Obama nominates Judge Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on U.S. Supreme Court

President Obama announced he would nominate Merrick Garland to serve on the Supreme Court, replacing the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Garland, 63, is chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. According to multiple newspaper stories, Garland was a finalist for the two Supreme Court vacancies that Obama eventually filled with Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reiterated Wednesday that the GOP-controlled Senate would refuse to consider Garland’s nomination, asserting in a series of tweets that Obama made the nomination “to politicize it for the purposes of the election.”

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said he fully supports that stand. “We should let the American people decide the direction of the court,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Supreme Court Grants Reviews Priests for Life Case Against HHS Mandate, Along with Six Other Cases on March 23rd

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, announced that the US Supreme Court has accepted the Priests for Life case against HHS mandate to be heard on March 23rd, with a decision expected in June. The oral arguments in this case, with which six other cases have been consolidated, will be heard, March 23, when there will also be a rally outside the court. The consolidated case is called Zubik vs. Burwell.

"This is a great day in our battle for religious freedom against the culture of death, which wants us to participate in the spread of abortion. We will not do so, and we look forward to making our case at the Supreme Court," Fr. Pavone said.

In the Priests for Life case, plaintiffs included, along with the organization, the following people in their individual capacity: Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, Janet Morana, Executive Director of Priests for Life and Co-Founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, and Dr. Alveda King, Director of African-American Outreach for Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Click here for more from Christian Newswire.

VOTE PRO-LIFE ON MARCH 15TH!

The 2016 Illinois Primary takes place on Tuesday, March 15th.  This is the time when Illinois voters get to have a voice for the unborn in Illinois.  It is important you take this opportunity and have your voice heard.

For the 2016 Illinois Primary, the IFRL-PAC has made it's endorsements of candidates.

Click here to view the IFRL-PAC Endorsements.

Click here to download a PDF of the IFRL-PAC Endorsements.

Click here to view the Presidential candidates' position on Planned Parenthood as reported by National Right to Life.

Remember to vote and vote PRO-LIFE!

Worldwide cover-up of Abortion/Breast Cancer link continues to mount, plays catch-up

It has been famously noted that facts—like the fact that abortion increases a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer (ABC link) — are stubborn things. One hopes that means that eventually, the truth always comes out. But along the way, we also see that necessity—like the political necessity to cover up the truth of the ABC link—is the mother of increasingly inventive ways to do just that. In fact, the latest technique is to resurrect a tired old bogeyman named “recall bias”, aka “response bias” or “reporting bias”, but in a particularly brazen way.

The most recent study is yet another one from India, making the total number of South Asian studies (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) 15, all since 2008. Every one of them reports increased breast cancer risk with abortion, with risk increases as high as almost 2,000 percent (20-fold)!

The authors of this 2016 study by Nagrani et al. actually acknowledge that they have observed increased breast cancer risk with induced abortions. They go so far as to admit that “most previous case-control studies have observed a positive association between induced abortion and breast cancer.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

The Presidential candidates on Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood continues to be a key issue for pro-life voters, and for good reason. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States, performs over 300,000 abortions a year, traffics in baby body parts, and receives nearly a half-billion dollars a year in government funds. Pro-lifers want their government to have nothing to do with Planned Parenthood. So what have the candidates for President said and done about Planned Parenthood?

Republicans:

Donald Trump has never held public office and has no voting record on Planned Parenthood. He has spoken about them several times saying both that he would defund them and that he thinks Planned Parenthood has done good work.

“Planned Parenthood has done very good work for millions of women. But we’re not going to allow and we’re not going to fund, as long as you have the abortion going on at Planned Parenthood.”

“What I would do when the time came, I’d look at the individual things they do and maybe some of the individual things they do are good.”

Marco Rubio has voted repeatedly in the U.S. Senate to defund Planned Parenthood. Marco Rubio has said, “Planned Parenthood should never receive another dime from American taxpayers.”

Ted Cruz has voted repeatedly in the U.S. Senate to defund Planned Parenthood. Ted Cruz has said, “Congress should renew efforts to fully defund Planned Parenthood to ensure its morally bankrupt business receives not one penny of taxpayer money.

John Kasich as governor of Ohio directed 1.4 million in funding away from Planned Parenthood. When John Kasich became governor, the Ohio Department of Health stopped awarding new state dollars to Planned Parenthood.

Democrats:

Hillary Clinton served as a U.S. senator from New York from 2001 until 2009. During that time she maintained a 0% pro-life record, voting against the pro-life position on every vote. Referring to congressional efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, Clinton said, “That’s why President Obama’s veto was so important, and that’s why we need to have a Democratic president on January 20, 2017. And I want to be that president that will say, ‘Forget about it. Don’t waste your time; you know you’re not getting past me.’”

Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) has voted against the pro-life position more than 100 times in his federal legislative career, first in the House of Representatives (1991-2007) and since in the U.S. Senate. In response to a question from Univision’s Jorge Ramos, he said, “Do I support Planned Parenthood? I absolutely do. … I will defend Planned Parenthood. I think a lot of this attack, to be honest with you, comes from people who simply do not believe that a woman should have a right to control her own body. That’s the motive.”

Source: National Right to Life

Abortion group misleads 37th House District voters with endorsement

Illinois' Personal PAC, as always, is encouraging Illinois voters to vote only for pro-abortion candidates in the primary. Problem is they included a staunch pro-life state representative as the only House Republican in their March 15th primary endorsement list.

"I have no idea why they included my name on that list," State Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Mokena) told Illinois Review Monday. "I didn't return their required questionnaire, and they couldn't have based it on my voting record."

McDermod said she has been in contact with Personal PAC, but was unable to talk to the Executive Director Terry Cosgrove and staff indicated that he was the one that presented the list to their endorsement committee. Sometime this morning McDermed's name was removed from one endorsement list HERE, but remains on another HERE.

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

Krauthammer: ‘Semi-Historic’ for Dems to Be Pressed on Abortion at FNC Town Hall

On Tuesday’s Special Report on Fox News, columnist Charles Krauthammer praised anchor Bret Baier for finally holding Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders accountable for their hard-left abortion views: “I thought it was even almost – it was semi-historic the way you actually asked a question about abortion. I think there have been, what, seven Democratic debates and not one about abortion.”

He blasted the constant media double standard on the issue:

The moderators are always asking Republicans about the difficult issue of exceptions for the pro-life position, which is a serious question. But you never hear the same question asked about the difficult exceptions on the pro-choice side, meaning, is there any time, anywhere, any time in the pregnancy when you would allow a regulation to prevent an abortion? Which is never asked, has to be asked, and was asked.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Shocking video stops abortion

Natasha was shocked to find out she was pregnant at the age of 19. Her immediate feelings were fear and uncertainty as to how a baby would fit into her future. Her then boyfriend told her to get an abortion. He gave her $250.00 and considered the situation solved. Natasha made an appointment for a first trimester surgical procedure to abort her child.

What happened next changed the course of Natasha’s life. It was the year 2000, and the abortion facility she visited was located in Austin, Texas. At the time, the center she visited was required to show a short video explaining her abortion procedure. The video was a shocking wake up call to Natasha. Watching the film made her realize she couldn’t go through with the procedure. To the great pleasure of her friend outside, she grabbed her belongings and ran to the car. It was a quick answer to her friend’s heartfelt prayer.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Adult Stem Cells Cure Blindness

The story is sensational, nonetheless. Adult stem cells have cured blindness and may provide a splendid treatment for cataracts. From the Telegraph story:

Cataracts can be cured by using a patient’s own stem cells to regrow a ‘living lens’ in their eye, restoring sight in just three months, scientists have shown. In research described as ‘remarkable,’ surgeons reversed blindness in 12 infants born with congenital cataracts by removing the damaged lens and coaxing nearby cells to repair the damage. 

This is great news. And the potential is really exciting:

“An ultimate goal of stem cell research is to turn on the regenerative potential of one’s own stem cells for tissue and organ repair and disease therapy,” said Dr Kang Zhang, chief of Ophthalmic Genetics and founding director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine."

“The success of this work represents a new approach in how new human tissue or organ can be regenerated and human disease can be treated, and may have a broad impact on regenerative therapies by harnessing the regenerative power of our own body."

Click here for more from National Review.

Award-Winning Pro-Life “Trapped” Film Depicts Life-Changing Visit to Pregnancy Center

Last Friday, a pro-choice documentary, “Trapped,” was released in selected theaters and kicked off a community screening tour.

The documentary highlights Wendy Davis’ famous pink shoes, which the former Texas lawmaker wore in her ultimately unsuccessful 2013 filibuster to fight Texas’ HB 2, which is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The film’s aim is to draw attention to Big Abortion’s fight for “abortion rights,” and the “lack of access” to abortion in certain parts of the U.S.

But “Trapped” isn’t the only movie of bearing the same name.

Co-produced by Women’s Pregnancy Center in Ocala, Fla., “Trapped” is also the title of a short film that tells the story of one teenager, Laura, through her own eyes as she wrestles with an unexpected pregnancy, and it’s being made available to pregnancy resource and medical centers.



Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Pro-Abort Activists Freak Out Over Pro-Lifers on NY Times Front Page

Radical feminists turned against the liberal New York Times, after the above-the-fold picture on the front page of Thursday’s edition featured three pro-life women. The trio were picketing in front of the Supreme Court on Wednesday. One held a sign from the group New Wave Feminist, which read, “I Am A Prolife Feminist.”

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards posted on Twitter, “@NYTimes forgot to take photos of the 3k folks rallying yesterday for #reprorights. Send them your best pics!” She later Tweeted out “a few options for you, @nytimes.”

The Twitter account of the Center for Reproductive Rights [which represented those challenging the Texas law] went on a tear, re-Tweeting ideological fellow-travelers attacking the New York Times for “picturing posters promoting junk science &only 1 side of story,” as RH Reality Check researcher Laura Huss put it. Many of the pro-abortion activists who went after the liberal newspaper hyped that the pro-lifers were outnumbered in front of the Supreme Court.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Supreme Court temporarily stops Louisiana from enforcing law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges

In a brief order, the Supreme Court Friday temporarily stopped Louisiana from enforcing its law that requires abortionists to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. The unsigned order came two days after the justices heard oral arguments in a case from Texas that raised that issue (Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt) and another that required abortion clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers.

In early February U.S. District Judge John deGravelles found that the admitting privileges requirement would place an “undue burden” on Louisiana women seeking an abortion. He issued a preliminary injunction preventing the law from being enforced against the clinics involved in the challenge: Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Bossier City Medical Suite in Bossier City, and Causeway Medical Clinic in Metairie [.

However, on February 24, an unanimous three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the judge’s order. According to Louisiana Right to Life, the panel accepted all of the state’s arguments–that the district court did not follow 5th Circuit precedent; ignored the state’s unrebutted evidence that more than 90 percent of Louisiana women would still be within 150 miles of a provider; and ignored the secretary’s determination that “Dr. Doe 2’s” privileges at Tulane were sufficient.

It was this ruling that the High Court temporarily blocked.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

“Honey… we’re pregnant”

The woman is looking expectantly at the pregnancy test kit and, wham, her eyes light up and she shouts out the window to her husband who is in the back yard, “Honey… we’re pregnant.”

Such is the opening of—yes—a commercial, in this instance for Huggies. But it is beautifully done, beginning with the shock/awe/delight that runs across the woman’s face when she discovers she is going to have a baby.

The excited back and forth between the couple is a real delight and a wonderful pro-life educational tutorial.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Doctor who performed 1,200 abortions now describes most common form of abortion

Their first video educated more than 11 million people about the true face of dilation and extraction (or "dismemberment") abortions. Now, Live Action has released a video depicting the most common form of abortion: vacuum aspiration (or "suction") abortion followed by the dilatation and curettage (D&C) procedure.

“Some viewers who were horrified by the second trimester D&E abortion video said they were now convinced that abortions should only be committed in the first trimester,’” said Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action. "This is because the abortion industry has lied to women for decades, telling them that at that stage, their babies are just ‘clumps of cells."



Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Ultrasound is a window to the womb

In the ultrasound debate, the true paternalists are those who would “shelter” women from seeing their unborn child’s beating heart at 22 days, or viewing her kicking and moving inside the womb at seven weeks.

In a 1992 case upholding key regulations on abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court held that states can require information that “is truthful and not misleading” be made available to a woman to help ensure that she “apprehend the full consequences of her decision.” The court stated that doing so reduces “the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that her decision was not fully informed.”

Clearly, real-time ultrasound images of the unborn child are truthful, not misleading, and can lead to a more informed decision.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Planned Parenthood alters abortions so company can charge $750 per brain: New CMP video

A new undercover video released by the Center for Medical Progress reveals that a California Planned Parenthood affiliate alters the abortion procedure, sometimes delivers children "intact," and provides fetal organs to a company that charges $750 for babies' brains.

Undercover investigators learned many of the gruesome details from Dr. Jennefer Russo, the medical director at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties. She also performs abortions up to 24 weeks.



Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

A look inside the pro-abortionists’ unceasing propaganda machine

Pro-abortion propagandists operate in a pincer-like fashion in which the truth is encircled by attackers coming from both sides.

One attack are the “academic studies” which utilize extrapolation, exaggeration, and evasion to “prove” that every pro-life legislative initiative under the sun is counterproductive, at best, cynically motivated, at worse.

The other attack is to dismiss not just a raft of peer-reviewed studies showing that abortion has negative consequences for women (that is to be expected). They also dismiss “embryological and fetal development from information booklets produced by 23 states that require informed consent,” as a recent story at Forbes.com explains.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Saving All Our American Idols

The farewell season of “American Idol” marks the end of an era. A generation of unknown talents from across the country have graced the AI stage, eventually becoming household names like Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, and Jennifer Hudson.

Recently, the original idol, Kelly Clarkson, gave an emotional performance in which she brought the audience, and herself, to tears singing her hit, “Piece by Piece.” She said she wrote it when she was pregnant with her first child, talking about the father who had abandoned her when she herself was a little girl.

So often, a woman who walks into an abortion facility feels abandoned–abandoned by a boyfriend, a mother, a father. It is no coincidence that a poll once found that 80 percent of women who have had abortions said they would have continued their pregnancies and given birth had just one person supported them–just one person.



Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Supreme Court hears arguments on Texas abortion law

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on March 2 in the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, a challenge to the new state law that imposes medical standards on abortion providers in the state of Texas.

The arguments presented to the Court centered on the question of whether the medical standards created by the Texas law impose an "undue burden" on women seeking abortions. Supporters of abortion have claimed that the law would force as many as 20 abortion clinics to close, because they cannot meet the new standards.

Click here for more from Catholic World News.

No exaggeration: next Supreme Court appointment could “reshape American life”

If by chance you missed “The Supreme Court: What’s at Stake in this Presidential Election?,” by all means take a few minutes out and read the speech given yesterday on the Senate floor by Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Once you have, the impact that electing a pro-abortion president in 2016 would have will become real in a sense that previously you may have not have appreciated.

Sen. Grassley referenced a very, very important article written by Adam Liptak for the New York Times: “Supreme Court Appointment Could Reshape American Life.”

The headline is no exaggeration.

The immediate context is President Obama’s attempt to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia with a justice more to his liking–more like Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan–before his second term ends. But the larger context is the possibility that the next President could easily nominate three or even four justices.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.