‘Women deserve better’: Why the U.S. needs to rethink its abortion laws

May 19, 2014 (Heritage) – It’s been a year since abortionist Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for killing three newborns and causing the death of a mother in his West Philadelphia clinic.

And, according to a panel of experts in policy, law and medicine who gathered at The Heritage Foundation, the decaying operating rooms, filthy instruments and unsafe practices that went undetected for two decades at Gosnell’s clinic remain all too common in America.

“We’re not here to commemorate an event. We’re hear to reflect on it and draw lessons,” Americans United for Life general counsel Ovide Lamontagne said. This was a “catastrophic systemic failure of government at all levels.”

“Nothing was done for years with Gosnell,” panelist Byron Calhoun concurred, calling the oversight an “inexplicable medical anomaly.” Calhoun, professor and vice chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at West Virginia University-Charleston, said studies show an 81 percent increase in risks of mental health problems for women post-abortion. He said the figure could be even worse for those who undergo late-term abortions.

Calhoun said “women deserve better” when it comes to oversight of abortion clinics.

“We would contend that holding the abortion industry and abortion providers to at least the minimum accepted standard of surgical and post-operative care required for all other surgical procedures seems reasonable,” Calhoun said.

Panelist Angelina Baglini, an associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the Susan B. Anthony List, also stressed the need for greater protections for mothers, especially after 20 weeks of pregnancy: “A law ending abortions after 20 weeks is legislating what is safe and healthy for mothers,” she said.

Comparing abortion in the United States to international norms, Baglini revealed the extreme nature of America’s abortion laws. According to Baglini’s research, the United States is one of only seven countries in the world that allow late-term abortion.

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“The clear norm is to limit abortion to 20 weeks, and in most cases to 12 weeks,” Baglini said. Introducing such limitations on abortion in the United States, she added, “is neither extreme, nor unreasonable. Rather, [limits would] move the United States toward international norms.”

Law professor Teresa Collet noted some states better protect women than others. For instance, “In Texas, women are protected by reasonable health and safety standards.” For states seeking to protect women’s health and safety, Lamontagne drew attention to AUL’s work on state-level policies that protect both mother and child from the harms of abortion.

AUL President and CEO Charmaigne Yoest concluded the May 13 event, highlighting the need to break the “conspiracy of silence” that surrounds the reality of abortion’s harm to women.

Kermit Gosnell (Photo: Yong Kim/MCT/Newscom)

“Part of what gets me up in the morning,” Yoest said, “is that women are not hearing this truth. The babies and women [Gosnell] killed are more than mere data points, they are human beings with human dignity. … We must ensure we are on the side of both mother and babies because they are both in this together.”

Although a gruesome and tragic incident prompted this discussion, participants were optimistic about the odds that the law will better protect women and babies in the future. “Momentum is in our favor,” Lamontagne said.

Reprinted with permission from Heritage

 

SOURCE:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/women-deserve-better-why-the-u.s.-needs-to-rethink-its-abortion-laws?

May 13, 2014

2014 marks a critical moment in your valiant struggle to end the injustice of abortion.

 Here are five more:

1.Because you are deeply committed to the pro-life cause.  You constantly set your own needs aside in order to protect and defend your innocent unborn brothers and sisters.  And they desperately need you to do so yet again today.

2.Because ever since you joined the Priests for Life family, you have proven yourself to be one of our most dedicated and most active partners.

3.Because the work we do from today until August 31 is going to prove decisive in our shared mission of freeing America from the scourge of abortion.

4.Which means our fellow Americans must have the Gospel of Life preached to them without apology, without fear and without compromise.  And thanks to you and other ministry partners, no one is as fully equipped to do that as Priests for Life.

5.In order for you and Priests for Life to lead the People of Life to victory over abortion,  we must be fully engaged throughout the summer months.  No let up.  No slowdown.  No interruptions.  No pulling back.  For that to happen, you and the entire Priests for Life family must take part in our Summer Pledge Campaign.

That said:

It is crucial that you click here and make a special Summer Pledge that will empower Priests for Life to assist you in your work of fighting for an end to legalized abortion-on-demand in America!

We must continue to work together and remind our fellow Americans that abortion is corrupting our entire society – including the economy! – and destroying the soul of this once great nation.

You know this.

That’s why you have dedicated your adult life to ending the injustice of abortion.

It’s also why you decided to join the Priests for Life family.

And it’s why I know you will do whatever you must to make sure Priests for Life is fully funded so we can help you carry on the fight against abortion and for LIFE.

As I told you a moment ago, your Summer Pledge is critically important to your pro-life mission because historically the summer months bring with them a drop in contributions to Priests for Life.

Some years are worse than others.

Well this summer we cannot afford a drop of any kind because of the government’s all-out attack on the unborn; as well as its unabashed attempt to squash religious freedom in America.

Plus, the upcoming 2014 mid-term elections will play a key role in our fight against abortion.

All of which is why, from now until the end of August, you and Priests for Life must keep on doing all that we’ve been doing for the past twenty plus years.  Namely:

Preaching the Gospel of Life with passion and conviction.

Convincing America to embrace God’s gift of LIFE and reject the empty promises of the abortion industry.

Urging Americans to get involved in the political process and vote their pro-life principles this November.

And going all out to STOP THE KILLING once and for all!

That’s the only way we’re going to free our nation from the deadly grip of abortion and save the lives of tens of millions of innocent children.

Which brings me back to you and Priests for Life’s Summer Pledge Campaign.

I’m counting on you to click here and do all you can to provide Priests for Life with the funds we need throughout the financially dry summer months so we can SHOW America what forty years of legal abortion has wrought.

Please take a moment right now to do this.

Your dollars will help Priests for Life:

– Mobilize TEN MILLION Americans to VOTE PRO-LIFE in 2014.  Specific work in critical need of funds include:

• Researching, printing and distributing Voter Guides.
• Printing and distributing 5,000,000 “Voting with a Clear Conscience” brochures which instruct Catholics on their moral duty in elections.
• Distributing information for clergy on what they can/can’t say and do during an election.  It’s a LOT more than they think!
• Conducting a nationwide “National Survey of American Voters”.
• Taping special TV programs for our “Defending Life” series that airs on EWTN and reaches some 230,000,000 homes!

– Sustain Priests for Life’s lawsuit against the HHS abortion mandate.  The first round of oral arguments in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals took place on May 8.  Remember, our lawsuit is to religious organizations what the Hobby Lobby lawsuit is to private businesses.  Which is why David Green, the CEO of Hobby Lobby, has come out publicly in support of our case against the government’s abortion-laced HHS mandate.  We have to stand together to protect our freedoms.

– Close down more unsafe and unregulated abortion mills!
As I told you in a recent email, I am collaborating with Troy Newman of Operation Rescue and other pro-life leaders to galvanize the People of Life into a powerful force that will rein in America’s out-of-control and unsafe abortion mills.  So far in 2014, seven surgical clinics in four states have already announced they were closing their doors.  Last year you helped put 87 abortion mills out of business!  And we’re actively working to shut down clinics in Ohio, California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida and Maryland.

– Work with state legislators to protect unsuspecting mothers and our unborn brothers and sisters from unscrupulous abortionists.
We continue to win incredible victories at the state level.  You’ll recall from prior emails on this, you have helped us and the pro-life movement pass over 205 such laws in the past three years alone!  Thus far in 2014 we achieved pro-life victories in ten states: Alaska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Indiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, Arizona and Georgia.  And by the time you get this email, it looks as though we’ll be able to add South Carolina and Missouri to the list!

Those are just four of our top priorities for the summer.  And that short list doesn’t include …

• Producing and shipping tons of materials to pro-life groups, leaders and activists so they can fight abortion in their local communities.

• Sending forth our Priests for Life priests and Pastoral Team members to parishes, churches, institutions and conferences all across the country.

• Engaging the youth of America to bring their energy and passion to our pro-life movement.  Surveys show that young people are flocking to the cause in droves.

• Using every medium of communication available to preach the Gospel of Life: television … radio … Internet … email … YouTube … Facebook … Twitter … Tumblr…Instagram…Pinterest…Google+… webcasts.  Anything and everything to get out the truth about abortion.

As you can see, that’s a LOT of work!

But every single program is crucial if we are to emancipate our nation from its slavery to abortion and restore the principles of freedom upon which America was founded.

That said, how you respond to this email will go a long way in determining which path America chooses going forward.

So please take a moment right now to click here and make your Summer Pledge to Priests for Life.

It will take roughly $1,950,000 to fund all of the work I just listed for you.

And every penny of that amount will come from you and your fellow Priests for Life family members.

That’s because we receive no funds from any official Church entity … neither from Rome nor here in the United States. And that in spite of the fact that many at the Vatican – including Pope Francis himself … who was a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family of which I was also an Official – as well as Bishops around the world and here in the U.S. wholeheartedly endorse our Priests for Life ministry.

When all is said and done, it’s YOU and other hard-working, dedicated pro-life champions like you who make our work possible.

You help as much and as generously as you do because you consider Priests for Life an extension of your own pro-life work.  And you’re right!  We are!

And working together we will make America a place where abortion is not merely illegal but unthinkable.

From all I’m seeing and hearing in my travels around the country, I am absolutely convinced, as I hope you are, that we are far closer to achieving that goal than most people think.

Which is why I’m counting on you to click here and make your Summer Pledge today.

As I told you at the beginning of this email:

2014 marks a critical moment in your valiant struggle to end the injustice of abortion.

And the work we do from now until the end of summer will go a long way in bringing us closer to the day when we establish America as an abortion-free nation!

In order for Priests for Life to help you make that happen we need to be fully-funded.

But June is right around the corner.

In order to prevent a drop of any kind in contributions throughout the summer, it’s vital that you click here and make a Summer Pledge today.

In doing so you will help ensure that Priests for Life is able to help you carry out your pro-life mission … which includes getting MILLIONS of Catholics to VOTE LIKE CATHOLICS this November … and in all future elections.

Ideally, I’d like to raise our entire summer budget in the next thirty days.  All $1,950,000 of it.

But given the time of year and the woeful state of the economy, that’s not likely to happen.

So I’ve broken our summer budget into three more manageable amounts:

– $650,000 now for June.

-Another $650,000 in July.

– And the remaining $650,000 by the second week of August.

In order to meet those monthly budget goals I need you to make a Summer Pledge today!

Here is a list of the Pledge amounts that will allow Priests for Life to raise our summer budget:

1 person to Pledge $100,000 = $100,000
3 friends to Pledge $50,000 each = 150,000
6 people to Pledge $25,000 each = 150,000
20 partners to Pledge $10,000 each = 200,000
40 co-workers to Pledge $5,000 each = 200,000
300 individuals to Pledge $1,000 each = 300,000
500 supporters to Pledge $500 each = 250,000
1,000 associates to Pledge $250 each = 250,000
2,000 members to Pledge $100 each = 200,000
4,000 comrades to Pledge $50 each = 200,000

That’s a total of 7,870 friends and supporters Pledging $2,000,000 to Priests for Life

Prayerfully consider making one of those Pledge amounts and make it a tangible sign of your deep commitment to the mission of ending America’s abortion holocaust.

All I ask of you is that you be:

(1) As generous as you always have been.  And …

(2) That you do this right now, before you go on to your next email.

I’ll close this very important appeal for help on that note.

Before I do, though, I want to assure you of my prayers, and the prayers of everyone here at Priests for Life.  For me personally, I remember you at each Mass I offer; as do all the priests of Priests for Life.

Thank you again and may God richly bless you for the selfless way in which you give of yourself for His innocent unborn children.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director
Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries

PS If you make a Summer Pledge for $50 or more today I have a SPECIAL GIFT for you.

Anthony DeStefano, my close friend and longtime collaborator in the pro-life movement, has written what I believe is his most important book yet.  It’s called A Travel Guide to Life and I dearly want to send you a copy because Anthony’s book will give you an enlightening tour of the kind of deeply meaningful and happy life you can live here on earth.

One of the things I like best about A Travel Guide to Life is the fact that Anthony has incorporated the one crucial element about living a happy life that is so often missing from other so-called “self-help” and “personal development” books.  That component is spirituality and a living, working faith in God.  Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, recognized this right off when he read A Travel Guide to Life.  Afterward he wrote:

“Anthony DeStefano provides a clear and concise road map to a fulfilled and happy life, and makes the compelling case that we must be God-centered in order to experience true joy.  While the book provides solid self-help techniques, Anthony helps show us that the way to happiness is to know, love, and serve God in this life, so that we might experience everlasting happiness with Him in Heaven.”

Endorsed by Tony Robbins, Kathy Lee Gifford and many others, A Travel Guide to Life will have a profound impact on your life because it will help you understand that when you take up the crosses in your life and follow God, He will transform it all, making everything new and granting you the strength, peace and happiness for which you yearn.

Thank you again.  And may God bless you.

We offer various options for you to receive different emails from the different branches of our ministry. See how you can vary your preferences or unsubscribe. Remember, we want to keep you in the loop!

We are planning another Prayer Vigil outside Capital Care on Saturday, May 24th from 11:00am – noon.  I am listing the details below.  We hope you can make it!  Most of you have probably heard that the judge is scheduled to make a decision in June for the hearing regarding the closing of Capital Care Network in Toledo.  We pray that life will be victorious!!

Death Panels: Massachusetts Hospital Imposing DNR Orders on Patients Without Consent

by Wesley J. Smith | Boston, MA | LifeNews.com | 5/12/14 10:50 AM

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