On Wednesday August 12, the Pro-Life Action League will be coming to Rockford to help us show the truth that abortion kills a child to the people of Rockford.  We need your help.  Saving the lives of our preborn sisters and brothers is the responsibility of every person of good will.  Because our media and cultural outlets refuse to show the public what abortion really is we have to expose this tragedy to public.

Rockford will never reject abortion until Rockford see’s abortion.
 
Standing on the streets of Rockford exposing what abortion does to a child is not easy but it is an act of love for children and for those who have been sold the lie of the culture of death.  Showing the truth of what abortion does to a child has also saved lives right here in Rockford by:
 
 
1. We have been told directly during a face the truth tour by more than one mother who was scheduled for an abortion that after seeing these pictures, "I could never do that to my baby."
 
2. We were told by a person at the Rockford Area Pregnancy Care Center that after a Rockford Face the Truth tour mothers have come in for help because after seeing the reality of abortion they could not go through with it.
 
3. Every year we hold a well organized Face the Truth tour we see the number of abortions drop in Rockford for many weeks following while the reality of abortion is still fresh in the hearts and minds of the people of our city.
 
4. Not only does the Rockford Face the Truth tour touch the hearts of mother and fathers considering abortion but it has a profound effect on the people who might have advised and encouraged a mother to have an abortion.
 
5. We as a community have killed over 50,000 of our children right here in Rockford by abortion.  The people of Rockford need to see the truth of what we have done and are doing to, "The least of His people."  Because the truth has the ability to "set us free" from the killing of our own children.
 
Please join us at any or all of these locations as a witness to life and love for Jesus Christ and the people of Rockford – togeather in Christ we can bring an end to the killing of preborn children in Rockford.  If you have any questions or comments please email us at everylifematters@comcast.net
 
__________________________________________________________________

FACE THE TRUTH ROCKFORD

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12.
 
9:30-11:00am  The corner of Riverside and Alpine
 
11:30-1:00pm The corner of East State Street and Alpine
 
1:15pm Lunch at the Old Country Buffet 525 S. Perryville Rd.  $9.00 per person
(This is an excellent chance for fellowship and to hear a few words from the Pro-Life Action League)
 
3:00-4:30pm The corner of East State Street and Perryville
__________________________________________________________________

"Face the Truth"—Public Education Initiative

We Need Your Help To Save Babies
Throughout the year, pro-life activists all around the country are conducting Face the Truth tours. Holding pictures of beautiful unborn babies and huge graphic signs of aborted babies, we line the roads at major intersections, to show Americans the truth about abortion.
 
We need you to help show people that abortion is the deliberate taking of an unborn child’s life. If you believe that abortion is murder, this is your chance to stand up and be counted. Join us this summer as we line the roads at major intersections to show our fellow Americans the ugly truth about abortion.

Go Forth and Teach

Jesus told His followers to "go forth and teach." Face the Truth responds to the Gospel call by teaching the truth about abortion. The truth is that abortion kills innocent human beings, made in the image and likeness of God. That is why we must take the pro-life message to the streets of our cities.
 
We are living in the midst of a national atrocity. Since the 1973 Supreme Court abortion decisions, over forty million children have been destroyed before they were born. Our signs depicting prenatal life and the aborted child reveal the hidden victims of this atrocity.
While the signs are displayed along the roadways, other volunteers distribute literature to passing motorists and pedestrians to help them understand the gravity of the Culture of Death.

Pictures Expose Lies

Photographs and films of human beings stacked like cordwood outside Nazi concentration camps exposed the murderous truth of Nazi genocide. Disturbing as these images are, we all recognize the value of squarely facing the truth of the Holocaust.
 
Similarly, our pictures of aborted children lay bare the blatant lies and hypocrisy used by the abortionists to conceal the wholesale slaughter of unborn babies. Photos of these aborted children rip off the mask of "choice." The truth hurts, but the lie hurts so much more. Once people have faced the truth, they are less likely to become involved in abortion.

A Graphic Reminder

When Christ died for us, it was in a very graphic way—a public crucifixion. His body, twisted, disfigured and covered with blood, hung on a cross for three hours in full public view. He said He had to be lifted up in order to show His love for us and to show us the seriousness of sin.
 
Likewise, our pictures graphically portray the reality of abortion in the public square, and show the seriousness of taking the life of an unborn child.

The Tragedy of the Culture of Death

One of the tragedies of abortion is that innocent children cannot be sheltered from the truth that one-third of their brothers and sisters, classmates and friends have been aborted. We use large warning signs to help parents shield their children from our pictures, but the only way to really protect our children is to stamp out the Culture of Death. We invite all concerned parents to join us in restoring a Culture of Life.
Awaken the Nation
 
Nationwide, Face the Truth Tours are showing Americans the hidden slaughter of its unborn children. If people are troubled by these graphic pictures, they should stand up against the killing the pictures expose.  We need your help to make our neighbors face the truth. Join us!
 

Praise God!! Illinois Parental Rights are Restored!!

By: http://www.illinoisfamily.org

Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit dissolved the federal injunction against the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2103&ChapAct=750%26nbsp%3BILCS%26nbsp%3B70%2F&ChapterID=59&ChapterName=FAMILIES&ActName=Parental+Notice+of+Abortion+Act+of+1995  

As a direct result of the court’s decision (Zbaraz v. Hartigan), Illinois parents will be entitled, for the first time since Roe v. Wade was decided, to notification before their minor daughters are taken for abortions. The decision is the culmination of four years work by the Thomas More Society http://www.thomasmoresociety.org/  (TMS), particularly TMS Special Counsel Paul Linton, who devised the legal strategy which ultimately led to the lifting of the injunction.

"This is an incredible victory for Illinois parents and their children," said Peter Breen, Executive Director and Legal Counsel of the Thomas More Society. "Parental involvement laws enjoy overwhelming public support. These laws promote the integrity of the family and ensure that parents are consulted so that their children are not forced into an abortion decision. A wealth of social science data indicates that parental involvement laws lead to lower pregnancy rates, out-of-wedlock births and abortions."

The Parental Notice Act has been in legal limbo for more than ten years because of the Illinois Supreme Court’s refusal to issue the rules necessary to make the Act effective. Since the passage of the Act in 1995, over 50,000 Illinois minors have obtained abortions, more than 4,000 of whom were 14 years old or younger, without any requirement to notify their parents beforehand.

Following Linton’s legal strategy, representatives of pro-life organizations met with DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph Birkett in the spring of 2005 to ask him to petition the Illinois Supreme Court to adopt the rules required by the 1995 Act. Birkett agreed and filed his petition in June 2006. On September 7, 2006, the Thomas More Society, representing a range of interested organizations, filed a supplemental petition with the state supreme court. Less than two weeks later, the Illinois Supreme Court, under the leadership of Chief Justice Bob Thomas, unanimously adopted Supreme Court Rule 303A.

After various delays, Attorney General Lisa Madigan returned to federal court in March 2007 and petitioned Judge David Coar to lift the permanent injunction which had been issued eleven years earlier. After Judge Coar denied the petition, the Thomas More Society intervened in the case on behalf of State’s Attorneys Stu Umholtz (Republican, Tazewell County) and Ed Deters (Democrat, Effingham County) to press an appeal against the injunction.

We Have A Tremendous Opportunity To Make A Real Difference In Rockford

In the heart of Rockford we have an abortion facility that has killed over 50,000 children while at the same time it mocks Jesus Christ.  Many people like you in the Rockford Christian community have not stood still for this evil.  We have prayed, sacrificed, and stood publicly for life, love and Christ but the evil of abortion continues.

We now have a real chance to inform the rest of the city of Rockford of the evil that takes place at Rockford’s abortion mill.  Rockford Pro-Life Initiative would like to put up billboards throughout the city of Rockford inviting people to go the rockfordprolife.com to view a video on how abortion has destroyed so many lives, hurt countless women, and the anti-Christian hate that is the motivating factor of Rockford’s abortion mill. 

These billboards will cost $700.00 each and each one will be up for at least 30 days.  They have the potential to reach tens of thousands of people and if we can put up enough billboards virtually every person in the city of Rockford will see them in the coming months. These billboards and our video have the potential of saving children’s lives and opening peoples hearts and minds to the evil that has killed over 50,000 of Rockford’s children.

This project won’t happen without your help.  You can help in many ways:

1. Donate whatever you can by sending a check made out to Rockford Pro-Life Initiative. P.O. Box 1153 Rockford, IL 61105.  EVERY DOLLAR WE RAISE WILL GO DIRECTLY TO PURCHASING BILLBOARDS.
2. If your Church, club, or group would be willing to hold a fundraiser email us at: everylifematters@comcast.net so we can help you with ideas.
3. Forward this request by email to your pro-life friends or print it out and hand deliver it to you Pastor or friends who may not have email.
4. Pray that this campaign accomplishes God’s will and once the billboards are up pray every day that the Holy Spirit opens the hearts of the people of Rockford to Christ and life.

If we are willing to publicly proclaim Christ and His love for every person, sacrifice our time and energy, pray with faith and trust in the Lord we will experience the triumph of Jesus Christ in our hearts, our families, and our city.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions or ideas and thank you for considering this request.

May God bless you,
Rockford Pro-Life Initiative
Abby Figi , Kevin Rilott
815-494-0333

E mail: everylifematters@comcast.net

PLEASE GO TO OUR WEB-SITE TO SEE A COUPLE OF THE BILLBOARDS WE WILL USE IF WE CAN RAISE THE FUNDS.    http://www.rockfordprolife.com/  

‘Tiller, Terror and TV Tilt’

By Judie Brown

Time and time again, we are called upon to respond to a question average Americans ask: “Why doesn’t the media—conservative or liberal—show a picture of an aborted baby when they discuss abortion on the news?”

(My opinion is that they ask either because they do not understand why the conflict exists between pro-life and pro-death forces or because they have never heard of, thought about or seen the reality of abortion.) 

I tell them that the biggest reason for the absence of documented pictures of aborted children is that the media does not want the public to see who dies during an abortion, or describe who dies during human embryonic stem cell research experiments, or discuss who suffers because he or she has facilitated an abortion. I go on to explain that there are as many reasons why the pictures and the facts remain unobserved as there are reporters. The bottom line is that orchestrated ignorance is best for the culture of death, and so the truth is simply not reported.

It might also be the case that abortion makes journalists uncomfortable, because somewhere in their past there is an abortion, or a child conceived inconveniently and ignored in the same way one might avoid admitting that his socks don’t match. Who knows?

What we do know, however, is that this ongoing rejection of the facts is killing people, numbing consciences and generally creating misery everywhere. There has been quite a bit of information in the alternative media recently, for example, that is astounding, frightening and yet unreported by major national news sources. 

How many national news outlets discussed even one of the following reports?

1. A Las Vegas abortion mill has been ordered to stop “performing surgeries without a license” because inspectors said they found medical equipment, medications and literature in a place where alleged abortions are being done. This is a place where women and children’s lives were put at risk … many lives I might add … and nary a national note of alarm was sounded. But if a single imprisoned terrorist had been “abused,” nobody with a national reporting platform would have ignored the allegations, whether true or false, for a minute. 

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/07/alleged-unsafe-abortion-prompts-warning-state/

2. A new study has shown that women who have an abortion could be risking the health of their next baby. Those who “terminate a pregnancy” are subsequently more likely to deliver their next child prematurely, thus placing the premature baby at greater risk for lung disease, cerebral palsy, blindness or deafness.    http://english.cctv.com/20090701/102339.shtml

While some physicians are claiming that this is debatable, the fact is major media outlets have not addressed it. If the subject had been whether or not a certain form of heart surgery resulted in a higher risk of death, every outlet in America would have been on top of the story, pointing accusatory fingers and possibly destroying medical careers in the process.

3. Dr. Priscilla Coleman, an associate professor at Bowling Green State University, has completed an analysis of various studies exposing the effects of abortion on subsequent parenting. Her paper describes a number of ways that a previous abortion can affect a woman’s relationship with her living children:  http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/printerfriendly.html?articleid=09070603

• Increased depression and anxiety. Abortion has been linked to higher rates of maternal depression and anxiety before and after birth, which may affect the woman’s relationship with her children. In addition, depression is a common predictor for child abuse.
• Sleep disorders and disturbances. Women who have had an abortion are more likely to experience sleep disorders compared to women who carry to term, and one survey found that many women attributed the sleep disorders to a past abortion. These sleep disturbances "could render the high energy demands of parenting more complicated," says Coleman.
• Substance abuse. Studies have found that women who had an abortion were more likely to engage in substance abuse, and also more likely to smoke or use drugs or alcohol while pregnant. Mothers who abuse drugs or alcohol are more likely to "engage in authoritarian and punitive parenting practices," and parental substance abuse increases the risk that the children will suffer abuse or neglect.
• Child abuse. Abortion has been associated with lower emotional support for one’s children and with a higher risk of child abuse and neglect.

Abortion has also been linked to higher rates of suicide and to a wide range of mental health disorders. Coleman was also the lead author of a study published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, which found that the children of women who had abortions have less supportive home environments and more behavioral problems than children of women without a history of abortion.These findings are alarming and deserve to be reported. Yet the media remains silent. The sad fact is that if Dr. Coleman had been studying the possible harmful effects on living children whose parents smoke and drink, the press would have been flooded with reports, health warnings and possibly a federal study. Not so when the subject addressed is the harmful effects of abortion.

Remember, I asked you, how many national news outlets discussed even one of the reports I just noted? The answer is none.

On the other side of the coin, the media takes a completely different tack when covering the pro-abort Obama administration. For example, the Washington Post’s coverage of President Barack Obama schmoozing Catholics with all kinds of rhetorical assurances—just before attending the G-8 summit and meeting with Pope Benedict XVI—makes me ill.

The Post reports that Obama “still favors a robust federal policy protecting health-care workers who have moral objections to performing some procedures” and he is a “believer in conscience clauses.” However, the contrary is possibly what will happen. We all know how frequently the president can change his mind or alter his words to suit his audience. Just look at the federal debt!

And it does not take a Harvard graduate to figure out that someone as committed to abortion as Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, could also arbitrarily change the rules. With Sebelius overseeing how conscience is protected and for whom such protection is provided, it’s hard to say what could happen.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who appears to be as concerned about Sebelius as we are, wrote this about her when it comes to abortion:   "It would be naive to assume, unless there is an explicit prohibition in the [Obama Health Insurance] bill, that [HHS] Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will not use her discretion to fund abortions with taxpayers’ money." http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156578.php

The news media’s double standard boggles the mind! 

On one end of the spectrum, we confront mothers who have aborted their children and experienced all kinds of tragic consequences; yet nobody says a word or makes even the slightest suggestion that there is anything wrong with that “safe and legal” procedure known as abortion. Forget about the truth, the pictures of dead children and images of the maimed mothers of those dead children.

On the other end, we find the very same media fawning over a president who, as his record makes abundantly clear, has done all he can to advance the agenda of the culture of death, while at the same time giving assurance after assurance that he really wants nothing more than to make abortion rare!

“Fair and balanced” news coverage it is not. The sad fact is that human beings are suffering and dying as the cheerleaders for Obama move forward with nary a thought about whether they should bear any of the responsibility for the tragedy that is being left in their arrogant wake.

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.