Illinois Right to Life Committee
PRO-LIFE BLOG
Monday, Nov 30, 2009 -- Sidewalk counseling above and beyond the call of duty Most people who consider themselves Pro-Life still find it difficult to take that position to the street as a prayer warrior or even sidewalk counselor in front to an abortion center. Leah Winandy and her mother did not have any such reservations outside an abortion center in Duluth, Minnesota. If someone displayed a knife as they approached, would you still try to discourage them from getting an abortion? Leah described the circumstances. "Before I could talk to her or approach her with literature, she snapped open a knife. She waved the point at me saying, 'Don't come near me.' I stayed where I was and said, 'Please don't kill your baby, fear God.'" Leah continued, "She walked past into the courtyard, so I moved to the fence corner to continue counseling. She then turned around, came up to me and held the point of the knife at my throat." A witness called the police and seven squad cars eventually showed up on the scene. Several policemen went into the building, and shortly came out with the women in handcuffs. Leah stated, "They interviewed us, had us write reports, and told us that this is a felony offence." I would not recommend trying this counseling approach, but it does raise an interesting question about the Chicago bubble zone ordinance. Does a bubble zone protect the counselor also? The Duluth police should be commended for taking this crime seriously.
Friday, Nov 27, 2009 -- Trying to distort the reality of consciousness after 23 years A few days ago we learned about Rom Houben. He is now able to communicate his thoughts via computer after suffering with locked-in syndrome for over 20 years. Now skeptics and euthanasia advocates are attempting to discredit the story, but the facts are not on their side. The Chicago Tribune carried an 11/25/09 article quoting Arthur Caplan, a bioethics professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Caplan called it "facilitated communication" and stated, "It's been discredited time and time again." The Huffington Post’s resident utilitarian bioethicist, Jacob Appel, contends that Houben can't really be communicating and suggests a test to smoke out the supposed chicanery. Apparently, that test has been done. The Associated Press indicates the team of British neurological expert Dr. Steven Laureys showed Houben an object while his aide was not present, and he was able to write it down correctly. Normally, Houben communicates with the assistance of a speech therapist holding his hand. American bioethicist Wesley J. Smith observed, "The Houben case unquestionably gets in the way of the utilitarian agenda to rid us of burdensome cognitively and neurologically disabled people and/or to gain a license to use them as natural resources in organ harvesting or experimentation."
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 -- The health care debate will begin in the U.S. Senate What does it mean that key votes on health care "reform" occur on Saturday evenings? Might one think that Congress is trying to hide something from as many people as possible? If so, they must be confirming that they know citizens oppose their health care "reforms" but they are determined to insist that they know better. On Saturday Nov 21st the Senate voted to allow debate on Harry Reid's back room version of health care "reform." That debate is expected to begin during the week of Nov 30th. If you do not think these "reforms" are an improvement in health care, you need to let our two Senators from Illinois know your opinion. What might be of concern? Reid's bill establishes massive government funding of abortion. Further analysis reveals that health care rationing is a guaranteed result. Procedures to encourage seniors and the disabled to decline treatments are intertwined into the bureaucracy established by this bill. Apparently quite a few people must be upset since the phone system (Capitol switchboard at 1-202-224-3121) in Washington, D.C. seems to be jammed most of the time. If you cannot get through to Washington, D.C., you might just call their offices in Illinois. Call Senator Roland Burris at (312) 886-3506 and Senator Richard Durbin at (312) 353-4952.
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 -- Adoption -- time to connect the dots? Have you ever thought about how sad it is that so many people are seeking to adopt children while so many babies are aborted daily? I recently received an email from a couple who is seeking to arrange a private adoption ... read more
Monday, Nov 23, 2009 -- Where there is life, there is hope! We learned today the story of a man in Belgium with locked-in syndrome. After an auto accident, he remained conscious for over 20 years before medicine was able to recognize his conscious state. For all that time he was diagnosed as comatose because he could not respond even though he heard everything. Only the insistance of his family kept him alive all those years, preventing his starvation and dehydration. Thanks to advances in medical technology, Rom Houben is now able to communicate his thoughts via computer. The 46-year-old says he felt trapped, as he was conscious the entire time, but unable to communicate. He observed on how he coped, "I dreamed myself away. All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt." Based on reports of medical progress from related research, IRLC ran a 2008 radio message on this topic. How coincidental that last week I ran that radio message again for the first time during 2009. It stated: Last year studies of persistent vegetative state (or PVS) in Belgium and Britain revealed rates of misdiagnosis over 40%. These findings are consistent with frequent news reports about recovery of patients deemed beyond hope. Recent studies of patients in a vegetative state have discovered responses in their brains consistent with those of conscious volunteers. Other studies of people in minimally conscious states have found cells in relatively undamaged areas of their brains had begun self-healing, seeking out new ways to re-establish functional connections. Where there is life, there is hope. Rom Houben is certainly someone who confirms "where there is life, there is hope." American bioethicist Wesley J. Smith commented on the Houben case, "We hear constantly that people diagnosed as being persistently unconscious should be dehydrated to death because they are not 'persons,' or are actually 'dead' -- and so should be available for organ harvesting." Smith says, "There are abundant reasons to treat people with profound cognitive disabilities as fully human beings. First and foremost, because they are us. Second, because we don't know enough about how the brain works to know that there won't be some regeneration to permit eventual restoration of some function. But also, because there is always hope."
Friday, Nov 20, 2009 -- Impact of abortion on one woman; how many more like her? I received a call in response to the IRLC radio message that mentions the impact of abortion on women. This concerned husband was looking for a professional counselor who could help his wife. He said she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder because of an abortion in her past. To confirm he knew what he was talking about, he said he was in the U.S. military and had seen soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. It was not clear if he may have dealt with the disorder himself. His urgency and frustration were apparent because he could not find a professional counselor who accepted a connection between abortion and post traumatic stress disorder. He expressed grave concern for his wife's health and the impact on their three children. I mentioned Rachels Vineyard, a post-abortion ministry that specializes in retreats for post-abortive women. To my surprise, he indicated he and his wife had already attended such a retreat, but it was not sufficient. I suggested he try to reach Theresa Burke through Rachels Vineyard for personal counseling, or a referral to someone who could provide that counseling. I suggested he could also try Hope After Abortion and National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing) as potential sources of referrals to appropriate counselors. Politically correct counselors are denying women in need the opportunity to resolve their distress caused by abortion in their past. How sad!
Thursday, Nov 19, 2009 -- UNFPA declares war on third world to protect climate I have previously expressed concern about the use of "climate change" or "global warming" as justification for other agenda items pushed by the culture of death crowd. Now the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has decided to declare war on third world populations. A new UNFPA report suggests the fight against "climate change" can be won through distribution of free condoms to achieve decreases in population, especially in the developing areas of the world. While the UNFPA acknowledged it had no actual evidence of a connection between population increase and climate change, the report insists there is no doubt that "people cause climate change" through CO2 emissions. The report states, "Women with access to reproductive health services ... have lower fertility rates that contribute to slower growth in greenhouse gas emissions." Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the UNFPA's executive director, told a news conference in London that although the largest amount of CO2 emissions do not come from the developing world, the organization would continue to focus its population control efforts there, saying that women and the poor will be the worst hit in the coming climatological disasters. Oh yes, since they might die in speculated disasters later, it is better that they should just not exist. Sounds like a plan right out of the Margaret Sanger playbook -- eliminate the "undesirable" populations of the world, but make sure they do not learn of your intentions. How convenient to have "climate change" as the cover!
Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 -- IRLC supports personhood amendments IRLC supports the efforts in many states to pass personhood amendments. While such an amendment is not likely to be considered in Illinois, the laws of many states allow ballot initiatives after citizens gather the required number of signatures. In a number of states such initiatives can be used to amend state constitutions. Establishing that all human beings are persons is intended to give preborn children the rights accorded to persons under state constitutions, ultimately challenging Roe v. Wade. This approach has raised controversy within the Pro-Life community about whether such an effort will produce positive or negative results. Opponents say this is the wrong time because of the current vote count on the Supreme Court, other legal complexities, or even criticism of the chosen wording of some proposed amendments. However, as occurred with partial birth abortion, the educational opportunity is tremendous. Another big plus is the reaction of abortion advocates. Their opposition to such initiatives, even trying to keep them off the ballot, allows the public to see how radical they are. Such a controversy currrently exists in Nevada. Referring to the lawsuit filed against the sponsors of the Nevada Personhood Amendment initiative by Planned Parenthood (PP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Gualberto Garcia Jones, legal analyst for Personhood USA, pointed out that "Abortion proponents have sued to stop personhood amendments in Colorado, Missouri, and Nevada because they realize that personhood amendments have the power to unravel the web of legal fictions that impose abortion upon America."
Tuesday, Nov 17, 2009 -- Lies and more lies trying to overcome the result Abortion advocates are trying to reverse the Stupak Amendment that would prevent government funding of abortion under the health care bill passed on November 7th by the House of Representatives. They have demanded a meeting with President Obama and even made outlandish claims that the Stuapk Amendment would return the nation to "back alley abortions." Planned Parenthood has gone so far as to say that they will not support a health care bill unless abortion funding is included. Isn''t that ironic! While Planned Parenthood likes to manipulate their clinic statistics to claim that abortion is only 3% of their services, they are determined to expand government funding of abortion. Of course, the fact they like to ignore, while they claim they are trying to reduce abortions, is the fact that they are the nation’s largest abortion provider. Code words have been chosen by pro-abortion politicians to justify demands to remove the Stupak Amendment. They claim it does not maintain the "status quo" on abortion funding. This distortion of the facts suggests that women would not be able to get abortion coverage through any health insurance plan, even when paid with their own money. This claim ignores two key facts. First, the vast majority of current insurance plans do not cover abortion. Second, no restrictions were placed on purchasing abortion coverage with private funds. As with the earlier claims, made before passage of the Stupak Amendment, that abortion was not covered in the bill, abortion advocates never let the facts get in their way. Planned Parenthood is using lies to distort the facts so they can justify their continued push for government-funded abortions. Taking such a stand in spite of strong public opposition to government funding of abortion says a lot about the true focus of their organization. That strong abortion focus was recently confirmed by Abby Johnson, after she quit as director of the Bryan, Texas Planned Parenthood.
Monday, Nov 16, 2009 -- Is the "bubble zone" ordinance unconstitutionally vague? The ACLU, normally no friend of Pro-Life advocates finds that the Chicago "bubble zone" ordinance is unconstitutionally vague. The Thomas More Society comes to the same conclusion. With these two organizations in rare agreement, might that suggest serious problems with the bubble zone ordinance? Does standing still and holding out literature amount to "approaching a person without permission" within their bubble zone? How does a person know when permission has been given? Is silence consent? These are just a few of the questions that demonstrate the vagueness of the bubble zone ordinance. A legal challenge to the bubble zone ordinance will be taken to court on November 17th. Will the judge issue a temporary restraining order like almost always occurs when abortion advocates challenge a law? On Saturday I attended a seminar that attempted to prepare sidewalk counselors and prayer warriors for complying with the bubble zone ordinance. Based on the questions raised and the best legal answers that could be given, no assurances can be given about what will be necessary to achieve compliance with this flawed ordinance.
Friday, Nov 13, 2009 -- Is abortionist Hodari pulling out of Michigan? Michigan abortionist Albert Hodari has placed for sale signs in front of three of his abortion centers in Livonia, Southgate, and Flint. Two of these locations were sites of recent 40 Days for Life vigils. Is this turn of events purely a coincidence? Hodari has had recurrent legal troubles. Most recently a lawsuit was filed against him by Caitlin Bruce who says Hodari forced her to have an abotion after she declined. In June, Hodari was fined $10,000 by a state board in connection with a woman's botched abortion death. One of Hodari's staff did an abortion on Regina Johnson and, afterwards, she suffered respiratory and cardiac arrest. Staff at Hodari's abortion center allegedly failed to help her or call for an ambulance and she was deprived of oxygen for an extended time. She died a short time later at Hodari's Womencare clinic in Lathrup Village. Johnson's death is one of several women to have reportedly died over the years under Hodari's care. In 2008 members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society discovered the remains of aborted babies in Womencare clinic trash dumpsters as well as bio-hazard waste and hundreds of patient records. Hodari was investigated by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and received a warning from that office. He was also prosecuted by the Oakland County District Attorney's Office for violating Michigan statutes regarding the improper disposition of patient records. Hodari pled “no contest “ to the first of 12 counts and is currently on probation in that case. Judy Climer of Flint Right to Life is concerned that Hodari is selling off his abortion business and valuable personal property in preparation to flee the country to escape his legal problems tied to abortion. This case sounds like "safe, legal abortion" at its best.
Thursday, Nov 12, 2009 -- Political correctness does not prevent int'l research Research on the negative consequences of abortion seems to have come to a standstill in the USA. After the politically correct leadership of medical organizations, both private and in government, concluded that abortion had no serious consequences, few researchers are motivated or able to obtain funding to challenge those faulty conclusions. Internationally, research continues to confirm that abortion is far from the innocuous procedure that is now the official medical perspective. Just recently, we have learned of two new studies. One confirms the dangers of chemical abortions using RU 486. The other again confirms the increased breast cancer risk that results from abortion. Political correctness and profit are producing a serious cover-up of the dangers poised to women by abortion. Did you see any news about these studies in the news? Not likely!
Wednesday, Nov 11, 2009 -- Planned Parenthood fails to silence former employee I reported the good news on November 3rd about Abby Johnson. Abby quit her job as director of the Planned Parenthood center in Bryan, Texas, home to Texas A&M University. She was moved to join the sponsors of the 40 Days for Life that was held there. Then Planned Parenthood sought a restraining order to prevent Abby from discussing her employment experiences. But, District Judge J.D. Langley issued a ruling yesterday saying Planned Parenthood did not provide sufficient evidence that Johnson breached a confidentiality agreement concerning identity of an abortion practitioner who works at Planned Parenthood. The judge also ruled that Planned Parenthood provided no evidence to back up its allegations that Johnson took confidential patient records out of Planned Parenthood on the day she resigned. This ruling means Abby Johnson can continue to give her testimony about how Planned Parenthood promotes abortion to increase profits. This testimony confirms the conclusion reached by critics of Planned Parenthood about their abortion agenda. Claims that they are trying to reduce abortions are patently false, as demonstrated by the mega abortion centers they are building around the nation.
Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009 -- Fallout from excluding abortion funding in health care bill After the surprising turn of events where Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed a vote on the Stupak amendment that blcoked government funding of abortion under the health care bill then passed by the House of Representatives, fallout began coming from all sides. Senator Ben Nelson is a Democrat who, like Congressman Bart Stupak, wants to prevent government funding of abortion may take up this cause in the Senate. While passing this provision may be more difficult in the Senate, having a Senate advocate might be critical for the fight to keep the Stupak amendment in the bill if it would go to a House/Senate conference committee. Does Senator Nelson have an ally in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid? Reid has now claimed that there will be no abortion funding in the Senate version of the health care reform bill. With all the inaccurate claims of excluding abortion that have been made, is this just one more? President Obama is trying to play the middle ground by suggesting that he wants to keep abortion funding out of the health care bill, but wants to maintain the "status quo." Obama suggested that the Stupak amendment is too restrictive, but an independent assessment confirms that the amendment does in fact maintain the status quo on government funding of abortion, namely in cases of rape, incest, or life of the mother. Meanwhile, pro-abortion groups are upset by this unexpected result and are trying to re-group. They promise to press Democrats in the House and Senate to remove the Stupak amendment and claim they will oppose the bill otherwise. One side effect is internal finger pointing among abortion advocates. Criticism of the leadership of Planned Parenthood and NARAL has appeared on liberal Internet blog sites. Disagreements about strategy were evident among pro-abortion members of the House.
Monday, Nov 9, 2009 -- Victory? Yes, but the fight is far from over On November 7th the U.S. House voted 220-215 for H.R. 3962, giving Speaker Nancy Pelosi her goal of passing health care "reform" and putting PelosiCare on its way to the U.S. Senate, where some reports describe it as "dead on arrival." Whose victory was this? To reach her goal, Pelosi was forced to allow a vote on the Stupak amendment that would prevent government funding of abortion under PelosiCare. The Stupak Amendment passed on a vote of 240-194. On the issue of abortion, a strong bi-partisan majority in the House has declared that government funding of abortion is not acceptable, agreeing with over 70% of American citizens. This result has led N.O.W. and Planned Parenthood to declare their opposition to H.R. 3962, while NARAL Pro-Choice America has declared their resolve to "correct" the bill in the U.S. Senate. As Eric Scheidler points out, the Pro-Life grassroots has achieved a victory over the pro-abortion lobby. Even if the House bill is "dead on arrival" in the Senate, the Senate is considering its own version of health care "reform" that has many of the same problems found in the House bill. The abortion lobby will be working hard to maintain government-funded abortion in the Senate bill. The outcome of crafting a health care bill in the Senate is still uncertain so Senators need to hear from concerned constituents, even if that seems somewhat fruitless here in Illinois. Senators need to hear concerns about lack of sufficient conscience protection, health care rationing, forced termination of treatments based on "quality of life" criteria, and even pressure to consider measures that hasten death. Can we at least get past the deceptive claim that health care "reform" bills never provided government-funding for abortion? Is not the abortion lobby's response sufficient evidence of the provisions of the bill both before and after the Stupak Amendment? So if a final bill ever comes out of a Senate / House conference committee without the Stupak Amendment still intact, we need to encourage and count on 240 members of the House to vote it down!
Friday, Nov 6, 2009 -- Keep making those calls in opposition to PelosiCare! Last week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the vote on H.R. 3962 (PelosiCare) would be taken by November 5th or 6th. Earlier this week she declared the vote would be taken on Saturday evening. Now the Associated Press is reporting this afternoon that the scheduled vote on this massive government takeover of health care that includes abortion funding may be delayed because they don't have the votes to pass it. URGENT: calls to Congress are needed in opposition to H.R. 3962, the health care bill that would fully fund abortion on demand, giving a huge boost to the income of Planned Parenthood and other abortionists. Find your US Representative (select "By Zip+4" and enter your 9-digit zip code) Then call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Representative's office Background information: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops dismissed the House Democrats' plan to try to isolate funding for abortion in the health care bill as a “money-laundering system” and an “abortion surcharge” that would do nothing to stop federal funding of abortion. The plan, known as the Ellsworth amendment, attempts to serve as a compromise between pro-life Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich) and the party’s liberal, pro-abortion leadership. It should be obvious that if Planned Parenthood does not oppose the amendment (they do not), it does nothing to prevent funding of abortion. Any claims to the contrary amount to blatant deception. Be prepared to be told such lies as "the bill does not even mention abortion" but insist that you want your Representative to oppose H.R. 3962 because it does fund abortion.
Thursday, Nov 5, 2009 -- AARP abandons its members to support PelosiCare I checked the AARP web site today. They have an image of a big thumbs up for health care "reform" to indicate their decision to support H.R. 3962. This extremely unwise decision appears to be motivated in part by their support for a companion bill, H.R. 3961, intended to "reform" payments to doctors from Medicare. The provisions of H.R. 3961 are likely very similar to those in a bill just rejected by the U.S. Senate because of the costs involved in increasing the payments allowed for doctors. If AARP leadership puts their trust in Pelosi's assurance of getting both bills enacted into law, they are willing to sacrifice the medical care of seniors based on shaky political promises. The AARP web site has a page that claims to refute "myths" about health care reform. That page supports all the deceptions put forth by the leaders of Congress to deny legitimate concerns the bill will produce health care rationing, force the termination of treatments based on "quality of life" criteria, and even pressure patients to consider measures that hasten death, including assisted suicide in states where it has been legalized. On August 17th, CBS News
reported that up to 60,000 people have cancelled their AARP memberships since July
1st, angered over the group's position on health care. Apparently, such membership
loss makes no difference to AARP leadership.
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2009 -- IL parental notice -- now you see it , now you don't This morning the Department of Professional Regulation voted to enforce the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act so it went into effect. This afternoon a Cook County judge issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the law at the request of the ACLU. This new delay will continue at least until a judicial hearing on the merits of the ACLU case against the law can take place. The next court date is November 19th, but a quick ruling is not likely so this new delay will probably be a number of months, allowing more young girls to be secretly victimized by abortion providers.
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2009 -- More news about the impact of Fall 2009 40 Days for Life Another employee has left Planned Parenthood. This case was known
for the past few weeks, but could not be shared until now. The director of the
Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Bryan/College Station, Texas -- where 40 Days for
Life first began in 2004 -- has resigned her job, experienced a profound conversion, and
joined the Pro-Life side. "When I was working at Planned Parenthood I was extremely
pro-choice," Johnson told FoxNews.com. But after seeing the internal workings
of the procedure for the first time on an ultrasound monitor, "I would say there was
a definite conversion in my heart ... a spiritual conversion."
Monday, Nov 2, 2009 -- Fall 2009 40 Days for Life has ended, but not its impact The Fall 2009 40 Days for Life, taking place in 212 locations, ended yesterday, but its impact will continue for generations. The number of babies confirmed as saved from abortion has reached 571 and will likely rise further as final details come in from the 212 locations. These 571 families will be changed for future generations by these decisions for life. In all, eight clinic workers left their jobs during this 40 Days for Life campaign -- and with reports still pouring in from participating cities, it could be even more! The eighth employee to leave was a nurse at a Planned Parenthood location in Houston, Texas. One of the vigil participants wished her a cheerful "Good
morning!" and asked how she was
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