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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
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If the Women's Aid Clinic abortion facility no longer exists, why is it still advertising with this sign? [Photo by John Jansen]
The Pro-Life Action League reported recently that the Women’s Aid Clinic abortion facility was inspected in 2011 by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) for the first time in 15 years.
Following the inspection, Women’s Aid — located in the northern Chicago suburb of Lincolnwood — was assessed a fine of $36,000 for “violations including the clinic’s failure to perform CPR on a patient who died after a procedure” in 2009, according to an AP article published January 21.
That article reported that Women’s Aid co-owner Larisa Rozansky “told the AP her clinic was safe and she felt victimized by the surprise inspection,” which Rozansky called “unfair.”
Following last year’s inspection — in which IDPH inspectors also discovered such violations as dusty equipment, lack of a supervising registered nurse, and “frozen TV dinners stored in a biohazard lab refrigerator that also held placental or fetal tissue,” the state issued an order on October 21, 2011 prohibiting Women’s Aid from performing surgical abortions.
But on January 25, I noted that the Women’s Aid website was still advertising that it did surgical abortions. Shortly thereafter, pro-life activists working with the Pro-Life Action League brought this false advertising to the attention of the IDPH. [Continue reading ...]
Last night, after more than two hours of public comment, the City Council of Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, voted 7-2 to approve the construction of the Naperville Fertility Clinic at Benton and Washington Streets on the north side of the city’s posh downtown.
In March, I was part of a group of concerned citizens who spoke out against both the moral and zoning related problems related to the IVF clinic, as covered by the Chicago Sun Times. We came to bring a simple message: IVF involves the freezing and destruction of human beings in the earliest stages of life, and that is not a stain that we want to see on downtown Naperville.
Dr. Randy Morris was the first to speak last night. Contrary to his claims at the previous meeting that his clinic had nothing to do with religion, Dr. Morris came with a cadre of people from the inter-religious group One Naperville, including a number of people who had undergone IVF treatments with Dr. Morris or elsewhere. [Continue reading ...]
Cardinal Timothy Dolan gave a lengthy and candid interview this weekend with the Wall Street Journal‘s James Taranto in which he reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to the “radical, unprecedented, and dramatically intrusive” HHS Mandate.
Early on, Dolan recounts his conversation with President Barack Obama following their 45-minute discussion at an Oval Office meeting last November:
“I said, ‘I’ve heard you say, first of all, that you have immense regard for the work of the Catholic Church in the United States in health care, education and charity. . . . I have heard you say that you are not going to let the administration do anything to impede that work and . . . that you take the protection of the rights of conscience with the utmost seriousness. . . . Does that accurately sum up our conversation?’ [Mr. Obama] said, ‘You bet it does.’”
The archbishop asked for permission to relay the message to the other bishops. “You don’t have my permission, you’ve got my request,” the president replied.
But as we all know from the way subsequent events played out, this “request” was soon forgotten. [Continue reading ...]
The Pro-Life Action League reported late last year that the Dimensions Medical Center abortion facility in Des Plaines, Illinois had closed.
But at the time, we didn’t know why it closed. Now we do:
Dimensions would have never passed an inspection.
The League has recently reviewed documentation [PDF] showing that on August 30, 2011, Dimensions notified the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) that the facility intended to close.
But why?
Reports of Kermit Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” abortion mill in Philadelphia in early 2011 prompted pro-life activists working with the Pro-Life Action League to submit Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the IDPH to obtain inspection records from Illinois abortion facilities. [Continue reading ...]
The Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom was an outstanding success. So huge the media simply could not ignore the Rallies as they sometimes do with conservative events.
Rally co-chairman and Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler appeared on Fox News twice in the leadup to the Rally—watch Friday’s interview below—and they covered the New York City Rally live. Eric also appeared on the Laura Ingraham Show and other major commentators like Glenn Beck covered and promoted the Rallies.
I’ve been involved in grassroots activism for years, including protests that have drawn national attention, and I’ve never seen as much secular, mainstream media coverage as the Nationwide Rally garnered. [Continue reading ...]
Massive crowd at the Chicago Rally for Religious Freedom [Photo by John Jansen]
Not to be deterred by terrible weather, a crowd of 2,500 people of all ages descended on Chicago’s Federal Plaza today for the city’s Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally—the flagship location of the Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom’s 140 sites.
In the shadow of the building that formerly housed the transition team offices of President Barack Obama, enthusiastic crowds packed the Plaza in the pouring rain and received signs reading “Stand Up for Religious Freedom” and “Stop Obama’s HHS Mandate”, along with handheld American flags. By 11:45 a.m., it was clear that the crowd at the Rally — scheduled to start at noon — was going to far exceed our expectations. [Continue reading ...]
If you attend one of 140 Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom locations tomorrow, you’re sure to get questions from passersby like, “What are you guys doing here?” and “What is the HHS Mandate, anyway?”
That’s why we’ve prepared an HHS Mandate Fact Sheet [PDF] for organizers to distribute to the general public, which contains FAQ style questions and answers on the HHS Mandate, along with plus some practical action items for continuing the fight.
The Fact Sheet addresses the following questions:
We recommend that organizers print enough copies of the Fact Sheet to distribute to everyone who attends a Rally, and enough additional copies to give out to passersby who are interested in learning more about the HHS Mandate and its assault on religious freedom.
You can download the HHS Mandate Fact Sheet here [PDF]. Get informed, and spread the word!
The National Rally for Religious Freedom is TOMORROW and we’ve
got 140 cities on board!
Prayer for the Rally effort and the defense of our religious
freedom has never been more essential.
Please join in this final day of the Novena to Reverse the HHS
Mandate—even if you haven’t joined in so far.
We’ve never seen the American people as fired up as they are about
this Mandate.
Join us in praying the final day of this Novena.
God of our Fathers,
we thank You for our nation,
founded by those who believed in Your Word
and came to this land as if out of the desert
to seek a place of freedom and rest.
We thank You for their conviction
that our rights come from You, our Creator,
and that government exists
to secure those rights,
and never to destroy or weaken them.
Now that we face unjust mandates
that call upon us to violate our conscience,
we pray for Your protection.
Keep us faithful to You in our every deed.
Grant that we may work for change
by being citizens who are active in the process
by which we elect our leaders.
Grant that by our efforts to educate and mobilize voters,
we may replace public officials who ignore Your law
with those who observe it faithfully.
Bless our nation’s upcoming elections.
As we rejoice that we are citizens of Your Kingdom,
so make us always faithful citizens on earth.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Only two days until the Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom and response has been huge!
The media is taking notice and over 130 cities have joined on. I’ve never seen resistance to a public policy like this!
As we finalize our plans for the Rally day, it’s crucial that we surround the Rally effort in prayer.
Please join us in praying day 8 of the Novena to Reverse the HHS Mandate.
Father,
Your Son Jesus Christ has taught us
that those who mourn over their sins
and over the evils in the world
are blessed indeed, and will be comforted.
We come before You today
in that spirit of Christian mourning
over how far our nation’s policies
Have strayed from Your law
and from the respect for life and conscience
that every law should reflect.
In the power of Your Spirit,
our mourning does not make us weak,
but rather renews our strength
to work for change.
Enable us, then, to speak up
and educate our fellow citizens,
and to make our voices heard
to our elected officials.
Reverse the unjust policies
that have been forced upon us,
and restore our nation
to the principles of freedom and justice
upon which it was founded.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
There are only 3 days to go until the huge Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom! Help spiritually prepare the soil for Friday’s outpouring of support for religious freedom from Portland, Maine, to Honolulu, Hawaii; Seattle, Washington, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and all points in between.
This is Day 7 of the Novena to Reverse the HHS Mandate. Find the previous days’ novenas here.
Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
We thank you, Father,
for the grace of repentance
and the power of conversion at work in Your people.
We thank You for Your Holy Spirit,
Who convicts us of sin and enlightens us
about how to please you.
Lord, enable Your people,
in the midst of current persecution and danger,
to live the spirit of repentance
ever more deeply and effectively.
For every moment we lacked courage in the past,
give us the grace to repent.
For every time we were silent when we should have spoken,
give us the grace to repent.
For every time we could have witnessed to life but did not,
give us the grace to repent.
Made strong by the spirit of repentance,
may Your people rise up
and reverse the tide of evil in our midst.
Enable us to defend our freedom
and to build a Culture of Life.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.