Despite all the complications that came with 2020, we still have plenty to be thankful for; especially LIFE! The Illinois Federation for Right to Life wishes everyone a happy Thanksgiving!
November 26, 2020
November 25, 2020
Nebraska Law Banning Dismemberment Abortion Takes Effect Without Legal Challenges
Nebraska State Capitol photo credit: Steven Martin / Flickr |
Nebraska Legislative Bill 814, which passed in August, bans dilation and evacuation (D&E) as a method of abortion. D&E abortions involve an abortionist inserting a type of seaweed called laminaria into the pregnant mother's cervix to cause it to dilate. One or two days later, the abortionist will use tools to further expand the opening before beginning the "evacuation" part of the abortion. Amniotic fluid will be vacuumed out of the mother's uterus, and then the abortionist will use a clamping tool with sharp teeth to reach inside the uterus and tear individual limbs off of the unborn child until only the head is left. An abortionist will use his clamp to crush the head and remove it piece by piece. This method is used during the second trimester, at which point the unborn child's head is too large to remove otherwise.
The Associated Press reported that 95% of abortions after the first trimester are D&E abortions, but Planned Parenthood and infamous late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart say that the new law will not affect their businesses.
“Planned Parenthood is proud to provide our patients with high-quality, nonjudgmental reproductive health care, and that will not change with this new law,” said Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Emily Bisek.
Carhart told the Omaha World-Herald that the law is "going to make no difference in what we offer to the populace. We will be able to provide the same quality and level of services we have for many years."
Contradicting Carhart's statement, his business's website shows that he does use D&E as a method of 2nd-trimester abortion.
November 24, 2020
Federal Court Hears Arguments over California Abortion Coverage Mandate
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is representing three Christian churches challenging the mandate. ADF argues that internal emails between Planned Parenthood and the state show that the abortion business pushed the state to enforce its abortion coverage mandate against religious organizations. Religious groups were not originally included in the 2014 mandate.
Pro-life groups filed legal motions against the mandate, arguing that the Weldon Amendment, a 2005 law barring the federal government from funding state and local governments which force health care entities to cover abortions. The Obama administration rejected the motion, claiming that the Weldon Amendment had not been violated.
In January of this year, the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services ruled that California did violate the Weldon Amendment; threatening to enforce it by withholding federal funding unless the state stopped mandating groups to provide abortion coverage against their conscientious beliefs.
So far, the state has refused to comply with the demand.
Federal Court Upholds Tennessee's Ban on Discriminatory Abortions
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee |
The court ruled 2-1 that the bans on discriminatory abortions could take effect while the court hears arguments regarding other aspects of Tennessee's pro-life legislation, which was signed into law by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee in July.
The ruling strikes a devastating blow against the legal challenge issued by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, but there will still be arguments about the heartbeat aspect of the law.
The bill requires doctors to perform an ultrasound on a woman before she can have an abortion. If the ultrasound detects a heartbeat, it would be illegal to abort that child. This portion of the law is still unenforceable due to an injunction placed against it.
After the federal court's ruling allowing part of the law to go into effect, abortion businesses applied for a temporary restraining order to block its enforcement.
November 23, 2020
Pro-life Groups Sue Washington DC for Viewpoint Discrimination
Back in August, police arrested two pro-life advocates for writing pro-life messages in chalk on a sidewalk outside a Washington D.C. Planned Parenthood clinic. This came after the city chose not to enforce its defacement ordinance when people painted political messages on city streets during anti-racism protests.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser commissioned part of 16th street near the White House painted with the slogan "Black Lives Matter" in permanent paint. The phrase "Defund the Police" was also added.
It's a sad day in America when human rights advocates are hauled away in handcuffs for writing "black preborn lives matter" in chalk on a sidewalk,
— Live Action (@LiveAction) August 1, 2020
While killers 20 yards away at @PPFA are slaughtering innocent babies with impunity & applause
RT! pic.twitter.com/YFb7NQpIdq
“The government can’t discriminate against certain viewpoints by allowing some voices to be heard while silencing others,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Elissa Graves.
“Because of the city’s actions, Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America weren’t able to participate in the public square as other groups have. The First Amendment prohibits the government from picking and choosing whose speech to allow.”
November 20, 2020
Satanic Temple Motion to Recuse Justice Barrett from Missouri Abortion Case Fails
photo credit: Richard Gillin / Flickr |
TST's lawsuit attempting to overturn waiting period and informed consent laws in Missouri was dismissed in 2018 by the Eight Circuit Court, and the Supreme Court will soon decide whether it will hear the case as well.
TST now calls abortion a "religious rite" in an attempt to get around legal abortion restrictions. By making this argument, the group can claim that abortion restrictions violate religious freedoms. That argument made little headway in the Eight Circuit and is unlikely to succeed in the Supreme Court if the case is heard.
Pro-Lifers Arrested Outside San Francisco Hospital for Protesting Abortion and Fetal Organ Harvesting
Pro-life protestors being arrested outside Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital photo credit: Lauren Handy / Facebook |
Lauren Handy of Red Rose Rescue was one of the pro-lifers present when the group was arrested. She wrote on Facebook later that day,
“This morning a group of us were arrested outside Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital because we refused to comply to an unlawful order of dispersement… for interrupting a business. That business? UCSF’s aborted fetal organ harvesting program on healthy babies up to 24 weeks.
We were on public property and within the rights of free speech activities (our lawyers even sent them a letter) but UCSF is so hell bent on protecting their aborted fetal organ harvesting program.
This is just the beginning! A lawsuit is in the works because we won't stand down!”
Terrisa Bukovinac is the executive director of Pro-Life San Francisco, and she was also arrested that morning. In her own Facebook post, she said, “I will not be silenced or bullied unlawfully by police and I will use my voice every chance I get to defend the unborn victims of fetal organ harvesting who cannot defend themselves.”
Bukovinac also linked to a video of the pro-life protestors being arrested. Interestingly, Facebook is preventing websites from directly embedding the video onto their websites, but the video is still viewable on Facebook's website. This soft-censorship is somewhat frustrating for websites such as IFRL's blog, but you can still watch the video by clicking here.
Pro-Life San Francisco announced it will be pursuing legal action regarding the arrest and are confident it will win in court.
“We will not allow our 1st Amendment rights to be suppressed on the very site where viable, healthy babies are either dismembered alive or born alive and dissected for experimentation,” said Pro-Life San Francisco. “We will not give up our quest in demanding Ethical Research NOW!”
Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City Hospitalized Two Women in October
Two clinic workers push a woman in a wheelchair from Hope Clinic for Women abortion facility in Granite City, IL across a busy street to a hospital emergency room photo credit: Operation Rescue |
"First, at about 11:39 this morning, [October 15, 2020] we saw an ambulance drive into the front of the Hope Clinic parking lot. Then, a few minutes later, we saw a young woman being wheeled out on a gurney through the front door of the clinic. She was sitting almost upright on the gurney. She was in what looked like a knee-chest position.From where we were standing on the sidewalk, her abdomen looked large, and her face very pale. She had no visible IV or oxygen, and nobody except the EMTs were with her."
The second witness gave some more information:
"Her facial expression was angst, pain, despair — it’s hard to describe. There wasn’t anyone with her other than the 3 EMT’s. I didn’t see any cars leave the parking lot after the ambulance. She appeared to be alone."
Operation Rescue was unable to find 911 records for this emergency. It's possible that the clinic called a private ambulatory service rather than 911 to obtain emergency transport for the patient.
The second incident occurred on October 17. Pro-life activists witnessed two clinic employees exit Hope Clinic for Women while pushing a woman in a wheelchair marked with the clinic's initials. Rather than receiving transport from an ambulance, the woman was pushed across the street to the emergency entrance of Gateway Regional Medical Center.
This is a very unorthodox and potentially unsafe way of transporting a patient in need of emergency medical attention. The medical staff involved in an ambulance transfer can ensure that a patient maintains medical oversight during that process. Even facilities very close to hospitals will call for an ambulance to ensure that their patient is monitored.
Abortion is always unsafe for the unborn child whose life is taken in the process, but it can also pose risks to the women who have abortions. The infections and hemorrhages caused by abortions can be life-threatening.
November 19, 2020
Infamous Full-Term Abortionist Loses Contract with Third Waste Disposal Company
2018 photo showing Bio-Haz employee picking up boxes of aborted baby remains. The company has since stopped providing services for Carhart's abortion facility photo credit: Operation Rescue |
The infamous abortionist LeRoy Carhart, who is willing to commit abortions on unborn children during all nine months of development, lost his third contract with a biohazard waste disposal company since 2018. As a result, the dead bodies of aborted children may once again be piling up inside the abortionist's Maryland facility.
After pro-life activists bought and closed Carhart's Germantown abortion facility in 2017, he opened a new one later that year in Bethesda. The clinic, called "Clinics for Abortion and Reproductive Excellence" is one of only eight abortion clinics in the country that abort children during the third trimester. Children delivered at that stage can consistently survive outside the womb.
Due to Carhart's practice of conducting late-term abortions, five-pound corpses could quickly pile up in his place of business. Without proper disposal, these could create a dangerous health hazard for patients and employees. Over the course of just two and a half years, however, his business has lost contracts with three separate biohazard disposal companies.
Pro-life advocates called upon Biomedical Waste Services, Biohazard Recovery Systems, and (most recently) Bio-Haz when those companies had contracts with Carhart's abortion business. On Nov. 10, it was confirmed that Bio-Haz had stopped providing its services for Carhart's abortion facility.
“As far as we know, Carhart has not yet found a new medical waste disposal company, and we can only assume that once again, boxes of aborted babies are piling up inside that abortion facility,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “With a health hazard like that, it’s just a matter of time before that facility is forced to halt abortions. We are grateful for the decision of Bio-Haz to stop enabling this late-term abortion business. That one act may save countless innocent lives.”
18-State Coalition Files Brief in Support of Pro-Life Tennessee Law
photo credit: Bill Oxford / Unsplash |
Tennessee House Bill 2263 bans abortions except to save the mother's life after a fetal heartbeat is detected or if the abortionist knows that the mother is seeking an abortion due to the child's sex, race, or Down syndrome diagnosis.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron led the coalition of 18 states to defend Tennessee's law in a brief to the court.
A press release from the Kentucky AG's office states,
"...The 18-state coalition asks the Sixth Circuit to reverse the district court’s decision and allow the law to go into effect. The coalition writes in the brief that, 'all of the amici states have a compelling interest in seeing that States retain the general power to legislate for the well-being of their most vulnerable citizens.' Many of the states within the coalition have enacted antidiscrimination laws like Tennessee’s.
'We’re currently in court fighting to protect Kentucky’s own abortion discrimination ban and fetal heartbeat law, and we have a duty to assist other states in their efforts to defend similar laws that protect the unborn,' said Attorney General Cameron. 'States have a compelling interest in enacting laws that protect our most vulnerable, and we believe that this interest is never more apparent than when we’re protecting unborn children from eugenics-based abortions.'"
Kentucky AG Cameron authored the brief. The states which joined in filing it include Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
November 18, 2020
Melissa McCarthy Retracts Donation to Anti-Sex-Trafficking Org Due to Rumors About Pro-Life Stance
Melissa McCarthy |
“It has come to our attention that our 20 Days of Kindness, which is something — a kindness up that we started to kind of shine a light on 20 great charities — had one in there that, there’s no other way to say it, we blew it,” McCarthy said in an Instagram video. “We made a mistake and we backed a charity that upon proper vetting, stands for everything that we do not.”
In its goal to end sex trafficking, Exodus Cry took a hard stance against PornHub, the largest pornography website on the internet. The site, owned by MindGeek, allows users to upload their own pornographic videos, which can include women and children who did not or could not give consent. PornHub can't verify whether the individuals shown in videos on the website are of legal age or gave consent, and it shows. Women and children who are the victims of sex-trafficking have been known to appear on PornHub videos.
If the player below isn't working, click here to view Exodus Cry's video on how PornHub enables sex trafficking.
Melissa McCarthy was likely fed misinformation by PornHub supporters trying to "cancel" Exodus Cry. Supporters of PornHub and MindGeek allege that Exodus Cry opposes the website due to supposed pro-life and anti-LGBT beliefs, but this is demonstrated to be false by the charity's actions.
“Exodus Cry aligns itself with many dedicated women’s rights organizations from various backgrounds who are on the front lines combating domestic violence, commercial sexual exploitation, and sex trafficking,” said Exodus Cry in response to the misinformation campaign. “With regard to the issue of abortion and reproductive rights, Exodus Cry’s CEO has expressed his personal views that he believes in the protection of life in the womb. However, Exodus Cry [as an organization] has never taken any position on those issues and any suggestion otherwise is false. We partner with, and are inclusive of, organizations that are both for and against abortion, as we align on the common goal of putting an end to sex trafficking and all forms of commercial sexual exploitation.”
Sex-trafficking, society's porn addiction, and abortion are inextricably linked issues. The lives of women and children (both born and unborn) are disregarded for the sake of profit and pleasure. Sex-traffickers and abortion businesses alike only stand to gain from the situation.
Melissa McCarthy, when she accepted misinformation and cancel-culture, stood on the side of sex-traffickers.
November 17, 2020
New Chinese Five-Year Proposal Emphasizes Eugenics
China President Xi Jinping photo credit: Paul Kagame / Flickr |
A new five-year population plan proposed by the Chinese government emphasizes eugenics by limiting the birth rates of minority populations, according to an expert.
The policy says that its goals for 2021-2025 are to “optimize its birth policy” and “improve the quality of the population.”
Columbia professor Leta Hong Fincher spoke at a virtual event held by the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS) on Nov. 13. She said that the Chinese government's plans to control reproduction are part of a plan to maintain control by encouraging the growth of the dominant ethnic group, while systematically limiting the birth rate of ethnic minorities.
“We see it happening in Xinjiang with the forced sterilization of particularly Uyghur Muslim women. And the language in the plan suggests to me that the government is going to continue with that,” she said.
“You have seen a huge reduction in birth rates in Xinjiang and, on the flip side, the government is also trying to coopt and persuade Han Chinese women who are college-educated into having more babies.”
China's previous five-year plan adopted a two-child policy, up from the one-child policy that the government used previously. Families who have more children than allowed by the government faced punishments such as forced abortions.
Massachusetts House Approves Abortion-Promoting Budget Amendment
Massachusetts State House photo credit: Emmanuel Huybrechts / Flickr |
Efforts to codify or negate abortion rights in states throughout the country increased last month in response to Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation to the Supreme Court. If Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court, the ability to legalize abortion will fall to the states. In a joint statement, Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka voiced their support of the legislation.
“We are very concerned that Massachusetts’ women’s reproductive rights are under threat at the national level,” the statement reads. “We are therefore committed to debate measures in the House and Senate this session that would remove barriers to women’s reproductive health options and protect the concepts enshrined in Roe v. Wade.”
The overwhelming margin in the House would easily override a veto by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. The Republican Governor is a pro-abortion Republican, but he has also stated that he does not believe the state's abortion laws should change.
November 16, 2020
Hospital Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court to End Baby Tinslee Lewis's Life Support
The court battle regarding the hospital's ability to deny the toddler's treatment and let her die has lasted for most of Tinslee's life, but the fight has gone in her favor up to this point. In July, the Texas Second Court of Appeals ruled against the hospital. In August, the Supreme Court of Texas declined to hear Cook Children's Hospital's appeal.
Tinslee's family and the hospital are fighting over the constitutionality of Texas's "10-Day Rule," which allows a hospital to stop providing life-sustaining treatment to a patient if an ethics board approves and the hospital provides the family with 10 days to find another medical facility willing to take the patient.
Tinslee suffers from heart and lung problems that affect her ability to eat and breathe, so she relies on the hospital's machines to sustain her life.
The hospital describes Tinslee's experience as "ongoing daily agony," saying that she requires "deep sedation and paralysis" to "facilitate mechanical ventilation, decrease the pain caused by daily cares, and mitigate events that can lead to significant deterioration in her condition."
Simultaneously, Cook's Children's Hospital refuses to perform a tracheostomy, which is a standard medical procedure for any patient who is on a ventilator for an extended period of time. The hospital says it will only perform this procedure if Tinslee's mother would agree to sign a Do-Not-Resuscitate order for her daughter.
November 13, 2020
Flossmoor Planned Parenthood Calls 911 for Patient "Bleeding Out"
photo credit:
Operation Rescue |
Leaked Biden Administrative Agenda Shows Plans to Undo Pro-Life Executive Orders
photo credit: jlhervàs / Flickr |
November 12, 2020
Premature Baby Weighing 11 Ounces at Birth Comes Home from Hospital
screenshot from Covenant Healthcare video |
“She’s such a blessing and we are just so thankful,” her mother Emille Wendzik told reporters as she left the hospital with her family.
In a video released on the hospital's YouTube channel, Neonatologist Dr. Martin Nwankwo said, "...to see her grow from where we started to going home now in reasonably good shape, it’s mind-boggling for us. We’ve never done this before. And, to be honest with you, half the hospitals in the United States would not have attempted this."
Covenant Healthcare Communications Manager Kristin Knoll said that babies born as small as Harper only have a survival rate of 20%. That number is larger than zero, and Harper was lucky to be born at a hospital that valued her life enough to try and save it. While preemies may not be guaranteed to survive at that age, they should always be granted the chance; especially when qualified medical professionals are available to give them that chance.
Chris Nikic Becomes First Person with Down Syndrome to Complete Ironman Triathlon
photo from Ironman Facebook page |
November 11, 2020
Alliance Defending Freedom Asks Supreme Court to Hear Title X Abortion Funding Case
photo credit: Jeff Kubina / Flickr |
There is currently a split between the courts on the legality of the HHS rule. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Maryland blocked the rule, while a 9th Circuit decision in a separate case upheld them.
“No court can substitute its own policy views for the views of the elected branches of government,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch. “The Supreme Court has already recognized that the federal government has authority to prevent Title X funds from being used for abortion. The 4th Circuit chose instead to rely on the preferences of pro-abortion medical associations. The Supreme Court should take this case and affirm that HHS has the authority to issue a rule that the high court already deemed constitutional.”
New Mexico Medical Board Investigating Abortionist who Abandoned Patient
New Mexico state flag photo credit: Ron Cogswell / Flickr |
Theard is responsible for botching the same woman's abortion two separate times last month. After a woman, currently known as Jane Doe, “unexpectedly delivered remains of her deceased baby at home” following a surgical abortion, she was told to come to the abortion clinic. Theard left in his car before the woman and her husband arrived, and pro-life witnesses say that police showed up before the victim and her husband did. When clinic workers refused to let her keep the remains of her child for cremation, police arrested the woman and her husband. Doe was arrested for disturbance of the peace, and her husband was arrested for interfering with Doe's arrest.
Abortion on Trial (AOT) attorney Mike Seibel has been retained as legal representation for Doe at no cost to her. "Dr. Theard's abandonment of Jane is not only a violation of the licensing act, but is also unprofessional, unethical, and is borderline criminal conduct," he said in a post on the AOT website.
Seibel filed a letter of complaint with the New Mexico Medical Board, and AOT announced on Nov. 8 that the board is launching an investigation of the abortionist.
Theard has been sued for medical malpractice eight times between the years 1987 and 2003.