Presbyterians Pro-Life
babies
Presbyterians Pro-Life ENEWS 
August, 2012
Greetings!

The school buses are back in the neighborhood and college students have been loved and sent off prayerfully by their parents. Christen Ed programs are launching and new sermon series have been outlined. Mid-week music rehearsals, Bible studies, and committee meetings keep church facilities humming with activity. There is a sense of new life that brings hope and excitement at this time of year.
 
Here at PPL we are gearing up to implement a fresh vision for challenging and equipping the Presbyterian and Reformed Family of churches to cherish every human life at every stage of development. In this issue we take an educational look at the end of life and encourage you to engage in a simple life affirming witness in your presbytery.

In July we reported on life issues at the General Assembly of the PC(USA). Below we report on decisions impacting life made earlier in the summer at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church Assembly in Baton Rouge Louisiana. I hope you find these articles helpful as you engage your own congregation and presbytery and encourage others to cherish life.
 
Alzheimer's Dementia
Dr. Martha Leatherman, PPL Medical Advisory Board 
Old woman leaning on cane
© Wissmann Design - Fotolia.com

Alzheimer's disease is one disease among many known as the dementias. Strictly speaking, dementia is a very general term that describes changes in brain function marked by changes in behavior and thinking (cognition). There are many different causes for the changes in the brain which cause dementia, and with a very few exceptions, they are irreversible.

 

While there are over 50 different kinds of dementia, common to all these different forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's, is the fact that brain cells (neurons) are damaged.  Read more.

 

Encouraging Life at Presbytery Meetings
P.J. Southam, PPL Board of Directors
Southam Presbytery Display
Visual message provided by posters

When I first became a pastor, I took a large stack of Presbyterian Pro-Life's newsletters to my presbytery meetings and left them out for others to take. Most of the time they were all picked up and I didn't have to take any home with me. I was always heartened to see that.

 

After many years of hearing about Di Lupton's witness at her presbytery meetings with a display for PPL, and also of Martha Leatherman's witness at her presbytery, I decided to do more than I had been doing. Read more.

 

EPC General Assembly States Objection to HHS Mandate to Cover Abortion Drugs
At its June 2012 General Assembly in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, The Evangelical Presbyterian Church affirmed a strong statement objecting to regulations recently put forth by the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS mandates issued February 15, 2012 (and effective August 1, 2012) require nearly all new health insurance plans to cover contraceptive methods including Plan B, and ella (abortifacient drugs).

The EPC does not take a stand against "artificial means of contraception," but they do "profoundly object to abortion on demand."  Read more.

 
I hope you will join your voice with ours in reminding the Body of Christ of her obligation to her neighbor. Together we can make a difference in how the church and the culture value the innocent, and the defenseless  -- those in the womb as well as those at the end of life.
 
In Christ for Life,
 
Marie Bowen
Executive Director
Presbyterians Pro-Life
In This Issue
Alzheimer's Dementia
Encouraging Life at Presbytery
EPC affirms life
New PPL Brochure
Quick Links
New PPL Brochure
Learn more about PPL's vision in our latest brochure: Equipping churches to Cherish Life. 
 
Contact the PPL office for copies to give to your church session, mission's committee, pastor and members. of your congregation.

 
Contact PPL for copies of our new brochure: Equipping Churches to Cherish Life. Give them to members of your congregation or display them in your church lobby.
Shaped, renewed by God

Though our outward humanity is in decay, yet day by day we are inwardly renewed. . . . For we know that if the earthly frame that houses us today should be demolished, we possess a building that God has provided. . . . we groan indeed, we who are enclosed within this earthly frame; we are oppressed because we do not want to have the old body stripped off. Rather our desire is to have the new body put on over it, so that our mortal part may be absorbed into life immortal. God himself has shaped us for this very end. 

(2 Cor. 4:16-5:10)