Life Bulletin -- Spring 2005

Please address any letters of inquiry or information to: Life Bulletin c/o Lutherans For Life 301 North 22nd Street Mattoon, IL 61938 Deadline for inclusion in the next issue is February 15, 2005

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High School Essay Contest Finalists

This has been a great year for the high school essay contest. More students took part, more subjects were covered and more areas of the state were represented. LFL State Board members and Lutheran pastors helped with the judging process. From all those submitted, these were chosen as finalists. One essay wins a $1,000 scholarship while the other included in this booklet will each receive $100. The purpose of LFL is to educate others on the sanctity of human life according to God's Word. These young people have done just that. Feel free to publish any essay in newsletters, etc., giving credit to the author.

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Orders for Murder?

Grade 10
Christ Lutheran High School
Buckley

“Following (the doctor’s) directions, I took the collection bottle and put its contents into a shallow pan. Then I used water to rinse off the blood and smaller particles which clouded the bottom of the pan. ‘Now look closely,’ the doctor said. ‘It is important that we have all the stuff out.’ I looked in the pan to find that the stuff consisted of the remains of what had been, a few minutes before, a thirteen week old fetus. I could make out the remains of arms and legs and a trunk and a skull. I tried to piece them back together in my mind, to see if there were any missing parts. Most of the pieces were so battered and bloody they were not recognizably human. Then my eyes locked upon a perfect little hand, less than half a centimeter long. I stared at four tiny fingers and a tiny opposed thumb, complete with tiny translucent fingers. And I knew what I had done.” (Former abortionist “Chi An” quoted in Stephen Mosher’s “A Mother’s Ordeal: One Woman’s Fight Against China’s One Child Policy”).

Abortion by definition, is the rejection of an immature and unviable fetus from the womb of a woman. That is the medical definition, but it not the truth. No matter how old or developed that “fetus” is, it is still a child and aborting that child is murder. “Thou shall not kill,” (Exodus 20:13), states clearly that you should not kill and it goes for all humans. Abortion happens every day, which means every day thousands of babies are killed due to the irresponsibility of their parents. A child is a gift from God not a clot of tissue as many abortionists try to have your believe. The Bible states that “Even before you were formed I knew you,” (Jeremiah 1:5). God knows each and every child before they are conceived. He knows what they are going to look like, what their personalities will be and He even knows how many hairs are on the baby’s head.

The main question that is asked is, “Is it really human life?” The answer is yes! A baby’s heartbeat starts between the eighteenth and twentieth day, and brain waves can be picked up as early as 40 days. At week seven, if you were to tickle his nose, he would move away. That shows that the so called “clot of tissue” is in fact a living human. A human is a human no matter how small or how old. So when an abortionist follows orders to abort a baby, is it murder? They often argue that it is only a few weeks old, it is only tissue, but it is not. A child is living from the moment it is conceived. Many abortionists have admitted to coming to the realization that they had murdered babies and have since become pro-life. “There was not one (doctor) who at some point in the questioning did not say “This is murder.” (Magda Denes on her two years of research done for her book in Necessity and Sorrow; Life and Death Inside an Abortion Clinic.) It is murder, no matter how you put it, and sometime or another you will realize the truth. “You know there is something in there alive that you are killing.” (Denes)

In our world there is “man’s law” and then there is “God’s law.” Man’s law states that abortion is legal, but God’s law says the killing of humans is wrong. After an abortion, they always check to make sure they “got everything out,” which means the baby is torn apart. Being torn apart, piece by piece, what a way to go? Wouldn’t that be considered torture? In war you are not allowed to torture your prisoners, but yet in a small clinic room you are allowed to torture an unborn child? All abortionists follow Man’s law, they are following orders, orders to murder an innocent child. However, Christians believe in God’s law and God’s law states that “Thou shall not kill,” (Exodus 20:13); it is just a shame that not everyone follow it.

The fact of the matter is that abortion is legalized murder. The victims of this horrible crime have no voice; we need to speak up for them. So when Chi An’s eyes locked on the baby’s tiny hand, a realization came to mind. This was not just tissue being destroyed, it was a tiny human, a baby. That child would have lived if they had followed God’s law and not man’s. This legalized murder took the life of an innocent child, and this must be stopped before any more fall victim to it. So now it is up to you, do you follow man’s law and follow orders for murder, or do you follow God’s law to try and stop the murder of His children?

Works Cited
Abortion Facts: Abortionists Speak. 3 Feb. 05

The Holy Bible, New International Version. Colorado Springs; Int. Bible Society, 1984

His Hands

Grade 12
Christ Lutheran High School
Buckley, Illinois

As I bustled myself into my office that morning I had no idea that my entire life would soon be changed. My mind ran rampant trying to coordinate the schedules of my patients, my husband, and my two young children. No matter how hard I tried, it seemed there was always another board meeting, someone holding on line five, a child to pick up from basketball practice, and a husband waiting for his supper. Somewhere along the way, I tried to round up as much of my family as possible and make it to church on Sunday mornings. Ever since I have taken this job in the “clinic,” however, I have felt rather awkward being among the God-fearing. I certainly wouldn’t call it guilt, per se, mostly a desire to avoid being judged. Many people in America would defend my occupation as freeing women of the “emotional and economic stress of an unplanned child” (Contraception) but Pastor and his flock believe my actions are nothing less than murder. Yes, from nine to five every day, I end the lives of unwanted babies, only to go home each night and enjoy the blessings of two of my own.

But that wasn’t what I was thinking that day as I quickly entered the small check-up room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary; another teenage girl lay on the table, eyes filled with sorrow, fear and regret. This girl is barely a few years older than my own children, and yet look where she is: forced to make huge decisions alone and left to suffer the consequences the rest of her life. Okay, I said to myself, Let’s just get this over with. I quickly administered the necessary drugs and prepared to proceed with the operation. Little did I know that my life was soon to change forever.

Considering the risks involved, performing abortions had become routine for me. The woman was stable, the drugs were working, and the procedure would soon be over. And then it happened. Just as I prepared to pick up another utensil, a small hand with five tiny fingers suddenly reached out and grasped onto my own finger. My breath caught in my throat, my heart skipped a beat, and time seemed to stand still for an instant. Random thoughts and accusations ran through my mind, one after another. How can this be? This is what they call a fetus, not a human child. How at this young age is this baby able to connect with me. . . With my heart in this way? Have all the babies I’ve killed in the past been just like this one? Are they all really children, human beings, alive and innocent? If so, what have I done? And as quickly as it happened, the child’s tiny hand fell, lifeless. This little person would never experience the joys of life, would never reach out to another person again. And it was all because of what I had just done, because of the actions of my own hands.

Needless to say, it was not easy to get through that day. I went home that night, my heart heavy with unanswered questions. My entire lifestyle and career choices had been challenged, not by the powerful pro-life rallyists down in Washington, D.C., but by a tiny hand reaching out seeking comfort. How could I continue this, feeling the way I do now? Moreover, how can I look at the hands of my own children without flashing back to the sight of that baby’s hand, covered in his mother’s blood and reaching out to me? How can I forgive myself for the great sin I had committed in that hospital room. And how could I ever being asking God to forgive me?

Suddenly I remembered the image of another pair of hands reaching out to me, covered in the same rich, red blood. But these were the hands of no child; they were the hands of my Lord and Savior, reaching out to me in love. Like the child’s, they were covered in blood because of my sins and transgressions. Both of them died because of my foolish actions, and neither of them deserved to endure such misery. He died to take away my sins, however, that I may have life and live it to the fullest. Emotion suddenly overtook me, and I fell to the floor in prayer. Lord, what have I done? How could I ever have thought my actions so innocent, when I was truly killing one of your very own? Who was I to believe it to be my choice to end a life so young and full of promise? Surely I have sinned against you and against your commands. How can I ever be forgiven? And with that I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around me in a loving embrace, and my mind once again remembered those hands. “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:15). Yes, my Lord loves me still. He has died for my sins, and He still has a plan for me. “I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). Though the path will be difficult, I now know what I have to do. It was on that day that I decided to change my life forever. And it was all because of the great love and compassion shown to me through His hands.

Works Cited
Concordia Self Study Bible NIV International Bible Society, 1984.

“Contraception” NARAL Pro-Choice America 11 February, 2005

Grade 12
Christ Lutheran High School
Buckley, Illinois

“If it’s not a baby you’re not pregnant.” A bumper sticker with a phrase such as this is likely to catch anyone’s attention. It certainly caught mine one afternoon while out running errands. I believe this is a true statement, and I find it simply mind-boggling that more people do not see the truth of this statement as well. It boils down to common sense.

An abortion takes place due to an unwanted pregnancy, right? A man and woman decide to sleep together and as a result the woman becomes pregnant. She had not expected this to happen; yet now she has to make a decision. Or does she? She does not want a baby at this time in her life; the child would not fit into her plans. Or what if she is still a young teenager, still in high school and not married? If her parents found out, they would not believe what she has done and would be extremely disappointed, probably very angry and even liable to never speak to her again. There are so many choices, so many things to think about. There are countless consequences to her actions. Or are there? If it's not a baby, she’s not pregnant.

What is the worry? She does not have to be concerned about having a baby. Or does she? She remembers the passage she learned in Sunday School “. . . You formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother’s womb . . . My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret . . .” (Psalm 139:13-15) Yet the woman also considers what she has heard in the media, and read over the internet about how a fetus is not alive. It is just a clump of cells, an embryo. It does not have life in it. Yet given enough time, this “fetus,” this “embryo” will eventually have to be born. And when it comes to that point, it is a sure bet that it comes out not just a mass of tissue, but a baby: a living, breathing, crying, dependent child.

We can define life as any living entity that has DNA from the species homo sapiens. This includes an ovum, spermatozoon, zygote, embryo, fetus, or newborn. It also includes an infant, child, adult, or elder (Religious Tolerance). Why do people not view an unborn baby this way? Granted, the child may not be born yet, but it is a child still the same. An unborn baby is not an inert globule of organic matter, but a human being entitled to its right to live. How can we choose to take this away from them?

Jesus said, “. . . I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly . . .” (John 10:10). To have abundant life, we need to preserve and protect the life we are given, not take it away. The lavish blessings that come with a newborn are amazing. Rarely do we realize the negative ramifications we bring upon ourselves when we choose to terminate its existence. “Making the decision to terminate a pregnancy or to bring a fetus to term is by far the most wrenching experience I’ve evere had. The right to choose is not a luxury; it is a responsibility that demands intense introspection and awareness’ (S. Boyd). How can we allow this silent genocide to go on? People need to understand when life begins and how valuable it is. “the real questions today is not when human life begins,” but, “What is the value of human life?” The abortionist who reassembles the arms and legs of a tiny baby to make sure all its parts have been torn from the mother’s body can hardly doubt whether it is a human being.” (President Ronald Reagan).

There is no doubt in my mind that a child is a gift from God to be cherished and loved. But how can you determine when God has graced you with this gift? If you face an unwanted pregnancy, just remember: If it’s not a baby, you’re not pregnant.

Works Cited
The Holy Bible, NAS, 1997.

Abortion Definitions, Feb 4, 2005

Boyd, S. Give Us Liberty, 4 Feb 2005

President Ronald Reagan, “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation,” The Human Life Review , 1983, Spring

“What About Me, Mommy?”

Grade 12
Christ Lutheran High School
Buckley, Illinois

“This is my body and this is my baby. I can do with them what I want to do. No one can tell me that I have to raise this child, not even my boyfriend. He does not have to take care of this baby or have any responsibility, and this responsibility is too great for me to handled on my own.”

“What about me, mommy? Why don’t you ask me what I think about life? What if I want to experience the world? What about me, mommy?”

Imagine hearing your own mother talking about killing you. What would you say to her? Would you ask, “What about me?” No one stops to think about the baby. No one stops to think about the real human life that is within the mother. Mothers considering having an abortion don’t stop to think about the lives they are killing, their children’s lives.

More than 85% of all abortions take place at 8 weeks or later (Allen, p. 1597). At 8 weeks old, a baby’s skeleton is completely formed. A baby has little feet and little hands and is complete. Eyes, ears, nose and mouth have all taken shape and are completely formed. A baby is a living human being with a heartbeat and the ability to feel pain at 8 weeks old. How can we justify killing a heart that is beating?

However, a mother wanting an abortion does not take time to consider what the baby looks like or what her baby is capable of doing. A mother who is ready to have an abortion is thinking only of herself. She is worried about how the baby will affect her life and no one else’s life. She is not even worried about her baby’s pain, only her own. A mother about to have an abortion does not consider that her baby is a gift from God. Scripture tells us in Psalm 127:3 “Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” Although the mother having the abortion was not considering her baby, Jesus loved the little children and commanded His disciples in Matthew 19:14, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Pregnant mothers wanting an abortion are worried about the huge responsibility that comes with having a child when they should be worried about the responsibility they have to God. Society is responsible for protecting these children’s lives. When society fails in their laws, we as Christians need to step in and stand up for what is right. God commands us to protect the children in Proverbs 31:8, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.” Though unborn children have not come into the world yet or been named, they have been formed by the hands of God and they are His children. As Psalm 119:73 states, “Your hands made me and formed me.” God creates children in His own image and has called them to be His own. Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”

Every unborn child has the right to live. As Christians, God commands us to stand up for these children and speak up for them since they cannot speak for themselves. We are responsible for taking a stand against abortion. Each unborn child is asking “What about me?” Why aren’t we listening?

Works Cited
Allen, M. “The Limits of Viability,” New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 329, #22 (November 1993) p. 1597.

The Holy Bible, New International Version. International Bible Society, Colorado Springs, Colorado 1973, 1979, 1984

Human Life Valued

Grade 12
Triad High School
Troy, Illinois

For months Americans followed the Laci Peterson case with great interest until recently, when her husband was sentenced to death row for killing both his wife and unborn child (“Trial Juror’s Circus Has Just Begun,” par.2). In spite of that outcome, approximately 1.3 million children’s lives (Abortion Statistics,” par. 6) were taken this past year before they ever had the chance to live. Were these mothers charged with the murder of their aborted babies? Will they face life in prison or possibly even the death penalty? The answer to these questions is an absolute no. Our society accepts, even supports, this practice as a “woman’s right.” Our culture also believes the “the best way to eliminate illnesses or deformities is to eliminate people with afflictions before they are born” (Dalfonzo 18).

Carrie Gordon Earll’s article “The Life Ethic” offers a solid Christian basis for determining the morality of human life. Called the sanctity of human life ethic,” this is a “non-negotiable view that human life, from fertilization to natural death, has intrinsic dignity and eternal worth” (8). In this age of “instant living” with cell phones, internet access, and fast food, our society gets so caught up in living life for instant gratification. Many people do not believe it necessary to abstain from sex until marriage but are often not willing to face the consequences of their actions. When an unmarried couple is faced with an unplanned pregnancy, they may decide it is not convenient at the moment to have a child or that it might damage their reputation. The Bible clearly tells us in Psalm 139:13-16 that God has a plan for every human life He has created:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous -- and how well I know it. You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your Book (The Living Bible)!

I strongly oppose abortion because God tells us that He made each of us in His own image. I feel this is a powerful indication that humans must not destroy His handiwork. The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 28”3, “He even went out to the Valley of Hinnom, and it was not just to burn incense to the idols, for he even sacrificed his own children in the fire . . . “ (The Living Bible). It sounds truly barbaric to think of a parent offering up the life of a child as a sacrifice to an idol! Yet, how is our nation any different in our practices of abortion? Are we not also guilty of giving up these children for the sake of convenience? Christ commands us to lead our children to Him, but first we must allow them to enter into the world.

Works Cited
“Abortion Statistics.” Human Life Issues 2001 31 Jan 2005.

Dalfonzo, Gina R. “Perfect Baby Syndrome.” Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson Jan. 2005: 18-19.

Earll, Carrie Gordon. “The Life Ethic.” Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson, 1/05.

The Living Bible: Life Application Bible. Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. and Youth for Christ/USA, 1988.

“Trial Jurors’ Circus Has Just Begun.” Contra Costa Times. 18 Dec. 2004 31 Jan. 2005.

Abortion

Grade 9
Pine Ridge
Marengo, Illinois

In 1970 a woman named Norma McCorvey sued the Texas Supreme Court for the right to terminate her pregnancy. She wished not to use her real name and took (for the course of the trial) the name Jane Roe. During the course of the “Roe vs. Wade” trial the 14th amendment, “No state shall . . . deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” (1) was used as evidence to prove Roe’s side of the argument. When this had been presented the question of “what is a person” came up.

Using Eilliam Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England” (a document used during the writing of the U.S. Constitution) the prosecutor quoted, “The right to life is inherent by nature in every individual and exists even before the child is born.” (2) Even though such evidence was used along with, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with inalienable human rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” (3) the trial was lost. Because of this loss more than 30 states changed the laws, legalizing abortion.

Since then more than 40 million children have died as a result of legalized murder. Even in the medical community there is no debate as to when life begins. Medical textbooks say that life begins at the moment of conception. So abortionists, whenever and wherever they commit an abortion, are forsaking the Hippocratic oath to save lives.

Using such techniques as Suction Aspiration, and Dilation and Evacuation, abortionists kill their patients. Dozens of movies, millions of books, and billions of essays and papers have been written or made about the Holocaust. 6 million Jews, political prisoners and other “non-Aryans” were murdered. But those numbers are less than one sixth the amount of children killed in abortion clinics.

When searching for information for this paper I found a website entitled “Why Abortion is Biblical.” The writer misused different Biblical passages to prove his point. Some of these were the verses in Jeremiah where God says to him, “before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee. (4) He says, “God brought the prophet Jeremiah into the world for a divine purpose and because of that, God was planning Jeremiah’s life before he was even conceived.” (5).

This suggests that Jeremiah was a special person, born for a special purpose. But if we believe what the apostle Paul says in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (6) then we know that Jeremiah was a normal man to whom God spoke. If this is true, then God especially formed this man in the womb and knew him then also. If he was a normal man then God knows us, forms us, and plans our lives for us while we are in the womb too.

He also states that because Adam was not a “living being” (7) until God breathed the breath of life into him, children are not alive until they can breathe on their on. But Adam was not formed in the womb, but of the dust of the earth. Therefore, Adam’s creation was not normal, and is not the same as the formation of a child in the womb.

A common abortionist argument comes from Exodus 21:22. “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows.” (8) They say that since causing a miscarriage is not a capital offense that children in the womb should not be considered alive. But in this case the offenders were not intentionally causing the miscarriage as abortionists do when they perform a Saline Injection Abortion. They are merely fighting amongst themselves and the woman is hit in the process.

They also use verses such as those in Job where he, in short, asks God that he had never been born. “Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire . . . would that I had died and no eye seen me! It should have been as though I had not been, carried from womb to tomb.” (9) These, according to pro-abortionists, say that abortion was a common and accepted practice in Job’s time. But these are merely the rantings of a man whose entire family has been murdered. They also say that, according to Job (where is it?) if the quality of life is not good in the area where the baby is being born then the abortion is biblically sanctioned. But there are no direct quotes listed on the website to prove this argument.

They also use verses in Psalms to show that God has abandoned us, as adults so could not possibly have loved us as babies in the womb. “Why, O Lord do you stand afar off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (10). Yes these verses speak of abandonment, but David is asking for help against his enemies. In fact, in the chapter beforehand David says of God, “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” (11)

If we believe what “Luther’s Small Catechism” says, “The living but unborn are persons in the sight of God from the time of conception. Since abortion takes a human life it is not a moral option except to prevent the death of another person, the mother.” (12) then we know abortion to be wrong.

In summary abortion is murder. Committing an abortion is the same as shooting someone. I think President George Bush said it well when he stated, “Unborn children are members of the human family as well. They reflect our image; they are created in God image.” (13).

Works Cited
1. Fourteenth Ammendment of United States Constitution.

2 Commentaries on Laws of England, William Blackstone, 1765

3. Preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

4. Jeremiah 1:4 NIV

5. Why Abortion is Biblical, Biran McKinley

6. Romans 3:23

7. Luther’s Small Catechism, p. 75, 1986, Concordia Publishing, St. Louis, MO.

8. Genesis 2:7 NIV

9. Exodus 21:22 NIV.

10. Job 3:2, 10: 18-19.

11. Psalm 10:1 NIV

12. Psalm 9:9 NIV

13. President George W. Bush re Born Alive Infants Protection Act

Grade 12
Lutheran High School
Springfield, Illinois

The famous comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, once said, “Stem cell research, what’s the deal with that?” Stem cell research is one of the biggest issues in America today. Between what the government believes about it and the ethical beliefs of the people, it is a topic that brings much conflict.

Stem cells were discovered by two scientists, James Till and Ernest McCulloh in the early 1960s (Tesar 11). It was found that plants, animals, and humans all have stem cells. Till and McCulloch did testing on the stem cells found in the spinal cords of rats (Tesar 13). In November of 1998, the discovery of stem cells was first announced to the public. Soon, stem cells were found in the embryos of unborn humans. Peter Gale, another scientist, discovered stem cells in the umbilical cord of newly born children. (Vaughn 101).

Stem cell research can be considered an opening to very important and possibly world changing scientific discoveries. The problem comes when they destroy life to do this research. The most commonly used retrieval place for stem cells is the embryo of a developing child. The life of the child has to be destroyed in order to obtain the stem cells (Tesar 6). Embryonic stem cell research is unnecessary because other places including a newly born child’s umbilical cord, that is usually just thrown away, and bone marrow that can be harmlessly extracted from grown humans (4). Therefore, stem cell research using the stem cells of aborted fetuses, is unethical when stem cells are readily available in other locations that do not require the murder of unborn children.

Stem cells play a very important role in human biology. When a woman becomes pregnant, one cell starts to split or copy itself and form a mass of cells. Dr. Robert Weise, noted writer on the ethics of today’s science, explained stem cells relationship in developing babies as, “Human Embryonic Stem Cells are the cells that are derived from the inner one hundred cell mass of a blastocyst embryo” (2). A blastocyst embryo is basically the developing baby of about six to seven days old (2). Embryonic stem cells, as defined by noted scientific writer Jenny Tesar, are “unspecialized cells found in an embryo from which all the specialized cells in the body develop” (45). Once a cell becomes specialized it is that kind of cell with one specific purpose for the rest of its life (Vaughn 101). After one week after conception, the embryo looks like just a lump of cells, no different from any other part of the mother’s body. After the second week after conception, the limbs and organs start forming from the embryonic stem cells (12). By week eight the embryonic stem cells to use in stem cells have formed into the basic form of the baby (100). The problem is that to retrieve the embryonic stem cells to use in stem cell research, the embryos must be destroyed before implantation, which happens just over a week after conception (Weise 2).

As was previously stated, the main way that stem cells are retrieved for stem cell research is through the aborting of fetuses (Weise 2). They have to go in and extract the developing fetus in the mother. Other, less murderous ways of retrieving stem cells are by extracting stem cells from living humans. There are stem cells throughout the body of a living human being including in the brain. In the stomach, many stem cells are needed to develop into stomach cells to line the stomach after the stomach acid destroys the original cells (Tesar 15). These cells in living humans are called adult stem cells. Adult stem cells, as defined by Tesar, are “stem cells found in small numbers in the tissue of an organism after birth. Throughout life, they generate new specialized cells” (45). Adult stem cells are also prevalent in bone marrow (Vaughn 101). This type of adult stem cell (blood stem cells), found in bone marrow, can be removed to serve in scientific research (101). Therefore, though aborted fetuses are the main place stem cells are retrieved for stem cell research, they can also be extracted from different parts of living human beings without harming them any.

Stem cell research could be the new wave in science and medicine that changes the course of life on this planet. The possibilities for the advancement in scientific research and medicine are amazing. This could be the newest way to save lives. Stem cell research in itself could be an amazing way to make breakthroughs in the way we study anything in science (Tesar 34). Through stem cell research scientists can find ways to heal illnesses like heart disease, leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, and diabetes. In fact, certain bone marrow stem cells called hematopoietic stem cells can be injected into a person to treat other cells infected with leukemia (12).

The issue of stem cell research is a hot topic in politics today. In his first term, President George W. Bush was pressured by both sides of the issue to make an important decision . . .Bush, later in his term, finally decided to have restricted funding on embryonic stem cell research.

Conclusion

Psalms 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” . . . Think about it, saying it (a fetus) is not (human) is like saying an infant is not human just because it is smaller than an adult. The research that can save lives does not have to use the stem cells of aborted fetuses. Adult stem cells and stem cells retrieved from the umbilical cords of babies work in the same way. Finally, God speaks to us in the Bible in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. . .” If God knows children before they were conceived and therefore knows them when they are just a clump of cells, how can we assume that it is not a human being. Even to those who believe it is not a human, it is still life, and God chose to put that life into the world, as it is special and deserves to live and be born.

Works cited
1. Concordia Self-Study Bible (NIV) Hoerber, Robert, St. Louis, Concordia Pub., 1984

2. Shesgreen Deirde, “Scientific, ethical concerns intensify political fight.” The Post Dispatch, 12 July, 2001.

3. Tesar, Jenny. Stem Cells. San Diego: Blackbirch Press, 2004. 4-45.

4. Vaughan, Christopher. How Life Begins: The Science of Life in the Womb. New York: Random House, 1996.

5. Weise, Robert ed. “Stem Cell Research Technology Part 1.” Bioethics and Faith Vol. 1. No. 3. 2-3.

This has been a year of both frustration and inspiration. First, we saw our LFL state funds go $2,000 below a year ago. Then God blessed us through the hard work of Lutheran High School students in Springfield, a pro-life group in Red Bud and all of the others who have opened their hearts to help spread the Word of the Sanctity of All Human Life as based on the Word of God.

Right on cue, as the money for materials because available, the requests started coming in. Eastern Illinois University in Charleston has LFL materials distributed at their Health Fair. A few weeks ago a group of conservative college student on Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and Edwardsville Campuses, asked for materials and a speaker for a week of presenting and promoting conservative issues on campus. They will have all the materials they need due to the generosity of our donors. If you want to still do a Pennies for Life or other donation, the money will be put to good use.

Stacy and Dona Cameron -- Springfield
Steven Black -- Riverton
Lutheran High School -- Springfield
St. John’s Lutheran Church -- Chatham
Genevieve A. Dahl -- Chicago
Melvin and Mary Block -- Forest Park
St. Luke Lutheran Church -- San Jose
Mary Krallmann (website) -- Lincoln
Christ Lutheran Church -- Delavan
St. John’s Lutheran Church -- Red Bud
Carl and Betty Becker -- Red Bud
LFL of Rockford -- Rockford
Zion Lutheran Church -- Marengo
Fellowship of Faith Lutheran Church -- McHenry

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