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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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Tremendous outcry has arisen in the past year after it was learned that the national office of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has been funding abortion, contraception, same-sex “marriage,” and legalized prostitution.
It’s painfully obvious that the CCHD is in need of reform, and in Chicago, its local Archdiocesan office has taken that responsibility very seriously.
Given the revelations about the CCHD’s history of supporting dubious organizations, it certainly has had its share of critics — as well it should. And to his great credit, Rey Flores, the new director of the Chicago CCHD office, has taken an irenic approach in reaching out to the most outspoken ones and asked them to suggest groups that they believe are deserving of grants from the Campaign.
A recent LifeSiteNews article spoke very favorably about the changes being made in the Chicago CCHD office under Flores’ leadership and noted that the reforms he is instituting locally would serve as a great example for the CCHD to follow nationwide. [Continue reading ...]
Joe Scheidler speaks at July 29 protest at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango, CO [Photo by Dan Anguis]
Durango, Colorado is a quaint, bustling little town set in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful spots in the U.S., totally surrounded by pine-covered mountains. And that’s where I was honored to spend last Thursday and Friday at the invitation of Daniel Anguis, president of LifeGuard, and Keith Mason, a well known pro-life activist from Denver.
They encouraged 100 fearless pro-lifers to join their protest in front of the hospital where notorious abortionist Richard Grossman is on staff. Also on board as speakers were Fr. Joseph Fessio of Ignatius Press and Walter Hoye, who has spent time in jail in California for his pro-life activities.
We were all invited there to encourage the “Catholic” hospital, Mercy Regional, run by the Sisters of Mercy, to drop Grossman from their staff. [Continue reading ...]
July 16, 1999—Federal District Judge David Coar issues his ruling in the NOW v. Scheidler case, which League Director Joe Scheidler and other defendants had lost at jury trial a year before. Coar awards the plaintiff’s—the National Organization for Women and abortion clinics—treble damages under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statue in the amount of $257,780.76 and issues a nationwide injunction against the defendants.
July 1, 1986—The League holds its semi-annual gold raffle fundraiser. The prize is a Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle twenty dollar gold piece worth nearly $350. The winner donates the gold piece back to the League, as the winner would do each of the six times the raffle is held.
June 29, 1992—A three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals “reluctantly affirm” District Judge James Holderman’s dismissal of the NOW v. Scheidler case, which accused pro-lifers of racketeering and anti-trust violations. Holderman ruled that anti-trust laws were not intended to apply to protest activities and that the federal racketeering law (RICO) requires an economic motive. NOW would appeal this ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court and win as regards RICO, allowing the case to go to trial in 1998.
June 24, 2009—John Jansen, Co-Director of the League’s youth outreach division, Generations for Life, hosts “Making the Case For Life,” the League’s first webinar. So many people sign up for the interactive online seminar that hundreds have to be placed on a waiting list. All who sign up are given the opportunity to watch the archived presentation later in its entirety.
Face the Truth Display in Evanston, Illinois
This Wednesday, the League will be conducting the third of our three 2010 Spring Face the Truth Tour days in Evanston and Lincolnwood, two of Chicago’s near north suburbs.
Both of these sites are perennial favorites of the Tour staff, particularly the Evanston site at Davis Street and Ridge Avenue.
The lay of the land at this particular site is such that the boulevard along Ridge Avenue (where Tour participants stand with their signs) is actually about 5 feet above street level, which results in a particularly impressive and imposing Face the Truth display.
This will be the 7th consecutive year we’ve visited Evanston on a Face the Truth Tour, and inevitably, something memorable happens every time we do.
For the past few months I have been reading old diaries page by page to glean the most interesting and even outlandish activities the League has carried out over its 30 year history.
Why all this gleaning through the past?
Because I am going to write a book about pro-life activism and all it has meant to me and to the pro-life movement.
It’s fun to read all these books, and even a little nostalgic. “We did have fun, and no harm done,” from the old song, “Thanks for the Memory,” that helped make Bob Hope famous.
There were many of us in the early days when we helped get activism started, and as I read through the early 70’s I come across names of people who have died, who are simply lost to the movement, and some whom I can’t remember.
![Pro-lifers march in the Arlington Heights Memorial Day Parade [Photo by Dan Gura]](http://prolifeaction.org/pix/2010/represented.jpg)
Pro-lifers march in the Arlington Heights Memorial Day Parade [Photo by Dan Gura]
The Pro-Life Action League was well represented at Arlington Heights’ Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 31. Scores of pro-life activists wore bright red Face the Truth Tour t-shirts and caps as they witnessed to the sanctity of life during the village’s annual parade. Emblazoned across their backs was our message, Choose Life. They were joined by an equal number wearing t-shirts espousing Life. Many, including little children, carried signs which read We Choose Life. [Continue reading ...]
Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society won a great pro-life victory in court
On Friday, May 21, Judge Neal Cerne delivered his judgment on motions to dismiss our zoning lawsuit against Planned Parenthood and the city of Aurora, Illinois. Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society of Chicago was on hand along with myself, Pro-Life Action League executive director Eric Scheidler and a number of Aurora pro-lifers. It was a huge pro-life victory as Judge Cerne denied motions from the city and Planned Parenthood that three of our five counts against them be dismissed!
The suit, filed in February of 2008, alleged that Planned Parenthood violated the city’s zoning codes in a number of aspects of the construction of their facility and they made concerted efforts to hide their identity in the building process so that the citizens of Aurora could have no say in whether Planned Parenthood became a major part of their community. [Continue reading ...]