National Right to Life Committee Urges Supreme Court to Uphold Louisiana Requirement that Abortionists Maintain Hospital Admitting Privileges

The National Right to Life Committee and Louisiana Right to Life filed documents in the Supreme Court urging justices to uphold a Louisiana "Act 620" which requires abortionists to have hospital admitting privileges.

The law was passed in response to health and safety violations in Louisiana abortion clinics which negatively impacted the safety of patients. Act 620 extended the requirements currently enforced against doctors who provide outpatient surgery at surgical centers to abortion doctors. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals already ruled that the law is constitutional, saying that the worst it could do is cause a one hour delay for abortion procedures at a Louisiana clinic.

The NRLC hopes that the Supreme Court will sustain that this delay is not an "undue burden" on women's access to abortion and prevent courts from assuming the role of a medical board on this issue.

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Massachusetts District Attorney Drops Larceny Charges Against Man Who Stole Pro-Life Sign

Credit: (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Zachary Pelletier was arrested and charged with larceny after he stole a pro-life sign from a display and was caught by police on June 18th. To the dismay of many, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins has now dropped charges against the thief.

The dismissal of this case happened so quickly that there wasn't even time for a victim impact statement to be made. The perpetrator didn't have to pay any court fees, and Massachusetts residents are left to believe that Pelletier's behavior is acceptable. Constitutionally, it violates the first amendment and could even classify as a hate crime due to the political circumstances.

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle commented on the District Attorney's actions:

“The question remains whether the sidewalk counselors of Operation Rescue: Boston are the objects of official indifference due to ideological bias, or have simply become the latest victims of the reckless and revolutionary nihilism of Rachael Rollins, or both. Whatever the answer, given the repeated and unpunished attacks on Christians, conservatives and pro-life Catholics in Boston in 2019, it would seem that Massachusetts is becoming, politically, a Third World society.”

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Firefighters who Saved Life of Premature Baby Celebrate with Mother

Credit: DC Fire and EMS

In March, a group of firefighters in Washington DC were flagged down by a man frantically waving on the side of the road. His wife was giving birth prematurely, and they needed help.

Firefighter Terrika Hooks told reporters that they were on the way to another call, but the situation was urgent and the baby was right there. Cierra Duckett had suddenly given birth to ZaNiayh Duckett while her family was traveling back from the doctor. ZaNiayh was born inside an amniotic sac, which the firefighters had to cut open. When they did this, however, ZaNiayh wasn't breathing. As the firefighters continued to work, there was even a point when she had no pulse.

The firefighters met with the Duckett family on Christmas Eve this year to celebrate the successful survival of ZaNiayh. To commemorate the occasion, the firefighters gave ZaNiayh a baby-size firefighter uniform.

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UK Woman Recorded Audio of Boyfriend Strangling her and Telling her to Abort their Child.

Credit: Wales Online

Leah Collard released an audio recording of her ex-boyfriend assaulting and harassing her in hopes that she could bring awareness to abusive relationships and the trauma they cause.

In the recording, her boyfriend David Williams laughs while she cries in pain and repeatedly tells him to stop or get off her. "What are you gonna do about it?" he says. When he starts to strangle her, Collard exclaims, "You want to kill your child do you?" to which he responds, "Who the f*** would want to have a baby with you?" He simply tells her, "Get an abortion," and then holds her in place while repeatedly telling her to tear her ultrasound pictures.

Collard says in an interview with Wales Online that she stayed in the relationship for so long because she didn't believe she would be financially stable enough to care for kids and Williams threatened to kill himself if she left. “It is hard because when someone is controlling you it is like you can’t live your own life. You’ve lived your life through them for so long that you just don’t know what to do... They can make you scared of them but also completely dependent on them.”

Abortion in many scenarios is simply another way that abusive men can control women and avoid consequences such as having to pay child support. In these situations women don't need more access to abortion, they need resources to help them get out of their abusive relationships without fearing for their physical or financial safety.

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Mother Writes that Doctors Refused to Help her Child Born Three Days Before "Viability" Cut-off

Kailor Dean
Credit: A Moment with Kailor Facebook Page

A Georgia woman went to Facebook early this month to describe her experience giving birth to a boy whom doctors refused to help because he was born three days before their viability cut-off.

She rejected doctor recommendations to abort her baby, whom she named Kailor, and struggled throughout her pregnancy with bleeding. The woman required ten transfusions in order to reach 22 weeks and 4 days. Despite how far she made it, terrible medical practice prevented Kailor from having any chance at survival. The mother gave birth while waiting for nine hours for an ambulance to arrive. Kailor was born inside an amniotic sac, which wasn't cut for seven minutes after he was born. He lived for 51 minutes total, and doctors issued a do not resuscitate order against the family's wishes.

Stories like this are becoming increasingly common as hospitals enforce strict viability cut-offs that deny prematurely born children decent medical care. It is sad that such a horrible human rights violation could become normal practice within the United States.

Click here to read more on the Facebook page Kailor's mother created to spread awareness of the indecent treatment some hospitals provide to prematurely born children.

Chief Medical Officer of Unlicensed St. Louis Abortion Clinic Lies During House Committee Hearing

Credit: Robin Marty / Wikimedia Commons
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Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis, testified in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform during a hearing on "women's reproductive health." At several points, McNicholas made statements that simply untrue and were purely designed to deceive legislators.

McNicholas responded to questions about the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act by claiming that abortion survivors don't exist. She claims that abortion works with 100% success and children are never born once abortion is attempted. This is easily demonstrated to be false since the CDC reports abortion survivors from states which collect that information. She further argued that the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act was harmful.

“There are several harms. The first is which using that language and perpetuating the notion that that is actually a real thing is harmful in and of itself. And it only serves two purposes. The first is to shame people […] who need life-saving care in the second and third trimester of pregnancy. It also creates an environment in which abortion providers like myself and my colleagues are targeted and harassed.”

McNicholas also claimed during the hearing that, “Planned Parenthood has never sold fetal tissue and currently doesn’t and never has.” This comes just after David Dalieden was sued by Planned Parenthood for having exposed them of selling human body parts so medical institutions could use them to perform research.

This radical abortion advocate was even bold enough to refuse to say whether she would abort a baby who was considered viable under the law, saying that every reason a mother might have to abort their child is a valid one.

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Ambulance Called to Fairview Heights Planned Parenthood "Mega Facility" Less than a Week after Opening

Less than a week after opening, the "mega clinic" Planned Parenthood built secretly using a shell company called an ambulance to assist one of its patients.

According to Coalition for Life St. Louis, the woman in need of assistance was "conscious, but in major distress and very pale." The organization further criticized Planned Parenthood's lies regarding the safety of the clinic: “While the public was told that this new facility would be better and safer for women, those performing abortions in Fairview Heights don’t have to be regulated, or even doctors. This facility was built to avoid the health and safety measures in place in Missouri.”

The clinic was most likely built to offer abortions to vulnerable women across state lines in Missouri. The future of Missouri's only remaining Planned Parenthood clinic is unclear as the state's clinic regulations are disputed in court, but even if the St. Louis clinic closes in 2020, Missouri residents will be drawn to the Fairview Heights clinic in Illinois, where abortion is essentially unregulated.

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Merry Christmas!

Credit: H Matthew Howarth / Flickr

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.”

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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