LifeNet

Arrangements for Chris Slattery - & a 2019 picture

Chris' wife Eileen posted the wake and funeral arrangements on facebook and they are repeated below the picture. From our archive is Chris in June, 2019, at a White Plains fundraiser with abortion survivor Melissa Ohden. They were raising money for sonogram machines.

Here is Eileen's facebook posting:

Eileen Slattery

November 22, at 5:59PM.  ·

My husband, Chris Slattery passed away this morning, quietly in hospice care surrounded by his family. We invite all friends and family to join us in celebrating his life and work.

Wake Service will be held at :

Flowers Funeral Home, this Sunday November 26th from 4pm-8pm.

Address: 714 Yonkers Ave, Yonkers, NY

Funeral mass will be held at :

St. Paul the Apostle Church on Monday, November 27th at 10:00am

Address: 602 McLean Ave. Yonkers, NY

Thank you everyone who has reached out thus far and those who stopped by hospice for a visit. It is appreciated more than you can imagine and I hope to see many more over the weekend. We will be hosting a memorial service in another month or so for those who cannot make it this holiday weekend.

 

Chris Slattery R.I.P.

UPDATING - be sure to read the comments that have been left and feel free to leave your own thoughts. Comments link is below.

Certainly a terribly sad time for Chris family, close friends, and all right to life people. But a great victory for Chris.  The tribute below is from Rev. Jim Harden, the CEO of CompassCare which is keeping the life and vision of Chris - Expectant Mother Care - alive and going into the future.

At 4:15am on Wednesday, November 22, 2023, at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, Chris Slattery, 40 year-long pro-life pioneer and hero, died at 68.

 

Fighting two stage-four cancers, this pro-life champion entered hospice on November 14. He died surrounded by his wife and children, supported by numerous priests and bishops.

 

Chris’ legacy will echo into eternity with an estimated 43,000 babies alive today who otherwise would have been aborted—enough to fill his beloved Yankee Stadium. In a recent interview, Chris observed, “I have a unique talent of saving children from being killed.”

 

What was the belief driving his undying passion to spare both women and babies from abortion in his words? “The most precious beings in the world are human beings, made in [God’s] likeness and image, with an eternal soul.”

 

Chris began blazing the trail to save lives in the American abortion capital, New York City, in 1979, shortly after the legalization of abortion. Using his advertising expertise acquired at Boston College, Chris founded the pregnancy center network, Expectant Mother Care, later known as EMC Frontline with 14 locations throughout the five-borough area.

 

Chris’ pioneering spirit gave rise to the use of ultrasound scans in 1986, 20 years before most pregnancy centers ever considered using the technology. He even took imagining to the streets with mobile medical vans, now so popular nationwide.

 

Chris is quick to point out, “It’s not just about saving the babies. It’s saving the mother’s soul, helping her to fulfill her mission in life.”

 

In his later years, Chris became enemy number one for the abortion empire. Since the early 2000s, I personally witnessed Chris' fighting spirit as he and I took the fight to the abortion industry’s front gate. From Eliot Spitzer to Letitia James, Andrew Cuomo to Kathy Hochul, none of the pro-abortion Goliaths in NYC were able to stand before Chris Slattery, the pro-life David. That's Chris. Lesser men might have thrown in the towel.

 

Chris is a member of the Catholic order Opus Dei. In Latin, it means ‘work of God.’ The idea is for the members to see their life work as God’s calling to bring Him glory with the highest levels of excellence. About pregnancy care work Chris said:

 

“This is not just a job. It’s a vocation, and you’ve got to excel at it. You’ve got to become professional at it. I’ve always tried to be good at it…. We have to keep God in mind every moment, praying before, during, and after our work, always offering it for God’s glory. These are God’s children.”

 

Opus Dei indeed.

 

Chris had an Arthurian vision for the world, America, and New York City. A vision in which a woman doesn't feel like she has to choose between her life and her baby’s life.

 

It is humbling and a privilege that Chris placed his pro-life mantle in NYC on me. CompassCare is joining forces with the EMC team to continue Chris’ lifesaving vision, saving twice as many women and babies from abortion in 2024 in what he called "the abortion capital of the world."

 

I am convinced that one day all God’s people will look upon this labor of love and see the work of God. But more importantly, when time is rolled up like a scroll, I believe God Himself will survey the lifesaving work He began with Chris and see hundreds of thousands of lives saved and lived to His glory…and smile—God’s Magnum Opus.

 

Pray for Chris’ wife Eileen and his family as they grieve. A small funeral service is planned in Chris and Eileen's parish with a larger Memorial service to follow. Details for the Memorial service to follow.

 

In Christ,

 

Rev. Jim Harden, M.Div.

CompassCare CEO

Sad: "Support for Abortion Access Is Near Record"

Another proof that if we don't change hearts and minds, political change will only be a small step.  And this is reputable, a Wall Street Journal-NORC poll. You probably can't access the full article without a WSJ subscription, but we've posted the main points as well as an example of one person's thinking. Further information on the poll we will also post when we see it.

55% say abortion should be available "for any reason if the woman wants it."

New results from a Wall Street Journal-NORC poll show Americans’ support for abortion access is at one of the highest levels on record since nonpartisan researchers began tracking it in the 1970s. Some 55% of respondents say it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if she wants it for any reason. The poll, conducted for the Journal by NORC at the University of Chicago, surveyed 1,163 registered voters from Oct. 19-24.

NORC polling shows that Americans’ attitudes about abortion vary depending on the reasons for terminating a pregnancy. Some 86% of respondents support abortion access in the event of rape or incest, and 89% support it when a woman’s health is seriously endangered by the pregnancy.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Politicians latch on to the abortion issue, she said, because for a minority of voters with the most strongly held views, it will motivate them to vote. For a long time, abortion was a strong motivator for conservative religious voters. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, she said, abortion has become a strong motivator for Democratic voters.

Jessica Munoz, a 33-year-old Chicagoan who said she sometimes leans Democratic, voted for President Biden because she thought that his affiliation with former President Barack Obama would make him a strong leader. She has been unhappy with Biden’s presidency, particularly his policies at the border that she said have unleashed thousands of migrants in her city. 

But she can’t bring herself to vote for a candidate who is antiabortion. Years spent working as a nurse with young children housed in the psychiatric unit of a local hospital helped shape her view that, when people don’t have access to abortion, women who shouldn’t become mothers have children who suffer.

“A lot of women back then fought for what we have now. We don’t want history to repeat,” she said.

Parents share the miscarriage of their baby - with photo - at nine weeks.

This is off the Live Action website, founded by Lila Rose.

Editor’s Note: Recently, Live Action founder and president Lila Rose penned an email in honor of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, where she recounted the story of her own miscarriage in early 2021. A grieving mother wrote back in response, sharing photos of her child. Below are some of the thoughts and feelings shared in the email, which are solely those of the author.

Something in my heart is telling me to respond to this email – number one – to say thank you, thank you, thank you. For eloquently putting words to an experience that so many go through. Number two, because this is so fresh for me…. A few weeks ago, on October 6th, I labored naturally for 4 hours at home and gave birth to our baby, lost to miscarriage at 11.5 weeks pregnant, but baby measured 9.

I’ve been considering emailing Live Action for a while since this traumatic but eye-opening experience happened after following you for some time. If you feel so comfortable to open and see them, I have attached B&W pictures of our sweet 1-inch baby. I believe they’re a testament unto themselves: how a society-deemed “clump of cells” can be a miraculous tiny human with intricately-developed features. Every time I show these pictures of our sweet infant, people are overwhelmingly surprised and say they’ve never seen anything like it before (my OBGYN and medical professionals included).

I had someone say to me just this morning that my story and pictures could be a testimony to something so personal to women all over this country, and even to many who participate in abortion and are either uninformed or simply living in denial.

It angers me to hear that abortion clinics misinform women about so many things: beyond completely denying the sanctity of life, they do not fully prepare their clients for the labor process it will take to expel their child (and yes, miscarriage was true labor with timed contractions for me at least). Also, most women are not prepared for what they will see when the child is born.

My husband and I saw a fully intact amniotic sac, a little bigger than an orange, in which the baby still had its umbilical cord attached. We retrieved and held our baby. I birthed the placenta days later and bled for weeks after. We buried our baby recently and the grief has been unimaginable.

Women who desire abortions are not properly educated about these things by abortion clinics that claim to be “on their side.”

People might try to say my experience was different than the process of an abortion, but as you said your email – whether wanted but miscarried or unwanted and aborted – each child is a HUMAN life that is not ours to take.

… I just wanted to say thank you so much for what you do, and I hope that these pictures of our sweet baby offer a small glimpse of God’s creativity and marvelousness.

Exciting news - Expectant Mother Care now part of CompassCare!

Below is the email from Chris Slattery. We know this has been in the works for awhile, given Chris' illness. Please hit the link embedded below for the interview between Rev. Jim Harden and Chris.

After 40 years of saving women and pre-born boys and girls from abortion in NYC, the abortion capital of the world, I now find myself fighting for my own life with two stage-four cancers.

 

I am by no means giving up, but for a man who is 6'1" and only 128 lbs., it's time for me to pass the pro-life torch.

 

It is with relief and excitement that I can tell you, there is someone who is taking the fight for life to the next level in New York City. It is an answer to my prayers.

 

CompassCare Pregnancy Services under the leadership of Rev Jim Harden has agreed to adopt and expand the mission of Expectant Mother Care. I am pleased to pass my mantle into the capable hands of Rev. Harden and his seasoned team at CompassCare.

 

CompassCare through the leadership of Rev. Jim Harden has shown that they are fighters willing to take on the abortion establishment, willing to innovate, willing to work with methods that will help us reach more mothers in the future—mothers who are more difficult to reach today and are more expensive to reach today, requiring many more skill sets than the average pregnancy center has.

 

I've known Jim for over fifteen years as we pushed back against then Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and fought former Governor Andrew Cuomo, as well as current Gov. Kathy Hochul.

 

Jim and his team pioneered the first repeatable pregnancy center medical model and has a network of pro-life medical offices throughout New York State, one of which was firebombed by pro-abortion violent domestic extremists shortly after the illegal leak of the Dobbs case overturning Roe.

 

You may also have heard Rev. Harden giving voice to voiceless pre-born boys and girls in his appearances on Tucker Carlson, Eric Metaxas, Glenn Beck, EWTN, and others, as well as interviews and commentaries in The Washington Times, Life Site News, Fox News, Christian Post, Catholic News Agency, Washington Stand, etc.

 

I found someone to not just replace me in NYC, but to take the fight for life in the abortion capital of the world to the next level.

 

Meet Rev. Harden (I call him Jim) by watching the 20-minute conversation I had with him just before I began my latest round of radiation treatment. We discuss why I am passing the pro-life torch in NYC to him as well as the vision and plan to save more lives in the abortion capital of the world. Go watch or learn more by clicking HERE.

 

Thank you for everything you’ve done to save lives with me over the last forty years. It makes me happy to know our lifesaving legacy will continue.

 

As I continue fighting for my own life, I can rest easy knowing you are getting behind my friend Jim and his CompassCare team to continue fighting for the weakest and most vulnerable among us. Jim will be in touch with you within the next few days to tell you more about the vision and plan to expand on the lifesaving services you helped to build with me.

 

Yours for Life,

 

Chris Slattery

Founder EMC Frontline

 

P.S. Jim is already hard at work to ensure you have a way to continue to save women and babies from abortion in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. He even secured a half-million-dollar matching fund for you to level up the lifesaving mission in NYC! Jim will tell you more about that in the coming days and weeks. But for now, please know that the mission is in good hands.

WSJ: "Roe v. Wade Is Gone, but Abortions on the Rise"

Sad news. As we all know, changing laws is important - the law is a moral teacher - but much, much more is needed.

This is from yesterday's Wall Street Journal and we have excerpted much of the article below the link. Note the last two paragraphs with comments from the abortion promoter.

New abortion bans have done little to reduce frequency of the procedure, new data show

Data released Tuesday shows the number of abortions ticked up slightly in the year following the high court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. That ruling, from June 2022, ended federal protections for the procedure, and paved the way for some 16 states to ban many or most abortions. 

The data indicate that abortion providers, funders and others have adapted quickly to a legal landscape that has changed profoundly. Access has been cut off throughout much of the South, and demand has surged in states in which abortion is still legal. Many providers there have had to significantly increase capacity. 

The findings also underscore the challenges facing antiabortion groups, as the ease of traveling to another state or obtaining abortion pills online seem to be largely undercutting laws intended to reduce abortions. 

In the new study, WeCount, an abortion-data project sponsored by the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion rights, found that nationwide there were 183 more monthly abortions on average in the 12-month period following the Dobbs decision compared with the monthly average prior to the decision. That trend mirrors similar findings by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that also supports abortion rights, which showed the number of abortions rising in most states in the first half of this year compared with 2020, the most recent year for which data are available.

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While it has become much harder since the end of Roe to obtain an abortion in states with newly enacted bans, it actually appears to have become easier in many other states, thanks to increased attention and resources. Abortion funds, nonprofits that help finance abortions and logistics associated with them, have raised millions to help lower-income women pay for procedures and travel, while new clinics have opened in states such as Illinois and New Mexico that have become major destinations for women traveling from other states. 

Nearly 115,000 fewer abortions were performed in the year after the Dobbs decision in states that banned abortions throughout pregnancy or after six weeks, according to the WeCount data. At the same time, states including Illinois, Florida and North Carolina—where the procedure remained largely legal—saw an increase of 117,000 abortions. 

The data don’t include women who order pills online from overseas outside of the formal medical system, a practice that appears to have become more common.

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In California, Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties doubled the number of open appointments available for medication abortion at its nine locations in spring 2022 in anticipation of the high court’s decision, said Krista Hollinger, the Planned Parenthood branch’s chief operating officer. 

Those centers have seen an increase in out-of-state patients, but more Californians are getting abortions as well. Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties saw a 20% increase in its total volume since June 2022, while only about 3% of that increase came from out-of-state patients. 

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For antiabortion advocates, the policy options available to combat the ease of traveling and obtaining pills online present major challenges. Any efforts to prevent women from traveling out of state for abortions could run up against constitutional challenges. Restricting the use of abortion pills ordered online from overseas or out-of-state actors is difficult without punishing the women who take them—long something antiabortion groups have pledged to avoid. 

Abortion opponents are fighting hard to garner support from Republican presidential candidates for a national abortion limit, but such a proposal has little hope of making it through the current Congress.

***************

In the first month since North Carolina passed a 12-week limit, the number of abortions in the state declined by nearly one-third from the prior month, according to Guttmacher. The law increased requirements for in-person medical visits, which providers say has virtually eliminated visits from out-of-state patients. 

A challenge to approval for a widely used abortion pill appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court and could potentially upend access across the country in the next year if it succeeds. 

Abortion-rights groups also acknowledge that they face internal risks, including staff burnout at clinics that remain open and a decrease in fundraising firepower if public attention fades.

The Chicago Abortion Fund has quadrupled its staff and tripled its budget since 2021. The fund has provided about $4.5 million to thousands of patients to assist with plane, train and bus tickets; hotel stays; child care; and other costs since Roe was struck down.   

“This is not a long-term solution,” said Megan Jefyio, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund. “We are dealing with competing crises in this country and I don’t know how long we’re going to have this sustained support.”

 

Paterson NJ Bishop's column on Joan Andrews and the incarcerated eight.

The Bishop is Kevin J Sweeney and he is relatively young - 53 - and originally from Queens, NY. He  was ordained a priest in 1997 and installed as Bishop of Paterson NJ on April 15, 2020.

It's a beautiful column, al.  We have excerpted the first part; hit the link for the entire column.

It was not my intention or plan to write on a similar topic or theme for two consecutive weeks, but as I was writing my column last week, I learned some news that caused me to change my plans. I decided that I should write about Joan (Andrews) Bell, her inspiring life and dedication to the pro-life cause, and her current “status” (in prison).

As I was writing my column last week, looking towards “Respect Life Month” and sharing my decision to celebrate a monthly “Pro-Life” Mass, followed by a peaceful, prayerful procession to a facility that promotes and/or performs abortion, I was in contact with Chris Bell (Joan’s husband). Just before contacting Chris, I “googled” Joan, remembering that she had been facing a trial in Washington, D.C. I quickly learned that, on Sept. 15, Joan and two others had been convicted on “federal charges for blockade at an abortion clinic.” An article in Catholic Review shares some details about Joan and the two others who were convicted. It says the following about Joan:

Joan Andrews Bell, 74, of Montague, N.J. — Bell gained fame decades ago for her participation in Operation Rescue and her willingness to endure long terms of incarceration, including solitary confinement, after clinic blockade and trespassing convictions.

Bell has been a Catholic activist since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that declared abortion a constitutional right until the high court reversed its precedent in the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Bell is a veteran of the clinic “rescues,” serving jail terms in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh, as well as state prison in Pensacola, Fla.

Her husband, Christopher Bell, is president and executive director of the New Jersey-based Good Counsel Homes. Joan Andrews Bell declined a lawyer and represented herself in court.

 

Pope Francis (again) condemns euthanasia and abortion

On the papal plane returning from France to the Vatican.

"‘You don’t play with life’: Pope Francis condemns euthanasia, abortion on papal plane"

“Whether it is the law not to let the child grow in the mother’s womb or the law of euthanasia in disease and old age,” he said, “I am not saying it is a faith thing, but it is a human thing: There is bad compassion.”

Aboard the plane, Pope Francis was asked by a French journalist whether he had spoken about euthanasia in his private conversation with France’s President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the day.

The French government is currently preparing to pass a controversial bill on end-of-life issues that could legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in the country. The vote, which was postponed because of the pope’s visit, will be held Sept. 26–28.

Francis said he did not address the topic of euthanasia with Macron on Saturday but that he had expressed himself “clearly” on the issue when the French president visited him at the Vatican last year.

Macron, who made changing the end-of-life framework one of his campaign promises, declared his “penchant” for the Belgian model in April 2022.

Pope Francis said it is not just an opinion that life should be safeguarded and warned that it is easy to fall into an idea that pain should always be prevented, even through what some might consider a “humanistic euthanasia.”

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Pope Francis has condemned euthanasia throughout his papacy, including referring to it as “a sin against God.”

On the feast of our Lady of Fátima on May 13, the pope expressed his sorrow over the legalization of euthanasia in Portugal, which he called “a law to kill.”

He has also been firm about the need to provide the very ill and dying with palliative care, which seeks to improve the quality of life of people suffering from severe illnesses.

“We must accompany people towards death but not provoke death or facilitate assisted suicide,” he said in 2022.

Joan Andrews Bell, prisoner of conscience, statement

Joan's husband received this and we have his permission to post and send around. As you all know, Joan and seven others were given an absurd 11 year sentence for non violent civil disobedience at a late term Washington DC abortion mill.

I am so very grateful for everyone who would want to send me commissary money, or write me a letter (letters are most special gifts), or visit me in prison. But I hope you will be able to understand why I am pleading with you not to do any of these. Please! The short explanation is that I want my prison stay to be a time of un-distracted prayer, as well a time of penance – for myself and our nation. I want to make my cell as it were a cloistered monastery cell. In a Carmelite monastery the nuns are only allowed  2 visits a year from family, and depending upon the specific monastery, they are only allowed 2 – 4 letters a year from family. Therefore, that is what I want to emulate.  My family will visit when they are able and will write. So I will have that.

I love each of you so very much! We in the prolife movement are as much family as could possibly be. At this point I cannot be on the front lines with you, but in my prayers and in my heart I am with you and our precious unborn brothers and sisters who are suffering martyrdom.

I am afraid that the only way I can bear not being with them and you at the killing places is by making of my life behind these walls a time of constant prayer, and whatever little additional sacrifice I can embrace.

I join my prayers with yours. We are united in Him Our Savior and Our Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thank you, and may God bless you beyond measure!

Yours in the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

Joan Bell

9/18/2023 AD

British newspaper covering the Washington Garland 9 rescue trials

UPDATE: If the lik below does not open - try this - copy and paste into your browser -  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/16/face-act-anti-abortion-threaten-clinics

 

The Guardian (UK)  newspaper is the leading Left wing - very left wing - newspaper in Great Britain. Even more so than mainstream American newspapers they are obsessed with promoting abortion - at least one article every other day on the USA and abortion. Like American "Progressives" abortion is their sacrament.

 

Go here - note that the addled writer did not mention that ten of the 11 years were for "conspiracy." They also seem to have mistaken Kristin Hawkins of Students for Life as one of the protestors. One of their photos goes all the way back to 1989. The author seems to be based in Brooklyn. Hit the link for the entire article.

 

It was 22 October 2020, and one anti-abortion advocate was livestreaming a group of activists who were at the Washington DC-area clinic to, in their view, “rescue” people from having abortions. One redheaded young woman turned to the camera.

 

“We let a guy go through the doors,” she said. “His partner is in there, going in for an abortion today. We made a deal with him that he would give her pro-life literature and talk to her, and that’s why we allowed him to go behind these doors. There are girls in the back right now.”

Under no circumstances, she added, would the protesters let the clinic’s abortion provider into the clinic.

The woman in the video is Lauren Handy, a prominent anti-abortion activist who, along with four other defendants, was convicted late last month over her actions that October day. (Three more defendants in the case were convicted on Friday.) Specifically, the defendants were found guilty of illegally blockading the clinic in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or Face Act, a federal law that penalizes people for going beyond peaceful protest to threaten, obstruct or injure someone who is trying to access a reproductive health clinic, or to vandalize a clinic. They may now spend up to 11 years in federal prison.