Pro-life groups ready for Supreme Court fight against laws forcing them to promote abortion

Eighteen influential pro-life leaders joined nearly 3,000 pro-life activists Thursday evening for a nationwide “Stop Forced Abortion Promotion” webcast.

The virtual town hall meeting aimed to build support for the NIFLA v. Becerra case (NIFLA is the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, a powerhouse pro-life legal organization representing nearly 1,500 member pregnancy centers in the U.S.) which will be heard by the United States Supreme Court later this month - at the heart of this case is “the unconstitutional California law which is compelling the staff and volunteers of pro-life pregnancy centers to violate their consciences and promote tax-funded abortions.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Thomas More Society and David Daleiden Sought “Writ of Mandamus” for Removal of Allegedly Biased Judge

Last December 2017, the legal team for undercover citizen journalist David Daleiden, who exposed the abortion industry’s role in the trafficking of aborted baby body parts, filed a petition for an “extraordinary writ of mandamus” in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The petition asked that the appellate court order that William Orrick, a San Francisco federal judge, step down from presiding over two lawsuits, owing to an apparent conflict of interest and other facts creating the appearance of bias.

On Wednesday, February 28th, a three-judge “motions panel” ruled that Daleiden’s “petition for writ of mandamus raises issues that warrant an answer.” The panel ordered that the abortion groups suing Daleiden in Judge Orrick’s courtroom, namely, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (“PPFA”), its many California-based affiliates as well as others, and the National Abortion Federation (“NAF”), file answers to the mandamus petition within 14 days.

The panel further directed that in their answers, the abortion groups “shall address the basis for the district court’s denial of [Daleiden’s] motion for disqualification of Judge William H. Orrick under 28 U.S.C. Secs. 144, 455(a) and 455(b)(1).” And the panel specified that, “in particular,” the answers [shall] address Judge Orrick’s relationship with Good Samaritan Family Resource Center.”

Click here for more from NRL News Today.

Final decision on Alfie Evans likely on Tuesday

Parents appealing judge’s decision to disconnect his ventilator

A three judge Court of Appeal sitting in London announced Thursday that they will rule on whether the parents of gravely ill Alfie Evans may appeal a judge’s decision to allow their son’s ventilator to be removed and also make a decision on the appeal itself Tuesday.

Stephen Knafler, the parents’ attorney, had asked for a “dignified pause” after the case was heard. But according to Liverpool Echo reporter Josh Parry, Lord Justice McFarlane said, “Our decision is to refuse the application for an adjournment.

“He said this was “’largely on the basis the appeal is ready to be heard, in terms of marshalling the legal arguments.’

“He added: ‘There is merit in those being presented today.’”

If the Liverpool Echo’s almost minute-by-minute updates of Thursday hearing are accurate, prospects are slim the Court of Appeal will give Tom Evans and Kate James what they are seeking: the right to take Alfie to Bambino Gesu, a hospital in Italy, to see if they could determined the exact nature of their son’s brain disease and possibly find a cure.

Click here for more from NRL News Today.

Increasing numbers of out-of-state women coming to Illinois to abort even as overall number of abortions drops

Stories about the abortion industry’s insatiable appetite for more dead babies often come in twos and threes. On Monday we reported about how Planned Parenthood’s stealthily opened its 17th “health center” in Illinois, not bothering to inform the local mayor (who is personally sympathetic) that it was opening an 11,470-square-foot, single-story brick building in Flossmoor, in south suburban Cook County 29 miles from Chicago, which is expected to “provide services to about 1,200 patients annually,” according to Julie Lynn, Planned Parenthood of Illinois manager of external affairs.

On Tuesday the Chicago Tribune reported that although the overall number of abortions has dropped in Illinois (from 39,856 in 2015 to 38,382 in 2016), there was a noticeable upsurge in out-of-state women coming in to abort (from 3,210 in 2015 to 4,543 women who crossed the state border to abort in 2016).

The common lament from abortionists and abortion insiders (including the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri who came to Illinois to abort) is the pro-life behavior of neighboring states. “Illinois is surrounded by states with restrictive barriers that make it very difficult for patients to get the care they need,” Lynn lamented to the Tribune’s Angie Leventis Lourgos.

What else, besides passage of pro-life laws, might explain Planned Parenthood building its newest megaclinic In Illinois? 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 and impact:

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, there’s more money available to be made by the largest abortion provider in the United States. This is perhaps why reporter W.J. Kennedy observed, “Even higher numbers are expected when the [Illinois Department of Public Health] releases its 2017 figures.”

Tucked away in the Tribune story is one other ominous note: there may have been a lot more out-of-state women who came into Illinois in 2015 and 2016 to abort than officially reported:

In a relatively large number of cases — 1,176 in 2016 and 2,148 in 2015 — it’s unclear whether the patient was from in state or out of state because that was marked unknown.

The post Increasing numbers of out-of-state women coming to Illinois to abort even as overall number of abortions drops appeared first on NRL News Today.

Taxpayer-funded university pays for abortionist to lecture on the ‘Christian’ case for abortion

Pro-life students and activists have planned a week of events in response to Mississippi State University’s funding and hosting of “Christian” abortionist Willie Parker to lecture its gender studies program.

Parker, who aborts babies all over the southeast and is the author of a new book trying to make a "Christian" case for abortion, is scheduled to speak at MSU on Thursday, March 1. Parker is one of the abortionists at Mississippi’s only abortion center, Jackson Women’s Health Organization.  The university has not disclosed the amount of money being spent on Parker’s speech, titled “Abortion and the Christian Case for Choice.”

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Mother: ‘Hospital did nothing’ while premature baby ‘struggled to breathe’

Tiffany Fabiano is working hard to the keep the memory of her daughter alive and bring meaning to her short life. In 2003, when Fabiano was just 17 years old, she gave birth to a premature baby girl named Adrianna Lynn at just 23 and a half weeks gestation. The hospital where she was born in Mississippi, like many others, did not consider a premature baby like Adrianna to be viable, therefore, despite the fact that she was breathing, medical staff didn’t help her.

“The hospital did nothing for [her.] [T]hey didn’t even try,” wrote Fabiano on her Facebook fundraising page. “They did not even do so much as bathe her or suck her airways out. [They] wrapped her in a blanket and quickly left the room.”

Click here for much more from Live Action News

Indiana House joins Senate in passing historic bill permitting murder charges for killing an unborn child at any stage of development during felony

The Indiana House Tuesday approved 96-3 a bill permitting charges of murder, manslaughter, and feticide against any person killing an unborn child, at any stage of development, during the commission of a felony.

Additionally, should those charges not succeed in a criminal case, it maintains the judge’s ability to add additional sentencing of 6 to 20 years.

Senate Bill 203, which previously passed the Indiana Senate 42-6, now head to Gov. Eric Holcomb.

“If someone kills a pregnant woman, they should not only be tried for her death, but also the death of the fetus,” said the author of the bill, Sen. Aaron Freeman. Freeman introduced the bill after hearing from a woman in his district whose pregnant daughter was killed in a homicide.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

New York’s star witness against pro-life counselors admits her testimony is false

A star witness in New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s lawsuit against a group of pro-life sidewalk counselors admitted in federal court that her testimony was not true.

In reality, Mary Lou Greenberg, who heads up the abortion escort program at Choices Women’s Medical Center in Jamaica, New York, testified on Wednesday, February 21, that her accusations against the life advocates on trial were “borrowed” from another escort, whose words were used to describe actions by different people at an entirely different clinic.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Pro-Life Vice President Pence: Abortion will end ‘in our time’

Speaking at a luncheon in Nashville hosted by the Susan B. Anthony List and the Life Issues Institute, the Vice President Mike Pence said, “I truly do believe, if all of us do all that we can, we will once again in our time, restore the sanctity of life to the center of American Law.”

“I hope you all feel encouraged today, because I know, I do. Having been in the cause all of my adult life, I see more progress in the last year in the cause of life than I have seen in public policy in all of my years.”  Pence has been a very vocal supporter of pro-life, anti-abortion policies throughout his political career.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Did Planned Parenthood appoint Black leaders to quell suspicion of Black genocide?

Despite the fact that Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger promoted eugenics, it was actually under another eugenicist leader, Alan F. Guttmacher, that Planned Parenthood began referring for and eventually committing abortions. At the exact same time that abortion was being pushed publicly, the organization elected a Black chairman to roll out this agenda. All of this transpired in the late 1960s, a time when America was in conflict over the struggle for the civil rights of Black Americans.

During this time frame, many of the organization’s leaders were concerned about overpopulation. The organization’s history is steeped in eugenics, and this ideology manifested itself in many ways, including the forced sterilization of many Black citizens. As laws about these eugenics courts began to be challenged, a new tool of eugenics was making its way across the land: abortion.

Click here for much more from Live Action News

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.

The post Sneaky and stealthy as ever, PPFA opens 17th “health center” in Illinois appeared first on NRL News Today.

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.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

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.

Click here for more from Live Action News

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.

Click here for more form NRL News Today

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.

Click here for more form NRL News Today

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.”

Click here for more from NRL News Today

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.



Click here for more from Live Action News

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.

Click here for more from NRL News Today