Tag Archives: Kermit Gosnell

Photoshopping Abortion

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By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director

As I was perusing Twitter the other day, I saw a picture of a woman displaying a fire engine-red purse that was supposed to signify “pro-choice” fashion.

Somehow I don’t associate abortion with handbags. But I find that, increasingly in our image-driven world, abortion advocates are promoting paraphernalia to symbolize abortion. Pink tennis shoes immediately come to mind, since that was the footwear of choice for Texas politician Wendy Davis during her filibuster to prevent the enactment of common sense protections for mother and child.

Image of a baby at seven weeks

Image of a baby at seven weeks

And when the abortion industry is not accessorizing abortion, it is Photoshopping it. The aim is to crop the baby right out of the debate. The problem is, no amount of Photoshopping can conceal the stark, deadly reality of abortion: the taking of an innocent human life. Colorful imagery should not confuse us, obscuring the fact that abortion stops a beating heart.

Cleverly-designed portraits of “reproductive justice” also cannot erase the painful scars abortion can leave behind. Again and again, I hear from women who have silently struggled with the not-so-pretty-as-a-picture aftermath of abortion: in some cases, sterility; in other cases, substance abuse; in more cases than I can count, a flood of regret.

Through well-coiffed celebrities, the abortion industry tries to put an elegant face on abortion. Unfortunately, these stars cannot see the darkness that accompanies abortion — the lies, the denials, the violence. Only once in a while is the pristine imagery shattered by the horrific insider views of the abortion industry, as perhaps best demonstrated by the Kermit Gosnell case. (Gosnell was convicted in Philadelphia of killing three full-term babies and causing the death of a female patient. The grand jury suspected him of causing hundreds of additional deaths, but he could not be prosecuted for them, because he destroyed the records which could have led to more murder counts.)

Since major media outlets seem to be blinded by their own biases, it is up to the pro-life movement to shed light on the abortion industry every day that abortions take place. For the false images and to-die-for accessories will eventually fade away, as a majority of Americans come to realize that the freedom promised by abortion businesses is nothing but false advertising.

Wolf Is ‘1st Governor in History’ to Be a Planned Parenthood Escort

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You can usually tell a lot about a person by the way they spend their time, and our new governor is no exception.

Gov. Tom Wolf

Gov. Tom Wolf

Since being elected, Wolf named a Planned Parenthood executive to his transition team and appointed a man who has been linked to Kermit Gosnell to his cabinet.

Recently, we learned that Wolf also used to volunteer for the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.

Earlier this month, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards proudly told a Pennsylvania group that Wolf is the “first governor in the history of this country who is also a former Planned Parenthood escort.”

For anyone who doesn’t know, Planned Parenthood escorts are volunteers who walk with patients from their car to the building, blocking them from pro-life sidewalk counselors. Escorts can be nasty, even abusive, toward pro-lifers and pushy toward the women they escort.

Their job is to prevent women from hearing about the other options and resources available for them and their baby. They don’t trust women to make their own decisions.

And that’s how our new governor, Tom Wolf, used to spend his free time.

We need to keep a close eye on Wolf to ensure that he doesn’t do in office what he did as a volunteer. Women deserve to know the full truth about abortion, their preborn baby, and the pregnancy and parenting resources available to them. Let’s hope that our new governor will have a change of heart and start trusting women with all the facts.

To Be “for the People,” Gov. Wolf Should Break Ties with Abortion Industry

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By Maria Gallagher
Legislative Director

As he takes the helm of state government, new Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is promising a “government that works.”

Pennsylvania: A Pro-Life StateIn order to make good on that pledge, he will have to show his independence from the abortion industry.

It’s a tough task, given the fact that the nation’s largest abortion operation, Planned Parenthood, served on his transition team.

In addition, the man he nominated for Secretary of State, Pedro Cortes, has been sharply criticized for his failure to put abortionist Kermit Gosnell out of business when he had a chance. The grand jury report in the Gosnell murder case cited several instances in which the Department of State, which Cortes previously headed, failed to take action following revelations of trouble at Gosnell’s facility. Gosnell is now in prison after being convicted of the deaths of three full-term infants and in connection with the death of a female patient.

At his low-key inauguration, Wolf also pledged a government for the people rather than the special interests. Again, it will be difficult for him to fulfill his pledge as long as he maintains close ties with the abortion industry.

Pennsylvania made tremendous progress during Governor Tom Corbett’s administration in terms of holding abortion businesses accountable. As a result of a law signed by Corbett, abortion facilities in Pennsylvania must abide by the safety standards of outpatient surgery centers. They must also be subject to regular inspections.
Pennsylvanians will need to keep a close eye on the Wolf Administration to ensure that enforcement of abortion regulations does not take a giant step backward. Women’s health and safety depend on it.

Wolf has also promised to be an unconventional governor. That would mean not following in the footsteps of previous Governors Tom Ridge and Ed Rendell, whose policies were governed by pro-abortion politics. Consider this assessment from the Gosnell grand jury, regarding the decision of pro-abortion governors to stop inspecting abortion centers: “Better to leave clinics to do as they pleased, even though, as Gosnell proved, that meant both women and babies would pay.”

Let’s not have a replay of Ridge-Rendell. Let’s challenge the new governor to safeguard women and children through aggressive enforcement of abortion center regulations. Only then will Pennsylvania really achieve a government that works.

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.

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.

Abortion Advocates, What Are You Doing to Protect Women from Other Gosnells?

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It’s time that we ask abortion advocates what they are doing to protect women from abortionists like Kermit Gosnell.

gosnell40These groups claim to advocate for women’s health. Yet they have not taken action to protect women after witnessing perhaps the most horrific treatment of women and babies at an abortion practice in modern history.

Abortion advocates joined pro-lifers in condemning Gosnell’s horrible practice. They were horrified by the case. But that’s where their actions stopped.

It’s clear that these groups do not believe abortion center regulations will meet their goals. Abortion advocates are vehemently opposed to laws such as those passed in Pennsylvania and Texas in response to Kermit Gosnell and the women and babies who he hurt and killed.

It’s time that we call them out and ask: what are they doing to protect women from abortionists who abuse and misuse their patients? And what do they believe our nation should do? If not abortion center regulations, what?

Some may say: “Gosnell certainly was terrible, and he deserves to be in prison. But he was just an outlier, an anomaly.”

The Kermit Gosnell case certainly was unlike anything America had ever witnessed before. Gosnell maimed and murdered women and babies for decades before authorities discovered him.

But there is evidence that Gosnell isn’t the only abortionist who is abusing women and babies. Consider Steven Brigham, Douglas Karpen, James Pendegraft, Charles Rossman. I could go on.

How are we to know whether there aren’t other abortionists like them? Gosnell got away with murder for decades due to the lack of abortion center regulations. The grand jury in Gosnell’s case recommended abortion center regulation laws so that other Gosnells wouldn’t be able to practice undetected.

Others may say: “We should do something, but abortion center regulations are doing more harm than good. These new laws are just shutting down women’s access to abortion. These laws will drive women to the back alley.”

But without abortion center regulations, couldn’t back alley abortionists be practicing on main street? Kermit Gosnell was.

Also, these laws are not stopping abortion advocates from opening new centers or upgrading their current ones to meet the basic health and safety standards required by the new laws. Sure, it takes time and money to build or upgrade anything, but isn’t the money worth it to ensure women’s health and safety?

Still others may say: “Abortion center regulations are just thinly veiled attempts to shut down abortion centers. Anti-abortionists want to take away a woman’s right to abortion.”

Unfortunately, the mainstream media has perpetuated the lie that pro-lifers could care less about women. We only care about babies.

The truth is that pro-lifers are stepping up where abortion advocates are not. We are fighting to protect women from abortionists like Gosnell. We work to pass abortion center regulations because women deserve better.

Abortion advocates have failed to protect women from abusive abortionists like Gosnell. It’s time we call them out and ask them: If you care about women, as you say you do, what are you doing to protect women from other Gosnells?

State Reports: Philadelphia Abortion Center Not Informing Women of Risks, Alternatives

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A Philadelphia abortion center did not inform women about the risks and alternatives to abortion as is required by law, according to inspection reports from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

imagesThe Philadelphia Women’s Center and all Pennsylvania abortion centers are required to inform women about abortion risks, alternatives, and the approximate age of their preborn baby at least 24 hours prior to the abortion. However, the Philadelphia abortion center appears to be skirting the law.

According to a state inspection report from Oct. 9, 2013, inspectors found the abortionist’s signature was photocopied onto documents that indicate patients have received the information. Three women also didn’t sign the forms to indicate that they had receive the information.

But that’s not all. Records indicated that the abortionist didn’t inform eight other patients either.

This LifeNews.com story details even more deficiencies at the Philadelphia Women’s Center, including:

  • A discrepancy about medications given to a woman who was hemorrhaging and had to be taken to the hospital.
  • A broken fire alarm that the state has warned the facility about five times.
  • Dirty cleaning supplies that were put right next to clean linen.
  • Expired medication, and medication that wasn’t properly stored.

The state Department of Health routinely inspects abortion centers in Pennsylvania, thanks to new abortion center regulations passed in the wake of the Kermit Gosnell discoveries. To view the abortion center inspection reports, click here.

Gosnell Case Continues as Staffer Faces Sentencing

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The case of Kermit Gosnell’s “house of horrors” abortion center continues, and most of the media is back to ignoring it.

Karnamaya Mongar

Karnamaya Mongar

Lynda Williams, one of Gosnell’s staffers, was sentenced last week for her involvement in his criminal drug distribution, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Gosnell and his staff made money off of selling prescription pain killers illegally. It was Gosnell’s “pill mill” and not his deathly abortion practices that first led investigators to his West Philadelphia facility.

This week, Williams is expected to be sentenced for her role in the deaths of a newborn baby and female patient Karnamaya Mongar. She already pled guilty to third-degree murder for their deaths. Williams, like most of Gosnell’s staff, was not a licensed medical professional.

The mainstream media would prefer that we forget about Williams and Gosnell and the Philadelphia “house of horrors” abortion center. Though the case continues more than a year after Kermit Gosnell’s murder convictions, we hear almost nothing in the news about it.

I share this update on the case so that we as pro-lifers don’t forget.

State Investigates Allentown Abortion Center Allegedly Dodging Facility Inspection

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HARRISBURG, Pa. – Documents from an abortion center in Allentown have prompted state officials to investigate whether the center may be dodging unannounced state inspections.

A Planned Parenthood in Allentown allegedly rescheduled abortion procedures after finding out when the Pennsylvania Department of Health planned to inspect the facility, according to documents released to blogger Jill Stanek. The allegations that Planned Parenthood has inside information about inspections prompted speedy action by the Governor.

“Pro-life Governor Tom Corbett’s office is now looking into allegations that abortion giant Planned Parenthood may be getting preferential treatment when it comes to abortion center inspections,” said Maria Gallagher, legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life. “We commend the Governor for taking swift action to ensure the integrity of the inspection process. The health and safety of women across the Commonwealth are at stake.”

Stanek said the documents came from an informant from the Planned Parenthood Keystone affiliate, which oversees facilities in central and eastern Pennsylvania. One document shows a Planned Parenthood “Changes to Medical Center and Admin Building Schedules.” The schedule was updated on March 11 showing that abortions in Allentown would be moved from Friday, March 21, to Thursday, March 20, due to the Department of Health inspection.

In 2011, Pennsylvania enacted a new law requiring regular and unannounced inspections of abortion centers in an effort to protect the health and safety of women and babies in the Commonwealth.

“Pennsylvania has become a national leader in abortion center regulation and it is critically important that the inspection process not be compromised. We remember all too well the horrors that took place in West Philadelphia under the direction of abortionist and now convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell. We owe it to Gosnell’s victims to learn from the painful lessons of the past,” Gallagher added.

To view the original documents, visit: http://www.jillstanek.com/2014/04/pa-planned-parenthood-reschedules-abortions-to-dodge-inspectors/

Candidate for PA Governor Says Get Over Fact that She Ran an Abortion Center

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Allyson Schwartz, a candidate for Pennsylvania governor, says Pennsylvanians should just “stop worrying” about the fact that she used to run an abortion center in Philadelphia.

In a new interview, Schwartz made it clear that while she supports abortion (she had allysonschwartza 100-percent pro-abortion voting record as a member of U.S. Congress), she doesn’t want to talk about what that means for Pennsylvanians.

Schwartz used to run an abortion center in Philadelphia, not far from Kermit Gosnell’s “house of horrors.” Yet, she has also refused to talk about Gosnell and whether her facility referred patients to him.

Read more at LifeNews.com.