. . . because action speaks louder than words.
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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
Will the Commonwealth of Virginia be placing new regulations on abortion? Will these regulations make abortion safer, or just rarer?
President Bill Clinton became known for his mantra, that he wanted abortion to be “safe, legal, and rare.” Many, including the Guttmacher Institute [pdf] picked up on this quote, agreeing that most in the abortion-rights crowd want this—they’re not “pro-abortion” because they want it to be both safe and rare, but always legal.
So I’m perplexed when laws are introduced that would make abortion safer—even if it potentially also makes abortion rarer—(all while keeping it 100% legal) that some groups get so up in arms.
To begin, abortion is not safe. This should make the abortion-rights crowd angry in my mind.
A second police officer consults with Officer Stevens (sitting in the car) while pro-lifers (left) pray outside of Planned Parenthood in Chicago.
Just when things might be looking up for pro-lifers facing Bubble Zones everywhere, since Pastor Walter Hoye’s Bubble Zone arrest was overturned last week, Officer Stevens of the Chicago Police Department reminds us that it’s not over until the law is gone.
Officer Stevens was the first on the scene on Saturday, August 28th. I still don’t know why he was even there.
There were two sidewalk counselors down the street, outside of the fifty foot bubble, and I was standing, motionless, 8-10 feet from the door of the clinic.
Perhaps it’s because several women took the literature I gave them, since the inexperienced “deathscort” standing alone at the doorway wasn’t as quick at pushing the girls through the entrance as some of the others are. Planned Parenthood doesn’t like when the girls carry copies of the lawsuits that have been filed against them into the clinic, I suppose.
The abortion industry is motivated by greed.
That is the premise of the new pro-life film Blood Money.
The film has several main ideas it expounds upon such as:
The League’s own founder and National Director, Joe Scheidler makes several on-screen appearances, sharing his knowledge of the sordid industry.
There are two very different stories you find when you search the news for “ACLU” and “Illinois” today.
The first is a story about the ACLU suing to protect the rights of private citizens to videotape police officers at work. I’m on the ACLU’s side on this because of my experiences with the police and Planned Parenthood deathscorts after the passage of the Chicago Bubble Zone (more on this below).
The second is concerning the challenge filed by the Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center (TMS) in Chicago. They are trying to transfer the Parental Notification case from Appellate Court to the Supreme Court in hopes that the Supreme Court will hear the case and allow the 1995 law to finally be enforced. [Continue reading ...]
The Properly Attired condoms are no longer being sold by Urban Outfitters, as this screen clipping (with added red box) shows.
I love stories like this—these are what encourage me as an activist.
We may not have a friendly Court, we may not have a friendly Congress, and we may not have a friendly President, but our power lies with the people.
On August 11, 2010, American Life League’s Stop Planned Parenthood project (STOPP) called pro-lifers—parents, in particular—to stop a new product launched by Urban Outfitters. This “trendy” clothing store had decided to increase its profits by selling condoms. They called the product line “Properly Attired.”
Joe Holland (left) was arrested by Officer Stevens (right) for standing near the entrance to an abortion clinic. Joe's court case was dropped this week.
We at the Pro-Life Action League want to congratulate the Thomas More Society and Joe Holland for their victory against the Chicago Bubble Zone earlier this week.
Joe Holland, a graduate student at Northwestern University, stopped by our office last month. He and I talked about the text of the Chicago Bubble Zone Ordinance [pdf].
I pointed out that invariably the interpretations given by the Planned Parenthood staff and the police who arrive are just wrong (see my previous blog posts here and here). Once we get the police to read the text of the ordinance, they pretty much always realize that what we’re doing is okay and we’re allowed to continue without changing anything.
This discussion followed on the heels of David Avignone’s two police encounters the week before. In those instances the police recognized that he had a right to stand near the doorway of the clinic—even if Planned Parenthood doesn’t like it. This is because the law does not give the door a bubble, it gives people a bubble that we cannot approach within. [Continue reading ...]
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin
If you live in Illinois, you’re used to receiving generic form letters from Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), which basically read, “Thanks for your opinion. I ‘value’ it, but I’m going to do exactly the opposite thing you requested. Thanks anyway.”
I got another one this week about the Roland Burris (D-IL) amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill which pro-life sources say would force military doctors to perform abortions. Not surprisingly, pro-abortion Durbin wholeheartedly supports the policy (but he does appreciate hearing from me).
The email he sent me, however, had this strange paragraph. See if you can spot the problem: [Continue reading ...]
Do you recognize this man? This is the student from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who attacked our signs and tried to steal my camera, right after I shot this picture of him.
As I distributed literature in downtown Chicago last week, I heard some crazy excuses for not taking my pamphlet (and thus educating themselves about abortion).
My top two favorites were, “I’m too old to have children” and “I’m not an American, so I try to stay out of it.”
It’s like people think they’re not allowed to take a position on abortion because they’re not planning to have one. This is one of the pro-aborts favorite arguments: “If you don’t like abortion, don’t have one.”
Elena Kagan's words became accepted as the words of an expert on Partial Birth Abortion, despite her having no medical training whatsoever.
What makes Elena Kagan worthy to sit on the Supreme Court? That’s really what lies at the bottom of hearings for a judicial nominee in my mind. What makes her enough of an expert on law that she deserves to be on the highest court in America?
(The question of bias and judicial activism is also important, but not relevant to this post.)
Whether Kagan is qualified to be an “expert,” serving on Supreme Court is debatable. Whether she is an expert in the field of medicine is not.
Kagan is not a doctor. Yet a sentence she wrote has been cited as the expert medical opinion of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) on the issue of Partial Birth Abortion (PBA). [Continue reading ...]
Escort #1 (center) tells David he must stand 8 feet away from the door, according to the Bubble Law.
Planned Parenthood may have gotten the Chicago City Council to enact a Bubble Zone around the abortion clinics, but time and time again they’ve found that they didn’t get the law they wanted.
This week was another excellent case in point.
Pro-lifers David and Darlene went to the Planned Parenthood location on Division and LaSalle to pray and counsel last Thursday. This location performs abortions six days a week, but usually pro-lifers are only there on Saturdays. This means the “clinic escorts” (”deathscorts”) are also only there on Saturdays. Coming mid-week, then, means pro-lifers can have uninterrupted conversations with clients.
David sent us his account of the day and of the police department’s efforts to “enforce” the Bubble Zone:
[Continue reading ...]