The Worst MDs free to be suicide doctors

Lonny Shavelson, a Berkeley emergency-room doctor who hasn’t practiced medicine for two years—and a long-time advocate of assisted suicide, as author of A Chosen Death—made headlines with the announcement that he is opening a death-doctor practice.

For a $200 consultation fee, and $1800 more if he is retained, Shavelson will evaluate and certify people who come to him—I refuse to call them his “patients”—as eligible for death, prescribe the lethal drugs, fill out the required bureaucratic forms, and presumably attend their deaths.

Think about this for a moment: Would anyone in their right mind trust an ER doctor to properly palliate the pain of terminal cancer or treat lethal congestive heart failure? Of course not! The ability to provide excellent care for terminally ill patients requires medical specialization and ongoing professional education in the particular disease. That is why no ER physician worth his salt would assume responsibility for the medical care of terminally ill patients outside of a temporary emergency-room or crisis context.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Justice Ginsburg recycles Abortion Industry mantras

For whatever reasons of High Court protocol (or politics), Justice Stephen Breyer did the heavy lifting in today’s Supreme Court decision gutting the 2013 omnibus Texas pro-life law, HB 2. His majority opinion ran 40 pages.

It was left to a mere 385-word-long concurring opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to summarize the argument that HB 2 could not possibly be what legislators said it was: a good faith effort to protect women from the likes of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, convicted of three counts of first degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter. It was, in Ginsburg’s words, “beyond rational belief.”

The usual in-the-tank suspects provided the medical cover to “prove” that abortion is safer than a walk in the park, an aspirin, or a tooth extraction. But it was left to Danielle Paquette, a Washington Post reporter, to tease out that Justice Ginsburg was rebutting a contention made by Justice Samuel Alito in his dissent.

Which was? That HB 2 was intended to cause unsafe abortion clinics to close and that it was the absence of active supervision “by state or local authorities or by his peers” that allowed abortionist Kermit Gosnell to run riot. Gosnell, as you recall, delivered three late-term babies alive and then murdered them by severing their spinal cords.

Ginsburg brushed this motivation aside. Or, put more accurately, turned it inside out:

When a State severely limits access to safe and legal procedures, women in desperate circumstances may resort to unlicensed rogue practitioners, faute de mieux [for lack of a better option ] at great risk to their health and safety.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

In ‘Playboy’ Essay Chelsea Handler Says God Supports Abortion

Pro-life Christians have got it all wrong. God actually wants some people to get abortions.

At least, that’s one way Chelsea Handler justifies the pro-choice movement. The talk show host has always been open about her choice to abort her own teenage pregnancies. She has no regrets about the choice(s) she made at 16. In a recent essay penned for Playboy magazine, Handler wrote that “I’m 41 now. I don’t ever look back and think, God, I wish I’d had that baby.”

(Interestingly, this was supposedly the first time Chelsea admitted to having not one, but two abortions. But on her Netflix show last week, she said she’s had three. When abortion is no big deal, the numbers apparently don’t matter).

It would’ve been one thing had Handler’s article stopped with her own personal story. But Handler wanted to take this opportunity to explain why pro-lifers just need to stop fighting abortion.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

U.S. Supreme Court Decision puts Women at Risk

Today's 5-3 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of Texas H.B. 2 means that the women of Texas who choose to abort their children will not have the protection they would have for almost any other outpatient surgical procedure.  This decision puts the health and well being of women throughout the country at risk.  States with similar laws and those trying to pass similar laws will been hindered in their efforts to pass common sense protections for women seeking abortions.  The Illinois Federation for Right to Life laments the double standard under which women seeing abortions are treated as the law now place them in danger in order to protect their right to abort their unborn child.

As Carol Tobias, the President of National Right to Life has stated, "How shabby are these abortion clinics that they cannot meet minimal standards other outpatient surgical centers are required to meet, and just how bad are these abortionists that they can't get admitting privileges at a local hospital?  As we saw with Kermit Gosnell in Philadelphia, it's clear that the lucrative abortion industry is not able or willing to police itself and allows filthy, deplorable conditions to go unchecked."

The immediate tragedy in today's Supreme Court ruling is that the women and unborn children of Texas and entire nation continue to be at risk at clinics and medical offices which require little or no oversight for their adherence to basic, common sense, medical protocols which would accompany almost any other surgery or major medical procedure.  The long term impact  of this ruling remains to be seen but pro-life people must continue efforts to protect women from those willing to sacrifice them for a political agenda and financial gain.

Action Alert - SB1564 & HB5576 - Call the Gov. tell him to veto these bills

SB1564 Health Care Right of Conscience Act 

This bill is currently on the Governor's desk for his signature.

This bill amends the Health Care Right of Conscience Act  The Act provides that notwithstanding any other law, a health care facility, or any physician or health care personnel working in the facility, may refuse to permit, perform, assist in, counsel about, suggest, recommend, refer for, or participate in health care services because of a conscience-based objection.  

This bill now undermines Healthcare Right of Conscience by requiring pro-life facilities to refer pro-abort services to other facilities thus violating their morals or beliefs.

Although an amendment has been added to bill, the Federation for Right to Life still opposes this bill.

Please call the Governor's office at 217-782-0244, or click here to go to his website and send an email asking him NOT to sign SB1564 and veto the bill.

Click here for more information on this bill.

Click here for the full bill text.

HB5576 Insurance Contraception Coverage

This bill is currently on the Governor's desk for his signature.

This bill provides that an individual or group health policy shall provide coverage for all contraceptive drugs, devices, and other products approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, including over-the-counter contraceptive drugs, devices, and products; voluntary sterilization procedures; contraceptive services, patient education, and counseling on contraception; and follow-up services related to their use.

This bill requires insurance coverage of over-the-counter drugs such as Plan B and Ella.  These drugs prevent a fertilized egg  from implanting to the uterine wall and therefore cause a chemical abortion.

Please call the Governor's office at 217-782-0244, or click here to go to his website and send an email asking him NOT to sign HB5576 and veto the bill.

Click here for more information on this bill.

Multi-Billion Dollar Medicaid fraud lawsuit against Iowa's Planned Parenthood moves forward

This week U.S District Judge John Jarvey ruled that most of the counts in Sue Thayer's False Claims Act case will move forward.

From the Judge's ruling, "We conclude that Thayer has pled sufficiently particularized facts to support her allegations that Planned Parenthood violated the FCA by filing claims for (1) unnecessary quantities of birth control pills, (2) birth control pills dispensed without examinations or without or prior to a physician's order, (3) abortion-related services, and (4) the full amount of services that had already been paid, in whole or in part, by 'donations' Planned Parenthood coerced from patients. Thayer adequately alleges the particular details of these schemes, such as the names of the individuals that instructed her to carry out these schemes, the two-year time period in which these schemes took place, the clinics that participated in these schemes, and the methods by which these schemes were perpetrated. Moreover, she alleges that her position as center manager gave her access to Planned Parenthood's centralized billing system, pleads specific details about Planned Parenthood's billing systems and practices, and alleges that she had personal knowledge of Planned Parenthood's submission of false claims."

"It is with great anticipation that we look to the next phase of this case.  Planned Parenthood's long history of fraudulent billing practices must be exposed. While I am disappointed that even a small part of the case was dismissed, I am thankful that two parts of the suit will proceed to a hearing.  I have always believed that it is every Iowan's right to know exactly where their hard-earned taxpayer dollars go and am confident that the truth will come out," said Sue Thayer, Lead Strategist for Iowa Right to Life.

"We are very pleased with Judge Jarvey's decision to move forward with this historic case," stated Jenifer Bowen, Executive Director of Iowa Right to Life.  "With decades of sustained, systemic fraud occurring, Iowans should be demanding answers from the wholly unregulated largest abortion chain in Iowa, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland," concluded Bowen.

Read more on the history of  Sue Thayer's multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.

Source: Quad City Right to Life.

“You can’t sweep your abortions under the rug forever”

James McNeill married a woman who had 2 abortions in her past. He says:

“When I would bring up the idea of having children, Kathleen would say things like, “I don’t deserve to be a mother.” It started to dawn on me that unresolved pain, shame, and grief related to her abortions were at the heart of her reluctance to have children. It was difficult to know how to address what was clearly a painful and sensitive wound in a way that would be helpful.

One time I said, “You can’t sweep your abortions under the rug forever.”

She said, “If I didn’t sweep them under the rug, I couldn’t live with myself.” Kathleen had stuffed the pain and hurt deep down inside herself in order to cope, but in doing so she walled off an area of her heart that could’ve otherwise been used to love herself and me. The price of avoiding the issue was taking a terrible toll on Kathleen and our marriage.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

‘I was going to abort my baby – but seeing the look on my mum’s face made me realise I couldn’t go through with it’

Stacey Solomon is the latest celebrity to come out and say how glad she is that she chose life over abortion

Singer and reality TV star Stacey Solomon has revealed how close she came to aborting her first child – and how seeing the look on her own mum’s face made her realise she couldn’t go through with it.

The mum-of-two, who finished third on The X Factor and won I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! In 2010 was just 17 when she first became pregnant.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

HHS: California is permitted to force insurers to cover abortions

The US Department of Health and Human Services has determined that California’s decision to force insurers to cover abortions does not violate federal legislation designed to protect conscience rights.

The Weldon amendment, which protects the rights of health-care officials to avoid involvement in abortion, applies “only to health care entities and not to individuals who are patients of, or institutions or individuals that are insured by, such entities,” stated the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Catholic colleges in California had invoked the Weldon Amendment to justify excluding aboriton coverage from their employees' health-care plans. That policy was challenged by faculty members at two Catholic universities: Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara University. Under the new HHS ruling, all religious institutions would appear to be legally required to offer abortion coverage.

Click here for more from Catholic World News.

Action Alert - SB1564 & HB5576 - Call the Gov. tell him to veto these bills.

SB1564 - Health Care Right of Conscience Act - UPDATE - ACTION ALERT

This bill is currently on the Governor's desk for his signature.

This bill amends the Health Care Right of Conscience Act  The Act provides that notwithstanding any other law, a health care facility, or any physician or health care personnel working in the facility, may refuse to permit, perform, assist in, counsel about, suggest, recommend, refer for, or participate in health care services because of a conscience-based objection.  

This bill now undermines Healthcare Right of Conscience by requiring pro-life facilities to refer pro-abort services to other facilities thus violating their morals or beliefs.

Although an amendment has been added to bill, the Federation for Right to Life still opposes this bill.

Please call the Governor's office at 217-782-0244, or click here to go to his website and send an email asking him NOT to sign SB1564 and veto the bill.

Click here for more information on this bill.

Click here for the full bill text.

HB5576 - Insurance Contraception Coverage - UPDATE - ACTION ALERT

This bill is currently on the Governor's desk for his signature.

This bill provides that an individual or group health policy shall provide coverage for all contraceptive drugs, devices, and other products approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, including over-the-counter contraceptive drugs, devices, and products; voluntary sterilization procedures; contraceptive services, patient education, and counseling on contraception; and follow-up services related to their use.

This bill requires insurance coverage of over-the-counter drugs such as Plan B and Ella.  These drugs prevent a fertilized egg  from implanting to the uterine wall and therefore cause a chemical abortion.

Please call the Governor's office at 217-782-0244, or click here to go to his website and send an email asking him NOT to sign HB5576 and veto the bill.

Click here for more information on this bill.

Planned Parenthood Awards 13 Journalists at 100th Anniversary Gala

Planned Parenthood doesn’t need a PR firm when it has the media who do just as well – if not better – at pushing the abortion giant’s agenda: death.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America bestowed Media Excellence Awards to 13 journalists during its 2016 National Conference Gala earlier this month in Washington, D.C. Since its founding, the taxpayer-funded organization has recognized a total of 270 media outlets and journalists for doing its bidding.

Of the media awarded, Democracy NOW! host and executive producer Amy Goodman received the “highest honor,” according to Planned Parenthood. Goodman repeatedly used her platform to defend Planned Parenthood following the release of the Center for Medical Progress videos last summer that showed, among other things, clinic workers picking apart aborted baby limbs in a dish with tweezers.

Planned Parenthood listed the other eight winners of the 2016 Media Excellence Awards. …

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Disability author angry with being associated with movie “Me Before You”

EW News reported that Francesco Clark, an ambassador for the Christopher and Dana Reeves Foundation and an entrepreneur who founded a skincare line for people with disabilities, is angry that his memoir, Walking Papers, is referenced in the film Me Before You.

Walking Papers tells the story of Clark’s life after he experienced an accident in his early 20’s that resulting in him living with quadriplegia.

EW News reported Clark as saying:

“I’ve worked tirelessly to show people that being quadriplegic isn’t the end of your life, it’s another beginning,”

“While I am by no means taking a stance on the issue of assisted suicide, I feel compelled to express that I am angry to be unwittingly associated with a storyline that suggests the only option for those who sustain injuries like mine is death.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Pro-life training in the college classroom

Only one collegiate-level school is offering pro-life courses that could potentially lead to career opportunities in the movement.

The only school, so far, providing formal pro-life training is Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Scott Klusendorf of Life Training Institute is teaching part of the course work. He says the issue at stake is that America needs a movement of pro-lifers who are professionally trained.

“We need to have them equipped to make a persuasive case in the public square using arguments that resonate with a secular culture,” he tells OneNewsNow. “And if you look at the pro-life movement today, it's led by hardworking, part-time volunteers. To flip the equation, we need equipped pro-lifers who can do this for a living full-time.”

OKWU's Department of Applied Bioethics offers four core courses

Click here for more from OneNewsNow.

Actress Connie Britton Praises Planned Parenthood Prez As ‘Legendary,’ ‘My Hero’

Besides the liberal media, Planned Parenthood’s biggest fans come from Hollywood– and actress Connie Britton is no exception.

Last week, Nashville actress Connie Britton introduced Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards at the White House’s The United State of Women Summit. Before describing Richards as her “hero” as well as a “thinker” and “visionary,” Britton made her own comments on “reproductive rights.”

The 49-year-old star began her speech by claiming that “there’s nothing really that’s more important” than “women’s health.”

“We’ve got a lot to do, guys. We really do,” she cheered. “And we certainly don’t have time to deal with interference from anyone else about the choices that we make about our own bodies.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

MCCL GO speaks in defense of life at the U.N.’s Human Rights Council

The Human Rights Council, an inter-governmental U.N. body founded to promote and protect human rights worldwide, is holding its 32nd session this month. A Working Group report on the subject has called for the legalization of abortion around the globe, even condemning so-called “barriers to access” such as waiting periods prior to abortion.

Today Mary Langlois, representing Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life’s Global Outreach program (MCCL GO), made the case at a session of the Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland that legalized abortion is neither necessary to ensure women’s health nor required under international law.

“Legalized abortion is not required by the right to health. Maternal health depends on the quality of medical care, not on the legal status or availability of abortion,” Langlois said. “We can save women’s lives in the developing world by ensuring proper care before, during, and after childbirth, including adequate nutrition, prenatal care, skilled birth attendants, emergency obstetric care, clean water, and sanitation.”

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

“Life on Mars” is a powerful new pro-life video

What I know about rap, Christian or otherwise, you could summarize in a nanosecond or two. But the lyrics to Je’kob’s just released music video are not only catchy and infectious, they are powerfully ironic.

Less than four minutes long, the video starts with the premise that scientists and, by extension, the rest of us, go gung-ho when there is the slightest evidence there may be, might have been, or could someday be “life” on the planet Mars. But what about recognizing the life of the unborn on earth?

Or, as Justin Sarachik wrote earlier today...

The concept of the song touches on the paradox of science seeing bacteria on Mars as signs of life, but won’t acknowledge a baby in a womb as a living thing.



Click here for more from National Right to Life.

Hey docs, are you healers or death dealers?

Reports that the American Medical Association will consider changing its policy on doctor-assisted suicide are not fully accurate.

Despite some reports coming from its recent convention in Chicago, the American Medical Association ethics standards stand against participation in assisted suicide.

Dr. Thomas Eppes of Forrest, Virginia, a member of the Christian Medical Association, was a Virginia delegate to the convention. He tells OneNewsNow that AMA members actually approved an "eloquently stated position" that the physician is a healer.

"And that if you're in the business of doing that type of thing," says Eppes, referring to assisted suicide, "you're violating the code of ethics."

Click here for more from OneNewsNow.

Abortion in America robs black mothers most

New statistics clearly show the impact of abortion on the black community and the picture is not pretty.

The Issues 4 Life Foundation took a look at data from the U.S. Statistical Abstract and the National Vital Statistics Report analyzed by expert Dennis Howard.

Citing the data, foundation president Walter Hoye says 20 million black Americans have lost their lives through abortion since it was legalized, and that represents about 48 percent of the total black population.

Among black women who are child-bearing age, they are responsible for 28 percent of all abortions in the United States. 

Click here for more from OneNewsNow.

Men, Father’s Day, and Abortion

June 19 is Father’s Day, where children (occasionally with assistance from their moms) will splurge on their dads. Personally, if each of my kids gave me the same exact tie, I would treasure each one of them just because I love being a dad.

But there will be many men who are not fathers because of their role in an abortion. They will not experience the joy of fatherhood, only the guilt, remorse, and pain that so often accompanies a decision they either acceded to, did not oppose, or, worst of all, coerced the woman in their life into making.

The last thing the abortion industry wants is more players in the decision-making process. Expanding the range of what is possible is our goal, not theirs. They are one-trick ponies–they want women (and girls) to be placed on a conveyor belt which moves without interruption until she reaches the destination that will “solve” her “problem.” They want their finely tuned propaganda engine running smoothly. A father’s involvement risks throwing sand in the gears.

Click here for more from National Right to Life.

A Tribute to Fran Fortier

Fran Fortier passed from this life on June 9, 2016

Fran Fortier lived her Catholic faith as a wife, mother and a defender of unborn babies.  Fran was the former Director of the Joliet Diocese Life Office.  I first met Fran in the early 1980's when we both served on the Board of the Illinois Federation for Right to Life.  I represented the 10th Congressional District and Fran represented the 6th Congressional District.  There wasn't a politician Fran did not know personally.  Through her strong pro-life commitment, everyone she met knew about the sanctity of human life and our obligation to defend that life in the public square.

It was shortly after my meeting Fran that I discovered that she was the Director for pro-life in Joliet.  In fact, if the truth be known, Fran laid the groundwork for the ministry to continue even after she retired from her office.  Fran's Catholic faith led her to stand tall in the public square when the Roe v Wade Decision in 1973 legalized abortion on demand in the U.S.  Fran did what all Catholics (and people of good faith) should have done.  She rolled up her sleeves and went to work to restore respect for innocent human life.  She never tired, and I know that many times she was in the office until 1AM or 2AM in the morning.  These hours led to her son, Dr. Martin Fortier, to insist that Fran drive her Lexus that he bought so she would be safe.

Fran Fortier died as she lived faithful to the pro-life movement, her Catholic faith and her family.   It was God's gift to me to know and work with Fran.  I am humbled by her consistency and strong devotion to life and family.

by Bonnie Quirke