Archive for the 'Abortion' Category

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:

An entry was posted recently on the blog Abortion Witness that you may find a bit eye-opening for its unusually honest language about abortion and what it does to fetuses babies.

The author of the blog, “Jeannie,” worked previously for 12 years in an abortion clinic, and is still hard-core pro-choice. In this long post, titled “Talking about the Babies: Saying ‘Things We Cannot Say’”, she writes this:

We all know that an unborn child dies in each abortion. And the majority of abortion care workers accept responsibility for our roles in these deaths. We have, for various reasons, determined for ourselves that having a part in these deaths is an important—and ethical—thing for us to do. At the same time, we realize that while our work brings us in direct contact with death on a regular basis, the majority of people (even those who identify as “pro-choice”) are uncomfortable talking about death. Add to this the way abortion-rights opponents have long invoked death to condemn abortion, and you have a perfect recipe for silencing people. [emphasis added]

Jeannie then goes on to say: (more…)

With our summer “Face the Truth” Tour getting ready to hit the streets July 8-16, the Pro-Life Action League — GFL’s parent organization — is proud to present an exciting new video explaining the Face the Truth approach to pro-life activism and why we believe it’s one of the most important tools in fighting abortion:

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Hey everybody! Gosh, I am so sorry for not blogging here for so long! I got so sidetracked, but the good news is that I was sidetracked with pro-life work! It’s been very wonderful, but I really do think I should share here more through blogging. I’ll do better now.

Something I’d love to discuss today is sidewalk counseling. Just that phrase, “sidewalk counseling”, tends to give us pro-life people either thrills and goose pimples, or it freaks us out! It’s really quite a glorious thing, and as a young pro-life kid, I used to watch my mother do it in real time. And boy did I dream of the day that I could do it too, just like Mom!

I’m 22 now, and finally this year, I really did get to do THE sidewalk counseling! It was every bit as thrilling as I dreamed; truly God is good to allow us to work with people in that way. I was able to bring a young pregnant mother away from an abortion facility, take her and the baby’s father out to lunch, and convince them to let us help them keep their child! Wow! (more…)

There’s been a lot written on the Public Religion Research Institute’s recent poll [PDF] focusing on Millennial generation adults (ages 18-29) and their opinions on issues like abortion.

One analysis of the poll’s results that caught my attention was one written by the always insightful Dr. Michael New, who notes the following:

The General Social Survey has been collecting opinion data on abortion using the same battery of questions since the 1970s. In most years, respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 tend to be the least sympathetic toward the pro-life position. However, starting around the year 2000, those between the ages 18 and 29 were on average more pro-life than those from other age cohorts.

What is interesting is that one would not expect the current generation of young people to espouse pro-life views. Today’s young adults tend to be less religious and more secular, and have more liberal attitudes toward sex than previous generations. Furthermore, social scientists have not arrived at a consensus as to why this current generation of young people is more pro-life. Various theories include 1) the development of ultrasound technology, the 1990s debate over partial-birth abortion, and popular culture’s depiction of single motherhood as non-disruptive in television shows like Friends and Murphy Brown and movies like Juno.

All of these are definitely valid reasons why older teens and young adults have, over the past decade or so, been more pro-life than in prior years.

But I think this shift is due to at least one other important reason as well. (more…)

I love it:

In response to my post last week — Relationship Advice from Planned Parenthood: “Stop Thinking of Her As a Person” — a commenter named Sophi wrote the following:

if you actually read the nyt piece you’d know that the author is quoting a friend and acknowledges the poor choice of wording.

and if you knew anything about feminism you’d know they’re more concerned with the actual message and not just the choice of words.

and even with the poor choice of words the message his friend was trying to get across is clearly that “humans are animals and that sex is natural.” and taken in the context of the whole article it becomes part of a nice story of coming to terms with the sexual hangups he got from his traditional/strict religious upbringing.

and beyond that, even the congressman who claimed 98% of what pp does is abortion came out and said it wasn’t a factual statement. so repeating that lie only hurts your credibility.

I wondered if someone might try to argue that I was taking the “Stop thinking of her as a person” advice out of context (more…)

On March 30, an investigation by Live Action revealed that contrary to claims made by Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards, the nation’s largest abortion chain does not, in fact, perform mammograms.

And yet, several weeks later, Susan G. Komen for the Cure — the King Kong of breast cancer awareness organizations — is still referring mammogram-seeking women to PP.

Komen Statement Admits PP Does Not Provide Mammograms

After Live Action’s investigation was released, pro-lifers began contacting Komen to ask them why they’re continuing to give money to the nation’s largest abortion chain. In response, Komen issued this statement [PDF] on its website, which begins: (more…)

Supporters of Planned Parenthood are quick to point out that abortions aren’t all that PP does.

And although abortions do make up 98% of the “services” PP offers to pregnant women, it is true that they’re not the only thing they do.

Among other things, they also link approvingly from their Facebook page to essays in newspapers like the New York Times that recommend that guys get over their natural inhibitions about having premarital sex by thinking about women not as people, but as animals.

No. Really.

Last week in the NYT, college student Andrew Limbong wrote about how he wanted to have sex with his girlfriend, but the influence of his mother and his Christian upbringing was holding him back. Rather than listen to his conscience, he sought the advice of a friend: (more…)

The youth group from St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Dixon, California deserves a hand for standing up — literally — to Planned Parenthood when the abortion giant tried to make inroads in their community by setting up a harmless looking booth at the town’s street fair this weekend.

When the church’s youth minister, John Johnson, found out the booth, he immediately sent out text and Facebook messages to everyone in the church’s youth with a simple invitation:

Meet in 10 minutes at street fair to protest Planned Parenthood.

Within minutes, seven members showed up and began praying on the sidewalk in front of their booth, and taped signs to their shirts making it clear that abortion is what Planned Parenthood is all about.

Planned Parenthood’s pink-shirted staffers, of course, weren’t happy. (more…)

On Monday, Abby Johnson spoke to students at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Immediately perceived as warm and likeable, Abby easily won over the crowd when she told students that if she could turn back the clock and do things over, she would have gone to Franciscan University.

Throughout her talk, Abby stressed that the most important thing in the pro-life movement is witnessing and praying outside clinics. It is not enough to say we’re against abortion, or to pray privately but never take action. Faith without works is dead. And if we don’t actively work against abortion, we are complicit to it. (more…)

Some time in the next few weeks, my wife is planning to have her pregnancy terminated.

Now, if you’re shocked to hear me say this, let me clarify:

My wife, Jocelyn, and I are expecting our 6th child. As of tomorrow, she will be 39 weeks pregnant.

And, as babies growing and developing in the womb have a tendency of doing, our baby will, some time soon, be born. After this happens, needless to say, my wife will no longer be pregnant.

Thus, her pregnancy will have been terminated.

Rhetorical Fraud

This occurred to me as I read a recent post by Life Dynamics’ Mark Crutcher, who wrote about the “rhetorical fraud” used by pro-choicers in which the term “pregnancy termination” is used as a euphemism for “abortion”:

The pro-life movement is not now, has never been, and will never be, opposed to pregnancy terminations. We are fully aware that all pregnancies terminate.

Remember this the next time (more…)

Abby Johnson’s dramatic conversion from the abortion industry to the pro-life movement began with her resignation as clinic director of Planned Parenthood in Bryan, TX. At next week’s Easter Vigil Mass, Abby’s conversion will become compete as she will be welcomed into the Catholic Church.

Just this past month, Bryan Kemper of Stand True Ministries, announced his decision to convert to Catholicism. So what is it with these conversions to the Catholic Church?
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