Monthly Archives: January 2021

The Abortion Vaccine

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By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director

At an intersection of both history and numbers, that is where we are.  

Historically, we mark one year since coronavirus surfaced in the United States, while also observing the 48th anniversary of legalized abortion.

Numerically, we mourn the 400,000 lives claimed by the pandemic of 2020, while also grieving more than 800,000 lives that perished last year in a much more enduring plague.

While applauding extraordinary efforts to save lives touched by a hostile virus, we lament everyday efforts to take smaller, completely helpless lives.

While eagerly welcoming a COVID vaccine produced in record time, we yearn for a long-awaited vaccine that will end prenatal dismemberment.

What we need is a cure for the sickness that has caused the premature demise of 62.5 million unique individuals.

For decades, the pro-life movement has been working toward a vaccination of sorts. One that fights not a petri dish viral culture but instead a culture of death that has gone viral.

Our antidote to abortion is comprised of scientific facts, fundamental civil rights, respect for natural law, abundant compassion, and practical resources. We inoculate the public with our witness and testimony, dialogue and debate, passion and prayers.

And the more we inject the culture with truth, the more we build an immunity to the lies that feed the abortion virus. The more we combat the insidious belief that any one life is disposable, the healthier we become as a human family.

Our efforts strengthen women and men who feel weakened by distortions and deceptions, empowering them to choose life.

Our pro-life “vaccine” creates a society welcoming to life no matter the circumstances because even the most difficult circumstances do not erase our humanity.

Once we achieve herd immunity we will realize that there is no crisis that calls for killing and no crisis that can’t be overcome with love and understanding, help and hope.

We will have made abortion unthinkable.

That is the medicine we need to administer in ending the deadliest pandemic our country has ever known.  That is the vaccine for abortion.

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling: A Victory for Women and Their Children

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HARRISBURG, Pa. –The U.S. Supreme Court should be applauded for its landmark ruling banning abortion facilities from mailing abortion drugs to women.

“This is a victory for women and their children, in Pennsylvania and throughout the country,” said Maria V. Gallagher, legislative director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life.

“Abortions-by-mail violate the very idea of sound medical practice and high-quality care for patients,” Gallagher said. “By pushing this dangerous practice, the abortion industry had demonstrated once again it is far more concerned about expanding abortion rather than safeguarding the health and safety of women,” Gallagher added.

A recently released report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health shows that, in 2019, 285 abortion complications were reported, an astronomical increase of 59 percent from the 2018 totals. The vast majority of the complications involved baby body parts being left in the mother’s womb, followed by bleeding and infection. 

A Pennsylvania abortion operation announced this week it was expanding abortion in the Keystone State by offering abortion drugs by mail. Planned Parenthood Keystone’s website stated individuals could receive the drugs at home “instead of coming into one of our health centers.”

Since the Supreme Court ruling, the page of the website detailing the abortions by mail program has been removed.

************************************************************************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.

Life is Truly a Miracle

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by Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director

Miracles never get old. And we are on the verge of one.  A nine-month mystery will soon be revealed when we meet the grandchild we first learned about last spring.

We know not the gender nor the size nor the eye color, all determined from the very moment of conception. We know not the abilities, personality, or future of this life hidden from our view but just as alive as you and I.

We do know our amazing daughter has been busy doing what only women can do, something I described in another blog:

It is no small thing that we women are the life-bearers of the entire species. We alone can grow human beings in our bodies, craft a cerebral cortex, knit a network of veins, erect a skeletal system.  We alone can nourish this life with a perfect food forged by our miraculous bodies.  We literally make the men and women of tomorrow with our very own cells. Now that’s power. A power given no man.

But even as I marvel at this feminine super power, and celebrate its manifestation in our own daughter, I am cognizant of a sobering fact, one that is uncomfortable for me to even think about. Distressing for me to actually type. But it should be known.

In our country, even at this late stage of pregnancy, a woman can still legally abort her child. And her husband or boyfriend or family members would be powerless to do anything about it.

Under the facade of “reproductive health care,” fully-formed, pain-capable babies, just weeks, days, or even hours from birth can be put to death. 

Some believe this only happens if the health of the mother is threatened.  But health can be widely interpreted.

Doe v. Bolton, the companion case to Roe v. Wade, declared that the health of the mother may be “exercised in the light of all factors—physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age—relevant to the well-being of the patient,” making abortion legal during all nine months of pregnancy and for reasons well beyond the life of the mother.  

Some may think that late-term abortion is necessary to save a mother’s life.

But it is possible to save both lives. If the mother’s life is in jeopardy, a baby can be delivered pre-term and provided with life-saving care. There is no need to kill the child in utero to preserve the mother’s life. Dr. Kendra Kolb, a neonatologist, explains this thoroughly in a Live Action video.

Some may believe such late term abortions are extremely rare and thus negligible.

But that too is not true. Accounting for about 1% of all abortions, late term abortions claim several thousands lives each year, viable babies that deserve protection from invasive and violent tools of destruction.

As I wait in joyful anticipation of a precious newborn grandchild, I also wait with a hopeful heart that all eyes will be opened to the sanctity of preborn human life, so that it is protected in every circumstance. Every single life is a miracle to be celebrated, and miracles never get old.

Pennsylvania Abortion Rates Rise; Pregnancy Resource Centers Provide Alternatives

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HARRISBURG, Pa. – The number of abortions in Pennsylvania increased in 2019 by slightly more than 2% according to the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life.

Statistics released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health show 654 more abortions occurred in 2019 compared to 2018. In all, 31,018 abortions took place in 2019, with 25-29 year old women being the largest age group having abortions (29.9%), followed by 20-24 year old women (27%). Abortions for females under 18 dropped slightly to 2.4%.

Abortion among white women dropped slightly, while abortion among Black and Latino women increased. Chemical abortions increased by 4.6%. Over 47% of the women had experienced at least one prior abortion. Eighty-seven percent of the women were unmarried.       

Five counties accounted for 83% of total abortions: Allegheny, Delaware, Montgomery, Northampton, and Philadelphia, which itself accounted for 47% of the abortions.  An average of 85 babies died by abortion every day in 2019.

“It is disturbing to see an increase in abortion, especially late term abortion, when we know babies are pain-capable,” said Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation.  “And it is alarming that there was a 59% increase in complications from abortions, putting vulnerable women at great risk while sentencing their children to death. Had Governor Wolf signed pro-life legislation such as the Dismemberment Bill in 2017, these numbers would be lower.”

But he and the abortion industry have no interest in decreasing abortion.

In contrast, Pregnancy Resource Centers across Pennsylvania have seen an increase in services, providing ultrasounds, material goods, life-skill classes and daycare referrals. “Women can find authentic care and support in the Pregnancy and Parenting Support Program, which is administered by Real Alternatives, Inc. (www.realalternatives.org ),” Finnerty added.

According to Kevin Bagatta, President and CEO of Real Alternative, Inc. “In 1995, Pennsylvania was the first state to provide taxpayer dollars dedicated to provide free services to women in unexpected pregnancies to encourage childbirth rather than abortion. To date, the program has served over 325,000 women of the Commonwealth.

“We are grateful to the citizens of the Commonwealth for the financial resources they provide to the program so 440 counselors throughout the state can serve thousands of women in unexpected pregnancies. Their dedication led to our program serving 11% more clients in 2019 than 2018,” said Bagatta.

“We must continue to reach out to women to let them know that help is available for themselves and their babies, whether they choose to parent or place for adoption.  They do not have to choose between their child and their future. They can have both,”said Finnerty.     

***************************************************************************************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.