Tag Archives: Pennsylvania

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?

Bishop Gainer: Pro-Life Is a ‘Hello?!” Movement

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Did you read about the man who escaped from jail 89 days into a 90 day sentence? Or about the thief who walked into a store, took the cash, and then let the clerk borrow his cell phone to make a call – to the police?

Bishop Ronald Gainer at the 2015 Celebrate Life Banquet in Harrisburg

Bishop Ronald Gainer at the 2015 Celebrate Life Banquet in Harrisburg

“Hello?!”

“(It’s) a word we say to someone who just doesn’t seem to get it,” the Most Rev. Ronald Gainer told a crowd of 600 pro-lifers gathered in Harrisburg for our 2014 Celebrate Life Banquet.Gainer, the new bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, compared the pro-life movement to the term “hello?!” because we are “calling out to a culture that has drifted from the truth.”He challenged pro-lifers to think about three issues in our modern culture that keep people from understanding the tragedies of abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research.

First, our inability to use right reasoning.

Our culture quickly and easily falls for marketing messages, Gainer said. Pro-abortion advocates appeal to people with deceptive marketing that evokes desire and emotion.

Gainer called on pro-lifers to help our culture see past the pro-abortion side’s deceptive marketing appeals by using logic and reasoning to defend innocent human beings.

He used the example of fetal homicide laws, which are in place in most states to protect preborn babies from being victims of violence. Every law has an exception carved out for abortion, though.

“Hello?!” Gainer echoed.

Second, our inability to remember.

Gainer also called on pro-lifers to remind our culture of the history that we too often forget. It’s important that we look to the past so that we can learn from history and heed its warning signs.

He asked pro-lifers to consider the culture in Germany several years before the Holocaust. The ethical framework allowing human rights abuses started in the country’s medical and academic institutions years before the Holocaust took place, he said.

Third, our inability to understand freedom.

Many believe that freedom simply exists to do whatever we want, but choice for its own sake is not freedom, Gainer said.

“Authentic freedom lies in the ability to recognize what is true and the courage to do what is right,” he said.

Gainer ended by encouraging pro-lifers to march on with joy and boldness as we continue our work to educate our culture about the value of every single human life.

To watch or read Gainer’s full speech, click here.

Where the Candidates for Governor Stand on Life

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Our Legislative Director Maria Gallagher just finished a new fact sheet comparing Gov. Tom Corbett and challenger Tom Wolf on abortion and taxpayer funding of abortion.

Click here find out where the candidates stand on these important issues.NRLC-Vote

Abortion rates have been dropping in Pennsylvania in the past four years, and abortion centers have been closing their doors. But there is still a lot of work to do.

Every 15 minutes, a baby dies in an abortion in Pennsylvania. Every 15 minutes, we are losing another precious human life in our state. Every 15 minutes, a woman is being subjected to an abortion, a tragedy that may stay with her for the rest of her life.

Babies and their moms deserve better than abortion. Pennsylvania needs leaders who are dedicated to supporting and protecting both baby and mom from this far too common tragedy.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 4 in Pennsylvania. If you aren’t registered to vote, you still have time to. Click here for details.

More Evidence that Candidate Tom Wolf Is Pro-Abortion

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Tom Wolf, the millionaire candidate for governor, donates to America’s largest abortion chain, Planned Parenthood.

Wolf’s financial records from 2010 list donations to Planned Parenthood of Central PA, imagesaccording to this news report.

What did Wolf’s money support? In 2011, Planned Parenthood performed a record number of abortions: 333,964, according to its national report. Abortion made up 92 percent of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services, while prenatal care and adoption referrals made up only about 7 percent.

Wolf also received an endorsement from NARAL, which supports abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy.

It’s not difficult to see where Wolf’s priorities are.

New Bill Would Deny PA Women Information about Abortion Risks

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By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director

The abortion industry and its allies are lobbing another legislative weapon in their War on Women.

Women Have a Right to Know!The weapon of choice, in this case, is a deceptively named Pennsylvania bill called the “Patient Trust Act.”

House Bill 2303 is sponsored by known abortion advocate Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny County). The Senate version, Senate Bill 1456, is sponsored by a one-time pro-life legislator who is now running for Lieutenant Governor on a pro-abortion platform, Sen. Mike Stack (D-Philadelphia County).

The sponsors, who are being championed by a pro-abortion blog which partners with the nation’s largest abortion operation, Planned Parenthood, claim they are trying to rid politics from the doctor-patient relationship. But the legislation would do exactly the opposite — insert politics where it does not belong.

The bills state that health care practitioners should not be required to provide information to a patient that is not “medically accurate.” The legislation also says that the government should not require a health professional to perform a medical service that is not “evidence-based.”

Who could argue with that? Even pro-life legislators may be deceived into sponsoring it.

But the devil is in the details.

In their quest for legitimacy, the sponsors are pointing to a report by the National Partnership for Women & Families, which claims that a political agenda is “undermining women’s health care.”

One problem here. The group has a radically pro-abortion political agenda of its own. The organization—and the legislation’s sponsors—are upset with common sense protective laws that inform women about the risks of abortion. That is their real aim—to prevent women from obtaining critical information about abortion-related health risks.

And this points to the radical nature of the pro-abortion movement. They want to declare an information blackout in abortion facilities. They want to ignore scientifically-based research showing that abortion can increase a woman’s risk of sterility, substance abuse, depression, and premature delivery of subsequent babies. If a woman knows that, she might think twice about having an abortion—and that could hurt the abortion facilities’ bottom line.

Keeping women uninformed leaves them vulnerable—weak, rather than empowered. Beware of “patient trust” legislation which may be coming to your state. It’s not about good medicine. It’s about preventing the kinds of protective laws which can help women make sound health decisions that positively impact themselves and their families.

Tom Wolf Endorsed by Radical Abortion Group NARAL

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By Maria Gallagher, Legislative/PAC Director

The Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, has the backing of the pro-abortion PAC known as NARAL.

Capitol-front-viewLargeA press release said that Wolf, whose TV ads portray him as an affable cabinet maker, “happily accepted” the endorsement.

“I am thankful to NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC for their support,” Wolf was quoted as saying.

NARAL supports abortion on demand for any reason during all nine months of pregnancy. The special interest group opposes all protective laws, including restrictions on late-term abortions and bans on taxpayer funding of abortion.

The endorsement clearly indicates that a Wolf administration would attempt to turn back the clock on the significant gains Pennsylvania has made in protecting women and children in the aftermath of the massive Kermit Gosnell tragedy. Gosnell was ultimately convicted of killing three full-term babies and causing the death of a female patient in his abortion center “House of Horrors.”

Back in the Gosnell era, abortion centers in the Keystone State went uninspected for 15 years or more. The Gosnell grand jury said the refusal to inspect resulted from the pro-abortion political stands of former Governors Ridge and Rendell.

Governor Tom Corbett took swift action in response to the Gosnell case, holding bureaucratic ideologues responsible, retooling the state health department, and insisting on inspections of abortion facilities.

Governor Corbett also signed into law Pennsylvania’s landmark abortion center regulation act, which placed the Commonwealth at the forefront of national efforts to safeguard the health and safety of women. At least a half-dozen abortion facilities closed because they either could not or would not abide by these basic safety standards.

The media should consider asking Wolf whether the NARAL endorsement means that he also rejects unannounced inspections of abortion facilities and the common sense safety standards that are now protecting women in Pennsylvania.

Woman Shares Her Journey to Healing after Eight Abortions

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When I met Tammi Morris for the first time, she helped me to understand something I’ve struggled with many times – why a woman would have multiple abortions.

Tammi had eight.

Tammi came from a difficult background. She grew up in a very poor neighborhood. Her mother was battling substance abuse.35a420_d8ea7fbe3e57414eb756db83b7bdcbda

Tammi found herself pregnant at 16, and people looked down on her for it. Not long after giving birth to her baby girl, everyone around Tammi basically abandoned her, and she became homeless. When she was just 17, she had to battle her in-laws to keep custody of her baby daughter. She was young, frightened, and all alone.

It was then that she found herself pregnant again. Already at her whits end, she didn’t see any way she could have another baby. So, Tammi had an abortion.

“They say there’s no fate worse than death, but it my mind there was – and that was me being your mother,” Tammi told me. “And I would go on to believe that for 13 years.”

Tammi was determined to change her life. She got her GED, went to college, and worked multiple jobs. She eventually gained the success that she had dreamed of: a good job, house in the suburbs, SUV, and pool in the backyard. But inside, she was still broken. She continued to have abortions.

One day, Tammi said God touched her broken heart in a powerful way. She cleaned up her life and eventually found healing and forgiveness for aborting eight of her children.

Now, she is sharing her story publicly because she wants to help other post-abortive women know that there is forgiveness in Christ. She also has a strong desire to encourage pregnant women to choose life.

There is much more to Tammi’s story, and I would strongly encourage you to listen to her tell it on our April LifeLines podcast. Or visit Tammi’s website.

Tammi, in her humility, helped me to understand how her brokenness and desperation led to her abortions, and how desperately pregnant and new moms need our encouragement and support and post-abortive women need our forgiveness and compassion.

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If you or someone you know is pregnant and needs help, contact the Pennsylvania pregnancy hotline at 1-888-LIFE-AID or click here to find a pregnancy center near you.

If you or someone you know is seeking healing after an abortion, contact Rachel’s Vineyard here.

Our New Website Is Here – Same Location, New Look

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Our new website is here! We’ve been working on updating our old site for quite a while now, and thanks to the talent and hard work of our IT Director Bill and graphics designer Keith, it’s finally ready to launch.

The site launched on Sunday, May 11, in honor of Mother’s Day.NewWebsite

We’re still at the same address, www.paprolife.org, but we have introduced a whole new look – with new features, updated content and easy-to-access pro-life information. The site was designed to be compatible with today’s browsers and mobile devices, so it’s easier to navigate, too.

We want paprolife.org to be the go-to place for Pennsylvanians seeking answers about life. Please visit our new site and send us your feedback at lifelines@paprolife.org.

And keep checking in. We will be adding more new content in the coming weeks.

We’re Back from Our Pro-Life Town Hall Meetings

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Well, we’re back. Our Executive Director Michael Ciccocioppo and I hit the road last week for our annual pro-life town hall meetings.

It was an exhausting week with two speaking stops per day and hundreds of miles in the car, but it also was an encouraging week that I’ll never forget.

TownHallGettysburg

Our Town Hall meeting in Gettysburg

Everywhere we stopped, people were anxious to learn the truth about what’s happening in our nation.

The purpose of our town hall meetings is to bring pro-life education to people in their own communities. This year, we talked about the pro-life gains in Pennsylvania, notorious abortionists in our state, the abortion and medical rationing components of Obamacare, a Millennial’s perspective on abortion, and effective methods for defending our pro-life beliefs.

We go out to teach and inspire, but we always come back having learned and been inspired ourselves.

This year, I came back reminded about just how unique and beautiful every individual is. I saw hundreds of people at our meetings. I talked with them, shook hands with them. And I marveled at how different and beautiful every single person is. One of a kind. Unique. Unlike any other on the earth in all of history.

And I was reminded of what being pro-life really means – recognizing each individual as a unique treasure and protecting that treasure from harm.

Check back soon for photos from the tour.