Merry Christmas!

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We hope you have a wonderful time celebrating life with your family this Christmas!

Man Pleads Guilty to Paying Money to Have Girlfriend Killed Because She Wouldn't Abort

VonTrey Clark

VonTrey Clark, an ex-Austin police officer who was extradited from Indonesia where he fled to escape charges in 2015, was convicted of offering money to have Samantha Dean, his pregnant girlfriend, murdered because she refused to abort their child.

Before September, Clark pled not guilty to charges related to Dean's death. This plea change resulted in him receiving life in prison rather than the death penalty. Witnesses say he offered $5,000 to have Dean murdered.

Taylor Dean, Samantha Dean's younger sister, spoke directly to Clark during the trial:

“The one person that I can turn to for moral advice or support is gone, thanks to you,” Taylor Dean said. “You stole my favorite person.

“But that’s not all. You stole an innocent child, you stole my niece. It’s incredible that someone so small could bring so much joy,” she went on. “You stole our future memories, too.”

Click here to read more.

Pro-Abortion Advocates Plan to Fight for Repeal of Parental Notification in 2020

Illinois State Capitol
Credit: J. Stephen Conn / Flickr

Terry Cosgrove, president of the pro-abortion political action committee Personal PAC, recently told POLITICO that repealing Illinois' parental notification law is their “biggest priority” in 2020.

The Illinois Parental Notification of Abortion Act requires abortion clinics to notify parents before performing an abortion on a patient 17 years old or younger. The act was passed in 1995, but pro-life advocates may have to fight to keep it on the books in 2020.

Illinois Right to Life Executive Director Mary Kate Knorr responded to the news from POLITICO with an explanation of why parental notification is so important.

“This is purely predatory behavior by Terry Cosgrove and Planned Parenthood of Illinois,” said Knorr. “They are preying on minor girls and strategically forcing parents out of the conversation to cash in on their vulnerability.”

“This is a direct attack on the rights of parents – not just across the state, but across the Midwest. Repealing this law does not protect girls in crisis; on the contrary, it protects their abusers and traffickers by opening the door for coercion and forced abortions.”

Click here to read more.

New HHS Rule Helps Protect Taxpayers from Funding Abortion

The department of Health and Human Services announced that it will enforce a new rule designed to prevent publicly funded health insurance programs from using federal tax dollars.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar stated that these rules will require health insurance plans that use federal funding and provide abortion care will have to bill abortion care separately from other insurance.

“Being good stewards of taxpayer dollars and faithfully implementing the law are among the most important duties HHS has, and that’s what we’re doing with this rule. The rule is part of much broader efforts at CMS, under Administrator Verma, to improve program integrity and reduce improper payments.

“In addition, when an exchange plan covers abortions for which public funding is prohibited by federal law, this rule requires that customers receive separate bills for that abortion coverage and for the rest of their insurance. Providing these separate bills is an essential step in implementing the Affordable Care Act’s bar on tax credits going toward coverage of abortions for which public funding is prohibited. The separate billing requirement fulfills Congress’ intent and reflects President Trump’s strong commitment to preventing taxpayer funding of abortion coverage.”

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A California Bill would have Helped Patients Recognize Abuse During Pelvic Exams. After Planned Parenthood Lobbying, it was Tabled.

California State Senate
Credit: Carole J. Buckwalter / Wikimedia Commons
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A bill designed to protect patients from sexual abuse during pelvic exams was tabled with help from Planned Parenthood lobbying.

After authorities started an investigation against a California doctor accused of sexually assaulting young students when they had pelvic exams, the state senate introduced California Assembly Bill 1030. The bill would have required patients to be informed about what a pelvic exam is, what predatory behavior during a pelvic exam is and how to report it, be given a pamphlet produced by the California government in conjunction with several medical organizations, and to sign a document saying that they received the pamphlet.

The bill garnered bipartisan support and was expected to pass until Planned Parenthood began lobbying against it. In a letter of opposition, the abortion corporation stated it, “creates additional barriers for patients to access reproductive health care. … Based on the number of gynecological exams Planned Parenthood conducts, we believe this requirement will increase the length of patient visits and thus unintentionally cause patient volume to decrease.”

It may make patients safer, but because the bill would mean fewer abortions- and less profit- Planned Parenthood opposed it. The bill was tabled and never received a vote.

Click here to read more.

West Virginia Woman Sues Department of Health and Human Services for Keeping her with her Father after he Raped her

Credit: Carol Von Canon / Flickr

A 21-year-old West Virginia woman is suing her the state's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for allowing her to stay with her father after he raped her and her mother forced her into abortion.

The woman claims she was raped by her father when she was only 11 years old. She was put into foster care due to her mother's neglect and later placed in her father's home despite his criminal history of domestic abuse (even though her sisters were still placed in other homes). After she became pregnant, she told others that the father was another boy she knew but secretly confided with her mother, who informed DHHS. When employees came, they discussed the issue in front of both the victim and her father. The girl recanted her story, later saying that she did not want her father to go to jail. When DHHS said they wanted a tissue sample from the child to confirm who the father was, the girl's mother had already forced her into abortion by taking her to another state.

DHHS failed to place this girl in a safe home and later failed to protect her from abuse by both parents. To complete the story, an abortion clinic was all too happy to accept payment and cover her father's tracks. Abortion's role as a tool to protect rapists from being caught is a disgusting one, and yet another reason the practice of abortion should be removed from our culture.

Click here to read more.

Google Employee Sued for Assaulting Pro-Life Protester

The Life Legal Defense Foundation announced on Thursday that it filed a lawsuit against Google employee Quinn Chasan on behalf of Michael Gribbin.

Gribbin was peacefully protesting in front of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Washington DC this September by holding a sign and writing pro-life messages with chalk on the sidewalk when Chasan approached him and got they got into an argument. According to Gribbin, Chasan erased the messages and stole his chalk. At this point, Gribbin took out his phone and recorded Chasan as he threw the chalk and walked away. Gribbin attempted to prevent Chasan from leaving on his bike, but Chasan retaliated by assaulting the protestor.

John Garza, an attorney for Life Legal, says Chasan committed a battery against Gribbin which constitutes a hate crime since it was fueled by political and religious prejudice.

Click here to read more.

Assisted Suicide Activist Gets Media Spotlight

Right to Die activist Philip Nitschke has become a major figure in his movement, now having created a death machine called the "sarco" to asphyxiate those who wish to commit suicide by using nitrogen gas. Recently he has been interviewed by multiple news outlets. The Economist refers to him as "the bad boy of the euthanasia movement" and together with his wife as "the movement's only power couple."

As Nitschke's ideas become more popular, so does the danger to the those vulnerable to being persuaded to commit suicide. Nitschke responded to a question by National Review Online journalist Kathryn Jean Lopez about whether suicide pills should be made available to "troubled teens with the following:

"My personal position is that if we believe that there is a right to life, then we must accept that people have a right to dispose of that life whenever they want. (In the same way as the right to freedom of religion has implicit the right to be an atheist, and the right to freedom of speech involves the right to remain silent). I do not believe that telling people they have a right to life while denying them the means, manner, or information necessary for them to give this life away has any ethical consistency. 

So all people qualify, not just those with the training, knowledge, or resources to find out how to “give away” their life. And someone needs to provide this knowledge, training, or recourse necessary to anyone who wants it, including the depressed, the elderly bereaved, [and] the troubled teen. If we are to remain consistent and we believe that the individual has the right to dispose of their life, we should not erect artificial barriers in the way of sub-groups who don’t meet our criteria."

The pro-life movement must fight to protect the life of every person, regardless of their age, mental state, or ability to provide for themselves. As ideas like Nitschke's become more popular, so too does the stigma and bigotry against those whom society values less. If the pro-life movement allows these ideas to become mainstream, impulsive suicide will not only be more common, it will be encouraged.

Click here to read more.

Unconcious Patient Sent to Emergency Room Due to Hemorrhage at Aurora, Illinois Planned Parenthood

Staff at a Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois called 911 after a patient hemorrhaged during an abortion. According to the call, the patient was unconscious, needed a stretcher, and the employee could only hesitantly confirm that the patient was even breathing.

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman voiced his concerns about this event and the trend of emergency vehicles being called to the Aurora clinic: “We know women have died from blood loss, and it appears that this woman was bleeding out.  We hope she made it, but honestly, there is no way to know at this time without further information. But one thing in clear: abortions at this Planned Parenthood facility are not safe.”

Listen to the recording of the call above or click here to read more.

NBC Reports Say Woman Forced to Take Pills at Gunpoint Underwent "Forced Miscarriage" Instead of "Forced Abortion"

Credit: Thomas Hawk / Flickr

Police in California arrested Jagmeet Sandhu for holding his pregnant girlfriend at gunpoint and forcing her to take at least eleven pills which resulted in the death of her child. This is forced abortion. When NBC reported the story, however, they referred to the incident as "forced miscarriage," in a clear effort to protect the idea of abortion from receiving negative news coverage.

This isn’t “inducing a miscarriage.” This is forcing a woman to have an abortion. The lengths the media will go to ensure abortion never receives negative coverage is really astounding.

Shame on @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/wkAz4jkiK3

— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) December 13, 2019

The woman had broken up with Sandhu three weeks before the incident over his constant pushing that she get an abortion.

Click here to read more.

U.S. Senator from Illinois Tammy Duckworth Criticizes New Pro-Life Federal Judge to Raise Money to Defeat Senate Republicans

Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Credit: AFGE / Flickr

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth recently condemned Republican senators for confirming Sarah Pitlyk for a lifetime federal judgeship and used her criticism as a platform to fundraise against senate republicans running for election in 2020.

"Trump’s appointment and Brett Kavanaugh’s former clerk, Sarah Pitlyk, vilified women who have the audacity to want to become mothers with the help of IVF. She’s accused moms and dads who use surrogates of having “grave effects on society.” And still, Senate Republicans confirmed her to a lifetime appointment. 

Pitlyk’s confirmation should remind all of us that if Democrats don’t take back the Senate next year, Republicans could confirm countless more unfit judges like her. 

We can’t let that happen."

The "grave effects" Sen. Duckworth took out of context in her speech were not a reference to parents who could not have children otherwise, but rather a reference to the culture in vitro fertilization creates: one that monetizes the womb, creates excess embryos, and encourages sex selection and eugenics.

Click here to read more.

Mississippi Governor Says Battle over 15-Week Abortion Ban will Continue to Supreme Court

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant
Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture
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After 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Patrick Higginbotham ruled against a Mississippi law that would ban abortion 15 weeks, Republican Governor Phil Bryant stated on Twitter, “Mississippi will continue this mission to the United States Supreme Court.”

Both the decision and the governor's tweet were made public last Friday. Judge Patrick Higginbotham cited precedent as his reasoning for his ruling.

“In an unbroken line dating to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s abortion cases have established (and affirmed, and re-affirmed) a woman’s right to choose an abortion before viability,” he said in the ruling. “States may regulate abortion procedures prior to viability so long as they do not impose an undue burden on the woman’s right but they may not ban abortions.”

Pro-lifers are hopeful that changes in the makeup of the Supreme Court might cause Roe v. Wade to be overturned once cases like these make it to the Supreme Court.

Click here to read more.

Safe Haven Law Saves Illinois Baby

A baby girl who was only a few hours old was safely given to a firefighter in Cicero, Illinois Friday afternoon in accordance with Illinois' Safe Haven law.

Safe Haven laws allow families who don't believe they can care for a child to hand them over to public servants at police stations, fire stations, or hospitals with no questions asked. There will be no charges against anyone who does this as long as the child is less than 30 days old and unharmed.

This is an underutilized pro-life option that allows mothers to preserve the life of their child even if they cannot support them for reasons such as finances. It is commendable that a family would go through with the pregnancy and choose this option rather than have an abortion, especially in Illinois.

"They took loving, responsible actions to make sure that this baby girl was going to be OK," said Dawn Geras, president of the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation. "If they are listening, I bless them and I thank them and I reassure them that this baby will be loved and cherished and taken care of."

Click here to read more.

Pro-Abortion Governor J.B. Pritzker Says he Wants Illinois to Become the Best State for Raising Young Children

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker
Credit: Charles Edward Miller
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When announcing his plan to increase state funding for childcare by 5%, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said he wanted Illinois to become the "best state in the nation for families raising young children." This is in spite of his radically pro-abortion stance that has also led him to say he wants Illinois to be an abortion hub for neighboring states with more restrictive abortion laws. Illinois couldn't possibly be the best state for raising young children if it supports the murder of unborn children with taxpayer dollars.

An excerpt from the governor's press release:

“I’ve asked you to join me today as we set an audacious goal: Illinois will become the best state in the nation for families raising young children, with the nation’s best early childhood education and child care,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “My promise is this: our work won’t be complete until every child in this state enters kindergarten with the cognitive skills to think, learn, read, remember, pay attention, and solve problems, but also the social-emotional skills to communicate, connect with others, resolve conflict, self-regulate, display kindness and cope with challenges. These are the skills that high-quality early learning programs help young children develop, and I’m proud to say that many of the modern standards and model programs were conceived and developed right here in Illinois.”

Click here to read more.

Planned Parenthood Moves to Ban David Daleiden and Center for Medical Progress from Ever Investigating them Again

Planned Parenthood took yet another step against the pro-life journalists who exposed their disgusting sale of human body parts.

After David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress exposed Planned Parenthood's sale of fetal body parts in a series of videos recorded by undercover journalists, the abortion corporation took legal action in response. The pro-life leaders were found guilty of illegally recording supposedly private conversations in a lower court, but their legal team promises to take the case all the way to the supreme court if necessary.

Peter Breen, a member of the pro-life defense team, recently stated in a video that Planned Parenthood has now moved to place an injunction against David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress ever investigating their business again.

Click here to read more.

Los Angeles Public School Taxes Now Pay Planned Parenthood Too

Public schools in Los Angeles, California will soon be used by Planned Parenthood employees to spread the abortion corporation's ideas to teenagers.

Los Angeles County taxpayers will be footing a $10 million bill when Planned Parenthood sets up “Wellbeing Centers” in public schools. The goal of these centers is to provide sexual education and counseling to teenagers, and further educate some teenagers to become “peer advocates" to promote "safe sex."

President of Students for Life of America Kristan Hawkins criticizes Planned Parenthood's move into high schools and alludes to their ulterior motives:

“Planned Parenthood has been targeting younger and younger girls, through their version of sex education, beginning as early as elementary school, which encourages people to make bad choices. That’s how they make money as they profit from creating crisis through bad choices and then selling abortions to those same students.” 

“We don't let cigarette companies run smoking education. Why would we let an abortion sales team tells students about their choices for life?”

Click here to read more.

Pennsylvania Hospital Refused to Care for Woman's Premature Twins and Let them Die

Credit: Katelyn McCauley and Ryan Erickson

Katelyn McCauley gave birth to twins in a Pennsylvania hospital in mid-August, but any hope at life was denied to them by doctors. McCauley recently wrote the horrific story of her experience giving birth to her now-deceased twins in an article published by Live Action News.

Her water broke one night with no warning whatsoever, and her husband rushed her to the nearest hospital. When she arrived, the doctors confirmed she was in labor and had her transferred to another hospital with the ability to care for her children's needs. Sadly, this care was not given to them. Instead, after each of her children were born, the doctor immediately left the room and offered no assistance whatsoever. After the first child was born, she pleaded with the doctor not to deliver the second because she didn't want to watch another one of her children die, but the doctor told her that she could develop an infection if the second baby wasn't delivered. The doctor prepared to induce labor.

"She said it could take three to six hours to deliver him once they administered Pitocin, so my fiancé ran home to grab clothes for both of us and let our dogs out. Not even 10 minutes later, I felt pressure and knew something happened. My second baby came out before they even started the induction.

I’ve tried to become a more spiritual person after all of these horrible events, and thought this was my baby saying he didn’t want me to be in pain anymore. Gregory was born at 5:47 p.m. — breathing — and he was just as perfect as Knox. He looked more like Ryan than me and was beautiful and perfectly formed. 

The doctor again immediately left the room and didn’t assist him at all."

McCauley sent an email to the hospital system and filed a Civil Rights complaint about the illegal and unethical treatment of children they were clearly equipped to assist.

"I am not God so I don’t know if Knox and Greg would be here today if given a chance. However, I know they should have been given that chance. I hope I can bring even more awareness and push for changes so no one else has to go through such a horrible loss. No one should have to bury their children."

Click here to read more.

Doctors Told her to Abort Every Week for 14 Weeks. She Refused and Now has a Healthy Daughter.

A UK woman named Kiera Meldrum who was interviewed for an article in The Scotsman said that she was told 14 times to abort her daughter due to her medical condition. She refused every time and now has a healthy girl.

Lillee Rose (the daughter) had fluid buildup in her stomach that eventually resulted in her bowels being split in half. Meldrum experienced pain and bloating as her pregnancy progressed. With these symptoms, she also dealt with increased pressure from doctors to abort her daughter.

She was told to visit doctors for an ultrasound every week after her daughter's condition was discovered. It was at these visits that she was repeatedly advised to abort. Meldrum says she heard this at every one of her 14 ultrasound appointments.

When Lillee was born 6 weeks early, doctors immediately rushed her to surgery and were able to repair her extremely damaged bowels. After eight weeks in an incubator, Lillee's only diagnosed medical problem is lactose intolerance.

Click here to read more.

New Jersey Senate Bill would Give Planned Parenthood 9.5 Million more Taxpayer Dollars

Credit: American Life League / Flickr

The New Jersey Senate budget committee passed a bill on Dec 11 that would allocate $9.5 million to fund Planned Parenthood.

The bill was created as a response to President Donald Trump's Title X rule, which required family planning organizations that received tax dollars to separate their abortion services from their family planning services. If Planned Parenthood wanted to receive federal tax dollars, it would have needed to stop providing abortions in the same locations that it provides other services, stop referring patients to locations where abortions are provided, separate their abortion finances from the rest of their family planning services, and report sexual abuse of minors to police. Rather than accept these terms, Planned Parenthood opted out of Title X funding.

In addition to undermining the president's goals of protecting unborn children and their mothers from taxpayer-funded abortion, the New Jersey bill requires health insurance providers to cover the cost of contraceptives even if they have religious objections.

Click here to read more.

Parental Consent Bill Passes Florida Senate Committee

Historic Capitol Building in Tallahassee, Florida
Credit: Artie White / Flickr

A senate committee in Florida voted on December 10th to advance a parental consent bill. Parental consent bills, which have been passed in multiple states, require minors to have permission from their parents to have an abortion.

Tampa Bay Times writer Elizabeth Koh reported:

A key Florida Senate committee voted Tuesday, along party lines, to advance a bill that would require parental consent for abortion, overcoming a procedural hurdle by Democrats last month to stall the legislation. The 6-3 vote also begins moving what is likely to be one of the legislative session’s most controversial bills through the more moderate Senate, which looks likelier this year to pass the proposal.

The committee heard testimony for the majority of their hearing on the bill, with comments from citizens like Joan Fowinkle, a retired high school teacher who supported the legislation. “The parents have a fundamental right to care for the child and make decisions for their healthcare,” she said. “The state must respect the rights of good parents to fulfill their duties toward their children as their conscience dictates.”

National Right to Life News further reports that a companion bill in the Florida House of Representatives is on a "fast track to passage."

Click here to read more.