South Dakota Legislators Approve Abortion Pill Restrictions

Legislators in South Dakota last week approved abortion pill restrictions initiated by Gov. Kristi Noem's executive order in September. These restrictions will protect women by limiting the abortion pill's distribution to licensed abortion facilities.

This order came as a response to the FDA's announcement that it will end regulations that used to limit the distribution of the abortion pill. Those regulations similarly limited the distribution of the abortion pill. Without the FDA restrictions, it will be legal to send abortion pills by sending them through the mail.

The FDA regulations sought to protect women from some of the risks associated with the abortion pill. Without them, women can receive prescriptions without first being examined by a medical professional. This is important because medical professionals can accurately date a pregnancy and diagnose any conditions, such as ectopic pregnancy. If the child's gestational age is past the range at which it is safe to use the abortion pill, or if an ectopic pregnancy is diagnosed, then they would know not to use the abortion pill regimen. If a woman takes the abortion pill regimen with an ectopic pregnancy or late-term child could experience life-threatening injuries such as hemorrhaging.

“Chemical abortions are four times as likely to cause a woman getting an abortion to end up in an emergency room – and we have a duty to protect the lives of those women,” Noem said in a statement after legislators approved the restrictions. “I look forward to the day when the life of every unborn child is protected in South Dakota. Until then, South Dakotans will know that if a mother uses abortion pills to end her unborn child’s life, she will not get those pills from a stranger over the internet.”

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New Jersey to Legalize Abortion until Birth

NJ Gov. Phil Murphy (D)

On Jan 10, legislators in New Jersey passed a bill that codifies a right to abortion into state law. The bill not only creates a right to abortion, it expands abortion to the point that it will be legal for any reason up until birth. This means that it will be completely legal to abort a child that can viably survive outside of the mother's womb.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced that he plans to sign the bill. In a tweet he wrote, “A bill to codify a woman’s right to choose into state law and expand access to reproductive health care for all just passed both houses of the Legislature. I will sign this bill into law this week. With Roe v. Wade under attack, the need for this bill is more urgent than ever.”

New Jersey Right to Life brought up additional criticisms of the bill. It will prevent the passage of pro-life legislation, and it is written broadly enough that it could allow many things that are not explicitly described by the text. As an example, some pro-life advocates are worried that language in the bill could be used to force health insurance companies to provide coverage for abortions.

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63,459,781 Babies Killed by Abortion Since Roe v. Wade

An estimated 63,459,781 babies have been killed by abortion since 1973, the year that Roe v. Wade was decided.

National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) Director of Education and Research Dr. Randall K O'Bannon created a fact sheet showing estimated abortion totals. He used statistics from the CDC and the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.

O'Bannon pointed out in a press release that the CDC found an abortion rate of 11.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years. Additionally, the CDC found a ratio of 195 abortions per 1,000 live births. The CDC does not include statistics from California, New Hampshire, and Maryland. They do not report their abortion data to the federal government.

Between 2010 and 2019, aborition rate decreased by nearly 18%. Despite this, NRLC estimates that over 880,000 abortions currently occur in the United States each year.

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Registration is Open for NRL Convention 2022!

Registration for the 2022 National Right to Life Convention in Atlanta, Georgia is now open!

When: June 24-25, 2022

Where:

Atlanta Airport Mariott Hotel

4711 Best Road

Atlanta, Georgia 30337

What: At this convention, pro-life speakers and workshops will help inform and energize pro-life advocates to better advance the cause of saving lives. There will be 4 general sessions with the convention's main speakers and 40+ 50 minute workshops on various life-related topics. There will be an opening prayer breakfast, an exhibit hall with pro-life organizations, and a closing banquet.

If you are interested in participating, visit nrlconvention.com to get more information.

Thousands Marched for Life in Chicago

Thousands of pro-life advocates rallied at March for Life Chicago on Jan 8 to protest abortion and march for their cause.

Hosted by weDignifiy, the event brought pro-lifers together to protest abortion and fight for a culture of life. 

“We’re really excited this year to have such a far-reaching march of people from so many states, as far as Nebraska and Kansas and, of course, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa,” Director of Marketing Caitlyn Bootsma told Live Action News. “Because we can see as the abortion industry becomes increasingly aggressive here in Illinois, with parental notification just being repealed, it’s more important than ever to come together as a pro-life movement to really fight for change and build a culture of life.”

weDignify held a rally shortly before the march that included encouraging speeches from multiple pro-life leaders. That rally can be viewed here.

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SFLA Report Exposes Christian Colleges with Links to Planned Parenthood

A new report released by Students for Life of America (SFLA) did an analysis of 784 Christian colleges throughout the United States. Of those schools, 69 were found to promote Planned Parenthood.

In its Christian Schools Project, SFLA identified schools that promoted Planned Parenthood in any of the following ways:

• Planned Parenthood was promoted as an active internship opportunity for which students may receive credit.
• Planned Parenthood was promoted as a student resource.
• Planned Parenthood events from 2019 onward were advertised on campus or on the website.
• Planned Parenthood was promoted as a volunteer opportunity.
• Planned Parenthood partnered with the university on at least 1 event from 2019 onward.
• Planned Parenthood was promoted as a future career opportunity.

Originally, SFLA found that 103 religious schools had connections or partnerships with Planned Parenthood under this criteria. After SFLA contacted these schools, 34 of them removed references to Planned Parenthood from their websites.

Christian Illinois schools SFLA considered to be in a relationship with Planned Parenthood include:

Illinois College (Presbyterian)

Milikin University (Presbyterian)

Monmouth College (Presbyterian)

Augustana College (Lutheran)

Illinois Christian schools that broke their ties to Planned Parenthood after SFLA contacted them include:

Loyola University (Catholic)

McKendree University (United Methodist)

Saint Xavier University (Catholic)

The full report can be found here.

Abuser Arrested over a Decade After Taking a Minor to Get an Abortion in Chicago

Chicago Planned Parenthood to which Downey brought
his 16-year-old victim
photo credit: Operation Rescue

On December 29, a former middle school principal was arrested in Indiana on two counts of child seduction. The charges allege an illegal sexual relationship with a minor, whom he brought to a Chicago Planned Parenthood in 2008 to get an abortion and hide his crimes.

The accused, Peter Allen Downey, was 45 at the time. His victim had just turned 16 when he began a physical sexual relationship with her in 2008. On Sept. 2 of that year, Downy drove her from their hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana to the Planned Parenthood abortion business at 1200 N. LaSalle Dr. in Chicago. There, roughly six weeks into her pregnancy, she had an abortion.

Downey's victim kept the paperwork and ultrasound photo from Planned Parenthood. It was used to identify her abuser.

There were several red flags that should have prompted Planned Parenthood to report this incident. The girl who had the abortion was a minor and therefore could not provide consent. She was getting an abortion from out of state. The man accompanying her was completely unrelated. Despite these factors, Planned Parenthood did not report suspected sexual abuse.

Since his arrest, Downey was released for posting a bond.

Click here to read more.

NYT Report Says Many Prenatal Tests for Genetic Conditions are Inaccurate

A recent New York Times investigation found that commonly used prenatal blood tests have high rates of false-positive results for genetic disorders. This report was especially troubling for pro-lifers, as these kinds of results often drive parents to seek abortions.

The Times went as far as to say that the positive results from these tests "are usually wrong." Their investigation found that positive results from the tests analyzed were wrong about 85% of the time.

The NYT interviewed researchers and used results from multiple studies “to produce the best estimates available of how well the five most common microdeletion tests perform.” These tests checked for DiGeorge syndrome, 1p36 deletion, Cri-du-chat syndrome, Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, and Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes.

The NYT wrote that the FDA does not regulate these tests. The companies that provide them profit from testing for exceedingly rare conditions that should not require testing. Additionally, these tests proliferate a culture that devalues the lives of those with genetic abnormalities. All lives, born and unborn, have value. A diagnosis with a genetic condition does not change this.

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Abortion Pill Reversal Network Celebrates 3K Lives Saved

Heartbeat International, the organization that manages the Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), announced on Thursday that the network had reached the milestone of 3,000 lives saved!

“Each of these children are miracles walking among us!” said Christa Brown, director of Medical Impact for Heartbeat International. “It's extraordinary that each of these 3,000 thriving children were once counted as an abortion statistic. Fast forward to today and each of these children is now irreplaceable in their communities and families.”

Abortion pill reversal (APR) is a process by which the effects of the first pill used in the abortion pill regimen are negated. This first pill, mifepristone, causes the death of an unborn child by blocking the pregnancy hormone progesterone. Progesterone facilitates the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the child. By blocking this hormone, mifepristone essentially starves and suffocates the child to death. During APR, the mother is prescribed additional progesterone to counter this effect. Progesterone has been used as a treatment to prevent miscarriages since the 1950s.

If a mother who has taken mifepristone regrets her decision, she can call the abortion pill reversal hotline, which is operated 24/7, and she will be connected to a medical professional who can help her try to save her child. That hotline is 1-877-558-0333.

This milestone comes despite the suppression of APR ads by big tech companies such as Google and Facebook.

Click here to read more.

Federal Judges Continue to Block COVID Shot Mandates

Within the past two weeks, two more federal judges issued injunctions against President Biden's vaccine mandates.

A federal judge in Texas granted a temporary injunction for 35 Navy Seals who were wrongfully denied religious exemptions from the Biden's mandate for military personnel, while another federal court in Florida issued an injunction against the shot mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors.

Servicemembers in the military risk court-martial and dishonorable discharge if they don't comply with the mandate and are being denied religious exemptions. Businesses that do not require their staff to be fully vaccinated will be ineligible for federal contracts.

Mandates are particularly problematic for pro-lifers, since all currently available COVID vaccines used cell lines harvested from aborted babies during their development and/or manufacturing. For that reason, many pro-life advocates believe that these vaccines are inherently evil, and they refuse to take them on religious grounds.

In both cases, Liberty Counsel is taking a large role in the defense of those who object to Biden's mandates.

In a press release, Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "The military had a clear choice—voluntarily accommodate those with sincere religious beliefs or be ordered by the court to accommodate sincere religious beliefs. The military has dug in its heels and continues to deny every religious exemption request. The Department of Defense now must report the status and disposition of all religious exemption requests and admit to the court it has not granted any of the thousands of requests. It's just a matter of time before the military shot mandate crumbles in court."

The state of Florida filed suit against the Biden administration to protect contractors and subcontractors from the mandate. In addition to violating the religious beliefs of many, the mandate directly contradicts Florida's "Keep Florida Free" legislation, which prohibits shot mandates on both public and private employees.

US District Judge Steven Merryday wrote in his ruling in defense of contractors that “Florida demonstrates a substantial likelihood that Executive Order 14042 exceeds the President’s authority” and “intrudes into a matter traditionally committed to the state.” He also wrote that the mandate would likely cause "irreparable economic injury," especially to "Florida entities faced with violating either a federal contract or state law.

Authorities Say Idaho Man Initially Charged with Assisted Suicide May Have Committed Homicide

A 19-year-old Idaho man who was initially charged with assisted suicide in the death of his 48-year-old roommate will be charged with homicide, according to police.

Dakota Travis Honeycutt was arrested after his roommate, Kevin Hunt, was found dead at a park in Star, Idaho. Honeycutt told police that he watched Hunt shoot himself, but did not harm the Hunt. Honeycutt told detectives that he left the body on the sidewalk, disposed of the gun, and returned to their apartment.

On Dec 28, the Ada County Sheriff's office released an update on the case. Ada County Prosecutor Heather Reilly said that she plans to charge Honeycutt with homicide for his role in his roommate's death. According to her, evidence collected during the police's investigation indicates that Honeycutt may have lied to detectives about his role in the shooting.

In this case, Honeycutt initially received lesser charges due to the potentially false story he gave to the police. Even if his story was true, Honeycutt's assistance in the act of suicide would show a lack of care for Hunt's wellbeing. Hunt's life had value, as does all human life. What is even more frustrating, however, is the idea that Honeycutt confessed to assisted suicide so that he could try to avoid the harsher penalties associated with homicide.

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Knoxville Tennessee Planned Parenthood Burns Down on New Year's Eve

photo from Knoxville Fire Department Twitter

In the early morning on Dec 31, 2021, a Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Knoxville Tennessee burned to the ground. The building had been closed since Dec 7 for renovations and nobody was harmed, but the cause of the fire is unknown.

Knoxville Fire Department Assistant Chief Brent Seymour told the Knoxville News Sentinel that they were dispatched after callers reported smoke billowing from the building around 6:40 am. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as well as the FBI have contacted officials and have promised to help in an investigation if the fire is deemed suspicious. “Any fire in a structure like that, you’re right, everything gets investigated,” Seymour said. “This may be a little more attentive.”

Ken Peters, the pastor of Patriot Church, was interviewed by WATE following the incident. His church is known to organize pro-life protests outside of the building. He told reporters that the situation does not make pro-lifers happy.

“This is not going to stop abortion. It’s the changing of hearts and minds. It’s the changing of laws. This might temporarily halt abortion, but this doesn’t stop it,” Peters said. “We care about life. That’s why we’re here. We don’t want anybody hurt. Christians would never participate in any sort of destruction of property, or looting, or rioting. That’s what the world does.”

Click here to read more.

New Hampshire Late-Term Abortion Ban Goes Into Effect

On Jan 1, 2022, New Hampshire's new law prohibiting the abortion of children after 24 weeks gestation went into effect.

Titled, The Family Life Protection Act, the law prohibits abortion after 24 weeks except when the mother's health is at risk. The law does not include exceptions for rape, incest, or prenatal diagnosis. Additionally, the law will require women to have an ultrasound prior to an abortion procedure. Abortionists who violate the law could face up to seven years in prison.

The ultrasound procedure not only gives pregnant mothers the opportunity to see their children and understand their humanity, but it also protects women from dangerous situations in which an undiagnosed pregnancy condition could make an abortion procedure deadly for both her and her child.

This law protects babies who can survive outside of the womb. With medical intervention, babies have survived outside of the womb as early as 21 weeks.

Click here to read more.

March For Life Chicago Adjusts to Mayor's Vaccine Mandate

March for Life Chicago has adjusted its plans for this weekend's banquet event in response to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's short-notice vaccine mandate.

The annual March for Life Chicago banquet will require proof of vaccination for entry, as the mandate forbids the Chicago Hilton from admitting guests who don't show proof. This is problematic for a pro-life event, as many pro-life activists believe that the use of cells lines harvested from aborted children is evil. All currently available COVID-19 vaccines utilized such cells during research and/or production.

Organizers have rearranged the event to help accommodate pro-life advocates who have not had a vaccine. Illinois Review reached out to organizers, who responded in an email:

"The March for Life Chicago is not requiring anyone to receive a vaccine to participate in March for Life Chicago events... 

"While most of the March for Life Chicago events are not affected by the mandate, the Banquet is being hosted by the Hilton, which is requiring either proof of vaccination or a documented exemption for a seated dinner. In response, the March for Life Chicago has changed the order of the evening so that everyone can still participate in the program whether or not they choose to be screened and then also have provided a dinner option for those who choose not to be screened."

The banquet reception starting at 5PM on Jan 8 will not require proof of vaccination, nor will the banquet's speaker line-up (which starts at 6PM). This is because no food or beverage will be served.

At 7:00PM, proof of vaccination will be required to attend the seated dinner. A pre-packaged food option will be provided for those who cannot provide proof, however. Those who take the pre-packaged option can have the meal in an area of the hotel not restricted by the mandate, or they can simply take the meal to-go.

The Illinois Review also noted that Mayor Lightfoot's order includes a religious or medical exemption for individuals. The exemption requires individuals to have a COVID-19 test administered by a medical professional within the last 72 hours. The Hilton has asked that those who choose to utilize this exemption show a letter from their physician for a medical exemption. Alternatively, they can show a letter from a pastor or priest for a religious exemption.

Click here to read more.

NAF Posts Job Listing for "Intelligence Analyst" to Track Pro-Lifers

A troubling job listing posted by the National Abortion Federation (NAF) on indeed.com shows that the organization is trying to hire an "intelligence analyst" who would create "dossiers" tracking the activities of pro-life activists.

The job description states that the intelligence analyst will "conduct research and gather intelligence on anti-abortion individuals and activities and to work with clinic staff and local, state, and federal law enforcement officials to prevent and respond to incidents of violence and disruption at abortion clinics throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and South America."

The NAF has a history of lumping violent acts together with peaceful protests and civil disobedience. Each year, the organization collects "violence and disruption" claims from abortion businesses and publishes them in an annual report. Additionally, the report does not clarify who committed the violent or disruptive acts. In 2019, the NAF admitted in court that over 70% of reported incidents were simply trespassing.

This could mark the continuation of a dangerous trend in which pro-lifers are classified as dangerous political actors not too different from terrorists. In the job description, the NAF repeatedly used the phrase "anti-choice extremists" to describe the people the intelligence analyst would be tracking.

Click here to read more.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year from the Illinois Federation for Right to Life!

We look forward to sharing the value of life even more during 2022!

Arizona Defends Law Banning Discriminatory Abortions

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a brief with the Supreme Court on Dec 14 asking the Court to allow a pro-life anti-discrimination law to stand. The law prohibits discriminatory abortions that are decided solely due to an unborn child's race, sex, or diagnosis with a genetic abnormality.

At the same time, 23 pro-abortion attorneys general from other states have filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the court to uphold its injunction preventing the law's enforcement.

California Attorney General Ray Bonta filed the brief to the Ninth Circuit. “The decision to terminate a pregnancy before viability is a personal choice and is protected under the law,” Bonta wrote in a press release. “Unconstitutional laws like Arizona’s reason ban have the potential to impact millions of Americans, including Californians who choose to visit, work, or go to school in the state. Using the law to take away a constitutional right from people who are already making a tremendously complex choice cannot stand. My office has and will continue to oppose this ban and others like it.”

The antidiscrimination law was set to go into effect on Sept 29, but it was blocked by the courts following a lawsuit by the Center for Reproductive Rights and (ironically) the American Civil Liberties Union.

Appeals courts across the country have taken different stances on the constitutionality of laws banning discriminatory abortions. The Supreme Court takes this into account when deciding which cases they should take up.

In his brief to the Supreme Court, Brnovich wrote, “This court has never otherwise recognized the purported right at issue — a right to race-, sex-, or genetic-selective abortions. The right to perform an abortion based solely on the results of genetic testing is novel, with no basis in the Constitution’s text or the nation’s history and traditions.”

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Congress Members Call on Google to Reverse Ban on APR Ads

Back in September, Google took down ads informing the public about Abortion Pill Reversal. Google is still prohibiting those ads. On Dec. 8, 24 members of Congress had a letter hand-delivered to Google CEO Sundar Pichai demanding that the tech giant reverse its decision. 

Live Action paid for the advertisements to inform women who recently started chemical abortions that they could change their minds and potentially save the lives of their children by calling the abortion pill reversal hotline. The ads had run since July 21 before being taken down by Google in September for "unreliable claims."

Google also took down Live Action advertisements that linked to videos showing the development of a baby in the mother's womb.

“Google continues to allow ads for purveyors of the deadly abortion pill mifepristone by mail, despite the fact this drug has resulted in at least 24 mothers’ tragic deaths and at least 1,042 mothers being sent to the hospital,” the letter said. “Google’s double standard on abortion is disingenuous and an egregious abuse of its enormous market power to protect the billion-dollar abortion industry.”

Click here to read more.

Assisted Suicide Advocate Developing Suicide Implant

Dr. Philip Nitschke

An Australian suicide doctor who made headlines earlier this month for a suicide machine set to be used in Switzerland next year is now advocating for the use of theoretical implants designed to end the lives of those with degenerative brain diseases.

Dr. Philip Nitschke is trying to develop implants that, if not switched off every day, will kill the user. They would be designed for people with degenerative brain disorders such as dementia. The idea behind them is that people with such disorders could have them implanted years ahead of time, and the implants would kill them when their cognitive functions declined to the point that they could no longer switch them off.

“So what we’re working on here is some sort of an implant which you have to switch off every day. When you’ve forgotten why you’re switching something off that’s beeping, then you will die,” he explained. “That puts the responsibility right back onto the person and allows them to get what they want, which is that they do not want to live on as some form of vegetable, with no one prepared to end their lives.”

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Mexican Abortion Groups Plan to Illegally Smuggle Pills into Texas

Pro-abortion activists in Mexico are working with activists in Texas to undermine Texas's pro-life laws and enable illegal abortions.

An article published by the New York Times includes statements from Veronica Cruz, the founder of the Mexico abortion activist group Las Libres. In her statements, Cruz says that her organization has been working with activists in Texas to illegally distribute abortion pills to Texas women. Cruz said that her group is knowingly violating the law, and that they are willing to risk jail time to ensure women can have abortions.

“If that’s the only way that people will become conscious that what the government is doing is a major violation of human rights,” she said according to the NYT, “then yes... We are willing to face criminalization, because women’s lives matter more than their law.”

Not only would some of these abortions violate Texas's Heartbeat Act, but they would also violate Texas law that regulates the distribution of abortion pills. Texas state law requires that only doctors prescribe abortion pills, they do so after the mother has an in-person examination, and that the woman takes the first pill while in the doctor's office.

Abortion pills can have severe complications when not used correctly. If a woman takes the abortion pill regimen later in her pregnancy, or if she has an undiagnosed pregnancy condition such as ectopic pregnancy, then she is could experience life-threatening hemorrhaging after taking the pills. By distributing these pills and bypassing doctors, Las Libres would endanger Texas women.

Cruz also stated that her organization was willing to transport women across the Mexico border to get illegal abortions there.

Click here to read more.