April 8, 2021

New Utah Law Requires Fathers to Pay Half of Pregnancy Costs

photo credit: Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash
A Utah law that just took effect can require biological fathers to pay half of the mother's pregnancy costs.

According to CNA, fathers in Utah can be required to pay half of the mother's insurance premiums and pregnancy-related medical costs (including hospital birth).

If a mother in Utah has the biological father's paternity confirmed, she can legally require him to financially support her pregnancy. This allows women to choose life after being raped or their partner leaves them without worrying as much about financial burdens.

The new law also states that a mother who obtains an abortion without the father's consent cannot require him to pay for the abortion. This does include exceptions to save the life of the mother or if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest.

In addition to fighting against pro-abortion laws and court decisions, pro-life advocates can help save the lives of the unborn by advocating for laws and policies that help disadvantaged women. This law is a good example of one that empowers women to overcome an obstacle that might otherwise cause them to have an abortion.

Click here to read more.

Nebraska Village Becomes First Outside Texas to be a "Sanctuary City" for the Unborn

photo credit: Jill Sauve / Unsplash
The small village of Hayes Center, Nebraska has become the first city outside of Texas to become a "sanctuary city for the unborn."

The majority-female Board of Trustees unanimously voted 5-0 to outlaw abortion within the city limits. Hayes Center, Nebraska can list itself among the 23 other cities which passed enforceable ordinances banning abortion.

The Hayes Center Ordinance declares, “It shall be unlawful for any person to procure or perform an abortion of any type and at any stage of pregnancy in the village of Hayes Center, Nebraska” and “It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly aid or abet an abortion that occurs in the village of Hayes Center, Nebraska.”

Abortion in this ordinance is defined as “the act of using or prescribing an instrument, a drug, a medicine, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to cause the death of an unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant.”

It further declares that abortion-inducing drugs (not including oral contraceptives) will be considered contraband.

According to the ordinance, “any person, corporation, or entity who commits an unlawful act . . . shall be subject to a fine of $500.” There is one important exception, however: “Under no circumstance may the penalty described . . . be imposed on the mother of the unborn child that has been aborted.”

The Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative has said that cities throughout the United States are showing interest in the movement.

April 7, 2021

Ohio Humane Disposal Law Halted by Planned Parenthood Lawsuit

An Ohio law requiring abortion businesses to bury or cremate the remains of aborted children would have gone into effect on Tuesday. Unfortunately, an Ohio judge responded to a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU on Monday by temporarily halting the requirement.

The Unborn Child Dignity Act was signed into law three months ago after originally being introduced in 2016. Mike DeWine (who was Ohio's Attorney General at the time, but is now the state's governor) conducted an investigation into Planned Parenthood's abortion practices in response to undercover footage showing that other affiliates harvested and sold body parts from aborted babies. DeWine did not find evidence that this was occurring in Ohio, but he did find that the remains of aborted children were simply being sent to landfills.

The Unborn Child Dignity Act would require abortion businesses in Ohio to treat aborted children as more than trash. Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood is unwilling to take even that small step.

Charges Against New Mexico Patient Arrested after Botched Abortion Dismissed

Last September, Women's Reproductive Clinic in New Mexico had one of its patients and her husband arrested for disturbing the peace after she complained that the clinic had wrongfully taken the remains of her aborted child from her. Now, seven months later, that woman has won in court against the abortion business.

The client, who is known publicly as "Jane Doe," had suffered two botched abortions on the same pregnancy by Women's Reproductive Clinic. She had attempted abortion via the abortion pill regimen, but she later had a surgical abortion after that failed. After she returned home from the surgical abortion, she unexpectedly delivered remains of her deceased baby there. Doe and her husband called the abortion business, which told them to return.

When they arrived, however, clinic workers wrongfully took custody of the child's remains. This upset Doe, who wanted to have her child cremated. When she complained, the clinic called the police and had them arrest the couple.

Lawyers from the pro-life organization Abortion on Trial came to the defense of the couple. Last Friday, the organization announced in a press release that the charges against Doe and her husband had finally been dropped. Furthermore, Women's Reproductive Clinic was unsuccessful in its attempt to make Doe liable for the abortion business's legal fees.

“We hope Jane’s story will continue to spread as a beacon of awareness and precaution to those considering abortion.” Says AOT Executive Director, Jamie Jeffries. “We hope those who oppose abortion see this case and realize just how much women need compassionate care after abortion.”

Click here to read more.

April 6, 2021

Don't Forget: Legislative Training Sessions this Week

Last month, Parents for the Protection of Girls announced that it would be holding four legislative training sessions online to help inform pro-lifers on how they can most effectively speak with Illinois legislators over Zoom to fight against the repeal of the Parental Notification of Abortion Act. Last week, it hosted two of those sessions. This Wednesday and Thursday, the final two sessions will be held.

To register for either of those training sessions (which will be held at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, April 7th, and 6:00 PM on Thursday, April 8th), visit the website below:


It is important that we protect Illinois's Parental Notification of Abortion Act. Not only would girls be more likely to make impulsive decisions without it, but human traffickers and rapists will be more likely to get away with their abusive behaviors.

Pro-Abortion Vivek Murthy Confirmed as Surgeon General

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy
Vivek Murthy, who served as the surgeon general for the Obama administration from 2014 to 2017, was sworn in by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra as the Biden administration's surgeon general on March 25. Much like Becerra, Murthy has a history of supporting Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion policies.

At the Washington Ideas Forum in 2015, Murthy voiced his support of giving taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood:

“There are many people around the country, many women, that I have cared for when I was practicing medicine up in Boston, who rely on Planned Parenthood for important services. I think what’s important, whenever we’re making any policy decisions, is to try to take it out of the realm of ideology, and put it back in the realm of science and public health. And the truth is, a lot of women around the country looked at Planned Parenthood as an important source of primary care services. The debate is focused a lot on a narrow spectrum of services, but the truth is, many women get their — they get basic health care and preventative care from Planned Parenthood.”

Planned Parenthood sometimes tries to lean on the argument that because it provides some services other than abortion, it is not simply an abortion business. While this might be true in a sense, it is disingenuous at most. Planned Parenthood often markets itself as an abortion business, and the number of non-abortion services it provides has declined year after year.

Statistics from Planned Parenthood's own annual reports show that the business has provided 294,493 prenatal services between 2000 and 2021. In that same time period, it also aborted six million unborn children.

The Hill further reported that Planned Parenthood gave Vivek thousands of dollars in recent years for speaking engagements. There is no indication that his pro-abortion views will have changed since the Obama administration.

Click here to read more.

April 5, 2021

Planned Parenthood Sues to Block Ohio Telemedicine Abortion Ban

Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit last week against a new Ohio law banning the use of telemedicine to provide abortion drugs. That law is scheduled to go into effect on April 12, but the lawsuit asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent it from being enforced.

Planned Parenthood argues that the law violates the Ohio Constitution and doesn't improve patient safety. In a press release, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America wrote, “Medication abortion [chemical abortion] is safe, effective, and a vital part of reproductive health care. Requiring that a patient see a physician in person to obtain the medication for a medication abortion does not improve patient safety, no matter what might be said by legislators who ignore science.”

Physically visiting a doctor is not simply a formality, however. It is important for a pregnant mother's safety that she sees a doctor in-person before she receives a prescription for abortion pills. When visiting a doctor, the doctor can administer an ultrasound to determine the gestational age of the unborn child and ensure that there are no pregnancy conditions that would make the abortion pill regimen unsafe. This is important because the abortion pill regimen poses serious health risks to a woman if it is used too late in the child's development. The same is true if she has a pregnancy condition, such as an ectopic pregnancy.

After the law was passed, Ohio Right to Life president Mike Gonidakis said in a press release,

“The signing of the Telemedicine Abortion Ban into law is a victory for life and for women’s safety. No woman should be subjected to a dangerous telemedicine abortion in order to pad Planned Parenthood’s pockets. Pro-Life Ohio will not let the abortion industry continue to treat vulnerable women and children as money-making opportunities. Women and children deserve to be put first. This law is a crucial step towards that end.”

Click here to read more.

April 2, 2021

Arkansas Gov. Signs Bill to Protect Conscience Rights

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R)
In addition to the ultrasound law that he signed this week, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson also signed a bill last week that protects the conscience rights of pro-life healthcare workers.

On March 26, Hutchinson signed a bill that allows health care workers to refuse to participate in non-emergency treatments if those treatments violate their consciences. These protections apply to medical workers, hospitals, and insurance providers.

“I support this right of conscience so long as emergency care is exempted and conscience objection cannot be used to deny general health service to any class of people,” said Hutchinson in a statement. “Most importantly, the federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender, and national origin continue to apply to the delivery of health care services.”

Arkansas Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe underscored the importance of these protections:

“In short, there is a concerted effort underway to compel the entire medical sector to adopt a utilitarian secular ethical outlook that would either force pro-lifers, orthodox Catholics, etc. to violate their deepest held moral beliefs as the cost of medical licensure, or compel them — as a matter of personal conscience — to get out of medicine.”

This new Arkansas law is set to take effect later this summer.

Click here to read more.

Secretary of State: "Sexual and Reproductive Rights are Human Rights"

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that his department will once again judge countries on their support for abortion in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices reports.

The Trump administration had removed the "reproductive rights" section from its human rights reports starting in 2017. Instead, it included a section with statistics on “coercion in population control.”

Terms such as "sexual and reproductive health" or "reproductive rights" almost always include abortion, especially when used in foreign policy discussions.

Blinken said as much when elaborated on the Biden administration's goals regarding the human rights reports and several other recent pro-abortion foreign policy decisions:
“It is one of many steps – along with revoking the Mexico City Policy, withdrawing from the Geneva Consensus Declaration, resuming support for the United Nations Population Fund – that we are taking to promote women’s health and equity at home and abroad.  Because women’s rights – including sexual and reproductive rights – are human rights.”

The Geneva Consensus Declaration was a statement signed by the U.S. and 31 other countries declaring that there is no international right to abortion.

Click here to read more.

April 1, 2021

Arkansas Gov. Signs Law Strengthening Ultrasound Requirement

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R)
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson this week signed a bill that requires abortion facilities to show women the images of their unborn children.

This is notable because ultrasound right to view laws usually just require abortion facilities to offer pregnant mothers the opportunity to view an ultrasound of their children. This was the case in Arkansas before, but now clinics will be required to place the ultrasound screen within the mother's line of sight during the ultrasound. Arkansas is the sixth state to have such a requirement.

Additionally, abortion facilities will be required to describe the unborn baby's development and tell the mother how many children are shown in the ultrasound.

Click here to read more.

Pro-Life Amendment to Kentucky Constitution Approved for 2022 Ballot

photo credit: Matt Turner / Flickr
In the evening of Tuesday, March 30, the Kentucky Senate voted to pass HB 91. This bill approved an amendment to the Kentucky Constitution which reads: “To protect human life, nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.”

In November 2022, Kentucky voters will have the chance to decide whether to ratify this amendment. If voters pass it, judges will be unable to find an implied right to abortion in the state's constitution.

When Kentucky Right to Life explained HB 91, it wrote,
In numerous states, abortion advocates have sued to overturn pro-life laws, and their respective Supreme Courts have “found” a right to abortion in their state constitution. This technique is how Roe v. Wade became our nation’s case law.

A number of states have passed constitutional amendments to protect their pro-life laws from such court decisions. Rep. Joe Fischer testified during a Senate committee hearing that HB 91 assures, “No Kentucky court will be able to fashion an implicit right to abortion from the language in our state constitution: there will be no Roe v. Wade decision in Kentucky. The regulation or elimination of abortion will be vested in the Kentucky General Assembly, not in the courts.” HB 91 ensures that it is the lawmakers of Kentucky who make the laws, not rogue judges.

Even though pro-abortion Andrew Beshear is currently Kentucky's governor, the governor does not have the authority to veto proposed constitutional amendments.

Click here to read more.

March 31, 2021

New Report Shows Continued Decline in Teen Pregnancies and Abortions

photo credit: Marcel Fagin / Unsplash
Earlier this month, the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute released a new report showing a continued long-term decrease in both teen pregnancies and abortions overall.

The new data shows that between 1980 and 2017, females between the ages of 15 and 19 chose to have abortions 82 percent less. Comparatively, the abortion rate for 35-to-39-year-olds only decreased by 8.5 percent over the same period.

Teenage women are also much less likely to become pregnant. The Guttmacher report shows that the teen pregnancy rate has declined by 73 percent since its peak in 1990. In that year, the organization found a pregnancy rate of 11.76 percent for women between the ages of 15 and 19. In 2017, the organization only found a pregnancy rate of 31 percent for the same demographic.

More can be done, but these continued decreases show that the pro-life movement is having an impact.

Click here to read more.

Pennsylvania Court Ruling Protects State Abortion Funding Ban

Abortion businesses suing the state of Pennsylvania were disappointed by a court ruling on March 26 supporting the state's abortion funding ban.

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decided 6-1 in favor of the state's 1982 Abortion Control Act, which bans the state from using taxpayer funding to cover abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.

In the majority opinion for the case, Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt wrote that the court decided to adhere to the 1985 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision supporting the law. Additionally, she wrote that abortion businesses did not have the legal standing to challenge the law on behalf of Pennsylvania women.

Notably, the plaintiffs charged that Pennsylvania's abortion coverage ban violated Pennsylvania's Equal Rights Amendment. They argued that because abortion is only sought by women, a funding ban discriminates against women. This serves as further proof that pro-abortion advocates would attempt to use a federal Equal Rights Amendment to require abortion funding nationwide from a constitutional level.

Click here to read more.

March 30, 2021

Senators Continue to Pressure SBA to Investigate How Planned Parenthood Received Millions in COVID Relief Funds

photo credit: Andy Feliciotti / Unsplash
On March 25, a group of 25 pro-life Senators sent a letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) to once again request an investigation into how the giant abortion corporation was able to receive millions of dollars in COVID relief funding meant for small businesses.

The senators write that Planned Parenthood was ineligible for the funding because it is “a national organization with central control over its affiliates which has nearly $2 billion in assets, and over 16,000 employees nationwide…” The SBA rules for COVID relief required that recipients be small businesses with fewer than 500 employees.

After it was revealed that Planned Parenthood affiliates had received millions of dollars, the SBA told those affiliates that they must return the funds. The Senators mention 38 affiliates that received funding in their letter, but they note that only seven of them returned the funding. Furthermore, two affiliates received a second round of funding.

“It is unconscionable that SBA continues to approve PPP loans made to organizations which are clearly ineligible for funding,” states the letter. “This is unacceptable, not only because SBA, like other agencies, must be a faithful and responsible steward of taxpayer dollars but also because continuing to make funds available for Planned Parenthood affiliates is in direct violation of the law.

“We urge that the SBA promptly open an investigation into how these loans were made in clear violation of the applicable affiliation rules and if Planned Parenthood, relevant lenders, or staff at the SBA knowingly violated the law, and that appropriate legal action be taken if so.”

This is the fourth letter Members of Congress have sent to the SBA addressing this issue.

Click here to read more.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth Introduces Bill to Require Taxpayer Funding of Abortion

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
Last Thursday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) introduced a bill that would require all health insurance plans (including Medicaid) to cover elective abortions.

Duckworth's bill, titled the "Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act," would reverse Hyde Amendment protections in existing law so that taxpayer-funded health plans must cover the cost of elective abortions.

When speaking about her bill at a press conference, Duckworth said that it was designed to increase access to abortion for people of color.

“This isn’t about what side you’re on in the abortion debate, it’s about equality and opportunity plain and simple,” Duckworth said. “Whatever you think about the procedure, we should all agree that what’s legal for wealthy Americans should not be so inaccessible for Americans of color and low-income Americans.”

This is a common talking-point for pro-abortion politicians, but it is not supported well by the facts. The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion organization that records abortion statistics, reports that while African Americans only make up 13 percent of the U.S. Population, they also account for 36 percent of the nation's abortions. This overrepresentation- while notable- indicates that African Americans are not having a difficult time accessing abortion. 

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) has sponsored the House version of the bill.

March 29, 2021

ERA: North Dakota Legislature Passes “Count Us Out” Resolution

North Dakota State Capitol
photo credit: Jimmy Emerson, DVM / Flickr
On March 19, North Dakota became the first state in the nation to pass a resolution notifying federal authorities that its ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has expired.

The resolution instructs that North Dakota “should not be counted by Congress, the Archivist of the United States…[or] any court of law…as still having on record a live ratification,” because the state's ratification officially expired on March 22, 1979.

The ERA was written to expire on that date if it was not ratified by two-thirds of the states by then. Pro-abortion politicians, however, are making a constitutionally-questionable effort to resurrect the dead legislation by retroactively amending the deadline in Congress. Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia have voted to ratify the dead amendment in recent years, and some politicians argue that the amendment has surpassed the required two-thirds margin as a result.

In 1975, North Dakota's legislature voted to ratify the ERA. Not only has the amendment expired since then, but the state's legislature holds the opposite view on whether the pro-abortion amendment should be ratified. The legislature passed this resolution to help ensure that the amendment isn't ratified now because the state voted the other way over 40 years ago.

According to many interpreters, the ERA would create a universal right to abortion. Courts could strike down pro-life laws across the country. Even if the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, a universal right to abortion could still threaten the lives of unborn children throughout the US.

Click here to read more.

March 26, 2021

Researchers Suggest Experiments on Humans Embryos Grown in Artificial Wombs

photo credit: ZEISS Microscopy / Flickr
A group of Israeli researchers recently published research showing that they successfully grew mouse embryos in an artificial uterus for 12 days. The lead researcher on that experiment is suggesting that human embryos should be grown in similar wombs for research purposes.

Dr. Jacob Hanna, working for the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, led this team of researchers. He wrote that his experiments on mice could help scientists understand how miscarriages and gene mutations occur. Hanna also said that he would like to experiment on human embryos in the future.

“I do understand the difficulties. I understand. You are entering the domain of abortions,” Hanna told MIT Technology Review. “So I would advocate growing it [the human embryo] until day 40 and then disposing of it.”

Hanna says that tissue created from this practice could replace the tissue currently obtained by harvesting it from the bodies of aborted children. Ethically, however, this practice would not be much different. It can be argued that creating human beings specifically to harvest their tissues or organs is even worse than getting the tissue from aborted babies. The bodies of human beings should not be used as commodities.

“Once the guidelines are updated, I can apply, and it will be approved. It’s a very important experiment,” says Hanna, referring to a ban on conducting research on human embryos past 14 days of development. “We need to see human embryos gastrulate and form organs and start perturbing it. The benefit of growing human embryos to week three, week four, week five is invaluable. I think those experiments should at least be considered. If we can get to an advanced human embryo, we can learn so much.”

Click here to read more.

March 25, 2021

Sign up for a Legislative Training Session and Learn How to Protect Illinois's Parental Notification Law

To fight against the repeal of the Parental Notification of Abortion Act, Parents for the Protection of Girls will be holding several legislative training sessions with the goal of educating pro-lifers on how to speak with legislators using Zoom.

If you are interested in speaking with legislators to advocate against this pro-abortion bill, please sign up for one of these training sessions. You can register to attend one of the four scheduled webinars by visiting this website: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/parents-for-the-protection-of-girls-legislative-training-sessions-registration-147188385423

Repealing the parental notification would protect human traffickers and harm victims of rape and incest.

More resources can be found on the Diocese of Springfield website here:

https://www.dio.org/plasm/resources.html

Catholic Conference of Illinois Defends Parental Notification of Abortion Act

As pro-abortion lawmakers continue to fight for the repeal of Illinois's Parental Notification of Abortion Act, the Catholic Bishops of Illinois have taken a stand in favor of the pro-life law.

On March 16th, the Catholic Conference of Illinois sent out a call to action letter in which they warned that repealing parental notification would lead to “tragic and irreversible outcomes.”

"In every other facet of life, we are taught–and we teach–that parental involvement is key to the child’s best interest. Repealing the Act is nothing less than an invasion into the sacred space of family life by the state, with no provision to support the minor emotionally, humanly or materially at a critical moment in her life."

The bishops go on to argue,

"Simply put, the Parental Notice of Abortion Act works. According to statistics gathered by the Illinois Department of Public Health, since the law’s final enactment by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2013, abortions performed on minors in Illinois have decreased over 30 percent. The lives saved by this law are real and present among us.  

These are the reasons every state in the Midwest and 37 states overall have laws requiring some form of parental involvement in the decision of a minor to have an abortion. Illinois has been among those states for 8 years and no obvious problems or detriments have been publicly exposed. The repeal of Parental Notice of Abortion is a tragic solution in search of a problem."

Click here to read more.

Rachel Levine Confirmed as Assistant HHS Secretary

Rachel Levine, the transgender nominee for assistant secretary of the HHS, was confirmed to the position by a 52-48 vote in the Senate on Wednesday.

Every Democrat voted in favor of the Biden nominee, with Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joining them.

In addition to her controversial opinion that minors should be allowed to undergo sex-change procedures, Levine is also known for opposing religious exemptions to the HHS contraceptive coverage mandate. Levine called the exemptions granted to the Little Sisters of the Poor by the Trump administration "immoral and unethical."