The House will revisit the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

National Right to Life congratulated pro-life champion Rep. Chris Smith for introducing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act into the House. Rep. Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, pointed out how the measure is solidly supported by the American public.

“The majority of Americans—some 59 percent according to a recent poll—support legal protection for pain-capable unborn children,” Rep. Smith (R-NJ) said, referring the Marist poll taken in late December and released in January. “Today we know that unborn babies not only die but suffer excruciating pain during dismemberment abortion—a cruelty that rips arms and legs off a helpless child. This tragic human rights abuse must end.”

Rep. Smith’s bill contains additional provisions to ensure that two physicians are present to provide care to an unborn child who survives an abortion, and states that the baby must be transported and admitted to a hospital.

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New York, Illinois in competition to "glorify" baby killing?

The very same day that Pritzker signed his executive order to implement fully a measure signed into law by previous GOP Governor Bruce Rauner, New York surpassed Illinois by making it legal to end the lives of unborn babies up until their birth.

New York's effort gives direction as to what Illinois taxpayers could be required to fund in the days ahead. The New York legislation had previously been blocked for years by Republicans, but was easily approved by Democrats this week, who now control both chambers of the state legislature. The same is true of Illinois.

Illinois and New York competing to be the most "progressive state" concerning mother's rights to end their babies' lives? Sadly, that's not so exaggerated.

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

2019 Recommitment-to-Life Rally - SUNDAY the 27th, at 2PM - Illinois Capitol Rotunda

OB/GYN: We treat babies before they’re born, so why aren’t they protected persons?

Fetal surgery in the womb is now becoming common in centers in Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Houston and Cleveland. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) performs over 150 fetal procedures each year. Heart surgeries on babies in the womb are being performed as early as 21 weeks gestation. Heart valve surgery and atrial septal interventions are being performed on fetal hearts the size of a large grape. Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston is now performing laparoscopic corrective spina bifida surgery before 23 weeks gestation.

The babies in the womb are clearly patients. If they are patients, they are persons, and if they are persons, they deserve our protection.  This is a key concept: the baby in the womb is a patient.

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NY Gov. Cuomo signs “most aggressive” abortion law in the country

New York State Right to Life is saddened that New York now has what Gov. Andrew Cuomo ironically but rightly referred to as “the most aggressive” abortion law in the country.

“The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) was sold to the public saying it merely ‘updates’ the law by codifying Roe v. Wade into our statute, which is not true,” said Christina Fadden, chair of New York State Right to Life. “RHA has made abortion a ‘fundamental right’ and prohibits all limits on abortion, which not even Roe v. Wade did.”

In a horrific irony, at Cuomo’s order, The One World Trade Center was lit up pink Tuesday night to celebrate the bill’s passage. Pink is traditionally the color used to celebrate the birth of baby girls, more than 30 million of whom have been annihilated since Roe v. Wade was handed down in 1973.

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Iowa judge strikes down ‘heartbeat law,’ calls preborn child ‘potential life’

Yesterday, Iowa Judge Michael Huppert struck down Iowa’s heartbeat law that banned abortion after a preborn baby’s heartbeat can be detected. Though the heart begins to beat between 16 and 21 days after conception, the heartbeat can usually be heard around six weeks. According to Fox News, Judge Huppert, who used the unscientific term “potential life” to refer to a child in the womb with an audible heartbeat, struck the law down based on his claim that “the due process and equal protection provisions of the Iowa Constitution” do not “serve the compelling state interest of promoting potential life.”

owa Governor Kim Reynolds responded by saying, “I am incredibly disappointed in today’s court ruling, because I believe that if death is determined when a heart stops beating, then a beating heart indicates life.”

Click here for more from Live Action News.

Pro-abortion Equal Rights Amendment dies in Virginia House committee

Pro-lifers breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday as a campaign to resurrect the so-called Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) by Virginia Democrats was halted in a state House subcommittee.

Last week, the state Senate voted 26-14 to pass the ERA and send it to the state House of Delegates, with five Republicans joining every Democrat in the chamber. If passed it would not require a governor’s signature (though pro-abortion Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, has already expressed his support).

But a subcommittee of the House Privileges and Elections committee voted 4-2 to kill the ERA, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The vote fell along party lines with Republicans voting against the ERA and Democrats for it.

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Governor J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order Tuesday on enforcement of HB40

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order Tuesday on women’s reproductive rights. In the order, Gov. Pritzker took action to ensure the state fully enforces HB 40, now known as Public Act 100-0538. Through EO 2019-05, the governor directed the Department of Central Management Services to review all state employee group health insurance plans, identify barriers to women exercising their right to choose, and present recommendations to bring all health insurance plans into compliance with the law within the next 60 days.

The governor signed the executive order at Planned Parenthood of Illinois surrounded by women’s health advocates and co-sponsors of the legislation.

Click here for more from WGEM.

Supreme Court will not hear case this term on Down syndrome abortion ban

The Supreme Court of the United States decided yesterday that it would not hear an appeal this term from Indiana regarding a 2016 law, signed by then-Governor Mike Pence, to ban abortions solely for the reason of Down syndrome or other disability. The law would have also prohibited sex- and race-based abortions, and would have required that the bodies of aborted babies be buried or cremated. The Court’s decision, for now, leaves in place the earlier Seventh Circuit ruling that the Indiana law is unconstitutional.

The law struck down by the lower court means the state can proceed with abortions targeting babies with Down syndrome, a non-fatal developmental condition for which babies are being aborted at an alarming rate, and whom the Indiana law was intended to protect.

Click here for more from Live Action News.

New pro-life report says Planned Parenthood commits illegal partial-birth abortions

While most coverage of the Center for Medical Progress’ Planned Parenthood investigation concerns the sale of organs from aborted babies, the pro-life group’s undercover videos also showed evidence of a range of other apparent crimes. Now, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which imposed abortion on demand across the U.S., CMP has released a new report highlighting their findings on another aspect of the story: Planned Parenthood’s continued use of partial-birth abortion.

“On undercover footage, Planned Parenthood medical directors and executives described abortions involving intact, living fetuses and procedures identical to those prohibited by law—and they routinely pointed to specific Planned Parenthood protocols as providing the legal loophole to do so,” the report says. “New primary-source documents, never before released publicly, now corroborate these statements on the videos, which a federal appeals court recently ruled were evidence that Planned Parenthood commits criminal partial-birth abortions.”

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Pro-abortion Democrats announce plan to overturn Hyde Amendment

In a press conference, Democrats including members of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus were joined by Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen, speaking about their intentions to overturn the Hyde Amendment. “We are going to end the Hyde Amendment,” Diana DeGette (pictured), co-chair of the caucus, said. “We intend to fight aggressively to reverse the terrible decisions made by the Trump administration, and frankly previous administrations, going back 40 years.”

In addition to attempting to overturn the Hyde Amendment, DeGette said she also plans to fight the Trump administration’s plan to make changes to Title X funding requirements, and other pro-life measures. “We intend to reverse all of that. Not in the first month, but soon,” she vowed.

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Planned Parenthood aborted 332,757 babies last year, got $563.8 million from taxpayers

The Planned Parenthood 2017-2018 Annual Report covers services rendered from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017; and revenue and expenses as of June 30, 2018. It reports total net assets of almost $2.2 billion, and net income of $244.8 million, which is more than twice the $98.5 million it reported last year.

The abortion giant admits to committing at least 332,757 abortions, an increase of 11,373 over its FY 2016 count (the true number would be much larger due to the abortifacient capacity of an indeterminate percentage of contraception services, of which Planned Parenthood doled out more than 2.6 million). Curiously enough, contraception – which many falsely push as an alternative to abortion – declined by more than 80,000 services.

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Pro-lifers challenge Chicago Planned Parenthood's Roe vs. Wade celebration

On the eve of the March for Life in Washington, D.C., four days after Chicago's 2019 March for Life was held on Federal Plaza with a record number of 8,000 plus pro-lifers in attendance to celebrate life, Chicago's Planned Parenthood held a fundraiser at Morgan Manufacturing. They celebrated the Supreme Court's ruling of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion 46 years ago this week.

The event raised the question: Is a woman's legal right to end the life of her unborn child reason to celebrate?

Click here for more from Illinois Review.

'Every life is worth protecting,' President Trump, VP Pence tell March for Life

The March for Life again gathered myriad pro-life advocates to mark the anniversary of legalized abortion in America, and in a surprise appearance Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence introduced a pre-recorded message from President Donald Trump.

“This is a movement founded on love and grounded in the nobility and dignity of every human life,” President Trump said in a pre-recorded message to the massive Jan. 18 rally, before the crowd began its march through the streets of Washington, D.C.

“When we look into the eyes of a newborn child we see the beauty of the human soul and the majesty of God’s creation, we know that every life has meaning and every life is worth protecting.”

“I will always protect the first right in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life,” he said.

Click here for more from CNA.

Time lapse video destroys claim only ‘thousands’ attended 2019 March for Life

While mainstream media portrayed the 2019 March for Life as being attended by “thousands” and "tens of thousands," a time-lapse video of the Jan. 18 event from beginning to end paints a rather different picture which suggests a much higher number.

Getting an accurate count of so large a crowd would be an almost insurmountable task, but Students for Life of America has put together a 60-second time-lapse video of the March from beginning to end that suggests hundreds of thousands attended the event.

The 2019 March for Life was a great success! People from across the country, and the world, met in D.C. to march for the rights of the preborn! We are the Pro-Life Generation and we will abolish abortion! #MarchForLife pic.twitter.com/one3YoA3eF

— Students for Life (@StudentsforLife) January 18, 2019

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Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act introduced in the U.S. Senate

On Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)  introduced of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in the U.S. Senate.  The legislation has previously passed the U.S. House of Representatives and has garnered a majority of votes in the U.S. Senate.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act continues to be one of the right-to-life movement’s top congressional priorities for the 116th Congress. Like the state bills, the proposed federal law would generally extend legal protect to unborn humans beginning at 20 weeks fetal age (22 weeks of pregnancy), based on congressional findings that by that point (and even earlier) the unborn child has the capacity to experience great pain during an abortion.

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Pro-Abortion Democrats Block Effort to Enact Permanent, Government-Wide Hyde Amendment

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate held a vote to advance the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (S. 109), but on a near party-line vote, a minority of pro-abortion Democrats blocked consideration of the bill. Forty-eight senators voted to take the bill up for debate, but 60 votes were required.

“It is estimated that over two million Americans are alive today because of the Hyde Amendment,” said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president. “Americans should be outraged that extremist pro-abortion Senate Democrats voted to block the legislation and those senators will be firmly marked as supporters of federal funding for elective abortion. We applaud Senate Majority Leader McConnell and chief sponsor Sen. Roger Wicker for their leadership on this issue.”

S. 109 would codify the principles of the Hyde Amendment on a permanent, government-wide basis, applicable to both longstanding federal health programs and to the programs created by Obamacare. Currently, under Obamacare, the federal taxpayer is subsidizing the purchase of abortion-covering plans on a massive scale. Under the bill, health plans that cover elective abortions would not qualify for federal subsidies, although such plans could still be sold to those who wish to purchase them with personal funds.

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Letters urge Trump to Veto Bills that weaken existing Pro-Life Policies

In an effort led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J. pictured) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), 169 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 49 members of the U.S. Senate today sent President Trump letters urging him to veto bills that weaken existing pro-life policies, and indicating that they will vote to sustain such vetoes. Those numbers exceed the number required to sustain a veto in either house.

The letters come as congressional appropriators continue to work on funding bills to reopen the government. Many important pro-life policies are kept in place by provisions of such appropriations bills, sometimes called “riders.” This includes the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortion (except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest).

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NRLC urges Senators to support “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2019”

In anticipation of a possible Thursday vote, National Right to Life today sent a letter to members of the United States Senate, urging them to vote yes on a vote to proceed (to “invoke closure”) on the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2019.

NRLC informed senators that they will include the roll call vote in NRLC’s scorecard of key right-to-life roll calls of the 116th Congress.

Among many other important considerations, S.109 “would codify the principles of the Hyde Amendment to federal health programs on a permanent, government-wide basis, including Medicaid, SCHIP, FEHB, and many others.”

Click here for much more from NRL News Today.

Chicago March for Life sets new record in 2019

Chicago's annual March for Life was held last Sunday, and despite a snowstorm blanketing the region hours before, organizers say this year's gathering set a new record for participation - in excess of 8000 people.

The Chicago March for Life has become a full weekend of events. It started with the Rose Dinner on Saturday night, sponsored by Speak Out Chicago. It featured a roundtable discussion between three dynamic leaders in the pro-life movement: Jeanne Mancini, president of the National March for Life Education and Defense Fund, Eva Muntean, coordinator of the West Coast Walk for Life and Dawn Fitzpatrick, president of the March for Life Chicago.

Click here for more from Illinois Review.