said in a written statement, “Isaiah 59 tells us that, ‘the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear’ so we first give all praise and honor to our Lord Jesus Christ for hearing our prayers and giving us the victory in this round.”
IVF extremely ineffective, study reports
In vitro fertilization (IVF) – thought of possibly by some as a cure-all for infertile couples – is a highly ineffective process, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) reported Oct. 25.
Based on a study of IVF treatments from 2004 to 2008 in their clinic, researchers with the Shady Grove Fertility Center in Maryland found the following results:
- 192,991 eggs were retrieved in 14,324 IVF cycles;
- 110,939 of the eggs were successfully fertilized;
- Only 44,282 proceeded to develop into viable embryos.
- Only 8,366 babies will be born from these embryos, and that is based on the premise that all the frozen embryos will be utilized.
As a result, only 7.5 percent of the eggs that are fertilized become children born alive, ASRM reported.
Black, Hispanic youth more pro-life than whites
Black and Hispanic young people in the United States are more opposed to abortion than whites, according to a new study.
A University of Chicago survey found 47 percent of black youth and 46 percent of Hispanic young people believe abortion is always wrong, while only 34 percent of white youth do, the school reported Oct. 19.
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