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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
This morning, the Illinois House of Representatives Human Services Committee passed HB6205, the Illinois
I don’t have information on who our two pro-life, pro-family, pro-sanity votes were, but I assume one of them was Republican Patricia R. Bellock, who raised numerous objections to the bill during the hearing. More details to come soon.
What this means is that the Illinois pro-life community must step up pressure on the entire House. Alicia reported that many Representatives attended the hearing. They’re clearly interested in this bill, which means they all need to hear from us again. And again. And again.
Get talking points and contact links for your State Rep here.
(Cross-posted at StopIllinoisFOCA.com.)
Earlier this week, I was interviewed by Laura Sullivan of Medill Reports for an article published Tuesday about the commencement of chemical abortions at Planned Parenthood’s center in Springfield, Illinois. Also interviewed for the article was Planned Parenthood’s Beth Kantor, and I found one of her remarks pretty illuminating:
Springfield is a high priority. Sangamon County has the highest birth rates in the state, including teen birth rates.
The pro-life movement in Illinois is already mobilizing against the pernicious “Reproductive Health and Access Act” just re-filed in the House of Representatives—better known as “Illinois FOCA”—and you can join the fight by adding your name to the petition just launched at the Stop Illinois FOCA website.
Once you’ve added your name with the online form, click the “Share This” link on the page to forward it to your pro-life family and friends. You can also download a printable petition [PDF] for gathering signatures at church or around the neighborhood.
Yesterday morning I was interviewed by Paul Butler of Moody Radio’s Prime Time America for a piece on the Personhood movement that has been gaining momentum over the last couple of years. Pro-life leaders are of different minds on the effectiveness of the Personhood approach.
In the piece, Keith Mason of Personhood USA explains the logic behind the strategy, Paul Linton of the Thomas More Society questions the legal theory behind it and I offer some perspective on where Personhood fits into the wider movement.
Listen to the segment here.
Illinois FOCA is back! The so-called Reproductive Health and Access Act (RHAA) was re-filed yesterday by chief sponsor Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-25th), and designated as House Bill 6205.
The new bill slightly tweaks some provisions of HB2354, the Illinois FOCA bill defeated last year by a broad coalition of pro-life and pro-family groups. When it became clear that the bill lacked enough votes to pass, the Democratic House leadership shelved the bill, in a stinging defeat for the pro-abortion lobby.
Eric Scheidler speaks at Aurora’s 1st Presbyterian Church, Jan 31 [Photo by Sandy Bradford]
This past Sunday, January 31, I was deeply honored to be the guest of my friends at First Presbyterian Church in Aurora, Illinois, at the invitation of Sandy Bradford and Mary Faye Vasen. I attended both worship services—the traditional service at 8:30 and the contemporary service at 11:00—and gave a talk in between on the pro-life mission in Aurora.
I was introduced to the congregation by Pastor Steve Rhodes during the 8:30 service, after a powerful sermon by Pastor Jeff Moore on Ephesians 3:1-13 in which St. Paul speaks of God’s wisdom being revealed to the angels in heaven through what He accomplishes through our faithful witness here on earth. [Continue reading ...]
Today a jury in Wichita, Kansas took only 37 minutes to find Scott Roeder guilty of first degree murder for shooting abortionist George Tiller back on May 31. Along with every other major pro-life organization, the Pro-Life Action League swiftly condemned Tiller’s murder. There is no place for violence in our peaceful movement to restore respect for the lives of unborn babies.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, I received a call from CBS radio asking for comments, and I’d like to share those reflections here.
I’m back at my desk in Aurora, Illinois feeling tremendously energized after last Friday’s March for Life in Washington, D.C. The huge, extremely upbeat pro-life crowd—estimated to be as high as 300,000 or more—is a tremendous inspiration for taking on the challenges of the coming year.
During the March I recorded a couple of videos—one right before the March began and another from the street outside the Supreme Court, where the March concludes every year. I posted these to Facebook during the March, but now I want to share them here, via YouTube:
What a great day that was! And now, back to work!
Eric Scheidler heads up the picket line at Planned Parenthood Aurora, January 16 [Photo by Sam Scheidler]
The bitter winter cold abated somewhat on Saturday, January 16 for our first monthly protest of the year at Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois, with temperatures in the mid-twenties. A strong group of fifty faithful activists bundled up and joined me on the picket line to oppose to the huge abortuary on Aurora’s west side.
The picket line was just as long as at last year’s January protest at the site, a good sign that community resistance to the controversial Planned Parenthood facility remains strong. And as usual, the protest group included some new faces—folks who decided the time had come to take an active role fighting abortion.
Out praying at the Planned Parenthood facility in Aurora, Illinois last Friday, I was reminded of an important point made by Fr. Frank Pavone in a talk once. Father Frank asked what the first step of any effective pro-life effort must be. As I would guess most in the audience did, I thought, “Prayer.” But Father Frank took it deeper than that.
He explained that the first thing we must do, if our pro-life witness is to be effective, is to repent. One might think that to repent is to pray, but repentence per se is an act prior to prayer. It is the admission, in the dark of one’s own heart, that one has sinned, and stands in need of healing grace. [Continue reading ...]