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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
Despite a strong rebuke delivered to Georgetown University by the Archdiocese of Washington, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed the graduates of the school’s Public Policy Institute this morning.
In her remarks, Sebelius couldn’t resist wading into the area of church/state relations. Toward the end of her speech, she said the following:
Ultimately, public policy is about making difficult choices. Today, there are serious debates underway about the direction of our country – debates about the size and role of government, about America’s role as a global economic and military leader, about the moral and economic imperative of providing health care to all our citizens. People have deeply-held beliefs on all sides of these discussions, and you, as public policy leaders, will be called on to help move these debates forward.
These are not questions with quick and easy answers. When I was in junior high, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was running for president. I wasn’t old enough to vote, but it was the first national campaign I really remember. Some of then-Senator Kennedy’s opponents attacked him for his religion, suggesting that electing the first Catholic president would undermine the separation of church and state, a fundamental principle of our democracy. The furor grew so loud that Kennedy chose to deliver a speech about his beliefs just seven weeks before the election. [Continue reading ...]
Father Norman Weslin offers Mass at the Pro-Life Action League office, circa 1992
Father Norman Weslin died Wednesday at the age of 81 at a retirement home in northern Michigan. He was a devoted friend of the Pro-Life Action League, and on multiple occasions offered Mass in our office and in the Scheidler home.
Before he was ordained, Father spent twenty years on active duty in the Army, earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. While in the Army he married and he and his wife, Mary, adopted two children.
In 1980, shortly after he was discharged, Mary was killed in an automobile accident.
Both of them had been ardent pro-lifers, and the tragic loss led Weslin to found the Mary Weslin Homes for Pregnant, Unwed Mothers. This home has served more than 300 single mothers and still operates in Omaha.
Following Mary’s death, Father entered the seminary and was ordained a priest of the Oblates of Wisdom in 1986. He gathered a group of activist pro-lifers in 1988 and founded The Lambs of Christ.
Although the Lambs peacefully prayed at abortion clinics, they were frequently arrested. As they were representing the unborn babies, they would not give their names when they were arrested, but knew each other by a chosen name beginning with “Baby.” [Continue reading ...]
The Archdiocese of Washington has sharply criticized Georgetown University’s decision to invite HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to address its School of Public Policy’s upcoming diploma ceremony.
A recent the editorial in Catholic Standard, the Archdiocese of Washington’s official newspaper, notes:
Founded in 1789 by John Carroll, a Jesuit priest, Georgetown University has, historically speaking, religious roots. So, too, do Harvard, Princeton and Brown. Over time, though, as has happened with these Ivy League institutions, Georgetown has undergone a secularization, due in no small part to the fact that much of its leadership and faculty find their inspiration in sources other than the Gospel and Catholic teaching. Many are quite clear that they reflect the values of the secular culture of our age. Thus the selection of Secretary Sebelius for special recognition, while disappointing, is not surprising.
Monsignor Charles Pope, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, comments thusly on the importance of the preceding paragraph: [Continue reading ...]
Last week hackers attacked the Pro-Life Action League website, as well as all the websites hosted by the League like the Generations for Life and Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally websites.
No strangers to hostile attacks, the League’s IT team set to work locating and eradicating the source of the problem over the weekend and restored security to the sites so we could get on with our pro-life mission.
The attack couldn’t have come at a worse time as thousands were trying to access information about Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally news and locations and Rally Captains were trying to access crucial resources for planning and promoting the effort.
But all is well now and the effort will carry on undaunted. If anyone you know was disquieted by anti-virus software warnings or other error messages, please let them know that the problem has been solved and the site is now secure. And say some prayers for the protection of the League’s work going forward.
This problem may have slowed us down, but it will not stop us. We will stand up for our cherished liberties and fight to protect every human life from the evil of abortion!
Nancy Keenan announced this week that she will step down as president of NARAL at the end of this year.
According to the Washington Post, “Keenan said she is leaving out of concern for the future of the pro-choice movement – and thinks she could be holding it back.”
In other words, Keenan has become a liability.
The WaPo article goes on say:
In recent years, Keenan has worried about an “intensity gap” on abortion rights among millennials, which the group considers to be the generation of Americans born between 1980 and 1991. While most young, antiabortion voters see abortion as a crucial political issue, NARAL’s own internal research does not find similar passion among abortion-rights supporters. If the pro-choice movement is to successfully defend abortion rights, Keenan contends, it needs more young people in leadership roles, including hers.
“There’s an opportunity for a new and younger leader,” Keenan said during a Wednesday interview in her downtown Washington office. “Roe v. Wade is 40 in January. It’s time for a new leader to come in and, basically, be the person for the next 40 years of protecting reproductive choice.”
A bit optimistic, don’t you think?
The Pro-Life Action League has directly engaged with Keenan and NARAL on multiple occasions over the past few years. [Continue reading ...]
A local maternity home the League has supported made the Aurora Beacon News today with its stories of hope for pregnant teens.
Maternity Homes of the Fox Valley (MHFV) opened their doors in Aurora, Illinois last September and the League was there because the project was in part a response to the League’s epic battle with Planned Parenthood over their deceptive entry into Aurora with the first of their abortion “mega-mills”.
Since then, MHFV have been making it easier for teen moms in bad situations to choose life for their babies and we’ve been privileged to partner with them.
It’s great to see MHFV getting the recognition they deserve for their work. Here’s hoping the operation continues to provide hope and alternatives for years to com. Check out their website for more details about their unique method for helping girls in need.
It’s hard to not sound over-the-top in describing how much of an outrage it is that the speaker at Georgetown University’s School of Public Policy diploma ceremony on May 18 will be none other than Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The fact that the nominally Catholic architect of the HHS Mandate — which has been publicly denounced by every single bishop who leads a diocese in the U.S. — is being granted this honor by America’s oldest Catholic university is hard to believe.
Yet at the same time, given the history of the choice of commencement speakers at some other reputable Catholic universities in recent years, it isn’t hard to believe at all.
Clearly, as the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) observes, Georgetown’s invitation to Sebelius “can only be interpreted as a direct challenge to America’s Catholic bishops.” [Continue reading ...]
The next Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally is still more than a month away, and today our list of cities taking part just reached 101!
The number of cities already on board for June 8 shows that the massive turnout seen at the first Nationwide Rally on March 23 was hardly a one-time phenomenon.
Opposition among the American people to the HHS Mandate’s assault on religious freedom is intense—and getting stronger!
From Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon and all the way out to Honolulu, Hawaii the American people are sending a message that we will not stand idly by while the federal government forces all employer health plans to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, regardless of any moral or religious objections.
Check out the Locations Page to see all the cities taking part and find a Rally near you.
Don’t see one in your area? Organize one!
You can find out what it takes to be a local Rally Captain here.
One of last weekend’s “Unite Women” rallies juxtaposed with one of last month’s “Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rallies
On Saturday, rallies were held to “Unite Against the War on Women”, a pretty obvious response to the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally campaign spearheaded by the Pro-Life Action League and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society.
As the picture indicates, the response was paltry. Even in New York City, where thousands gathered on March 23 in defense of religious freedom, only a few hundred showed up to protest.
They may have had a few B-list celebrity speakers, but they were pitching their muddled message to largely empty audiences. Outside of some talk about the so-called “war on women”, their message was as scattered as could be. [Continue reading ...]
Children of God for Life (COGFL) announced today that PepsiCo will no longer use aborted fetal cell lines in their agreement with Senomyx to develop flavor enhancers for their products.
COGFL called for a boycott of PepsiCo last May, and the Pro-Life Action League signed on immediately.
Clearly, PepsiCo’s decision to stop using aborted fetal cell lines was in response to the thousands of complaints lodged by pro-lifers in the past year.
Via LifeSite:
“We are absolutely thrilled with PepsiCo’s decision,” stated [COGFL Executive Director Debbie] Vinnedge. “They have listened to their customers and have made both a wise and profound statement of corporate integrity that deserves the utmost respect, admiration and support of the public.” [Continue reading ...]