Vision 2020 - Week 4 - Rep Peter Breen and Rep Jerry Costello, II

Please pray for these strong pro-life advocates.  They need strength, courage and boldness to face their opponents.

Rep Peter Breen   48th District   Strong Pro-Life Advocate  Rep Jerry Costello, II 116th District Strong Pro-life Advocate

"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved." Romans 10:1

Suit challenges Illinois law forcing pro-abortion speech

Illinois passed a law that requires the staff of pro-life centers to tell their clients that abortion is an alternative to saving their babies. In addition, the law stipulates that the staff must provide information about the abortion-provider with the cheapest price.

Conversely, abortion clinics are not required to refer abortion-minded women to pro-life centers to keep their babies or to consider adoption.

Practically speaking, the requirements force the pregnancy centers to act in a manner that is contrary to the pro-life mission and, in essence, to act as a referral. As a result, Thomas More Society attorney Thomas Olp has filed suit on behalf of 18 pro-life centers.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

House passes measure to nullify last-minute gift from Obama to Planned Parenthood

The House of Representatives voted 230-188 to nullify an 11th hour Obama rule preventing states from redirecting Title X funds away from Planned Parenthood.

H. J. Res. 43, sponsored by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN), would use the Congressional Review Act to address Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services’ regulation designed to prevent states from redirecting Title X funds away from unsuitable organizations such as Planned Parenthood. The measure now goes to the Senate.

The last minute gift to Planned Parenthood took effect on January 18–literally with just two days left in Obama’s presidency.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Gorsuch confirmation hearing to start March 20

Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch for Monday, March 20, Sen. Chuck Grassley announced today.

Questioning of Gorsuch will begin Tuesday, March 21, with testimony by outside legal experts and the American Bar Association to follow, according to a release by the influential Iowa senator.  It is expected the the hearing will last three to four days, with opening statements by Gorsuch, a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals judge, and fellow Judiciary Committee senators on the first day.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Citing pro-life momentum, thousands demonstrate to defund Planned Parenthood

More than 10,000 pro-life advocates gathered at some 227 protest locations in 43 states and the District of Columbia on Saturday to call for the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

“This weekend was huge, but it was not the end,” said Mark Harrington of the pro-life group Created Equal. “We have momentum on our side. Now is the time to press forward.”

“The time has come to defund America’s abortion giant,” Harrington told CNA Feb. 14. “Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion chain, killing over 300,000 babies each year, and nearly half of their billion-dollar budget comes from our tax dollars.”

Click here for more from CNA/EWTN News.

7 out of 10 Americans Support the Heartbeat Bill

H.R. 490 to be discussed on U.S. House floor this week

A stunning new national poll conducted by the Barna Group* reveals that seven out of ten Americans, 69 percent, agree with the premise of the federal Heartbeat Bill: "If a doctor is able to detect the heartbeat of an unborn baby, that unborn baby should be legally protected." H.R. 490, which would protect unborn children whose heartbeats can be heard, is supported by 86 percent of Republicans, 61 percent of Independents, and even a majority of Democrats--55 percent. The Heartbeat Bill and the poll results will be discussed on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, February 16th.

"The heartbeat is the medical measurement of life," stated Janet Porter, President of Faith2Action and author of the Heartbeat Bill, first introduced in Ohio in 2011. "It's the reason you've never been to the funeral of someone with a heartbeat."

Porter explained, "Like an SOS telegraph, the child in the womb is sending a signal we can no longer ignore. To deny it is to deny science."

Click here for more from Christian Newswire.

Doctors who object to abortion need more legal protections

Objectors to abortion need stronger conscience protections in federal law, the U.S. bishops have said in a letter to Congress supporting a bill being considered by Congress.

“While existing federal laws already protect conscientious objection to abortion in theory, this protection has not proved effective in practice,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said. They said the proposed Conscience Protection Act of 2017 is essential to protect health care providers’ fundamental rights and ensure that they are not “forced by government to help destroy innocent unborn children.”

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Catholic group to Illinois governor: veto abortion funding bill

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner

A Catholic advocacy group is warning the governor of Illinois that he will face massive political opposition if he signs an abortion funding bill into law.

“Let me be clear. If Governor Rauner signs the bill as written, we will urge our members along with every pro-life voter in the state to support an alternative candidate – or to abstain from voting for his re-election. And we won’t be the only group doing so,” Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org, stated on Monday of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R).

The Illinois H.B. 40 would allow for the state’s Medicaid recipients to have their abortions covered, as the program currently pays for abortions done in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.

The bill would also repeal the state’s “trigger” law, which was enacted shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision and which stated that if Roe were ever overturned, the state’s policy would revert to its pre-Roe law outlawing abortion.

Click here for the related Action Alert.

Click here for more from CNA/EWTN News.

Senate confirms pro-life Rep. Tom Price as HHS Secretary

New HHS Secretary Tom Price

The Senate voted 52-47 to confirm pro-life Rep. Tom Price, R-GA, as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).  The vote was along party lines.

Price is pro-life, pro-marriage, and anti-Obamacare. He has said "there is nothing more fundamental to our humanity than to defend life." He defended and supported the pro-life position throughout his time in Congress. Price is also an orthopedic surgeon.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Katy Perry Promotes Planned Parenthood at Grammys

Planned Parenthood is thanking pop singer Katy Perry for promoting the abortion provider in her appearance at the 2017 Grammy Awards Sunday.

Perry made headlines after Donald Trump’s election when she publicized her $10,000 donation to Planned Parenthood. Entertainment Weekly promoted Perry’s donation and published her essay praising Planned Parenthood, urging Americans to give to it, and explaining that her donation was in honor of “the teenage me who made several trips” the abortion provider.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

ACTION ALERT - TAX PAYER FUNDING OF ABORTION

Click here for more...

Vision 2020 - Week 3 - Rep Lou Lang and Rep Barbara Flynn Currie

Vision 2020 would like to invite you to join us in praying for our state legislators.  We will send out information about a couple different state representatives each week for you to pray over.  
Consider sharing this information with your ministry partners, your church family, on your website and/or your Facebook page.  

We know that prayer changes things.  And we know that NOTHING is impossible with God. So let's join our hearts and voices together and petition heaven on behalf of the great state of Illinois!

Some of our legislators need prayer that God will open their eyes and change their hearts (or move them out of their positions) and some need prayers that they will have the strength, courage and boldness to be able to stand firmly against the opposition as they fight for life and family values.  

Rep. Lou Lang

16th District

Pro-Choice

Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie

25th District

Pro-Choice

"But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." - Acts 6:4

URGENT ACTION ALERT ON HB 40 TAXPAYER FUNDING OF ABORTION

House Bill 40 (an abortion bill in the Illinois House) REQUIRES THAT YOUR TAXES PAY FOR ALL ABORTIONS THROUGHOUT THE FULL NINE MONTHS OF PREGNANCY UNDER PUBLIC AID'S MEDICAID PROGRAM.

Today, your state representative needs to hear from you.  Contact your representative and tell you them you OPPOSE House Bill 40 and DO NOT want your tax dollars funding abortion.

Click here to find your representatives contact information.

Click here for more on House Bill 40.

Sessions confirmed as AG, Price filibuster broken

The slow but steady advance against pro-abortion Senate Democrat obstructionism took two steps forward.

The Senate voted to confirm pro-life Sen. Jeff Sessions as the next Attorney General. The vote, with one exception, was strictly along party lines 52-47. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the lone Democrat voting in favor of Sessions. The Senate had previously overcome a filibuster, also on a 52-47 vote.

Meanwhile pro-life Rep. Tom Price is one big step closer to becoming pro-life President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. His nomination overcame another Democratic filibuster. This time there were no Democratic defections: Republicans (51) in favor, Democrats (48) against. (Sen. Sessions did not vote.)

Senate rules allow for 30 hours for debate before Mr. Price’s nomination comes to a full Senate vote on Friday.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Girl Scouts: Planned Parenthood’s founder is among ‘most inspiring ... women in American history’

Girl Scouts, Why Not? founder Rochelle Focaracci

The Girl Scouts of Gateway Council in Jacksonville, Florida, includes Sanger on their list of "Women Working for Human Rights," reports “Girl Scouts, Why Not?” founder Rochelle Focaracci.

“These councils have described Margaret Sanger as 'instrumental in the development of the human rights movement' and 'important for accomplishments of women,'” Focaracci said. Or one of the “most inspiring and empowering women in American history,” “a woman who has made a significant impact on society” and a woman who “opened the first birth control clinic.”

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Majority in 2018 Senate race states oppose taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood

Jill Stanek

A majority of voters in 2018 Senate battleground states oppose giving tax dollars to Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, instead of comprehensive healthcare providers, a poll released in January by Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) found.

While Illinois will not be involved in the upcoming 2018 Senate campaign, a majority in North Dakota, Montana, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Florida said they would be less likely to vote for Senators who vote to keep sending tax dollars to the abortion giant.

President Trump has committed to reallocating Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding to comprehensive, whole-woman health care centers. These health care clinics outnumber Planned Parenthood 20 to 1 nationwide and provide the same preventative services Planned Parenthood claims to offer, but do not do abortions. These community health centers also offer services Planned Parenthood does not, such as mammograms, treatment for diabetes, hypertension and arthritis.

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

No, the sky won’t fall if Planned Parenthood is defunded. Here’s why.

If even one Planned Parenthood affiliate or center has to close as a result of defunding, they say, the patients Planned Parenthood serves will have no access to health services elsewhere. This is utter nonsense, of course.

The claim that removing federal dollars from Planned Parenthood will shutter their doors is ludicrous. As Live Action News has previously reported, the organization’s own annual reports reveal that Planned Parenthood has been netting a profit for many years. Almost every year since 2000, Planned Parenthood’s revenue has exceeded their expenses — not by just a few dollars, but by tens of millions of dollars (yearly surpluses ranging from $18.5 million to a high of $127 million). In addition, with the threat of defunding now more real under the newly elected Congress and president, Planned Parenthood has repeatedly claimed that private donations are suddenly flooding into their coffers.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

VIDEO: Former Girl Scouts leader finds organization’s ‘money trail’ to abortion

Rochelle Focaracci

American parents sending their little Sally or Joan to Girl Scouts to learn essential life skills may be horrified to learn that the organization funds and partners with the world's leading abortion advocacy organization.

Rochelle Focaracci, former leader of her daughter’s Girl Scout's troop, told LifeSiteNews that the organization's “money trail” to abortion is indisputable. She spoke to LifeSiteNews while supervising an anti-Girl Scouts booth during an event at the March for Life in Washington last month.



Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Nationwide Rallies Support Congressional Move to Defund Planned Parenthood

As Congress moves forward with plans to reallocate funding from Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion business, to comprehensive health care centers, citizens across America will speak up in support of the action. Saturday, February 11, groups will gather outside over 200 Planned Parenthood facilities in 44 states and the nation's capital to #ProtestPP. There will also be overseas support with a demonstration at the London headquarters of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which was recently defunded by executive order.

"The federal government has been subsidizing Planned Parenthood to the tune of more than $430 million annually," explained Eric Scheidler, national organizer of #ProtestPP. "This, at the same time that the nation's largest abortion provider holds $500 ticket fundraisers and charges a woman about $500 to abort her baby," he continued. "On top of that, Planned Parenthood is trafficking baby body parts. Taxpayers are sickened to see their money spent in support of these atrocities."

Click here for more information on the demonstration.

Click here for more from Christian Newswire.

American Academy of Pediatrics will oppose attempts to add parental notification laws for abortion

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has "reaffirmed" its opposition to parental consent laws on abortion, saying that adolescents have a "right" to get an abortion without letting their mom or dad know.

In a statement published in the February issue of Pediatrics, the AAP claims that parental notification laws "do not achieve the intended benefit of promoting family communication."

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com