Category Archives: General

Sailing Around Pro-Life Laws: The Abortion Boat and the Feds

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Abortion proponents are skirting past laws meant to protect women and preborn children.

The latest group to literally sail around abortion laws is the Women on Waves abortion boat. The Dutch-based pro-abortion group sails a boat to countries that do not allow abortions, and performs chemical abortions off of the coast of pro-life nations. The group’s latest target is Morocco.

The Women on Waves boat gives abortions using RU-486, a dangerous and often ineffective drug that suffocates the preborn baby and causes dangerous side effects.

Earlier this year, our own federal government also skipped over state laws limiting funds to abortion providers. In a special October series, Americans United for Life exposes the Obama Administration’s staunch support for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. After six states decided to end taxpayer funding for the abortion provider, the Obama Administration overrode their laws and provided federal grants to make up for the abortion giant’s lost funding.

We entrust our elected officials with the responsibility of enacting laws that protect our rights – the first being our right to life. When groups skirt past these laws, they show their disregard for our government’s laws, our voters, the women who these laws are designed to protect, and most of all our very right to life – from conception to natural death.

Seven Ideas for Protecting the Right to Life in October

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October is a great month to get involved in the pro-life movement. The month holds multiple chances to participate in pro-life prayer, outreach, and public witnessing against the tragedy of abortion.

This fall, why not make it a goal to do one pro-life activity? Take just a few hours out of one day to participate in an event. You could save a life!

Here are seven ideas for you:

1. Participate in a 40 Days for Life Campaign. Beginning  Wednesday and continuing 40 days through October, the groups will hold constant  vigils outside abortion centers as they pray and fast. Because of these peaceful gatherings, about 6,000 babies have been saved from abortion, 24 abortion centers have closed, and 69 abortion workers have quit their jobs. Find a campaign in your area here.

2. Join a Life Chain on Sunday, October 7. The Life Chain is a public display of prayerful opposition to abortion. Pro-lifers usually gather at a prominent point in town to listen to pro-life speakers and pray. To see if there will be a Life Chain in your area, email us at lifelines@paprolife.org .

3. Spend one evening in October reading more about the devastating effects of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. Our website has a wealth of information about abortion, unplanned pregnancies and alternatives to abortion, stem cell research, legislation, euthanasia, and more.

4. Write a letter to the editor about a pro-life issue. Find tips for writing here.

5. Join a chapter of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation. Our 40 chapters serve as important links in their community to right to life information and advocacy. They organize events such as 40 Days for Life and Life Chains, host special speakers and classes, spread information through billboards and advertisements, and set up informational booths at community events.  Some churches, high schools, and colleges also have pro-life groups. Find a chapter here.

6. Pray for the women who are facing unintended pregnancies, and pray for an end to abortion.

7. Host a bake sale or a baby shower to raise money for your local pregnancy help center. Or volunteer to help at the center for a day. Find a list of pregnancy help centers here.

October is the perfect time to make your voice heard for the preborn!

 

Pennsylvania Lawsuits Oppose Abortion in HHS Mandate

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This month, a Pennsylvania judge is weighing a lawsuit against the controversial federal Health and Human Services Mandate.

Filed by the Catholic Diocese of Erie, the suit says the mandate violates religious liberty by forcing the diocese to pay for contraception and abortion-causing drugs.

Read more about the case here.

The diocese is one of dozens of employers who filed lawsuits opposing the abortion and contraception provisions in the law. These include a business in western Pennsylvania and Geneva College in Beaver Falls.

This dangerous mandate not only is a violation of religious liberty, but its abortion provisions also extend our country’s violation of the right to life.

To learn more about the abortion, medical rationing, and euthanasia provisions in the new health care law, visit our website and click on the videos at the top of the screen.

If you haven’t already done so, you can sign our petition opposing the life-threatening provisions in the federal health care law here.

Chemical Abortions Are Dangerous, Ineffective

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RU-486, a chemically-induced abortion drug, was hailed as a wonder when it first was introduced to the United States.

A woman could have a “safe,” “easy” abortion without any cold metal instruments or “invasive” procedures, proponents said. A woman just takes the drug and – ta da – no more pregnancy.

But research flies in the face of this propaganda. RU-486 actually is a very dangerous, often ineffective drug.

Not the morning after pill, RU-486 is a steroid that blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed for a pregnancy to continue. The drug starves and suffocates the baby to death over a period of three to four agonizing days. A second drug usually is taken to induce contractions to expel the baby.

RU-486 has serious health risks for the women who take it. Side effects include heavy bleeding, fever, cramping, diarrhea, high blood pressure, increased heart rate, infections, and more.

Sometimes, the drug fails to finish its deadly deed – and the woman must undergo a surgical abortion. When the chemical abortion doesn’t work correctly, the risks also are more serious, including uncontrolled bleeding, infection, and future birth defects.

A recent study in Vietnam found that one in four women had to undergo a surgical abortion after an incomplete RU-486 abortion, according to a recent Contraception article.

The drug also makes it difficult for women and doctors to distinguish between ordinary side effects (heavy bleeding, pain) and signs of a more serious problem such as hemorrhage, ruptured ectopic pregnancy, or infection, according to an article from the Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change.

Yet, the number of abortion centers offering chemical abortions has been steadily increasing.

Planned Parenthood recently issued a national directive that all of its centers offer abortion services by 2013. As a result, some Planned Parenthood centers in Pennsylvania that didn’t do abortions previously now offer these dangerous chemical abortions.

This expansion and promotion of abortion must stop. RU-486 is a dangerous, painful drug that can be seriously injurious or deadly to the woman, as it effectively or ineffectively kills her preborn child.

Responding to ‘Isn’t God the greatest abortionist?’ and other difficult questions

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Every pro-life advocate faces difficult questions from time to time. Some are philosophical, others bizarre.

Strange was what came to my mind when an angry caller confronted me with this: “God causes pregnant women to miscarry, so isn’t God the greatest abortionist?”

It threw me off guard. I had never heard the pro-abortion side make that case before, and I didn’t know how to respond. However, the caller wasn’t interested in listening, and went on with the questions before I could give much of an answer.

The question, perhaps, is more common than I realized, because just a few days later I read an article responding to the very topic.

Scott Klusendorf from Life Training Institute boils down the question to this: “Does it follow that because nature (or God) kills people we may deliberately do so?”

Klusendorf takes the argument beyond the womb, and the true implications of the question becomes clear. If it’s ok to kill a baby inside the womb “because God does,” is it also ok to kill an impoverished infant in a third world country or an older resident in a nursing home? They have greater risks of dying. Does an act of nature such as a hurricane or tsunami that kills dozens of people justify the deliberate killing of a human being?

It is important to prepare for these arguments — but not just to learn to recite the pro-life response. We need to think and truly discern the heart of the question. Then, the next time an unexpected question comes up, we will be better prepared.

Offering Pregnancy Resources to College Students

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Study after study has shown that college campuses lean strongly liberal on social issues.

A recent poll of college professors showed that 90 percent identify themselves as liberal on social issues such as abortion, according to a Washington Times article.

Yet, college campuses really are the places where the pro-life message needs to be heard the most. Almost half of all abortions in America are performed on college-age women, according to Students for Life.

Therefore, we really need to encourage pro-life students to reach out to their peers – because they may be the only ones doing it. Pregnant students need to know that they do have options other than abortion, and they can receive support.

Students for Life offers free resources for college students facing unplanned pregnancies. A special kit designed for RAs (residence advisers/assistants) can be downloaded here. It provides a counseling guide, pregnant and parenting resources, fliers, healthy relationship advice, and pregnant and parenting student rights.

We also offer information to help parents educate their children about pregnancy and abortion, and fliers specifically for college students. Check them out here or request free copies by emailing lifelines@paprolife.org .

Help us spread the word about life!

A Shining Example of Life Featured on Time Square

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The face of Pennsylvania’s own Chloe Kondrich will shine in the streets of New York City this fall as a testament to the value of every life.

Her photo was chosen to be part of a Time Square video presentation by the National Down Syndrome Society. The organization promotes the value, acceptance, and inclusion of people with Down syndrome.

Chloe’s father, Kurt Kondrich, writes that, unlike Chloe, many Down syndrome children are denied the right to experience life. Studies have shown that more than 90 percent of preborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.

“As prenatal testing advances at lightning speed and our culture becomes more obsessed with false perceptions of perfection, the Down syndrome LIGHT will continue to dim until one day the video presentation in Times Square may become a dark tribute to an extinct species of priceless human beings,” Kondrich writes.

But because of people like Chloe and her family, the light still shines.

Celebrate life by congratulating Chloe and her family for their shining example of life. Read more about the Kondrich family at their blog.

Miracle Baby Born Weighing Less Than a Pound

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Seven-month-old Noelle Christine Aguiar already is melting hearts.

This beautiful little girl was born weighing less than a pound. Doctors predicted that she would not survive – first in the womb and then in her earliest stages of life.

But today Noelle is a smiling, thriving miracle of life. Now weighing six pounds, seven ounces, Noelle is finally out of the hospital and home with her parents.

Her mother reflects on the long, uncertain months that they faced: “When she smiles, it makes all of it worth it. Every IV, every blood stick, every surgery. That smile erases it all away.”

Too often people justify abortions because of the preborn child’s abnormalities or possibility of death. They argue that it is more merciful to kill a preborn child with abnormalities than to let it live. They argue that parents should have the option to kill a preborn child that might die in the womb, rather than wait to see if it will live.

But Noelle’s story and the lives of so many other precious children disprove this case for abortion. How can we know if a child will ultimately live or die in the womb? How can we judge that a miracle won’t happen? How can we predict that a child will not enjoy life because it has a disability? We can’t.

Noelle’s parents chose to hope rather than to try to predict the future. Now, they have a beautiful baby girl — and no regrets.

Click here to read more and watch a Fox News video about Noelle and her parents’ journey. Her miraculous story will probably melt your heart.

Family Must Choose – Give Up Business or Pay for Abortion

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A Colorado family business may be forced to choose between giving up their religious beliefs or their business because of abortion provisions in the new health care law.

The family has been running their HVAC company for 50 years and self insures its 200-plus workers. They also are a devout religious family who believe abortion is wrong.

Last week, the federal Justice Department told the family-owned company that, because it is a business, it must provide abortion coverage to its employees. Only a few religious entities currently are not being forced to insure the procedure for their employees.

Attorney Kristi Burton Brown explains more about this serious threat to our freedom. Find her article on Live Action News.

What youth don’t know about life issues, resources

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The pro-life movement has put a lot of stock on its young people to carry on the fight for life. Young faces dominate the crowds at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., every January. They form pro-life school clubs. They support crisis pregnancy centers and pray outside abortion centers.

But with many of today’s youth, there is a disconnect.

A recent poll by Students for Life found that a large number of youth do not know much about abortion issues and alternatives. Read more here.

Some of the results were startling. Kristian Hawkins, executive director of Students for Life of America, wrote:

“What they don’t know is literally killing this generation as 58 percent admitted that they didn’t know where resources were in their community or campus to support a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy who didn’t want to undergo an abortion.”

What’s more, 66 percent said they had a “favorable” view of Planned Parenthood, and 48 percent said they did not know whether Planned Parenthood offered abortions. Three in five students also believe the controversial “morning-after” pill should be available via vending machines.

Hawkins concluded that we need to do a better job educating young people about the right to life. Resources are out there. It’s just a matter of reaching out and sharing them.

In Pennsylvania, one of the best resources for youth is Real Alternatives. The alternatives to abortion program is made up of support networks throughout the Commonwealth that help women facing unplanned pregnancies. Through Real Alternatives, women are offered the assistance they need to give birth to and raise a child.

The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation also offers numerous educational resources on topics such as abortion, life before birth, Planned Parenthood and more. Real Alternatives and local crisis pregnancy centers typically offer their own posters and brochures, too. Find out more here.

Start by sharing these things with the people around you – friends, church congregation, children, grandchildren. Then, ask to speak to your church youth group, or hang up posters on community bulletin boards. Post the Real Alternatives website and hotline on Facebook or Twitter. Get involved in your local pro-life chapter.

The resources are there, and our youth need them. So, please don’t assume they know. Take a minute and share!