LIFE DIGEST: More than 550 babies saved so far in 40 Days
- Mar 28, 2012 -
At least 555 unborn children have been saved from abortion so far in the latest 40 Days for Life campaign, the organization reported March 28.
The campaign – which focuses on peaceful, pro-life prayer vigils outside abortion clinics – will conclude April 1. The latest 40-day effort is the largest spring campaign in 40 Days for Life’s history, with outreaches at 258 cities in the United States, plus sites in Canada, Australia, England, Ireland and Spain.
Also in this edition: One in five British abortion clinics breaking law and Assisted suicide promoter takes own life.
Shawn Carney, 40 Days campaign director, reported the following recent developments among unnamed abortion clinic workers:
- Five employees at abortion clinics have left their jobs during this 40 Days campaign.
- Two clinic staffers in different locations recommended women choose not to have abortions after they saw their ultrasounds — which revealed they both were carrying twins.
- An abortion clinic worker showed an ultrasound to a pregnant client, an act such facilities typically do not permit. When the mother saw the image, she left, saying, “Abortion? No way!” The ultrasound showed quadruplets.
The semi-annual, 40 Days campaigns consist of 40 days of prayer and fasting to end abortion, as well as community outreach and the prayer vigils outside clinics. The effort, which began in Texas in 2004 and went national in 2007, has received reports of more than 5,000 unborn lives saved from abortion as a result of its campaigns.
One in five British abortion clinics breaking law
As much as 20 percent of Britain’s abortion clinics may be guilty of violating the law, according to a government investigation reported on by The Daily Telegraph.
The unannounced raids found more than 50 of 250 private and National Health Service clinics were in violation of the law. Physicians were commonly falsifying consent forms, and the clinics were failing to provide appropriate counseling in many clinics, according to the report.
The investigation found the primary abuse was the signing of consent forms by doctors before actually assessing a woman and her situation, the newspaper reported March 22.
“I was appalled,” said Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, according to The Daily Telegraph. “Because if it happens, it is pretty much people engaging in a culture of both ignoring the law and trying to give themselves the right to say that although Parliament may have said this, we believe in abortion on demand.”
The government raids followed a hidden-camera investigation by The Daily Telegraph that showed physicians indicating their willingness to abort unborn children based on their sex and to provide false information on written forms to hide the reason for the abortions.
Assisted suicide promoter takes own life
The first Oregon doctor to campaign publicly for physician-assisted suicide took his life by that means recently.
Peter Goodwin died March 11 in the presence of his four children and their spouses after taking a lethal dose of a drug he had been prescribed, The Oregonian reported. Goodwin spoke in support of legalizing assisted suicide beginning in the late 1980s.
Oregon became the first state with legalized assisted suicide when the Death With Dignity Act went into effect in 1997. The law permits terminally ill citizens of Oregon to take their own lives by using lethal drug doses prescribed by doctors.
Oregon has recorded 596 assisted-suicide deaths since then, including a record of 71 in 2011.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. Our free, downloadable Impact resource is also available online. If your church is interested in purchasing materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
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