Archive for the 'Abortion' Category

It’s 5:50am on a cold and damp Monday morning. Monday, January 23rd to be precise. Seven busloads of students from Franciscan University of Steubenville, along with throngs of high schoolers and young adults, are waiting outside the Verizon Center in D.C. for the Catholic Youth rally before the March for Life.

The doors don’t open until 7, but even though I’m huddled in a group trying to stay warm and asking myself how much, if any, sleep I got on the six-hour bus ride from Steubenville, the general atmosphere on this wet morning is one of enthusiasm and energy. Teens shout out Pro-Life chants and cheers, and a yellow balloon imprinted with ‘LIFE’ is bounced back and forth like a beach ball.
(more…)

Two basic tenets of the pro-life position are: (1) abortion destroys the life of a genetically distinct, whole human being; and (2) abortion is psychologically harmful to women.

On the other hand, two basic tenets of the “pro-choice” position are: (1) abortion does not destroy the life of a genetically distinct, whole human being; and (2) abortion is not psychologically harmful to women.

With this in mind, I was interested to read this recent post by Jill Filipovic at the “pro-choice” blog Feministe, in which she starts off referring to some “fun facts” from Jena Pincott’s book Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?, as highlighted in the popular mom blog Mommyish:

Well here are some fun facts: Pregnant women’s bodies are basically swimming with the cells of their fetuses. And even when they give birth, some cells remain. By the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, cells from the fetus account for one in every 50,000 cells in the woman’s body. Further along in the pregnancy, it increases to one in 1,000. Six percent of the DNA in her blood plasma also comes from the fetus. Which is interesting given some standard pro-life arguments like this:

Here is the “standard pro-life argument” Jill linked to: (more…)

We found out recently about a new campaign called My Abortion, My Life.

Based in Cleveland, they’ve recently placed ads on the city’s buses as part of their effort to start the “long process of de-stigmatizing abortion in our society.”

Campaigns like this that set out to normalize abortion are doomed to fail.

Why? Because they’ve always failed. And there’s no reason to believe things won’t be different this time.

“I Had an Abortion” T-Shirts: An Idea That Never Caught On

Remember the “I Had an Abortion” T-shirts released in 2004?

If you don’t, you’re not alone. Even after a big publicity splash when they were introduced, they were — to the surprise of exactly no one — never very popular. (And, what’s more, the online store that once sold them is no longer accessible.)

Then, two years later, Ms. Magazine tried a similar campaign. It, too, was a flop.  (more…)

A postcard (shown at right) that appeared this weekend on the popular website PostSecret served as yet another reminder that far from being a means of women’s liberation, abortion is actually a means of women’s oppression.

The text reads:

I told my work that I will be attending an out-of-state funeral for a few days next week.

Im actually (quietly) having an abortion that only my boyfriend knows about it.

I’ve never felt so alone.

Reading this, I was reminded of these words spoken recently by Linda Couri, a former Planned Parenthood counselor who spoke at our TeenSpeak conference earlier this year. Linda herself had an abortion, but is now pro-life: “There is nothing joyful about abortion. Some women are complacent, but most just bare-knuckle their way through it.” (more…)

Caitlin McInnis, a high school student in Michigan, recently let us know about a new pro-life video she created. It’s definitely one of the best amateur-produced pro-life videos I’ve seen in a while:

Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

Josh Brahm blogged recently at Live Action about a new video produced by the Human Development Resource Council (HDRC) about RU-486 — also known simply as “the abortion pill” — that’s definitely a cut above the average YouTube video:

It shows a scene of an abortionist in a counseling session with a young woman who wants RU-486. But this counseling session is very unlike the dishonest marketing and misinformation that was shown during Live Action’s Rosa Acuna sting. This is what would happen if an honest abortionist told a woman the truth about her embryo and what RU-486 would do to both her and her child. I’m sure pro-choice people will cry “propaganda” when they see this video, but there’s a documented medical citation for every single sentence the abortionist utters!

Here it is:

Make This Video Go Viral

Josh has a great idea: Whenever someone does a YouTube search for “abortion pill,” what if this was the first video that showed up? (more…)

During the Pro-Life Action League’s “Face the Truth Tour” a few weeks ago in Cincinnati, one of the local pro-life activists who came out to join us for the day reminded me of something that can’t be repeated often enough.

He and I were talking about various ways to fight abortion, and he remarked that one of the most important things any of us can do — no matter how old we are — is to strive for personal holiness in our everyday lives.  I couldn’t agree with him more.

My co-worker Eric Scheidler has talked in two recent posts on the Pro-Life Action League’s blog about the need for pro-lifers to be diplomats for our cause, and to always keep in mind when we’re talking with people who are pro-choice that our purpose isn’t to “score points” but rather to persuade them to agree with us about the value of life in the womb.

Occasionally, a single conversation with someone who is pro-choice may result in an on-the-spot conversion to pro-life. But I would guess that instances like these are more the exception than the rule. (more…)

Tuesday, October 18 is the eighth annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity.

For one day, people all over the world will give up their voices in solidarity with babies who have had their voices silenced by abortion.

It’s a little over a week away, and already, students from over 1,300 schools—along with over 140 homeschools, 50 businesses & ministries, and over 460 individuals/non-students—in 47 countries have registered to participate!

Stand True Ministries, which sponsors the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, is dedicating this year’s Day to the memory of Students for Life of America’s Kortney Blythe Gordon and her unborn daughter Sophy, who were tragically killed in a car crash this past weekend.

Are you willing to give up your voice for a day for those who will never have a voice?

For more information and to register, go here.

There’s a great pro-life event beginning next week in over 300 cities across the country: the 40 Days for Life prayer campaign.

From September 28th through November 6th, 40 Days for Life prayer vigils will be held outside abortion clinics in 301 locations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, England, Germany, Spain, and Argentina.

This will be the ninth ever 40 Days for Life campaign, and the results of the first eight have been amazing:

• MORE THAN 400,000 PEOPLE of all ages have joined together to
  pray and fast for an end to abortion
• At least 4,313 BABIES HAVE BEEN SAVED from abortion—and those
  are just the ones we know about
• 53 abortion workers have QUIT THEIR JOBS and walked away from
  the abortion industry
• 16 abortion facilities COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN following local 40
  Days for Life vigils

And this fall’s 40 Days will be the biggest one yet — more babies will be saved, more parents will be spared a lifetime of regrets, and more abortion workers will have their hearts touched and leave their jobs.

I hope you won’t want to miss the chance to take part in this historic pro-life prayer campaign. You can find the 40 Days site nearest you here.

Check out the trailer for the upcoming movie It’s a Girl! — and its provocative subtitle, “The Three Deadliest Words in the World”:

For many years, pro-abortion advocates in the Western world have tried, and failed, to get the Philippines to pass the so-called Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

If passed, the RH bill would, among other things, massively expand the presence of contraception and force medical professionals and businesses to provide them in spite of any conscientious objections. In this largely Catholic country, that hasn’t gone over well, and that’s why Filipinos continue to overwhelmingly oppose it.

But the pro-RH forces aren’t done trying to get the bill passed, and with seemingly endless streams of cash continuing to come into the country, the bill is closer to being passed than ever before, despite the fact that one pro-RH congresswoman has actually admitted that it is intended to be a population control measure, and the recent confirmation via Wikileaks that the U.S. government — which, in what should come as a surprise to no one, officially supports the RH bill — has been funding population control measures in the Philippines for the past 40 years. (more…)

Grüß Gott! Or in English, “Greetings/May God greet you!” This fall I am studying abroad in Gaming, Austria! It has been a completely new and amazing experience! I am so blessed to have this opportunity, and all prayers would be appreciated for a fulfilling semester.

This past Saturday, nearly the whole student body of 180 students made a 17 mile – roughly seven hour – hike to the Marian shrine of Mariazell. The students and staff who take part in the pilgrimage traditionally offer it up in reparation for abortion and all offenses against the dignity of human life, as well as any personal intentions they may hold. The day began with Mass being offered at 7:00, then shortly after breakfast, the buses departed to take us to the beginning of the trail. (more…)

There’s a heartwarming story this week in the Chicago Sun-Times about Amanda Schulten, a 21-year old woman from Marengo, Illinois, who is seven months pregnant with conjoined twin daughters, whom she has already named Faith and Hope.

In spite of her daughters’ very low chance of survival, Amanda’s Catholic faith guides her to believe that there is no other option but to let nature its course. In the article, she is quoted as saying, “He has a plan for me, and for them. We never know when our last day will be. We have to enjoy it, and appreciate health while we have it.”

(Reading these words of Amanda’s, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the beautiful video “99 Balloons” — which has received nearly 3.5 million views on YouTube) about a young couple who gave birth to a son with Edwards Syndrome.)

Selflessness in the Face of Heartlessness

What struck me most about the article was the stunning contrast between, on the one hand, Amanda’s attitude of selflessness and unconditional love for her daughters, and, on the other, the absolutely cruel and heartless comments that she has had to endure from others who think she should just get an abortion instead. (more…)

There’s been a lot of attention recently on a ridiculous new social media campaign by Kenneth Cole titled, “What You Stand For” that, among other things, compares abortion to shopping.

On the “What You Stand For” site, clicking a button that says “Pro-Choice” brings up a a video in which a woman is shown agonizing over a decision — presumably, whether or not to have an abortion.

But then she is shown picking up a handbag, and then walks off.

My co-worker Eric Scheidler was interviewed this week for a Fox News story about the new Kenneth Cole campaign:

“It so trivializes the issue. I think it would be offensive to anyone on either side of the abortion issue,” Eric Scheidler, the executive director of the Pro Life Action League, told FoxNews.com. “Even staunch supporters of abortion will admit an abortion is an anguishing decision and to compare it with buying a handbag is really offensive to women. Of course I also find it deeply offensive to the sanctity of the life that hangs in the balance.”

Indeed, many staunch “pro-choice” advocates do admit that having an abortion is an anguishing decision for a woman. This, of course, raises the question: Why is having an abortion such an anguishing decision? (more…)

A few years ago I wrote about a short pro-life film called Volition, which was one of 15 finalists out of nearly 300 entries in The Doorpost Project‘s first-ever film contest.

It looks at abortion in a very interesting way—especially impressive because the film is less than 15 minutes long.

The director of the film has just obtained the rights from Doorpost to post it on YouTube, so you can now watch it here: