On Good Friday 16 children were aborted in Rockford; Convicted Felon Now the Principal of a Chicago School; Notorious abortion specialist caught on hidden video; 1,300 UK Women Have Had at Least Five Abortions ; Call for Total Decriminalisation of Abortion in all 47 Council of Europe States; Argentine President's Administration Urges Parliament to Legalize Abortion, Homosexual "Marriage"....
On Friday March 21st (Good Friday), Approximately 16 children were aborted in Rockford on Good Friday. But it was very encouraging to see some new pro-lifers come out to pray, hold signs, or just be present where our children were dying. One car with two young women inside drove into the clinic parking lot but both girls seemed to take a long look at the
pro-lifers and left without getting out of their car. It seems the more people who are present in prayer and holding signs the greater the chance to spark the conscience of a young woman scheduled to abort her child.
On a personal note I would like to share with you one small incident. I
noticed man who came to pray at the mill for the first time on this cold
and snowy morning. While he was holding a pro-life sign he was talking to
a mother and child at the bus stop on Broadway. I won't mention the
pro-lifers name because I don't want to embarrass him but when he noticed
the young child standing in the cold without a hat on the pro-lifer took
off his own hat and gave it to the child. I know this is a small act of
kindness. But it is typical of the average pro-lifer. May God bless all
of you and may the blessings of the Risen Christ be with you and your
families always.
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Important Notice
We have learned Rockford's abortion clinic will not be open this Friday March 28th but instead will be open on Saturday March 29th. If you are
able please join us this Saturday in prayer any time between 7:00am-10am. We will do our best to keep every one informed of the abortion mill days and hours.
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Convicted Felon Abortionist is Now the Principal of a Chicago Elementary
School
CHICAGO, March 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A convicted felon and abortionist responsible for the deaths of at least two women has been hired at a Chicago public school as the new principal. A spokesman from Mildred I. Lavizzo School in the greater Roseland area told a pro-life advocate that the Lavizzo school council were apprised of the full background of their new principal, Dr. Arnold Bickham.
Jill Stanek, a Chicago area pro-life activist and nurse posted a letter on her website from an 8th grader at the school, who said that students and
teachers "aren't comfortable with being around him and we want help. If he has this kind of back ground (sic) he shouldn't be able to work in this type of organization because you'll never know what he will try to do."
Bickham's days as an abortionist were ended in 1988 when the state permanently revoked his medical license after the death of a patient, Sylvia Moore, but his criminal conviction was for defrauding government job-training funds to cover his abortion facility payroll. Bickham's license was revoked in 1970 after it was revealed he was attempting abortions on women who were not pregnant.
Two women, 26 year-old Sherry Emry and 18 year-old Sylvia Moore underwent abortions at Bickham's hands at his Water Tower Reproductive Center in
Chicago; both died of complications. Emry bled to death from an undetected
ectopic pregnancy and Moore with a lacerated uterus that still had a
plastic surgical instrument embedded in it.
Bickham was sued by patients several times for malpractice for infection,
internal injuries, perforated uterus, and hemorrhage.
Stanek said she spoke with Chicago Public Schools spokesman, Mike Vaughn,
who told her, "I did confirm with the law department that the crimes he
was convicted of were not enumerated offenses that state school code
lists as prohibiting someone from working for the school district".
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Abortionist Tiller Admits to Performing Abortions the Day Before Delivery
His Speech at National Education Association!
ARLINGTON, VA, March 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Notorious partial-birth
abortion specialist Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, KS, was caught on hidden
video admitting to aborting babies a day before the mother's due date.
Students for Life of America (SFLA) today released the video which was
made at the Feminist Majority Foundation's annual Women's Leadership
Conference held at the National Education Association (NEA) on March 9.
The video reveals Dr. Tiller showcasing massive and graphic pictures of
children with fetal abnormalities that he had aborted, so as to make the
case for late-term abortions as necessary medical procedure. SFLA's
Executive Director Kristan Hawkins, who videotaped the conference and
interviewed Tiller clandestinely, commented on the gruesome pictures of
aborted children Tiller showed, saying, "One had an extra arm: could not
that child had survived and received corrective surgery? Was violently
killing the child the only way to go?"
"Pro-lifers are regularly condemned for displaying pictures of aborted
babies, but here the pro-abortion crowd and the NEA are more than happy to
showcase these graphic images, and even gave Dr. Tiller's presentation a
standing ovation," added Hawkins.
Tiller, who currently faces 19 criminal charges for illegal late-term
abortions in the state of Kansas, at first feigned ignorance of the Born
Alive Infants Protection Act, a federal bill signed into law in 2002 that
protects born children from murder and illegalizes infanticide. However
when questioned further about the measure he spoke of his ideological
objection to the legislation, saying, "Let's say you have 15 or 16, you
had 1 slip out with a heartbeat; that is not a viable fetus, but that is
born alive or has a heartbeat. Then you have to take that non-viable fetus
and rush it directly to the hospital against the woman's wishes."
Given that the conference featuring Tiller was held at the National
Education Association, it is probable that a good number of the more than
three million members of the NEA would be voicing opposition if they were
made aware of the situation.
"As a pro-life teacher, I can say this illustrates why I am no longer a
member of the NEA," said Marla Mercer, a West Virginia teacher and former
member of the National Education Association. "The NEA should not be
involved in this issue; here they are hosting this controversial
abortionist and his slideshow of babies he has aborted. There is no way
any of my money will ever be used to advance the radical pro-abortion
agenda of Planned Parenthood and the NEA."
Full video available online at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wpr_sN04j_0
To send concerns to the National Education Association:
http://www.nea.org/aboutnea/contact.html
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Abortion as Birth Control - 1,300 UK Women Have Had at Least Five
Abortions Head of pro-life group says, "All those women have had loads of
contraceptive advice"
LONDON, March 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Conservative MP has revealed
that increasing numbers of women in the UK are using abortion as a form of
alternate contraception, with over 30 teenage girls a week asking for
repeat abortions.
Mark Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin in Shropshire, told the House of Commons
that abortion in Britain has reached "industrial" levels, with at least
1300 women in his figures having had as many as five abortions.
The statistics for 2006 showed that nearly 15,000 women in the UK have had
three or more abortions, with 54 having had eight or more abortions. A
total of 193,737 women in England and Wales had an abortion in 2006,
17,173 of which were on women under 18 years.
Pritchard said the numbers make it clear that abortion was being used as a
form of back-up contraception.
"These are shocking and disturbing figures and the Government must put in
place a task force to investigate why multiple and repeat abortions are
taking place in such large numbers," he said.
The Department of Health responded with a statement, saying the solution
was a "targeted campaign to highlight contraceptive choices available to
women" when they want an abortion. The government has allocated £26.8
million for 2008/09 to "improve access to contraception". A department
spokesman said, "Women who have undergone abortion are at risk of future
unintended pregnancies and represent an important group with unmet
contraceptive needs."
"Future contraception should be discussed, and supplies offered, before a
woman is discharged following abortion."
But those who work with women in crisis pregnancies say that women who go
for abortions are always told about contraceptives. Women are inundated
with informati on and free contraceptives, even discounting that provided
by schools.
Fr. Timothy Finigan, the head of the Association of Priests for the Gospel
of Life, answered Pritchard's question, saying the reason there are so
many multiple and repeat abortions is "obvious". "People don't want to
have children. The bottom line is there's an anti-life mentality where
children are seen as a bad thing," Fr. Finigan told LifeSiteNews.com
As to the government's insistence on more contraception, Fr. Finigan said,
"All those women have had loads of contraceptive advice, and they've
either ignored it, or it has failed and they have gone for abortions. It's
not a mystery."
"People are encouraged to have as much sex as they like, and sex equals
babies."
One London-based crisis pregnancy centre says that at least 60 per cent of
the women they see have been using one or more forms of contraception.
Fr. Finigan pointed out that the statistics quoted by Pritchard ar e
probably drastically low. The redefinition of abortion excludes the use of
the morning after pill, an abortifacient hormonal drug administered to
women in the earliest stages of pregnancy, but that i s called "emergency
contraception" in the medical community.
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Call for Total Decriminalisation of Abortion in all 47 Council of
Europe States
Mandatory sex education for young people also recommended
STRASBOURG, March 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A committee of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has now officially
recommended that those few countries in Europe that still restrict
abortions should guarantee unrestricted access to abortion.
The draft resolution from the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women
and Men says countries should "decriminalise abortion, if they have not
already done so." The Committee also recommended that sex education be
made mandatory for young people.
The report from the Committee calls for the decriminalisation of abortion
in all 47 member states and uses the list of justifications that are
familiar to pro-life activists around the world: many "unsafe", illegal
abortions, a need for more artificial contraception to reduce abortion
rates and "discrimination" against women in countries where the unborn
have legal protection.
The Committee criticised even those legal restrictions that did not
specifically prohibit abortion, saying, "The repeated medical
consultations required, the time allowed for changing one's mind and the
waiting time for the abortion all have the potential to make access to
abortion more difficult, or even impossible in practice".
"A ban on abortions does not result in fewer abortions, but mainly leads
to clandestine abortions, which are more traumatic and more dangerous. The
lawfulness of abortion does not have an effect on a woman's need for an
abortion, but only on her access to a safe abortion," the report said.
The PACE Committee's report is scheduled for debate in the Assembly's
plenary session from 14 to 18 of April.
Some conservative Austrian members of the Council of Europe are reported
to be formulating a response to the resolution but no objections were
raised in the Committee's deliberations.
The Council of Europe, distinct from the Council or Parliament of the
European Union, does not have le g al authority under European treaties to
require compliance, but nonetheless is an influential part of the European
legal machinery and its recommendations are taken seriously in member
states and the drafting of EU laws.
Like most international and pan-European bodies, the Council of Europe is
known among life and family advocates for its strong secularist bias and
support for the full programme of the abortion and pan-sexualist movement
and anti-Christian bias.
John Smeaton, director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn
Children (SPUC), wrote today that the report will be used "as leverage
towards the creation of a right to abortion on demand in international
law, which has always been the most important and ultimate goal of the
worldwide pro-abortion lobby".
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, that carries out
lobbying and education work in Europe, has asked that citizens contact
their Council of Europe representatives to express co n ce rns.
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Argentine President's Administration Urges Parliament to Legalize
Abortion, Homosexual "Marriage"
BUENOS AIRES, March 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The administration of
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina's newly-elected president, has
sent a letter to representatives of the national congress urging them to
legalize abortion and homosexual "marriage".
The letter was sent by the president of the administration's "National
Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism" (INADI), María
José Lubertino, to members of the nation's Chamber of Deputies.
"Regarding discrimination for gender/sex, in the opinion of INADI, it
would be very important for you to consider the following topics and bills
in the parliamentary agenda of the Honorable Chamber of Deputies for the
current year," wrote Lubertino, according to the Argentine pro-life
organization NOTIVIDA.
Lubertino then listed thirteen items, among which were "legalization and
broadening of the cases of voluntary interruption of pregnancy",
"regulation of non-punishable abortions", "marriage between people of the
same sex," and the "law of gender identity."
Although Fernandez de Kirchner characterized herself as pro-life only days
before her election last year, she spoke in ambiguous terms that cast
doubt on her claims. She has, however, long stated her support for
homosexual political causes.
In the months following her election, Fernández de Kirchner's
administration and Peronist party showed signs of adhering to a pro-life
policy with regard to surgical abortions, canceling pro-abortion
legislation and dismissing pro-abortion rhetoric that treats illegal
abortions as a "public health issue" rather than a crime.
However, the recent actions of INADI's president indicate that such moves
may have only reflected a temporary policy designed to heal relations with
the Catholic Church in the wake of the elections.
The administration of Fernández de Kirchner's husband, former president
Nestor Kirchner, was strongly pro-abortion. His health minister, Gines
Gonzalez Garcia, was an open advocate of the abortifacient "morning after
pill"; he also provided free transportation for an abortion for a mentally
retarded child when local doctors refused to do the procedure on ethical
grounds (see LifeSiteNews coverage at
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07100102.html).
NOTIVIDA also reports that on March 12 the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
voted unanimously for a bill that commits itself to implementing the
"Beijing Declaration". Issued in 1995, the document uses language that is
interpreted by abortion advocates as implying a right to an abortion.
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