Visualizing the unborn human being

Ultrasound image at 12 weeks via Wikipedia

At First Things, Victor Lee Austin discusses how ultrasound technology is changing how our culture visualizes unborn human beings.  

Every young expectant couple I know today, without exception, when they have a prenatal visit, hope they will get to see the baby. Every baby’s photo book today has a sonogram for its first picture. The first pictures, and there are often many of them, are prenatal.

And it is changing how parents talk about their child. “Our little guy,” one couple recently told me, “he’s as big as my thumb.” Or: “Our baby would now fit in the palm of my hand.” They delight in seeing the baby’s limb, the head, the sex, even fingers. They delight in seeing the heart and looking into its chambers.

What is happening, largely unnoticed and far below the radar of the political debates, is that our culture’s visual imagination of the human is expansively changing. We used to picture the human life cycle as going from birth to death. But adults who are now becoming parents, along with their friends and an increasingly wider circle, no longer think it strange to consider and picture as a human being, as one of us, one whose weight is measured in ounces rather than pounds and whose size is given in terms of a portion of one’s own hand.

FULL STORY

Texas governor signs abortion restrictions into law

Today, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into a law several prolife provisions, including abortion clinic regulations and their version of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which bans abortion after 20 weeks based on the fact that unborn children at that stage have the capacity to feel pain. Pro-abortion demonstrators vocally demanded painful late-term abortion procedures remain legal in Texas.

Texas joins 12 other states which have passed bans on abortion after 20 weeks, citing disputed research that a fetus feels pain by that stage. North Dakota and Arkansas have gone further, banning abortion as early as six and 12 weeks respectively.

The current limit for abortions in Texas is 26 weeks.

Texas is also requiring all abortion facilities to meet the same standards as outpatient surgery centers by September 2014, and forcing doctors performing abortions to have the right to admit a patient to a hospital within 30 miles of a clinic.

FULL STORY

Ariel Castro pleads not guilty to charges including aggravated murder of unborn children

Ariel Castro, the Cleveland kidnapping suspect, pleaded not guilty to 977 criminal counts, including two charges of aggravated murder for killing unborn children by beating one of his victims until she miscarried.

The new indictment includes charges from a previous 329-count indictment against Castro, to which he pleaded not guilty. Craig Weintraub, one of Castro's attorneys, has said there are some charges against Castro that cannot be refuted and that a plea deal can be reached if Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty does not seek the death penalty.

The two charges that could call for the death penalty are for aggravated murder. They stem from accusations that Castro beat and tortured one of the three women into suffering a miscarriage.

FULL STORY

Video on importance of NO Taxes for Abortion Insurance petition drive

Below is a short video which provides an introduction to the importance of the NO Taxes for Abortion Insurance petition drive and explains how to sign a petition. Share this video with your friends and family!



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Germany is building memorial to remember those euthanized by the Nazis

Germany is building a memorial in Berlin to the hundreds of thousands of people killed by euthanasia during the Nazi regime because of their mental and physical disabilities or chronic illnesses. We believe the goal of medical professionals everywhere must be to eliminate suffering, not the persons who suffer.

A 30m (100ft) long glass wall is being built in the centre of Berlin, near the former site of the Nazi-era office that organised the "euthanasia" programme.

In 1939, Adolf Hitler told officials that people "considered incurable" should be "granted a mercy killing".

The programme ended officially in 1941, but continued covertly until 1945.

FULL STORY

Is killing an unborn girl a "woman's rights issue?"

In a blog post for the Detroit News, Jason Vines describes a recent encounter with someone from Planned Parenthood in Washington, D.C. 

“Sir,” one pink lady cheerfully called to me, “can I talk to you a minute about women’s rights?”

I normally don’t engage, but, with sweat dripping down the back of my neck on a hot day, I decided to go for it.  “OK,” I said, “If I can ask you a question first.” Sure, she said.

“You work for Planned Parenthood, right?” said I (I’m note a mind-reader, her pink shirt had the organization emblazoned on the front). “Can we talk about the rights of the little unborn girl – a woman – in her mother’s womb?”

Her smile instantly vanished as she struggled to come up with a response. She finally resorted to the “right to safe and affordable abortions” as a “woman’s health issue.”

“Really?” I countered. “Isn’t killing an unborn girl in the womb of an otherwise healthy woman the ultimate ‘woman’s health issue’?”

By now, the cheery young lady was ticked and her clichés continued, only this time with a touch of venom.

“Listen, a man shouldn’t be able to determine what a woman can or can’t do with her body,” she replied.

“So why then did you ask me if I wanted to talk about women’s rights?” I said.

FULL STORY

Michigan's abortions decline slightly in 2012

The Michigan Department of Community Health recently released figures for abortions in Michigan in 2012. Abortions were down 0.59%, from 23,366 in 2011 to 23,230. Abortions are down 52.7% from their high in 1987. Every decline is welcome, but our work in Michigan must continue, every abortion is a tragedy.

Some notable statistics below: 

• 51% of abortions performed on Michigan residents were repeat abortions.   
• 295 abortions were performed after 20 weeks
• 48% of abortions were performed on black women, 44.8% were performed on white women and 3.4% on women who had abortions had Hispanic ancestry
• The number of abortions performed on teenagers dropped again.  Only 13.5% of abortions performed on Michigan residents were performed on women younger than 20.  In the early 1980's this age group had more than 30% of Michigan's abortions.

SUMMARY OF MICHIGAN'S ABORTION STATISTICS

Texas House passes 20-week abortion ban with clinic regulations

Today, by a vote of 96-49, the Texas House passed a prolife law which will ban abortions after 20 weeks and require abortion clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers.  The Texas Senate will likely vote on the legislation either later this week or next week. The legislation gained national attention when pro-abortion Senator Wendy Davis filibustered the bill. 

Lawmakers spent more than 10 hours debating it Tuesday, and Republicans rejected every attempt to amend the bill. Throngs of protesters were missing for Wednesday's mostly procedural vote after days of protests by supporters and opponents.

The bill requires doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, only allow abortions in surgical centers and ban abortions after 20 weeks.

FULL STORY

Another emergency at LeRoy Carhart's abortion clinic

Yesterday, an ambulance was seen at LeRoy Carhart's abortion clinic in Maryland and a patient was transferred into the ambulance and taken to a local hospital.  In February, a woman named Jennifer Morbelli died after receiving a late-term abortion at Carhart's clinic. 

The woman had been in contact with pro-life activists prior to her abortion, but continued on with the 2-day procedure. During her second day of the procedure, her husband slept in the car with their three young children while she was inside the abortion clinic.

Video of the incident taken by a local pro-life activist shows that Carhart got into the ambulance and went with the patient to the hospital even though he has no hospital privileges anywhere, and hasn’t since 1987.

FULL STORY

States continue to pass prolife laws

According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, states have continued the recent trend of passing lots of prolife laws early in legislative sessions. In the first half of 2008, 11 prolife laws were passed around the country. In the first half of 2013, 43 were passed.

Taken together, these 17 states (full list here) have passed 43 abortion restrictions. That pales in comparison to the 80 such laws that had passed by this time in 2011 and is just slightly higher than restrictions enacted last year. It’s also a huge jump over the dozen or so laws that states would typically pass just a few years ago.

FULL STORY

Alabama sues abortion clinic for operating without a license

The state of Alabama is continuing prosecution of an abortion business there operating illegally. The business lost its license due to health code violations and sending women to the hospital, but continues to take the lives of unborn children.

The state is suing New Woman All Women for acting as an abortion provider without a license after pro-life activists demanded the Department of Public Health take action.  Yesterday, New Woman All Women owner Diane Derzis and her attorneys withdrew their motion to dismiss the case against New Woman All Women, and Judge Joseph Boohaker ruled to expedite the hearing against the infamous abortion center, which will be held on August 5, 2013. 

FULL STORY

New Mexico abortion clinic urges late-term abortion patients to sit on toilet if they start to deliver

Live Action released the latest video in their "Inhuman" series of undercover reports of late-term abortions, this time at an abortion business in Albuquerque, NM. Workers there advise women during the multi-day late-term abortion process to just sit on the toilet in their hotel rooms if they start to deliver their baby early, which the abortion business hopes was successfully killed by lethal injection beforehand. Clinic workers also advise women not to call 911.

Detroit Free Press editorial seeks to re-write history of paper's opposition to common sense regulations of abortion clinics

In the latest of the Detroit Free Press's never ending editorials opposed to prolife legislation, editorial writer Nancy Kaffer attempts to re-write her paper's position on legislation which passed the Michigan legislature and was signed by Governor Snyder in December of 2012.

H.B. 5711, also known as the Prolife Bus, included a number of provisions to regulate abortion clinics.  These regulations included making sure clinics were inspected, requiring the bodies of aborted children to be disposed of in a humane manner, outlawing webcam abortions and requiring women be screened to prevent coercive abortions.

In yesterday's editorial, Nancy Kaffer describes this legislation as if it's not that bad from her pro-abortion perspective and much better than prolife legislation the Texas legislature is currently considering.

So what happened here? A coalition of women's rights and women's health advocates, including Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, spent a lot of time and effort working to soften the impact of the bills proposed in Michigan. The post-20-week ban was removed, along with provisions that would have required doctors to have admitting privileges at hospitals. Clinics must comply with new regulations, but in some situations can obtain a waiver of compliance. Advocates say it's too early to gauge the full impact on the provision of service in the state.

This description of the legislation is much different than how the Free Press editorial board described it back when it passed in December.  Back then, the Free Press viewed the legislation as a direct attack on women.

Here's how they described it in a December 13, 2012 editorial ominously entitled, "Women next on lame-duck Legislature's hit list":

• "clearly intended to thin the ranks of abortion providers by increasing costs and increasing burdensome regulations on those who run clinics that provide abortions."

• Would erect "new barriers to Michigan women who choose to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion."

• "meant to punish women"

• If passed with another bill, H.B. 5711 would make Michigan "among the most regressive states in the nation for women's health"

After Governor Snyder signed the Prolife Bus and vetoed legislation to opt Michigan out of abortion insurance coverage, the Free Press wrote another editorial entitled, "Governor's 'balance' now tilts against women's rights" on December 30, 2012.

The focus of this editorial was to attack Governor Snyder for signing H.B. 5711.  Here's a sample of the language used to describe H.B. 5711:

HB5711's other key provision would require providers who advertise abortion services and perform more than 120 procedures a year to meet new licensing requirements. Snyder said he's pretty sure the new rules will impact only "10 to 20" providers across the state -- which doesn't sound so bad, until you remember that there are only 32 abortion clinics in the whole state......

In summary, Snyder seems to have charged into this breach armed with more animus than information. His own rationale notwithstanding, the requirements he signed into law Friday are aimed at reducing the number of abortion providers in the state and expanding the arsenal of tactics available to intimidate women seeking an abortion.

Now that the Prolife Bus has passed and all the frivolous claims of abortion advocates haven't come to pass, the Free Press editorial board is apparently ready to downplay their over-the-top rhetoric from just months ago without ever admitting how incorrect they were.

MLive covers No Taxes for Abortion petition drive

MLive.com has an article on our efforts to have Michigan opt out of abortion coverage. 

The Michigan Board of Canvassers approved Right to Life's petition form in May, giving the nonprofit and its allies 180 days to turn in 258,088 valid signatures. The group plans to collect more signatures in less time, suggesting it is in a race against the clock.

Beginning next year, many Michigan residents may qualify for subsidized insurance through an online marketplace set up under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as "Obamacare." If those policies include abortion coverage, Right to Life argues, taxpayers will be indirectly funding the controversial procedure.......

"The reality is that abortion is not health care," Sherstad said. "Working with people throughout the state, we're hearing that a lot. People don't want their health insurance premiums, and then their tax dollars, to pay for someone else's abortion. This gives people a choice. They can purchase a rider to have abortion coverage if they want it."

FULL STORY

Michigan college student wins National Right to Life's video competition

Joshua Rapavi, a student at Northern Michigan University and a native of Marquette, won the 2013 National Right to Life Video Contest with his submission entitled, "A Mother's Dream."

You can view Joshua's moving 3-minute video below.

"I'm not perfect, but I'm worth it."

Chet McDoniel, a man born with no arms, addressed the National Right to Life Convention yesterday, taking about the value of every single human being. "I’m not perfect, but I’m worth it."

The third child born to his parents, Chet was “given the opportunity to die” by one of the hospital professionals after he was born, due to concern that he may be “as mangled on the inside” as he “was on the outside.”  Chet’s condition was not borne of any discernible genetic disorder, and as he points out, although his parents didn’t initially know what to do with a child with no arms, they loved him and they would have certainly chose life for him even if they would have known of his condition before facing the shock of it in the delivery room, his story could have been so different.

“The treatment for an adverse pregnancy is abortion….I wouldn’t have made it past the first sonogram,”  Chet shared, as he talked about how the world today treats children in the womb with suspected abnormalities.

 

FULL STORY

Prolife legislators in Texas will attempt to pass prolife law in special session

Late Tuesday night, an angry mob of abortion advocates disrupted the proceedings of the Texas legislature and prevented the legislators from taking a vote on prolife legislation in the allowable time.  Governor Rick Perry has now called for a second special session to pass the prolife bill.

Perry said the Legislature would convene July 1 in special session to take up the abortion bill, which was declared dead before dawn Wednesday. The bill failed after a night of drama in Austin during which a lone lawmaker talked for more than 10 hours in an attempt to run out the clock on a special session.

Chants of "shame! shame! shame!" from spectators who had filled the building drowned out the efforts of Republican lawmakers as they tried to pass it minutes before midnight.

"We will not allow the breakdown of decorum and decency to prevent us from doing what the people of this state hired us to do," Perry said in a statement calling lawmakers back into another special session. Texans "value life and want to protect women and the unborn," he said.....

The bill would have banned most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and tightened standards on abortion clinics and the doctors who work at them. Critics said the measure would have shut most of the abortion clinics in Texas.

FULL STORY

Abortion advocates in Texas use mob behavior to prevent a prolife bill from passing in time

TOM REEL / San Antonio Express-News

SB 5 would have required abortion clinics in Texas to be surgical centers and would have banned abortions after 20 weeks.  Instead of being willing to comply with the higher standards, abortion proponents worked overtime to stop the legislation. 

In an attempt to stop the bill from being voted on, pro-abortion state senator Wendy Davis filibustered the bill for more than 10 hours.  Her filibuster was ended when she began talking about issues not in the legislation.  Once her filibuster was ended, a vote was called on the legislation but the deadline on the vote was missed because of the chaos created by a mob of abortion advocates. 

Chaos reigned in the final minutes of the Texas Senate late Tuesday night as opponents of a strict abortion bill succeeded in killing the measure, using a sprawling Democrat-led filibuster, egged on by noisy "unruly mob" protests, to blunt last-ditch efforts by Republicans to save the legislation.......

Republicans initially succeeded in cutting her filibuster off, in part by objecting when another lawmaker helped her with a back brace. But protesters picked up where she left off, jeering at lawmakers as they rushed to meet a midnight deadline for the bill......

After much back and forth, the GOP voted to end the filibuster minutes before midnight, sparking the raucous response from protesters in the final 15 minutes before the deadline.

   
FULL STORY

Abortion advocates don't understand why women would be prolife

Some abortion advocates are mad that prolife women took a visible leadership role in passing prolife legislation. They might be surprised to find out most women don't agree with them. According to the 2013 Gallup poll on abortion, 57% of women believe abortion should illegal or legal in only a few circumstances, along with 59% of men. 

Only 28% of women agree with abortion advocates that abortion should be legal in every circumstance. 

Michigan is losing 12,000 girls a year to abortion when a majority of women don't agree with our nation's abortion policies.

On Saturday’s Melissa Harris-Perry show, host Harris-Perry called the rhetoric from abortion opponents “villainous” as she fretted over Tennessee Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn being a woman who is pushing a House bill banning abortion. 

And panel members Irin Carmon of Salon.com and Aisha Moodie-Mills of the left-wing Center for American Progress both saw “misgyny” in the measure.

FULL STORY

Participate in online training for petition circulating

NO Taxes for Abortion Insurance is offering online training for those interested in circulating petitions.

Learn why the petition drive to initiate Abortion Insurance Opt-Out legislation is critical for Michigan and get instructions on how to properly circulate petitions.

Together we can prevent federal tax dollars from subsidizing abortion insurance coverage in Michigan and send the message that abortion is not health care. 

 ONLINE TRAINING

"If they had a voice"

Watch this wonderful video from a father whose daughter has Down syndrome. The video is from the perspective of his daughter talking from the womb about her uncertain future and the "choice" her parents faced.

Teleseminar training for petition drive on June 24

If you missed one of the NO Taxes for Abortion Insurance regional trainings earlier this month or can't attend a local training, we're hosting an online training. This special online training will be Monday, June 24, at 7:30 p.m. Please forward this information to friends and family members who want to learn about circulating the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out petitions.

TELESEMINAR TRAINING  

MICHIGAN'S VOICE WEBSITE

Michigan Senate Committee approves legislation to stop judge shopping for parental consent waiver

On June 18, the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee approved, by a 3-1 vote, legislation designed to prevent minors seeking abortion without parental consent from "judge shopping." 

Minor girls who have been denied a judicial bypass at one court would not be permitted to seek a bypass at another county court. S.B. 254 also creates guidelines for judges in making a determination regarding the maturity of the girl seeking an abortion, and her best interests. These guidelines are consistent with the line of questioning recommended by the Michigan Benchbook, and include taking into consideration whether the minor girl’s parents have neglected or abused her.

Rebecca Mastee of the Michigan Catholic Council, in written testimony submitted to the committee, told lawmakers that SB 254 was a practical measure that should not be controversial.

"This legislation has no implication on whether or not a minor girl can acquire an abortion," she said, "but rather ensures that necessary safeguards are in place to both protect her and ensure that parental rights are maintained."

FULL STORY

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U.S. House approves Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

The U.S. House voted 228-196 to approve the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 1797) on Tuesday, June 18. The bill would ban abortions past 20 weeks of fetal development, based on evidence that unborn children at that stage of growth have the capacity to feel pain.

Nine Michigan representatives voted in favor of the late-term abortion ban: Rep. Dan Benishek, Rep. Bill Huizenga, Rep. Justin Amash, Rep. Dave Camp, Rep. Fred Upton, Rep. Tim Walberg, Rep. Mike Rogers, Rep. Candice Miller and Rep. Kerry Bentivolio.

Five Michigan representatives voted against the late-term abortion ban: Rep. Daniel Kildee, Rep. Sander Levin, Rep. John Dingell, Rep. John Conyers and Rep. Gary Peters.

The bill originally only included an exception in cases where the mother’s life was endangered by continuing the pregnancy. Unfortunately, the bill language was changed to include exceptions for rape and incest. Prolife attorney Rebecca Kiessling, herself conceived in rape, pointed out that people conceived in rape feel pain just like everyone else does.

Another version of the bill applied only to the District of Columbia, but following the Kermit Gosnell trial a federal version covering the whole country was introduced.

“The case of Kermit Gosnell shocked the sensibilities of millions of Americans,” bill sponsor Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) said. “However, the crushing fact is that abortions on babies just like the ones killed by Kermit Gosnell have been happening hundreds of times per day, every single day, for the past 40 years.”

The bill is unlikely to receive a vote in the U.S. Senate, where a majority of senators are pro-abortion. President Obama has threatened to veto the bill, claiming concern about the pain unborn children might feel during gruesome late-term abortion procedures “shows contempt” for women’s health. President Obama has consistently shown that he doesn't accept any legislation that regulates or restricts abortion, even very late-term abortions where unborn children feel pain or protection for infants born alive following botched abortions.

LIFENOTES ADDRESSING CHILDREN CONCEIVED IN RAPE

Obama threatens veto on late-term abortion ban

On Monday, the White House issued a statement which attacked a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of fetal age (or 22 weeks of gestation) and threaten a veto of it.  Here is part of the White House statement:

The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1797, which would unacceptably restrict women's health and reproductive rights and is an assault on a woman's right to choose.  Women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care, and Government should not inject itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor.

Forty years ago, the Supreme Court affirmed a woman's constitutional right to privacy, including the right to choose.  This bill is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade and shows contempt for women's health and rights, the role doctors play in their patients' health care decisions, and the Constitution.

Over and over again, President Obama has shown that he doesn't accept any legislation which restricts abortion, even very late-term abortions where unborn children feel pain. 

FULL STORY

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS LEGISLATION