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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
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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 ...]
The Pro-Life Action League has joined a local effort in Naperville, Illinois, to prevent the opening of an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic in the central business district.
The effort is being spearheaded by a group from Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, situated only a few blocks from the proposed building site, who object to the unethical nature of IVF.
The League joins them in opposing IVF for such practices as:
A group of citizens spoke out against the clinic at a March 20 Naperville City Council meeting, addressing both the ethical problems of IVF and a whole host of zoning problems associated with the plan.
One of those speaking was the League’s Matt Yonke, who warned that if the project is approved, that will mean pro-life protests in the city’s posh downtown. The League is well known in the area for the demonstrations against the Planned Parenthood facility in neighboring Aurora.
The Council, which had been expected to green light the project, instead decided to allow further public comment, and postponed their vote.
The Council will take up the issue again at their Tuesday, April 3 meeting, which begins at 7:00 p.m. Statements are expected from patients of Dr. Randy Morris, the practitioner hoping to open up the clinic, as well as from citizens opposed to it.
I am among those slated to speak, and will remind the Council that, out of respect for the dignity of the human beings discarded by the process of IVF, I intend to bring public protest to downtown Naperville if the clinic is approved.
Two basic tenets of the pro-life position are: (1) abortion destroys the life of a genetically distinct, whole human being; and (2) abortion is psychologically harmful to women.
Conversely, two basic tenets of the “pro-choice” position are: (1) abortion does not destroy the life of a genetically distinct, whole human being; and (2) abortion is not psychologically harmful to women.
With this in mind, I was interested to read this recent post by Jill Filipovic at the stridently “pro-choice” blog Feministe, in which she starts off referring to some “fun facts” from Jena Pincott’s book Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?, as highlighted in the popular mom blog Mommyish:
Well here are some fun facts: Pregnant women’s bodies are basically swimming with the cells of their fetuses. And even when they give birth, some cells remain. By the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, cells from the fetus account for one in every 50,000 cells in the woman’s body. Further along in the pregnancy, it increases to one in 1,000. Six percent of the DNA in her blood plasma also comes from the fetus. Which is interesting given some standard pro-life arguments like this:
Here is the “standard pro-life argument” Jill linked to: [Continue reading ...]
Madeline Mann, born at only 26 weeks [Photo by Loyola U Health System]
Both Chicago’s major newspapers, the Tribune and the Sun Times, ran feature stories on Monday, December 12, 2011, about the tiniest babies that survive and thrive.
The smallest and fourth smallest premature babies ever delivered were born and treated at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. Madeline, born in 1989 at 9.9 ounces held the record until Ramaisa stole it in 2004, weighing in a 9.2 ounces.
Both girls are doing extremely well. Madeline is an honor student in college and Ramaisa is an active 7-year-old.
The story of their survival is heartwarming. But for a pro-life activist is it also a dramatic reminder of the humanity of the baby before she is born, and the tragedy of late-term abortion. [Continue reading ...]
My wife, Erin, who is herself pregnant with our fourth child, pointed me to this amazing talk given by scientist, mathematician, artist, journalist, photographer and all-around Renaissance Man Alexander Tsiaras. In the video, Tsiaras presents a unique glimpse into development of the human body.
Tsiaras, among many other projects in his fascinating life, has developed special lenses and computer programs to give us an inside and up close look at human life as it develops from conception all the way to birth. Check out the video for the stunning detail of the process.
One of the most interesting aspects of the video is Tsiaras’ remarkable admission that how this process occurs, over and over again with very few mistakes, is simply beyond the reach of human understanding. In the video he says: [Continue reading ...]
Eric Scheidler speaks on activism at the International Pro-Life Youth Conference, Nov. 12 [Photo by Dave Bathon]
This past weekend I traveled to Los Angeles for the first ever International Pro-Life Youth Conference to join a cast of fantastic speakers and 300 of the most enthusiastic young pro-lifers I’ve ever seen.
The conference was expertly organized by Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust and cosponsored by several other pro-life groups, including the League, which provided copies of our Sharing the Pro-Life Message handbook to all attendees. Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition did an extraordinary job as Master of Ceremonies.
My contribution to the conference was a new PowerPoint presentation on conducting successful events entitled, “10 Keys to Effective Pro-Life Action,” which drew on my years as an activist. These keys included such advice as “Devise your battle plan,” “Cooperate with police” and “Take care of volunteers.” [Continue reading ...]
Face the Truth Tour outside the Wrigley Building in Chicago [Photo by Matt Yonke]
Yesterday the League took to two sites along Michigan Avenue in Chicago for the final “Face the Truth” day of 2011.
Equipped with graphic images of the victims of abortion, League staff and 15 volunteers lined Michigan Avenue outside the historic Wrigley Building.
Being in the neighborhood where most Chicago media outlets have their offices made it easier than usual to get press coverage. Several media outlets interviewed League Executive Director Eric Scheidler and WGN radio did some “man on the street” interviews with passersby to gauge their feelings on the subject. [Continue reading ...]
Were you ever a fetus? How about an embryo? Or a zygote?
The answer to these questions are yes, yes, and yes. Now, one more question:
Were you ever a “fertilized egg”?
The answer to this question is no.
It’s no more accurate to say you were once an egg than to say you were once a sperm. Once an egg is fertilized — that is, once fertilization (also called conception) occurs — it’s no longer an egg.
At that point, a genetically distinct human being is created, and this new life is properly called a zygote — a fact that, for what it’s worth, even Wikipedia recognizes:
In other words, there is no such thing as a fertilized egg. [Continue reading ...]
This week the Mississippi Supreme Court put the brakes on Planned Parenthood and the ACLU’s bid to stop a pro-life law in the state from taking its place on the ballot for a vote this November.
The law, known as the Personhood Amendment, is three sentences that, if passed, would have a dramatic impact on abortion law. The amendment reads as follows:
Unalienable right to life of every prenatal person is protected. The intentional taking of a prenatal person’s life shall never be allowed in this State. For the purpose of this section only, the term ‘prenatal person’ includes every human being at all stages of biological development before birth.
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU tried to argue to the Mississippi Supreme Court that the measure would redefine “person” in the Mississippi constitution, but the court responded that the constitution currently carries no definition of “person,” so the amendment couldn’t possibly redefine a term currently undefined.
Get the full story here.
Ann and I will be traveling to Columbus, Ohio with our good friend Jill Stanek this Tuesday, September 20 to join the rally urging the state Senate to pass the state’s “Heartbeat Bill”.
The rally is being touted as “the most important pro-life rally of our time.” And it may well be, since its passage would, according to medical specialists, save 96 to 99% of unborn babies slated for abortion. The heart begins to beat as early as 18 days from conception and be detected on present monitors as early as 6 weeks.
House Bill 125 (the “Heartbeat Bill”) says that no abortion can be performed if the unborn baby has a detectable heartbeat, with the only exception being to prevent the death of the mother or irreversible impairment of a major bodily function. THe bill has enormous support in the state and needs only 17 votes to pass in the 33-member Senate. The House vote was 54-43. [Continue reading ...]