History Will be Made with Groundbreaking Documentary
To coincide with the upcoming 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 22, the 40 film is sure to be the most groundbreaking pro-life documentary in history. The film will present abortion as not merely a religious or political issue, but as the most important fundamental human and civil rights issue of our time.
Directed by John E. Morales with Executive Producer Jason Jones, the founder of Movie to Movement, the film will feature inspiring stories and deeply personal interviews with champions of the pro-life movement. It will address some of the strongest arguments for the pro-choice/pro-abortion position countered by pro-life answers from a wide and diverse array of pro-life activists, leaders and youth.
40 features some of the biggest names in the pro-life movement such as Investigative Journalist Lila Rose, the President of Live Action, Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director and Senior Policy Advisor with American's United For Life, Rebecca Kiessling, Pro-Life Speaker and Attorney, David Bereit, the National Director of 40 Days for Life, Father Frank Pavone, the National Director of Priests for Life, and Pro-Life legend Joe Scheidler, the Founder of the Pro-Life Action League, and Pastor Caesar Le Flore, Midwest Director of LEARN. 40 also includes the powerful testimonies of former abortionists Dr. Anthony Levatino, Dr. John Bruchalski and many more!
Pro-life and humanitarian activist, film producer Jason Jones is the Executive Producer of 40. Jason is the President of Movie to Movement, the grassroots marketing team that was behind the box office phenomenon 2016: Obama's America. Jones was also Co-Executive Producer of the movie, BELLA, recipient of The People's Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. BELLA has inspired hundreds of abortion-bound mothers to choose life for their babies.
Former Fox Sports Net sportscaster John E. Morales is the Producer and Director of The 40 Film. John brings an extensive 20-year background in radio and television to the 40 project. Morales was the co-producer, writer, and narrator of the award winning "Champions of Faith: Baseball Edition," a groundbreaking sports film that showcases the intersection of sports and faith in Major League Baseball.
Source: The 40 Film
Thomas More Society Says Triune Health Group's Religious Liberty Protected
Judge Terence M. Sheen of the DuPage County Circuit Court granted Triune Health Group's motion for a temporary restraining order against Illinois' contraception mandate, which forces coverage of abortifacients and contraceptives in group healthcare plans. This temporary restraining order comes on the heels of a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, granting Triune Health Group temporary relief from the federal HHS mandated healthcare coverage of abortifacients, sterilizations, and contraceptives.
"The ruling today is a victory for religious liberty and the right of conscience," said Peter Breen executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society. "Religious liberty rights don't end at the four walls of the church. In this pluralistic society, we don't force people to abandon their religious beliefs merely because they are engaged in the marketplace."
This was the first ruling by an Illinois court that the state's contraception mandate for health insurance may be preempted by Illinois laws protecting conscience and religious freedom.
The court will hear argument on the Illinois Attorney General's motion to transfer the case to Cook County Circuit Court on February 6. Plaintiffs oppose the motion because Triune Health Group is located in DuPage County.
Source: Thomas More Society
Conservative leaders are calling on Congress to refuse to raise the debt ceiling until Planned Parenthood is defunded.
With last week's revelation that over a half billion dollars in tax dollars is being funneled from Federal tax coffers to Planned Parenthood last year, Pro-Life Nation, Operation Rescue, and other pro-life leaders call upon Congress to refuse to raise the nation debt ceiling until Planned Parenthood is defunded.
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the world and received $542 million in taxpayer money last year alone. Their latest annual report indicates that abortions done by Planned Parenthood have reached an all-time high while "well-woman" services, such as cancer screenings and contraceptive services, dramatically dropped.
"While the amount of legitimate medical services at Planned Parenthood was being slashed, Federal tax dollars - along with the number of abortions - substantially increased. In order to keep paying Planned Parenthood, the U.S. must borrow more money from China, the world's largest human rights abuser where forced abortions and sterilizations continue unabated. This is intolerable," said Troy Newman, President of Pro-Life Nation and Operation Rescue.
"Congress' irresponsible 'tax and spend' policies have mutated into 'borrow and kill.' This insanity has to stop. The debt ceiling crisis will come to a head in the next few weeks. Now is the time to draw the line in the sand and demand that America stop borrowing money from human rights abusers so we can give it to the butchers at Planned Parenthood."
Operation Rescue and other conservative and pro-life leaders are in talks with House members to force a show-down over Planned Parenthood funding. Additionally, Operation Rescue plans to make hundreds of thousands of informative robo-calls to key Congressional house districts. A civil disobedience campaign is also in the works.
"Recent polling shows Congress' popularity is less than root canals and cockroaches. It appears that the low favorability rating is due to Congress' spending addiction. Taxpayers are tired of footing the bill for Congressional irresponsibility that includes dumping billions down the rat hole of a failing abortion industry. By continuing to borrow money to fund Planned Parenthood, Congress has created a recipe for civil unrest. This irresponsibility has to stop, for the good of the nation," said Newman.
Source: Operation Rescue/Pro-Life Nation
The mother of the pop-music star is executive producer of a new movie.
A scene from 'Crescendo'
The producers behind the new award-winning short film Crescendo hope that their film has the same kind of life-altering effect as movies such as October Baby and Bella.
Created by the same team that put together Bella, the debut of Crescendo Feb. 28 also features a video testimony by Pattie Mallette, the mother of pop-music teen favorite Justin Bieber, as a fundraising appeal for crisis-pregnancy centers nationwide.
Producers Eduardo Verástegui, Jason Jones and Leo Severino plan to debut the 15-minute film, and Mallette's appeal to raise funds for crisis-pregnancy centers around the country, at individual- and organization-hosted showings. Their goal is to release the film on more than 100 screens during a special one-night event.
"My lifelong mission has been to work for the full protection of the human person," said Jones, founder of Movie to Movement. "I wanted to create a universal film that promotes the dignity and worth of the human person across cultures and time."
Based on a true story, Crescendo is set in the 18th century. It tells the story of a series of events that turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary experience for a woman (portrayed by Colombian actress Montserrat Espalde) whose life will never be the same. The film enlisted the talent of accomplished Mexican writer and director Alonso Alvarez.
Mallette, the film's executive producer, recorded a special appeal at the conclusion of the film that shares her own testimony. Mallette became pregnant at the age of 17 and spent the duration of her pregnancy living at a Canadian crisis-pregnancy center.
"I felt alone and scared and unprepared and didn't have anywhere to go," Mallette told the Register about her experience. "If it wasn't for the crisis-pregnancy center, I'm not sure where we would be. They offered me a place to stay, education, proper nutrition and gave me the confidence to be the best mom to Justin that I could be."
Mallette said the film really resonated with her.
"I could relate to the position of the mother in the film — also the mother of a musical son," said Mallette. "I had a lot of pressure not to keep my baby. I could relate with her."
Mallette said that Justin Bieber hasn't yet seen the film, but is well aware of it.
"He knows about it; I've talked to him about it," said Mallette. "We're working out details for the debut while I'm on tour with Justin in Europe in February."
"I'm excited to lend my name to support this project," said Mallette. "I'm excited to give others the same opportunities I had. My hope is that this movie encourages young women just like me all over the world that there is a safe place they can go where people will take care of you."
February Debut
Heartbeat International, a national network of pregnancy-help centers, is encouraging like-minded organizations to participate with Movie to Movement in hosting a showing as a way to fundraise within their communities.
"I encourage every pregnancy-help organization to bring the blessings of Crescendo to their own community for the grand premiere on Feb. 28," said Peggy Hartshorn, president of Heartbeat International. "The film is riveting and powerful, and the life-affirming finale will stay in your heart. It's a unique, enjoyable and beautiful way to raise much-needed dollars to save and change lives in our ministries."
More than a dozen pregnancy centers have already signed up to host the film. Among them are four Expectant Mother Care/EMC Frontline Pregnancy Centers, which are based in New York, and the Gabriel Project on the West Virginia-Ohio border.
Attorney Khadine Ritter first saw the film at a gathering in November.
"I was very impressed with the movie," said Ritter. "It was very moving, cinematically beautiful and very powerful. Afterwards, during a break, I told Jason I wanted to help."
Ritter is working with the Mid-Ohio Valley Gabriel Project of West Virginia to show the film as a fundraiser for the pregnancy-help center.
The film will be shown at the Regal Cinema at Grand Central Mall in Vienna, W.Va., and the organization is working with local churches, right-to-life organizations and the pregnancy-help center's donor list to promote the showing.
The cost to host the film ranges between $700-$2,500 for the necessary site license, disc and movie promotional materials. Details are available through the film's website.
Reaction to the Film
The film has already garnered more than 15 international film-festival awards for its high production value and artistry, including the Heartland Film Festival's Crystal Heart Award and "Best Short Film" from the Hollywood Film Festival.
It has also attracted the support of many.
"Crescendo is powerful in content and truly makes you think," said Andrea Trudden, director of communications and marketing with Heartbeat International. "The cinematography is phenomenal."
"Crescendo touches the heart and soul of life's bittersweet song with a powerful promise," said Alveda King, pastoral associate with Priests for Life. "If the notes are left in God's hand, he will create a masterpiece."
"Crescendo is a beautiful, powerful, transformational short movie that reveals an important deeper truth," said Ted Baehr, MovieGuide publisher.
Some may question the value of a short vs. a feature-length film, but as Pixar has demonstrated through the animated short subjects that precede its feature-length films, there is an audience.
Register film critic Steven Greydanus compared the artistic value of a short to a parable.
"The main value of a short is that it offers you a way to tell the story you want to tell — and often more creatively than a feature film," said Greydanus, founder of Decent Films. "A short film is like a short story, potentially like a parable. A quick sketch, a simple scenario has a special kind of power to capture the essence of inspiration, of a single idea."
"In this age of YouTube, if a short succeeds, it can go viral and have a huge impact," Greydanus added.
The producers hope that the lasting impact of Crescendo is in saving lives. They've seen it happen before.
According to Jones, who provides Bella to crisis-pregnancy centers through the Bella Hero Project, that film has resulted in more than 581 women who have chosen life after seeing the movie.
"Movies have a way of working their way from the screen into your heart," said mother Crissy Stanley. "Because of Bella, I decided to choose life and am now the proud mother of beautiful twins, who are my 'miracle babies' that I can't imagine my life without."
Source: National Catholic Register
Pro-life Advocates Mark Grim Anniversary with Prayer, Memorial to Abortion Victims
This Tuesday, January 22, thousands of citizens across the nation will be marking a tragic anniversary with prayer and visits to hundreds of memorial sites. They will be remembering the lives of the over 55 million children killed by abortion in the United States since the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
Event Details
What: Memorial visits and prayers of mourning for the unborn victims of abortion
When: Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Where: Hundreds of memorial sites dedicates to the unborn victims of abortion sites indexed by state at prolifeaction.org/mourn.php
More information: prolifeaction.org/hotline/2013/mourn
On the 40th Anniversary of the court ruling that legalized abortion throughout the United States, the Pro-Life Action League is coordinating a nationwide prayer campaign, "Blessed Are They Who Mourn."
"We cannot not let the brief lives of abortion's innocent victims to be utterly forgotten," said Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League. "As a nation we have been mourning for the twenty precious children massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School last month. Now we're calling on our nation to reflect on the profound loss of all the millions of children aborted since 1973, and mourn for them, too -- children whose names and faces will never be on the evening news, but whose lives were just as precious."
Scheidler said that "Blessed Are They Who Mourn" is inspired, in part, by the words of Pope Benedict XVI, who has called mourning a "shattering encounter with truth, which leads men to undergo conversion and to resist evil."
For a list of 265 sites in 41 states, including 24 grave sites, visit prolifeaction.org/mourn.php.
Source: Pro-Life Action League
Five months after Tonya Reaves death following a second trimester abortion, details aren't complete on the circumstances. It may take lawsuits to make that happen in the death of Tonya Reaves.
Reaves, 24, walked into a Chicago Planned Parenthood for an abortion July 20 and died late that night at a hospital. Troy Newman of Operation Rescue explains why he believes the death to be a tragic one.
"She could have easily survived this, but she was left to bleed to death for 5 ½ hours before Planned Parenthood finally brought her to a hospital, and even a Level-2 trauma center couldn't figure it out before it was too late," he tells OneNewsNow.
A staff member called an ambulance about the time their shifts were over. Surgeons found an incomplete abortion, which they completed, and loss of blood from a perforated uterus. They had to perform a hysterectomy, but Reaves died. Operation Rescue demanded an investigation.
"We went ahead and filed that complaint and we do know that there is at least some cursory investigation into it, although a lot of times they just don't have the passion to pursue it: (A) because it's an abortion case, and (B) because we're not the next of kin."
A wrongful death lawsuit has been lodged against Planned Parenthood by Reaves' mother. A second one has now been filed by her surviving son and the boy's father.
Source: OneNewsNow
ADF attorneys expect to be back in court in an attempt to pursue a whistleblower lawsuit against Iowa Planned Parenthood.
Sue Thayer, a former clinic director, filed the lawsuit alleging fraud on the part of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. In dismissing the lawsuit, Judge James Jarvey acknowledged substantial allegations of fraud schemes, but under the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals standard for false claims act cases, he ruled that very specific evidence -- including names, dates, amounts of service, etc. -- was lacking.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Michael Norton tells OneNewsNow his firm is "very disappointed in this result, but we are not giving up."
"We have an opportunity, we think, to present some of these specifics to this judge, and we're in the process of putting that together so that we can file a request that the judge reconsider this order and accept the specific evidence that we do have," the attorney continues.
But he explains that much of the information is protected as private and privileged under federal law, which is making things difficult for ADF. Norton will ask that any information provided to the court be sealed, and Judge Jarvey will be asked to decide how to deal with it. Still, the attorney says it is a significant obstacle.
Soource: OneNewsNow
Following the release of Planned Parenthood's annual report yesterday, the Susan B. Anthony List issued a press release reporting the following facts:
During fiscal year 2011-2012, Planned Parenthood reported receiving a record $542 million in taxpayer funding in the form of government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements. Taxpayer funding consists of 45% of Planned Parenthood's annual revenue.
In 2011, Planned Parenthood performed a record high 333,964 abortions.
Over the past three reported years (2009-2011), Planned Parenthood has performed nearly one million abortions (995,687).
Cancer screening & prevention services and contraceptive services provided by Planned Parenthood continue to drop. Contraceptive services have dropped by 12% since 2009, and cancer screening & prevention services have dropped by 29%.
Planned Parenthood reported a total of three million clients in 2011, meaning that 11% of all Planned Parenthood clients received an abortion.
Though the Hyde Amendment prohibits the federal government from funding elective abortions, the simple fact is that money is fungible. As the FRC pamphlet America's Abortion Provider: What Everyone Should Know about Planned Parenthood states, "By funding non-abortion services, the federal government essentially allows Planned Parenthood to cover overhead and other expenses, as it pursues a more lucrative and lethal business—abortions."
In the Chart 1 from America's Abortion Provider, we first show the correspondence between Planned Parenthood's government funding and the number of abortions it performs.
However, in Chart 3, we show the almost perfect co-variance between annual increases or decreases in federal funding for Planned Parenthood and the following year's increase or decrease in the number of abortions they perform.
The only exception to the very close correlation between present-year funding and next-year abortions is 2007-2008. At this point, we see a shift to correlation between present-year funding and present-year abortions.
As America's Abortion Provider notes, "[i]n the end, the operating model of Planned Parenthood is such that its abortion activities require the overhead and general funding support of the federal government."
Source: FRCBlog
Clinic Refused to Give Evidence, Another Win for Thomas More Society
Today, the City of Chicago dropped all charges against Anna Marie Mesia, 64, who was charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly violating the City's abortion clinic "bubble zone" law at the Family Planning Associates late-term abortion facility on the North Side of Chicago. The abortion clinic had sought the charges against Mesia, but City prosecutors stated in court that the clinic now refuses to allow its employees to testify or even to produce surveillance videos and photos of the alleged crime. The court had previously allowed Mesia's attorney, Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society, to subpoena the clinic for videos, photos, and documents related to the incident.
"Today's dismissal marks our fourth client in three years who has been wrongfully arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, based on reports made by Chicago abortion clinics," said Breen. "Every single one of these arrests has resulted in a dismissal. These repeated false arrests and prosecutions, today of a 64-year-old grandmother, are an embarrassment to the City and make a mockery of the rule of law. It's time for the City of Chicago to take the First Amendment seriously and stop arresting peaceful law-abiding folks protesting and providing assistance at the city's abortion clinics."
In the past three years, the Thomas More Society has successfully defended four clients against disorderly conduct allegations based on their peaceful witness in front of Chicago abortion clinics. In addition to Mesia, the Thomas More Society successfully defended Joseph Holland and David Avignone, who were arrested for praying outside a clinic and whose cases garnered national media attention. Andrew Scholberg was also arrested last year, and the charges were dropped against him when abortion clinic personnel did not appear in court.
Mesia's arrest on October 4, 2012, for disorderly conduct was her second arrest at Family Planning Associates this year. On July 26, 2012, Family Planning Associates staff called the police and accused Mesia of touching the arm of an abortion patient the day before. Thomas More Society attorneys were prepared with numerous witnesses to attest that Mesia was not at or near that abortion clinic the day before. All charges were dropped when abortion clinic personnel did not appear in court. Based on the July 2012, incident, Society attorneys were considering countersuit against Family Planning Associates for false arrest and malicious prosecution.
The Chicago disorderly conduct ordinance applies a "bubble zone" within 50 feet of the entrance door to an abortion clinic, forbidding pro-life picketers and protestors from approaching within eight feet of a person to speak to, present a leaflet to, or display a sign to that person.
Source: Thomas More Society
