Wednesday, Mar 31, 2010  --  Remember Terri Schiavo on fifth anniversary of her death

Five years ago today Terri Schiavo finally died after 13 painful days without food and water as the entire nation watched helplessly.  Terri was given this death sentence at the insistence of her husband Michael, with the treacherous cooperation and rulings of Florida Judge George Greer.

Earlier in the multi-year fight to save Terri's life, Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, observed, "One advocate for Terri's death, reacting to the re-insertion of her feeding tube, declared that it is 'simply inhumane and barbaric to interrupt her death process.'  But Terri Schindler-Schiavo is not a dying patient.  She simply doesn't function at the same level as the rest of us.   There was no 'death process' underway until her food and water were taken away.   That's what is inhumane and barbaric.  And this is a test for all of us, to see if we remember the difference." 

This public execution of Terri for the unconfirmed and incorrect sentence of persistent vegetative state (PVS) is also carried out privately in families across the nation with very few people ever knowing about it.  Certainly, not all of these victims are charged with PVS, but the same sentence is commonly used for patients who have Alzheimer's disease or other ailments that make them inconvenient.

Fr. Pavone observed, The case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo is a test for all of us.  It's not a test of whether we will kill cognitively disabled people by refusing them food and water.  That's a test we've already failed, because it happens routinely throughout the country.  Rather, Terri's case is a test of whether we will wake up and realize that letting patients decide they want to be killed means that some patients will be killed against their will.

People often leave advance directives saying what treatment they do or do not want.   But Terri had no such directive, and her parents and siblings say she never indicated she wanted to be dehydrated and starved to death.  The problem, of course, is that if dying is a "right," then why take it away from those who forgot to tell us they want it?  Should this "right" be exercised only by those well enough to express it?

For that matter, why should the right to escape a burdensome existence be limited to those with cognitive disabilities or other illnesses?  What about the teenager whose life has suddenly become burdensome because he lost his girlfriend, failed his courses, and got thrown off the football team?  In those cases, of course, if the student indicates a desire for death, we call the suicide hotlines.  I guess we still need to catch up with ourselves.

On this fifth anniversary of Terri's inhumane and tragic death, pray that our nation will catch up with ourselves and decide that the right direction includes suicide hotlines, counseling for depression, and other steps to prevent people from choosing death as a solution.  Pray that this knowledge will also lead to a recognition that denying food and water is never acceptable when it hastens death, even for cognitively disabled people. 

Tuesday, Mar 30, 2010  --  Lawsuits and more lawsuits

It is no longer true that all the lawsuits are coming from abortion advocates trying to block Pro-Life efforts.  Of course, one of those attempts still continues in Illinois with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit against the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act.  Fortunately, the ruling from Cook County Court Judge Daniel Riley dismissed the case challenging the constitutionality of this long delayed 1995 law.  Unfortunately, he imposed a stay of his decision for 60 days to allow the ACLU time to file an appeal.  With dismissal of the ACLU case, we do move closer to the day when parental notice will finally go into effect in Illinois.

Yesterday, Indiana became the 14th state to challenge the constitutionality of the Federal health care law.  After reviewing the sweeping health care reforms, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced he would join a lawsuit already filed jointly by 13 other attorneys general in a Florida Federal court.

On March 26th, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) filed suit in Federal court against the Federal health care law, offically called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).  AAPS filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  "If the PPACA goes unchallenged, then it spells the end of freedom in medicine as we know it," Jane Orient, M.D., the director of AAPS, said in a statement.  "Courts should not allow this massive intrusion into the practice of medicine and the rights of patients.  There will be a dire shortage of physicians if the PPACA becomes effective and is not overturned by the courts," Dr. Orient added.

The Federal takeover of health care will not go unchallenged, and additional lawsuits against it are also being planned.  Another law that should not go unchallenged has finally seen a lawsuit initiated with an unlikely plaintiff.  Yesterday, the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed a Federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore against Baltimore, Maryland over a law that attacks pregnancy care centers there. 

Last year, Baltimore passed an ordinance that fines pregnancy care centers $150 per day if they don't post a sign saying they do not do abortions.  The lawsuit charges that this law violates the free speech rights of the centers and church members.   Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien said the law "is hurting the good people volunteering and giving so much of their resources to come to the help of pregnant women."  The suit says the law unfairly targets the centers rather than applying to medical facilities as a whole.

Pray for justice in all these cases to protect the rights and freedoms of our citizens from government intrusion into health care and pregnancy care centers, and to allow Illinois parents to intervene before their daughters can obtain abortions.

Monday, Mar 29, 2010  --  Mary Bliss, ICL Pro-Lifer,  is no longer with us -- RIP

We are saddened to learn that Mary Bliss will not be answering the phone at Illinois Citizens for Life any longer.  We just recently interacted with her on life issues by phone and email, as we have for so many years, so we never expected God's timing.  Mary's daughter, Gerry, wrote:

To those members of Project Love and ICL, it is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the passing of my mother, Mary Bliss.  She passed away peacefully Sunday evening, March 28th. She had been hospitalized the last two weeks with a minor heart attack.  Unfortunately while she was in the hospital, she was also diagnosed with having cancer of the liver.  The cancer was advanced and untreatable according to her doctors.  It took her quickly.  As far as we know, she did not suffer much pain.

It was my mother's wish that her body be donated for medical science purposes.   Therefore, there is no pending wake.  My brothers, Steven and Michael, and my sister, Elizabeth, will be meeting to discuss a memorial service in the near future.   We will keep you posted.

Friday, Mar 26, 2010  --  Illinois FOCA is dying on the vine

With a deadline of today for getting new bills voted out of the Illinois House, no vote was called on  HB 6205, the Reproductive Health and Access Act, otherwise known as the Illinois version of the notorious Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA).  Your phone calls and emails have had an impact on the members of the Illinois House.  The vote counters knew there was no chance HB 6205 could win a vote.

No extension to this deadline was provided so HB 6205 was returned to the Rules Committee where it is fully expected to remain with no further consideration in 2010.  This result is very good news for protecting human life and families in Illinois.  Planned Parenthood and the ACLU were working hard to get HB 6205 passed to further their anti-life agenda. At least in Illinois, House members listened to their constituents rather than anti-life lobbyists.  Praise God!

Thursday, Mar 25, 2010  --  Media distortion continues unabated

With the Sunday passage and Tuesday signing of the health care bill, an unprecedented action occurred.  Immediately, the Attorneys General of 13 states filed lawsuits against this legislation as unconstitutional. The lawsuit states, "The Constitution nowhere authorizes the United States to mandate, either directly or under threat of penalty, that all citizens and legal residents have qualifying health care coverage."

The states represented are Florida, South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Utah, Pennsylvania, Alabama, South Dakota, Idaho, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana.  This action would seem to be newsworthy, but the Chicago Tribune carried a half-page article on President Obama signing the health care bill with a very small box indicating lawsuits were filed against it.  The radio and television coverage attributed the lawsuits to Republicans without mentioning that the lawsuits were filed in representation of 13 states, so they made it sound like a political action.

While the media were trying to distort reaction to passage of the health care bill, they could not resist portraying opponents of the bill as violent.  They covered incidents experienced by some members of Congress who voted for the bill, while ignoring similar incidents taken against members who voted against the bill.  Obviously, none of these incidents should have occurred, but there was no pattern here of one-sided violence as the media portrayed. 

A CBS news story, citing Congressman Bart Stupak as an example, stated, "Stupak said last week his life had become a 'living hell' because of the onslaught of threatening messages he has received. Numerous other congressmen who backed the bill also report receiving threatening messages and seeing violent actions from citizens."  In fact, when Stupak was making his "living hell" statement, he was actually still opposing the health care bill because of its funding of abortion, so he had to be referring to people who were upset that he was against the bill, not those who could be threatening him for backing the bill.

The original article in The Hill about Stupak reflected the true source of the threatening behavior that he experienced, indicating, "How's it been? Like a living hell," Stupak told the newspaper, describing how his district offices have been "jammed" with strong feedback, much of it from non-constituents, over his opposition to the massively abortion-expanding bill.  The vitriol has even affected his home life, said the Michigan Democrat, who described the measures his wife has taken to block out the anger that is being directed at her husband. "All the phones are unplugged at our house - tired of the obscene calls and threats.   She won't watch TV," he said.

This flagrant example was only one of the distortions in this CBS news article which failed to even acknowledge threatening calls and violence experienced by members of Congress who opposed the health care bill.  In the world inaccurately portrayed by the media, only opponents of health care threaten or act violent, while the bill's supporters do nothing like that.  NOT!

Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010  --  Teenage girls fair game for abortionists in 14 states

Currently, 36 states have enforceable laws requiring either parental consent or notification before a teenage girl can obtain an abortion.  25 states require consent of at least one parent, and 11 states require notification.  Thus, currently there are still 14 states without any protection of parents' rights before their teenage daughters can get abortions.

Recently a mother in Seattle, Washington learned that her 15-year-old daughter was sent by her school's health center for a secret abortion.   Washington is one of 7 states with no law requiring parental involvement before a teenage girl can obtain an abortion.

Tragically, 7 more states with laws in place are not enforcing those laws because of questionable legal arguments raised by abortion advocates, usually leading to injunctions against enforcement.  Unfortunately, Illinois is one of those 7 states, so the experience of that Seattle mother is certainly happening here in Illinois, but maybe the parents never learn about the secret abortion, or the story never receives media coverage.

In the Seattle case the mother had signed a consent form allowing her daughter to be treated at the health center, thinking it covered issues like earaches, sports physicals, or even contraception, but wasn't aware they would be arranging abortions.  Blanket consent for student use of school health centers was previously the norn in Illinois, but in 2007 the Illinois Legislature passed a bill that requires more itemized consent.  If that new requirement has been implemented, the situation with school-based clinics is not as bad here as in Washington state, but teenage girls can still get secret abortions by themselves or with the help of other adults or their peers. 

Tuesday, Mar 23, 2010  --  40 Days for Life reveals the reality of "choice"

David Bereit, leader of 40 Days for Life, reports on one example of an all too frequent scenario at abortion facilities around the nation.  This real life case demonstrates why there is a need for more people to defend life by attending vigils at abortion facilities.  David wrote:

We're often told that it's useless to stand outside the abortion center because women arriving for appointments have already firmly decided that abortion is the right "choice."  Time after time, that abortion industry maxim is proven wrong.

The young woman then called her mother to explain why she was refusing to abort her child.   As one of the Southfield volunteers said, "Praise God for using us and this incredible live-saving team He has put together in our community!"

Monday, Mar 22, 2010  --  Sad and outrageous betrayal by "pro-life" Democrats

Last Saturday evening, and even Sunday morning, the votes did not exist to pass the radical pro-abortion govenment takeover of health care represented by the Senate bill that the House of Representatives was being asked to pass.  The first round of rumors about obtaining the votes needed via a promise from President Obama to sign an executive order was being denied, or discounted as not effective, or not seriously being considered.

Sunday afternoon brought a serious reversal when Rep. Bart Stupak and some of his group of "pro-life" Democrats announced that exact thing: an agreement to vote for the Senate bill with assurances that Obama would sign an executive order to prevent government funding of abortion under the provisions of the health care bill they would be voting on.

With these final votes obtained, this seriously anti-life bill was passed by the House of Representatives on a 219-212 vote very late Sunday evening, when most Americans were oblivious to this negative mark on the history of our nation, either just about ready to go to bed or watching the last of the NCAA basketball tournament games.

Apparently, not only "Black Children are an Endangered Species" but also Pro-Life Democrats.  Certainly, any Democrat who voted for this health care bill cannot be considered a Pro-Life Democrat any longer.  Their justification for supporting this anti-life bill is serverely lacking in credibility based on statements from many sources.

Friday, Mar 19, 2010  --  40 Days for Life "terrorists" saving mothers and babies

As 40 Days for Life reaches the final stretch, "anti-life zealots" or even "terrorists" are preventing women from exercising their rights to "reproductive health care" (killing their unborn children) through "intimidation" (praying), "judgmental accusations" ("we love you, can we help?"), and "physical threats" (offering a shoulder to cry on).

What are the results of these vicious anti-choice activities?   Reduced business hours, reduced business even when open, a few employees and even an abortionist quiting for good, and over 300 babies saved from abortion so far, that we know of.

The presence of children praying with their parents are leading to decisions against abortion.  Abortion facilities often use escorts (deathscorts) to protect their customers from such harrowing threats.  At one location, one of the women that the escorts had been trying to "protect" came bursting out of the abortion center.

"It's so scary in there," she said.  "This is the second time I've come for an abortion and couldn't
do it.  I was in the room and on the table, and I couldn't do it -- so I left.   Thank you for being here.  God bless you!"

Clearly, the acknowledgments of their change of heart indicates appreciation for the opportunity to reconsider their "choice" rather than a reflection they were intimidated or terrorized into avoiding the "reproductive health care" they originally intended to obtain.  This truth is especially confirmed when mothers who have already entered the abortion facility come back out and affirm their choice in favor of life.

Wednesday, Mar 17, 2010  --  New late-term abortion capitol: Albuquerque, NM

Wichita was relieved of the title as later-term abortion capitol with the death of George Tiller.  At first, notorious late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart threatened to re-establish a late-term abortion practice in Wichita, but that effort fell through, apparently with assistance from Operation Rescue's efforts to prevent Carhart from getting any hospital affiliation.

Then Carhart threatened to expand his Nebraska practice to handle more late-term abortions, but he is having difficulty there as well.  Right now the Nebraska legislature is working to pass a bill that would effectively outlaw late-term abortion based on the knowledge that these babies feel pain.

Unfortunately, other former associates of George Tiller have managed to find a new location to continue the late-term abortion trade.  Dr. Susan Robinson and Dr. Shelley Sella, who both specialized in post-viability abortions at Tiller's Wichita facility, have set up shop in an existing Albuquerque, NM abortion facility owned and operated by Texas abortionist Curtis Boyd.

Will Albuquerque become the new later-term abortion capitol?

Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010  --  Planned Parenthood generating more profit from abortion

Rita Diller, national director of ALL’s Stop Planned Parenthood project, commented on the results of their annual survey of Planned Parenthood locations.  One of the key findings was the expansion of locations offering RU 486 abortions.

Diller explained that the abortion drug makes it easier for Planned Parenthood to increase its business at a lower cost.  “The abortion pill regimen, appearing under names such as mifepristone (RU-486) and methotrexate, is being pushed by Planned Parenthood in order to increase its abortion business,” Diller said.

“Since Planned Parenthood charges about the same amount for medical abortion as surgical abortion, it stands to dramatically increase its profits from abortion by hawking the pills.  With an abortion pill, there is no need for a surgeon, surgical staff, a surgical suite and all the expenses those services entail," she said.

This business expansion strategy includes the Springfield IL location of Planned Parenthood effective this month.

Monday, Mar 15, 2010  --  Pro-Life joins the March 14th Tinley Park Irish Parade

Bremen-Orland Families for Life participated in the Tinley Park Irish Parade on Sunday, March 14, 2010. The parade was larger than usual, both in number of entries and onlookers.  After a cold and cloudy start, the sun appeared, just as the parade was to begin, to take some of the chill off.  The parade lasted for about one hour.

The Pro-Life message was well received and delivered with an Irish flavor of shamrocks and green signs.  The Pro-Life entry in the parade had nearly 30 marchers carrying signs, along with four decorated automobiles. 

Friday, Mar 12, 2010  --  The end is near!   But for whom?

The chess game in Congress on ObamaCare continues, but the end is near.  Will it be the end of the debate followed by a House vote on the deadly Senate bill with the history of the nation hanging in the balance?  Will it be the end of ObamaCare or the end of many lives through government-funded abortion and euthanasia via rationed healthcare?

There are claims and counter claims about the looming vote on the Senate health care bill in the House.  House leadership has even devised a procedural scheme to vote on the Senate bill without voting on it.  Does that seem like a reflection of confidence that they have the votes for passage?

This non-voting scheme establishes a rule that a vote on the modifications bill to be moved forward, through a misuse of the so-called reconciliation process, is a vote on the Senate bill that is to be modified.  Adoption of such a rule and passage of the modifications bill would then amount to passage of the Senate bill by the House, without actually taking a vote on the bill.  This proposed rule would simply "deem" the health bill passed based on passage of the separate modifications measure.  Could such a maneuver even be constitutional?

Thursday, Mar 11, 2010  --  Opposing a radical bill in Springfield -- Take Action!

Yesterday my wife Nancy and I traveled to the Illinois state capitol in Springfield to ask our legislators to stand up for life and family.  We went on a bus as part of the Speak Out Illinois lobby day.  It is always uplifting to join a group of like-minded people who are motivated to uphold the value of life.

Even before we arrived in Springfield, the very liberal Health and Human Services committee had already voted 5-2 to send HB 6205 to the House floor for a potential vote.  HB 6205 might best be described as the Planned Parenthood profitability act even though its official name is the Reproductive Health and Access Act. 

Why should we be concerned about HB 6205?  Let's begin by noting that "reproductive health" means abortion and "access" means that you will pay for abortion through your state taxes.

HB 6205 is better recognized as the Illinois version of the notorious Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA).  Such a bill has been successfully stopped twice at the Federal level and was stopped in Illinois last year when it was known as HB 2354.  Now we need to do it again!

If Illinois should pass this bill, abortion would be enshrined as a fundamental right in Illinois. The most important negative impacts of such a law would be:

1. Use of public funds to pay for abortions (15-20,000 annually?) and other "reproductive health"
2. Prevent any regulation of abortion by state government (with limited exceptions)
3. Replace abstinence education with "comprehensive" sex education in every public school

In an attempt to make HB 6205 less radical, it has been modified to allow for the existence of the Parental Notice of Abortion Act (still enjoined) and the Health Care Right ot Conscience Act.  Even so, the wording of HB 6205 is such that it encourages court cases when women feel their rights to "reproductive health" have been violated by government entities, so any protection of existing laws restricting abortion could be rejected by future court decisions.

HB 6205 also makes it likely that the requirement that physicians perform abortions would be overridden, allowing for non-physician abortions.  Another provision makes it more difficult to bring any legal action against an abortion provider for malpractice, so non-physician abortionists would get protection against lawsuits as well.

I would encourage you to call and/or email your state representative now to express opposition to this radical bill (HB 6205).  You can find your state representative here:  Find your Districts & Legislators  (select "By Zip+4" and enter your 9-digit zip code) and you may get email addresses here:  Illinois Legislator email addresses   (these have not been confirmed as accurate).

Tuesday, Mar 9, 2010  --  Free speech wins one versus Rep. Patrick Kennedy

Thanks to the efforts of the Thomes More Society, free speech has won a battle against those who tried to "protect" a member of the Kennedy family from controversy.  Charges of disorderly conduct filed against Christopher Young were dismissed in Providence, Rhode Island.

What was Young's offense?  He was charged with disorderly conducted after he publicly challenged Rep. Patrick Kennedy on abortion.  At a December 2009 public forum, Young accused Kennedy of supporting a health care bill that would fund abortions and attempted to give Kennedy a pro-life DVD to watch. 

At that point, Young was escorted from the event by police, but before police led him away from the forum, he declared “You're not Catholic if you force Catholics into funding abortion.”

Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society noted this victory for free speech, as he observed, “Congressman Kennedy had opened the forum by arguing that all of us are ‘children of God’ who carry a ‘divine spark.’  Young was entirely within his rights under the First Amendment when he called Kennedy to task for supporting the mass demise of so many millions of unborn human beings – all of whom are no less bearers of a ‘divine spark’ and ‘children of God.’”  Brejcha also criticized Brown University, where the Kennedy event was held, and which filed the charges.

Monday, Mar 8, 2010  --  Another subject the media loves to ignore: adult stem cells

While I am on a theme of what the mainstream media likes to ignore, consider adult stem cells.  I just checked the Internet for the latest articles on adult stem cells.   All of them I found were from Pro-Life or other conservative news sources. 

Apparently, the only stem cell research that exists for the mainstream media is embryonic stem cell research, which they conveniently abbreviate to stem cell research so they can falsely accuse Pro-Lifers of oppsosing stem cell research.

What news have you been missing?  The Southtown Star covered the case of a Plainfield mother, Jennifer Osman, who suffered from Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy to the point where it almost killed her.   Without mentioning that her own cells were used as a source of the adult stem cells needed for her experimental treatment, the article reported the fantastic news that she was effectively cured of this disease, which has been put into remission since the 2005 treatment.

David Prentice of Family Research Council just reported on a new process for successfully growing and maintaining large numbers of adult stem cells.  One of the issues used against adult stem cells was the difficulty in producing enough of them to get past the experimental treatment stage.  Of course, that problem is far less severe than the experience with embryonic stem cells consistently causing tumors as side effects.  If the mainstream media ever generates even a peep about this significant breakthrough, it will probably come months into the future.

Even hard core embryonic stem cell advocates are beginning to convert, but that hasn't generated any mainstream media news either.  California's Institute for Regenerative Medicine came into being five years ago to pursue embryo-destructive research with provision for spending $3 billion.  Now, after years of fruitless work, the Institute has quietly diverted funds from embryonic stem cell research to adult stem cell research.

Where are Federal funds going under the Obama administration?  The rules were changed to eliminate previous restrictions "blocking science" so the bulk of the funding now goes to obsolete projects pursuing embryonic stem cell research.  That just makes more wasted funds being added to the rapidly expanding Federal deficit.  Who's blocking science?

Friday, Mar 5, 2010  --  Trial of accused killer of Pro-Life activist ignored

Today the prosecution rested its case in the Michigan trial of Harlan Drake for the shooting death of Pro-Life advocate James Pouillon.  I checked the Internet to see if I could find any mainstream media coverage of the trial and found virtually nothing, even from local Michigan news outlets. 

The contrast to coverage of the George Tiller murder continues.  Tiller was portrayed as a slain hero, and the trial of his killer was given extensive coverage.   Pouillon's death was hardly mentioned, and always in a context almost suggesting he deserved the attack because of his graphic sign showing the results of abortion.

In both cases the shooters were shown to be somewhat mentally unstable and not associated with advocates on either side of the abortion issue.  In the Tiller case all major Pro-Life organizations immediately condemned the killing while the media tried to portray a connection anyway, but no such assumptions were conceived in the Pouillon case, even though no abortion supporters ever bothered to condemn the killing.

Please pray for the family of James Pouillon, and remember him as a Pro-Life hero for his long-term efforts in opposition to abortion.  Pray also for his attacker, Harlan Drake, that justice be done, but also that he will repent of his crimes.  Drake also killed a local businessman, Mike Fuoss, so that family needs prayers, too.

Thursday, Mar 4, 2010  --  Was Margaret Sanger actually against abortion?

A billboard campaign in Atlanta, Georgia proclaiming "Black Children are an Endangered Species" has generated editorial comment and analysis around the nation.  This week the Chicago Tribune printed an article entitled "Antiabortion activists see a racial conspiracy."  Naturally, the purpose of the article was to challenge such a premise as untrue.

Two key points were used to question the concept that Planned Parenthood has targeted their faciliities for eliminating African-Americans through abortion.  First, statistics were cited that African-Americans have a higher birth rate than the national average, even with all those abortions.  Of course, such statistics cannot deny that Planned Parenthood helps abort almost one half of African-American babies, so their birth rate could be much higher with fewer abortions.

Second, Margaret Sanger was quoted to say in 1920, "While there are cases where even the law recognizes an abortion is justifiable if recommended by a physician, I assert that the hundreds of thousands of abortions performed in America each year are a disgrace to civilization."  Is this statement proof that she was against abortion?

Strong evidence suggests otherwise.  Even the Tribune article admits Sanger was an advocate of eugenics, a movement that supported selective breeding and forced sterilization of the poor and feeble-minded.  In her book Women and the New Race Sanger asserted that the "most merciful thing a large family can do to one of its infant members is to kill it."  Those positions suggest that having concerns about abortion would certainly be inconsistent.

However, American Life League (ALL) has an explanation for Sanger's anti-abortion quote (which they cite from the December, 1918, Birth Control Review).  ALL observes, "How do you sell the practice of contraception to a public that is totally opposed to it?  In 1918, when she wrote the above, no religious denomination accepted the practice of contraception.  Well, you sell it to the people by insisting that with better contraception there would be less abortion!"

Thus, it appears the lie that contraception reduces abortion was part of the marketing plan for Planned Parenthood from almost the very beginning.  Now that former insiders like Abby Johnson have revealed their strong push to increase abortions for profit, the lie has been confirmed.  Planned Parenthood has no interest in reducing abortions, so clearly they know that their business approach increases their abortion business.

Wednesday, Mar 3, 2010  --  Claims that abortion not funded in health care bill are false

Apparently taking the strategy that if you tell a lie often enough people will believe it, President Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders keep claiming that abortion is not funded under the government-run health care bill they are still trying desperately to pass. 

Those who disagree with such claims include the Catholic bishops, Congressman Bart Stupak and other supporters of the Stupak Amendment, Americans United for Life, National Right to Life Committee, Family Research Council, American Life League, Concerned Women for America,  and many more, including Planned Parenthood. 

So if you will not believe any of the Pro-Life advocates on this subject, maybe you should consider the position of Planned Parenthood as sufficient evidence that abortion is funded under the bill.  Given that Planned Parenthood only objected after the Stupak Amendment was passed for the House bill, but have been supporting the bill that passed the Senate, how could anyone seriously believe that abortion funding is not included?

Despite such evidence, Speaker Pelosi first claims there is no abortion funding, then admits reconciliation won't stop abortion funding, and then even claims the bishops agree with her.  Now House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland has repeated the same false claims in an effort to twist arms to support the bill.  This blatant level of intentional deception is outrageous!

Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010  --  Beware: PP now offering abortions in Springfield, IL

They warned us about six months ago, but Planned Parenthood of Illinois has now started committing abortions using RU 486 at their Springfield location.  A later interview about this expanded "service" reveals the anti-life mentality of Planned Parenthood.

Of course, given the odd way they count their Illinois locations, this change moved their count to 23.  In fact, Planned Parenthood has 18 offices in Illinois, but five of them commit abortions and get double-counted.  This counting approach seems to be unique to Illinois.

Monday, Mar 1, 2010  --  Latest report on babies saved during 40 Days for Life

The latest report of babies saved from abortion at 40 Days for Life locations "that we know of" has reached 107.  Ironically, abortionist William Harrison, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, told a local television reporter, "Standing across the street and praying to end abortion -- that doesn't work."

After that news report in Fayetteville, a young man sporting a Mohawk haircut, leather jacket and sunglasses was parading in front of the abortion facility with a homemade poster that read "I love abortion."  He, too, drew the attention of a local TV station, telling the reporter that Pro-Life people "incite hatred."  The video shows a mom and her two children quietly praying, with other people behind them peacefully standing in prayer as well.

Inciting hatred?  Of course not!  And anyone watching the newscast could clearly see that.  As for the guy with the "I love abortion" sign -- and the other person who joined him later offering "free coat hangers" -- vigil participant Christy White simply told the reporter, "We're just praying for conversion of their hearts."