Hawaii

 “For You formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb.

 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:13-14a)

SB501 SD1 “Requires all limited service pregnancy centers to disclose the availability of and enrollment information for reproductive health services; establishes privacy and disclosure requirements for individual records and information; authorizes civil penalties and civil actions for enforcement and remedy.”

Bottom line, pregnancy care centers will be required to provide information on local abortion clinics to their clients or break the law and face civil penalties and civil actions.

This bill is a battle for survival of the innocent unborn and the pregnancy care centers that advocate for them. Each pregnancy successfully carried to term is one less abortion to be performed.

Unfortunately, SB501 was passed by the Senate and moved to the House where the House Committee on Health has deferred it until 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, March 21. Turnout and testimony at the hearing last Thursday was overwhelmingly in opposition, so the deferment indicates there is still a chance that committee members can be persuaded to vote NO on this bill. We must keep the pressure on!

Please Take Action Immediately. Contact each committee member and ask him/her to vote NO on SB501 SD1. Email each committee member and then give them a call. Feel free to call and leave a message after hours. Please act now; the hearing is 10:15 a.m. this Tuesday.

Consider the wise words of Proverbs 24:11, 12, “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.  If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?”

1. Contact as many legislators as your time allows. Every contact you make counts!  Join the chorus in opposition to this bill.

House Committee on Health:

Rep. Della Au Belatti, Chair: [email protected]/ 586-9425

Rep. Bert Kobayashi, Vice Chair: [email protected] / 586-6310

Rep. Sharon E. Har: [email protected] / 586-8500

Rep. Dee Morikawa: [email protected] / 586-6280

Rep. Marcus Oshiro: [email protected] / 586-6700

Rep. Chris Todd: [email protected] / 586-8480

Rep. Andria P.L. Tupola: [email protected] / 586-8465

2. Please forward this e-alert to friends and family and ask them to pray and take action.

3. Please click here for a printable copy of this e-alert and distribute. Consider handing it out at church this Sunday.

More about SB501 SD1:

• Requires pregnancy care centers to do what is in direct opposition to the centers’ very mission.
• Is an attack on religious freedom.
• Is an attack on free speech.
• Is a “one-way street” that imposes no such requirement on abortion providers to advertise the services of pregnancy care centers.
• Seeks to further the agenda of abortion providers.

Know that this is not a two-way street.  There is no such law in the legislature being considered that requires abortion clinics to give information out about pregnancy care centers.

Please, make your phone calls and send your emails now.  The very survival of pregnancy care centers and therefore the lives they seek to save and minister to depend on it.

Please Pray. Pray for the defeat of SB501 in the House Committee on Health. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16)

For life!

Barbara Ferraro
State Director
[email protected]
hi.cwfa.org
 

Wilma Youtz
Legislative Liaison
[email protected]

“For You formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:13-14a)

First, we would like to thank all of you who responded to our last e-alert on this issue.  It is greatly appreciated!

Unfortunately SB501 SD1 was passed by the Hawaii Senate and now moves to the House Committee on Health, House Committee on Judiciary and the House Committee on Finance.

For now, it is urgent that you contact the members of the House Committee on Health before THIS THURSDAY at 10:30 a.m,, when the committee is scheduled to vote. Your simple 30-second phone call will count and join the chorus in opposition to this bill.

Take Action Today:

1. Contact each committee member and ask him/her to vote NO on SB501 SD1. Email each committee member and then give them a call. Feel free to call and leave a message after hours tonight if that works better for your schedule. Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.

• Rep. Della Au Belatti, Chair: [email protected] / 586-9425
• Rep. Bert Kobayashi, Vice Chair: [email protected] / 586-6310
• Rep. Sharon E. Har: [email protected] / 586-8504
• Rep. Dee Morikawa: [email protected] / 586-6280
• Rep. Marcus R. Oshiro: [email protected] / 586-6700
• Rep. Chris Todd: [email protected] / 586-8480
• Rep. Andrea P.L.: Tupola  [email protected] / 586-8465

2. Forward this e-mail on to friends and family now and encourage them to pray and act immediately.

SB501 SD1:

• In its own words, “Requires all limited service pregnancy centers to disclose the availability of and enrollment information for reproductive health services;  establishes privacy and disclosure requirements for individual records and information;  authorizes civil penalties and civil actions for enforcement and remedy.”
• Requires pregnancy care centers to do what is in direct opposition to the centers’ very mission.
• Is an attack on free speech.
• Is an attack on religious freedom.
• Is a “one-way street” that imposes no such requirement on abortion providers to advertise the services of pregnancy care centers.
• Seeks to further the agenda of abortion providers

For more information read CWA’s written testimony submitted on SB501 SD1.

This bill is a battle for survival of the innocent unborn and the pregnancy care centers that advocate for them. Each pregnancy successfully carried to term is one less abortion to be performed. That takes money out of the pockets of doctors and clinics that perform abortions.

Please, make your phone calls and send your emails now.  The very survival of pregnancy care centers and therefore the lives they seek to save and minister to depend on it.

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11)

Win or lose, we will fight!

Barbara Ferraro
State Director
CWA of Hawaii
[email protected]
hi.cwfa.org

Wilma Youtz
Legislative Liaison
CWA of Hawaii

[email protected]

Time is running out to voice your opposition to one of the many assisted suicide bills making their way through the legislature. SB 1129, Death with Dignity, “Establishes a death with dignity act under which a terminally ill adult resident may obtain a prescription for medication to end the patient’s life.”

On February 17, SB 1129 passed out of the Senate Consumer Protection and Health Committee.  It is now in the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor, where they have issued a Notice of Decision Making for TOMORROW, February 28, at 11:00 a.m., in room 16.  This is a decision making meeting only. No oral testimony will be accepted. Click here to read the bill, note its sponsors and track its status.

Each person’s life, including its end, should remain in the hands of God, the One who ordained it. It is His, and His alone, to take. “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” Psalm 139:16

Take Action:

1. It is CRUCIAL that TODAY, or no later than TOMORROW MORNING (before 10:30 a.m.), you contact the members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor if you haven’t already, as instructed to do in our February 14 e-alert on this subject.  Call and/or email each member. Leave a voicemail message for them tonight if that is most convenient.  Ask him/her to oppose SB 1129. Click on each name to email them. Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.

Sen. Gilbert Keith-Agaran (808) 586-7344

Sen. Karl Rhoads (808) 586-6130

Sen. Mike Gabbard (808) 586-6830

Sen. Donna Mercado Kim (808) 587-7200

Sen. Laura Thielen (808) 587-8388

2. Contact your Senator and ask him/her to oppose SB 1129 if you haven’t already, as instructed to do in our February 14 e-alert on this subject.  If you don’t know who your senator is or how to contact him or her, simply click here, go to the upper right hand corner of the page and fill in your street name next to “Find Your Legislator.”  Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.
3. Please forward this e-alert on to friends and family immediately.

 Pray for each member of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor by name. May they see that life is precious and have the courage to protect it.  Human life is precious, from keiki to kupuna. May God use us to raise up a standard against physician-assisted suicide in our islands.

For life,

Barbara J. Ferraro
State Director
CWA of Hawaii
[email protected]
http://hi.cwfa.org

To: Senate Committee on Ways and Means
Regarding: SB 501 SD 1
Statement submitted by: Barbara Ferrero, Concerned Women for America of Hawaii State Director
Date submitted: February 22, 2017

 As the State Director for Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Hawaii, I join with my members here in Hawaii in opposing SB 501 SD 1.

Below are some of the concerns we have about forcing crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) across our state to provide information regarding an abortion option known as “reproductive health services.”

These CPCs are typically volunteer-run, donation-based, life-embracing charities that will now be forced to promote abortion or pay bundles out of their shallow budgets if they don’t comply. What’s more, this legislation forces those with deeply-held convictions against promoting abortion to violate their conscience, and often their religious freedoms guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution.  Please help us make sure that doesn’t happen.

For the pro-abortion crowd who profess a “war on women” is taking place, we don’t disagree —but for a different reason. In fact, we submit that the pro-abortion lobby is part of the problem causing this war on women. Trying to take away precious resources and care from a woman in distress who is facing an unplanned pregnancy is the very definition of harm. Abortion not only ends the life of the unborn child, but also may hold serious and devastating physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological consequences for the mother.

If the pro-abortion crowd is truly “pro-choice,” why not support pregnancy care centers that give women other options? One venue should not be forced to support the other. Women are more than capable of making their own choice.

CWA of Hawaii is asking you to vote “NO” on this anti-religious liberty and anti-choice legislation.

Unfortunately, on February 16, SB 501 SD1 passed out of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor. It is now in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, where there will be a public hearing TOMORROW at 9:35 a.m. in room 21.

Take Action:

1. It is crucial that TODAY, or first thing tomorrow morning (before 9:30 a.m.), you contact the members of the Ways and Means Committee.  Ask them to oppose SB 501 SD 1. Click here for the members’ names and contact information. Feel free to leave a message after hours.  Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.
2. If you have not already done so, after reading our last e-alert, please contact your Senator and ask him/her to oppose SB 501 SD 1. Be sure to let him/her know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii. If you don’t know who your senator is or how to contact him/her, simply click here, go to the upper right hand corner of the page and fill in your street name next to “Find Your Legislator.”
3. Please forward this e-alert on to friends and family.

 Pray that our members of the legislature will understand that these centers are helping women in difficult situations at NO cost to taxpayers and that we should help, not harm, their efforts.

Background: SB 501 SD 1 is an attack on the free speech rights of crisis pregnancy centers.  This legislation “[r]equires all limited service pregnancy centers to disclose the availability of and enrollment information for reproductive health services;  establishes privacy and disclosure requirements for individual records and information;  authorizes civil penalties and civil actions for enforcement and remedy.”

This means that these underfunded charities may have to pay hefty financial penalties if they refuse to follow these absurd and unnecessary regulations.

For more information read my op-ed recently published in the West Hawaii Today, “Crisis Pregnancy Centers Shouldn’t Promote Abortion,” on page 4.

For life,

Barbara J. Ferraro
State Director
CWA of Hawaii
[email protected]
hi.cwfa.org

State Director’s letter to the editor posted in the West Hawaii Today on page 4.

Aloha,

I wanted to notify you about an answer to prayer.  One, as you know, that I have been praying about for the past eight or more years.

As of this month, we now have a CWA of Hawaii Legislative Liaison, Wilma Youtz!  I could not be more excited and grateful to God. Please join me in thanking the Lord for this immense blessing!

Wilma will be putting together legislative e-alerts so that we can pray and take action, speaking on behalf of CWA of Hawaii at the State Capitol and building relationships with legislators.  Wilma is well-qualified and I have no doubt that she is the answer to many years of prayer.

Wilma lives on Oahu and will do an outstanding job.  She has a heart for the Lord and for what CWA of Hawaii wants to accomplish.

Please keep Wilma in your prayers and ask the Lord to give her wisdom, strength, courage and strategy in every issue she works on.  May His Word be her guide.

God bless,

Barbara J Ferraro
State Director
CWA of Hawaii
P.O. Box 10732
Hilo, HI  96721-5732
(808)965-9834
hi.cwfa.org

Updated & Revised: CWA of Hawaii Stands Up to Onslaught of Physician-Assisted Suicide Bills – Join Us!

A special thanks to all of you that took action on these pieces of legislation that we alerted you to last week.  Every phone call and email is desperately needed.  If you have not made contact with the legislators below, please do so as soon as possible.

Update: We just got word that SB 1129 is expected to be voted on tomorrow.  The rest could be any day as well, so all calls/emails are needed now.

Revision: There was a typo in the previous e-alert concerning HB 150.  Be sure to use this e-alert when you pray and take action.

***

You can call it “death with dignity,” “medical aid in dying” or “informed healthcare decision”, but suicide is still suicide no matter how you spin it!

There are currently six pro-suicide bills in our legislature right now that CWA of Hawaii is taking a stand on.  All have been referred to committees.  Unfortunately there is much support for these bills.  Therefore, now more than ever, each committee member needs to hear a message loud and clear from the citizens of Hawaii that we do not support these deadly pro-suicide bills.

Here are just some of the many concerns we have about physician-assisted suicide:

• There are not sufficient safeguards against coercion and elder abuse. At least one in ten elderly people is the victim of domestic abuse, which is difficult for a healthcare provider to identify. Because any doctor can write a lethal prescription, an abuser can “doctor shop” until they find a provider willing to assist them in killing their victim.
• Oregon, the first state to legalize assisted suicide, provides the most complete data available on the practice of assisted suicide in the United States. Oregon reports that individuals primarily choose assisted suicide because of reasons related to a disability: loss of autonomy, loss of enjoyable life activities and loss of dignity.
• Modern medicine has made significant advances in pain control. Doctors now have a range of options to treat pain in terminally ill patients, including even palliative sedation as a last resort.
• Oregon reports that the dominant reasons motivating patients to choose assisted suicide have nothing to do with pain management. The primary concerns center around having a disability: losing autonomy (92%), being less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable (90%), and losing dignity (79%). Fear of inadequate pain control is one of patients’ least cited reasons.

Though there are many sound academic reasons to oppose physician-assisted suicide, as believers, the most important reason is because God, and God alone, is the author of life.   We cannot take on the role of God and take life based on our inconsistent judgment.

We don’t understand why God allows pain and suffering, but we know God is good; God is love, and His ways are higher than ours.  God has appointed a time for each of us to be born and to die.  He is with us in all things and has a purpose for every situation that comes our way. God has a plan for each and every one of us.

Please do all you can to support God’s gift to us: life.

SENATE BILLS:

Death with Dignity, SB 1129, “Establishes a death with dignity act under which a terminally ill adult resident may obtain a prescription for medication to end the patient’s life.”

• Click here to read the bill, note sponsors and to track its status.

Medical Aid in Dying, SB 357, “Authorizes a terminally ill adult with the capacity to make an informed health care decision to request a prescription for aid in dying medication from their attending physician to facilitate a peaceful death.  Establishes that an attending physician determines a terminally ill adult’s capacity to make an informed health care decision.  Establishes that medical aid in dying does not constitute euthanasia, suicide, homicide, elder abuse or neglect, or cause a person to be considered a danger to self. Protects physicians who assist patients in obtaining aid in dying medication from civil or criminal liability.  Makes it a felony to coerce an individual to request medication for the purpose of ending his or her life or to conceal a rescission of such request.”

• Click here to read the bill, note sponsors and to track its status.

Current Status of SB 1129 and SB 357:  Both have been referred to the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health (CPH) Committee as well as the Senate Judiciary and Labor (JDL) Committee.

Action: Contact the members in both of these committees by clicking on the committee names above.  Ask them to vote “NO” on SB 1129 and SB 357.  Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.

Prayer: Please pray for each of the committee members as you contact them.  Pray that SB1129 and SB357 will fail in both of these committees.

HOUSE BILLS:

Death with Dignity, HB 201, “Allows a terminally ill adult with the capacity to make an informed healthcare decision to request a prescription for aid in dying medication from their attending physician to facilitate a peaceful death. Ensures that physicians who assist patients in obtaining aid in dying medication are not subject to civil or criminal liability.”

• Click here to read the bill and to track its status.

Death with Dignity, HB 550, “Authorizes terminally ill adults seeking to end their life to request lethal doses of medication from medical and osteopathic physicians.”

• Click here to read the bill, note sponsors and to track its status.

Current Status of HB 201 and HB 550:  Have been referred to the House Health (HLT) Committee as well as the House Judiciary (JUD) Committee.

Action: Contact the members in both of these committees by clicking on the committee names above.  Ask them to vote “NO” on HB 201 and HB 550.  Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.

Prayer: Please pray for each of the committee members as you contact them.  Pray that HB 201 will fail in both of these committees.

End of Life Option, HB 150, “Establishes a person’s ability to choose the End of Life Option when afflicted with a terminal illness; provides safeguards for the affected person; and repeals penalties for participating in the End of Life Option Act.”

• Click here to read the bill, note its sponsors and track its status.

Current Status of HB 150:  Has been referred to the House Health (HLT) Committee as well as the House Judiciary (JUD) Committee.

Action: Contact the members in both of these committees by clicking on the committee names above.  Ask them to vote “NO” on HB 150.  Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.

Prayer: Please pray for each of the committee members as you contact them.  Pray that HB 150 will fail in both of these committees.

For Life!

Barbara Ferraro
State Director
CWA of Hawaii
P.O. Box 10732
Hilo, HI 96721
[email protected]
http://hi.cwfa.org

808-965-9834

First, a special thank you to those that prayed and took action on our last e-alert concerning HB663 and SB501.  It is vital that we oppose this legislation every step of the way. View our last e-alert for more information on these bills.

Consider the wise words of Proverbs 24:11,12, “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.  If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?”

Crisis pregnancy centers are called to do their part to deliver the unborn who are being drawn to slaughter.  They give the mothers alternatives of life.  This legislation would dictate that they be in option to the Word of God.

This is an issue of life and death as well as religious freedom.

House Bill HB663 passed the House Committee on Health February 7 and is now in the House Committee on Judiciary.

SB501 passed out of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor and will now go before the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

These votes could come up any day so please pray and take action immediately.

Take Action:

1. Contact the members of the House Committee on Judiciary.  Ask each member to oppose HB663. Click here for the members’ names and contact information. Feel free to leave a message after hours.  Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.
2. Contact the members on the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.  Ask each member to oppose SB501. Click here for the members’ names and contact information. Feel free to leave a message after hours.  Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.
3. In addition, if time allows, please contact those on the previous committees that voted against this horrendous legislation. Thank them for their wisdom and courage.  Click on each name below for their contact information.

HB663 – Rep. Sharon Har (D-District 42), Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D-District 3), and Rep. Andria Tupola (R-District 43)

SB501 – Sen. Mike Gabbard (D-District 20)

4. Please forward this e-alert on to friends and family and ask them to pray and act on this legislation.

Pray for each member by name on these committees. Pray they will understand that these centers are helping women in difficult situations at NO cost to taxpayers and that we should help, not harm, their efforts.

Pro-life counterparts in California warn that passage of these bills will open doors for lawsuits as it has done in California.  If these bills pass, it would force pro-life community pregnancy help centers to not only provide information about available abortion services, but promote abortion as an option.  Many of these pregnancy centers are operated by Christian ministries and have deep religious objections to the abortion practice.

For life!

Barbara J. Ferraro
State Director
CWA of Hawaii
[email protected]
hi.cwfa.org

Let’s stop this attack on crisis pregnancy centers that are trying to save lives!

House Bill HB 663 and Senate Bill SB 501 are in the works; they will harm crisis pregnancy centers, and the bills have continued to advance.   HB 663 will come before the House Committee on Health TOMORROW, February 7.   SB 501 has been passed out of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor with amendments; no date has been set for senate to vote.

Take Action:

1. Today or first thing tomorrow morning (before 9:30 a.m.), contact the members of the House Health Committee.  Ask him/her to oppose HB 663. Click here for the members’ names and contact information. Feel free to leave a message after hours.  Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.
2. Contact your Senator and ask him/her to oppose SB501.  If you don’t know who your senator is or how to contact them, simply click here, go to the upper right hand corner of the page and fill in your street name next to “Find Your Legislator.”  Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii.
3. Please forward this e-alert on to friends and family.

 Pray that our members of the legislature will understand that these centers are helping women in difficult situations at NO cost to taxpayers and that we should help, not harm, their efforts.

Background: HB 663 and SB 501 are an attack on the free speech rights of crisis pregnancy centers.  This legislation “Requires all limited service pregnancy centers to disclose the availability of and enrollment information for reproductive health services.  Establishes privacy and disclosure requirements for individual records and information.  Authorizes civil penalties and civil actions for enforcement and remedy.”

This means that these underfunded charities may have to pay hefty financial penalties if they refuse to follow these absurd and unnecessary regulations.

CPC’s, who already struggle to stay afloat, quite literally rescue women and babies from the claws of death and despair. These centers are typically volunteer-run, donation-based, life-embracing charities that will now have to promote state-assisted abortion or pay bundles out of their shallow budgets if they don’t comply. Please help us make sure that doesn’t happen.