President Donald J. Trump Proclaims January 22, 2018, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day

We focus our attention on the love and protection each person, born and unborn, deserves regardless of disability, gender, appearance, or ethnicity. Much of the greatest suffering in our Nation’s history — and, indeed, our planet’s history — has been the result of disgracefully misguided attempts to dehumanize whole classes of people based on these immutable characteristics. We cannot let this shameful history repeat itself in new forms, and we must be particularly vigilant to safeguard the most vulnerable lives among us. This is why we observe National Sanctity of Human Life Day: to affirm the truth that all life is sacred, that every person has inherent dignity and worth, and that no class of people should ever be discarded as “non-human.”

Reverence for every human life, one of the values for which our Founding Fathers fought, defines the character of our Nation. Today, it moves us to promote the health of pregnant mothers and their unborn children. It animates our concern for single moms; the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled; and orphan and foster children. It compels us to address the opioid epidemic and to bring aid to those who struggle with mental illness. It gives us the courage to stand up for the weak and the powerless. And it dispels the notion that our worth depends on the extent to which we are planned for or wanted.

Citizens throughout our great country are working for the cause of life and fighting for the unborn, driven by love and supported by both science and philosophy. These compassionate Americans are volunteers who assist women through difficult pregnancies, facilitate adoptions, and offer hope to those considering or recovering from abortions. They are medical providers who, often at the risk of their livelihood, conscientiously refuse to participate in abortions. And they are legislators who support health and safety standards, informed consent, parental notification, and bans on late-term abortions, when babies can feel pain. These undeterred warriors, many of whom travel to Washington, D.C., every year for the March for Life, are changing hearts and saving lives through their passionate defense of and loving care for all human lives. Thankfully, the number of abortions, which has been in steady decline since 1980, is now at a historic low. Though the fight to protect life is not yet over, we commit to advocating each day for all who cannot speak for themselves.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 22, 2018, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call on all Americans to reflect on the value of our lives; to respond to others in keeping with their inherent dignity; to act compassionately to those with disabilities, infirmities, or frailties; to look beyond external factors that might separate us; and to embrace the common humanity that unites us.

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Chicago law firm offers pro-bono legal aid for pro-life health workers

The United States Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that its Office for Civil Rights will open a division devoted to protecting rights of conscience and religious freedom.

Chicago's Thomas More Society attorneys are now assisting pro-life health workers and pregnancy help centers to take advantage of this new opportunity. This process of filing rights of conscience and religious freedom complaints will safeguard federal protections on behalf of those who believe they have been discriminated against. The national public interest law firm is offering this service pro-bono.

As attorneys with the Thomas More Society defend pro-life doctors, nurses and pregnancy centers from a wave of state laws aimed at forcing them to make abortion referrals, the Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights’ new dedicated division will aid the process of filing right of conscience and religious liberty discrimination complaints.

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How will pro-abortion Democrats explain voting against The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act?

With all Republicans supporting and all but six Democrats opposing, the House of Representatives today passed The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 4712) by a vote of 241-183.

Looking ahead, NRLC President Carol Tobias cut to the chase when she commented, “The 183 House Democrats who voted against the bill will need to try to explain why they voted against making it a crime to treat a born-alive human person as medical waste, as a source for organ harvesting, or as a creature who may be subjected to lethal violence with impunity.”

As is always the case, Democrats insisted all is well and that there is no reason to pass a law that simply says if a baby survives an abortion attempt, he or she will receive “the same degree of care as reasonably provided to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.” Not more but not less medical care.

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HHS’s new protections for medical personnel who oppose abortion

The latest pro-life initiative from the Trump administration: the announcement from the Department of Health and Human Services of the formation of a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division in the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

This is a very, very important move. As NRLC president Carol Tobias explained

“We commend the Trump Administration for creating a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within its Office for Civil Rights that will focus on enforcement of and compliance with existing laws that protect conscience.

“We are pleased to see this new division in the face of a growing number of actions by some state governments to compel participation in abortions by health care providers and others, and because the Obama Administration had effectively adopted a non-enforcement policy with respect to existing federal conscience-protection laws.

“Rights of conscience are extremely important to the right-to-life movement to protect medical professionals, religious institutions, and employers from being forced to participate in abortion.”

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NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE DOES NOT OPPOSE THE HEARTBEAT BILL

The following statement may be attributed to Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life:

It is not true that National Right to Life has blocked congressional consideration of the heartbeat bill. Nor is it true to say that National Right to Life lobbied congressional leadership against the heartbeat bill. National Right to Life does not oppose the heartbeat bill. Divisiveness and attacks on fellow pro-lifers does not save babies.

The statement is on NRLC's website at this link:  https://www.nrlc.org/federal/nrlcdoesnotopposeheartbeatbill/

7 members of Illinois Congressional delegation co-sponsor Born Alive measure

After the Democrat-controlled Illinois House and Senate refused to pass any measures banning the practice, it took President George W. Bush and a pro-life Congress to move at the federal level. The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 ("BAIPA" Pub.L. 107–207, 116 Stat. 926, enacted August 5, 2002, 1 U.S.C. § 8) extended legal protection to an infant born alive after a failed attempt at induced abortion, but had no legal teeth to enforce the law or protect the innocent victims.

The U.S. House voted Friday to pass a measure protecting babies born alive in a botched abortion, and punishing those performing the abortions. It next faces the U.S. Senate. The prolife movement was assured Friday during their annual March for Life that President Trump would sign the measure into law. He addressed the crowd via live video.

U.S. Representative Mike Bost (IL-12) voted with a majority of his colleagues in favor of the Born Alive Abortion Survivor’s Protection Act (H.R. 4712). The bill, which Rep. Bost and six other Illinois congressional delegates cosponsored, ensures medical care and legal protection for babies who survive an abortion, while protecting their mothers from prosecution.

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VIDEO: Trump’s historic speech to March for Life: Abortion is ‘wrong, it has to change’

In the first-ever live streamed address of a sitting president to the March for Life, Republican President Donald Trump vowed his administration will work to uphold the sanctity of life.

“Under my administration, we will always defend the very first right in the Declaration of Independence, and that is the right to life,” the president told cheering crowds of hundreds of thousands that packed Washington Mall Friday.



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National Right to Life applauds House passage of Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) today applauded a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to extend federal legal protection to babies who are born alive during abortion. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 4712) passed 241-183. All Republicans voted for final passage, but only six Democrats voted in favor of it.

National Right to Life President Carol Tobias commented, “The 183 House Democrats who voted against the bill will need to try to explain why they voted against making it a crime to treat a born-alive human person as medical waste, as a source for organ harvesting, or as a creature who may be subjected to lethal violence with impunity.”

H.R. 4712 contains an explicit requirement that a baby born alive during an abortion must be afforded “the same degree” of care that would apply “to any other child born alive at the same gestational age,” including transportation to a hospital. This language does not dictate bona fide medical judgments nor require futile measures, but rather, requires that babies born alive during abortions are treated in the same manner as those who are spontaneously born prematurely.

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Trump admin creates office to ‘protect’ doctors’ consciences who refuse to do abortion

President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established today a new division within HHS’s civil rights office to enforce conscience protection and religious freedom for healthcare workers.

The new division will enforce "laws and regulations that protect conscience and prohibit coercion on issues such as abortion and assisted suicide" and others in HHS-funded or conducted programs," according to the OCR website. It will also enforce statutes protecting “the free exercise of religion and prohibit discrimination” in HHS programs.

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National Right to Life releases fifth annual “State of Abortion in the United States” report

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) released The State of Abortion in the United States, 2018.

In addition to summarizing key legislative developments in the states and at the federal level, the fifth annual report also analyzes data on the annual number of abortions in the United States. The report also discusses recent polling data and dissects the 2016-2017 annual report of the nation’s abortion giant, Planned Parenthood.

“Sixty million unborn children have died as a result of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions,” said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president. “However, through the right-to-life movement’s determination to protect mothers and their children, we continue to see evidence that our efforts to educate America about the unborn child’s humanity, and our efforts to enact protective pro-life legislation, are having a tremendous impact in moving our nation away from Roe’s and Doe’s deadly legacy.”

Key highlights from the report include:

    -National Right to Life now estimates 60,069,971 abortions have been performed in the United States since 1973. This estimate is based on data from the Guttmacher Institute and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], and projects 2014 figures for subsequent years (2015-2017).

    -Planned Parenthood, which reported nearly $1.5 billion in revenues in 2016-2017 and posted nearly $100 million in profit, is estimated to have made nearly $160 million performing 321,384 abortions – over one-third of all abortions annually.

    -Recent public opinion polling confirms a majority of Americans continue to believe abortion should be restricted to just a few circumstances.

    -State legislatures continue to be successful in enacting pro-life legislation that extends protections to unborn children and helps their mothers. These laws include protections for pain-capable unborn children, laws banning dismemberment abortions, and efforts to steer state funding away from organizations that perform abortions, such as Planned Parenthood.

The report is available from the National Right to Life Communications Department. (PDF)

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A Woman's Right to Not Be Pressured to Abort

A new study of women who have undergone abortions reveals what many in the pro-life movement have known for years: that “a woman’s right to choose” is more often than not no choice at all.

The study was recently published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons by Bowling Green State University professor Priscilla K. Coleman. Of the 987 post-abortive women who were surveyed, 58 percent said that they had their abortions in order to “make others happy,” with over 28 percent saying they had the abortion because “they feared their partner would leave them” if they did not. In addition, almost half of the women believed that their unborn baby was indeed a “human being at the time of the abortion.” In perhaps the most heartbreaking statistic, fully 66 percent of women “said they knew in their hearts that they were making a mistake when they underwent the abortion.”

This study explodes a number of myths perpetuated by abortion activists. Chief among them is that abortion must be available on demand in order to preserve women’s “reproductive freedom” and “choice.” But what is painfully clear from this most recent study is that just the opposite is true. Instead of empowering women to make their own reproductive choices, abortion on demand more often empowers men to use abortion as a kind of cudgel to hold over their wife or girlfriend’s heads and demand that they make an appointment down at the local Planned Parenthood to get rid of the unwanted baby for a quick and easy $300. In other words, abortion provides an easy way for men to avoid the responsibility that is inherent in the sexual relationship that they share with their wife or girlfriend.

Meanwhile, the woman is left to pick up the pieces. As the study reveals, a majority of these women are completely unprepared for the emotional devastation that abortion causes. Only 13 percent visited a mental health professional before their abortions, but after the procedure, the percentage skyrocketed to 67.5 percent. Similarly, only 6.6 percent of women reported using prescription drugs before their abortions; afterwards, 51 percent reported prescription drug use.

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President Trump to address March for Life via live stream

President Trump will speak at the 45th annual March for Life on Friday via a live video feed, becoming the first President to do so.

“We're excited to announce that the President will become the first sitting president to address the March for Life from the White House live via satellite,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a media briefing today. “This will take place from the Rose Garden. The President is committed to protecting the life of the unborn and he is excited to be part of this historic event.”

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NRLC Urges Members of Congress to support the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of state right-to-life organizations, urges congress to support the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 4712), introduced by Congressman Marsha Blackburn, when it comes before the House of Representatives on January 19, 2018.

National Right to Life believes that it is time for Congress to act decisively to put the entire abortion industry on notice that when they treat a born-alive human person as medical waste, as a source for organ harvesting, or as a creature who may be subjected to lethal violence with impunity, they will do so at grave legal peril. H.R. 4712 would enact an explicit requirement that a baby born alive during an abortion must be afforded “the same degree” of care that would apply “to any other child born alive at the same gestational age,” including transportation to a hospital. This language does not dictate bona fide medical judgments nor require futile measures, but rather, requires that babies born alive during abortions are treated in the same manner as those who are spontaneously born prematurely.

In addition, the bill applies the existing penalties of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1111 (the federal murder statute) to anyone who performs “an overt act that kills a child born alive.” This would apply, for example, to an abortion clinic staff person who dissects a breathing born-alive infant in order to harvest an intact liver, or to an abortionist who ends a born-alive baby’s whimpers with a sharp blow to the skull, or by snipping the spine.

In addition, the bill provides a civil cause of action to women who are harmed by violations of the act.

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Congress has means to pass ‘real protection’ of the unborn

Janet Porter, president and founder of Faith2Action, says President Donald Trump supports H.R.490, Vice President Mike Pence "loves it," Congress has 170 co-sponsors - and that it could actually pass by Friday.

"It's remarkable to think about the fact that we could be ending nearly every abortion through Congress by the end of the week,” Porter tells OneNewsNow. Friday, January 19, is the 45th annual March for Life in Washington, DC. “It's what we've been marching for for the last 45 years,” she adds, “and they know it's within their power [and] within their means to do it."

H.R.490 is sponsored by Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa, who has said of the bill: “If a heartbeat is detected, the baby is protected.” Porter says pro-lifers are not going to be fooled by what she considers “fake” pro-life legislation that does little or nothing to protect children.

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Largest-ever Chicago March for Life

 

A record-breaking crowd braved the frosty weather to attend the thirteenth annual March For Life Chicago. Approximately 6,000 people attended the rally and march, the biggest annual pro-life gathering in the American Midwest. There were babies in strollers, children, students and adults of all ages well-bundled up against the cold.

After a rally in Chicago’s Federal Plaza, the throng walked around the city’s Loop district to the sound of high school drum bands. Their aim was to show their belief in the sanctity of life and to call for an end to abortion.

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Abortion statistics: United States data and trends

Lowest levels in decades.

There are two basic sources on abortion incidence in the United States:

• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publishes yearly, but relies on voluntary reports from state health departments (and New York City, W ashington, D.C.). It has been missing data from California, New Hampshire, and at least one other state since 1998.

• The Guttmacher Institute (GI) contacts abortion clinics directly for data but does not survey every year.

• Because it surveys clinics directly and includes data from all fifty states, most researchers believe Guttmacher’s numbers to be more reliable, though Guttmacher still believes there may be as much as a 5% undercount in its most recent figures.

Both the CDC and Guttmacher show significant recent drops and even larger drops over the last 25 years.

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4th Pregnant Undocumented Teen seeking an Abortion released from Federally Funded Shelter

The ACLU is reporting that “Jane Moe,” a pregnant 17-year-old undocumented teenager, was released from a federally funded shelter and transferred to the care of her sponsor on Sunday. This meant she was free to have an abortion, but as of this afternoon, the ACLU is not saying whether she has.

The Washington Post confirmed the account today, reporting, “In a court filing Sunday, deputy ORR [Office of Refugee Resettlement] director Jonathan White said the teen, Jane Moe, had been escorted to her approved sponsor and officially released from government custody.”

“Jane Moe” is the fourth undocumented pregnant teenager in federal custody whose request to abort was at odds with the policy of the Trump administration not to “facilitate” abortions of unaccompanied minors. However once she was transferred to a sponsor, that no longer applied.

However, like the three prior cases (all of whom aborted),this is part of a much larger confrontation.

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Illinois Pregnancy Centers File Brief as NIFLA Case Heads to Supreme Court

Twenty-three Illinois pregnancy centers officially weighed in on National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra, an upcoming case before the U.S. Supreme Court, filing an amicus brief Jan. 11.

In the brief, submitted by Chicago-based Mauck & Baker, the centers note they’ve faced similar challenges in their own state with a 2016 amendment of Illinois’ Healthcare Right of Conscience Act that similarly tramples their freedom of speech.

With oral arguments slated for later this spring, the NIFLA case challenges California’s attack on pro-life pregnancy centers’ freedom of speech through the so-called Reproductive FACT Act—which requires pro-life pregnancy help medical clinics offering free ultrasounds to post signage referring clients for state-funded abortions. If pregnancy centers do not comply, they would be faced with a $500 fine for a first offense and $1,000 for any repeat offenses.

“The government has no business forcing pro-life doctors and pregnancy care centers to operate as referral agents for the abortion industry,” Noel W. Sterett, an attorney with Mauck & Baker, said in a news release. “A law that targets medical professionals because of their pro-life views and right of conscience is unconstitutional and unethical.”

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New pro-life bill challenges Gosnell apologists

Congress is gearing up to debate a pro-life bill that will add enforcement to a previous law. 

Brendan O'Morchoe of Students for Life says the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is directly related to Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist currently serving two life terms after he was convicted of killing babies born alive.

O'Morchoe says the legislation, which will be voted on around the annual March for Life, will make it a crime if the abortionist fails to provide care for a baby that survives an abortion.

A similar bill was signed into law in 2002 but it was did not provide punishment. If passed, this current bill would call for a criminal fine and up to five years in prison, or both.

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Activists used to argue for safe, legal abortion. The abortion pill is changing that

Since the dawn of the abortion movement, activists insisted that abortion should be solely the concern of a woman and her doctor.  But as the method of abortion worldwide has shifted from surgery to medication, abortion advocates are increasingly regarding the doctor as unnecessary—and, in some cases, counterproductive.

“The classic framework of abortion rights advocacy, where safe equals legal and illegal means unsafe, is turned on its head by self-managed medical abortion,” according to representatives of a Dutch organization that provides abortion pills to women in countries where the practice is illegal. “Ironically, in legally restrictive settings medical abortion is currently more under women’s control than in settings where medical abortion is used within the official healthcare system,” they said.

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