OPEN LETTER TO HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER

From Brian Burch
CatholicVote.org

I'm still upset about it.

Last week, House Republicans backed away from a vote on the long-promised 20-week abortion ban.

They did this despite polls which show a majority of Americans -- and a majority of women -- support this important piece of commonsense legislation.

That's why CatholicVote is calling on the House to vote on this bill now!

Over 17,000 people have signed our Open Letter to Speaker Boehner.

I'd like to include your name, too. Will you co-sign our letter?

Americans do not support abortions in the 5th month. And support for this legislation to protect children from pain is stronger among women.

You read that right -- according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, nearly 71% of women support this law!

That's why we must tell Republicans not to run from this fight!

Last November millions of voters helped propel Republicans into their strongest majority in Congress in decades. And just last week, hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans marched in D.C. and in other rallies across the country.

But our activism must not stop there. We have to keep up the pressure and demand that the House vote now to protect children after 20 weeks who can feel pain.

Please add your name to CatholicVote's letter before we send it using this link.  
Thank you for continuing to work and pray for an end to abortion in the United States.

Dramatic Reversal: Abortion Protests Lead to Promising Public Policy Shift in New Mexico‏

From Operation Rescue
Albuquerque, NM - The first-ever National Strike for Life, held on January 22-23 was an astounding success, especially in New Mexico, where the idea for the two-day strike first originated.

One of the most impressive developments to come out of the event was a dramatic change in heart of New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who campaigned as a pro-life supporter, but has been reticent in the past to take any action to make abortion facilities more accountable in her state where clinics have no oversight and abortions are legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

"There are literally no abortion laws in New Mexico. There's no waiting period, no parental notification, and no safety standards or inspections. There's no limits on abortion whatsoever. Because of this 'Wild West' attitude toward abortion, babies are killed in Albuquerque up until the day before birth," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, co-author of the new book, Abortion Free, which describes how to end abortion one community at a time. "Women and babies who should be protected by law are vulnerable prey to unscrupulous abortion mills that exploit the moms and take the lives of their babies for profit. It is only reasonable to call on the Governor for reforms."

Now, a remarkable turn-around has taken place as a result of a year of focused protests culminating in last week's National Strike for Life.


Find out what happened in New Mexico and why it is a big pro-life success!

Call Your Senators Now to Stop Gosnell Scandal Nominee

By Maria Gallagher, Legislative/PAC director
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation urges you to call your state Senators with this urgent message:

  "Please do not confirm Pedro Cortes as Pennsylvania Secretary of State. He failed to put abortionist Kermit Gosnell out of business when he had a chance. For the sake of women's health and safety, do not confirm Pedro Cortes."

If you do not know who your state Senator is,or you need his or her contact information, please use this link and type in your address. A window will pop up with the contact information for your state Senator. Please note: This is a state issue, not a federal one, so please do not contact U.S. Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey.

Please use this link for background information about how Pedro Cortes, when he previously served as Secretary of State, failed to protect women from Gosnell.

Thank you for making these important calls!

Carly Fiorina Shows Courage; Renee Ellmers, Not So Much‏

Marjorie DannenfelserPresident
Susan B. Anthony List

Rep. Renee Ellmers was awarded “Worst Week in Washington” by the Washington Post and "Loser of the Week" by Fox News after choosing the day of the March for Life to shock the pro-life community by derailing the House vote on the 5-month abortion limit (H.R. 36).

But if Rep. Ellmers had the worst week,Carly Fiorina had the best. At the Iowa Freedom Summit, Carly, a possible Republican presidential contender, leapt into the maelstrom created by Rep. Ellmers and lifted the pro-life banner high again. She called on Republican Leadership to stand by their commitment to H.R. 36, reminding them that unborn lives, not politics, truly matter most.

Carly even shared her personal story of how she is affected every day by one woman’s choice to reject abortion.

With pro-life women leaders like Carly Fiorina standing for Life, I know we can prevail and advance H.R. 36 to save babies from the horrors of abortion after 5 months.

Please give generously using this link to send us to the Hill to overcome Rep. Renee Ellmers' opposition and demand that Republican Leadership schedule H.R. 36 for another vote ASAP

The Totalitarianism of Same-Sex “Marriage”

by Joe Bissonnette
Crisis Magazine

In November of 1996 First Things hosted a symposium titled “The Judicial Usurpation of Politics” in which contributors discussed the threat to American democracy posed by the Supreme Court instated imposition of abortion on America. Nothing rivals the sheer volume of innocent human beings killed by abortion and yetFirst Things saw fit to focus not on the babies themselves or the mothers and fathers, but on the threat to democracy and the American experiment posed by the judicial over-reach that legalized abortion.

The legalization of same-sex “marriage” does not bring with it the innocent blood which cries to heaven, though it is perhaps the single most audacious social engineering initiative in American history. But the way in which it has been imposed in state after state, as courts have seen fit to ignore ballot initiatives, sets the stage for a United States Supreme Court ruling on par with Roe vs. Wade. The Supreme Court has announced it will rule on same-sex “marriage” in this sitting—exactly ten years after Canada legalized same-sex “marriage.” It is important for Americans to look at what has happened in Canada.

continue reading this article at http://www.crisismagazine.com


Joe Bissonnette teaches religion and philosophy at Assumption College School in Brantford, Ontario where he lives with his wife and 7 children. He has written for Catholic Insight, The Human Life Review, The Interim, The Catholic Register and The Toronto Star.

Help Remind Catholics in Congress That They Cannot be Pro-abortion

From Father Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Newly elected and returning members of the 114th Congress took their oaths of office on Tuesday, Jan. 6. Among them are some who claim to be both Catholic and pro-abortion.

I am asking you to help me remind them that you cannot be both.

Just as tens of thousands of you signed on to our Letter to Nancy Pelosi, I am asking you to sign on to a letter to these lawmakers who are trying to have their cake and eat it too.

We want to express our outrage that these politicians try to have it both ways – appealing to their Catholic constituencies that they are “good Catholics” and appealing to their pro-abortion constituencies that they will uphold legal abortion.

Also  as members of Congress swore to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo was laid to rest. When he was governor, Cuomo said that oath of office and that duty to uphold the Constitution were important to him, too.

But Governor Cuomo was a Catholic who supported abortion publicly, even while saying he was personally opposed.

Cardinal John J. O’Connor was Archbishop of New York for much of Governor Mario Cuomo’s tenure, and the cardinal did not hesitate to point out the flaw in the governor’s public vs. private beliefs on abortion.

The cardinal said human rights – the most fundamental of which is the right to life – do not depend on sectarian belief nor consensus.

Human rights belong to each of us because we are human, from the moment of conception until the moment of our death.

Will you join me in reminding the members of the 114th Congress of that fact?

Click here to to find your Representative and Senator and send them the following message or one similar to this: 

"Please be aware that your Catholic constituents, as well as Catholics and other pro-life voters throughout the country, are watching how you carry out your responsibility to protect the rights of the youngest children.

By hiding behind the excuse that you are personally against abortion but publicly support a woman’s right to choose to take the life of her own child, you make a mockery of the Catholic faith and of the tens of millions of Americans who consider themselves faithful Catholics and who find the killing of children -- whether inside or outside the womb -- reprehensible.

Representing all your constituents begins with protecting them."

This is the type of action that Priests for Life can take nationwide as we mobilize our movement. To help make it possible for Priests for Life to conduct campaigns such as this one, please click here and be as generous as you can.

How Will History Remember You?

By Thomas Whittaker
Catholic Stand

Consider for a moment the sheer gravity of this truth: that a society is fully capable of being blinded to the clear and absolute evil of an ideology, practice, or undertaking. Just think about it, regardless of your views; there is simply no denying society’s capacity for the normalization of that which even the most reduced and open of moral perspectives could find to be abhorrent. In the absence of an absolute moral code, pragmatism and rationalism step in to establish acceptable social norms. Society justifies the moral structure through what is perceived as being necessary to the maintenance of the status quo.

One needs to look no further than our own country’s history. For slave owners, slavery was critical to the maintenance of their plantations and farms. For many individuals, particularly in the South, the American way of life was seen as being contingent upon slavery remaining a socially acceptable practice. As such, the sin of slavery was neutralized as an associated cost to the benefits of free labor, and the practice itself became normalized. It was considered by many to be a ‘necessary evil’.

Have we already forgotten this? Have we forgotten the fight which we had to endure in order to see the horrors of slavery ended in this country? Have we forgotten how, in the century after slavery was illegalized, we still had to continue fight against the evils of racism and racial segregation? Do we not remember how it was a ‘common thing’? How it was widely accepted? Have we forgotten how denying another human being the freedom to live their own life was once ‘acceptable’ and ‘popular’?

So where are we now? In wiping out the stain of slavery from our culture, have we achieved some sort of societal nirvana where we now are incapable of blinding ourselves against such evil? I do not think so, in fact, I know we have not.

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

Thomas Whittaker is a student at Grove City College in Western Pennsylvania. Tom is a Political Science major with National Security and Sociology minors. Tom enjoys studying Chinese and Chinese history. Tom is a member of the GCC Track and Field team, the GCC rugby team. In his free time, Tom enjoys reading and playing guitar. Tom’s favorite authors include C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Surviving Roe v. Wade

LIVING ABORTION VICTIMS SPEAK OUT

By: Eric Metaxas
BreakPoint

Melissa Payne—pregnant with her second child—was traveling with her family when her water broke. Her baby girl was just under nineteen weeks old—far too young to survive outside the womb.

But God was preparing to work a miracle in the Payne family.

Doctors told Melissa that she would have to deliver the baby within the next three days—which certainly meant the little girl would die. Even if they continued the pregnancy, a specialist gave the baby only a five percent chance of survival. And, Melissa was told, even if the baby did survive, she would be so handicapped that she would be a tremendous burden on the family.

But Melissa and her husband, Kevin, refused to give up on their daughter. They found an obstetrician who was willing to help them complete the pregnancy, if such a thing were possible. But even this doctor didn't offer much hope.

As Melissa told LifeSiteNews, “Every day I was on bed rest I would feel her kicking and moving, and at the same time I would go to the doctor and they'd just frown and nod.”

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

News Release: Roe Week Flag/sign Display Stolen on Campus of Baylor University

Again, Baylor Pro-Life Student group faces attack on Roe Week sign/flag display. Third strike against the Baylor pro-life group in last decade.

From John Pisciotta,
Founding Faculty Advisor for Bears for Life
Faculty Advisor Emeritus for Bears for Life
Director of Pro-Life Waco

Waco, Texas The officially approved university event for the Baylor Bears for Life student organization was to have a display of flags and signs for the days of January 22 and 23. Members of Bears for Life diligently placed 200 small flags on the perimeter of Fountain Mall and 7 signs on each end at dusk on Wednesday, January 21. The flags were pink and blue to honor the 57 million baby boys and girls lost to abortion since Roe v Wade. (See photo).

The 14 “yard signs” invited students to pray as they passed each sign on their way to and from classes. Two of the signs read:

• Pray for Survivors of Abortion: children who survived an abortion, mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and friends.
• Pray for Adoption: 1,000,000 families in US waiting to adopt; for birth parents who choose adoption to have peace and hope; for the blessing of open adoption.

Other signs invited people to pray for pregnancy care and abortion recovery, awareness, and how to become involved in ending abortion.

All went well with the campus display on Roe Day, January 22. However sometime during the darkness before Friday, January 23, all the signs and half the pink and blue flags were stolen. The cost of the signs was over $500. Bears for Life planned to reuse the signs year after year.

Emily Gilcrease, president of the Bears for Life student organization, responded with to the theft:

Bears for Life believes in the sanctity of innocent human life and passionately advocates for it on Baylor's campus, striving to incite a cultural shift in the hearts and minds of college students.

Our flag memorial that represents the millions of lives lost to abortion since the decision of Roe v. Wade 42 years ago is our most successful event on campus. It truly sparks deep conversations across Baylor’s campus and gets people thinking about the value of human life. This year Bears for Life added a prayer walk to the memorial. Adding this aspect of the display was effective in the sense that it brought to light the need to seek God for strength in all that we do, especially as we strive to end abortion in America.

Despite the disappointment that we feel after having our signs stolen, this action only further encourages us to continue fighting for what we know to be the only life-giving choice for a woman in a crisis pregnancy. Opposition is validation and motivation for what we do.

Bears for Life will continue to pray for the lives lost to abortion as well as the women and men who have been affected by this choice. We will pray for the families and children waiting for adoption. We will pray for the women who will face crisis pregnancy situations in the future.

Our generation will see an end to abortion.
Emily Gilcrease is sophomore Business major in Human Resource Management from Katy, TX.

The annual tradition of having a pink and blue flag display during Roe Week has been met with criminal acts at Baylor in the past.

In 2006, all the signs were stolen. The thieves left this note behind.

Then again in 2009 the sign display was attacked with the debasement of individual flags. Condoms were glued to flags, and again a note was left behind after the crime.

Bears for Life 2009 president holds message left by those who defaced the flag display.

The current theft is being investigated by the Baylor Police Department, and Bears for Life awaits a response from Baylor Student Activities on steps to allow the pro-life message to be proclaimed on the campus.

Baylor University is associated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas

For more information contact, Emily Gilcrease, President of Baylor Bears for Life at Emily_Gilcrease@baylor.edu or Dr. Douglas Henry, Faculty Advisor to Baylor Bears for Life Douglas_Henry@baylor.edu

157 Babies are Killed EVERY HOUR in Abortions‏

Steven Ertelt, Editor
LifeNews.com

The United States marked 42 years of legalized abortion in all 50 states at virtually any time for any reason throughout pregnancy on Thursday, the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. Since that time, there have been approximately 57,762,169 abortions that have destroyed the lives of unborn children.

If you run the math, the number of abortions on unborn babies in the United States is downright shocking.

Each and every day since Roe, on average, 3,767 babies are killed in abortions.

Every single hour of every single day across America, 157 unborn babies are killed in an abortion.

And if you run the math, almost three babies are killed every single minute across our great country.

Those numbers are shocking and they don't begin to include the even larger number of babies killed in abortions around the world.

Every day, LifeNews.com is working to do something about this.

We are working with pro-life groups to support and promote pro-life candidates who are willing to change the law to little babies before birth enjoy legal protection and justice under the law.

LifeNews is highlighting and promoting pro-life legislation that is saving babies right now and, as we have reported frequently, is responsible for closing abortion clinics, putting abortionists out of business, and driving down the number of babies killed in abortions to historic lows in many states nationwide.

And, of course LifeNews is working hard to change the culture -- to change hearts and minds on abortion with our persuasive articles and essays, with feature stories on babies who have survived abortions or women who have rejected abortions, and with information, facts and analysis on how abortion hurts women, children and families.

And LifeNews is making an impact for life!

Just this month, almost 11 million people have already come to LifeNews.com for the latest pro-life news and information. Millions of people have read our compelling stories, such as Martin Pistorious, who recovered from a "vegetative state" after 12 years and said he hears everything that happened at that time, or our story about Ashley, a brave 13-year-old girl who rejected abortion after she was a victim of rape.

LifeNews needs your help TODAY to keep pushing the pro-life message in a culture of death.


Please consider a donation to LifeNews to help us reach more people to ban late-term abortions in the United States. A donation of $25, $50, or $100 today will help us reach millions of pro-life with the life-saving pro-life message.


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