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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
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Last Friday I attended the dedication of Heather’s House, a new project of Aid for Women, a Chicago crisis pregnancy center.
Heather’s House is a residential facility for pregnant women who have nowhere to live when they make a choice for life. It is located on the campus of Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, Illinois.
The dedication ceremony began with Mass in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel celebrated by Bishop Francis Kane and Msgr. Michael Boland, director of Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Following the Mass, papal biographer George Weigel spoke about Blessed Pope John Paul II’s commitment to the pro-life movement and drew a parallel between his beatification and the life-affirming work of Aid for Women. [Continue reading ...]
May 13, 2008—The League conducts the first-ever Face the Truth Tour in South Dakota, visiting Sioux Falls and Rapid City at the invitation of stalwart activist Al Carlson and Citizens for Life of Rapid City. The Tour is timed to support the legislative effort to ban abortion throughout the state. League Directors Joe and Eric Scheidler (pictured right) speak at a public forum in Rapid City, which is picketed by a small group local anarchists and feminists. The League would later supply Al with his own set of Face the Truth signs, in order for Tours to continue in the Mount Rushmore State.
May 6, 1987—The League holds a press conference in front of the Michigan Avenue Medical Center abortion clinic, displaying the bodies of over 500 babies aborted there and discoverd by League staff in the alley dumpster. The fetal bodies arrive in a hearse. The press conference is well attended by reporters, but most of their news stories are preoccupied with the legality of how the bodies were obtained. They express more moral outrage at the League for display of the dead children than at the abortuary for killing them in the first place.
Planned Parenthood has been trying to clean up their image because of all the dirt Live Action and other groups have been digging up on them lately.
They know the unsavory reality of the way they do business is coming to light, and they know it’s hurting the way the public perceives them.
That’s why they’ve been running a series of ads trumpeting their supposed support for families in a series of radio ads across Chicagoland, and that’s why they’re having their “Generations Gala: A Celebration of Healthy Families” fundraiser at the Chicago History Museum this Thursday, May 5.
You read that right: Planned Parenthood, the nation’s #1 abortion chain is holding an event claiming they support “healthy families.”
Well the League is not going to let them get away with that. Holding galas and trying to buy a clean image with radio ads does not erase the over 300,000 babies Planned Parenthood kills every year.
Join the League in protesting this insidious event and showing the truth about Planned Parenthood. There are three ways you can help:
After years of pro-life activism, I can tell you it’s spiritual warfare whenever abortion is opposed. Support in prayer from pro-lifers across the country is integral to the success of any protest, especially when you’re going toe to toe with Planned Parenthood, the Goliath of the abortion industry.
This fight against Planned Parenthood needs every pro-lifer in the country on board. Please join in however you can to make this effort to expose the true face of Planned Parenthood’s work to the public a success.
April 30, 1994—Joe Foreman hosts a Pro-Life Action Network (PLAN) conference in Chicago to discuss the future of activism, now that pro-lifers can be convicted of racketeereing under the Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) or given exorbitant fines and prison terms under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE). League Director Joe Scheidler speaks against the division in the movement caused by some activists’ support of the “justifiable homicide” theory of killing abortionists. The group also pickets the French Consulate over RU-486, the abortion pill developed and distributed by a French company under pressure from the French government.
April 28, 1989—Directors Joe and Ann Scheidler, along with staffers Andy Scholberg and Tim Murphy, represent the League at the sixth annual Pro-Life Action Network (PLAN) convention held in Livonia, Michigan. Andy speaks on “The Litigation Project,” which encourages women to sue the clinic if their abortion is botched or the abortionist injures them.
April 27, 1986—Barbara Menes (pictured right), League administrator and Joe Scheidler’s personal secretary, collapses at the League’s sixth annual banquet after having just presented Ann Scheidler and activist Rosie Stokes with bouquets of flowers. As doctors and nurses in attendance at the banquet rush to administer CPR, the entire room of attendees prays, led by Fr. Roger Coughlin, director of the Archdiocesan Respect Life Office. Once paramedics arrive and take Barbara to the hospital, the afternoon program proceeds with a talk by Rev. Curtis Young of Christian Action Council. Barbara would survive two more days before dying of heart failure.
April 26, 2008—The League hosts an multi-faceted protest at Planned Parenthood’s massive “Abortion Fortress” in Aurora, Illinois, coordinated by Communications Director Eric Scheidler. On top of an traditional picket, the protest includes a “Jericho March” around Planned Parenthood’s block, a Face the Truth Tour, a Baby Shower to benefit local pregnancy centers and a “Cemetery of Choice” to mourn mothers killed by abortion. The protest concludes with a dramatic “Balloons for Life” launch, with pink and blue balloons representing babies saved by pro-life activism.
Pro-lifers pray by the second station [Photo by Sam Scheidler]
On Good Friday, April 22, the Pro-Life Action League hosted the 4th annual “Way of the Cross for Victims of Abortion” service at Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois.
What started as a light drizzle turned to a serious downpour as Eric Scheidler, his son Sam and I staked our pictures of each of the 14 stations around the vacant lot across the street from the Planned Parenthood facility.
A good crowd of pro-lifers had gathered before we arrived and were praying near the clinic, and people continued to trickle in as we prepared to begin the service. As he has in several previous years, Fr. Cesar Pajarillo of St. Rita of Cascia parish in Aurora joined us to lead the prayers. [Continue reading ...]
April 25, 2003—League Director Joe Scheidler is honored at the Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN) Midwest Conference with the “Profile in Courage” award. LEARN is focused on promoting the pro-life message in the Black community. LEARN national director Dr. Johnny Hunter dons a black fedora, Joe’s trademark hat, as he presents the award.