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Lumina - Hope and Healing After Abortion; new video

Polling in Ireland shows strong support for pro-life position

The majority of Irish people favour constitutional protection for the life of the unborn, according to results of a national poll.

The poll, conducted by Milward Brown Lansdowne on behalf of the Pro Life Campaign, asked 984 adults: “Are you in favour or opposed to constitutional protection for the unborn that prohibits abortion but allows the continuation of the existing practice of intervention to save a mother’s life, in accordance with Irish medical ethics?”

Over two thirds of Irish people want to see the right to life of the unborn child protected in law, according to a new poll commissioned by the Pro Life Campaign.

61 per cent favoured constitutional protection for the unborn child, with 17 per cent opposed. Twenty two per cent didn't know or had no opinion. When this 22 per cent is excluded, 78 per cent of people favour legal protection for the unborn, while 22 per cent are opposed.

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At a press conference in Dublin to highlight the findings, Dr Kiely said that Irish law “should continue to respect Irish medical practice, which gives the best care in the world to both the pregnant mother and her child.”

She said: “For nearly two decades, international figures have shown that Ireland has consistently been the safest country in the world for women to give birth in. The most up-to-date figures from the World Health Organisation confirmed this again in 2010.“This is a fact of which many people are not aware, but of which we should be immensely proud.”

The crime of rape, and abortion; a PR from the Prolife Action League of Chicago

We are posting the entire press release about an event on Thursday, November 17th.

Sickening, and of course the phony Catholic Governor of illinois is on the wrong side.

 

Rape Victim Offended by Illinois Governor’s Politicization of Sexual Assaults  

Governor Quinn forgetting about the other victims of attacks who choose life

 

On Thursday, November 17, Personal PAC will present their "Pro-Choice Leadership Award" to Jennie Goodman for her role in helping to get pro-choice Governor Pat Quinn elected last year. Goodman, a victim of rape at age 18, was featured in an ad in which she attacked the pro-life position of Quinn's challenger, Bill Brady.

 

The pro-choice award will be presented by Quinn himself, for which he has been sharply criticized by the Catholic bishops of Illinois. Quinn is a professed Catholic, and his presentation of this award, in the words of Cardinal Francis George, “crosses the line.”

 

While Goodman has used the story of her rape -- from which she did not become pregnant -- to promote a pro-abortion political agenda, another victim of rape has a very different story to tell.

 

At 11:30 a.m., a rape-victim who did become pregnant, Mary Higgins, will be outside the Chicago Hilton and Towers location to protest Goodman’s audacity in speaking about what she has not experienced. Higgins, a board member of The Pro-Life Action League, will be supported by other leaders from the League. The goal is to underscore Higgins’ message about the most overlooked victims of rape: innocent babies conceived through this violent act.

Mary Higgins is one of many other victims of rape and hopes that her press conference will put a face on the other innocent victims of rape. When Mary was sexually assaulted at age 18, she was faced with the choice that Jennie Goodman never had to make: what to do when she discovered that she had become pregnant with her rapist's child.

As difficult as her situation was, Mary refused to punish her unborn child for its father's crime. Mary chose life for her unborn daughter, and placed her for adoption. She says, "It was the best choice I ever made."

Mary is offended that Goodman would use the story of her rape to defend aborting children like her daughter, children conceived in rape.

"Jennie Goodman defends her pro-choice position by remarking that she never had a choice about becoming a victim of rape," Higgins says, responding to Goodman's remarks in the media. "But she is forgetting about all the unborn children who never have any choice about becoming victims of abortion.”

Higgins and her now-grown daughter celebrate the life that came out of a horrible and traumatic experience for Mary, who has a beautiful, close relationship with the child who was conceived in that abusive and criminal act. 

Eric Scheidler, director of the Pro-Life Action League, supports Mary in her efforts to share the truth about rape and the children that result from it. According to Scheidler, “Those who believe that abortion is the answer for victims of rape have not asked the victims themselves. No child deserves to be given a death sentence for his or her father’s crime.” In support of this position, Scheidler will be passing out copies of a new brochure from the League (download the PDF at http://prolifeaction.org/docs/RapeAbortion.pdf), which shows that most rape victims who become pregnant do not abort their children, while the vast majority of those who do regret it.

DETAILS OF PRESS CONFERENCE:

 

• Mary Higgins will take up a solemn post outside the Chicago Hilton and Towers at 11:30 a.m. on November 17 and will take questions from the press.
• The Pro-Life Action League will be present to support Higgins in protest; director Eric Scheidler will be available for interviews.
• Following Higgins’ press conference outside, the Personal PAC luncheon will take place inside the building, where Goodman will be recognized for using her rape in promoting pro-choice politics.
• Copies of the League’s “Abortion for Victims of Rape and Incest?” brochure will be distributed to the public. You can download the PDF at http://prolifeaction.org/docs/RapeAbortion.pdf

 

To learn more about the life-affirming work of the Pro-Life Action League, visit http://prolifeactionleague.org.

 

For more information or to schedule an interview with Eric Scheidler or Mary Higgins, contact Tom Ciesielka at 312-422-1333, [email protected]

 

 

Bus (Cancelled! On account of Occupy Wall Street" expected demonstration in NYC!!) leaves St. Eugene's in Yonkers at 2 p.m. for CFF NYC Event for "Choose Life" Plates

UPDATE: This bus has been cancelled, since there is an expected demonstration by "Occupy Wall Street" in the same area.

Join the bus leaving from St. Eugene's, 707 Tuckahoe Road, 32 Massatoa Road in Yonkers, NY at 2 p.m. for several hours on Thursday, November 17th and heading to a NYC gathering of supporters to celebrate the freedom of speech and pro-adoption U.S. District Court victory for The Children First Foundation!

They will urge Gov. Cuomo to end the 2004 moratorium and years of appeals, approve this specialty plate now and re-open the division for business. The DMV specialty plate division has been shut down, penalizing organizations who want plates - like the 9/11 remembrance plate - and keeping needed funds from these organizations, as well as state coffers.

Scroll down and read our previous posting for more information.

National Campaign Urges Gov. Cuomo to Approve NY "Choose Life" License Plates

Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Rex, The Children First Foundation, 914-629-3710, [email protected]

EASTCHESTER, N.Y., Nov. 16, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- At a Press Conference on Thursday, November 17th, at 2:00 PM, The Children First Foundation will read numerous statements and letters of endorsements urging Governor Cuomo to approve its pro-adoption "New York 'Choose Life' License Plate," and will officially launch an urgent and statewide "Call Governor Cuomo Campaign" as well as a "National Petition for the Approval of the New York Choose Life License Plate." The Press Conference will be held at the Law Office of Belair & Evans, located at 61 Broadway near Zucotti Park and the 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan.

Several pro-family organizations representing over 600,000 concerned New Yorkers have already endorsed the New York "Choose Life" Plate and respectfully ask the Governor to approve it along with hundreds of other blocked custom plates -- including the "9/11 Remembrance Plate" -- without further delay or further unnecessary taxpayer-funded legal fees.

Last week, capping a decade-long effort and a seven-year federal lawsuit to get its pro-adoption "Choose Life" License Plate approved in New York State, a U.S. District Court judge ordered Governor Cuomo's newly appointed DMV Commissioner, Barbara Fiala, to "approve Children First Foundation, Inc.'s preferred custom plate design that was submitted prior to the institution of the [DMV's 2004] moratorium."

Because custom license plates raise millions of dollars in annual revenue for the state, and given that the state has already forfeited potentially millions of dollars since the DMV's 2004 moratorium on all new custom plates, this should be an easy decision for Governor Cuomo and his administration. Regrettably, however, the editorial board of the Albany Times Union has just urged Governor Cuomo to appeal this decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

"At our press conference we will ask every pro-family and pro-liberty organization and every concerned citizen to use their telephones and cell phones, emails and letters, Facebook and Twitter to flood the Governor's Office with respectful requests to defend Freedom of Speech and Equal Treatment for all New Yorkers, not just some," said Dr. Elizabeth Rex, President of Children First.

Governor Cuomo's Office welcomes phone calls and can be reached at (518) 474-8390.

Please also sign Children First's "National Petition for the New York Choose Life License Plate" at www.gopetition.com/petitions/new-york-choose-life-license-plate.html.

For further information:

Alliance Defense Fund Press Release:
www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/5182

New York State Catholic Conference Statement: www.nyscatholic.org/pages/news/show_newsDetails.asp?id=542

Concert for Life - November 20 - 3 p.m. at Stony Point Marian Shrine

Help benefit the Good Counsel Home for homeless pregnant women and their children in Spring Vally, New York by attending this wonderful event. The concert will feature Margaret and Monica Peterson; also featuring Jammin' with Jesus Music Ministry from the Church of St. Peter in Haverstraw.

The Marian Shrine is located at 174 Filors Lane, Stony Point (Rockland County), New York 10980. "Be our guest" - free will offering.

For info call 845-429-2077.

The event will honor Rockland County Vicar Monsignor Edward Weber.

Witness at PrideWorks Conference in Tarrytown - November 17

The 13th annual PrideWorks Conference takes place at the Double Tree Hotel, 455 South Broadway in Tarrytown, New York between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Every year, some 600 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth, their educators, parents and allies flock to Westchester for the Conference whose mission is to inform communities about the realities of growing up gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, and to inspire them to respect and support LGBT people and to advocate for positive change.

A group of pro-life advocates plan to have an information table outside of the conference with pamphlets to get the Pro-Life Message out to the students who go to these LGBTQ conferences and don't know the alternatives. For more information on the effort please contact: Jeanne Sparks at [email protected] or Rob Florin at [email protected].

Late breaking Westchester Legislature results: a pro-life pickup!

Go here -

GOP Picks up two County Board seats in latest count

The results are not final and could still change as there is a machine impound order and affidavits have yet to be counted. The order from a state supreme court judge means the Board of Elections can’t re-canvass and audits machines until Monday.
Republican Michael Smith passed Legislator John Nonna in District 3 by 123 votes, according to unofficial results. There are still 238 affidavit ballots that have not been tallied, either.

In District 10 in Eastchester and New Rochelle, Republican Legislator Sheila Marcotte of Tuckahoe pulled ahead of Democrat John Fitzpatrick by 47 votes (she was down by 275 votes with 30 percent of districts not reported last night).

Michael Smith is a pro-life pick-up and Sheila Marcotte is pro-life. This is important for efforts to fend off ridiculous "bubble zone" legislation to quash pro-life freedom of speech. This is being promoted by two current legislators.

Alliance Defense Fund on the "Choose Life" NY license plate Federal Court decision

It's incredible that this even had to go to Federal court.

Here is the original news  Great News! "Choose Life" license plates approved in New York

Here is a statement from one of the lead attorney's.

NY ‘Choose Life’ license plates vindicated

Federal court orders state to allow pro-adoption plates as part of decision in 7-year-old ADF lawsuit
Wednesday, November 09, 2011

ADF attorney sound bite: Jeff Shafer

ALBANY, N.Y. — A federal court ruled Tuesday that the state of New York violated the First Amendment when it rejected a pro-adoption group’s application to sponsor a “Choose Life” specialty license plate as part of a state program. Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed the lawsuit on behalf of The Children First Foundation in 2004.

“Pro-adoption organizations have the right to a specialty license plate on the same terms as any other organization, and the court’s decision affirms that,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeff Shafer. “The state is not authorized to censor The Children First Foundation for its life-affirming viewpoint, but it has gotten away with doing so for 10 years now since the application was first submitted.”

The court issued an order for the state to approve the plate application but placed the order on hold until any appeals are completed.

“It is undisputed that CFF complied with the requirements for entry into the program…,” the court wrote. “As this court has found, the sole basis for Defendants’ denial of CFF’s license plate application was viewpoint discrimination. Accordingly, the court finds that Defendants’ restriction was both discrimination based on viewpoint and unreasonable….”

In addition, the court found that “New York has run afoul of the First Amendment by giving the Commissioner unbridled discretion to engage in viewpoint discrimination.”

The New York DMV had rejected the foundation’s license plate design of a crayon drawing of a yellow sun behind the faces of two smiling children, claiming a significant segment of the population would consider the design “patently offensive” because it also included the words “Choose Life.”

ADF attorneys filed The Children First Foundation v. Martinez with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York in August 2004. In March 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled the lawsuit could go forward after the district court denied the state’s motion to dismiss the case. Malta attorney Jim Trainor, one of nearly 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance, is currently serving as local counsel.

ADF represented The Children First Foundation in a similar lawsuit in New Jersey. In that case, the state eventually agreed to approve the “Choose Life” plate after the foundation won reinstatement of its lawsuit at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

And here is the Alliance Defense Fund statement. If you hit the link, there's more on their website - we have their press release below the link.

Alliance Defense Fund

        After seven years of litigation, The Children First Foundation and their lawyers from the Alliance Defense Fund, specialists in cases of religious freedom and First Amendment issues, have finally received a ruling in Federal Court stating that the state of New York had unconstitutionally blocked the issuing of CFF's "Choose Life" license plate. The decision comes almost one year after CFF and ADF won a similar ruling against the state of New Jersey which now has the "Choose Life" plate on the road.

        On November 8, 2011, a Federal District Court in New York State ruled that the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles must issue CFF's "Choose Life" license plate. This decision caps seven years of legal battles in which CFF and their attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, who are legal experts in First Amendment cases, have won every legal battle in this federal lawsuit since its filing back in 2004.

        We urge all New York State citizens who believe in Freedom of Speech to now contact Governor Andrew Cuomo and respectfully ask the Governor to approve the New York "Choose Life" license plate without further delay. The Governor may be reached by telephone by calling (518) 474-8370 or by email at http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php.

        Blocking the approval of the New York "Choose Life" license plate since 2002 has put New York in the minority of states, given that a solid majority of 28 other states have already approved pro-adoption "Choose Life" plates. Last year, CFF won a similar Federal lawsuit against New Jersey in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals over that state's attempts to block the plate. According to an Associated Press article, New Jersey's Motor Vehicles Commission spokesman Mike Horan explained that New Jersey decided to allow the approval of the New Jersey "Choose Life" license plate to avoid further legal expenses. In 2009, when then Governor Timothy Kaine of Virginia approved the Virginia "Choose Life" license plate, Gov. Kaine issued a statement that he was approving his state's plate "... (b)ecause Virginians -- like all Americans -- regard freedom of expression among our highest values."

        We here at CFF are very happy with this verdict along with two other verdicts in New York courts over the years including the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals that show very clearly the violation of The Children First Foundation's freedom of speech. We sincerely hope that Governor Cuomo will follow New Jersey's lead from last year and cease the senseless use of taxpayer money to fight these cases where the state's position is clearly unconstitutional. The DMV moratorium that has been in place for almost six years against new plates, imposed in order to stop the "Choose Life" plate, has also blocked such other plates as the "9/11 Remembrance Plate" and the "Cure Childhood Cancer" plate. In this time of budgetary crises, it is time for New York's government to stop wasting taxpayer money and start earning money from the sale of popular specialty plates. We urge the approval of CFF's plate here in New York that will help promote and fund the positive choice of adoption as CFF is now doing with its plates in New Jersey and Connecticut.

Great News! "Choose Life" license plates approved in New York

After a seven year battle. remember, the argument against them was that they'd cause "road rage."

See here - from The Children First Foundation President Elizabeth Rex:

 

Dear Friends,

It's true! Thanks to the Alliance Defense Fund, Children First has just won its 7-year federal lawsuit to get Choose Life License Plate approved in New York!

Here is ADF's Press Release: http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/5182

And FOX: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/choose-life-license-plates-20111109-lgf

Our updated web site: www.thechildrenfirst.org

Please call Governor Cuomo at (518) 474-8390 and respectfully ask him to approve the New York "Choose Life" License Plate sponsored by The Children First Foundation without further delay to help promote and support life, adoption and safe haven efforts in New York State. Be sure to sign our New York Petition!

Then please forward this email to your family and friends. Thank you so much!

 

Sincerely for Life,

Elizabeth B. Rex
Elizabeth B. Rex, Ph.D.
President and Co-Founder
The Children First Foundation
P.O. Box 326
Eastchester, NY 10709
Tel/Fax: 1-877-Fund-Adoption / 1-877-386-3236
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.Fund-Adoption.org

"It would all be worth it if just one woman chose to give her child life and place him or her with a loving adoptive couple" - County Commissioner Randy Harris, President of Choose Life, Inc. www.choose-life.org

Planned Parenthood Sex Ed: sullying, not saving lives.

A LifeNet Editorial

The article by Twanna A. Hines entitled Sex education in school saves lives (The Journal News 10/30/11) emphasizes a disproportionate desire on the part of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic to sexualize younger and younger children under the pretext of what was traditionally called “health” education in schools. No reasonable adult has convinced me that my children, now grown, needed to be exposed to graphic sexual images at age 9 or 10 in order to “save their lives”.

This article is a public relations piece that presents Planned Parenthood’s “Making Proud Choices” program as benign because the program uses the word abstinence. Have parents asked to see all the materials? Otherwise intelligent, busy adults want to believe without question that Planned Parenthood’s “age-appropriate” emblem protects against graphic materials that might be offensive to them or their children.

One primary role of an adult in a child’s life is to love and protect him or her from harm and violence, and that used to include protecting their innocence. Parents’ rights are being trampled here. A society that purportedly treasures its children now wants to expose them in school to graphic images of sexual practices of every sort to, let's be honest, appease adult agendas. How did parents ever allow Planned Parenthood’s “education professionals” into our schools? Why are they being allowed increasing access to the most intimate aspects of our children’s bodies and minds with hardly a whisper of protest?

by Judith Anderson

Lumina is having a house party!!

The party starts at 7PM!

Tuesday November 8 is Election Day - Get out the pro-life vote!

It is our civic duty to vote and our moral duty to bring our pro-life values into the public arena and into various critical local races. While it is impossible to always find perfect candidates, there are obvious alternative candidates that bring us both quality of candidacy and personal conviction. Please go to www.righttolife-9jd.com to see the Westchester Right to Life Party slate of candidates for your consideration. There are numbers there to call if you have any questions.

Vote on Tuesday most importantly. Help others with transportation issues get to the polls, too. LifeNet thanks you for being good citizens for life.