January 16, 2019

Speak Out Illinois 2019


Abortion worker says parents often unlawfully coerce daughters to abort

Abortion worker says parents often unlawfully coerce daughters to abort
Even though abortion is called a woman’s “choice,” many women feel pressured or coerced to abort — by parents, loved ones, employers, or others. Former abortion worker Tonya explains what she saw when parents of minors tried to force their daughters to abort:

[T]eens, young adults, and minors who are still living at home with their parents or legal guardians, are sometimes being forced to have an abortion or even feeling like they’re being pressured into having an abortion by that parent or legal guardian. This happens a lot of times to minors and young adults…

On the day of the appointment, you can usually tell the minor who does not want to be there just by their facial expression. Being upset and very emotional. When this is noticed, I’ll pull that patient to a private room to have a one-on-one talk with them without the parent being present, and sometimes the patient will say, “Yes, I am being forced to do this, and if I don’t, my parents will put me out or send me away.” And in other words, just turn their backs on them. You have parents who try to convince their child….

Click here for more from Live Action News.

Little Sisters of the Poor suffer legal setbacks in two courts

Little Sisters of the Poor suffer legal setbacks in two courts
Well, nobody said it would be easy. When last we reported on the Little Sisters of the Poor, they had apparently finally won a five-year long battle against an Obama-era requirement that required them to provide services that violate their religious conscience, a battle that had gone all the way to the Supreme Court.

“Following the 2016 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court and an Executive Order, HHS issued a new rule that finally protects the Little Sisters and other religious non-profits,” according to the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty. In State of California v. HHS and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Trump, the order of Catholic Nuns asked two separate federal courts to protect that hard-won liberty against challenges from by two state attorneys general.

On Sunday and then again on Monday, the courts ruled otherwise.

Click here for more from NRL News Today.

January 15, 2019

Millennials want more abortion restrictions, right to vote on abortion: Students for Life poll

Millennials want more abortion restrictions, right to vote on abortion: Students for Life poll
Millennials in the United States are considerably more hostile to abortion than is often assumed, according to a new survey from The Polling Company, Inc./WomanTrend commissioned by Students for Life of America (SFLA).

Released Monday, the survey of Americans aged 18-34 found that while a majority rejected identifying with either party and they were evenly divided among “pro-life” and “pro-choice” labels at 39 percent each, they also consistently backed a rightward shift on abortion-related policy questions.  Seventy percent of respondents favored some form of limits on abortion, with 42 percent directly against legal abortion and another 28 percent backing greater restrictions than are consistently on the books today, such as requiring parental notification and banning late-term abortion and taxpayer funding of abortion.

Click here for more from Life Site News.

6,000 unite at Chicago March for Life, dwarfing pro-abortion counter-protest

6,000 unite at Chicago March for Life, dwarfing pro-abortion counter-protest

As pro-lifers from across the nation prepare to gather in Washington, D.C. this week to stand against abortion, thousands already gathered this weekend to demonstrate their support for life in the Windy City.  Approximately 6,000 pro-lifers march the Chicago Loop starting and eventually returning to Federal Plaza, WGN 9 reported.

Photos of the turnout show packed streets with enthusiastic men and women of all ages bundled up and bearing signs proclaiming “right to be born,” “abortion takes a human life,” “a person’s a person no matter how small,” and more.





Click here for more from Life Site News.

Judge blocks employer birth control coverage options in Illinois, 12 other states

Judge blocks employer birth control coverage options in Illinois, 12 other states
Sunday, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam temporarily blocked Trump administration rules allowing employers to refuse to provide free birth control from taking effect Monday in 13 states - and because Madigan signed onto the lawsuit, Illinois is one of the states to which the ruling applies.

While plaintiffs argued employers should not interfere with women's healthcare, they insisted employers should be forced to provide free health insurance coverage for employees that includes birth control - some methods of which  can cause abortions. 

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

January 14, 2019

Pro-life Democrat Charles C. Camosy on why language matters in the abortion debate

Pro-life Democrat Charles C. Camosy on why language matters in the abortion debate

“The struggle in the abortion debate is, in many ways, a struggle over language,” wrote Charles C. Camosy (pictured), who serves on the advisory board for pro-life group Democrats for Life and is an associate professor at Fordham University. 

“For example, I am pro-life. I strongly support rights and protections for mothers and children, including prenatal children, and other vulnerable populations. I want to see the laws of this country protect these people as well. In my view, this makes me pro-life. That’s why I use the phrase ‘prenatal child’ where other people would say ‘fetus,’” he said.

However, in the view of pro-choice people and of many mainstream media outlets, “I am not pro-life; I am anti-abortion. This language allows critics to dismiss me and fellow pro-lifers as single-issue obsessives, which we are not.”

Click here for more from CNA.

Brittany Rejected Abortion for Baby Noah. Now She’s Headed to Capitol Hill with a Pro-life Message.

Brittany Rejected Abortion for Baby Noah. Now She’s Headed to Capitol Hill with a Pro-life Message.
When Brittany found out she was pregnant almost three years ago, her first impulse was to have an abortion. A college student in a perilous relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Brittany did not see how she could possibly raise a baby.

But because she chose life instead, this week she and her two-year-old son Noah are headed to Washington D.C. as part of Heartbeat International’s Babies Go to Congress. Once there, Brittany will share her story with lawmakers to promote the work of the pro-life pregnancy help center that empowered her along the way.

Click here for more from Pregnancy Help News.

Comedian Marcella Arguello's shock tweet reveals unintended truth about abortion

Comedian Marcella Arguello's shock tweet reveals unintended truth about abortion
Los Angeles comedian Marcella Arguello (pictured) made some waves (as she likely intended) with a tweet that got some disgusted reactions on social media. But in her quest for shock value, Arguello also revealed a truth: that abortion takes the life of an actual human being — a “someone.”

She wrote on Twitter, “I hate when people tell me to have a kid because I look good holding a baby. B*tch I look good doing everything because I. Look. Good. In fact you should see me have an abortion – I am BREATHTAKING. Literally I am taking someone’s breath. It’s beautiful.”

Arguello is correct in that abortion is “literally taking someone’s breath.” But it’s not beautiful.

Click here for more from Live Action News.

January 11, 2019

Across the US, organizers prepare for pro-life marches

Across the US, organizers prepare for pro-life marches

Thousands of pro-life advocates will rally this month in major cities throughout the country, marking the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that mandated legal abortion in the U.S.

March for Life Chicago will take place on Jan. 13, drawing numerous pro-lifers from Illinois and surrounding states, including Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, and Missouri. The event is expected to gather more than 6,000 attendees.

Click here for more from CNA/EWTN News.

Abortion statistics: United States Data and Trends

Abortion statistics: United States Data and Trends

There are two basic sources on abortion incidence in the United States:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publishes yearly, but relies on voluntary reports from state health departments (and New York City, Washington, DC) It has been missing data from California, New Hampshire, and at least one other state since 1998.

The Guttmacher Institute (GI) contacts abortion clinics directly for data but does not survey every year.

Click here for more from NRL News Today.

January 10, 2019

Woman sues doctor, pharmacy for accidentally prescribing abortion pill that killed baby

Woman sues doctor, pharmacy for accidentally prescribing abortion pill that killed baby
A California woman is taking her doctor and pharmacy to court for allegedly writing and filling an accidental prescription for the abortion pill, which she unwittingly took without knowing it would kill her preborn baby.

According to a lawsuit filed Monday in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, Lorena Anderson went to see Dr. Maria Rasul at Bishop’s Peak Women’s Health on March 20, 2018, to confirm she was pregnant. Rasul then allegedly “carelessly and negligently” ordered a prescription for misoprostol – one half of a chemical abortion – without informing her of its “nature and effects.”

Click here for more from Life Site News.

Federal Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood Introduced

Federal Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood Introduced
The Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2019 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) who leads the House Vales Action Team.

The introduction of the legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives is set out to defund abortion providers, including the nation’s largest abortion provider, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).

“Most Democrats in Congress think Planned Parenthood can do no wrong,” said National Right to Life Legislative Director Jennifer Popik, J.D. “Congresswoman Hartzler knows better and we thank her for her leadership in working to defund America’s largest abortion provider.”

Under the newly introduced legislation, all funds that are no longer available to abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, are explicitly made available to other eligible entities to provide women’s health care services.

Click here for more from NRL News Today.

January 9, 2019

So much for 3%: Planned Parenthood prez says abortion ‘our core mission’

So much for 3%: Planned Parenthood prez says abortion ‘our core mission’
On Twitter, Planned Parenthood’s new president Leana Wen took issue with a Buzzfeed headline that read, “Planned Parenthood’s new president wants to focus on nonabortion healthcare.” To the contrary, she said in response that abortion is not only going to remain a focus for Planned Parenthood, but it is the abortion corporation’s “core mission.” Remember that the next time you hear someone in the media repeat the repeatedly debunked claim that “abortion is only 3% of what Planned Parenthood does.” It appears that not even Planned Parenthood’s own president believes this misleading statistic.

Leana Wen tweets:

“First, our core mission is providing, protecting and expanding access to abortion and reproductive health care. We will never back down from that fight – it’s a fundamental human right and women’s lives are at stake,” Wen, an emergency room physician, wrote. But this statement flies in the face of the organization’s continued claim that abortion is only a tiny percentage of what they do. And interestingly, even when Planned Parenthood’s abortion numbers increase by the thousands, that 3% figure seems to stay the same. Even the Washington Post didn’t buy it.

Click here for more from Live Action News.

PBS Special Provides ‘Balanced’ Perspective on Abortion’s Black Genocide

PBS Special Provides ‘Balanced’ Perspective on Abortion’s Black Genocide
Last month, normally progressive PBS provided a transparent portrayal of the devastation abortion inflicts on the African American community. The special, titled “Anti-Abortion Crusaders: Inside the African American Abortion Battle,” surprised conservative media critics by giving voice to the message that “the most dangerous place for an African American child is in the womb.”

Rev. Clenard H. Childress praised PBS for its “fair and balanced” report on the subject. Childress, the assistant national director of LEARN, America’s largest African American Evangelical pro-life committee, was featured in PBS’ program and was quite pleased with being able to get out his message, one almost never acknowledged by the mainstream media.

During the program Childress was able to hammer home the fact that abortion providers target black women for abortions, and that in New York, for example, “more black babies are aborted than are born.” The statistics demonstrate that across America, where the black community only constitutes 13% of the population, a massive 35% of the abortions are performed on black babies.

Click here for more from NRL News Today.

January 8, 2019

Abortion Facility Numbers Continue to Decrease in 2018 According to New Survey

Abortion Facility Numbers Continue to Decrease in 2018 According to New Survey
The number of abortion clinics in America continued to decline in 2018, following a trend that has seen an overall decrease of 159 abortion facilities since 2012.

Overall, in 2018, 40 abortion facilities closed or no longer qualify as abortion clinics.

Today, there are a total of 697 abortion centers left in America - seven fewer than there were at the end of 2017.

That total includes 467 facilities that conduct surgical abortions - down dramatically from the high-water mark of 2,176 surgical facilities documented in 1991. This represents a massive 79 percent decrease in the number of surgical abortion facilities over the past 27 years.

Click here for more from Christian News Wire.

Guttmacher study on repeat abortions at odds with cherished pro-abortion arguments

Guttmacher study on repeat abortions at odds with cherished pro-abortion arguments
A study Guttmacher Institute confirms that in 2014, nearly half of abortions–44.8%– were actually repeat abortions, that is, abortions to women who have had at least one previous abortion.

Although this is something that many have known or suspected for years, there are details in this study from Planned Parenthood’s one-time in-house think tank that help us better understand why this happens and which women are most likely to have multiple abortions.

And as is so often the case, assessed objectively, these findings challenge some of the abortion lobby’s most constant arguments.

Click here for more from NRL News Today.

January 7, 2019

Taxpayer-funded fetal tissue researchers want their names kept secret

Taxpayer-funded fetal tissue researchers want their names kept secret

Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) who are using public tax dollars to purchase aborted baby parts are embroiled in a court battle to keep their identities secret. The case, Jane Does 1-10, et al v. David Daleiden, pits the university employees and abortion facility personnel against David Daleiden, the investigative journalist with The Center for Medical Progress, best known for undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s alleged involvement in the trafficking of aborted baby body parts. Daleiden is trying to exercise his rights to see the public documents relating to the purchase and use of these body parts.

The UW researchers are public employees using taxpayer funds for their fetal tissue research program, but they do not want to be identified, claiming that the First Amendment gives them the right to remain anonymous. Their fight to keep their identities secret is puzzling, given that many abortion advocates believe in the necessity of fetal stem cell research, despite research showing otherwise. It raises the question of whether these researchers are ashamed of their work, or perhaps fearful that if their names are made public, it could be detrimental to their careers.

Click here for more from Live Action News.

‘So painful. So much blood’: Women share abortion pill horrors on YouTube

‘So painful. So much blood’: Women share abortion pill horrors on YouTube
Despite potential for dangerous outcomes, abortion advocates are pushing “at home” or “mail order” abortions. FDA reports indicate that almost two dozen women who took abortion pills have died as a result, and a thousand have been hospitalized. And now, some women are sharing their testimonies on YouTube, giving a glimpse into their mindset, the physical and emotional results of taking the abortion pill, and the reality of abortion.

One inside view comes from a video entitled, “My Abortion Experience as a Freshman | Abortion Pill.”  In comments to the video, a woman named Brittany claims she obtained abortion pills from Planned Parenthood as a freshman in college.

Click here for the video.

Click here for more from Live Action News.

Snopes claims it’s ‘problematic’ to call abortion a ‘cause of death’ rather than ‘medical procedure’

Snopes claims it’s ‘problematic’ to call abortion a ‘cause of death’ rather than ‘medical procedure’
The popular “fact-checking” website Snopes has once again waded into the abortion debate, this time suggesting it’s medically inaccurate to descirbe abortion as “death.”

“Stating that abortion is the ‘leading cause of death’ worldwide (as opposed to a medical procedure) is a problematic pronouncement, because that stance takes a political position, one which is at odds with the scientific/medical world,” Snopes’ Bethania Palma Markus wrote. “The medical community does not confer personhood upon fetuses that are not viable outside the womb, so counting abortion as a 'cause of death' does not align with the practices of health organizations such as WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

Click here for more from Life Site News.