Archive for the 'Health Issues' Category

Check out this touching video produced by the International Down Syndrome Coalition for Life to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day — which is today, March 21:

Did you know that 80% of babies diagnosed in utero with Down Syndrome are aborted?

And did you know that individuals with Down Syndrome themselves oppose prenatal detection testing for this very reason?

And did you know that for every 50 children with Down’s Syndrome identified and killed by abortion, 160 non-affected babies are lost by miscarriage after the test?

Christina Dunigan has an eye-opening post on this topic titled “An Acceptable Level of Collateral Damage”. You can read it here.

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…)

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…)

Just released this morning, here’s Live Action’s latest video:

It looks like Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards was wrong when she claimed last week that Indiana’s defunding of Planned Parenthood would “take away health care from thousands of women in Indiana.”

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…)

Earlier this month I had the great privilege to speak at the second annual “Viva la Vida” pro-life youth conference in Dublin, Ireland.

The conference was hosted at Griffith College by Youth Defence—one of the world’s most dynamic pro-life groups—with hundreds of pro-life youth in attendance from across Ireland and throughout Europe.

After flying through the night from Chicago, I arrived in Dublin the morning of Friday, November 5 with just enough time to snatch a quick one-hour nap before meeting Crossroads’ Dave Bathon and a group of young pro-lifers from Belgium in the lobby of my hotel.

International Protest at Marie Stopes Abortion Referral Center

Together we walked two miles to a protest at the Marie Stopes abortion referral center, where we met up with the regular prayer warriors at the facility. Abortion is illegal in Ireland, but Marie Stopes arranges package deals for Irish women to get abortions in England and the Netherlands. (more…)

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America will cut ties with its San Francisco affiliate office, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, as of September 3, apparently due to serious financial mismanagement, as its most recent documents filed with the IRS showed a loss of $2.8 million!

Planned Parenthood Golden Gate is probably best known for its infamous 2005 video “A Superhero for Choice,” featuring Dianysis, a “superhero” modeled on PPGG’s CEO Dian Harrison. The video — which PPGG pulled from its website soon after posting it — features, among other things, Dianysis drowning an abstinence educator in a garbage can and blowing up pro-life demonstrators: (more…)

We recently got a question by e-mail from someone who touched on a topic that’s somewhat related to Elizabeth’s “Women Will Die” post from earlier this week.

The e-mail asked if we knew what percentage of abortions are performed for the health of the mother, and among these, how many are done because the life of the mother is threatened?

Since these questions are ones that are fairly commonly asked, I’ve included my reply below.

Abortion and the Health/Life of the Mother

Dear Friend,

Thanks for writing.

There isn’t a short answer to this question.

The statistics that I’ve come across — such as on this page from the pro-life group Center for Bio-Ethical Reform — which cites stats from the Guttmacher Institute, which is closely affiliated with the U.S.’s leading abortion provider, Planned Parenthood — indicate that “6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child”, but it doesn’t break the figure down further [emphasis added].

(more…)

There’s a beautiful article on LifeSite today about a one-of-a-kind community of nuns:

The Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb are a contemplative religious community in France that enables girls with Down syndrome to respond to a religious vocation.

The tiny community, founded in 1985 and based in Le Blanc, in the diocese of Bourges, is made up of seven sisters, five of whom have Down syndrome.

In a world where up to 90 percent of Down syndrome children are aborted, the Prioress of the Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb says the order exists, “To allow those who have the ‘last place’ in the world, to hold in the Church the exceptional place of spouses of Jesus Christ. To allow those who depend on others for their everyday life to take in charge, in their prayer, the intentions that are entrusted to them. To allow those whose life is held in contempt to the extent of being in danger from a culture of death, to witness by their consecration to the Gospel of Life.”

The possibility of young women with Down syndrome being enabled to realize their religious vocation depends on the support of sisters without the disability, who have responded to a call to consecrate themselves to God with their disabled sisters and to form one community with them.

I encourage you to read the whole thing — there’s a good chance it may be the most uplifting story you read today.

Last night’s vote passing the President’s health care overhaul in the House of Representatives was a big loss. But now that the bill has been passed, how does it change things for pro-life activists?

Not much, according to Ann Scheidler, Vice President of our parent organization, the Pro-Life Action League. And I agree with her. Check out the entry she posted today on the League’s Hotline blog.

Unborn babies are still being killed all over America today, just like they would be if the vote had gone the other way yesterday.

So our task remains the same: to save babies and their mothers from abortion and expose the horror of abortion to the American people.

As Ann says in her post, “It won’t matter if federal funds can be used to pay for abortion if we can intervene and save those babies at the clinic doors.”

(more…)

This Sunday, March 21, is World Down Syndrome Day.

Did you know that 80% of babies diagnosed in utero with Down Syndrome are aborted?

And did you know that individuals with Down Syndrome themselves oppose prenatal detection testing for this very reason?

And did you know that for every 50 children with Down’s Syndrome identified and killed by abortion, 160 non-affected babies are lost by miscarriage after the test?

Christina Dunigan has an eye-opening post on this topic titled “An Acceptable Level of Collateral Damage”. You can read it here.

And after that, check out this touching video featuring children and adults with Down Syndrome talking about their dreams and what they’re proud of in their lives.

Last week, authorities made a shocking discovery while investigating a West Philadelphia abortion clinic run by Kermit Gosnell where a woman died following an abortion in November 2009.

In Gosnell’s office, they found two dozen frozen fetuses.

On Sunday, Gosnell’s license was suspended, with the suspension order detailing “deplorable and unsanitary conditions” that made his practice “an immediate and clear danger to the public health and safety.”

Today, on the pro-choice blog RH Reality Check, Rachel Larris has a post on Gosnell and the woman who died at his facility in November (the woman is identified by the Philadelphia Inquirer as Karnamaya Mongar).

Who does Larris blame for the woman’s death?

Why, pro-lifers, of course.

(more…)

Lila Rose shared some big pro-life news this week.

Lila, who just last month shared about her groundbreaking undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood at our TeenSpeak conference, has shone a light on the web of deceit that surrounds Planned Parenthood clinics across the country.

Now her work is getting the attention of authorities in Alabama, where Lila and her team at Live Action filmed one of their undercover videos.

Here’s what Lila had to say: (more…)

This two and a half minute video is one of the simplest and clearest explanations I’ve seen of why President Obama’s (and the entire “pro-choice” movement’s) vision for health care reform includes taxpayer funding for abortion—even if he never uses the word “abortion”:

There is an interesting article on LifeSiteNews this week about Belmont Abbey, a North Carolina Catholic college that’s been accused of sexual discrimination by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) because it refuses to provide insurance coverage for contraception for its employees.

In other words, a Catholic college is being accused of discrimination for applying the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Whatever happened to the separation of church and state?

(more…)