Illinois Right to Life Committee
PRO-LIFE BLOG
Friday, Oct 30, 2009 -- Next week could be critical to stop health care takeover Yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled the final House version of the health care overhaul, including a "public" option and keeping intact language to immediately initiate government funding for elective abortions. She plans to push for a vote on this 1,990 page monstrosity by November 5th or 6th. Some observers noted that the provisions in this bill (H.R. 3962) have made a mockery of the committee process, given the changes introduced in this bill as compared to the three bills that came out of House committees. In response, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched a bold and sweeping nationwide campaign against the abortion funding mandate included in PelosiCare. Was this information shared at your church? Pray that such efforts make a difference and deny Pelosi the votes for passing PelosiCare. It is urgent that you take action. Oppose Federal funding of
abortion in H.R. 3962: Get more details here (express concern about the threats to life and freedom in the health care bill, including abortion coverage, rationing, reduced options, and government takeover of health care).
Thursday, Oct 29, 2009 -- Dangerous actions of late-term abortionist documented Thanks again to the efforts of Operation Rescue, more details are available about the dangerous actions of late-term abortionist Martin Haskell in Ohio. This web of profit from abortion now implicates a former U.S. Senator as aiding Haskell's endangerment of women by avoiding the requirements of laws intended to protect them. Judge Algenon Marbley was recommended for the Federal bench by Ohio Senator John Glenn, who boasted a 100% pro-abortion voting record. Haskell's only favorable court ruling came from Judge Marbley. After Marbley's decision to exempt Haskell from the requirement of having a transfer agreement with a hospital was overturned, Haskell returned to Marbley, who, in defiance of the intension of the Appellate Court, issued a restraining order preventing the state from enforcing the law. That order is still in place. How dangerous is late-term abortion? Even the AMA rejected medical justification for using partial birth abortion, called D&X. With the passage of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, abortionists like Haskell who used the D&X procedure have shifted to the use of the “Induction Method,” which is virtually identical to the D&X except that before the procedure begins, the baby’s heart is injected with a lethal dose of Digoxin. The woman is then sent to her hotel room where she experiences labor, and returns to the clinic in time to deliver her dead baby. Serious abortion complications are not infrequent at Haskell's Kettering clinic, near Dayton, as demonstrated by 9-1-1 calls from that location. Haskell does not commit abortions there, but he has hired an elderly abortionist and one from Planned Parenthood to staff that clinic. Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, noted, “The heart of the problem with Haskell is his unwillingness to comply with the law. If he thinks he doesn’t need a transfer agreement, then maybe he doesn’t have to report all of the abortion injuries, either. His attitude that rules don’t apply to him makes him dangerous. The injury rate at Haskell’s Kettering facility alone has been said to account for 53% of all abortion complications in the state. How many more women have suffered than is being reported?
Wednesday, Oct 28, 2009 -- Time to boycott skin creams using aborted fetal cell lines Thanks to the work of Children of God for Life, we have just learned that Neocutis, a bio-pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology and skin care, is using aborted fetal cell lines to produce several of their anti-aging skin creams. Neocutis' key ingredient, known as "Processed Skin Proteins," was developed at the University of Luasanne from the skin tissue of a 14-week gestation electively-aborted male baby donated by the University Hospital in Switzerland. Subsequently, a working cell bank was established, containing several billion cultured skin cells to produce the human growth factor needed to restore aging skin. The list of Neocutis products using the cell line include: Bio-Gel, Journee, Bio-Serum, Prevedem, Bio Restorative Skin Cream and Lumiere. Children of God for Life is calling for a full boycott of all Neocutis products, regardless of their source. To express your concern, contact Neocutis at: Neocutis Inc., 3053 Fillmore Street, #140, San Francisco CA 94123 or phone them at: 1-866-636-2884.
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 -- If you were unaware, ask for a refund! If you supported the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure without realizing that Komen supports Planned Parenthood, thus encouraging abortion which is a risk factor for breast cancer, you may want to follow the example of some runners in Mississippi. After learning that Komen chapters gave more than $700,000 to Planned Parenthood in one year alone, they backed out and asked for a refund of their donations and received it.
Monday, Oct 26, 2009 -- Merck researcher: Gardasil guards against almost nothing Joan Robinson of Population Research Institute recently attended a presentation at the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination given by Dr. Diane Harper, the leading international developer of the HPV vaccines. Though Harper was attempting to sell the benefits of Gardasil, she surprised her audience by stating that the incidence of cervical cancer in the U.S. is so low that “if we get the vaccine and continue PAP screening, we will not lower the rate of cervical cancer in the US.” She added that “with the use of Gardasil, there will be no decrease in cervical cancer until at least 70% of the population is vaccinated, and in that case, the decrease will be very minimal. The highest amount of minimal decrease will appear in 60 years.” The authors reporting on Dr. Harper's presentation did some additional
research about Gardasil. They discovered that Dr. Harper dropped a bombshell in an
interview with CBS News when she admitted that “The rate of serious adverse events
(from Gardasil) is greater than the incidence rate of cervical cancer.” Why would any parent want to subject their daughters to such risks with virtually no benefits to be obtained from the Gardasil vaccine?
Friday, Oct 23, 2009 -- Petition UN to support the unborn child and traditional family An international coalition of pro-life and pro-family groups has re-launched a petition in support of the unborn child and the traditional family. The purpose of the petition is to persuade UN member states to begin interpreting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as protecting the unborn child from abortion and also to recognize traditional marriage and the right of parents to educate their children. Organizers are hoping to gather at least one million signatures. To sign this petition, click here.
Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 -- Babies saved through 40 Days for Life 40 Days for Life locations around the nation, at the 30 day point, have reported confirmation of 364 babies saved from abortion! Of course, we know that many more decisions for life have taken place during the last 30 days because some abortion clinics have even closed for some days when they are normally committing abortions. Planned Parenthood in Indianapolis, Indiana did no abortions on the designated day for two weeks because they were not able to schedule enough abortions to justify flying in the abortionist. Planned Parenthood located just blocks from the White House in Washington, DC was reported closed on a recent Saturday, normally their busiest day. Among confirmed saves, here are a few examples of how mothers are impacted by the prayer and witness of 40 Days for Life participants. A woman in Fargo, North Dakota was intent on having an abortion. But when she drove up to the abortion facility and saw "that icky place," she just couldn't bring herself to park her car and walk in. She said the place "looked awful." When she called one of the volunteers later, her voice was filled with joy as she is now "so excited about having the baby." Rosa in Pasadena, California at Planned Parenthood was approached when a woman walked out of the clinic and said she'd changed her mind about having an abortion. "When I saw you praying out in front, it made me think about what I was planning on doing," the woman said. "I was inside the center and realized that God has been good to me and that this baby is a blessing. Please keep up what you are doing. You are making a difference." She then pointed to a sign reading "Choose Life" and said, "I am choosing life for my baby." She then thanked Rosa and left.
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 -- Ohio abortionist: that law does not apply to me! Ohio abortionist Martin Haskell has two claims to fame in the abortion industry. He "discovered" and has provided seminars to other abortionists on partial birth abortion. He calls it "Dilation and Extraction." That procedure was so revolting that it was finally outlawed by Federal law. Thanks to the research of Operation Rescue, now we learn that Martin Haskell could give another seminar on how to avoid compliance with a law regulating medical practice. As 2009 comes to a close, Haskell remains in non-compliance with a 1996 Ohio law requiring that all ambulatory surgical centers must be licensed by the state. Haskell does not qualify for a license because he fails to meet the requirement that each clinic must have a transfer agreement with a local hospital. His abortion clinic should have been closed by the Ohio Health Department. The efforts taken by Haskell to circumvent the law are outrageous. He appealed the licensing requirement to the medical review board, state court, state appeals court, and then Federal court. With his first victory there, Ohio took the case to Federal appellate court where that ruling was reversed. Finally, the Ohio Health Department issued a cease and desist order in 2008 that should have closed Haskell’s clinic. However, that same day Haskell returned to the only judge to rule favorably on his case and obtained yet another temporary injunction against enforcement of the cease and desist order. At that point the Ohio Health Department simply gave up trying to enforce the law, granting Haskell a “variance” that makes him the only doctor in Ohio to be exempt from the 1996 law passed to ensure that clinics meet basic safety standards. Pray that Operation Rescue's effort to reveal this outrageous situation leads the Ohio Health Department to enforce the law and close down Haskell's abortion mill. I wonder if he is still using the partial birth abortion procedure, even though it is now illegal. Would that make any difference to him? His actions seem to suggest it would not.
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009 -- Abstinence education and abortion regulations work! Abortion advocates claim that abortions would be reduced with easier access to birth control and "comprehensive" sex education. They cite false statistics to claim that pregnancy and abortion rates went up with more abstinence education and state regulations on abortion. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows the number of abortions, the abortion rate and the pregnancy rate all declining for the period from 1990 to 2005. The report shows that, despite claims by abortion advocates to the contrary, the abortion rate fell during the first five years of the Bush administration while the birth rate began rising towards the end as more women chose to carry their unplanned pregnancies to term. Did you see any reports on these results in mainstream media reports? Probably not -- I could not locate any articles on the Internet other than from Pro-Life news organizations. Since the facts reported by the CDC contradict the agenda and justifications of abortion advocates, they get completely ignored by the media.
Friday, Oct 16, 2009 -- Daley does not need to sign "Bubble Zone" ordinance I called the Chicago mayor's office today to ask about the status and effective date for the "Bubble Zone" ordinance that was passed 10/7/09 by the Chicago City Council. I was informed that Mayor Daley does not need to sign it. If he does not veto it, the law will take effect on November 18th when the City Council meets again. That is also the last date for the mayor to veto it. There is no indication that Mayor Daley has signed the "Bubble Zone" ordinance yet. He may be planning to just let it take effect without "getting any blood on his hands" by just ignoring it. I can only conclude that calls to the mayor's office at 312-744-3300, asking him to veto the "Bubble Zone" ordinance would still be appropriate.
Thursday, Oct 15, 2009 -- Are they concerned about helping teens or abortion profits? One week ago I stated, "Count on the ACLU to do everything they can to prevent parents from learning that their teenage daughter is seeking an abortion." That statement was responding to news that the ACLU was organizing resources to bypass the Parental Notice of Abortion Act. Even that was not sufficient for abortion providers and their advocates. Now we have learned that the ACLU has filed a lawsuit in state court to challenge the law on state constitutional grounds. Who are the plaintiffs? The notorious Hope Clinic in Granite City is one plaintiff and the "reproductive health" center at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is the other. The lawsuit asks for an injunction to prevent the parental notice law from helping teens and their parents while the lawsuit moves forward in court. The ACLU claims the law threatens "serious and irreversible harm to teens" and cites examples of "teens whose parents beat them, threw them out of the house, and/or forced them to become a parent against their will when they found out about the pregnancy." That last one is a real eye opener. Can you imagine being forced to become a parent? Do you really think that these abortion providers are concerned about the wellbeing of teenage girls? Rather, isn't this lawsuit solid evidence that abortion providers make big money on teenagers from both Illinois and other states who come to them for secret abortions?
Wednesday, Oct 14, 2009 -- Dubious facts used to justify need for more abortion Family & Life from Dublin, Ireland issed the following news alert after the Guttmacher Institute issued a report claiming that illegal abortions kill 70,000 women every year. Of course, Guttmacher's solution is to legalize abortion in those nations where it remains illegal, but such action would ignore the facts reflected here: The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute (which used to be part of the Planned Parenthood empire) has published a report which claims that 70,000 women worldwide die every year as a result of unsafe abortions. The report estimates that the global abortion rate fell by 25% between 1995 and 2003. As usual with such claims, the figures are, at best, guesswork. (In many of the countries in question there are no reliable figures available for deaths from whatever cause). In this case they rely heavily on estimates provided by abortion advocates and providers. It has long been a tactic of the abortion industry to propagate wildly exaggerated numbers of women dying from illegal abortions in order to push for legalization. This happened in England before 1968 and the same tactic was employed in the USA. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) has since admitted that “I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. But in the ‘morality’ of our revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics? The overriding concern was to get the laws eliminated, and anything within reason that had to be done was permissible.” A few years ago the claimed figure for global maternal deaths from illegal abortions was over 500,000. For some countries the claimed number of maternal deaths from illegal abortion was greater than the total number of deaths among women of child-bearing age! The Guttmacher Institute clearly thinks 70,000 is a figure that sounds plausible enough to get away with. In many countries with high rates of maternal death this is due to the absence of basic medicines and healthcare facilities. Investment in maternity care would be a much better use of resources than promoting the killing of more unborn babies or trying to control the populations of developing countries. The truth is that the very last thing the Guttmacher Institute and its allies want is to save lives in the developing world. Dr Sharon Camp, the Director of the Guttmacher Institute, claimed that legal restrictions on abortion do not reduce the numbers. She cited the example of Ireland where women go abroad for abortions. Clearly, Dr Camp has not looked too closely at the figures. Even accepting the highest estimate of abortions carried out on Irish women would give a rate of 4.5 abortions per 1000 women of childbearing age. This compares with a figure of 18.2 for our nearest neighbours in England and Wales. So the legal restrictions on abortion in Ireland help create a culture which values and supports both pregnant women and their unborn children. This does reduce the abortion numbers—to less than a quarter of what they might otherwise be. Similar observations on the misleading conclusions of the Guttmacher report were reported by LifeNews and LifeSiteNews. The report was described as anything from a "propaganda piece" to "flatly false." Abortion advocates never seem to give up the same deceptions that they used back in the 1960s.
Tuesday, Oct 13, 2009 -- Will Mayor Daley sign the bubble zone ordinance or not? A call today to the Chicago mayor's office to ask if Mayor Richard Daley signed the bubble zone ordinance and when it would take effect did not get answered. The person who answered the phone immediately went into survey mode on the "bubble zone" ordinance - asking for or against, and stated that they could not answer the questions. On October 9th the Chicago Tribune quoted Mayor Daley as indicating he would approve the bubble zone ordinance. Why is he still running a survey? Is he reconsidering? Did he speak too soon? Pray that he reconsiders the implications and rejects the bubble zone ordinance.
Monday, Oct 12, 2009 -- Babies saved through 40 Days for Life At the halfway point, babies known to be saved at 40 Days for Life locations around the nation reached a total of 219. One moving example was reported by the McIntyre family in El Paso, Texas -- Mike, Laura and their nine children. Six of the children took part in the vigil just last week. Bethani, the 8-year-old, was singing "Jesus Loves Me" as a young woman arrived. She approached the clinic, but did not go inside. She just sat down for about 15 minutes -- listening, as Bethani sang. Eventually, the woman got up and walked over to the McIntyres and told them she had decided to keep her baby. All it took to change her mind was the voice of a young child singing praise to Lord from her heart. The child had saved the child. One of the McIntyre children noted, "So this is why we come here!"
Friday, Oct 9, 2009 -- Planned Parenthood finds another source of money Planned Parenthood (PP) watchdog STOPP International (an American Life League affiliate) warned that PP was looking at new ways of generating funds, never satisfied with their existing revenue stream from the government. This week STOPP reported their findings, showing involvement of 28 PP affiliates in a total of 33 clinical trials, some government funded, and 10 of which involved young girls. PP used girls as young as 14 in clinical trials regarding consistency of taking birth control with text message reminders, increasing the use of emergency contraception, and other trials using young girls as guinea pigs for profit. PP, the nation's largest abortion business, was also involved in trials on medical abortion techniques, birth control techniques, pain reduction during abortion, sterilization, IUD insertion, and a trial assessing the safety and efficacy of a new "emergency contraceptive" known as Ella. Because "reproductive health care" is covered by medical privacy provisions, using young girls as guinea pigs for profit does not require PP to seek permission from, or even notify, parents of the young girls they get involved in these clinical trials. Teenage visits to at least PP locations have gotten that much more dangerous than before.
Thursday, Oct 8, 2009 -- ACLU continues trying to bypass IL parental notice law The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been working to prevent the Parental Notice of Abortion Act from becoming law in Illinois. Now that their delaying tactics have finally failed, they are moving to another phase of circumventing the purpose of the law. The Illinois ACLU is establishing a hotline to help unqualified teens get secret abortions by abusing the judicial bypass provision of the law. The judicial bypass provision is supposed to cover the very rare teenagers who face abuse at home if their parents learn they are pregnant. The Illinois ACLU is putting resources in place to exploit this provision to get abortions for any teenager girl who doesn't want to tell their parents. The ACLU's Leah Bartelt is among those who have teamed together to form the Illinois Judicial Bypass Coordination Project. It will provide a telephone hotline, brochures for distribution through physicians, health care providers, school health centers, etc, and even pro-bono attorneys to make judicial bypass readily available to teenage girls. Count on the ACLU to do everything they can to prevent parents from learning that their teenage daughter is seeking an abortion.
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2009 -- Life Chain: thousands of people, but no news coverage Per the National Life Chain web site, 93 Life Chains were confirmed to be formed in the state of Illinois on Sunday October 4th with 35 of them in the Chicago area. Nationally, over 1450 Life Chains were planned. Did you attend one of them? Did you see anything on the news about Life Chain? Not likely -- an Internet search did not find any evidence of news coverage in Illinois. I was leading the Orland Park Life Chain. Almost 420 people participated this year, coming from 25 southwest suburban area churches. Attendance was up almost 120 from last year. A number of people reported more positive responses from the motorists this year. I heard that the Joliet Life Chain had about 50 people. I hope the other 91 Illinois Life Chains were successful as well.
Tuesday, Oct 6, 2009 -- Remember "Jim from Michigan" Pouillon I was recently discussing the difference between news coverage of George Tiller's murder compared to that of Pro-Life activist Jim Pouillon. Jim was murdered while holding a Pro-Life sign outside Owosso High School in the town of Owosso near Lansing, Michigan. One person made a very good point that Pro-Lifers should be embarrassed that they do not know the name of this Pro-Life martyr. Of course, one problem is knowing how to pronounce Jim's name and the town's name. However, maybe there is an easier way. I was told by Eric Scheidler of Pro-Life Action League that Jim would call them for advice on occasion. When they learned of the shooting, they were not immediately certain they knew him. It turns out he always identified himself as "Jim from Michigan" when he called. Remember "Jim from Michigan" if you cannot remember Jim Pouillon. Press coverage of Jim's death has led to a first in news coverage. The New York Times has included pictures of aborted babies in a news story related to why Pro-Life activists use signs showing aborted babies. Pray that the visual truth about abortion help overcome this evil.
Monday, Oct 5, 2009 -- Choose Life license plates denied in Illinois (for now) The near term possibility of putting Choose Life license plates on the road in Illinois was dashed when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take the appeal of the Seventh Circuit ruling that denied issuance of these plates. For now, the only recourse is to seek approval for Choose Life plates through the Illinois Legislature which has been an unfriendly place of late. Maybe some day the Supreme Court will accept another case to sort out the inconsistent appeals court rulings on Choose Life plates. If so, Illinois would likely benefit from that case. Until then, express the Choose Life message with a license plate holder.
Friday, Oct 2, 2009 -- Poll says 42% of Americans are unaware Obama is pro-abortion! Were you aware that President Barack Obama has a strong pro-abortion position and record? If so, you are part of the majority of citizens who have figured that out. However, LifeNews.com analyzed results of a recent Pew Research poll on abortion. That survey reveals that even now 42% of Americans are unaware of President Obama's pro-abortion position. The polling details reveal that even 25% of conservative Republicans do not know Obama is pro-abortion. This lack of knowledge grows to 36% of moderate Republicans, 42% of independents, and 51% of conservative and moderate Democrats. Might we surmise that the media has helped to keep people in the dark on the radical nature of Obama's abortion agenda?
Thursday, Oct 1, 2009 -- News report warns of pending enforcement of parental notice! Most parents just assume they would need to consent before their teenage daughter could obtain an abortion. Some parents tragically find out only too late that in Illinois not even notification has been required before an abortion is committed on a teenage girl. Yesterday, CBS Channel 2 News ran a story about the pending enforcement of the 1995 Parental Notice of Abortion Act. The story began with a focus on Illinois as a "destination for young girls across the country looking for an abortion" and interviewing a mother who found it "terribly devastating " that her daughter was able to come to Illinois from Arkansas for a secret abortion. The story got dicey with an interview of Lorie Chaiten of the ACLU who claimed Illinois not enforcing the law was beneficial "for minors that come here for confidential abortion services." She cited undocumented cases of girls being kicked out of their homes, beaten up, or sexually abused as reason to allow secret abortions to continue. The story failed to interview someone from the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation to ask them why they have given a 90-day waiver to abortion providers after the law should have taken effect on August 4th. The story did mention the law could be enforced "come early November." Peter Breen, attorney from the Thomas More Society who was interviewed, got it right when he described Illinois as "the abortion capitol of the Midwest" while showing a map confirming that Illinois has been the only state without a parental involvement law except those in the northeast and far west. The story closed by stating "Breen says his organization will sue if the law isn't enforced by November 4th. I am sure that most parents will be relieved to know that!
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