According to its most recent annual report (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010), the Planned Parenthood Federation of America received more than $487 million taxpayer dollars and performed nearly 330,000 abortions.

Several members of Congress attempted to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding during 2011 budget negotiations, but were not successful. Some states, such as Indiana, also attempted to reject federal money for Planned Parenthood, but were ultimately forced by the Department of Health and Human Services to accept it or risk loss of other federal revenue.

Planned Parenthood’s recent annual report is a wake-up call for pro-life Americans.  They continue to claim that no federal money is spent on providing abortions and that their government funding is essential to their services. They also claim that only 3-percent of their services relate to abortion, but the numbers don’t add up.

While Planned Parenthood says it offers all types of “family planning” services, the same annual report revealed that the organization made only 841 adoption referrals out of 3 million clients served, while performing nearly 1,000 abortions per day in its clinics.

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Nurses in a New Jersey hospital who refused to participate in abortions will be able to keep their jobs under an agreement reached in federal court. The twelve nurses had been threatened with termination from their jobs by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey if they failed to assist in abortion procedures. TheAlliance Defense Fund (ADF) had filed suit on behalf of the pro-life nurses in defense of their conscience rights under federal law.

Under the agreement reached with hospital administrators, the nurses will no longer be required to undergo abortion training or assist in any way in the performance of abortions. They will only be called upon to be involved in an abortion procedure if a mother faces a life-threatening emergency. The University of Medicine and Dentistry may not discriminate or retaliate against the nurses because of their pro-life convictions by replacing them or reducing their hours.

In September the group of nurses were abruptly informed without warning that they were to undergo abortion training in order to assist in abortion procedures. When they objected to having any involvement in the destruction of unborn children based on moral grounds, they were informed that their religious convictions were of no consequence.

Fe Esperanza Vinoya, who spoke out on behalf of the nurses, says they were heartbroken by the edict. “We don’t consider nursing our jobs, we consider it our calling. Ours is a profession of caring. We felt betrayed–we felt a great sense of sadness in all of us.”

Vinoya was further repulsed when she was curtly told by one of her supervisors: “All you have to do is catch the baby’s head. Don’t worry, it’s already dead.” Vinoya found the explanation revolting. “As a Christian, I don’t believe in abortion. I think it’s murder.”

Pro-life U.S. Representiative Chris Smith (R-NJ) applauded the outcome. “[The hospital’s] coercive abortion policy was a blatant violation of the civil rights of its health care professionals. The right to conscience is a federally protected fundamental right that cannot be abridged, undermined or violated in any way.”

Federal laws prohibit any health care facility which accepts federal funds from compelling any medical professional from participating in abortion if it violates their individual conscience. New Jersey state law also includes similar conscience protections.

U.S. Rep. Smith commended the nurses for putting their jobs on the line to stand up for their personal convictions. “Due to the brave voices of these twelve nurses, the hospital has finally agreed to respect their rights. These nurses may now continue to provide
compassionate life-affirming care without being complicit in the destruction of innocent human life.”

Not surprisingly, the American Civil Liberties Union isn’t happy. A spokesman for the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project says they do not support civil liberties for medical professionals. Brigitte Amiri says that nurses have a responsibility to place their duties over any personal “ideology,” and that failure to perform abortions amounts to “discrimination” against women.

U.S. District Judge Jose Linares had issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the University of Medicine and Dentistry from requiring the nurses to assist in abortions or taking any adverse employment action against them for their refusal to do so. Linares says he will retain jurisdiction over the case to ensure that the agreement is enforced.

The nurses expressed relief over the settlement. “I’m a nurse so I can help people, not help kill people,” said Beryl Otieno-Negoje. “No health professional should be forced to choose between assisting abortion or being penalized at work.”

Vinoya says she was sustained through the ordeal by the prayers and support of her fellow church members at Life Christian Church. She says she was especially encouraged by her own children. “The day we received the new orders my eight year old son was learning about the Ten Commandments in church. He recited the Sixth Commandment — that we are not to kill anyone. I just cried. I knew that God had given me hope and that He was on our side.”

Vinoya says she was also encouraged by her thirteen year-old son who was working on a school project on the subject of religious freedom. “I realized that that was exactly what this was all about, and that it was being violated right in front of us. We knew this would be a David versus Goliath battle. But we all know who won.”

A great way to help IFI protect the time-honored values such as the sanctity of life, natural marriage and religious liberty is to become an IFI Sustaining Partner. By pledging $10, $25, $50 or $100 a month (or whatever you can afford) to IFI, you will be ensuring that our work and ministry stays strong so that we can staunchly defend and strengthen your values in the Land of Lincoln.

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The wife of the highly controversial late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell has plead guilty in the performance of ghastly illegal abortions on viable unborn children at a Philadelphia abortion clinic.

Pearl Gosnell entered guilty pleas in federal court on charges of participating in an illegal late-term abortion, conspiracy, and participating in a corrupt organization.

Gosnell’s husband was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of first-degree murder in the killing of seven viable preborn children and the death of a woman who underwent a botched abortion.

Gosnell, who has no formal obstetrical training, has been accused of delivering viable children alive in the sixth, seventh, and eighth months of pregnancy. He then allegedly killed the children by using a scissors to sever their spinal cords.

Federal prosecutors described Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society clinic as a “house of horrors.” Investigators discovered the remains of aborted children in milk jugs and cat food containers. They also found shelves lined with jars containing the severed feet of unborn children. They also found blood-stained floors and furniture, and said the facility smelled of urine.

Gosnell’s wife acknowledged that she assisted Gosnell with abortions on Sundays. She admitted that she “helped do the instruments” in the operating room despite having no medical training. Pearl Gosnell joins six other employees who have plead guilty to various charges involving the late-term abortion mill.

One of those employees, Tina Baldwin, plead guilty to having her fifteen year-old daughter administer anesthetics to women receiving abortions despite the fact that neither one had any medical training.

Yet another employee who plead guilty, Lynda Williams, was hired by Gosnell to clean operating room instruments. Soon she was performing ultrasounds and anesthetizing abortion patients. She was charged with administering lethal doses of Demerol and other drugs to Karnamaya Mongar, who died of cardiac arrest.

Gosnell’s clinic had not been inspected by Pennsylvania health officials for seventeen years. The Pennsylvania General Assembly has advanced new legislation to strengthen regulation of the state’s abortion facilities.

LifeNews.com reports that one of the legislators, Pennsylvania State Representative Margo Davidson (D-Upper Darby), offered some personal testimony during the debate. Representative Davidson shared that her 22-year old cousin, Semika Shaw, died as a result of another botched abortion at Gosnell’s clinic.

This is why it is so very important to support legislation to require that abortion clinics in Illinois meet basic safety regulations of other similar outpatient treatment centers.  (They have never been regulated.)

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The Chicago Tribune newspaper has released the details of a new investigative report revealing the number of abortions in the state has been massively underreported. Those numbers include six women who have died from botched abortions and 4,000 who were injured.

Although state law on abortion that Illinois adopted in 1975 requires abortion centers to report numbers and complications to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Tribune found the state system for tracking abortions is so broken that officials are likely missing as many as 7,000 abortions annually.

The newspaper found state officials documenting between 7,000 and 17,000 fewer abortions per year than the Guttmacher Institute, the former Planned Parenthood research arm that obtains numbers directly from abortion businesses. Although failure to report abortion figures or to do so properly is technically a criminal act, the Department of Public Health has never come down against an abortion business for violating the state law.

Kelly Jakubek, an agency spokeswoman, told the newspaper that it is the responsibility of abortion practitioners, not the state, to ensure they are complying with the law. She said the health department never responds to the reports because they are meant for statistics purposes only.

The Tribune also indicated that Illinois has no process other than the abortion statistics reporting to monitor whether abortion facilities or abortion practitioners have high rates of complications and may be killing or injuring women in abortions. Although Illinois currently tabulates abortions from 26 locations that do abortions in the state, Guttmacher lists 37 places as doing abortions in Illinois.

The newspaper also found that 4,000 women injured by botched abortions failed to have those injuries noted in official reports.

“For example, in 2002, after an area woman’s uterus was torn in an abortion, she began hemorrhaging, went into cardiac shock and was hospitalized for three weeks. Several years later, a mother of three experienced seizure symptoms and slipped into a coma following her abortion at a city clinic. And in 2009, a teenage girl suffered respiratory and cardiac arrest and died immediately following her abortion in a northern suburb, according to court records,” the Tribune reported.

“In certain medical malpractice cases reviewed by the Tribune, women said they were never informed by their provider that the abortion was unsuccessful and later underwent challenging pregnancies, painful deliveries and other complications.”

“Others suffered anesthesia-related problems, hemorrhaging and infections, according to the suits,” it indicated.

Maurice Stevenson, who lost his wife to a lethal infection that her 2002 abortion at a Planned Parenthood center in Chicago brought on, told theTribune he is upset to learn of the newspaper’s discoveries, saying, “It’s outrageous. These procedures, complications and deaths should be public record.”

The Tribune said the abortion business refused to discuss the abortion deaths.

“Planned Parenthood could not confirm for the Tribune whether it had reported the 2002 death of Stevenson’s wife, only that it had reported the 2008 death of another patient. The organization said it had no reason to believe the 2002 death was not reported but that the records were in storage,” theTribune reported. “And Family Planning Associates said it could not confirm whether it had reported three deaths, in 1998, 1999 and 2000. A woman who identified herself as a manager of the Women’s Aid Clinic of Lincolnwood would not comment on a 2009 death.”

A new national opinion survey reveals growing support for the pro-life viewpoint on the subject of abortion. That survey, conducted by the Gallup Organization, shows a decisive majority believe that unborn children should be protected under the law.

Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said they believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances or legal only under certain circumstances. Thirty-seven percent of respondents believe abortion should be legal under all circumstances or most circumstances.

Under the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions, abortion is currently legal in the United States under all circumstances.

Support for providing legal protection to preborn children was consistent regardless of age or gender. Sixty-one percent of men and 60 percent of women said all or most abortions should be illegal. Pro-life views were also expressed by 59 percent of those in the 18-34 age category, 58 percent of those aged 35-54, and 64 percent of those over the age of 55.

In its analysis of the results, the Gallup Organization provided this assessment: “The results make it clear that, despite their labeling of their own abortion views, a majority of Americans clearly not only oppose abortion and believe it to be a morally improper ‘choice,’ but they believe the legal status of abortions should change, and all or virtually all abortions should be prohibited.”

The Gallup organization even offered the pro-life movement some advice: “Pro-life groups need to educate Americans on what constitutes a pro-life position — and to encourage them to call themselves pro-life when they want all or almost all abortions made illegal.”

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NARAL Pro-Choice America, an infamous pro-abortion organization, is described by Fortune Magazine as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.” NARAL Pro-Abortion America recently published its annual Status of Women’s Reproductive Rights in the United States report. According to this vehemently anti-life group, the United States received a “D” grade for so-called “reproductive rights.”

The report not only graded the nation but also graded states individually. The report card uses a point system based on a n assessment of governors, laws, access to contraceptives, access to abortions, spousal and parental consent, “post viability abortion restrictions” on abortions, state constitutional guarantees of abortion, “contraceptive equity” (a euphemism for state-subsidized contraceptives), and the codification of Roe v. Wadein state law.

The “D” given to our nation means that our federal laws tend to lean pro-life. Those of us who believe that life is sacred from conception to natural death look forward to the day that NARAL assigns the United States an “F.”

The report explains that both state restrictions and federal “anti-choice” laws determine the nationwide grade. These laws include the Federal Abortion Ban, signed into law in 2003 by President George W. Bush; the Federal Refusal Clause of the 2004 Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, which protects health care practitioners who oppose abortion; and abortion restrictions for U.S. military women.

This relatively good news, however, does not extend to the Land of Lincoln. In fact, NARAL lauds Illinois’ state constitution for providing “greater protection for a woman’s right to choose than the U.S. Constitution.” (The U.S. Constitution neither explicitly nor implicitly guarantees the “right” to abort an unborn baby.)

Additionally, NARAL lists our state’s top executive, Pat Quinn (D), as “pro-choice,” the Illinois Senate and Illinois House are listed as “mixed-choice,” however; the Illinois General Assembly is led by abortion supporters Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).

NARAL enumerates several anti-life laws in Illinois, which include requiring health-insurance plans that cover prescription medication to provide the same coverage for contraception, requiring pharmacies to dispense birth control, and providing access to “family planning” to low-income women through Medicaid. The report also highlights the long-litigated case to enforce Illinois’ 1995 Parental Notification Act, which remains in legal limbo and unenforced.

The NARAL report underscores the unacceptable reality that Illinois’ laws and far too many lawmakers favor abortion. After the tabulation of points, NARAL ranks Illinois as the 19th most anti-life state in the nation — with North Dakota ranking 50th and California placing 1st in this dubious competition. NARAL also gave the state of Washington an “A+,” while Maine, Oregon, Maryland, and Connecticut received an “A.” States that received an “A-” are Alaska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.

The states that received a failing grade from NARAL, thus being the safest for the unborn, are Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Virginia.

In many places of employment a gigantic board is posted listing the shortages and outages of essential medications, such as antibiotics, pain relievers, anesthetics and drugs for sedation. This problem has been significant for years, and has worsened considerably in the last year, impeding pharmacists’ ability to provide vital care for our patients. The FDA has placed the approval of this “chemical cousin” analog of mifepristone (sometimes known by its antiquated experimental name, RU 486) ahead of the need to address this severe health care issue.

Our disgust for the deadly FDA action is profound and beyond the ability to verbalize. Ulipristal acetate, according to its own developers, can kill embryos and feti. It is marketed in Europe as EllaOne® . The low dose 30mg form of Ella®, has been prioritized for approval by the US FDA, which would have served the citizens of the US better by adequately addressing the current, rolling shortages of truly lifesaving and essential medications, rather than chemicals whose main intent is to snuff out a nascent life in the first few weeks of existence.

The embryocidal doses of ulipristal acetate may now be stockpiled and accumulated by prescribers or patients for “medical” chemical abortions at home, sidestepping the so-called regulation of mifepristone/misoprostil (the other abortion drug brought to the US in the 1990s by the Population Council and whose $4 million experimentation bill was entirely footed by mega-billionaire Warren Buffett). This will lead to additional life-endangering problems for the targeted adolescent girls and women, as well as giving continued cover for sexual predators of underage girls and incestuous abusive relationships.

The FDA is expected to continue in its long tradition of relegating females to lowest class health care status. PFLI rounded and vehemently denounces and condemns the FDA for this inappropriate use of its drug regulatory power to destroy life rather than approve and regulate medicines which actually are life-saving and preserve health.

The Gallup released the results of a new survey confirming, for the third time in the last year, that more Americans call themselves pro-life than “pro-choice” on abortion. That’s enough for the respected polling firm to say a pro-life majority is the “new normal” in the United States.

According to a May 3-6 Gallup poll, 47 percent of Americans say they are pro-life on abortion versus 45 percent who say they are “pro-choice,” supporting legal abortions.

This is nearly identical to the 47% to 46% division Gallup found last July, which was down from the 51-42 percent split favoring the pro-life position last May.

Because this is the third consecutive time Gallup has found more Americans taking the pro-life position, the polling firm calls the results “a real change in public opinion.”

Looking at the Gallup polling data dating back to 1995, the pro-life movement has been successful in changing public opinion on abortion — as Gallup found a 56-33 percent pro-abortion split in 1995. That 23 percent pro-abortion majority has shifted 25 percent towards the pro-life position to the pro-life majority the movement against abortion enjoys today.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life president Anne Fox credits that shift to the pro-life movement’s focus on legislation such as a partial-birth abortion ban that highlights how abortion kills unborn children.

“The battles we have had to fight at the legislative level, Partial Birth Abortion Ban and Obamacare among them, and at the political level (which provides our only chance to get abortion into the media) are the cause of these positive moves in public opinion,” she said.

“You and I are working to educate people about the value of every human life and we are succeeding,” she added.

The new Gallup poll presents other good news for the pro-life movement.

“All age groups have become more attached to the pro-life label since 2005, with particularly large increases among young adults and those aged 50 to 64 years,” the poll noted.

Meanwhile, men and women have also become more likely to identify as pro-life, with the increase among women coming mainly since 2008, whereas the increase in men started after 2006.

Conservative writer Ed Morrissey notes that the Gallup poll found 18 percent more Americans say abortion is morally wrong than say it is morally right.

He suggests the pro-life number is moving up because people are internalizing that through people they know who have experienced the pain of an abortion and are taking that message to heart.

“We are looking at a cultural shift on abortion, where its perceived morality (consistently rejected by majorities over the same period of time) has finally come into closer relationship with personal identification on the issue,” he said. “It’s not the political divide that’s driving these numbers – but it may be that the cultural shift has started to impact political identification as well. If so, pro-choice Democrats could find themselves in a minority party in the next several years.”

Gallup’s own conclusion is that politics are playing a role as Republicans an independents become more pro-life and Democrats more pro-abortion.

Republicans have become more likely to call themselves pro-life since polling conducted in 2003/2004, as have Republican-leaning independents since 2005/2006. Independents who lean to neither party also became more likely to call themselves “pro-life” between 2003/2004 and 2005/2006, but have since held steady.

Democrats’ self-identification with the pro-life position has moved in the other direction, declining from 37% in 2003/2004 to 31% in 2009/2010. Among independents who lean Democratic, there has been no movement in either direction.

“Barring evidence that Americans are growing more wary about the morality of abortion per se, the trends by party identification suggest that increased political polarization may be a factor in Republicans’ preference for the “pro-life” label, particularly since Barack Obama took office,” Gallup notes.

“Whatever the cause, the effect is that the pro-life label has become increasingly dominant among Republicans and to a lesser degree among independents, while the pro-choice label has become more dominant among Democrats,” the polling firm concludes.

Thomas More Society Responds by Seeking Leave of Court to Defend Parental Notice

Chicago, Illinois March 12-Reacting to the recent claim by the Attorney General that the Illinois Constitution contains a right to abortion, attorneys from the Thomas More Society will appear in Cook County court on Monday, March 15, again seeking to intervene in the latest American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit, challenging the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995. 

In Hope Clinic, et al., v. Brent Adams et al. (No. 09 CH 38661), Thomas More Society attorneys are representing Illinois State’s Attorneys Stu Umholtz (R-Tazewell), Ed Deters (D-Effingham) and Ray Cavanaugh (R-Henderson), and maintain that because there is no right to abortion in the Illinois Constitution, the ACLU’s latest challenge to parental notice is baseless. The Attorney General, representing various Illinois officials who are named as defendants, has moved to dismiss the case on other grounds.

“Because the ACLU has already lost in federal court, its lawyers must prove in state court both the foundational contention that the Illinois Constitution of 1970 guaranteed a right to abortion and the further contention that such a right is even stronger than the federal abortion right upheld in Roe v. Wade, handed down in 1973. The contention that the Illinois Constitution includes a right to abortion is an utter falsehood plainly belied by the historical record. Yet, instead of defending the Illinois Constitution, whose Framers clearly left the issue of abortion to the legislature, the Attorney General has tossed the Constitution aside and conceded to the ACLU its foundational contention that the Illinois Constitution includes a right to abortion,” statedThomas Brejcha, President & Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Society. “Illinois parents have a right to know before their kids are taken for abortions. If the Attorney General won’t defend the parental notice law vigorously, we will do so, until the day when there are no more secret abortions performed on Illinois children.”

The Parental Notice of Abortion Act requires a child under age 18 to notify a parent, grandparent or step-parent in the home, or to go before a judge to get a waiver, prior to undergoing an abortion. The Act was prevented from going into effect in June 1995, by an injunction issued by the federal district court in Chicago. Fourteen years later, in August of 2009, the federal appeals court lifted the injunction. However, before the Act could go into effect, the Illinois Medical Disciplinary Board imposed a 90-day grace period on enforcement. On the day that grace period ended, November 4, the law was in effect for only a few hours before Judge Daniel Riley of the Cook County circuit court granted a temporary restraining order, again halting enforcement of the Act.

Judge Riley has granted Thomas More Society attorneys a special setting for their motion to intervene, at 10 a.m. on Monday. At 10:30 a.m., the court will hear the Attorney General’s motion to dismiss the ACLU’s case. Thomas More Society attorneys will be available for comment following the hearing.

For more information, contact Stephanie Lewis, 312-422-1333.

College students travel to Springfield to lobby against “The Reproductive Health and Access Act”, deemed “Illinois FOCA”.

Springfield, IL – On Thursday, February 11, Illinois students will converge in Springfield for a lobby day hosted by Students for Life of Illinois, calling it “Cupcakes at the Capital”. Their lobbying efforts will focus on dissuading the Illinois General Assembly from passing “The Reproductive Health and Access Act”. The bill has been called the Illinois Freedom of Choice Act, due to its radical agenda to remove commonsense restrictions on abortion ranging from parental notification to right of conscience laws for health care providers.

Students will give cupcakes to the legislators with the message “Life is Sweet” written in the icing. “So often, people go into lobbying with a demanding spirit. We want to show our appreciation for our representatives, while at the same time boldly informing them of our stance on this crucial issue,” said John-Paul Deddens, Executive Director of Students for Life of Illinois. “Nothing in last year’s Illinois FOCA or what we expect to be introduced this year is meant to help women in need. It only tears down what few protections we have in Illinois.”

Students from over 13 different schools including University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Loyola University Chicago, Lewis University, Bradley University and Northern Illinois University will be lobbying Thursday in Springfield.

Students for Life of Illinois is an umbrella organization that exists to help college students bring about a culture of life on their campuses by providing resources, training and support. More on Students for Life of Illinois at www.ProLifeIllinois.com.