Sneaky and stealthy as ever, Planned Parenthood opens 17th “health center” in Illinois

Gosh, where have we heard this before? Planned Parenthood, which already had 16 “health centers” in the state of Illinois, quietly and without notifying sympathetic local officials, opened up a 17th.

Located at 19831 Governors Highway in Flossmoor in south suburban Cook County, the 11,470-square-foot, single-story brick building is 29 miles from Chicago and is expect to “provide services to about 1,200 patients annually,” according to Julie Lynn, Planned Parenthood of Illinois manager of external affairs.

The abortion clinic opened in January, which was news to Flossmoor Mayor Paul Braun. Braun told reporter Ted Slowik “he and other village officials did not receive invitations to the Jan. 11 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new center at 19831 Governor’s Highway, near Vollmer Road and Kedzie Avenue.

“‘I have no problem with Planned Parenthood. The village is not in the business of regulating morality,’ Braun said. ‘I personally was disappointed by the way they opened.”

Slowak’s highly sympathetic story and Braun’s “no problem with Planned Parenthood” couldn’t hide that the nation’s largest abortion provider’s approach was, to put it politely, stealthy. Slowak wrote

Planned Parenthood needed no zoning variances or special-use permits and invested about $3 million renovating the building, Braun said. The building-permit applicant was identified as a health care corporation, he said, and Braun and other village officials didn’t learn the identity of the new tenant until a final occupancy permit was sought a few days before the opening.

“We looked around and found out that’s their MO,” which stands for modus operandi, or way of doing business, Braun said. “It’s a different way of coming into the community than we’re used to.”

So why still another abortion facility, beyond the usual excuse of an “unmet need”? As NRL News Today reported in September, Illinois’s pro-abortion Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the highly controversial HB 40 into law. The Chicago Tribune summarized the bill’s reach:

The new law expands taxpayer-subsidized abortions for women covered by Medicaid and state employee insurance. The state already covers abortions in cases of rape, incest and when there is a threat to the health and life of the mother. The law expands the Medicaid coverage beyond those limited cases.

Thus, one reason is there’s more money available to be made.

Another, according to W.J. Kennedy is

The out-of-state demand is increasing as neighboring states enact tougher restrictions on abortion. Newly released statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health covering 2016 show the number of abortions performed on out-of-state women increased by 1,333 from 2015 to 2016. Even higher numbers are expected when the department releases its 2017 figures.

Conclusion? Just 321,384 dead babies for fiscal year 2016-2017 isn’t enough. More clinics, especially more megaclinics, must be built.

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British Court of Appeals will hear challenge by Alfie Evans’s parents that hospital may disconnect his ventilator

On March 1, Court of Appeal judges will hear a challenge by the parents of seriously ill Alfie Evans to Mr. Justice Hayden’s decision rendered Tuesday that doctors may remove the ventilator the 21-month-old boy has been on since December 2016.

The ventilator could have been removed as early as last Friday.

The judge accepted testimony from doctors at Alder Hey Hospital located in Liverpool, England, that although they cannot pin-point what Alfie’s brain injury actually is, further treatment would be futile. Tom Evans and Kate James sought permission to move their son to Italy for further diagnosis and possible treatment–and if they do not succeed, transfer Alfie to Germany.

Following Mr. Justice Hayden’s decision, Evans vociferously insisted he was not giving up. A legal challenge was out of their range, financially, but it was made possible Wednesday when Bill Kenwright, the owner of the Everton Football Club and a theatre producer, donated a large, undisclosed amount towards meeting the roughly $14,000 fee needed to fund an appeal.

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Sen. Dick Durbin barred from receiving Holy Communion for abortion support

There are many notable Catholic politicians who support abortion: Nancy Pelosi, Tim Kaine, Joe Biden, and Dick Durbin, to name a few. The right to life is sacred in the Catholic Church, the “first and most fundamental of human rights” for Catholics, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. For Catholics, abortion is never permissible, and yet, pro-abortion politicians mostly seem to escape criticism despite defying Church teachings.

That may finally be changing.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki serves as bishop for the Diocese of Springfield, to which Senator Dick Durbin belongs. Last month, the Senate voted against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would have banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Durbin was one of 14 Catholic senators who voted against the bill. In a statement, Bishop Paprocki condemned the vote as “appalling,” and recalled a 2004 statement from Msgr. Kevin Vann, Durbin’s then-pastor, announcing that he was reticent to allow Durbin to receive Holy Communion. Paprocki announced that he will be upholding this decision.

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VIDEO: Ives shares personal experience when doctors recommended abortion

Thursday, GOP gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives called for a repeal of taxpayer funding of abortions while standing in front of Illinois' newest Planned Parenthood in Flossmoor, Illinois.

"I stand with you, I will always stand with you on this issue," Ives said. "Abortion hurts women."

Ives, the only woman in the gubernatorial primary for either of the state's major parties, shared her personal experience when doctors counseled her to abort her fifth child:



Click here for more from Illinois Review

Eleventh-Hour donation enables Alfie Evans’ parents to appeal decision allowing hospital to turn off son’s ventilator

As was reported on Tuesday, the ventilator keeping grievously ill Alfie Evans alive could be turned off as early as Friday. However in an impromptu press conference outside the Queens Building in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, his father, Tom Evans, said the battle “isn’t over, this is just the start” moments after Mr. Justice Hayden ruled in favor of Alder Hey Hospital which wishes to turn Alfie’s ventilator off.

But an eleventh-hour legal appeal would be costly for Evans and Kate James, Alfie’s mother. And then, out of the blue, on Wednesday, Bill Kenwright, the owner of the Everton Football [soccer] Club and a theatre producer, donated a large, undisclosed amount towards meeting the £10,000 (roughly $14,000) fee needed to fund a legal appeal, according to Tom Belger of the Liverpool Echo.

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Is Planned Parenthood looking to bring abortions to Pennsylvania’s Amish country?

New concerns are being raised that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion operation, may be embarking on an effort to bring abortions to of all places Pennsylvania’s Amish country!

Planned Parenthood’s outgoing chief Cecile Richards appeared in Lancaster, PA on Thursday as part of an effort to raise funds for a renovation of a Planned Parenthood facility there. The facility does not perform abortions—in fact, the abortion giant was denied the chance to do abortions in Lancaster years ago because of a city zoning issue.

At the time, the issue was performing surgical abortions. But now that Planned Parenthood is increasingly performing chemical abortions —which PPFA likes to call “medical” abortions —a number of Lancaster County citizens worry that the facility could become an abortion magnet.

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Brothers and sisters of aborted children suffer

Abortion is anything but a simple choice. It affects not just the child who dies in an unimaginable way. It affects not just the mother who suffers through the abortion or the father who could do nothing to stop it. Abortion affects the family at large – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and brothers and sisters.

It can be a very strange thought to wonder why you were chosen to live while your brother or sister was chosen for death. Why did you survive? What would your sibling have been like, acted like, looked like? Would he or she have resembled you? Become your best friend? Years of memories you should have had were wiped out before you ever knew that your brother or sister should have existed. Indeed, abortion is anything but simple for the brothers and sisters of aborted children.

Barb, who has worked with the AAA Center for Pregnancy Counseling for nearly thirty years, writes this:

“Abortion teaches children that they have worth because they were conceived in the right conditions and at the right time; that they have value because their parents want them. Up to 50% of all American children have lost a brother or a sister to abortion, making it much more likely that they live with a performance view of love: I was born because I was wanted therefore I better perform so they will continue to love me.”

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Cafe4Life is saving babies from abortion with a cup of coffee

Religious brothers in a small southwest mining town dubbed “The Pro-Life Monks” import, roast, grind, package and sell premium grade specialty coffee so good it’s become the “Official Coffee” of the Washington D.C. annual March for Life.

A priest at the March came up with the idea to make a “Pro-Life Coffee” in which part of the proceeds could go to support crisis pregnancy centers. Brother Bernard submitted the vision to his superior, and the idea took off. “The concept is simple,” the Brother explained. “Parishes throughout the country have millions of coffee drinkers. Each parish can take orders for Cafe4Life after Mass and sell it at a reasonable profit for their own pro-life ministry.”

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

VIDEO: Billy Graham’s granddaughter chose life after her unplanned pregnancies

Beloved evangelical preacher Billy Graham has died at the age of 99. While Graham obviously focused on spreading a message of faith in God, he also did not hesitate to speak openly about abortion and how, to God, all life is precious. It was a lesson he learned firsthand, when his granddaughter repeatedly struggled with unplanned pregnancies.

Windsor Bauders is the daughter of Graham’s daughter, Ruth (both pictured). At the age of 16, Windsor became pregnant. In 2015, she spoke about the experience at a Celebrate Life Banquet, explaining, “We knew the baby’s father wanted nothing to do with me or this baby. He had pushed me to have an abortion.” Windsor outlined all of the obstacles facing her at that moment: she was 16, pregnant, still in high school, had no job, and no father for her baby. “Yes, even Billy Graham’s family thought about abortion,” she said honestly. “It’s a natural reaction.” Thankfully, there was no Planned Parenthood in her small town, but instead, a pregnancy resource center there informed her about the options she had before her. And even among her family, there was confusion about the right decision. But ultimately, Windsor chose life for her baby.



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Judge rules Alfie’s ventilator can be turned off

A furious Tom Evans said today the battle to keep his seriously ill son on a ventilator “isn’t over, this is just the start” moments after Mr. Justice Hayden ruled for Alder Hey Hospital which wishes to turn Alfie’s ventilator off. The judge agreed with medical personnel that although Alfie Evans’ devastating illness cannot be specifically labeled, it was “ultimately fatal.” They argued that continuing to provide treatment to the 21-month-old is “unkind, unfair and inhumane.”

But in an impromptu news conference outside the Liverpool Civil and Family Court building an angry Evans was having none of that. He said

“Can you believe my son is being sentenced to a death sentence with two days to go? …I’m not crying because I know how wrong they are and I know how strong my boy is. My boy is strong, my boy is comfortable. This isn’t over, this is just the start. I am going to take this NHS down. I’m not giving up. My son ain’t giving up. …

“My son is two years of age and he’s been sentenced to the death penalty. How wrong is that?”

Mr. Evans and Kate James, Alfie’s mother, want to transport Alfie to Italy for further diagnosis and possible treatment and if they do not succeed, be transferred to Germany.

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NARAL, ACLU attack government official for trying to protect the unborn babies of undocumented minors

The abortion lobby (and in this case the ACLU in particular) is dead-set on creating a “right” to abort for any and all undocumented, unaccompanied minors entering this country. And perhaps even when they don’t want an abortion!

Anything or anyone who will not get on board this effort to create a right out of whole cloth comes under merciless attack. Which brings us to Scott Lloyd (pictured), director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As head of the agency that oversees undocumented minors who enter the United States without their parents, he is in the abortion lobby’s cross-hairs.

Last week, NARAL added its voice to the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus’s call to fire Mr. Lloyd. “We have known for some time that Scott Lloyd freely abuses his power in the most egregious way: denying those in his care their rights in order to advance his own extreme ideology,” huffed Kaylie Hanson Long, NARAL Pro-Choice America National Communications Director.

A little background. It is the policy of the Trump administration not to “facilitate” these minors’ abortions. We know about four cases to date in which the ACLU sued to remove the minors from the ORR’s supervision so they could abort.

They prevailed in all four instances, but these are but a down payment on the ACLU’s larger agenda: attacking the core policy of refusing to facilitate these abortions. According to the Washington Post there were 420 pregnant girls in custody in 2017!

A fifth case has surfaced, which we wrote about last week, which strongly suggests pro-abortionists push abortions even on unwilling minor girls.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

Planned Parenthood fights for ‘absolute right’ to abortion based on race, Down syndrome

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are fighting at a federal appeals court for the right to provide abortions based on the baby’s race, sex, or diagnosis of possible Down syndrome.

The two organizations are opposing an Indiana law, signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence in 2016, that bans aborting a baby because of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, or diagnosis of a possible disability.  The law also says aborted babies’ remains must be cremated or buried.

Click here for much more from LifeSiteNews

Everybody Loses in Abortion, Including Fathers. Let’s Help Them Win

The young man’s voice cracked as he pleaded, “Can you help me? ‘Kaylee’ is going to have an abortion, and I want my baby to live.”

He was not the first young father to come to us with this dilemma.

Over my 10 years of pregnancy center work, I’ve spoken with a number of fathers who desperately wanted to rescue the life of their child—but the decision was not theirs to make.

“Tony” wept as he told me how much he loved his pregnant girlfriend and how he wanted to marry her. But her family did not approve of him, so she broke things off and had an abortion.

“Jordan” expressed grief and anger because his girlfriend was not willing to visit us to get help and support for her pregnancy. This would be the second child he lost to abortion.

“What I want more than anything,” said Jordan, “is to be a father.”

These men, whom God wired as protectors, were given no voice and no choice regarding the lives of their preborn children. They were forced to the sidelines to suffer their loss in helpless anguish.

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NY abortionist says pro-lifers outside abortion clinics are the “American Taliban,” & that “their mere existence is a crime against women”

Merle Hoffman (pictured), president and CEO of Choices Women’s Medical Clinic (Choices) in Jamaica, New York, who was questioned under oath February 15 by Liberty Counsel, has said that the “act of abortion positions women at their most powerful” because abortion gives women “power-and the responsibility-of taking life” so that they may control their own lives.

“Merle Hoffman has acknowledged the obvious — that abortion is the taking of human life. What is shocking is that she believes killing a helpless child empowers women by enabling them to achieve their selfish goals,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel.

In court, Hoffman admitted she collaborated with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to bring this frivolous federal lawsuit seeking to punish and silence pro-life and Christian speech on public sidewalks outside of her facility. Their “mere existence,” she said, is a “crime against women.” The case is being heard in a federal court in Brooklyn and will resume next week.

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VIDEO: What You Need to Know About Planned Parenthood

WLS 890AM's last remaining conservative talk show host Stephanie Trussell defies the Left's pressure to focus on the NRA to blame for multiple deaths while the Left upholds Planned Parenthood abortion clinics as good for women and girls.

"Planned Parenthood kills humans daily," Trussell tweeted Monday morning.

Planned Parenthood delighted when Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed into law taxpayer funding of abortions, a new ad says.

At the same time, Prager U released a new video "What You Need to know about Planned Parenthood."



Click here for more from Illinois Review

Report: As U.S. halts abortion funding overseas, International Planned Parenthood still promotes it

Last year, President Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy (MCP), causing quite a stir among pro-choice advocates globally. Reinstating MCP would stop U.S. taxpayer money from being used to fund abortion overseas. On February 6, the State Department released a report on the implementation of the updated MCP, which showed that all but four of 733 grantees agreed to stop promoting abortion.

The MCP, rechristened as the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) Policy, is a huge victory for pro-life people in the U.S. and abroad. This means $8.8 billion which was used for promoting abortion through family planning services in countries in need of development assistance will from now on receive assistance in projects that focus on real solutions.

Ever since the Presidential Memorandum reinstating MCP was issued last year, misinformation has been spread in both the U.S and abroad through pro-choice news media, claiming that this action endangers millions of people globally from having access to healthcare services under the tag “Global Gag Rule.” The truth is the exact opposite.

Click here for more from Live Action News

Planned Parenthood sues Trump admin for cutting funding to radical sex ed programs

Planned Parenthood is suing the federal government for cutting short funding to a sex ed program that allegedly tries to reduce teen pregnancy.

The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP) began under President Obama. It’s an “evidence-based program that funds diverse organizations working to prevent teen pregnancy across the United States,” however the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is ending TPP two years early. Planned Parenthood – America’s largest abortion vendor – and several other TPP grant recipients are suing over losing grant money.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Abortion is not health care: why the abortion Industry embraces scientifically absurd euphemisms

“Abortion. Is. Health care,” emphatically proclaims NARAL Pro-Choice America. That group is not the only one who says so.

Defenders of abortion often call it “health care” or “reproductive health care.” They routinely use the term “abortion care.” They say abortion is a “medical procedure” and call drug-induced (non-surgical) abortion “medication abortion.”

This use of terminology should strike everyone, including those who support abortion, as simply ridiculous.

The purpose of health care is to preserve or restore healthy functioning. Merriam-Webster provides this definition: “efforts made to maintain or restore physical, mental, or emotional well-being.” Medicine, similarly, is defined as “the science and art dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease.” Medication and medical procedures are about treating illness.

So is abortion health care? Is it medicine?

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National pro-life group endorses Ives for Governor in IL GOP primary

Friday, the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List announced its endorsement of Ives in the March 20th primary, with the enthusiastic support of Illinois resident and former ob-gyn nurse Jill Stanek, who now serves as the group's national campaign chair.

“Governor Rauner’s outrageous betrayal of his pro-life constituents will have political consequences,” said Stanek, now an international pro-life activist, speaker, and writer. “When Rauner flip-flopped on forcing taxpayers to fund abortion on demand, he condemned as many as 3,800 innocent unborn children with the stroke of a pen. The choice before the voters is stark. Illinois families can’t afford another disastrous four years of Bruce Rauner.”

Incumbent Republican governor Bruce Rauner drew the national group's attention when he signed into law a bill mandating taxpayer funding of abortion through the state’s Medicaid program months after stating he would oppose it.

Click here for more from Illinois Reiview

Illinois in Distress - Who on earth is going to fix this?

   Last year House Bill 40 (HB40) was introduced on January 11, 2016.  HB40 vastly expanded taxpayer funding for abortions under Medicaid and the State Employee Insurance program.  We made a tremendous effort to stop HB40 but it passed the House on April 25, 2017.  It passed the Senate on May 10, 2017.  Normally the next stop would be the Governor’s desk.  But instead Senator Harmon filed a Motion to Reconsider the Vote forcing the bill to remain in the Senate.

   As you may recall even though he is not pro-life, Governor Rauner made statements in public and privately that he was going to veto HB40 because of the cost of funding all those abortions.  Keep in mind that the law does not follow the Hyde amendment so the State will not be reimbursed by the Federal government for abortions included in HB40.

   The bill sat in the Senate until September 25, 2017 when Sen. Harmon withdrew the Motion to Reconsider.  It was then recorded as having passed both houses and sent to the Governor.  He signed it on September 28, 2017.

   Here is the rest of the story-at least for now.

   In November 2017 Rep. Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society filed a Taxpayer Complaint to Restrain and Enjoin the Disbursements of Public Funds in the 7th Circuit Court in Sangamon County.  The plaintiffs in the case are: Springfield Right to Life; Lake County Right to Life Committee; Knox County Right to Life; NFP; Morgan County Right to Life, Inc.; Henry County Right to Life, Inc.; Clinton County Citizens for Life; Pro-Life Action League, Inc.; Diocese of Springfield-In-Illinois; Illinois Right to Life Action; Illinois Federation for Right to Life, on behalf of their Illinois Taxpayer members, and Rep. Barbara Wheeler; Sen. Dan McConchie; Rep. Mark Batinick; Sen. Kyle McCarter; Rep. Steve Reick; Sen. Paul Schimpf; Rep. Keith Wheeler and Sen. Dale Fowler, as Illinois Taxpayers.

   The complaint alleged:

1.   The Illinois Constitution requires a balanced budget from the Illinois General Assembly (GA). The GA is supposed to estimate the available funds necessary for a proposed item and appropriate only within the bounds of that estimate.  The GA failed to do so. In fact, the 2018 appropriations (the budget) for funding Medicaid and the State Health Insurance program were enacted on July 6, 2017 and did not include the cost of HB40. It couldn’t because it was still sitting in the  Senate due to the Motion to Reconsider the Vote waiting for it to be acted upon. Therefore, the distribution of any public funds for HB40 would  violate the Illinois Constitution and be unlawful.

Take a moment to reflect on the fact that the Illinois legislature is required to pass a balanced budget!

2.   Per the Senate Rules a Senate Bill is not finally passed by the  Senate until the bill is out of the Senate’s possession. Also, per those rules a bill is not out of the Senate’s possession until a Motion for Reconsideration of the Vote has been decided (voted upon) or withdrawn. Therefore, HB40 did not pass out of the Senate until September 25, 2017 when Senator Harmon withdrew the Motion and it was recorded as “passing both houses”.  Per the Illinois Constitution a bill passed after May 31st shall not become effective prior to June 1 of the next year. So, the law could not be effective until June 2018 and any distribution of funds prior to then would be in violation of the Illinois Constitution.
  
   The Attorney General argued that HB40 passed on May 10, 2017, (discounting the effect of the Motion for Reconsideration that held it in the Senate until September 25, 2017), and therefore, the effective date was January 1, 2018.
 
 A hearing was held in Springfield on December 28, 2017.  The Court ruled:

1.  Due to separation of powers the Court did not have the authority to decide the issue of the appropriations of public funds; and,

2.  HB40 was passed on May 10, 2017 not September 25, 2017 so according to the Court’s ruling the effective date was January 1, 2018.

(The ruling allowed the State of Illinois to begin using taxpayer funds for abortions beginning January 1st).

The Court dismissed the Complaint and an appeal is now pending in the Fourth District of the Appellate Court.

Let’s review:
1.   We cannot trust our Governor to be honest with us.
2.   A majority of the legislators in the Illinois General Assembly are comfortable passing laws that                       violate the Illinois Constitution.
3.   A court has ruled that the judicial branch of the government does not have the authority to                             force the legislature to follow the constitution of our state.

Who on earth is going to fix this?

   Before you begin to weep for this sad state of affairs let me tell you the really crazy thing.

   I am more hopeful now then I have ever been! We cannot win this struggle through elections, legislation, politicians, going to court and protesting alone.  

We have been doing all those things and it keeps getting worse in Illinois.  

So, what is missing?

God’s love.

We must do the right things the right way.

   I know that sounds simplistic and naïve.  But I believe that as we continue our work to save the unborn we must work together in love and win over our enemies with love. It is more than just being united in one purpose. It is being of one mind and one spirit. It is speaking the truth in love to our enemies so they too can be rescued. Let’s strive to be bound together by God’s love. Let’s support each other and encourage each other.

   I have hope because lately I have heard pro-life people from all over the State of Illinois expressing this same belief.  It is especially true of the young people who are joining the movement. These new committed pro-lifers are adamant that there must not be divisions or strife among those who stand for life.

   We agree and stand with you. The Illinois Federation for Right to Life considers it a privilege to partner with those who honor life.  We honor you by being faithful servants with your donations.  Thank you for your financial support.  Please consider sending a generous gift as we prepare to return to the Capitol for the 2018 Spring Legislative Session. As we return to that broken place of power we do so knowing that you are with us in spirit.

    So yes, Illinois is a mess but with Divine help we can fix it as we press forward loving God, loving each other and overcoming every obstacle and any opposition with His love.  

Because Love never fails.

For life,

Dawn Behnke
President, IFRL