Need a photo for this spot. Pro-Life Newsletter Volume 35, Issue 2 March 2017 Affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee Kansas family enjoys children exceeding “fatal” diagnoses By Brenda Spurlock that they are tiny and pudgy...she is just delightful to me. I never doubt that she is We had six children when my husband, Jack, exactly who God intended her to be. She and I decided to have another baby. We were is not a mistake, or nature gone wrong, or in our 40’s and our youngest child was 10 a factor of my eggs being old...she is this per- Spurlocks gathered in the hospital in 2010, after when we joyfully learned we were expecting fectly created little person, and my greatest Tatum suffered a near-death event. Back row: Tatum. The roller coaster that would become Jack, and J.T. Front row: Dancy, Jamie-Allyn, reward is that she is still here! On February 10 Tatum, Steven, Zachariah, Brenda. our life happened early, as she was diagnosed she celebrated her 9th birthday. in utero with Trisomy 18 and we were told that she would When Tatum was 11 months old, life-threatening seizures and bouts of pneumo- not survive the pregnancy, the staff at Alexandra’s House (a nia. We were also warned he would exist in a and if she did, that her heart, perinatal hospice in Kansas City) semi-vegetative state. asked me to serve as a mentor for brain, and kidney issues Yet he has never suffered a single seizure, nor would make it impossible for the pregnant mother of a medically fragile baby boy, Zachariah, who has he ever experienced a bout of pneumo- her to live outside of my nia. The portion of his brain that was removed womb. was missing a significant portion of his skull, and a portion of his brain was thought to contain his visual cortex and I began to fight and advocate had developed into a separate sack we were told he would be blind, but he sees! for her while she was still attached to the back of his head. He has cerebral palsy, autism, profound global nestled inside my body. And delays, and hemiplegia on the right side of his I prayed...a lot! One of my As Zach approached one month of age, his unmarried birth mother felt body. But he is a delight. He does not know greatest desires was to smell a bad day, only a bad moment, and then he her and remember her smell. Tatum on her 9th birthday. increasingly unequipped to care for him. Jack and I adopted Zach, wel- puts that award-winning smile back on his God granted me that prayer. face and marches on! And nine years later I still “breathe her in” coming him into our family of seven children. daily. She smells so amazing to me. We were warned Zach’s life would be very Zachariah grew in another womb, but came short. In fact, we were told he would likely into our lives when he was still in utero. We Tatum is tiny for her age, her low body tone prayed for him and his young mother. He, like keeps her soft and supple, and her little hands not live out the month and that the best case have the mark of her extra chromosome in scenario was a 3-5 year life span, fraught with Continued on page 7. DISCLOSE Act gives women hidden abortionist info The empty rhetoric of choice is being challenged in Kansas with the • hospital privileges status, Disclose Act, Senate Bill 98. • malpractice coverage, and disciplinary actions completed by the State Board of Healing Arts (which regulates physicians). The bill, sponsored by Sen. Molly Baumgartner (R- Louisburg), with 19 other Senate co-sponsors, would for The Kansas abortion clinics are likely embarrassed to disclose infor- the first time, require clinics to disclose baseline data mation that shows: about each Kansas abortionist they employ. • four of the seven Kansas abortionists are 75-78 years of age; Under SB 98, the very first item on the abortion consent • four (or fewer) of the seven have local hospital privileges; Oldest Kansas form will be expanded to provide a checklist for each prac- abortionist is • one clinic has had 100% turnover in abortionists in only 3 years; titioner as to: Allen Palmer • one abortionist was told by the Healing Arts Board not to practice at South Wind ob/gyn. • Kansas residency, clinic,Wichita, • medical degree year, For updates on the progress of this legislation, go to www.kfl.org, click who commutes • years employed at that location, from Missouri. “stay informed,” and sign up for our legislative updates. Kansans for Life News is published by Kansans for Life (KFL) Kansans for Life elects new 3301 W 13th St., Wichita KS 67203 president and vice president (316) 687-5433 or 1-800-928-LIFE fax: (316) 687-0303 e-mail: [email protected] Following a well-attended Rally for Life KS City Regional Office: (913) 642-5433 in Topeka on Jan. 23, KFL Board mem- e-mail: [email protected] bers elected two new officers, one new 7808 Foster, Overland Park KS 66204 executive board member, and re-elected Topeka Regional Office: (785) 234-2998 several current executive board members. e-mail: [email protected] 735 SW Jackson, Topeka KS 66603 Joe Patton, former state representative website: www.kfl.org from Topeka, is the new president, re- placing outgoing president, Lance Kin- Kansans for Life is a statewide non-profit zer, and Mary Wilkinson, Wichita is the educational organization also engaged in social action. It is dedicated to protecting new vice-president. Joey Patton, Topeka, Joe Patton, J.D. Mary Wilkinson, R.N. and fostering the most basic human right: was newly elected as Educational Direc- life itself. tor. Other members of the Executive Committee were re-elected to their current positions. The Kansans for Life Educational Trust State Executive Director, Mary Kay Culp, who works out of KFL’s Overland Park office, Fund is a tax-deductible 501(c)(3) and State Development Director, David Gittrich, of the Wichita office, and other organiza- organization. Kansans for Life also has a tional positions remain unchanged. In December, KFL hired Peter Northcott, Lawrence, as legislative action fund and a political action Assistant State Director. committee (KFL-PAC) for which donations are not tax-deductible. Lance Kinzer, J.D. became President of KFL in January, 2015 after 10 years in the legislature KFL is the Kansas affiliate to the National spearheading major pro-life bills. He led the KFL organization as Kansas became the first state in Right to Life Committee (NRLC). the nation to pass the historic Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act and also guided our educational campaign against judicial activism. Newsletter Contributors: President: Joe Patton Now, KFL welcomes Joe Patton, J.D., to the helm. In accepting the office, Patton said, Executive Director: Mary Kay Culp Editor: Amy Torkelson ([email protected]) “Kansans for Life is one of the most effective and dynamic social action organizations Development Director: David Gittrich in the nation. Our vision is serving God by protecting the foundation of all human Legislative Director: Kathy Ostrowski rights, the right to life. It is an honor to serve.” Office Staff: Susan Guthrie, Anna Myers Patton is one of the original 1983 founders of Kansans for Life as the state affiliate of the National Subscriptions: Right to Life Committee. For a one-year subscription, send $20 to Kansans For Life, 2501 E. Central, Wichita During his Statehouse tenure from 2007 until 2012 representing southwest Topeka, he helped KS 67214. For bulk subscriptions, please achieve passage for various pro-life laws, including ending tax-funded abortion training at KU call KFL at 1-800-928-5433. Medical Center. Patton led the House floor debate on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protec- Article Submission: tion Act, which is in effect, and is daily saving unborn children—at 22 weeks gestation and up- Mail or fax articles to any office listed above, wards—from abortion in Kansas. or e-mail the editor at [email protected]. Mary Wilkinson, R.N., has long been involved in Kansas pro-life activism and service to KFL– Reprint Permission: from large scale rally preparations to media relations. She organized the original Wichita affiliate, Any item originating from KFL may be LIFE Inc., and is currently a member of the KFL Political Action Committee (KFL PAC). reprinted from KFL News with attribution. For other articles, please contact the editor Business administrator and author, Joey Patton, has been an intern with the National Right to Life who will direct you to the original author. Committee, one of the organizers of NRLC’s Teens for Life, and a frequent speaker for the pro- life cause. Join KFL’s e-mail alert system: Kansans for Life’s Board of Directors is composed of two representatives from As bills come up and legislator contact is each KFL chapter in the state. The Board of Directors meets once each year. The especially important, we will send legislative Executive Committee is elected by the Board of Directors and meets as often as alerts via e-mail. Please help us add to our necessary during the year. e-mail alert constituent list by recommend- ing to your pro-life friends that they sign up Kansans for Life, Inc. is a membership organization which engages in social ac- at www.kfl.org (click on the brown button tion and advocates for pro-life laws.