“A Matter of Life” Live from the March for Life

Live from the March for Life

   National Right to Life President Carol Tobias

On Thursday, January 22, an immense crowd of pro-lifers will march in Washington, DC, to protest the nation’s Supreme Court-imposed law that allows the killing of innocent, unborn children. Many of you will be there.

For those who can’t attend, there are various ways to watch the events happen on your tv or computer. Beginning at 3:00 p.m. EST, River Song Productions (RSP) will provide a live-streaming broadcast, “A Matter of Life”, on YouTube with highlights from the march, followed by a three-hour show of interviews with pro-life leaders. You can watch it here. If you click on the link before Thursday, you will see “Please Stand By”, along with a countdown to the start of the show.

Last year, I had the pleasure of being one of the guests on the show. This year, I am honored to co-host the show with Maryann Lawhon, executive producer of the film, The Voice of John.

Maryann is a nurse who, in 1977, stumbled upon a live baby, the result of an abortion, who had been left to die on a cold metal table. She held the baby and baptized him before he died, telling him she would be his voice and let the world know what had happened to him.

Maryann and I will speak with many who are a voice for the voiceless. Guests appearing on the show include Donna Harrison, M.D., executive director of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Jewels Green, a former abortion clinic worker, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests of Life, Kelsey Hazzard, president of Secular Pro-Life, Dr. Alveda King of Silent No More, and many others.

If you can’t watch the show live, it will be available on YouTube for later viewing. Join me in this exciting event.

By Carol Tobias, President NRLC, via NRL News Today

Illinois health department report shows state abortion clinics dirty, uninspected

SPRINGFIELD, IL - The image of clean and safe healthcare centers where Illinois women and girls can get birth control and abortions was shattered with the publication of a report about the numerous health code violations the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) found while conducting inspections of the state's abortion clinics.

The report comes as legislators return to Springfield and prepare to introduce legislation that will improve the inspection schedule for the clinics, penalize violators, and require them to notify their patients of health code violations.

A report by llinois Right to Life reveals the findings of the IDPH, which was forced to inspect Illinois abortion facilities after the gruesome findings of Dr. Kermit Gosnell's Pennsylvania abortion clinic made national headlines.

The IDPH inspected 14 clinics that were licensed by the state of Illinois. They found 193 health code violations. Two abortion clinics (one in Rockford, Illinois and one in Chicago, Illinois) were shut down on an emergency basis because the health violations were so appalling.

Some of the health and sanitary violations included un-sterile surgical tools, TV dinners being stored in the same refrigerator as fetal tissue, failure to have a registered nurse on staff and failure to perform CPR on a female patient that died at one clinic.

The report also revealed that:

•63% of licensed Illinois abortion clinics open right now, have gone between two and three-and-a-half years without a health and sanitary inspection. 
•Between 2000 and 2010, 92% of all abortion clinics (licensed or unlicensed) received no health and sanitary inspections.
•66% of licensed abortion clinics went between 9 and 17 years without a health and sanitary inspection.
•54% of Illinois abortion clinics, are not licensed and therefore never receive health and sanitary inspections.
•Not a single Planned Parenthood (even if it performs surgical abortions) is licensed and therefore has not received a health and sanitary inspection since at least 2000.

Despite the IDPH findings, state law has not been changed to require regular annual inspections of the licensed abortion clinics. In comparison, tanning salons, nursing homes, and Chicago restaurants are inspected an average of once per year. Illinois abortion clinics are being inspected an average of once every nine years.

Illinois Right to Life's Executive Director Emily Zender wants that to change.

"If dirty operating rooms, rusty recovery beds, and un-sterile surgical equipment is the best we can offer the women of Illinois, then we have failed women," Zender said in an email. "No woman should leave an abortion clinic needing a tetanus shot, HIV testing, or emergency treatment at a hospital."

Pro-life advocates are working with legislators to make necessary changes. However, getting any women's health legislation through the Democrat-controlled General Assembly is difficult at best, and it is unclear if Governor Rauner would sign it.
Source: Illinois Review

The unique beat to Kelly Clarkson’s new song—the heartbeat of her unborn daughter slowed down

 

Kelly Clarkson’s “Heartbeat Song” is set to her baby’s prenatal heartbeat (Photo: Instagram)

River Rose

Bound4life.com who reported today that pop/country superstar Kelly Clarkson’s “Heartbeat Song,” first previewed on Twitter, was released in its entirety on Monday. Clarkson was, of course, American Idol’s” first winner and has gone onto tremendous popularity.

What’s unique, Clarkson told in a radio interview is “that the track’s beat is “actually River’s heartbeat slowed down from when she was in my tummy!”

Clarkson’s and husband Brandon Blackstock’s baby girl, River Rose, was born June 12, 2014.
If you watch Clarkson and River Rose, you’ll be left in stitches.

The premise is that the little girl is listening to “Heartbeat Song” and “dancing” along to the beat. A moment later, she is fiddling with the mixing board. It really is adorable.



A tip of the hat to Josh Shepherd

By Dave Andrusko, NRL News Today

Grammy-winning rapper Lecrae, John Piper, and John Ensor talk about abortion remorse and healing

Lecrae, John Piper, and John Ensor
 

I was surprised and grateful when I saw the latest video clip from Passion Life Ministries on Jan. 9. The video teaser is described as “A conversation with Lecrae, John Piper, and John Ensor on the story behind Good, Bad, Ugly, the remorse of abortion, and the healing of the gospel of Christ.”

In the video, Lecrae shares the meaning behind the lyrics of his song “Good, Bad and Ugly,” which shares his personal experience with abortion. Live Action wrote about this song when it was first released. Lecrae goes even deeper in this new video clip, sharing details of the pain he suffered years after the abortion of his child. Lecrae tells of the time he found a picture of his ex-girlfriend, the mother of his aborted child.

In a conversation with his wife, he realized that it was hard to throw the picture away. Thinking about throwing the picture out triggered hidden feelings of guilt, shame, and remorse related to the abortion. Lecrae said that moment was the beginning of the healing process for him.

I’m a big fan of Lecrae. I’m inspired by his convictions, amazed by his creativity, and impressed by his skill as a rapper. Beyond all of that, I’m challenged by his love for Christ and proclamation of the gospel. Lecrae has a song on his new album Anomaly titled “Nuthin.” The song calls out rappers who make money releasing songs that lack meaningful significance.

I love the song because it expresses who Lecrae is as an artist. Lecrae is not ashamed to talk about things that matter. He’s not just trying to sell albums and get famous. He’s not rapping about “nuthin’,”; rather, he’s using his platform as an artist to uplift others. Lecrae wants to reach people with truth. His willingness to talk about abortion is further evidence that he’s committed to discussing important things.

Abortion is the #1 cause of death for African-Americans. As a black woman, I am thrilled to see Lecrae use rap music to address this issue. How many men can relate to taking their girlfriends to an abortion clinic? Countless thousands, if not millions. Out of the thousands that share that experience with Lecrae, how many are willing to admit that it hurt them? I’m sure the number is much smaller.

Abortion is too often labeled a women’s issue. Men are ridiculed or condemned for speaking out against it. The reality is that abortion affects everyone. As the post-abortive support group Silent No More says, “Men Regret Lost Fatherhood.” Men have feelings and emotions related to abortion. Sadly, they don’t always feel safe to express their grief, for fear of being ridiculed or having their pain dismissed. This is why Lecrae’s interview is so important.

Lecrae is seen by millions as a relevant leader with a voice worth listening to. John Piper and John Ensor are powerful leaders as well. Both Christian ministers have faithfully spoken out against abortion for years. I pray this interview will lead other men to be open about their abortion pain and receive healing. I pray it will reach men considering abortion, helping them to see it’s a choice that has lasting consequences. Thank you, Lecrae, for talking about something.

Editor’s note. This appeared at liveactionnews.org.

By Christina Martin, via NRL News Today

Pro-choice lawyer who drafted brief in Roe: “Abortion should eliminate the poor”

Ron Weddington, one of the attorneys who drafted the brief for abortion rights in Roe v. Wade, wrote a private letter to President-elect Bill Clinton arguing for the state to use abortion as population control. This letter was written in 1992:

“[Y]ou can start immediately to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country. No, I’m not advocating some sort of mass extinction of these unfortunate people. Crime, drugs and disease are already doing that. The problem is that their numbers are not only replaced but increased by the birth of millions of babies to people who can’t afford to have babies. In 1989, 27% of all births were to unmarried mothers, a huge percentage of whom were teenagers. If current trends continue, soon a majority of the babies born will be born into poverty and one half of the country cannot support the other half, no matter how good our intentions. I am not proposing that you send federal agents armed with Depo-Provera dart guns to the ghetto. You should use persuasion rather than coercion. You and Hillary are a perfect example. Could either of you have gone to law school and achieved anything close to what you have if you had three or four more children before you were 20? No! You waited until you were established in your 30s to have one child. That is what sensible people do.… It’s time to officially recognize that people are going to have sex and what we need to do as a nation is prevent as much disease and as many poor babies as possible. Condoms alone won’t do it. Depo-Provera, Norplant and the new birth control injection being developed in India are not a complete answer… No, government is going to have to provide vasectomies, tubal ligations and abortions… RU-486 and conventional abortions. Even if we make birth control as ubiquitous as sneakers and junk food, there will still be unplanned pregnancies. There have been about 30 million abortions in this country since Roe v. Wade. Think of all the poverty, crime and misery… And then add 30 million unwanted babies to the scenario.”

Ron Weddington is the husband of Sarah Weddington, one of the two lawyers who argued for abortion in Roe v. Wade

Quoted in Taylor Carmichael, “The Seen and the Unseen: Abortion and the Supreme Court” (Amazon Digital Services, 2014).

Editor’s note. This appeared at clinicquotes.com.

By Sarah Terzo, via NRL News Today

Pro-choice author interviews abortion providers, reveals horror of abortion

Live Action contributor Lauren Enriquez wrote an article a week ago about pro-choice author Magda Denes. Denes, who survived Nazi Germany, held on to a pro-choice viewpoint even when confronted with the horrors of abortion while researching her book, In Necessity and Sorrow: Life and Death in an Abortion Hospital. Her book, though written many years ago, reveals some basic truths about abortion. Here are some quotes from the book that illustrate key points.

Abortion takes lives

Denes quotes three different abortion doctors.

One says:

When you do a D & C most of the tissue is removed by the Olden forceps or ring clamp and you actually get gross parts of the fetus out. So you can see a miniature person so to speak, and even now I occasionally feel a little peculiar about it because as a physician I’m trained to conserve life and here I am destroying life.

Another says:

In the beginning I was mixed up because I was taught by the Hippocratic Oath not to take a life.

And a third:

It [abortion] goes against all things which are natural. It’s a termination of a life, however you look at it.

“Babies” are killed

A clinic worker says:

A lot of people say they’re killing their baby. You get a lot of that. Some people afterwards get very upset and say ‘I killed my baby.’ Or even before, they say ‘My circumstances are such that I can’t keep it, but I’m killing my baby.’ They wouldn’t rather have the baby, and give it up for adoption either. If you go into that with them they will say that they could never do that…and yet they still consider it killing the baby…well, they are killing a baby. I mean, they are killing something that would develop into maturity…

Doctors know it’s murder

Denes was interviewed in a newspaper about her book and said:

There wasn’t a doctor, who at one time or another in the questioning did not say, “This is murder.” (Daily News [Chicago] October 22, 1976, Quoted in Abortion: The Silent Holocaust by John Powell, S.J. p 67)

Abortion is profitable

So Denes, although she was pro-choice, documented how abortion providers in one busy abortion clinic all acknowledge that they are in the business of taking lives. Why do they do it? One doctor gives a reason:

It’s not a purely altruistic …. The money that’s involved is also a big factor in why to do this. And I think that most doctors who do abortions also do them for the money’s sake. It’s a big motive, and certainly it’s nothing to be hypocritical about.

Another doctor says:

I practice medicine not to make a living and yet I like to make money at it. We made a lot of money in abortions. ….. For the first two or three months I didn’t do any of the abortions… Then I suddenly realized I had all the headaches because whenever they ran into trouble I got involved. I took over gradually and work two days a week and I found that I work very hard, but it made an awful lot of money.

And some abortionists think women aren’t deserving of respect

One doctor says:

The patients are subservient to us, and when they rebel it’s very simple: Go to somebody else….What better relationship can a man have with a woman? …

Clinic workers sometimes criticize the doctors:

I really feel that about several of the doctors. That there’s really pathological things and their involvement with abortion. Like Dr. Roderigo. [pseudonym] He is very sarcastic and he really, you know, like goes after people. Recently he had a horrendous fight with Rachel [another clinic worker]. It was absolutely, totally disgraceful. It happened right in the nurse’s station. He flew at her. Cursing, screaming out loud, yelling, you could hear it all over the whole floor. It was incredible, I mean, imagine the kind of feeling that gives the patients on the floor. He was just out after her and it had to do with her being a woman, in her position, kind of…”

And reveal a lack of concern about patient care:

Our surgeons have a technique, even though I shouldn’t really say this, where they don’t really scrub between cases. They’ll scrub once and they’ll do a case and they’ll go next door to the next room and put on a new gown and gloves. Without scrubbing between.

Clinic workers silence their consciences

Clinic workers describe how they have hardened themselves to the death of the babies:

I’m not one to see blood and mess and things like that. But I have since gotten so excited about it that I thought about going back to nursing school. When you think about it on a certain level, it’s a really interesting thing that is happening. It’s fascinating, when you can think about it clinically and not get involved in the people, or the babies. What happened when I was first working here was that I just thought about the baby and that was very upsetting. I’m very pro-abortion… several times I saw a really beautiful things happen, I mean it’s physically beautiful… Sometimes you can see the vagina opening up in the entire thing coming at once.
Another says:

[Abortion] hasn’t had any effect on me at all. …. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a male, but when I leave here I don’t feel worried, as if I’ve done something wrong. It’s like any other type of surgery, I just consider it a job. I once did say to myself, “Gee, suppose I’d one day have a dream and see thousands of fetuses running after me.” ….I feel funny sometimes taking on a fetus by D&C even, when you can see the heart beating. Even with D&C’s you get these feelings that you are doing something wrong. Especially when you see arms and legs coming out. It comes out in so many pieces. We had nurses that couldn’t adjust to this type of work. Many of them quit.”

Denes herself becomes hardened to the babies’ deaths.

She watches clinic workers looking through the remains of an aborted child for a lost ring, barely noticing the horror of it.

Sensibility is blunted through exposure. After weeks of trailing Holzman [an abortionist] from OR 1 to OR 2, my sense of meaning dulls. I begin to see “cases,” “cervical apertures,” “fetal tissue.”… One time the circulating nurse loses her wedding ring during surgery. She discovers the loss at the end of the operation as the orderly is about the fold the bloodied sheets on the floor. She takes the filled plastic bag from the wastebasket and empties it into the middle of the sheets. Both kneel and with their bare hands rummage frantically in the pile of placental tissue and blood and body parts. “It has to be here,” she says nearly in tears. “We’ll find it,” he reassures her. I am all for them. Is frightful to lose one’s wedding ring.… Hours later, when the scene reasserts itself in my mind, I do not recognize myself.

And eventually, Denes and the clinic workers just sit around joking about eating aborted babies.

… Several of us sit in the cafeteria around a luncheon table, eating overdone, tasteless stew. “What do you think this is made of?” Someone asks. “Venison,” I say. “Pigeon,” says Betsy. “Don’t be silly,” says one of the counselors “there is a hell of a lot cheaper meat to be found around here.” All of us laugh, guffaw, splutter, and slap each other on the arms. It is the funniest thing we have heard in years… “Get a hold of yourself, ladies,” Rachel says. “This is unseemly.” She is right, of course, but all of us laugh again. “I think it’s a Greek dish,” says Teresa, laughing so hard that tears begin to roll down her face and we can barely understand her. “It’s fetustu.” There is no containing any of us now. “There is mincemeat pie for dessert,” someone shouts. “And that isn’t tomato juice you’re drinking, ” adds somebody else. Most of us are doubled over. The air is filled with the shrieks, and gasps, and gurgles. My sides begin to ache.”

Denes has written a book that shows the horror of abortion. That it comes from a person who is dedicated to the pro-choice belief system is even more disturbing.

Editor’s note. This appeared at liveactionnews.org.

By Sarah Terzo, via NRL News Today

Loyola's MLK Celebration to Feature Speaker Who Thanked God for Abortion

CHICAGO - The Catholic Loyola University of Chicago, is hosting a pro-abortion journalist, who once thanked God for abortion on television, as the keynote speaker of the Jesuit university’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration on January 21. The journalist/writer Touré will deliver a speech entitled “How Racism Functions Today.”

Two years ago - on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade - Touré promoted his support for abortion rights on MSNBC where he recounted the story of a past girlfriend’s abortion and how it “saved [his] life.

Prior to the presidential election in November 2012, Touré sent out a retweet encouraging girls to get abortions immediately “in case the Republicans win.” In 2014, he was accused of anti-Semitism when he suggested that Jewish survivors of the Holocaust benefited from “the power of whiteness.”

h/t: Catholic Education Daily

Source: Illinois Review

U.S. House of Representatives to vote January 22 on Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act!

WASHINGTON (January 13, 2015) — The Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives indicates that it intends to bring a major pro-life bill to the House floor for a vote on Thursday, January 22, 2015.

The bill is the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36), which would extend general protection from abortion to unborn children nationwide beginning at 20 weeks fetal age, based on congressional recognition that by this point in development, if not earlier, the unborn child is capable of experiencing pain. H.R. 36, sponsored by Reps. Trent Franks (R-Az.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tn.), is based on model legislation developed by National Right to Life that has already been enacted in 10 states.

Please click here to visit the NRLC Legislative Action Center, where an easy-to-use tool will assist you in quickly sending an e-mail message to your representative in the U.S. House, urging him or her to cosponsor H.R. 36 and to vote to advance the bill on January 22.

To view an always-current list of House cosponsors of the bill, arranged by state, click here.

Note: In the U.S. Senate, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) plans to introduce the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act very soon. To send an email message to your two U.S. senators, urging them to sign on as original cosponsors of this vital legislation, please click here.

BREAKING: House to vote on 20-week abortion ban Jan 22: Roe anniversary, date of March for Life

From Politico this morning, in an article entitled, “GOP hopes it’s cracked the abortion code: Republicans unite around a push to ban the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy”:

… GOP leaders plan to vote on a federal 20-week abortion ban on Jan. 22. That’s the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade and falls on the same day as the March for Life….

In the House, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) opted to tie the upcoming vote to the March for Life event after meeting with leading anti-abortion groups and Republicans who have long been vocal opponents of abortion.

McCarthy met in November with a dozen conservative groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Susan B. Anthony List, and “reiterated his commitment to the pro-life movement and vowed to ensure that the House of Representatives would be in session and voting during the 2015 March for Life,” a GOP staffer said.

The Politico article notes, “60% of Americans support the 20-week ban, according to Quinnipiac, and Democrats are evenly divided on that specific proposal.”

So, battling a ban against abortion past 20 weeks is a loser for abortion proponents and Democrats. Even so, they’re absurdly trying, for instance, National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill , who said, according to Politico:

“If you say ‘viability,’ that’s the time where a fetus can live independently outside of the womb. That’s 24 to 26 weeks. But most people don’t know that. So when you just say, ‘Oh, do you want to ban abortion at 20 weeks?’ People go ‘Yeah, that’s really late!’ No, it’s not. And most people don’t know that it’s not late.”

First, the American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics have established viability at either 23 weeks or 400 grams (14 ounces).  Politico could and should have corrected O’Neill’s obvious attempt to dehumanize 20-weekers.

Second, 5 months is “not late”? Does O’Neill really want to go there? Does she really want us to start talking about the advanced development of a 20-week-old preborn baby? I think not. Just goes to show the other side’s uphill path.

And the number of perfectly healthy babies aborted past 20 weeks amounts to over 18,000 annually, or 49 a day, counter to another of the other side’s claims that they are “rare.”

The pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists embarrasses itself by trying to claim, as quoted by Politico, that 20-week-old preborns do not feel pain, when even younger babies, 18-weekers, are now routinely anesthetized if undergoing surgery.

The abortion lobby is right about one thing. As Planned Parenthood indicated, a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks is a “clear attempt to challenge Roe v. Wade.”
It does this two ways.

First, H. R. 36 redraws the line after which abortions would be restricted. At present, the line is viability, according to Roe.

Second, H. R. 36 severely narrows the broad health exception defined in Roe’s companion case, Doe v. Bolton, which was:

… in the light of all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age – relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health.

This health exception has basically allowed abortion on demand throughout all 40 weeks of pregnancy since 1973. H. R. 36’s health definition is:

… substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including psychological or emotional conditions, of the pregnant woman.

The post BREAKING: House to vote on 20-week abortion ban Jan 22: Roe anniversary, date of March for Life appeared first on Jill Stanek.

Upbeat March for Life Chicago promo features Roskam, Lipinski in support of life

Congressmen Dan Lipinski and Peter Roskam are
feature in upbeat March for Life promo

Life will be celebrated in Chicago Sunday, January 18th, 2015 when thousands are expected to gather at Daley Plaza for the annual March for Life.

This year's promotional video feature last year's speakers, Congressmen Peter Roskam and Dan Lipinski - one a Republican, the other a Democrat.

"Life is not a partisan issue," Democrat Lipinski says in the video. "It is an issue for all of us to come together to protect our most sacred right, the right to life."

"Science is the friend of life," Roskam, a Republican, said. "The more people understand about what's going in the womb, what ends up happening? The more persuaded they are of the personhood of that baby in the womb."

This year's promotional was produced by Spirit Juice videos.



Contact: Illinois Review

Both houses of Congress are now under Pro-Life Leadership

Pro-life Speaker John Boehner received National Right to Life’s “Legislative Leadership Award” at NRL’s 2010 convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. John Boehner has been an outspoken supporter of the most vulnerable members of our society. Throughout the battle over President Obama’s health care bill, he worked tirelessly to defend the rights of unborn children, the elderly, and the medically dependent and disabled.

Have you heard? A wonderful thing happened Tuesday under the Capitol dome when the 114th Congress convened.

With pro-life Speaker John Boehner’s re-election to serve another term, and pro-life Senator Mitch McConnell’s election to serve as the U.S. Senate’s majority leader, both houses of Congress are now under pro-life leadership.

It was an honor to join with members of New York State Right to Life in the Capitol Visitor’s Center to celebrate and welcome three new pro-life members of New York’s congressional delegation to Washington, D.C.: Lee Zeldin (R), John Katko (R), and Elise Stefanik(R).

Both Lee Zeldin and John Katko defeated pro-abortion incumbent Democrat House members, while Elise Stefanik, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, won the open seat previously held by a pro-abortion Democrat. All three new members won in districts which voted for Obama in 2012.



Pro-life Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaking at a general session during National Right to Life's 2014 convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Mitch McConnell has been a key supporter of every major pro-life initiative to come before the U.S. Senate during his tenure.

Similar celebrations were being held elsewhere for other states in the halls of Congress. A total of 13 freshmen U.S. senators were sworn in, as were more than two dozen freshmen members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

National Right to Life’s political entities were actively involved in 74 federal races nationwide: 18 in the U.S. Senate and 56 in the U.S. House. We won 76% of those races!

Approximately 3.3 million identified voter households were contacted; 1.3 million pieces of literature were hand-distributed by NRL’s grassroots volunteers; and 33,000 radio ads were aired on more than 1,200 stations in crucial districts leading up to the election, exposing the vast difference on life issues between the candidates, including their positions on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the use of tax dollars to pay for abortion, and the pro-abortion, pro-rationing Obamacare law. These activities were conducted by NRL PAC and NRL Victory Fund independently of the candidates’ campaigns.

 

Newly sworn-in pro-life congresswoman from New York's 21st congressional district, Elise Stefanik (center) with Karen Cross, NRL political director, and Jessica Rodgers, New York State Right to Life.

Post-election polling (The Polling Company/Woman Trend, Nov. 4, 2014) revealed how important the abortion issue was in the 2014 election. Twenty-three percent of voters across the nation said that the abortion issue affected their vote and voted for candidates who oppose abortion. Just 16% said abortion affected their vote and voted for candidates who favor abortion. This 7% net gain for pro-life candidates made the difference in many races.

The poll also found that 28% of voters recalled receiving, hearing, or seeing information or advertising from National Right to Life. Voters also recalled other pro-life groups involved in the election: 17% recalled receiving information or hearing advertising from the National Right to Life affiliate in their state; 9% recalled hearing from Susan B. Anthony List; and10% recalled hearing from Americans United for Life.

Visitors to the U.S. Capitol see the outward signs of newness being prepared with scaffolding on the dome, while on the inside, under the new dome, today we watched with excited anticipation as new pro-life leaders were sworn in.

It’s a new day in Washington. And none of this could happen without your support: your involvement, your votes, and your prayers.

By Karen Cross, National Right to Life Political Director, NRL News Today

Despite charade, abortion proponents still running from A-word

Recently, abortion proponents decided if you can’t beat, join ‘em, and began urging their people to counter post-abortive stories of regret with post-abortive stories of relief.

They launched the 1 in 3 Campaign and began writing articles explaining the importance of coming out.

Even Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards finally admitted to having an abortion skeleton in her closet, claiming it was easy peasy, even if something about it kept her from sharing the good news beyond her inner circle for years and years.

Abortion proponents now say it is wrong to connect abortions with sob stories, which further stigmatize the deed as something sought only in dire circumstances or for catastrophic reasons.

So they exalt the “freedom to f*** up,” lauding those like post-abortive Merritt Tierce, who bragged about not one but two! abortions in the New York Times, one garnered after an affair in which she was unsure of paternity, and the other sought after her attempt to trap a man via pregnancy failed. Tramps trump tragedy.

But do they practice what they preach? Only when convenient.

Despite the charade, the industry knows everyone but them thinks abortion is skanky, to say the least.
So, while Planned Parenthood committed nearly one million of the three million U.S. abortions of the past three years, it continues to use math gimmicks to insist abortion accounts for a minuscule portion of its business.

And in a Cosmo puff piece a few days ago, “How to get hired at Planned Parenthood,” Senior HR Officer Gaitre Lorick failed to ever bring up the a-word. It came up only once, in the article’s intro. Abortion is obviously not an employment magnet.

Lorick wrote candidates are expected to have “a basic understanding” of the organization, and to check out Planned Parenthood’s website for details. But there is no a-word at the supplied link. Lorick also touted Planned Parenthood’s internship program, but that link omits the a-word as well.

At the Washington Post, 16 “influential” feminists submitted what they hope to accomplish in 2015, and again, the a-word never came up. The closest was one invocation of the vague term “reproductive rights.”

Everyone knows you can’t be a feminist if you’re not pro-abortion. It’s the litmus test.

But the feminists listed just about everything but abortion as important agenda items for the new year – living wages, gender equality, police brutality, domestic violence, LGBT justice, digital dualism, online harassment, hate speech, rape, quality childcare, queer and trans people of color in media, campus violence, immigration, incarceration, and even women in online game development.

Is abortion that secure? Hardly.

Amanda Marcotte blames the “anti-choice movement’s relentless propaganda about ‘abortion regret'” and the “ever-misogynistic gossip press” for a stigma against abortion that just won’t die.

Marcotte needs to talk to her own, for instance, Michael Odenthal of Highbrow Magazine.

Odenthal just wrote a laudibly pro-abortion piece (“Conservative America’s dangerous war on abortion”) wherein he promoted the a-word 21 times, except, strangely, within the three paragraphs where he sympathetically told the story of a now incarcerated Pennsylvania mother who illegally ordered pills online to “terminate” her pregnant 16-yr-old daughter’s “pregnancy,” which landed the hemorrhaging girl in the hospital.

“The daughter had a miscarriage,” wrote Odenthal, “as the pills were intended to induce.”
Um, no. The daughter had an abortion. Why not say it straight? Because in this case the a-word doesn’t play well?

Mixed messaging from abortion advocates, often subconscious, betrays the reality they may not even realize they know… this because abortion stigma is inborn, pardon the pun.

Abortion is unnatural. Abortion is violent. It is inherently abhorrent to kill one’s own offspring.
The fact is, abortion stigma will never die… simply because of that which does.

The post Despite charade, abortion proponents still running from A-word appeared first on Jill Stanek.

By Jill Stanek, jillstanek.com

U.S. House Intros Pro-Life Legislation on First Day of Congress

Tuesday afternoon two Republican House members introduced a bill that could save up to 18,000 babies each year. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would stop abortions after 20 weeks, based on scientific evidence that shows preborn babies can feel pain at that time.

The Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) is championing the bill.

“As the 114th Congress is sworn in today, we are encouraged to see our pro-life allies wasting no time in the fight to protect the lives of the most vulnerable,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Sixty percent of Americans support the legislation …to stop abortion on demand after five months. That’s more than halfway through pregnancy. It is time to move the United States off the list of only seven countries to allow abortion on demand beyond this point.”

A Quinnipiac poll found that 60 percent of Americans support the pro-life measure and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to bring it to a vote in the Senate. While it’s doubtful President Obama would sign the bill into law, Dannenfelser said they’re treating the issue like a marathon instead of a sprint.

“We thank Congressmen Franks and Blackburn for their bold leadership,” she said. “Their efforts to pass this legislation in 2013 – including a compelling debate on the House floor led by the House Pro-life Women’s caucus – spurred continued action at the state level. Thirteen states have passed similar limits on abortion in the last three years. A federal law is long overdue and this Congress now has a clear mandate from the American people.”

By: CitizenLink Team, CitizenLink

March for Life unveils theme for '15 event

The 43rd annual March for Life has chosen a special theme this year.

The upcoming March marks the January 22nd anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe vs Wade decision which legalized abortion in the United States. Since then, over 57 million children have died in the womb.

Jeanne Mancini, who heads the organization, says the theme this year draws attention to a special problem related to an abortion-versus-life decision. The theme is "Every Life is a Gift," which focuses on children who have are diagnosed with a disability in the womb and are aborted at what she calls a "high disproportionate rate."

That includes babies who are aborted because of Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, Anencephaly and other conditions. In those cases, the abortion rate ranges from 60 to 90 percent, and prenatal diagnoses play a large role in those decisions.

Additional information on this year's March for Life can be found on the web site as well as trip planning information.

By: Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow.com

Planned Parenthood: More Dead Children, More Money

"For decades now, Planned Parenthood has operated the most proficient killing machine in the United States," said Douglas R. Scott, Jr., president of the Planned Parenthood watchdog organization Life Decisions International (LDI). "And the machine continues to be oiled by American taxpayers."

In a new report released by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the group confesses to having slaughtered 327,653 preborn children in 2013, generating an estimated $140 million; a figure closely mirroring 2012. Only 1,880 PPFA customers were referred to adoption agencies (down some 17%).

In FY 2013-2014, PPFA generated nearly $1.3 billion (nearly 7.4 percent more than in FY 2012-2013). PPFA's income included a hefty check from American taxpayers. In FY 2013-2014, government funding exceeded $528.4 million (41% of PPFA's entire budget).

This "not-for-profit" ends every fiscal year with millions of dollars in "excess revenue over expenses," which is also known by another name — "profit." The "excess" for FY 2013-2014 alone was a whopping $127.1 million, a staggering 118% jump from FY 2012-2013. Still, PPFA often make wild claims whenever a corporation, organization or government entity chooses to eliminate or cut funding. (Since the FY2000-2001, PPFA has had a total "excess" of nearly $1 billion.)

Scott said PPFA's greatest ally has always been public ignorance of its agenda and activities. "The Pro-Life Movement can be proud for its ongoing efforts to expose PPFA's agenda. The more public 'black eyes' the group receives, the harder it will be for it to get away with lying to and bullying the American people."

In a related matter, LDI announced that, so far, at least 313 corporations have agreed to stop funding Planned Parenthood, which has kept more than $42 million out of PPFA coffers. The most recent addition to LDI's list of boycott targets is Expedia (Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Trivago.com, Venere.com, CarRentals.com, etc.).

Contact: Life Decisions International

March For Life Chicago - January 18, 2015 at 2 p.m.

March For Life Chicago -- 10th Anniversary: Midwest Pro-Life Advocates Proclaim Sanctity of Human Life

The 10th Anniversary of the March for Life Chicago, on Sunday, January 18, 2015 at 2 p.m. (Central), will share multiple perspectives of the pro-life stand against abortion. Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, Congressmen Dan Lipinski and Peter Roskam, and multi-generation advocate families, will lead the call to end abortion in Illinois and proclaim the sanctity of all human life. A notable line up of speakers will mark with sadness the January 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the United States, including former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson, Dr. Erwin Lutzer of The Moody Church, and the iconic "godfather" of the pro-life movement, Joe Scheidler.

Over 3,000 participants from Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana are expected to amass on Chicago's Federal Plaza and march through the Loop to the James R. Thompson Center. There will be rallies at both the March for Life assembly point and the destination.

"The March for Life Chicago message is one of love and hope," stated Emily Zender, president of March for Life Chicago. "This occasion affirms the authentic dignity of women, celebrates the gift of children, and promotes a culture dedicated to protecting life at every stage of development. March for Life Chicago joins events across the country from Washington DC to San Francisco to proclaim that all lives matter and declare that it is time to end abortion in America."

WHAT: 10th annual March for Life Chicago

WHEN: Sunday, January 18, 2015, from 2 to 4 p.m. (Central)

WHO: Thousands of individuals and pro-life groups from Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana

WHERE: Assembling at Federal Plaza, 50 W Adams, Chicago, MAP: http://goo.gl/maps/Zu1lI, and marching to James R. Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph, Chicago, MAP: http://goo.gl/maps/zpzQC

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: www.MarchForLifeChicago.com

START LOCATION: Federal Plaza

SPEAKERS:

• Most Reverend Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, Roman Catholic Church

• The Very Reverend Archimandrite Paul Gassios, Bishop-elect, Episcopal See of Chicago, Diocese of the Midwest, Orthodox Church in America

• Dr. Erwin Lutzer, Senior Pastor, The Moody Church, and co-author, Jesus, Lover of a Woman's Soul

• Three generations of pro-life advocates:

   -- Joseph Scheidler, National Director of the Pro-Life Action League

   -- Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League

   -- Sam Scheidler, third generation pro-life advocate and blogger

• Tommie Romano, personal post-abortive testimony

• Pastor Mark Jobe, lead pastor, New Life Community Church, and founder, New Life Centers

• Katie Melody, Students for Life of Illinois and leader of Loyola Students for Life Service Committee

RALLY LOCATION: James R. Thompson Center

• U.S. Representative Dan Lipinski, 3rd Congressional District of Illinois, Democratic Party

• U.S. Representative Peter Roskam, 6th Congressional District of Illinois, Republican Party

• Patrick McCaskey, co-owner of the Chicago Bears

• Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood director and founder of And Then There Were None

• Three generations of pro-life advocates:
   -- Mary Cooper
   -- Julie Cooper
   -- Sandy Hiltebrand

• Chanel Moore, personal post-abortive testimony
Master of Ceremonies: Mary-Louise Hengesbaugh, former Miss Wisconsin and Respect Life Director – Archdiocese of Chicago, author, and mother of two adoptive children.

Contact: Tom Ciesielka, March For Life Chicago

Maternal love as an argument against abortion

Admitting that abortion is ever acceptable is incompatible with unconditional maternal love

    Prof. Alexander Pruss

Countless pregnant women love (or grow to love) their unborn children. But we do not generally use this fact in any argument against abortion. (Abortion is wrong because it unjustly takes the life of an innocent human being who deserves respect and protection regardless of how others think or feel about her.)

Consider, however, the following argument from Baylor University philosopher Alexander Pruss.

Many unborn children are loved as if they bear the kind of intrinsic value that would make killing them wrong. If those unborn children do not have such value, then those who love them are loving irrationally (or are otherwise mistaken or confused); but it is implausible to say that pregnant women are loving irrationally.

Therefore those unborn children really do have intrinsic value that precludes killing them. Since there are no morally relevant differences between unborn children who are loved and those who are not (the opinion of others cannot determine their moral status), it follows that all unborn children are valuable and ought not be killed. So abortion is wrong.

The decisive premise, it seems to me, is that mothers are not mistaken when they love their unborn offspring. This intuition is so strong that I doubt many pro-choice advocates would deny it, and many have loved their own unborn children and surely thought themselves reasonable in doing so.

Pruss writes:

It seems not only a sociologically natural kind of love, but a perfectly rational love. It would be implausible to suppose that the loving mother is in the throes of some conceptual confusion or is ignorant of some relevant fact. But if the love is perfectly rational and not ignorant, then the object of the love has at least the kind of value that it is loved as if it had. Therefore, plausibly, the fetus has the kind of value which justifies the mother’s love. But the amount of value which the mother in her love predicates of the child is such as would make killing the child prima facie wrong. Hence, abortion is prima facie wrong.

Pruss goes on to answer a number of objections to this argument. The bottom line is that the apparent reasonableness of maternal love for unborn children is significant evidence that abortion is morally impermissible. To say that abortion is permissible, on the other hand, one would have to hold that perhaps a majority of pregnant women (by loving their unborn children as individuals who really matter) are behaving irrationally or out of ignorance or confusion!

Editor’s note. Paul Stark is Communications Assistant for Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, NRLC’s state affiliate.

By Paul Stark via NRL News Today

Parents of disabled baby arrange their child’s death by starvation

Charles L. Bosk, a writer and researcher, spent time in a pediatric hospital where doctors and nurses took care of disabled and/or premature babies. Sometimes, when disabled babies were born (despite the program’s efforts to detect and abort them), the parents didn’t want them. Bosk wrote about a couple that chose not to treat their disabled baby with routine surgery, but instead allowed the child to die:

She [the woman who counseled the parents] reported that the parents had decided not only that they did not want to repair the child’s omphalocele, but they wanted the child to die, and they were willing to do what they could to hurry that event along. The parents had left orders that the child not be fed. She reported that Berger [a doctor] was very upset with this turn of events… Berger claimed that it was one thing for the physicians and the parents to handle this, and quite another for the nurses who had to deal with the infant every day and would be the ones to watch it starve.

The mother was upset when the baby did not deteriorate quickly enough:

Bill [another doctor] reported that the mother was discouraged because today the baby looks good. She was hoping that it would die soon, so seeing it looked healthy really discouraged her.

Yes, this happened legally in the United States, and the practice is likely happening in neonatal care units across the country.

Tragically, there is little talk about the babies who are born and slowly starved to death. There is also little mention of children who are refused routine surgery that would have easily saved their lives. To my knowledge, there has been little documentation of these cases and no studies to show how often they occur.

This passage was written back in 1992. How many quiet murders of disabled babies have taken place since then?

Source: Charles L Bosk, All God’s Mistakes: Genetic Counseling in a Pediatric Hospital (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992) 77, 80.

Editor’s note. This appeared at liveactionnews.org.

By Sarah Terzo via NRL News Today

“What Would You Do?” captures public’s reaction when teenage girl tells boyfriend she’s pregnant

A recent episode of the ABC TV show “What Would You Do?” features an idea sent in by Jared Smith. Smith’s high school in Wisconsin had the highest teen pregnancy rate in the United States, and he came up with the idea to combine two controversial issues – teen pregnancy and abortion – into a What Would You Do? scenario.

To turn his idea into a reality, actors posed as a teen couple in a restaurant. The girlfriend, 16, told her boyfriend that she was pregnant. Smith wanted to see how restaurant patrons would react when they overheard her revelation, and her boyfriend’s unsavory reaction:

The most notable takeaway may be the fact that the younger the restaurant-goer, the more likely he or she was to sympathize with the teen mom’s desire to choose life for her baby.

One touching moment occurred when the show’s host, John Quiñones, emerged from behind-the-scenes to ask a group of teen girls what their thoughts had been during the couple’s argument. “I wanted to take her home and take care of her,” said one young woman.



Likewise, in a second round of the staged scene among a different set of patrons, a young man at a nearby table approached the girl after her boyfriend stormed out to offer her a ride home, and to tell her she deserved better treatment.

By Lauren Enriquez via NRL News Today

Editor’s note. This appeared at liveactionnews.org

Illinois abortions fall to lowest number since 1974

The Illinois abortion rate has fallen to its lowest number in 40 years, a new report reveals. The 2013 Illinois Abortion Statistics, issued by the Illinois Department of Public Health, reported that the abortion rate has dropped by 5.7 percent. This decline represents nearly 2,500 babies who saw life instead of abortion last year. The abortion rate decreased in every age group except for those 45 years of age and above.

There was a very dramatic abortion decline among minors – 20 percent fewer young mothers choose abortion from September to December. Illinois Right to Life credits the decline to the implementation of a new parental involvement law:

Most notably, in August of 2013, the Illinois Parental Notification Law went into effect, requiring children under the age of 18 to notify one parent or guardian before obtaining an abortion. With that law in effect for only the last four months of 2013, we see a dramatic 20 percent decrease in the number of minors obtaining abortions, pointing to increased parental involvement and a positive effectiveness of the law. In 2013, 1,762 abortions were performed on minors 17 years old and younger, in contrast to the 2,213 in 2012. The number of abortions performed on girls 14 years old and younger dropped 31.6 percent in 2013 to 149 – the lowest number in at least 18 years.

We have seen the dire need for parental notification laws in states like Texas, where consent can be easily bypassed by a judge without parents knowing that their daughter sought or underwent an abortion procedure. Notification ensures that parents are informed, and as Illinois has proven, this knowledge plays a crucial role in the decisions that children make. Illinois is demonstrating the effectiveness of the measure.

In 1973 (the only year that had a lower abortion rate than 2013), Illinois saw 32,760 abortions, with dramatically more – 46,800 – in 1974. Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on demand in the U.S., did not pass until late January of 1973. That year’s abortion rate would likely have not encompassed a full year of legal abortions.

Editor’s note. This appeared at liveactionnews.org.

By Lauren Enriquez via NRL News Today