current newsletter
August 2024, Volume 29, No. 3:
BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE FOR LIFE
Fall Luncheon Quickly Approaching on September 12
We are very pleased to announce that the speaker for the upcoming BPPFL luncheon on Thursday, September 12 is Nebraska's Lieutenant Governor, Joe Kelly. Lt. Governor Kelly is a Nebraska native, an experienced and skilled prosecutor, a dedicated servant to his family and community, and a longstanding defender of the sanctity of life. Indeed, the Lt. Governor is held in deep appreciation by Nebraska's pro-life leaders. Karen Bowling of the Nebraska Family Alliance says, "Lt. Governor Kelly has been a lifelong Nebraska advocate for life. He and his wife Susan are guided by their faith and embrace the intrinsic value of every human life no matter their size or ability."
From the Nebraska Catholic Conference, Marion Miner says, "Joe Kelly has dedicated his career to true public service and has served the state well in a variety of challenging roles. We are honored to work with him for the recognition and protection of human dignity and the advancement of the common good." Several others can testify of Kelly's strong convictions, his effective leadership in last year's success with the Let Them Grow Act and the Preborn Child Protection Act, including his calm but forceful handling beforehand of the mean-spirited, raucous abortion zealots who tried to wreck the necessary business of the Legislature. But we will let just one more voice chime in. NFA Policy Director Nate Grasz commented, "As Lancaster County Attorney, U.S. Attorney for Nebraska, and now Lt. Governor, Joe Kelly has been a fierce advocate for justice and defending innocent life. We need strong pro-life leadership, and Lt. Governor Kelly is helping provide that at our state capitol."
Please plan on attending this important event and hear Joe Kelly speak on how we can overcome the abortion issues facing our state. RSVP as soon as possible, no later than Tuesday, September 10. RSVP information is provided at the end of this letter. This luncheon will be hosted at the German-American Society at 3717 S. 120 Street in Omaha. Please note that our luncheon will be in the north hall.
"Saying that there are too many children is like saying there are too many flowers." (Mother Teresa)
Prayer Service at "A Haven For Healing" Memorial
Please join us for our brief annual prayer service at A Haven For Healing, the BPPFL memorial at St. Mary Magdalene Cemetery on Sunday, Agust 25 at 2:00 pm. Look for us on the south edge of the Cemetery, located at about 46th & Q Streets in Omaha. Deacon Bill Hill has generously led us in prayer for many years now. See a later paragraph of this newsletter for an update about the memorial!
A Grave Danger to Preborn Babies in Nebraska
There's no doubt about it. The gravest danger to the lives of preborn children in Nebraska (and the safety and well-being of moms and families) is coming this fall as the most radical of abortion activists succeeded in getting the Protect Our Rights measure on the Nebraska ballot. Therefore, answering this threat is the paramount purpose of Business and Professional People For Life in the coming months. Just how bad is this ballot measure? The goals of the Protect Our Rights amendment (enthusiastically and financially backed by the mega-abortion profiteer Planned Parenthood, the Nebraska Chapter of the ACLU, and other groups/individuals representing the most extreme of the anti-life ideologies) are all-to-clear. They include no limits whatsoever (not even health and safety regulations) on abortion. No laws to protect preborn boys and girls even from late term destruction. No informed consent. No parental consent -- not even parental notification. Zero accountability for abortionists. Yet more tax funding of abortion businesses. The denial of conscience clauses which would thus require pro-life medical personnel to participate in abortions. And the aggressive prohibition of such historic freedoms as speech and assembly they involve which would greatly hinder the ministries of pro-life sidewalk counselors, public rallies, and even pregnancy aid centers.
Our task and YOUR TASK too is to let fellow Nebraskans know just how extreme, how callous, and how destructive would be the costs if the Protect Our Rights amendment were to pass. Pray. Pass the truth along. And pray some more.
A positive alternative is the Protect Women & Children measure. The primary goal of this initiative is to defeat the pro-abortion Protect Our Rights measure by offering a more well-defined, commonsense alternative. The Protect Women & Children measure seeks to add the following amendment: "Except when a woman seeks an abortion necessitated by a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest, unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters." The vast majority of Nebraskans support limiting abortions after the first trimester, and this proposal hopes to defeat unlimited abortion in Nebraska.
"Some people argue that changing laws will not eliminate abortions. What is forgotten, however, is that the law is the great teacher. Children grow up believing that if a practice is legal, it must be moral." (Cardinal John O'Connor)
November Election
Coming up in November is one of the most critical national elections of our time for the pro-life cause. And regarding the Presidential race, the choices are clear. How clear? Consider these few items about the Democrat nominee. 1) Kamala Harris has refused to name a single limitation on abortion that she would support. 2) Harris led the way for the U.S. military to begin paying for abortions. 3) She boasted that she was "the first president or vice president in history to visit a reproductive health clinic" and subsequently did so several times. 4) Harris praised Democrat Attorneys General who were working to shut down pregnancy resource centers. 5) As a senator, Harris voted against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. And 6) She has promised to make "abortion access" a central theme in her campaign. Certainly on abortion, she has been remarkably clear and consistent.
A Note Regarding Our Memorial, A Haven For Healing
As of July, the BPPFL membership should be aware that four stones have been engraved and placed at A Haven For Healing in 2024 alone. The memorial now bears 62 names of preborn babies lost to abortion or miscarriage. Although it is sad that these babies are no longer with us, it is reassuring to know the memorial is serving families in our community who have suffered such a difficult loss. It was wonderful to learn that our most recent mother who added a stone has been visiting the memorial almost since it was created (about 25 years ago) and finally reached out to us this year to add her baby's name to a stone. If you've visited the memorial over the years, you may have noticed at one time there was a small statue of Jesus' hands holding a young baby. We never knew where the statue came from until recently, when the aforementioned mother revealed that she had left the statue there many years ago. Cemetery staff indicated the statue was somehow moved within the Cemetery then later disappeared some years ago. But fortunately it can still be seen in photos on our website: businessandprofessionalpeopleforlife.org.
"The life of the unborn is of equal value to the life of the mother, and any law that disregards this is unjust and must be opposed." (Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino, physician, bioethicist, and academic)
President's Message to the Membership
Dear Brothers and Sisters in BPPFL,
We are facing a crisis in the pro-life effort, and each of us must perform our part to help with the battle for the sanctity of life. Voting is coming up soon for the pro-life issue, and we must be informed and vote for the candidates who support life, as well as vote for constitutional issues to prohibit abortion so far as the present state of voters will allow. Of course, the ultimate goal is to eliminate abortion completely, and we pray that laws and voting may come about to enable this in the future. This is a difficult and time-consuming task. May all of us pray and work to protect the sanctity of all God-given human life, including the unborn.
John H. Kellogg, Jr., BPPFL President
Luncheon Details for September 12, 2024
Please email your reservations to clairemariehartford@gmail.com or call 402-341-8886 on or before Tuesday, September 10. Please include your name or names for each person. More luncheon details:
Where: German-American Society (in the north hall), 3717 South 120th Street, Omaha
When: Thursday, September 10 with social time at 11:30 am and lunch at noon
Price: $25.00 per person (includes venue, tax and gratuity)
THANK YOU FOR MAKING AN EARLY RESERVATION!
