Monthly Archives: December 2017

Good News for Mothers and Babies as Abortions Decrease in Pennsylvania

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Picture1The annual number of abortions has declined in Pennsylvania,  bringing them to their lowest level ever recorded in the Commonwealth, according to figures released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The figures show that, in 2016, 30,881 abortions occurred in the Keystone State, down about three percent from 31,818 the previous year.

“The decline in abortions is good news for Pennsylvania mothers and babies,” said Maria Gallagher, legislative director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life. “Our protective laws, scientific advances such as 4D Ultrasounds, and pregnancy resource centers around the Commonwealth are contributing to this encouraging trend,”Gallagher added.

The Department of Health reports more than 80 percent of abortions in Pennsylvania occurred in four counties: Philadelphia (14,626), Allegheny (6,080), Northampton (3,042), and Dauphin (1,504). The figures indicate the largest contingent of women having abortions were in the age range of 20 to 24 years.

Abortion totals in Pennsylvania would be much higher were it not for the vast number of pregnancy resource centers around the state. “The caring, compassionate individuals within these centers offer everything from diapers to day care referrals, from mentoring to maternity clothes to women and their families,” Gallagher said. “These pregnancy centers are truly a lifeline for women facing challenging circumstances.”

“Make no mistake—every single abortion is a tragedy, because it is the taking of an innocent, unrepeatable human life. Yet, Pennsylvanians can take great pride in the decline in abortions, which has been aided by the loving alternatives to abortion that exist in the Commonwealth,” Gallagher added.

For Immediate Release: Statement on Governor Wolf’s Veto of Senate Bill 3

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                        CONTACT:  MATTHEW WAGNER,                                                                                              PA PRO-LIFE FEDERATION

December 18, 2017                                                                   717-541-0034

The following statement can be attributed to Michael Ciccocioppo, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life:

“This is a sad day for women and children in Pennsylvania. With his veto of Senate Bill 3, Governor Tom Wolf is allowing the inhumane practice of dismemberment abortion to continue in the Commonwealth. No living child should have to endure being ripped limb by limb from a mother’s womb, and no mother should have to endure the emotional pain of losing a child in such a brutal manner. Governor Wolf’s distressing decision goes against the will of the vast majority of Pennsylvanians, who want to see cruel dismemberment abortions banned, once and for all.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Pennsylvania House Votes to Ban Brutal Dismemberment Abortions

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CONTACT:  MARIA GALLAGHER, PA PRO-LIFE    717-541-0034

Pennsylvania House Votes to Ban Brutal Dismemberment Abortions

HARRISBURG, Pa. –Preborn babies in Pennsylvania would no longer have to undergo brutal dismemberment abortions, under a bill passed Tuesday by the PA House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 3, which has already passed the PA Senate, would ban abortions in which living babies are torn limb by limb from their mothers’ wombs. The legislation would also change the abortion limit in PA from six months to five months gestation to reflect medical advances that allow doctors to save tiny premature infants.

     “No child in Pennsylvania should be subjected to the inhumane practice of dismemberment abortions, where they are brutally assaulted in their mothers’ wombs,” said Maria Gallagher, legislative director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life. “This long-overdue legislation also ensures that mothers would not have to grieve children whose lives are taken in such a cruel way,” Gallagher added.

Specifically, Senate Bill 3 would make it illegal to cause “the death of an unborn child by means of dismembering the unborn child and extracting the unborn child one piece at a time from the uterus through the use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments.”

A statewide poll found strong support for a dismemberment ban in Pennsylvania.

“A survey of Pennsylvanians showed that the vast majority—61 percent—approve of a ban on lethal dismemberment abortions,” Gallagher said. “The support is even higher among women, with 64 percent of female respondents in favor of such a ban.”

      The bill includes exceptions for saving the life of the mother and to prevent the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of a woman.

“So many women have come to me, asking when we will see an end to the heinous practice of dismemberment abortions in Pennsylvania,” Gallagher said.  “We urge Governor Tom Wolf to sign this bill into law—for the well-being of precious children and their mothers throughout the Commonwealth,” Gallagher added.

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The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation is a grassroots right-to-life organization with members statewide.  As the state affiliate of National Right to Life, PPLF is committed to promoting the dignity and value of human life from conception to natural death and to restoring legal protection for preborn children.

End an Atrocity in Pennsylvania Before Judging Others

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Diagram of a dismemberment abortion

Diagram of a dismemberment abortion

            I recently had the opportunity to read a Newsweek.com article entitled, “Nigerian Slaves Have Organs Harvested, Bodies Mutilated and Are Set on Fire, Horrifying Pictures Claim.” The piece chronicled modern day slavery taking place across Libya.  My first thought was of sadness for the people being subjected to such horrific acts, but then I realized that what is happening there is no worse than what happens in the United States.

            Every day in the United States abortion centers are mutilating bodies in barbaric and horrific dismemberment abortions, a procedure in which a pre-born baby is torn from the mother’s womb limb by limb.  Significant evidence exists to believe that, in many of these abortions, the abortion center is harvesting aborted baby body parts and selling them.  Even the justification is similar. The Libyans accused of committing these atrocities consider those they are enslaving sub-human, much like pro-abortion activists consider the pre-born baby as not a person.

            Thankfully, we are working to end the atrocity of abortion in the United States.  In fact, recently in Pennsylvania the House of Representatives Health Committee passed Senate Bill 3, a bill that would end the barbaric practice of dismemberment abortion in Pennsylvania.  We hope that, with a lot of work by pro-life advocates in Pennsylvania and across the country, we will soon make abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia not just illegal but unthinkable. That will give us the moral high ground when it comes to combating atrocities in other parts of the world.