About Eric Scheidler - Pro-Life Action League

Eric Scheidler is a second generation pro-life activist, the oldest of Joe and Ann Scheidler’s children. He was only 6 years old when his parents first got involved in the pro-life movement, shortly before the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that stripped unborn children of their legal right to life in 1973. Eric grew up attending protests and rallies, leafleting neighborhoods and talking about abortion with friends and classmates.

Eric has been involved with the work of the Pro-Life Action League since its founding in 1980, stuffing envelopes during the League’s early years and working occasional summers during college.

Second Generation Pro-Life Leader

From 1997-2002, Eric took advantage of his many family links to the pro-life movement while serving as executive vice-president of The Gift Foundation, a lay Catholic apostolate dedicated to promoting the truth about marriage and family life. He helped organize two Pandora’s Pillbox conferences, exposing the harms of contraception on families and society, and began speaking to audiences around the country on these issues.

In 2002, Eric came to work full time at the League as communications director, taking responsibility for the League website and email system, handling media relations, and overseeing the League’s print and digital publications, including the Action News newspaper. Under Eric’s direction, the League expanded its outreach online, with several dedicated websites and a presence on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Since 2004, he has coordinated the League’s Face the Truth tours and other public protests.

Opposing Planned Parenthood

In 2007, Eric formed the local grassroots group Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood to oppose the huge Planned Parenthood abortion facility opening under a cloud of deception and controversy in not far from Eric’s home in Aurora, Illinois—called “Ground Zero” in the abortion battle by leaders on both sides of the issue. He regularly assists activists across the country fighting Planned Parenthood at the local level, and is a recognized authority on bringing pro-life activism to Planned Parenthood’s mega-centers.

Eric assumed the responsibilities of League executive director in 2009. That year he led the first public protest of the health care bill that would come to be known as Obamacare when it was introduced by President Obama at an American Medical Association meeting in Chicago, coining the now-famous slogan, “Abortion is not health care.”

In 2015, Eric formed #ProtestPP with Dr. Monica Miller and Mark Harrington to coordinate public protest over the series of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials scheming to harvest and sell aborted babies’ body parts. Two nationwide protests were held at Planned Parenthood centers, with total participation topping 100,000, including many first-time activists vowing to stay involved. Hundreds of mainstream media outlets covered the events—and the scandal that inspired them.

Standing Up for Religious Freedom

Eric was among the first to speak out against Obamacare’s infamous Department of Health and Human Services contraception and abortion-inducing drugs mandate. Throughout 2012, he co-directed an historic series of Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies at federal buildings and courthouses across the United States in opposition to the “HHS Mandate.” These 450 individual rallies in over 200 cities and towns drew over 150,000 participants and earned countless media stories, pushing back against the “War on Women” propaganda coming from supporters of the mandate.

Eric has since worked with the national network of local pro-life leaders built up during the Stand Up rallies on other projects, including the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children, an annual event he launched in 2013 with Dr. Monica Miller and Fr. Frank Pavone.

Sharing the Pro-Life Message

Eric conceived the and managed production of the League’s indispensable handbook, Sharing the Pro-Life Message, and has become an outspoken voice for the pro-life cause. He has appeared in such media outlets as Fox News, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Washington Times, Huffington Post, Religion Dispatches, Christian Post, the National Catholic Register, NPR, and EWTN.

Eric speaks frequently on pro-life activism, religious liberty, marriage and the family to audiences across the country. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in English studies from the University of Georgia. He lives in Aurora, Illinois with his wife April, with whom he has eight children.

Photos, Bio Social Media

See below for links for contacting Eric by email or on social media, as well as photographs and introductions for use in promoting speaking engagements and the like: