Author Archives: Matthew Wagner

Eight Pro-Life Resolutions for 2015, Including Mine

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I have a confession. I rarely make New Year’s resolutions. I like to think it’s not because I’m lazy, but because I see New Year’s Day as just some arbitrary spot on the calendar. I tell myself I can make resolutions any time. I don’t need “January 1st” to motivate me.

People for Life of Erie at the March for Life

People for Life of Erie at the March for Life

Well, I have resolved to change that. I am making a resolution, and I encourage you to make one, too – whether you start Jan. 1 or some other time. Here are eight pro-life resolutions for you to consider (including mine for 2015):

1. Dedicate time to pray for an end to abortion. Last year, I began praying every Friday morning during my hour-long commute. Fridays are one of the busiest days for our local abortion center, so I spend my hour praying for the women, their families, the sidewalk counselors, abortionists and staff. If you are a religious person, consider a new prayer resolution.

2. Learn to articulate your position on human life. Put Scott Klusendorf’s “A Case for Life” or Frank Beckwith’s “Defending Life” on your reading list this year. Both offer a very strong, reasoned case for why all human life should be protected. They also help teach you to respond to pro-abortion arguments.

3. Listen. If a friend is facing a crisis, listen. If he/she wants advice, offer it but only after you listen. If your sister-in-law is pro-choice on abortion, listen to her reasons why before you respond. Sometimes the best way to love people is to show them that we care enough to listen.

4. Volunteer. Contact one of our 40+ chapters, a pro-life group at your school or college, or your local pregnancy help center to volunteer.

5. Attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C. This huge pro-life rally inspires hundreds of thousands of people every year. It’s an awe-inspiring event. Contact us for details.

6. Tell your elected officials where you stand on life. If they vote pro-life, thank them. If they don’t, ask them to. And if you don’t know where your elected officials stand, contact us and we’ll let you know.

7. Stay informed. As the 2015 approaches, we already have our eyes on new threats to life here in Pennsylvania, including doctor-prescribed suicide and a new pro-abortion governor who already has appointed abortion advocates to his transition team. Keep yourself informed by signing up for our twice monthly e-newsletter.

8. Donate. Pro-life organizations like us need your support. Whether you can donate time or resources, you can help us in our mission to restore protections for life. Personally, I’m resolving to spend less on things like coffee and junk food in 2015 so I can donate more to those in need. Donate here.

Please consider making a pro-life resolution in 2015. You can be a part of this mission to ensure protections for every human life in Pennsylvania.

Merry Christmas, and happy New Year!

Assisted Suicide Is Being Pushed Here in Pa. — Stay Informed

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Assisted suicide and euthanasia are no longer distant threats to life. Doctor-prescribed suicide legislation is being discussed in Pennsylvania right now.

BizMatters12-14Compassion and Choices, formerly the Hemlock Society, is pushing this deadly legislation across the country; and we in the pro-life community are joining voices with medical and disability rights groups to oppose doctor-prescribed suicide in Pennsylvania.

You may hear it euphemistically called death with dignity or aid in dying, but doctor-prescribed suicide is what it is. And it’s a recipe for abuse.

We know from Oregon, where doctor-prescribed suicide is legal, that safeguards don’t work. People who are older or disabled may be pressured into suicide, and others may be denied medical treatment. That’s what happened to Barbara Wagner. In 2008, her Oregon-run insurance plan denied coverage of her chemotherapy treatment. Instead, they offered to cover her assisted suicide.

Josie Byzek of Not Dead Yet Pennsylvania, a disability rights group against assisted suicide, says groups should be advocating for better health care and respect for people of all abilities – not suicide.

“One concern our community has is that people with disabilities, especially life-threatening disabilities, cannot uniformly receive quality health care,” Byzek says. “Therefore, how can these same health professionals, as a matter of policy, possibly make a judgment call about the person’s quality of life?”

To stay informed about this issue, check out recent Pennsylvania media coverage:

  • Central Pa. talk radio show Smart Talk aired a program with disability rights advocates from Not Dead Yet Pennsylvania and assisted suicide advocates. Listen here.
  • In Allentown, the TV show Business Matters interviewed our Executive Director Michael Ciccocioppo and Alan Holdsworth of Not Dead Yet, along with assisted suicide advocates. Watch it here.
  • Lancaster newspapers published two opinion columns for and against doctor-prescribed suicide. Our Legislative Director Maria Gallagher wrote the opposed column. Read it here.

Read Winter Issue of our Pro-Life Newspaper Online

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Our latest LifeLines newspaper is hot off the presses!

This issue features the exciting new pro-life outreach that’s happening in Philadelphia in the wake of the Kermit Gosnell tragedy.LifeLinesW14Cover

Our legislative director informs you about the victories for life in our state and the threats to watch for on the horizon.

And there’s a recap of our Celebrate Life Banquet and our speaker’s inspiring challenge to us all.

You can read about the 40-year legacy that several of our volunteer chapters are celebrating. And you can find out about the many volunteer projects that are happening all across the state.

Don’t forget to check out the Umbert the Unborn cartoon on page 10, too!

Click here to read our latest LifeLines issue. Read past issues here.

New Website Shows Pregnancy, Parenting Help on Campuses

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A shout out to the Messiah College Respect Life Club for pointing me to this great new resource for college students.

PregnantOnCampus.org, PregonCampus2a project of Students for Life, has a new section that helps students find pregnancy/ parenting resources available on and around their college campus.

The Pennsylvania list includes 28 campuses and boasts 729+ resources available to students, including housing, scholarships, clothing/food assistance, child care, and counseling. The individual campus lists also inform students of their rights and the school’s policies concerning pregnant and parenting students.

And don’t forget about our website’s Pregnant? Need Help? section, which lists more than 200 pregnancy/parenting resources across Pennsylvania.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, told the National Review: “The pressure on a pregnant student to abort her child is enormous — she could be getting pressure from her family, her friends, her partner, her professors. She absolutely needs to know that abortion is not her only option and that there are caring people on campus who really want to help her.”

Please share these valuable resources with college students in your life. The most common age for a woman to have an abortion is during her college years. Students deserve to know that there are better options than abortion. These resources help remind pregnant/parenting students that they don’t have to face this on their own.

Pro-Lifers in Court Wednesday to Challenge Pittsburgh Buffer Zone

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A small group of pro-lifers from Pittsburgh challenged the city’s buffer zone Wednesday in front of a federal judge.

Women Have a Right to Know!The city has a 15-foot buffer zone around abortion centers that prevents pro-lifers from peacefully counseling women about alternatives to abortion. Sidewalk counselors often serve as the last line of hope for preborn babies and their mothers before an abortion appointment.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Nikki Bruni of Verona testified that while she “occasionally” is able to get her message across to women entering the Planned Parenthood location on Liberty Avenue, Downtown, the yellow, spray-painted buffer zone restricts her and others from having in-depth conversations with women about alternatives to abortion.

Bruni, campaign director of 40 Days for Life in Pittsburgh, a twice-a-year, anti-abortion event, said Planned Parenthood security guards prevent demonstrators from entering the zone, even if it is to walk across to get to the other side.

… U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon heard more than three hours of testimony and arguments before giving both sides until Dec. 19 to reach a compromise. If they can’t, the attorneys will have 30 days to file legal arguments before she rules.

Women deserve to know all the facts about abortion and its alternatives. Buffer zones are damaging, not only because they restrict pro-lifers’ freedom of speech, but also because they restrict women’s rights to hear about alternatives to abortion.

Older Americans Have Better Quality of Life Than Younger Americans Predict

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I stumbled on an interesting article today about our assumptions about growing old.

The Wall Street Journal piece “Why Everything You Think about Aging May Be Wrong” examines people’s expectations about growing older and compares them to older adults’ actual experiences.

OldwomanIn an age where bureaucrats are denying people health care coverage because they’ve “outlived their life expectancy” and assisted suicide advocates are harping about “quality of life,” I found it interesting that older Americans aren’t experiencing the difficulties that younger Americans think they will.

Older adults are more satisfied with their lives than their younger counterparts think they will be at the same age. Younger adults rank age-related difficulties like memory loss, depression, serious illness, and being a burden significantly higher than Americans over 65 do, according to a study from the Pew Research Center.

Check out the article here.

We need to be very careful about our fears and make sure they don’t lead us to devalue life. We can not accurately measure someone’s “quality of life” just as we can’t measure the worth of a human life.

Inspectors Find Unsanitary Conditions at Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia

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Pennsylvania’s abortion center regulations are protecting women and holding abortion centers accountable to basic health and safety standards.

PlannedParenthood1A new report at LifeNews.com says state inspectors found unsanitary conditions, including ripped furniture and detached wall paneling, inside Planned Parenthood Northeast in Philadelphia this September.

Rips and tears may seem like minor issues, but in a health care setting, they can be extremely unsanitary. According to LifeNews.com:

“Because, unlike our homes, hospitals and doctor’s offices have serious concerns about the spread of disease. … This is particularly important when there is, shall we say, “bodily fluid spillage”.

… Once “fluids” are in, they stay. Unless a cloth chair can be steam cleaned on a moment’s notice, there is no way to guarantee it is clean for the next patient. … When there are rips in vinyl, fluids can leak into the stuffing, rendering the chair uncleanable.”

These are serious problems. We can’t just brush off a little rip here or a small tear there. A little tear could be contaminated with disease.

Abortion centers must be held accountable for the health and safety of their patients. It’s common sense. Our new laws are doing their job of protecting women from hazardous conditions inside abortion centers. We must keep working so that every preborn baby is guaranteed these same protections under the law.

What Millennials Mean for the Pro-Life Movement

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Young pro-lifers are changing the face of our movement.

Millennial adults, those ages 18 to 29, are coming to the pro-life movement from all walks of life. A 2013 Public NRLA2013HannahVictorReligion Research Institute study found that young pro-lifers are even more ethnically and religiously diverse than older pro-lifers. About 30 percent of young pro-lifers identify as black or Hispanic, and 15 percent say they are not religiously affiliated.

Evidence indicates that young adults also are enthusiastic and active in the cause. Many Millennials are calling themselves the Pro-Life Generation.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, wrote in the fall 2014 issue of Human Life Review: “(We) currently work with 838 active student pro-life groups across the country. At the time of publication, the nation’s two most notable pro-choice activist groups combined report fewer than half the number of active groups as Students for Life.”

What do these things mean for the pro-life movement?

First, we should find renewed strength in the fact that our cause unites people from all backgrounds. Pro-lifers may disagree on politics and religion and we may come from different cultures, but we are putting aside our differences and working together to end the slaughter of innocent preborn babies. Our unity is further evidence that our cause is true and just.

Second, we need to be welcoming. Sometimes, pro-lifers are guilty of stereotyping ourselves, assuming that other pro-lifers are white, conservative and Christian. We must be careful not to assume. When we gather outside of an abortion center or march in Washington, D.C., we need to be aware that not all pro-lifers pray the way we do – or pray at all. It doesn’t mean that we should water down our message or stop praying, but we should be considering new ways to work together as an increasingly diverse movement.

Third, we need to encourage more young people to get involved. When young adults realize the truth about abortion, they become a powerful force for life. Whether through pro-life clubs in schools, at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., or in the voting booth, Millennials are taking action to end the massive tragedy of abortion.

Yet, many young people are not well-informed about the right to life issues. We can inspire young people by inviting them to join us at a pro-life event, encouraging them to volunteer (Millennials are very service oriented), sharing a pro-life article with them on social media, or visiting our website for more ideas.

And remember, no matter what your age, you can be a voice for life!

Simple Reminders about the Value of Adoption

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As I sit here at my desk and type, I can see my little sister’s picture in the corner of my eye. Her face is vibrant as she poses in her pink and blue ballerina tutu with little fairy wings and a flower pinned in her hair.

PortraitBelow that is a funny little picture that she sketched in church one day, a scribbly portrait of me and my husband. Every time I look at it, I smile. My husband has one big curly hair coming off the top of his head, and I think I have a tail.

Sometimes, I forget that my little sister was adopted. Even though we are 20 years apart and I was married before she was part of our family, I don’t think of her with an “adopted” label.

But when I saw that November is National Adoption Awareness Month, I was reminded that adoption brought her into my family’s lives. She has been a blessing in big ways and small ways, from her scribbly picture that greets me every morning at work to her filling my parents’ empty nest with the joy that only a child can bring.

And I just want to thank her birth mother and every birth mother who makes the difficult decision to make an adoption plan. I don’t know if my little sister’s birth mother considered having an abortion, but I do know she had the wisdom to see the value of her little girl’s life.

This is a short, simple post, but I just wanted to remind you (as I remind myself) of the value of adoption.

Learn more about adoption in Pennsylvania at AdoptPAKids.org.

Stuffing with a Side of Suicide

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By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director
gallagher@paprolife.org

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Trip to Grandma’s? A cooking marathon? A touch football game?

CupcakeLeave it to the hope-killers of the suicide movement to take one of the great things in life and turn it into a mope-fest.

The Hemlock Society — now deceptively called Compassion and Choices — wants you to spend Thanksgiving Day talking about assisted suicide with your family and friends.

I have a better idea. Spend the holiday enjoying life. Express your thanks for all of your many gifts. Treasure your loved ones and tell them how much you love them. Celebrate all that’s good in your life and in the lives of those you care about. Take a deep breath and, as you exhale, remember how good — no, make that great — life can be.

The best antidote to the physician-prescribed suicide scourge is an enthusiastic “yes” to life. It’s a hope-filled declaration that, despite the detours along our individual journeys, each of our lives have meaning and merit — from the moment of conception to the instant of natural death.

This Thanksgiving, whether you’re dining with masses or having an intimate dinner with only a few, raise your glass and toast to life. It’s the one great gift no one has a right to take away.