Lay

Thirty-three-year-old Neesha smiled as she talked about the state law that led her to choose life for her son.  In 2022, Neesha lived in Georgia and was a busy single mom to four beautiful children.  When she found out that she was expecting a fifth child, she worried about having the time and resources to give her baby the life he deserved while also caring for her other children. 

“I kept thinking that I can’t do another pregnancy alone, and I had to look at other options,” she said.  

Neesha told a friend that she felt like abortion was the only answer.  She had already experienced eight abortions, and while she was familiar with the process, each abortion had left her feeling empty and, as she put it, more “desensitized” to life.  She thought often about her aborted children, and she wondered what their life would have been like.  

Feeling as though she had no other options, Neesha called an abortion center to schedule the procedure.  She was told that Georgia’s heartbeat law limits abortion once a baby’s heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks’ gestation. At this stage of fetal development, a baby’s heart is already beating at 110 beats per minute and the unborn baby has over a 90 percent chance of surviving to birth and beyond.   

Follow LifeNews on the MeWe social media network for the latest pro-life news free from Facebook’s censorship!

Neesha’s unborn baby already had a heartbeat, so she didn’t proceed with an abortion.  Recounting her experience now, she said that she is grateful and thankful for the heartbeat law because it opened her eyes to the other options available for her and her child.  

A friend at church connected her with a whole network of resources in Georgia to support women facing unplanned pregnancies before, during, and after the birth. One of these organizations was Abiding Love, an adoption agency that works to support birth mothers through an open adoption. Neesha said adoption was never really discussed among her family, and she had many questions about the process. 

After meeting with the team at Abiding Love, Neesha chose life for her unborn son and decided to move forward with adoption. As the process started, Neesha faced an incredible hurdle when she was laid off from her job. The Abiding Love team never left Neesha’s side and assisted her financially so that she could focus on her health and her family. 

When Neesha was ready, she selected a couple from Florida to adopt her son, and they met for the first time at a local restaurant. Months earlier, Neesha had been encouraged to write down everything she was looking for in an adoptive family, and this couple perfectly aligned with what she envisioned. 

Over the next several months, Neesha bonded with the adoptive couple, and they supported her during her pregnancy and helped prepare for the new baby’s arrival. 

“They loved him before they even knew who he was,” Neesha said. “They gave me a tour of his room, and they had clothes for him. They were ready for him.” 

The adoptive parents stayed with Neesha at the hospital during her delivery of a beautiful and healthy baby boy. “I was able to bask in the moment and to see that his new parents were there for me and for him.” 

Today, Neesha has a loving and open relationship with her 10-month-old son and his adoptive parents.   

“Even though I didn’t plan for this pregnancy, even though I didn’t have a plan in place, there were people who did,” Neesha said. “There were people who were waiting for his arrival. There were people who already loved him before they met him. There were people ready to embrace him. There were people ready to conquer everything with him no matter what.” 

Neesha credits Georgia’s heartbeat law with opening her eyes to the beauty of adoption.  “I love my son so very much. The heartbeat law not only saved his life, but it blessed another family’s life. It’s an all-around beautiful story,” she said. 

Today, Neesha openly shares her story to help other women who face unplanned pregnancy and to draw attention to the importance of life-affirming laws like the heartbeat law.   

“I get to live a life of freedom and rejoicing, and I get to show women that there is another way. It doesn’t make you any less of a mother if you choose adoption for your child. It makes you a strong individual.” 

LifeNews Note: Anna Callahan writes for SBA Pro-Life, where this column originally appeared.

The post Mother Confirms Abortion Ban Saved Her Baby’s Life appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Help the Calgary father of the 27-year-old autistic woman stop his daughter from being killed by euthanasia by donating to his legal expenses.

Due to a publication ban, the media refers to the father as (WV) and his daughter as (MV). WV contends that MV does not qualify for euthanasia because she is physically healthy, even though she is experiencing suicidal ideation.

I reported on April 9, 2024, that the father was granted an injunction preventing the euthanasia death of his 27-year-old autistic daughter–at least until the Alberta Court of Appeal decides on his challenge to the decision approving his daughter’s euthanasia death.

This case is particularly distressing for me since I have an autistic son.

Please follow LifeNews on Rumble for the latest pro-life videos.

The Calgary father has already accumulated more than $100,000 in legal expenses in his attempt to prevent the euthanasia death of his healthy autistic daughter.

The legal expenses will continue to climb as his lawyers prepare for the Alberta Court of Appeal hearing in October 2024.

Help the Calgary father of the 27-year-old autistic woman stop his daughter from being killed by euthanasia by donating to his legal expenses.

LifeNews.com Note: Alex Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and you can read his blog here.

The post Father of Daughter With Autism is Trying to Stop Her From Being Euthanized appeared first on LifeNews.com.

The Biden administration is under fire for selectively prosecuting pro-life advocates who protested abortion inside abortion centers while ignoring hundreds of pro-abortion attacks on churches, pro-life groups and pregnancy centers.

That political persecution is bad enough, but a new report indicates at least one pro-life advocate jailed for protesting abortion has been treated in a horrific manner that can only be described as a human rights abuse.

Heather Idoni is one of the dozen pro-life advocates who have been charged or convicted of violating the bogus FACE law that denies free speech rights to pro-life Americans. As LifeNews reported, the pro-life advocates have been found guilty of violating a federal law protecting abortion centers and now face the possibility of 11 years in prison.

Idoni was found guilty on all counts the Biden administration brought against them for allegedly violating the FACE law. The jury found all of the defendants guilty of both charges they faced in court and they were taken into custody.

Now a new report indicates Idoni has been treated shoddily while in prison and was shackled like a death row inmate during a court appearance – and was subjected to 22 days of solitary confinement for sharing food with other prisoners.

In an exclusive interview, she said that she received this punishment for sharing food with fellow prisoners. Idoni alleged that she was allowed to walk outside her cell only for two hours in the middle of the night for two hours each day and that the lights of her cell were continually kept on. Idoni has been in prison since she was convicted last autumn.  

Follow LifeNews on the MeWe social media network for the latest pro-life news free from Facebook’s censorship!

Fellow pro-life advocate Cal Zastro, who joined Idoni in another traditional pro-life rescue in Tennessee and has also been convicted of violation of the FACE Act, told LifeSiteNews that when Idoni was brought into the courtroom for a trial in Nashville, the U.S. marshal had the middle-aged woman shackled at the wrists, waist, and feet, as if she were a dangerous criminal. 

Zastro said that, upon entering the courtroom, the shocked judge ordered the shackles removed. Initially the marshal agreed to remove the shackles from only one wrist to allow Idoni freedom to write, a concession necessary for her to take notes, as she was then representing herself in court. Only at the insistence of the indignant judge were the shackles of both wrists finally removed, although the marshal left the bars around her waist and feet. 

According to the report, Idoni is relying on her faith in God saing that, despite the prison harship “God is going to be glorified” and she has “never not felt His presence.” 

Idoni and the other pro-life advcoates are appealing the bogus convictions.

The post Pro-Life Advocate Placed in Solitary Confinement for 22 Days for Sharing Food appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement after co-leading, alongside Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a coalition of 17 states in suing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over its new rule mandating workplace abortion accommodations through an erroneous interpretation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2022 (PWFA):

“This is yet another attempt by the Biden administration to force through administrative fiat what it cannot get passed through Congress. Under this radical interpretation of the PWFA, business owners will face federal lawsuits if they don’t accommodate employees’ abortions, even if those abortions are illegal under state law. The PWFA was meant to protect pregnancies, not end them.

“The new rule, passed by a bare 3-2 majority of unelected EEOC commissioners, goes beyond what Congress authorized under the PWFA.”

The PWFA fills a gap in federal law by ensuring pregnant workers receive accommodation to protect their pregnancies and unborn children. A diverse coalition of bipartisan lawmakers, business groups, and nonprofit organizations supported the pro-family aim of the 2022 legislation.

LifeNews is on TruthSocial. Please follow us here.

Seventeen states have brought this lawsuit to enjoin and set aside the EEOC’s unprecedented and unlawful abortion-accommodation mandate. The states joining Arkansas and Tennessee are: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of Arkansas, can be accessed here.

The post 17 States Challenge Biden Rule Forcing Employers to Facilitate Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Just recently, we informed you of the coordinated efforts across the country by the abortion industry and its political allies to target pro-life Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs) – an effort that we detailed in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has become the latest pro-abortionist to target PRCs by issuing individual subpoenas to at least ten PRCs in California – one of whom we are representing – requesting information regarding their compliance with a law that was newly enacted in January of this year, Cal. Health & Saf. Code Section 123621.

The law is an attempt to limit how ultrasounds can be performed, especially by pro-life centers. The pro-abortion bureaucrats who wrote the rule know full well that an ultrasound – actually getting to see the baby on the monitor – is the most effective way anyone can be convinced to allow an unborn child to live.

Specifically, the regulation, in effect, requires that ultrasounds only be performed in licensed clinics, outpatient settings, and licensed health facilities by a physician, a surgeon, a medical group practice, a chiropractic practice, a physical therapist practice, or a facility affiliated with those settings. The law specifically exempts licensed midwives and other entities listed elsewhere in California law.

Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures and videos.

Any person or entity found in violation of Section 123621 is liable for a fine of $2,500 for a first offense and $5,000 for subsequent offenses, and the California Attorney General, a district attorney, a city attorney, or a county attorney may bring an action to impose the fines. In addition to the fines, the same state actors may seek costs, fees, and additional civil penalties.

PRCs and the pro-life community know just how powerful and life-saving ultrasounds can be and will tenaciously guard their ability to provide ultrasounds to women seeking them. Our client has meticulously followed the law.

However, it is clear that Attorney General Bonta is on a fishing and intimidation expedition by issuing these subpoenas to the California PRCs. We already know what he thinks about pro-life PRCs since he was the lead attorney general on an open letter condemning them and accusing them of “us[ing] deceptive and unethical methods to lure pregnant [women] who are seeking comprehensive reproductive healthcare—including abortion—into their centers. And when those people visit, [PRCs] often provide inaccurate and deceptive information about reproductive health.”

If that weren’t egregious enough, the letter also calls the abortion pill reversal—a high dose of progesterone such as has been prescribed by doctors for years to stop miscarriages—“an unproven and potentially risky medical protocol.”

Bonta and the other attorneys general who signed the letter are leading a dangerous smear campaign across the country against PRCs, which are needed now more than ever in pro-abortion states.

We know how important the work is that PRCs do every day, and we will continue to fight for and support them however we can. We are representing one of the PRCs and are coordinating with the others to ensure that  Attorney General Bonta receives a strong and unified response and that he is aware that these centers are represented by legal counsel who stand ready to defend the centers the moment he steps beyond the bounds of the law.

If you are the director of a PRC and need our assistance, contact us at ACLJ.org/HELP. If you want to help these PRCs take a stand to protect their rights as they fight for innocent human life, then stand with us as we engage in this battle.

LifeNews Note: Olivia Summers is Senior Litigation Counsel with the ACLJ, focusing on pro-life advocacy and protecting the freedoms of speech and religion.

The post California is Trying to Stop Pregnancy Centers From Showing Moms Ultrasounds of Their Babies appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Originally posted April 29, 2020

Happy Feast! (April 29th in the Novus Ordo, April 30th in the Traditional calendar)

Excerpt reblogged from a longer post here: https://nonvenipacem.com/2020/02/09/to-confound-their-arrogance-i-will-raise-up-women-endowed-with-strength-and-divine-wisdom/

Next, let’s turn to Saint Catherine of Siena, 14th Century mystic and healer of schism. Her masterpiece, The Dialogue, is available online HERE.  Much to her dismay, she was called to teach and instruct out in the real world, when all she wanted to do was be alone to contemplate our Lord. Among other things, it was left to her to publicly rebuke a bunch of scheming traitorous Cardinals who had invalidly faux “elected” an antipope after invalidly convoking a faux conclave while the throne was already occupied.

Funny that.

The Life of Catherine of Siena, written by her confessor and spiritual director, Blessed Raymund of Capua, reveals how Catherine discovered that she was to have a teaching role:

The virgin, lying prostrate at the feet of the Lord, had spoken more by way of tears than with her lips, He would reply: “Be quiet, sweetest daughter; it is necessary for you to fulfill your every duty, so that with my grace you may assist others as well as yourself. I have no intention of cutting you off from me; on the contrary, I wish to bind you more closely to myself, by means of love of the neighbour…

What is there to be astonished at or to lament about if I lead you to do what in infancy you desired to do?” And Catherine, somewhat comforted by this reply, would say, as once Blessed Mary had said, “How shall this thing be?” And the Lord: “According as my goodness shall ordain.” And Catherine, like a good disciple imitating her Master, would answer: “Let your will, not mine, be done in all things, Lord, for I am darkness and you are light; I am not, whereas you are He who is; I most ignorant, and you the wisdom of God the Father. But I beg you, O Lord—if it is not too presumptuous of me—how can what you have just said come about; that is to say, how can I, wretched and frail as I am, be of use to souls? My sex, as you know, is against it in many ways, both because it is not highly considered by men, and also because it is not good, for decency’s sake, for a woman to mix with men.”

To these words the Lord would reply, as once the Archangel Gabriel had replied, that nothing is impossible to God, for He said: “Am not I He who created the human race, and divided it into male and female? I spread abroad the grace of my spirit where I will. In my eyes there is neither male nor female, rich nor poor, but all are equal, for I can do all things with equal ease. It is as easy for me to create an Angel as an ant, and to create all the heavens is as easy for me as to create the merest worm. It is written of me that I made whatever I willed to make, for nothing is impossible to me. (Psalm 113). “Do you still remain doubtful? Do you imagine that I am unable to find ways of achieving whatever I have determined and predetermined on? However, I realize that you do not speak thus from lack of faith but from humility. Therefore you must know that in these latter days there has been such an upsurge of pride, especially in the case of men who imagine themselves to be learned or wise, that my justice cannot endure them any longer, without delivering a just chastisement upon them that will bring them to confusion. But since my mercy transcends all else I do, I shall first give them a salutary lesson, to see whether they will come to their senses and humble themselves; as I did with the Jews and the Gentiles, when I sent amongst them idiots whom I had filled with divine wisdom. To confound their arrogance, I will raise up women ignorant and frail by nature but endowed with strength and divine wisdom. Then, if they will come to their senses and humble themselves, I will behave with the utmost mercy towards them, that is to say, towards those who, according to the grace given them, receive my doctrine, offered to them in fragile but specially chosen vessels, and follow it reverently. Those who will not accept this salutary lesson, I shall with perfect justice reduce to such confusion that the world will look upon them as objects of contempt and derision.

The Life of Saint Catherine of Siena, Part Two, Chapter One HERE

Planned Parenthood’s latest 2022–2023 annual report, “Above & Beyond,” celebrates the most abortions it has ever committed as it rakes in all-time high taxpayer funding and exorbitant profits. While Planned Parenthood remains the nation’s largest abortion provider, it deceptively claims to be expanding health care services – yet what it really means is more abortions. And it has gone above and beyond to achieve that goal.

In fact, Planned Parenthood went above and beyond, committing 392,715 abortions for an appalling record high number of babies killed. That’s 18,560 more lives ended than the previous year.

Further, Planned Parenthood provided 552,721 “emergency contraception kits.” As we’ve explained before, Planned Parenthood does not count these potential abortifacients (any drug or chemical that induces abortion) in its already shocking abortion total. Yet we know that “emergency contraception kits” can be used to end the lives of innocent babies.

Sharp Decline in Non-Abortion Services

While Planned Parenthood celebrates its ghoulish abortion expansion and excessive taxpayer funding, it continues a downward trend in adoption referrals. It reports the lowest number of adoption referrals in 10 years: a mere 1,721 adoption referrals. That’s only 1 adoption referral for every 228 babies killed. Is this what they call “unbiased care”?

Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures and videos.

Adoption referrals are not the only non-abortion service in decline. In the past year, Planned Parenthood decreased the number of cancer screenings and prevention provided, well-woman exams, preventative care visits, and contraceptive services. It also decreased in several of its non-abortion procedures, including colposcopies, LEEP procedures, and cryotherapy.

This is a disturbing trend we’ve seen for years. In the past five years:

• Well-woman exams and preventative care decreased by 39.35%.
• Prenatal services decreased by 35.48%.
• Cancer screening and prevention decreased by 18%.
• Adoption referrals decreased by 60%.

And while non-abortion services plummeted, in the same five-year period, abortions increased by nearly 14%, private funding shot up by almost 70%, and taxpayer funding increased by 13%. Year after year, Planned Parenthood funding reaches record highs – all while playing the victim.

All-Time High Funding

This year, Planned Parenthood laments facing “the most trying of times;” but in the past year alone, its private contributions increased 44% from the previous year, to just shy of $1 billion. And it closed the year with a shocking all-time high of $2 billion in revenue.

That’s right. Planned Parenthood raked in $2 billion, including another hike in taxpayer funding. As inflation soars and Americans struggle to make ends meet, taxpayer funding reached nearly $700 million – another all-time high for the abortion giant. At a time when government spending should be curbed, your hard-earned money is being used to commit the slaughter of unborn children – for profit. Planned Parenthood ended the year with over $178 million in profits, fueled by its big abortion business – its third-highest year EVER. In fact, Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic revenue (“Non-Government Health Services Revenue”) set a record high.

Abortion Across State Lines

With the massive coffers lining its pockets, Planned Parenthood is going above and beyond to facilitate abortion across state lines, focusing its devious efforts on those living in states with abortion bans. Since the overturning of Roe, Planned Parenthood has ramped up its deadly efforts to transport expectant mothers across state lines for abortions.

In 2023, Planned Parenthood launched a study focused on how it could more effectively prey on expectant mothers who must travel out of state for abortions. The abortion giant coordinated efforts to transport at least 33,000 unborn children across state lines to be killed (providing transportation, travel support, financial assistance, and referrals) – all in the name of “abortion care.” Planned Parenthood covered travel costs for more than 15,000 abortions; and more than 50,000 received money to pay for their abortions.

Planned Parenthood also went above and beyond to strategically target states with litigation. In the wake of Dobbs, numerous states reassessed their abortion laws. But prior to Roe v. Wade being overturned, many states already had laws banning abortion on the books. In a relentless attempt to expand abortion on demand to every state, Planned Parenthood has 30 open cases that challenge abortion policies in 16 states. Its plan is to create a “better future;” for Planned Parenthood, that means more abortion, not more health care.

Global Target

Planned Parenthood’s better future also includes a global target. Through training and litigation, Planned Parenthood Global is infecting hundreds of thousands of people worldwide with its radical pro-abortion ideology.

In the name of reproductive rights, it partners with 80 organizations worldwide and even admits that 90% of the countries it focuses on have so-called “restrictive or highly restrictive” abortion laws. Planned Parenthood is all about abortion and will stop at nothing to expand its evil empire.

The Myth of Reproductive Rights

Repeatedly, the far Left equates abortion with “reproductive rights” or “choice.” However, we know they don’t celebrate the freedom to choose life. And while Planned Parenthood boasts of “unbiased care,” where’s its data on assisting women or families who choose life and parenthood? For each individual prenatal service provided in 2022–2023, Planned Parenthood performed 62 abortions. How many women chose parenthood? This data is notably absent from its report.

Think of it this way: There are over 3.6 million live births in the U.S. each year, and tragically about a million abortions. That’s nearly four babies born for every baby killed. Yet Planned Parenthood kills – aborts – 62 babies for every single individual prenatal service it provides. We know that Planned Parenthood bloats its data on “services” to hide its abortion figures, such that a single prenatal service can be as simple as an ultrasound. In fact, we know from prior reports that Planned Parenthood could rack up six to seven “services” in a single prenatal visit. As we’ve explained before:

With the accounting shenanigans that Planned Parenthood uses to inflate its numbers, we know it’s referring to individual services, not women or babies helped. For every ultrasound, 60 babies are killed. For every second-trimester exam, another 60 babies are killed.

The Biden Administration uses the same euphemism (“reproductive rights”) for abortion. Earlier this year Vice President Kamala Harris launched her “Reproductive Freedoms Tour.” Her goal? To fight back against “extreme attacks” on abortion (“reproductive freedoms”). She even made a so-called “historic” tour of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota, where she celebrated Planned Parenthood’s “true leadership.” Of course, to the Biden Administration, “leadership” means expanding abortion.

We’ve warned you how the Biden Administration is more committed to serving the abortion lobby than ever before. President Biden declared in his State of the Union Address: “I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.” However, the ACLJ has not lost hope. We are fighting back against this unconstitutional attack on life.

We filed three amicus briefs in the Supreme Court abortion pill case. This case is particularly important as the abortion pill has become the most common method of abortion in the United States. We also stepped in to protect the First Amendment rights of pro-life sidewalk counselors and those targeted simply for wearing pro-life apparel in federal institutions – and won. We took action on behalf of Native American leaders opposing the expansion of abortion. We filed a brief at the Supreme Court on behalf of pro-life Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs) to defeat the coordinated assault on PRCs’ lifesaving services.

The ACLJ’s mission is straightforward. We defend your religious and constitutional liberties, and the right to life is fundamental to liberty. We honor life because God is the author of life. While Planned Parenthood goes above and beyond to destroy life, the ACLJ will always fight to protect the right to life and defend those who cannot defend themselves.

LifeNews Note: Matthew Clark is Senior Counsel for Digital Advocacy with the ACLJ in the Washington, D.C. headquarters.

The post Planned Parenthood Made $178 Million in Profits From Killing Almost 400,000 Babies in Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Florida’s new heartbeat law will take effect on Wednesday that prohibits abortions on unborn babies who have a detectable heartbeat at 6 weeks.

Unborn children who can feel pain will remain protected and a law protecting babies with a heartbeat will go into effect on May 1.

The pro-life law will save thousands of babies from abortions and end Florida’s status as an abortion destination in the southeast. Florida is surrounded by states with pro-life laws in effect that protect babies and help women and the abortion industry has been directing customers to Florida for abortions instead of helping women and unborn children.

As a result, thousands of babies are expected to be saved from abortion and will get a chance at life.

Implementation of the new pro-life law comes after the Florida Supreme Court upheld pro-life legislation.

HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation!

On April 14, 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 5, known as the “Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality Act,” to protect the lives of Florida’s most vulnerable by prohibiting all abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. Florida Planned Parenthood affiliates and a group of independent abortionists sued the state on June 1, 2022. The complaint alleges that the 15-week ban violates a right to privacy within the Florida Constitution.

Later, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation to save babies from abortions who have beating hearts.

DeSantis made Florida the next state to officially protect the lives of unborn children after Roe was overturned. Pro-Life Americans from across the country celebrated the new law, which protects babies whose heartbeats can easily be detected and whose lives have existed for a month and a half starting at conception.

The law would save tens of thousands of lives annually and provide $25 million in aid to women and families but it was held up by the same lawsuit.

Earlier this month, the state’s high court upheld both the 15 week and heartbeat laws. In a 6-1 ruling, the Florida Supreme Court upheld Florida’s law protecting preborn children from most abortions after 15 weeks. The decision paves the way for additional protections for preborn babies beginning at 6 weeks.

“This is a big win for life and the Florida constitution,” stated Lynda Bell, president of Florida Right to Life. “We salute the Florida Supreme Court for getting this right!”

Another pro-life group also applauded the ruling.

“Today’s victory for unborn children who have a heartbeat and can feel pain is in line with the views of the majority of Floridians who want to protect babies and serve mothers and families. As Florida faces what may be its biggest ballot fight yet, Gov. Ron DeSantis must be at the forefront of protecting Florida from Big Abortion’s attempt to eliminate the rights of unborn children, parents, women, and girls. Gov. DeSantis signed protections for babies who feel pain and have a heartbeat into law and now he must lead in defending those protections,” said SBA ProLife State Policy Director Katie Daniel of Tampa in response to the ruling.

Polling shows the heartbeat law is right in line with the views of Florida residents.

Not only do a majority of Floridians support protecting babies from abortion, they support the heartbeat law by a strong 62% margin.

Polling conducted by Ragnar Research for SBA Pro-Life America and the Florida Family Policy Council shows likely Florida voters strongly support protecting human life in the womb once a heartbeat can be detected. Almost three-quarters of voters oppose allowing abortion on demand up until birth. The poll, with a ±4% margin of error, surveyed 500 Floridians statewide from February 27-March 2.

Key poll findings include:

• 62% of Floridians support legislation to protect unborn babies when a heartbeat is detected, with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.
  • 61% of Independents and 58% of women surveyed support such legislation.
  • Hispanic voters were even more likely than others to support the legislation, at 76%.
• Only 22% of likely voters support allowing abortion until the moment of birth.

DeSantis signed the bill immediately so it could be defended in court. The bill would also provide $25 million in aid to women and families.

“We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” DeSantis wrote in a statement. “I applaud the Legislature for passing the Heartbeat Protection Act that expands pro-life protections and provides additional resources for young mothers and families.”

The post Florida Heartbeat Law Takes Effect Wednesday, Will Save Thousands of Babies From Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.

The Kansas state House has voted to override vetoes from pro-abortion Democrat Governor Laura Kelly.

The lower chamber of the legislature voted to override her veto of two pro-life bills.

One measure promotes adoption by establishing adoption savings accounts, increasing tax credits for adoptive families, eliminating sales tax burden for pregnancy resource centers, and creating tax credits for donors to those organizations. The other bill would protect women from coerced abortions.

The House voted 85-40 on both override votes and now the vote heads to the Senate, where successful override votes are expected.

While abortion advocates often claim that pro-life Americans don’t support adoption, it’s a pro-abortion Democrat governor who made it clear that she doesn’t support adoptive families and children. The Democrat governor used her veto pen to block existing resources giving financial relief to families longing to adopt children and support to organizations that assist moms who want to choose life for their babies.

SUPPORT LIFENEWS! If you want to help fight abortion, please donate to LifeNews.com!

But thanks to the legislature, adoptive families will get more support once the vto override is concluded.

Kansans for Life told LifeNews.com it was very disappointed with Kelly’s veto.

“By her heartless veto, Governor Kelly has shown once again that her only allegiance is to the profit-driven abortion industry, and not to vulnerable Kansas women, children, and families. KFL calls on legislators to override the governor’s veto of HB 2465 when they return to Topeka next week,” said Jeanne Gawdun, KFL Director of Government Relations.

“Four times this legislative session, Gov. Coercion Kelly has proved her abortion extremism,” said Jeanne Gawdun, Kansans for Life Director of Government Relations, in an email to LifeNews.

“First, she vetoed protections for women who are coerced into abortions and shot down transparency in state statistics reporting; then she blocked financial relief to families hoping to adopt. Now she wants to remove resources for women facing unexpected pregnancies. It’s clear the only ‘choice’ the Kelly/Toland Administration supports is abortion.”

Kansans for Life urges legislators to stand with Kansas women and families by overriding Gov. Kelly’s extreme, out-of-touch, veto.

The post Kansas House Overrides Gov Laura Kelly’s Vetoes of Two Pro-Life Bills appeared first on LifeNews.com.

In what appears to be the 250th attack on a Catholic Church since the Dobbs decision was leaked in early 2022, abortion activists vandalized a church in Oregon with graphic messages.

People heading to church services Sunday morning at St. Patrick’s Church in northwest Portland, Oregon arrived to find disturbing pro-abortion messages on the church door and sidewalk. The front door bears a stain from where staff had to have a previous pro-abortion message removed.

As Andy Ngo reported on Twitter about the latest attack, “Multiple Christian houses of worship have been attacked in Portland since 2020 by far-left extremists but the left-wing leadership, DA and law enforcement do not treat them as bias crimes.”

According to the pro-lfie group CatholicVote, 249 attacks on Catholic churches have taken place since the Dobbs leak.

SUPPORT LIFENEWS! If you want to help fight abortion, please donate to LifeNews.com!

CatholicVote’s Violence Tracker has documented more than 400 attacks and vandalisms against Catholic churches across the United States since May 2020.

The post Abortion Advocates Vandalize Church With Graphic Pro-Abortion Messages appeared first on LifeNews.com.

The 53rd annual Heartbeat International Conference, held in Salt Lake City, has just concluded, and – when counting those who participated in the conference virtually – was the largest one yet (about 1300 in person and some 700 virtually).

I’ve been at 30 of the 53, and can say that the determination of the participants to do the life-saving work that God has called them to do has never been more palpable and strong.

As Peggy Hartshorn, Board Chair and Past President of Heartbeat told me, this is likely because “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Participants – who represent the work of pregnancy centers who are counseling, training, and healing people every day — came with a deep awareness of the consequential challenges the pro-life movement faces this year. We need to elect pro-life candidates and stop pro-abortion ballot initiatives that force abortion-on-demand into state constitutions and take away from the people and their elected representatives the right they have to shape policy on abortion.

The theme of this year’s conference was “United for Life.” Many of the speakers reinforced that theme of unity, stressing how essential it is at all times, and especially now.

The unity we experienced at the Conference was international, and a favorite moment of many participants each year is the “Parade of Nations.” Prior to the first evening’s dinner, of a procession of dozens of people each carrying the flag of a different nation enters the banquet room, to the applause of all. Each of these nations has affiliates of Heartbeat International operating within its borders, and many of these center leaders travel from those nations to the Conference.

SUPPORT LIFENEWS! If you want to help fight abortion, please donate to LifeNews.com!

We heard, for example, from the woman who runs the only pregnancy center in Bulgaria. Her faith and her determination to serve were an inspiration.

The Conference, of course, is marked by numerous workshops, covering a range of topics from fundraising to the best ultrasound equipment and from the latest medical updates to the most common legal challenges.

Not only are key leaders and experts there to present their knowledge and experience, but the grassroots servants of the movement are also there to share how they make their centers work from day to day, and to thrive, despite every imaginable obstacle.

One of the special moments at each Heartbeat Conference is the granting of the “Peggy Hartshorn Servant Leader” awards. In the light of the Christian gospel, of course, leadership is service, after the example of the one who “came not to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Each year, this award is given to several people who have exemplified that spirit of servant leadership. Of course, in a movement that serves those who cannot repay us and in a room filled with those who go on the frontlines each day to save babies from abortion and replace the despair of their parents with new hope, such people are not hard to find.

This year, the servant leadership award was given to Dr. Dermot Kearney, MD, who has done heroic work, persevering through many obstacles and much opposition, to bring the abortion pill reversal protocol to the UK. Heartbeat International has become the home, the infrastructure, that supports the worldwide work of abortion pill reversal, which now counts over 5000 lives – whose process of chemical starvation had already begun – as being saved by a progesterone treatment that in most cases reverses the deadly effects of mifepristone.

Servant Leader awards were also given this year to Vikki Parker, Dr. Catherine Stark, and Jim Sprague.

Aside from the waterfall of learning and training to be gained from the individual workshops, participants in the conference were equipped for their work through the presence of dozens of exhibitors, whose organizations and ministries serve to empower and defend the work of the centers.

For instance, Life International was there, which provides a worldwide prayer network in support of the life-saving work of the movement. Likewise, SperaVita Institute had a booth. They serve and equip centers in 34 states and abroad. Participants could also visit the booth of Passion Life and Beautiful Feet International, which are both busy growing pregnancy centers all over the world.

There are many pro-life conferences, large and small, throughout the year, and hopefully, every reader is able to go to at least one of them. But Heartbeat International is in a category all its own. It is awe-inspiring in its display of compassion overcoming, with boundless creativity, a hateful culture of despair and death. Indeed, one could say that the Heartbeat Conference has once again shown in living color the meaning of the Scripture, “Love is stronger than death!” (Songs 8:6).

LifeNews.com Note:  Frank Pavone is the national director for Priests for Life.

The post Pregnancy Center Conference Brings Pro-Life People Together to Help Women and Save Babies appeared first on LifeNews.com.

According to recent reports, birth and fertility rates in the United States have plummeted to the lowest levels since they have been recorded.

CNN reported Thursday that according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), “There were about 3.6 million babies born in 2023, or 54.4 live births for every 1,000 females ages 15 to 44.”

The same day, Axios indicated that the “U.S. fertility rate in 2023 amounted to about 1.62 births per woman — well below the ‘replacement rate’ of 2.1 that would allow a generation to completely replace itself.”

Per Axios, according to the government data, birth rates “fell among adult women younger than 40 and were unchanged for women in their 40s.” Furthermore, “[b]irth rates declined across nearly all racial groups.”

“After a steep plunge in the first year of the [COVID] pandemic, the fertility rate has fluctuated,” CNN added. “But the 3% drop between 2022 and 2023 brought the rate just below the previous low from 2020, which was 56 births for every 1,000 women of reproductive age.”

Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com

In reaction to this data NCHS statistician Dr. Brady Hamilton stated: “We’ve certainly had larger declines in the past. But decline fits the general pattern.”

The NCHS is a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is in turn an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In addition, CNN’s report noted that states with pro-life laws on the books “had an average fertility rate that was 2.3% higher than states where abortion was not restricted in the first half of 2023, leading to about 32,000 more births than expected.”

City Journal senior editor Steven Malanga referenced a similar fact in his recent article “Baby Blues.”

“One thing that stands out in the United States, however, is how fertility differs among the states—ranging from a low of 1.27 in Vermont to nearly replacement-level in South Dakota,” Malanga wrote.

“Notably, the states with the highest birthrates are overwhelmingly Republican, and those with the lowest are disproportionately Democratic,” he pointed out. “What, if anything, can this tell us?”

Malanga continued:

The 17 states with the highest general fertility rates are all designated by Cook Political Report as Republican, or GOP-leaning, including such Republican strongholds as North Dakota, Nebraska, Louisiana, Utah, and Texas. By contrast, the bottom six states—and nine of the ten states with the lowest fertility rates—are all either Democratic or Democratic-leaning

…

Others near the bottom include Rhode Island, Oregon, Massachusetts, Washington, and California. Only two Democratic states have birthrates above the national average, compared with 20 Republican states with above-average fertility.

“Marriage is certainly a key element in understanding state-level fertility data and birthrates more generally,” he wrote later in the article. “While women may have children outside of marriage, studies consistently show that married couples are more committed, stay together longer, and have more children than do unmarried individuals.”

“Perhaps the most important thing that government can accomplish when it comes to fertility is to do no harm,” Malanga emphasized:

Recent American social policy may well have discouraged marriage, especially among low-income recipients of federal and state government aid. Similarly, local governments played a decisive role in pushing up American housing costs—and creating the disincentives to having children that those costs present.

In response to the news of plunging birth rates X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk wrote on his platform, “While many other countries are worse, America is trending towards extinction!”

Musk has 11 children.

The Daily Wire senior reporter Ryan Saavedra wrote on X: “American women are having fewer children, later in life. Women are establishing fulfilling careers and have more access to contraception.”

Readers can find Malanga’s full City Journal article here.

LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.

The post Birth Rates Plummet to Historic Lows, Lowest in Blue States With Abortions Up to Birth appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Tennessee is one of over a dozen states that currently protect unborn babies from abortions. But that doesn’t stop people from taking teens to other state for secret abortions without their parents knowing.

A new measure the Tennessee legislature signed off on would put a stop to that concerning practice and now it heads to the state’s pro-life governor for his signature. An amended Senate Bill 1971 was concurred by the Senate 25-4 after passing the House 74-24.

The legislation would make it a criminal offense for an adult who is not the parent or guardian of a minor child to assist the minor with concealing or obtaining an abortion. Gov. Bill Lee is expected to sign the bill into law.

Leading pro-life group Tennessee Right to Life told LifeNews it supports the legislation:

The Underage Abortion Trafficking Act, HB1895 sponsored by Representative Jason Zachary, (R-Knoxville) seeks to protect pregnant underage girls and their parents. The proposal would make it unlawful for any adult to recruit, harbor or transport an underage pregnant girl for an abortion procedure or procure abortion chemicals in order to conceal it from her parents or guardian.

Under current Tennessee law, there would be no way to punish this activity.

Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com

The importance of this legislation has become even more urgent as the abortion industry has come up with ways to get around the laws in pro-life states like Tennessee. Recently, Planned Parenthood was caught admitting that they assist underage girls (or adults associated with them) to skirt state laws and transport pregnant girls without the knowledge or consent of their parents (see here).

Although aborting children is a crime under most circumstances in Tennessee. That is not the case in neighboring states like Illinois and Virginia. The abortion industry is funneling minor girls into these states for surgical or chemical procedures without their parents’ knowledge.

This law would make that a crime of unlawful abortion trafficking of a minor, a Class C felony. It would also create civil liability for this action.

Parents have a right to be involved with their daughters’ well-being. The abortion industry has no right to transport or obtain dangerous chemicals for underage girls while keeping their parents in the dark.

Does this sort of thing happen to teenagers? The answer is clearly yes.

Earlier this year, the Planned Parenthood abortion business and other abortion clinic representatives were caught on camera admitting that they take teens to other states for secret abortions without their parents’ consent.

The new Project Veritas expose’ shows Emily, Kansas Planned Parenthood Managing Director admitting, “We do help people get to these places.”

And in another clip, the undercover journalists asks if he needs any documentation about his relationship to a teen exploited for an abortion, and the abortion clinic staffer says no.

PV Journalist: “I don’t have to provide any documentation that I’m related [to the minor], right?”

Nurse, Maple Women’s Health Center, Dallas, Texas: “No.”

“In Part Two of our investigation into the nation’s largest abortion provider, undercover camera has further revealed Planned Parenthood’s nationwide scheme to traffic minors across state lines for secret abortions,” Project Veritas tells LifeNews. “An investigative journalist met with healthcare workers at various clinics in Texas, as well as Planned Parenthood employees in California and Kansas, to further investigate the elaborate lengths the abortion giant will go to facilitate, and help conceal, abortions for minors.”

“As revealed in Part One, Planned Parenthood’s abortion-trafficking services include setting up hotels, arranging inter-state transport, providing doctor’s notes to the child’s school, and even paying for the abortion are all common services they offer to minors without parental knowledge. In Part Two, Texas nurses revealed to our journalist that Planned Parenthood is the go-to collaborator when minors in abortion-outlawed Texas desire to terminate a pregnancy without parental consent,” it added.

In this new video, one Planned Parenthood staff admits they the abortion business does secret abortions on teens in a way “parents won’t find out.”

In addition, Emily, a Planned Parenthood Managing Director in Kansas, confirms to Project Veritas that her clinic frequently sees out of state patients and the organization also helps arrange transport for these abortions: “We mostly see Texas and Oklahoma patients. If you want to go further, you got to go to Illinois. You got to go to Colorado. I think the latest one is Washington, DC, and we do help people get to these places.”

The post Tennessee Legislature Passes Bill to Stop Trafficking Teens to Other States for Secret Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.

“‘There is something very big going on, that I can see, and what it is maybe I shall learn in good time, or in bad time . . . . Hoom, hm, I have not troubled about the Great Wars,’ said Treebeard; ‘they mostly concern the business of Wizards: Wizards are always troubled about the future.  I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me.” 

J.R.R. Tolkein, The Two Towers (1954), chap. 4.

George Washington famously warned Americans against “foreign entanglements,” drawing their attention to the possibilities of their “detached and distant situations” and exhorting them not to “forgo the advantages of so peculiar a situation.”  Parents should give similar advice to their children, and should not, as so many do, extoll the life of boundless concern and bottomless solicitude for other people’s troubles.  Jesus told his disciples “to take . . . no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”  He might have added that the same can be said for strangers and their “things.”

Those strangers shall take thought for the things of themselves (not your things), so you had better take thought for the things that are yours.

There is at my university a great deal of fatuous blather about “selfless service,” this mostly from ruthless careerists who have elbowed their way into the high offices where fatuous blather is expected.  I am  in my dotage more inclined to follow the example of Treebeard, since a man who does not take his own side will have on his side nobody at all.  Everyone should remember what happens to Boxer, that exemplar of selfless service in Orwell’s Animal Farm.  He works and works for the great cause of the Animal Farm, and when his health is finally broken,

“Sure enough, there in the yard was a large closed van, drawn by two horses, with lettering on its side and a sly-looking man in a low-crowned bowler hat sitting on the driver’s seat . . . .‘Fools!  Fools! Shouted Benjamin . . . do you not see what is written on the side of that van . . . . ‘Alfred Simmons, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler . . . Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal.  Kennels Supplied.’”*

This is precisely how those who live by the motto “Selfless Service” will be served.  They will be exploited until they are broken, and then they will be sold for parts.

* * * *

“What is not supposed to be my concern!  First and foremost, the Good Cause, then God’s cause, the cause of mankind, of truth, of freedom, of humanity, of justice; further, the cause of my people, my prince, my fatherland; finally, even the cause of Mind, and a thousand other causes.  Only my cause is never to be my concern.  ‘Shame on the egoist who thinks only of himself!’”

Max Stirner The Ego and His Own (1885)

Stirner is today largely forgotten, but he was in his day a philosopher of some note.  His point here is that every cause under the sun makes claims on my attention, my concern, my time, my pocketbook, even my body and blood.  And yet those causes recognize no reciprocal claim on my part.  My part, so far as every cause is concerned, is to play Boxer, not Treebeard—to slave and at last be slaughtered in the “Great Wars” of some wizards or some pigs.

*) Chap. 9
**) Max Stirner The Ego and His Own, trans. Steven T. Byington (New York: Benj. R. Tucker, 1907 [1882]), p. 3.

One of the things Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry hate the most is sidewalk counseling. When pro-life advocates appear outside abortion facilities and offer women better solutions than abortion, their abortion sales numbers plummet.

One group, Sidewalk Advocates for Life, is celebrating saving 22,000 babies from abortions. The group trains pro-life advocates across America how to effectively assist pregnant women outside an abortion center.

In a new interview, its president, Lauren Muzyka, celebrated saving those 22,000 babies who otherwise would have been killed in abortions.

She said the sidewalk counseling is necessary even in some pro-life states because, while heartbeat laws save most babies from abortions, they don’t save them all. And women are still going to Planned Parenthood and other abortion companies to get abortion referrals out of state.

“In some of our states where abortion is limited, like a six-week ban or a heartbeat ban, it’s really interesting because we’re actually still seeing a great amount of traffic,” she said. “I wish the country could see what we’re seeing in some of these more pro-life states.”

“Even in our pro-life states, we still know that there are women in crisis in our communities that, at the very least, are considering driving 300 or 600 miles away to the next nearest abortion facility,” she told CNA in a phone call. “A lot of people don’t realize, even in the pro-life states, that we still have Planned Parenthood Family Planning Centers on the ground that serve as abortion referral facilities.”

Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com

Muzyka gave the example of the state of Georgia. “It’s surrounded by pro-life states,” she explained. “A lot of women are going to Columbus, Georgia, or Atlanta to see if they made the six-week cutoff. If they didn’t, then they’re getting referred to the Carolinas or to Virginia or the Panhandle of Florida.”

“Sometimes you have very distraught, angry women [who are] overwhelmed because they drove all through the night to see if they made this cutoff,” Muzyka further explained. “Some of them will turn around because they’re met by a sidewalk advocate there, but this is why our states really need to protect life at conception, because sometimes the six-week ban isn’t doing as much as I think the people of that state would desire to protect life and to protect women from this trauma.”

Muzyka said her group combines a pro-life and a pro-woman perspective to help mother and baby.

“The goal of Sidewalk Advocates for Life’s interaction with an abortion-minded mother is to soften her crisis such that she’ll consider life-affirming help,” she has said.

“I’ve dedicated my life to this cause, discerning how best to help abortion-vulnerable women choose life. After 22 years on the sidewalk, I can tell you that, to truly reach the heart of a mother in crisis, we have to go out of our way to create a safe, confidential space,” she continues. “Our peaceful, prayerful, law-abiding presence has helped us build relationships with thousands of women and their families when they encounter us in a dire moment of need, thereby saving their precious children.”

Muzyka says her group has also helped abortion center employees quit their jobs.

“Peaceful, prayerful sidewalk advocacy has proven to be effective, and we have trained thousands of people to connect with women using this tool, leading to 22,000 preborn children saved. Not to mention, our presence has given us opportunities to form friendships with abortion workers, encouraging 88 of them to leave their jobs. It has moved women who have experienced abortion to find healing and to report their sometimes-horrific experience to legal counsel, all of which helps shut down these facilities for good. We are now celebrating 55 abortion facility closures, in fact,” she added.

The post Sidewalk Counseling Group Has Saved over 22,000 Babies From Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.

In a CBS interview with anchor Norah O’Donnell that will air next month, Pope Francis encourages lapsed Catholics to shop around for a parish where they will feel welcome. That advice is understandable, but the way in which he offers it is less so. The Pope seems to take it for granted that if a Catholic leaves the faith, it is because “the priest doesn’t seem welcoming.” In that case, if he finds another parish with a cheerful friendly pastor, the problem is solved. But what about those many Catholics who leave the Church because they have lost their faith?

The post Pope suggests Catholics go “parish-shopping” appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

The interview with Norah O’Donnell of CBS News focuses in part on the Vatican’s upcoming World Day for Children, and Pope Francis spoke about the negative consequences of war on children. The pope talked about climate change skeptics, saying, “There are people who are foolish, and foolish even if you show them research, they don’t believe it.” The interview in its entirety will run next month on “60 Minutes.”

The post Pope does first U.S. TV network interview appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

I first saw God when I was a child, six years of age.
The cheeks of the sun were pale before Him,
and the earth acted as a shy
girl, like me.

Divine light entered my heart from His love
that did never fully wane,
though indeed, dear, I can understand how a person’s
faith can at times flicker,
for what is the mind to do
with something that becomes the mind’s ruin:
a God that consumes us
in His grace.

I have seen what you want;
it is there,
a Beloved of infinite
tenderness.

The post Consumed in Grace appeared first on The Catholic Thing.