Monthly Archives: June 2014

Supreme Court Upholds Religious Freedom for Business Owners

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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the overreaching Obamacare HHS Mandate on Monday.

“This is a victory for religious freedom,” said Michael Ciccocioppo, executive director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life FederatioGaveln. “Government cannot force business owners to pay for abortion-causing drugs for employees.”

“This decision renounces the Obama administration’s attempts to overreach the basic provisions of Obamacare by imposing unlawful mandates on Americans,” Ciccocioppo said.

The high court ruled in favor of family-owned businesses Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Lancaster-based Mennonite company. Both objected to paying for abortion-causing drugs for their employees.

Click here to read the full Supreme Court decision.

My Childhood Friend Died Young, but Her Life Is Still Making an Impact

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I don’t remember how old Jessica was when she died. We moved away when I was 6 years old, and I never saw her again.

The other day I was reading through some old papers when a name popped out at me, and with it a long-packed-away memory of Jessica.

Me at about age 6

Me when I was about 6 years old

She was several years older than me, but we knew each other from church. She had cancer, and it kept her home from school a lot. When Jessica had to stay home, she sometimes invited me over to play. 

Jessica always made me feel special. She was a big kid who took an interest in me. She trusted me with her big kid toys and treated me as her equal. We played dolls and dress-up just as I did with my other friends – but with Jessica I always felt honored because she chose to play with me. I was just a little kid, after all.

I remember giggling while we played Barbies in her room. I remember her kindly instructing me to use her new toy this way so I wouldn’t break it. She never complained or argued with me about what we would do next.

Honestly, I don’t remember much more. I was very young, and we spent just a short time together. Yet, she left a lingering impression on me. She encouraged me. She cared about me. She made me feel valuable. Every time I remember her, I can’t help but smile.

Jessica probably never knew how special those few playtimes were to me. She probably never thought that I would still warm at the thought of her friendship more than 20 years later.

As I think back, I believe Jessica is one of the reasons why I do what I do. Though I was only 6 years old, I was changed by Jessica forever. She taught me that every person is valuable, no matter what their age; and no matter how much time you have with someone, you can change their life for good.

Because of that, I will never forget her. Thank you, Jessica.

Tom Wolf Endorsed by Radical Abortion Group NARAL

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By Maria Gallagher, Legislative/PAC Director

The Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, has the backing of the pro-abortion PAC known as NARAL.

Capitol-front-viewLargeA press release said that Wolf, whose TV ads portray him as an affable cabinet maker, “happily accepted” the endorsement.

“I am thankful to NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC for their support,” Wolf was quoted as saying.

NARAL supports abortion on demand for any reason during all nine months of pregnancy. The special interest group opposes all protective laws, including restrictions on late-term abortions and bans on taxpayer funding of abortion.

The endorsement clearly indicates that a Wolf administration would attempt to turn back the clock on the significant gains Pennsylvania has made in protecting women and children in the aftermath of the massive Kermit Gosnell tragedy. Gosnell was ultimately convicted of killing three full-term babies and causing the death of a female patient in his abortion center “House of Horrors.”

Back in the Gosnell era, abortion centers in the Keystone State went uninspected for 15 years or more. The Gosnell grand jury said the refusal to inspect resulted from the pro-abortion political stands of former Governors Ridge and Rendell.

Governor Tom Corbett took swift action in response to the Gosnell case, holding bureaucratic ideologues responsible, retooling the state health department, and insisting on inspections of abortion facilities.

Governor Corbett also signed into law Pennsylvania’s landmark abortion center regulation act, which placed the Commonwealth at the forefront of national efforts to safeguard the health and safety of women. At least a half-dozen abortion facilities closed because they either could not or would not abide by these basic safety standards.

The media should consider asking Wolf whether the NARAL endorsement means that he also rejects unannounced inspections of abortion facilities and the common sense safety standards that are now protecting women in Pennsylvania.

Yet Another Abortionist Is Convicted of Mistreating Women

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The law finally caught up with abortionist Charles Rossman this summer. The Georgia abortionist was sentenced to five years in prison for locking a woman in his office after she took a handful of abortion pills and went into labor, according to LifeNews.com.

The woman callGaveled 911, and police arrived and broke down Rossman’s office door right before she gave birth to a baby boy.

After this happened in 2003, Rossman fled the country to avoid charges. A decade later, he was captured in Germany and brought back to the U.S. to face charges.

These articles about abortionists’ horrible mistreatment of women seem so common on pro-life news sites.

As I was reading the article, I wondered what it would look like to compare the percentage of abortion doctors who have been charged with or convicted of crimes to doctors as a whole. I think we’d be shocked by what we’d find.

Sidewalk Counselor’s Compassion Touches Angry Father’s Heart

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Compassion is something I think about a lot. I strive to be compassionate and respectful to every human being – whether preborn baby or mother, elderly adult or teenager, pro-lifer or abortion advocate.

Yet, I struggle. It’s easy to throw compassion to the wayside when someone starts yelling. Unborn baby pictureOur natural urge is to defend ourselves. It takes a lot of self-control and compassion to keep calm, but it’s a virtue we must strive for as pro-lifers.

When we respond in love, not anger, we show that person that we care about them enough to put our anger and discomfort aside.

I was reminded of this the other day when I was talking to a dedicated sidewalk counselor in our area.

A few weeks ago, she approached a couple going into the abortion center. The father berated her and cursed at her as they walked by. She kept calm, assuring them she only wanted to offer free support to them and their baby. They ignored her and walked inside the building.

About 15 minutes later the father came out and approached her. First, he apologized for yelling at her, and then he confided that he did not want the abortion.

She encouraged him to talk to his partner and told him about the free help available at the local pregnancy center. As he walked back inside, she began praying. Soon, he came out again with his partner. They were beaming as they told her they were going to keep their baby.

I’m pretty sure it was her compassion that made all the difference to him. He could see that she genuinely cared about him and his family. If she had yelled back, I wonder if he would have confided in her the way he did. Probably not.

It’s hard to be compassionate when we know babies are being killed every single day in our towns. We should be upset that abortion is legal, but we’re not going to change minds by reacting in anger.

When we react in compassion and love, we demonstrate our ultimate purpose as pro-lifers – to ensure that every human life, born and preborn, is valued and protected.

Government Study May Have Put Premature Babies at Risk

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I always find it interesting how news stories seem to coincide.

A few days ago, I read about a Time magazine cover story featuring the wonderful medical technology now available to help premature babies survive and thrive.LiveActionvideo

Today, I read about an investigation into a government study of premature babies that may have put the babies’ lives at greater risk.

The Daily Signal reports that some parents were encouraged to sign up for the study without receiving details about what it was or how it could risk their babies’ already fragile health.

According to the article, “It was a national, government-funded experiment on 1,316 extremely premature infants in which their fate may as well have rested with the flip of a coin.”

The study researched the effects of oxygen given at different levels to premature babies. When a premature baby’s lungs are still developing, too much or too little oxygen can cause serious damage. Researches wanted to find the perfect amount for these babies.

Sounds good, right? The problem was that “there were key differences in how researchers treated babies in the study compared with those not in the study.”

“Normally, medical personnel constantly adjust oxygen as preemies’ conditions change, based on their individual needs. But the SUPPORT study was designed to keep infants in their randomly assigned range, despite a baby’s individual needs.
“And in a decision that one government source says shocked seasoned researchers when they learned of it, the babies’ oxygen monitors intentionally were altered to provide false readings. The reason: so medical staff wouldn’t be tempted to adjust oxygen out of the babies’ study-assigned range.”

Why are some babies treated with the utmost care and value, while others are being used as objects for research? Why this inequality?

Our abortion-minded culture has allowed us to devalue certain human beings, to treat them as objects because they are sick or poor or unwanted.

Through stories like these, we as pro-lifers can help others to see how critically important it is to treat every single human life equally.