Australia Adopts Increasingly Permissive Euthanasia

New assisted suicide legislation became effective in June in the Australian State of Victoria. Applications for death are approved and at least one patient has already died. With this new legislation in one state of Australia, now others are debating euthanasia laws that are even more permissive. Doctors in West Australia might be allowed to suggest euthanasia to their patients for example, while it is illegal for Victorian doctors to do the same.

Chris Moye, the chair of the Australian Medical Association's ethics committee, is concerned that the Victorian law has started a slippery slope that will end up relaxing euthanasia law far more than intended. "...we haven’t seen how assisted dying works in Victoria and yet the slippage is happening across these various jurisdictions. I think there are two reasons: people were always going to be looking at it (the Victorian law) and the tendency always is to relax legislation.” Click here for more.

Daleiden Preliminary Hearing Begins. Undercover Journalists Defend Against Abortion Industry.

David Daleiden

Undercover journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt began their preliminary hearings on the morning of September 4. The journalists recorded video of conversations from the 2014 National Abortion Trade Show, which the prosecution claims were confidential. Now, the two journalists are facing 15 felony charges that could lead to 10 years in prison if they are convicted.

The videos uncovered illegal abortion practices and found out that the abortion industry profited through the sale of body parts from aborted children. Peter Breen, the defense lawyer for the journalists, has planned a defense around the facts that these conversations took place outside of private settings and the journalists knew about violent activity surrounding those recorded. Click here for more.

Texas' "No Taxpayer Funds for Abortion" law takes effect.

Photo Credit: Texas Right to Life

Texas Right to Life wrote on August 30th to remind readers that a new law limiting the use of taxpayer funds came into effect September 1st. The law prevents state funds from being used by organizations that commit abortions, thereby stopping taxpayer dollars from subsidizing abortions directly or indirectly. The effect is similar to the recent Title X rule which reduces the federal funding Planned Parenthood receives. 

Sadly, legislators also chose to renew a lease to Planned Parenthood in East Austin before the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" became law. This means taxpayers will likely continue to subsidize this property for Parenthood use in spite of the ruling. Click here for Texas Right to Life's original story.

Father's Lawsuit Against Alabama Abortion Facility Dismissed

Ryan Magers filed a Lawsuit against the Alabama Women's Center in Huntsville in 2017. His ex-girlfriend and the abortion facility committed an abortion on their six-week-old preborn child via the abortion pill. Magers did not want his child to be aborted, and he expressed this to his then-girlfriend. Magers's wrongful death suit was dismissed on August 30th by a Madison County Judge.

The judge stated that Magers has no personal claim against Alabama Women's Center and that nothing illegal occurred because abortion was legal in Alabama. He added that federal laws protect abortion clinics from these kinds of lawsuits. Click here for more.

Facebook Cites Pro-Abortion Sources to Claim Links to "Live Action" Stories are Fake News

On September 30th, Facebook took disciplinary action against Live Action News for "repeated sharing of false news." The page and content that it posts will appear less on Facebook's feed. Users who shared recent posts from Live Action News received a notification saying, "There's additional reporting from an independent fact-checker on content that you shared." Users who clicked on this notification were sent to a statement from two doctors affiliated with abortion organizations.

The statement by Live Action News that these doctors "fact-checked" was this: "abortion is never medically necessary." The doctors rebutted by saying abortion is necessary in some cases to preserve the life of the mother, thus the disciplinary action against Live Action News. Facebook failed to understand Live Action News's entire argument, though. Live Action has repeatedly expressed its position that in situations where the life of the mother is in danger, preterm deliveries should take place instead of abortions. This way mothers can receive medical care immediately and the preterm children have a chance to survive, even if they sometimes do not. Facebook ignored this part of Live Action's argument and instead sided with abortion doctors who only stand to profit from increased abortion. Click here for more.

Woman Dies of Fatal Bleeding the Day After Abortion at Ohio Facility

On June 7, 2019, Tia Archieva Parks went into Preterm, an Ohio abortion facility, to have a first-trimester abortion. She was pregnant with twins (although she may not have known at the time) and the mother of a four-year-old. The day after the procedure, she was dead.

After her death, Parks was diagnosed with heterotopic gestation and other health issues that, if spotted before the procedure, should have told the clinic that the abortion procedure was unsafe. Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, had this to say: "Ms. Parks had several health issues that made her a high-risk patient who should have been referred for proper medical care in a hospital setting where her tubal pregnancy may have been detected. That may have spared her life and the life of her baby in the womb." Click here for more.

Tennessee Senator Argues Preborn Children Don't Have Functioning Hearts Until Second Trimester

The Tennessee state senate heard testimony surrounding a proposed fetal heartbeat law in mid-August. During this time, pro-life lawyer and Tea Party Leader Hal Rounds entered an argument with Senator Katrina Robinson about when the brain and heart are developed during pregnancy. After Rounds's testimony, Senator Robinson pushed Rounds into a seemingly premeditated corner by asking him when he thought the heart and brain were formed during pregnancy.

He responded by saying that he would leave that up to medical professionals multiple times before giving his answer: "before what is considered viable by the supreme court." "It's the end of the second trimester," Robinson pounced. "The heart is beating way before that," Hal replied. "It's the end of the second trimester, sir. I'm a nurse, what are you?" Rounds stated multiple times that he was not an authority on that topic, yet Senator Robinson pushed to discredit the lawyer with a medical debate anyways with the seemingly planned response, "I'm a lawyer, what are you," to back up her faulty information. The heart begins functioning 16-21 days after conception. Click here for more.

Woman Helps Abortion Volunteers and Clients Find Healing and Forgiveness

In 1981, Karen Ellison had an abortion. She was 22 years old and in college, but her family pushed her to have the procedure in order to hide her pregnancy from others. After feeling shame for years, Karen sought out God's forgiveness and confessed her abortion to a woman at church. “The Lord being the Lord would not let me stay in my cave and shame,” she said. “He just pursued me in all kinds of different ways. He brought me out of the dark place and it was just a whole healing process He began.”

She started to lead bible studies for women who were clients or volunteers at abortion clinics. Eventually, that led to the inception of a retreat called Deeper Still. Deeper Still now hosts three retreats each year in Knoxville, Tennessee. Attendees at these retreats share their stories, break down problems in their lives that might have caused them to choose abortion, and seek repentance.

Ellison has also written a book entitled Healing the Hurt that Won’t Heal: Freedom for the Abortion Wounded and Help for the Church They Fear. Click here for more about Karen's story.

Pope Francis Condemns Euthanasia

Pope Francis speaks to the Italian Association of Medical Oncology
Sept. 2, 2019. Credit: Vatican Media.

Pope Francis spoke against the increasing practice of euthanasia to the Italian Association of Medical Oncology on September 2. He pointed out that the practice of euthanasia reduces the value of human life to convenience. “In reality, it is based on a utilitarian view of the person, who becomes useless or can be equated to a cost, if from the medical point of view, he has no hope of improvement or can no longer avoid pain.” He went on to say that medical professionals should never treat a patient as a burden or a waste, but rather attend patients and loved ones at all stages, "creating a culture and practice more attentive to the value of each person."

He stated that a major issue with medical care is that often doctors explain every possible option to patients from a medical standpoint, but they rarely explain hope. When doctors only treat their patients physically and don't attempt to help them spiritually, mercy hope and love are forgotten. “Inspire everyone to be close to those who suffer, to the little ones above all, and to put the weak in the first place, so that they can grow a more human society and relationships marked by gratuitousness, rather than opportunity,” Click here for more.

Comedian David Chappelle Highlights Pro-Choice Hypocrisy in Netflix Comedy Special

A recent clip from a Netflix comedy special entitled "Sticks and Stones" caused outrage from pro-choice advocates as it made the rounds on Twitter. In the clip, he calls out abortion creative way: 

"I'm not for [abortion], but I'm not against it either," he said. He then makes the ironic point that men shouldn't have a say in the issue before coming in for the punchline: "And ladies, to be fair to us, I also believe that if you decide to have the baby, a man should not have to pay. That's fair. If you can kill this ****, I can at least abandon 'em. It's my money, my choice."

You can click here to watch the full clip, but be aware it uses language that isn't safe for work.

Man with Down Syndrome Diagnosed to Die by Age 10. Now He's 77

Georgie Wildgust's mother was told that her son was not going to live 10 years. He was diagnosed with Down syndrome, but good medical care and social support have allowed him to live 77 so far. Advances in care have increased the lifespans of those born with Down syndrome significantly. Now the average is between 50 and 60 years. Wildgust is a retired gardener who now lives in a disability care home. He is very social with other residents and loves to talk with his sister, who often calls him on Skype.

Wildgust is thought to be one of the oldest people in the world with Down syndrome. He even survived medical issues this year that put him on end-of-life care for a short while. Click here for more.

One-Child Nation Co-director Says China and US are Both Guilty of Policing Women's Bodies

In a surprising turn of events following a documentary that should largely support pro-life values, Amazon Studios's One Child Nation ending moments argue that both the United States and China are guilty of preventing women from exercising control over their own bodies. The documentary describes the horrors of China's one-child policy and its enforcement. Forced abortions and abandoned children are just two of the many problems that it caused in China, not including its present and future culture. Despite this, co-director Nanfu Wang compares the one-child policy to abortion restrictions in America. In an interview with Vox, she had this to say:

"I remember when I first came to the US and learned about the restriction on abortions in the US. I was very shocked. It wasn’t the free America that I had thought it would be. I was surprised by the government control on reproductive rights and the access to reproductive health care.

Making this film, I also had a lot of conversations with people about the topic, and I was surprised. Sometimes people couldn’t see how forced state abortions and the state limiting access to abortions are quite similar; they are both the government trying to control women’s bodies and trying to control women’s reproductive rights.

I hope that the film reminds people what would happen if their government takes away women’s choice, or any individual’s choice. And sadly I think it’s happening in China, it’s happening in the US, and it’s happening in a lot of countries throughout the world, where women do not have the freedom to make their own reproductive decisions."

So many of the incidents described in this film show the horrors of abortion and the danger it poses to life, especially preborn girls in a society that doesn't value women highly. This director refuses to stand up for the life that her documentary seems almost designed to protect. It is a shame because the film could otherwise be used to promote the pro-life cause. Click here for more.

Priest Pictured in AP Story Interviewed about Robert Fuller's Death

Father Quentin Dupont gave statements about the recent controversy surrounding his appearance in a recent Associated Press Article glamorizing a man's suicide.

On August 26th, the Associated Press Published a story titled "In the Face of Death, the Party of a Lifetime." It tells the story Robert Fuller, a 74-year-old man with cancer who planned to commit suicide but also scheduled several events (including a celebration of life party and a "marriage" to his male partner) leading up to the moment of his death. Dupont was pictured in the article praying over Fuller at his final mass, and social media posts have surfaced that show Fuller believed that a priest gave him their blessing to continue with his plans to commit suicide, but Dupont denies that this was him:

“I was absolutely, unequivocally unaware of Mr. Fuller’s intention [to kill himself]. I’m not part of the conversations that happen in [the St. Therese] community all the time. I was given very limited information, and I had very limited knowledge about Mr. Fuller’s situation.”

Dupont says others told him that this was Muller's final mass and that he was going to die soon, but he was unaware that Muller planned to take his own life. Recent coverage of the story has led some to believe that Father Dupont gave Fuller permission to carry out his plan, but this may not be the case. It could be a different priest, or Fuller may have been confused about the nature of the blessing that Dupont was trying to give. Click here for more.

16 States, Including Illinois, Join Lawsuit Against Indiana for Closing Abortion Clinic

A Whole Women's Health abortion clinic in South Bend, Indiana was denied a license in 2017 for not adhering to regulations and providing the necessary information. A federal judge had already issued an injunction that allowed the facility to continue operating without a license, but now 16 states have joined a lawsuit against the state of Indiana for closing the facility. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a press release that, "Women have the right to make their own reproductive health care decisions, and they should be able to access safe health care within their communities."

He also claimed that the Indiana licensing policy was placing a burden on Illinois abortion facilities, despite Governor JB Pritzker's statement that he wanted Illinois to be "an abortion destination for the country." It's deeply upsetting that Illinois tax-payer dollars are going to fight a legal battle to defend an unlicensed abortion facility in another state. Click here for more.

United Nations Cancels Pro-life Workshop at Conference for “building inclusive and sustainable cities and communities.”

On Saturday, August 24th, the United Nations canceled a workshop titled “The Family and Protection of Life, Women and Girls in Sustainable Communities," when the UN conference for "building inclusive and sustainable cities and communities" was set to start in only two days, on August 26th in Salt Lake City, Utah. Two other workshops were presented by Family Watch International, and neither of them was canceled, presumably for political reasons.

A spokesman for the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office had this to say, "The group members who were going to be on the panel, the groups that they were representing have a history of not being inclusive. There were not other voices on that panel talking about a really complicated issue. That was really where the concern came down for the workshop committee." Apparently, the United Nations did not want to have conversations about building cities that were inclusive of preborn life. Click here for more.

13 Reasons Why Scene Depicts Abortion and Turns Sidewalk Counselors into Caricatures

In the most recent season of 13 Reasons Why, a Netflix series which first came under fire for glamourizing suicide to a teenage audience, a character named Chloe, who was assaulted and raped in the second season of the show, has an abortion after being persuaded by her boyfriend's mother. In the episode, sidewalk counselors shout from the sidewalk while another one walks her towards the clinic door, pretending to be an employee escort to make Chloe listen. The scene portrays the counselors as crazy and manipulative, which only hurts the image of real counselors who act responsibly.

You can watch the full scene above or click here to read more.

China Fighting Repercussions from One-Child Policy

China officially relaxed its infamous one-child policy in 2015. Before that change, families were often forced to abort their preborn children if a woman became pregnant a second time. Human trafficking skyrocketed and many families abandoned their newborn babies, especially girls, to avoid the discipline of the government. The story is now gaining traction once again as the Amazon documentary One Child Nation makes waves in the media, but that is not the only issue caused by China's policy.

Steven Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute, was interviewed about China's population problem on EWTN Pro-Life Weekly. “The state is now pressuring people to have a minimum of two children so you can see the trajectory,” Mosher said. “We’ve gone from forcing people to stop at one child to encouraging them to have two and now saying, ‘you’ve got to have two.’ Party members have been told they must have two, they must lead by example.” There is some fear that China's government may at some point enact a policy that forces pregnancy on women. Click here for more.

Dutch Euthenasia Doctor Restrains and Kills Resisting Woman

After several years, a Dutch euthanasia doctor has appeared in court for killing a 74-year-old woman in 2016 while she resisted. Four years before her death, the patient wrote that she would rather be euthanized than enter a care home. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. The suicide doctor decided that this woman should be killed one day and slipped a sedative into the woman's drink and prepared to administer the lethal injection. She woke up before the doctor was done, however, and the doctor told family members to restrain the patient against her will while the injection was administered.

Prosecutors are not seeking punishment for the suicide doctor in this case. They are only seeking clarity on what consent means in the Netherlands' euthanasia laws. Click here for more.

Man Who Held Suicide Party Heralded by Associated Press

Saint Therese Catholic Church in Seattle. (Facebook)

On August 26th, the Associated Press published a story detailing the story of a man named Robert Fuller and the events that led to his assisted suicide. In the month leading up to his death, Fuller made several references to his planned suicide and encouraged friends to attend events such as his final mass, an end of life celebration, and his funeral all with pre-planned dates. He married his male partner during this end of life celebration as another event to cross off his "bucket list."

Recent coverage, including the AP story, claimed that members and priests knew Fuller's plans and that a priest gave Fuller his blessing to continue with them in his final days. The Archdiocese of Seattle denies these claims:

“That morning, the priest in the photograph was told Mr. Fuller was dying and wanted the blessing of the faith community. It wasn’t until later that parish leaders learned of his plans. When these plans were made known, the pastor met with Mr. Fuller to discuss the sacred gift of human life and how we are called to respect and revere that gift as disciples of Jesus.”

Click here for more on this story. 

Vermont Medical Institution Forces Objecting Nurse to Perform Abortion

Today, Health and Human Services released a press release and a violation notice to the University of Vermont Medical (UVMMC) for forcing a nurse to participate in an abortion procedure despite the nurse's conscientious objection. This is in violation of the Church Amendments, which gives medical professionals the right to refuse to carry out abortion procedures if it violates their religious or moral beliefs.

UVMMC has violated these rules on multiple occasions. There have been nurses on staff that do not object to performing abortions, but UVMMC forced nurses who do object to assist in elective abortion procedures anyway under threat of discipline. The nurse, in this case, was told that if they did not cooperate they would lose their job. The nurse's conscientious objection had been expressed and recorded for years, but UVMMC did not respect it. This marks the third conscience complaint the office of Civil Rights has investigated since President Trump took office. Click here for more on this story.

Click here for National Right to Life's official response.