. . . because action speaks louder than words.
. . . because action speaks louder than words.
League history, NOW v. Scheidler, Action News, Joe Scheidler, League staff
Q & A on abortion, the unborn child, where we stand on the issues and more
Helping abortion-bound women choose life for their babies
Unmasking the truth about abortion in the public square
Our youth outreach, raising up a new generation of pro-life leaders
Abortion industry converts tell the inside story
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
Stay informed and take action with urgent pro-life news and alerts:
Help the Pro-Life Action League save babies and fight abortion with your charitable donation:
Find out what you can do to fight abortion in your own community.
Take part in these pro-life events across the country (times given are local). To add an event, contact us.
February 12, 1986—League director Joe Scheidler leads a picket the site of a League-sponsored billboard in Peoria, Illinois (pictured right) after billboard company executives cave in to Planned Parenthood bullying and remove their name and the National Organization for Women’s from the billboard. It had read, “N.O.W. & PLANNED PARENTHOOD ARE PRO-CHOICE. This is a Pro-Choice VICTIM,” with a picture of an aborted baby. That night an unknown person spraypaints the names of the two pro-abortion groups back onto the billboard.
More League history here.
Earlier this hour, President Obama announced in a White House Press Conference an “adjustment” to the HHS Mandate. The Mandate is set to go into effect in August, and will require all employer health plans to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacients.
The HHS originally provided a “religious exemption” so narrow that it would exclude Catholic hospitals, universities and charities, forcing these institutions to act in direct opposition to Catholic teaching through the health care plans they provide. Institutions run by other religious organizations would be likewise affected.
In response to outcry from religious leaders—including 171 Catholic bishops—and Americans from across the political spectrum, Obama today outlined an “adjustment” to the HHS Mandate whereby the objectionable services will be paid for by insurers rather than directly by employers.
Setting aside the fact that contraceptives are not preventative health care—since pregnancy is not a disease—Obama’s adjustment is nothing but a shell game.
At the end of the day, religious employers are still required to provide health plans that offer free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacients.[Continue reading ... ]
There’s an article in the current issue of the Catholic New World — the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago — highlighting four strong pro-life clubs at Chicago area high schools: St. Patrick and Mother McAuley High Schools in Chicago, Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, and The Willows Academy in Des Plaines.
All of these clubs have used the Pro-Life Club Curriculum created by the Pro-Life Action League’s youth outreach, Generations for Life, or had members attend our TeenSpeak conferences over the past few years. Based on personal experience, I can assure you that they’re all doing great work!
If you or someone you know is interested in starting a pro-life club, contact GFL, and we would be happy to help.
This year’s TeenSpeak conference was a great success with two great talks by Josh Brahm of Life Report. But in a special surprise, Abby Johnson, who was giving the keynote address to the adults at the SpeakOut Illinois conference, came by to give a quick talk to the teens.
Her call to purity and to the hard work of keeping the pro-life movement going was so inspiring to the kids I thought I’d share it here.
Having grown up in the pro-life movement, I know better than to take anything the mainstream media says at face value, especially when it comes to abortion. As kids, my siblings and I used to get a kick out of how badly the press would butcher the spelling of our family name—let alone the details of pickets and protests we attended.
So when I saw Friday’s Associated Press headline declaring “Komen drops plan to cut Planned Parenthood grants,” I knew I had to see for myself what Komen was really saying. Not surprisingly, the reality is rather far from what that AP and other news outlets were reporting.[Continue reading ... ]
Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been taking a beating from Planned Parenthood’s powerful friends in the media and even in Congress in the wake of their decision not to fund Planned Parenthood anymore. They’ve just released a statement setting the record straight on why they’re no longer giving these grants:
Statement from Susan G. Komen for the Cure
February 1, 2012We are dismayed and extremely disappointed that actions we have taken to strengthen our granting process have been widely mischaracterized. It is necessary to set the record straight.
Starting in 2010, Komen began an initiative to help us do a better job of measuring the impact of community grants. This is important because we invest significant dollars in our local community programs—$93 million in 2011, which provided for 700,000 breast health screenings and diagnostic procedures.
Following this review, we made the decision to implement stronger performance criteria for our grantees to minimize duplication and free up dollars for direct services to help vulnerable women. To support this new granting strategy, Komen has also implemented more stringent eligibility standards to safeguard donor dollars. Consequently, some organizations are no longer eligible to receive Komen grants.
Some might argue that our standards are too exacting, but over the past three decades people have given us more than just their money. They have given us their trust and we take that responsibility very seriously.
We regret that these new policies have impacted some longstanding grantees, such as Planned Parenthood, but want to be absolutely clear that our grant-making decisions are not about politics. Throughout our 30 year history, our priority has always been and will continue to be the women we serve. As we move forward, we are working to ensure that there is no interruption or gaps in services for the women who need our support most in the fight against breast cancer.
Planned Parenthood is trying to bully Komen into giving them those grants again. But they’ve brought this on themselves, with all their lies about doing mammograms and all the other dishonesty and deception that marks how they do business.
Late yesterday evening, news broke that the breast cancer education and research organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure would no longer be donating to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion chain.
Pro-life groups across the country—including the Pro-Life Action League are applauding Komen for this decision.
Komen had been making large grants to Planned Parenthood since 2005—over $625,000 in 2010, for example—which were supposed to be earmarked for breast cancer screening and education.
Pro-lifers objected to these grants not only because any support for Planned Parenthood ultimately means contributing to their abortion business, but because of the mounting evidence that abortion actually increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer.[Continue reading ... ]
Planned Parenthood of Illinois CEO Carole Brite at a rally in downtown Chicago in February 2011 [Photo by Sam Scheidler]
In a Daily Herald article on this past weekend’s Speakout Illinois Conference, Planned Parenthood’s Carole Brite claims the organization “adheres to the highest standards of medical care for all of our reproductive health care services.”
To that, I respond, “Prove it.”
Unfortunately, there’s no way to verify Brite’s claim. We’ll have to take Brite’s word for it, because Planned Parenthood’s Illinois abortion clinics are not subject to state inspection.
In fact, only 13 of the state’s 22 surgical abortion facilities are subject to inspection—the 9 classified as “pregnancy termination specialty centers” (PTSCs) that do abortions up to 18 weeks, and the 4 classified as “ambulatory surgical treatment centers” (ASTCs) that do abortions up to 24 weeks.[Continue reading ... ]
Panelists at the Illinois ACLU’s “War on Contraception” seminar Jan. 30 (from left): Damilla Taylor, Gaylon Alcaraz, Leah Bartelt and Lorie Chaiten [Photo by Paige Scarlett]
Last night I joined a group of pro-life activists to “crash” the Illinois ACLU’s meeting in Chicago Heights, Illinois, touting its sensationalist “War on Contraception” agenda. Pro-lifers made up for at least seven of the 20 people in attendance.
The seminar was the second of three being held in three Chicago suburbs at health clubs, libraries, or other intentionally innocuous locations as part of the ACLU’s “Defending the Targets of Intolerance” series to stand up for supposedly “oppressed” groups including gays, lesbians, and women.[Continue reading ... ]
Josh Brahm talks to teens about pro-life apologetics [Photo by Sam Scheidler]
“Phenomenal!” “Absolutely fantastic!” “I loved it!”
These are just some of the comments that sum up the reaction of the more than 140 teens and adults who attended TeenSpeak 2012, the youth program of SpeakOut Illinois, held on January 28 at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois. That’s the largest crowd we’ve ever had at a TeenSpeak conference!
The day began with an engaging and enthusiastic talk entitled “Making Abortion Unthinkable: The Art of Pro-Life Persuasion,” by Right to Life of Central California’s Josh Brahm. Drawing from his experience as one of few pro-life speakers who has formally debated leaders from “pro-choice” organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL, Josh emphasized the need to “focus like a laser beam” on the humanity of the unborn child when talking with someone who sees nothing wrong with abortion.
The audience loved Josh’s talk. High school student Sadie Huddleston remarked, “It was so informative! This talk truly brought out the issue of abortion and clearly informed me of ways to approach and how to answer pro-choicers.” [Continue reading ... ]
Former abortion worker Abby Johnson [Photo by Eric Scheidler]
The 21st annual SpeakOut Illinois Conference drew a record crowd of over 400 people this year, at least 100 more than attended last year!
The Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook was the site of the January 28 conference with over 36 organizations participating as sponsors. Pro-Life Action League executive director Ann Scheidler and former League staffer Tommie Romano served as co-chairmen of the conference planning committee and oversaw a dedicated team that helped made the event a wonderful success.
The day began with a welcome and introductions of politicians attending by Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center, followed by an opening prayer offered by Rev. Calvin Lindstrom from the Church of Christian Liberty, calling on God to help the cause of life.
The keynote speaker, former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson, gave a riveting testimony about how her heart changed from naively believing Planned Parenthood was genuinely “in it for women” to realizing it is a money-driven business of pushing the lucrative “service” of abortion.[Continue reading ... ]