Be Inspired This Week in your Pro-life Commitment!

January 20, 2014

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

What a great week has begun! Pro-life activities are everywhere. Take a look at this video http://youtu.be/nJhAVvtmg0o to see some of the things our Priests for Life team is doing!

You can also get an idea by looking at Priestsforlife.org/MarchForLife.

Along with the key rallies and prayer events, summarized below, we are also asking pro-life people, whether they are marching or not, to communicate with Congress about several important pro-life bills that have been introduced. See  Priestsforlife.org/Legislation for the details.

It is a week of prayer and action, and we ask you to say the special Prayer of Reparation for Roe vs Wade (see PrayerCampaign.org) and also utilize the other pro-life prayers that are there. Bring them to your pastors and group leaders, as they may want to use some of these prayers for this week’s events.

And, to give you an idea of things to come, we are preparing a new website, with a great domain name indicating the unity of the pro-life movement! This website will be a key educational tool for us — and you — to use throughout the year to equip people to protect the unborn.

So there is much to do, whether you are going to special pro-life events this week or not!

The main events in DC that we have organized are:

a) The official Youth Rally on Tuesday from 2 to 5pm. If you can’t make it, connect with our Youth Outreach at StandTrue.com and let as many young people as possible know about it!

b) The nation’s premier pro-life prayer service on Wednesday morning at 8:30am at Constitution Hall (see NationalPrayerService.com). If you can’t join us, please spread the prayers and videos that are on that site!

c) The gathering of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign at the steps of the Supreme Court at the conclusion of the March for Life. If you can’t be there (from about 2:30 on…) then please read, watch, and share the powerful testimonies of those who have had abortions. See SilentNoMore.com.

Thanks so much for your prayers, support, and participation this week and throughout the year!

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Priests for Life
PO Box 141172
Staten Island, NY 10314
Phone: 888-PFL-3448
718-980-4400
Fax: 718-980-6515
Email: mail@priestsforlife.org
www.priestsforlife.org

Quick! Remind your pastor to preach pro-life this Sanctity of Life Sunday – Jan 19

Why We Will March for Life: Because It’s Time to End Abortion

by Jessica Schildt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/17/14 1:41 PM

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January brings several key pro-life events to Washington D.C, but the largest is the March for Life.Beginning at the National Mall and ending at the Supreme Court, the March remains the largest Civil Rights event in the world, with millions of attendees over its four decades.

Originally, the March for Life began as a small demonstration observed on January 22, 1974, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, for fear that that day would pass without any observance of the tragedy of abortion—and its fatal injustices toward children and horrific effects on women.

Founder Nellie Gray, who passed away in August 2012, is often called the “Joan of Arc of the pro-life Movement” for her tireless devotion to the protection of the pre-born. The event that she and a small group of concerned pro-life advocates created now includes much more than the original march. Keynote speakers bolster the event, and a series of connected pro-life events take place during the week. The pro-life presence in the nation’s capital around is staggering on account of these events—last year, over 650,000 people participated.

Events like the March for Life serve many significant purposes in the pro-life movement. They remind us that people all across the nation want to see the end of forty years of abortions. Pro-life leaders in all capacities—whether leading a ministry, a small church group, or a campus club—receive the training and connections they need to further their efforts. And they compel citizens to stop and consider why they support the sanctity of life.

As the week of January 20^th approaches, consider ways to get involved. Reflect upon the answers to these key questions regarding abortion: what is wrong with abortion? What are the consequences of abortion? Why should the government protect life? How can we help women facing difficult choices?

This year, share your reasons for supporting life on social media with the hashtag #WhyWeMarch on Twitter, and “like” the March for Life’s page on Facebook.

The March for Life’s theme this year is adoption. Events such as the March for Life empower us to spread the truth about alternatives to abortion to our communities—ultimately with the goal of ending abortion in America.

This march and these events are more than a mere pep rally, and they are even more than the dreams of one determined woman. They represent the population in America that refuses to stand for the culture of death. They represent the support and sacrifice of many who are dedicated to seeing the end of abortion in this nation. They represent, above all, the truth that every human has a right to life which ought to be protected.

For more information regarding the March for Life and connected events, visit their website

LEARN MORE:

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/01/17/why-we-will-march-for-life-because-its-time-to-end-abortion/

Viral Video Marks 41 Years of Abortions in 5 Minutes: “My Generation Will End Abortion”

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/17/14 7:26 PM

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The pro-life group Texas Alliance for Life has released an inspiring video that tallies 41 years of legalized abortion under Roe v. Wade in just five minutes. The viral has already received almost 16,000 views in just one day.

“This year marks 41 years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s tragic Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal in Texas and across the nation for any reason throughout all nine months of pregnancy. In the wake of Roe, legal abortion has claimed the lives of nearly 57 million unborn children and has hurt countless women and men,” says Joe Pojman of Texas Alliance for Life.

The video features 41 women and girls who confidently proclaim, “My Generation Will End Abortion.”

Watch Video & Learn More:

41 Years of Roe v Wade

 Texas Alliance for Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylD7ajPflqo

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/01/17/viral-video-marks-41-years-of-abortions-in-5-minutes-my-generation-will-end-abortion/

Judge in Case of Father Trying to Kill His Unborn Child Recuses Herself

by Steven Ertelt | Fort Worth, TX | LifeNews.com | 1/17/14 2:04 PM

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The judge in the controversial case of a father who is attempting to end his pregnant wife’s life support, which would kill his unborn child, has recused herself.

Marlise Munoz collapsed in her home last November from an apparent blood clot in her lungs when she was 14 weeks pregnant with her second child. Her husband and other family members have asked the John Peter Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth to remove Marlise from life support after they were told she was “brain dead.” Ending life support would also end her unborn baby’s life.

So far John Peter Smith Hospital officials have refused to follow the family’s request, citing a Texas law that prohibits hospitals from removing life support from pregnant women.

Erick Munoz, who says a doctor has told him his wife is brain dead, has filed a lawsuit against JPS Health Network but State District Judge Melody Wilkinson has recused herself from hearing it. Bud Kennedy, a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, indicates Wilkinson’s campaign treasurer is also general counsel for JPS Health Network, the parent company of the hospital.

As the local newspaper reports:

Her husband, Erick Muñoz, sued JPS on Tuesday, asking that the hospital stop further medical procedures and remove his wife from respirators, ventilators or other “life support” and release her body.

JPS officials have refused, citing an Texas law that requires pregnant women to be kept on life support until the fetus is viable, usually at 24 to 26 weeks.

In a letter to Jeff Walker, administrative judge for this region, Wilkinson noted: “The Munoz case has time sensitive issues which require immediate attention. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.”

Walker said he will be out of town until Monday and state District Judge R.H. Wallace is serving as presiding judge. When Wallace’s office receives Wilkinson’s notice, the case will be reassigned, Walker said.

The Tarrant County district attorney’s office, which is representing JPS in the suit, declined through a spokeswoman to comment Thursday night on Wilkinson’s recusal.

The attorneys representing the Muñoz family did not comment on the recusal, but in an emailed statement, attorney Jessica Janicek said: “We have recently received Marlise Munoz’s medical records, and can now confirm that Mrs. Munoz is clinically brain dead, and therefore deceased under Texas law.”

Wilkinson could not be reached to comment Thursday night.

Bishop Who Escaped Abortion After Doctors Said He’d Be a “Freak” Will Lead March for Life

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/17/14 3:58 PM

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There are thousands, perhaps millions of people who could have become abortion victims because their parents were informed by their doctors that they would have physical or mental health issues after birth. Bravely, those parents decided not to have an abortion and, in many cases, those unborn babies before perfectly healthy people.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens is one such person. LifeNews has profiled this bishop who escaped abortion and now he’s given an interview to CatholicVote to share the rest of the story. Next week, he will lead students from Benedictine College at the March for Life.

Here’s part of that interview:

“When my mom was 20 weeks pregnant with me, her water broke and she went immediately to the hospital,” he said. “She and my father spent a night in prayer that they would not lose the baby. The next morning, the doctor came in after running some tests.”

The doctor said, “I need to tell you that your child is severely deformed and I recommend that we induce labor” — in other words, end the child’s life prematurely.

Mrs. Cozzens said, “Absolutely not.”

The doctor answered, “You don’t get it — this child is a freak.”

“I don’t care what you say,” she answered. She was determined to keep her baby — and to get a new doctor.

A second doctor was sent and he said the baby would be fine, “If you’re willing to lie in bed for the rest of this pregnancy.”

The parents were happy to do just that. But “How will we pay?” they asked. Insurance wouldn’t cover a months-long hospital stay.

The new doctor said not to worry. He had made a bet with the first doctor that she would deliver a healthy and normal child. If the baby was normal, Doctor 1 would pay for her $1,200 hospital stay. If not, Doctor 2 would pay.

“When the second doctor delivered me he told the nurse to go get the other doctor and tell him to see his ‘little freak,’” laughed Bishop Cozzens.

Learn More:

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/01/17/bishop-who-escaped-abortion-after-doctors-said-hed-be-a-freak-will-lead-march-for-life/

Pro-Life Freedom Rides

Connect with the Pro-Life Freedom Rides on Facebook

Listen to the Pro-life Anthem – “The Least of These”
written for the Pro-life Freedom Rides Campaign!

Read the lyrics to “The Least of These.”

“My Uncle Martin had a dream that Protestants and Catholics and Gentiles and Jews would join together and sing the age old spiritual ‘Free at Last,’” stated Dr. Alveda King. “At Priests for Life, we will be singing and praying on the Pro-life Freedom Rides. We urge all people of good will to join us as we link the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century to the heart cry for life in the 21st Century.”
Dr. Alveda King, who is a full-time member of the Pastoral Team of Priests for Life and niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., will be leading “Pro-life Freedom Rides” in the coming months, building on a method that the Civil Rights Movement used effectively forty years ago. In that movement, thirteen individuals boarded a bus in Washington DC in 1961 and headed for New Orleans. Their intent was to test the enforcement of a Supreme Court decision the previous year that outlawed racial segregation in the restaurants and waiting areas of bus terminals that served interstate travelers. That one ride led to dozens of others in various parts of the country, with hundreds of people getting involved. Now, Dr. King and the team of Priests for Life believe it is time for a “Pro-life Freedom Ride,” a peaceful, visible expression of the commitment of people around the country to work for freedom for the unborn. The rides will choose cities with strategic significance for the movement. While pro-life activists ride the buses, all pro-life people nationwide will be invited to participate simultaneously in concrete activities that will call for freedom on various levels: freedom from the lies that permit abortion, freedom from the despair that leads to and follows abortion, freedom from the fear that keeps people from fighting abortion, freedom from the political oppression that robs the unborn of their rights before the law.
A video message from Dr. Alveda King about the Pro-Life Freedom Rides (3:70)	Fr. Frank Pavone and Alveda King Discuss the Pro-Life Freedom Rides (10 min. 29 sec.)	Watch a music video for our new pro-life anthem, The Least of These.
Proclaim Freedom for the Unborn The pro-life movement is all about freedom. That’s why Priests for Life, with the leadership of our Pastoral Associate Dr. Alveda King, is launching “Freedom Rides” for the unborn to galvanize pro-life activity across the country. During the Civil Rights movement, the “Freedom Rides” constituted a distinctive moment of resolve and unity. The Supreme Court, in its 1960 decision Boynton vs. Virginia, had outlawed segregation in bus terminals and restaurants serving interstate travelers. So the following spring, thirteen people – seven African-Americans and six whites – decided to travel by bus from Washington DC to New Orleans to test the enforcement of that Supreme Court decision. Along the way, particularly in Alabama, they encountered opposition and violence from those who did not want desegregation. But having been brutally attacked, and some lying with wounds in hospital beds, the “Freedom Riders” vowed that the journey would continue. That’s when others joined in, and the initial Freedom Ride became 60 rides across Southern states in the summer of 1961, with some 450 riders participating. And by the fall of that same year, the government issued orders for the enforcement of desegregation at the bus terminals. The Civil Rights movement and the Pro-Life movement have the same heart and soul: a longing for equal justice for everyone, based on the inherent dignity of every human life. That’s why, when Dr. Alveda King first walked with me at the annual March for Life and I asked her, “Does this remind you of the marches in the civil rights movement?” she declared, “Fr. Frank, this is the civil rights movement!” Both movements are movements of freedom. It is therefore time for Freedom Rides for the unborn. The pro-life movement is more ready than ever to proclaim freedom… Freedom from the lies and the deceit that allow abortion to continue… Freedom from the fear of speaking up and taking action for the unborn… Freedom from the shame and guilt of past involvement in abortion, so that those called to speak up and share their testimonies may do so as people who are “Silent No More”… Freedom from the political oppression that tramples on human rights and denies equality before the law… Freedom from violence and death itself. People will be invited to participate in the Freedom Rides themselves. The bus rides are a symbol of the journey we are on, of the fellowship we share with each other, and of the fact that we are a movement. Major events in cities along the bus routes will be held, in which all the different facets of the pro-life movement will be invited to participate. At the same time, people not on the rides or along the route can participate by being “Freedom Riders for the Unborn” and carrying out special projects that will be coordinated among Freedom Riders nationwide. In his first public sermon, Jesus summarized his message and mission by saying he had come to “proclaim liberty to the captives…” As his disciples, as his People of Life, let us do the same! Fr. Frank Pavone National Director, Priests for Life Learn More:  http://www.priestsforlife.org/action/pro-life-freedom-rides.htm

Learn More:

http://www.iamwholelife.com/