Huckabee: GOP exodus over Planned Parenthood

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee insists that the GOP’s support of the recent $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill — which includes Planned Parenthood funding — is to blame for the mass exodus that is being witnessed from the Republican Party.

 A Closer Look The former Arkansas governor insists that large numbers are leaving the GOP because they have lost their faith in their party, which controls both chambers of Congress that passed the controversial bill putting more taxpayer dollars in the hands of the world’s largest abortion provider.

"[The passage of the bill] put a lot of people over the top, [because after] working hard to get Republican majorities in the House and the Senate, [grassroots conservatives fail to see] significant policy changes," Huckabee recently stated on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Click here for the originating article from OneNewsNow.

Abortion Statistics fall in Illinois

Illinois Department of Public Health has published its abortion statistics for calendar year 2014.  These numbers give Illinois pro-lifers information about which to be very thankful as we celebrate the birth of Christ.  The overall number of abortions performed in Illinois has dropped 2,278 from 2013 to 2014, a drop of almost 5.6%, and the number of abortions performed on teenagers 17 years of age and under dropped 507, almost 28.8%.  There were also noteworthy declines from 2012 to 2013.  2014 was the first full year the Illinois parental notification law, passed back in 1995, had been in force.  2012 was the last year without a parental notification law in effect.

These statistics show the critical impact of pro-life work in the General Assembly and the courts.  They also show us why our political efforts are critical.  The victories are hard fought.  The Illinois Federation for Right to Life was in the forefront of the effort to shepherd the parental notification bill through the General Assembly and instrumental in securing the signature of the pro-abortion former-governor Jim Edgar.   

The IFRL needs your support so that maximum pressure can be placed on our state government to pass and enforce pro-life laws.  Pro-life laws save large numbers of lives when they are passed and enforced.

The 2014 abortion data is now available on line (a copy is attached to this e-mail).  The figures for the first full year the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act was in effect (2014) are impressive.  The numbers of abortions performed in Illinois on Illinois minors (under 18 years of age) dropped by almost 29% from 2013, when the Act was in effect for only the last five months of the year.  Abortions of minors under the age of 0-14 dropped 28%.  Abortions of minors ages 15-17 dropped 29%.  Abortions for all Illinois minors dropped from 1,762 to 1,255.  Abortions for all Illinois minors dropped from 1,762 to 1,255. year.  For the two subcategories, the numbers dropped from 149 to 109 (0-14), and from 1,613 to 1,146 (15-17).

In 2014 the Act was in effect throughout the year. The result was that the numbers of abortions performed in Illinois on Illinois minors dropped from 2,213 to 1,255, a reduction of 958 abortions, or 43% in two years.  For ages 0-14 the numbers went from 218 to 109, a reduction of exactly 50% in two years and for ages 15-17 from 1,995 to 1,255, a reduction of 740, or 37% in two years.

The overall number of abortions in Illinois was reduced from 43,203 in 2012 and 40,750 in 2013 to 38,472 in 2014.  This is a decline of more than 4,700 in two years (almost 11%). 

Of the 43,203 abortions in 2012, 3,138 were performed on out of state residents.  In 2013 of the 40,750, 3,189 were from out of state residents and of the 38, 472 in 2014 2,970 were from out of state.

(Attorney Paul Linton contributed statistical analysis).

Click here to view the statistics online.  Click here to download the PDF of the statistics.

2015 Abortion Clinic Survey Reveals 81% of Abortion Clinics Closed Since 1991

The total number abortion clinics in America continues to decline, following nationwide trend extending back to 1991. In 2015, abortion clinics closed at a rate of more than one per week with 53 abortion clinics shutting down or halting all abortion services.

Operation Rescue surveyed by telephone all abortion facilities in the U.S. from December 1-15, 2015 and found the following:

42 Surgical abortion clinics halted all abortion services.

11 Medical abortion clinics halted all abortion services.

In addition, a number of abortion facilities reduced services:

16 abortion clinics halted surgeries and now offer only medication abortions.

12 abortion clinics stopped dispensing abortion drugs and now only offer surgical abortions, noting that the abortion pill was "ineffective" or "too dangerous."

In all, 81 abortion clinics closed or reduced services in 2015.

Click here for the originating article from Christian Newswire.

Police Forbid Pro-life Activists from Singing Christmas Carols in Front of Abortion Clinic

Last week, Christmas Carolers were told by law enforcement they could not sing Carols even if they were on public property.

Here is the video:



Activists will go back to the same abortion clinic on Wednesday,  December 23, at 12:00 P.M. to challenge the prohibition.

Members to risk peaceful arrest before refusing to surrender their First Amendment rights.

Rev. Patrick Mahoney, lead organizer of the event and Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states;

"It is deeply troubling that a police officer would forbid peaceful pro-life activists from singing Christmas Carols on public property in Falls Church, Virginia..."

Click here for the originating article from Christian Newswire.

So what does the new AP poll on abortion tell us?

The headline on the Associated Press story reads, “Support for legal abortion rises to nearly 6 in 10 Americans, poll finds.” Let’s see what this poll “conducted after three people were killed last month in a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado” does and doesn’t tell us.

According to the AP’s Nancy Benac and Emily Swanson, “Nearly six in 10 Americans — 58 percent — now think abortion should be legal in most or all cases, up from 51 percent who said so at the beginning of the year, according to the AP-GfK survey.” The AP story tells us

“The Associated Press-GfK poll on abortion was conducted by GfK Public Affairs and Corporate Communications Dec. 3-7. It is based on online interviews of 1,007 adults who are members of GfK’s nationally representative KnowledgePanel.”

Are we really supposed to believe that support for abortion legal in all or most cases actually rose a total 7 points in eleven months—from 51% to 58%? Or did it represent an immediate visceral response to the deaths of three people at a PPFA clinic that was attributed, directly and/or indirectly, to pro-lifers? The obvious answer is we won’t know for at least a few more months but that it is plausible the figure will recede back to 51%.

You can examine the numbers for yourself here.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life.

Illinois 2014 Abortion Statistics Released

The Illinois Department of Public Health has released the 2014 Illinois abortion statistics.

Click here to view the statistics online.  Click here to download the PDF of the statistics.

More information and summary to come.

Franklin Graham leaves GOP in disgust over Planned Parenthood funding

Evangelist Franklin Graham has announced he is abandoning the Republican Party in disgust over the move by the GOP-led Congress last week to pass a budget that Graham said was “wasteful” and provided funding for Planned Parenthood, which he compared to the Nazis, the Religion News Service reports.

Graham has previously said he has no faith in any political party, but his apparent renunciation of his Republican affiliation is an indication of anger on the right and the strong interest many disaffected evangelicals have shown in populist outsiders like Donald Trump.

Graham himself has expressed admiration for Trump, the surprise frontrunner in the Republican presidential field, and has voiced support for some of Trump’s more controversial positions — such as his call to ban Muslims from the U.S. — which have drawn condemnation from more mainstream evangelical leaders.

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

Federal Court to Hear Argument on Mandated Promotion of Abortion

A federal judge was scheduled to hear oral arguments on California's controversial effort to mandate that pro-life pregnancy clinics promote abortion.
 
Pacific Justice Institute represents three pro-life clinics challenging AB 775.  PJI attorney, Kevin Snider, will present oral arguments

PJI is asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent the law from taking effect on January 1, 2016.  Similar attempts in New York City and Baltimore to compel pro-life clinics to utter pro-abortion messages were found to be unconstitutional by the Second and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal, respectively.

In an attempt to avoid application of the First Amendment, the State is taking the position that the mandated signs are "conduct" and not "speech."  The State is also arguing that ObamaCare prompted the new mandates on pro-life pregnancy clinics by making more women eligible for Medi-Cal.  Under AB 775, pro-life pregnancy clinics would be required to tell women that free or low-cost (taxpayer-subsidized) abortions and contraceptives are available by contacting the County.

Click here for the originating article from Christian Newswire

Annual March to Life rally to be held January 17, 2016

Prolifers will be rallying in downtown Chicago January 17, 2016 to celebrate life and commemorate the millions of babies whose lives have been lost to abortion since the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision.

Illinois Right to Life is asking like-minded folks to set aside the date and plan to join them in at March for Life Chicago 2016. They released the following promotional video this week:



Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

Rep. Smith’s Bipartisan Stem Cell Bill Heads to the President’s Desk

With a unanimous show of support, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith’s legislation, the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2820), cleared its final hurdle and is on its way to the President for signature and enactment.

Smith and lead co-sponsor Rep. Doris Matsui shepherded the bill through the House last summer with the support of Reps. David Jolly (R-FL) and Chaka Fattah (D-PA), and worked with Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jack Reed (R-RI), Richard Burr (R-NC) and Al Franken (D-MN) who championed the bill in the Senate, making helpful modifications and sending it back to the House for one final vote of approval today.

As adopted by both chambers, H.R. 2820 now ensures that two collaborative programs that support treatment and therapies derived from adult stem cell lines will continue to receive funding through 2020. Under the legislation, the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program will be authorized for five years at $30 million annually, while the National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI) is authorized at $23 million annually for a five year period. Smith authored the original law (The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005—P.L. 109-129) that created the national cord blood program and expanded the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program.

Click here for the originating article from the office of pro-life Rep. Chris Smith

A Surprising Venue for Christmas Carols: Abortion Clinics

"No pregnant woman heads joyfully into an abortion clinic," said Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League, as he explains why pro-life advocates are gathering outside of abortion providers to sing Christmas carols. This is part of the Pro-Life Action League's nationwide "Empty Manger Christmas Caroling" event. Over the dozen years that the Pro-Life Action League has caroled outside of abortion clinics, the group has seen their share of Christmas miracles—women who choose life.

"We are here to counter that walk toward darkness with the invitation to choose life for the child they are carrying, a baby like the one meant to lay in the empty manger we gather around for our caroling," Scheidler shared. "It's particularly sad to think of someone getting an abortion during the time of Christmas, when we remember hope springing forth with the birth of a child. It can also be a special time to reach women and help them decide to not go through with the abortion."

Christmas carols evoke beautiful images of a mother and her newborn child—but also contain references to healing, mercy and salvation. "'Light and life to all He brings, ris'n with healing in His wings'—that's from 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing,'" added Scheidler, "That's the message we are offering: choose life not death. That is the path to light, hope and healing."

Click here for the originating article from Christian Newswire.

Pro-life forces score major win in U.S. Senate with approval of bill to defund Planned Parenthood, repeal major elements of Obamacare

In a major victory for the pro-life movement and for the Republican congressional leadership, the U.S. Senate has for the first time passed a bill that would block most federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

The same bill would repeal major components of Obamacare, including the provision that provides federal tax subsidies to health plans that cover elective abortion.

Among the provisions added was a repeal of the Obamacare program that currently provides federal tax subsidies to help millions of Americans purchase health plans that cover elective abortions, in states that have not passed specific laws to prevent this. This is the first time that the Senate has passed legislation to repeal this program, which constitutes the single greatest abortion-expanding component of Obamacare.

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life.

International Human Rights Day – End Forced Sterilization and Gendercide in China

Reggie Littlejohn is the President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers. She testified last week before the Congressional Executive Commission on China on “China’s New ‘Two Child Policy’ & the Continuation of Massive Crimes Against Women and Children.” The following is an excerpt from her December 3 testimony.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers runs a campaign to end the sex-selective abortion of baby girls in China called “Save a Girl.”. Our network of fieldworkers on the ground has saved almost 200 baby girls in one area of rural China. Through this network, WRWF gets direct, up to the minute information about coercive population control in our area of China.

I communicated with the head of our network over the weekend [before the hearing]. Here is what she said about the current condition in our villages after the announcement of the “Two-Child Policy”:

The women in our villages do not see the new Two-Child Policy as a big improvement, because of the threat of sterilization. It is a policy that women must be sterilized after the second child – especially if both children are girls. Women who have a boy as their first child are not likely to have a second child, because after the second child, they would be forcibly sterilized. These sterilizations ruin not only a woman’s reproductive health, but her general health as well. After these sterilizations, the vast majority of women are “never the same again.” They will never recover their strength. For example, in our villages there is no running water. Women need to pump water out of a deep well. Before they are sterilized, women are strong enough to pump water. After they are sterilized, they are no longer strong enough to pump water. This weakness lasts forever and is devastating, because the family depends on the strength of the mother to do farm work...

Click here for the originating article from National Right to Life.

UN "Experts" Visit US; Denounce Laws Against Abortion

The UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice conducted a visit to the United States last week and denounced laws restricting and regulating abortion as discriminatory and interfering with “women’s reproductive rights”.

The Group railed against state laws on abortion, designed to protect women’s safety and provide for an informed and non-coerced decision, calling the laws “severe barriers” to women’s rights asserting:

“These take the form of unjustified medical procedures, such as compelling women to undergo ultrasounds or to endure groundless waiting periods, withholding of early pregnancy abortion medications, imposing burdensome conditions for the licensing of clinics, which have resulted in the closing of clinics across the country leaving women without geographical access to sexual and reproductive health services.” …

Click here for the originating article Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues

Nursing student witnesses abortion, rethinks pro-choice stand

A pro-choice student nurse began having doubts about her position after witnessing an abortion. Author Jeff Lane Hensley quotes her in his book “The Zero People.” This book contains pro-life essays on abortion from various writers.

“I was for abortion, I thought it was a woman’s right to terminate pregnancy she did not want. Now I’m not so sure. I am a student nurse nearing the end of my OB-GYN rotation at a major metropolitan hospital and teaching center. It wasn’t until I saw what abortion really involves that I changed my mind. After the first week in the abortion clinic several people in my clinical group were shaky about their previously positive feelings about abortion. This new attitude resulted from our actually seeing a Prostaglandin abortion, one similar in nature to the widely used saline abortion. This method is being used for terminations of pregnancies of sixteen weeks and over.”

“I used to find rationales. the fetus isn’t real. Abdomens aren’t really very swollen. It isn’t ‘alive.’ No more excuses…I am a member of the health profession and members of my class are now ambivalent about abortion. I now know a great deal more about what is involved in the issue. Women should perceive fully what abortion is; how destructive an act it is both for themselves and their unborn child. Whatever psychological coping mechanisms are employed during the process, the sight of a fetus in a hospital bedpan remains the final statement.”

Click here for the originating article from clinicquotes.com via National Right to Life.

Three things Christmas tells us about human life and dignity

1. Each of us was once an unborn child. The Incarnation—the coming into the world of Christ—did not happen in the manger. It happened some nine months earlier. This is what the facts of human embryology and developmental biology tell us, and it is what the scriptural accounts affirm.

2. The weak and vulnerable matter just as much as the strong and independent. God himself chose to enter the world in the most vulnerable condition possible: as a tiny embryo, and then a fetus, and then a newborn baby lying in a manger. This turned ancient “might makes right” morality on its head. It suggests that human dignity is not determined by age, size, power or independence.

3. Human life is extraordinarily valuable. Christmas is part of God’s larger plan to rescue humanity because He loves us (John 3:16). Jesus was born so that we might live. From this Christian perspective, God considers human life to be immensely precious and worth saving at tremendous cost. “Christian belief in the Incarnation is thus inseparable from belief in the objective, and even transcendent, value of the human race as a whole, and of each human person as an individual,” writes Carson Holloway.

Click here for the originating article from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

Obama Backs Planned Parenthood Rally But Avoids Ever Saying ‘Abortion’

President Obama showed solidarity with the nation’s No. 1 abortion provider this weekend by expressing that America is “a people who stand up for the rights of women to make their own decisions about their health,” according to a statement that never once mentioned “abortion.”

This was part of Planned Parenthood’s National Day of Solidarity Saturday to show support for “access to safe reproductive healthcare, including abortion,” in the wake of the shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic. To show his support, President Obama sent Tina Tchen, the Assistant to the President, with a statement.

“I commend Planned Parenthood for convening this important event,” Tchen read on Obama’s behalf to the hundreds gathered in All Souls Church Unitarian in D.C. “I share your heartbreak about the tragedy that occurred at Planned Parenthood’s center in Colorado.”

Click here for the origination article.

10 reasons not to have an abortion

Parenting website Mommyish recently published an article advocating ten reasons (well, actually nine) to have an abortion. In response, I wrote a piece debunking the author’s arguments. Today, I will discuss ten reasons not to have an abortion.

1) It compounds tragedy.

2) It takes innocent lives.

3) It violates civil rights.

4) It punishes innocent people.

5) It can harm women.

6) It is damaging to relationships and families.

7) It never goes away.

8) It creates new problems.

9) It avoids responsibility.

10) It’s not empowering or liberating for women

All women should understand exactly what abortion is.

Click here for the originating article and explanations of the listed reasons.

Durbin: ‘All Hell Will Break Loose’ Over Abortion Language in Spending Bill

Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin warned that “all hell will break loose,” if Republicans force the issue on abortion language in the year-end omnibus bill.

“Just heard about it for the first time today, and if they try to do it, all hell will break loose,” said Durbin. "You can imagine. The phrase ‘Hobby Lobby’ perks up the ears of many members of the Senate.”

The Illinois Democrat said that given recent events, he wouldn’t be surprised if the debate runs up through Christmas Eve.

Click here for the originating article from Illinois Review.

Life Legal Defense Foundation Brief Completely Refutes National Abortion Federation Lies: NAF Invited David Daleiden to Its 'Secret' Meetings

On Thursday, the Life Legal Defense Foundation filed an opposition brief to the National Abortion Federation's (NAF) motion for preliminary injunction against David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress (CMP). NAF is suing for an injunction to prevent Daleiden from releasing the recordings and information he obtained at the NAF meetings on the grounds that he is a "racketeer" who "committed fraud," "snuck into" their completely secure, private meetings, "stole" NAF information, and repelled them with his constant questions about buying fetal tissue.

Life Legal's opposition brief argues that, on the contrary, NAF welcomed Daleiden and the other investigators as dealers in fetal tissue, that he conducted his investigation legally, and that the public has a right to know what Daleiden uncovered at the NAF meetings.

Daleiden's declaration, filed with the opposition brief, gives a very different version of events than NAF has provided -- and includes the evidence to back it up. He says that two of his investigators, posing as employees of BioMax, met NAF employees at an unrelated conference in September of 2013. The investigators explained BioMax's plan to buy fetal tissue.

Click here for the originating article from ChristianNewswire.