Teachers Saving Children® Inc. - National
Newsletter
Volume 17, Number 1
October 2006
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Several years ago I sensed the Lord leading me into further training through Peacemaker Ministries, a ministry that provides training for Christians in the area of Biblical peacemaking. In February 2005 I was encouraged to apply for their Certification Program, a more intense and time involved training level. At the time I did not feel led to apply. Instead, the Lord opened the door for me to attend their Conflict Coaching Practicum in Olympia Washington. This practicum not only was scheduled the weekend prior to the 2005 NEA Expo and RA in Los Angeles, but also gave me an opportunity to meet educators and members of Teachers Saving Children® who lived in the Seattle/Olympia area.
This past spring I once again began praying about applying for the Certification Program. There was a practicum scheduled for July which seemed like a golden opportunity for me with my teaching schedule. Though I had understood that the application process could be completed in time for the July practicum, that did not happen. Only the Lord knows the reason for the delay as His timing is perfect in all things.
The results of this delay opened the door for me to attend the Peacemaker Ministries Conference in Minneapolis in September. Not only is there a connection to Teachers Saving Children® in all of this, but also a connection with my teaching career. First of all, while attending the conference I was able to purchase some materials that related to my field of special education.
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And that was just the beginning. Barbara Johnston who lives in a suburb of Minneapolis has been in contact with me several times about starting a Teachers Saving Children® Affiliate State Chapter in Minnesota. When I received Barbara’s membership renewal, again she mentioned her interest in being more involved. I called her. Her home was about 3 miles from the hotel where the conference was being held. We had hoped to meet face to face, but unfortunately her schedule did not permit that from happening. However, we did make contact by phone while I was in Minneapolis. In addition, others in Minnesota have expressed an interest in being more involved.
Only the Lord could have put all of these events together! Besides receiving some really great Biblical teaching at the conference, I also had opportunities to bond relationships. I am continually amazed at the Lord’s perfect planning!
Whether it is standing for the Biblical truth regarding the Sanctity of Life or it is with our daily decisions and long term plans, I trust that each one of us will see changes in our plans as great possibilities and divine appointments of what the Lord wants to do through us with His perfect plan.
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
-Mary E. Byrne; Eleanor H. Hull
©1986 Word Music
Life! The fresh, newness of life strikes me each year when winter snows melt and spring comes. Seeds are sown, nurtured and fed, and soon green shoots appear. When the time is right, flowers bloom, each in its own beautiful splendor. So it is, as well, with human life. My life, your life – all are unique, miraculous creations.
My Grandma Ruth comes to mind as I think about life. She is a frail slip of a woman now, as she nears death; but as a beautiful, hopeful young woman in her childbearing years, she looked forward with anticipation to having children. She grew up in a farm family of 13 children, and she recalls with sadness when one of them died at a year of age. Early in her marriage, Grandma gave birth to two healthy children, but she so badly wanted another child that she endured four pregnancies which ended in stillborn births due to her RH-negative condition. Finally, she delivered a healthy child on her fifth attempt. She went through the pain of physical labor and emotional loss in order to have children – but some people who have the opportunity to have children misuse it. This tragic choice, abortion, destroys the beauty of life that begins at conception and continues until natural death.
Former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson stated the most fundamental principle of our developing nation in the Declaration of Independence – that we were “created equal” and “endowed…with certain unalienable rights” and that among these rights was “life.” Life was the first right mentioned. Life was basic because life is necessary in order to be able to exercise any other rights.
I have started to realize that many folks do not know much about this right to life or about the ending of life called abortion. They may know what abortion is, but they do not always know what takes place and they misunderstand some of the long-term effects of abortion. This is an issue which needs to be corrected. My role today is to clearly address the issue of life in order to reinforce what you already may know and understand.
Wherever I go, I sometimes hear people talk about babies as if they are nothing. For example, in a recent online excursion, I looked up “abortion” and Google linked me to a forum about the issue of “life” (www.theforumsite.com). I found comments giving insight into how society is becoming anesthetized to the value of human life. One participant compared an infant to a banana-easily disposed of and nondescript. Another compared a baby to lowly plant and animal life such as fungi and cockroaches – easily multiplied and just as easily destroyed. A third spoke of a mother’s “God-given right” to destroy the living being inside her if she so chose.
It is so unsettling how I can walk into my classroom some days and find peers discussing different problems in the world and saying how everything is wrong – but when it comes to the topic of life, it seems they are OK with abortion and prepared to have one if they ever become pregnant. Is it because abortion has been legal for over thirty years that some people now think it’s an acceptable choice?
Look at the newspaper. Stories can be found almost daily that tell of neglect and mistreatment of children – a child who is left alone in a car on a hot summer day or dropped off at a theater or casino, while the parents are out “doing their thing.” If children rate so poorly, it is only a short step from this devaluation of children to getting rid of them altogether in the act of abortion. After all, America is called the “throwaway society.”
The issue of abortion is not a small problem. Since abortion was made legal in 1973 by Roe vs. Wade, forty-five million unborn babies have lost their lives, including more than a half million in Minnesota (National Right to Life Yearbook, 2005). The Center for Disease Control reported 246 abortions per 1,000 live births in their abortion surveillance for the year 2000 (www.cec.gov).
In the Roe vs. Wade case, the court held that a woman’s right to an abortion falls within the right to privacy protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision gave a woman the right to abortion during their entire pregnancy and defined different levels of regulating abortion in the second and third trimesters. Although the Fourteenth Amendment said that you have a right to privacy, it was not intended to kill anyone or take away a baby’s right to life.
Yet, abortions take away the unborn child’s right to life by dismembering their body parts and replacing amniotic fluid with a concentrated salt solution which burns their skin. All of this is endured without anesthesia (National Right to Life Yearbook, 2005). Some people treat their pets better than this! My aunt has three dogs who have had surgeries where they have been temporarily sedated, and she carries health insurance policies on them. An unborn child has less legal protection from feeling pain than commercial livestock, who must be kept from pain in slaughtering processes. A baby can be tortured in the womb and has nothing to say about it because, according to some, it is a “fetus” – not a person. However, scientific evidence shows that a baby is a person alive the minute of fertilization and that “abortion stops a beating heart” (Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life and National Right to Life websites).
Statistics from a 2004 Alan Guttmacher Institute survey show that the reasons why women have abortions are not what most people think. In fact, 92 percent choose that option because of social reasons (www.johnstonsarchive.net). Women feel a child could inconvenience them or cause them financial difficulty. Very few mention health issues, rape, or keeping their pregnancy a secret as reasons they obtained an abortion, though these are the very reasons many people refer to in their defense of abortion.
Women and girls of various ages have abortions, but a large percentage is teen and college-age girls, some of them pushed into abortions against their own will. For others, abortion is becoming an acceptable way to deal with a pregnancy they don’t want. Adoption or abstinence are healthy, dignified and ethical alternatives allowing a woman to purse an education or career and to be free of the financial burdens of parenting. They also require discipline and will power; and sadly, some would rather apply the band-aid of abortion to the problem of pregnancy.
There are also side effects of abortion which are often ignored. These are reported by wide range of sources, such as the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Planned Parenthood pamphlets, and the National Right to Life organization. (www.abortioninfo.net and www.prochoice.org). Some mothers suffer pronounced emotional scars after the abortion called Post-Abortion Syndrome. Serious side effects years later may include suicide, drug and alcohol problems, relationship disorders, sexual dysfunction, communication difficulties, damaged self-esteem, repeated abortions, and inability to have more children. Pain, increased risk of breast cancer, and death can also result. Even the abortion pill, RU 486, carries some of these risks for the mother (National Right to Life Yearbook, 2005).
Thomas Jefferson, a supporter of life, put matters into perspective when he wrote, “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” Abortion is not about freedom of choice; it is about denying rights to the unborn and destroying the defenseless. It is about attacking the human happiness of millions of women who suffer the risks and results of abortion emotionally and physically. We must preserve and protect life and recognize the value of all life from beginning to end. Abortion is a tragedy destroying life and happiness; just look at the facts.
Life is precious – a miracle! It is like a flower, so tender and fragile. Mother Teresa once said, “How can there be too many babies? That is like saying there are too many flowers.” Who would destroy the beauty and fragrance of flowers? In the same way, we must not destroy the lives of the little ones born to us – little ones who may someday find the cure for cancer, become President of the United States – or, be your child.
Editor’s Note: Gordon Lewis, the son of Ralph and Lois Lewis, of Birchdale MN, is a senior at the Perpich Center for the Performing Arts. He was the winner of the Northern Life Care Center Koochiching County Pro-Life Oratory Contest and ranked in the top 10 speakers at the Minnesota State Competition. Sue Nordquest, a member of Teachers Saving Children® and an educator, was Gordon’s coach. For more information on the National Pro-Life Oratory Contest sponsored by the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund, please contact your state affiliate or the National Right to Life Committee.
October 7, 2006: The Teachers Saving Children® National Board of Trustees met in Columbus, Ohio, for their regularly scheduled Fall meeting. The following are highlights of some of the items that were discussed.
1. The Board of Trustees accepted the reports of the State Affiliate Chapters. Both the Pennsylvania and Michigan Board of Trustees currently need individuals who would be willing to serve as Board members.
2. The Board of Trustees amended the Constitution & Bylaws tightening their policy with the Administration of Funds.
3. The Board of Trustees made a decision to make application for an exhibit at the NEA Expo 2007 in Philadelphia PA, June 30, - July 2, 2007.
4. The Board of Trustees approved the 2005-2006 fiscal report and the following 2006-2007 budget:
| Affiliate State Chapters | $ 750.00 | ||
| Awards & Gifts | 100.00 | ||
| Legal & Accounting | 750.00 | ||
| Office Administration | 600.00 | ||
| Postage | 2500.00 | ||
| Public Relations | |||
| Printing | 1500.00 | ||
| Promotion | 500.00 | ||
| Telephone | 1000.00 | ||
| Travel Expense | 800.00 | ||
| Total | $8500.00 |
| Balance - September 1, 2005 | $4219.36 | ||
| Receipts: | |||
| Contributions: | |||
| NEA Exhibit | $4256.95 | ||
| Designated | 935.50 | ||
| Undesignated | 1657.16 | ||
| Memberships: | |||
| 2005-2006 | 2335.00 | ||
| 2006-2007 | 4755.00 | ||
| Interest | 11.77 | $13,951.38 | |
| Disbursements: | |||
| Awards & Gifts | 50.00 | ||
| Legal & Accounting | 867.50 | ||
| Office Administration | 442.11 | ||
| Postage | 2219.60 | ||
| Public Relations | |||
| Printing | 1227.64 | ||
| Promotion | 148.88 | ||
| NEA Exhibit* | 4321.55 | ||
| State Affiliates | 125.00 | ||
| Designated Gifts | 515.00 | ||
| Memberships 2005-2006 | 1001.00 | ||
| Memberships 2006-2007 | 1984.50 | ||
| Telephone | 926.66 | ||
| Travel Expenses | 185.50 | $14,014.94 | |
| Balance - August 31, 2006 | $4155.80 |
*The NEA Exhibit Line Item Balance is $571.28
Please note: There were a large number of membership renewals paid prior to September 1, 2006. Thank you for helping the Board to have a better picture of what our finances would be like for the 2006-2007 fiscal year. A reminder that all memberships are now being handled through the National Office. Teachers Saving Children® does not solicit additional contributions beyond memberships, but does appreciate any additional contributions received throughout the year.
The National Teachers Saving Children® Board of Trustees would like to express their thanks to everyone who has taken the time to renew. As of September 30, 2006 there are 301 paid National Teachers Saving Children® members. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. If you have not yet done so, there is still time to join and receive full membership benefits. Membership cards have been mailed.
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