Articles for Month: February 2013

CASTELGANDOLFO, February 28, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two hours before the end of Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate, the live feed from Vatican Radio’s webcam of the piazza shows that the lights are already off in the papal apartments. In the last few years one of the simpler of the pleasures of working in Rome has been to keep an eye on the pope. After an evening out with friends or a long day running about the City you stroll across the piazza heading for the train station, and you pause and look up. Lights in the three windows in the top […]

It’s no surprise that the documentary “3801 Lancaster” has not received a lot of attention. Actually, to be more painfully accurate, there has been almost a complete media blackout of this investigation of abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s West Philadelphia Women’s Medical Society abortion clinic. We’ve written about the film here and here, but I understand why I don’t have a lot of company. In a mere 21 minutes and 11 seconds,  the documentary explains in almost clinical detail the circumstances that will result in Gosnell going on trial next month, charged with eight counts of murder: first degree murder in the cases of […]

Last year abortion proponents attempted to make ultrasound legislation radioactive by portraying the method used for early pregnancies, transvaginal ultrasound, as “rape.” “Vaginal probes,” as the other side menacingly tagged them, are “a very invasive procedure,” according to NBC’s David Gregory. Never mind that Planned Parenthood usually requires a mother to get an ultrasound before her abortion – which may be transvaginal, as you can see in PP’s screen shot above. And in a survey of its members in 2003, the National Abortion Federation found 83% always performed vaginal ultrasounds before early abortions. Only 1% never did… And never mind that the abortion itself is much more invasive. If a mother can’t endure a transvaginal ultrasound, […]

There’s a theme that ties together today’s update — God hears your prayer … and He answers. Here’s what I mean…. —————————————————– EUGENE, OREGON —————————————————– “I want to spread some very awesome news!!!” That’s the email I received from Lynda in Eugene – complete with all three exclamation marks. The Bours Health Center – the abortion facility where faithful volunteers have prayed during EIGHT 40 Days for Life campaigns – has shut its doors. Vigil participants watched as signs, drapes and banners came down. Later that day, “we rejoiced, praising the Lord and hugging and high-fiving during our 40 Days […]

The AFP has reported that the Belgian legislators are debating extending euthanasia to Children, primarily newborns with disabilities and incompetent people with Alzheimers disease or dementia. The AFP article that is titled: Belgium debates euthanasia for minors stated that:  Belgian legislators opened a debate Wednesday on whether to amend a decade-old law on euthanasia to cover minors, being told by experts that it was already taking place in practice without any set guidelines.  Currently, the law applies to those over 18 but one expert told the upper house of parliament that it was clear that euthanasia was being carried out on younger […]

The Telegraph reported recently that more gay couples and women over the age of 40 are to be given fertility treatment on the NHS, despite claims that the health service cannot afford it (See BBC report here) According to the Telegraph, under an expansion of NHS-funded fertility treatment, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) will recommend that lesbian couples be offered six cycles of artificial insemination and, if that fails, IVF. There were just over 1,000 cycles of insemination performed for women in same-sex relationships in 2010, resulting in 152 babies. The number of cycles of IVF for this group […]

On Monday mornings during the campaign, we start the week with the best news I can think of. During this 40 Days for Life campaign, God is answering prayers. So far, there have been 142 babies saved from abortion — that we know of! —————————————————– TACOMA, WASHINGTON —————————————————– “Your prayers were answered as a young mother was leaving Planned Parenthood,” said John in Tacoma. “She stopped in the driveway to talk with the sidewalk counselor.” The young woman explained that she had decided not to go through with the abortion. “Her boyfriend and all parents were pressuring her to abort and she […]

ROME – Many years ago, I was having a conversation on the phone with a friend who was also an archbishop. We were differing over a political question and the discussion had become somewhat heated. It was rather fun, actually, to know that I could stand toe-to-toe with a high-ranking prelate and not back down. He enjoyed a good fight too, so a splendid time was had by all. After we had wound down, we moved on to other topics and he asked me how things were going. We got onto sports, and I mentioned that I was going to […]

Rosaria Butterfield is an ex-lesbian English academic and one-time professor of 'queer theory', now married to a pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. She has written a fascinating autobiographical account entitled 'The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith' which is just starting to make waves in cyberspace. Butterfield came out when she was a 28 year old graduate school student and later as researcher started reading the Bible when working on a project about the religious right. This led her into a friendship with a local pastor and the rest, […]

After just the first day of this 40 Days for Life campaign, many locations are reporting record turnouts for their opening events — and babies SAVED from abortion! —————————————————– ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA —————————————————– More than 500 people – including families with their children – came to stand and pray outside Planned Parenthood as part of the Orange County kickoff. “As the prayer ended, we witnessed the first baby saved of this 40 Days for Life 2013 campaign,” said Alejandra in Orange County. “A woman came out of Planned Parenthood and as we approached her, she told us that she couldn’t […]

This Monday, on the Washington Monthly’s political blog, former Democratic Leadership Council policy director Ed Kilgore had a disappointing analysis of theology and the politics of abortion. Kilgore wonders why rank-and-file Evangelical Christians are more likely to be more pro-life than Roman Catholics. Kilgore finds this puzzling, because he argues that Catholic Church has had more consistent teachings against abortion. He argues that many Protestants became pro-life due to what he calls “dubious, non-scholarly arguments advanced by Francis Schaeffer,” and asserts that the alignment of conservative Evangelicals with the Republican party shifted the opinions of many Evangelical Christians in a pro-life direction. Unfortunately, Kilgore […]

Last night, I spoke at a kickoff event near Houston, and David Bereit, our national director, spoke at an opening rally in Fairfax, Virginia. Those are just two of the 261 locations that start 40 Days for Life campaigns TODAY … at a time when many Christians are entering the season of Lent to prepare their hearts for the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Just recently, I told you about Lima, Ohio … where the abortion center, where faithful volunteers had intended to peacefully pray for 40 days, had CLOSED and gone out of business. Well, we just […]

A Canadian Medical Association survey found that 16% of 2125 doctors who completed a survey would be willing to euthanize a patient, if legal, while 44% said that they would refuse requests for euthanasia. 26% of the doctors were unsure how they would respond to requests for euthanasia and 15% of the physicians did not respond. The Ottawa Citizen published an article written by Sharon Kirkey from Postmedia News that was titled: Only 20 per cent doctors would perform euthanasia, if legal, poll of MDs finds. I guess 16% was 4% too low for the Ottawa Citizen and Postmedia News. The […]

Although there have been numerous delays and postponements, it appears that jury selection will finally begin March 3 in the trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell.

I’m on the road again today, after speaking at 40 Days for Life kickoff events in Jacksonville and Pensacola, Florida. The campaign officially starts TOMORROW … and NOW is the time for us all to make a decision. 40 Days for Life is merely an invitation. This campaign cannot happen without a response from people like you; and that leaves just one question: What will God do over these next 40 days in your community … and will you be part of it? It is our hope that you will join hundreds of thousands of others who have taken this […]

On Thursday, Will Saletan had an interesting article in Slate, in which he wonders why pro-lifers are able to exert some influence over abortion policy when, according to Saletan, most Americans favor keeping abortion legal. He suggests that this is the case because there is often an intensity gap between “pro-life” and “pro-choice” voters, with the former being smaller in number but more enthusiastic and serious about the issue. According to Saletan, however, all is not lost for supporters of legal abortion. When abortion becomes a more salient issue — that is to say, when a relatively higher percentage of people consider […]

Read backstory, “BREAKING: Carhart’s victims identified.” Over 250 people gathered at Germantown Reproductive Health Services abortion clinic in Germantown, Maryland, this morning to demand justice for the death of 29-year-old Jennifer McKenna Morbelli (pictured right), who perished at the hand of late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart on February 7, along with her 33-week-old preborn baby, Madison Leigh. As protesters gathered outside, Carhart carried on with his abortion business as usual inside. ABC News and the Washington Post were among news outlets that attended the press conference/prayer vigil. Representative from several organizations spoke, including Father Frank Pavone (pictured below) of Priests for Life, Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, Day Gardner of the National Black Pro-Life Union, Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life of America, Mallory […]

Pope Benedict XVI’s impending resignation, announced this morning, has opened the usual spate of questions prior to a conclave, as well as new ones about the status of a living Pope emeritus. Among some pro-lifers there is lots of buzz about whether the new pontiff will be pro-life, as was John Paul II. It’s an earnest question with beautiful intention, but it misses an essential truth about Catholic DNA. “Pro-life” is not a plank in a conservative party platform within the Church, as it is in secular politics. There are several encyclicals from several popes spelling out the two-thousand year […]

I blogged last week about a Ms. Magazine article lamenting how difficult it is for “young women of color” to get abortions. The author used the story of her 14-yr-old cousin to demonstrate the trouble an adolescent has getting a clandestine abortion. Never once did Ms. or the author worry about how the girl got pregnant. I used Planned Parenthood’s own statistics to show the younger the pregnant mother, the more likely it is she is a victim of rape or incest. Bottom line: Abortion covers up child rape. I received an amazing email from Anna, who gave me permission to post her story and her name. […]

Last Monday I took part in the BBC Panorama programme ‘The Great Abortion Divide’ (watch it on I-Player).  It was presented by Victoria Derbyshire (pictured) and produced by Elizabeth Byrne.  Although extremely controversial it has had very little coverage in the media with only the BBC, Guardian and Times (£) so far reporting on it.  The programme was billed as follows:  ‘Abortion is more controversial than ever, with pro-life activists challenging pregnant women as they try to enter clinics. Doctors in most of the UK are signing off terminations on questionable mental health grounds, while in Northern Ireland women and doctors risk life in prison over abortion. So is […]

I’ve mentioned before that it is helpful to conduct recognizance on the other side’s social networks. You can learn interesting information. Last Tuesday morning Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas posted this notice on its Facebook page: Texan pro-lifer Andy Moore spotted the notice and immediately began contacting friends. A coalition quickly formed, including (among others) Bryan Kemper, Students for Life of America, and Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust. When 3p came, pro-lifers were ready, totally overwhelming a Twitter conversation Planned Parenthood had intended to pressure the State of Texas into reinstating funding to one about Planned Parenthood itself. Afterward Bryan reported: The hash tag was the number #1 trending topic on […]

Last month, something remarkable happened. The New York Times published a pro-life op-ed by Chuck Donovan, my colleague at the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Its subject was a new study he co-authored with Nora Sullivan about federal and state reporting laws on abortion. The study analyzed abortion-reporting data for all 50 states. Not surprisingly, it found considerable variance in how states report abortion data. Some provide data online, others offer data only upon request, and a few do not report any data at all. The level of detail also varies considerably. Many, but not all states, provide aggregate data on the age of the woman, the gestational […]

You and me are the new generation taking up the battle-cry for life. We are the thousands-upon-thousands who are attending March for Life rallies across the continent, being a voice for those who have no voice. It is our generation that will see an end to abortion because our passion for life and truth is an unquenchable wildfire. We are young, we are brave, we are unstoppable. But why is it that our views never seem to be reflected in the polls? Why is it that poll after poll comes out indicating that no one really cares about the unborn […]

Sex could not have been more disconnected from the concept of creating life. The message I’d heard loud and clear was that the purpose of sex was for pleasure and bonding, that its potential for creating life was purely tangential, almost to the point of being forgotten about altogether. This mindset laid the foundation of my views on abortion. Because I saw sex as being closed to the possibility to life by default, I thought of pregnancies that weren’t planned as akin to being struck by lightning while walking down the street: Something totally unpredictable, undeserved, that happened to people […]

Yesterday, Avik Roy responded to the critiques made by myself and Ashley McGuire about his essay about the future of pro-life politics in America. While responding to me, Roy asks how a no-exceptions, pro-life presidential candidate would respond to a hypothetical NARAL television commercial. This ad would feature a rape victim tearfully lamenting how this pro-life presidential candidate would prevent her from either obtaining a morning-after pill or terminating the pregnancy. The best response is, of course, to show compassion for rape victims — agree that rape is a horrible act of violence against an innocent, vulnerable, weaker person. Then make the […]

See our original coverage of this from October here.

I have previously pointed out in this space that G.K. Chesterton prophetically defended marriage and the family as the foundational institution of our society against all the present attacks and degradations of it. I am now going to point it out again. With last year’s loss in Minnesota on a constitutional amendment defending marriage, and the hundreds of thousands supporting traditional marriage in France today, the importance of this topic is something that we cannot possibly emphasize too much. And when we have at our disposal Chesterton’s incisive articulation of the truth, we should pick up this sword and swing […]

Great news: Two bottom-feeding abortionists in Michigan have retired. Both Alberto Hodari (top photo) and Enrique Gerbi (bottom photo) allowed their medical and pharmacy licenses to expire as of January 31, 2013 (Hodari here and here [plus pharmacy at four other locations]; Gerbi here and here). Pro-life activist Lynn Mills first got wind of Hodari’s retirement in December when a receptionist at one of his five Michigan locations let the news slip. Since then Lynn has been watching for his license to lapse, during which time she noticed Gerbi’s was also expiring. Gerbi was a circuit riding abortionist for Hodari, among others. At his high point Hodari owned 14 Michigan abortion clinics in 1988. Abortionist Jacob Kalo has […]

Friend and fellow pro-life activist Andrea Mrozek known for her blog Pro-Woman Pro-Life has just been named Executive Director of Focus on the Family Canada’s Institute of Marriage and Family Canada.   Andrea’s hard work at IMFC helped make the organization what it is today. Her research into marriage and family matters would have benefitted Canada had her suggestions been employed.     Andrea is well spoken and unafraid to tackle hard issues.   Congrats Andrea!  

NOTE: This article is one of a series on the “top ten” accomplishments of the pro-life movement over the past 40 years since unborn children were stripped of their legal right to life by the 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court rulings. One day in May last year, two young women met on the sidewalk outside an abortion clinic. One of the women, Shevelle, was sixteen weeks pregnant—already showing. She was there for an abortion. The other woman, Carol, was serving her first day as a pro-life sidewalk counselor. She was there to talk Shevelle out of getting that abortion. But she couldn’t, […]

It’s clear by now Planned Parenthood didn’t consult its friends before announcing plans to drop the term “pro-choice” from its lexicon. Seems like a huge deal to me, particularly since Planned Parenthood offered no replacement. Planned Parenthood doesn’t make marketing missteps, but I think it just did. Certainly Planned Parenthood must have alienated groups like NARAL Pro-Choice America, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Feminists for Choice, Catholics for Choice, Rock for Choice, Medical Students for Choice, Republicans for Choice, Center for Choice, 4000 Years for Choice, Clinicians for Choice, Voice of Choice, Choice USA, yadda yadda. It took a week for NARAL to gather […]

February 1, 2013, (Campaign Life Coalition) – If I wanted to pay to be lied to, I’d get an abortion, not watch an “award-winning newscast” to “set the facts straight”. Yesterday, the state-broadcaster, otherwise known as the CBC, made John Wilkes Booth look like an amateur by assassinating the truth in their false reporting on one of the most disgusting stories to face Canada since the Pickton trials.  In October 2012, blogger Patricia Maloney uncovered the horrifying fact that recent Statistics Canada reports show that from 2000- 2009, 491 children were born alive after botched abortions and left to die, resulting in numerous homicides under the […]