Illinois Right to Life News for Friday, December 28, 2007 

 Committed Pro-Lifers do not condone violence

Count on Planned Parenthood to jump on a perceived threat to women’s “right to reproductive health care”, alias abortion.  When news broke about a December 6th arson attack on an Albuquerque, NM abortion clinic, Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Cecile Richards issued a press release attributing the devastating fire to her Pro-Life opponents when she suggested the fire “should serve as a powerful reminder of the violent and intimidating tactics that extremists use to obstruct women's access to health care.”  She continued, “Planned Parenthood denounces this senseless attack.  We call on everyone who cares about women's health to join us in condemning these acts of violence.”

Now a December 28th Associated Press article reveals the apparent motivation for the attack on Albuquerque abortion clinic.  According to the criminal complaint, Sergio Baca and Chad Altman are accused of arson.  Baca's roommate told authorities that Baca allegedly confessed to setting the fire because his former girlfriend was scheduled to have an abortion at the clinic.  This information certainly does not support Cecile Richards’ rush to judgment.

Did Richards rush to judgment generate more senseless violence when two Planned Parenthood locations in Albuquerque were vandalized on Christmas Day, with one catching fire and the other having broken windows?  No one has yet been implicated in those attacks, but Pro-Life leaders in Albuquerque have condemned both the earlier arson attack on the abortion clinic and the latest attempts to vandalize the Planned Parenthood locations.  True Pro-Life activists recognize that violence does not win converts.  Since we are interested in bringing people to see the truth about life issues, use of violence is a self-defeating approach that makes no sense.  No committed defender of life considers violence as an effective means to stop abortion.

On a happier note, we have reached the end of another year.  While there have been many frustrating events, including legislative struggles and the above senseless acts of violence, there have been many Pro-Life successes in 2007 as well.  Happy New Year!

 Illinois Right to Life News for Friday, December 21, 2007 

 Merry Christmas from IRLC

Illinois Right to Life Committee wishes you a Merry Christmas.  Celebration of Christmas provides a strong foundation for defending the value of human life from conception to natural death.  Consider some of the implications of the infancy narrative from St. Luke's Gospel.

How advanced was her pregnancy when Mary visited Elizabeth?  Read the familiar passages from Luke chapters 1 and 2 carefully, and note the timeframe cited by Luke.  Mary might hardly have reached the point where most mothers realize they are pregnant when she greeted Elizabeth.   Elizabeth and her child in utero both recognize the presence of Jesus as both God and man at this very early point in His human development. 

Without the benefit of ultrasound or modern biology, Luke clearly proclaims the personhood of Jesus.  This insight must equally apply to all unborn children.  They are all children of God for whom He sent Jesus to be their Savior.

With this insight into the value that God places on human life, how can any action that violates innocent human life at any stage be justified?   Whether it be destruction of, or cloning of, human embryos for stem cell research, use of in vitro fertilization where success first requires rejection of imperfect embryos and then the push for "selective reduction" when too many survive, prevention of implantation of a living human embryo through use of contraceptive products, or hastening the death of any human being through euthanasia or assisted suicide, children of God are being unjustly killed by man for his own purposes and convenience.

May the beauty of Christmas help us all recognize the meaning and value of all human life, to advance a culture of life.  

Are not even wars and use of the death penalty the result of someone's failure to respect other human beings?   Those rulers who terrorize their own citizens and threaten or attack other nations, and those who commit deadly crimes, trigger consequences that produce death and destruction, often including their own.

While we may feel helpless to prevent much of the death and destruction that gets reported daily on the news, we each are much closer to making the decisions that affect the beginning and end of life within our own families.  May we always recognize the value that God places on human life as we make such decisions.

If we share the good news of the birth of Jesus as our Savior, maybe we can make a difference that will spread across the world, so a true culture of life can overcome the culture of death that seems to afflict our world today.  Merry Christmas!

 Illinois Right to Life News for Tuesday, December 18, 2007 

Trusted health care provider or greedy abortionist?

Planned Parenthood prominently displays phrases such as “trusted local provider of health information and services” on many of its affiliates’ web sites.  Do its actions back up its words?

In August 2007 Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri joined legal action to prevent enforcement of a new Missouri law.   What did that law demand?  The law requires abortion clinics to comply with the same health standards as other medical clinics.  Planned Parenthood stated the stringent requirements could result in the closing of abortion businesses that are unable to comply.  The implication of this point is that abortionists should not be required to comply with safety codes if they might be forced to close locations that do not meet health standards.  In other words, abortion availability trumps safety considerations for Planned Parenthood.  Does this action seem consistent for a “trusted” health care provider?  Should this condescending attitude assure women that Planned Parenthood really has concern for their safety?  

When filing its case to oppose the law, Planned Parenthood claimed the new regulations would require extensive remodeling to its Columbia facility that would cost $2 million.  By the time of a September 10th hearing on its legal challenge, an architect for Planned Parenthood told the judge that $600,000 or more would be needed to meet the safety codes.  Can we conclude that Planned Parenthood is not willing to spend money to improve the safety of its facilities?

We can certainly conclude that Planned Parenthood does not want any oversight on whether its facilities are safe.  Even though Planned Parenthood got $305.3 million in taxpayer funds in its last reporting year, its highly paid executives are not willing to spend money to comply with safety regulations.

But Planned Parenthood has just filed another lawsuit in Missouri.   This time they are opposing a referendum that might be placed on the ballot.  What does the referendum do?  Planned Parenthood claims the measure would ban most abortions in the state, and is trying to keep it from appearing on the ballot. 

The organization seeking signatures to place the contested referendum on the ballot is called Stop Forced Abortions Alliance.  They state their referendum “does not ban any abortions nor does it make any abortions illegal.”   So what does the referendum do?  It “clarifies in statute the duty of physicians to screen for statistically proven risk factors which identify women at higher risk of physical or negative complications of abortion” and “clarifies the duty of abortion providers to ask whether a patient is feeling pressured into the abortion.”  Provisions for recourse in cases of negligent screening “are enforced solely by injured women through civil remedies.”

Why does Planned Parenthood claim the referendum will ban most abortions?   Apparently, Planned Parenthood likes to exaggerate to get headlines when filing a lawsuit.  Maybe Planned Parenthood wants to distract people from considering their real reason for filing this lawsuit.  If this referendum passed, would it cost Planned Parenthood money?  That must be their reason for opposing the referendum! 

How would this measure cost money?  It would require Planned Parenthood’s abortionists and staff to spend more time with patients, and result in some of those patients eventually choosing against abortion.  Planned Parenthood knows this referendum will not ban a single abortion, but they cannot tell the public they refuse to spend any more time to educate women on abortion risks or to help women make their own choice in cases where they are being forced into abortion. 

Planned Parenthood wants the money from all those abortions, but they keep telling the public they are trying to reduce abortion.  This referendum would certainly reduce abortions in Missouri.  Planned Parenthood’s opposition to it proves their slogan about reducing abortions is false, and also shows once again that Planned Parenthood is much more concerned about abortion revenue than either the safety or the personal choice of the women on whom they commit abortion. 

Is that why we are learning of cases where rapists relied on Planned Parenthood to commit abortions on their victims to cover the rapes?   Missouri must be another “ground zero” for Planned Parenthood in the battle over abortion, right beside Aurora, Illinois.   And we have not even covered the 107 criminal charges filed against Planned Parenthood in Missouri!  Do you think Planned Parenthood is a “trusted local provider of health information and services”?  I think “greedy abortionist” might be a better description.

 Illinois Right to Life News for Friday, December 14, 2007 

The questionable diagnosis of persistent vegetative state

IRLC radio messages have brought attention to recent medical discoveries that raise serious questions about the accuracy of a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state (PVS).  These findings include researchers at Cambridge University who reported that a woman in a “vegetative state” showed signs of conscious awareness while remaining in her comatose condition.  The study compared her neurological responses to verbal stimuli with those of conscious volunteers and found their brain responses were consistent.  In other cases of working with patients who had been diagnosed as PVS, discoveries have shown that electrodes, the insomnia drug Zolpidem, and most recently, the sleeping pill Ambien have been found to help some patients regain consciousness after a PVS diagnosis. 

On November 25th, the CBS 60 Minutes program actually covered some examples of experiences with patients responding after receiving the sleeping pill Ambien.  60 Minutes first made careful distinctions between persistent vegetative state and what they termed “minimally conscious state.”  They mentioned Terri Schiavo and emphasized that she could not have been helped by Ambien because she was PVS.  Based on the testimony of Father Frank Pavone, Father Tom Euteneuer, numerous medical experts, and Terri’s parents and siblings, we know that her PVS diagnosis was not correct so she would also have been correctly classified as in a “minimally conscious state.”

Even so, the 60 Minutes program included a doctor who stated that PVS is misdiagnosed 40% of the time.  They interviewed both doctors and family members in multiple cases where Ambien brought the patients to consciousness.  Continued use of Ambien has allowed these patients to interact with their families on a ongoing basis.

60 Minutes and Anderson Cooper did a good job covering the hope that now clearly exists for at least some patients in a minimally conscious state, or even those who have been diagnosed as PVS.   Other than the inaccuracies about Terri Schiavo, whose family and friends would certainly testify was one of those misdiagnosed patients, the 60 Minutes program was a very positive view into the possibilities of caring for patients who are not able to respond to the external world.  The story also provided scenes of family members who are committed to caring for and helping to promote recovery, not giving up after a negative diagnosis.  Their examples of true compassion help dispel the misinformation created by the media about such cases.   Congratulations to Anderson Cooper and 60 Minutes for bringing this good news to the nation.

Illinois Right to Life News for Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Jumping to conclusions to attack abstinence education

On December 5th the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released Births: Preliminary Data for 2006.  This report covers the number of births in the United States in 2006.  One key result from the report states “The preliminary estimate of births in 2006 was 4,265,996, an increase of 3 percent from 2005, the largest single-year increase in the number of births since 1989, and the largest number of births since 1961.”  The implication of this statistic is noted as “The year 2006 marks the first year since 1971 in which the U.S. TFR [total fertility rate] was above replacement level.”  Are you surprised to learn that birth rates in the nation have been below replacement level since 1971?   So, this change is good news, right?

Well, not for Planned Parenthood.  That very day Planned Parenthood issued a deceptive press release stating “Today’s news underscores what Planned Parenthood and those who work tirelessly to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies already know too well: the United States is facing a teen pregnancy health care crisis, and the national policy of abstinence-only programs just isn’t working.”  Hold on a minute!  Where did they come up with blaming abstinence education for a birth rate above replacement level?

The CDC report also contains data on births to teenagers.  Those figures show that births to 10-14-year-olds went down in 2006.  But births to 15-19-year-olds went up.  The report says “the preliminary birth rate for U.S. teenagers 15-19 years rose 3 percent to 41.9 births per 1,000 females in 2006, the first increase reported since 1991.”  Planned Parenthood used this information to conclude that abstinence programs caused an increase in teen pregnancies. 

Do the CDC statistics provide any valid basis to reach such a conclusion?  Not at all!  Of course, Planned Parenthood’s agenda overrides the inconvenient fact that there is nothing in the CDC report to support their conclusion.  To begin with, the report covers birth rates, not pregnancy rates.  It is only a Planned Parenthood assumption that pregnancy rates also went up.  What if Pro-Life intervention and parental involvement laws motivated more pregnant teens to choose life over abortion?  Planned Parenthood is trying to equate birth rates with pregnancy rates and hope nobody notices.  Additionally, since births to 10-14-year-olds went down in 2006, can that be credited to the success of abstinence education? 

As has been noted before, what interest does Planned Parenthood have in reducing the rate of unintended pregnancies?  That would reduce the need for their most profitable product, abortion.  So when Planned Parenthood or other abortion advocates criticize abstinence education, consider the source.

 Illinois Right to Life News for Friday, December 7, 2007 

Good news and bad news

The Illinois abortion statistics for 2005 from the Illinois Department of Public Health were delayed significantly.  They did not become available until March 2007.  Maybe that is why no one apparently noticed when the 2006 abortion statistics were posted on November 30th.   Unfortunately, those statistics offer bad news.  The number of abortions in Illinois in 2006 reached 46,467, an increase of over 3,000 abortions compared to 2005.  Along with a 1,300 increase in 2004 (abortions dropped by 128 in 2005), the annual abortions in Illinois have nearly returned to the 2002 level, reversing the welcomed, but unexpected 4,700 decline in abortions that occurred in 2003.  Check the annual totals at Illinois Abortion Statistics: 1973-Current.

Given the recent news about the 78% increase in abortions committed at Stroger Cook County Hospital since 2003, some of the increase must be attributed to those 4,000 taxpayer-funded abortions.  Surprisingly, total abortions in Cook County were relatively stable from 2003 to 2006 and actually remain almost 4,000 below the 1999 abortion total for Cook County.  However, the Cook County total for 2006 shows over 600 more abortions than the low point reached in 2003 and nearly repeated in 2005.

Another important factor in the increased abortion total is an apparent increase of over 1,000 abortions committed on out-of-state women.  Over 600 of these additional abortions were recorded specifically as out-of-state residency, but there was an increase of over 400 in women of unknown residency.   Given the lack of an enforceable parental involvement law in Illinois, might we not expect most of that increase to be out-of-state teenagers?

That still leaves over 1,400 increased abortions unaccounted for.  A review of abortions committed county-by-county reveals that abortions increased in at least 20 counties while going down in 11 counties.  Since detailed numbers are not reported for any county with 50 or less abortions, there is no way to know whether abortions increased or decreased in many of the less populated counties of Illinois.  Based on the net increase of less than 700 for the counties with abortion counts displayed, at least 700 abortions must have come from increases in less populated counties that still remain under 51 abortions annually.

The new abortion total indicates the need to maintain caution about reaching any conclusions about causes and trends.  However, there are certainly enough reliable studies to establish that any attempt to reduce this now climbing abortion total must begin with more abstinence education in schools.   If more schools have recently moved in the direction of so-called comprehensive sex education, that would certainly be a likely factor in the rise in abortions.  Hopefully, this blatant promotion of casual sex as long as a condom is used is not the cause, and abortions will go back down in coming years.  If parental notice is finally allowed to become enforceable, that would certainly lead to a reduction in abortions committed in Illinois, especially on out-of-state teenagers.

So where is the good news?  Well, since we cannot yet report that parental notice can be enforced, the good news for now is two recent successes in defending free speech rights so efforts to educate the public on abortion can continue. 

Officer Dick Lalowski, a veteran Des Plaines police officer, was fired on December 3rd for verbally and physically harassing a group of women who were gathered in prayer last year outside American Women's Medical Center on South River Road in Des Plaines.  Acting on a recommendation from Des Plaines Police Chief James Prandini, the suburb's Board of Fire and Police Commissioners voted unanimously to fire the officer.  Thanks to Thomas Brejcha, attorney with the Thomas More Society in Chicago, for successfully representing these women and defending their free speech rights.

Gwinnett County Georgia Solicitor General Rosanna Szabo announced December 3rd that the driver of Operation Rescue’s Truth Truck, Bob Roethisberger, who was arrested and jailed over Thanksgiving weekend, will not be facing charges.  Szabo stated that the display of the graphic photos of aborted babies depicted on the Truth Truck banners could not be considered obscene, as charged by the arresting officers.  

Do prayer and educational efforts have an impact to reduce abortions?  Information compiled from the 40 Days for Life prayer vigils that were held in 89 cities from September 26th to November 4th reveal the great news that 340 babies were known to be saved from abortion during these vigils.  How many more babies were saved that none of the participants learned about?

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