BY PATRICK B. CRAINE

PRINCETON, New Jersey, Feb. 22, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The same month that Germany’s bishops have backed the use of the morning-after pill for rape victims, one of the world’s leading authorities on the drug has said doctors have a duty to inform women that it could prevent a newly-conceived embryo from implanting in the womb, causing an abortion.

Dr. James Trussell, Director of Princeton’s Office of Population Research, makes the statement in an academic review on the drug dated February 2013 and co-authored with Dr. Elizabeth G. Raymond.

“To make an informed choice, women must know that [emergency contraceptive pills] … prevent pregnancy primarily by delaying or inhibiting ovulation and inhibiting fertilization, but may at times inhibit implantation of a fertilized egg in the endometrium,” they write.

A senior fellow at the Guttmacher Institute, a member of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s national medical committee, and a board member of the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, Trussell has published over 50 academic articles on the morning-after pill and runs a popular website and hotline to promote its use.

For many years, pro-life activists have opposed the morning-after pill, even in cases of rape, because of studies showing the drug acts in some cases as an abortifacient by altering the woman’s endometrium to prevent the embryo from implanting.

But in recent years some studies have suggested there is no such “post-fertilization” effect and that the drug acts only by preventing conception, either by suppressing ovulation or impeding the sperm.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/worlds-top-authority-on-morning-after-pill-says-women-must-be-told-it-may-c/

BY MATTHEW CULLINAN HOFFMAN

Maria Hernandez at the death bed of Silvia Aguilar Gonzalez, who sacrificed everything to welcome and care for a child that was not her own.

GUADALAJARA, August 9, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Five years have passed since Silvia Aguilar Gonzalez, a housekeeper from a small town in the Mexican state of Jalisco, passed away from brain cancer at the age of 37, abandoned by all of her immediate family, and completely destitute.  It was the price she had paid, willingly and joyfully, for saving an unborn child from abortion.

For five years, I have kept Silvia’s story to myself, waiting for an opportunity for more interviews and documentation that I was never able to obtain after losing contact with witnesses.  After so long a delay,  I believe the time has come to tell her story based on the information I received from conversations with Silvia’s close friend, Maria Hernandez, as well as an in-law relative who was at her side as she died in 2008.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-true-story-of-silvia-aguilar-gonzalez-mexicos-unknown-pro-life-saint

Absurd: Catholic groups and Planned Parenthood receive $1.4 million to enroll customers in Obamacare

August 21, 2013 (ALL.org) – While it is outrageous that Planned Parenthood is receiving more than a million dollars in federal “navigator” grants to enroll customers in Obamacare, it is not a surprise. It is even more outrageous to learn that two Catholic organizations applied for and received “navigator” grants to facilitate enrolling people in Obamacare.

Ascension Health, the largest Catholic and nonprofit health system, received a $202,706 navigator grant in Alabama and $165,683 in Kansas.

Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Mobile received $20,750.

Obamacare will, of course, require employers to provide insurance that pays for abortifacient contraceptives, sterilizations, and—pursuant to section 1303 of Obamacare—includes a $1 abortion surcharge for the exchange programs.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has extensive information on its website about why it objects to Obamacare. In addition, it lists action items. You can download a PDF summary of USCCB objections here. Yet, these Catholic organizations applied for and received funds to implement that to which the bishops object.

“The morally bankrupt provisions in Obamacare make it impossible for any Catholic to support it, even in the best possible light,” said American Life League’s Michael Hichborn. “By taking government funds to enroll people into Obamacare, it is clear that as far as Ascension Health and Catholic Social Services of Mobile are concerned, money is more important than souls

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/absurd-catholic-groups-and-planned-parenthood-receive-1.4-million-to-enroll

BY JILL STANEK

Biola president Dr. Barry Corey, pictured right, has issued a public letter of apology for retaliatory actions staff members of his Christian university took against pro-life student Diana Jimenez in June for showing graphic images of abortion on campus:

For actions on our part that were perceived to be heavy-handed and retaliatory, I have apologized to her and stand by this apology publicly. I acknowledge and regret our errors, and steps have been taken to correct them….

In so many ways, Diana is the kind of student with the deep Christian convictions I hoped to see when I came to Biola six years ago. In her convictions about saving the unborn, she represents what Biola is about—the desire to speak up against injustices that break the heart of God. Like Diana, Biola is and has been passionately pro-life.

A campus security guard was caught on video threatening to have Jimenez arrested, and the director of the nursing program, Dr. Susan Elliott, ordered her staff not to write letters of recommendation on Jimenez’s behalf.

Going a step further, Dr. Corey outlined in his letter a plan to educate all Biola students via the student newspaper, chapel services, and public displays on campus about the importance of showing the graphic reality of abortion.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/blog/biola-apologizes-for-actions-against-pro-life-student-endorses-use-of-graph

Planned Parenthood ‘navigators’ will have access to Americans’ personal, medical, tax information

• Wed Aug 21 15:18 EST
• Abortion

 WASHINGTON, D.C., August 21, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Planned Parenthood employees will soon have access to a vast federal database of sensitive information, including the Social Security number, tax form, bank account, and medical records of every single American citizen as the president seeks their help in implementing ObamaCare.Consumers purchasing health insurance through health care exchanges will speak to “navigators,” whose job is to help them find the best coverage and determine if they are eligible for a federal subsidy.

The Obama administration has awarded Planned Parenthood more than $655,000 of taxpayer funds to hire “navigators” for the president’s health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). State affiliates in Iowa, Montana and New Hampshire were among the 105 organizations receiving $67 million in federal grants.

HHS will not require background checks or fingerprinting of employees, and a previous criminal conviction – including one for identity theft – does not necessarily disqualify an employee from becoming a navigator.

Navigators and their assistants will have access to the federal data hub, an online nexus containing information from the Department of Health and Human Services and seven federal departments: the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Defense Department, the Office of Personnel Management, the Veterans Health Administration, and the Peace Corps.

To expedite hiring before the exchanges go live on October 1, the administration has scaled back screening and cut new employees’ training from 30 hours to 20.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/planned-parenthood-navigators-will-have-access-to-americans-personal-medica

BY NANCY FLANDERS

August 21, 2013 (LiveActionNews) – In her early twenties and just out of college Jill Marquis thought marriage seemed like the thing to do. But after a couple of years, she found herself feeling dejected. After beginning an affair, she soon discovered she was pregnant.

Marquis went on with her life, catching a flight to New York City the very next day for work. Her marriage ended and she eventually married the man she had an affair with. The pain over her decision to have an abortion did not truly surface until she became pregnant with her next child.

“Nobody told me,” she explains, “that it might come back to you when you have the ultrasound of the children you want to have. There I was looking at this ultrasound of the baby growing inside me and [I was] screaming in my mind that that was a baby you aborted. A baby that you killed. I stuffed it down for a very long time and tried to silence that voice.  Looking back on that decision it was the most selfish thing I ever did in my life because it was all about me wanting to live life on my terms.

Through a series of events, Marquis was introduced to Surrendering the Secret, a post-abortive study and support group. Marquis decided that she wanted to bring this ministry to her church and she approached her pastor about it.  Along with a counselor and another post-abortive woman, Marquis was able to experience the study and began to realize that most of her adult issues came back to her abortion and to the frame of mind that many things in life are disposable. What should be sacred is not sacred, from relationships and marriage to our own children. She credits Surrendering the Secret with saving her because it completely changed the trajectory of her life.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/post-abortive-mother-abortion-will-bring-about-devastation-that-you-had-no

“Public hospital districts may not administer or fund programs to provide ‘maternity care benefits, services, or information to women’ without also making provision for” contraception and for women “to voluntarily terminate their pregnancies.”

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle called the bill “utterly indefensible” and “a grave infringement on the rights of conscience.”