Archive for the 'Babies' Category

This weekend, downtown Chicago was rocked by the presence of over 85 college students from 16 Midwestern colleges in the annual Students for Life of Illinois Conference at Loyola University. Keynote speakers shared personal struggles and years of wisdom in their presentations on how we can become effective pro-life leaders.

Students were inspired by Melissa Ohden, a saline abortion survivor who has dedicated her life to showing the trauma of abortion on families. Marko Culjak, a freshman in the UIUC business school, says, “If you’re on the fence about abortion, you would be inspired by Melissa Ohden’s talk.” Ohden and the other speakers brought a powerful personal note to the emotionally charged conference as we were compelled to seriously examine why we are pro-life, and how to spread the message across our campuses. (more…)

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

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…)

I love it:

It has been my own experience that sometimes, by getting so caught up in being pro-life, I lose sight of the reason I am pro-life. It is a dangerous trap to fall into, I know. At times like these, this is what I remind myself of.

The pro-life movement is very much a political movement. Yet, it is so much more than political protests and rallies. This is not to say these aren’t important, for they are. But at the end of the day, it’s not the essence of the pro-life movement.

In two words, being pro-life comes down to this: human dignity. (more…)

I just got an e-mail from my friend Bryan Kemper about a great spring break opportunity:

If your Spring Break is between March 9th and April 17th we want you to spend it praying for the end of abortion. Stand True and Austin Coalition for Life are teaming up to provide a great pro-life mission opportunity for you during spring break.

March 9th marks the start of the spring 40 Days for Life campaign where pro-lifers from around the world gather to pray and minister outside of abortion clinics. Hearst and minds are change and hundreds of babies are saved during each 40 Days for Life event.

Former Planned Parenthood Director, Abby Johnson quit and joined the pro-life movement because of the efforts a 40 Days for Life campaign in Texas. One of the key figures in her journey into the pro-life movement is Elizabeth McClung who will be hosting this Spring Break Mission Trip in Austin, TX. (more…)

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Our Lord Jesus in a few weeks, I’m also looking forward to one of my favorite Advent traditions: the Pro-Life Action League’s annual “Empty Manger” Christmas Caroling Day.

Each year on the Saturday before Christmas, we visit abortion clinics in Chicago to sing Christmas carols, gathered around a life-size “empty manger”, which symbolizes both the empty space
left behind by abortion and the hope born with every child, even in difficult circumstances.

This year’s Caroling Day is Saturday, December 18, and we’ll be conducting TWO different caroling tours — one in Chicago and one in west suburban DuPage County.

You can get all the details, including maps and schedules, here.

If you don’t live near Chicago, how about doing your own “Empty Manger” Caroling Day at abortion clinics or Planned Parenthood offices in YOUR area? Pro-life groups all over the country have taken up this idea, and babies have been saved when their mothers heard the caroling.

To make it easy, we’ve prepared a caroling song sheet [PDF] you can copy and pass out.

I recently heard from Laurie Tefft, the moderator for the Lifesavers Pro-Life Club at Rosary High School in Aurora, Illinois, who told me about a hugely successful fundraising project their club did this spring to benefit a local pregnancy resource center.

Aware that Dairy Queen commonly partners with schools to organize fundraising events called “Treat Days”, Laurie contacted the regional manager and made arrangements for the club to do such an event at Rosary, which they called Blizzards for Babies.

The club members prepared order forms, distributed them to students and teachers, and collected them a few days later. They also posted signs around school with pictures of babies with word bubbles saying, “Buy me a Blizzard!”

(more…)

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Our Lord Jesus in a few weeks, I’m also looking forward to one of my favorite Advent traditions: the Pro-Life Action League’s annual “Empty Manger” Christmas Caroling Day.

Each year on the Saturday before Christmas, we visit abortion clinics in Chicago to sing Christmas carols, gathered around a life-size “empty manger”, which symbolizes both the empty space
left behind by abortion and the hope born with every child, even in difficult circumstances.

This year’s Caroling Day is Saturday, December 19, and we’ll be conducting TWO different caroling tours — one in Chicago and one in west suburban DuPage County.

You can get all the details, including maps and schedules, here.

If you don’t live near Chicago, how about doing your own “Empty Manger” Caroling Day at abortion clinics or Planned Parenthood offices in YOUR area? Pro-life groups all over the country have taken up this idea, and babies have been saved when their mothers heard the caroling.

To make it easy, we’ve prepared a caroling song sheet [PDF] you can copy and pass out.

If you do your own Caroling Day, send us some pictures and let us know how it goes!

Check out this great ad:

Too bad it won’t be shown during the Super Bowl, because “NBC and the NFL are not interested in advertisements involving ‘political advocacy or issues.’”

This morning, a group of 50 pro-lifers of all ages—including members of the Rockford Teens for Life club—gathered outside the abortion clinic in Rockford, IL.

We just got an e-mail from one of the carolers, who told us:

In freezing weather and a blowing snowstorm an amazing group of 40-50 Christians gathered to pray and sing Christmas carols as an offering of love to God and hope for His children facing abortion.

The group sang and prayed for almost an hour. Ten minutes after most of the carolers left a young couple came out… They drove up quickly to the remaining pro-lifers because they wanted to share with them the joyful news: “We didn’t do it!” They told us they are going to have twins and wanted to share the news with the people singing.

The grace of God is an amazing thing. In Rockford at least one young family will have a Christmas to always remember and be thankful for. In an interesting note the young lady who organized our “empty manger” Christmas caroling just happens to be a twin. We are are all humbled and thankful because we know “with God all things are possible.”

Wow!

For years, many people who call themselves “pro-choice” have said that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare”.

Many pro-lifers have pointed out how strange it is that abortion advocates would want abortion to be “rare”, because, after all, if abortion is supposedly “safe”, and if it isn’t actually the killing of an innocent human person (and therefore is the moral equivalent of having a tooth pulled), why does it matter if abortion is “rare” or not?

Now, though, it turns out that many abortion supporters admit they really don’t care if abortion is rare—including people like Dr. Andre Lalonde, executive vice president of the Canadian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who “worries” [!] that Sarah Palin’s decision to give birth to her son Trig, who has Down syndrome, “may cause abortions in Canada to decline as other women there and elsewhere opt to follow suit”.

Worrying that fewer babies with Down syndrome will be killed?

The brutal honesty is very revealing.

Related

• McCain’s VP Pick
• More Down Syndrome Testing Will Lead to More Abortion

We in the pro-life movement are pretty excited about John McCain’s choice for a running mate – Sarah Palin.  She’s solidly pro-life and is loved by the people of Alaska whom she governs.  But that’s not all, folks.  She’s a pro-life witness to boot.

When Sarah was pregnant with her last child, Trig, she was told that he had Down Syndrome.  This sort of news alone can be difficult to embrace, but her doctors went on to encourage her to abort.  Sarah and her husband refused.  This is the quote we are seeing all over the media:

“We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed.”

God bless Sarah Palin and God bless America.  This continues to be an most interesting presidential race.

One of the speakers at our TeenSpeak 2008 conference was Scott Klusendorf, who is one of the best pro-life speakers I’ve ever heard.

The main reason why he’s so good is that he’s able to explain why abortion is wrong in a simple, convincing, and logical way by focusing on just one single question.

In an article titled “A Short Defense of the Pro-Life Position”, Scott writes:

Pro-life advocates contend that elective abortion unjustly takes the life of a defenseless human being. This simplifies the abortion debate by focusing public attention on just one question: Is the unborn a member of the human family? If so, killing him or her to benefit others is a serious moral wrong. Conversely, if the unborn are not human, elective abortion requires no more justification than having a tooth pulled.

This is not a debate about privacy or trusting women to make their own responsible choices. For example, does the right to make one’s own responsible choices include the rights of parents to abuse children in the privacy of the home? Therefore, if the unborn are human like other children…killing them in the name of privacy is a clear moral wrong. Hence, the abortion debate is really about one question: What is the unborn? Is he or she a member of the human family? Everything comes back to that one question.

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