Pro-Life Waco Action Updates for Aug 31 - Oct 14th

from John Pisciotta, Director of Pro-Life Waco

 Again, to be brief I will refer to our month ahead action agenda you see above. I will not discuss every item on the list even though each is extraordinarily important.

1. This week is abortion week in Waco
2. smile.amazon.com helps Pro-Life Waco.
3. PLW penalized by Waco Tribune Herald.
4. Moving forward strongly on 40 Days for Life

This week is abortion week in Waco: We lament. We pray. We act.

  

The Massachusetts abortionist, Nichola Louise Moore, will be here aborting babies in the womb this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 1121 Ross Ave. We hope to have sidewalk counselors, prayer support, and public witness beginning at 8 am and on far into the afternoon as possible. On Wednesday, we continue the Rosary for Life at 9 AM. Catholics and others who wish to join are encouraged to be out for this special time of prayer and public witness. The sight of people praying, with God’s grace, is enough to turn a mother’s heart toward life for her precious baby.



  smile.amazon.com provides a financial boost for Pro-Life Waco.

If you shop on Amazon.com you can provide a little help to Pro-Life Waco by using the URL(address) smile.Amazon.com. On this site, you will have the opportunities to select a non-profit organization you would like to receive a small percentage donation based on your purchase. Of course, that organization would be Pro-Life Waco.

A significant financial penalty for PLW delivered by Waco Tribune Herald.

  

For years Pro-Life Waco, like other nonprofits, has paid the nonprofit advertising rate for ads on the Waco Tribune Saturday Religion Page. I’ve been informed that PLW’s ads for 40 Days for Life would no longer be eligible for the nonprofit rate but we would have to pay the political advertising rate. Management of the Tribune views prayer at the sidewalks of Planned Parenthood as acts of politics. Can you believe it? The non-profit rate is $13 per column inch. The political ad rate is $27 per column inch. At this time, I have suspended 40 Days for Life ads on the Tribue Religion Page. I don’t know if the Trib plans to charge the political rate for all our ads in the Waco Tribune Religion Page. FYI, the Waco Tribune is owned by Warren Buffet of Omaha Nebraska. Buffet is America’s largest personal contributor to Planned Parenthood. This was our last 40 Days for Life ad, which the Trib sees as political.




Moving forward strongly on 40 Days for Life, starting September 27

The Waco Trib is not going to deter us from having an outstanding 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigil. The director of 40 Days for Life, Aine Fitzgerald, is working hard and effectively. 40 Days for Life is being sponsored in Waco by both CareNet Pregnancy Center of Central Texas and Pro-Life Waco. Ads are running on Christian radio stations KBDW and KYAR.
The foundation for a successful 40 Days campaign is individuals and groups committing to prayer at one particular hour of the week for each week of 40 Days for Life. Some of you signed up for your commitment at last Second Sunday. You will have an opportunity to sign up again on Second Sunday on September 10.  However, please don’t wait. You can make your commitment by going to 40daysforlife.com/waco. Or you can call 254-644-0407. Or you can email at prolifewaco@gmail.com.

For further information and to share with others about 40 Days for Life, I created an overview flyer on what 40 Days for Life is in Waco. You can access the PDF file at this link.

  

Pro-Life Waco is a local community-based organization with collaborative relationships with regional and national pro-life affiliations. Pro-Life Waco is committed to ending abortion, its damaging effects among women, and promoting chastity.  For more information on Pro-Life Waco, please use this link.

Federal Judge Hears Request for Preliminary Injunction Against Texas’ Ban on Dismemberment Abortions

Judge Lee Yeakel

By Dave Andrusko
National Right to Life

U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel of the Western District of Texas heard a challenge today from abortion providers represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights who argued that the state’s ban on dismemberment abortions be put on hold until a full hearing can occur.

The Dismemberment Abortion Ban section of the Senate Bill 8– passed by the Texas Legislature in the 85th Regular Session last May–is scheduled to go into effect this Friday. According to Texas Right to Life, “Judge Yeakel is expected to release an order on the preliminary injunction later this week.”

Texas joined seven other states– Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana–in forbidding an abortion “technique” that uses sharp metal clamps and scissors to crush, tear and pulverize living unborn human beings, to rip heads and legs off of tiny torsos until the defenseless child bleeds to death.

“Just like partial-birth abortions, dismemberment abortions are inhumane and gruesome acts of violence against the preborn child,” Texas Right to Life wrote today. “Passing these types of bills educates elected officials and the public on the horrific truth about the injustice and violence of abortion.”

Writing prior to the hearing, Chuck Lindell of the American-Statesman reported

Lawyers for Attorney General Ken Paxton will ask U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel to let the law take effect, as scheduled, on Friday, arguing that the state has a legitimate interest in outlawing a “brutal, gruesome and inhumane practice.”

They also say the abortion providers that sued, including Whole Woman’s Health and Planned Parenthood, are not entitled to emergency relief because they waited six weeks before filing the suit on July 20, leading to a rushed appearance before the judge days before the law takes effect.

Website: National Right to Life News

American Ninja Warrior Competitor and Wife Adopt Child with Special Needs After Losing Infant Son

The couple, who had wanted children so much, was devastated, but there was more that God had in store for them

By Nancy Flanders
Live Action News

In a story that played out like a popular TV drama (This is Us, anyone?), American Ninja Warrior contestant Josh Butler and his wife Katie were expectant parents who would devastatingly not bring their firstborn child home from the hospital. Yet in the midst of their deep grief, their hearts full of love, loss, and a future ripped away, they saw beyond themselves and adopted another baby who was in need of parents.

“Our first son Dewey was born in May 2015 with a genetic disorder that had never been documented before,” Butler told American Ninja Warrior. “He had trouble breathing. He had trouble eating. There were definitely some dark times, some sad times. Basically, all our waking hours were in the hospital. That’s where he passed away after 132 days.”

The couple, who married in 2012, learned in September of 2014, that they were expecting their first child. But at their 20-week ultrasound, they received heartbreaking news.

“In January 2015, we went in, and they told us there was some thickening of the neck and that the baby had club feet,” Katie Butler told The Daily Advertiser. “Those were all markers for genetic conditions.”

The baby boy, named Josh Dewey Butler IV, tested negative for Trisomy 15, 18, and 21 and doctors couldn’t tell the parents what was happening or if he would survive.

“They said that (ultrasound) machines could only do so much,” said Katie Butler. “and that we might just have a small baby. But as Dewey grew, things looked bad.”

Doctors often struggled to find Dewey’s heartbeat and on May 15, 2015, at 39 weeks gestation, doctors induced labor. When Dewey’s heart rate continued dropping during labor, doctors decided to perform an emergency c-section, and Dewey was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.

“They said the cord looked like it was only at 20 weeks gestation,” said Katie Butler. “It was not a healthy umbilical cord.”

Initially, the only diagnosis Dewey had was diabetes. But after further testing was done, doctors learned that chromosomes six and 10 had broken off and flip-flopped, but not evenly. Some genetic information was missing, and some was duplicated. Doctors were stumped.

Live Action News continues

40 Years Ago I Survived an Abortion, Thank God I’m Alive Today

By Melissa Ohden
Life News

If you’ve ever wondered what goes through an abortion survivor’s head on their birthday, I’ll give you a sneak peek into mine on my 40th birthday.

12:33 am: I’m woken up by our 3-year-old. I glance at the clock, realizing it’s now the 29th. I say a prayer, thanking God for being alive and continue this prayer multiple times throughout the day.

6:30 am: I think about how I was delivered around this time in the final step of the abortion procedure. I’m saddened and horrified thinking about it, while at the same time, so thankful to have been born alive.

These thoughts automatically trigger my questions about who all was present at the time or shortly thereafter and the effect all of this might have had on them. My grandmother was there. Nurses were there. I worry about them. Yes, even my grandmother. Did this haunt them throughout their lives? When did the abortionist first find out the abortion had “failed”? When did he begin to panic? Was I his first botched abortion survivor?

I reflect on the panic that so many must have felt. This wasn’t supposed to happen. And then to be told I needed to be left to die. To hear me, to see me, this suffering newborn gasping for breath. My heart breaks for them. I wonder, do they realize today is the 40th anniversary of that fateful day?

9:00 am: I wonder how long I had been in the NICU forty years ago today at this time. I wonder if my grandmother kept checking on me. I wonder if she was allowed anywhere near me? I wonder what that was like for her to have me there at the hospital she worked at, trained nurses at, for the next twenty one days. Was she ever thankful I was actually born alive, or was she simply angry that the abortion failed, and I was there like a black eye for all to see–the child born to her daughter out of wedlock?

1:00 pm: I can’t remember what time my medical records state that the neonatologist visited me, but I think of him today. “Approximately 31 weeks gestation,” he wrote in my records. I’m sure he assessed and directed care for many premature infants. I wonder what he thought of my circumstances?

3:00 pm: The words “it is finished” keep rolling around in my head. Of course, it reminds me of Jesus on Good Friday, as He hung from the Cross, but the words have been echoing in my head all day. After four days of the abortion procedure, today was meant to be the day that it was finished. Except, much like Good Friday, God was not done. What looks like the end, could very well be just the beginning. Thank God, truly!

Life News continues

Voices for Life is an e-publication dedicated to informing and educating the public on pro-life and pro-family issues. To read our Mission Statement, use this link.  

Follow us on Facebook, Google, and Pinterest.  Help us spread the pro-life message by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks.

Pregnant, need help or know someone who does?  

National Hotline: Call 1-800-712-HELP or Text 'HELPLINE' to 313131.
In Southeast Penna:  Call or text 610-626-4006  

If you or someone you know is suffering after abortion, confidential non-judgmental help is available.  Call Project Rachel's national toll-free number 888-456-HOPE (4673) or visit hopeafterabortion.org.  

Saving Babies With Down Syndrome Brings Out the Very Worst in Pro-Abortionists

By Dave Andrusko
National Right to Life

In light of an extremely troubling August 14 CBS News report documenting that virtually 100% of all babies prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome in Iceland are aborted, I wondered how long it would take for the usual suspects to blast proponents of Ohio’s S.B. 164, the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act.  As it turned out, about three days.

First, a few words of background. A week ago today, according to Ohio Right to Life, 

“Parent advocates, medical professionals and others joined Ohio Right to Life with supporting testimony in favor of this important legislation in front of the Senate Health, Human Services, and Medicaid Committee.” 

In addition to Jessica Koehler of Ohio Right to Life, “four parent advocates testified on behalf of this legislation, along with two medical professionals, Dr. Dennis Sullivan, Director of the Center for Bioethics at Cedarville University, and Kelly Kuhns, RN, BSN, a labor and delivery nurse.”

So what would S.B. 164 do? Pure and simple it “seeks to prohibit abortions that are committed for the sole reason of a Down syndrome diagnosis.”

So what is a good “there never is a bad reason to abort” feminist to say? How about “Anti-Abortion Activists Are Using Down Syndrome Parents to Argue Against Women’s Rights”?

Writing for Slate.com, Christina Cauterucci’s opening paragraphs are semi-coherent and make an ever-so-slight nod in the direction of fairness.

For example, “Advocates contend that a society that encourages women to terminate fetuses with Down syndrome is one that ascribes less value to a child with Down syndrome, which leads to discrimination against people living with the condition.” Ah, yes.

In the next sentence, however, Cauterucci is off to the races. “In the U.S., anti-abortion leaders are hijacking this rhetoric of the disability rights movement to argue against women’s rights to choose their own future for their families and bodies.”

National Right to Life continues

Amazing Video Shows Unborn Baby’s 9 Months of Development in 4 Minutes

By Dave Andrusko
Life News

I always love to watch well-done stories of fetal development, even more so of late now that our daughter-in-law has had two wonderful babies.

NRL News Today has written about many YouTube videos; here’s one more: “Life in the Womb (9 months in four minutes).”

So what makes this compelling viewing?

For some of the same reasons other well-done videos grab your attention: pace, music, and most of all the clear demonstration that fetal development is a natural progression, starting at fertilization and ending with the first cry. But there’s more.

For example, the video doubles back. You see that the baby has fully developed outer ears and then a little bit later the viewer sees a schematic (as it were) of the middle and inner ear. Message? Complexity.

You see examples of the behavior expectant parents can now see on 4-D ultrasounds: the smiles, the yawning, the swallowing of amniotic fluid, the nibbling on the toes, the movement to gain maneuvering room as the child grows larger.

I’m sure I’ve probably seen this before, but this video does a very nice job of conveying the last part of the baby’s journey: moving down through the birth canal.

One other thought: pro-lifers all know that the umbilical cord is the baby’s lifeline, connecting mom and baby, so that the little one can receive nutrients and oxygen. But “Life in the Womb (9 months in four minutes)” helps us appreciate what an endless source of fascination it must be to the baby.

When you have a free minute, be sure to go to youtube.com.

LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.

Website: Life News

Voices for Life is an e-publication dedicated to informing and educating the public on pro-life and pro-family issues. To read our Mission Statement, use this link.  Follow us on Facebook, Google, and Pinterest.  Help us spread the pro-life message by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks.

Pregnant, need help or know someone who does?  

National Hotline: Call 1-800-712-HELP or Text 'HELPLINE' to 313131.
In Southeast Penna:  Call or text 610-626-4006  

If you or someone you know is suffering after abortion, confidential non-judgmental help is available.  

Call Project Rachel's national toll-free number 888-456-HOPE (4673) or visit hopeafterabortion.org.  

Report Details Troubles at Pennsylvania Abortion Center

“This place is awful. Absolutely no compassion for the patients."

"It reminded me of an animal clinic; it even smelled like one.”

By Maria Gallagher
National Right to Life News

We now have a better idea of what led state officials finally to crack down on a troubled central Pennsylvania abortion center.

A report on the Pennsylvania Health Department website dated July 8th offers details of the myriad of health and safety violations found at the Hillcrest Women’s Medical Center in Harrisburg in June.

The failures included:

• Outdated medication and supplies
• Lack of documentation that a consultant physician had proper credentials for advising staff to ensure satisfactory treatment of patients
• Medication stored in refrigerators with inappropriate temperatures
• Failure to provide a sanitary environment. 
• Deficiencies included ceiling tiles stained with an unidentified brown substance, torn padding on exam tables, and a front yard with grass measuring two to three feet high.

Reading the 12 page report, it’s no wonder health officials shut Hillcrest down. But the closure came only after a complaint letter from state Senators demanding to know why the abortion facility was still open after a previous 44-page list of health and safety violations.

The latest report includes plans of correction for all the deficiencies cited. But, with Hillcrest failing inspection after inspection in the past, how can we trust the management to safeguard the health and safety of women?

Hillcrest has been closed until further notice by order of the state until it could be re-inspected.

However, Hillcrest has failed women time and time again with its abysmal safety record. It is time for the facility to be shut down once and for all. 

Here's a link to Life News with 'patient' reviews of Hillcrest Women's Medical Center. 

Editor’s note. This appeared on the blog of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and is reposted with permission.

Website: National Right to Life News

The Super Heroes in Our Midst

By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation


When my mother was dying of cancer and could no longer live in her rented house, I had to begin the difficult task of removing a life's worth of possessions from a home she had lived in for nearly 30 years.

I quickly determined that the most pressing need was to rescue the family photographs that documented her life with my father, my sister, and me. Among those cherished pictures was my official "baby portrait." This was my first photo--the one that introduced me to the world.

When I look at that picture now, I think of the drama behind it. My mother unexpectedly became pregnant shortly after her wedding. At the time of her pregnancy, my father was out of work, and the financial situation was bleak--so bleak, in fact, that she did not tell him that another mouth to feed had arrived in her womb.

My mother was fired from her job as a medical secretary because she was pregnant--an occurrence, she later told me, that was not uncommon in those days. As a result, my mother had literally nothing to hold onto--except for hope.

She courageously gave birth, with my father, who had no obstetric experience, delivering me, in one of the bedrooms of their two bedroom apartment. When the odds were stacked against her, when she faced ridicule from those who believed she had been irresponsible in getting pregnant, she chose life for her child.

The debt I owed her could never be repaid.

So I choose to pay it forward, to do whatever I can to help struggling mothers and their preborn babies celebrate the miracle of life.  And I think often of the strong and determined woman who let nothing stand in the way of her first child having a chance at life.

Perhaps this week you can offer encouragement and praise to a mother who defied expectations and criticism and made a critical life-affirming decision for herself and her child. These women are the true superheroes in our midst.

Speaking For Yourself About Contraception

from Helen Alvare
Women Speak for Themselves

Recently prominent women who have publicly questioned or criticized contraception have faced a lot of heat in the media. My article in the Washington Examiner provides a bit more background on this, and why we should be celebrating these women instead of attacking them. My goodness, even women who have decided to use contraception need real informed consent!

The world needs you to speak for yourself to change an untruthful, unrepresentative narrative of what it means to be pro-woman — both in the media and among your own friends, family and circle of influence.

WSFT has just published a sheet of talking points to use as a guide. Our "what to say and how to say it" is intended as a starting point for your own efforts in advocacy.

Also, you might find this blog post helpful in offering you some methods for refuting the untruths floating around today.

Excited to see what you do with this, and as always, grateful for your continued good work.

   

Women Speak For Themselves is a national grassroots movement empowering women to speak in media, local communities and online, about how women are disadvantaged respecting dating and marriage, especially because of contraception and abortion, and about how to reconnect sex with marriage and children for the good of all people. For more information on this movement, please use this link. 

 

Voices for Life is an e-publication dedicated to informing and educating the public on pro-life and pro-family issues. To read our Mission Statement, use this link.  Follow us on Facebook, Google, and Pinterest.  Help us spread the pro-life message by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks.

Pregnant, need help or know someone who does?  

National Hotline: Call 1-800-712-HELP or Text 'HELPLINE' to 313131.
In Southeast Penna:  Call or text 610-626-4006  

If you or someone you know is suffering after abortion, confidential non-judgmental help is available.  Call Project Rachel's national toll-free number 888-456-HOPE (4673) or visit hopeafterabortion.org.  

Planned Parenthood Supporter and Abortionists Agree: Abortion is Good Because it Eliminates Minorities

By Kelli
Live ActionNews

You’d think that the outcry would be great. Surely society would vehemently protest an industry disproportionately killing minorities at a startling rate. Surely the societal outcry would be enormous if such an industry was making money directly from the deaths of the poor and disadvantaged. Perhaps in a different society or in a different world, there would be.

Many people know by now that Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, a woman who believed strongly in eugenics — the weeding out of the “unfit” or “undesirables,” even endorsing forced sterilization. 

But so many have tried to honor Sanger’s work while claiming the organization no longer has any racist or eugenicist tendencies… that those things were merely a product of the time in which Planned Parenthood was birthed.

Unfortunately, we know that racism is like a cancer that never truly goes away. As Live Action News’ Danny David wrote, “Even in times of quiet, white supremacy survives in the shadows. As people who believe in the value of all human beings, it is our duty to call out the evil of white supremacy and fight it until it is no more.”

But sometimes, racism doesn’t stay in the shadows. Sometimes it comes out in public and says exactly what it thinks.

This past week, Bethany Janzen, Rocky Mountain Regional Coordinator for Students for Life of America, shared a story about an interaction at a SLFA pro-life protest in Colorado between Kimberly, a participant in the protest, and a Planned Parenthood-supporting man. Jansen writes:

On Saturday, August 19th… [t]en pro-life high school, college, and young professionals stood peacefully outside of Dona Laurita Art and Photography which [wa]s hosting a Planned Parenthood fundraiser in Louisville, Colorado. But many Planned Parenthood supporters did not respond in a similarly respectful demeanor.

One of these was a middle-aged white man who stopped with his family, inquiring why Kimberly, a minority graduate of a local university, was holding a “We Don’t Need Planned Parenthood” sign. 

Kimberly explained that Planned Parenthood does abortions which end an innocent human life. His response? Abortion is good because the crime rate has lowered since the 60’s due to a reduction in black crime.

Confused, Kimberly told him that about 66% of black children are aborted. The man responded this is why the crime rate went down.

“I asked him if less black people meant less crime and he said that’s exactly what he meant,” Kimberly stated.

Life Action News examples of racism continues 

The last 24 hours....

from Dan Bartkowiak, Director of Communications
Pennsylvania Family Council


I hope you join me and everyone in the pro-life community in celebrating great news out of Reading, PA. Not only are teens better off this school year but Planned Parenthood is really mad.

Let me explain:

Planned Parenthood made a push this summer to gain direct access to thousands of high school students in Reading – and to have you pay for it. But, after this proposal was brought to our attention from residents, we were able to rally together with other groups such as Students for Life of America, Berks Republican Women and Pro-Life Berks to show the school board that this was not the right choice for Reading.

I’m happy to tell you that the Reading School Board, in a 5-4 decision, voted against the proposal and to keep Planned Parenthood OUT of Reading High School.

Looking back, here are a few highlights:

1) Shocking statements from newspaper editor.


Ahead of the meeting, I received an email in response to a media advisory about this upcoming board vote, which included the following:

“At Planned Parenthood women can get free mammograms…very little abortions are performed.”

You can watch a short clip on Facebook highlighting my response which points out; 1) Planned Parenthood isn’t even licensed to perform mammograms in PA, and 2) over half of all abortions in Pennsylvania are from Planned Parenthood.


2) Diversity of the residents speaking out against this proposal.


People from both sides of this issue gathered at the door of the administration building where the vote was to take place. The school board meets in a small room and an overflow crowd spread out into the hallway.


What was striking is the first four residents to speak out; were all against the proposal: a mom who works for a teen organization in Reading, a high-school teenager, a former pregnancy center employee and a pastor.


Many of their comments were helpful, from the teenager pointing out how Planned Parenthood Keystone in Allentown failed three straight inspections – including the gruesome practice of disposing aborted babies down the sink – as well as the pastor pointing out the big business of abortion for Planned Parenthood and that the school should “stick to the business of education.”


3) Overwhelming majority against the proposal.


When it was time for the board members to discuss the proposal, several concerns were mentioned. One board member stated he counted all the emails he had received on this issue, totaling 585. He said the overwhelming majority were against the proposal.

Board members had other concerns such as the fact that no other proposal was considered, that Planned Parenthood is been so close to the school (just two miles away) with no other school having such a program and that the board was never presented with evidence that showed Planned Parenthood's proposal would actually work.

With all of these concerns, the board narrowly voted down the proposal by a 5-4 decision.


Watch this clip on Facebook for more reaction after the board meeting’s vote.


4) Statement by Planned Parenthood Keystone after the vote.

It appears that Planned Parenthood is fuming. Just read part of the statement they gave to WFMZ after the vote:

“These protesters don’t care about our children…They’re out-of-town bullies who used this vote to pursue a narrow political agenda without any care in the world for the young lives their actions affect.”

I’m not sure if anyone from Planned Parenthood was at the meeting but I was there. I saw dozens of Reading residents holding signs outside against the proposal. The first four people to offer public comment were all from Reading and against this proposal.

There were also protesters yelling out in support of the proposal. Police were on the scene and the only time they had to yell to the crowd was when someone in support of the proposal was screaming at a pro-life supporter.

And if Planned Parenthood was there, they are the one’s proudly stating they are a political organization that gives millions of dollars to pro-abortion candidates.

But bottom line – thanks to this vote Planned Parenthood is not starting the school year in Reading High School being paid for by taxpayers.

With only a one vote difference I want to thank everyone that was a part of this effort.

I specifically want to thank Students for Life of America, Berks Republican Women and Pro-Life Berks for their role in educating and informing the Reading community to take action.

Thank you to everyone that contacted the board members. Our taxdollars should not be spent on a high school office for the largest abortion business in the state. And I know those emails helped make a difference.

Let me end with this story. Michele with Students for Life was talking with a woman who stood with Planned Parenthood. Michele brought up how Planned Parenthood Keystone has failed numerous state health inspections. She didn’t believe it. “Prove it,” she said.

After pulling up the PA Department of Health reports to show the laundry list of infractions, this Planned Parenthood supporter was stunned.

You can make a big difference in the minds of those in your community about Planned Parenthood:

• People do not know that Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion business is Pennsylvania (and across the country). 

• People do not know Planned Parenthood offers no mammograms and no prenatal care in Pennsylvania. 

• People don’t know that abortion is allowed up to SIX MONTHS in pregnancy here in PA.

 

The Mission of the Pennsylvania Family Institute is to strengthen families by restoring to public life the traditional, foundational principles and values essential for the well-being of society. We are the only full-time, professionally staffed non-profit organization representing family values—your values—in the state capitol. We encourage responsible citizenship and involvement in civic affairs to promote respect for life, family, marriage and religious liberty.  For more information about this organization, please use this link.  

Graduates Step Up to the Challenge

from Mark Harrington, National Director
Created Equal


Columbus, OH – Aug 23, 2017 – While summer kicked off with our Justice Ride, this was just the first step of an ambitious summer campaign. From the "Riders" we recruited a core team to join us full-time for our summer internship program. What makes our internship unique is the combination of classroom, community, and field experience. Having answers is important, but we need opportunities to use our skills of defense. Lone soldiers can do great work, but being part of a band creates synergy to do more. Read comments from this year's class.

• "I've seen my relationship with Christ become stronger as I have been around a group of strong believers and as I've been seeking to serve Him in very direct ways." - Hannah

• "If you want to become an effective advocate for the preborn, this internship is one of the best ways to make you into a well-rounded, passionate, and versatile anti-abortion activist." - Isaac

• "I know so much more now of the pro-life position than I ever had before. I feel equipped to speak up and make the case. I know I can do this on my own." – Victoria

     

Read more experiences from our interns this summer:
Outreach at The White House: "Why would someone want an abortion?"
Urban outreach: "Why is it not okay to display these images if the action is okay?"
Developing worldviews: "The Mind of a Child"

Some of these interns will return this fall to continue full-time work. Others will take what they've learned to new arenas. But all will continue the lifelong work of defending babies.

   

Created Equal is a social action movement seeking to end the greatest human rights injustice of our time. Killing preborn babies is nothing less than age-based discrimination. Abortion robs us of our future. Our goal is to restore the true meaning of equality to include equal protection between the born and the preborn.

For more information on Created Equal, or to help them with their work, please use this link. Your gift helps Created Equal expose the killers among us.


   

Voices for Life is an e-publication dedicated to informing and educating the public on pro-life and pro-family issues. To read our Mission Statement, use this link.  Follow us on Facebook,  Google, and Pinterest.  Help us spread the pro-life message by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks.

Pregnant, need help or know someone who does?  

National Hotline: Call 1-800-712-HELP or Text 'HELPLINE' to 313131.
In Southeast Penna:  Call or text 610-626-4006  


If you or someone you know is suffering after abortion, confidential non-judgmental help is available.  Call Project Rachel's national toll-free number 888-456-HOPE (4673) or visit hopeafterabortion.org.  

High School Rejects Request From Planned Parenthood Abortion Business to Open New Clinic

By Micaiah Bilger
Life News

A Pennsylvania school board voted Wednesday against a measure to put a Planned Parenthood-run facility inside Reading High School.

WFMZ News 69 reports the Reading School Board voted 5 to 4 against the proposal as a large group of protesters gathered outside and in the meeting.

The sex education advocacy group AccessMatters first proposed the Planned Parenthood-run center in May 2017. The group asked the school board to approve putting the center inside the high school — giving the abortion chain direct access to young, vulnerable students.

The Reading Eagle reports the facility would not do abortions at the high school, but Planned Parenthood staffers would offer students sex education, counseling about reproductive health and referrals to their abortion facility in Reading. In addition, the center would have been paid for by tax dollars.

Here’s more from the local news:

Dozens of protesters and supporters lined the outside of the district administration building on Washington Street ahead of the vote. Tensions were expectedly high. …

Even Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale — who was against the center — felt compelled to join the protesters in Reading.

“I felt that this issue was so important that it was worth making the trip to Berks County because it comes to our youth,” said Gale. “What our youth should not be learning is that abortion is a form of birth control.”

Some board members who voted “no” said they weren’t totally against the health resource center, but had concerns with not having enough solid information about it, or concerns with its political optics.

Dan Bartkowiak, director of communications for Pennsylvania Family Council, who was at the meeting Wednesday, said the public did not want Planned Parenthood in its local high school.

“We heard from the board that contacts they received were overwhelmingly against the proposal,” Bartkowiak said. “And many across Pennsylvania made their voice heard as well since every taxpayer would have helped pay for this proposed program.”

Planned Parenthood Keystone sent out a scathing comment after the vote, claiming that those opposed to the center “don’t care about our children” and were not local residents.

This is not true. LifeNews learned that a number of local pro-life groups, including Pro-Life Berks and the young adults group Lehigh Valley Pro-Life Future joined local residents in opposing the measure.

Life News continues

When Humans are Reduced to Animals, Abortion and Euthanasia are Easier to Justify

Ultrasound of Unborn Baby

By Wesley Smith
Life News

There is too much anti-humanism around these days, efforts large and small that either state–or insinuate–that we are just another animal in the forest.
Here’s a small example that I think it is worth noting for those who care about human exceptionalism. In an otherwise interesting story about how a company is soon to market “leather” made from yeast, The Economist reporter slips in a gratuitous anti-human meme:

The whole leather industry, based as it is on animal hides, is vulnerable these days to sensibilities about the relationship between human beings and other animals that would scarcely have crossed peoples’ minds in former years.

The objectionable term is “other animals.”

The anonymous reporter could just as easily have written, “about the relationship between human beings and animals,” and the sentence would have lost none of its meaning.

Why didn’t he or she? My bet is that the reporter was inserting ideology into the story.

That ideology is that humans are just animals, with no greater or lesser worth than other species.

We see a lot of that these days in some areas of scientific discourse and, as here, in the popular media.

Human/animal moral equivalence is certainly the meaning of the animal rights mantra, “a rat, is a pig, is a dog, is a boy,” coined by PETA’s alpha wolf, Ingrid Newkirk.

Of course we are animals in the strictly biological sense, as are clams, flies, and bacteria. But not in the moral sense. 

There is an important distinction we must maintain. Humans are morally different from animals. Our lives matter more because we are more than the mere sum of our biology.

Life News continues

Blogger's comment: 

Scripture tells us we are made in the image and likeness God, our Creator. We are told to be fruitful and multiply. He gave us dominion over the animals. Genesis 1:26-28 

Either human life is sacred or it is not.  Those who do not have a Biblical worldview are destined to define humans as souless mammals, no different than any form of life. Thereby justifying the killing of unborn children, euthanasia and assisted suicide.
  

Attempting to Exploit Despiciable Events in Charlottesville, NARAL Calls Pro-Lifers Racist

By Shawn Carney, President
Forty Days for Life

Last week, the largest abortion advocacy group in America -- NARAL -- attempted to exploit the despicable and immoral events in Charlottesville to attack 40 Days for Life's peaceful vigils.

 
These days, most of the comments from NARAL lack substance; so it was not surprising that they took an opportunity to blindly call pro-lifers "racists" in the midst of a national tragedy. However, they did bring up the relevant connection of abortion and race.

One of the most socially acceptable forms of racism today is telling an ethnic group or nationality that they should not have children.

This is a growing problem in Africa, where Planned Parenthood and private donors from the United States pour hundreds of millions of dollars into expanding abortion. But there is another American export that has been widely spreading in Africa -- 40 Days for Life.

 

 

Today you will be inspired by Obianuju Ekeocha -- a 40 Days for Life leader, and the founder and president of Culture of Life Africa. Our newest podcast episode is "Aborting Africa": 

https://40daysforlife.com/2017/08/22/podcast-85/

Obianuju was inspired to grow the pro-life movement in Africa after hearing a pro-abortion American speak on her continent. She began organizing and building the pro-life movement in Africa, all while working in her job as a medical professional.

Obianuju has seen firsthand both the dangers and the fruits of Western influence. In this episode, she explains the devastating impact that President Obama had on abortion in Africa ... and the inspiration that Christians in America have played in saving lives from abortion in Africa.

40 Days for Life continues

Report Details Troubles at Pennsylvania Abortion Center

By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation


We now have a better idea of what led state officials finally to crack down on a troubled central Pennsylvania abortion center.

A report on the Pennsylvania Health Department website dated July 8th offers details of the myriad of health and safety violations found at the Hillcrest Women’s Medical Center in Harrisburg in June.

The failures included:

• Outdated medication and supplies

• Lack of documentation that a consultant physician had proper credentials for advising staff to ensure satisfactory treatment of patients

• Medication stored in refrigerators with inappropriate temperatures

• Failure to provide a sanitary environment. Deficiencies included ceiling tiles stained with an unidentified brown substance, torn padding on exam tables, and a front yard with grass measuring two to three feet high.

This article continues at National Right to Life News Today by clicking here

   

Voices for Life is an e-publication dedicated to informing and educating the public on pro-life and pro-family issues. To read our Mission Statement, use this link.  Follow us on Facebook, Google, and Pinterest.  Help us spread the pro-life message by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks.

Pregnant, need help or know someone who does?  

National Hotline: Call 1-800-712-HELP or Text 'HELPLINE' to 313131.
In Southeast Penna:  Call or text 610-626-4006  

If you or someone you know is suffering after abortion, confidential non-judgmental help is available.  Call Project Rachel's national toll-free number 888-456-HOPE (4673) or visit hopeafterabortion.org.  

How Paid Surrogacy Enables Men to Buy and Sell Women and Children

by Ardee Coolidge
Care Net

This past February, I witnessed my wife give birth to our son, Joshua. During the nine months leading to her delivery, I watched my wife become increasingly attached to the life growing within her. Joshua’s time in the womb developed a connection with his mother that grew by the day. To describe this maternal bond as a powerful one makes sense to most of us. Indeed, science continues to demonstrate that there are profound biological and psychological changes that take place in expectant mothers, changes that prepare them to care for their baby.

That’s why miscarriage cuts so deep. Women who have experienced the loss of a child growing in their wombs often mourn their deaths just like they would any other child. Assurances that the child was nothing more than a “fetus” or a “clump of cells” ring hollow for these women.

They lost their babies and they know it.

Continue reading this article at Care Net using this link.


  

VISION: Care Net envisions a culture where women and men faced with pregnancy decisions are transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and empowered to choose life for their unborn children and abundant life for their families.

MISSION: Acknowledging that every human life begins at conception and is worthy of protection, Care Net offers compassion, hope, and help to anyone considering abortion by presenting them with realistic alternatives and Christ-centered support through our life-affirming network of pregnancy centers, organizations, and individuals. For more information on this organization, please use this link.