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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
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Yesterday Relevant Radio’s Sheila Liaugminas interviewed Pro-Life Action League executive director Eric Scheidler about the Nationwide Way of the Cross for Victims of Abortion being held tomorrow—Good Friday—outside abortion clinics across the country.
In the course of the wide-ranging interview, Eric also shared his thoughts about one particular Gospel passage that we as pro-lifers should spend some reflecting on:
I think that the guiding Gospel passage for me as a pro-life activist…is Jesus with the Samaritan woman [John 4:4-42]. Here is Our Lord stopping along the way, to reach out to somebody from an outcast group, the Samaritans. He was not afraid to speak to her about her sin, He was not afraid to expose her to her own sin, but all of it done through tremendous gentleness, through intimacy, through a one-on-one conversation, finding her where she is, speaking to her in language she understood, and filling her heart with a sense of her own worth and hope so that she not only felt like she was loved and cared for and would receive the waters of eternal life, but she felt inspired to share that good news with her whole community, running out to tell everyone about it.
We have to be Christ at the well with that Samaritan woman in these kinds of encounters that we have at the abortion clinics.
You can listen to the entire interview below.
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We on the Pro-Life Action League staff are excited to announce an opportunity to intern with America’s premier pro-life activist organization in the nation’s most exciting city, Chicago, from June 10 to August 2, 2013!
This internship is a great chance for any college student or recent graduate interested in a career fighting abortion on the front lines.
For 8 weeks this summer you can work side by side with us and learn about every aspect of our work, from protests and activism to what the day-to-day life of an activist looks like.
Opportunities include sidewalk counseling at several Chicago area abortion facilities, participating in various pro-life demonstrations such as the League’s 8-day summer Face the Truth Tour and much more.
The application deadline is April 12. Get all the details on the internship and how you can apply right here. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to work with you this summer and show you what our brand of hard-hitting, grassroots pro-life activism is all about!
Joe Scheidler speaks to reporters after his Nov. 30, 2005 Supreme Court hearing [Photo by EJS]
Seven years ago today, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Joe Scheidler and the Pro-Life Action League in the landmark NOW v. Scheidler case.
The case had been to the Supreme Court three times. Originally filed in 1986, NOW v. Scheidler first reached the high court on December 8, 1993, where justices considered whether the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law could be used against protesters.
On January 24, 1994 a 9-0 decision allowed the case to go forward to trial as a civil RICO action.
In 2003, the Court ruled 8-1 that a 1998 decision by a Federal District Court against Scheidler and other pro-life defendants must be vacated, but in 2004 the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals refused to implement the decision, buying the arguments of NOW’s lawyers that somehow the Supreme Court had overlooked something in its unequivocal 2003 decision. Scheidler then petitioned the Court for another hearing, and once again got certiorari. [Continue reading ...]
Chris and Mary Anne Yep (from left) with son Peter, Eric Scheidler and Matt Yonke, and son David, ready to move donated furniture to Aurora [Photo by Steve Klaske]
Last Friday, my assistant Matt and I were the grateful recipients of a truck-load of much-needed furniture for the Pro-Life Action League’s Aurora office, donated by Chris and Mary Anne Yep of Triune Health Group.
I first met the Yeps shortly after the first Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally last March in Chicago, which they attended. The event inspired them both to launch a religious freedom initiative at their parish—at the first meeting of which I spoke—and to file suit against the federal government over the HHS Mandate.
As devout Catholics, Chris and Mary Anne strongly object to being forced to provide free contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs through their employee health plan—part of a benefits package so outstanding that it helped earn them the title of “Best Workplace for Women” from Crain’s Chicago business. [Continue reading ...]
Eric Scheidler runs down the top 10 pro-life accomplishments since Roe at SpeakOut Illinois [Photo by Matt Yonke]
SpeakOut Illinois is a fantastic pro-life conference hosted by a coalition of pro-life activists, churches, pregnancy centers, lobbyists, lawyers and more from across the state.
This year’s conference took place last Saturday, February 2, and it was a rousing success. Today I’m happy to announce that if you missed the conference our you just want to hear one of the talks again or pass it on to a friend, you can order all the talks on CD or digital download.
Our own Eric Scheidler spoke on the Top Ten Accomplishments of the Pro-Life Movement since Roe v. Wade, Ryan Bomberger of The Radiance Foundation spoke on Fatherhood in the Culture of Abortion, and Star Parker of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education received the Henry Hyde Life Leadership Award and told her moving personal story.
You can get all those great talks plus Father Rocky Hoffman of Relevant Radio’s moving tribute to the unborn victims of abortion, on CD or digital download from our friends at LCE Media.
Get yours today!
Among those who attended the 40th March for Life in Washington, DC on January 25, one of the most commonly heard reactions was that this felt like the biggest one yet.
And it probably was.
Crowd estimates of the March for Life usually numbered between 300,000 and 400,000 over the past few years, but this year estimates were as high as 500,000!
Considering the major role played the pro-life movement in the ongoing fight on behalf of religious freedom and in opposition to the Obama Administion’s HHS Mandate, we at the Pro-Life Action League made the decision to literally carry the banner for religious freedom at this year’s March.
Before the March, we put out a call to all pro-life activists across the country, and especially those who had served as Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally captains in their local cities, to march with us beneath a 16-foot banner that we displayed at our June and October Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies in Chicago.
Nate Scheidler—the eldest son of Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler—custom designed a PVC frame for carrying it, and it just so happened that Nate and several of his fellow students from the University of Illinois happened upon the League’s group just as the March was stepping off.
Despite a bit of snow and much colder weather than has been felt at the March for Life the past several years, enthusiasm was just as high if not higher than ever.
In addition to the March itself, the Pro-Life Action League was well represented at numerous other March for Life events taking place in Washington last week. [Continue reading ...]
Front page of the Buffalo Courier Express, January 23, 1973
January 22, 1973. Anyone familiar with the abortion battles in America knows that date. This year we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling issued on that day.
But in 1973, the front page of newspapers across the country were full of other momentous news. Former President Lyndon Johnson died on January 22, 1973. Richard Nixon had just recently announced an end to hostilities against North Vietnam, and the Paris Peace Accords were being brokered.
My husband Joe Scheidler was down with the flu on January 22, 1973. I was pregnant with our fourth child, who turned out to be our first daughter, Cathy. Our three boys—Eric, 6; Joe, 5; and Peter, 3—occupied most of my attention. I didn’t look at the front page of the Chicago Tribune until late in the day on January 23. Joe didn’t read it until the next day.
But as we read the news we were incredulous. Illinois was a pro-life state in those days. Attempts to ease restrictions on abortions here had easily been defeated. We weren’t paying attention to the national fight to legalize abortion and did not even know there was a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
We simply could not believe such a thing could happen. With a stroke of a pen, all abortion laws were struck down and unborn babies, like Cathy, just 4 ½ months in my womb, were dependent solely on their mothers for their right to be born. [Continue reading ...]
Eric, Joe and Ann Scheidler at the March for Life in Washington DC.
Chicago—Wikipedia calls Joe Scheidler the “Father of Pro-Life Activism,” and others have dubbed him the “Godfather of the Pro-Life Movement.” As National Director of the Pro-Life Action League, he continues to speak out against the legalized killing of unborn children, even after four decades of tireless work.
The 40 years since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision have been filled with protest and passion from all sides of the abortion controversy. Few voices have rung out through this entire period with a clear, consistent, unwavering pro-life message—and Joe Scheidler’s is one of them. Here are five of the many reasons why: [Continue reading ...]
Eric speaks on religious freedom in Indianapolis, IN
Thanks to his role as the national co-director of the Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies organized by the Pro-Life Action League and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, League Executive Director Eric Scheidler has been invited to speak on this issue across the country.
On June 23 he spoke at the Religious Liberty Dinner at St. Thomas More Church in Chicago, at the invitation of the pastor, Fr. Charles Fanelli, a long-time friend of the League. The next day he flew to Rochester, New York to speak at a “Fortnight for Freedom” event in Canandaigua at the invitation of Deacon Claude Lester, who served as Rally Captain in that upstate hamlet.
On September 6, Eric spoke on the HHS Mandate in Peoria, Illinois, at the invitation of Rally Captain Mark Lang of Central Illinois Right to Life. Then on September 18 he addressed an audience of over 800 at the Right to Life of Indianpolis annual banquet, at the invitation of Marc Tuttle, the Indianpolis Rally Captain. [Continue reading ...]
NOTE: The League is preparing the talks from the “CONVERTED: From Abortion Worker to Pro-LIfe Activist” conference for release in early 2013. Sign up for the League’s e-mail updates to get the word as soon as they’re available!
Dr. Tony Levatino, the MC for the CONVERTED conference [Photo by Spirit Juice Studios]
In November 1987, the Pro-Life Action League hosted its first “Meet the Abortion Providers” Conference.
This groundbreaking event featured doctors, nurses and administrators who left the abortion industry to become spokespersons for life. The League held five subsequent conferences between 1989-1995, from which two powerful video presentations created, Meet the Abortion Providers and Abortion: The Inside Story.
This year we decided the time was right to hold another such conference, providing a forum for another group of abortion clinic workers who have walked away from their jobs in the industry.
So on September 22, the League sponsored “CONVERTED: From Abortion Provider to Pro-Life Activist” at the Crowne Plaza O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, with eight speakers sharing their uniquely personal stories. [Continue reading ...]