In May this year Pro Life Victoria was approached by a Queenslander with an idea he felt convinced would lead to an end to abortion in our country and wanted to share with other Australian prolifers. Ever keen to learn of new ideas in the long drawn out struggle to regain the right to life for preborn children, we responded to his approach for a hearing. His idea related to an American Website titled AbortionTV.com which featured the testimonials of women shattered by the experience of abortion and graphic pictures of the effects of abortions on preborn children. Peter Erbacher is a 32 year old father of three who lives in Brisbane. Friends of his and his wife were seriously considering abortion so he decided to look into the issue. As a result their baby will be born in August. This couple had had a previous abortion, so what happened to make them change their minds this time, forever? How did a young 32 year old go from being a bit "iffy" about abortion to 100% no compromise about abortion in one night?

According to Peter Erbacher: "Mum had been in Right to Life for 30 years but like most people I didn't know much about abortion. Doing a search on Google l discovered AbortionTV.com. Everything changed that night. I look at the world through different glasses now. All around me was public outcry against cruelty to animals and terrorists in Iraq, while young children were being tortured and executed, shrouded under a veil of secrecy, lies and deception, right here in the great city of Brisbane.

I showed my friends some letters and pictures I printed from AbortionTV.com Suddenly, through the veil of deception they saw the truth and reality of cold blooded, terror-cloaked murder of defenceless children who had no chance and absolutely - no choice. Thanks to AbortionTV.com their baby will be born this year. Since uncovering the truth I'm committed to pulling back the veil for all to see. The media has run an anti-life propaganda machine for years. There's a change coming. We're about to attack a new front. The tide is turning and life is winning. There's a new media dawning, it's called the internet and we have a lethal weapon,

AbortionTV.com, exposing the truth for all to see."

As AbortionTV.com doesn't produce or sell bumper stickers, Peter requested permission to print his own. "What better way to lead people to the truth?" he reasoned. "Every time you drive your car you can make a difference". With the help of a group of other Brisbane prolifers, he set out to identify a number of arterial roads and highways into their city. He held some working bees and made several cloth banners with the words ABORTION TV .COM printed on them, got up early in the morning and tied them to several overpasses for the motorists to see.

Peter reckoned that over the course of a day, tens of thousands of people in one city can be directed to the truth this way. To assist him in spreading the word about his project and perhaps inspire prolifers in other States to follow his lead, Pro Life Victoria recommended he be invited to speak about his special project at the July Right to Life Australia Annual Conference.

He turned out to be a very popular speaker, many Conference attendees believing he was: "Just what we needed, a good dose of enthusiasm and passion for the cause!"

Peter's idea, like all good advertisers, is to "get into the psyche" of the public with his subliminal advertising of ABORTIONTY.COM The media refuses to show the truth to the masses. Let's get the masses to view the truth right in the comfort of their own home or workplace. Graphic pictures change people's opinions in an instant. Operation: Take the Bridge is how we will win the fight in this country. It's very simple and sure to be extremely effective. All that is needed is people to activate it."

* Pick a number of busy arterial roads /highways into our major cities around Australia

* On each of these, identify an overpass from which a banner can be hung

• Tie an AbortionTV.com banner to it

Senator Brian Harradine reproduced from The Australian

When I first heard of Senator Brian Harradine's intention to retire from our Australian Parliament after July 2005, like Scarlett O'Hara of Margaret Mitchell's famous novel Gone with the Wind, I thought: "I'll think about that tomorrow!" It didn't bear thinking of the next day ... or the day after that, such has been his towering presence for 30 years in our Australian Parliament. In all legislative matters regarding human life, human dignity and natural justice, for as long as 1 have been in the pro life movement, we have always known Senator Brian Harradine was there in Parliament, articulating a reasoned, informed and passionate defence of the inviolable sanctity of human life. Austra1ia's mothers, their unborn embryos and babies have had no greater defender than Brian Harradine. What memories along with other prolifiers I have of the welcome encounters we have had over the years with him on worrying trips to Canberra related to various legislative moves concerning to life issues. "Let's contact Senator Harradine" was so often the refrain.

The nation's mothers, their unborn embryos and babies have had no greater defender than Brian Harradine. What memories along with other prolifiers l have of the welcome encounters we have had over the years with him on worrying trips to Canberra related to various legislative moves concerning to life issues. "Let's contact Senator Harradine" was so often the refrain.

When I think of what I can only describe as "monumental" the work Brian Harradine did over the years, the mind simply boggles. But most of all, the force and eloquence of his defence of the sanctity of all human life, from the tiniest human beings to the marginalized, deprived, handicapped, women, families, the vulnerable, sick and aged, has been inspirational to us all. It goes without saying, had Brian Harradine not been in our Federal Parliament, Australia would have been an ethically, morally and impoverished nation.

So it was with a mixture of sadness and pride that I tuned into the radio at 6.00pm on Tuesday June 21 to hear the valedictory speeches of the retiring Senators and along with the Harradine family assembled in the visitors gallery of Parliament House, shed a few tears as this great prolife warrior rose to make his final speech in the Senate: "... my approach to public policy has at times been summarily dismissed as an attempt to legislate morality. " he said, 'As the great natural law philosophers pointed out, the public policy issues of equality, fairness, justice and the common good are indeed profoundly moral questions. Is it not the case that all legislation is a reflection of a moral position? It is why I have maintained that the true measure of our society and our civilisation is not how rich, powerful or technologically advanced we are. Simply, it is how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable among us. It underpins my unwavering defence of prolife, pro-human values against the despondency of abortion and euthanasia. It motivates my criticism of the technological imperative that what can be done, should be done. There is a growing pressure to allow the cloning of human embryos, which is a direct threat to humanity itself. Even now, taxpayers' money is being used to fund destructive experimentation on human embryos. This imperative has reintroduced a eugenic mentality which wrought such sorrow and destruction for a previous and not long distant generation. It inspires my support for a better deal for families and my defence of marriage between a man and woman as the fundamental building block of a life-affirming society confidently providing for its future."

Among the tributes paid to Senator Harradine that evening was one by a NSW Labor Senator who referred to his expulsion in 1975 from the ALP by the Federal Executive under socialist left domination, conceding that in retrospect, this had been a mistake.

Writing in the Sunday Herald Sun, columnist Matt Price described the retired Senator as the "Apple of the Senate's Eye ... the most successful, enduring and well regarded Independent since Federation."

There are such people as "prophets without renown in their own country" but we in the prolife movement do not apply that description to Brian Harradine. We think he has been a prophet of great renown in our country and thank him for all he has done for the prolife cause. May he and his supportive wife Marion now have more time to enjoy their 13 children, 31 grandchildren and bushwalking in the beautiful Tasmanian wilderness.

South Korea cloning research has been applauded by Australian scientists involved in embryo experimentation. However this research is already being linked to a more sinister development to try to address this immune rejection problem - cloning patients so that the embryo clone can be dissected to obtain its stem cells.

How would you feel about having a cell nucleus taken from your body and inserted into a human ovum left over from an IVF program? Would you have any concerns with the cloned human life then being destroyed and used to obtain cells to assist your medical treatment?

Should our scientists seek to provide treatments which are dependent on the destruction of human life?

Some Australian scientists are already describing this cloning of patients as an exciting new area. Scientists would have ultimate power over cloned human beings because for the first time in history there would be no parents or guardians to answer to.

An ethical response is to use adult stern cells. These may also come from the patient to be treated and would therefore not face the same problem with immune rejection. The adult stern cells can be used without creating and destroying a human embryos.

As adult stem cells are so promising for medical treatment, you might wonder why are scientists working with embryos keen to suggest embryonic stem cells are so promising? They have other uses in mind. They do want to find successful medical treatments but these plans include creating both cloned and other human embryos and introducing diseases into these embryos for the purpose of testing drugs.

Science requires direction urgently. The Commonwealth Government is facing decisions which will determine whether our society steps onto a path which scientific and commercial imperatives are likely to completely overwhelm all ethical concerns.

Please call upon the Review Committee to consider what a human embryo is - a living whole human being in a process of development which can only end with the death of that human being. Given its natural environment or a suitable proxy, the development proceeds through different stages to a child and an adult. The human being is the same one throughout the development process.

The value of human life, fundamental human rights and human dignity are violated if human life is used in experiments and then destroyed.

In Australia, "surplus" human life obtained from IVF programs is already being used in destructive experimentation. There is a push from scientists and drug companies to allow further human embryos to be specifically created for the purpose of experimentation and then destruction. If this is permitted, this creation is itself most objectionable and shows flagrant disregard for human rights and for the value of human life.

The European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine prohibits the production of embryos for experimentation purposes. Our laws and regulations should prohibit the clinical use of the life of a fellow human being who is brought into being only to be used as biological material. To ensure consistency with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 30), no procedure or experiment on a human being should be permitted if it is not in the best interests of that human being or if it will violate that human being's fundamental human rights especially the right to life.

Cloning human beings purely for experimentation and then destruction involves an absolute devaluation of the life created and denial of human rights in a discriminatory manner. However, the cloning of human beings for the purpose of research raises a range of additional moral and ethical objections apart from the matter of non-therapeutic research on human beings.

Whereas existing IVF embryos have parents, cloned embryos may not have identifiable parents in the sense of  having gamete providers. They would therefore have less protection.

Sitting closer to the end of my life than its beginning I find myself wishing I'd had more children. Deep into the sorrow and pain of progressive multiple sclerosis, it is only Christ and my family that give me any joy and consolation. Christ and my family are all that gives context to my life and suffering now. I wish I'd been more open to the prospect of new life when I was a young husband.

As a young man with a career ahead of me, I did not have time for a large family. There were places to go and people to see. I can't remember the places or the people anymore - but they were so very important - I was convinced of it at the time. I needed more money and more status. I can't remember why, of what I needed to buy, and the professional accolades have long since faded away. But my career was calling me to bigger and better things.

The idea of modest homes filled with children was passé: Anybody who was anybody used birth control and limited their families to two kids. They warehoused them in daycare because both parents "had to work" to pay their large mortgages on new big houses in well-tailored culs de sac, in just the right neighborhoods. There were, after all, appearances of success to maintain.

That was my dream too, before disease came to strip away those absurdly extraneous things that seemed so important way back when.

If I could go back and do it again, I think I would have more children - lots of them. Indeed! I would fill the rooms of my little house with the joie de vivre of children's perpetual laughter, and then I'd revel in the offence it caused the population control fanatics! I'd attach a tire swing to the maple trees in the backyard and have a firepit to roast marshmallows on warm summer nights. We would have hours of fun doing nothing in particular.

I wouldn't sandwich "quality time" between board meetings and doing lunch with clients at trendy bistros. Life itself can be quality time and I would let it happen even if 1 couldn't afford the latest self-help book telling me how to do it.

But what ifs and wishful thinking aside, God's love shines brightly on my family. For more than thirty years

1 have been the beneficiary of devoted spousal love: One love for one lifetime. My two adult children live near and visit often. My grandchildren are a constant source of joy.

As the sun was setting last weekend I was surrounded by my family as we had a barbeque in the backyard. My grandchildren were taking turns being pushed in the tree swing by their dad. "High inna sky!" squealed my wee granddaughter, her little pigtails blowing in the wind as her daddy pushed her too high for my liking. Wood crackled in the fire-pit. My grandson Carson and 1 roasted marshmallows.

"How did your trees grow so big, Grandpa?"

"They were here before Grandma and I built our house. They're right where God put them so we didn't cut them down. They've had a long time to grow."

"They're supposed to be here?"l

"That's right, Carson, just like you're supposed to be here. You're right where God put you."

"I'm glad God put me here."

"Me too, Carson. Me too."

I sat in my wheelchair with Carson on my lap. We both gazed at the fire as our marshmallows burst into flames (an excellent dietary source of carbon and ash). It didn't matter; it was Carson's turn on the swing.

God put us all here. We are asked to always be open to the prospect of new life, and nurture all humanity that is here. From conception to natural death, and every state and stage along the life spectrum, we are one human family.

Christ spoke of interdependent humanity that reflects his Lordship and love.

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My commandment is this: Love each other as I have loved you." (John 15.9-12)

Can you think of anybody who is outside the love of Christ? That is our example. The entire 15th Chapter of John is an exhortation to love and obedience to God. We are called to love and cherish every human life. Period.

And our love begins with wholehearted committed love for God (see Matthew 22.37-40).

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In July of 1993, a 15-year old mother was brought to Women's Health Care Services to abort her little girl in the late stages of pregnancy. In fact, so far advanced was the pregnancy that the baby was already in position for delivery.

Not having yet perfected his induction method of abortion, according to accounts, notorious US abortionist George Tiller "injected the baby's head, in two places, the left side of her forehead above the eyebrow and at the base of the skull, with Potassium Chloride, leaving permanent burn marks and needle track scars."

When the young mother returned the next day for the actual abortion procedure, it was found that the baby had not died, as intended, from the lethal injections into her head. The mother was sent to a local hospital where the baby was delivered, wrapped in a blanket, and left in a bassinet without attendance to die.

Amazingly, after 24 hours, the child continued to live in spite of the fact that she had not been cleaned up, her umbilical cord was still attached and she had received no hydration or nourishment. A nurse took pity on the baby and contacted an attorney, who in turn contacted a loving family that adopted the little girl, whom they named Sarah.

Although doctors said Sarah would not survive eight weeks, under the loving care of her new family she lived for five years. Tiller's attack on Sarah impaired her growth and left her brain damaged, blind, and unable to walk.

Nevertheless, her family members never viewed her as a burden and were blessed to be a part of her short life.

It was noted at her memorial service that Tiller succeeded in killing little Sarah, but it took him five years to do it.

This tragic story illustrates not only the depravity of a man who could kill innocent children in such a barbaric manner, but also stands as a testimony to the preciousness of each individual life.

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"The nomination of Judge John Roberts seems to be a step toward restoring the Supreme Court to its traditional role of interpreting the law, not legislating from the bench," said James Nolan, President of Crossroads, an alumnus of Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

"However, it will take decades more to heal the cultural, social and spiritual wounds that legal abortion and the other anti-life, antifamily policies imposed on America by the high court. During that time, we will continue to sponsor walks across America and reach out to hundreds of thousands of people each year, as we have done for the past 11 years," added Nolan.

The three-month excursions began on the west coast in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle in May, and will concluded on August 6th at the steps of the United States Capitol Building. The walkers then traveled to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.

"Whatever the outcome of judicial proceedings, we still have to continue with the work of changing the culture," said Nolan. "Even if Roe were overturned and abortion outlawed tomorrow, that would not mean that every child was loved, every life valued. The prolife message does not limit us to opposition to abortion."

Combined, this summer's Crossroads walkers will cover over 9,500 miles, walk through 31 states, and encounter millions of Americans along the way, including an estimated 250,000 people in churches alone this summer.

The walkers were welcomed into the United Nations by the World Youth Alliance, met with Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, and appeared on EWTN television with Fr. Benedict Groeschel.

from Conservatives.com July 2005.

from The Guardian April 2005.

from Lifenews.com June 2005.

from NewsLetter July 2005.

INDIA - Health authorities in Tamil Nadu State, India have agreed to sponsor reversal operations for sterilised couples who lost all their children in the tsunami. 6,000 people died at Nagapattin, of whom at least one third were children. Many of the parents now seeking reversal operations had been sterilised under government population control programmes which offered financial incentives for couples who underwent sterilisation.

from The Guardian July 2005.

from The Telegraph June 2005.