Archive for the 'The Front Lines' Category

If I could only pick one word to describe the 2008 March for Life, it would be:

Huge.

I don’t have time to write much about it now, but I at least wanted to put some pictures:

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If you haven’t yet made plans to attend the March for Life in Washington, DC, there’s still time, but not much. The March is January 22 — two weeks from today.

We’ve mentioned before that in addition to the March itself, there are also many great pro-life events being held in and around Washington the previous weekend.

Try to attend one of them if you can:

• Georgetown Right to Life’s Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, January 21
• Rock for Life’s Training & Activism Weekend, January 20-22
• Stand True’s March for Life Weekend, January 19-22
• Students for Life of America’s Annual Conference, January 20

And, on the morning of the 22nd, there’s also the Blogs for Life Conference, where GFL’s own Eric Scheidler will be one of the speakers.

Hope to see you there!

Every 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 the hope every new life brings as well as the emptiness left behind when a child is killed by abortion.

This year’s Caroling Day is Saturday, December 22, and we’re going to conduct two different caroling tours at the same time — one in Chicago and one in west suburban DuPage County.

Join us for one of them if you can:

Chicago Caroling Tour

• 9:00 Planned Parenthood, 1200 N. La Salle Dr., Chicago map
• 10:00 Family Planning Associates, 659 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago map
• 11:00 American Women Medical Ctr., 2744 N. Western Ave., Chicago map
• 12:00 Albany Medical Surgical Ctr., 5086 N. Elston Ave., Chicago map

DuPage County Caroling Tour

• 9:00 ACU Health Center, 736 N. York Rd., Hinsdale map
• 10:00 Aanchor Health Center, 1186 Roosevelt Rd., Glen Ellyn map
• 11:00 Access Health Center, 1700 75th St., Downers Grove map
• 12:00 Planned Parenthood Aurora, 3051 E. New York St., Aurora map

Don’t live near Chicago? How about doing your own “Empty Manger” Caroling Day at nearby abortion clinics or Planned Parenthood offices?

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, let us know how it goes.

If you’ve been to the March for Life in Washington, DC, you’re probably already planning to attend the 2008 March next month, or wish you were. If you’ve never been to the March, you should go — you won’t regret it!

In addition to the March itself on January 22, where hundreds of thousands of people — most of them teens and college students — walk along the National Mall to the Supreme Court building, there are many great pro-life events being held in Washington the previous weekend.

Try to attend one of them if you can:

• Georgetown Right to Life’s Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, January 21
• Rock for Life’s Training & Activism Weekend, January 20-22
• Stand True’s March for Life Weekend, January 19-22
• Students for Life of America’s Annual Conference, January 20

Today's monthly protest at Planned Parenthood was a tremendous success, with over 200 pro-lifers coming out to be witnesses for life, despite the chilly air and drizzle.

From 9-11 a.m., the group picketed on the north side of New York Street, held large signs of babies born and unborn on the north side of New York and large "Jesus" signs along the west side of Oakhurst, and prayed near Planned Parenthood. Many also signed the parental notification petition and picked up Yard Signs to take home.

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Monthly Planned Parenthood protest: 9-11 a.m. Sat. 11/17

Inspired by the tremendous success of last month's "We're Here for Life" rally, we will now conduct a protest every third Saturday of the month at Planned Parenthood, 3051 E. New York Street (map). Picket signs will be provided.

These monthly protests punctuate the ongoing Life Support effort, offering prayer and assistance for Planned Parenthood clients every hour the facility is open. If you missed the October 27 Rally, don't miss the first monthly protest.

Clinic witness seminar: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sat. 11/17

Our ongoing pro-life presence at Planned Parenthood depends on a core group well-trained in clinic ministry. At this two-hour seminar sponsored by Our Lady of Mercy Church at 801 S. Eola Rd. in Aurora (map), the Pro-Life Action League's Ann Scheidler will teach you how to reach out to abortion-bound women and offer them the choice for life.

The seminar by will include a Power Point presentation, role playing, sample literature and more, and is not only for those interested in sidewalk counseling. It is important for prayer warriors to understand the counselor's role and how best to offer support. Also discussed will be important legal questions that we face on a daily basis at the site.

Registration is $10 for materials and refreshments and advance registration is strongly encouraged; call 773-777-2900 to sign up.

Benefit screening of Bella: 2:50 p.m. Sat. 11/17

If a morning protest and mid-day seminar aren't enough to fill your Saturday with pro-life activities, come to a free screening of Bella at the Cantera Theatre (map) at 2:50 p.m, provided by the generosity of Republican congressional candidate Jim Oberweis.

If you haven't seen the inspiring pro-life film Bella yet, this is your chance to do so—and to support the efforts of Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood too. You will have the opportunity to offer a donation for your free ticket—a donation of $10 is suggested. All proceeds will benefit the ongoing efforts of Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood.

There are several things I’ve been wanting to post about for a while now, but I’m just getting around to it now.

Here are a few of those “several things”.

Exposing the Truth about Pornography

Bishop Paul Loverde of the Diocese of Arlington (Virginia) has a must-read column titled “Letters from Teens about Pornography”, in which he includes excerpts from dozens of letters he has received from teenagers in response to a pastoral letter he wrote last year titled, Bought With a Price: Pornography and the Attack on the Living Temple of God.

Bishop Loverde’s column begins:

Recently I have been hearing a lot about pornography.

The mail I have received on this issue from Catholics and others around the country gives me hope, even as it confirms the gravity of the threat this scourge poses to us all.

Here is what one high school senior wrote

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Note: This entry is cross-posted at Families Against Planned Parenthood.

The Aurora police did a great job of keeping the peace and defending our First Amendment rights—that is, until the near the end of the Rally, when Police Chief William Powell and Corporation Counsel Alayne Weingartz came on the scene.

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After our rally on August 25 that brought out over 1,200 people to the Aurora Planned Parenthood site, Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area CEO Steve Trombley tried to downplay the numbers, saying this was a one-time thing:

Most people spend their Saturdays taking their kids to the soccer game, doing things around the house, and I think as time moves on, people will go back to their normal lives.

As I said at the time, what Trombley apparently doesn’t realize is that fighting abortion is something we do as part of our “normal lives”.

We’re. Not. Going. Away.

That’s why we held another big rally in Aurora on Saturday.

Roger of Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood has a great post about the rally — appropriately titled, “Looks Like We’re Not Going Away” — with lots of pictures and links to many more.

Check it out!

See also the WGN News video coverage of the rally here.

Related

Marcel of Mary’s Aggies wrote to us this morning about a new post on their blog exposing the major problems with a recent Planned Parenthood report in which:

researchers concluded that in order to achieve more “safe abortions”, governmental policies should continue to be loosened to provide access to them.

Marcel also posted on this subject last week.

Bryan Kemper of Stand True reports that students from over 4,600 schools in 19 countries participated in the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity on Tuesday.

Many students who chose to give up their voice for a day faced quite a lot of opposition, Bryan said:

We have heard some of the most shocking stories about how some of the students were treated by other students, teachers and administrators. From being pushed down stairs, shoved into lockers, having tape ripped off their mouths, being called names and laughed at and even teachers and school staff screaming at kids and calling them stupid.

In the face of all this persecution, the students stood strong and continued their vigil for the babies. Christians in American have it easy and don’t face a lot of the persecution that goes on in the world. These students saw some of that and remained resolute in their mission. They have been telling me how much stronger it made them, and how much more they knew they needed to continue to be a voice.

Imagine something as simple as the word life written on your mouth can cause such hatred and anger. This shows us more now than ever that the pro-life message needs to be Christ centered. The only thing that can turn that anger and hatred around, is the hope we find in our loving savior, Jesus Christ.

To all who participated in the Silent Day: God bless you!

Related

• LifeNews: Pro-Life Students Heckled During Abortion Protest Day

Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood
Fall 2007 Special Event
Saturday October 27, 9-11:30 a.m.
New York Street and Oakhurst Drive, Aurora

Now that the “Abortion Fortress” has opened on the east side of Aurora, Planned Parenthood and City officials expect us to give up and go away. But we're not going away.

On Saturday, October 27, we'll show Planned Parenthood and the City of Aurora that our peaceful campaign is full of life. We won't quit until the “Abortion Fortress” is closed for good.

We'll be there for the mothers. We'll be there for the babies. We'll be there for life.

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You just protest abortion because of selfish motives—you know, like, earning extra credit.

At least, that’s what Veronica at the Aurora Planned Parenthood blog says.

She has a post today that begins:

Perhaps the biggest winners of the opening of our clinic are Catholic school kids. Why? Because Catholic schools award extra credit for school kids to come on out and rally against choice.

She then quotes an e-mail sent by “a friend of the clinic” who says this:

I grin when I see the kids at the center, because I was in their place only a few years ago - and I know what really brought them out to protest on a Saturday morning.

This, in a nutshell, sums up Planned Parenthood’s disgustingly condescending attitude toward pro-life teens.

I’d encourage you to post comments on the Aurora Planned Parenthood blog, but you’d probably be wasting your time, since all comments there are moderated, and yours probably wouldn’t be allowed.

So instead, post your comments here.

According to this news article about the arrest of eight members of Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in North Carolina on Tuesday:

College officials said the group refused to comply with their requests and acted confrontational, shoving one of the security guards.

“Confrontational”? “Shoving”?

You tell me:

See also this post on the Survivors blog, Response to Survivors’ Press Conference in Asheville.

God love you, Survivors!

HT: Jill Stanek

From an e-mail Eric just sent:

In light of recent developments, I think it would be a good idea for many of us to be present at City Hall [at] 4:30 when the mayor and aldermen will meet in a “Committee of the whole.”

Here’s the news:

1. I am informed that NO ABORTIONS were scheduled for today — in fact, it looks like no clients were being seen. So we can afford to devote some forces to prayer at City Hall.
2. We have filed an appeal with the Aurora Zoning Board of Appeals today. That appeal SHOULD have resulted in an immediate stay, with Planned Parenthood remaining closed. The City is not enforcing the law, once again, so we need to be there with our witness.

Finally, I have important news about the Prayer Vigil. Because Planned Parenthood is now open, the time has come to shift from a round-the-clock vigil to a “Life Force Team” mode.

This means that we will commit to being present at the Planned Parenthood site during ALL hours that they are open.

Please visit the vigil page to pledge to be there praying when PP is open. The calendar will now display the hours from 7-5 each day.

I’ll write again soon with more information on this new phase of our ongoing prayer campaign.

Meanwhile, please join me at City Hall this afternoon at 4:30 to pray for the mayor, corporation counsel and aldermen.

No matter where you are, no matter when you actually read this, please offer some prayers that Aurora city officials do the right thing.

And, if you’d like to follow the Aurora Planned Parenthood situation more closely, please sign up for Eric’s e-mail updates here.

“Its all I can do when one of the Scheidlers shows up to NOT run them over.”

This comment on a post at the radical left-wing blog The Daily Kos about the September 25 City Council meeting illustrates why the pro-life movement will ultimately prevail. This reason is simple:

We are not filled with hatred for our opposition. We are not afraid to talk to them. We are not content to merely assert the correctness of our position and sniff at anyone who questions us.

Take a look at that post at The Daily Kos. The original author, "Got a Grip," isn't too bad, though he or she seethes with contempt for the pro-life crowd in the City Council Chamber. But the comments are a hot bath of vitriole.

What's notable is how much time and energy is devoted to slamming me and my father and the rest of the pro-life "rabble." They really have no argument other than "pro-lifers are a bunch of knuckle-draggers."

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