At the Center Magazine

The SUMMER '08 Issue of At The Center has been posted.
Click on title of this article to access At the Center magazine.
At the Center is produced by Right Ideas, Inc., a Christian-owned research and publishing company in Fleetwood, PA. This is a great publication for those involved in prolife ministry through crisis pregnancy centers and maternity homes.

Be Informed. Be Encouraged.
In this issue At the Center includes several articles to help us as we look toward the election in a few months.

The View Co-Host Sherri Shepherd Talks About Her Numerous Abortions

The View Co-Host Sherri Shepherd Talks About Her Numerous Abortions

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 23, 2008

Hollywood, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Sherri Shepherd, a co-host of the popular women's television program "The View," said in a recent interview that she's had numerous abortions. She says that she didn't began to change her promiscuous behavior until she became a Christian.

In the interview with Precious Times, a magazine for black Christian women, Shepherd, who is 41, said she was "sleeping with a lot of guys and had more abortions than I would like to count."

"I felt if someone killed me, it wouldn't even make a difference," she said, talking about how the abortions and other problems caused a low point in her life. "But God showed me that it would make a difference."

Shepherd upset her view co-hosts with the comments and they came up on The View at the beginning of Wednesday's program.

Shepherd says she faced significant guilt and shame about the abortions.

"I didn't know how to forgive myself and a wonderful woman at a conference told me 'Sherri, when you get to heaven all your babies are going to be there saying 'Hi Mama,'" she added.

"When I heard that I knew Jesus had forgiven me. She didn't print the whole thing and I wanted people to know that," she said. "I wasn't being flippant about abortions and I wasn't glamorizing them."

"I would like to inspire women who go through a lot of shame and guilt about having an abortion that I, too, went through it myself," Shepherd said.

Take Care Down There Video from Planned Parenthood

Take Care Down There?

Tony Perkins, Family Research Council
Washington Update

WARNING: This item contains shocking and graphic content funded by your tax dollars.

Given the recent allegations against Planned Parenthood, one would think the organization would play it safe over the next few months and try to exercise some restraint. But the plan to stay under the media's radar is failing dismally in Oregon and Washington, where the local affiliate is making a full-scale assault on the morality of the states' young people.

On its new website, TakeCareDownThere.org, the group posts a series of videos so revolting that members of my staff were visibly shaken. In one clip, a girl tells her friends that she's staying home from a party to masturbate. When her pals look shocked, she says, 'What? I like me. I like spending time with me. Tonight I think I'm going to go all the way with me.' On another video, a 'teacher' interrupts a boy performing oral sex on another boy and asks them where their condoms are. Others include videos called 'Threesome' and 'Let me do me,' and a song about genitalia that reaches a level of vulgarity that would give even crude networks like MTV pause.

This site is nothing more than an online playground for the prurient. The screen promises 'the ins and outs about the ins and outs,' but the material is highly inappropriate for adults, let alone young children. Sadly, most parents are unaware that garbage like this is targeting their kids, and even fewer realize that they're paying for it! The website is a project of Planned Parenthood of Columbia Willamette, a Title X grantee. This is exactly why FRC has prodded President Bush to change the government's Title X regulations. Each year, Planned Parenthood pockets more than $300 million of your tax dollars. One way to de-fund the group responsible for obscene material like this is to end the meshing of Title X 'family planning' funds with abortion mills. Call the White House switchboard today at 202-456-1414 and ask President Bush to separate these funds before more children are caught up in Planned Parenthood's pornographic web.

View the Video
http://www.parentsfortruth.org/

Poll Shows Distorted View of Cohabitation

CitizenLink 7/29

Poll Shows Distorted View of Cohabitation

by Devon Williams, associate editor

'One of the best ways to sandbag a marriage before it starts is to live together before marriage.'


Nearly half of American adults believe that cohabitation can be good for marriage, according to a recent USA Today/Gallup poll. Similarly, almost half believe living together before marriage has no effect on children.

The survey of 1,007 adults found that 49 percent believe cohabitation makes divorce less likely. Brad Wilcox, associate professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, said there is a growing body of evidence that suggests otherwise.

"People think that cohabitation is a great way to practice or test a relationship," he said. "In reality, we know that cohabitation tends to set people up for marital failure – both in terms of high rates of divorce, but also in terms of more conflict in their marriage and less happiness."

In addition, 47 percent of respondents said living together doesn't negatively affect their children. Wilcox called this is a tragedy for our nation's youth.

"Kids who are exposed to cohabitation are more likely to be physically abused, to be sexually abused, to have trouble with depression and delinquency and a number of other negative social outcomes," he said. "One of (marriage's) primary purposes is to secure an ideal environment for the rearing of children. We need to make sure that we are having and rearing our kids in the context of a marital union where there's that commitment and that trust that is going to generate good things for our children."

In a related poll released Monday by the Census Bureau, there are currently 6.4 million cohabiting couples in the U.S. That's up 1.4 million from 2006.

Glenn Stanton, director of family formation studies for Focus on the Family, said the numbers indicate pro-family organizations and scholars haven't done a good job of educating Americans about the harmful effects of cohabitation on marriage.

"The American people are largely clueless on the measurable benefits of marriage and the negative impact of cohabitation," he said. "In fact, one of the best ways to sandbag a marriage before it starts is to live together before marriage.

"We need to do a better job of helping people understand that marital status and lack of marital status really has a negative impact in the lives of people."