Tag Archives: abortion

Seven Ideas for Protecting the Right to Life in October

Posted on by
Translator

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

Posted on by
Translator

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.

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

Posted on by
Translator

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

Posted on by
Translator

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

Posted on by
Translator

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.

Planned Parenthood’s game of name calling

Posted on by
Translator

My dad used to tell us that when someone called us a bad name,
they were really describing themselves. And the older I grow, the more I
realize the wisdom of his words.

When people resort to name calling, they often are convicting themselves of the very thing they are accusing the other person of.

So often seems to be the case in the abortion debate.

Planned Parenthood, our nation’s largest abortion provider, claims
pregnancy resource centers provide “false” or “misleading” information to their clients.

As you have probably guessed, the real false information is coming from the abortion giant itself.

Jenni Stone, a Live Action writer, points out the half-truths and other misinformation in Planned Parenthood’s description of fetal development.

She writes:

According to Planned Parenthood, “’The ball of cells develops into an embryo at the start of the sixth week. The embryonic stage of pregnancy will last about five weeks. During this time all major internal organs begin developing.

Weeks 5–6
• The embryo is less than 1/5 inch (4–5 mm) long.
• A very basic beating heart and circulatory system develop.
• Buds for arms and legs develop.
• The neural tube begins forming. The neural tube will later form the brain, spinal cord, and major nerves.
• The bud of a tail develops.
• The umbilical cord begins developing.
 

“That ‘ball of cells’ is scientifically and biologically a newly conceived human being, but don’t expect Planned Parenthood to ever admit such a thing. The ‘very basic beating heart,’ which isn’t basic in any sense of the word, is pumping blood throughout the baby’s body just 21 days after conception — before the vast majority of women even realize they’re pregnant. By 28 days after conception, an unborn child’s heart is beating about 121 beats per minute. Planned Parenthood claims that ‘the neural tube will later form the brain,’ at 5-6 weeks of pregnancy when, in fact, the brain is the first organ to begin developing. By 3 weeks after conception, the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain can be identified.”

And what are pregnancy resource centers’ alleged inaccuracies? I guess it must be their dedication to informing women about the damaging effects of abortion and about the precious, unique life that is growing inside of them.

Sounds like another instance of name-calling for Planned Parenthood.

Family Must Choose – Give Up Business or Pay for Abortion

Posted on by
Translator

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.

Feds ignore states’ wishes, investigations and continue to pour money into abortion

Posted on by
Translator

A handful of states have pulled funding away from abortion centers like Planned Parenthood, which faces numerous investigations involving patient injuries and Medicaid fraud.

In response, the federal government has ignored states’ decisions and funneled money into Planned Parenthood to make up for the lost state funding.

The federal government’s blatant disregard for investigations involving women’s health and taxpayers’ money has happened in six states so far, according to Lifenews.com.

Read more about the investigations and the federal money here and here.

After abortion debate, hospital partnership dissolves

Posted on by
Translator

How discouraging it was to see the news this afternoon.

Abington and Holy Redeemer health systems in eastern Pennsylvania canceled their plans to create a new partner health system. Read more here.

Though hospital officials did not give a reason for ending their plans, we can guess – Abington’s decision to stop offering abortions and the outcry that followed. Initially, Abington rightly agreed to stop providing abortions to honor Holy Redeemer’s adamant opposition to it.

But doctors, staff and community members loudly protested Abington’s decision and attracted a lot of media attention.

The articles neglected to mention a group of strong pro-life citizens who have asked the hospital to end abortions for several decades. Read
more here.

It’s disheartening when our voices are drowned out by the pro-abortionists. But it’s not untypical. They are the same people who are also  cutting off the voices of the unborn. We should expect this negative behavior from them.

Our job is not done. We can still peacefully but purposefully tell Abington that abortions are not acceptable and do not benefit women’s health. You can call the hospital at 215-481-2000 or email publicrelations@amh.org .

The untold pro-life side of the Abington abortion dispute

Posted on by
Translator

Recently, an eastern Pennsylvania health system announced plans to stop offering abortions once it merges with a Catholic health system next year.

Now, the planned partnership is rumored to fall apart because, you guessed it, people are upset about ending abortions.

Abington and Holy Redeemer health systems have not announced the details of the planned merger, but Abington officials said it plans to continue offering non-abortion reproductive services.

News articles in the past few days emphasize the outrage of doctors, clergy, patients and others who don’t like the decision. People are filing petitions and threatening to quit, inundating top hospital administrators with letters, and more – all because they want abortions to continue.

And news articles give the impression that nothing has been said or done on the pro-life side. It takes a little digging to find out how involved pro-lifers have been at Abington.

A 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer article on Abington Memorial Hospital’s website sheds some light on the community’s pro-life stance.
According to the article: “For as long as anyone at Abington can remember, one subject has dominated the public portion of the annual (hospital board) meeting: abortion. Members of the antiabortion community, filling the room, hoped and prayed (2010) would be the year, finally, the board would change its policy.”

During that 2010 meeting, the Rev. Mark Rudolph told the board how the hospital saved his son’s life after a serious car accident.

“How can a hospital that’s so committed to skill and ability to preserving life also have a hand in destroying it?”

Two pro-life physicians at Abington also spoke, and a petition signed by 4,000 people was given to the board asking them to end abortion practices at the hospital. In 2009, a similar petition had 3,000 signatures, according to the article.

Along with attending the meetings, people from the pro-life community met every month outside the hospital for a prayer vigil to end abortions. This tradition has been going on for 30 years.

Finally, in 2012, the merger brought hope amid the persistent prayers and petitions. The health system agreed to stop performing abortions when it merges with Holy Redeemer.

Sadly, though, the recent news reports do not mention these people’s long-term efforts to defend the unborn.

Hopefully, Abington will remember the passion these pro-life people have for protecting innocent lives and stick to its plan to stop doing abortions.