New Issue of Life Matters Journal
 
        Life Matters Journal, Volume 3 - Issue 2, Includes among other things:

* War on Marriage - Why Conservatives Should Oppose a Hawkish Foreign Policy (by CL Secretary John Whitehead)

* The Kindness of Strangers (by former CL Secretary Rose Evans)

* Fetal Pain: Does it Matter?

* Belgium's Child Euthanasia Laws

* Sonder: The Key to Peace?

* War Games - on Ender's Game & The Hunger Games
 

 
More Mennonite Messages
 
        The Mennonite has published a letter from Matthew Ingersoll, giving more depth to the discussion sparked by our ad there. 
 

        I was glad to read "A Consistent Life Ethic" from Julia Smucker in the letters section in February. I, too, feel there is a double standard in some Mennonite circles in our stance toward peace and reconciliation in regard to abortion.
       I actively support Mennonite Central Committee and MCC U.S. efforts. I often get emails alerting me when to call my senators on issues such as gun control, immigration and Syria. I have noticed that none of these email notifications concern abortion legislation. So I decided to ask MCC U.S. about why there isn't any lobbying or work done on the issue of abortion. The answer was,?"As to why we do not work on the issue, our office's advocacy priorities grow out of MCC's work here in the [United States] and around the world. Because MCC's work does not directly intersect with the issue of abortion, it has not been identified as a priority for us."
        How is it that MCC work does not "directly intersect with the issue of abortion" when its vision statement is, "MCC envisions communities worldwide in right relations with God, one another and creation"?
        My fear is that MCC U.S. has a lobbying agenda and is afraid to bite the hand that feeds it if it is to lobby against abortion while simultaneously lobbying for gun control and immigration reform. Calling out Democrats on an issue that is "a consistent life ethic" may have political ramifications for MCC U.S. I hope that we seek first the kingdom of God and realize we are subjects first to His authority and allegiance beyond that of our broken and sinful political system and that MCC will consider allocating some of its domestic resources toward this issue.
 

 
U.S. States Legislation - Good News
 
        The House of Representatives in the U.S. state of South Dakota passed legislation to ban gender-selective abortions, by a vote of 60 to 10.  Almost half of the 17 Democrats in the House supported the ban. If the state’s Senate takes a similar action, South Dakota will join seven other states that ban abortions done because of the unborn child’s gender.
        There are also several states considering death penalty repeals.
 

 
Quotation of the Week
Rajendra Kale
“It’s a girl!” could be a death sentence
Editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, January 16, 2012
 
http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2012/01/16/cmaj.120021.full.pdf
 
        Female feticide happens in India and China by the millions, but also happens in North America in numbers large enough to distort the male to female ratio in some ethnic groups. Should female feticide in Canada be ignored because it is a small problem localized to minority ethnic groups? No. Small numbers cannot be ignored when the issue is about discrimination against women in its most extreme form. This evil devalues women.