Summer 2015 issue of RLM News now online

The Summer 2015 issue of the Right to Life of Michigan News is now online. 

It includes stories about our media campaign, youth awards, the uncovering of abortion clinic abuses and features our former Director of Public Information looking back and looking forward. 

Second video exposes Planned Parenthood executive haggling over prices of fetal body parts, willing to change abortion technique

The Center for Medical Progress has released the second video in a series of undercover investigations into the abortion industry and the exchanging of fetal body parts for money.  The first video showed Planned Parenthood Director of Medical Services Deborah Nucatola discussing how Planned Parenthood affiliates sell the body parts of aborted children.  The second video, released this morning, features a conversation with Mary Gatter, the President of Planned Parenthood’s Medical Director’s Council and the Medical Director at Planned Parenthood Pasadena. 

During the conversation Gatter is asked how much it would cost for “intact tissue.”  She responds by saying, “Well, why don’t you start by telling me what you’re used to paying.”

Gatter also shows a willingness for her clinic to alter their abortion technique in order to get more intact specimens even though she admits this is violating protocol. 

She says, “And then if want to pursue this, mutually, I’ll mention this to Ian to see how he feels about using a less crunchy technique to get more whole specimens.”

View the video below.



Update: The full footage of the video has been released.

“Heavily edited” excuse doesn’t fly for Planned Parenthood

The recent undercover video of a Planned Parenthood executive casually discussing fetal organ harvesting over lunch is shocking to many, but it really shouldn’t be surprising. Planned Parenthood is no stranger to undercover videos. In the past they’ve dealt with issues ranging from failing to report sexual abuse to approval of sex-selection abortions. Their defense has always been that such videos are “heavily edited,” and that quotes are taken out of context.

Thankfully the Center for Medical of Progress has released the full, almost 3-hour unedited video on YouTube for all, and it doesn’t make Dr. Deborah Nucatola look any better. Watch the entire video and let her speak for herself. Let’s consider a couple of items from the unedited tape.

At one point Dr. Nucatola discusses an argument over abortion methods, whether it’s worth poisoning the baby first. Apparently some abortionists prefer the babies to literally be kicking as they tear off limbs in a dismemberment abortion, one-by-one.

“There’s like a culture war on feticide,” she said. “People on the west coast seem to prefer feticide, people on the east coast seem to not believe in feticide. Everyone has their own styles.”

That’s just their style; it’s almost like a cook talking shop about tips for roasts or marinades.

Consider Planned Parenthood’s flat denial that they profit from organ harvesting. Dr. Nucatola’s words create some doubt about that denial.

“I think for affiliates, at the end of the day, they’re a non-profit, they just don’t want to—they want to break even,” she said. “And if they can do a little better than break even, and do so in a way that seems reasonable, they’re happy to do that.”

In the end, Planned Parenthood may be able to conjure up documentation to assert that every payment they received is “reasonable,” and thus legal. Later in the tape she says they don’t profit from the organ sales, but which is it? Doing better than breaking even is the definition of profiting. A thorough investigation is needed to determine the truth.

Nucatola justifies the sales by saying Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit, that “every penny they save is just pennies they give to another patient.” Planned Parenthood made a profit of $127.1 million in 2013-2014, according to their Annual Report. They spent $33.6 million on lobbying government that same year. They spent $15 million on the 2012 election.

Planned Parenthood receives almost half of their budget ($528.4 million) from taxpayers, and they turn around and spend millions lobbying for more. It’s outrageous that people who object to abortion and to fetal organ harvesting are being forced to support a highly political organization. Recently the Michigan budget zeroed out funding for Planned Parenthood, and everyone else should do the same.

Michael Wear, a writer for the Atlantic and a former staffer in the Obama White House, summed up this issue perfectly on Twitter: “It should bother us as a society that we have use for aborted human organs, but not the baby that provides them.”

Video exposes abortion and that makes us uncomfortable

In light of an undercover video showing Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood’s senior director for medical services, cavalierly discussing how she aborts children with the goal of saving specific organs to provide to researchers, both Tim Carney and Timothy Stanley write how the video washes away the euphemisms pro-abortion groups use and the general public often accept when talking about abortion. 

In a CNN column, Stanley writes,

Planned Parenthood is sensitive to us getting the wrong idea about what it does. But we're sensitive about not having to find out.

Whoever thinks about the reality of abortion unless they actually have to participate in one? Whoever considers the crushed organs: the hearts, lungs and livers? We all prefer to mask this truth behind euphemisms, of which Planned Parenthood is simply the market leader. Reproductive health centers. Medical services. Procedures. Anything but calling it what abortion really is -- the obliteration of a fetus.

Now, we may argue that sometimes abortion is necessary or a matter of privacy between a woman and her doctor. But that shouldn't stop us from being honest about it. On the contrary, what's troubling about modern society is its habit of dressing up difficult things in comforting language -- discouraging people from dwelling too hard on the realities of what they are doing.

In his column for the Washington Examiner, Carney writes,

If you consider literally that euphemism for a human baby's body parts — "the products of conception" — it describes President Obama, the reader of this column, Dr. Nucatola, and all her corporate partners just as accurately as it describes the flesh the abortionists are selling, whether it be at cost or for profit.

But that sort of euphemism points us toward the reason much of the major media has steered clear of this story as much as possible (it will get far less press than it deserves). Abortion is grisly and barbaric. When we talk about it in detail, we are reminded that it involves taking a human life with a scalpel, scissors or forceps.

When an abortion is over, the abortionist has extinguished a life. Inconveniently, the body remains — a head, two hands, kidneys, a liver and a heart.

Many in our society have come to accept abortion as something which should be legal because they are willing to avert their eyes from what abortion really is and what abortion does to the body of a developing human being.

New video shows Planned Parenthood director discussing the sale of baby body parts

A new video released by the Center for Medical Progress shows Planned Parenthood Director of Medical Services Deborah Nucatola discussing how Planned Parenthood affiliates sell the body parts of aborted children. 

While at lunch, Nucatola (who is also an abortionist) shares how abortionists will kill unborn children differently if they know their customers want certain body parts (including hearts, liver, lung and lower extremities). 

Nucatola explains how she won’t crush the abdomen of an unborn child so the body parts will remain intact: “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”
   
View the video below. 






Update: The full 2+ hour video can be viewed below.

Group of Congressional Democrats want tax dollars to pay for abortions

Yesterday, a group of Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced a bill which would require tax dollars be used to pay for abortions.         

The legislation entitled The Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act would remove the Hyde Amendment and use Medicaid funds to pay for abortions. 

The legislation is dead on arrival as a strong majority of the House of Representatives is prolife. 

The legislation, the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Woman Act, is backed by dozens of women's health groups, who say it will help reduce unplanned pregnancies. About 65 lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors.

Under current law, women enrolled in Medicaid, the government’s low-income insurance program, are not covered for abortion. The Hyde Amendment, though not part of a permanent law, has been attached to appropriations bills since 1976.

FULL STORY

Cord Blood Awareness Month: Give life twice, give cord blood!

July is National Cord Blood Awareness Month

What is cord blood? Cord blood is found in a baby’s umbilical cord and is a rich source of ethical stem cells.

Why is cord blood important? A transplant of stem cells from cord blood can help someone with a life-threatening disease. There are more than 80 diseases cord blood can help treat including: leukemia, lymphoma, and anemia. Your baby has the power to save someone that has a serious illness!

Want to donate?

• Go to http://www.miblood.org/donating-cord-blood/ and fill out the preliminary screening form. 
• Twelve weeks before your due date the donation kit will be mailed to your house. 
• Fill out the paperwork in the kit and mail the paperwork back to the Cord Blood Bank. 
• They will mail instructions to your doctor. 
• Take the collection kit with you to the hospital when it’s time for delivery. 
• The doctor will collect the donation and send it to the blood bank. 

When should you start this process? Before or during your 28th week of pregnancy.

Where you can donate cord blood in Michigan?

• Borgess Medical Center - Kalamazoo
• Bronson Methodist Hospital - Kalamazoo
• Covenant Medical Center Harrison - Saginaw
• Mercy General Health Partners-Hackley - Muskegon
• Holland Hospital - Holland
• Lakeland Hospital St. Joseph - St. Joseph
• Lakeland Hospital Niles - Niles
• Mercy Health Saint Mary's - Grand Rapids
• Metro Health Hospital - Wyoming
• MidMichigan Medical Center - Midland
• Munson Medical Center - Traverse City
• North Ottawa Community Hospital - Grand Haven
• Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital - Grand Rapids
• Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial Hospital - Fremont
• Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital - Zeeland

Cord blood donation is easy, free, and painless. It doesn’t affect the birthing process. Rather than throwing away the umbilical cord as medical waste, donate and you could help to save someone’s life!

Supreme Court rules in King v. Burwell: Subsidies include abortion insurance

 Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of King v. Burwell, which dealt with federal subsidies for health insurance purchased on federal health exchanges. This is the second major case upholding parts of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Here are several major points about how the decision will affect prolife people:

• The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling means federal subsidies will continue for plans purchased on health care exchanges, including plans that pay for abortions.
• Because of the grassroots efforts of prolifers across Michigan to collect more than 316,000 signatures to initiate the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act, the law was passed in 2013. Because of this law, subsidized plans purchased in Michigan do not include abortion coverage.
• The federal Hyde Amendment prevents tax funding of most abortions, but because the Hyde Amendment does not apply to these subsidies, our federal tax dollars will continue to subsidize abortion coverage in states without an opt-out law.
• The federal government should either apply the Hyde Amendment to health subsidies, or pass the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act to stop forcing people who object to abortion to fund abortions for others.

If you have any question about the decision, please contact Right to Life of Michigan at 616-532-2300 or info@rtl.org.

Click here for a PDF of the King v. Burwell opinions from the Supreme Court.

Belgium's leap off the moral cliff

The New Yorker has an article on Belgium's leap off the moral cliff, their acceptance of euthanasia, physicians willing to euthanize anyone who asks and a man who wasn't informed of his mother's euthanasia until after she was killed.

In the past five years, the number of euthanasia and assisted-suicide deaths in the Netherlands has doubled, and in Belgium it has increased by more than a hundred and fifty per cent. Although most of the Belgian patients had cancer, people have also been euthanized because they had autism, anorexia, borderline personality disorder, chronic-fatigue syndrome, partial paralysis, blindness coupled with deafness, and manic depression......

He recently approved the euthanasia of a twenty-five-year-old woman with borderline personality disorder who did not "suffer from depression in the psychiatric sense of the word," he said. "It was more existential; it was impossible for her to have a goal in this life." He said that her parents "came to my office, got on their knees, and begged me, ‘Please, help our daughter to die.'"

FULL STORY

Clinic Laws and Enforcement Matter!

For years, abortion clinics in Michigan weren’t regulated and weren’t regularly inspected.  The Abortion Abuses and State Regulator Agency Failure Report released by Right to Life of Michigan in 2011 showed that most of Michigan's abortion clinics were not in compliance with dozens of state laws or regulations. The report also cited a vital need for oversight and enforcement on the part of Michigan agencies charged with holding health providers and facilities to account.

Below are some examples of what has been happening in the past few months in Michigan as a result of enforcement of prolife laws that Right to Life of Michigan spearheaded in the Michigan Legislature.

• Martin Ruddock is an Ohio-based abortionist who has been traveling up and down the I-75 corridor over the past two years performing abortions for various Michigan abortion clinics. His foray into Michigan is the result of clinics he was associated with in Ohio closing based on the Buckeye State's prolife laws. Ruddock was found not to have proper Michigan prescribing licenses at one clinic and was discovered to have unethically pre-signed a prescription pad for routine drugs that the clinic staff could utilize in his absence. The prescription pad was seized by state inspectors, he was forced to pay fees for the proper licenses, and he was fined $1,000.00 for not having the proper licenses. (February 2015)

• Franklyn Seabrooks, the long-time abortionist at the Scotsdale abortion clinic in Detroit was fined $500.00 for failing to have a proper controlled substance license, plus fees for compliance.  Abortionists like Seabrooks are feeling the effects of consistent oversight for the first time in 42 years. Their shoddy and sometimes dangerous practices are coming to an end. (May 2015)

• Abortionist Jacob Kalo is struggling to get himself out of trouble, including still being prevented from performing surgical abortions at his notorious clinic in Lathrup Village. The state ordered surgical abortions to cease there last year based on persistent inspection failures. An administrative hearing to determine whether the clinic would be allowed to re-start surgical abortions was slated for June 9, 2015.  That hearing was postponed at Kalo's request as he seems to be embroiled in other personal challenges (a separate a private lawsuit) and can't seem to manage the problems he's caused for himself all at the same time. (Ongoing)

• Infamous abortionists, Angel Ojeda and Michael Roth are currently subjects of a lawsuit stemming from the Eastland Women's Center abortion clinic in Detroit. The two are accused of misdiagnosing an ectopic pregnancy, with Ojeda prescribing the RU-486 abortion pill regimen to a 23-year-old college student. When complications from the undetected, but ongoing ectopic pregnancy developed, both Ojeda and Roth are accused of misdiagnosing the woman's situation and delaying proper treatment. Eventually her fallopian tube ruptured, which required life-saving surgery to remove her fallopian tube. Perhaps with this incident, the Eastland abortion clinic will receive additional scrutiny by state regulators. (Lawsuit filed February 2015)

Abortionist in northern Indiana surrenders license to operate Gary clinic

Yesterday, abortionist Ulrich “George” Klopfer surrendered his license to operate at his abortion clinic in Gary, Indiana.  The clinic has been closed since May 27, 2015.  On June 25, Klopfer will face a hearing with the Indiana Medical Licensing Board over his medical license which is currently under review.  Klopfer has had various issues including failing to report statutory rape in a timely manner. 

Klopfer will be in front of the Indiana Medical Licensing Board on June 25 for a hearing regarding the status of his medical licenses. His licenses are currently listed as “valid while under review.” The hearing was scheduled after the Indiana attorney general’s office filed an official complaint in September.

According to Nick Goodwin, spokesman for the Professional Licensing Agency, the outcome of Klopfer’s medical licensing hearing could range from no sanction to a letter of reprimand, to a fine, to the license being placed on probation, suspension or revoked.

Klopfer also has a court date set for July 13 in misdemeanor court in Lake County for failing to file a timely report of a terminated pregnancy he provided to a girl younger than the age of 14. He was charged with the same misdemeanor in St. Joseph County, but was granted pretrial diversion in December, with charges dismissed within a year if he abides by terms of the program.

FULL STORY

Michigan woman shares horrific abortion experience

On the radio show Kresta in the Afternoon, a Michigan woman whose late-term abortion was botched shared her experience. 

DAY ONE:

The first day, Jessica said that she received an injection of digoxin and her overall visit to the clinic lasted about twenty minutes.

Digoxin is a drug injected into an unborn baby to cause his or her heart to stop in preparation for what amounts to a stillborn birth.

It was very painful, Jessica reiterated.

“The first day I was told there would be mild cramping. And, you actually go into labor. When they send you home…I had my son natural and this was much worse.”

Because the pain was so acute, Jessica’s husband called the abortion clinic’s emergency number and they told her under no circumstances to go to the emergency room.

DAY TWO

Jessica said that on day two she was not given any pain medication for the procedure.

“I was told I would have medications and fluids…I was expecting sedation and medication,” she said.

She recalls that after forty-five minutes the abortionist had to stop to call 911 due to a perforated uterus and massive blood loss.

FULL STORY

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

Population explosion fear-mongering exposed, human life is precious

The New York Times recently published a lengthy article and produced a 12-minute video on the zero population growth movement of late 60's and 70's and how the widely believed claims of population control experts like Paul Ehrlich have proven to be wildly wrong.  

No one was more influential — or more terrifying, some would say — than Paul R. Ehrlich, a Stanford University biologist. His 1968 book, “The Population Bomb,” sold in the millions with a jeremiad that humankind stood on the brink of apocalypse because there were simply too many of us. Dr. Ehrlich’s opening statement was the verbal equivalent of a punch to the gut: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over.” He later went on to forecast that hundreds of millions would starve to death in the 1970s, that 65 million of them would be Americans, that crowded India was essentially doomed, that odds were fair “England will not exist in the year 2000.” Dr. Ehrlich was so sure of himself that he warned in 1970 that “sometime in the next 15 years, the end will come.” By “the end,” he meant “an utter breakdown of the capacity of the planet to support humanity.”

Picture of Paul R. Ehrlich via the Telegraph

Even though Ehrlich predictions have proven embarrassingly wrong, he still clings to his beliefs despite the overwhelming evidence.

At the blog of the Acton Institute, Joseph Sunde reacts to the article and video and the problems in Ehrlich's worldview.

For Ehrlich and many others, humans simply take, take, take; there’s no make, make, make. And thus, the struggle for provision, prosperity, and human flourishing is quickly reduced to a mere battle over consumption. We are leeches, drainers, and destroyers, a virus on the Earth that must be curbed and contained, if not wiped out completely (a “cancer,” as Ehrlich sometimes prefers).

Take, for instance, one of his lines in the video above: “The idea that every woman should have as many babies as she wants is, to me, exactly the same kind of idea as everybody ought to be permitted to throw as much of their garbage into their neighbor’s backyard as they want.”

Humans = bags of backyard garbage. NBD.

Fortunately for us (and for Ehrlich), humans aren’t globs of trash and the “global community” isn’t some morbid zero-sum realm wherein every new baby represents a dead mushroom on a distant mountaintop.

As Julian Simon famously observed, humans are the “ultimate resource” — valuable assets to our families, neighbors, distant strangers, and, yes, Planet Earth herself. We were created in the image of a creator-God to be co-creators and gift-givers, sharing, exchanging, collaborating, and innovating alongside the grand family of humankind. Each new child represents not some bag of waste, but a a creator and a dreamer — a unique and precious person born for relationship and brimming with capacity for production, investment, and love.
 

More than a generation after his book's apocalyptic warnings, Ehrlich's blindness to the uniqueness and preciousness of human life prevent him from admitting his obvious errors.

Time is running out to get prolife Father's Day bookmarks

 

 

THANK YOU DAD BOOKMARK

These 2" x 6" full color bookmarks feature a poem thanking Dad for life. (Supplies are limited.)

Poem Text:
Thank you Dad for your unconditional love, your caring and understanding, and the comforting hugs.Thank you for sharing your wisdom and for all the sacrifices that you made. And thank you, dad, for life--the biggest gift you gave.

10¢ each

ORDER NOW

Order now while supplies last!
Place your order by Tuesday, June 16^th to receive your bookmarks before Father's Day (Sunday, June 21^st).

Visit www.RTL.org/Store to order today.

California Medical Association abandons opposition to assisted suicide

The California Medical Association has dropped their decades long opposition to assisted suicide after a bill to legalize assisted suicide was introduced in California. 

The CMA said its change to neutral on the issue marked the first by a state medical association. It comes amid renewed debate over doctor-assisted suicide following the death of brain cancer patient Brittany Maynard last fall.

The American Medical Association remains opposed to doctors participating in assisted suicide, saying in a policy statement on its website that doing so was fundamentally incompatible with a doctor's role as a healer, would be difficult to control and posed "serious societal risks." 

The press release announcing their decision is filled with absurd attempts to cover their disregard for the lives of those considering suicide and sounds eerily like the rhetoric and euphemisms used to defend abortion on demand.  Assisted suicide is called “physician aid in dying” or “end of life options.”  The relationship between doctor and patient is exalted. Helping someone kill themselves is equated with methods of “treatment.”

Important issues, which previously led the California Medical Association to oppose assisted suicide and attempts to legalize it, are not mentioned or refuted.  Those issues include the potentials for abuse, the recognition that desire for suicide is rarely a rational decision, fears that legalizing assisted suicide could undermine hospice care, the uncertainly of medical diagnoses, and how assisted suicide violates the fundamental “do no harm” medical ethic.

While the California Medical Association is the first state medical association group to announce they are "neutral" on physicians helping to kill patients, only time will time if they are the last. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT ASSISTED SUICIDE AND EUTHANASIA

Prolife teleseminar scheduled for tomorrow

Join Right to Life of Michigan at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 2, for a Prolife Media & Legislative Update Teleseminar.

You will hear from Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing and Legislative Director Ed Rivet. We are looking forward to an exciting summer in Michigan with opportunities to share prolife information. This is your chance to receive the most up-to-date information on what is happening in Michigan regarding LIFE. We expect the teleseminar to be about 20 minutes.

Feel free to share this information with your Michigan friends and family members.

There are two ways for you to listen in:

    Use your phone and call (425) 440-5100; PIN Code: 662744#

    Or, listen via the Internet: http://iTeleseminar.com/70248558

We are looking forward to connecting with you on Tuesday, June 2, at 11 a.m.

New television ads starting this week

Starting this week, two new prolife television ads will begin airing across Michigan. 

One ad is part of the compassion project and features Sheryl and her story of being raped and having an abortion.

“It was acquaintance rape and he denied everything. Next thing I know, I’m in an abortion and I just pretty much went and totally shut down.  I just wish society would realize the long term effect that abortion has on women even in the case of rape. You know, to further traumatize a woman the way I’ve been further traumatized. I just don’t want this to happen to no one else.”  - Sheryl       



You can watch Sheryl’s full story here.

The second ad is a remake of our Seed ad and is a remake of a 1994 favorite which illustrates that like a plant, when life is allowed to grow, the results are beautiful.

Beating cancer with adult stem cells

You don't hear much about embryonic stem cell research anymore as no cures have materialized, but advances and treatments from ethical sources of stem cells continue on.

Watch Paul Wagle's story below to learn how stem cells from an umbilical cord helped him beat cancer. 

Committee hearing on Rape Survivor Child Custody Act goes well

On May 19th, the House Criminal Justice Committee heard testimony on H.B. 4481, the Rape Survivor Child Custody Act.  Besides testimony from Right to Life of Michigan representatives and an expert from domestic violence agencies, committee members watched Shauna’s compassion project story.  

A committee vote has not yet been scheduled but it should hopefully be soon. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT H.B. 4481

Testimony on Rape Survivor Child Custody Act

Right to Life of Michigan members and the general public have been introduced to Shauna Prewitt thanks to her courageous advocacy mission and the television ad and video produced by RLM, which aired in the past several weeks on statewide TV.  Shauna's story of conceiving a child through rape and then fighting back against her attacker's effort to assert parental rights prompted the introduction of House Bill 4481 in the Lansing last month.

Already, the bill is being lined up for action in the House Criminal Justice Committee this coming Tuesday, May 19, at 9:00 a.m.

H.B. 4481 would allow a rape survivor who becomes pregnant from assault to petition the family court to terminate the parental rights of her assailant under a "clear and convincing" evidence standard and without the necessity of a criminal conviction.  Current law provides for the termination of parental rights of a man who impregnates a woman via sexual assault if he is convicted of felony rape.  Unfortunately, felony rape convictions are difficult to obtain and require a legal standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt".  This bill would make the standard for termination of parental rights the same as for those who abuse or neglect their child.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE RAPE SURVIVOR CHILD CUSTODY ACT

Late term abortion advocate Wendy Davis to speak at Planned Parenthood event in Michigan

Rendering of unborn baby at 20 weeks/via Baby Center

Today, abortion advocate Wendy Davis is scheduled to speak at Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan’s annual luncheon.  Davis’ claim to fame was her filibuster as a Texas state senator against a law in Texas which banned abortions after 20 weeks.

The media fell in love with her pink running shoes and she became the Democratic nominee for governor in Texas, an election she lost handily. 

Her advocacy for late term abortion won her fame and now she speaks at pro-abortion events across the country. 

Planned Parenthood is America's leading abortion provider.  Learn more about their abortion agenda. 

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

On May 13th, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36) by a vote of 242 to 184.  This legislation would generally ban abortion after 20 weeks of fetal age (or 22 weeks of pregnancy) based on congressional findings that unborn children of that age are capable of feeling pain.

The measure passed in a 242-to-184 vote, with one member voting present. The bill dropped a provision in the original version that would have required women who became pregnant through rape to report their assault to law enforcement authorities to be eligible for an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Under the new bill, such women would have to receive counseling or medical treatment at least 48 hours before having an abortion. In cases involving minors, abortion providers would have to alert the authorities for the girls’ protection, it says. The bill, known as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, would also make it easier to sue a noncompliant abortion provider.

FULL STORY

ROLL CALL VOTE

Let's remember vulnerable human life during the National Day of Prayer

Today, May 7, is the National Day of Prayer. The first National Day of Prayer in 1952 invited people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. It is encouraging to know that every president since has signed a National Day of Prayer proclamation.

As we keep our nation in our thoughts, let's too, remember mothers facing unplanned pregnancies and their children preparing to be born. People compose a nation.  

A mother who considers abortion has the burden of a life or death decision. May we be the help that she needs. It is important to pray for all children, born and unborn, because the future of our nation depends on it.

"I felt like I live in a society that has gone mad"

Josh Brahm, a prolife advocate and President of Equal Rights Institute, recently visited a display at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry with members of his staff.  The display includes children who were miscarried at various stages of prenatal development and preserved.  In a moving blog post, Brahm describes their experiences and reactions to visiting this exhibit. 
   

My immediate emotional reaction upon entering the room was sadness. There was a seriousness to this room, and the design of the room was clearly intended to underline the seriousness of the exhibit. This isn’t a place to let your kids run free like they can at some of the other sections of the museum.

The youngest baby was only a few weeks old, and was very small. I took my time, spending several moments in front of each child. As I looked at the youngest embryos, I thought to myself that I could understand why a pro-choice person could see this part of the exhibit and still feel convinced that these early embryos aren’t morally significant. I certainly think they are, but it’s not because of the way they look. It’s because of what I believe about the nature of all humans, including the youngest of us.

It became harder for me to step into the shoes of a pro-choice person and defend abortion rights later in the exhibit though. Around the point where the baby in front of us was nine weeks old, it became clearer than anything that this is a little human, not an unorganized mass of developing tissue..... 

At Equal Rights Institute it’s a priority to us to be very careful with philosophy, and understand why the most philosophical pro-choice advocates believe what they believe. And yet, staring at these children, I felt like I live in a society that has gone mad.

FULL STORY

U.S. House votes to strike down D.C. law aimed at prolife groups

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 228-192 to nullify pro-abortion legislation passed by the District of Columbia.  The pro-abortion legislation in question could force prolife organizations in the District of Columbia to hire pro-abortion employees. 

Opponents of the local law said it would force employers like churches, religious schools and anti-abortion organizations to violate their own religious beliefs and provide contraceptive coverage to their workers. They said it could also prevent such groups from acting against employees who privately undermine their employer's mission, such as by volunteering at abortion clinics.

"I stand here to defend the rights of religious institutions and pro-life companies to honor their faith and respect the sanctity of life," said Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo.

FULL STORY
  
ROLL CALL
     
NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE LETTER TO LAWMAKERS