Brothers are a Gift: Andrew and Joseph

January 14, 2015 By Scott Zipperle

Brothers are a Gift: Andrew and Joseph

Guest Blog post by Kim Dupliantier. Kim & Allan Dupliantier live in Stafford, VA. Their sons, Andrew (9) & Joseph (2), are just two of their nine children. Brothers Andrew and Joseph both have Down Syndrome.

Andrew and Joseph have enriched our lives in countless ways. These special boys bring so much love and joy to our family. Their smiles light up a room. We have all learned to be patient as we have watched them persevere to reach developmental milestones that I took for granted with my other children-sitting, crawling, eating, walking, talking. We celebrate with them and feel their pride. They have taught my other children to be kind, charitable and compassionate as they are quick to help Andrew and Joseph with their needs. This has extended beyond our home, as two of my daughters have volunteered with therapeutic horseback riding for other children with special needs. One of my daughters is preparing to become a nurse, and has expressed interest in working with people with special needs. Another daughter would also like to pursue some field of therapy. I believe this desire has come from having Andrew and Joseph in our family.

M4L_Christmas_Memes9 — Photo Credit: Tiffany Michelle Photography, LLC

The most important way that brothers Andrew and Joseph have enriched our lives is by showing us the power of prayer and that miracles do happen. Both Andrew and Joseph were born with many medical issues. Andrew was born with a heart defect and duodenal atresia and has had numerous surgeries and complications. God has blessed us with wonderful doctors and nurses and we have witnessed firsthand His healing power. When Joseph was born ten weeks early, he weighed only 2 pounds and was 14 inches long. He was truly a miracle baby, as the doctors told us if they had waited even an hour longer to deliver him, he would have been stillbirth. As he struggled in the NICU, so many were praying and we watched as the prayers were answered. When Joseph came home from the hospital, we noticed that he was not responsive as Andrew and my other children had been as a baby. He made no eye contact, did not respond to any sounds and could not even hold up his head or grasp a finger. We brought him to many specialists, who tried to rule out blindness and hearing loss. Eventually, Joseph began having seizures and was diagnosed with West Syndrome, a rare and catastrophic form of epilepsy. He was having more than a hundred seizures a day. We were devastated. I have never prayed so hard in my life. We watched as God performed another miracle and his seizures are finally under control. He is sitting up and starting to crawl and say words and eat solid food-things I feared we would never see. Joseph smiled for the first time at 13 months old and has not stopped since! He is truly a miracle and we are so blessed!

“Our boys have forever changed our lives for the better and we are so blessed and grateful.”

M4L_Christmas_Memes10 — Photo Credit: Tiffany Michelle Photography, LLC

Our prayer is that people would not be scared by a prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 21 or any other chromosomal abnormalities. These special children are truly gifts to be enjoyed and nurtured like all other children. Even with their unique challenges, they are children that need to be loved and want to give love to others. Our boys enjoy life to the fullest, especially the simple things. They like to do all the same things that other children do. They have taught us to live in the present moment. But, most importantly, they have taught our family that a person’s worth is not measured by how healthy they are or how perfect they look or how smart or talented they are. A person’s worth comes from the fact that they are created in the image and likeness of God, with unique gifts and a special purpose. Our boys have forever changed our lives for the better and we are so blessed and grateful.

January 13, 2015 By Scott Zipperle

Doctors Recommended I Be Aborted: Look At Me Now!

Guest blog post by Brittany Hebert.

My name is Brittany Hebert. I attended the March for Life in 2010 with my graduating class from St. Edmund High School in Eunice, Louisiana. It was an amazing, eye-opening experience for everyone. Because I attended a Catholic School, and I am Catholic, I have always been taught that life begins at conception; to end that life is murder. I strongly believe this with every fiber of my being.

The March for Life holds a very dear spot in my heart because of my abortion story. When my mom was pregnant for me, she went in for her normal checkup. Everything was fine until they did her ultrasound. She was 26 weeks pregnant. The doctor spotted a mass on my brain. The doctor immediately told my parents that they should have an abortion because there was no way I would ever live a normal life. My parents objected instantly, but because they were concerned, they decided to travel to Tulane Hospital in New Orleans to do an amniocentesis to know what to expect when I was born. A few weeks later my mom received a call from Tulane. The doctor explained that I was going to be Down Syndrome, if I survived long enough to be born. The mass on my brain had also grown, and was traveling down my spine. The doctor recommended an abortion again. My parents didn’t want to hear it. I was born October 24, 1991, 1 1/2 months premature. I stayed in the NICU for 2 months. There was no mass on my brain, and no abnormalities at all.

I am a healthy, happy, 23 year old. I am engaged to the most wonderful man I have ever known. I have a degree in Early Childhood Education, and I am about to graduate in Elementary Education. I am blessed beyond measure.

January 12, 2015 By Scott Zipperle

Liberty Law Students: Leading the March for Life

Guest blog post by Sean Maquire, President of Liberty Law Students for Life and Mia Yugo, Vice President of Law Students for Life

On January 22, 1973, the highest court in the land held that abortion was a woman’s “right.” Thus far, over fifty-five million children have been legally aborted as a result of that fateful decision forty-one years ago. Fifty-five million voices silenced before ever uttering a sound.

Liberty University School of Law Students for Life stands for the right to life and defends all life, not just the lives of the young, the strong, and the able-bodied. We firmly believe that all human life is valuable and deserves to be protected. Every life is a gift and must be respected.

Today, those who receive a poor prenatal diagnosis are more-likely-than-not to be legally aborted. This country allows the abortion of any child with a “fetal abnormality.” Although the law protects people with abnormalities after they are born, it fails to do so prior to birth. Law Students for Life is honored to lead the March for Life this January in support of the principle that the law must protect all people – including those who have not yet been born.

The decisions that steered this nation away from the culture of life were rendered long before we were born. Yet, the consequences of abortion continue to impact every generation. There are empty places in our hearts for siblings, friends, cousins, nephews, and nieces who were never born. We see the pain on a woman’s face – the remorse in her eyes – when she remembers the child she never met because she chose to end an innocent life. We cry with men whose girlfriends abort their child while they stand powerless to prevent it. That is the state of our laws.

We are not silent as this pain and destruction of humanity continues. We stand to tell all three branches of our government that the People, the sovereign of this land, oppose the slaughter of innocent life. We march to declare that this evil must be stopped, that all life must be respected at every stage of development, and that this nation must return to its founding principles of life and liberty.

It is a great honor to be able to lead the 42^nd Annual March for Life this January. We look forward to being a part of the great awakening of the 21^st century. To that end, we will lend our voices to those in the legal community declaring that these decisions must be overturned.

Throughout the year, we have been busy making preparations to lead the March. We have raised money by hosting spaghetti and teriyaki lunches in order to charter a bus to the March. We have been praying for a burning passion in our hearts to see abortion end. We have been preparing as legal students, so that we can employ our skills to help bring about this change in the law. Our excitement is building as we prepare to drive up to Washington, D.C. to join the March for Life.

Life is not a choice. It is a right. Abortion is not a mere procedure. It is the destruction of innocent human life and the first step towards the abyss. As all histories have shown, the flame of every society that thinks otherwise is inevitably extinguished. We are a new generation of attorneys ready to call things by their real names, not by euphemisms created to cloud the truth and advance political agendas. If you support life, march with us in January.

January 6, 2015 By Scott Zipperle

114th Congress: The Brave Need to Be Bold

One fine tradition that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) started a few years ago was opening each Congress with a bipartisan, multi-denominational prayer service. The theme of the service this year (chosen by the official House Chaplain, Rev. Patrick Conroy, S.J.) was “Building Community Toward a Common Purpose.”

The service included readings from Proverbs (2:1-10), Bhagavad-Gita (XVIII 57-58) and from the Gospel of Mark (12:28-34). The readings focused on service and were all tied together by Rev. Conroy as he asked the Members of Congress gathered to pray for their colleagues as they work together.

One issue in need of such coalition work is the issue of life. Facing an overtly hostile media some pro-lifers are afraid that Congress will not take the steps necessary to challenge the most pro-abortion President of our lifetime, Barack Obama. Starting in his original campaign, President Obama has been bold in the case of abortion, ending with the passage of one of the most anti-life pieces of legislation in generations, his health care law commonly known as Obamacare. As for the pro-abortion Democratic Leadership, they have supported legislation, misnamed, the “Women’s Health Protection Act”, which would nullify every and any advance for the cause of life.

Facing such boldness for the cause of abortion, the pro-lifers in charge of Congress need to have the same boldness. This is a priority first and foremost for moral reasons, but also for political reasons – as the nation is more pro-life than pro-abortion. For years, Congress has fought to maintain the status quo and has been losing. It is long past time to take the initiative on popular and needed pro-life legislation. A good start would be the following:

In the House, passing the Federal Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which provides protection nationwide for unborn children who have the capacity to experience pain while being aborted, a capacity defined in the bill as existing by 20 weeks fetal age.

Also in the House, passing the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which would clearly and permanently prohibit all taxpayer dollars from being used to cover abortion, including the indirect funding that occurs through subsidies to insurance purchasers.

Passing the Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which would require every insurance plan established by Obamacare to clearly indicate whether or not it covers abortion.

Protecting current pro-life provisions (also called riders) and adding new ones to end of year spending bills. Every year, pro-life protections such as the Hyde Amendment, are included in end of year Appropriations bills. Under President Obama’s Administration, new threats to life and issues of conscience have grown by incredible bounds. Congress needs to use the power of the purse to turn back this President’s support of the death industry known as abortion.

One of the top priorities for this Congress should be to return the Congressional Appropriations process to regular order. It has been nearly a decade since Congress has done its very basic job, appropriating funds to pay for the workings of the federal government. Instead Congress has repeatedly passed large, unreadable, unworkable Omnibuses or continuing resolutions, which does little to contain inappropriate spending curbing pro-abortion, taxpayer funded, outreach by the federal government.

All the above should just be a start, being done in the first year, if not hundred days. Despite the U.S. Senate being controlled by Republicans, it is not controlled by a pro-life majority, so groups working on legislation in the 114^th Congress will have a lot of work ahead of them in passing some of these initiatives – admittedly some of these bills might even take multiple Congresses to enact. However, without boldness now on the issue of life, the current Congress might not deserve to be given the chance in future Congresses.