Behind the Scenes                                                         April 2016

FIVE FAST WAYS
Please select one of these ways to support 
life-affirming decisions at St. Joseph PRC. 

1. Shop at Charming Charlie - East Hills Mall on May 4 - May 8. Mention 
St. Joseph PRC to sales associate when checking out. We will receive 10% of your total purchase!  Great time to shop for Moms & Grads. 

2. Register to play in the PRC Golf Tournament Friday, May 13 at Duncan Hills 
Golf Course in Savannah.  Golf Tournament Registration

3. Take Mom to lunch on Saturday, May 7 at Texas Roadhouse in St. Joseph
11:00 am - 3:00 pm. Show a PRC fundraising flyer  & we will receive 10% of your food purchase! Flyers are on St Joseph PRC facebook page
or at our office. 

4. Donate diapers, wipes, newborn - 12 months outfits, baby socks or gift cards at 
The World's Largest Baby Shower  hosted by Kiwanis Club of St. Joseph
Saturday, May 7 9:00 am - 1:00 pm 
 Apple Market 903 N. 36th St or Apple Market 3734 Pear
Our greatest need is for newborn outfits & onesies for layettes.

5. Become a PRC Prayer Warrior. Host a PRC Prayer Gathering at your home or church. Schedule the PRC Prayer Board at your church. 
Contact PRC to receive the prayer emails.
Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 
These verses are an encouraging reminder for the staff at St. Joseph PRC as we persevere to provide Christ-like service to pregnant, at-risk, and post-abortive women; addressing their spiritual, physical and emotional needs; equipping them to make healthy, life-affirming decisions.  It is a honor to serve as Executive Director. Will you join us as we pray for the clients we assist, who are undecided about the outcome of their pregnancies?  We also covet prayers that communities of Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas would become well informed about the impact and realities of abortion.  Imagine how God will be glorified as we persevere together to embrace life!
- Libby Owens




The Power of Persistent Prayer
The familiar ding of the Help Line phone alerted the scheduler that an appointment had just been made through the Center's scheduling website. A call was made to the prospective patient confirming the appointment made. Several days later the patient, Joanie, arrived for her first appointment at the Center.
 
It only took a few moments for the patient advocate to realize Joanie was not happy about this pregnancy. In her mind there would never be a good time to have a child In fact, the father of this baby (Joanie's fianc�, Danny) and Joanie had always agreed they did not want children. It looked like Joanie's mind was made up, but the appointment process went forward, step by step, as it always does. During this appointment, Joanie received critical information she would need in her decision-making process, including the information that she was carrying a seven-week-old baby who had a strong heartbeat. Even though she was struggling with the moral dilemma of abortion, Joanie believed the best outcome for this pregnancy was abortion. This was more than the patient advocate could accept, and she began making it her mission to storm the throne of God with prayer for this mother and her little unborn baby.
 
A week later, Joanie returned to the Center to receive her STD results and get a second look at her now eight-week-old baby. Nothing had changed in the minds of Joanie and Danny. Even though they had wrestled with the issue, Joanie said they had firmly decided to abort. They were so firm in their decision that, unknown to the staff and volunteers, an abortion was scheduled for the following week. The nurse also offered Joanie another appointment the following week, and Joanie accepted. It is very likely Joanie did not intend on keeping her appointment with our Center the next week. The advocate continued in prayer, and many others joined her in praying for this mother's heart.
 
It is now known that the night before the scheduled abortion appointment, Joanie and Danny had a heart change. They simply could not go through with their plan. We don't know what led to their turning point, but we do believe their decision was brought about by God through the prayers of faithful people. At the third appointment, Joanie brought Danny with her to view the ultrasound and hear the heartbeat. Danny had never accompanied Joanie to the first two appointments. Where there had been tears of sadness during the previous two ultrasounds, there were tears of joy as Joanie and Danny smiled at their nine-week-old baby. Whereas Joanie had been asking about abortion providers in the first appointment (we NEVER refer for abortion, by the way), now she was asking what doctor she should use for prenatal care. This was also the first appointment where Joanie took ultrasound pictures! A fourth, and final, appointment was scheduled for the next week.
 
At the final appointment, Joanie arrived alone but confirmed her and Danny's decision to carry the baby to term. She also shared with the advocate that she had her first prenatal appointment scheduled. Joanie had also told family and friends about the pregnancy-something she had opposed in the first two appointments. In other words, Joanie wanted to share her good news with everyone now! During her final ultrasound, Joanie smiled and giggled at her ten-week-old child. Obviously, this was a miraculous transition from the first appointment to the fourth! This was also the first appointment where Joanie agreed to see the baby models. Once again, she wanted to take pictures with her.
 
In a recent follow-up phone call to Joanie, she shared that she will soon be having her appointment to find out the gender of the baby. Her family is supportive and excited. She exclaimed, "It's really been an easy pregnancy!" We look forward to the birth of this little child, and the impact he/she will make in the lives of Joanie and Danny. Once again, we have seen the power of prayer, and just when it seems there is no hope, our Father makes a way. Pray that God will be greatly glorified through the life of this baby. For those of us in the Center, He already is!

 
April Church of the Month 
The First Baptist Church, St. Joseph
1225 Francis St.
St. Joseph, MO 64501
816-232-8425

St. Joseph PRC recognizes The First Baptist Church of St. Joseph, MO as the April Church of the Month. In countless ways during the years FBC-St. Joseph has taken a stand for life by supporting the ministries at PRC. Pastor Jason Moore has said, "Being involved with the PRC allows our church to directly touch lives we would never have the opporutnity to minister to in any other way. Partnering with the PRC extends our reach and helps us to be wise stewards - using our resources to accomplish things for His glory that we never could have accomplished on our own." In addition to involvement with annual Baby Bottle Blessings and assisting with special projects as well as LIFE Day participation, FBC-St. Joseph teaches life is a gift from God and should be honored. They are living out the mission to bring the gospel message of life and hope through Jesus Christ to our city. May God continue to bless The First Baptist Church of St. Joseph, MO!
Visit the church's website at The First Baptist Church - St. Joseph for more information on their ministry to the community including their Block Party Saturday, May 7th following the Apple Blossom parade.

BE INFORMED
A Featured Article by Dr. Elizabeth Dean
Timeline to Abortion

The issues surrounding birth control measures have involved legal decisions and laws dating back to the 16th century worldwide.  Early legislators struggled to define the legality of abortion before and after "quickening," when the mother starts to feel fetal movements.  In the United States, from 1820 to 1900, most abortions were outlawed, primarily through the efforts of the American Medical Association physicians.

In 1916 Margaret Sanger, her sister Ethel Byrne, and Fonia Mindell opened the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York.  They distributed birth control, including advice and information.  All three women were arrested and jailed for violating the Comstock Act (1873), calling these materials obscene.

The law was later modified to permit physician-prescribed birth control. Major changes in laws governing birth control and sex education in the U.S. subsequently occurred.

Ms. Sanger was a eugenist.  Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aims at improving the genetic quality of the human population.  It is a social philosophy advocating improvement of human traits by promoting production for people with positive traits (positive eugenics) and decreasing rates of undesirable traits (negative eugenics).

Ms. Sanger was an outspoken negative eugenist who said such things as, "Give dysgenic groups (people with bad genes) in our population their choice of segregation or (compulsory) sterilization."  Also, "Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race."

In the 1940's, eugenist and birth-controllers united to form Planned Parenthood.

In 1959 the American Law Institute (ALI) drafted a model state abortion law to make legal abortions accessible.  The code advocated legalizing abortion for reasons including the mental or physical health of the mother, pregnancy due to rape and incest, and fetal deformity.

In 1967 Colorado established the first "liberalized" ALI-model abortion law in the U.S., passed also in California, Oregon, and North Carolina.

The first right-to-life organization formed the same year and was called The Virginia Society for Human Life followed by National Right to Life in 1968.

An opposing organization formed in 1969, The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL).  It is now called NARAL Pro-Choice America.  Its goal is to remove the cultural stigma on abortion, eliminate all meaningful legal restraints on it, and make it as widely available as possible across the nation and the globe.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, an OB-Gyn who performed abortions, along with his colleagues, co-founded NARAL.  By his later revelations, they pursued dubious and in some cases straight-forwardly dishonest strategies.  For example, they claimed that the number of illegal abortions was more than ten times higher than it actually was.  They promoted abortion as a medical issue not a moral one.  They portrayed the Catholic Church as an oppressor and sought to appeal to conservatives and liberals alike by promoting feticide as a way of fighting poverty.

Later, Dr. Nathanson converted to pro-life and produced the documentary film, "The Silent Scream" showing by ultrasound, in graphic detail, the killing of a twelve-week-old fetus via suction abortion.  Earlier, viewing his first fetal ultrasound in the 1970's his conscience was awakened to the fact that this image was a baby.  He soon became convinced that human life existed in the womb from the onset of pregnancy, thus leading to his conversion from pro-choice to pro-life.

In 1970, New York allowed abortion on demand up to the 24th week of pregnancy.

By 1971 the US Supreme Court ruled its first case involving abortion upholding a District of Columbia law permitting abortion only to preserve a woman's life or "health." Effectively this allowed abortion for any reason.

By year's end in 1971, 13 states had ALI-type law:  4 allowed abortion on demand;   Mississippi, only for rape and incest;  Alabama for the mother's physical health.  However, 31 states allowed abortion only to save the mother's life.

In 1973 the US Supreme Court ruled in Roe vs. Wade, a "right of privacy" encompassed "a right to abortion" with a trimester scheme limiting abortion to the first and second trimester.

Since that time, legal issues surrounding abortion have included funding by federal or state entities, parental notification, regulations involving abortion clinics, fetal tissue (stem cell) and transplant research, abortifacients (inducing abortion by pill).

The most heinous late-term abortion technique creating controversy is called partial-birth abortion (intact dilation and extraction).  It was introduced in 1992 by abortionist Martin Haskell at a National Abortion Foundation seminar.  It involves delivering all but the head of a baby from the mother's womb, piercing the skull, suctioning out the brain, and then completing delivery.

President Clinton vetoed a ban on partial-birth abortion repeatedly in 1995. The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 and 2007 were upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court.  President Clinton included plans to cover abortions in his massive health care plan.  This continues to be an issue in our current government plan.  He also provided $75 million to Planned Parenthood, a primary provider of abortions.  This also continues to be an issue today.

Abortion is a source of substantial controversy in our society.  As stated by Mother Teresa in 1994, speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast (in the presence of Hillary and Bill Clinton), "the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion."

Abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy.  How did such a thing become another form of birth control?  It became legal and acceptable slowly, one law at a time.


Elizabeth Dean, D.O




Thank you to our many donors and supporters who make it possible for us to reach hundreds of women.  We're so grateful for your partnership! If you are ready to financially support this mission, please don't wait another day. Babies and their families are counting on you now! 
Golf Tournament 
Friday, May 13, 2016
Duncan Hills Golf Course
Savannah, MO
The PRC Golf Tournament returns to Duncan Hills Golf Course.  Sponsorship opportunities are available. Register your team today.  Click here for Golf Tournament details.


St. Joseph PRC | 816.387.8090 |  stjosephprc.org

St. Joseph PRC | 1502 N 36th Street, Suite C | St Joseph | MO | 64506