LifeNet

LifeNet: Reminder - celebrant Bishop Peter Byrne - July 4th - Vigil for Life

A reminder -

In Albany; March for Life NY, Monday June 24th

 

Here is basic information - it kicks off at 12 noon at the State Capitol. This is a renewal of an effort that began in 2016. More information at this link.

March for Life NY June 24th

As of now there is one bus organized, leaving from Iona College that morning. You can contact Ed Riely (914)-271-5585, [email protected],  or Rob Florin 914) 473-0784, [email protected] for details or to reserve a bus spot. 

 

"Pro-lifers imprisoned under FACE Act speak out"

This from the Catholic News Agency. And we posted this Sentences finalized on seven Washington DC prolife rescuers  a couple of days ago. The "crime" - sitting on the floor, praying the rosary and singing hymns while refusing to leave.  The 162 page indictment charged them with a conspiracy to deny civil rights. Among other things, the indictment said that even "having a bumper sticker" could be evidence of a conspiracy. Both pictures are of Joan Andrews.

Joan Andrews Bell, a 76-year-old Catholic and pro-life activist who was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, shared a statement in which she vowed to continue advocating for the unborn and called on others to join her in prayer.

“The rougher it gets for us the more we can rejoice that we are succeeding; no longer are we being treated so much as the privileged born, but as the discriminated against conceived child,” Bell said in a statement obtained by CNA. “We do not expect justice in the courts. Furthermore, we do not seek it for ourselves when it is being denied [to] our beloved brothers and sisters.”

She said that she views her prison sentence as “a time of prayer and reparation” for “the sin of abortion in America.”

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Bell and six other pro-lifers were sentenced this week for felony crimes involving conspiracy against rights and violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, also known as the FACE Act.

Signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, the FACE Act prohibits obstructing access to or destruction of abortion clinics, pregnancy centers, or church property. The law has been criticized by several lawmakers for being unevenly applied against pro-life activists.

The activists sentenced to prison this week are Bell, Lauren Handy, 30, John Hinshaw, 69, William Goodman, 54, Herb Geraghty, 27, Jonathan Darnel, 42, and Jean Marshall, 74. The sentences were given by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

According to the Department of Justice, the seven activists engaged in a conspiracy to create a blockade of the Washington Surgi-Clinic operated by Dr. Cesare Santangelo, an abortionist who has been accused of infanticide.

Handy (who's said in the past she's an atheist), who is the director of activism at the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), received the harshest sentence, four years and nine months, because of her role as the demonstration’s organizer.

Following her sentencing, Handy also vowed to continue her pro-life activism, saying: “I reject the use of fear and shame from outside and inside forces as a means to hold us back from loving preborn people as our equals. I reject calls to temper passionate responses to egregious acts of violence.”

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Hinshaw, 69, who has been sentenced to one year and nine months in prison, also issued a statement in which he referenced “the D.C. five,” five late-term babies whose mutilated bodies were found by PAAU outside the Washington Surgi-Clinic. 

He asked why his granddaughter who was born at 32 weeks could be treasured while babies at the same stage are killed and left in the trash. 

“There is a reason why today’s Gospel reading is to lay down one’s life for his friends. This is not a coincidence,” he went on. “I stand convicted, though guiltless. I take on the guilt of this judge. Accept my love for you, judge, as expiation for your guilt.”

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Chris Bell, Joan Andrews Bell’s husband of 32 years, told CNA that he has not been able to see his wife since she was convicted and imprisoned in August 2023.

According to Chris, while incarcerated at the Alexandria Detention Center in Northern Virginia, Joan has been kept away from her family. He said that despite her imprisonment, she is in “very good” spirits and is viewing her sentence as “a type of Lent.”

Now that she has been sentenced, he expects she will be moved to another prison, but he has no idea where she will be sent. In the meantime, he said that her entire family is offering up their suffering for the unborn alongside her.

“We have seven children, seven born grandchildren, and one grandchild about to be born. They are all deeply missing her,” he explained. “It’s really hard to know that your mother, your grandmother is in prison because she did something good. It’s just hard to know that she is separated from them. So, it’s hard. That’s part of our offering up to God.”

Chris Bell said they are praying not only for the unborn but also for the judge, the abortionist, and all those advancing a pro-abortion agenda.

“She knows that she’s doing this for our sins and the sins of abortion, so that keeps her focused and allows her to, even in this predicament, find God’s will and feel supported by that,” he explained.

Sentences finalized on seven Washington DC prolife rescuers

This is fresh from Lila Rose's liveaction.org email. As more information becomes available we will send it around. 

"I can’t underscore this enough: the pro-life activists who were sentenced for violating the FACE Act were peacefully protesting. They were protesting abortionist Caesare Santangelo’s Washington, D.C. abortion facility — the same facility where the bodies of 115 aborted children were discovered in a medical waste bin that ignited the #JusticefortheFive campaign in 2022."

Seven pro-life activists were sentenced this week to federal prison for peacefully protesting a late-term Washington, D.C. abortion facility.

It is a travesty that in our nation's capital, the abortionists who slaughter full-term infants walk free while peaceful pro-life activists who protest their gruesome butchery are thrown into prison.

Lauren Handy, a 30-year-old pro-life activist, was sentenced to 57 months, more than four years.

Joan Andrews Bell, a 76-year-old grandmother who has dedicated her life to saving babies and women from abortion, was sentenced to 27 months in prison; Jean Marshall, 74, was sentenced to 24 months in prison.

John Hinshaw, a 69-year-old pro-life activist, was sentenced to 21 months; Iraq War veteran Jonathan Darnel faces 34 months in prison, and Herb Geraghty and Will Goodman were sentenced to 27 months in prison.

These pro-lifers were found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act — a law that the Biden administration is weaponizing to jail pro-life Americans who peacefully protest at abortion facilities. 

I can’t underscore this enough: the pro-life activists who were sentenced for violating the FACE Act were peacefully protesting. They were protesting abortionist Caesare Santangelo’s Washington, D.C. abortion facility — the same facility where the bodies of 115 aborted children were discovered in a medical waste bin that ignited the #JusticefortheFive campaign in 2022.

Free speech is the cornerstone of a free society, and this frightening and unjust attack is pure political persecution of pro-life people.

Great story: Little girl saved by abortion pill reversal.

This story is off a facebook posting - thanks to the people who posted it and forwarded it to us. Abortion pill reversal.

The helpline for this is at the bottom of this posting. Bear in mind, two out of three abortions are now chemical abortions.

I just have to share this beautiful story. The little girl you see in this photo is a baby girl who was saved by the abortion pill reversal.

Her mama regretted taking the pill and texted our ministry helpline. Our staff was able to help her get connected to medical care and sweet Kaylies life was saved!

Mama J sent me this photo of Kaylie with her hands held high because this sweet girl has experienced the goodness of God!

In a culture that says, “hold my beer.” Sweet Kaylie says, “hold my baby and let me worship Jesus!”

God is good!

 

Here is the helpline that saved this toddler and her mother - 574 - 400-5272. The area code is in Indiana.

Planned Parenthood Annual Report: "Above and Beyond"

Yes that's the title of their report, which you can go directly to by hitting this link PP 2022-2023 Annual Report.

Here is a summary from lifenews.com but we suggest you peruse PP's own report, but not before or after eating...

Do the math:

Abortions - 392,715

• 6,316 women received prenatal care at Planned Parenthood clinics.
• 1,721 women were referred for adoptions.

For the year the annual report covers, Planned Parenthood performed 392,715 abortions, or about 4 in 10 abortions, and abortions outnumbered prenatal care 62 to 1.

“Planned Parenthood has gone beyond the pale in its hardline promotion of abortion for any reason and at any time,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “The abortion giant’s primary mission to destroy unborn children cannot be clearer.”

Tobias continued, “Planned Parenthood has continued its aggressive abortion advocacy, and is uncompromising in its promotion of unlimited abortion. The nation’s largest abortion provider continues to perform abortions at an unprecedented rate.”

Planned Parenthood took in a record $2.054 billion in revenue making the abortion giant one of the nation’s most profitable “non-profits.”

Planned Parenthood boosted its abortion numbers by facilitating “transportation and travel support, financial assistance, and referrals.”

Of the over $2 billion in revenue, $699.3 million (34%) of Planned Parenthood’s revenue came from taxpayers in the form of “Government Health Services Reimbursements & Grants.”

“Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report shows that the abortion industry giant puts abortion above all other pregnancy-related services,” said Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D., director of Education and Research for National Right to Life, one of the right-to-life movement’s most authoritative experts on the Planned Parenthood.

Most of Planned Parenthood’s expenses went toward “medical services,” which came in at $1.144 billion.

It is impossible to estimate how much of these expenses were for performing abortions because Planned Parenthood does not make these numbers public and the prices for abortions vary regionally at Planned Parenthood affiliates. In addition, the cost of different abortion procedures varies based on how old the unborn baby is at the time of the abortion, making even general calculations impossible.

Planned Parenthood’s annual report also shows that prenatal services and adoption referrals, already rare at Planned Parenthood, were the lowest numbers in over a decade.

"50 Years Later, I Still Anguish Over My Abortion."

Theresa Bonopartis, as well as being head of Lumina, Help and Healing After Abortion is also one of our co-director's. Excerpts below, but hit the link, it only takes five minutes to read. And please pass this link on.

For more than 50 years now, my life has been affected by an abortion I had at 17 years old. Coerced by my father to abort my unborn child in my fourth month of pregnancy, the imprint of his dead, burned body from a saline abortion will stay with me forever. I remember thinking, “How is it possible that this is legal?” I could not wrap my head around the horror of the reality of what had just happened, a horror to this day that is hidden from the world.

It’s a hard pill to swallow when you are coming from the place I am with my own abortion, as it is for the thousands of women I have worked with in post-abortion healing ministry over the past 30 years. These women’s lives have been destroyed by the lies of abortion, and their experiences and pain continue to be denied by a society intent on protecting abortion at any cost. How is it that abortion can harm your mental health if you cannot get an abortion, but the harm experienced by taking the life of your child is not allowed to exist? The lies continue and grow, deadening the hearts of the ones who should be loving their children the most.

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It’s a hard pill to swallow when you are coming from the place I am with my own abortion, as it is for the thousands of women I have worked with in post-abortion healing ministry over the past 30 years. These women’s lives have been destroyed by the lies of abortion, and their experiences and pain continue to be denied by a society intent on protecting abortion at any cost. How is it that abortion can harm your mental health if you cannot get an abortion, but the harm experienced by taking the life of your child is not allowed to exist? The lies continue and grow, deadening the hearts of the ones who should be loving their children the most.

NY St. Patrick's Day Parade - peaceful pro-life protest

Fr. Fidelis has been released

UPDATE: See comment below for more information

After being moved around the country to serve various incarceration sentences for the crime of nonviolently trying to save unborn babies from death.

We have only sketchy information but he was released in Pennsylvania and is happy to be able to celebrate Mass again. If you have additional information please email us or leave in the comments section.

 

"Judy Anderson: A Soft Calm Voice for the Pre-born" - Celebrate Life Magazine

Much thanks to Theresa Bonopartis for this wonderful article on our late co-director, Judy Anderson. Judy we all miss you.  It is published in Celebrate Life, the magazine of the American Life League. Hit the link below for the whole article which takes five minutes to read.

Judy was a woman whose every action of love and self-sacrifice reflected the dignity of the human person. Most people have never heard of Judy Anderson, but she was a woman who quietly touched innumerable souls and saved countless lives.

 

"Kamala Harris Continues Her Abortion Celebration Tour"

Vile. The Dems have said this is the #1 issue. Hit the link for the whole article.

Next week she is heading to Michigan to celebrate killing babies and will meet with local abortion activists to applaud them for approving Proposition 3, which will allow the killing of unborn children in abortions up to birth.

Harris is planning to make a stop in Grand Rapids on February 22nd and it will be Harris’ fourth stop a month after her nationwide tour kicked off on January in Wisconsin. According to a press release her office distributed, Harris will condemn pro-life Americans as “extremists” for wanting to protect women and babies from abortion.

Harris support abortions up to birth, financed at taxpayer expense, and without limits.

Last month she literally clapped for killing babies in abortions. During a stop in Wisconsin to promote abortion, Harris leads a round of applause for a woman and her husband who traveled to Minnesota to get an abortion.

Harris then lied about women supposedly not getting medical care in non-abortion circumstances.

“Let us understand the horrific reality that women are facing every single day since Roe was overturned,” Harris said. “I have met women who have had miscarriages in toilets because they were refused care. I met a woman who went to the emergency room during a miscarriage and was turned away because doctors were afraid they would be thrown in jail for giving her care.”

Sisters of Life, Half Day Westchester Retreat

At St. Patrick's in Yorktown. All the information and contacts here - and they'd like registration by the 19th.

 

"Against Physician-Assisted Suicide: A Physician’s Letter to His Legislator"

From Bishop Barron's Word on Fire website. You should be able to access the entire letter through the link. We have excerpted parts -

I find myself in a curious position. As a physician who has spent decades trying to heal patients, I find myself imploring my duly elected representatives not to usher in the most seismic cultural and ethical transformation in modern medical practice—the act of taking life instead of comforting or saving it.

Lest we find ourselves reassured by a burgeoning tendency to legalize this dark practice, let me borrow from Mark Twain when he said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

Indeed.

George Orwell once sighed, “We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”

And so let me begin.

As a physician, my daily practice is to heal the sick and prevent disease. In so doing, I try to uphold the dignity of each patient—treating them with respect while working in partnership to achieve a rich quality in concert with a reasonable quantity of life. Of course, I recognize the value of autonomy to afford patient choice, but that means a choice insofar as it simultaneously comports with the practice of safe, sound, and ethical medicine. To be sure, patient choice must be just and the care they receive beneficent, but that same choice must not—by slippery euphemism and crafty manipulation, emotional appeal and legal maneuverings—I repeat, must not compel a physician to commit a maleficent act, especially one that runs against centuries of common law and customs, statutory law and social contract, as well as the sacred conscience and sound judgment of the physician in the relationship. 

So what does this mean when it comes to physician-assisted suicide? 

In a few words, it means that a patient has many rights, but he does not have the right to demand that I assist him in killing himself any more than he can demand I prescribe him unnecessary narcotics, unwarranted antibiotics, or ill-considered surgery. To demand these measures indiscriminately would be to violate the dignity of the patient with risky (or fatal) outcomes as well as compromise my dignity (and conscience) as a trained and seasoned physician to thoughtfully consider the best care for the patient.

That is why, as a physician, I am opposed to physician-assisted suicide.

Dr. Worner then offers three reasons for opposing physician assisted suicide. He brilliantly lays out the points - hit the link above or here for the full article

1. Physician-assisted suicide fundamentally transforms the very nature of the physician-patient relationship.

2. Physician-assisted suicide is a solution in search of a problem.

3. When considering the fallout from physician-assisted suicide, the slippery slope is real.

 

 

 

 

Pigs fly; NPR has fair article on March for Life

Almost unheard of. The author and her editor are probably re-writing their resumes now... NPR has no paywall so hit the link for the full article. We will be putting up several posts on the March including some material that may be useful for educational purposes.

It's cold and snowing in D.C. But the March for Life goes on — after Roe ends

Thousands of anti-abortion activists met Friday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the 51st annual March for Life — the second such rally since the end of Roe v. Wade in America.

Marchers young and old from across the country braved dropping temps — around 30 degrees Fahrenheit by early afternoon — and, at times, heavy snowfall to carry signs and handmade posters with anti-abortion slogans on a route that brought them past the U.S. Capitol building and the Supreme Court.

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"We are not done. We will keep marching every January at the national level, as well as in our states, until our nation's laws reflect the basic truth that all human life is created equal and is worthy of protection," said March for Life president Jeanne Mancini during a rally before marchers paraded through downtown D.C.

 

UPDATED: John Broderick arrangements and obituary

The arrangements and the entire obituary are below the link. As of this morning nothing had been added to John's obituary. UPDATE there is information on John and his his family.

John J. Broderick April 6, 1937 – January 16, 2024

John J. Broderick, age 86, passed away on Tuesday, January 16, 2024.

A visitation for John will be held Friday, January 19, 2024 from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Funeral mass on Saturday, January 20, 2024 at 9:45 AM at St. Edward Confessor RC Church, 205 Jackson Ave, Syosset, New York 11791. Interment to follow at Queen of Peace Cemetery, 16 Powell Lane, Old Westbury, NY 11590.

 

It is with great sorrow to announce that John J. Broderick of Syosset, NY peacefully passed away on January 16, 2024 at the age of 86. He is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Jane, 11 children and 23 grandchildren. John was born in the Bronx on April 6, 1937, to his parents John and Lorretta. He was raised in Bayside along with his six siblings. He received his bachelor's degree from University College Dublin in Ireland and his law degree from Fordham University School of Law. He was a reservist for the United States Marine Corps during the 1960's. He was a private practice attorney for over 50 years, including extensive pro bono work defending the right to life. Wake services will be this Friday at Beney Funeral Home in Syosset from 5-9pm. A funeral mass will be at St. Edward Confessor RC Church in Syosset (where he was a dedicated parishioner for over 50 years) this Saturday at 9:45am, followed by a Catholic burial at the Queen of Peace Cemetery in Old Westbury.

In Lieu of Flowers, the family welcomes donations to the Missionaries of Charity, https://missionariesofcharity.org/

John Broderick, RIP

We just got word. More to follow when we get more info. Thanks to Joe C for sending us this.

 

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

      I was just notified minutes ago that John Broderick, pro-life/rescue lawyer extraordinaire, has died. I do not know any details about the wake and funeral yet. But please keep him and his family in your prayers.

 

Turnaround at a Boston abortion mill needs help

This is from the Boston Rescuer email. We heartily vouch for all of this. The system works - several of us in the NY area have already donated. Items vary in cost and any help is appreciated.

Saved baby due soon!

Mother needs help!

 

In the spring of 2023, Judy and Mary counseled a woman outside of Planned Parenthood. She decided against her abortion, thank God!

They have been keeping in touch with the woman and have helped her set up a Baby Registry of needed items on Amazon. We are now inviting other pro-lifers to purchase one or more of the items listed in the registry.  

It's very easy!

I. Click on this link, https://www.amazon.com/baby-reg/search-results or copy it to your browser.

II. That bring you to this page on the Amazon website:

III. Enter the woman's information — Melinda Rodriguez, Lawrence, MA — then click "Search": (You may need to click on Melinda name again)

That will bring you to an Amazon page of items needed for the soon to be born baby, some of which are labeled "Must Have."

IV. Select one or more items you would like to donate and proceed as if you were ordering for yourself on Amazon. When you get to the payment and checkout phase, you will note that the delivery destination will be for Melinda instead of yourself.

Just complete the checkout, and you are done, Thank you!

From Live Action - " A Simple Way" to solve our problems

Great tag line: "If it's legal it's ethical". This video has been seen by 1.4 million people and it's only been out 3 weeks.

Other videos in the series that use the insights of pro-life feminism are Pro Choice Bosses and Pro Choice Men. Due to a recent grant, Live Action is about to run a $20,000 ad campaign with these videos on late-night comedians Youtube clips – the kind of audience that needs to be given something more to think about, and is more likely to think about it with this approach.  

 

From Entering Canaan - an Advent meditation from Theresa Bonopartis

Here is the link - ROC blog Theresa is a great asset to the right to life movement.

Something really struck me this morning at my Holy Hour, I do not like the Advent/ Christmas Season. Instead of drawing closer to God I often find myself really struggling to stay in His presence. Prayer can even become a difficult task as the heaviness of the world seems to come upon me. It just seems that Christmas has become about everything but God.

It is a real feat to find a Christmas card that has anything to do with the birth of Christ.

A drive through the neighborhoods to look at decorations leaves you hard pressed to even find a nativity scene.

The stores are merry and bright in all the secular ways as they rake in the big bucks capitalizing on the feelings of some that they have to get the perfect gift even if it means being in debt.

Then, there is the rushing around in a frenzy, and of course, the sometimes difficult task of spending it with those who have little thought of what Christmas really is, and  whose beliefs are very different from yours. It can sometimes feel like they are infringing on your territory.

Lastly, for me, as a woman who has had an abortion, it can still stir up painful feeling as the devil tries to get me to focus on my sin, how far I was from the trust of Mary, the loss of my son, the empty place at the table, the toys not brought by Santa. The empty place in my mother’s soul, especially since this is near the time of year when my abortion occurred.

As I was sharing my heart (and complaining) to Jesus He reminded me once again…

"O come, O come, Emmanuel,

and ransom captive Israel

that mourns in lonely exile here

until the Son of God appear.”

Life on earth is a lonely exile. God with us, Emmanuel, was born to set us free from our sins.

“A Thrill of Hope the weary world rejoices”

Lord knows our world is very weary right now, with wars, and abortion, lies portrayed as truth and so much discord everywhere.

And then in a moment my prayer changed!

I recognized I am in His presence, even when I struggle or when the heaviness of the world comes upon me.

In truth I love the Advent/Christmas season because Christ is born, Christ who is our HOPE. Christ who ransoms us and is Mercy Himself. Christ who fills our loneliness with His love and heals and forgives.

May the light of Christ our Hope permeate you and yours this blessed season.

Theresa

Fr. Mark Goring comments on the recent Vatican Declaration on Blessings

There is a further update on Father's thoughts in the video below the first one. Father, who describes himself as a conservative as opposed to progressive priest, offers a beautiful reflection at the end of the second video.

Father has a large following on youtube - over 240,000 subscribers. He supplies solid homilies and discussions on spirituality and daily living in our contemporary secular society (He is Canadian). By way of comparison, the Jesuit publication America has 70,000 youtube subscribers.

This video is four minutes long and we think provides a good look at the recent Declaration on Blessings for people in irregular or same sex relationships.

Here is Father's response to comments he received on the first video. Beautifully spoken.

 

Good Counsel's Concert for Life is this Sunday, starting @ 3:30PM.

UPDATE: The concert start time has changed - it will be starting at 3:30

More info - call 845-492-6709

 

 

 

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.

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

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.

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

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. 

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

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.”

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

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.

Joan Andrews Bell & 2 others guilty in second DC FACE trial

From LifeSiteNews - thanks to Bill Cotter for emailing us. Justice is Blind, sounds nice but...

"Second DC FACE Act trial sees explosive closing arguments in courtroom. A legal fight broke out between the defense counsel and the intensely pro-abortion prosecution during closing arguments in the trial of three peaceful pro-life rescuers."

Closing arguments in the second D.C. FACE Act trial got intense Thursday afternoon when in the middle of defense statements a legal fight over evidence broke out between the defense counsel and the prosecution, requiring the judge to withdraw the jury and consult procedural law for fear of the issue being sent to the appellate court. 

Defense lawyer Christopher Davis, who represents defendant Jonathan Darnel, began to use in his statement a social media post that the prosecution had originally indicated would be admitted into evidence but later retracted. The post clearly indicated Darnel’s intention to be non-violent during the course of the pro-life rescue at the Washington Surgi-Clinic on October 22, 2020. 

When the government objected to the use of the social media post, Davis showed that it was included in one of the original government exhibits shown to defense counsel and the court clerk. During the trial, the exhibit was then presented and admitted into evidence in a redacted form without attention being drawn to the fact that it was redacted. 

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

Ruffled by the fight over a social media post that would have benefited Darnel against the accusation of “use of force,” the prosecution also jumped to its feet to object and shout down defendant Joan Bell when, after having declined to give a full closing argument, she began simply to explain to the jury that the reason she was silent for most of the trial was to be in solidarity with the unborn. Bell had also chosen to decline legal representation in court by an attorney for the same reason: as an act of solidarity with the defenseless children in the womb killed daily by abortion. However, she was not allowed by the intensely pro-abortion prosecution and judge to say these simple words to the jury, lest it “prejudice” them toward life. 

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

Knowing that not every defendant charged with violations of the FACE Act could be proven to have personally used “force” or “physical obstruction,” the prosecution was keen to argue that “aiding or abetting” those who did violate FACE rendered a person similarly guilty of violating the law. The prosecution also invoked so-called “co-conspirator liability” — a wholly novel legal argument unknown to American jurisprudence — in their attempt to implicate all defendants in the same conviction of violating FACE.  

In other words, if you think bad thoughts about abortion, it's a crime. Bottom line, they were all found guilty. Hit the link above or here to see the full article.

Interview: Joan Andrews Bell defends the necessity of pro-life rescues

Another recent interview.

"We pro-lifers, in the rescue movement, have always used peaceful, prayerful, non-violent means to rescue the children. And we always will. "

(LifeSiteNews)— Last week veteran rescuer Joan Andrews Bell was asked why she believes it is necessary for pro-lifers to rescue, that is, either to place themselves physically between pregnant women and the abortionists hired to kill their children, or to enter clinics to ask the mothers to spare their babies’ lives. This is her response: 

Most issues that call upon people of faith to respond can be done by means of dialogue and legal action, such as protest marches and legal attempts to change corrupt laws. However the whole world understands that when innocent human life is being taken, then all other means, good as they are, to correct the evil is not enough!

That is because causes can be debated but human beings, being persons, even when not legally recognized, are our brothers and sisters. And people in danger need to be rescued!

Slaves in America were rescued through the Underground Railroad, even though it was illegal to rescue them. In Nazi Germany, Jews were rescued by good people, again “violating” unjust laws which were actually CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY. They risked not incarceration but death for treason because Jews were legally decreed to be not only non-persons but enemies of the state.

We in the pro-life movement do many activities to change the unjust laws that have falsely legalized child murder, but some of us are compelled to rescue these children at death’s door for the exact same reasons that our brothers and sisters throughout history have done the same non violent actions. All people of good will must fight against evil and immoral laws, but necessary alongside that good fight, when the issue is the brutal killing of people, the innocent and the just, you RESCUE them. Regardless of the cost to yourself.

It is obligatory to always attempt to rescue people. People are never “an issue,” they are your brothers and sisters.

We pro-lifers, in the rescue movement, have ALWAYS used peaceful, prayerful, non-violent means to rescue the children. And we always will despite the lies told about us, despite false testimony, despite doctored tapes. We are called to love and respect everyone because we are all brothers and sisters in the human family.

Finally, we want everyone to get to heaven because that is the ultimate goal of life on earth. God loves our enemies as He loves us, with a passion! That is what the Cross is all about.

 

Joan Andrews Bell will represent herself during 2nd DC FACE trial

Facing 11 years for non-violent civil disobedience. As per the result of the first trial of five of the rescuers - who were all given 11 year sentences and remanded to jail directly from the court.

Unborn babies 'are being killed without due process of law, without an attorney being by them and without a day in court” said Joan in a Lifesite news interview.

When one of the most renowned and respected leaders in the history of the pro-life movement goes on trial in the United States District Court of Washington, D.C., she will not be represented by an attorney.

75-year-old Joan Andrews Bell waived her right to a court appointed attorney, as has been her practice since first being arrested for pro-life actions at abortion clinics in the 1970s.

“The main reason is the babies.  They are being killed without due process of law, without an attorney being by them and without a day in court,” Bell told LifeSiteNews.

“So I do not want to have any of those things.  I’ll be in court, but I’ll be silent and I’ll represent myself.  I’ll make a statement to the jury in the beginning, but that’s it.  The judge said you can’t bring up anything about the babies in court. I said, ‘Well my silence will represent their silence’.” 

One week after five defendants in the first trial were found guilty on counts of committing conspiracy to violate rights and violating the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances), Bell was in court today for jury selection in the second trial, before Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, along with co-defendants Jonathan Darnel and Jean Marshall.  A fourth defendant, Paulette Harlow, was judged unfit to stand trial.

Bell, Darnel, and Marshall know they are all in danger of facing the same outcome as the other defendants who were immediately sent to jail to await sentencing. Each is facing a maximum 11-year prison sentence. 

“I think they’re capable of doing anything, to tell you the truth,” said Bell of the judicial system. “They have no morals and no love in their hearts for the babies, and they certainly don’t have love in their hearts for us. I expect the worst.”   

Few are more familiar with the criminal justice system in America than Joan Andrews Bell.  She has been arrested more than 200 times, and once spent two years in solitary confinement for performing rescues at abortion clinics. Joan views it all through the lens of her deep Catholic faith and the meaning of Christian suffering.

Message from pro-life rescuer and prisoner of conscience - sent by e-message

One of the five people facing a possible 11 year sentence for non-violent civil disobedience. Here are two other posts we have put about this outrage . Today - "Five pro-life activists found guilty of FACE Act violations in DC" and FOX News: "Lila Rose Slams Unjust Guilty Verdict" against prolife rescuers.

We are not posting the name of the person who first received this. The pro-abortion people do monitor this site.

A WORD FROM WILL GOODMAN!

Received thru “e-messages” from the Alexandria Detention Center, Sunday September 3, 2023:

 

Thanks so much *****!

I am blessed to have a narrow 2 inch long window by which to see the blue sky. Deo gratias.

 

It's labor day weekend and it seems I am right where God wants me to be, even if it's not so much where I wanted to be. In some ways a jail cell is like a womb in that it is a place of confinement, hope and waiting. You are in the dark regarding all that's happening in the world. Far away from the action. But you are close to God ...despite the times of feeling alone. It can be a place of life and growth.

 

It may sound strange, but in some ways I feel closer to my persecuted preborn sisters and brothers here than almost anywhere (save maybe for in a church during the Liturgy or inside a fully operational killing facility).

 

The jail retreat makes you feel invisible to the world. Helpless and absent. Separated. Muted.

 

It makes me mourn the many tens of thousands of little ones who die alone. And helpless. And separated. Their tiny cries muted. Dying at abortion chambers where all humanity is utterly absent.

 

These heavy thoughts haunt me constantly here. I am heartbroken over how tragically alone God's children are inside these killing facilities.

 

:( And yet, I am more convinced as ever for the need of rescue and this particular gift of self - which one offers to the perishing - as also a personal presence of peace and conscience to the parents at the last moment. Rescue is a truthful witness of love, before love comes too late, with the hope that love will conquer selfishness and fear.

 

It is also a witness of nonviolence in a place of awful violence.

 

A witness to hope in the gallows of despair.

 

Rescuers seek to join Christ the Divine Rescuer Who is the Light of Hope.

 

I suppose there's a certain fittingness for rescuers to be incarcerated over Labor Day weekend.

 

A witness of good against evil is our labor.

 

And our small gift of loving reparation.

FOX News: "Lila Rose Slams Unjust Guilty Verdict" against prolife rescuers

Eleven year sentence for a non violent sit-in action. Absurd. We posted more about this here. Today - "Five pro-life activists found guilty of FACE Act violations in DC"

Lila Rose founded Live Action in 2003 when she was 15 years old. We have printed her statement - video below the statement.

Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, released the following statement in reaction to the verdict: “From the beginning, This trial has been a sham with a completely biased pro-abortion judge who has made a mockery of our justice system. This decision will be appealed, and we demand it be overturned. These activists are heroes, and the Department of Justice has acted capriciously and illegitimately. These charges stem from the FACE Act, which exists to target and chill the free speech of pro-life Americans. Their acts of bravery to protect innocent human life from notorious D.C. abortionist Cesare Santangelo have been punished by the corrupt DOJ.

Santangelo’s Washington Surgi-Clinic is known for being a late-term abortion facility, surgically killing babies that are well past viability outside of their mother and Santangelo has even been caught on camera by Live Action stating his willingness to withhold medical care from infants born alive after a botched abortion, a violation of federal law.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly refused to admit into evidence the Live Action investigation video showing the abortionist Cesare Santangelo, in his own words, stating his willingness to let a living child outside of the womb die from neglect and lack of medical attention. This is also the same judge who recently suggested that the 13th Amendment to the constitution’s ban on “involuntary servitude” may confer a right to abortion, comparing the beauty of pregnancy and motherhood with the horror of slavery. I stand with these activists who have been unjustly convicted and demand authentic justice for these advocates working to end the barbaric killing of abortion.”

 

Today - "Five pro-life activists found guilty of FACE Act violations in DC"

FURTHER UPDATE:  National Review quoting the Susan B Anthony list “a shameful day for a nation founded on unalienable rights, first and foremost including life.”

UPDATE: Statement from co-founder of Red Rose Rescue -

Monica Miglioirno Miller, Ph.D.  Citizens for a Pro-Life Society   co-founder of Red Rose Rescue

 

Make no mistake--the incredible injustice of the federal court today is unprecedented in the history of the pro-life movement. Let us recall that for a 20 year period, beginning in the 1970's through the mid-1990s literally hundreds of rescues took place in defense of the unborn and thousands of pro-lifers were arrested. Even those few who continued to participate in rescues after The FACE law was signed by Clinton in 1994-- never endured the gross, unspeakable injustice that occurred today! The jury convicted the rescuers of FACE--and "conspiracy to interfere with civil rights"; the latter charge carrys a ten year prison term.  The sentencing will not occur until the next four rescuers are tried beginning Sept. 6-- yet they were all immediately hauled off to federal prison--because the jury found these pro-lifers guilty of using "violence" in their "physical obstruction" preventing "ingress and egress to a medical facility that provides "reproductive health care"--aka. abortions. 

 

I was in court observing this trial for seven days. I watched video after video of this rescue--and these proplifers never engaged in any violence on any level! Indeed,they were subjected to violence from the Washington Surgi-Clinic staff--shoved, pushed and beaten with a broomstick!  We must show our support for Handy, Hinshaw, Idoni, Goodman and Geraghty and in no way be daunted or intimidated by this weaponized DOJ!  Peaceful rescues of the unborn must continue! 

Short excerpt below, but hit the link.

Verdicts were handed down today in the federal trial of five pro-life activists – Lauren Handy, Will Goodman, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, and Herb Geraghty – who were charged with conspiracy against rights and FACE Act violations. The jury found all of the defendants guilty of both charges.

The defendants were indicted for their participation in an October 2020 rescue action at the D.C.-based Washington Surgi-Clinic (WSC), the abortion facility run by Cesare Santangelo. Santangelo was featured in Live Action’s InHuman investigation stating that if a child was born alive at his facility during an abortion, “we would not help it.”

Two defendants – Lauren Handy and Herb Geraghty – cited Live Action’s InHuman video as informing their belief that abortion survivors might be being left to die at WSC, which in turn motivated their decision to participate in the rescue action at Santangelo’s facility.

However, calling the video “gossip from propagandists” (despite the fact that the video showed the abortionist in his own words) presiding Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly would not allow the video itself to be admitted into evidence. 

The Judge is an eighty year old woman whose education from high school through law school was in Catholic institutions.

"NY Times Confirms Gender Clinic Whistleblower’s Claim Adolescents Were Rushed into ‘Affirming’ Care"

The Times had a long and somewhat balanced report in their August 23rd issue. If you have any interest in the issue of whether children should have "gender affirming care" aka hormone therapy, etc, then hit the link. We have only excerpted a few paragraphs.

Opened in 2017 inside a children’s hospital affiliated with Washington University in St. Louis, the prestigious clinic was welcomed by many families as a godsend. It was the only place for hundreds of miles where distressed adolescents could see a team of experts to help them transition to a different gender.

But as the number of these patients soared, the clinic became overwhelmed — and soon found itself at the center of a political storm. In February, Jamie Reed, a former case manager, went public with explosive allegations, claiming in a whistle-blower complaint that doctors at the clinic had hastily prescribed hormones with lasting effects to adolescents with pressing psychiatric problems.

Note that Jamie Reed is a woman who is very liberal and in fact married to a trans man. See below.

Some of Ms. Reed’s claims could not be confirmed, and at least one included factual inaccuracies. But others were corroborated, offering a rare glimpse into one of the 100 or so clinics in the United States that have been at the center of an intensifying fight over transgender rights.

The turmoil in St. Louis underscores one of the most challenging questions in gender care for young people today: How much psychological screening should adolescents receive before they begin gender treatments?

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

But as demand rose, more patients arrived with complex mental health issues. The clinic’s staff often grappled with how best to help, documents show, bringing into sharp relief a tension in the field over whether some children’s gender distress is the root cause of their mental health problems, or possibly a transient consequence of them.

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

When Ms. Reed, 43, began working at the clinic, she considered herself a fierce champion of the gender-affirming model. In her previous jobs — at Planned Parenthood, at an H.I.V. clinic and in the foster care system — she had also supported L.G.B.T.Q. young people. And her husband, a transgender man, had shown her how essential gender-affirming care could be.

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

Her doubts about the affirming model arose in 2019, she said, after hearing from an upset patient who regretted their medical transition. She grew more concerned in 2020 as more new patients sought the clinic’s help, many with psychological problems exacerbated by the pandemic. She saw parallels with England’s youth gender clinic, known as the Tavistock, which was under investigation after employees complained about feeling pressure to approve children for puberty blockers as their wait-list swelled.

The St. Louis center relied heavily on outside therapists to vet patients, emails show. Doctors there prescribed hormones to patients who had identified as transgender for at least six months, had received a letter of support from a therapist and had parental consent.

Frustrated that the clinic had no system to keep track of patient outcomes, Ms. Reed and the clinic’s nurse, Karen Hamon, kept a private spreadsheet, which they called the “red flag list.” (Ms. Reed gave The Times a version of the spreadsheet without identifying information. Ms. Hamon and other clinic employees declined to comment for this article.)

The list eventually included 60 adolescents with complex psychiatric diagnoses, a shifting sense of gender or complicated family situations. One patient on testosterone stopped taking schizophrenia medication without consulting a doctor. Another patient had visual and olfactory hallucinations. Another had been in an inpatient psychiatric unit for five months.

Hit the link here or above for the full article.

Students for Life win free speech case in Washington DC court.

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal also covered this decision - see below.

A unanimous decision! Please hit the link for the whole story. We have been following this case since the arrests in 2020.

“It’s very encouraging that there was a unanimous 3-0 decision in favor of the free speech rights of pro-life students, peacefully protesting in our nation’s capital,” said Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins. “Viewpoint discrimination is un-American, and, as the case proceeds, we look forward to learning more about how D.C. officials picked winners and losers in their enforcement. Free speech rights you’re afraid to use don’t really exist, and we will keep fighting for the rights of our students to stand up for the preborn and their mothers, and against the predatory abortion industry led by Planned Parenthood.

WASHINGTON D.C. (08-15-2023) – As reported by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) who represented Students for Life of America and the Frederick Douglass Foundation in a case linked to events in 2020, today’s decision was “a major free speech ruling” as the “U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the First Amendment rights of two pro-life organizations that sought to chalk a pro-life message on a city sidewalk.” While the D.C. government may appeal the 3-0 decision, ask for a full hearing of the appeals court, or even go to the Supreme Court, it’s likely that FREDERICK DOUGLASS FOUNDATION, INC., ET AL., APPELLANTS  v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, APPELLEE, will proceed. Learn more about the case here.

The events as reported in the decision: “In the summer of 2020, thousands of protesters flooded the streets of the District to proclaim ‘Black Lives Matter.’ Over several weeks, the protesters covered streets, sidewalks, and storefronts with paint and chalk. The markings were ubiquitous and in open violation of the District’s defacement ordinance, yet none of the protesters were arrested. During the same summer, District police officers arrested two pro-life advocates in a smaller protest for chalking ‘Black Preborn Lives Matter’ on a public sidewalk. 

Here's the Journal:

... People also plastered construction scaffolding with graffiti, murals, and photographs that included “Black Lives Matter” messages. These protesters didn’t obtain permits for their graffiti, and none were punished for violating the defacement law. So when anti-abortion groups planned a small rally to proclaim “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter,” a police officer gave them verbal permission to paint their message on the street because he believed the mayor had opened public property to political markings.

He was mistaken. When two pro-life supporters tried to chalk “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” on the sidewalk, they were arrested. Pro-life groups were also denied permission at another rally to mark up the street or sidewalk. They sued the city for violating the First Amendment by selectively enforcing its defacement law based on viewpoint.

A D.C. Circuit panel ruled 3-0 in their favor. While governments enjoy discretion over when and how they prosecute laws, “the executive cannot selectively enforce the law in a way that violates the Constitution,” Judge Neomi Rao wrote. This means governments must treat similarly-situated individuals and groups similarly when they restrict speech.

“The government may not play favorites in a public forum—permitting some messages and prohibiting others,” Judge Rao stressed. This may seem like common sense, but progressive politicians need to be reminded of it.

Holy Hour for Life this Wednesday in Yonkers

Here are the details.

Ron DeSantis Message to 40 Days for Life!

Very straightforward!

 

Police now investigating attack on pro-life counselors in Washington DC

We posted about this here, including the video of the incident -  Vicious attack on prolife sidewalk counselors outside DC Planned Parenthood

And now here is the latest - sorry for the bad indentations

“Two proaborts decided to assault me and another pro-life defender outside Planned Parenthood in Washington DC this morning simply for standing on the sidewalk offering resources to families in crisis,” said Terrisa Bukovinac, one of the victims.

Bukovinac, who heads a liberal pro-life group called PAAU, told LifeNews that police initially declined to investigate, but a new report today indicates they have since opened a case.

The public incident report provided to CNA by the police states that two suspects approached the pro-life activists and engaged in a verbal confrontation, which led to one of the suspects throwing coffee at one of the activists. When one sidewalk counselor tried to stop the altercation, one of the suspects “assaults [the victim] by slamming [him] to the ground and then punches [him] several times,” according to the report.

Terrisa Bukovinac, the founder of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, told CNA that she was the one who had the coffee thrown at her. She said two pro-abortion passersby “were screaming at us and they were screaming [expletive] you,” to which Bukovinac responded with the same insult.

Mike Gribbin, a sidewalk counselor who isn’t affiliated with any specific organization, told CNA that he believes it was the woman who threw the coffee at Bukovinac. Gribbin intervened in the altercation, which ultimately led to the man grabbing him, he said.

“The exchange got fairly heated and the woman walked into the street to come to our side of the sidewalk and she and Terrisa were shouting at each other,” Gribbin said. “The woman threw her coffee on Terrisa, at which point I grabbed the woman’s arm and her boyfriend came in and intervened.”

“Her boyfriend came up and grabbed me and was holding onto me,” Gribbin said. He told CNA: “I did make an attempt to fend off the boyfriend who was grabbing me, but I was unsuccessful.”

At that point, he alleges that the man punched him and then knocked him to the ground. When he got up, he said the man threw him to the ground again and punched him repeatedly. The incident was captured on video and shared online.

The pro-abortion attacked threw ribbing to the ground multiple times and then the woman grabbed Bukovinac’s phone from her as she attempted to record the altercation. Gribbin said he followed the suspects so he could point them out to police, who interviewed them after the incident.

And there is this -

Although police initially declined to pursue the case, she told CNA that officials said they would investigate, and she said she was assured “there would be consequences.” She said the fact that the video was shared online was helpful.

 

Vicious attack on prolife sidewalk counselors outside DC Planned Parenthood

This is really incredible. And so far DC police have said no charges ...

Hit the link and then scroll down to see the attack on the posted video.

“Even as a progressive anti-abortion atheist I understand that the abortion industrial complex is responsible for a mass genocide which will require immense bravery to dismantle,” Bukovinac stated. “Pro-lifers must be committed to total non-violence to effectively challenge the institution of legal child killing around the globe.”

LiveAction: A Pro-life satire video!

122,000 views the first day it was posted - over 350,000 after four days. We love the very last line.

Texas adoptions up 30% since reversal of "Roe v. Wade"

This is good news! Hit the link for the full story.

Mark Melson, president and CEO of the Texas-based Gladney Center for Adoption, told NBC News this week that his organization has observed a 30% rise in infant domestic adoptions over the past year and a 55% rise in calls from pregnant women asking about adoption.

“In conversations we’ve had with our birth mothers, some have indicated that had they had an ability to get an abortion, they at least would have considered it,” Melson said, attributing the rises primarily to changes in abortion laws, with the decline of concern about COVID-19 infections and restrictions a possible secondary factor.

National Council for Adoption communications director Kristen Hamilton was more circumspect, telling NBC that there has been a “lot of variances” observed by adoption agencies in newly-restrictive states. “In some cases, they are seeing an uptick in the number of babies that are being placed for adoption, while in other cases, things have remained relatively similar to what they were before the Dobbs decision,” she said.

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

Just two months after Roe’s reversal, the Texas Department of Health & Human Services reported in January that there were zero elective legal abortions and just three legal abortions committed to save the life of the mother — down from 67 elective abortions the month before, and 5,706 in August 2021. As detailed by LifeSiteNews last month, Texas births rose 4.7% in 2022.

The "abortion industry" post-Dobbs decision

This is from Life Issues Institute - we have large excerpts below the link; the whole article is worthwhile.

Keeping track of abortion center closings is like picking up Jell-O with your hands. The numbers change almost weekly. Hardest hit has been the independent abortion centers known as “indies.” Many were located in red states, where abortion has been totally or near totally ended. Further, they lack the name recognition, federal tax funding, or fundraising firepower of Planned Parenthood to keep their doors open.

In addition, the indies are more likely to offer late-term abortions – those after the first trimester – which is a more complicated and expensive way to kill the unborn. Also, it has a higher rate of complications and vulnerability to lawsuits. In other words, their overhead can be significantly higher than the neighboring Planned Parenthood that only offers chemical abortion pills.

According to the Abortion Care Network, the rate of indies closing in the months after the Dobbs decision was more than double the closures during the year before. That is not surprising. What may be, however, is the tenacity of the former killing centers as they franticly pivot to stay open.

Thirty days after the Dobbs decision, Guttmacher Institute – originally founded as the research arm of Planned Parenthood – reported that seven states had ended all abortions and that 43 abortion centers in 11 states stopped committing abortions. Some were providing alternate services, others planned to move to states permitting abortion, and still others closed permanently.

Guttmacher then took a detailed look at the abortion landscape 100 days post-Dobbs. At that point, 66 abortion facilities in 15 states stopped killing the unborn.

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

Planned Parenthood’s notorious claim that abortion was only 3% of their services proved to be propaganda. It is doing considerable juggling to maintain financial viability in a post-Dobbs environment.

Shortly after announcing significant layoffs at the national office, the abortion giant is closing and/or consolidating outlets. Earlier this month Planned Parenthood “temporarily” closed its Logan, Utah abortion center with no explanation.

After 50 years in operation, their abortion affiliate in Steamboat Springs, CO abruptly closed its doors, even catching the staff unaware. The Alamosa, CO center had been closed for several months.

In Iowa they are closing three of their nine centers, impacting Cedar Falls, Council bluffs, and southern Des Moines. Sarah Traxler, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood, said that since Roe’s demise, they’ve experienced a 13% decrease in abortions in the state, which she attributes to a 24-hour waiting period.

Another reason for the closures, Traxler said, is the stigma toward the abortion giant affecting their recruitment and retention of staff. Simply put, people are not inclined to work at an abortion facility, and if they do, they aren’t there very long.

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

An Illinois Planned Parenthood has stolen a page from the gamebook of pro-life pregnancy centers. It’s taken delivery of an RV but instead plans to offer chemical and some surgical abortions wherever they park.

Lest you think states like New Mexico and Illinois are impossible to turn around, remember that in the seventies all of America was a New Mexico or Illinois. They told us then that we were fighting a losing battle, but we didn’t believe them because we knew the alternative was too ghastly to contemplate. Roe is dead but we will engage in this battle until all America’s unborn children and their parents are protected from the horrors of abortion.

July 4th annual Vigil for Life at Marian Shrine, Rockland County

Held every year and always worthwhile.

Vigil for Life

 

Tuesday - July 4, 2023

29^th YEAR

 

A Morning of Prayer for America

Marian Shrine

 

174 Filors Lane, Stony Point, NY

 

     10:00 A.M.   Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

 

       11:15 A.M.   Rosary

 

      12:00 P.M.   Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

 

Confession will be available during the morning

             

 

 

DIRECTIONS TO MARIAN SHRINE:

 

By Car: Palisades Parkway Northbound to exit 14

Make a right, go to Stop sign. Proceed through Stop sign and the Marian Shrine will be on your right approximately 3/4 mile or;

Route 9W Northbound make a left onto Filors Lane the Marian Shrine is approximately a mile on the left

 

For further information please call   845-429-2077--735 6970

 

Sponsored by the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants www.helpersbrooklynny.org/Rockland County Catholic Coalition: [email protected]

 

 

•  

Pro-abortion Catholic Democrat politicians, lie, lie, lie

2nd. UPDATE: Catholic Bishops immediately rebuke - “Members of Congress who recently invoked teachings of the Catholic faith itself as justifying abortion or supporting a supposed right to abortion grievously distort the faith...."

UPDATE from Catholic Vote: 30 Self-Professed Catholic Democrats Write Pro-Abortion Statement

Good response from the Catholic League to their abortion on demand statement.

"THE LYING PRO-ABORTION CATHOLIC DEMOCRATS"

More than 30 congressional Democrats who call themselves Catholic issued a robust defense of abortion-on-demand on June 24 claiming their position is entirely in keeping with the teachings of the Catholic Church. They know this is not true.

“The Statement of Principles,” led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, was issued in response to the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade. The statement contains at least four egregious falsehoods.

First, the Democrats claim that in the Dobbs decision “the Justices stripped women of their right to abortion and escalated an ongoing reproductive healthcare crisis in this country.” That is a lie. The Supreme Court declared there was no federal right to abortion. It did not outlaw abortion in the United States; it left that decision up to the states.

Second, the Democrats are playing the typical pro-abortion game of interpreting survey data that validates their position. They claim that 68 percent of Catholics support “the legal protections for abortion access enshrined in Roe” and 63 percent “think abortion should be legal in most cases.”

A survey of Catholic voters taken a year ago by RealClear Opinion Research found that 82 percent support some restrictions on abortion. Roe effectively permitted abortion through term, and thus did not reflect the thinking of most Catholics, or, for that matter, most non-Catholics. In a Tarrance Group poll released a few weeks ago, 77 percent of all voters support at least some prohibitions on abortion.

Third, the Democrats falsely argue that their pro-abortion stance is consistent with the Catholic Catechism’s teaching on conscience rights. It is not. The statement quotes the Catechism as saying, “A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself.”

That is a selective reading of paragraph 1790. The statement never mentions the next sentence: “Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed.” Shortly thereafter (1792), it explains that among the expressions of ignorance is an “assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy” and a “rejection of the Church’s authority.”

And, of course, the pro-abortion Democrats did not quote what the Catechism says about abortion (2271). “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.”

Fourth, the Democrats invoke “separation of church and state” by claiming that Catholics cannot “impose our religious beliefs and customs on others who may not share them.” That’s true, but it has nothing to do with abortion. Opposition to abortion is grounded in science, as well as in the teachings of the Catholic Church.

It is science that tells us that human life begins at conception—at the very moment when the DNA that makes us unique individuals is present. Therefore, it is preposterous to assert that the teachings of the Catholic Church, which are identical to the scientific evidence, somehow violate the First Amendment.

It cannot go without saying that abortion is regarded by the Catholic Church as “intrinsically evil.” Now if self-described Catholics want to defend it, they should cease claiming that their position is authentically Catholic. It manifestly is not.

Contact: Becky Salay, chief of Staff to DeLauro: [email protected]

Judy Anderson, co-director Hudson Valley Coalition for Life

It is with great sadness that we pass along the news that two days ago our wonderful co-director Judy lost her years long battle with cancer. People involved in the metropolitan right to life arena know what a powerful voice she was for justice and life. Many people may not be aware of her many years working with Franciscan Fr. Dan Egan "to support his successful program in drug addiction counseling and rehabilitation programs throughout New York State."

Judy's obituary is below her picture. Please take a few minutes to read it. The arrangements will be entirely at Holy Name of Mary Church in Croton-on-Hudson NY.  Judy's wake is Friday, 2-4 and 7-9 PM. Funeral Saturday at 10AM.

We are now counting on Judy to intercede for all of us.

 

Judith A. Anderson August 5, 1947 – June 26, 2023

 

Great news - Westchester sidewalk counselor case likely going to the Supreme Court

This is very good. An opportunity for the Supreme Court to reverse an egregious anti-free speech case, Hill v. Colorado (2000).

Second Circuit sends sidewalk counselor to Supreme Court

Motivated by her Catholic faith and experience as an occupational therapist for children with disabilities, Debra Vitagliano has been called to offer compassionate, face-to-face support to women considering abortion. Debra desires to counsel these women outside abortion clinics, but Westchester County recently passed a law restricting discussions about abortion, its alternatives, and resources available to women in need, among other things, on public sidewalks outside abortion clinics. The law establishes a 100-foot zone around abortion clinics—including public sidewalks—and prevents anyone from approaching within eight feet of another person in that zone unless given explicit consent.