National Right to Life Releases 6th Annual “State of Abortion” Report

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) today released The State of Abortion in the United States, 2019. In addition to summarizing key legislative developments in the states and at the federal level, the sixth annual report also analyzes data on the annual number of abortions in the United States. The report also dissects the 2017-2018 annual report of the nation’s abortion giant, Planned Parenthood.

Key highlights from the report include:

-Based on data from the Guttmacher Institute and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and estimating figures for subsequent years (2015-2018), National Right to Life now estimates 60,942,033 abortions have been performed in the United States since 1973.

-Planned Parenthood, which reported over $1.6 billion in revenues in 2017-2018, while posting over $240 million in “excess revenue,” is estimated to have made nearly $160 million performing 332,757 abortions – well over one-third of all abortions in the United States annually.

-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 of living unborn babies, and efforts to steer state funding away from organizations that perform abortions, such as Planned Parenthood.

Click here for the report made available by the National Right to Life Communications Department.

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Illinois safest state for animals, not human babies

While Illinois has some of the toughest laws to protect innocent animals from human cruelty, they're not nearly as protective of human babies still in their mothers' wombs.

Among its tough animal protection laws, Illinois holds felony penalties for animal cruelty, neglect, fighting, abandonment and sexual assault. Illinois also allows courts to restrict ownership of animals after conviction.  In comparison, Illinois abortion advocates boast the access the state allows for abortion as being the most lenient in the Midwest. State laws to protect human babies still within their mothers' wombs are non-existent. The state's only restriction currently is parents being notified before a minor undergoes an abortion.

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

New York’s new abortion law has pricked consciences…and awakened gruesome abortion defenders

Not since the Center for Medical Progress videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s sale of baby body parts has there been so much widespread outrage against abortion. Despite New York State’s already-liberal abortion regime – feticide was permitted up until 24 weeks – Governor Andrew Cuomo hailed the recent passage of the so-called “Reproductive Health Act,” which essentially allows abortion up until birth by adding “health,” a term that is nearly always used to rubber-stamp all abortions, as a justification for any late-term abortion. Cheering and a standing ovation greeted the passage of the bill, and Cuomo ordered New York landmarks lit up in pink to celebrate the expansion of abortion.

Perhaps it was this ghoulish grave-dancing that triggered the outrage. Across social media, tens of thousands of people who rarely (or never) speak out about abortion were suddenly posting incredulously about the New York legislation. I saw many people who usually do not post about abortion on my own social media feeds sharing articles, videos, and photos condemning the callousness of the celebration and the gruesomeness of abortion itself. Thousands shared posts by medical professionals explaining why abortion, and especially late-term abortion, is never necessary to save the life of the mother. Others posted descriptions of late-term abortion procedures, which include crushing the baby’s head in. New York pro-life groups have reported an overwhelming number of requests from people who would like to get involved, with even the BBC taking note of the backlash.

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Food, water restored to comatose man in US Catholic hospital after mom fights for his life

Nutrition and hydration have been restored to a 32-year-old man in a coma in an Arizona Catholic hospital after his mom posted heartbreaking videos on social media last week saying that doctors were slowly starving her son to death.

David Ruiz, a father of three, suffered a stroke and subsequent brain injury that left him in a coma on December 31.  Doctors declared David brain dead about two weeks ago, despite him twitching, raising his toes, and moving his fingers when his mother and other family members talked to him.   His mother, Patricia “Tricia” Adames, 51, made an emotional appeal on Facebook last week to anyone who could help save her son.

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New York governor justifies legalizing abortions up to birth: I’m not here to represent Catholicism

Governor Andrew Cuomo dug in his heels today, defending signing a law legalizing abortion up until birth while lashing out at Catholic bishops, some of whom increasingly speak of his future excommunication.

“The Catholic Church doesn’t believe in a woman’s right to chose...I understand their religious view,” said Cuomo in a WAMC radio interview, adding, “I’m not here to represent a religion.” “I’m here to represent all the people and the constitutional rights and limitations for all the people, not as a Catholic,” asserted the governor.

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The House will revisit the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

National Right to Life congratulated pro-life champion Rep. Chris Smith for introducing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act into the House. Rep. Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, pointed out how the measure is solidly supported by the American public.

“The majority of Americans—some 59 percent according to a recent poll—support legal protection for pain-capable unborn children,” Rep. Smith (R-NJ) said, referring the Marist poll taken in late December and released in January. “Today we know that unborn babies not only die but suffer excruciating pain during dismemberment abortion—a cruelty that rips arms and legs off a helpless child. This tragic human rights abuse must end.”

Rep. Smith’s bill contains additional provisions to ensure that two physicians are present to provide care to an unborn child who survives an abortion, and states that the baby must be transported and admitted to a hospital.

Click here for more from NRL News Today.

New York, Illinois in competition to "glorify" baby killing?

The very same day that Pritzker signed his executive order to implement fully a measure signed into law by previous GOP Governor Bruce Rauner, New York surpassed Illinois by making it legal to end the lives of unborn babies up until their birth.

New York's effort gives direction as to what Illinois taxpayers could be required to fund in the days ahead. The New York legislation had previously been blocked for years by Republicans, but was easily approved by Democrats this week, who now control both chambers of the state legislature. The same is true of Illinois.

Illinois and New York competing to be the most "progressive state" concerning mother's rights to end their babies' lives? Sadly, that's not so exaggerated.

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

2019 Recommitment-to-Life Rally - SUNDAY the 27th, at 2PM - Illinois Capitol Rotunda

OB/GYN: We treat babies before they’re born, so why aren’t they protected persons?

Fetal surgery in the womb is now becoming common in centers in Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Houston and Cleveland. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) performs over 150 fetal procedures each year. Heart surgeries on babies in the womb are being performed as early as 21 weeks gestation. Heart valve surgery and atrial septal interventions are being performed on fetal hearts the size of a large grape. Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston is now performing laparoscopic corrective spina bifida surgery before 23 weeks gestation.

The babies in the womb are clearly patients. If they are patients, they are persons, and if they are persons, they deserve our protection.  This is a key concept: the baby in the womb is a patient.

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NY Gov. Cuomo signs “most aggressive” abortion law in the country

New York State Right to Life is saddened that New York now has what Gov. Andrew Cuomo ironically but rightly referred to as “the most aggressive” abortion law in the country.

“The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) was sold to the public saying it merely ‘updates’ the law by codifying Roe v. Wade into our statute, which is not true,” said Christina Fadden, chair of New York State Right to Life. “RHA has made abortion a ‘fundamental right’ and prohibits all limits on abortion, which not even Roe v. Wade did.”

In a horrific irony, at Cuomo’s order, The One World Trade Center was lit up pink Tuesday night to celebrate the bill’s passage. Pink is traditionally the color used to celebrate the birth of baby girls, more than 30 million of whom have been annihilated since Roe v. Wade was handed down in 1973.

Click here for more from NRL News Today.

Iowa judge strikes down ‘heartbeat law,’ calls preborn child ‘potential life’

Yesterday, Iowa Judge Michael Huppert struck down Iowa’s heartbeat law that banned abortion after a preborn baby’s heartbeat can be detected. Though the heart begins to beat between 16 and 21 days after conception, the heartbeat can usually be heard around six weeks. According to Fox News, Judge Huppert, who used the unscientific term “potential life” to refer to a child in the womb with an audible heartbeat, struck the law down based on his claim that “the due process and equal protection provisions of the Iowa Constitution” do not “serve the compelling state interest of promoting potential life.”

owa Governor Kim Reynolds responded by saying, “I am incredibly disappointed in today’s court ruling, because I believe that if death is determined when a heart stops beating, then a beating heart indicates life.”

Click here for more from Live Action News.

Pro-abortion Equal Rights Amendment dies in Virginia House committee

Pro-lifers breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday as a campaign to resurrect the so-called Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) by Virginia Democrats was halted in a state House subcommittee.

Last week, the state Senate voted 26-14 to pass the ERA and send it to the state House of Delegates, with five Republicans joining every Democrat in the chamber. If passed it would not require a governor’s signature (though pro-abortion Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, has already expressed his support).

But a subcommittee of the House Privileges and Elections committee voted 4-2 to kill the ERA, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The vote fell along party lines with Republicans voting against the ERA and Democrats for it.

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Governor J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order Tuesday on enforcement of HB40

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order Tuesday on women’s reproductive rights. In the order, Gov. Pritzker took action to ensure the state fully enforces HB 40, now known as Public Act 100-0538. Through EO 2019-05, the governor directed the Department of Central Management Services to review all state employee group health insurance plans, identify barriers to women exercising their right to choose, and present recommendations to bring all health insurance plans into compliance with the law within the next 60 days.

The governor signed the executive order at Planned Parenthood of Illinois surrounded by women’s health advocates and co-sponsors of the legislation.

Click here for more from WGEM.

Supreme Court will not hear case this term on Down syndrome abortion ban

The Supreme Court of the United States decided yesterday that it would not hear an appeal this term from Indiana regarding a 2016 law, signed by then-Governor Mike Pence, to ban abortions solely for the reason of Down syndrome or other disability. The law would have also prohibited sex- and race-based abortions, and would have required that the bodies of aborted babies be buried or cremated. The Court’s decision, for now, leaves in place the earlier Seventh Circuit ruling that the Indiana law is unconstitutional.

The law struck down by the lower court means the state can proceed with abortions targeting babies with Down syndrome, a non-fatal developmental condition for which babies are being aborted at an alarming rate, and whom the Indiana law was intended to protect.

Click here for more from Live Action News.

New pro-life report says Planned Parenthood commits illegal partial-birth abortions

While most coverage of the Center for Medical Progress’ Planned Parenthood investigation concerns the sale of organs from aborted babies, the pro-life group’s undercover videos also showed evidence of a range of other apparent crimes. Now, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which imposed abortion on demand across the U.S., CMP has released a new report highlighting their findings on another aspect of the story: Planned Parenthood’s continued use of partial-birth abortion.

“On undercover footage, Planned Parenthood medical directors and executives described abortions involving intact, living fetuses and procedures identical to those prohibited by law—and they routinely pointed to specific Planned Parenthood protocols as providing the legal loophole to do so,” the report says. “New primary-source documents, never before released publicly, now corroborate these statements on the videos, which a federal appeals court recently ruled were evidence that Planned Parenthood commits criminal partial-birth abortions.”

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Pro-abortion Democrats announce plan to overturn Hyde Amendment

In a press conference, Democrats including members of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus were joined by Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen, speaking about their intentions to overturn the Hyde Amendment. “We are going to end the Hyde Amendment,” Diana DeGette (pictured), co-chair of the caucus, said. “We intend to fight aggressively to reverse the terrible decisions made by the Trump administration, and frankly previous administrations, going back 40 years.”

In addition to attempting to overturn the Hyde Amendment, DeGette said she also plans to fight the Trump administration’s plan to make changes to Title X funding requirements, and other pro-life measures. “We intend to reverse all of that. Not in the first month, but soon,” she vowed.

Click here for more from Live Action News.

Planned Parenthood aborted 332,757 babies last year, got $563.8 million from taxpayers

The Planned Parenthood 2017-2018 Annual Report covers services rendered from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017; and revenue and expenses as of June 30, 2018. It reports total net assets of almost $2.2 billion, and net income of $244.8 million, which is more than twice the $98.5 million it reported last year.

The abortion giant admits to committing at least 332,757 abortions, an increase of 11,373 over its FY 2016 count (the true number would be much larger due to the abortifacient capacity of an indeterminate percentage of contraception services, of which Planned Parenthood doled out more than 2.6 million). Curiously enough, contraception – which many falsely push as an alternative to abortion – declined by more than 80,000 services.

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Pro-lifers challenge Chicago Planned Parenthood's Roe vs. Wade celebration

On the eve of the March for Life in Washington, D.C., four days after Chicago's 2019 March for Life was held on Federal Plaza with a record number of 8,000 plus pro-lifers in attendance to celebrate life, Chicago's Planned Parenthood held a fundraiser at Morgan Manufacturing. They celebrated the Supreme Court's ruling of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion 46 years ago this week.

The event raised the question: Is a woman's legal right to end the life of her unborn child reason to celebrate?

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

'Every life is worth protecting,' President Trump, VP Pence tell March for Life

The March for Life again gathered myriad pro-life advocates to mark the anniversary of legalized abortion in America, and in a surprise appearance Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence introduced a pre-recorded message from President Donald Trump.

“This is a movement founded on love and grounded in the nobility and dignity of every human life,” President Trump said in a pre-recorded message to the massive Jan. 18 rally, before the crowd began its march through the streets of Washington, D.C.

“When we look into the eyes of a newborn child we see the beauty of the human soul and the majesty of God’s creation, we know that every life has meaning and every life is worth protecting.”

“I will always protect the first right in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life,” he said.

Click here for more from CNA.

Time lapse video destroys claim only ‘thousands’ attended 2019 March for Life

While mainstream media portrayed the 2019 March for Life as being attended by “thousands” and "tens of thousands," a time-lapse video of the Jan. 18 event from beginning to end paints a rather different picture which suggests a much higher number.

Getting an accurate count of so large a crowd would be an almost insurmountable task, but Students for Life of America has put together a 60-second time-lapse video of the March from beginning to end that suggests hundreds of thousands attended the event.

The 2019 March for Life was a great success! People from across the country, and the world, met in D.C. to march for the rights of the preborn! We are the Pro-Life Generation and we will abolish abortion! #MarchForLife pic.twitter.com/one3YoA3eF

— Students for Life (@StudentsforLife) January 18, 2019

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