Some Illinois pro-life centers not forced to promote abortions

Illinois lawmakers passed a bill to go into effect on New Year’s Day that would require the centers and medical staff to essentially promote a view contrary to their own – if they are pro-life.

Judge Doherty, who temporarily blocked the law, is asking the state to answer some specific questions about the proposed law.

“He's asked why the state believes that those people who object to abortion have to be forced to inform people on where they can get abortions – when the state itself licenses and maintains information about every abortion clinic in the state,” Troscinski pointed out.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow.

Texas to stop government funding for Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood has officially been cut off from government funding through Texas’ Medicaid program.

Misconduct and violations of acceptable medical standards were among the causes cited in the final legal notice delivered to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC) this week informing the abortion giant of the state’s intent to cease its Medicaid funding.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

American Psychiatric Association takes historic stand on assisted suicide and euthanasia

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has taken a strong stand against euthanasia. In a formal position statement approved by its board of trustees this month, it says:

The American Psychiatric Association, in concert with the American Medical Association’s position on Medical Euthanasia, holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death.

This implies that it is not ethical for a psychiatrist to help a non-terminally ill person to commit suicide, either by providing the means or by direct lethal injection, as is being currently practiced in The Netherlands and Belgium.

Although this binds only APA members, the APA is one of the world’s most influential professional bodies. The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) is considering a similar statement.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Court Victory for Illinois Pro-Lifers

A Rockford, Illinois judge issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday to protect Aid for Women from an egregious law, SB 1564, which would force pregnancy help centers and pro-life doctors to promote abortions!

As many of you who have been following the situation know, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law the notorious Senate Bill 1564. This legislation tries to gut the conscience rights that were formerly protected by the Illinois Healthcare Right of Conscience Act, and the freedoms of speech and religion guaranteed under the First Amendment. Aid for Women and women throughout our State are harmed by this legislation. The law tells us that, if we do not perform abortions, we have only three options: either we must refer for an abortion, or transfer our client to an abortionist, or provide a list of abortionists to the client.

But today’s injunction is only preliminary. Our fight for our conscience rights, the lives of the unborn, and the best interest of women will press on.

Source: Aid for Women

About those “anti-choice extremists”….

Ilyse Hogue, NARAL Pro-choice America President

I guess NARAL Pro-Choice America decided four “anti-choice extremists” were enough to get pro-abortionists’ blood boiling–and entice them to give a “Year-End gift [that] will be doubled.”

In the fundraising e-blast, NARAL’s President Ilyse Hogue, cited Vice President-elect Indiana Gov. Mike Pence; Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Attorney General; Georgia Rep. Tom Price, Mr. Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services; and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who will be our nation’s ambassador to the U.N.

Leading from strength, so to speak, Hogue cited Pence’s oft-stated position that he longs for the day “Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history.” The other three have their own offenses (by NARAL’s standards), including signing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act which says you can’t subject babies who are capable of experiencing to the unimaginable pain of an abortion.

But the incoming administration of pro-life President-elect Donald Trump is filled with pro-lifers with long records of support for measures to protect unborn children.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Trump election means “it’s just no fun anymore” for PPFA

Betty Cockrum

Geez, you have to feel sorry, sort of, for Betty Cockrum, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky. In fact for all of Planned Parenthood.

In an interview with the student newspaper at Indiana University, Cockrum told Lindsay Moore that following the election of Donald Trump, “The agenda and mood of Planned Parenthood’s post-election national meeting changed dramatically.”

“When your fellow CEOs say, ‘It’s just no fun anymore. It just gets harder by the day,’ that’s tough,” Cockrum said. “You just got to go shoulder to shoulder and keep each other going.”

No fun!

No smiles as your organization traffics in the organs of aborted babies? No whoop and hollering when the annual tally kept by the national office goes over 300,000 dead babies mark? No laughter when your deep-pocketed legal representatives are able to enjoin a law that does no more than give women the opportunity to view an ultrasound of their child at least 18 hours prior to performing abortions?

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Facebook’s push to snuff out fake news poses threat to pro-life, traditional values reporting

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook

After taking stiff criticism for being a conduit in the recent spate of misinformation and hoaxes published to drive Internet traffic, the Facebook will begin fact checking, labeling, and burying in its News Feed what it determines to be either a hoax or fake news.

But Facebook’s partnership with Snopes, Factcheck.org, ABC News and PolitiFact to manage fact checking in this new initiative raises the question of who will determine what constitutes “fake news.” That leads then to the issue of whether information on Facebook will be censored to fit a particular worldview.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Here’s the theory behind a pro-life T-shirt

A new idea for a T-shirt (same wording front and back).

Since the word "abortion" no longer packs much punch, the more graphic expression "torn to pieces" has been used. (This is along the same lines as the old suggestion that we stop asking politicians "How do you stand on abortion?" and start asking them "How do you stand on prenatal dismemberment?")

But note that the T-shirt is a positive affirmation of the viewer's life, of his or her escape from violence. Thus it stands a better chance of being heard than would a negative accusation, an attack, or a photo of a dismembered child.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

U.S. psychiatrists not ready or willing to endorse euthanasia for mental suffering

America’s psychiatrists have rejected prescribing euthanasia for mental suffering, a justification critics argue has already wormed its way into Canadian medical practice.

The position, which was drafted at the direction of the voluntary group’s general assembly, states that the 25,000-member American Psychiatric Association “holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death.”

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com.

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill’s grandaughter born despite abortion demands

Baby Autumn, daughter of Maegan Chen and Nathan Hamill.

In September, Live Action News reported on a troubling story involving Mark Hamill, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga.

A former girlfriend of Mark’s son Nathan Hamill, Maegan Chen — who was pregnant with Nathan’s baby — claimed she was facing pressure from both Nathan and Mark to abort the baby. According to Chen, Nathan threatened to break up with her if she did not abort the baby, and Mark told her she “shouldn’t bring a child into the world that nobody wants.” When Chen refused to abort, Mark’s wife Marilou reportedly told her in an email, “Meagan, you blew it.”

However, since that time, LifeSiteNews reports that the baby has been born, and she is doing well. Maegan named her daughter Autumn.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Trump’s new Interior Secretary voted to defund Planned Parenthood five times

Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-MT

President-elect Donald Trump announced today he intends to nominate Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-MT, to be Secretary of the Interior.

Although the Secretary of the Interior isn't typically directly involved with abortion policy, Zinke has a strong pro-life voting record and has voted to defund Planned Parenthood five times.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Please Urge AMA to maintain its opposition to assisted suicide

There is an effort underway within the influential American Medical Association (AMA) to abandon its decades-long position opposing assisted suicide and take a neutral stance.

Both the national and state medical societies’ opposition to doctor-prescribed suicide have been instrumental in stopping the spread of these dangerous laws. When the Vermont and California medical societies took neutral positions, it was devastating to the efforts in the legislature to block legalization in those states.

Medical professionals should focus on providing care and comfort to patients – NOT becoming a source of lethal drugs.

Please sign our petition to urge the AMA to retain its position against assisted suicide.
A fact sheet about the AMA and physician-assisted suicide follows below:

Assisted Suicide

What is the American Medical Association’s position on assisted suicide?
For decades, the American Medical Association (AMA) has taken a position opposing assisted suicide.

What discussion is happening now in the AMA?

There is an effort underway within the AMA to abandon its position opposing assisted suicide and take a neutral stance.

What has happened when state medical societies took neutral positions on assisted suicide?
Both the national and state medical societies’ opposition to doctor-prescribed suicide have been instrumental in stopping the spread of these dangerous laws. When the Vermont and California medical societies took neutral positions, it was devastating to the efforts in the legislature to block legalization.

How does physician-assisted suicide change the role of the physician?

Medical professionals should focus on providing care and comfort to patients — not becoming a source of lethal drugs. Would you want your doctor to have the power to suggest suicide to you rather than focusing on keeping you comfortable until your natural death?

What are the dangers of physician-assisted suicide?

Nearly every state bans assisting in someone else’s suicide, so euthanasia activists are seeking physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to their patients. Despite opposition from various groups across the political spectrum—including many disability rights groups, various other medical organizations, right to life groups, and religious organizations—many unsuspecting people can easily be pulled in by the fear that without the law they will die badly.

These laws do nothing to help patients and have many tragic consequences. Based on the experiences of Oregon residents, the government and insurance companies will not pay for treatment costing thousands of dollars but have and will pay for lethal drugs that only cost a few hundred dollars.

While these measures are purported to be restricted to the terminally ill, people with terminal diagnoses often outlive a doctor’s prediction. And some diagnoses are just plain wrong. Additionally, in Oregon and Washington, people with diabetes, hepatitis, and HIV are getting lethal drugs because they technically fit into the shockingly broad definition of “terminal illness.”

People may be coerced into assisted suicide simply because they feel they are a “burden” to others, not because they really want to end their own lives.

Also, it is a well-established fact that depression leads some individuals to seek suicide. Depression is treatable, yet in the states where assisted suicide is legal, almost no patients asking for assisted suicide are referred for mental health screening. A doctor who does not know the patient or the patient’s medical history is able to prescribe lethal drugs. And what’s worse, no family ever has to be contacted.

Critics have noted that assisted suicide is a recipe for elder abuse and abuse of people with disabilities because it can put lethal drugs in the hands of abusers.

Click here to sign a petition to urge the AMA to retain its position against assisted suicide.

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Ground Breaking Prenatal Surgery a Success

Katie Rice’s son Tucker underwent fetal heart surgery

when she was 24 weeks pregnant with him.

Amazing news has emerged out of Philadelphia as it was recently revealed that the first successful pre-natal surgery to remove a heart tumor was performed at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The case came to light following the publication of a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Now three years old, little Tucker Rice was 20-weeks in the womb when doctors discovered that he had a dangerous tumor growing on his heart.

“Doctors discovered the life-threatening tumor on Tucker’s heart during his mom Katie Rice’s 20-week prenatal appointment. “On that terrifying day in 2013, doctors told Rice that she may have to have an abortion; her health was at risk, and her unborn son probably would not survive, according to the report. Instead, Rice decided to give her son a fighting chance at life.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

‘Moana’ Disney Star Could Have Been Aborted, Says ‘Keep Your Babies’

Nicole Scherzinger

At a time when Hollywood gushes over abortion, this actress is one pro-life rebel.

Pussycat Dolls singer and Moana voice Nicole Scherzinger stars as Penny Johnson in ABC’s upcoming Dirty Dancing remake. But the 38-year-old nearly refused the role – because of her stance against abortion.

In the classic 1987 film, actress Cynthia Rhodes originally played the character Penny, who survives a dangerous illegal abortion.

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Scherzinger revealed the reasoning behind her pro-life views: she could have been aborted.

“My mum got pregnant with me when she was 17 and had me when she was 18,” Scherzinger admitted. “She chose.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

The Pro-Life Message in It’s a Wonderful Life

George Bailey (James Stewart), Mary Bailey (Donna Reed),

and their youngest daughter Zuzu (Karolyn Grimes)

in Frank Capra’s 1946 It’s a Wonderful Life.

Seventy years ago this Christmas, the world was first introduced to the little town of Bedford Falls — the place good-hearted George Bailey just can’t seem to leave, despite his aspirations for an adventurous career.

Jaded again and again by inescapable life demands, George, played by Jimmy Stewart, misses out on one opportunity after another. The compounded frustration explodes one Christmas Eve when George’s crazy uncle loses an all-important stack of cash shortly before the arrival of a bank examiner at the family business. When George asks for help from the town’s greedy tycoon, he’s threatened with arrest. To top it off, his reluctant prayer for help is followed by a punch in the face at Martini’s Bar.

If you’re like me, you’ve watched It’s a Wonderful Life more Christmases than you can count, and you know what happens next.

“I Wish I’d Never Been Born”

“I suppose it would have been better if I’d never been born at all,” George mutters after another seemingly disastrous encounter that night.

“What’d you say?” asks Clarence, his new-found guardian angel.
“I said I wish I’d never been born!”

“Oh, you mustn’t say things like that,” Clarence begins, before trailing off in apparent consultation with other members of the heavenly host. Suddenly, he declares, “You’ve got your wish. You’ve never been born.”

George then receives a unique gift — the ability to see a universe in which he never existed.

Sucked Out of the Universe

It’s eerie watching George wander through Bedford Falls (now “Pottersville”), visiting the places he was once well known and finding himself a stranger. He begins to understand the enormity of his nonexistence as, one by one, his friends, mother and even his beloved wife have no idea who he is.
Each time George sees another aspect of life in Bedford Falls without the touch of his presence, he sees how much of a difference he actually made. Not by doing anything particularly incredible, but by just being there. In his own eyes, his life was inconsequential and insignificant. In reality, his life was irreplaceable.

In final desperation, George cries out to Clarence, who has since disappeared, “I want to live again! I want to live again!” Once again, Clarence grants his wish.

Back in the universe into which he was born, George’s perspective has changed. He recognizes the blessings before him, even though his struggles are still there. He knows that his life, hard as it may seem, is good.

The Missing Millions

Every year at Christmas, we see what the make-believe world of Bedford Falls misses out on without the fictional George Bailey. But what does our world miss out on each time a real life gets sucked out of the universe?

In reality, the world is missing over 1.4 billion irreplaceable lives that could have been. These are lives that have been aborted worldwide just since 1980. In the United States alone, almost 60 million have been aborted since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

Like George Bailey after Clarence grants his first wish, these lives were never born. But unlike George, they didn’t ask for it.

It’s Wonderful Because it’s Life

Some say that many babies are aborted because they, due to circumstances, wouldn’t have a chance at a wonderful life. But as the Christmas classic reminds us, that’s not the point.

George wasn’t dealt that great of a hand. He was the one that couldn’t go to college. The one in a dead-end job. The one with a house falling apart and kids he couldn’t afford and a wife he squabbled with at Christmastime. The one possibly headed to prison. His life wasn’t perfect. Many times it was painful.

In the movie, George Bailey’s life isn’t wonderful because it’s extraordinary. It’s wonderful because it’s life. He realized that when he stood on the bridge and cried out to heaven to get it back.
The babies aborted each year aren’t able to cry, “I want to live again.” But as a new year is about to begin, we can renew efforts to ensure that as many new lives as possible are given their chance at a wonderful life.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Obama admin issues final rule blocking state efforts to defund Planned Parenthood

Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services Department (HHS) issued a final rule Wednesday designed to thwart state efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.

The rule bans withholding federal funds from the abortion giant’s affiliates and other entities that perform abortion for any reason other than the ability to provide Title X “family planning” services, and is scheduled to take effect two days prior to President-elect Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

President-elect Trump chooses pro-life Rick Perry to be Energy Secretary

Pro-life former Texas Governor Rick Perry

The roster of pro-lifers chosen for high profile positions in his administration by President-elect Donald Trump grew again today.

Pro-life former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the recipient of Texas Right to Life’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, will be the nation’s new Secretary of Energy. In a moment we’ll talk about his pro-life achievements while serving for 14 years as governor of the second largest state.

Perry will join a roster of pro-lifers that already includes Sen. Jeff Sessions who Trump tapped to be Attorney General; Rep. Tom Price who will be Secretary of Health and Human Services; Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus, chief of staff; South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, ambassador to the United Nations; Dr. Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Rep. Mike Pompeo, director of the CIA; Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education; Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Secretary of the Interior; Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, ambassador to China, and Andy Puzder, who will head the Department of Labor.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Grassley Refers Planned Parenthood, Fetal Tissue Procurement Organizations to FBI, Justice Dept. for Investigation

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley

Following an investigation into the practice of fetal tissue transfers and the federal laws governing the practice, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is referring several Planned Parenthood affiliates and companies involved in fetal tissue transfers, as well as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, to the FBI and the Department of Justice for investigation and possible prosecution.

“I don’t take lightly making a criminal referral. But, the seeming disregard for the law by these entities has been fueled by decades of utter failure by the Justice Department to enforce it,” Grassley said. “And, unless there is a renewed commitment by everyone involved against commercializing the trade in aborted fetal body parts for profit, then the problem is likely to continue.”

Grassley’s referral follows the completion of a Senate Judiciary Committee majority staff analysis of more than 20,000 pages of documents provided voluntarily by the organizations and companies involved. While the impetus for the investigation was the release of a series of videos regarding transfers of fetal tissue by the Center for Medical Progress, the committee’s analysis and findings are based strictly on the documents obtained independently from tissue procurement companies and Planned Parenthood
.
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Gov. Kasich Vetoes Ohio 'Heartbeat Bill'

In 2011, the original Heartbeat Bill (HB 125) came literally one heartbeat away from becoming Ohio law.  Now, after over five years, the bill, (Am. Sub. HB 493) which made it to the Governor's desk, has been vetoed by Governor John Kasich.

In a statement, Kasich wrote, "I agree with Ohio Right to Life and other leading, pro-life advocates that SB 127 (a 20-week ban) is the best, most legally sound and sustainable approach to protecting the sanctity of human life," Kasich said in a statement.

Read entire Columbus Dispatch article HERE.

Mark Harrington, National Director of Created Equal wrote, "History will not look kindly on Gov. Kasich for killing the best chance at protecting children that we have seen in a lifetime! This bill, which would protect babies with beating hearts, went down to defeat because Governor Kasich, who campaigned as a pro-life advocate, killed the bill. Those who bend the knee to the worst ruling in history (Roe v. Wade) are no better than the ones who wrote it."

Click here for more from Christian Newswire.

7 Moms, 7 Babies to Visit D.C. with Powerful Pro-Life Message

Nikki and her daughter, Alexis, are headed to

Washington, D.C. to tell their story this January.

Photo Courtesy: Options Pregnancy Clinic, Branson (Mo.)

While the nation’s attention will be focused on the presidential inauguration of Donald J. Trump in early 2017, two powerful pro-life events are scheduled for the following week in the nation’s capitol.

Commemorating the 44th year since the Supreme Court legalized abortion on-demand throughout the U.S. with its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, the annual March for Life is expected to draw as many as 500,000 peaceful demonstrators in its Jan. 27 event.

A day prior to the march, however, Heartbeat International will bring seven mothers—and their babies—to meet with their representatives in the U.S. House and Senate in its Babies Go to Congress event, where mothers tell how they chose life over abortion with the help of a local pregnancy center.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.