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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
You are currently browsing the Pro-Life Hotline blog archives for the year 2009.
League staffer Corrina Gura on the cover of the RedEye—Click to read the story
Chicago’s RedEye, a daily newspaper aimed at young professionals, ran a story Wednesday, December 23, entitled The Abortion Debate: It’s Personal by Leonor Vivanco.
The story examines current opinions on abortion from the perspective of college students and young professionals. The story quotes League projects coordinator Corrina Gura and assistant communications director Matt Yonke. Corrina’s photo was also used for the cover, which can be seen at the right.
Long-time Pro-Life Action League friend and volunteer Marie Smith has died at the age of 86. She passed away Monday night after a heart attack.
Despite her many health problems, Marie was able to attend Mass and go to confession the day before her death. After Mass she commented to her son that she hoped she would die before her favorite priest, so he could celebrate her funeral Mass at her favorite church, St. Mary of the Angels.
Marie is the mother of eight children and many, many grandchildren. Her husband died while her children were still little, and she basically raised them herself, while working nights to pay the bills. Even with her declining health, she kept others in the front of her mind, constantly clipping articles and taping shows that she thought would be of interest to her children and her friends. She would come to the office on Tuesdays with a box of Dunkin Munchkins for the staff and would read and sort articles for our files.
Marie Smith on a Face the Truth Tour with the League
Loyal activist and longtime Pro-Life Action League volunteer Marie Smith, 86, died December 21 of a massive heart attack. Marie was the mother of eight children and had many grandchildren.
The previous day, while at Mass at St. Mary of the Angels Parish in Chicago, she told her son Richard that she hoped to have her funeral there.
Marie was exceptionally devoted to the pro-life cause. The very first League Face the Truth Tour in the year 2000 lasted ten days, visiting three sites every day. Marie joined every one of those thirty sites. Featured on the League’s Face the Truth video, she has been an inspiration to pro-life activists of all ages.
For the past eight years, Marie had served as the volunteer custodian of the files at the League’s chicago office, where, every Tuesday, she came to work with a box of Dunkin Donuts for the staff. We pray that Marie will be greeted in heaven by the Lord and by a chorus of voices of the children whose lives she cherished as she worked for their protection and respect.
On Saturday, December 19, the Pro-Life Action League hosted its 7th annual “Empty Manger” Caroling Day, bringing the joy of Christmas to 9 abortion mills across the Chicago area.
The League split the caroling day into two “tours,” one in Chicago and one in suburban DuPage County. The DuPage tour started at ACU Health Center in Hinsdale with about 15 pro-lifers.
Several women were seen exiting the clinic as pro-lifers caroled, and a sidewalk counselor was on hand to offer them support and information. One counter-protester from NARAL’s “Illinois Choice Action Team” came for about ten minutes, holding a sign opposing the carolers.
Wednesday, December 16, pro-lifer Rachelle Crile went to the Planned Parenthood facility in Aurora, Illinois at 8 a.m. to sidewalk counsel as she has done on regular basis since attending a Pro-Life Action League sidewalk counseling seminar in September. After about 45 minutes in temperatures below 20 degrees, Rachelle went to her car in an adjacent parking lot to warm up before returning to the her sidewalk counseling post.
As Rachelle sat in her car, a couple in a white SUV pulled into the lot a couple rows behind her. Rachelle had a feeling the people might be headed to Planned Parenthood. Since Wednesday mornings are a prime time abortions there, Rachelle knew a life could be on the line, so she said a prayer, grabbed her literature and approached the car.
Chicago, Dec. 15—The Pro-Life Action League will hold its seventh annual “Empty Manger” Christmas Caroling Day on Saturday, December 19. Two caroling tours will take place, one visiting four Chicago abortion facilities and one visiting four in DuPage County.
“The Christmas story is a story of hope and joy brought into the world by a newborn baby,” said League communications director Eric Scheidler. “We want abortion-bound mothers in Chicago and the western suburbs to know that their unborn babies are a gift, too.”
This horrible story comes from San Juan, Texas. A couple self-aborted their 7-month old unborn baby at home. Finding they could not flush the baby’s body down the toilet, they put the baby in a box, wrapped it with Christmas paper, and put him under the tree. Then the couple called an ambulance because the woman was still bleeding from the delivery; they said they didn’t know where the baby’s body had gone.
To be honest, one of my first thoughts—beyond, this is horrible, and we wouldn’t treat a dog like that—was, are the pro-aborts going to use this story to argue that there need to be more abortion clinics. I wondered if there were no clinics near her, and that’s why she had resorted to killing the baby at home. However a quick search of the area reveals two nearby abortion clinics, one in McAllen, Texas, a mere five miles west of San Juan.
Today there are only 713 abortion clinics in the country. Although more than 700 may seem like a lot, in 1991 there were almost 2,200 clinics. So we have chopped the number of abortuaries by two-thirds. Hooray!
Operation Rescue just released a map and corresponding list of every abortion clinic in the nation. They are calling this effort Project Daniel 5:25.
They chose the name Daniel 5:25 because in this verse Daniel deciphers the handwriting on the wall; he sees that the days of evil are numbered and foretells the fall of the wicked kingdom.
On November 14, 2009, the Pro-Life Action League held a sidewalk counseling seminar in Chicago at St. Mary of the Angels Church. Sidewalk counseling training is a central part of the League’s mission, but this seminar had an extra sense of urgency due to the “bubble zone” recently passed in Chicago.
At the time of the seminar, the ordinance had passed but was not yet being enforced, and there was a great deal of uncertainty among pro-lifers about what implications the law would have for them in their life-saving work outside Chicago’s abortuaries. [Continue reading ...]
In the New York Times this week appeared a lengthy column subtitled “Just how pro-choice is America, really?” To which one might respond: Not very.
The writer of the column, Jennifer Senior, a self-professed “pro-choice” advocate, admits that there is little reason for her side to be optimistic. Noting that public opinion is increasingly shifting pro-life, she also points out the role technology has played in helping the pro-life cause: