Monthly Archives: February 2020

Wolf wants YOU to pay for Abortions

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wolf stands with PP

by Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director

Can you imagine all the good you could do with $3 million?

Rather than do good, Governor Tom Wolf, would gift it to the abortion industry. His current proposed state budget allocates a hefty sum of tax money- your money, my money- for the abortion giant.

Wolf, a former Planned Parenthood escort, claims this is to protect “access to reproductive health care,” doublespeak for the abortion industry. Abortion is not health care, obviously, as it aims to kill, not heal.

Planned Parenthood sought to replace federal dollars that it lost when it refused to comply with federal regulations. But let’s be clear: Planned Parenthood defunded themselves when they chose abortion, not women’s health, as their top priority. Services such as Pap smears and breast exams have been steadily declining, while the rate of abortions and profits have steadily increased. (Learn more here.)

Meanwhile, abortion facilities throughout the state chalk up violation after violation, often failing annual inspections and offering substandard care to women. (See inspection results.)

Wolf may claim that the state funding wouldn’t be used directly for abortions. But it could pay for the electricity that powers the suction machine or for the water that wipes up spilled blood. Or the salary of the abortionist.

Claiming 83 innocent lives every day, abortions in Pennsylvania totaled 30,364 in 2018.  The vast majority (87%) were done in six counties, mostly in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh regions. The largest age group having abortions (30.5%) was 25-29 years old. Forty-seven percent of the women seeking abortion had already had at least one previous abortion, with 1,291 women having as many as four or more abortions. Thirteen percent of all abortions were performed after the first trimester, which means that 3960 pain-capable babies endured a violent death. (See report here.)

Do hard-working citizens throughout the Commonwealth really want to finance this?

Governor Wolf thinks so, often marketing his loyalty to the abortion industry as necessary to provide “health care” to the poor and to minorities.

But that’s not true. Better options exist.

Comprehensive health care, regardless of ability to pay, is available to women and families in need at 387 Federally Qualified Health Clinics throughout the state.  In addition, over 200 Pregnancy Resource Centers throughout the Commonwealth offer material, emotional, and financial support to women facing difficult pregnancies, and they do all that at no cost to clients.  Real Alternatives works with many of these centers, assisting with temporary shelter, adoption information, and educational decisions, among other services. This is where Governor Wolf should direct the $3 million.

But perhaps Wolf feels beholden to Planned Parenthood. After all, they donated $1.5 Million to his 2018 campaign, and then spent another $2.5 Million to support other pro-abortion candidates.

Wolf’s cozy relationship with the abortion industry continues, but we, the taxpayers, shouldn’t have to finance it.

Contact your state legislators today and urge them to vote NO on any budget that requires us to subsidize the abortion industry.

Speaker Mike Turzai, PA House Members Continue to Champion Pro-Life Movement, Down Syndrome Protection from Abortion

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TURZAI-ABORTION-PRESSER

Press Release from the Office of the Pennsylvania Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Turzai

Representative Kate Klunk and Speaker of the House Mike Turzai in April 2019 introduced the Down Syndrome Protection Act in Pennsylvania as House Bill 321. This bill prohibited the abortion of any child on the sole basis of a diagnosis of possible Down syndrome.  Representative Klunk and Speaker Turzai held a press conference in support of their bill on March 20, 2019.

During the 2017-18 Session, Speaker Turzai previously prime-sponsored the same legislation alongside then-Representative Judy Ward as House Bill 2050. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed HB2050 on April 16, 2018 with a bipartisan, veto-proof vote of 139-56. 115 Republicans and 24 Democrats voted to protect those unborn children with Down syndrome. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to bring the bill forward for a vote in the prior session.

Representative Klunk and Speaker Turzai were determined to get the Down Syndrome Protection Act to the Governor’s desk this 2019-20 session. The state House of Representatives passed House Bill 321 on May 14, 2019 with a bipartisan vote of 117-76. 102 Republicans and 15 Democrats voted to protect these vulnerable unborn children. On November 20, 2019, the state Senate passed HB 321 by a vote of 27-22, with 25 Republicans in support, as well as one Democrat and one Independent.

Governor Wolf, however, issued a veto on November 21, 2019, depriving these unborn children in Pennsylvania of protection against abortion. The Governor’s veto underscores the importance of electing pro-life candidates at every level of government.

Currently, five states have enacted legislation prohibiting abortion based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome, including Indiana and Louisiana in 2016, Ohio and North Dakota in 2017, and Kentucky in 2019. Statues like the Down Syndrome Protection Act allow state legislators across the country to challenge Roe v. Wade’s U.S. Supreme Court Ruling.

Dr. Karen Gaffney, an advocate in support of the bill last session and public speaker with Down syndrome, visited our Capitol to emphasize the urgent need to ban the eugenic practice of eradicating Down syndrome through abortion, as Iceland has been promoting:

“Those of us with Down syndrome and our families face a very difficult future,” Dr. Gaffney said, “We face the possibility of wiping out all of the tremendous progress we have made. Just as we are making so much progress, a whole industry has grown up focused on prenatal screening – screening that would end our lives before we take our fist breath. Now that you can test for Down syndrome before birth, there are many ‘experts’ in the medical community that say this extra chromosome we carry around is not compatible with life. Not compatible with life? After everything we have done, I would say we are more than compatible. We are what life is all about. Our lives are worth living and our lives are worth learning about.”

Dr. Gaffney and many other individuals with Down syndrome are thriving.  We must work to change hearts and minds so that someday soon Pennsylvania can protect all the unborn.

PA Gov. Budget: A Pipeline to the Abortion Industry? 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                       CONTACT: MARIA V. GALLAGHER PPLF February 7, 2020                         717-541-0034  gallagher@paprolife.org   

Gov. Tom Wolf

Gov. Tom Wolf                                                             

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed budget includes a line item that may represent a pipeline to the abortion industry.

            The line item in the Department of Human Services budget calls for $3 million for “Access to Reproductive Health Care.”

            The description of the line item is vague, but lawmakers question whether the grant represents a gift to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion operation.

            “The Governor appears to be trying to sneak in funding for an organization that performs and promotes the taking of innocent human life. This is appalling,” said Maria V. Gallagher, Legislative Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life.

            “The policy of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is to promote childbirth over abortion. How can we trust that Pennsylvanians’ hard-earned tax dollars will be protected from abortion?” Gallagher added.

            “Public opinion polls consistently show that Americans do not want tax dollars to be spent on organizations that perform abortion. We call on the state legislature to ensure that Pennsylvania taxpayer funds are protected from the abortion industry,” said Gallagher.    

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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.

The Next “Generation” of Abortion: A Call to Action

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woman covering eyes sad

By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director

Two red lines. She sunk into a sea of panic. Fear blinded her.

She called the clinic, but no physician would see her in person. Rather, she was given a Telemed appointment with a doctor via computer.

Within an hour, two pills were ready, a “lifeline” amidst the waves that tossed her about.

No one will ever have to know. It’s early, just a clump of tissue. This is safe.  This is easy. This will give me my future back.

She believed all that.  She wanted to believe all that.  Reality said otherwise.

The excruciating cramping induced tears to rain down her face. The bleeding seemed interminable, weakening her until all she could do was lay on the cold, tiled floor.

For weeks, not days, the agony lasted. She was never more alone.

No one had told her.

No one told her that the “tissue” she’d pass would have a tiny nose and upper lip.

No one explained she’d deliver a tiny fragile human into a toilet, an image she could never unsee.

She was further along than suspected.  But a doctor never examined her. He simply prescribed the abortion drug via computer.

Who is she?

She is any woman in crisis who turns to the abortion industry. A daughter, a sister, a wife, a friend. And she is in danger.

As more surgical facilities close, chemical abortions steadily rise, ensuring the strong profit margin of the abortion industry.  Profit at the expense of desperate young women who’ve received little information, even less counseling, and no examination.

Three abortion facilities in Pennsylvania have applied for telemedicine status, one of which failed its recent inspection.

Abortions are not sinus infections. Antibiotics are not equivalent to drugs that kill and expel a fetus. And put a woman’s life at risk.

With no physical examination, an ectopic pregnancy goes undetected. So do twins.  So does any undiagnosed medical condition that could endanger her life.

Had she gone to a Pregnancy Resource Center, someone would have held her hand, wiped her tears, given her options, offered her hope. She would have been told about the Abortion Pill Reversal. Her child might be alive today. She could live at peace with her decision.

But the “ease” of a Telemed abortion, the temptation to hide a secret, the myth that this would be easy and even “good” for her, all these coalesced into an irreversible decision. A tragic decision.

This is the next “generation” of abortion that not only kills the next generation, but threatens the present one.

Please take action today. If we don’t, blood will be on all our hands.

Legislative alert: Call your PA state Senator today to urge them to support the House Amended Version of the Telemedicine Bill 857 which would prohibit Telemed Abortions. Find your legislator here.