Every #lifehaspurpose, so Marylanders March for Life

Join Hundreds of Marylanders to Rally for Equality, Possibility, and Respect

ANNAPOLIS, MD: The 36^th annual Maryland March for Life will be held on Monday, March 10, 2014. 

In the words of rally keynote speaker, Ryan Bomberger, Radiance Foundation:  

We all have that capacity within us. We’re all created equal, which means the beautiful possibility that is within that child who was “planned” is no different than that which was instilled in me despite my violent conception. My biological mother was strength personified. She chose to be stronger than her circumstances.

I am beyond grateful for her courage and the incredible gift of life and love she gave to me, especially through adoption.  And as I’ve discovered by talking to rape survivors across the country at events on college campuses, in churches, in schools, and in adoption-related conferences, there is a common thread. Children conceived in rape are often considered by their biological mothers as the only redemption amidst the horrific devastation of rape.

Led by religious services at St. Mary’s Church (Nondenominational Worship Service lead by Pastor Lisa Yerby -Bryson of St. Abraham Church and Mass celebrated by Bishop Mitchell Rozanski of the Archdiocese of Baltimore) at 5:15pm, the March through Annapolis to Lawyer’s Mall will leave at 6:30pm.  Rally speakers include Ryan Bomberger of the Radiance Foundation, Tracey Tiernan of WRBS 95.1 Shine FM, and Jeff Meister of Maryland Right to Life.

Members of the Senate and House of Delegates will join the Rally at Lawyer’s Mall. Marchers will then ret urn to St. Mary’s for dinner and networking.

Marylanders of all ages and creeds rally because every life has purpose. We rally to show Maryland legislators that life has beautiful possibility and deserves legal protection. We rally to unite in Annapolis for the cause of life. We rally because “it takes sharing the other side of the story, showing people the tangible reality of that 1% and the beautiful Possibility that every life possesses.” 

For more information visit  www.marylandmarchforlife.org or contact info@marylandmarchforlife.org

Van Brings Pregnant Women A Real Alternative To Abortion

Bishop John McIntyre blesses the Beautiful Beginnings van outside the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Philadelphia Feb. 18. (Sarah Webb) 

By Lou Baldwin 

Archdiocesan Catholic Social Services (CSS) now has another tool in its arsenal for the protection of unborn life.

During a ceremony at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center on Tuesday, Feb. 18, Bishop John J. McIntyre officially blessed a new van that will provide mobile outreach to pregnant women and new mothers throughout Philadelphia and the surrounding counties under a program titled “Beautiful Beginnings.”

(Watch a video of the blessing ceremony here)

In his brief homily, Bishop McIntyre likened the staff who will utilize the van and the new mothers to Mary, who epitomized the great “Yes” through the Annunciation and the Visitation.

The van, with a colorful picture of a newborn baby on its sides, may be the first of several. It has been provided by Real Alternatives, a private agency that administers funding through the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and also partially through the federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) program.

continue reading at http://catholicphilly.com/ 

 Lou Baldwin is a freelance writer in Philadelphia.

41 Reasons Why I Am Pro-Life

by Maria Vitale Gallagher, Legislative Director
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation 


In commemoration of the 41^st anniversary of the tragic U.S. Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade and its companion decision, Doe v. Bolton, here are the 41 reasons I am pro-life:

1. Every child, no matter what race, religion, or the circumstances of conception, has an inherent right to live.
2. Motherhood is a beautiful gift which should be celebrated, not eliminated.
3. Abortion is an egregious attack on the family.
4. A true feminist supports other women, including those in the womb.
5. Abortion is not an anti-poverty plan but simply a means to eliminate the poor.
6. As the big sister of a preemie, I learned the value of the littlest lives.
7. It is a supreme injustice to destroy an entire class of people—those with special needs—by means of abortion.
8. The pro-life movement sees women as strong and capable.
9. It is heartbreaking to see a father cry over the loss of his unborn child.
10. There is no supermodel more beautiful than a woman cradling a second life within her.
11. The March for Life is the most inspiring event I have ever witnessed.
12. I have seen women who have had an abortion experience profound healing and new hope after joining the pro-life movement.
13. The people, the people, the people!
14. No sound is as sweet as a mother singing a lullaby to her newborn.
15. A friend introduced me to the landmark book Grand Illusions by George Grant and my eyes opened to the immense tragedy that abortion represents.
16. My Church has been pro-life since its inception.

continue reading at http://www.lifenews.com

 LifeNews.com Note: Maria Vitale is an opinion columnist for LifeNews.com. She is the Legislative Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and Vitale has written and reported for various broadcast and print media outlets, including National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and AP Radio.

Newly Released Book Recounts Reproductive Cruelties in China

by Editor

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Population Research Institute is pleased to announce the release of the second edition of Steven Mosher’s best-selling book, A Mother’s Ordeal: One Woman’s Fight Against China’s One-Child Policy, complete with a new preface by the author. 

A Mother’s Ordeal brings home the suffering caused by China’s population control policy by viewing it through the eyes of Chi An. A family planning official, Chi An tells an insider tale of how young, pregnant women were arrested, confined, and bullied into abortions and sterilizations that they did not want. But when Chi An became pregnant with a second child, she left the country to avoid becoming a victim of the same policies that she herself had enforced.

A Mother’s Ordeal is just as relevant today as it was when it was first released. The one-child policy continues, despite recent changes that allow more couples to apply for a permit to have a second child. Some in the media have hailed—prematurely—the end of the one-child policy. But the horrors told within A Mother’s Ordeal have not ceased with the issuance of a few extra birth permits.

According to Anne Morse, media coordinator for Population Research Institute, the book is a must-read: “A fifth of the world’s population lives under a population control regime that has killed millions and wounded everyone in its path. If there is one policy that everyone has heard of, but few understand, it is China’s one-child policy. No one who reads A Mother’s Ordeal will ever forget the human face of this ongoing tragedy.”

Steve Mosher, who himself witnessed forced abortions in China, says, “Chinese officials estimate they have sacrificed at least 400 million preborns and newborns in their misguided attempt to jumpstart the Chinese economy. They continue to abort 13 million children each and every year. But numbers alone cannot tell the whole story. I left China with the cries of helpless mothers ringing in my ears. As you read A Mother’s Ordeal, you will hear them crying too.”

You can purchase A Mother’s Ordeal  at: using this link.

 The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending counter-productive social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of "overpopulation." Find us at pop.org.

Cecile Richards: When Life Begins Isn’t Relevant to the Conversation

    

by Cassy Fiano
Live Action News

Planned Parenthood tries very hard to keep the truth about fetal development from women. They’ve been caught manipulating the facts and giving women false information about their pregnancy. It makes sense, though. Planned Parenthood is the country’s largest abortion provider. If women were to know the truth about the inherent humanity of the unborn, it would likely put a big dent in their business.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, recently did an interview with Fusion TV’s America with Jorge Ramos. Interestingly, Ramos asked Richards when she felt that life began. The exchange was awkward, to say the least.

continue reading at http://liveactionnews.org 

Cassy Fiano is a blogger who lives with her husband, a United States Marine. They have a toddler named Ben, a second son named Wyatt, who has Down syndrome, and a little girl named Ivy.  ''

I Fight on Contraception Hill

by Austin Ruse
Crisis Magazine 
 

Contraception is one of the great scourges not just of our time but of all time. In two ways it sets men and women against their creator. First, because they choose disobedience over the clear teaching of the Church. Second, it says no to the creative work of our Lord. Both of these put their souls in jeopardy.

Contraception is also the font of many of the deadly social pathologies of our time; the sexual revolution, pornography, divorce and family breakdown, abortion and the mainstreaming of same-sex arrangements including what seems like an inevitable change in the social and legal definition of marriage.

This is why I have dedicated much of the past twenty years to fighting contraception. If you were to do a site search on my organization’s website you would see a few hundred stories about the evils of contraception. What’s more, my organization has been a leader all these years in fighting the spread of UN-style family planning around the world. Oftentimes my staff members are the only ones from the pro-life world at UN meetings where such things are discussed. You could say I have been dying on contraceptive hill for decades.

article continues at http://www.crisismagazine.com 

 Austin Ruse is president of C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute), a New York and Washington DC-based research institute focusing on international legal and social policy.

How to Talk to a Friend Who's Had an Abortion

 

Andie’s Story

"One night my best friend in high school called me, totally in tears... She told me she got pregnant her first semester at State and let her boyfriend talk her into an abortion. It was the baby's due date the night she called... What could I say? I had no clue how to deal with this. Growing up we were both pro-life.

 

...I told her to try to get over it and think about her future. And I thought she was just being dramatic when she said she didn't have a future anymore. But I found out that, a few days later, she tried to kill herself. I keep wishing I had said something that could have helped her instead of making her feel more alone.

continue reading at http://hopeafterabortion.com 

Love at First Sight

By Anne McGuire

A week ago I saw what must be the sweetest face I’ve ever seen. It was the face of my first nephew, who is due to be born in a few months – the first of his generation in my immediate family. A couple of weeks ago, my sister sent a generic video clip about Baby’s development, and the thumbnail image gave me pause. It showed the face of a sleeping unborn child. I must have seen hundreds of images like this already, but given the context, it affected me differently. As obvious as it may sound, it suddenly hit me that my nephew has a face. A week later we learned that Baby is “he,” and I was able to see the ultrasound of his face, which already has adorably discernible features.

I studied a bit of human embryology in college, and I’ve known many pregnant women.  Even so, I continue to find myself in wonder as I see pictures of the newest members of my friends’ families on Facebook or meet them face to face. Can it be that these… whole, complete, entirely new people were just there, hidden inside their mothers? Now you see them, now you don’t (or vice versa, that is). Of course the answer is “yes,” and yet I find myself trying to wrap my mind around this incredible reality when faced with it in my own life.   

 continue reading at http://www.usccb.org

 Anne McGuire is Special Projects Coordinator for the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. For more information on the bishops' pro-life activities, please visit www.usccb.org/prolife.