Battle to defend undercover journalist exposing Planned Parenthood continues

In two civil lawsuits and a criminal prosecution, the Chicago-based Thomas More Society continues to defend the embattled David Daleiden against the powerful California abortion industry. Daleiden is the undercover journalist who, in 2015, published videos exposing the abortion industry’s involvement in illegal baby body parts trafficking.

On June 5, 2019, a Ninth Circuit panel announced it would not consider an appeal of a nearly $200,000 penalty levied on Daleiden and his criminal defense attorneys for using the video footage in the furtherance of his defense. The federal judge presiding over related civil lawsuits, District Judge William Orrick, had held that criminal defense counsel’s use of the videos violated a gag order he imposed in one of the federal civil actions. Daleiden and his defense counsel appealed, arguing that Orrick had improperly imposed a criminal contempt penalty without granting the accused due process and that the federal civil injunction should not apply to Daleiden’s state criminal proceeding. Click here for more

ICE-PAC director attacks language in abortion bill

Illinois Citizens for Ethics-Political Action Committee (ICE-PAC) Executive Director David Avignone believes the authors of Senate Bill 25 wrote the state's controversial new abortion legislation with intentional opaqueness.

“It is clear that the authors of SB25, including but not limited to State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), the ACLU, and various abortion doctors, intentionally wrote the bill without providing clear definitions on ‘health’ and ‘viability,’” Avignone said in a statement released after the Illinois Senate Public Health Committee heard testimony on the bill May 30. His use of the term “but not limited to” references language in the bill used to define the characteristics of a patient that doctors would have to consider before performing a third-trimester abortion. Click here for more.

Dems want abortion on demand

So much for safe, legal, and rare, as Democrats have changed their tune when it comes to abortion.

Even former Vice President Joe Biden says he now opposes the Hyde Amendment -- something Jeanne Mancini of March for Life thinks is really sad.

"He was in favor of the Hyde Amendment, and he was also pro-life for many, many, years, but he has flip-flopped on so many things, and sadly he has now lining up with every other pro-abortion Democratic candidate unfortunately," she says. Click here for more.

Parental notification an undue burden on abortion rights?

Illinois pro-abortion groups may use a new law to get rid of the requirement that parents be notified if their minor daughter seeks an abortion.

Illinois lawmakers this year passed the Reproductive Healthcare Act, which opened the door most of the way for abortion to take place through the ninth month of pregnancy.  So if a court challenge is filed, it could be expected pro-abortion attorneys will argue that dealing with a minor girl's parents puts an undue burden on her access to abortion. The Thomas More Society fought a 15-year court battle against the American Civil Liberties Union over the law which passed in 1983 before the state Supreme Court ruled the parental notification law into effect six years ago. Click here for more.

Three times politicians accidentally admitted abortion is killing

When pro-abortion politicians — who normally ignore the preborn child in the abortion issue — acknowledge abortion kills a child, we should take note. At a recent Fox News town hall, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (who is also a presidential candidate) defended her position. Gillibrand is a Democrat from New York, one of a growing number of states where it is legal to end the life of a preborn child through all nine months. At one point, Gillibrand said, “The facts are that women in this country have had a constitutional right for over 30 years to make this fundamental life and death decision.”

She concedes that abortion is a life or death decision. While she may have been referring solely to the woman — pushing the idea that a woman’s life is at grave risk by pregnancy and ignoring the fact that most abortions are done for entirely elective reasons — Gillibrand’s words are telling. Whose death are we talking about in an abortion? It is the preborn child who suffers a gruesome death (though many women have, in fact, died from legal abortion). Gillibrand’s statement is a tacit, albeit indirect, admission that it kills human beings.  Click here for more.

PBS documentary shows woman killing her unborn twins like it's nothing at all

A PBS documentary is going viral on the internet Tuesday for its chilling depiction of a pregnant woman nonchalantly taking the abortion pill to terminate her twin pregnancies.

Pro-life activist Obianuju Ekeocha shared a snippet of the documentary on Twitter Monday, captioning it, "This PBS documentary airbrushes abortion to make it look like some healthy new age practice."

"The woman in blue is pregnant with twins and she is filmed here taking the abortion pill to kill them," she explained. "You witness their killing.  Click here for more.

Facebook Censors Illinois Federation for Right to Life Facebook Page

Facebook has started taking down posts made by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life from our Facebook Page.  We are encouraging anyone who Likes or Follows the IFRL on our Facebook page to join our Facebook Group ensuring that you will receive all the news, alerts and posts and not just the ones that Facebook allows you to see.

Click here to join the IFRL Facebook Group

Abortion survivor to Congress: ‘We see abortion as political but I live with it every day’

The Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing on Tuesday called Threats to Reproductive Rights in America. It focused on the rise of pro-life laws in states around the country. Live Action News contributor Christina Bennett and abortion survivor Melissa Ohden shared their compelling stories with the subcommittee, testifying in favor of the right to life for preborn human beings.

During his opening statement, Constitution Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Johnson (R-LA) called abortion an act during which “a living human being is literally and brutally ripped to pieces limb by limb.” What he described is a (usually second trimester) D&E abortion in which an abortionist dismembers the preborn child in utero while he is still alive. Most of the time, the abortionist is successful, but sometimes, as was the case for Nik Hoot, a child can survive this horrific procedure...  Click here for more.

UN human rights official: ‘It’s clear’ US pro-life laws are ‘torture’

It’s “clear” that American laws restricting the starvation, dismemberment, and poisoning of preborn humans are “torture,” according to United Nations deputy high commissioner for human rights Kate Gilmore.

“We have not called it out in the same way we have other forms of extremist hate, but this is gender-based violence against women, no question,” Gilmore told The Guardian, lamenting recent pro-life legislation in some U.S. states and the Trump administration’s refusal to advocate for abortion abroad.

“It’s clear it’s torture — it’s a deprivation of a right to health,” she said.  Click here for more.

House Democrats hold hearing to advocate for abortion without limits until birth

House Democrats held a hearing ominously entitled, “Threats to Reproductive Rights in America,” mean to criticize the wave of pro-life laws passing in the states and reinforce Democrats’ full-throated commitment to allowing abortion for any reason up to the moments of birth.

In their statements and their questions, Democrat members of Congress doubled-down on what has now become the standard position of Democrats, including all those running for President.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in his opening statement:

It is my hope that today’s hearing is Congress’ first step towards shoring up the right to abortion across this country through legislation like Representative Judy Chu’s Women’s Health Protection Act which would put an end to states banning or otherwise limiting access to abortion or Representative Barbara Lee’s EACH Woman Act which would end abortion coverage bans or other legislative initiatives.

An analysis of these two radical pieces of legislation show how committed to abortion on demand through all 40 weeks the Democrats have become.

H.R. 2975, formally titled the “Women’s Health Protection Act,” is sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Ct.) and strongly opposed by National Right to Life. The bill is strongly supported by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL, and other pro-abortion activist groups. A more accurate title for this radical bill would be the “Abortion Without Limits Until Birth Act.”

H.R. 2975, if enacted and upheld by the federal courts, would invalidate nearly all state limitations on abortion, including waiting periods and women’s right-to-know laws. For example, it would invalidate state laws to protect pain-capable unborn children after 20 weeks fetal age — and would require all states to allow abortion even during the final three months of pregnancy based on an abortionist’s claim of “health” benefits, including mental health.

H.R. 2975 would also invalidate nearly all existing federal laws limiting abortion. For further information on this sweeping legislation, including testimony against it presented to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee by NRLC President Carol Tobias in 2014, click here.

The “EACH Woman Act” (H.R. 1693) sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Ca.) and also strongly opposed by National Right to Life, would mandate coverage of abortion without limitation in Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP, and other federally funded health insurance programs. (An array of federal laws currently restricts such coverage in some, but not all, federally subsidized health programs.)

In addition, the bill would nullify the laws in effect in about half of the states that restrict coverage of abortion in health plans sold on the Obamacare exchanges, and all other state laws or policies that “inhibit insurance coverage of abortion by private health plans.”  Click here for more.

Joe Biden’s latest flip-flop on the Hyde Amendment

Quick, read this fast. Otherwise, by the time you finish this post, pro-abortion Joe Biden may have already flip-flopped his flip-flop.

NBC News reported today that the presidential campaign of Biden, who (for what it’s worth) is currently the favorite choice among Democrats to take on pro-life President Trump, “confirmed to NBC News that Biden still supports the Hyde Amendment, a four-decade-old ban on using federal funds for abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman.”

Of course, most everyone picked up on this is not what Biden recently told the pro-abortion ACLU (in a video posted on Twitter by the ACLU on May 8), including NBC News which wrote

Biden’s continued support for Hyde not only sets him apart from the rest of his 2020 Democratic competitors, but it may surprise progressive groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which promoted a recent tweet by one of its activists appearing to get Biden to commit to ending Hyde during a rope-line exchange in South Carolina. Biden’s campaign told NBC he would be open to repealing Hyde if abortion avenues currently protected under Roe were threatened.  Click here for more.

HHS cancels UCSF contract for research involving human fetal tissue from elective abortions

The Trump Administration is taking additional steps to ensure that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will not be funding its own research that uses tissue from elective abortions and will continue to pursue development of ethical alternatives.

In a six-paragraph explanation, HHS noted that last September

the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) terminated a contract between Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc. and the Food and Drug Administration that provided human fetal tissue from elective abortions to develop testing protocols. The Department was not sufficiently assured that contract included the appropriate protections applicable to fetal tissue research or met all other procurement requirements. As a result, HHS also initiated a comprehensive review of all HHS research involving human fetal tissue from elective abortions to ensure consistency with statutes and regulations governing such research, and to ensure the adequacy of procedures and oversight of this research in light of the serious regulatory, moral, and ethical considerations involved.

When the audit and review began, HHS had an existing contract with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) regarding research involving human fetal tissue from elective abortions. HHS has been extending the UCSF contract by means of 90-day extensions while conducting its audit and review. The current extension expires on June 5, 2019, and there will be no further extensions.

With that as backdrop, HHS went on to add to put the decision in context:

Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration. The audit and review helped inform the policy process that led to the administration’s decision to let the contract with UCSF expire and to discontinue intramural research – research conducted within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – involving the use of human fetal tissue from elective abortion. Intramural research that requires new acquisition of fetal tissue from elective abortions will not be conducted.

HHS has already begun a review of whether there are “adequate alternatives” in HHS-funded research and “will ensure that efforts to develop such alternatives are funded and accelerated.”  Click here for more.

ACTION ALERT - Proposed Cook County Resolution 19-3758 (Reproductive Health Act) Hearing

We would encourage as many folks as possible to come and to speak during public testimony on Wednesday June 5th at 11 am.  Please note: typically the meetings sometimes run late/behind, so patience is appreciated, further I wouldn’t be shocked if they intentionally try discourage or out last speakers by slowing down the process making folks sit around waiting so as to make speakers lose will of purpose.

Here is some back ground information on what actually occurred last week, it also contains a link to register to speak and also to send in a position slip into the county.

Please note:  even if you/someone do not register to speak but show up last minute, you can request permission at the time of the actual hearing during public testimony to speak on the item.

Democrats on the Cook County Board of Commissioners are pushing a resolution in support of Illinois House Bill 2495 - Reproductive Health Act, which backers and opponents agree would be the most liberal (and extreme) reproductive health care measure in the entire country. This resolution was quietly introduced on May 23 and sent to committee for approval in June. Of course, My Democrat colleagues and the pro-abortion supporters were notified in advance of this resolution, but I was not until 8:45am the day of and more than 30 of them were on-hand to speak in support of it.  Unfortunately, I was the only dissenting "NO" vote to send this resolution to committee and the lone dissenting voice in the entire board room... Outnumbered 50 to 1.

The resolution was assigned a committee hearing date so now people who oppose House Bill 2495 and the massive expansion of abortion will have the opportunity to publicly voice their sentiments on the record before the Cook County Board of Commissioners. I strongly urge you to attend this meeting and provide public testimony on this item.

The resolution is listed as Item 19-3758 and will be called before the Legislation & Intergovernmental Committee on Wednesday, June 5 at 11:30AM in the County Board Room (5th Floor) of the Cook County Building located at 118 N. Clark Street, Chicago.  I've included a link which offers you the options to sign-up for public testimony or submit a written statement if you're unable to attend in-person. Click here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JUNE52019MTGS.

Amazing: New ultrasound device lets moms see their babies using smartphones

The Times of Israel reports that a new “handheld ultrasound device” is in its finishing stages. It will “allow pregnant women to check on the health of their baby” by connecting to a smartphone.

Created by PulseNmore LTD, this device is really designed to provide peace of mind to expectant mothers, as it “display[s] the images on its screen and send[s] them to the pregnant woman’s personal doctor for examination.”

Prof. Israel Meisner of Rabin Medical Center stated that “Women sometimes don’t feel movement, call their doctor and are told to go to an emergency room. Here there’s the option to put a phone on her stomach and see her baby.” This, the designers believe, could cut down on ultrasound costs for this reason.

The device is not meant to be used as a diagnostic tool. While not yet fully approved in Israel, the company notes that the device “has been successfully tested in the United States.”

Of course, pro-lifers can see the benefit of such technology as well. When many women who are considering abortion see their preborn babies on the ultrasound screen, they choose life. This is why the abortion industry isn’t a fan of informed consent laws requiring them to show women their ultrasounds, even though ultrasounds are considered standard procedure before an abortion to find the preborn baby’s gestational age and to rule out an ectopic pregnancy.  Click here for more.

Illinois Gov. Pritzker expected to sign radical new abortion bill

Governor Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has already signaled his support for the “Reproductive Health Act,” is expected to sign the bill into law making Illinois arguably the most pro-abortion state in the Union.

The RHA cleared the state Senate Friday night by a vote of 34-20 with three abstentions. The implications are awful not just for Illinois, but also surrounding states.

“[State Rep. Kelly] Cassidy, who is part of a Democratic majority in the legislative body, supports the bill not just to preserve abortion access for the people of Illinois, she said, but also for the people from neighboring states — where restrictions are harsher — who go to Illinois for abortions,” according to ABC News Radio.

“In 2017, more than 5,500 women came to Illinois to get abortions, the Chicago Tribune reported.”

Following last Tuesday’s 65-40 vote in the House, Gov. Pritzker issued a statement saying

“Illinois is making history, because our state will now be the most progressive in the nation for reproductive healthcare. In Illinois, we trust women to make the most personal and fundamental decisions of their lives — and now, that will be the law of the land, even as it’s under threat in other states.”

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider captured just how far Illinois Democrats have come in a statement following the House vote:

“In just a few short years, the Democrat party in Illinois went from advocating ‘safe, legal and rare’ to abortion on-demand, at any time, for any reason, and funded by taxpayers. This is not the typical pro-life vs. pro-choice debate I have been accustomed to in my lifetime. The RHA goes much further. It’s an extreme bill that functionally eliminates any and all restrictions for the termination of a life up until the moment of birth. That is unconscionable and I urge the Senate and the Governor to reject this bill.”

The Thomas More Society analyzed the bill and concluded it would comprise “the most radical piece of abortion legislation that has ever been introduced in Illinois, and…the most radical proposed in any state to date,” said Peter Breen, Vice President and Senior Counsel for the Thomas More Society, and former Illinois House Minority Floor Leader.

“The barbaric procedures promoted by this legislation are nothing short of infanticide. These bills go well beyond the recent New York law and would turn Illinois into a third-trimester abortion destination and an underage abortion haven. Governor J.B. Pritzker promised that his Illinois Democrats would turn the state into the most ‘progressive’ in the country on abortion, and these bills deliver on that violent promise: Pritzker and his Democratic supermajorities would convert the ‘Land of Lincoln’ into the ‘Abortion Capital of America.’”

Under the category “you can’t make this stuff up,” Pritzker tweeted

Who’d like to wager that the more the number of women who came to Illinois to get abortions in 2017 – more than 5,500–will escalate?  Click here for more.

Abortionist: ‘Not being pregnant anymore’ is medical reason for abortion

Notorious abortionist Leah Torres is at it again. After engaging in a debate online with the Dank Pro-Life Memes account, Torres began discussing the concept of when human life begins and what exactly abortion encompasses — and admitted that not wanting to be pregnant anymore counts as a “medical reason” for a woman to undergo an abortion.

At the beginning of the conversation, Torres seemed to acknowledge the humanity of the preborn, tweeting, “Human beings are pregnant with human beings.” But then, when asked to describe how she would describe what happens during an abortion, she responded, “Products of conception are removed from the uterine cavity.” She also tried to argue that being pro-life is meaningless, as everyone is pro-life. But then the notion of opposing abortion unless it’s medically necessary was broached, to which Torres had a surprising response.  Click here for more.

Abortion makes over half Planned Parenthood’s non-government income: analysis

Planned Parenthood's estimated abortion revenue totaled more than half (52%) of the organization's non-government health services revenue, reaching nearly $200 million ($190.3) for the second year in a row, according to an analysis conducted by Live Action News.

The stunning numbers confirm what Planned Parenthood's new president Dr. Leana Wen claimed when she identified abortion as Planned Parenthood's "core mission." As Live Action News previously documented, in 2017, although Planned Parenthood claimed abortion made up just 3.4 percent of its services, the abortion vendor was able to increase abortions nearly four percent (3.54%), from 321,384 in 2016 to 332,757 in 2017, the highest number committed by the corporation since 2011.  Click here for more.

Missouri Judge agrees to Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary restraining order

Friday afternoon Missouri Judge Michael Stelzer agreed with Planned Parenthood and issues a temporary restraining order preventing the license of the state’s lone remaining abortion clinic from expiring. His decision followed a day after hearing oral arguments Thursday afternoon.

“Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region sued the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services on Tuesday, alleging the state agency was illegally refusing to renew the St. Louis abortion clinic’s yearly license until the department could complete an investigation into an unspecified patient complaint,” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Joel Currier reported.  Click here for more.

Illinois Federation for Right to Life Statement on the passage of SB25

The passage of SB25 is a wake-up call for all individuals in the State of Illinois who believe in the sanctity life.  This extreme legislation exposes a level of callus disregard for human life that is pernicious and disturbing.  This is all done under the guise of “reproductive health care”.

We in the pro-life movement are compassionate and provide assistance for women who are confronted with difficult decisions.  Our opponents show no compassion for unborn babies.  No mercy is given to innocent life under this law. During debate the proponents of this legislation steadfastly refused to even acknowledge the existence of the unborn child.

We are grateful for all the pro-life legislators in Springfield.  We thank Rep. Bourne for her valiant efforts on the House Floor during the contentious debate.  We thank all of the Senators that voted against SB25 and especially appreciate Senators Dan McConchie, Sue Rezin and Jil Tracy for their excellent defense of life on the Senate floor.

Now is the time for all pro-life citizens in Illinois to make a heart-felt commitment to work with renewed passion to save innocent life in the State of Illinois.  It is our responsibility to do all that can be done to remove this death sentence for babies in the womb.

Reproductive Health Act Passed IL House and Senate.

Senate Bill 25 amended by the House to contain the pro-abortion language of the Reproductive Health Act that lays the foundation to repeal Parental Notification passed the House on May 28th with the vote of 64 to 50 with 4 present. SB 25 now passed the Senate concurrence during the late hours of the night on May 31st with a 34-20 vote with 3 voting present.  Now on to the Governor's desk. More to come.