Joseph Forlini of Rockaway, owner of printing company
Tuesday, May 09, 2006

A service for Joseph Forlini, 70, of Rockaway will be 7 oclock Thursday evening (May 11, 2006)in the First Baptist Church of Union, 525 Thoreau Terrace, Union. Arrangements are by the McCracken Funeral Home, Union.

Mr. Forlini, who died Sunday in Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Hamilton, was the owner and president of Serafino Printing Co. Inc. in Verona since 1977.

Born in Newark, he lived in Rockaway for 26 years.

Surviving are daughters, Catherine Horling and Patricia Garofola; a son, Joseph A.; a sister, Carol Seger, and two grandchildren.

Abortion charge dismissed against pregnant woman who shot herself

Tammy Skinner By LINDA MCNATT, The Virginian-Pilot c. May 8, 2006
SUFFOLK - - Charges of inducing an abortion were dismissed today against a 22-year-old woman who, in February, shot herself in the stomach on the morning her infant was to have been born.

Tammy Skinner told police about 4 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 23 that a man had picked her up, shot her in the stomach and pushed her out of the car. Then, she told investigators that the child's father did it.

Finally, the mother of two other children - - both girls, as was the infant who died -- admitted that the wound was self-inflicted.

Skinner was also charged with using a firearm in the commission of a felony, but that charge was not prosecuted because it did not apply to the class-four felony of producing an abortion or miscarriage.

Skinner was found guilty of filing a false police report. For that, in the preliminary hearing, General District Judge James A. Moore Jr. found the woman guilty and suspended a 30-day jail sentence.

Background: Woman charged with shooting self to cause abortion

[Virginia's Fetal Homicide Law: Effective July 1, 2004, Code of Virginia Section 18.2-32.2 provides: "Any person who unlawfully, willfully, deliberately, maliciously and with premeditation kills the fetus of another" may be imprisoned from 20 years to life; and any person who does so without premeditation may be imprisoned for not less than five nor more than 40 years.]

Guttmacher Report Says Abortions Up for Poor Women, Down for Affluent

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorMay 5, 2006

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- Looking into the details of the new abortion report released by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a Planned Parenthood affiliate, it says poor women are increasingly likely to get pregnant and have abortions while more affluent women are less likely.
Based on nationwide information gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics and other places, AGI reports that the rates of unplanned pregnancies for poor women, increased by almost 30 percent from 1994 to 2001 while they fell 20 percent for women in more affluent families.

Abortion rates also rose and fell for the same groups during the time period, even though abortions are on the decline as a whole nationwide.

"Clearly, something is changing, and it doesn't bode well in terms of unplanned pregnancies and abortions for poor women, in particular," Heather Boonstra, an AGI report author, tells the Washington Post.

But when asked why this was happening, Boonstra claimed it was because state and federal governments are shifting resources away from contraception and towards abstinence education.
Leslee Unruh, president and founder of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, told the Post she disagreed with that assessment.

"Programs for poor women are often so condescending, even degrading," she said. "They teach how to put on a condom rather than how to take control of their lives."
The study also found that abortions are occurring earlier in pregnancy but that poor women have abortions on average six days later than women who are more affluent.
The AGI study found there were 6.4 million pregnancies in the United States in 2001 and four million babies were born from them. There were 1.3 million abortions and 1.1 million miscarriages.

The pregnancy were roughly divided in half between unintended and planned and unplanned pregnancies split in almost even numbers of abortions and births, the Post reported.Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2240.html

Andrea Clark Will Live!

"Greetings Friend of Life!

Texas Right to Life has been working for the last three weeks with the family of Andrea Clark, a patient at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, who was slated to have all life-sustaining treatment (including food and water) removed against her wishes on Sunday, April 30th.

This decision was made by Andrea's primary physician and then approved by the St. Luke's ethics committee—chaired by a prominent Houston abortionist. With mounting pressure from the public generated by Andrea's family and pro-life activists, St. Luke’s arranged to transfer Andrea to an acute care facility in Illinois rather than withdrawing care. (See the transfer story in the Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3826053.html.)

However, minutes before the transfer was to occur last Friday, April 28th, St. Luke’s realized that the Illinois facility was not adequately equipped to care for Andrea. Andrea's family was distraught to think that Andrea's life would be hanging in the balance at a facility that considered her life futile and effectively wanted her dead. The attorneys began some fast talking, and the withdrawal of Andrea's treatment was indefinitely postponed.

On Tuesday, May 2nd, the treatment team at St. Luke's convened to further discuss Andrea's condition and treatment plan. At this meeting, Dr. Matthew Lenz, a physician with privileges at St. Luke's, transferred Andrea's care into his own hands. Dr. Lenz became involved at the request of Texas Right to Life and has since taken a personal interest in protecting Andrea's life.

His goal is to nurse Andrea back to a point where she can then be transferred to another facility for further rehabilitation. Andrea's condition is very fragile, and she requires a lot of specialized care, yet her condition is no justification for speeding her to her death by abruptly ending treatment and care that has been working. Dr. Lenz is now the new attending physician, and he has already begun to see improvements in her condition.

Andrea must undergo a surgery tomorrow to have her septic gall bladder removed. Despite this surgery posing risks to Andrea's fragile condition, the removal of the diseased organ should lend to Andrea's overall improvement. While St. Luke's has not made this process easy, St. Luke's has now offered the full support of the administration and of other specialists to assist Dr. Lenz in caring for Andrea.

While the futility law and St. Luke's policy remain problematic, St. Luke's is now committed to preserving Andrea's life and confirmed that the futility statute will not again be invoked as long as Andrea is under Dr. Lenz’s care. Andrea would not be alive today if St. Luke's had not provided care and treatment for Andrea up to this point.

The heroes in this battle are Andrea's siblings and son who fought for her life and cried from every mountaintop for help. Please join Texas Right to Life in praying for Andrea's recovery and in thanksgiving for the moral courage exhibited by Dr. Lenz in challenging St. Luke's and dedicating his personal time to treat and protect Andrea.

Please forward any kudos for Dr. Lenz to ProLife@TexasRightToLife.com, and your praise will be forwarded to him."

Reprinted from: ProLife@TexasRightToLife.com

Legal Battle Heats Up Over Andrea Clark and Potential Euthanasia Death Case
by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorMay 1, 2006

Houston, TX (LifeNews.com) -- The legal fight in the battle to save the life of disabled patient Andrea Clark continues to heat up. Her case is the latest fight in the post-Terri Schiavo world where doctors employing what detractors call the "futile care theory" saying a patient is beyond medical help and are refusing to treat her.

Clark, 54, suffered complications following open heart surgery and required a ventilator and dialysis to survive. Her motor control faculties were damaged but, her family says her cognitive abilities were unaffected.

However, on April 19, St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston, where Clark is a patient, informed her family that her medical care would be discontinued in 10 days -- following a Texas law that provides medical facilities the right to give a family 10 days notice that treatment will be withdrawn.

In what pro-life advocates say is a direct act of passive euthanasia, a hospital committee decided Clark's condition was beyond hope and refused further medical treatment.
Clark's family, working with the hospital, found a hospice in Chicago that would take her, but the arrangement fell through. As a result, the hospital now plans to move forward on its threat to withhold treatment, but Andrea’s attorney, Jerri Lynn Ward, has served St. Luke’s with a cease and desist order.

LifeNews.com has been provided with a copy of the order. In it, Ward tells the hospital, "Because Andrea is heavily sedated and is limited in her ability to communicate treatment decisions to her physicians and the hospital, the family is empowered under law to make such decisions on her behalf."

"The family is united in its decision that life-sustaining treatments should NOT be withdrawn or withheld from Andrea Clark pending transfer to another physician or facility," Ward writes.
Ward said Clark's family does not believe she is a "futile case" and cited at least one physician who says otherwise. The letter says the family is having a hard time finding another medical facility for Clark because of the "futile case" label applied to her.Meanwhile, the The Terri Schindler Schiavo Center for Health Care Ethics has weighed in on the case and is siding with Clark's family.

"Andrea Clark is not comatose nor is she brain dead and yet, her life hangs in the balance because a hospital ethics committee has decided that her life is not worth living," Terri's family's foundation said. "This case is another example at how we have lost compassion not only for the disabled and elderly but for the medically dependent as well."
Wesley J. Smith, a noted author and attorney who monitors end of life issues, has written that Clark's case should be a warning for Americans.

"Clark's case involves value judgments rather than medical determinations," he says adding that it is increasingly becoming a case where money dominates decisions.
"Illustrating the level of hardball some hospitals play against patients and families, the Clark family's lawyer Jerri Ward told me that St. Luke's agreed to pay the $14,806 transportation costs to transfer Clark to a hospital in Illinois — more than 1,000 miles away — if the decision to transfer is made on Thursday," he wrote.

"If the family doesn't decide until Friday, the hospital will pay only one-half of the cost of transportation. Thereafter, it would pay nothing."

Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/bio1483.html
Copyright © 2003-2004 LifeNews.com. All rights reserved.

Native Americans to Lead Pro-Life T-Shirt Day With Message on Abortion

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorApril 24, 2006

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Native American teenagers in South Dakota will be leading the way on Tuesday as tens of thousands of pro-life teens across the nation wear their pro-life t-shirts to school. The Indian teens will be sending a strong message to their tribal leader that they don't favor her idea to built an abortion facility on their reservation.

"Native American teens in South Dakota are showing their support for the pro-life movement by participating in this year's National Pro-life T-shirt Day," says Erik Whittington, who heads up the national project.

The national day tomorrow is a chance for teens in the Oglala Sioux Tribe to show their opposition to an idea by Tribal President Cecelia Fire Thunder, who wants to build an abortion business on tribal lands to get around a new South Dakota ban on abortions.

Whittington recently traveled there and met with pro-life teens who are excited about the opportunity to share their pro-life views.

"It is ironic that the pro-life teens we met were part of the same reservation where a Lakota woman recently pledged to have an abortion clinic built now that the state has outlawed the despicable practice," said Whittington. "This once again proves that America's youth are solidly pro-life."

Students of all ages are invited to wear a pro-life t-shirt or to purchase and wear the official shirt.

This year's campaign takes a page out of the playbook of those who back embryonic stem cell research, which destroys days-old unborn children. The military green shirts for the 2006 campaign feature the slogan, "Help Cure Abortion."

The back of the t-shirt explains that 1.2 million babies die annually from abortions and they're available for just $5 -- a price that fits into any student's budget.

"Wearing a T-shirt with a pro-life message is about more than just making a statement. It presents the truth about the horrors of abortion, while at the same time offers hope for the future," said Whittington. "Pro-life T-shirts save lives."

Unfortunately, some teens have run into problems wearing their pro-life shirts.
Last year, in Des Moines, Iowa, two Roosevelt High School students say their First Amendment rights were violated when school officials told them to remove the shirts. Sisters Brittany and Tamera Chandler said they were threatened with suspension.

Tamera Chandler agreed to wear a sweatshirt over her shirt, but felt her rights had been violated.

"I was upset because they violated my rights, but I didn't want any trouble because graduation's right around the corner," she told the Des Moines newspaper.

This year, as in years past, pro-life teens have no legal reason to worry about repercussions from wearing a pro-life t-shirt as Whittington has enlisted a nationally renown pro-life law firm to help any student who runs into problems.

"As you might expect, there are some public school administrators who don't quite know what to do when dozens-even hundreds-of their students show up for class wearing pro-life messages," said Whittington. "Some have even threatened students with detention, suspension and expulsion. However, the Constitution is on the side of free speech."

He indicated the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center will again be available to assist any students who encounter problems with teachers or school officials.

Related web sites:National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day - http://www.nationalprolifetshirtday.com

Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2221.html
Copyright © 2003-2004 LifeNews.com.

Current Prayer Items and Needs:

Primary in the need of any a pregnancy center is more individuals to support the work with their prayers and their giving. Volunteers are the next greatest need. No one can be a volunteer without being trained. A commitment of at least 6-months is required, along with the evidence of salvation and growth in Christ.

Training classes are held three to four times a year and comprise of an intense 18 hours of lecture, discussions, role-play and viewing of videos used in counseling. Both male and female volunteers are needed. Only males counsel males, and only females counsel females.

The addition of a sonogram machine was an example of the Lord's supply. Currently there is a need for two to three nurses to be trained to operate the state of the art ultrasound equipment. Training is free and a one-year commitment is requested.

There is always a need for newborn baby items (sleepwear, outfits, blankets, diapers, lotion, etc). We are requesting only NEW items, except for slightly used small cribs or port-a-cribs, infant cars seats, umbrella type strollers No maternity wear is needed.

Prayer is paramount. Pray for the abortionists that operate in New Jersey. Pray that they will come to Jesus. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated 'Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that' Gateway posts on its internet site www.gateway.org) a clear Statement of Non-Violence along with their Statement of Faith and Principles.

Pray for the current women seen by Gateway, that they will:

* Make a personal commitment to Jesus for salvation

* Carry their babies to term

* Live responsibly and abstain from pre-marital sex

* Pray for past clients, who have accepted Jesus, that they will grow in faith.

* Pray for the fathers and other family members

* Pray for support of the mothers desire to carry the baby to term.

* Pray for the church, that she will see the need to both love in word and deed.

* Pray for a continuing and increasing support base for Gateway, that Jesus may be glorified.