Buried for two hours, newborn baby miraculously survives

Miracle baby: This yet-to-be-named baby girl survived being buried alive for two hours after her parents mistakenly thought she had been stillborn.

Typically, when we report on ‘Miracle Babies” we are referring to either babies born months ahead of schedule who survive nonetheless or newborns who have been abandoned often in situations where their chance of survival was next to zero.

Out of China, via The Daily Mail in a story dated last Friday, comes something else: an absolutely incredible account of a baby who had been buried alive but survived!

Lu Xiaoyun, the mother of a seven year old daughter, went into labor on their farm in Dongdong, northeast China’s Liaoning Province. Convinced she was only four months pregnant, she and her husband, He Yong, were sure she must be experiencing a miscarriage, Sara Malm reported for MailOnline.

After experiencing sudden sharp stomach pains, Ms. Lu “gave birth to what she thought was a stillborn girl.” According to Malm

She called her husband, who rushed back from work to find her in a pool of blood.

Ms. Lu was taken to hospital, but Mr. Ye told ambulance staff there was no point to check on the baby as it was dead.

In the meantime, Ms. Lu’s mother buried the baby under a tree in the yard.

But fortunately when a hospital doctor asked the father about the baby, the physician suggested “that the body should be checked properly first as there might be a chance the girl was alive.” That’s the important first part of the “miracle,” but what happens next is even more stunning.

Malm reports that Mr. Ye was shocked when he learned that his mother-in-law had already buried his baby girl. Incredibly, when he rushed over to the yard and dug up his daughter—who had been buried for two hours! —she was still breathing! He rushed his daughter to the hospital.

Sure enough, doctors established that Lu Xiaoyun was six-months pregnant, not four. But the family only had enough money to have their tiny preemie treated for three days after which she was discharged.

And then comes Phase Three of the Miracle Baby story. Malm writes

However, after Chinese media picked up the story of the miracle baby, news of their plight spread and people began to donate money.

Thanks to then able to return their daughter to hospital where she is being kept in an incubator.

By Dave Andrusko, NRL News Today

Illinois hits lowest abortion levels since 1974

On November 25, 2014, the Illinois Department of Public Health released the 2013 abortion statistics for the state of Illinois. The report shows Illinois abortions fell 5.7% in 2013 to their lowest rate since 1974, with 40,750 abortions. Abortions in every age category, except the 45+, showed a decline in 2013.

Most notably, in August of 2013, the Illinois Parental Notification Law went into effect requiring children under the age of 18 to notify one parent or guardian before obtaining an abortion. With that law in effect for only the last four months of 2013, we see a dramatic 20% decrease in the number of minors obtaining abortions pointing to increased parental involvement and a positive effectiveness of the law. In 2013, 1,762 abortions were performed on minors 17 years old and younger in contrast to the 2,213 in 2012. The number of abortions performed on girls 14 years old and younger dropped 31.6% in 2013 to 149 – the lowest number in at least 18 years.

The most abortions in the state occurred in Cook County with 23,896 in 2013. This number is down about one thousand less abortions since 2012. DuPage County had the second highest number of abortions in the state with 1,786. This number is down about 200 abortions from the previous year. Will County’s number of abortions declined by about 70 from the previous year with 1,460 abortions in 2013. Kane County’s number of abortions declined by about 250 with 1,036 abortions in 2013.

The full report can be viewed here.

By Emily Zender, Illinois Right to Life via Illinois Review

Mitosis, a short pro-life film, is now available on YouTube

MitosisfilmOne decision can change everything. Mitosis, a short film from 18-year-old director Hannah Victoria (Worth Saving), aims to prove that. It may seem that the choices we make for ourselves will affect us and us alone, but it simply isn’t true. There is always a ripple effect, whether small or large.

Mitosis tells the story of a young doctor, who after making a promise to a childhood friend, sets out to find a cure for cancer. The film, from Victoria’s company Expressionistic Studios, was released on YouTube this week and promises to shine a light on the magnitude of damage each and every abortion could have on the world Victoria explains:

As young people, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, society’s popular opinion on the sanctity of life is directly affecting our lives in huge ways. Just thinking about how profoundly different our world would be if the millions of lives lost were present is mind boggling!

The film was funded by generous donations through a Kickstarter campaign. When it reached its goal of $5,000, Victoria announced it would be released for free. The total raised through Kickstarter has now reached $5,200.

Victoria, who received a Best Young Filmmaker award for her work on Small Talents, says she has always been passionate about the sanctity of human life and wanted to create a film that showcases the potential that each and every life holds. She also wants pregnancy resource centers to be able to use the film in any way they can to support their work. In its first few days on YouTube, Mitosis has been viewed nearly 1,000 times.

“It is amazing to see the impact it is having just in the few days it has been released,” says Victoria, “I’ve gotten e-mails from people who have had multiple abortions, people who want to thank me for making a film about what their baby could have done, and pro-life supporters who are excited to have this tool to show to those who need to see the message!”

As we know, those who support abortion believe that the only person who is affected by a pregnancy or an abortion is the pregnant woman. Her decision should, they say, have no bearing on the rest of us.

Except it does. And Victoria shows us how in Mitosis.

Here is the video:



By Nancy Flanders, via NRL News Today

Editor’s note. This first appeared at http://liveactionnews.org/mitosis-a-short-pro-life-film-is-now-available-on-youtube/

Nicki Minaj opens up about abortion in new song

Rapper Nicki Minaj has opened up about having an abortion in a new song, "All Things Go"

She revealed that the child she terminated would be a teenager now.

"All Things Go", goes public with details about an unwanted pregnancy, according to Billboard.com.

MSN Entertainment reports:

In the track, she raps about the drama, adding she believes her unborn baby is an angel looking over her younger brother, Micaiah. 

She raps, "My child with Aaron would have been 16, any minute/So in some ways I feel like Caiah is the both of them/It's like he's Caiah's little angel, looking over him."

Here is the video of the song with lyrics:



Sources: MSN Entertainment and Billboard.com

Demographic Data Adds Detail to CDC’s Abortion Drop

Unlike Guttmacher, the CDC does not directly survey abortion providers, thus its totals will always be substantially lower than Guttmacher’s. But its data is very helpful as well, as Dr. O’Bannon explains today. If one examines demographic data on method, gestation, race, marital status, previous abortions, etc., they tell us more about how and why these changes are happening – and where there may be more work to do.

Age

Not surprisingly younger women, those 29 and younger, have most abortions. This group accounted for 71.7% of abortions reported by the CDC in its 2011 report. Almost exactly a third (32.9%) involved women between the ages of 20-24.

It may be surprising, though, to those who have not followed recent trends, that teens accounted for just 13.9% of all abortions. Thirty years ago, in 1980, teens represented 29.2% of the total.

In raw numbers, the drop is even more dramatic. The 29.2% share of the nearly 1.3 million abortions the CDC reported in 1980 represented some 378,900 abortions. Though some teen abortions from California, Maryland, and New Hampshire are missing from current totals, the 13.9% of the CDC’s 2011 total equals less than a hundred thousand (89,613)!

While changing public attitudes towards abortion, the outreach of pro-life pregnancy care centers, and legislation like waiting periods, ultrasound, and right to know laws have impacted abortion totals across the board, the influence of parental involvement laws on this particular group should never be minimized.

At the same time, women over 30 were responsible for 28.3% of abortions. Abortion rates among this group, unfortunately, have not shown the same kinds of massive drops seen in the younger groups and in some cases went up.

Thus while the abortion rate for women 30-34 did drop in the past ten years (2002-2011) by 7.9%, this was against drops of 33% or more for teens, or drops of at least 16% for women in their 20s for the same time period.

But abortion rates for women 35-39 went up 1.4%, and women over 40 experienced a 7.7% increase in their abortion rate.

Explanation? This could be part of a generational attitude difference, reflecting more pro-life attitudes among the younger population. Or it could be the result of increased pre-natal genetic testing, with couples aborting upon receiving a negative diagnosis.

Gestation and Method

An increasing percentage of abortions now occur at 8 weeks or less gestation. [1] While just over a third of abortions (36.1%) of abortions were performed at 8 weeks or less in 1973, nearly two thirds (64.5%) were performed at this stage in 2011.

Over a third (36.1%) are now performed at 6 weeks gestation or less. A large part of this is likely the vast increase in the use of chemical abortion methods.

The precise drugs involved are not specified in the CDC report; other sources indicate most involve the abortion pill RU-486 and prostaglandin misoprostol, though use of misoprostol alone is increasing. But there were 107,804 “medical” abortions at 8 weeks of less gestation representing 19.1% of abortions among the states listing this category on their forms in 2011.

Though there is some use of chemical abortifacients at later gestations, these abortion techniques were initially developed to be used early on in pregnancy. High use of these methods has obviously had an impact. To get some perspective, only 11,384 (1.7%) of these were in the CDC’s “medical” or “other” category in 2000, the first year RU-486 went on the market.

Most (79.4%) abortions still employed what the CDC calls “curettage,” a broad category which includes manual vacuum aspiration, suction aspiration, D&E (dilation and evacuation) and other surgical methods. About 71.9% of the abortions the CDC counted involved curettage employed at 13 weeks or less gestation, while another 8.6% used curettage for second or third trimester abortions.

Roughly one in 11 (8.7%) of abortions the CDC tracked were performed at 14 weeks gestation or more. The CDC does not identify which of these were third trimester, but about 1.4% (7,325) of those were performed at 21 weeks or more.

Race and Ethnicity

Different states track and report race and ethnicity differently; some do not appear to have reported such data at all. As a result it is difficult to pin these factors down precisely. The CDC has several different charts reporting this data with various numbers of states and definitions so that there are not any singly definitive percentages.

Analysis is also complicated by the fact that minority population is not evenly distributed in the U.S. Several states with large minority populations (e.g., California) are not included in CDC totals.

The CDC chart with data on ethnicity from the most states or “reporting areas” (30) found Hispanics with an abortion rate (abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age in that category) of 16.1, a couple of points above the national average.

However their abortion ratio (the number of abortions for every 100 live births) is 201, below the national ratio of 219. This means that while there were slightly more abortions among this population than the national average, Hispanic pregnant women as group were more likely to give birth than abort.

A different CDC chart covering fewer states but looking at ethnicity over the past 10 years, shows a piece of encouraging news: abortion rates and ratios for Hispanics dropped more than those for non-Hispanic.

The CDC does not give a number here for 2011 for what percentage of the population African Americans represent. But in “Black or African American Populations” (www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/populations/REMP/black.html), the CDC estimated that in 2012, African Americans made up 14.2% of the U.S. population. In 2011, African Americans accounted for between 36% and 38% of all abortions in America.

Abortion rates and ratios for African Americans did also go down over the last ten years (-16.8% and -17.6%, respectively), although they are still much higher than those reported for other groups.

Still, the black abortion rate remains more than three times what the white rate is (25.8 for blacks versus 7.8 for the whites in the chart covering the most states). Likewise the black abortion ratio–381 abortions for every 1000 live births for black Americans versus 126 abortions for every 1,000 live births for white Americans.

It is hugely encouraging that the numbers of abortions, the abortion rate and abortion ratio are declining across the board. Yet given the disproportionate number of abortions among African Americans and Hispanic, there clearly needs to be a larger pro-life outreach to minority communities.

Marital and Maternal Status

Overwhelmingly, most abortions (85.5%) continue to involve unmarried women. That percentage has always been above 70% since the earliest days of Roe, but has crept up and has been consistently above 80% since 1996.

A high number of abortions are repeat abortions. We learn that 46.4% of aborting women in states reporting this data in 2011 had at least one previous abortion. Most (25.5%) had only had one previous abortion, but 11.6% of women had had two abortions, while 9.3% reported having three or more.

Six in ten (60%) aborting women reported having had at least one previous live birth. About two in ten (19.6%) had given birth to at least two children, nearly one of seven (13.9%) had given birth to three or more.

Taken together with the drop in the number of teen abortions, this data serves as an indicator that we may need to invest the same level of effort to reach the young, single mom struggling to make ends meet as we did the high school teenager afraid to tell mom or dad she might be pregnant.

Lack of Safety

The abortion industry has assured us for years that abortion is safe and getting safer every year, but CDC numbers do not reflect that.

Despite huge drops in the number of abortions over the past twenty years, women are still dying from abortion in America. Ten women are known to have died in 2010 (CDC abortion mortality figures are always an extra year behind). This makes the eleventh year in a row that at least six women have died from abortions.

Whether these numbers reflect the women who died at the hands of licensed butchers like Gosnell or from yet another “safe” chemical abortion gone awry, the numbers do not say. However it should be noted that risk of death from abortion figures reported by the CDC for the past decade are actually higher than it was for the previous one.

The numbers show that we’ve made great progress, but also show that a lot of significant opportunities to save unborn babies and their mothers remain.

[1] Some states reporting to the CDC specified that this was based on a clinician’s estimate or calculated from a woman’s last menstrual period, others did not.

By Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D., NRL Director of Education & Research via NRL News Today

Map shows Obamacare Makes Illinoisans Pay for Abortions

(Click image to enlarge)

Pro-life Americans long have criticized the Obama administration for failing to disclose coverage of abortion under the Affordable Care Act. Now, taking matters into their own hands, they’ve come up with a solution.

Two leading pro-life organizations, the Charlotte Lozier Institute and the Family Research Council, teamed up to design a state-by-state map that clearly tells Americans whether the Obamacare plan they’re considering covers elective abortions.

Source: Illinois Review

Pro-choice researcher admits that aborting imperfect children creates disability rights conflicts

Years ago, Rayna Rapp discovered that her baby would be afflicted with Down syndrome. She and her partner chose for her to have an abortion. Ever since then, she has been writing about fetal testing and abortion. A supporter of legal abortion who has herself worked in an abortion clinic, the reader can be assured that she writes with no pro-life bias.

In her book, Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: the Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America, she interviewed women and couples who were waiting for the results of an amniocentesis to discover whether their babies would have down syndrome or another genetic disability.

Most intended to abort if the test indicated a problem, though Rapp did describe one or two who spared their disabled babies’ lives. I have cited Rapp’s book before, presenting quotes from some of the men and women who intended to abort a baby with Down syndrome.

Another article I wrote based on Rapp’s book described how some genetic counselors had qualms about sex selection abortions. Since the same tests that would detect genetic disabilities could also detect the sex of babies, some couples were aborting girls that they did not want, planning on trying again for the desired son. The genetic counselors all felt that this was not a good reason to have an abortion, but they put their feelings aside and assisted these couples anyway.

It seems that Rapp, despite her strong pro-choice stand, may have some qualms of her own. In the passages below, she discusses how tests aimed at eliminating babies with disabilities are not compatible with promoting rights among “born” disabled people. One obvious conflict is between advocating women’s choice to abort disabled children and providing disabled children who are allowed to be born with costly services in the community.

Over the years of this study, I learned a great deal about two related and tension fraught issues. The first is the need to champion the reproductive rights of women to carry or refuse to carry to term a pregnancy that would result in a baby with a serious disability. The second is the need to support adequate, non-stigmatizing, integrative services for all the children, including disabled children, that women bear. The intersection of disability rights and reproductive rights as paradoxically linked feminist issues has emerged as central to my political and intellectual work.

Here Rapp recognizes what pro-lifers have known all along – that there is an inherent “paradox” in allowing “search and destroy missions” against disabled children and at the same time advocating for civil rights and special services for the disabled who survive to be born. Disabled adults advocate for themselves, lobbying for changes in the law, everything from requiring public buildings to have wheelchair ramps to prohibiting employers from firing qualified disabled people.

When society is asked to make concessions that allow disabled people to live independent, constructive lives, they are forced to act against the message that disabled people are expendable. The allocation of funds and manpower to help disabled children (and, ultimately, adults) begins to take on less of a priority as public attitudes shift in subtle ways.

Ultimately, the cheapening of life that claims the unborn extends to already born disabled people in the community. When women are expected to abort disabled unborn children, it becomes that much easier to refuse services to these children after birth – after all, the woman had “a choice”- she should be solely responsible for her baby. Why should society help? She made her bed, and now let her lie in it.

The much easier, cheaper answer of eliminating disabled babies eventually becomes the default position, leading more and more people to decide that parents who choose to give birth to their disabled children should be on their own, and, by extension, when these children grow up, resources shouldn’t be wasted on them.

In a second passage, Rapp discusses how the technology that is aimed at destroying disabled unborn babies cannot be “neutral”:

It is hard to argue for the neutrality of a technology explicitly developed to identify and hence eliminate fetuses with problem causing chromosomes (and, increasingly, genes): the biomedical and public health interests behind the development and routinization of the technology itself evaluate such fetuses as expendable. Ethicists and counselors are surely right to respond that parents of such potentially atypical fetuses have a right to know as well as not to know about the chromosomal status of their fetus, and to use the information however they may wish, whether that means preparing for the birth of a child with special needs or ending the pregnancy. But the very existence and routinization of the technology implies anything but neutrality. It assumes that scientific and medical resources should be placed in the service of prenatal diagnosis and potential elimination of fetuses bearing chromosome problems.

This ties in with what I said before. A technology specifically aimed at destroying a whole class of people cannot ultimately be considered a neutral tool. The message it gives, both to the pregnant women and their partners and society in general, is going to be negative towards all disabled people, despite what pro-choice advocates may or may not intend.

Rayna Rapp Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: the Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America (New York: Routledge, 1999) 8, 59.

By Sarah Terzo via NRL News Today

Editor’s note. This appeared at liveactionnews.org.

Message in a Movie: Open before Christmas

When I was attending graduate school in Chicago, I marveled at the electric blue beauty of Lake Michigan. My dorm sat on Lake Shore Drive, right across from this marvelous body of water. I thought about lounging by the lake for a series of days, writing about my impressions of the waterway daily, thinking that I could capture a different element each day. I wanted to be like a painter who revisits a scene again and again, drawing new inspiration each time.

In that spirit, I am returning this Christmas season to the topic of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The movie, which became a hit only in retrospect, after years of being re-run on television, poses the existential question: What if the main character had never been born?

We see a sweet town turn into sin city…the cantankerous Mr. Potter without a protagonist to stem the tide of his greed… a maiden named Mary who never has an opportunity for marriage and motherhood. And we learn of the tombstone of a 9-year-old boy whose brother was not around to save him. Remember this discussion between the angel Clarence and good old George Bailey?

Clarence: Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.

George Bailey: That’s a lie! Harry Bailey went to war! He got the Congressional Medal of Honor! He saved the lives of every man on that transport!

Clarence: Every man on that transport died. Harry wasn’t there to save them, because you weren’t there to save Harry.

I think of desperate women walking into abortion facilities, and I wish they could hear an angel, talking about their babies, telling them that their lives can be wonderful, too. And I reflect on people on the verge of assisted suicide, and I think, if only they could remember this line from the film:

Clarence: You see, George, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?

It is a wonderful life…despite dreams that can crumble like Zuzu’s petals…despite sickness and sacrifice…pain and poverty. For where there is life, there is hope — and joy that can come from knowing you’re on the right path, the path of helping people, as George Bailey did.

So, this Christmas, I am looking at “It’s a Wonderful Life,” not only with nostalgia, but with fresh eyes. Because this year, and every year, we need to remember Clarence’s message. It is always a mistake to throw a life away.

By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director, Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation via NRL News Today

A look back at CBS Evening News’ coverage of Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973

When we flip the calendar over to December, even more than usual, we come to think about the anniversary of an earth-shattering event that will be only seven weeks away: January 22, 1973.

Last year attention focused a great deal around the obvious—that it had been 40 years since seven Supreme Court justices turned abortion jurisprudence upside down in what dissenting Justice Bryon White called this “act of raw judicial power.”

Between now and January 22, 2015, we will run many old and many new posts about a genuinely revolutionary decision. If you don’t mind, I’d like to begin with a 4-minute long, grainy kinescope of “CBS Evening News” from January 22, 1973. (You can watch it here.)

The video begins with anchor Walter Cronkite looking up for the cue when he will be on camera as we hear the roll call of the names of all the correspondents who would be reporting from around the world. (Pretty impressive list, by the way, not only of journalists but also of the breadth of coverage.)

Cronkite announced that an unnamed “landmark decision” that day had “legalized abortions,” a moment later adding, “during the first three months.” Correspondent George Herman took it from there to explain the details.

In light of the ancient technology (and the over four decades that have passed), I couldn’t help thinking of Cronkite’s “You are There” series which used real network correspondents to tell historical stories as if those stories were being televised live. Only this, of course, was not a re-enactment from the past, but living history.

Needless to say Herman, like Cronkite and all correspondents, only partially described the decision[s] accurately. Herman alluded to a second case but did not clarify that it was Roe’s companion case—Doe v. Bolton—that fleshed out the expansionary impact of what Roe meant.

Three things stood out in Herman’s report, besides the initial error of reporting Roe as if it limited abortion to the first trimester.

One was a reference that later in pregnancy “the states may take legal action to protect the unborn child”! “Child”?

Second, the decision[s] “thus sets limits on the right to abortion on demand,” which, in fact, they did not.



Third, and this is key to understanding where Justice Harry Blackmun, the author of Roe and Doe, was in 1973 (he became much more of an ardent feminist in later years), Herman reported, “In effect the court made abortions subject only to the decision of the pregnant woman’s doctor.” Not the woman, but “the pregnant woman’s doctor.”

Two guests were briefly interviewed. The first was Alan Guttmacher, “president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a leader in the International Planned Parenthood Federation in the 1960s and early 1970s,” according to the Guttmacher Institute (GI), formerly known as the Alan Guttmacher Institute. GI was spun off from PPFA in 1968 and has ever since earned the misbegotten reputation as a non-partisan source of abortion-related information.

Guttmacher told CBS Evening News, “I think to raise the dignity of a woman and give her freedom of choice in this area is an extraordinary event.” January 22, 1973, he accurately predicted, would be seen as a “historic day.”

Father James McHugh gave the pro-life response. At the time McHugh was executive director of the U.S. Bishops’ Office for Pro-Life Activities. McHugh (who later became Bishop McHugh) spoke of the decision having withdrawn “human rights” from the unborn.

“The judgment of the court will do a great deal to tear down the respect previously accorded human life in our culture,” he accurately predicted.

In case you think our Movement has not made a difference, consider this. Near the end Herman remarks, “New York State, among others, already has liberalized abortion. Now the rest of the country must follow suit.”

He concludes by remarking matter-of-factly, “If the experience of New York State is any guide, America will eventually have one abortion for every two births.”

Just yesterday we reported on the continued decline in the number of abortions, the abortion rate, and the abortion ratio. Tremendously encouraging news.

And why this has come to pass—and not a fulfillment of Herman’s prophecy? For one reason and one reason only: you.

By Dave Andrusko, NRL News Today

Planned Parenthood’s Pastoral Letter: God’s fine with abortion

Wanting to expand the abortion industry into the faith community, Planned Parenthood has come up with a letter to expectant mothers, assuring them that God is fine with abortion.

The newly posted letter penned by “religious leaders” targets women considering abortion and tells them that abortion will not affect their relationship with God.

However, the latest letter is not Planned Parenthood’s first — or even second — attempt this year geared to persuade women that the Bible is okay with abortion.

The first such letter was detected in May, when Planned Parenthood’s “Pastoral Letter to Patients” used God’s name to bring in more women from faith backgrounds to purchase abortions. This message was used to assure biblically minded women and girls in crisis pregnancy situations that the Bible says nothing about abortion being wrong and that many clergy believe that having an abortion is perfectly fine and a scripturally sound decision.

Planned Parenthood’s second-round letter to pregnant women was discovered a month later in June by LifeNews. This pastoral letter was distributed via one of the abortion giant’s political action committees (PAC) and went a step further by using the Bible to justify abortions. Here, the Planned Parenthood Clergy Advocacy Board told women that 1) “many people wrongly assume that all religious leaders disapprove of abortion,” 2) “abortion is not even mentioned in the Scriptures, 3) “there are clergy … from all regions who support women making this complex decision, and that 4) “[Planned Parenthood] will refer you to someone who will be supportive of you and your [abortion] decision.”

A new and ‘improved’ message?

Not to be outdone by their previous persuasive letters, Planned Parenthood was discovered last week by LifeNews to be at it again, this time putting together a “Religious Affairs Committee,” — complete with a dozen reverends and a Rabbi — to speak with a more authoritative voice assuring women that abortion will not threaten their relationship with God.

Planned Parenthood’s most recent plea for women of faith to pay for abortions begins by attempting to establish trust in their religious group and distrust toward conservative Christians.

“If you are reading this letter, you are probably pregnant or close to someone who is,” the letter begins. “The people who have signed this letter below come from a variety of religious communities. Our purpose in writing this letter is to support you in whatever course you choose. The presence of the ‘religious right’ has been very strong in its refusal to accept abortion as one of the choices before a woman. We represent religious traditions which all have different opinions about abortion, but we do have some basic understandings that we would like to share with you.”

Consisting of four main points, the first one emphasizes that Planned Parenthood’s so-called faith leaders declare the killing of preborn children as a morally upright practice that is justified by any difficult situations revolving around the pregnancy.

“We believe, as religious leaders in our faith communities, that abortion is a morally permissible choice for a woman facing a problem pregnancy,” the explanation excusing abortion asserts. “No one thinks abortion is an easy choice. If we lived in a perfect world there might be no problem pregnancies and therefore no difficult choices about abortion. We realize that there are many things that can make a pregnancy difficult. Abortion is chosen for medical, physical, emotional, economic and relational reasons. It is a choice made by women, often in consultation with partners, families and friends. We support you and your ability to choose what is best for you.”

The Pastoral Letter’s second argument for abortion begins with the premise that a woman’s preborn child is just another part of her body that she is free to dispose of as she wishes — as opposed to an individual person who belongs to God, as the Bible teaches.

“We believe, as religious leaders in our faith communities, that ultimately no one can make the choice for or against abortion except the woman herself,” the pastor-signed letter reads. “No one knows your life as you do. We trust that any decision you make will be made after serious thought and contemplation of the alternatives. You will make the best decision you can. We do not believe that it is appropriate for other persons or other faiths to judge you or the correctness of your decision. God gave us all the ability to think and pray and feel and choose. We are called to make the best decisions we can in our personal circumstances. If you have thoughtfully decided to have an abortion then you should be at peace with your decision.”

Next, Planned Parenthood attempts to speak with scriptural authority, declaring that God does not judge them or hold them accountable for many of their sins, and abortion is overlooked by God as just another hardship that will not result in any adverse consequences.

“We believe, as religious leaders in our faith communities, that the decision to have an abortion will not threaten your relationship with God,” the letter assures. “We believe that God is a participant in the struggles of human life. We believe that God is compassionate and does not expect any of us to lead perfect lives. We believe the biblical record shows us a God who loves human beings regardless of our strengths, skills and aptitudes, and loves us equally despite our failings, mistakes and choices. God is not angry with you and will not punish you for any choice you have or might make. In fact, we believe that God loves you and will be with you helping you find strength and understanding and comfort for living through days of doubt and distress.”

Finally, the Pastoral Letter promises women of faith considering abortion that there is no right or wrong choice, and that God will honor whatever they decide. This is considered by most Bible-believing Christians as having a huge conflict with Scripture, which teaches the moral absolutes of right and wrong, based on God’s inerrant Truth — not in the whimsical feelings of human nature.

“We believe, as religious leaders in our faith communities, that your life needs to go on from here, and that you are deserving of support and assistance,” the fourth and final point concludes. “We know that the decision to have an abortion is a difficult one. You may wonder from time to time if you made the right choice. You may be sorrowful, doubtful or depressed because of your choice. These are natural emotions. Experiencing this does not mean your decision was a bad one. It may mean that you are a sensitive person. Nevertheless these feelings may also mean that you could benefit from talking with someone about your decision. It is important for you to find peace. If you have bad moments, we encourage you to seek support from professionals. If you think that it would be helpful for you to talk to a minister, Planned Parenthood keeps a list of clergy who would be supportive of you and the decision you have made. They will see you for no charge and not pressure you to become part of their congregations. We want you to have a peaceful road ahead.”

Not failing to sound spiritual, with a blessing at the end, the letter’s farewell salutation revisits the main intent of the letter — to sell more abortions.

“Thank you for purchasing an abortion and God bless you,” the Planned Parenthood letter ends.

In an attempt to give authority to its assertions about faith and abortion, the letter highlights the names of 12 reverends and one rabbi as official backers of the message. Together, they stand as Planned Parenthood’s Religious Affairs Committee:

The listing of names includes: Reverend Debbie Pitney, Reverend Steve Carlson, Reverend Ken Henry, Reverend Ben Dake, Reverend Melanie Oommen, Reverend Gregory Flint, Reverend Danna Drum Hastings, Reverend Dan Bryant, Reverend Zane Wilson, Reverend Jonathan Weldon, Reverend Jan Fairchild, Reverend Bruce Cameron, and Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankins.

Their official designations and church affiliations were not mentioned.

Michael F. Haverluck, OneNewsNow.com

Rate Down: Pro-Abortion Types Will be Unhappy

The CDC has issued a report noting a steep decline in the number of abortions. From the report:

For 2011, a total of 730,322 abortions were reported to CDC. Of these abortions, 98.3% were from 46 reporting areas that submitted data every year during 2002–2011, thus providing the information necessary for evaluating trends.

These 46 areas had an abortion rate of 13.9 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years and an abortion ratio of 219 abortions per 1,000 live births.

Compared with 2010, this represents a 5% decrease in the total number (from 753,065) and rate (from 14.6 abortions per 1,000 women) of reported abortions and a 4% decrease in the abortion ratio (from 228 abortions per 1,000 births). Because of the size of these decreases, combined with decreases from the previous 2 years (15,16), all three measures of abortion reached their lowest level for the entire period of analysis (2002–2011).

That would be good news under the old baloney trope of “safe, legal, and rare.” But pro-choice is fast becoming pro-abortion, whose adherents bristle at the very thought that fetus killing could be immoral or a less favored action than giving birth.

Planned Parenthood executives probably aren’t amused either, as fewer abortions cuts into its revenue stream.

Interesting to note: California has failed to provide detailed abortion statistics, for example, how many adolescents terminated pregnancies.  I guess the state knows what it doesn’t want to know; not surprising given that voters twice rejected proposals requiring that parents be notified–not consent, notified–if their minor daughters had an abortion.

The CDC credits fewer unwanted pregnancies as causing the dramatic decline. I hope that is true.

But I think the pro-life movement also deserves credit. These dedicated and often scorned activists have kept abortion at the forefront of America’s moral concerns and promoted laws that have led to fewer abortions.

In any event, there are thousands of people alive today who might otherwise have never seen the light of day.  To me, that is reason for applause.

By Wesley J. Smith, Human Exceptionalism

Speak Out Illinois 2015

Mother describes ultrasounds of her son, questions abortion

A woman discusses her pregnancy and ultrasound

“… What is a sonogram? A picture, produced by sound waves. It is a factual thing, a part of reality, difficult to manipulate. Which doesn’t mean that it doesn’t involve emotion. When I saw James’s [her son’s] first sonogram, at 4 ½ months, I fell hopelessly in love. I could hardly feel him moving inside me yet, and I had been worried, after my miscarriage, that there would be something wrong. But on the screen my husband and I saw a perfectly round head, beautiful spinal cord, legs kicking, and hands grasping.. As we watched, the baby (we didn’t know the sex) opened its hand and proceeded to suck its thumb… What makes a sonogram so dangerous and emotionally troubling for abortion advocates is the obviousness of a separate life inside a woman’s body, not an appendage. The fetus seems so happy in its own little world, so safe and unconcerned in a close, warm womb were all its needs are automatically met.

The view of the womb we get from a sonogram illuminates what ought to be the safest time in a human’s life. Instead, the sanctuary of the womb is invaded routinely, with the support and even encouragement of society. The Planned Parenthood clinic across the street from our apartment offers abortions up to 16 weeks – just about the age of James’s first photo, which I have lovingly placed in his first photo album. In the sonogram, he held his hand with his thumb out and his fingers tucked in; he still holds his hand that way. In my womb he was active at night and had hiccups several times a day; he still does. His sonogram was simply an introduction to the person we are getting to know. How can doctors deliberately tear our little beings who are able to move around and suck their thumbs? And how can their mothers allow it?

Now that I have James, I see myself quite differently. I have someone who thinks the world of me! I have someone who, as long as he lives, will be able to say “my mother…” and mean me! I have someone who must be put first, and that is a relief. And I have someone who, God willing, will live beyond me, which makes the world seem a more comfortable place. And right now I have an adorable baby who smiles melts my heart a perfect release brings tears of joy. I wouldn’t have missed this experience for anything.

From Maria McFadden “Motherhood in the 90s: to Have or Have Not” Brad Stetson, editor The Silent Subject: Reflections on the Unborn in American Culture (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1996)117-119

Editor’s note. This appeared at ClinicQuotes via NRL News Today

Former clinic worker describes aborting baby

Former clinic worker Zlata blogs about her time in the abortion industry [1]:

I remember assisting, once in particular, in the operating room at the clinic where I had been a medical assistant for six years. I was standing behind the doctor and could see everything as he was performing an abortion on a woman who was 20 – 22 weeks pregnant.

Late term abortions were usually a two-day process. On the second day the actual abortion was performed. The doctor first removed the laminaria and was then able to reach in with forceps to pull the baby out piece by piece. This procedure is very hard to do and requires a good deal of strength on the part of the doctor.

On that particular day, from my position I was able to see him extracting perfectly formed little arms, legs, toes, fingers, spine and finally the head.

I could see the baby’s face. I don’t know how to describe what I felt at that moment. I realized that we just killed a human being. But at the same time I thought: it is legal, so it must be all right. But my whole being was just screaming against what I just saw. I felt death. I was ashamed and confused as I was staring at the bloody parts of the baby. I can even say I felt the presence of the devil. It was very disturbing. My mind was so blinded by the darkness in it I was unable to do anything.

Sometimes I think about that day and feel that I should have run away, or tried to stop this madness. What were we doing, as medical professionals, as human beings? What happened to our hearts? Where was our compassion?

If this baby had been born prematurely at 20 – 22 weeks it would have had a chance to live. I thought, “People, think about what are you doing. What am I doing?” Think about the consequences of this abortion. Imagine this is you. Imagine you are in the most secure place you could be, in your mother’s womb. You have no idea how cruelly your life will end, how you will be torn to pieces. We betray our children. We interrupt their precious lives so abruptly, so unexpectedly. You think abortion brings relief, but instead it brings emptiness, shame, pain, regret, feelings of death. For six years abortion was the way I put bread on my table. For six years it was my life…

This is only the beginning of my story. My heart is burning more and more to tell everyone the truth. You are going to be hearing from me many, many times. I pray that God, the only God that we all have will open your hearts and give you wisdom and passion to stand up and speak up! WAKE UP, WORLD! WAKE UP!!!

[1] Source: Population Research Institute Review” September/October 2008

Note: Although this testimony only talks about late-term abortion, earlier abortions are often just is gruesome.

By Sarah Terzo, via NRL News Today

Editor’s note. This appeared at clinicquotes.com.

Thanksgiving: A Profoundly Pro-Life Holiday

As the week ends, we hope all of you will be able to celebrate the joys and gifts of this life with family and friends. As you cut into the Turkey and perhaps watch football, we hope you’ll be blessed with the chance to give thanks for the good.

While it may not seem immediately evident, Thanksgiving is a profoundly pro-life holiday. We focus on the tragedy of abortion, the loss of life and the suffering of the unborn and their mothers. Working to end abortion and to restore hope to a culture which wants to dispose of its most vulnerable members can be a daunting challenge. But the foundation for why we do what we do explains why we are continually “of good cheer.”

We are pro-life, not anti-abortion, a distinction which is not merely semantic. To be “anti-abortion” is to express opposition for a particular act (the act of abortion), but it does not adequately express why we are opposed to abortion. Likewise the “anti-choice” label which advocates of legal abortion would like to pin on us does not reveal the moral starting point from which opposition to abortion arises.

To be pro-life is to state the positive good that life begins at conception, that life is worth living, and that it is worth being protected, celebrated, and given thanks for. It is only from the joyful affirmation of life in and of itself that opposition to abortion stems. To be pro-life is not to simply oppose abortion, but to first recognize and acknowledge a new life as being worth something of value—infinite value.

So it is entirely appropriate to celebrate and give thanks for life this Thanksgiving. For our own life, for our family and friends, and for all the mothers who did not choose abortion. We offer thanks for the knowledge that more than at any point in the last twenty years, more unborn children will have the opportunity to celebrate their own Thanksgiving.

It is likely not an accident that the two biggest events in the history of Thanksgiving as a national holiday occurred during the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the midst of the Civil War and later at the beginning of World War Two, respectively.

That these events happened during two of the darkest hours of American history, during our two bloodiest wars as a nation, is very revealing. Times of danger and anxiety are the best times to take account of our blessings and be thankful for them, just as the first Pilgrims were thankful for the Fall Harvest before the onset of a cold winter.

While abortion sadly remains a reality, there is still no better time to remember and celebrate the first and fundamental Right to Life, without which Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness could not be achieved.

So take a moment to give thanks for life this Thanksgiving, focus on the good. Therein rests our hope for the future.

By Jonathan Rogers, NRL News Today

Pro-life initiative shows the beauty of choosing adoption

Saturday, November 22 was National Adoption Day. For pro-lifers, adoption is an integral component in transforming the culture and ensuring that every life is cherished. Because of adoption, families are made whole, and mothers in unplanned pregnancy situations are able to make the best choice for themselves and for their children.

Last year, to celebrate National Adoption Month, the Radiance Foundation released the following spot featuring the Dunbars, a family made whole by adoption.

For Ryan Bomberger, the founder of the Radiance Foundation, adoption has a very personal meaning. Adopted after his birth in 1971, Bomberger grew up in a family of adopted siblings with parents who treasured each child as a gift.

Ryan’s life experience as an adoptee inspired him to promote the choice that gave him life. As an initiative of the Radiance Foundation, he started Adopted and Loved, which has produced TV ads like the 30-second spot you saw above.

Their ministry to support birthmoms who choose adoption, SallysLambs.org, helps to change the conversation regarding unplanned pregnancy outcomes. They state:

We want adoption to become one of the first options considered instead of the status-quo go-to of abortion. There are many forms of adoption–open, semi-closed, and closed–and birthparents can help shape the future of their daughter or son by continuing to remain involved in their lives. Sometimes parenting isn’t the best option for those facing an unplanned pregnancy, but expectant mothers and fathers can turn the unplanned into a loving plan and make a great parenting choice. They can choose adoption.

Through Birth Mom Gift Boxes and maternity clothing drives, among other forms of support, Sally’s Lambs strives to be there for moms who choose to place their little ones with adoptive families.

If you’re a birth mom who is looking for support, you can contact Sally’s Lambs here. If you have experienced the adoption process — as a birth parent, an adoptive parent, or an adoptee — the Radiance Foundation would love to hear your story at Adopted and Loved. To watch more videos about positive adoption stories, go here. Happy National Adoption Month!

Editor’s note. This appeared at liveactionnews.org.

By Lauren Enriquez, via NRL News Today

1970s Rocker’s memoir tells of being haunted by her abortion, regretting her abortion, but defends “right” to abortion anyway

Back in late April, I ran across a blurb for a forthcoming book, “Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys,” the memoir of Viv Albertine.

As I said at the time, I didn’t have a clue who she was. Turns out Albertine was the star of the 1970s all-girl punk band, “The Slits,” a group that was hugely influential in breaking through in a very much male-dominated industry.

Albertine had an abortion in 1978 “rather than give up her career,” as publicity blurb for the book puts it. In the years to come Albertine tried IVF treatments eleven times and “lost two babies before finally becoming mother to a little girl in 1999.”

In the book, she writes, “I didn’t regret the abortion for 20 years. But eventually I did and I still regret it now. I wish I’d kept the baby, whatever the cost. It’s hard to live with.”

Well today I ran across a long excerpt from the book in which she described her abortion. What else do we learn?

To begin with Albertine is remarkably articulate and brutally honest. When she becomes pregnant, she tells us that her “mum” offered to help raise the baby and, if not that, suggested adoption as an alternative. Read the following section and how Albertine (looking back at her much younger self) recalls what she was thinking… the rationalizations she employed

Mum suggests adoption, but I think that’s crueller than death. That’s my opinion. To burden a child with abandonment and rejection right from the start. A living death. All or nothing, that’s me. I choose nothing. Nothingness for baby. I think this is a responsible decision. I will not countenance any other option.

“Nothingness”—a desire for emotional numbness–is the unmistakable theme that runs through her very sad and very revealing account. Before she leaves for the abortion clinic, Albertine calls her boyfriend to tell him

that I’m pregnant and I’m off to the hospital to deal with it on my own. He offers to come with me but I don’t want him to. I don’t want to feel anything. If he’s there I might feel something.

The day after her abortion

I can’t sleep. I think about the terrifying power that women and mothers have. We don’t need to fight in wars. We have nothing to prove. We have the power to kill and lots of us have used it. How many of you boys have ever killed anyone? I have. I’ve killed a baby. It doesn’t get much worse than that. Maybe your mother has secretly used her power to kill in the past and not told you. Maybe she even thought about doing it to you. It’s a secret and a burden she carries with her.

One other particularly telling quote. She meets a guy, Jeannot, who crushes her confidence with a dismissive putdown and then offers her heroin.

I laugh it off but inside I’m crushed. I have no confidence. It’s been sucked out of me with the baby. Jeannot offers me heroin. I’m tempted. Not because I want to forget what I’ve done, or because I’m so down, even though both are true, but because I’ve lost my identity. I haven’t a clue who I am. I feel like a nothing. But I know without a doubt, if I take heroin now, I will destroy the tiny morsel of myself that is left, I will be lost forever.

She will subsequently have plenty of trouble with drugs but this time she says no. She describes looking out her hotel window and considering the tradeoffs:

So this is what I’ve chosen over a baby: the Slits [her band], gigging, hotel rooms, music, self-expression, loneliness. It was the right decision – wasn’t it? I wish I was at home with Mum.

As I wrote back in April, Albertine ends on a semi-defiant note. Having said all of the above (how “I wish I’d kept the baby, whatever the cost. It’s hard to live with”), she ends, “I still defend a woman’s right to choose. To have control over her own body and life. That cannot and must not ever be taken away from us.”

Really? Is that her head speaking? Is that her heart speaking?

I think it is neither.

By Dave Andrusko, NRL News Today

'Deception' alleged as Illinois abortionist obtains Indiana license

Operation Rescue wants Indiana to take action against an Illinois abortionist, saying the abortionist "has something to hide."

Abortionist Mandy Gittler has closed her Chicago abortion clinic and become a "circuit-riding" abortionist who has worked, in part, for a Chicago Planned Parenthood. In 2012 she was involved in the abortion death of Tonya Reaves.

Following her death, Reaves' family sued Planned Parenthood and Mandy Gittler for malpractice. In January the family settled the case for $2 million, most of which will go to Reaves' surviving son.

Gittler recently applied for and received a medical license in Indiana. However, she failed to indicate she had been sued for malpracive on her Indiana application - something that she was supposed to do under penalty of perjury. In fact, she marked 'no' in the box next to the question that asked her if she had been involved in any malpractice settlements in her career.

Operation Rescue has filed a complaint with the Indiana attorney general's office accusing Gittler of violating the state's administrative code and requesting that her license be revoked. Gittler also does abortions in Michigan and Illinois.

Illinois Review

U.N. marks 25th anniversary of Convention on the Rights of the Child

New brochure highlights areas in which many children remain unprotected

On Nov. 20, 1989, the United Nations General Assembly affirmed the dignity and rights of all children by adopting the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Events marking the 25th anniversary of the recognition of those rights will be held Thursday at the United Nations in New York.

As nations celebrate their accomplishments in establishing legal rights and protections for the world’s children, the unmet needs of multiple millions of young human beings must be prioritized in order to secure their safe and hopeful future. A new literature piece, “Celebrating the Rights of the Child,” details areas in which the rights of children still are not honored or defended.

“On the 25th anniversary of this landmark human rights treaty, we should celebrate our progress on behalf of the youngest members of the human family while also acknowledging the ways in which the rights of children remain unprotected,” said Scott Fischbach, Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Global Outreach (MCCL GO), a U.N.-accredited non-governmental organization. Fischbach will be in New York for Thursday’s U.N. events.

The first 1,000 days of a child’s life—from conception to the second birthday—dramatically shape his or her prospects for survival and future well-being. Lives can be saved by improving the quality of care during labor, childbirth and the days following birth, including essential newborn care. Prenatal care and nutrition and optimum breastfeeding are also important to ensure healthy development.

Tens of millions of abortions occur around the world each year, and countries that protect unborn children face pressure to legalize the procedure. This is a profound injustice. The Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms that, quoting the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth” (preamble). All children, born and unborn, deserve protection.

The Convention calls for securing the rights of each child “without discrimination of any kind” (Article 2). But sex-selective feticide—when abortion is performed solely on the basis of the unborn child’s sex—is a massive problem in areas where culture and tradition favor boys over girls, including parts of Asia, Southeast Europe and the Caucasus.

“Great progress has been made in the past 25 years on behalf of children,” said Fischbach. “But many still suffer. All children, born and unborn, male and female, have an equal dignity and right to life. They deserve our respect, protection and care.”

NRL News Today

Mom refuses to take “no” for an answer, baby said to have less than 5% chance of surviving is now thriving

Graceanne with her older sister Allie Claire

When Graceanne Payne came home from the hospital, just before Christmas 2013, she joined her mom and dad and older sister one day before her actual due date. Almost a year later, she “crawls enthusiastically and has already taken her first steps,” according to Scott Rogers of the Gainesville Times.

So, Graceanne came a little early? Actually she arrived September 8, 2013, weighing 1 pound, 12 ounces. She was so premature doctors had given her less than a 5% to survive. Graceanne experienced a 97-day stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Northeast Georgia Medical Center and spent almost six weeks on a ventilator.

“Definitely the hand of God was involved in her survival,” her mom, Melissa Payne, said.

Graceanne’s remarkable story began when the Payne family was visiting relatives in Maine. Rogers explained

Only in her second trimester and more than 1,300 miles away from home, Payne woke to discover her water had broken. She was taken to the nearest emergency room, where doctors said her unborn daughter Graceanne would need to be delivered in the next 24 to 72 hours.

“At that point, we weren’t quite 19 weeks, so she wouldn’t have been able to survive,” Payne said.

They visited a specialist in a nearby town who “pretty much told me this was the hand of cards we were dealt, and we would have to fold them and start over,” Payne told Rogers. Meaning the prediction of a less than 5% for survival and the likelihood that, if she did survive, “he would have a very low quality of life and be a burden on their family.”

But Payne had no interest in giving up on their baby and was determined to return to their home in Georgia.

Rogers explained that several of her friends “orchestrated her return to Georgia and set up her appointment with the obstetrician-gynocologist who approved her for continuing the pregnancy.” And

When Payne’s doctor performed an ultrasound and found a heartbeat, she was given the cautious — though not optimistic — OK to do what her heart told her to do. Payne wanted to continue her pregnancy, come what may.

“I believe that all babies are conceived for a reason,” Melissa Payne said. “It is our job to try to protect them and support what they need. Even when it’s difficult or very trying, what some could see as a burden to your family is still a gift from God.”

Payne was, of course, put on immediate bed rest. She told Rogers of feeling Graceanne kicking and moving and then going to the doctor “and they’d just frown and nod.” To keep strong for her baby, she Payne said she “relied on her family, friends, prayer and visits from church deacons to get her through the next seven weeks.”

Graceanne was born via an emergency C-section at 26 weeks and 2 days, weighing 1 pound, 12 ounces and measured 12 inches long. She had many health hazards—starting with having sufficient lung capacity to breathe on her own or be put on a ventilator.

“I woke up in recovery and asked where the baby was,” Payne said. “They said she was down in the NICU, and had enough lung tissue to ventilate.”

Of course, there were more hurdles to overcome, but as Graceanne’s health improved, so did her doctors’ optimism. Graceanne went home just in time for Christmas, 2013. Far from having medical issues, she is right on schedule, developmentally.

Carolanne Owenby, who was instrumental is helping Melissa find the right kind of help back in Georgia, calls Graceanne “the greatest miracle I’ve known in my life.” But according to Rogers, she credits another source for her survival.

“(Graceanne) was told over and over again that she had no business being here, that she wouldn’t be here, and she’s not only here but she’s thriving,” Owenby said. “A huge part of that is a testament to her mother. Melissa is one of the strongest people I know. She fought tirelessly for (Graceanne) and refused to take no for an answer at every corner. And that’s why she’s here and that’s why she’s thriving.”

By Dave Andrusko, NRL News Today