National Right to Life Supports Graham-Cassidy Legislation

National Right to Life Committee, the nationwide federation of state right-to-life organizations, supports legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.). Time is running short as Republicans have less than two weeks left to use their 2017 budget reconciliation bill as a vehicle to undo much of Obamacare which requires a simple majority in the Senate.

Abortion is not healthcare, and the Senate has the chance to protect life by advancing this legislation.

NRLC vigorously opposed enactment of the Obamacare law in 2009-2010, because of its multiple provisions authorizing federal subsidies for abortion insurance and multiple provisions allowing abortion-expansive federal mandates. According to a report issued by the Government Accountability Office in September 2014, approximately 1,000 federally subsidized health plans nationwide currently cover elective abortion.

The Graham-Cassidy legislation would redirect existing Obamacare subsidies back to states in the form of block grants. The bill would prohibit the use of these dollars for plans that cover elective abortion. The Graham-Cassidy bill would restore the longstanding principles of the Hyde Amendment with respect to federally funded health coverage. The Hyde Amendment is crediting with saving two million lives.

Additionally, National Right to Life also strongly supports the language in the bill that would block, for one year, most federal payments to affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Over one-third of all abortions in the U.S. are performed at PPFA-affiliated facilities.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

GOP to DOJ: Prosecute baby parts sellers

After reviewing and investigating David Daleiden's undercover investigation, the House Select Committee on Infant Lives has turned over its findings to the Department of Justice, calling for criminal prosecution.

U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) is one of 18 members who signed a letter calling on the DOJ to prosecute Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.

"These are backroom deals that have been made to transfer and sell the body parts of unborn babies,” Johnson tells OneNewsNow. "It's not only shocking, it's clearly illegal — and we have to do everything in our power to stop this practice and protect the sanctity of every single human life.”

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

Abortion clinics in 375 cities are about to be targeted with 40 days of continuous prayer

40 Days for Life begins its next global campaign of prayer, fasting, and around-the-clock vigil at abortion clinics September 27th, and finishes on November 5th. During this time, thousands of pro-lifers will visit abortion clinics for a time of concentrated, peaceful prayer.

Campaign organizers say this year’s event is expected to be the largest gathering of pro-life intercessors since the vigil began in 2004.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Gov's office ignores requests confirming he will veto "free abortions" bill

Governor Rauner is not saying what he plans to do with HB 40. In April, his office assured social conservatives that he would veto a bill making abortions free in Illinois to expectant mothers on Medicaid and paid for by taxpayers.

"Governor Rauner does not support HB 40 and will veto the bill if it reaches his desk," then-spokesperson Allie Bovis wrote in an email.

Things have evidently changed.

Abortion supporters such as Personal PAC's Terry Cosgrove say that even though the state House and Senate passed the measure back in May, they will not send it to the governor's desk unless they know for sure the governor will sign it into law.

Every day that move is delayed leaves less time for a potential GOP primary challenger to organize social conservatives to challenge the Republican governor, which may be why Governor Rauner is ignoring requests to confirm his position on HB 40.

Click here for more from Illinois Review

European Parliament Classifies Laws against Abortion as “violence against women and girls”

The European Parliament (EP) took shocking and disturbing action last week when it adopted a parliamentary report which charges “the denial of sexual and reproductive health and rights services, including safe and legal abortion, is a form of violence against women and girls.” The vote was 489 in favor, 114 opposed, and 69 abstentions.

The shocking vote by a legislative body that is supposed to respect sovereignty on abortion, and includes lawmakers from countries with pro-life policies, occurred during endorsement of the European Union’s accession to the Istanbul Convention— the Council of Europe’s treaty to prevent and combat violence against women and girls.

The actual text of the Convention opposes “performing an abortion on a woman without her prior and informed consent”–the only mention of abortion in the treaty.

This fact, however, did not prevent two committees in the European Parliament- -Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM)–from issuing an appalling condemnation of laws against abortion and equating lack of legal access to abortion with violence against women and girls.

Left out of the report is any recognition or condemnation of sex selection abortion–the first act of violence in the life cycle that targets unborn baby girls for elimination simply because they are female.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Pro-life activists across North America will share ugly truth about abortion in annual Life Chain

Last year, thousands took part in 25,000 Life Chains in 1,600 cities and towns across Canada and the U.S.  October 1 is Life Chain Sunday, and the 30th anniversary of this unique annual pro-life witness.

The National Right to Life Committee calculated that 59,115,995 babies have been killed by abortion since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision legalizing abortion in the United States. NRLC estimated that 926,000 babies were killed in utero in the U.S. in 2015 to 2016.




Royce Dunn, national director of National Life Chain Sunday 2017 stated, “We’re trusting that National Life Sunday 2017 will proved a strong witness on the sidewalks of America and Canada.”

Click here for more on the Life Chain

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Pop star rips Planned Parenthood, Hollywood elites for pushing abortion

In a recent interview with MRC Culture, Kaya Jones of the Pussycat Dolls described Hollywood’s push of abortion as showing “how evil our world has become.” Besides telling her own fight against Planned Parenthood, she revealed other personal stories about what happens when young women in the entertainment industry refuse abortion.

From 2003 to 2004, Kaya served as one of the lead singers for the Pussycat Dolls, a popular girl group that sold more than 15 million albums and 40 million singles. A supporter of President Trump and the military, Kaya made headlines last month for her tribute to the armed forces with her new song, “What the Heart Don’t Know.”

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

'Undeniable': Hostility toward free religious exercise in U.S.

For the last five years, First Liberty Institute has compiled in a report all the known religious liberty violations in the U.S. First Liberty attorney Jeremy Dys tells OneNewsNow it's the most comprehensive survey of its kind, 418 pages documenting 1,400 real-life stories of attacks on religious liberty across America.
 CASE IN POINT: City wrong to block Bible-believing farmer from local market Read more...

"This year's survey represents a 15-percent increase in just the past year," Dys explains, "and an alarming 133-percent increase ... since we started tracking and publishing this survey in 2012."

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

VIDEO: Activists Conduct Acts of Civil Disobedience at Abortion Clinics in Defense of Unborn

On September 15th, in three different cities across the United States, pro-lifers simultaneously entered abortion centers to talk to women scheduled for abortions, and by refusing to leave the clinics when told to do so by law enforcement, they offered an act of non-violent defense of unborn children about to be aborted, resulting in the pro-lifers' arrests.

    Watch the video "In Defense of the Red Rose Rescue" by Monica Miller...


    
    Watch RAW VIDEO of the #RedRoseRescue in Sterling Heights, MI – 9.15.17...



Those defending the unborn entered:

    Northland Family Planning, 3810 17 Mile Rd., Sterling Heights, MI
    
    Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, 101 S Whiting St. #215, Alexandria, Virginia
    
    University of New Mexico Center for Reproductive Health, E, 2301 Yale Blvd. SE, Albuquerque, NM.

Once inside the clinics, small teams of pro-lifers peacefully approached mothers seated in the waiting rooms and offered them red roses as a symbol of life. Attached to each rose was a card which on one side read, "You were made to love and to be loved ... Your goodness is greater than the difficulties of your situation. Circumstances in life change.  A new life, however tiny, brings the promise of unrepeatable joy." The card also contained phone numbers of local pregnancy help centers.

Those involved in the "Red Rose Rescue" talked to women scheduled for abortions, extending to them words of encouragement and offering material help.  In addition to reaching out to the mothers, the rescuers chose to remain in the clinic as an act of solidarity with the unborn children scheduled to be killed by abortionists.  The rescuers, like any others who recognize an urgent situation, responded to dire circumstances of imminent peril in a spirit of intervention on behalf of innocent babies and beleaguered mothers.

Click here for more from Christian Newswire

Pro-life groups to Senate Dems: Don't eliminate Hyde Amendment

After a Democratic senator boasted on Wednesday that his party’s Medicare bill would repeal the Hyde Amendment, pro-life groups are pushing back, stressing that the longstanding policy has saved lives.

“This month marks the 41st anniversary of the Hyde Amendment and in that time it has been found that over 2 million lives have been saved,” said Tom McClusky, vice president of government affairs at the March for Life in Washington, D.C.

“The senator might think we'd be better off without those people,” McClusky said, “however I know 2 million lives who would disagree and are thankful they aren't targeted by Sen. Blumenthal.”

Click here for more from CNA/EWTN News

Senate committee votes to overturn Trump administration’s overseas pro-life initiatives

A U.S. Senate committee passed an amendment last week that would wipe out all of President Donald J. Trump’s pro-life protections in foreign aid. Abortion advocates claim it was a sharp bipartisan rebuke to the President, but its main goal appears to be red meat for the Democratic base since the measure has no chance of moving forward.

The FY’18 State and Foreign Operations (SFOPs) was passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee containing a hostile amendment by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) that reverses the prohibition on overseas abortion funds, increases family planning funding, and restores funding to the controversial United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Shaheen’s amendment passed in a close 16-15 vote due to support from Republican Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Pro-life Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) opposed it. The SFOPs bill funds overseas diplomacy, humanitarian and global health assistance.

Click here for mre from C-Fam

House approves appropriations bill with numerous pro-life provisions

The prolife cause was advanced when the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, 2018 on Thursday.

Many new pro-life provisions were included in HR 3354, in addition to longstanding riders, including the Hyde amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortion in Health and Human Services appropriations, and numerous others.

National Right to Life issued a scorecard warning letter on two amendments where the right to life position ultimately prevailed. The first, the Norton Amendment, was attempting to restore the so-called “budget autonomy” law enacted by local officials of the District of Columbia. National Right to Life sent a letter to the House urging them to vote against the Norton Amendment.

The Norton amendment would have allowed District officials to hijack over $8 billion annually in funds that the Constitution and the Home Rule Act place under congressional authority, opening the door to use of these funds to pay for elective abortions or other illicit purposes.

The second amendment where the pro-life position prevailed related to reversing the so-called “Reproductive Health Nondiscrimination Act” (RHNDA), a local law enacted by the District Council in 2014. RHNDA could be used to force pro-life, as well as other religious advocacy groups to make personnel decisions that are inconsistent with their sincerely held beliefs about the sanctity of human life.

The Palmer Amendment was adopted on the House floor today by a vote of 214-194. 212 Republicans and two Democrats–Rep. Lipinski (IL.) and Rep. Peterson MN–voted for the Palmer amendment.

Voting against were 183 Democrats and 11 Republicans–Rep. Coffman (Co), Rep. Costello (Pa), Rep. Curbelo (Fl), Rep. Dent(Pa), Rep. Fitzpatrick(Pa), Rep. Katko (NY), Rep. McSally (Az), Rep. Meehan(Pa), Rep. Poliquin(Me), Rep. Reed(NY), and Rep. Stefanik) voted against.

Twenty-five Members did not vote.

In addition, there is a new provision based on the Conscience Protection Act. The Conscience Protection Act would prohibit any level of government from mandating that health care providers participate in abortion. That would protect doctors, nurses, hospitals, and health plans (and employers who purchase the plans).

Most importantly, the language in the Conscience Protection Act empowers those who are affected by abortion mandates to file private lawsuits in federal courts – without the need for intervention by the pro-abortion activists who draw paychecks at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Another new provision would prevent federal funding for fetal tissue research from induced abortion.

Additionally, there is a provision to defund abortion providers receiving large Federal grants, including Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. Another provision eliminates funding for the Title X Family Planning Program, wherein Planned Parenthood receives a large sum of money in most states.

An additional provision added by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) would nullify DC’s dangerous and recently enacted assisted suicide law, euphemistically labeled, “The D.C. Death With Dignity Act.”

While we can expect that many of these prolife provisions will not ultimately become law, the bill serves as a strong prolife starting point and is the result of the hard work of a Congress that values life!

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Planned Parenthood center director admits its customers are poor, young ‘women of color’

Celebrating the new East Side location, which effectively replaces a downtown facility that was shut down in March 2016, Planned Parenthood Southeast president Staci Fox reminded the world about the long-term business strategy for the nation’s leading abortion chain: Target minorities and poor people, then profit off them through abortion.

“Predominantly our patients are about 15-29 years old, women of color living at 150 percent or more under the federal poverty level and those are the women who qualify for Medicaid,” Fox told NPR.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Abortion group ‘alarmed’ that 145 clinics have closed in the last 5 years

The Abortion Care Network (ACN), a coalition of independent abortion businesses, issued a report on the declining number of abortion centers. In the past five years, 145 independent “clinics” closed.

The ACN supports abortion businesses that are not affiliated with Planned Parenthood or a hospital chain. Of those, numbers went from 510 facilities in 2012 to 365 today, not counting the hundreds of Planned Parenthood centers.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Moral acceptability of abortion varies widely among Protestant denominations, Gallup finds

The Mainline Protestant denominations are Episcopalians, Presbyterians Lutherans, and Methodists. As the graph included on this page show, Episcopalians are those likely to find abortion morally acceptable (57%), followed by Presbyterians (53%) with Lutherans and Methodists tied at 53%.

By contrast only 13% of Pentecostals find abortion morally acceptable, followed by Southern Baptists (17%), Non-Denominational (26%), and Other Baptist (27%).

Three quick points. First, according to a survey published by Gallup in July, there are fewer Protestants that identify with a specific denomination and a growing number of “nones” who don’t have a specific identity at all. The fastest growing Protestant “denomination” is the non-denomination.

Barely a quarter of them (26%) find abortion morally acceptable.

Second, as noted in the quote above, this same caution must be exercised when talking about “Catholics.” Their position on the moral acceptability of abortion will vary along many grounds, most specifically how often they attend church.

Third, Pew Research finds very, very different results. From January 2017.

More than four-in-ten Americans (44%) say having an abortion is morally wrong, while 19% think it is morally acceptable and 34% say it is not a moral issue. These views also differ by religious affiliation: About three-quarters of white evangelical Protestants (76%) say having an abortion is morally wrong, but just 23% of religiously unaffiliated people agree.

How can that be? Gallup asks something that is essentially abstract while Pew queries about what people feel when they are asked about having an abortion. This is a reality check and people are far less likely to say it is morally acceptable to actually abort a child.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Illinois, Hawaii put federal funding in jeopardy by forcing pregnancy centers, doctors to promote abortion

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed complaints Monday with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of pregnancy care centers and pro-life doctors in Illinois and Hawaii who are being forced to advertise for the abortion industry. The federal Church and Weldon amendments do not allow states which receive federal funding to compel medical personnel to operate contrary to their conscience or religious beliefs.

ADF attorneys represent pregnancy care centers and physicians in both a state and federal lawsuit in Illinois and a federal lawsuit in Hawaii. So far, courts have issued injunctions against the forced-advertising law at issue in both Illinois cases.

“Government officials shouldn’t be allowed to force anyone to provide free advertising for the abortion industry,” said ADF Legal Counsel Elissa Graves. “Furthermore, federal law simply doesn’t allow it. States that compel pro-life doctors and staff to act contrary to their conscience do not qualify for federal funds. We have filed these complaints to inform HHS of what is happening so that it can take action.”

ADF attorneys submitted the complaints on behalf of Dr. Anthony Caruso and A Bella Baby OBGYN in Illinois, Dr. Tina Gingrich and Maryville Women’s Center in Illinois, and A Place for Women in Hawaii. The three complaints explain that the rights of doctors and pregnancy care centers “to offer medical assistance to women in need without compromising their religious convictions relating to abortion or abortion-causing drugs are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution” in addition to federal law, Illinois law, and the Illinois and Hawaii constitutions.

Illinois SB 1564 compels speech and action in violation of the oaths of health professionals. Specifically, pro-life doctors and pregnancy centers must tell pregnant women the names of doctors they believe offer abortions, that abortion has unspecified “benefits,” and that abortion is a “treatment option” for pregnancy.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Catholic leaders defend Trump after Pope challenges his pro-life views

Pro-life Catholic leaders are defending President Trump against Pope Francis after the Pontiff questioned Trump’s pro-life views, despite the fact that Trump has racked up major pro-life accomplishments during his short time in office.

Austin Ruse, president of the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam), recounted a short litany of pro-life actions already taken by the new White House. “President Trump has appointed a pro-life constitutionalist to the Supreme Court. He has appointed pro-life constitutionalist to the lower benches. He has defunded the rapaciously pro-abortion UN Population Fund. He has taken pro-life positions at the UN. He has staffed the Department of Health and Human Services stem to stern with pro-life Catholics and Evangelicals.”

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

U.S. judge tells Christian churches they must cover abortion in insurance plan

A federal judge told three Christian congregations in California that they have no case in wanting to opt out of the state’s requirement that they cover abortions through their health insurance plans.

U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller upheld a 2014 requirement of the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) that all employers throughout the state must pay for abortion insurance for their employees. She told the three churches that they failed to state an adequate claim.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

U.S. blasts lead UN agency for supporting China’s one-child policy

The United States blasted the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) on Thursday (Sept. 8) for supporting China’s four decades-long birth control policy, which has led to human rights abuses such as forced abortions. The censure came as the agency unveiled its new three-year plan which promoted policies on sexuality which UN member States have expressly rejected in negotiations.

“As long as UNFPA supports or participates in any program of coercive birth limitation, the United States will not fund UNFPA,” U.S. deputy ECOSOC ambassador Stephanie Amadeo said.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

In US Supreme Court Brief, Christian Doctors Cite Conscience Conflicts Similar to Creative Artists

The nation's largest faith-based professional association of health professionals, the Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org), contends in a legal brief filed with the Supreme Court that its members' conscience battles parallel those of creative artists sued for declining to participate in proceedings inconsistent with their conscience and convictions.

CMA has filed a brief with the Court in the case (Masterpiece Bakeshops v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission) of Jack Phillips, a cake artist sued for declining to participate in a same-sex wedding, an event that contradicts his moral persuasions. CMA contends in its brief that health professionals face similar challenges to their First Amendment freedoms in situations involving abortion and other matters involving ethical choices and professional medical judgment.

"Preserving freedom of medical judgment for doctors is an essential protection for patients. Imagine if the government were to dictate every medical decision and decide every medical prescription and procedure apart from the medical judgment of the doctors who know and care for their patients best."

Click here for more from Christian Newswire

Outrage: The American Nurses Association Approves Physician Assisted Starvation Suicide

“People with decision-making capacity have the right to stop eating and drinking as a means of hastening death.”

and

“There is an extensive knowledge base to help manage the burden of most physical symptoms (of voluntary stopping of eating and drinking). Symptom control is imperative.”

With these quotes from its recent position statement “Nutrition and Hydration at the End of Life,” the American Nurses Association (ANA) effectively gives up the principle of opposing physician assisted suicide.

ANA Recommends that:

-Nurses recognize those situations when nutrition and hydration can no longer benefit a patient, and adhere to clinical standards that include providing nutrition and hydration only to patients for whom it is indicated.

-Patients with decision-making capacity—or their surrogates, who are relying on the patients’ preference or have knowledge of the person’s values and beliefs—will be supported in decision-making about accepting or refusing clinically appropriate nutrition and hydration at the end of life.

-Nurses will have adequate and accurate information to understand patients’ cultural, ethnic, and religious beliefs and values regarding nutrition and hydration at the end of life. Patients’ views and beliefs should be respected.

-Nurses will support patients and surrogates in the decision-making process by providing accurate, precise and understandable information about risks, benefits and alternatives.

-Decisions about accepting or forgoing nutrition and hydration will be honored, including those decisions about artificially delivered nutrition as well as VSED.

-People with decision-making capacity have the right to stop eating and drinking as a means of hastening death.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life

20 state Attorneys General tell Supreme Court to release videos exposing Planned Parenthood

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich authored the amicus brief, which argues for lifting an injunction by Judge William Orrick and upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stopping the release of the undercover videos made by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP).  Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are all part of the amicus brief.

Banning the videos “hampers law enforcement’s ability to effectively receive information and investigate possible civil or criminal wrongdoing,” Brnovich reasoned.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Vision 2020 - Week 30 - Senator Terry Link (D) and Senator Kimberly A. Lightford (D)

Pray for our legislators...

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
--Isaiah 42:16

Vision 2020 and the Illinois Federation for Right to Life would like to invite you to join us in praying for our state legislators.  We will send out information about a couple different state representatives each week for you to pray over.

Consider sharing this information with your ministry partners, your church family, on your website and/or your Facebook page.

We know that prayer changes things.  And we know that NOTHING is impossible with God. So let's join our hearts and voices together and petition heaven on behalf of the great state of Illinois!

Some of our legislators need prayer that God will open their eyes and change their hearts (or move them out of their positions) and some need prayers that they will have the strength, courage and boldness to be able to stand firmly against the opposition as they fight for life and family values.

NY court unanimously rejects assisted suicide in major pro-life victory

New York’s highest court upheld the state’s ban on assisted suicide Thursday, in what Catholic leaders have called an important pro-life victory for the state.

The New York State Court of Appeals ruled unanimously Sept. 7 to uphold the state’s law which bans physicians from providing life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients.

Catholic leaders welcomed the decision, noting it was in part the result of the combined work of the Church together with numerous other advocacy groups which oppose assisted suicide.

The written decision was “very strong, they shot this down from all angles,” Kathleen Gallagher with the New York State Catholic Conference told CNA.

Click here for more from CNA/EWTN News

Planned Parenthood tries to capitalize on latest immigration controversy

The leader of the nation’s most lucrative abortion business used President Trump’s decision to phase out an exemption for illegal immigrants who came to the country as children as a fundraising opportunity.

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards sent a fundraising email to supporters bemoaning the rollback of former President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.  “At Planned Parenthood, we firmly believe that every person has the right to live, work, and raise a family freely,” Richards said without referring to abortion. “We believe in every person’s right to control their own destiny and their own body.”

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Pro-life leaders blast U.S. Congress for failing to defund Planned Parenthood

Pro-life leaders wrote a letter to members of Congress on Tuesday, rebuking them for not keeping their campaign promises and imploring them to defund Planned Parenthood once and for all.

Six leading women and four influential men among the nation’s top pro-life activists reminded legislators that America gave them their positions in part because they promised to defund the nation’s largest and most lucrative abortion conglomerate.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

US bishops join pro-life groups in support of Conscience Protection Act

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) joined thirty-two other major pro-life, religious, and health care organizations on September 6 urging the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to pass the Conscience Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 644/S. 301). Signatories include numerous medical groups representing tens of thousands of health care professionals who object to abortion and are seeking legal protection to serve their patients in good conscience.

"Federal laws protecting conscientious objection to abortion have been approved for decades by Congresses and Presidents of both parties. Even many 'pro-choice' Americans realize that the logic of their position requires them to respect a choice not to be involved in abortion," they wrote. "Yet, with violations of federal conscience laws occurring in California, New York, Washington, Alaska, Illinois, and most recently Oregon, it is increasingly clear that the current laws offer far less protection in practice than in theory."

The Conscience Protection Act (H.R. 644/S. 301), introduced in the House on January 24 by Reps. Diane Black (R-TN) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), and in the Senate on February 3 by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), addresses several "loopholes" in current federal laws that have allowed violations of conscience rights to continue. The letter cites a 2014 California mandate requiring almost all health plans in the state to pay for elective abortions in direct violation of the Weldon amendment, and the subsequent failure of the HHS Office of Civil Rights to enforce Weldon. It also cites the government's failure to vindicate the rights of New York nurse Cathy DeCarlo after she was pressured to assist at a late-term abortion.

Click here for more from The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

House Financial Services Appropriations Bill contains new prolife riders, amendments expected

The House of Representatives today entered the second day of debate over the Financial Services Appropriations spending measure. Congressional leaders and President Trump may agree on a temporary spending measure that would extend federal funding and ignore much of what ends up in the spending measure. Even so, the House Appropriations bill serves as a strong pro-life starting point for negotiations with the House and Senate.

This House appropriations bill carries a significant amount of excellent prolife language. In addition to continuing longstanding riders like the Hyde, which prohibits Federal Medicaid dollars for paying for elective abortion, there are several new pro-life policies that would change current law if enacted.
There is a provision based on the Conscience Protection Act. The Conscience Protection Act would prohibit any level of government from mandating that health care providers participate in abortion. It would protect doctors, nurses, hospitals, and health plans (and employers who purchase the plans). Most importantly, the language empowers those who are affected by abortion mandates to file private lawsuits in federal courts – without the need for intervention by the pro-abortion activists who draw paychecks at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Another provision would prevent funding for fetal tissue research from induced abortion. An additional provision would nullify DC’s dangerous and recently enacted assisted suicide law.
There are expected to be dozens of amendments, with two of pro-life interest. As reported by the Appropriations Committee, the bill includes language to make null and void the so-called “budget autonomy” law enacted by local officials of the District of Columbia. National Right to Life sent a letter to the House urging them to vote against the Norton Amendment which would delete this crucial provision from the bill. The Norton amendment would mean continuing to allow District officials to hijack over $8 billion annually in funds that the Constitution and the Home Rule Act place under congressional authority, opening the door to use of these funds to pay for elective abortions or other illicit purposes.

The other amendment relates to the so-called “Reproductive Health Nondiscrimination Act” (RHNDA), a local law enacted by the District Council in 2014.

The RHNDA prohibits employers within the District from engaging in “discrimination” on the basis of “decisions” reached by employees, or potential employees, regarding “reproductive health” matters. It is not disputed that abortion is among the matters encompassed by the term “reproductive health” as used in the new law. The scope of the RHNDA is very broad, covering any “decisions” that are “related to the use . . . of a particular . . . medical service . . .” [emphasis added]

We are urging the House to vote in favor of the Palmer Amendment to curb implementation of the “Reproductive Health Nondiscrimination Act.”

While we can expect that many of these prolife provisions will not become law, the bill serves as a strong prolife starting point.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

VIDEO: Every baby is a little miracle…

From having written about many of Pampers’ commercials in the past, they are often awesome. They affirm not only the importance of babies, they also remind parents that “Every baby is a little miracle to celebrate, support and protect.”

And since they often begin with sonograms, pro-lifers see this sentiment as apropos not just for babies once they are born, but from the beginning of the baby’s developmental journey.

If you watch “For every little miracle,” I promise you will (as did I) forward the link to many of your family and friends.



The overarching point they make is…it doesn’t matter. Whatever the circumstances, babies are a gift, a treasure, to honor and protect and (my words here) to marvel at.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

As many as 1.5 million additional online suicide searches following “13 Reasons Why”

Reuters Health reported that a study appearing online in JAMA Internal Medicine found that “Online searches related to suicide spiked right after Netflix released ‘13 Reasons Why,’ a popular series about a teen girl who takes her own life”.

The study appeared online on July 31 but it was not until a friend forward the Reuters Health story (written by Lisa Rapaport) to me today that I was aware Google search volumes for queries about suicide were 19 percent higher than expected in the 19 days following the show’s release, reflecting 900,000 to 1.5 million more searches than there otherwise would have been.

Why is this significant? Rapaport quotes lead author John Ayers of San Diego State University in California, who said, “The more someone contemplates suicide, the more likely they are to act,” adding, “Searches often foreshadow offline behaviors.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Cecile Richards’s contribution is not to the “prevention of human disease” but to multiplying the deaths of unborn babies

Have you ever heard of the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award? Me, neither.

It’s self-described thusly: “Since 1945, the [Lasker-Bloomberg ] Awards Program has recognized the contributions of scientists, physicians, and public servants who have made major or advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of human disease.”

Sounds pretty prestigious. Guess who won The 2017 Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award?
Cecile Richards, head honcho of Planned Parenthood, whose chief claim to fame is she presides over a killing machine that brutally disposes of 330,000 babies every year–in the neighborhood of seven million since it rolled out the machinery of death.

The “human disease” for which PPFA is the “cure” is “unwanted” unborn babies.

The euphemism drenched summary for why she [PPFA] received the award is “for its 100-year history of advancing reproductive health and rights and advocating for greater access to health care for all people.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Abortion group promotes post-Harvey 'outreach'

National Abortion Rights Action League is urging people to donate funds to the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity to provide abortions free of charge for victims of Hurricane Harvey.

American Life League President Judie Brown says it's horrific that the pro-abortion groups view abortion as a "solution" to Harvey's tragedy.

"Because they honestly believe that aborting babies is a charitable act," she says, recalling that the same "offer" was announced after the 9-11 attacks.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

David Daleiden, attorneys, fined $200K by controversial judge

The Center for Medical Progress lead investigator, David Daleiden, along with two of his attorneys, faced Judge William Orrick again on Thursday. The men walked away with an almost-$200,000 fine after being held in contempt of court for releasing videos after the Planned Parenthood-connected judge had issued a gag order.

The Washington Times reports:
U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick said the $195,359 tab would compensate the National Abortion Federation for “expenses incurred as a result of the violation of my Preliminary Injunction Order,” which had banned the release of the video footage taken at NAF meetings.

Mr. Daleiden’s attorneys, Steve Cooley and Brentford Ferreira, were included in the sanctions intended to ensure “current and future compliance” with the order.

Mr. Daleiden described the sanctions as an attack on his rights to defend himself. Matthew Geragos, an attorney for Cooley and Ferreira, told the Associated Press that he is appealing.

Judge Orrick has come under fire because of his longtime ties to Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, as Live Action News reported last summer. The judge’s wife has displayed her support for the abortion corporation on social media as well. Despite his clear conflict of interest in the case, Orrick has been allowed to stay on it and has consistently ruled against the pro-life leader and his group.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Federal judge blocks dismemberment abortion ban in Texas

Federal District Judge Lee Yeakel issued a temporary restraining order against enforcement of the newly passed Senate Bill 8, dubbed the Pro-Life Dismemberment Abortion Ban, which criminalizes killing a preborn child by pulling him or her apart limb by limb in the womb.

Abortion businesses Planned Parenthood and Whole Woman's Health sued for a preliminary injunction against the pro-life ban, which was to go into effect September 1.  The abortion conglomerate argued that banning the dismemberment procedure places an "undue burden" on women seeking second trimester abortions.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Vision 2020 - Week 29 - Senator Thomas Cullerton (D) and Senator Don Harmon (D)

Pray for our legislators that they will...

"Trust in the Lord with all their hearts and lean not on their own understanding; that in all of their ways they will submit to Him,
    and He will make their paths straight;
that they will not be wise in their own eyes;
    but will fear the Lord and shun evil."
Proverbs 3:5-7 (NIV)

Vision 2020 and the Illinois Federation for Right to Life would like to invite you to join us in praying for our state legislators.  We will send out information about a couple different state representatives each week for you to pray over.

Consider sharing this information with your ministry partners, your church family, on your website and/or your Facebook page.

We know that prayer changes things.  And we know that NOTHING is impossible with God. So let's join our hearts and voices together and petition heaven on behalf of the great state of Illinois!

Some of our legislators need prayer that God will open their eyes and change their hearts (or move them out of their positions) and some need prayers that they will have the strength, courage and boldness to be able to stand firmly against the opposition as they fight for life and family values.

Pro-lifers fight to burst the bubbles in Chicago

A pro-life legal organization is taking another step to overturn Chicago's “bubble zone” ordinance.

Passed in 2009 by the Chicago City Council, the ordinance establishes a 50-foot bubble zone around medical facility entrances, including abortion clinics. Inside that zone, pro-life counselors cannot get within eight feet of people entering the clinic.

Attorney Thomas Olp with the Thomas More Society says the counselors are prevented from giving pro-life information to women considering abortion.

The Thomas More Society now is taking the case to the Seventh U.S. Circuit of Appeals to seek the protections for the pro-lifers guaranteed by the Constitution.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

Laws Targeting Pregnancy Centers Are on the Rise, Here’s How They Can Protect Their Rights

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has created a new legal guide, Protecting Your Pregnancy Center from Religious Freedom Threats. It aims to provide pregnancy centers with the knowledge and foresight necessary to enable them to continue to operate in a way that is consistent with their mission and beliefs, without fear and without apology.

Within the guide are examples of what other ministries around the country are facing; how other pregnancy centers may be vulnerable to similar threats; and what they can do to secure crucial legal protections to help them prevail in the legal challenges that are sure to come.

It is not always easy to protect and defend life, especially when pressure and intimidation from a hostile world threaten the very mission of these pro-life pregnancy centers.

Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Should Never Be Forced into Abortion Advocacy by the State.

Click here to Get Your Free Copy!

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Human genetic engineering breakthrough raises ethical concerns

Shoukhrat Mitalipov (pictured) is the first U.S.-based scientist known to have edited the DNA of human embryos.

Scientists in Oregon have successfully genetically modified human embryos, according to research published earlier this month. The researchers used a gene editing technique called CRISPR to repair a disease-causing mutation.

“In altering the DNA code of human embryos,” explains the MIT Technology Review, “the objective of scientists is to show that they can eradicate or correct genes that cause inherited disease, like the blood condition beta-thalassemia. The process is termed ‘germline engineering’ because any genetically modified child would then pass the changes on to subsequent generations via their own germ cells—the egg and sperm.”

Preventing disease is a noble goal. And gene editing technology has already been used in born human beings for therapeutic purposes. Genetic engineering of embryos, however, raises a number of ethical issues such as the research involves the creation and intentional destruction of human embryos. Human embryos are living members of our species (human beings) at the embryonic stage of their lives. Each one of us, indeed, was once an embryo.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

‘Baby Harvey’ arrives as a special delivery during hurricane

The birth of a long-awaited baby began just as her parents became trapped by flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.

Baby Adrielle was born 12 hours later, at 1:59 a.m. on Monday morning. She weighed 7 pounds,  6 ounces, and both mom and baby are doing well. Family members have nicknamed the girl “the Hurricane” and “Baby Harvey.” However, at about 8 a.m. Sunday, as the Smiths looked out of the window at the water now encircling their apartment building, Annie realized she was already in labor.

There is more to this exciting and wonderful story.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Louisiana Judge tosses out suit to implant frozen embryos, cites lack of legal jurisdiction

When actress Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb were a couple in 2013, they used IVF to create two embryos who were frozen.

“The couple at the time signed a contract at the ART Reproductive Center in Beverly Hills that stated neither could use the embryos without the other’s consent,” the New York Daily News’ Jessica Schladebeck reported. “They split a year later in May 2014.”

Vergara and her ex-fiancé have been locked in a contentious legal battle with Loeb saying he wishes to have the two embryos, whom he has named Emma and Isabella, implanted in a surrogate, while Vergara is demanding they remain frozen. The 41-year-old Loeb has said that he created trusts for them at the time.

On Friday, a Louisiana federal judge granted the 45-year-old Vergara’s motion to dismiss a suit brought by Loeb seeking full custody. According to Schladebeck, the judge “point[ed] out neither parent had ties to the state and that Loeb likely filed there due to Louisiana’s favorable legislation protecting the rights of the unborn children.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Federal judge hears request for preliminary injunction against Texas’ ban on dismemberment abortions

U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel of the Western District of Texas heard a challenge today from abortion providers represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights who argued that the state’s ban on dismemberment abortions be put on hold until a full hearing can occur.

The Dismemberment Abortion Ban section of the Senate Bill 8– passed by the Texas Legislature in the 85th Regular Session last May–is scheduled to go into effect this Friday. According to Texas Right to Life, “Judge Yeakel is expected to release an order on the preliminary injunction later this week.”

Texas joined seven other states– Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana–in forbidding an abortion “technique” that uses sharp metal clamps and scissors to crush, tear and pulverize living unborn human beings, to rip heads and legs off of tiny torsos until the defenseless child bleeds to death.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Abortionist who threatened pro-lifer, botched abortions forfeits license

An abortionist who held scissors close to a pro-life activist's throat while saying he loves tearing apart babies will surrender his medical license at the end of the year.

In 2016, a video of Dr. Robert Santella snarling at a pro-life sidewalk counselor went viral. He was holding a coffee cup and a pair of surgical scissors.  When the sidewalk counselor said Santella would "keep tearing the babies apart," the abortionist replied, "I will ... I love it. I love it!"



Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

South Carolina defunds abortion, Planned Parenthood

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order today preventing abortion facilities from receiving any state or local money.

McMaster's order means that South Carolina won't provide funds "via grant, contract, state-administered funds, or any other form" to any physician or doctor's office affiliated with an abortion facility.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Top environmental orgs are pushing abortion…and nobody knows

Environmental activist billionaire, Tom Steyer vowed to make climate change the focus of the 2014 congressional elections, but the truth was only 3% cared about the issue. So his hired door-to-door canvassers talked about abortion and clean water.

This wasn’t a coincidence. A deliberate strategy to link abortion with environmental organizations has been implemented in some regions of the green movement.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Princeton sponsors Planned Parenthood event, pro-life students are outraged

Pro-life students are upset that the Princeton University Office of Religious Life co-sponsored a Planned Parenthood rally.

Associate Dean of the College Khristina Gonzalez organized the event and served as its “ambassador.” All proceeds went to the nation’s largest and most lucrative abortion business.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

New study disputes Planned Parenthood claims

Planned Parenthood touts its healthcare services as the primary thrust of their organization, but a Charlotte Lozier Institute study recently repudiated that claim. Dr. James Studnicki, vice president and director of CLI's Data Analytics, co-authored the research and took a look at Planned Parenthood services, such as the one that supposedly helps people with STDs.

Dr. Studnicki discussed his findings with OneNewsNow, explaining that even though Planned Parenthood does conduct a tiny bit of treatment, they mostly provide testing for their customers. "For most of the services they provide, treatment is a very, very tiny fraction and most often less than 1 percent of the total national service," says Studnicki. "But for some of their contraceptive services, their national market share can climb up as high as 4, 5, or 6 percent."

"Nothing that Planned Parenthood does would lead us to indicate that withdrawal of their services would be life-threatening or result in death," stated Studnicki. "Most of what they do is relatively superficial."  Yet, Planned Parenthood has cornered the market for abortion, performing 35 percent of them nationwide.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

Pro-life groups to protest Planned Parenthood's Trivia Night at Chicago's Revolution Brewing

Planned Parenthood's Trivia Night donors will face pro-life protesters next Tuesday night at Chicago's Revolution Brewing restaurant.

Groups such as Students for Life of America, Chicago Pro-Life Future and the Pro-Life Action League plan to meet at 5:30 PM to protest the fundraiser as participants enter.

One of the organizers called Planned Parenthood's 328,348 abortion each year evidence of "age discrimination."

Wherever Planned Parenthood is, we must be too. They are the nation’s largest abortion provider, committing nearly 900 abortions each day in the United States," David Cordaro, Upper Midwest Regional Coordinator for Students for Life of America said. " We will not rest until we see an end to age discrimination through abortion."

Click here for more from Illinois Review

Vision 2020 - Week 28 - Senator Melinda Bush (D) and Senator Jacqueline Y. Collins (D)

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Isaiah 55:6

Pray that our leaders:

will hold fast to righteousness and will not let it go (Job 27:6)
will stand in the gap for our state (Ezekiel 22:30)
will seek the LORD (Deuteronomy 4:29)

Vision 2020 and the Illinois Federation for Right to Life would like to invite you to join us in praying for our state legislators.  We will send out information about a couple different state representatives each week for you to pray over.

Consider sharing this information with your ministry partners, your church family, on your website and/or your Facebook page.

We know that prayer changes things.  And we know that NOTHING is impossible with God. So let's join our hearts and voices together and petition heaven on behalf of the great state of Illinois!

Some of our legislators need prayer that God will open their eyes and change their hearts (or move them out of their positions) and some need prayers that they will have the strength, courage and boldness to be able to stand firmly against the opposition as they fight for life and family values.