Special Issue 2008 ACTION NEWS | VOL. XXVII No. 1
Pro-Life Action League Year in Review: May 2007 to May 2008
Editor's Note: Because the Pro-Life Action League's fierce battle with Planned Parenthood over their new "Abortion Fortress" in Aurora, Illinois has disrupted regular publication of Action News, we offer here a recap of the other activities of the League over the past year.
Pro-lifers picket at closed Aurora abortion clinic, May 12, 2007 [Photo by Sam Scheidler]
- May 4, 2007—League sponsors its first "Face the Truth Evening", bringing images of aborted babies to downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile.
- May 7, 2007—Fifty League activists protest pro-abortion Senator Hillary Clinton's appearance at a luncheon benefiting Mercy Home—a Catholic charity—at the Chicago Hilton and Towers.
- May 12, 2007—Communications Director Eric Scheidler leads 80 Fox Valley activists in a picket at the site of a closed abortion clinic in Aurora to demonstrate against any future use of the building as an abortuary. The same day, Joe Scheidler receives the Pro Gloria et Deo Award and delivers the commencement address at Christendom College in Front Royal, VA.
- June 2, 2007—League co-sponsors a Mass for Life at St. Michael's Parish in Orland Park celebrated by Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, with 700 pro-lifers in attendance. Following Mass, the group processes one mile to nearby Planned Parenthood Express.
- June 11, 2007—Joe speaks at St. Mary's Parish in Kenosha, WI on the Supreme Court's 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut decision.
- July 7-14, 2007—League conducts the eighth annual Face the Truth Tour, marked by unprecedented difficulties with suburban police. Of the Tour's many highlights, the greatest comes on the final day, in Evanston. A young woman approaches Jeff, a volunteer from Wisconsin, and says tearfully, "I was planning to get an abortion today, but after seeing these signs I can't do it."
- July 20, 2007—League staff joins Fr. Stephen Lesniewski and a group of 80 children from Immaculate Conception Parish to pray in front of American Women's abortion facility on Chicago's Northwest Side.
- August 1, 2007—Eric joins Defend Life's Jack Ames on a day of the Maryland Face the Truth Tour in Baltimore and speaks to Tour parti-cipants over lunch.
- August 5, 2007—Joe serves as M.C. for Marytown's Kolbe Award Banquet at Mundelein Seminary.
- August 7, 2007—League leads 40 pro-lifers in a picket of pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidates as they participate in a televised forum at Soldier Field. Special signs are printed with the message, Don't Forget the Little Guy, which activists hold alongside signs of an aborted baby boy.
- August 18, 2007—Joe speaks to a group of fifty pro-lifers on the importance of activism in Macon, Georgia at the invitation of Jenny Hodges.
- September 21-22, 2007—Joe gives welcoming remarks to 65 pro-life leaders at League-sponsored Pro-Life Action Network (PLAN) Meeting in Rosemont. Eric emcees the event.
- September 25, 2007—Joe addresses the Northern Virginia chapter of Legatus in Tyson's Corner at the invitation of Warren Dazzio.
- September 29, 2007—Joe gives a motivational talk to college pro-life leaders from across Canada at a symposium at St. Augustine's Seminary in Toronto.
- October 6, 2007—Joe, Ann, and Eric Scheidler conduct the second annual Face the Truth Tour in Indianapolis, IN at the invitation of local activists Bob Rust and Elizabeth Kane.
- October 7—Eric speaks to Sandy Rios' Culture Campaign group in Hanover Park, IL.
- October 9, 2007—Joe gives the keynote address at the St. Philip Neri Latin Mass Annual Dinner in Olathe, KS.
- October 17, 2007—Joe speaks on the need for deeper dedication to the theology of life at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Huntley.
- October 20, 2007—Joe Scheidler receives the William Lloyd Garrison Award at the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center.
- October 27, 2007—Joe gives a talk on the theme "Mission Possible" to collegiates at the Students for Life of Illinois Conference at DePaul University, then flies to Pittsburgh, PA to address the 35th annual banquet for People Concerned for the Unborn Child, at the invitation of the legendary Helen Cindrich.
- November 4, 2007—Joe speaks to the members of the Third Order Secular of St. Francis at St. Peter's in the Loop, highlighting League activities for the past year.
- December 1, 2007—Joe, Ann, and Eric Scheidler, along with TMS Attorney Tom Brejcha and sidewalk counselor Jeff Eschbach travel to Denver to share ideas and offer guidance to Colorado Families Against Planned Parenthood in their fight against another new Planned Parenthood mega-center like the one in Aurora.
- December 22, 2007—Over 150 pro-lifers take part in the League's fifth annual "Empty Manger" Chrismas Caroling, with two caroling tours—the usual circuit in Chicago and one in DuPage County, added this year.
- January 12, 2008—Eric speaks at the Nebraskans for Life annual banquet in Omaha, sharing stories from the Aurora fight, at the invitation of Anne Marie Bowen.
- January 14, 2008—Eric speaks at a rally at the Georgia State Capitol in support of the state's Human Life Amendment, at the invitation of Jenny Hodges.
- January 22, 2008—League staff attend the March for Life in Washington, DC.
- January 26, 2008—As keynote speaker at the Illlinois Citizens for Life Prayer Breakfast, Eric shares a PowerPoint presentation on the Aurora battle.
- January 29, 2008—Eric meets with pro-life activists in Houston, TX fighting against another new Planned Parenthood mega-center.
- February 2, 2008—League co-sponsors SpeakOut Illinois conference at the Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace. Eric begins the day by updating conference goers on the battle against Aurora Planned Parenthood.
- February 19, 2008—Joe addresses a rally at the Georgia State Capitol on the necessity of states introducing bills restricting abortion.
- March 6, 2008—Ann Scheidler leads a discussion of the abortion-themed play Keely and Du at the Raven Theater on Chicago's North Side.
- March 25, 2008—League kicks off 2008 Face the Truth Tour on the International Day of the Unborn Child with two sites in downtown Chicago.
- April 15, 2008—Eric addresses students at Illinois State University on sharing the pro-life message.
- May 12-16, 2008—At the invitation of Al Carlson of Rapid City's Citizens for Life, League staff conducts the first-ever Face the Truth Tour in South Dakota, with sites in Sioux Falls and Rapid City.
- May 24, 2008—Eric speaks to teens about activism at the Illinois Catholic Homeschool Conference in Joliet.
Joe and Eric Scheidler on Tour in Sioux Falls, SD May 13 [Photo by Sam Scheidler]