Abortion

Where Women’s History Month Falls Short

March 11, 2022By

Because I am a woman onemight expect me to whole-heartedly embrace the celebration of Women’s History Month during March.After all, this is an opportunity to celebrate my ancestral sisters, applaudingtheir testing of boundaries and breaking of barriers.  And for the most part, I greatly respect thelegacy left by these brave women, reminded that whatever I might accomplish, Istand on their shoulders.  So why thehesitation?

While grateful to thetrailblazers who’ve cleared a path for subsequent generations, I am deeply saddenedby the collateral damage that has ensued in the struggle toward equality.  For in our effort to achieve one thing, somewomen mistakenly thought we had to sacrifice another. And what we’ve lostchanges the very essence of who we are.

It is no small thing that we women are THE life-bearers of the entire species. We alone can grow human beings in our bodies, craft a cerebral cortex, knit a network of veins, erect askeletal system.  We alone can nourish this life with a perfect food forged by our miraculous bodies.  We literally make the men and women of tomorrow with our very own cells. Now that’s power. A power given no man. A power and a privilege that should not be taken lightly. Or tossed away. Or aborted.

But in the fight to have opportunities equal to those of men, some have confused “equal to” with “same as”.  Eager to embrace the masculine, with all its power and promise, some have forsaken the feminine, abandoning a gift that is uniquely given to women.

Too often we women are lumped together as the women’s movement, portraying us as united in support for the so-called “right” to abortion. But many women, perhaps a majority, do not believe that abortion is a path toward liberation or social justice or equality.

Rather, we pro-life feminists understand abortion as another form of oppression: forcing women to choose between birthing the burgeoning life within or ending that innocent life because of fear, pressure, or lack of resources. Abortion supporters promote a world of either/or, as in either sacrifice your child or you can’t succeed, while ironically claiming that they are all about choice.

But true feminism doesn’t limit women’s choices, nor force them to deny what makes them uniquely women. True feminism promotes a world of and/both, a world where motherhood and career aspirations can coexist and be fully supported. A world where women need not choose death for their children to walk through the doors that have been opened to us.  That is the world for which first generation feminists like Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul fought, and it is to that noble mission the modern women’s movement should return.

Alongside all the amazing accomplishments women have achieved, we should also celebrate and revere the vocation of motherhood.  On our journeys to the board room, operating room, and courtroom, we should view fertility as a gift to be treasured, not a “disease” to be treated. We should see the potential of our own children and the legacy we can leave the world by investing our time and love in them. While celebrating women’s history, we should not be ruthlessly exterminating the history-makers of tomorrow.

With the great progress the pro-life movement is making in sharing the truth and beauty about human life in all its stages, I am hopeful that future Women’s History Months will not rely on abortion as a necessary step toward women’s success in society, but will instead, be a celebration of all that a woman is and all that she can be, including the sacred, irreplaceable, and incredibly rewarding role of mother.

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Abortion

Teens on Fire for LIFE!

March 4, 2022By

They say good things come in threes. Three times recently I have been awe-struck by the passion and conviction of pro-life teenagers.

First was the young woman who knocked on my door one Saturday. She was canvassing for the Susan B. Anthony List, making sure Pennsylvania residents understood where political candidates stood on life issues. I let her do her thing before telling her that I too work in the pro-life movement. Despite a windy, brisk afternoon, we ended up having a prolonged conversation about abortion and how to effectively share the truth.  I was practically moved to tears by her dedication to knock on doors, risking rejection and challenges as she moved from house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood.

While she occasionally found an ally like me, sometimes she really had to work hard to open eyes to the reality of abortion.  She told me of an instance just that day where she and her partner talked with a decidedly pro-choice woman for an hour. By the end, that woman expressed doubt in her original position, pledging to do more research!

As if trekking through unfamiliar neighborhoods on a cold winter weekend wasn’t enough, I then learned that this young woman actually traveled over an hour and a half to do this boots-on-the-ground educational outreach and that she was a still a senior in high school!

A few days later I received a plea for help from a colleague.  Her friend’s daughter, an eighth grader in public school, was experiencing much push back from her peers about her pro-life convictions.  She planned to write a paper about abortion and its devastating effects on women and society, but she needed to talk through common mantras she was hearing from her classmates, such as “My body, my choice” and “It’s not a baby yet.” How can she respond?  Where can she find good resources?

This young lady and I were able to talk by phone for almost an hour. She was a mature middle schooler, impressing me with her wisdom and fortitude.  At a time in her life when peer pressure is reportedly the greatest, she was not backing down from her deeply held belief that life is sacred and worth protecting.  She was willing to endure unkind remarks from classmates. She just needed more “ammunition” to fight the good fight…facts and figures, science and stories to show them that abortion is not empowering or compassionate or justified.  In a follow-up email, I “armed” her with several good resources-books, videos, articles, websites- that she can use as she grows in her pro-life advocacy. I am in awe of her courage and have no doubt that she will be planting seeds in the hearts of many of her peers today and in the years to come.

And then, even more teen voices for life inundated me! This week marked the deadline for our annual pro-life essay contest for grades 7-12.  I have hundreds of essays sitting on my desk, sorted into our two judging categories. While some teachers incorporate the contest into their classroom assignments, other essays are submitted by individual students. We’ve received essays from public, private, Catholic, Christian, vocational, and homeschool students. One young lady, a public school student, wrote and emailed her essay after going to an educational talk offered by a local pregnancy center. She was so moved by what she learned, she entered our contest that night.

Some students emailed their essays which I in turn acknowledged, thanking the student for being a voice for life. Several students replied and thanked us for sponsoring the contest.  One young lady wrote, “You don’t have to thank me for submitting an essay…I thank you for giving me an opportunity to be able to share my opinion about abortion! The topic is very important to me and I want to help any way I can, and this contest gave me the chance to get my voice out, so I’d write this essay any day if it meant helping the women of our state!!”

While I am supposed to be the educator, I think these amazing teens are teaching me and all of us “seasoned” pro-lifers a valuable lesson: don’t ever let our pro-life flame grow dim…stay strong and bright, and when it’s darkest, courageously spread the light of life!

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Abortion

Chemical abortions beyond 10 weeks pose even greater danger to women

February 16, 2022By

In 2020, over 16,000 women in Pennsylvania were given pills to abort their preborn children. For the first time, non-surgical abortions comprised 51% of abortions, the majority. While the 2020 PA Department of Health Abortion Statistic Report  lists these abortions as “medical” they are also known as chemical abortions.

Chemical abortion involves two medications: mifeprex (mifepristone)which blocks progesterone, cutting off nourishment, and misoprostel, which causes contractions, expelling the preborn child from the uterus.

The Food and Drug Administration does not recommend chemical abortion beyond the 10th week of pregnancy, stating ontheir website that a woman should not take Mifeprex if it has been more than 70 days since the first day of her last menstrual period.

Despite abortion industry claims, chemical abortions arenot safe, having a complication rate that is fourtimes that of first trimester surgical abortions.

In fact the FDA website acknowledges there were reports of 26 deaths of women associated with mifepristone since the product was approved in September 2000.

In addition, more than 4000 adverse events have been associated with chemical abortion, but the actual number is likely much higher as mandatory reporting of adverse effects was suspended in 2016.

While chemical abortion by its very nature is dangerous and traumatic when given within recommended FDA guidelines, it is even more so when done outside of them.

That is why the 2020PA Department of Health Abortion Statistic Report is so alarming. It shows that a total of 175 abortions were done after 10 weeks gestation in 2020.

Most shocking is that 26 chemical abortions occurred at 18-20 weeks gestation and 25 at 21-23 gestation.  Not only are babies at these stages fully formed, much larger, and pain-capable, but many are viable.

Premature babies as young as 21 weeks are being treated and saved in neonatal units across our country. But according to this report, others are being killed by chemical abortions, most likely in someone’s bathroom.

The abortion pill was not designed for later abortions, which is why the FDA has not extended its use past 10 weeks.

With chemical abortion it is more likely that a woman will experience complications the further along she is in her pregnancy. These complications can include incomplete abortion, retained products of conception, excessive bleeding, and infection. The abortion pill failure rate also increases over time.

Another disturbing statistic from the Pennsylvania report shows a 344% increase in sharp curettage abortions in just one year, a procedure that is often used for incomplete abortions.

So while the report claims that there were fewer complications from abortion than in the previous year, the dramatic rise in the sharp curettage procedure, in which the uterus is scraped, may reflect a higher rate of failed chemical abortions.

So we must ask who is prescribing chemical abortions beyond their recommended time frame and why are they putting women’s health in jeopardy? Are women warned of the risks? Are they warned of the psychological impact of delivering not just “pregnancy tissue” but a fully formed lifeless baby?

We can and must do better.  This is not health care. Or empowerment.  Or reproductive justice. It is a betrayal of vulnerable women.

Every abortion steals an innocent human life. And every chemical abortion risks great harm to the mother, especially those done beyond the recommended guidelines.

It shouldn’t be happening in Pennsylvania or anywhere.

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Abortion

Black History that was Never Made

February 3, 2022By

February, designated as Black History Month, is a time to note and celebrate the many achievements of African Americans.  While a multitude of inspiring stories are recounted this month, there are countless others whose stories remain unspoken. That’s because so many Black voices have been silenced.  Their potential left unrealized. Their contributions rejected. They are Black children who were aborted.

And there are many. Abortion disproportionately affects the Black community.  While African Americans account for 12% of the population in Pennsylvania, in 2020 Black women accounted for 44% of the abortions in the state.

That trend extends nationwide. Across the country, on average Black women are 4 to 5 times more likely to abort than white women. Tragically, it is estimated that the majorityof pregnancies (52%) in the Black community end in abortion. More Black children are being killed in the womb than brought into the world. (see Blackgenocide.org)

This racial disparity stems from the very founding of the abortion industry, dating back to a movement that originated in eugenics. Planned Parenthood was recently forced to distance itself from its founder, Margaret Sanger, who referred to the Black community and other minorities as “human weeds,” warning that “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population….”

But that was exactly the underlying agenda of the American Birth Control League, the precursor to Planned Parenthood. Today, the vast majority (79%) of Planned Parenthood surgical abortion facilities are deliberately planted within walking distance of minority neighborhoods.

In a faint effort to be politically correct, Planned Parenthood took Margaret Sanger’s name off abuilding in New York. Yet, every single day they continue to target for extermination the very people she saw as less desirable.

Illogically, abortion supporters allege that any law restricting abortion is racist, harming people of color. But what could hurt the Black community more than killing the next generation?  Depopulating them?  Wounding the women who bear life and alienating the men who are supposed to protect and provide for children? Weakening their families?

America’s Black community would be 36% larger today if not for abortion. There would be 20 million more beautiful Black faces dotting our cultural landscape, enriching our schools, our communities, our workplaces, our families. There would be so much more Black History to celebrate.

Legalized abortion has not eradicated poverty, racial disparity, or domestic abuse. It has simply eradicated children who committed no offense. While the abortion of any child of any race is tragic, the decimation of Black children at the current rate is alarming in its demographic impact.

Abortion is the number one cause of death for Blacks. Some estimate that if this trend continues for the next 30 years, Black voting power, Black families, and Black people will be nearly extinct, realizing the vision of Sanger and other eugenicists. (See maafa21.org)

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Rather than promote abortion, we could address the root causes of why abortion is sought.  We could empower young women with the resources needed to bring life into the world, and support them in ways that will lift them out of their difficult circumstances.

That is what hundreds of maternity homes and pregnancy resource centers across our country do every day.  Just imagine if we amplify that effort, giving it much more attention and funding, rerouting taxpayer money that is handed to the abortion industry and using it instead to actually give life and hope.

True racial justice means ending the Black Genocide. Only then can future generations celebrate a more robust and beautiful Black History, one that welcomed the promise and potential that every single life holds.

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Abortion

Time to Correct the Error of Roe

January 10, 2022By

Even decades after slavery was abolished, there was a time in our country when it was legally acceptable to separate people by race. In fact, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation in the 1896 case Plessy vs. Ferguson, protecting the doctrine of Separate but Equal. It would be upheld by the Court seven times.

It took 58 years for the Court to see the error of its ways. It’s impossible to quantify the tremendous damage that Plessy did in stalling equal rights for all Americans. Finally, the Court’s landmark decision in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case determined racial segregation of school children to be unconstitutional, and it became a cornerstone of the civil rights movement that led to de-segregation of other institutions.

Today, it’s hard for us toimagine how the Court in 1896 could have possibly thought that such a practicewas constitutionally protected.  Thedoctrine of Separate but Equal with regard to race was long overdue for the ashheap of history.

In similar fashion, another Supreme Court precedent, should join it.  Where Plessey marginalized people based on race, Roe marginalizes people based on age and location. In a day of 4-D ultrasounds, fetal surgery, and ever-changing viability, it’s hard to imagine how the Court in 1973 could have possibly thought abortion to be a constitutionally protected right.

In every pregnancy, two separate and equal humans exist. From the moment of conception, a genetically unique human is formed, one who is inside the mother, yet NOT the mother.  Perhaps a different gender, eye color, or hand dominance. A person who has never before existed and never will again. A person whose future is impossible to predict and whose impact on the world can only be imagined.

Clearly human, created of human parents. Clearly living, as demonstrated by rapid growth. It is intellectually dishonest to say this is not a living human being.

In challenging this, the abortion supporter will frequently invoke personhood, saying that we are not really people with inherent dignity and rights until we possess sentience, abilities to feel, dream, plan, etc. Yet, one must ask, does a newborn infant possess these qualities? Or those with limited cognitive capacity? Or those tortured by addiction?  Are they, or others in likewise vulnerable situations, not persons?

Personhood cannot bequalified by arbitrary social constructs. Defining personhood should be based on objective truth, and scientificallyspeaking, the indisputable truth is that human life begins at conception, justas it was indisputably true that our human dignity is not a function of race.

Justice Blackmun, in his Roe majority opinion, acknowledged thatif the personhood of the fetus is someday established, Roe is doomed to collapse, as the 14th Amendment clearlyprotects the fetus’ right to life.

That day has come. Forty-nine years later, at the tragic cost of 63 million American innocent lives, wounded mothers, forsaken fathers, and a fractured society, it’s time to correct the error of Roe.

While Separate but Equal based on race has no place in our society, equal rights based on biology certainly should be guaranteed. Situational circumstances do not change an objective truth of who we are and how we came to be. We all have inherent worth from the moment of our conception. Every person, once in existence, should have the right to live.

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Abortion

Pennsylvania Abortion Totals Increase

January 3, 2022By

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             CONTACT:  MARIA GALLAGHER, PPLF
January 4, 2022  717-541-0034

Pennsylvania Abortion Totals Increase;
Pandemic Partly Responsible for the Rise

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The number of abortions in Pennsylvania increased in 2020 by 3.5% according to the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, the Keystone State affiliate of National Right to Life.

Statistics released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health show 1,105 more abortions occurred in 2020 compared to 2019. In all, 32,123abortions took place in 2020—a year when the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the Commonwealth.

In a year when the Wolf Administration refused to allow Pennsylvanians to undergo elective surgeries, abortion operations were permitted to perform abortions unabated.

“The increase in abortions in Pennsylvania is truly alarming,” said Maria Gallagher, legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation. “When many other businesses were forced to shut their doors, the abortion industry, led by abortion giant Planned Parenthood, continued to operate.

“Every abortion represents the tragic loss of an innocent human life. In addition, mothers are left to grieve children who are lost to abortion. It is a family tragedy of epic proportions,” Gallagher added.

In Pennsylvania, abortion totals would be much higher were it not for the many pregnancy resource centers which provide free counseling and material assistance for pregnant women facing challenging circumstances. Pennsylvania’s state-assisted Pregnancy and Parenting Support Program offers true alternatives and options to women in their time of need.

“No pregnant woman inPennsylvania should feel as if she is alone. Pregnancy help centers stand readyto offer no-cost assistance and the emotional support every pregnant womandeserves,” Gallagher added.

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The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation is a grassroots right-to-life organization with members statewide.  As the state affiliate of National Right to Life, PPLF is committed to promoting the dignity and value of human life from conception to natural death and to restoring legal protection for preborn children.

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Abortion

Back Alley Abortion Comes Home

December 16, 2021By

The two red lines sent her into a state of panic.

A call to Planned Parenthood confirmed she need not come in for an examination.  A tele-med appointment would now suffice. And it would cost less.

Within an hour, the prescription was ready. Two little pills would be her “lifeline.”

Noone will ever know. This is safe.  Thisis easy. They told me so. This will give me my future back.

She wanted to believe all that. Hours later, reality proved otherwise.

Tears rained down her face while she tried to muffle cries and endure excruciating cramps.

Blood. Everywhere. Severely weakened, all she could do was lay on the cold floor for hours.

Hemorrhaging and pain would last for weeks. The traumaforever.

No one told her.

No one told her that women have died from these pills.That thousands have serious complications.

No one warned that the “tissue” she passed would havea little nose and perfectly formed upper lip.

No one explained she’d deliver a tinybaby, her baby into a toilet, animage she would never be able to unsee.

She was further along than suspected. But a doctor never examined her. Instead, a stranger prescribed anabortion via computer.

She never felt more alone. Scared. Wounded.

This is mail-order abortion. This is what the FDA, the agency that is supposed to safeguard our health, is now allowing.

This is what the abortion industry is selling. “Tele-health”that kills preborn babies and seriously puts women’s physical and emotionalhealth at risk.

Back alley abortion has come into the home.

We mustn’t let it.  We must warn all the young women susceptible to the lies and deceptions of the abortion industry. We must assure them of our help and support.

We must protect them and their precious children, even when our government will not.

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Abortion

Should women have to rely on abortion to succeed?

December 10, 2021By

On December 1, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health regarding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.  One argument put forth by the pro-abortion side was reliance.   In other words, the so-called right to abortion must be preserved because women have come to rely on it.

In her opening statement, Department of Justice Solicitor General Elizabeth Prologar said, “The Court has never revoked a right that is so fundamental to so many Americans and so central to their ability to participate fully and equally in society.”

Can Prologar hear herself? Can she hear how profoundly anti-woman this argument is? She, and by extension our government, claims that abortion, the deliberate killing of one’s own child, is necessary for women to participate “fully and equally in society.”

Women can’t succeed without abortion. Is there a more misogynistic statement?

It is this line of thinking that allows Hollywood producers, Wall Street executives, and corporate management to tell women facing an untimely pregnancy to “get rid of it.”

It is this warped mentality that encourages men to wash their hands of their responsibility as fathers, protectors, and providers.

It is this pathetic worldview that says a woman’s fertility is a barrier to success. In order to compete with men, she must “apologize” for her own completely natural life-giving super power by killing her own child.

Furthermore, this reliance mindset damages efforts to offer true support to women and families. Why offer paid maternity and paternity leave, remote work options, affordable child care, academic alternatives, or material and emotional support to women and families, when motherhood could have been “avoided” via abortion?

What kind of society have we created that some women feel they cannot acquire an education, advance their career, or find fulfillment unless they sacrifice their unborn child’s life?  This is pitiful progress in terms of the women’s movement.

Rather than removing the child from the sanctuary of the womb, we should be removing educational, vocational, and economic barriers for the women nurturing the next generation.

Shattering glass ceilings should not require shattering human lives.

While Prologar says the Court has never before revoked a right so fundamental to Americans as abortion, she is wrong. What could be more fundamental than the right to life itself?  In Roe the Court revoked that right, tragically denying “full and equal participation in society” to 62 million preborn Americans.

During arguments, Justice Samuel Alito pointed out that the South once relied on segregation in creating a society based on white supremacy.  It was an improper reliance, he acknowledged, based on an egregiously wrong understanding of what equal protection means.

The same can be said for abortion.  It is an improper reliance based on an egregiously wrong understanding of the law.  No one should have to rely on sacrificing a precious human life in order to participate fully and equally in society.

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Abortion

A Pro-Life Christmas Story

December 7, 2021By

I vividly recall the scene, since the details are forever etched in my memory.

I stood before the abortion center, knowing that each car parked there represented a tiny, irreplaceable human being who was being led to death.

It was a sobering sight–all the more so because it was near Christmas.

There is something particularly surreal about being present at an abortion facility at Christmas time. After all, at this time of year we recall an unmarried teenage Mom who gave birth to the child Christians would call the Savior.

Mary, of course, had her Joseph. Far too often, women today are left abandoned by the fathers of their children. It is that desperation that can lead them to the abortion center door.

Thankfully, however, there are so many people who are willing to stand in the gap to support pregnant women at their time of need. No pregnant woman should be made to feel as if she is all alone. A supportive, compassionate team may be as close as the nearest pregnancy resource center.

May pregnant women this Christmas find all the love they need to bring their babies into this world–a world which is desperately in need of the hope their children can provide.

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Abortion

Pregnant and Without a Job, She Found Help

December 6, 2021By

I had just picked up some coffee, hoping the jolt of java would help me power through the rest of my day.

As I approached the intersection, I saw her, holding a sign which read, “Pregnant. No job.”

I beeped my horn and signaled for her to come up to my car window. I knew handing her cash was not enough–she needed much more than a few dollars could bring. She needed hope, compassion, companionship–not to mention a car seat and baby clothes.

What she needed was downtown–at a pregnancy resource center.

I quickly gave her the name of the center. The stoplight turned and I had to join the parade of traffic passing through the intersection.

But my conscience would not allow me to abandon this woman, or the distressing situation in which she found herself. So I ultimately circled back, parked the car, and approached her again–this time with cell phone in hand, ready to give her the address of the pregnancy center.

I explained to her the resources and services which the center could provide. She seemed a bit incredulous, not realizing that there was an entire facility dedicated to serving the needs of pregnant women, free of charge.

Pregnancy resource centers provide a critical safety net for women who find themselves in difficult situations. The comprehensive counseling and mentorship which the centers provide can be crucial to a pregnant woman’s journey.

Internet ads, billboards, and flyers can all help to spread the word. But sometimes the best messenger is another person, who can carry the message of love through a personal interaction.

I am so grateful for my local pregnancy center, and the many centers which dot my state. They provide a safe haven for women and their babies during difficult times, and contribute greatly to the quality of life in our communities.

They are a beacon in the darkness, and their light of hope shines brightly during these stressful times.

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