Tag Archives: pro-life

My Childhood Friend Died Young, but Her Life Is Still Making an Impact

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I don’t remember how old Jessica was when she died. We moved away when I was 6 years old, and I never saw her again.

The other day I was reading through some old papers when a name popped out at me, and with it a long-packed-away memory of Jessica.

Me at about age 6

Me when I was about 6 years old

She was several years older than me, but we knew each other from church. She had cancer, and it kept her home from school a lot. When Jessica had to stay home, she sometimes invited me over to play. 

Jessica always made me feel special. She was a big kid who took an interest in me. She trusted me with her big kid toys and treated me as her equal. We played dolls and dress-up just as I did with my other friends – but with Jessica I always felt honored because she chose to play with me. I was just a little kid, after all.

I remember giggling while we played Barbies in her room. I remember her kindly instructing me to use her new toy this way so I wouldn’t break it. She never complained or argued with me about what we would do next.

Honestly, I don’t remember much more. I was very young, and we spent just a short time together. Yet, she left a lingering impression on me. She encouraged me. She cared about me. She made me feel valuable. Every time I remember her, I can’t help but smile.

Jessica probably never knew how special those few playtimes were to me. She probably never thought that I would still warm at the thought of her friendship more than 20 years later.

As I think back, I believe Jessica is one of the reasons why I do what I do. Though I was only 6 years old, I was changed by Jessica forever. She taught me that every person is valuable, no matter what their age; and no matter how much time you have with someone, you can change their life for good.

Because of that, I will never forget her. Thank you, Jessica.

MSNBC Says Life Isn’t a Scientific Term

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I rarely read MSNBC anymore, but curiosity got the better of me. I clicked on their response to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s comment about liberals denying the science of life and abortion.

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Baby at 6-8 weeks

The MSNBC headline read, “Marco Rubio’s scientific blunder on abortion.”

Here’s what the third paragraph said, “In fact, ‘life’ and ‘conception’ aren’t scientific terms, and the rights of a blastocyst, embryo or fetus compared to the pregnant woman aren’t up to scientists; they’re subjective, based on personal, religious, or political commitments.”

I couldn’t help but scoff at that sentence. It made me wonder how journalism has sunk to this new low. (My background is in journalism, by the way.)

Their statement that life and conception aren’t scientific terms is ridiculous (and I don’t use that word lightly). Even the determination of when life begins is a scientific fact, as Sen. Rubio stated.

Life, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction.”

These terms are not subjective. If they were subjective, then how could scientists look for life on Mars or in the Mariana Trench? If they were subjective, how can we determine whether you or I are alive?

Sometimes I think our head-to-the-iPhone culture saturates our minds with so much information that we forget to think about what we’re reading.

As pro-lifers, we need to step up and be critical thinkers – whether we’re reading an article from a pro-life perspective or a pro-abortion perspective.

Our mission is too critical. We are fighting against 40-plus years of legalized abortion. We are fighting for the 56 million babies who lost their lives as a result, and the millions more who are vulnerable to the threat.

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.

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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.

How Many Babies Are Missing in Your County Due to Abortion?

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Abortion is a crisis in our nation. 55 million babies have died because of it.

But 55 million is a difficult number to relate to. It’s hard for me to picture 55 million of anything. The number is just unimaginable.

So, when I need some perspective, I look at abortion numbers in my home community. Below is a list from the Pennsylvania Department of Health with the number of babies who died in abortions by county in 2012.

When I look at the list and the number beside my county, it reminds me of how real abortion is. I wonder whose baby isn’t crying next door, or whose child I won’t see playing in the park down the street. I think about how there will be nine fewer children starting kindergarten in a few years.

It can be easy to distance ourselves from the reality that abortion brutally kills preborn babies. So, I challenge you to think about the babies who aren’t here anymore, the babies who would have been. Please find your county and think about the number after it. If you’re a praying person, pray.

And then I challenge you to act. Get involved in protecting life in your community. With your help, we can get these numbers down to zero and restore protections for every single human life.

CountiesAbortion2012

CountiesAbortion2012-2(Please forgive me for the poor quality of these documents. I was having trouble formatting them. If you would like to see the numbers in the full report from the state Department of Health, click here. They are located on pages 4-5.)

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/

Amazing Video of Conception to Birth Is Worth Watching Again

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No matter how many times I watch Alexander Tsiaras’s short film, “Conception to birth – visualized,” I walk away feeling amazed.

Tsiaras, a professor at Yale University, helped to create the stunning video that shows a baby’s development in the womb from conception to birth.

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TEDTalks

In an amazing display of images, we watch as the baby’s cells split and spread out. Then his or her heart begins to beat. Then arms and hands form. Then a tiny nose and eyes appear. Within 44 just days, the baby is recognizably human. By 9 weeks, he or she is basically fully formed.

Every step of development is so beautiful. Yet, what’s most amazing of all is realizing that from that very moment of conception we are already living, growing human beings – completely unique and valuable.

Please take the time to watch the whole video here. It’s only about nine minutes. Then share it with people you know. These visual images, backed up by science, make it hard to deny that babies in the womb deserve the right to life.

(Family audiences, please not that there are some brief anatomically graphic images – not violent, but graphic.)

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.

Who Really Has Women’s Best Interests at Heart?

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Planned Parenthood with its bright pink logo and its catchy slogans claims to have women’s best interests at heart. But it doesn’t take much to see past the façade.

The abortion provider fights vehemently for “access to women’s reproductive health care” (translation: abortion). They oppose any and all abortion regulation laws – including those PlannedParenthood1meant to protect women’s health – all in the name of access.

But when it comes to real health care access issues, Planned Parenthood isn’t just silent. They’re actually promoting a law that cuts off access to basic health care for women and their families.

I’m talking about Obamcare.

Planned Parenthood is one of the biggest proponents of the federal health care law. The problem is that as more people sign up for new insurance plans, they are finding that their new plans exclude specialist doctors and highly-reputable health care centers, according to a report by the National Right to Life Committee.

National news outlets also are picking up on the restricting effects of the law. In an Oct. 21, 2013, piece in USA Today, Annika McGinnis wrote:

“In New Hampshire, the exchange has just Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which greatly reduces the number of hospital options, says State Sen. Andy Sanborn. Since more than 90% of doctors are affiliated with specific hospitals, the new plans will also exclude many doctors, he added. Plans don’t include the capital’s Concord Hospital, and the next-closest hospital uses Concord doctors, Sanborn said. So, he said, people will have to drive to a third hospital an hour away. They’ll even have to call an ambulance from a far-away hospital to pick them up, he said.”

And this is just one of many examples.

Planned Parenthood conveniently ignores the fact that Obamacare is forcing families to travel further to find basic health care. As long as women can have easy access to abortions, nothing else matters to them.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to conclude that Planned Parenthood cares only about abortion. No matter what.