Pro-life advocates oppose this process because human cloning involves the purposeful creation and then destruction of human life for research purposes. There is also a concern that the desire for human cloning will lead to the exploitation of women as scientists look for ways to gather large amounts of human eggs.

An international group of scientists at the Oregon National Primate Research Center announced their research in the June 6 issues of the journal. According to the article, they developed four cloned human embryos in a dish for about 10 days. This created about 150 to 200 cells. This is the stage — the blastocyst stage — when embryos created in vitro are usually placed within the woman where they are carried until birth.

This, however, was not the point of these experiments.

“Instead, the cloned embryos were destroyed and embryonic stem cell lines created — a process sometimes called ‘therapeutic cloning,’” writes Wesley J. Smith in The Weekly Standard. “While these scientists have no interest in reproductive cloning, if a cloned baby is ever born, their experiments will have been a big step toward making it possible.”

Bottom line: This type of human cloning — called somatic cell nuclear transfer — creates and destroys human life.

“The reality here, is that we’ve reached a new stage in the development of science — the cloning of human beings for the expressed purpose of research,” said Dawn McBane, CitizenLink bioethics analyst. “We really have a moral and ethical concern with this research, especially when we see other forms of ethical stem cell research producing similar types of stem types — these non-embryonic, non-cloned sources of stem cells are actually helping to cure patients.”

Non-embryonic stem cell research (bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and other types of “adult” stem cell research) has proven to be successful for a whole host of diseases and conditions. Thousands of patients struggling with more than 70 different diseases and conditions have been successfully treated using ethical stem cells.

“A lot of times we see the kid-in-the-candy-shop type of mentality with scientists,” McBane said. “If they can clone human embryos, or if they can do research with embryonic stem cells, they want to pursue that. At the end of the day, this research is not only unethical, it’s also unnecessary.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read the Cell article.

Read Focus on the Family’s Position Statement on Human Cloning.

Read “The Arrival of Human Cloning.”

The bill, “To Create the Human Heartbeat Protect Act; To Protect Unborn Children” became a law in March, after legislators in the state Senate and House overrode Gov. Mike Bebee’s veto of the bill. The law requires that a woman considering an abortion must first get an abdominal ultrasound; if there is a fetal heartbeat, the abortion will not go forward.

“With this legislation, the people of Arkansas have lent their voices to our littlest neighbors because theirs is muffled behind the wall of their mother’s womb,” Deacon Keith Fournier wrote in an editorial published in Catholic Online shortly after the bill became a law. Fournier is a member of the clergy of the Diocese of Richmond, Va.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Arkansas, and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a complaint on behalf of two Little Rock abortionists in April. Friday’s decision means the law — which was set to take effect July 18 — cannot be enforced as litigation in the case moves forward.

“Abortion is not health care,” Fournier continues, “it is the killing of a child in the womb. There is absolutely nothing reproductive about it.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read the complaint in Beck v. Edwards.

Learn more about the legislation.

Read Fournier’s editorial, “Arkansas Human Protection Act Helps Restore the Right to Life.”

New Yorkers for Life, the statewide coalition formed in opposition to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s late-term abortion expansion agenda, has launched an up to $250,000 campaign to counter the Governor’s abortion proposal. This morning, New Yorkers for Life released the cornerstone of this campaign: a thirty-second video ad entitled “Job Expansion.” The campaign also features a fifteen-second version of the ad designed for online pre-roll media buys, along with consistently-branded web banner advertising, accompanying television and radio buys, billboards, and related projects

Though the “Job Expansion” campaign is a statewide effort, the intensity of the campaign will be felt most strongly in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, the Capital Region, and Long Island.

Kirsten Smith, spokeswoman for New Yorkers for Life, made the following comments:

“In his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, Andrew Cuomo promised to make the State of New York the ‘job capital of the nation.’ Now that he is in office, however, Governor Cuomo’s priorities have changed; the Governor is instead determined to cement New York’s status as the abortion capital of the nation. The Governor’s recently-published to-do list for New York lawmakers offers no real plans for job expansion, but places his late-term abortion expansion agenda front and center. The fact is that more than 100,000 abortions are performed each year in New York, 40% of pregnancies in New York City end in abortion, and 79% of New York voters (four out of five) believe that there is already sufficient access to abortion in the Empire State. Given all this, New York voters-like the married couple depicted in our video advertisement-are asking themselves why our Governor is so relentlessly focused on expanding access to abortion.”

Smith continued, “New Yorkers for Life was formed to prevent Governor Cuomo’s late-term abortion expansion nightmare from becoming a reality. The message of the ‘Job Expansion’ campaign is simple: New York State needs to grow industry-but not the abortion industry. New Yorkers for Life calls upon Governor Cuomo to abandon his efforts to make New York friendlier to late-term abortionists like Kermit Gosnell, and start making our state friendlier to small business. New York needs job expansion, not abortion expansion.” 

New Yorkers for Life is a collaborative effort spearheaded by New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms. The Rev. Jason McGuire is president of this organization, as well as the CEO of New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation.

CitizenLink is proud to work with New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation and other family policy organizations across the country to stand for marriage, life and religious freedom. Learn more about the one in your state.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about New Yorkers for Life.

Learn more about New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms.

Learn more about New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation.

Barronelle Stutzman owns Arlene’s Flowers in Richland. For years, she has served and employed several people who identify as homosexual. For nine years, she designed floral arrangements for customer Robert Ingersoll, who is openly gay. All was well — until he asked her to create an arrangement for his wedding. 

“Everyone knows that plenty of florists are willing to assist in same-sex ceremonies, so the state has no reason to force Barronelle to violate her deeply held beliefs,” said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt. “In America, the government is supposed to protect freedom, not use its intolerance for certain viewpoints to intimidate citizens into acting contrary to their faith convictions.”

Ingersoll went to Arlene’s Flowers on March 1, where he requested an order of floral arrangements to decorate his upcoming wedding. According to the countersuit, Stutzman did not refuse to sell him flowers; she told him that her religious convictions meant that she would not be able to design and create floral arrangements to decorate a same-sex wedding.

The state Attorney General filed a lawsuit in early April, 2013. Nine days later, American Civil Liberties union of Washington Foundation filed a suit on behalf of Ingersoll. Both parties claimed the florist was guilty of unlawful discrimination.

The state Constitution, however, protects the rights of conscience and religion. Article 1, Section 11 protects “freedom of conscience in all matters or religious sentiment, belief, and worship.” It also guarantees that “no one shall be molested or disturbed in person or property on account of religion.”

The countersuit underscores Stutzman’s right to decide not to use her artistic skill to create arrangements for events that violate her religious beliefs, “particularly when there are many other florists willing, ready, and able to create floral arrangements” for such ceremonies.

“Family business owners are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to live and work according to their beliefs,” Schowengerdt explained. “It is this very freedom that gives America its cherished diversity and protects citizens from state-mandated conformity.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read State of Washington v. Arlene’s Flowers.

Read Ingersoll v. Arlene’s Flowers.

Read the countersuits against the AG.

Read “Commentary: Who’s to Blame for Arlene’s Flowers?”

Obamacare, signed into law in 2010, requires businesses to offer “affordable,” government-approved health insurance to employees who work at least 30 hours per week. This week’s approval marks the third House vote to fully repeal the law, and the 37th overall House vote to repeal parts of it.

“The more we find out about this law the more frightening it becomes,” Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, told CitizenLink. The nonprofit, located in Alexandria, Va., is dedicated to promoting ideals and policies that would create a patient-centered health sector.

Not only does Obamacare increase health care costs, but a provision of the law — the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate — requires most employers to offer coverage for potential abortion-inducing drugs.

“The American people knew it was wrong for America — they marched in the streets; they called their members of Congress; they went to town hall meetings — and still Congress jammed it through,” Turner explained. “Now that we have 20,000 pages of regulation we see evermore how this is an attempt to rob us of our freedom. It’s particularly harmful to families. It is a huge affront to religious liberty. It’s undermining our economy and we simply can’t afford it.”

The House was right to take another repeal vote.

“Right now, the Senate and president would block repeal,” Turner added. “But hopefully next time (the House) votes, it will have a chance to get signed into law.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about H.R. 45, the bill to repeal Obamacare.

Read Alliance Defending Freedom’s Obamacare fact sheet.

CitizenLink is proud to work with the Missouri Family Policy Council and other family policy organizations across the country to stand for marriage, life and religious freedom. Learn more about the one in your state.

Members of Congress are sending correspondence to Pentagon officials expressing concern about the rising tide of anti-Christian hostility in the U.S. Armed Services.  Congressman Doug Lamborn of Colorado is circulating a letter to his colleagues calling on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to guarantee that the religious freedoms of military personnel are protected.

The Congressional action comes on the heels of a statement from the Pentagon saying that “religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense.”  The statement went on to suggest that service members could be court-martialed for sharing their faith.   

In a separate statement, Air Force Lt. Col. Laurel Tingley stated that Air Force personnel could only express their personal religious beliefs so long as they do not make others “uncomfortable.”  Tingley also said Air Force personnel could not use their position “to extend preferential treatment to any religion.”    

Religious liberty advocates quickly pointed out that the new policies not only threatened the religious freedom of men and women in uniform, but also undermined the very purpose of the chaplain corps in each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces.   

In the face of a harsh backlash, the Pentagon backtracked somewhat.  The Defense Department issued a revised statement saying that “service members can share their faith (evangelize), but must not force unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others of any faith or no faith to one’s beliefs (proselytization).”

The latest controversy follows news in April that the U.S. Army Reserve was using training materials that identified Catholics and evangelical Christians as “religious extremists.”  The training documents cited “Evangelical Christianity” at the top of a list of “hate groups” that included the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Quaeda, Hamas, and the Ku Klux Klan.

In another recent episode, a U.S. Army officer at Fort Cambell, Kentucky, sent an e-mail to subordinates listing the Family Research Council and the American Family Association as “domestic hate groups” because of their support for preservation of the traditional family.   

“Just want to make sure everyone is somewhat educated on some of the groups out there that do not share our Army Values,” says Lt. Col Jack Rich in his e-mail.  Rich went on to list groups he called part of the “Christian Right” alongside “Neo-Nazis, Racist Skinheads, and the Ku Klux Klan.”

In yet another recent incident, U.S. Defense Department computers blocked access to the website of the Southern Baptist Convention due to “hostile content.”  The Pentagon web filter stated that access was denied because the site content included “religion.”  Defense Department spokesmen claimed later that the site was blocked because it included “malware.”

The most curious and disturbing news about anti-Christian indoctrination comes courtesy of the liberal Washington Post.  Reporter Sally Quinn revealed that the Pentagon has been consulting with Mikey Weinstein in the development of religious liberty policies in the U.S. Armed Forces.   

Weinstein is the President of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).  Yet the mission of Weinstein’s organization is exactly the opposite.  Weinstein was honored in 2011 as the Person of the Year by the atheist organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State. 

Weinstein has called evangelical Christians “gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters” and “a national security threat.”  He says Christians who share the Gospel with their fellow soldiers are “religious predators” committing an act of “spiritual rape,” and should be found guilty of treason.   

Weinstein says that “fundamentalist Christians” are “intolerant agitators” and “die-hard enemies of the United States Constitution.”  His advice to the Pentagon is to stop “the rapacious reign of theocratic terror…of these fundamentalist Christian monsters of human degradation.”   

Larry Wilkerson, a Board member of MRFF, compared sharing the Gospel to rape in the same article and in the same sentence.  “Sexual assault and proselytizing are absolutely destructive of the bonds that keep soldiers together.”  Wilkerson previously served as chief of staff to former Defense Secretary Colin Powell.   

Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, says that the latest proposed military regulations have “Weinstein’s fingerprints all over it.”  “Why would military leadership be meeting with one of the most rabid atheists in America to discuss religious freedom in the military?  That’s like consulting China on how to improve human rights.  It appears our military is on a forced march away from the very freedoms they are sworn to protect.”

Coast Guard Rear Admiral William Lee provided a poignant counterpoint to the bigotry against Christians at the recent National Day of Prayer service.  Lee shared stories of many servicemen suffering from severe depression, and talked about one young soldier who had tried to commit suicide and failed.  Lee said he felt it was his duty to give that soldier a Bible.

“The lawyers tell me if I do that, I’m crossing the line,” Admiral Lee said.  “I’m so glad I crossed that line so many times.  I’m not going to back down from my right under the Constitution to tell a young man that there is hope.”  Lee received a standing ovation for his impromptu remarks.

Congressman Doug Collins of Georgia is among those pressing the Pentagon for restoration of the religious liberties of service members.  “It appalls me to hear the military of the freest nation in the world has labeled people of faith as religious extremists and continues this hostile attitude.  Our valiant servicemen and women are fighting every single day to protect our individual freedoms.  How can we idly stand by and watch theirs be so easily taken away?”

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about the Missouri Family Policy Council.

PFLI reported that the IRS continually harassed at least two of its members with costly audits and intimidating letters over a period of months and years. On Friday, the IRS admitted that it was wrong to target groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names.  Since then, other groups — including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Samaritan’s Purse, the Biblical Recorder, and Family Talk Action — have said that they, too, have been targeted.

And now, pro-life organizations are coming forward.

The two PFLI members, who are not yet identified, have generally had clean audits. The IRS, however continued to demand information “often with ugly threats of reprisal, confiscation of money and property and inconvenient arrangements for audit reviews and meetings,” according to PFLI. “At least one time, the harassing audit proved to yield a larger refund for one of the two individuals, much to the consternation of the IRS.”

The Thomas More Society (TMS), a nonprofit public interest law firm in Chicago, is also speaking out about the “blatant bias” by the IRS and the “mounting accusations that demonstrate the agency’s abuse of pro-life groups.”

In one case, the IRS withheld the approval of an application for tax exempt status filed by the Coalition for Life of Iowa.

After filing the application, IRS agent “Ms. Richards” told the pro-life group to send a letter to the agency with the entire board’s signatures, according to TMS. The letter had to state that: “…under perjury of the law, they do not picket/protest or organize groups to picket or protest outside of Planned Parenthood.”

Following a series of requests to the agency seeking more information, TMS Special Counsel Sally Wagenmaker sent a letter demanding the tax exempt status be issued immediately. The IRS eventually granted it.

In another similar case, the IRS withheld the approval of an application filed by the Christian Voices for Life (CVL). The charitable organization in Fort Bend County, Texas, also received repeated and lengthy “unconstitutional” requests for information, according to TMS. The agency sought information about CVL’s involvement with “40 Days for Life” and “Life Chain” events. This group was eventually granted its nonprofit status.

The agency needs to take responsibility for its actions, Wagenmaker said.

“It’s high time that the IRS be called to account for its workers’ potential to trample on our constitutional rights, through such ostensibly innocuous means.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read the letter TMS wrote to the IRS on behalf of Christian Voices for Life.

Read “IRS scandal needs more than a scapegoat,” by Rand Paul.

Read “IRS Audits Billy Graham.”