Thousands of pro-life mourners gathered at hundreds of graves of aborted babies on Saturday

 

On Saturday, September 14, thousands of pro-lifers gathered at over 100 gravesites of aborted babies and other memorials to the unborn located nationwide to observe the first annual National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children.

 

With attendance figures still being tallied, the current total stands at over 2,300 attendees nationwide.

 

The date of September 14, 2013, was chosen for this event because it marks the 25th anniversary of the burial of several hundred abortion victims at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where a crowd of 300 mourners attended a memorial service this past Saturday. Among the speakers at this service were Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, bishop emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln (Nebraska), and Bishop Donald Hying, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

 

Several other Catholic bishops took part in memorial services held within their dioceses, including Cardinal Francis George, the Archbishop of Chicago, who spoke at a service held at the gravesite of 2,033 aborted babies buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, and Bishop Earl Boyea of the Diocese of Lansing, who spoke at a service at the gravesite of 17 aborted babies at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Lansing, Michigan.

 

Reactions from attendees at memorial services across the country were overwhelmingly positive, with many reporting that they were moved to tears. One woman who contacted us spoke for many when she wrote:

 

A heartfelt thank you to all those who planned and organized the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children. After reviewing the website, I cried both tears of joy and sorrow. I am so grateful to those clergy, especially Bishops and Cardinals, participating in the Memorials. Of all the children aborted and discarded in our Diocese, we have but one known gravesite, and that little one will witness to the Truth, helping to expose the horrific holocaust of abortion. I am deeply moved that so many Holy Innocents will be loved and remembered. A beautiful and amazing effort; God bless you all!

 

From an organizer's standpoint, it was particularly edifying to have the opportunity to work with several individuals who, having learned of the National Day of Remembrance just a few days beforehand, jumped at the chance to spearhead the planning of a memorial service in their local area on extremely short notice.

 

If We Don't Visit the Gravesites of Aborted Children, Who Will?

 

The National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children stands as a testament to the humanity of the millions of babies whose lives have been tragically cut short before they were born. Although they have been discarded and abandoned, we as members of the pro-life community must mourn their loss as we would mourn the loss of one of our own loved ones. For if we do not mourn them, who will?

 

Members of the three organizations that co-sponsored the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children—Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Priests for Life, and the Pro-Life Action League—believe that pro-lifers should be visiting the gravesites of aborted babies, and other memorial sites dedicated to aborted babies, as a habitual part of their pro-life witness.

 

Fostering these regular visits is what the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children is all about, and what it will continue to be about, as plans are already in the works for the second annual National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children in 2014.

 

Source: Prolife Action League

Here's how to stop ObamaCare

 

Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) has authored a Continuing Resolution, the Security, Stability, and Fairness Resolution (H.J.RES. 62), that will defund ObamaCare in its entirety for the coming fiscal year. His bill will fund the rest of government with the sole exception of ObamaCare.

 

This means that if there is a shutdown of government, it will be done by those who want to continue to fund ObamaCare.

 

Congress must pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) by September 30 to avoid a government shutdown. The House may vote AS SOON AS TOMORROW on whether to continue funding for ObamaCare or cut it off.

 

This law is so bad that congressional staff have exempted themselves from it.

 

This is the best chance we may ever have to defund the gargantuan and hopelessly misguided piece of legislation that is ObamaCare.

 

TAKE ACTION

 

Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your congressman by name. Urge him to co-sponsor H.J.RES. 62, a CR that does not contain a single penny of funding for ObamaCare.

 

Remember that according to the Constitution all appropriations bills must start in the House. This means that the House can stop ObamaCare in its tracks this week. No money, no ObamaCare.

 

ObamaCare:

 

-Is so bad that congressional staff have exempted themselves from it

-Violates freedom of religion and conscience by requiring Christian businesses to pay for abortifacients

-Will send your tax dollars to health care providers who perform abortions

 

Source: American Family Association

Support for ObamaCare plunges to 39%

 

It's never been a secret that ObamaCare has long been unpopular. But as the components of the "Affordable Care Act" are rolled out, the numbers who oppose ObamaCare grow larger. (See also "NBC's Chuck Todd: Bad PR To Blame For ObamaCare's Unpopularity.")

 

The latest evidence of popular discontent is evidenced by a new CNN/ORC International survey where 57% oppose all or most of the provisions of ObamaCare. Not only has the percentage in favor shrunk to 39%, the President's signature domestic achievement is taking a hit among key Democratic constituencies.

 

CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser writes

 

"Support has dropped in virtually all demographic categories, but it has fallen the farthest among two core Democratic groups – women and Americans who make less than $50,000."

 

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland told Steinhauser

 

"Those are also the two groups that are most likely to pay attention to health insurance issues, and possibly the ones most likely to be affected by any changes," adds Holland. "That may be particularly true for lower-income Americans who are most likely to have part-time jobs, be on Medicaid, or not currently have health insurance and thus be the first to have to navigate the new system."

 

National Right to Life vigorously opposes ObamaCare because of its abortion subsidies and provisions for abortion-expanding administrative mandates, and because it will lead to rationing of life-saving medical treatment.

 

Earlier this week, NRLC formally urged the director of the Office of Personnel Management "to tell the White House that the agency cannot break the law by paying for health plans for federal employees that cover elective abortion – not even to accommodate the White House's desire to placate pro-abortion pressure groups."

 

Contact: Dave Andrusko, National Right to Life

No Illinois U.S. House members sign onto bill that would defund Obamacare

 

Despite an ongoing efforts to defund the unpopular Obamacare, not a single Illinois Congressman is listed among the 42 co-sponsors on U.S. Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA) bill introduced Thursday that would fully delay and defund Obamacare until 2015, while funding the government for FY 2014.

 

The 42 members that have signed onto Graves' "Stability, Security and Fairness Resolution" (H.J.Res. 62 - See attachment below) are significant in that House Republicans must have no more than 16 defections on any legislation to pass a continuing budget resolution to keep the federal government funded beginning October 1. Groups such as Heritage Action that have been calling for Congress to defund Obamacare are endorsing Graves' plan.

 

"After weeks of working with and listening to members on how to approach the government funding deadline, it's clear that House Republicans are united around two goals: keeping the government open and protecting our constituents from the harmful effects of Obamacare. Today, my 42 cosponsors and I are putting forward a plan that achieves both goals," said Rep. Graves.

 

"This plan is straightforward. We will achieve long-term stability by funding the government for the next fiscal year. Additionally, the resolution includes the three House-passed appropriations bills that affect our national security and our veterans. Our troops, their families and our veterans should not have their priorities put on hold," Graves continued. "Finally, our plan will achieve fairness for every American by fully delaying and defunding Obamacare until 2015. This approach builds upon the Obama Administration's policy of delaying portions of Obamacare and relieves taxpayers of the burden of funding a program that is not being implemented."

 

Stability, Security and Fairness Resolution Summary

 

Stability: Keeps the government open for FY2014.

 

· A Continuing Resolution for FY2014 for the nine non-security bills, with overall spending for the entire bill, security and non-security, at the post-sequestration number of $967.4 billion.

 

Security: Prioritizes funding for national security and veterans.

 

· Includes the Defense, Homeland Security and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bills for FY2014 as passed by the House.

 

Fairness: Provides healthcare fairness and taxpayer relief by defunding and delaying Obamacare until 2015.

 

UPDATE: The following was taken from THOMAS.gov at 4:00 PM CST - September 13, 2013 - 42 co-sponsors are listed and none from Illinois.

 

 

Source: Illinois Review

No to Ad Hoc Death Panels

 

JAMA has editorialized concerning Futile Care Theory, aka medical futility. The idea is that when a doctor or bioethics committee believes that wanted life-sustaining treatment isn't worth the suffering or cost, they should be able to veto a family or patient's decision to stay alive and limit treatment to comfort care.

 

The journal is reacting to a study finding that ICU doctors believe that 20% of ICU care is "futile." JAMA cogently notes that the study is of limited value, since it only records the perceptions of one doctor per patient, and does not include the views of nurses, families, etc.

 

It then makes some editorial recommendations that I think are worth considering. From "Futile Treatments in Intensive Care Units:"

 

First, we believe that clinicians should generally avoid using the term futile to describe such treatment and instead use the term potentially inappropriate. It is exceedingly rare for surrogates in ICUs to request treatments that are strictly futile (ie, stand no chance of achieving their intended goal). Instead, disputes generally arise from requests for treatments that stand at least some chance of accomplishing the patient's goal but for which the clinician believes that there are competing ethical considerations that may justify treatment refusal, such as the low likelihood of benefit or the high cost.

 

Whatever you call it, to use a widely deployed polemic, that amounts to an ad hoc death panel.

 

Second, from an ethical and legal standpoint, these disputes are often more complicated than they seem. Although in some cases clinicians may believe strongly that it would be wrong to administer the requested treatments, there is ongoing debate about the boundaries of acceptable practice near the end of life. Short of brain death, there are no criteria or rules to which clinicians can appeal to justify decisions to refuse life support, at least when those treatments hold even a small chance of achieving the patient's goals.

 

Indeed.

 

Third, clinicians' initial response to requests for treatments that they believe are wrong should be to increase communication with the patient or the patient's surrogate rather than simply to refuse the request.

 

No question.

 

Fourth, if the conflict becomes intractable despite intensive communication, clinicians should pursue a fair process of dispute resolution rather than refusing unilaterally to provide treatment…Important components of a fair process include seeking a second opinion from a qualified physician, case review by the hospital ethics committee, attempts to transfer the patient to another institution when such a transfer might be appropriate, and informing surrogates of their right to seek judicial intervention.

 

No. I am all in favor of dispute resolution processes. But they must be mediating as distinguished from quasi-judicial. The committee cannot have the final say.

 

I have attended these meetings, and they can be very intimidating. Everyone in the room tends to know each other–and usually interact often with the doctor, who may be a hospital employee known as a hospitalist–leading to a real (if unintended) stacked deck favoring the institutional culture.

 

I do agree that intractable disputes belong in open court, with a right to discovery, deposition, cross examination, appeal–and press coverage. But the hospital should have the burden of proof and the duty to take the matter to court, not the family.

 

So let us say no to ad hoc death panels. Allowing imposed withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment at the bedside–whatever it is called–would further undermine the people's already waning faith in the health care system.

 

Contact: Wesley J. Smith, National Right to Life/nationalreview.com

 

Editor's note. This appeared on Wesley's blog at nationalreview.com.

2/3rds oppose physician-assisted suicide in poll conducted by New England Journal of Medicine surveying its own members

 

The headline on the story is encouraging enough—"Most Doctors Oppose Physician-Assisted Suicide, Poll Finds"—but that's only the beginning. Here's the opening paragraph of Steve Reinberg's story for HealthDay.

 

He is writing about a poll conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) of the journal's readers, mostly health-care providers.

 

"Whether doctors should help patients die continues to be a hotly debated topic within the medical community, a New England Journal of Medicine poll finds. The journal questioned readers about a hypothetical near-death case and received more than 2,000 valid responses. Roughly two-thirds worldwide — including 67 percent of replies from the United States — said they disapprove of physician-assisted suicide. Most readers of the journal are doctors."

 

Okay, what else?

 

·   That 2/3rds "no" vote came even though the case was really designed to get agreement: a 72-year-old man with incurable metastatic prostate cancer. I'm guessing the authors were not happy with the results, for they wrote that "online voting . . . is prone to bias and is likely not to be scientifically valid."

 

·   Likewise with Barbara Coombs Lee, president of the pro-euthanasia Compassion & Choices. Coombs said that while she doesn't believe doctors should be forced to do something they have an objection to, "neither should patients be held hostage to the moral objection of a dissenting physician."

 

·   Ditto for Marcia Angell, MD, a former editor of the NEJM and a proponent of physician-assisted suicide. She told Robert Lowes of Medscape Medical News, "[The survey] doesn't tell me much," said Dr. Angell, who is a senior lecturer on medical ethics at Harvard Medical School, in Boston. "These are the people who chose to respond. They're not all practicing physicians."

 

·   While it is regrettable that a majority of respondents from 18 states supported physician-assisted suicide, it is significant that respondents from the first two states to first legalize physician-assisted suicide– Oregon and Washington—did not.

 

·   Reinberg provides the needed context. He wrote, "The American Medical Association strongly objects to physician-assisted suicide. 'Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally inconsistent with the physician's professional role,' the association states. 'Requests for physician-assisted suicide should be a signal to the physician that the patient's needs are unmet and further evaluation to identify the elements contributing to the patient's suffering is necessary.'"

 

·   Of the more than 200 comments the NEJM received, many referenced the traditional argument that this would be violating their Hippocratic duty to do no harm and warned of a "slippery slope." One of the interesting responses Lowes chose to highlight really cut to the chase:

 

"I'm struck that my aboriginal patients never ask about euthanasia," wrote a reader identifying herself as a Canadian internist in a remote area of the country. "I am realizing that our focus on individual autonomy is a culture-specific one, and occurs at the expense of other values such as connection to other people, valuing of the full human experience, and the ability to receive our life's trajectory without always controlling it.

 

"To raise my hand to kill…never for me, and never (I hope) for my profession."

 

Contact: Dave Andrusko, National Right to Life

“I Just Wanted My Pregnancy”: Women duped into aborting her baby gives first interview to CNN’s “New Day”

Remee Lee

 

The interview Tuesday with CNN's Chris Cuomo lasted only a few minutes, but no viewer could watch Remee Lee tearfully recall how she had been duped into chemically aborting her child and not be deeply moved.

 

Andrew Welden pled guilty this week to lesser charges in exchange for the prosecution dropping the murder charge made possible by the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act legislation that was instigated by NRLC and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2004.

 

In a complicated and duplicitous ploy, Welden convinced Lee that Welden's father, an obstetrician, had diagnosed her with a bacterial infection and had prescribed a common antibiotic. In truth, "Weldon stole his father's prescription pad to obtain Cytotec, the abortion pill, and disguised it as the antibiotic," according to CNN. "He even forged a phony label."

 

To the best of my knowledge Cuomo, the son of pro-abortion former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, has never displayed any sympathy to our cause. But his questions of Lee were very empathetic.

 

He asked if Lee would want further contact with Welden, who faces a jail sentence of up to 15 years.

 

Lee: "I always wanted there to be. This isn't what I wanted, none of this is what I wanted. I just wanted my pregnancy. Even if he would have left me alone and never seen me again or never seen the child, I just wanted that, that's it."

 

Cuomo: "The baby mattered the most?"

 

Lee: "Yes."

 

Cuomo: "It's all politics and math until you have something growing inside you, isn't it? When you had that baby growing inside of you and you lost it, what did it make your realize about when it was your child?"

 

Lee: "Nothing else matters in the world to me. Everything I thought was important before this took a really big change when this blessing came into my life. …There's no words for the horror I wake up to every day, that this is my reality. There's no escaping it, there's no turning it off."

 

Cuomo—"And as difficult as it is for you to deal with this and watch the case, what brings you here, what gives you energy, you say, is that you want to fight for the life of the unborn child."

 

Lee: Long answer in one word. Yes! "I never want this to happen to anyone else."

 

Contact: Dave Andrusko, National Right to Life

Abortion clinic closings on rise in U.S., 44 tallied year to date

 

For Abby Johnson, the closing of a single Planned Parenthood center demonstrated her dramatic reversal from abortion clinic director to leading pro-life advocate.

 

But for pro-lifers throughout the United States, it marked another exhibit in a hopeful trend -- abortion centers are shutting down at an unprecedented rate. The total so far this year is 44, according to a pro-life organization that tracks clinic operations.

 

None was more telling for Johnson than the mid-July closing of the Planned Parenthood center in Bryan, Texas. It came less than four years after Johnson, burdened by her involvement with abortion, walked out of that clinic as its director and into the offices of the Coalition for Life.

 

"Knowing that the former abortion clinic I once ran is now closing is the biggest personal victory of my life," Johnson said in a written statement after the announcement of the shutdown. "From running that facility, to then advocating for its closure, and now celebrating that dream ... it shows that my life has indeed come full circle."

 

Since her celebrated conversion from Planned Parenthood director, Johnson has started a ministry to help workers leave the abortion industry. She has pledged, as she said in July, to "fight until every abortion clinic in this country has shut its doors."

 

This year, 42 clinics that provided surgical abortions have shut their doors, and two that offered chemical abortions by drugs also have closed, according to Operation Rescue, which monitors closings and health and safety violations by clinics nationwide. That number far surpasses the 25 surgical clinics shutdown last year and the 30 in 2011, by Operation Rescue's count. While others estimate a smaller number of closings, the pattern is clear.

 

Some of the shutdowns have been of major clinics. For instance, Virginia's No. 1 abortion provider closed, The Washington Post reported in July. NOVA Women's Healthcare in Fairfax, Va., shut down after state and local governments enacted regulations the abortion provider appeared unable to meet. The northern Virginia clinic performed 3,066 abortions in 2012 and 3,567 in 2011.

 

The reasons given for the upswing in closings are varied even among pro-lifers. They include:

 

-- the increasing state regulation and oversight of clinics;

 

-- a growth in pro-life opinion and activity, and

 

-- a decline in the abortion rate.

 

In some cases, clinics have shut down when abortion doctors retired or were no longer licensed.

 

State legislatures enacted 69 pro-life laws this year, according to a report released Thursday (Sept. 5) by Americans United for Life. In all, 48 states considered about 360 such proposals in 2013, AUL reported.

 

The legislative action this year continued a recent trend in states: 70 "life-affirming measures" became law in 2011 and 38 in 2012, according to AUL.

 

Some measures have targeted making the procedure and clinics safer for women, and have helped escalate the number of clinic shutdowns. This year, states such as Alabama, North Carolina and Texas passed varied laws either requiring abortion clinics to meet the same health and safety standards as outpatient surgical centers, or authorizing the state to enforce such requirements. Also, in 2013, North Dakota and Wisconsin joined Alabama and Texas in mandating abortion doctors have admitting privileges at local hospitals.

 

While pro-lifers assert the laws are for the protection of women, abortion rights advocates argue their purpose is to stop abortion. Regardless, the result appears to be abortion clinics are being held accountable in ways they have not been previously.

 

"Considering the growing body of medical evidence confirming the health risks of abortion for women, abortion cannot be left in the hands of an unmonitored, unregulated and uncaring industry feeding off fear and federal subsidies," AUL President Charmaine Yoest said in a written statement.

 

The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization affiliated with the abortion rights movement, charged in June such laws "are a solution in search of a problem, a cynical ploy to advance an agenda that seeks to make it more and more difficult for women to obtain an abortion, with the ultimate goal of eliminating U.S. women's access to safe and legal abortion."

 

The increased state government oversight of clinics is a response to pro-lifers spotlighting abuses by abortion providers, and to the scandals uncovered in recent years, said Cheryl Sullenger, Operation Rescue's senior policy advisor. Her research has produced disciplinary action against various abortion doctors.

 

Foremost among the scandals was that of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell and his Philadelphia clinic. The regulatory failures in Pennsylvania appear to have made an impression on officials in other states.

 

Gosnell received three consecutive life sentences in May for the first-degree murder of three born-alive babies. Those children were only three of hundreds at least six months into gestation who were killed outside the womb after induced delivery at a clinic criticized for its unsanitary and unsafe conditions.

 

A 2011 grand jury report criticized the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Department of State for failing to oversee the clinic properly. Gosnell's clinic had not been inspected since 1993 despite many complaints, according to the report.

 

While the actions of state legislatures and agencies appear to have contributed to clinic shutdowns, the growing activism of pro-lifers also has been an important ingredient, said the national director of 40 Days for Life.

 

"I believe the increase in closures is due to record numbers of Christians praying for an end to abortion, and getting actively involved in pro-life efforts where they live -- recognizing that change is not going to come from politicians in Washington, D.C., anytime soon," David Bereit wrote in a statement for Baptist Press.

 

Since 2007, 40 Days has conducted its semi-annual campaigns of peaceful prayer vigils outside abortion clinics in more than 500 cities nationally and internationally. More than 575,000 people have participated, and 40 Days reports 39 clinics have closed permanently after their campaigns.

 

Both Bereit and Sullenger believe even more clinic closures are in the offing.

 

"The momentum is shifting dramatically in the pro-life direction, and as even more people answer the call to 'speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves' and 'rescue those being led to the slaughter,'" Bereit said, citing verses in Proverbs 31 and 24, respectively, "I believe we will see many more abortion centers closing in the near future."

 

Sullenger said in a written statement, "We do anticipate an increase in the number of abortion clinics as new laws are enacted and inspections increase. Enforcement of laws on the books has always been the key. We simply have never found an abortion clinic that complies with the law on all points.

 

"Couple that with a downward trend in abortion numbers and increased pro-life sentiment, [and] the abortion industry is in financial trouble," she said before adding a caveat. "However, an influx of money from the government via [the 2010 health-care reform law] and private sources could artificially keep some clinics open."

 

Contact: Tom Strode, Baptist Press

Life Chain continues to pray across U.S. to end abortion

 

The urgent need to rescue preborn babies is at the heart of another Life Chain observance Oct. 6.

 

For 26 years, people have been peacefully holding signs along streets in cities and towns while praying for the end of abortion. Upwards of a million participants in the United States and Canada were mobilized until organizers stopped counting in the early 1990s to make prayer the sole focus. The event occurs on the first Sunday in October, along with similar Life Chains at different times in other countries.

 

"Abortions remain numerous" while too many churches remain apathetic, said Royce Dunn, founder and director of Life Chain (www.lifechain.net) and a Baptist layman from Yuba City, Calif. "That's why we do this. We aim to rescue a nation, too. The church must discover and discern the holocaust."

 

Life Chain launched in California with thousands of participants from Sacramento to San Diego and went national in 1991 with 373 locations and 771,000 participants across the country. In 1992 the total swelled to more than 800 U.S. venues and 975,000 participants along with 97 chains and 80,000 people in Canada, although current numbers are considerably lower.

 

"The Life Chain is a call to the church through pastoral leadership," Dunn noted. "It's church-oriented and pastor-focused. Pastors are urged to prepare their people and lead them to the chain. Participants are to just isolate themselves with God for 90 minutes. If they do that with their pastor, it will be a very, very meaningful experience."

 

Joe Goodson, a Southern Baptist minister in Texas, has seen the Life Chain work well in the state, having participated as a seminarian, youth pastor and pastor over the years. This year he will be with the Temple/Belton Life Chain.

 

The battle at the Texas statehouse in Austin in recent months over a bill to restrict abortions is a special motivation to Goodson for this year's Life Chain.

 

"It was an intense conflict between light and darkness, and the spiritual blindness and darkness upon our nation and culture was almost palpable at times," Goodson said. "The attempt to protect unborn children was slandered as evil with all sorts of obscene signs, chants and bitterness." The legislature passed a bill with various abortion restrictions and Gov. Rick Perry subsequently signed it.

 

"After witnessing this, I am exponentially more eager to spread the word about the Life Chain all across Texas and beyond ... to provide that essential voice for the voiceless unborn," Goodson said.

 

Dunn said today's worship often shuns the cries of Jeremiah, Isaiah and Jonah. Instead, the American church largely is ineffectual against "a calamity much larger than the German Holocaust. While 56 million chiefly surgical abortions have been reported in America and 3 million in Canada, the actual numbers are much higher, and hidden deaths from the abortive chemicals in birth controls may exceed the surgical deaths."

 

Commenting on the silence of many pastors on the issue, Dunn said, "As long as they refuse to discern and communicate what the children are enduring they will continue to die. ... The same thing happened in Germany. The same thing happened in America with institutional slavery before the Civil War. America has been warned before."

 

For each Life Chain that gathers for prayer, their plea to end abortion is conveyed through a set of seven signs, with one taking the lead -- "Abortion Kills Children," the only one also printed in Spanish.

 

Other signs include: "Pray to End Abortion"; "Adoption the Loving Option"; "Jesus Forgives & Heals"; "Lord, Forgive Us and Our Nation"; and "Abortion Hurts Women."

 

The signs feature colored lettering on a white background. Their cost has gone up over the years from 15 cents to 50 cents. Fundraising is discouraged. A local coordinator at the event typically will ask for a free-will offering to pay for them.

 

"It's really peanuts to try to save human life," Dunn said.

 

For locations in Illinois, please visit: http://lifechain.net/NatList1_V2.html#ILLINOIS

 

Contact: Allen Palmeri, Baptist Press

Lawmaker reviews rule change allowing Illinois minors secret STD vaccinations

 

Illinois parents concerned about their children getting secret vaccinations against sexually transmitted diseases may get the opportunity to voice their opinion about overseeing their children's medical care as soon as the fall veto session, State Senator Sue Rezin (R-Morris) said Wednesday.

 

"The rule change slipped through and nobody caught it.  We're looking at how we can correct it," she said.

 

Rezin is referring to a change made in June that allows minors to get vaccinations for sexually transmitted infections (STI) without their parents' knowledge that is raising concern among Illinois parents.

 

Since 1995, Illinois minors starting at age twelve have had the right to consent to medical treatment and counseling if they thought they had been exposed to an STI.

 

At the end of June, Illinois' Department of Public Health confirmed, another right was granted to Illinois minors – the ability to consent to vaccinations affiliated with STIs.

 

Illinois minors are not allowed to receive pain relievers or any other medical treatment without their parents' consent. They are not allowed to get their ears pierced or their skin tattooed without responsible adults being in agreement.  But now, under Illinois' communicable disease code, they can get Gardasil or Hepatitis B shots and keep them a secret from their parents under federal HIPAA laws.

 

"This new public policy in Illinois is stunning and dangerous," said Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccination Information Center in Virginia. "Unless parents are informed that their children have been given a vaccine like Gardasil, they can't monitor their children for symptoms or side effects that could cause permanent harm. No twelve year old has the ability to object morally or ethically to a health professional telling them they need a vaccination."

 

"Gardasil is a vaccination given as a prevention against the human papillomavirus (HPV), not a treatment if a child thinks she may have been exposed," Fisher said.

 

The July 2013 U.S. federal government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System shows 30,674 adverse reactions reported after Gardasil vaccinations, with 963 recipients being left disabled and 140 dead.

 

How did Illinois children get the right to consent to STI vaccinations such as Gardasil without legislative debate or public comment?

 

In May, the Illinois General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules considered a proposal rewriting a section of the Communicable Disease Control and Immunizations' Control of Sexually Transmissible Infections Code.

 

"The changes were mostly to do with revising language concerning HIV, but the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists suggested the change adding vaccinations," Vicki Thomas, the executive director of J-CAR said. "They said that part of the treatment for STIs now involves vaccinations, and at their recommendation, the words 'or vaccination against' were added."

 

Thomas said no one raised any questions or comments about the change, so the new responsibility for vaccinations and any adverse effects was provided to minors twelve years of age and older when J-CAR voted to accept the section rewrite.

 

Senator Rezin serves on J-CAR and said the addition was one she disagrees with, but "Nobody caught it, and literally three words were inserted," making the change.

 

Rezin said legislative staff is looking at what can be done to correct the current policy now in effect.

 

"We're looking at it, at how this happened, and hoping to consider legislation that will cause parents of minors twelve and above to consent to vaccinations like Gardasil," Rezin said.

 

However, involving parents in the treatment of children who think they may have been exposed to a sexually transmitted infection may be a challenge in the Illinois legislature.

 

In 2011, California passed into law AB 499, which allows children to receive Gardasil or Hepatitis B vaccination without parents' consent. The legislation was controversial and drew outrage from parents that didn't sway state lawmakers.

 

"Informed consent should always be a criteria for medical treatment," NVIC's director Fisher said. "Children at age 12 are unable to process what is needed for informed consent. Illinois has enacted a very dangerous policy."

 

Source: Illinois Review

National Right to Life Urges OPM Acting Director To Tell the President: We Cannot Break the Law on Abortion

 

 

 

 
National Right to Life Urges OPM Acting Director To Tell the President: We Cannot Break the Law on Abortion
 
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of state right-to-life organizations, today formally urged that the director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) tell the White House that the agency cannot break the law by paying for health plans for federal employees that cover elective abortion – not even to accommodate the White House's desire to placate pro-abortion pressure groups.
 
The counsel came within NRLC's formal comment on a proposed rule published by OPM on August 8, with a deadline for public comment today.
 
A component of the "Affordable Care Act" (Obamacare) requires that Members of Congress and certain congressional staff buy their health plans on the new exchanges, starting January 1, 2014. OPM's proposed rule spells out how this transition will occur, without interrupting the contributions made by the government to the cost of such plans (approximately 75% of the premium cost).
 
NRLC's letter, a detailed critique submitted to OPM by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and Senior Legislative Counsel Susan T. Muskett, J.D., cites multiple evidences that OPM intends to allow the federal employees affected by the change to purchase plans that cover elective abortion. If this occurs, it will violate an explicit congressional prohibition, the Smith Amendment, which for most of the past 30 years has prohibited OPM from any administrative involvement in purchasing any health plan for federal employees that covers abortion (except in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest).
 
The NRLC letter notes that OPM spokespersons have engaged in "blatant misdirection" in recent weeks, "attempting to mislead journalists and others into thinking that the new protests [against the proposed rule] are a reiteration of objections to the manner in which the new 'refundable premium assistance tax credits' will be used to subsidize private health plans that cover abortion" under Obamacare. That issue, while extremely important in its own right, has nothing whatever to do with the impending violation of the Smith Amendment, the NRLC letter explains.
 
The NRLC comment letter concludes:
 
If OPM proceeds on the course indicated – expending funds for administrative expenses in connection with federal employee health plans that cover elective abortions, those involved will be violating the plain language of a valid limitation on appropriations. This would be a lawless act, and in NRLC's view, would implicate the Anti-Deficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341. The Anti-Deficiency Act is a longstanding federal law that provides, in certain circumstances, civil and criminal liability for expenditure of congressional funds outside the limits set by Congress.
 
Those who dislike the policy that the Smith Amendment imposes, the President included, are free to urge Congress to repeal it. NRLC will continue to forcefully argue to Congress that federal agencies should not be engaged in any aspect of administering health plans that cover elective abortions, and that therefore the Smith Amendment should be preserved. Lawmakers may vote and be held accountable by constituents for how they vote on that question. That is the system provided by the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution does not confer on any President a retroactive, line-item veto, by which he may arbitrarily nullify specific provisions of duly enacted laws, when he finds those specific provisions inconvenient or offensive to various pressure groups to which he is politically indebted.
 
Therefore, NRLC urges that the OPM Acting Director inform the White House that she cannot be a party to a blatant violation of law, notwithstanding the pro-abortion pressure groups the White House feels bound to accommodate, and that OPM therefore must exclude from the program any health plan that covers abortion (except where the life of the mother is endangered, or in cases of rape or incest).
 
The complete text of the NRLC comment is posted on the NRLC website here.
 
Source: National Right to Life

Health concerns raised about Illinois kids receiving secret STD vaccinations

 

A new Illinois administrative rule allows children as young as 12 years old to request and receive vaccinations for sexually transmitted infections without their parents knowledge or permission. However, new medical data is raising serious concerns about the health risks associated with the vaccine.

 

The vaccine in question is Gardasil, made by pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. It is designed to fight the human papillomavirus, which can lead to genital warts and is connected to cervical cancer. However, medical experts are voicing concerns about the safety of the vaccination.

 

Dr. Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD from the Neural Dynamics Research Group at the University of British Colombia has strongly criticized the vaccine, saying "The efficacy of Gardasil in preventing cervical cancer has not been demonstrated and the marketing campaign has been misleading. The efficacy of Gardasil remains unsubstantiated since the vaccine hasn't been adequately tested on the primary age group to which it is currently given. Merck promoted Gardasil primarily as a vaccine against cervical cancer, rather than promoting it as a vaccine against HPV infection or sexually transmitted disease."

 

Last month, Japan's health ministry issued a nationwide notice that cervical cancer vaccinations should no longer be recommended, and several Japanese teens who received the vaccines are now in wheelchairs with damage to their brains and spinal cords.

 

In addition, the U.S. federal government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System's latest July 2013 report shows 30,674 adverse reactions after Gardasil vaccinations, with up to 963 recipients being left "disabled" and 140 dead.

 

 

Source: Illinois Review

Obama administration should comply with policy against abortion funding in federal health plans

 

The general counsel of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging the Office of Personnel Management to comply with a decades-old federal policy that prohibits "subsidizing federal employee plans that include elective abortions," according to a USCCB press release.

 

"In 2010, the new health reform law provided that members of Congress and their staff may only be offered health plans on the newly created state health insurance exchanges," the USCCB explained.

 

According to the Family Research Council, the Office of Personnel Management recently ruled that "federal dollars may now go to pay for plans offered on those exchanges that include abortion coverage."

 

"Changing the place where these employees must go to obtain their health plans does not affect the continued applicability" of the current policy, the USCCB added. "A contrary policy … would also contradict repeated assurances from President Obama and Administration officials that the health care reform law would not be used to weaken existing abortion policies or expand federal funding for abortion."

 

Source: Catholic World News

Abortion: the video game!

 

Because the evil legislators of Texas showed how much they hate women by putting laws in place that the majority of both Texans and Americans support, there is clearly a need to help those poor, poor Texas women forced to have abortions before 20 weeks of pregnancy in clean, well-regulated abortion clinics. And what better way to do that than with a video game? Introducing Choice: Texas, a "very serious game."

 

Choice: Texas, developed and designed by Carly Kocurek and Allyson Whipple, uses careful research into Texas legal regulations and demographics to create fictional characters. These characters encounter realistic situations, financial and geographic limitations, as well as personal choices and goals. By asking players to take on the role of one of these women, the developer invite players to consider the situation Texas woman might encounter, and asks the players for empathy and understanding.

 

"This game is about an important issue effecting women in Texas, and is intended as a means of furthering discussion and empathy," says Carly Kocurek.

 

… "We really think games can facilitate further conversation about and understanding of these kinds of issues."

 

The creators of the video game are asking for people to give money to help make this game a reality, using a video to explain all of the reasons why it is needed. What are the oh-so-awful barriers to abortion in Texas?

 

View the video of Carly Kocurek and Allyson Whipple (creators of this horrible game) promoting their game here: http://youtu.be/NEZ4gs2Iwng

 

Waiting periods! Parental consent! "Biased" counseling! Oh, and worst of all…mandatory ultrasounds which by no means are medically necessary, and definitely are not already the industry standard.

 

Gosh, Texas women must have it so hard, with these laws that they themselves supported and all. Clearly, this video game will make them all see how stupid they are and how terrible life is in Texas, what with abortion not being super-duper-easy, available in every single town, and most importantly, free. Thank goodness these warrior-women are putting their own personal feelings on abortion aside in order to bring a video game to the public that will enlighten us all!

 

Contact: Cassy Fiano, Live Action

National Day or Remembrance

 

Cities throughout America are getting set for the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children.

 

The date, Saturday, September 14, marks the historic burial of hundreds of bodies of aborted babies in Milwaukee 25 years ago. Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League tells OneNewsNow 37 gravesites and 360 memorials for the unborn have been discovered.

 

"We are going to these gravesites and other memorial locations for the unborn victims of abortion to pray for our country, to pray for an end to abortion and to mourn the loss of these children of God to abortion over the years," he shares.

 

Those sites are listed on a special website.

 

In Illinois, some sites include: St. Mary Cemetery in Evergreen Park in which Bishop Alberto Rojas, a Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, and Carol Rybacki, a representative of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, will speak.  There is also a memorial at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside where Cardinal Francis George of Chicago and Joe Scheidler will be attending and a memorial at Resurrection Cemetery in Romeoville where Bishop Joseph Siegel, the Catholic Bishop of Joliet, and national activist and blogger Jill Stanek, who is from the far southwest suburbs of Chicago, will participate.

 

"You can go to AbortionMemorials.com and find those locations and even volunteer to coordinate a memorial service," the pro-lifer reports. "It can be anything from an elaborate service with pastors and with special prayers and a program and maybe even invite the media, to simply going out with a group of fellow committed pro-lifers to pray on that day in solidarity with others around the country who are remembering the victims of abortion," Scheidler suggests.

 

Those victims include the women who have aborted their children.

 

Event organizers are also asking people willing to set up memorials and conduct a National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children event either this year or in the future to contact them for information on how to do so.

 

More than 56 million babies have died through abortion in America

 

Contact: Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow.com and John Ryan, Illinois Federation for Right to Life

Iowa Will End ‘Tele-med’ Abortions

 

The Iowa Board of Medicine has voted 8-2 to stop "tele-med" abortions in the state as early as November.

 

"Tele-med" procedures are performed when an abortionist communicates with a woman in another city or country via the Internet to prescribe abortion causing drugs like RU-486.

 

Medical board chairman Dr. Greg Hoversten, said he's personally pro-life, but the board's decision hinged on standard of care.

 

"How can any of us possibly find that a medical abortion performed over the internet is as safe as one provided by a physician in person?" he asked.

 

Carrie Gordon Earll with Focus on the Family, said the vote is important because Iowa is considered the birthplace of "webcam" abortions.

 

"This procedure was started in 2008 at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Des Moines," she said. "The abortion industry has been losing locations for some time now and this seems to be a way of adapting to these changes."

 

And, as always, there are risks.

 

"It's never safe for the baby and can be life threatening for the mother," she said. "And, it's hard to track RU-486 deaths because the death is often tied to infection and not the actual abortion. We know more than a dozen women died in US alone. To suggest that a doctor doesn't need to examine and see a woman before taking this drug just doesn't make sense."

 

Contact: Kim Trobee, CitzenLink

Sex education for kindergarteners has only one agenda

 

The Chicago Public Schools are this year mandating that kindergartners receive sex education lessons. Opponents say it's a way of exposing them to the homosexual lifestyle.

 

The CEO of the Chicago Public Schools is emphasizing that this curriculum will be age appropriate. But Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute says that is misleading.

 

"What all the talk about is that from the perspective of those on the left, there is virtually nothing that is considered inappropriate," she points out. "But they believe that it's appropriate to talk to kindergarteners about diverse family structures. And what that means is talking about families that are led by homosexuals."

 

She says that sex education lessons for young students just beginning school are out of place.

 

"Five-year-olds are not sexual beings, except in the world of progressives," she says. "They're not thinking about sex, they're not having sexual feelings. And so this is completely unnecessary, and parents are capable of handling this."

 

She says parents of Chicago-area public school students should opt their children out of any lessons involving homosexuality or gender confusion.

 

Contact: Bob Kellogg, OneNewsNow.com

Viral BuzzFeed post on ‘outrageous’ Planned Parenthood sparks fury among pro-aborts

 

A list that appeared on Buzzfeed detailing "outrageous" incidents recorded at Planned Parenthood facilities by the pro-life group Live Action has now gone viral and infuriated abortion supporters in the process, who are demanding that it be removed from the wildly popular site.

 

The articled, titled "8 Outrageous Things Planned Parenthood was Caught Doing," was posted on the Buzzfeed Community forum, where anyone can post Buzzfeed-style lists of their own devising, by the pro-life group Personhood USA.  

 

As of this writing it has been viewed over 105,000 times since being put up on August 21, and has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Since Personhood USA began posting their lists on BuzzFeed Community over a week ago, they have accumulated 16 automatically-generated BuzzFeed 'awards', including Gold Facebook (over 10,000 views), Gold Twitter (over 10,000 views) and Gold Views (over 100,000), according to the group.

 

BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith seems to have been caught off guard by both the popularity of the pro-life posting and by the harsh reaction of those opposing the appearance of the list on his website.

 

Smith told the New York Observer's Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke that BuzzFeed is "in the process of figuring out where and whether we should draw lines about what's appropriate on what we conceived as an open platform."

 

Smith added that, "one of the few ways these posts get seen are from stories like the one you wrote. There isn't a single link on BuzzFeed to this story, but there is one in the New York Observer."

 

According to a press release from Personhood USA, the reaction by abortion advocates to the popularity of the posting has prompted BuzzFeed to put up a Personhood USA-specific disclaimer.

 

"The new disclaimer, which Personhood USA researchers cannot find on any other BuzzFeed posts, states, 'Community posts are made by members of the community, and are not vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed'," said Josh Craddock of Personhood USA.

 

Craddock pointed out that BuzzFeed staff have posted several pro-choice articles, including  "The Internet Celebrates Texas State Senator Wendy Davis' Filibuster" and "What the Language in Abortion Law Really Means," all with no disclaimer.

 

The "8 Outrageous Things Planned Parenthood was Caught Doing" list includes videos recorded in LiveAction.org sting operations showing PP staff accepting racist donations, telling lies about providing mammograms, giving misinformation about pregnancy, and hiding child rape.

 

"Instead of outrage at Planned Parenthood, who receives hundreds of millions of our tax dollars, the general outcry has been directed at BuzzFeed and Personhood USA, which is ridiculous," said Craddock.

 

"We at Personhood USA are using BuzzFeed to share a message, just like every other BuzzFeed contributor. It seems that many don't want to believe that Planned Parenthood would be guilty of such outrageous things, but Planned Parenthood's misdeeds are well-documented."

 

Personhood USA currently has seven pro-life posts on BuzzFeed that include "5 Incredible Videos of Life in the Womb" and "5 Bizarre 'Persons' Protected By Law. Their most recent posting is "10 Hollywood Movies That Accidentally Affirm Life."

 

Link to all the Personhood USA BuzzFeed postings here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/personhoodusa

 

Contact: Thaddeus Baklinski, LifeSiteNews.com

Judge Dismisses Aurora Zoning Violations in Planned Parenthood Case

Thomas More Society Set to Appeal Against City of Aurora

 

Aurora Planned Parenthood

 

Yesterday, DuPage County Judge Paul Fullerton dismissed a zoning lawsuit against the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Aurora, Illinois, brought by Thomas More Society attorneys on behalf of local residents and a community group, Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood.

 

The court ruled that the City of Aurora's decision to handle the facility under a more lenient zoning for a medical clinic instead of the more restrictive zoning for a non-profit health center was a legislative decision, entitled to the highest level of deference by the court. The Thomas More Society intends to appeal the decision.

 

"This non-profit facility is located in a business district in Aurora reserved for tax-paying for-profit businesses," said Peter Breen, Vice President and Senior Counsel for the Thomas More Society. "However, the court did not meaningfully analyze city officials' decision to treat this property as if it were a for-profit business, instead holding that the decision must be respected as 'legislative.' Our system of government requires the judicial branch to rein in unlawful executive branch decisions, but this ruling would insulate from review most decisions made by unelected administrators during the zoning process, leaving residents powerless to challenge illegal facilities in their neighborhoods. We give great weight to legislative decisions because they are made by the elected legislature, not by unelected administrators."

 

Thomas More Society attorneys have brought three separate administrative actions and two lawsuits against the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Aurora, Illinois, alleging numerous zoning and building code violations during the planning and construction of the facility. While the zoning process began in January 2006, Planned Parenthood's involvement in the project was hidden. Planned Parenthood obtained zoning and permits under the name of Gemini Office Development ("G.O.D."), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of 21st Century Office Development, which, in turn, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Planned Parenthood of Illinois. The intended use of the facility became known to the public in July 2007, shortly before its scheduled opening. Aurora city officials allowed the facility to open on October 1, 2007, and the first administrative zoning action against the facility was filed the next day. The lawsuit was filed in February 2008 and has been delayed repeatedly as it made its way through state court, and briefly in federal court.

 

Over the past five and a half years, eight different judges have presided over the case: six in DuPage County -- with three judges issuing substantive rulings, one judge being substituted and two judges recusing themselves from hearing the case, one U.S. District Judge, and one U.S. Magistrate Judge.

 

Contact: Tom Ciesielka, Thomas More Society

New rule allows Illinois kids to get secret STD vaccinations

 

The Illinois Department of Public Health has confirmed to Illinois Review that twelve-year-old children could now be getting Gardasil vaccine shots without their parents' knowledge or permission.

 

A new administrative rule set into place in late June (see below) added vaccinations to the medical care and counseling children ages 12 and up may give themselves permission to receive if they think they've been in contact with a sexually-transmitted infection (STI):

 

 

Parents are raising three key objections to the rule change

 

1. The age of consent in Illinois is 17 years old. If any child as young as 12 is concerned that they may have come into contact with an STI, then a crime has been committed.

 

The older partner commits criminal sexual abuse if he or she commits an act of sexual penetration or sexual conduct with a victim younger than 17 years of age and the accused was less than 5 years older than the victim. This charge is raised to criminal aggravated sexual abuse if the perpetrator is more than five years older then the victim.

 

There are no "close in age" exemptions or "Romeo and Juliet laws" to Illinois's age of consent. This means that anyone that engages in sexual activity with someone under the age of consent in Illinois is liable for prosecution, including people only a few years older then their sexual partner and even two individuals who are both under the age of consent.

 

2. Gardasil can have health-endangering side effects. The vaccine most commonly associated with STIs is Gardasil, a vaccine to ward off four strings of the human papillomavirus.

 

There are about 30 to 40 types of HPV that can affect the genital area. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are about 6 million new cases of genital HPV infections in the United States each year. An estimated 74% of them occur in 15 to 24 year olds.

 

Merck & Co., the producer of Gardasil, says for most people HPV clears up on its own. But, for others who don't clear certain types, HPV could cause significant consequences: cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancers in females. Other types could cause genital warts in both males and females.

 

Gardasil is known to have serious to mild side effects including seizures, strokes, dizziness, fatigue, weakness, headaches, stomach pains, vomiting, muscle pain and weakness, joint pain, auto-immune problems, chest pains, hair loss, appetite loss, personality changes, insomnia, as well as menstrual cycle changes, fainting, swollen lymph nodes, night sweats, nausea, temporary vision/hearing loss.

 

News sources have reported the deaths of nearly 50 young women as the result of the Gardasil 3-series shots.

 

Despite legislative efforts a few years ago to mandate the vaccine for those 11 years and older, Gardasil is not required for school attendance in Illinois.

 

3. Parents are not being notified about this rule change. Parents are not being told by schools or the state that their children can have this medical care without their parents' knowledge or consent, and federal HIPAA laws will keep parents from ever finding out exactly how their underage children are being treated concerning STIs.

 

Most parents are aware that school nurses can't administer aspirins or pain killers without a parents' consent, but parents are not made aware that Illinois law now allows their children to receive medical care, counseling or vaccinations without any notification - and parents are actually restricted from accessing the information about their children.

 

Source: Illinois Review