40 Days for Life 2012

40 Days for Life 2012 started on Wednesday the 22nd of  February (Ash Wednesday). It is a worldwide effort of prayer and fasting to end abortion (the direct and deliberate killing of an innocent human being before they are born).
Locations it will be taking place in Australia are:
Brisbane, Queensland
Sydney, New South Wales
Tweed Heads, New South Wales
Melbourne, Victoria
Hobart, Tasmania
Adelaide, South Australia
Perth, Western Australia

Bishop Julian Porteous (Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney) has invited all to take part in 40 Days for Life 2012, you can read his invitation here.
You can see the flyer for Sydney’s day of the Unborn Child event on Sunday March 25 here.
Also please read the excellent Lifelines magazine of Family Life International, Australia.

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Read more on the issue of abortion:
Abortion, The Natural Law and The Sacred Scriptures
Abortion : Pain for Babies, Pain for Mothers

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What Happens When Prostitution Becomes Work ?

The following is an excellent research paper entitled:




What Happens When Prostitution Becomes Work ?
An Update on Legalisation of Prostitution in Australia.
By Dr. Mary Sullivan of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Australia





It is a powerful study that dismisses the false and misleading arguments used by those who support the legalisation of prostitution by showing what has happened in Victoria after they legalised prostitution over two decades ago.
You can read it here:
 http://action.web.ca/home/catw/attach/Sullivan_proof_01.pdf

Evangelium Vitae Prayer

(Prayer from Evangelium Vitae 105 of Bl. Pope John Paul II)

O Mary,
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause of life
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies not allowed to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilization of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.

Prayer for Preparation for Mass

St. Ambrose (Source: Catholic.org)

Prayer of St. Ambrose
Lord, Jesus Christ, I approach your banquet table in fear and trembling, for I am a sinner, and dare not rely on my own worth but only on your goodness and mercy. I am defiled by many sins in body and soul, and by my unguarded thoughts and words. Gracious God of majesty and awe, I seek your protection, I look for your healing, poor troubled sinner that I am, I appeal to you, the fountain of all mercy. I cannot bear your judgment, but I trust in your salvation. Lord, I show my wounds to you and uncover my shame before you. I know my sins are many and great, and they fill me with fear, but I hope in your mercies, for they cannot be numbered. Lord Jesus Christ, eternal King, God and man, crucified for mankind, look upon me with mercy and hear my prayer, for I trust in you. Have mercy on me, full of sorrow and sin, for the depth of your compassion never ends. Praise to you, saving sacrifice, offered on the wood of the cross for me and for all mankind. Praise to the noble and precious blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ and washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, Lord, your creature, whom you have redeemed with your blood. I repent my sins, and I long to put right what I have done. Merciful Father, take away all my offenses and sins; purify me in body and soul, and make me worthy to taste the holy of holies. May your body and blood, which I intend to receive, although I am unworthy, be for me the remission of my sins, the washing away of my guilt, the end of my evil thoughts, and the rebirth of my better instincts. May it incite me to do the works pleasing to you and profitable to my health in body and soul, and be a firm defense against the wiles of my enemies.
Amen.
  
(Source : EWTN )

Tasmanian Criminal Code and Abortion

Tasmanian Coat of Arms

The following is a quote from the Tasmanian Criminal Code Act 1924:

 134. Abortion
(1) Any woman who, being pregnant, unlawfully administers to herself, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, any poison or other noxious thing or with such intent unlawfully uses any instrument or other means whatsoever, is guilty of a crime.
(2) Any person who, with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman, unlawfully administers to her, or causes her to take, any poison or other noxious thing, or with such intent unlawfully uses any instrument or other means whatsoever, is guilty of a crime.
Charge:
Administering poison [or using means] to procure abortion.

135. Aiding in intended abortion
Any person who unlawfully supplies to or procures for any other person anything whatever, knowing that it is intended to be unlawfully used with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman, is guilty of a crime.
Charge:
Aiding in intended abortion.

164. Medical termination of pregnancy
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 134, 135 or 165, but subject to this section, a person is not guilty of a crime in relation to the termination of a pregnancy which is legally justified.
(2) The termination of a pregnancy is legally justified if –
(a) two medical practitioners have certified, in writing, that the continuation of the pregnancy would involve greater risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman than if the pregnancy were terminated; and
(b) the woman has given informed consent unless it is impracticable for her to do so.
(3) In assessing the risk referred to in subsection (2), the medical practitioners may take account of any matter which they consider to be relevant.
(4) If it is impracticable for the woman to give informed consent, the two medical practitioners referred to in subsection (2)(a) are to make a declaration in writing detailing the reasons why it was impracticable for the woman to give informed consent.
(5) At least one of the medical practitioners referred to in subsection (2)(a) is to specialise in obstetrics or gynaecology.
(6) A legally justified termination can only be performed by a medical practitioner.
(7) Subject to subsection (8), no person is under a duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment, including any counselling authorised by this section, to which the person has a conscientious objection.
(8) Nothing in subsection (7) affects any duty to participate in treatment which is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman or to prevent her immediate serious physical injury.
(9) In this section –
"informed consent" means consent given by a woman where –
(a) a medical practitioner has provided her with counselling about the medical risk of termination of pregnancy and of carrying a pregnancy to term; and
(b) a medical practitioner has referred her to counselling about other matters relating to termination of pregnancy and carrying a pregnancy to term;
"woman" means any female person of any age.

165. Causing death of child before birth
(1) Any person who causes the death of a child which has not become a human being in such a manner that he would have been guilty of murder if such child had been born alive is guilty of a crime.
Charge:
Causing the death of a child before birth.
(2) No one commits a crime who by any means employed in good faith for the preservation of its mother's life causes the death of any such child before or during its birth.

165A. Infanticide
A woman who by any wilful act or omission, causes the death of her child (being a child under the age of 12 months), and who was at the time not fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child, and the balance of her mind being, by reason thereof, disturbed, is guilty of a crime, which is called infanticide, although, the offence would, but for this section, have amounted to murder.
Charge:
Infanticide.

Commentary:

Sections 134, 135, 165, 165A of the Criminal code are all in line with the Natural Moral Law.

Section 164 of the Criminal Code was included in 2001 after an “emergency sitting” of parliament in which it passed both houses of parliament on December 24 of that year.This occured as a result of “[a] complaint at the Royal Hobart Hospital recently cast doubt over the legality of this practice [abortion]”¹. The bill that amended the Criminal Code to include section 164 was introduced by the then Labor member for the Legislative council (upper house) seat of Rumney, Lin Thorp and Former Tasmanian Labor Health and Human Services Minister, Judy Jackson(members of the pro-abortion Labor group, Emily’s List) as a private members bill. It passed the lower and upper houses of parliament in just a few days!
The Lower House Debate can be read here, while the Upper House Debate can be read here (which includes within the Hansard a letter written by Archbishop Adrian Doyle of Hobart to all politicians on the issue)

Abortion is never in the physical or mental best interests of the mother, as can be read in my article, Abortion: Pain for Babies, Pain for Mothers
To read about the link between abortion and breast cancer see the following article:
“Abortion Has Caused 300K Breast Cancer Deaths Since Roe” (http://www.ruthblog.org/2012/02/14/abortion-has-caused-300k-breast-cancer-deaths-since-roe/)

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1. Former Tasmanian Labor Health and Human Services Minister, Judy Jackson (19 December 2001) http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/a6d569c2-3c20-4c65-b33c-3c3342a0a63a/1/doc/#term0_1

My Way to God (Book One) [Pages 70 - 97]

My Way to God (Book One) [Pages 44 - 69]

Pages 70-97