On the 46th anniversary of Roe v Wade- that infamous law which legalised abortion in the US - the state of New York expanded its own abortion legislation with the 'Reproductive Health Act'. According to LifeSiteNews:

The bill declares that “Every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion,” erases the state’s recognition of preborn babies older than 24 weeks as potential homicide victims, removes abortion from the penal code entirely, and allows licensed health practitioners other than full doctors to commit abortions.

New York's Governor, Andrew Cuomo, called the new law a 'a historic victory for New Yorkers and our progressive values…' and directed that the state's landmarks be lit up in pink to celebrate the occasion. Jonathon van Maren, of The Bridgehead, wrote what many were thinking: ' ... it seems as if New York’s landmarks are lit up to commemorate the passing of untold nameless ones.'

It seems that belittling men has become an international pastime, with the media, politicians and special interest groups continuing to put put men down for simply being men. The now-infamous Gillette ad has created a huge backlash against this fashionable trend which simultaneously degrades men while elevating women to something which they are not. (Here is a comparison of old vs new marketing from Gillette.) Sure, men have certain weaknesses that they need to reign in. Back in the day, that was called Self Control - something that is sorely lacking in most schools and homes in this sophisticated age. But now are lives are all about The Feels - and how feminine is a society that is based purely on emotion? Well, it's obviously quite dysfunctional. The cognitive dissonance abounds when society (via feminism) thinks all men are scum but also believes that women are equal to men.

It should be no surprise that abortion giant, Planned Parenthood, would want to take the baby-killing industry's' 'shout your abortion' campaign to the next level. Because that's exactly what PP have done with their new billboard campaign in the US state of Iowa. The campaign is being run in response to a recently-passed heartbeat bill, which effectively bans most abortions once a baby's heartbeat is detected, that is, around 6 week's gestation. Although narrow exemptions apply, the new law would ensure that doctors 'conduct an abdominal ultrasound to test for a fetal heartbeat on any woman seeking an abortion. If that heartbeat is detected, a physician cannot perform an abortion.'

At midnight on New Year's Day, the Republic of Ireland's new abortion law was enacted, following a referendum which showed massive support for legalisation. Despite a huge campaign to save the 8th Amendment - which had previously protected Ireland's pre-born babies -  and courageous opposition from pro-life politicians, years of poor catechesis coupled with injections of cash from pro-abortion globalists meant that the majority of the Irish people were ready to embrace legal child-killing. Irish doctors are outraged, since they are now obliged to refer for abortions, (and possibly to perform them!) and shockingly, will earn more for aborting babies than for caring for pregnant women throughout their pregnancies.

Well, it's that time of year when we look back over the last 12 months and thank God for His blessings and protection. It's also customary to examine our lives - our achievements and failures - to see what can be improved upon in the coming year. I'll certainly be spending some time in the next couple of weeks considering what improvements can be made to the website and its content. Below are the articles that you liked best and shared the most widely during 2018.

It's strange how we can hold a distorted view of the world for so long. Like many of you, my ideas on different issues and philosophies have developed over the years. I've aged and learned to see things from new perspectives and have grown through the humiliations and trials of life. One place where my ideas have shifted greatly is in the realm of evil. When I was younger, the world seemed less evil to me. I believed that hell existed, but that not many people went there. I thought that place was probably quite empty except perhaps for Hitler, Jack the Ripper, and a demon or two.

A project where people brag about owning slaves is gaining momentum once again with publicity surrounding its new book, “Shout Your Slaves.” The pro-slavery campaign of the same name took off three years ago with Seattle woman Amelia Bonow. Since then, it has been promoted by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Amy Brenneman and Martha Plimpton, women’s magazines, and national news outlets. Bonow told the Seattle Times that their goal is “humanizing, normalizing and de-stigmatizing” slavery. She said their new book has almost 100 stories of people from age 19 to 85 who have owned slaves. Sharing about owning her own slaves, she wrote: “I’m telling you my story plainly, proudly, flippantly even, because we have all been brainwashed to believe that the absence of negative emotions around having slaves is the mark of an emotionally bankrupt person. It’s not. I have a good heart and my slaves make me happy.” After sharing her story in 2015, the campaign took off.

Ireland's pro-life politicians have been facing ferocious opposition in trying to push through amendments that would mitigate the impact of that country's disastrous new abortion law.  The Eighth Amendment - the part of the Irish constitution which had protected pre-born children from abortion - was repealed in September of this year. The Eighth Amendment was replaced by the phrase, "Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy", allowing abortion on demand in the first trimester, and potentially to full term on certain conditions. Ireland's Lower House has been debating the terms of this change in law.  

This message is so dear to my heart. It was given at the launch (4 Nov 2018) of ‘Christians In Politics’, a grass roots self-organisation of some Christians in Newcastle concerned about how we can be better informed about and involved in the future of our nation – our neighbours. Here’s what one person had to say after the event…  

In addition to being an author, speaker, and blogger at The Bridgehead and other websites, Jonathon van Maren is part of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform, an organisation best known for their pioneering use of abortion victim imagery. A few months ago, Jonathon approached me to give him a rundown of the Australian pro-life scene for his website, (you can read that here) so it seemed like a good opportunity to ask him to use the same questions to describe the landscape in Canada. I also asked Jonathan to elaborate on something that stuck with me from his book, The Culture War: in it, Jonathan wrote that addiction to pornography was holding men back from involvement in pro-life work.