“Ella”....a deception...attacking conception.....

The name of God in Hebrew is “El,” coming from a root word meaning “might, strength, power.” The FDA has recently approved a new drug by the name of “Ella.” The claim for its use is to “prevent pregnancy for up to five days after unprotected sex.” I can’t help but wonder why the name Ella was chosen. Is "preventing pregnancy" the only possible effect? Does this drug suggest and make it possible for a mother, the very carrier of God’s gift of life, to choose to “be god” and to decide to end the life of her child who might be living within her? Might this be yet another enabling of the age old deception of “you will be like god” (Gen 3:5) in choosing against the will of God? Does this contribute to the culture of death? Such a soft, lovely, feminine name......Ella.....one which reflects a feminine version of the Hebrew “El.” Some descriptions of the name “Ella” say “other.” Perhaps this name will prove prophetic.....one acting as an “other god” in deciding whether a new life should be allowed. There is much to pay attention to about what is being presented under the delicate and inviting name “Ella.”

There is a lot of information buzzing about concerning this newly approved drug. An article on Fox News quotes Jeanne Monahan saying “‘The FDA opted against including the critical fact that ella can cause an abortion on a baby already implanted in its mother's womb in the drug labeling information,’ Jeanne Monahan, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council, said in a statement.” (to read full article, click here)

Another article by Matthew Perrone (AP) has this to say “....the drug has drawn criticism from anti-abortion groups who say it is closer to an abortion pill than an emergency contraception pill.

Groups including the Family Research Council argue the drug is chemically similar to the abortion drug mifeprestone, which can be taken to end a pregnancy up to 50 days into the gestation period. That drug has been associated with severe infections and bleeding after abortion. However, FDA reviewers reported no life-threatening medical side effects with ella.

The most common side effects with the drug included headache, nausea and abdominal pain, according to an FDA release.” (to read full article, click here.)

It is time to “keep our eyes peeled,” as my Dad used to say, for horrid deceptions which attack God’s gift of life....and attack it “in sheep’s clothing.” Let us all pray in thanksgiving for the very gift of life and work to defend it! Come Holy Spirit! Open the eyes of our hearts.

“In Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old”

First published on FRC blog

by Jeanne Monahan
January 18, 2010

I have watched with horror over the last few months stories of the most heinous crimes committed against young girls. Two that come to mind include the story of Shaniya Davis, a five-year-old in North Carolina who was sex trafficked by her mother and then allegedly kidnapped and killed by a friend of the mother. America watched the grim video, taken from hotel security cameras, of the accused man carrying Shaniya into a room. A similar dark story involves the kidnapping and death of Sarah Haley Foxwell, an eleven year-old from Salisbury, Maryland, who was taken from her bedroom by a registered sex offender on December 22. Her body was found in nearby woods on Christmas Day.

As an aunt to two young girls, the horrific nature of these crimes haunts me. I wonder how and why these kinds of disgusting acts seem to be occurring with more regularity in our culture and assume that major components involve an increase in child pornography, an overall depiction of the ideal beautiful woman in popular media as being very young, and a general insensitivity to the seriousness of sexualizing young children.

Onto this backdrop I want to draw attention to the deeply offensive statement recently made by Washington Post TV Critic Tom Shales. Ironically, Shales was in the process of an online discussion about the cultural impact of TV when he made the following comment in defense of Roman Polanski’s rape of a 13-year-old, “There is, apparently, more to this crime than it would seem, and it may sound like a hollow defense, but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old.”

Comments such as Tom Shales’ are not funny and are definitely not harmless. Quite to the contrary, attitudes such as this create a culture in which young women are objectified as sexual objects, not as human beings with inherent dignity.