Obama Administration ramps up pressure on 10 states to restore PPFA Funding

As anticipated, the Obama administration yesterday made it official: it is pressuring states to restore Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.

Six states–Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas–have notified Planned Parenthood they were terminating Planned Parenthood’s participation in their states’ Medicaid program. Four other states have or addressing the issue in various manner. All ten received letters from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS].

Stories in publications such as the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal explain that the CMS sent a letter to state Medicaid directors stating, “Providing the full range of women’s health services [abortion] neither disqualifies a provider from participating in the Medicaid program, nor is the provision of such services inconsistent with the best interests of the beneficiary, and shall not be grounds for a state’s action against a provider in the Medicaid program,” the letter said.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Pro-abortion Schakowsky to lead Dems on panel investigating Planned Parenthood

A member of Illinois Democrat delegation has been appointed to act as ranking member of a congressional committee to investigate Planned Parenthood. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) is leading the Democrats' effort.

Despite receiving over $11,000 in campaign contributions from the group she's investigating,  Schakowsky has not publicly declared a conflict of interest.

The House panel is investigating allegations that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, is selling the body parts of aborted babies to researchers for profit. The allegations were raised by a series of undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress.

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

Nationwide #ProtestPP April 23 to Tell Voters: Planned Parenthood is Bad for America

On April 23, nationally coordinated protests will be held at over 200 Planned Parenthood centers throughout the United States, drawing voters' attention to the ugly side of the nation's largest abortion chain. These protests are being organized by the #ProtestPP coalition, formed in response to the undercover videos released last year showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting and selling of body parts from aborted children.

Protesters throughout the country will also be standing in solidarity with David Daleiden, the pro-life whistle-blower who is facing baseless civil and criminal charges for conducting a 30-month undercover investigation of the abortion industry's trafficking in fetal tissue. "Planned Parenthood and their powerful allies in government are trying to discredit and silence pro-lifers who are guilty of nothing more than exposing the shocking truth about their abortion practices," said protest co-director Mark Harrington, executive director of Created Equal. "As an investigative journalist, Mr. Daleiden's protected free speech is being criminalized while Planned Parenthood's criminal behavior is being entirely overlooked. On April 23, we'll be setting the record straight in communities all over the country."

The protests will also highlight the gap between Planned Parenthood's claims about their role in women's healthcare and the documented reality. "Planned Parenthood insists that poor women depend on them for basic healthcare," said Monica Miller, protest co-director and head of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, "but in fact they provide fewer and fewer services, to fewer and fewer women every year—except abortion. Planned Parenthood's abortion numbers keep going up. They're now responsible for nearly a third of all abortions in our country."

For more information, please contact:

Monica Miller, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, 248-444-9096, mmmillerlife@gmail.com

Mark Harrington, Created Equal, 614-419-98000 mark@createdequal.org

Eric Scheidler, Pro-Life Action League, 773-251-8792, eric@prolifeaction.org

See also ProtestPP.com.

Medical Students for Choice desperate to increase numbers of abortionists

According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortion clinics in the United States has declined by nearly 40%, after peaking in 1982. Recent years have seen abortion clinics continue to shut their doors after the passing of pro-life laws around the nation. As clinics continue to close, as abortion rates continue to drop, and as organizations such as Planned Parenthood continue to be exposed, times are looking tough for big business abortion.

But Medical Students for Choice is fighting to continue big business abortion, with the help of private funding including grants from the Rockefeller Family Fund, a non-profit group that, according to their website, seeks to find the leverage points of key societal and political issues and which “seeks to improve the quality of life for working women and their families.” Sadly, it appears that the group views abortion as a way to help achieve this goal.

According to Reuters, the Rockefeller Family Fund sent 137 students for abortion training at its Abortion Training Institute, more than twice as many as in 2010. The Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Training Program has also increased abortion training around the country.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

26 Organizations Urge Passage of Conscience Protection Act of 2016 in Joint Letter to Congress

Today the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) joined with twenty-five other major pro-life, religious, and health care organizations urging the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Conscience Protection Act of 2016 (H.R. 4828). Signatories include ten medical groups representing tens of thousands of health care professionals who object to abortion and are seeking legal protection to serve their patients in good conscience.

“Federal laws protecting conscientious objection to abortion have been approved for decades by Congresses and Presidents of both parties. Even many ‘pro-choice’ Americans realize that the logic of their position requires them to respect a choice not to be involved in abortion,” they wrote. “Yet it is increasingly clear that the current laws offer far less protection in practice than in theory.”

The Conscience Protection Act (H.R. 4828), introduced on March 22 by Reps. John Fleming, M.D. (R-LA) and Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), addresses several “loopholes” in current federal laws that have allowed violations of conscience rights to continue. The letter cites a recent California mandate for almost all health plans in the state to pay for elective abortions, and the government’s failure to vindicate the rights of New York nurse Cathy DeCarlo after she was pressured to assist at a late-term abortion.

The joint letter highlights the modest nature of the bill, explaining that it “would mean almost no change in the substantive policy of Congress” but “would be an enormous step forward in assuring Americans who serve the sick and needy that they can do so without being forced by government to violate their most deeply held convictions on respect for innocent human life.”

For the full text of the letter and more on the bishops’ promotion of conscience rights, click here.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

The Big Bang Theory celebrates the humanity of unborn children

The Big Bang Theory is one of the biggest sitcoms currently on TV – maybe not where you’d always expect to see a strong pro-life statement!

And yet in last week’s episode, the series managed to capture an adorable, life-affirming moment pivoting around the unborn child of two of the main characters, Howard and Bernadette.

The 7 April episode showed both the expectant parents sitting together on the sofa with Howard’s best friend Raj. Howard moves a special microphone over his wife’s stomach that allows them to hear the baby’s heart beating.

The three friends sit in awe as they listen to the unborn baby’s heart thump through the speaker.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Mosquitoes taking priority over the unborn

A pro-life leader insists the latest declaration about the Zika virus from the Centers for Disease Control only underscores the need for a change in the culture.

The CDC has announced that the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease, causes microcephaly and other birth defects, although America's health protection agency says much more research must be done just to be sure. In the meantime, says Judie Brown, founder of American Life League, the stance taken by prominent health organizations is decidedly anti-life.

"The problem with the CDC's announcement – and the position taken by the World Health Organization – is that their ultimate solution to this problem is killing the babies of women who've become pregnant and have acquired the Zika virus," she states. "And that is, of course, the wrong response."

Click here for more from OneNewsNow.

A changing Supreme Court: the legalization of euthanasia could hang in the balance

While four states have affirmatively legalized the dangerous practice of doctor-prescribed suicide, and legislative efforts continue to expand that number, an even greater threat may be posed by the United States Supreme Court. We are in a situation, with the current Supreme Court vacancy, under which whoever gets to appoint the new justice can definitively shift the High Court’s ideological balance.

Before Justice Antonin Scalia’s untimely death, it was widely recognized that on many issues, including abortion, the Court had been divided 4-4 with Justice Anthony Kennedy often providing the deciding vote. Replacing Scalia with a justice holding an opposite perspective would typically lead to either 5-4 or 6-3 rulings on such issues.

Euthanasia could be among them.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Guttmacher report finds teen abortion rate in 2011 lowest since abortion legalized

The headline is hugely encouraging, and in line with other data both from Guttmacher and from the Centers for Disease Control: “U.S. Teen Pregnancy, Birth and Abortion Rates Reach the Lowest Levels in Almost Four Decades.”

In 2011, the abortion rate for teenager s (15-19) was 13.5/1,000 women, the lowest since abortion was legalized in 1973. The peak was in 1988–44/1,000–meaning a decrease of 69%.

The teenage pregnancy rate–52.4/1,000– was the lowest in more than 30 years, according to Guttmacher.

The teenage birthrate–31.3/1,000–was roughly half the 1991 high point of 61.8/1,000, according to the report [www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2016/us-teen-pregnancy-birth-and-abortion-rates-reach-lowest-levels-almost-four-decades].

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Court dismisses ACLU suit that sought to force Catholic hospital, staff to commit abortions

A federal court Monday threw out an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that sought to force a Catholic hospital system and its staff to commit abortions regardless of their religious and pro-life objections.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent the Catholic Medical Association, the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which the court allowed on March 10 to intervene in the case in defense of Trinity Health Corporation. Trinity Health operates 86 facilities in 21 states.

“No American should be forced to commit an abortion—least of all faith-based medical workers who went into the profession to follow their faith and save lives, not take them,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “No law requires religious hospitals and medical personnel to commit abortions against their faith and conscience, and, in fact, federal law directly prohibits the government from engaging in any such coercion. As we argued in our brief to the court, the ACLU had no standing to bring this suit and demand this kind of government coercion.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Which path will our nation follow?

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, recently tweeted, “43 years after Roe v. Wade, 90% of American counties have no abortion clinics at all.” #StopTheSham #WeWon’tGoBack

She was quoting from a recent article in the Huffington Post, by novelist Richard North Patterson, which began, “Whether you support Bernie or Hillary, how many of you want Republicans to abolish freedom of reproductive choice? I thought so. But here’s the kicker — in much of the country, the GOP already has. For millions of American women, freedom of choice is writ on water. And if you abandon your party’s nominee, whoever that may be, millions more may suffer.”

The old guard in the abortion movement is so deathly afraid they will lose this election they are trying to scare their supporters into working harder and voting for Hillary Clinton to ensure their “right” to kill unborn children. Patterson’s point is that it doesn’t matter which candidate is nominated by the Democrats, Clinton or Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders– that candidate will be better than any Republican. (Richards would disagree; PPFA’s political action arm endorsed Clinton.)

By 2014, Planned Parenthood understood they needed to retool their “message.” PPFA announced they were no longer going to use the label “pro-choice” and would prefer people to start talking about “women’s health.” Richards told The New York Times, “I just think the ‘pro-choice’ language doesn’t really resonate particularly with a lot of young women voters.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Adorable twins don’t realize yet they’ve been born

This beautiful video was taken just minutes after a set of twins’ birth by French nurse Sonia Rochelle, demonstrating her signature bathing technique for newborns called “Baby Spa.”

And while the 10- to 15-minute soapless massage bath is displayed in the video (below), it’s the intimate interaction between the twins that’s enough to melt your heart.

The twin infants have their eyes closed and appear to be peacefully sleeping and enjoying the warm bathwater. The twin babies finally begin to move and, when they do, they hold each other and snuggle closer.



Click here for more from Society for the Protection of Unborn Children

Obama’s with Hillary: No rights for preborns

President Barack Obama is reportedly on board with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's aggressive pro-abortion stance, which contends that preborn children have no constitutional rights, including the right to life guaranteed to all Americans.

The former secretary of state who served under Obama's first term told The View during an interview this week that preborn children -- just hours before delivery -- should have absolutely no rights guaranteed to them by the United States Constitution.

Her insistence that babies in the womb  -- at just about any stage in a pregnancy -- should not have any constitutional rights followed her statement earlier in the week that preborn children simply do not have any constitutional rights at all. Therefore, Clinton holds to the belief that the sanctity of human life does not apply to children in the womb, and by her interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, they can be denied the right to life.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow.

Illinois Court Rejects Temporary Restraining Order: Campaign to Expose Planned Parenthood's Waste Disposal Company Will Proceed

Today, arguments were presented in a lawsuit by Stericycle, Inc. against the pro-life group Created Equal. The Thomas More Society, a national non-profit law firm, represented Created Equal and its Executive Director Mark Harrington, against a temporary restraining order. This order intended to stifle their first amendment protected message that Stericycle is "enabling" abortion giant Planned Parenthood to kill preborn children.

The temporary restraining order was rejected; however plaintiffs have two weeks to amend the original complaint.

Read Judge Marcoullier's decision in favor of Created Equal HERE.

Click here for more from Christian Newswire.

‘Duck Dynasty’ stars to highlight the beauty of adoption during NASCAR race

Adoption will be the theme during NASCAR’s third-largest paying race slated for April 9, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas.

During the Duck Commander 500, the stars of the famous A&E “Duck Dynasty” show are partnering with Texas Motor Speedway to launch an adoption awareness campaign.

“Drive Adoption,” as the campaign has been dubbed by Fort Worth’s Texas Motor Speedway, has partnered with race entitlement sponsor, Duck Commander, to raise awareness and funds for adoption.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Planned Parenthood undercover videographer's home raided by California AG

Within hours of releasing an explosive video revealing recent congressional testimony concerning Planned Parenthood's patient consent form to use aborted baby parts for medical research, the Center for Medical Progress' head David Dalieden's home was raided by California's Attorney General Tuesday.

A statement posted Tuesday evening on the Center's Facebook page said the California Attorney General's office seized all undercover video footage involving Planned Parenthood plus personal information. The statement called the raid as a bid "to harass and intimidate citizen journalists":

Today, the California Attorney General's office of Kamala Harris, who was elected with tens of thousands of dollars from taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood, seized all video footage showing Planned Parenthood's criminal trade in aborted baby parts, in addition to my personal information. Ironically, while seizing my First Amendment work product, they ignored documents showing the illicit scheme between StemExpress and Planned Parenthood. This is no surprise--Planned Parenthood's bought-and-paid-for AG has steadfastly refused to enforce the law against the baby body parts traffickers in our state, or even investigate them--while at the same time doing their bidding to harass and intimidate citizen journalists. We will pursue all remedies to vindicate our First Amendment rights.

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Lori to Congress: Support the Conscience Protection Act

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan (pictured) and Archbishop William E. Lori–as chairmen of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities and Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, respectively–wrote to the U.S. House of Representatives, March 31, urging support for the Conscience Protection Act of 2016 (HR 4828).

The Conscience Protection Act, they wrote, is “essential legislation protecting the fundamental rights of health care providers…to ensure that those providing much-needed health care and health coverage can continue to do so without being forced by government to help destroy innocent unborn children.”

HR 4828 has a “modest scope,” they noted. “While existing federal laws already protect conscientious objection to abortion in theory, this protection has not proved effective in practice… The Conscience Protection Act will address the deficiencies that block effective enforcement of existing laws, most notably by establishing a private right of action allowing victims of discrimination to defend their own rights in court.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Are aborted baby body parts really necessary?

According to medical experts, there is no need to use organs or tissue from aborted babies to do research to cure diseases.

Recent editorials in numerous media sources have quoted scientists as saying that laws being passed in states to ban the use of aborted baby tissue is hurting their effort to develop cures and vaccines for diseases. But this claim is highly contested by many in the field of medicine.

Dr. David Prentice of Charlotte Lozier Institute maintains that many contentions are being made to justify using aborted baby body parts, especially with the latest Zika outbreak.

This is not true, according to Prentice, who says it is hard to believe that some scientists are making the statements about aborted fetal tissue — especially because there is no evidence fetal tissue is needed.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow.

Is Hillary Clinton becoming 'more extreme' on abortion?

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has long been known for supporting legal abortion. But her comments in this election year have some pro-life critics saying that she is becoming more radical.

“She is publicly signaling to the abortion lobby that she backs abortion on demand and won’t support any restrictions,” said Mallory Quigley, communications director for the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life political advocacy group.

In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Clinton was asked when, or if, an unborn child has constitutional rights.

“Well, under our laws currently, that is not something that exists,” she said. “The unborn person doesn't have constitutional rights.”

Click here for more from CNA Daily News.

“Abortion is what my generation did”

What would you think might be the perspective of a woman who wrote a story whose title is “The Abortion I never had”?

I didn’t know either, so, intrigued, I read it. I’m glad I did.

The author begins by talking about a powerful story written by Christina, a woman who did have an abortion. Her account made the author think about her own “scare.”

The headline gives away that she did not have an abortion, but, she tells us, she surely could have. “[A]bortion is what my generation did,” she writes. And while the overall message of her essay on one level is “that could have been me,” there is much more.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.