Two years ago, June 25, 2001, we received a desperate call from a young pastors wife in Houghton, Michigan. Planned Parenthood was setting up an abortion mill in their town. What could they do?
Kicking Planned Parenthood Out of Town
I told her to first check all the realty companies and try to find if there was time to discourage them from renting space to Planned Parenthood. Apparently it was too late for that. Then I said to call a Town Meeting and discuss the fact that an abortion mill is a blight on the community, at every level. I told them they had to work together to keep it out or eventually get it out. I suggested pickets, marches, billboards, whatever. But that there needed to be a hard-core group of faithful activists who would keep up the action.
Then I forgot about the call until today, Friday, August 22, 2003. Sally called back to say it had worked. The Planned Parenthood Express Health Center has moved out of Houghton, MI. When their lease came due they simply packed up, shook Houghton’s dust from their hobnailed boots, and stole away in the night.
Rev. Keith Snyder, president of Copper County Pro-Life, gave the bulk of the credit for the closing to the pro-life protesters. Sally said it had amazed her to see how everything seemed to come together, once they began their program of prayer and action. Meetings were attended, church groups supported the effort, there were prayer warriors and pickets at the mill several times a week, and Planned Parenthood could never really sink its roots into the community.
Sally said she was calling because we probably receive many calls like hers asking for help and advice, but that we probably rarely learn the results. While we sometimes do, it is always a joy to hear a success stories like Sally’s. More information on this pro-life victory can be found in the Mining Gazette.
Guardian for Unborn Baby in Florida
In Daytona Beach, FL, Governor Jeb Bush ordered state lawyers to argue for a guardian for the unborn child of a mentally retarded woman. Earlier a Florida circuit court judge had denied such a request, saying only the mother could have a guardian, after Bush had intervened on the woman’s behalf. The Fifth District Court of Appeals is reviewing the request while pro-aborts say having a guardian for the fetus would be a chipping away at Roe v. Wade.
Some sarcastic pro-abortion judges are questioning why guardians are not appointed for any woman who is mistreating her unborn child, such as by drinking or smoking. Good question, Judge. Pro-abort lawyers in the court said appointing a guardian would establish that a fetus is a “person” and that that distinction would threaten a woman’s right to abortion.
Fetus a Person in Mississippi
Over in Mississippi the same day, a State Supreme Court ruled that a fetus is a person under state law, in a 6-2 ruling, in matters of wrongful death. Residing Justice Chuck McRae in his dissent said this decision is an assault on Roe vs. Wade. We sure hope so.
Ten Commandments Battle in Alabama
The last we heard, the battle over the Monument to the Ten Commandments still rages in Montgomery, AL as Alabama’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore remains determined to keep the monument in place in the rotunda of the judicial building despite orders from U. S. District Judge Myron Thomson to remove it. The U. S. Supreme Court refused to intervene. Hundreds of protesters showed up to support Moore and vowed to guard the monument, as one protestor said, with his life.
Kennedy and Kerry Breaking the (Canon) Law
The recent Boston Rescuer of Bill Cotter says the installation of Boston’s new Archbishop, Sean O’Malley was scarred by the presence of notorious abortion champions, Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, both of whom were seated in the VIP section and both of whom received Holy Communion. Bill points out that this violates Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law.
