Federal Court to Hear Argument on Mandated Promotion of Abortion

A federal judge was scheduled to hear oral arguments on California's controversial effort to mandate that pro-life pregnancy clinics promote abortion.
 
Pacific Justice Institute represents three pro-life clinics challenging AB 775.  PJI attorney, Kevin Snider, will present oral arguments

PJI is asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent the law from taking effect on January 1, 2016.  Similar attempts in New York City and Baltimore to compel pro-life clinics to utter pro-abortion messages were found to be unconstitutional by the Second and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal, respectively.

In an attempt to avoid application of the First Amendment, the State is taking the position that the mandated signs are "conduct" and not "speech."  The State is also arguing that ObamaCare prompted the new mandates on pro-life pregnancy clinics by making more women eligible for Medi-Cal.  Under AB 775, pro-life pregnancy clinics would be required to tell women that free or low-cost (taxpayer-subsidized) abortions and contraceptives are available by contacting the County.

Click here for the originating article from Christian Newswire

Annual March to Life rally to be held January 17, 2016

Prolifers will be rallying in downtown Chicago January 17, 2016 to celebrate life and commemorate the millions of babies whose lives have been lost to abortion since the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision.

Illinois Right to Life is asking like-minded folks to set aside the date and plan to join them in at March for Life Chicago 2016. They released the following promotional video this week:



Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

Rep. Smith’s Bipartisan Stem Cell Bill Heads to the President’s Desk

With a unanimous show of support, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith’s legislation, the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2820), cleared its final hurdle and is on its way to the President for signature and enactment.

Smith and lead co-sponsor Rep. Doris Matsui shepherded the bill through the House last summer with the support of Reps. David Jolly (R-FL) and Chaka Fattah (D-PA), and worked with Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jack Reed (R-RI), Richard Burr (R-NC) and Al Franken (D-MN) who championed the bill in the Senate, making helpful modifications and sending it back to the House for one final vote of approval today.

As adopted by both chambers, H.R. 2820 now ensures that two collaborative programs that support treatment and therapies derived from adult stem cell lines will continue to receive funding through 2020. Under the legislation, the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program will be authorized for five years at $30 million annually, while the National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI) is authorized at $23 million annually for a five year period. Smith authored the original law (The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005—P.L. 109-129) that created the national cord blood program and expanded the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program.

Click here for the originating article from the office of pro-life Rep. Chris Smith

A Surprising Venue for Christmas Carols: Abortion Clinics

"No pregnant woman heads joyfully into an abortion clinic," said Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League, as he explains why pro-life advocates are gathering outside of abortion providers to sing Christmas carols. This is part of the Pro-Life Action League's nationwide "Empty Manger Christmas Caroling" event. Over the dozen years that the Pro-Life Action League has caroled outside of abortion clinics, the group has seen their share of Christmas miracles—women who choose life.

"We are here to counter that walk toward darkness with the invitation to choose life for the child they are carrying, a baby like the one meant to lay in the empty manger we gather around for our caroling," Scheidler shared. "It's particularly sad to think of someone getting an abortion during the time of Christmas, when we remember hope springing forth with the birth of a child. It can also be a special time to reach women and help them decide to not go through with the abortion."

Christmas carols evoke beautiful images of a mother and her newborn child—but also contain references to healing, mercy and salvation. "'Light and life to all He brings, ris'n with healing in His wings'—that's from 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing,'" added Scheidler, "That's the message we are offering: choose life not death. That is the path to light, hope and healing."

Click here for the originating article from Christian Newswire.

Pro-life forces score major win in U.S. Senate with approval of bill to defund Planned Parenthood, repeal major elements of Obamacare

In a major victory for the pro-life movement and for the Republican congressional leadership, the U.S. Senate has for the first time passed a bill that would block most federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

The same bill would repeal major components of Obamacare, including the provision that provides federal tax subsidies to health plans that cover elective abortion.

Among the provisions added was a repeal of the Obamacare program that currently provides federal tax subsidies to help millions of Americans purchase health plans that cover elective abortions, in states that have not passed specific laws to prevent this. This is the first time that the Senate has passed legislation to repeal this program, which constitutes the single greatest abortion-expanding component of Obamacare.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life.

International Human Rights Day – End Forced Sterilization and Gendercide in China

Reggie Littlejohn is the President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers. She testified last week before the Congressional Executive Commission on China on “China’s New ‘Two Child Policy’ & the Continuation of Massive Crimes Against Women and Children.” The following is an excerpt from her December 3 testimony.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers runs a campaign to end the sex-selective abortion of baby girls in China called “Save a Girl.”. Our network of fieldworkers on the ground has saved almost 200 baby girls in one area of rural China. Through this network, WRWF gets direct, up to the minute information about coercive population control in our area of China.

I communicated with the head of our network over the weekend [before the hearing]. Here is what she said about the current condition in our villages after the announcement of the “Two-Child Policy”:

The women in our villages do not see the new Two-Child Policy as a big improvement, because of the threat of sterilization. It is a policy that women must be sterilized after the second child – especially if both children are girls. Women who have a boy as their first child are not likely to have a second child, because after the second child, they would be forcibly sterilized. These sterilizations ruin not only a woman’s reproductive health, but her general health as well. After these sterilizations, the vast majority of women are “never the same again.” They will never recover their strength. For example, in our villages there is no running water. Women need to pump water out of a deep well. Before they are sterilized, women are strong enough to pump water. After they are sterilized, they are no longer strong enough to pump water. This weakness lasts forever and is devastating, because the family depends on the strength of the mother to do farm work...

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life.

UN "Experts" Visit US; Denounce Laws Against Abortion

The UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice conducted a visit to the United States last week and denounced laws restricting and regulating abortion as discriminatory and interfering with “women’s reproductive rights”.

The Group railed against state laws on abortion, designed to protect women’s safety and provide for an informed and non-coerced decision, calling the laws “severe barriers” to women’s rights asserting:

“These take the form of unjustified medical procedures, such as compelling women to undergo ultrasounds or to endure groundless waiting periods, withholding of early pregnancy abortion medications, imposing burdensome conditions for the licensing of clinics, which have resulted in the closing of clinics across the country leaving women without geographical access to sexual and reproductive health services.” …

Click here for the originating article Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues

Nursing student witnesses abortion, rethinks pro-choice stand

A pro-choice student nurse began having doubts about her position after witnessing an abortion. Author Jeff Lane Hensley quotes her in his book “The Zero People.” This book contains pro-life essays on abortion from various writers.

“I was for abortion, I thought it was a woman’s right to terminate pregnancy she did not want. Now I’m not so sure. I am a student nurse nearing the end of my OB-GYN rotation at a major metropolitan hospital and teaching center. It wasn’t until I saw what abortion really involves that I changed my mind. After the first week in the abortion clinic several people in my clinical group were shaky about their previously positive feelings about abortion. This new attitude resulted from our actually seeing a Prostaglandin abortion, one similar in nature to the widely used saline abortion. This method is being used for terminations of pregnancies of sixteen weeks and over.”

“I used to find rationales. the fetus isn’t real. Abdomens aren’t really very swollen. It isn’t ‘alive.’ No more excuses…I am a member of the health profession and members of my class are now ambivalent about abortion. I now know a great deal more about what is involved in the issue. Women should perceive fully what abortion is; how destructive an act it is both for themselves and their unborn child. Whatever psychological coping mechanisms are employed during the process, the sight of a fetus in a hospital bedpan remains the final statement.”

Click here for the originating article from clinicquotes.com via National Right to Life.

Three things Christmas tells us about human life and dignity

1. Each of us was once an unborn child. The Incarnation—the coming into the world of Christ—did not happen in the manger. It happened some nine months earlier. This is what the facts of human embryology and developmental biology tell us, and it is what the scriptural accounts affirm.

2. The weak and vulnerable matter just as much as the strong and independent. God himself chose to enter the world in the most vulnerable condition possible: as a tiny embryo, and then a fetus, and then a newborn baby lying in a manger. This turned ancient “might makes right” morality on its head. It suggests that human dignity is not determined by age, size, power or independence.

3. Human life is extraordinarily valuable. Christmas is part of God’s larger plan to rescue humanity because He loves us (John 3:16). Jesus was born so that we might live. From this Christian perspective, God considers human life to be immensely precious and worth saving at tremendous cost. “Christian belief in the Incarnation is thus inseparable from belief in the objective, and even transcendent, value of the human race as a whole, and of each human person as an individual,” writes Carson Holloway.

Click here for the originating article from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

Obama Backs Planned Parenthood Rally But Avoids Ever Saying ‘Abortion’

President Obama showed solidarity with the nation’s No. 1 abortion provider this weekend by expressing that America is “a people who stand up for the rights of women to make their own decisions about their health,” according to a statement that never once mentioned “abortion.”

This was part of Planned Parenthood’s National Day of Solidarity Saturday to show support for “access to safe reproductive healthcare, including abortion,” in the wake of the shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic. To show his support, President Obama sent Tina Tchen, the Assistant to the President, with a statement.

“I commend Planned Parenthood for convening this important event,” Tchen read on Obama’s behalf to the hundreds gathered in All Souls Church Unitarian in D.C. “I share your heartbreak about the tragedy that occurred at Planned Parenthood’s center in Colorado.”

Click here for the origination article.

10 reasons not to have an abortion

Parenting website Mommyish recently published an article advocating ten reasons (well, actually nine) to have an abortion. In response, I wrote a piece debunking the author’s arguments. Today, I will discuss ten reasons not to have an abortion.

1) It compounds tragedy.

2) It takes innocent lives.

3) It violates civil rights.

4) It punishes innocent people.

5) It can harm women.

6) It is damaging to relationships and families.

7) It never goes away.

8) It creates new problems.

9) It avoids responsibility.

10) It’s not empowering or liberating for women

All women should understand exactly what abortion is.

Click here for the originating article and explanations of the listed reasons.

Durbin: ‘All Hell Will Break Loose’ Over Abortion Language in Spending Bill

Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin warned that “all hell will break loose,” if Republicans force the issue on abortion language in the year-end omnibus bill.

“Just heard about it for the first time today, and if they try to do it, all hell will break loose,” said Durbin. "You can imagine. The phrase ‘Hobby Lobby’ perks up the ears of many members of the Senate.”

The Illinois Democrat said that given recent events, he wouldn’t be surprised if the debate runs up through Christmas Eve.

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

Life Legal Defense Foundation Brief Completely Refutes National Abortion Federation Lies: NAF Invited David Daleiden to Its 'Secret' Meetings

On Thursday, the Life Legal Defense Foundation filed an opposition brief to the National Abortion Federation's (NAF) motion for preliminary injunction against David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress (CMP). NAF is suing for an injunction to prevent Daleiden from releasing the recordings and information he obtained at the NAF meetings on the grounds that he is a "racketeer" who "committed fraud," "snuck into" their completely secure, private meetings, "stole" NAF information, and repelled them with his constant questions about buying fetal tissue.

Life Legal's opposition brief argues that, on the contrary, NAF welcomed Daleiden and the other investigators as dealers in fetal tissue, that he conducted his investigation legally, and that the public has a right to know what Daleiden uncovered at the NAF meetings.

Daleiden's declaration, filed with the opposition brief, gives a very different version of events than NAF has provided -- and includes the evidence to back it up. He says that two of his investigators, posing as employees of BioMax, met NAF employees at an unrelated conference in September of 2013. The investigators explained BioMax's plan to buy fetal tissue.

Click here for the originating article from ChristianNewswire.

Police stopped from helping pregnant teen, claims pro-lifer

A pro-life organization wants answers after police weren't allowed inside an abortion clinic to check on the welfare of a teenager. 

Cheryl Sullenger says the teenager was taken to the South Wind clinic, where her father had made an appointment. But the father does not have legal custody – her mother does – and the girl began texting her mother from inside the abortuary.

"So the mother found out," explains Sullenger,  "because the girl started texting her mom saying, I don't want to be at this abortion clinic, I don't want to have this abortion but they're making me do it."

Sullenger, CherylA minor has the legal right to refuse an abortion, Sullenger says.

The mother contacted police, who responded to the call and went to the clinic. But Operation Rescue says they were turned away by Julie Burkhart, the abortuary director.

Click here for the originating article from OneNewsNow.

Abortionists ignore law, parental rights

A pro-life group is accusing the owner of a Kansas abortion clinic of obstructing the police investigation of a teenager who claimed she was being forced to have an abortion.

The incident was uncovered while an Operation Rescue staff member was praying outside of South Wind Women's Center in Wichita, Kansas, and two marked police patrol cars arrived at the clinic on November 11. The pro-life group obtained documentation of the incident, including a desperate 911 call from the mother of the teenager who was frightened when the girl was taken out of school by her estranged father and grandmother, neither of whom had legal custody of her at the time. Her father had set up an abortion appointment, and officers were dispatched to the clinic to check on the girl.

But Cheryl Sullenger with Operation Rescue tells OneNewsNow that the owner of the abortion clinic wouldn't allow police inside the building. She says this is a shocking example of what goes on behind closed doors.

Sullenger, Cheryl"Abortionists believe in a lot of ways that they're above the law – [that] they don't have to comply with the laws that everyone else does,” she says.

Click here for the originating article from OneNewsNow.

Kirk votes "no" on bill to defund Planned Parenthood, repeal Obamacare

Thursday night, Illinois' U.S. Senator Mark Kirk was one of only two Republicans that voted "no" on a measure to defund Planned Parenthood and repeal Obamacare. Maine's U.S. Senator Susan Collins was the other Republican to oppose the measure.

The bill, H.R. 3792, will return to the U.S. House, where it is likely to pass. But once it gets to President Obama's desk, it will be dead on arrival.

Kirk has consistently defended tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood, despite undercover videos revealing that various Planned Parenthood clinics were selling baby body parts for medical research. Planned Parenthood at first denied the practice, then promised to end it.

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review

NRLC Praises Senate Approval of Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood

“Thanks to many weeks of hard skillful work by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and the Senate Republican Leadership to execute a filibuster-proof strategy, and an outpouring of support from the grassroots pro-life movement, the Senate has for the first time passed legislation that will defund Planned Parenthood,” said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life President. “Planned Parenthood now commands over one-third of the total abortion ‘market’ and pays its chief executive over a half-million dollars annually — it’s past time to cut off the taxpayer goodies.”

National Right to Life praised Republican presidential contenders Marco Rubio (Fla.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), and Ted Cruz (Texas) for voting for passage of the bill.

The bill would close the largest pipeline for federal funding of Planned Parenthood, Medicaid, and apply as well to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Title V and Title XX block grant programs. These sources account for roughly 89% of all federal funds that currently flow to Planned Parenthood.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life

First pro-lifers are blamed for Colorado Springs murders, now hints that yesterday’s violence in San Bernardino may have a connection to local Planned Parenthood clinic

The purple dot is where the shooting took place. The red dot is Planned Parenthood.

Hats off to a number of sites, including the Daily Caller, for documenting what, I suppose, was inevitable: an hare-brained attempt to somehow connect these brutal murders with the proximity of a Planned Parenthood clinic and (by the most dubious of extension) to pro-lifers.

As Blake Neff notes, the Planned Parenthood clinic is roughly a mile away “with a river, golf course, and dozens of buildings in the way.” Hard to talk yourself into believing that clinic was the real target, or another target, unless you desperately want to.

Aside from the fact that last night it took hours and hours even to identify the husband and wife team that was killed in a shootout with police, no one had a clue what their motive was or who they might be connected to, if anyone.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life.

US Senate votes to defund Planned Parenthood, but veto is expected

The United States Senate voted Thursday to pass a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood, though the White House has said President Obama will veto the legislation.

The defunding of the abortion provider is part of a proposed bill that would partially dismantle President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care legislation.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to send the bill to Obama, but backers of the bill do not have the votes to override a veto.

Click here for the originating article from CNA/EWTN News.

Call Alert: U.S. Senate to vote on $400 million cut to Planned Parenthood

A very close vote is expected!

This is an urgent “Call Alert” from the headquarters of National Right to Life in Washington, D.C.

Please immediately phone the offices of your two U.S. senators to voice your support for passage of the “pro-life reconciliation bill,” H.R. 3762.

This bill — which has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives — contains a provision that would strip Planned Parenthood of about $400 million in federal funding, which is 89% of the federal money that the organization receives each year.

The Senate is expected to vote on the Planned Parenthood issue on Thursday, December 3, and not long after that, on passage of the entire bill.

Please do not assume that your senators will be present and will vote correctly! Very close votes are expected. Please call and urge your senators to be present and to vote to pass this vital pro-life bill.

Simply Click HERE to go to the National Right to Life Legislative Action Center. Then enter your zip code into the “CALL NOW!” box at the top of the page, then click “Go!” Our system will automatically show you the correct names and phone numbers to call for your two U.S. senators. You will also see a short list of “talking points” to which you may refer when speaking with staff persons to your senators.