Category Archives: General

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.

Women Headed to Congress Will Work to Protect Preborn Babies

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I have to chuckle when a politician says something that is meant to push abortion but ends up sounding very pro-life — and it backfires on them.

joniernst

U.S. Senator-elect Joni Ernst from Iowa

For example, this morning I was reading an article in the National Review about a wonderful group of pro-life women who will be heading to Congress next year. The article included a quote from Hillary Clinton, who was campaigning in Iowa right before the election.

Clinton attacked pro-life Senate candidate Joni Ernst, saying: “It’s not enough to be a woman. You have to be committed to expand rights and opportunities for all women.”

Expanding rights for all women sounds good when you consider preborn females in the womb. But we know Clinton was only referring to born women.

Iowans heard Clinton’s message and chose Ernst instead. They recognized the candidate who is truly committed to expanding rights for all women – born and preborn.

It’s an exciting time for pro-lifers. A strong group of women will be in our U.S. House and Senate next year, fighting for the rights of preborn babies.

Read more about Ernst, Elise Stefanik, Mia Love, Barbara Comstock, Mimi Walters and others who will be new voices in Washington for the rights of all women – born and preborn.

PA Pro-Lifers Scored Victories amid Losses in 2014 Election

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By Maria Gallagher, Legislative/PAC Director

The untold story of Election 2014 in Pennsylvania is how well pro-lifers fared in legislative contests.

Capitol-front-viewLargeThe Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation PAC endorsed 12 candidates for Congress, 69 candidates for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and five candidates for the Pennsylvania Senate. Every single PAC-endorsed legislative candidate won his or her race.

Noteworthy is the fact that the pro-life endorsements crossed party lines—a number of pro-life Democrats won their contests. Female pro-life candidates also scored exceptionally well, shattering the myth that all women in Pennsylvania politics stand on a pro-abortion platform.

Of course, this welcome news for preborn children and their mothers will receive little airplay, since Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion operation, is playing up the fact that their Executive Branch candidates—pro-abortion Gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf and his flip-flopping running mate, Lieutenant Governor candidate Mike Stack—defeated pro-life Governor Tom Corbett and Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley.

Yet, nothing was as touching as the Election Night moment when Governor Corbett, in a graceful concession speech, praised Chloe Kondrich, a special needs child who successfully won passage of a law to ensure that parents of unborn babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome receive helpful information and referrals. The legislation was especially significant, since statistics indicate as many as 90 percent of unborn children diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted.

Sadly and tragically, such legislation would have had scarce chance of becoming law under the incoming Wolf/Stack regime.

History will show that, in just four years, Governor Corbett made tremendous progress in the fight for life, answering the Kermit Gosnell tragedy with swift and decisive action. Abortion facilities that went uninspected for more than 15 years finally are subject to regular health inspections…abortion operations must follow basic safety standards…and no taxpayer dollars will be used for abortion under the health insurance exchange created in Pennsylvania through Obamacare.

It will be up to the pro-life General Assembly to keep Wolf’s rabid abortion policies in check, so that protections for unborn children and their mothers will not disappear in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

How to Explain Why We Believe What We Believe about Life

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Last Saturday, I participated in a very encouraging youth event organized by the St. Gabriel Respect Life Committee in Carlisle.

CupcakeOne thing that really struck me about the event – from the speaker’s talk to the students’ comments — was the vital importance of teaching young pro-lifers to understand and articulate our position on life.

Guest speaker Missy Martinez from Students for Life said many young people are in the “mushy middle” when it comes to abortion. Many haven’t thought a lot about the issue.

Martinez encouraged students to start conversations with their peers about abortion. She laid out the basic pro-life position and discussed how pro-lifers can have civil, reasonable conversations with people around us. Here are the basics of the pro-life position:

We believe every human being has an equal right to life. Modern science has proven that from the moment of conception preborn babies are distinct human beings. Therefore, we believe preborn babies also should have an equal right to life.

We believe there is no significant difference between a preborn human being and a born human being that makes it ok to kill the preborn human. A preborn baby is different from an adult in size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency; however, the differences are not significant enough to make it ok to kill a preborn baby. Born humans also have these differences.

We believe that circumstances such as poverty or wantedness are not good reasons to kill a preborn baby in the same way that circumstances are not a good reason to kill a toddler. Both the preborn baby and the toddler are human beings who should have an equal right to life.

These points are foundational to our cause. Every pro-lifer should memorize them and be willing to discuss them. They explain what we believe and why it’s so important.

Please consider sharing this article. Or share this short video “Defending Your Pro-Life Views in Two Minutes or Less,” which explains the same points.

Planned Parenthood Abortions — 3 Percent or 93 Percent?

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Abortion advocates spin their deadly trade to make themselves look friendly and appealing. Even Planned Parenthood, our nation’s largest abortion provider, prefers to promote its other, non-abortion services to make itself look better.

PP3percentPlanned Parenthood claims that abortion makes up only 3 percent of its services, but Students for Life is calling out this deceptive abortion statistic in a new video. Watch here as Students for Life explains how the group manipulates its numbers to come up with 3 percent.

In the video, Students for Life breaks down Planned Parenthood’s annual report numbers and finds: Of all pregnant women who went to Planned Parenthood in 2012-2013, 93.78 percent had an abortion.

Planned Parenthood works hard and spends a lot of money (our tax dollars) to promote itself as a kind, caring women’s health organization. But its numbers point to Planned Parenthood’s true priority – abortion.

Planned Parenthood: Care. (About Abortion.) No Matter What.

Dear Magazine Publisher, Abortion Is Bad for Business

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By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director
gallagher@paprolife.org

I recently felt tempted to subscribe to a fashion magazine in which a famous pop star graced the cover.

Image of a baby at seven weeksBut, when I happened upon the magazine’s website, I discovered an article claiming that having an abortion was not a difficult decision.

Not only did I not subscribe — but I let the publisher know why.

Abortion is, in fact, bad for business — but some business leaders are not getting the message. That’s why it’s important for us to communicate our view that abortion is not a trifling subject — it is a matter of life and death.

I think far too often we sell ourselves short, thinking our opinions don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. In fact, they do — and so do our decisions about where and how we spend our hard-earned money.

Businesses that promote abortion on demand for any reason during all nine months of pregnancy need to be taken to task. They need to be reminded that the radical agenda they are pushing is out of the mainstream.

In the end, money does talk — and it should talk in defense of the helpless baby and her mother.