The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation recently completed its annual Pro-Life Student Essay Contest, and as always the entrants were amazing and the judges had a difficult time choosing a winner.  This essay, written by homeschooled ninth grader Kara Miller of Dillsburg, won first place in the Jr. High category:

When was I a choice? When was I a child? I was born at 25 weeks and 6 days. I was 1 pound, 12.8 oz. and 13.5 inches long. What makes me different from 25 week old babies in the womb? The only difference between me and them is location. Yet I was protected under law, and they are slaughtered.

In the 45 years since Roe v. Wade, more than 60 million American babies have been brutally murdered in the name of women’s rights.¹ Worldwide, since 1980, nearly 1.5 billion have been slaughtered.² That is 1.5 billion human beings, made in the Image of God, never allowed to see the light of day.

Some people believe abortion should be legal, while others do not. We can all agree, however, that each baby aborted was a potential life.

The fundamental question is when does life begin? If it begins at conception, then abortion is murder, and there should be no disagreement about the issue. If, however, it begins at birth, or really any point after conception, then it can be argued that there is nothing inherently wrong with abortion. According to an Embryology textbook, “The zygote and early embryo are living human organisms.”³ In 1981, the Senate concluded, “Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being – a being that is alive and is a member of the human species.”⁴ According to Dr. C. Ward Kischer, Professor Emeritus of Human Embryology, “Every human embryologist, worldwide, states that the life of the new individual human being begins at fertilization.”⁵ This means that abortion is murder.

Abortion should also be illegal for the sake of the babies, their parents, and the society.

The babies are heartlessly killed, and they are defenseless. Their short lives are shattered, almost before they begin.

The parents of aborted children have to live with the guilt of murder their entire lives. What makes it even worse is their sin is hidden, because many people don’t see abortion as wrong, and so they rarely have the relief of confession and justice. They lose a child, and they know it. They will miss, mourn, and remember that child for the rest of their lives.

The society is missing billions of people, their potential wasted.

People who are for abortion claim that unborn children are part of the woman’s body, and she should be able to choose what to do with it. The problem with this argument is that they are not her body. I have shown that each is, at conception, an individual human life, not part of the mother. If not, why does it have separate DNA, unique fingerprints and all the characteristics of a separate being?

In conclusion, abortion should be illegal for the sake of the babies, the parents, and the society. The pro-abortion arguments are not persuasive because a baby is not part of the mother’s body. Life begins at conception, and should be protected from that point forward.

1. http://www.numberofabortions.com/ as of 8:15 AM 3/7/2018
2. http://www.numberofabortions.com/ as of 8:17 AM 3/7/2018
3. Moore, Dr. K. L., Persaud, Dr. T. V. N., Torchia, M. G. (1993) Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects https://www.justfactsdaily.com/the-science-of-abortion-when-does-life-begin/
4. Official Senate Report from the Hearings of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, April 23-24 1981. https://www.liveaction.org/news/life-begins-at-conception-science-teaches/
5. Kischer, Dr. C. W. Professor Emeritus of Human Embryology of the University of Arizona School of Medicine. (2017, March 22). ‘When Human Life Begins’ American College of Pediatricians. https://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/life-issues/when-human-life-begins

Editors Note:  We are going to be doing a series of blog posts about “Pro-Life Heroes”…individuals who are making a difference for the pro-life movement in their communities. This first entry is from the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation SouthEast PA Coordinator Carla Ezell.  Stay tuned in the coming weeks for future “Pro-Life Heroes” blogs, and if you know of someone we should talk to who is making a difference for those who can’t defend themselves, email lifelines@paprolife.org.

My pro-life journey started in an Evangelism Explosion Class at my church in 2002.  In the class the speaker was talking about abortion, and the gentleman sitting next to me said, “You know who Margaret Sanger is?” And I said “Sure.”  God forgive me, but I didn’t want to sound ignorant to his question, but I hadn’t a clue. He went on to explain to me what Sanger’s beliefs were for African Americans, anyone of a minority race, and the physically and mentally challenged in America.  This gentleman pricked my interest enough to investigate who this woman was.  It wasn’t difficult.  Her interviews can be seen on the internet, and she wasn’t shy about her beliefs.  My surprise was that she got away with her intentions, and she is regarded as a progressive feminist to this very day.  Her influence spread as far as Nazi Germany before World War II.  Hitler admired her strong belief that mixed races and the mentally challenged didn’t have a place in society; therefore, they should be eliminated.  Margaret’s spirit still lives all over this world in countries that allow abortion, and here in America her spirit lives on in Planned Parenthood, NARAL, liberal pro-abortion feminists, and some hospitals.

A couple of years later, my husband and I had an opportunity to hear Alveda King, niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., speak at a pro-life convention.  It was then that I became convicted to share the pro-life message with my church.  I brought literature that could encourage women to opt against abortion and that encouraged women to take advantage of other options, such as counseling and adoption.  I was excited to give the information to the head of our Sunday school, and when I spoke with her, she in return seemed to be enthused with the literature I gave her.  She said she would talk to leadership, but three months later I hadn’t heard a word from her.  I approached her in the hall between services and asked why she never contacted me.  Her only explanation was “Leadership had changed.”  My heart sank.  I realized there was politics in the church, and I was too discouraged to fight leadership and their mindset.  I believe God wanted me to go outside the walls of the church and attain guidance and experience from those on the battlefield of saving the lives of children and women.

I was receiving the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation’s Lifelines newspaper, and I contacted a young woman that was the Southeast Coordinator of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and asked if she needed any help.  From there, I took classes with Amnion Pregnancy Crisis Center for counseling women who were considering abortion and post abortive women and their families.  I started to volunteer counsel at the Hope Pregnancy Center.  There was a seminar that was available through James Dobson’s Focus on the Family Ministry that I attended and was encouraged by the experience.

For the past four years I’ve been the Southeast Coordinator for the PA Pro-Life Federation.  I distribute the Lifeline newspaper and pro-life educational material throughout Philadelphia.  I go to community fellowships and schools, and I’ve been privileged to speak at churches against the tragedy of abortion.  For three years straight the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation has had a forum at my church to inform people of the progress of the pro-life work that is being performed in the state of Pennsylvania and the nation.  This past Black History Month in February, all my pro-life efforts within my church and my community came to fruition when Pastor Clenard Childress spoke for Sunday Worship and was well received.

I haven’t done everything right.  I’ve fallen prey to discouragement, laziness, and complaining along the way but my journey isn’t over yet and my dream now is to see the day that abortion is once again made illegal in Pennsylvania and across the country.

“You’re not pro-life, you’re just pro-birth.”

If I have heard this argument once by big abortion and its apologists, I’ve heard it a thousand times, as has anyone who has been advocating for pro-life issues for any length of time.  It is meant to imply that those of us who are pro-life don’t really care about the baby and mother after birth.

To disprove this fallacy, one has to look no further than the horrific case of Alfie Evans. For those unfamiliar, Alfie is a two-year old boy in Great Britain who has been hospitalized since December, 2016 with seizures of an undiagnosed disorder.  The hospital has withdrawn his life support, but Alfie continues to survive and fight. Now if the pro-life community didn’t care about life after birth, we would be unsympathetic to the plight of Alfie and his parents, yet it is in fact pro-lifers who have rallied to their side and continue to fight for Alfie to be transferred to a hospital willing to provide him the treatment he needs.  Pro-abortion activists, on the other hand remain eerily silent.

For further evidence of how much pro-lifers care about an individual’s entire life, one can simply point to all the work pro-life pregnancy centers do to help mothers of newborns as well as the babies with everything from formula to clothing, car seats to high chairs. Many pro-life pregnancy centers even provide vocational training and other education for both new mothers and fathers.

The reality is, it is pro-life advocates who truly care about the individual’s entire life from conception to natural death, and that is why we continue to remind people that there is always a reason to choose life!

During the floor debate for House Bill 2050, the Down Syndrome Protection Act that would protect babies who have a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, Mike Turzai, the Speaker of the House and sponsor of House Bill 2050 took the rare step of giving up the rostrum to speak on the bill in defense of precious babies. Please take a few minutes to view his passionate speech. House Bill 2050 passed overwhelmingly by a 139 – 56 bipartisan majority and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Katie Hawley is a fighter.

Katie was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 9.  Since the summer before she started 4^th grade, she has been through at least a dozen surgeries, two dozen chemotherapy treatments, more than two dozen radiation treatments, and dozens more scans and blood transfusions.

Understandably, Katie was ready to quit. In an interview with ESPN, Katie’s dad told the reporter Katie told him, “Dad, I’m done this time. I just want to go.”

Thankfully, her willingness to fight was restored by an unlikely source—the Anaheim Ducks, and their All-Star center Rickard Rakell.  Katie’s family had a number of friends and neighbors who were Duck season ticket holders. They would often donate their tickets to Katie to go see a game when she had a rough day.  When the Ducks organization, and Rakell specifically, heard about Katie’s condition they were quick to encourage her to keep fighting, even making her an honorary “21^st Duck” and sending her to All-Star Weekend.

Katie’s story stands in stark contrast to that of another young woman, Brittany Maynard. In Brittany’s case, instead of having an organization come alongside her and encourage her to fight, she was encouraged by the old Hemlock Society, rebranded as “Compassion and Choices” to kill herself.

The contrasting stories of Katie and Brittany are a good reminder to all of us that sometimes people fighting serious illness need someone to come alongside them and encourage them to fight. Part of being pro-life is being like the Ducks and coming alongside those who need help and showing that assisted suicide is not the answer.

House Bill 2050 has been introduced in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives by speaker Mike Turzai to ban the abortion of preborn babies who have been diagnosed with Down syndrome. Pennsylvania State Senator Scott Martin from Lancaster is introducing an identical bill in the Senate.

Here are some ways you can help this legislation become law.

1. Plan to attend a rally in support of House Bill 2050 on Monday, March 12^th at 2:30 PM in the Capitol rotunda.  For more details or to share the event on Facebook, click here.
2. You can share with us your story. If you, or someone you know, has had their life changed by someone with Down syndrome, please contact Education Director Matthew Wagner at lifelines@paprolife.org or by calling 717-541-0034.
3. You can contact your state Representative and state Senator and encourage them to co-sponsor these bills to protect preborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome. If you don’t know who your state lawmakers are, or you need contact information, please contact Legislative Director Maria Gallagher at gallagher@paprolife.orgor at 717-541-0034. Thank you for sharing these stories and making these important contacts to remind people they can always choose life!

By Maria Gallagher, Legislative/PAC Director
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

            Some individuals who call themselves a name similar to the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation have put out a false report, suggesting that state Senator Scott Wagner is not pro-life. Wagner, a candidate for Governor in the May 15, 2018 Pennsylvania Primary Election, has a 100 percent pro-life voting record, has co-sponsored pro-life bills, sponsored a bus to the March for Life, and distributed a clear statement condemning Roe v. Wade, the tragic U.S. Supreme Court ruling which legalized abortion nationwide.

             Wagner has also worked to ensure that the Pennsylvania Department of State would not repeat the mistakes that led to the lack of enforcement that enabled abortionist Kermit Gosnell to ply his trade in West Philadelphia. Gosnell was ultimately convicted in connection with the deaths of three full-term babies and a female immigrant patient, Karnamaya Mongar.

             Pro-life voters who have questions about candidates for public office at the state or national levels are welcome to contact Maria Gallagher at the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation PAC at 717-541-0034.

by  Carla Ezell Southeast PA Regional Coordinator Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

ezell@paprolife.org

We African-American women were and are being used for various reasons.

In the abortion industry we have been used to sell the belief of some in our society that abortion is an answer to unexpected pregnancy.

It’s a known fact that if a woman has sex she could get pregnant.  Planned Parenthood knows and relies on this.  Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses push abortion in the African-American community.  Margaret Sanger, a eugenicist and founder of Planned Parenthood in the late 1920’s and 1930’s, planned an effective way to convince African-Americans to abort their babies.  Her plan was to tell them that they did not have the means to raise large families.  This, they were promised, would be a way for our people to attain more in life if our families were smaller.

This was called The Negro Project.  Sanger believed the key to selling her secret agenda of reducing the Black race was to use the Black Church and its pastors.  Well, African-American families are smaller and we are a shrinking minority.  Our women abort our babies more than any other race in America.  Over 17 million African-American children are gone forever without a whisper.

February is Black History Month, and a time to celebrate the accomplishments of African-Americans.  But it is a time set aside to recall the struggles of African-Americans in this nation.  The targeting of African-American women is nothing new.

In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, new forms of birth control, such as the intrauterine device (IUD) and different forms of birth control pills were tried out on African-American women in the inner cities.  The IUD alone came with many negative reports, but a promise of no unwanted pregnancies.  This form of birth control was a research project—but that fact was never told to the women who were its unwitting subjects.

The IUD was implanted in girls as young as 13 years old.  Many women became pregnant while using IUDs.  During some pregnancies the implants became embedded in various parts of the bodies of the infants.  As you can imagine, this caused complications for these children.  Some women became sterile because the IUDs would move inside them and cause tears in their uterine walls.

Those reports were never exposed to the public, but I worked in a hospital in North Philadelphia across the street from a neighborhood housing project.  These young women were used for study without being informed that they were the subject of medical research.

How long will society use us African-American women for abortion and other secret experiments?  Today, abortion is the great deception and it will continue if the NAACP, Black Caucus, African-American legislators, mayors, and civic leaders continue to keep silent and turn a blind eye to the plague of abortion that has devastated our African-American community.  We have accepted the lie that killing our children is an answer to our problems.  We are the ones that must reject it.

Nothing in life is perfect.  Life comes with struggles and pain no matter who we are.  But we make it harder when we do not tell the truth about aborting our preborn babies.  The fact is we are killing our future.  I see nothing to be proud of when babies are sucked out of the wombs of mothers every day and then sold to industries that use the organs of these little ones for the financial gain of Planned Parenthood and others in the business of abortion.

We are accountable for our silence.