Illinois Right to Life
Committee:
WE SPEAK FOR LIFE
Mrs. Emma Thate,
born July 17, 1872, hugs her great-great-granddaughter, Shelly Ann Rudolph,
born 100 years to the day in 1972. (Photo
courtesy of World Wide Photos, Inc.)
Purpose of
Illinois Right to Life Committee
In defense of the
right to life from fertilization until natural death, Illinois Right to Life Committee
provides information on the ethical considerations involved in abortion, in vitro
fertilization, human cloning, embryonic stem cell research, genetic engineering,
population control, euthanasia, assisted suicide, organ transplants, and other
"quality of life" proposals.
The Mission of
Illinois Right to Life Committee
The primary mission of Illinois Right to
Life Committee (IRLC) is education. As the oldest Pro-Life organization in the
state, founded in 1968, IRLC maintains a bureau of experienced speakers, providing
programs for junior high schools, high schools, colleges, churches and community
organizations, as well as contact for the Pro-Life perspective on television and radio
talk shows.
Our programs include advertisements in
university newspapers and public service campaigns, including radio messages, billboards,
and displays on CTA transit lines. We also work in close cooperation with
organizations that provide compassionate and humane alternatives to abortion, as well as
post-abortion counselors.
Our subsidiary divisions consist of the
Human Life Resource Center, Illinois Nurses for Life, Students United for Life, and the
Department of Special Events.
IRLC is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit,
non-sectarian organization supported entirely by voluntary contributions.
Statement of Policy
The members of the Illinois Right to Life
Committee join one another in the defense of human life. We oppose the use of
medical science for any deliberate destruction of human life from the time of conception
until natural death. In those cases where continued pregnancy threatens the life of
the mother, every effort must be made to save both lives, and if premature delivery is
necessary at any stage, every effort to sustain the life of the child must be mandatory.
We demand due process of law and equal
protection of laws for all human beings regardless of size, degree
of development, physical or mental competence or political, religious, ethnic or
racial characteristics.
We regard any human experimentation that
involves risk to life or health, done with informed consent as immoral. This
precludes an such experimentation performed upon live fetuses.
We are opposed to early abortion with drugs, chemicals or
devices to the same degree that we oppose any abortion or infanticide.
We are unalterably opposed to abortion,
infanticide and exterminative geriatric medicine, no matter
what the social problem at hand. We say to our society that other, more creative
means must be found to solve our problems. The right to life of an innocent human
being is absolute and unsurrenderable.
We support pro-life
alternatives to abortion, infanticide and exterminative medicine and seek to form our
society in such a way that these deliberate, violent actions will remain unspeakable
crimes.
The Youngest Member
of the Family-
The Unborn Child
The fetus is an unborn infant, in many
ways more truly an infant than the one in arms. The word infant means one unable to
speak. But the fetus cannot even have his/her cries heard! The invisible,
inaudible infant before birth is the same infant when visible and audible after birth.
No mysterious transformations are worked by passage through the pelvic outlet from
one location to another. The baby has the same family resemblances before birth as
after birth. The infant born prematurely at six months is no more distinct in
features and traits than another infant of the same age still inside the womb.
Though small, naked, nameless and
voiceless, the fetus is characterized by fetologists as "a young human being,
dynamic, plastic, resilient, and in a very large measure in charge of his/her environment
and destiny." By three months, fetuses are perfectly formed, thumb sized
aquanauts. They swim, somersault, suck their thumbs and imbibe amniotic fluid.
They even refuse it when bitter and take more when sweetened. They grimace
and cry when stimuli are unpleasant, obviously aware of pain and discomfort. Their
world is alive with sounds and they respond to flashes of light. Rather than
passively inhabiting the uterus, they purposely search for comfort by readjusting their
position with each shift of their mothers' body. Modern research reveals that it is
the fetus more than the mother who directs the pregnancy and is a dominant partner in the
relationship. Unfortunately, the fetus has no defense against violence.
[The baby pictured in the
hand above is actually made from marzipan, a substance made from sugar, egg whites, and
almonds that is used for cake decorating.]
Shall the Taking of
a Life Be a Private Matter?
The proponents of
abortion-on-demand insist that for socio-economic reasons the selection of those who live
and those who die should be a private matter. While we recognize that there exist, in our
society, a number of serious social and medical problems needful of solution, we reject
violent and destructive solutions and strive to provide humane, viable alternatives. The
inalienable right to life of every human being, no matter what his or her size, age or
competence, must be protected by law.
To a degree never before imaginable, man today is able to interfere
with the life process. Should he? To what degree? Under what circumstances? The ethical
considerations involved in abortion, in vitro fertilization, human cloning, embryonic stem
cell research, genetic engineering, population control, euthanasia, organ transplants, and
"quality of life" proposals, deserve our steady and deep concern now.
The legal profession has had a "schizophrenic breakdown,"
since the law recognizes the rights of the unborn child in property law, in tort law
(personal injury), in equity cases and, yet, it now denies this child’s most
fundamental right: due process of the law for the preservation of his/her life.
Tragically, those given the duty to protect human life and rights have failed. On January
22, 1973, seven Justices concurred as the Supreme Court excluded an entire class of human
beings from the protection of the Constitution of the United States. A thoughtful citizen
cannot avoid comparison of such an irresponsible decision with the equally infamous and
improvident Dred Scott decision of 1857 in which black people became the victims of
expedient debasement and basic human rights denial. The medical profession has denied its
own science and, sadly, too many have already become entrepreneurs in what has become a
multi-million dollar, grisly business operation.
Illinois Right to Life Committee is a group of concerned people -
parents, scientists, doctors, nurses, educators, attorneys, and other professionals - who
care about the future and want to bequeath the possibility of the "good life" to
their children.
We are committed to the proposition that solutions are not to be found
in the field of technology alone, but, primarily, in seeking values. Most especially, we
seek and emphasize the values of life, justice, compassion, and reason that have been the
making of Western man. We are victims of a studied endeavor of certain people to solve
human problems by the grotesque and violent solution of taking a human life - people
dedicated to expediency, confused about values and frantic to supply immediate
"answers" without concern for consequences to the individual, society or the
human spirit.
The cold realities indicate that the citizens of this nation have been
propagandized into accepting a radical solution that is violent and destructive and alas,
no solution at all. In fact, millions of women (and men) have been hurt by abortion and
suffer in silence because they are not allowed to acknowledge their sorrow and guilt.
Society tells them that abortion is their choice and does not recognize any need for
healing. Similar concerns affect the relatives of euthanasia victims.
We feel an obligation to right this situation. We must destroy the
notion that innocent human life can be taken for personal convenience or financial gain
and without due process. The Illinois Right to Life Committee urges people of good will
everywhere to speak out and act to defend innocent human life and work to bring every
human life to his or her greatest potential.
How Can I Help?
How to
Reach Us
Illinois Right to Life Committee
65 E. Wacker Pl., Suite 800
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Phone 312-422-9300
FAX 312-422-9302
24 hour newsline 312-422-9303
illinoisrighttolife@ameritech.net
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