Pro-Life Group Challenges Planned Parenthood at their "Cocktails for a Cause" in Austin, Texas

John Pisciotta, Director
Pro-Life Waco

Pro-life challenge to Planned Parenthood’s “Cocktails for a Cause” took place in Austin on May 19. After six years of celebration of the causes of abortion and promiscuity, this event was “greeted” by a small and enthusiastic group of pro-lifers committed to action in the public arena. 

Four came down with signs from Waco. John Ecker drove with passengers John, Vincent, and Gary. Lynn Williams of Round Rock led the Austin-area contingent that included Carol, Lynn’s grandson, and six-year-old great-grandson. How is that for a Tuesday evening family outing?

Our outreach happened on busy 6th Street on the sidewalks in front of “The Belmont” where the Planned Parenthood faithful gathered for the 6-8 PM fundraiser. We were there from 5-7 PM to greet those who entered past a variety of signs.

Planned Parenthood claimed 400 would attend. I would not dispute this number. Planned Parenthood allies streamed in, with many using valet parking at $10 a car.

The Planned Parenthood backers were not at all pleased to walk through and past pro-lifers with signs to get to their festive celebration of fornication. The environment remained calm. A few words were exchanged. However, the “choice side” was not interested in discussion.

A handful of rented security guards were on site. They called the police, hoping to get us removed. It did not take long for the police to put Planned Parenthood security in their place with the reality that we were acting lawfully in a public right of way.

I learned that failed candidate for Texas governor, Wendy Davis, attended and spoke encouraging words about their pernicious cause. 

Wendy apparently slipped in through a back door and did not avail herself of the opportunity to see our signs designed just for her. In addition to face-to-face engagement with those who paid $65 each to attend, our outreach was witnessed by those walking on both sides of 6th Street and those in heavy auto traffic.

After our time in front of “The Belmont” our contingent drove out to Cracker Barrel in Round Rock for a time of dining, fellowship, and laughter. The Waco gang departed at 3:00 PM and did not return until 11 PM. The pro-life cause will bring us back to “Cocktails for a Cause” in 2016.

Interviewing Kermit Gosnell is “sitting in the presence of evil”

Kermit Gosnell

By Dave Andrusko
National Right to Life News Today

Earlier this week we posted about what promised to be a remarkable interview. Trice convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell had, for his own bizarre reasons, agreed to give a prison interview to the producers of “Gosnell,” a forth coming film that will be highly critic of the man whose abortion clinic Philadelphia District Attorney called a “House of Horror.”

Ann McElhinney was interviewed on TheBlaze TV’s Dana and talked about the two-hour interview, which left her unable to speak for a full hour afterwards, so disturbing was their time with Gosnell. You can read a précis of her remarks and also be linked to the full interview.

Here’s what stands out to me, as someone who has read the entire 261-page report multiple times, dozens and dozens of stories about this 2013 trial, and an e-book.

McElhinney said while she has met many criminals throughout her journalistic career, with Gosnell “you are really sitting in the presence of evil.” She went on:

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

Tell the U.S. Supreme Court you stand with Priests for Life

From Father Frank Pavone, National Director 

Priests for Life

We at Priests for Life are headed for the Supreme Court!

From the very beginning of our challenge to President Obama's HHS mandate -- and we were only the fourth group to launch such a challenge in federal court, back in February of 2012 -- we said we would go as far as we needed to go, all the way to the Supreme Court.

Now, having had both the District Court and the Appeals Court rule against us, the time for that has come. This past week, the Appeals Court rejected our request to have the full panel of judges rehear the case. So now we have 90 days to appeal to the Supreme Court. And in the meantime, we need the Appeals court to keep in place the injunction which has protected us from the mandate throughout this litigation.

Priests for Life has been, and remains, the "lead case" for the religious non-profit sector, just as Hobby Lobby was for the business sector.

Our case -- represented by the American Freedom Law Center, and our attorneys Robert Muise and David Yerushalmi -- is farther along in the courts than the others -- even though some have gotten more media. None has gone to the Supreme Court yet on the merits of the arguments. There has been some Supreme Court activity just about preliminary injunctions, while the arguments on the merits of those other cases are being heard in lower courts.

But Priests for Life is about to ask the Supreme Court to hear our case on its merits! And we want your voice to be heard along with ours!

We are asking you to send us an email that says “I Stand with Priests for Life” to let us know we have your support.

This means a lot to me. Knowing you are with us, in prayer and action, means a lot also to our whole team here at Priests for Life, and to the other leaders, government officials, and Priests for Life supporters around the country.

I am also getting ready to send a message to the Holy Father and to the various offices at the Vatican to update them about our lawsuit, and I want them to see how many people are standing with us!

Taking this step does not involve you in any legal battles or impose any legal liabilities or responsibilities. This is simply an expression of your support for our efforts, and a pledge of your prayers for the success of our case.

But let me also assure you, should the Court ultimately refuse to hear the case or ultimately rule that we need to obey the mandate, I say, as I have in the past, We will obey God rather than men.

So please click here for the information on how to send that email today. And please send this email to as many people as you can!

Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Legislative Director to Give Talk in Carlisle

'Defending Life in Public Policy'

From the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

Saint Gabriel Respect Life Ministry's Pro-Vita Institute will conduct a program focused on the defense of human life in our nation. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at the St. Patrick Catholic Church Parish Activity Center, 140 E Pomfret St,  Carlisle. (Use this link for driving directions.) 

Speakers for this program will be:

•  Rev. Paul Schenck, Director of Pro-Life, Diocese of Harrisburg: "The Personhood Debate in America Today"

• Dr. Lauren Winn, Center for Women's Health, Camp Hill, associated with Holy Spirit Hospital: "Essential Elements of Embryonic Development"

• Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director, PA Pro-Life Federation: "Defending Life in Public Policy."

The cost is $10 and includes lunch and reading materials. For more information contact Patty atdowlingkp@yahoo.com or Gabriel at marcella@pa.net.

Florida Court Blocks Surgical Abortions at Kissimmee Planned Parenthood‏

By Cheryl Sullenger Operation Rescue Kissimmee, FL - A Florida Court of Appeals has ruled that Planned Parenthood's recently opened facility in Kissimmee cannot provide surgical abortions because the procedures violate restrictions placed on facilities in the medical park where the abortion clinic is located. Planned Parenthood located to the Oak Commons Medical Park, owned by MMB Properties, and opened in July 2014, under the false pretenses of being a "doctor's office." The "declaration of restrictions" for facilities within the Oak Commons Medical Park clearly states that property cannot be used as an "Outpatient Surgical Center." Continue reading to learn more about this victory and view the court opinion!

Painful Deaths for the Unborn‏

from Steve Stockman
United States Congressman

Great news! 

The Pain Capable Abortion ban just passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week. Now the fight will continue in the U.S. Senate where it is sure to face intense opposition from the abortion lobby. Please read my message below for more information about what's at stake.

You may remember when news broke two years ago about the grotesque practice of late-term abortionist, Kermit Gosnell, in Philadelphia. The nation was horrified.

But if Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama get their way, it will remain perfectly legal to kill babies right up until the moment of birth.

Now I’m hoping that you will sign the petition in favor of the Pain Capable Abortion Ban to your two United States Senators which I'll link to in a moment.

You see, America was appalled when they got a glimpse into the true horrors of the abortion industry when Kermit Gosnell was convicted for doing virtually the same thing that other abortionists do on a routine basis. The difference? A few seconds.

Gosnell waited until babies were delivered before he killed them, instead of "legally" doing it inside the womb.

But babies at this age are viable, fully formed human beings capable of feeling pain. The Supreme Court has permitted paid assassins to stab, burn, dissect, poison and throw these innocent babies away like trash, right up until seconds before birth.

That's why it is so urgent you  sign the petition to your two United States Senators.

After the horrors of the Gosnell case, you'd think that ending late-term abortions of fully developed unborn babies would be a no-brainer -- especially since the abortion movement worked so hard to distance itself from him. Not so. Nancy Pelosi even went so far to defend it by declaring the so-called "right" to a late-term abortion "sacred ground."

You see, the abortion lobby is so radical, that they can't even stomach abortion restrictions on fully formed viable babies at the late date of FIVE MONTHS. At five months, an unborn baby has all of his or her organs. They can -- and have -- survived outside of the womb.

So it's time to make politicians who condone this slaughter go on record and pay politically for their radical support of abortion-on-demand.

That's why I'm hoping you'll  sign your name to this petition right away.

You see, full-scale, public debate in the United States Senate over the Pain Capable Abortion Ban will again demonstrate to the nation the true horror of abortion. And it will expose the radical nature of the pro-abortion politicians.

When radical pro-abortion Senators attempt to filibuster the Pain Capable Abortion Ban in the Senate -- as I'm sure they will -- the entire nation will see graphically what you and I already know:

• That a baby at 20 weeks or more of gestation feels intense pain.

• That a 20 week abortion is an operation which brutally dismembers a fully formed child, piece by piece.

• That the abortion movement not only thinks these brutal abortions are a constitutional right -- they believe you should be forced to pay for them.

The Pain Capable Abortion Ban is designed to outlaw this ghastly crime.

As a result of the efforts of the National Pro-Life Alliance members and other pro-lifers who cranked up the issue debate, politicians like Senators Mary Landrieu, Mark Udall and dozens of pro-abortion politicians in Congress have seen their careers abruptly halted.

And looking ahead, there is a rich target list of Senators who voted radically pro-abortion in the past and face tough elections the next two cycles.

By turning up the heat through a massive, national grassroots campaign in this session of Congress, one of two things will happen:

If you and other pro-life activists pour on enough pressure, pro-lifers can break the filibuster and win passage of the bill, to ban a barbaric practice that claims the lives of thousands of children every year.

But even if the bill does not immediately pass, the public attention and subsequent outcry will send another crew of radical abortionists down to defeat the next time they face the voters.

And then we'll have enough votes to pass other important reforms like requiring ultrasounds, the Parental Notification and Intervention Act, and ultimately a Life at Conception Act to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Either way, the unborn win . . . unless you do nothing.

That's why you and other pro-life activists must bombard members of the Senate with petitions, postcards, calls and letters.

And the first thing you must do is to sign your petition.

They are the key ingredient in the National Pro-Life Alliance's plan to pass the Ban on Pain Capable Abortion.

Your National Pro-Life Alliance can't match the millions of tax dollars Planned Parenthood is spending to lobby for abortion-on-demand.

But with your petition and chip in contribution of $10 or $20, we can generate enough heat in the right places to, for the first time in history, pass a bill to END and not just regulate a whole class of abortions.

But it's urgent you act now.

Thousands of babies die in this gruesome procedure every year -- just a few inches away from a live birth.

Victory for Rhode Island Pro-Lifers:

New Rule Requires Abortion-Excluding Healthcare Plans for 2016

Flag of Rhode Island

by Genevieve Plaster
Charlotte Lazier Institute

Beginning in 2016, Rhode Island health insurance carriers who will offer plans either on or off the exchange will be required to provide an elective abortion-free plan at each metal level at which they will offer plans. Research from the Charlotte Lozier Institute and the Family Research Council in November 2014 showed that Rhode Island was one of four states that offered only plans covering elective abortion for the 2015 enrollment period.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced on May 18 that the change is a result of a lawsuit that the legal organization filed on behalf of an HIV-positive pro-life resident who was forced off his private insurance. Because the Affordable Care Act mandates that individuals who buy a federally subsidized plan covering elective abortion pay a separate abortion surcharge, all Rhode Island residents who purchased any exchange plan were required to pay into the abortion fund. By guaranteeing new plan options that exclude elective abortion in 2016, the revision will free Rhode Islanders who object to paying the abortion fee from the mandate.

continue reading at https://www.lozierinstitute.org

The goal of the Charlotte Lozier Institute is to promote deeper public understanding of the value of human life, motherhood, and fatherhood, and to identify policies and practices that will protect life and serve both women’s health and family well-being. Our profound conviction is that the insights available through the best science, sociology and psychology cannot help but demonstrate that each and every human is not only “fearfully and wonderfully made” but blessed to be born at this time in human history.

Find out more about the Lozier Institute using this link.

Beware, These Aren’t Your Parents’ Scouts!

by Birgit Jones
Catholic Stand

This isn’t your parent’s scouting!

As if it’s not bad enough that the Girl Scouts of America are in cahoots with abortion giant Planned Parenthood, enter the push within the Boy Scouts of America for openly homosexual leaders. As it is, they already accept openly gay scouts into the fold.

But now we have more, deeply troubling developments in the world of scouting.

The Girl Scouts have decided to embrace cross-dressing children into their club. So if your little girl doesn’t want to share her troop with a boy in girl’s clothing, too bad!

The Boy Scouts, on the other hand, have decided to show their feminine side. Not to appear overly male, their leadership has decided that water guns can be forbidden. That’s right, it’s too violent to point a colorful plastic toy, containing water, at a fellow scout. Not to be forgotten are the equally enlightened parameters for water balloons – they must not be larger than a ping pong ball.

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

Birgit is a 50-something cradle Catholic who is passionate about the pro-life movement. She has been married to her Catholic convert husband, Rick, for 39 years. They have four children and eight living grandchildren (all age ten and under). Their frequent visits eliminate any fear of an empty nest! Birgit can also be found on her personal blog Designs By Birgit and Facebook fan pageDesigns By Birgit, where she shares the pro-life memes she creates.

Urgent Action Request: PETITION TO MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER

To immediately release the bodies of babies murdered by Kermit Gosnell, from the Medical Examiner’s Office, to allow them to be properly buried.

From Ted Meehan
Philly Alive 

It was in May 2010 that the Grand Jury considered the atrocities committed by Kermit Gosnell. Two years later in May 2012, Gosnell was sentenced to Life in Prison.

He had been convicted of more than 240 criminal offenses, including the first degree murder of three babies. Prosecutors reported that "hundreds of born-alive babies" had been murdered, but they prosecuted only the easiest three for conviction.

Dozens of these victim babies have still not been buried. They are being kept in a freezer in the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office. Mayor Nutter's administration has refused to allow these babies to be released for burial, despite multiple requests having been made.

We will be asking Mayor Nutter - again - to release these babies for burial at his office on June 10 at 11am. Anyone who is available is invited to join us.(Spread the word.)

But, in order to add weight to our request, we are urging you to print out several copies of the Petition using this link, and ask your fellow parishioners, neighbors, and friends - to add their names to this humanitarian request. One of the Corporal Works of Mercy is to Bury the Dead.

Please bring petitions with you on June 10 or mail them to Philly Alive, 720 North Eagle Road, Havertown, PA 19083.  For more information contact Philly Alive at  PhillyAlive2015@gmail.com. 

Restoration America 2015

REPENTANCE - HOPE - HEALING 

Join us in Philadelphia on July 3rd - 5th as we seek to begin yet another movement in the Church that will save lives and see our country restored as only God can do!

For over 40 years we have legalized the killing of unwanted children. Abortion in America alone has been responsible for more deaths than the genocidal mass killings of Hitler and Stalin combined - Something needs to be done!

We will not see a change in this nation until we in the Church repent of our collective apathy and take collective action!

In the Spirit of 2 Chronicles 7:14 we will acknowledge the role of the Church in the degradation of this land, ask God to forgive our sins and heal America.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says "If My people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their land."

Repentance with consequent action is clearly the key to seeing God restore this country!

EVENTS 

For more information or to register, use this link. 

Please note that registration is not required to attend this free event; however, we would like to have a good idea of how many people will be attending.