Abortion could be key issue in IL 3rd CD Democrat primary

Abortion could be a key issue in Illinois' upcoming 3rd Congressional District Democrat primary.

Democrat Congressman Dan Lipinski (pictured), who succeeded his father Bill Lipinski in representing Illinois' 3rd Congressional District, is vulnerable, a poll released by his primary challenger Marie Newman indicates.

When voters are made aware of Lipinski's conservative leaning on social issues as compared to the relatively unknown Newman's, the race tightens to favor Newman by five points.

"The best negatives on Lipinski include his anti-choice, anti-LGBT rights and anti-immigration record," the poll analysis says. "These negatives did not include strongly worded rhetoric, but rather simple statements of fact regarding his record on these issues or quotes from him."

Lipinski, whose views in contrast with the vast majority of his party, has been publicly honored by Chicago area pro-lifers over the years.

Click here for more from Illinois Review

US businesswoman named new director of UN committee on children. Will she support Trump’s pro-life agenda?

The Trump administration “welcomed” UNICEF’s new executive director, appointed on Monday, raising hopes, and questions, about whether the new chief will embrace the administration’s pro-life stance.

American businesswoman Henrietta Holsman Fore became UNICEF’s 7th executive director, replacing Tony Lake, the Obama-nominated chief and former national security advisor during the Clinton administration. The post has been occupied by an American since its inception in 1947 and is formally appointed by the UN Secretary General after consultation with UNICEF’s executive board which includes the United States. UNICEF has promoted controversial policies on life and family matters since adopting a rights-based approach based upon the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the CEDAW treaty on women’s rights. In recent years UNICEF has endorsed more contentious interpretations of the two treaties put forth by their monitoring committees.

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New Video game expedites having an abortion

The abortion industry and their legion of supporters/defenders are nothing if not clever. Here’s a new twist, at least new to me.

Wikipedia describes the Daily Dot as “a digital media company covering Internet culture and life on the web,” the self-described “hometown newspaper” of the Internet.

Well today one of their contributions was a profile of a new browser-based video game called “Trapped.” The headline of Samantha Grasso’s story is “‘Trapped’ is a realistic game about how hard it is get an abortion.”

By the headline and the first paragraph, the mission statement, so to speak, of “Trapped” is clear: abortions are difficult to get, more expensive to procure than thought, and made unnecessarily complicated by gynecologists who tell women abortion is wrong and dishonest crisis pregnancy centers/women helping centers.

The ‘face’ of the villains are TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws. The heroines are abortion funds women can tap into to pay for their abortions.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

Vision 2020 - Week 42 - Rep. Will Guzzardi (D) and Rep. Michael Halpin (D)

Pray for our legislators...

Will You Pray with Us?

Even as we enter the darkest, coldest days of winter, God's light and love shine brightly upon us!

As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10-11

Vision 2020 and the Illinois Federation for Right to Life would like to invite you to join us in praying for our state and our legislators.

We know that prayer changes things.  And we know that NOTHING is impossible with God. So let's join our hearts and voices together and petition heaven on behalf of the great state of Illinois
Some of our legislators need prayer that God will open their eyes and change their hearts (or move them out of their positions) and some need prayers that they will have the strength, courage and boldness to be able to stand firmly against the opposition as they fight for life and family values.

March for Life Chicago 2018 to be Largest Midwest Pro-Life Event

Community Leaders Proclaim, "Women Deserve Better Than Abortion"

The 2018 March for Life Chicago will draw large crowds (currently estimated to be 6,000 +) of pro-life advocates from across Illinois and the Midwest. On Sunday, January 14, 2018, people from all walks of life will come together on Chicago's Federal Plaza to proclaim the sanctity of human life and call for an end to abortion as they march through the Loop beginning at 2 p.m. (Central). Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich and the Chicago Bears' co-owner Pat McCaskey are among the featured speakers.

March for Life Chicago Board of Directors President Dawn Fitzpatrick explained that the peaceful march through the streets of Chicago is a reminder that people of Illinois and throughout the Midwest desire to change the societal perception of abortion. "Killing a child in the womb is never a viable answer. Abortion is not an acceptable solution to any problem. We believe that 'Love Saves Lives' and that is our theme for this year's March. We call upon religious, civic and community leaders to renew every effort to build a nation and culture dedicated to protecting life at every stage and eliminating the violence of abortion," stated Fitzpatrick. "Thousands of individuals and groups will come together on January 14 to proclaim that our women, men, children and families deserve better than abortion."

    WHAT: March for Life Chicago 2018, "Love Saves Lives"
    
    WHEN: Sunday, January 14, 2018, from 2 to 4 p.m. (Central)
    
    WHO: Thousands of individuals and groups from Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio and Missouri
    
    WHERE: Federal Plaza, 50 W Adams, Chicago - MAP: goo.gl/maps/Zu1lI 
    
    ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: MarchForLifeChicago.org

Click here for more from Christian Newswire

Star Wars, Obi Wan Kenobi, and abortion

Those of us old enough to remember seeing the original “Star Wars” (first shown at the theaters in 1977) are familiar with the many “iconic” characters. One of those, of course, was Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi (played by the late, great Sir Alec Guinness).

Fr. Dwight Longenecker wrote a book, “Abortion and Obi-Wan Kenobi.”  Here’s the beginning to Fr. Longenecker’s great read:

In 1914 Agnes Cuff, a flighty and unstable young woman with few prospects and little money found herself pregnant. The father didn’t want to be involved. She was alone, shamed, poor and pregnant.

Today she would be encouraged to get herself to an abortion clinic and end the unwanted pregnancy.

Instead a little boy was born.

“If abortion had been easy and legal in England in 1914,” Fr. Longenecker writes, “the world would never have experienced the witty, smart, subtle art and the quiet, steady witness of Alec Guinness….…and Star Wars would have had an enormous void.”

Among the 60 million+ lost lives just in the United States since 1973, who knows what greatness was lost? “What advances in science, medicine, technology, business, the arts and sport might there have been?” Fr. Longenecker writes.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

Federal judge sides with Indiana University to block key provisions of fetal trafficking law

U.S. District Court Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson mainly sided with Indiana University last week in striking down key fetal trafficking provisions of Indiana’s Dignity for the Unborn Act. The ruling means Indiana is blocked from enforcing much of the law aimed at prohibiting the trafficking of parts from aborted babies in Indiana.

“We are gravely disappointed with this ruling,” stated Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter. “The purpose of the law is to prevent the trafficking of aborted baby parts in our state. Most of the safeguards in the law are now gutted due to Indiana University’s penchant for using the parts of aborted babies for experimental purposes.”

Indiana University [IU] sued to block the law due to its provision that prohibits the “acquisition, receipt, sale and transfer” of aborted fetal tissue. In its pleadings, IU acknowledged it obtains tissue from organs such as brains, livers and kidneys for experiments. However it argued the law’s definition of fetal tissue is too “vague” when defining it as, “tissue, organs, or any part of an aborted fetus.” IU also argued that the definition of what it means to “transfer” aborted tissue is too “vague.”

While undercutting much of the law’s effectiveness, Magnus-Stinson’s ruling does let stand provisions including the prohibition of selling aborted tissue or organs and the prohibition on altering the timing or type of abortion for the purpose of obtaining parts from aborted babies.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

Parents refuse to abort ‘miracle’ child, now he’s a healthy six-year-old

A 17-week ultrasound of Kaito Kryvenchuk revealed he had a massive tumor larger than his head, attached to his neck and jaw up to his ear.  He literally looked like he had two heads. Not only was the benign tumor life-threatening because of its size, but accompanying disabilities were unpredictable. Medical experts insisted abortion was the only option for horribly deformed Kaito Kryvenchuk.

But as the Toronto Star gleefully reports, the couple decided to give their son a chance. On August 5, 2011, Mount Sinai successfully delivered Kaito. Today, Kaito is an active, fully healthy and very happy six-year-old kid.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Medicine wins over pro-abortion arm-twisting

Over the last decade, some pro-life doctors have worked on a method of reversing the effects of the abortion pill RU-486 – but women who have a change of heart must act quickly.

The treatment – which continues through the woman's first trimester of pregnancy – is supported by the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists. The AAPLOG acknowledges the reversal process is an off-label use of an FDA-approved drug – then adds: "It is hypocritical for abortion advocates to criticize off-label use of pharmaceuticals when in fact they are widely engaging in this practice themselves" in the most common abortion pill protocols.

The California Board of Registered Nursing – which Hobbs describes as "the gold standard across the country" – decided to include the process as part of its training of nurses, but then removed it because of pressure from the abortion cartel.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

Planned Parenthood aborted 321,384 babies last year and received $543 million from taxpayers

According to its new annual report, Planned Parenthood aborted 321,384 babies during its 2016-2017 fiscal year.  This is a slight decrease from its last annual report, which revealed the company committed 328,348 in 2015-2016. Planned Parenthood’s total revenue is $1.46 billion, with $543.7 million – 37 percent – of that coming from taxpayers.  By attracting 721,000 new donors giving an average of $120 each, the abortion company added $86.5 million to its coffers, according to the report.

In addition to the reduction in abortions, Planned Parenthood also reported a slight lessening in its government funding (from $554.6 million to $543.7 million),” said Sedlak. “Planned Parenthood also reported lower numbers of female birth control customers, emergency contraceptive kits, PAP tests, and pregnancy tests. In fact, it reported that its total number of unique customers was the same as last year—2.4 million individuals.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews.com

Why abortion is different from other political issues

When voters decide which candidates to elect to public office, they often consider a range of important political issues. But not all issues should carry the same weight. Abortion is different from other issues in three ways.

First, abortion is a rejection of human equality. An entire class of innocent human beings (those who are in the embryonic and fetal stages of life) are excluded from the basic protection of the law. In no other area (with the exception of euthanasia and the treatment of human embryos in vitro) does our society deny some human beings the status of “persons” who have legal rights.

Second, abortion is a denial of the right to life. It is the intentional killing of human embryos or fetuses. Human embryos and fetuses are living human organisms (members of the species Homo sapiens) at the earliest developmental stages. And all human beings—regardless of age, size, ability, dependency, or the desires and decisions of others—have an equal dignity and right to life. Abortion, then, is a serious injustice, yet it is legal and accepted by much of our society.

Third, abortion is the destruction of life on a truly massive scale. An entire industry is devoted to the killing of human beings in utero. Nearly one million unborn children are killed in the United States each year. Abortion is, by a large margin, the leading cause of human death in our country. Cancer and heart disease (for example) are tragic and should be fought with compassion. But the sheer scope of abortion separates it from other social harms.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

Women’s Subjective Post-Abortion Experiences Surveyed in Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons

Women’s response to the experience of abortion involves many complex factors, writes Priscilla Coleman, Ph.D., Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, and coworkers in the winter issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. While a number of risk factors for post-abortion psychological distress have been identified, “group-level, quantitative studies often fail to capture the breadth of feelings and thoughts at the core of women’s individual experiences,” Dr. Coleman writes.

For this study, women presenting to a crisis pregnancy center for some type of post-abortion service were asked to complete an anonymous survey that included open-ended questions about the most significant positives (if any) and negatives (if any) that followed from their decision to abort. Nearly 1,000 women responded.

The authors found that only 13% of respondents reported visiting a mental health professional or counselor before the first pregnancy that ended in abortion, compared with 68% afterward. A large percentage of respondents reported potential risk factors for adverse reactions to abortion: “73.8% disagreed that their decision to abort was entirely free from even subtle pressure from others to abort.”

Asked about “significant positives,” 31.6% stated “none,” and 22% gave no response.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

Relentless push for mail order RU-486 altogether ignores women’s safety

A forthcoming study in the journal Contraception, already promoted and publicized by pro-abortion media outlets, is a classic illustration of the extent to which the abortion industry is pushing chemical abortifacients without even a semblance of scientific rigor. While “Exploring the feasibility of obtaining mifepristone and misoprostol from the internet” has the trappings of a serious study, in fact, it lacks data, controls, or concern for the women who would be taking the two drugs at home without a prescription and without medical supervision of any kind.

The authors, a virtual rogues gallery of pro-abortion partisans, bury the absence of precautions in a landfill of exaggerated benefits.

The objective seems modest enough: “We aimed to document the experience of buying abortion pills from online vendors that do not require a prescription and to evaluate the active ingredient content of the pills received.” But in English that means researchers from Gynuity Health Projects were studying what the results might be if women could purchase mifepristone and misoprostol by mail order to use at home. So they sought RU-486 from 20 websites to see if they worked—that is, were they effective at killing the unborn child.

The authors say that while the certain of the pills may have been “substandard” and the ordering process “suboptimal,” this method is nonetheless “feasible” for women who want to chemically abort but for some reason either can’t or don’t want to go to the clinic. As we shall see, this is simply not proven. Note as well the way the ordering process is constructed, a third party—not the woman—could buy the abortifacients, even in bulk.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

China continues to line women up for abortions

OneNewsNow reports often on China's repressive population controls and now the Congressional Executive Commission on China has released its 2017 report, which documents that forced abortion is still continuing under China's newer two-child policy that went into effect two years ago.

Reggie Littlejohn of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, which documents China's abuses, recalls that China claimed they had scrapped the earlier one-child restriction. "And think that they were deliberately trying to send a message out to the world," says Littlejohn, "that they had gotten rid of all coercive population control, which is not true."

The report also states it's still illegal for unmarried women in China to have babies, reports that children are still being aborted, and warns that any violations mean forced abortions. Any illegal child means a fine for the family and that child will not receive an education or government jobs.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

Study Finds Online Abortion Packages Damaged, Pills Degraded

A forthcoming study in the journal Contraception (prepublication copy here) by noted abortion advocates takes a look at abortion pills which may be ordered online without a prescription in America. The authors say that while the certain of the pills may have been “substandard” and the ordering process “suboptimal,” this method is nonetheless “feasible” for women who want to chemically abort but for some reason either can’t or don’t want to go to the clinic.

That these deadly pills are being bought and sold online in the U.S. is a big deal, but not necessarily a surprise. The sale of drugs from online pharmacies, legitimate and otherwise, is simply a consequence of living in the internet age, however big an enforcement headache it might present for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the government agency charged with monitoring drug safety and efficacy.

That entrepreneurs with access to knock off drugs from foreign pharmaceutical makers might try to make a quick buck off desperate women looking for a cheaper, more convenient way of obtaining these nearly “magical” abortion pills they’ve heard about is, sadly, not unexpected.

What may surprise people, though, is the way the abortion establishment not only defends but promotes these online sales, and how this fits in with their long term plans for the abortion pill expansion in the United States.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

Pro-Life Surprise: Eminem’s ‘River’ a Sorrowful Apology to an Aborted Child

In an unexpected twist, noted rapper Eminem has released a single that details his experience with abortion. The media hailed his new album, Revival, as an anti-Trump anthem, but they missed an important detail.

While the artist is best known for his angry diatribes against society, one single, “River,” took a different approach. The song is a detailed confession of an affair, an abortion, and the regret that came after. Whether fictional or based on reality, “River” is a powerful cry for forgiveness for the wrong he’s done to the aborted baby (the “little one” mentioned in the refrain) and the mother.

The lyrics tell the whole story, sparing no detail: Eminem admitted to being a serial cheater, “a sex addict,” who began an affair with a woman, “Suzanne.” After what started as a one-night-stand, which left her feeling “deserted and used,” Eminem tried to cover all evidence of their liaison. However, the woman became pregnant.

In a panic, the rapper pushed for an abortion He didn’t dance around the issue, but was brutally honest: “I made you terminate my baby.” ‘Baby,” the proper term for an unborn child, but one major media outlets hide from.

Afterwards, Eminem felt that “the person who I’m turning into’s/Irreversible.” He confessed that not only did he take advantage of the woman, but also the abortion and the destruction of the woman’s relationship have made him a hypocrite. He said that when he got “on my soapbox and preach, my sermon and speech,” his mistake was like “detergent and bleach is burnin’ the wound.”

Click here for more from NRL News Today

Merry Christmas

The Illinois Federation for Right to Life would like to wish you and your family a blessed Christmas and New Year.  We thank you for your support and readership.  We look forward to the next year with anticipation to many more pro-life accomplishments.

Planned Parenthood losing some big donors

Last year at this time, 2ndVote scored Macy's low partly because of its practice of donating to Planned Parenthood and matching donations from its employees – but 2ndVote spokesperson Robert Kuykendall has an update.

"Macy's reached out to 2ndVote and told us that the company is no longer donating any kind of money to Planned Parenthood, the world's largest provider of abortion," he explains.

Since 2ndVote started scoring corporations, AT&T, Coca Cola, Ford, and Xerox also stopped funding the abortion conglomerate – and Kuykendall says that's largely due to exposing the companies' practices and urging consumers to apply pressure. But there's more work to be done, he says.

"If you're doing business with American Express, with Allstate, with Patagonia especially – Patagonia gives tens of thousands of dollars to Planned Parenthood every year – a portion of your dollars is going to the largest provider of abortion services," he informs. "So we want people to be informed; and secondly, we want people to engage those companies."

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

Supreme Court battle still looms as Justice Department drops effort to block undocumented woman from aborting

Last night, after learning that an undocumented, unaccompanied girl was 19, not 17, lawyers for the Trump administration moved to dismiss an appeal to prevent “Jane Roe” from having an abortion.

According to POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Renuka Rayasam, a birth certificate for Jane Roe showed she had lied about her age. In the document filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for the government explained that HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) “obtained a copy of Ms. Roe’s certificate of birth from her home country. Accordingly, ORR is currently transferring custody of Ms. Roe to the Department of Homeland Security [“DHS”] as an adult.”

The significant of the age difference is, as Gerstein and Rayasam explained, “because Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is responsible for adults in immigration detention, tends to have fewer restrictions on pregnant women seeking to obtain abortions while in custody.”

As a result Jane Roe was released on her own recognizance and was free to have the abortion if she still wanted to.

The second undocumented girl the ACLU sought to have her abortion had already been released, presumably because she was 22 weeks pregnant. “Jane Poe” aborted her baby on Tuesday.

Click here for more from NRL News Today

Tennessee woman gives birth to baby girl frozen as an embryo in 1992

News broke today of a truly remarkable birth that took place last month in Tennessee. On November 25, “Tina and Benjamin Gibson became the proud parents of Emma Wren,” according to Crystal Bonvillian of the Cox Media Group. “Emma weighed a healthy 6 pounds, 8 ounces and measured 20 inches long.”

What made Emma Wren’s birth so special? Emma was frozen as an embryo on October 14, 1992, when mother Tina was just 18 months old!

Mrs. Gibson thus “delivered the longest-frozen embryo to successfully come to birth,” according to a press release from the National Embryo Donation Center [NEDC].

“Emma is such a sweet miracle,” proud papa Benjamin said. “I think she looks pretty perfect to have been frozen all those years ago.”

“The NEDC has been privileged to work with the Gibsons to help them realize their dreams of becoming parents,” said Dr. Jeffrey Keenan [the NEDC Medical Director]. “We hope this story is a clarion call to all couples who have embryos in long-term storage to consider this life-affirming option for their embryos.

Click here for more from NRL New Today