Washington, notorious for being one of the first states to legalize abortion in 1970 prior to Roe vs. Wade, is being targeted again, this time by assisted suicide advocates, for being a very politically “pro-choice” state. The strategy is to pass law at the state level, which is nationally unpopular. Like we have seen with abortion, and gay “marriage,” this allows for a snowball effect, as more states follow suit and these very unpopular ideas become more normalized and culturally accepted. Hence why it so important we must stop evil in its tracks, now rather than later.

Please assist the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide with your prayers, donations, by volunteering and spreading the word!

Some key points on I-1000:

• Gives HMOs and insurers the opportunity to exploit assisted suicide to cut costs.
• Allows a doctor to help a loved one commit suicide without family members being told.
• Permits doctors to help depressed and mentally ill people commit suicide.
• Lets doctors assist the suicides of patients who are not in pain.
• Has no provision for investigating abuse.
• Requires a doctor to falsify death certificates, so the fatal overdose is not listed. Instead the certificate is filled out as though the patient died of natural causes.
• Proponents say I-1000 is just a ”first step.” What’s next will be even more dangerous – for you. And for your family.

Louis St.Hilaire writes in a letter to the editor in the Bellingham Herald:

The proponents of Initiative 1000 would have us believe that assisted suicide offers us “death with dignity.” Implicit in this argument is the frightening premise that human dignity, rather than being something inherent, can be diminished by suffering and dependence on others to the point where one’s life is no longer worth living.

Medical science holds a place of high authority in our society. Forcing it to give its blessing to such twisted logic has dangerous consequences that we should not hide behind a smiley-faced moral autonomism.

Rather than giving up on their lives, we should uphold the dignity of the suffering and needy, using medicine to alleviate the pain of the dying rather than to kill them.

Please vote no on Initiative 1000

Lastly, the following video is the very beautiful and inspiring story of John Peyton, a terminally ill resident of Washington, who is using his remaining months of life to stop the legalization of assisted suicide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qr9_hzVfYI

Thousands will be participating across the country in this year’s annual Life Chain.  Please join us in Bellingham! 

Sunday, October 5th @ 2:00 pm.  
Along the Guide between Kellogg & Telegraph Road  
A time of prayer and reflection.

Life-Chain Check in stations: (where you will pick up your signs)

• Rite-way Service Center
• Café Café,
• Premier Wireless,
• Horizen Bank &
• the parking lot @ Christ the King Church/Bellingham

Call Juanita of Lynden Human Life and Great Expectations for more info at 360-354-3862

Today marks the first day of the third national 40 Days for Life, of which over 170 cities in 47 states in the US are participating! This fall, from September 24th - November 2nd, seven Washington locations are hosting 40 Days for Life vigils!!!: Centralia, Everett, Olympia, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma and the Tri-Cities. For this reason, I am coming to you with a request for your prayers and support for these 170+ cities, and especially those local to Washington, that true conversion of our society may take place in the hearts and minds of all men and women about abortion; that vigil participants will have the courage and strength to oppose this injustice through prayer, fasting and outreach; and for America to choose pro-life leaders in the upcoming elections.

Likewise, I ask you all to renew your commitments to building a Culture of Life in your own communities, through continual prayer, fasting and outreach. Take some time to pray at the local abortion facility and reach out to those men and women in need who fall prey to the lure of Planned Parenthood; volunteer and support your local Pregnancy Clinic; rally members of your church to get together to pray for an end to abortion and to form a pro-life group if there isn’t one already. Also, if you happen to be in any of the Washington cities mentioned above, consider helping out with their 40DFL campaign! Find out more about each location at their respective websites:

• Centralia
• Everett
• Olympia
• Seattle
• Spokane
• Tacoma
• Tri-Cities 

David Beriet, director of 40 Days for Life is teaming up with Lou Engle of the call, along with several other key pro-life leaders to organize day of massive prayer, fasting, and action for an end to abortion. They are encouraging people from across the country to gather at our nation’s capital for this pivotal event.

To learn more visit helpshapehistory.com

Lou St. Hilaire wrote this fantastic letter to the editor during the 40 Days for Life:

Have you noticed that there are fewer and fewer children with Down’s Syndrome? We have not found a cure or a means of preventing the genetic anomaly that causes Down’s. The horrifying truth is that, with early detection, we–average Americans–are eliminating these children in the womb at a rate of 90% (according to a 1999 study in “Prenatal Diagnosis”, available at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/65500197/ABSTRACT).

One can certainly sympathize with the fears of parents who discover that their son or daughter has Down’s. However, the experience I have had with adults and children with Down’s and with their parents tells me that theirs is not a life unworthy of living. The eugenicists of the 1930s were wrong. Why, then, are we unwittingly fulfilling their dreams?

The progressive element of this society accomplished great things in the civil rights struggles of the last century by leading us to recognize the full humanity of all members of our species. Its embrace of the rhetoric of “choice” is an unfortunate reversal of this. There is nothing liberal about a society that only welcomes and protects the wanted and the chosen.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to express my deepest gratitude to you all! Thank you for all your hard work, support and prayers that you poured into the 40 Days for Life. Each and every one of you contributed to this campaign in your own way, which is what made our 40 days so great and powerful. God has blessed me with the privilege of getting to know so many of you! Know that you will all remain in my prayers as I hope to continue working with you all in seeing the Culture of Life prevail in our society!

“And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant…” Isaiah 49:5

• Please continue to check our website for updates on local and national pro-life news and events.
• This campaign, when all is said and done will have cost roughly $2,500. This includes:

1. promotional and pro-life materials
2. printing and postage
3. registration with the national campaign
4. advertising
5. travel and donation for Shawn Carney
6. food and pizza for celebration rally

• If you would like to support our efforts, checks can be made payable to “Bellingham 40 Days for Life” and mailed to the following address. Thank you for those who have already generously contributed, it is greatly appreciated!!

Bellingham 40 Days for Life
1110 14th St
Bellingham, WA 98225

• As many of you know, I will be moving to Bremerton this summer. If you are interested in leading or helping with next year’s Bellingham 40 Days for Life, or have ideas on how to make it better, let me know!
• Please consider organizing a group from your church, or with your friends for a time in which you can go to Planned Parenthood for an hour or more of prayer and witness each week (especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are the days they perform abortions).
• Keep in mind that this is an election year. Please pray and discern carefully which candidates and measures you support, that they be the most in line with promoting and fostering a Culture of Life.

• Lastly, if you would like to share any stories or words that you would like me to pass along to the group, please send them to me and I would be happy to!

For those who missed the “Where do we go from here?” message at the celebration rally, and as a reminder for those who didn’t: In the Holy Bible we see that God used 40 days as a period of transformation for Noah and the Ark, Moses on Mount Sinai, Jesus in the desert, and the Apostles after Christ’s Resurrection. My prayer is that each and every one of us has experienced some form of transformation over the last 40 days, in such a way that we will forever be changed and ready to fight the evil of abortion in a new and invigorated way. As much as 40 Days for Life is for bringing about change in our community it is for bringing about change in ourselves so that we may more effectively and diligently work to end abortion in America. 40 Days for Life gives us an opportunity to see the fruits of concentrating on ending abortion on a day-to-day level, and not just in our pastime.

Francis Schaeffer once said, “If people who claim the name of Christ are not going to be willing to stand up against something as evil as killing a baby, then the world has the right to ask whether Christ is real.”

Gregg Cunningham of the Center for Bioethical Reform says, “That’s a devastating question. The world is asking whether Christ is real. They’re not real influenced, they’re not real persuaded by what we say, but persuaded by what we do. And we have absolutely no moral authority with a culture if we say abortion is an indefensible act of violence which kills a baby and then we do nothing to stop that atrocity. Or what little we do approximates our approach to gardening or golf — it’s sort of a hobby we work into the periphery of our lives.”

He suggests that in many ways we are losing this battle, because for the people who do this on the other side, abortion is a profession, and they have proved to be much more determined to kill these babies than we are to save them.

During the 40 Days for Life, you all demonstrated your willingness to make sacrifices and step outside of your comfort zone because you knew it was the right thing to do. We now have to pray and discern the ways in which God is calling us to give of ourselves for these pre-born babies beyond 40 Days for Life. He may be calling you to full time pro-life work, to devote time in prayer at the abortion facility, to give money to or volunteer at pregnancy clinics or other pro-life organizations, to adopt children, to educate and speak out against abortion, etc. These are just some of the many ways in which we can dedicate ourselves to fostering a Culture of Life.

The bottom line: for abortion to end, we must be willing to make serious sacrifices in our lives; perhaps offering our time, money, talent, careers or popularity. Likewise, we must always keep prayer at the forefront, keeping in mind that we cannot expect serious change, without serious petition to Our Lord, through Whom all things are made possible!

“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;” Psalm 95:6

We had such a great turnout for Sunday’s final events! Thank you to all those who were able to participate, and those who couldn’t come but continued to support us in prayer. We had about 70 attendants for the 2-3pm Prayer Vigil, which is easily one of the best turnouts we’ve ever had on that corner! The Bellingham Herald was there to interview and document the event. They even stayed for the whole hour while people prayed and during our time kneeling for the petition to end abortion in our city. If you have not already seen the article that was printed in Monday’s paper, you can see it here:

40-day anti-abortion protest ends

The article is very good! Within one day, this article has received 90 comments! Click “comments” and begin participating in the discussion!

We had about 50 attendants at our Celebration Rally. We got to hear great stories from several people about some of the powerful experiences they had during the 40DFL. We also had Amanda Hostetler, former radio talk-show host on KGMI, share her joys and experiences with the ministry of adopting children. She encouraged us all to pray and discern how adoption can be a part of our lives, whether by supporting agencies and funds or parents who adopt, or by adopting a beautiful child in need ourselves. God has called Amanda, her husband and her family of 7 children (two adopted) to do ministry work in China. We must keep them in our prayers and follow their example of serving those in need.

Lastly, Lani Swanson shared with us a great opportunity to support the Whatcom County Pregnancy Clinic through donations for the BOUND4LIFE bracelets, which she had at the celebration.

Check out the updated photo album for recent pictures of these events!

After today we’ll be winding down to our last three days, with only 72 hours left and roughly 40 hours that need to be filled! What a tremendous joy this journey has been, which naturally comes with serving Our Lord, that it almost seems unfathomable to be leaving our “home” on the corner. This is not the end of our efforts, but the beginning of the end of abortion in America.

If you haven’t yet participated in the vigil at Planned Parenthood, it’s not too late! We are in constant need of soldiers for Christ who are willing to be a witness to our community, which is so wrapped-up in the Culture of Death. Help us to reclaim our nation for Christ, that He may reign in Glory! Help us to speak up for those who have no voice! Help us to defend life inside and outside the womb! Please offer your time, treasure and talent to Our Father so we can most effectively allow Him to conquer sin and death in our lives. We need people to pray and fast in their homes, at work, and in front of Planned Parenthood for the remaining of the 40 Days for Life, and from every day after! Again, it’s never too late to join, but please, make today the day that you do.