Reminder – January D.C. Actions

        If you’re interested in the Washington DC peace actions (January 15) or our presence at the March for Life (January 22), please check out our January actions page. We have now added an option of a vigil to protest at Planned Parenthood before joining the Iraq war anniversary march on January 15.

 ∞     ∞     ∞

 The Numbers from 2010

         In the United States during 2010, 31 abortion clinics closed down permanently, whereas 9 new ones opened, for a net loss of 22. There were 42 executions in 2010, while there had been 52 the previous year. Both reflect downward trends; we’re working on a momentum.

 ∞     ∞     ∞

 Lives of Consistency – G.E.M. (Elizabeth) Anscombe (1919-2001)

         Elizabeth Anscombe was an eminent Oxford/Cambridge philosopher who waged a lifelong battle against “consequentialism,” a term she invented to describe the position that any act can be justified by a good enough reason. She defended, instead, “exceptionless norms” – certain acts, such as the deliberate killing of an innocent person, cannot be justified by any circumstances whatsoever. In her student days, during World War II, she published an essay ("The Justice of the Present War Examined") arguing that the British government’s plan for indiscriminate obliteration bombing of German cities was not Just War, but murder. Throughout her career she opposed nuclear weapons and military practices that killed innocent people, penning a famous and furious tract (“Mr. Truman’s Degree”) opposing Oxford’s award to a U.S. President responsible for massacre of civilians. She was also arrested in an abortion clinic protest, hauled away by the police from blocking the entrance. In the 1960s, Professor Anscombe was sought out by a young student who was pregnant by a professor 30 years older than she, who wanted her to get an abortion. Anscombe asked, “And why does he think that?” The girl replied, ‘Well, the first problem is, he doesn’t entirely accept the full humanity of the unborn.” “No,” Anscombe shot back, “His first problem is that he doesn’t even accept the full humanity of the undergraduate.”

        Julianne Wiley (aka Juli Loesch, founder of Prolifers for Survival, precursor organization for Consistent Life) has written up a marvelous 15-page talk about her. Anyone who would like to have that by email attachment can ask at weekly@consistent-life.org.

  

∞     ∞     ∞

New Book

        Long-time CL member Norm Carroll announces his new book, Miracles, Messages & Metaphors, Unlocking the Wisdom of the Bible. He says lessons of consistent life and wisdom are highlighted. 

 ∞     ∞     ∞

 Quotation of the Week

Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life

“Convergence,” mailing of January 2011

         “January 15 is the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and on or around that day we observe a national holiday in his honor. A week later, on January 22, we recall the tragic decision made that day in 1973 by the Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade, unleashing a policy of abortion on demand  . . . Both the civil rights movement and the pro-life movement are evidence of this common engagement. Both movements seek to secure equal rights for marginalized human beings, despite their appearances . . . Defending the equal dignity of every human being after birth strengthens our witness to the rights of those in danger before birth, and vice-versa. The witness, in fact, is ultimately one.”