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PA Pro-Life Federation

PA Pro-Life Federation On-Line News

by Newsletter

April 15, 2008

A publication of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation
4800 Jonestown Rd., Suite 102
Harrisburg, PA 17109
717-541-0034

If you have trouble accessing any of these stories, you can find them on our website at http://www.paprolife.org/resources/e_news.html.

For Breaking News updates daily, visit our website at www.paprolife.org.

Pregnant? Need Help? Go to www.realalternatives.org.

Had an Abortion? Need Healing? Visit www.rachelsvineyard.org.

In this issue:

National Right to Life PAC Endorses John McCain
Comparing the Presidential Candidates on Abortion
Explanation of Catholic Teaching on Abortion & Voting
Barack Obama: Extreme on Abortion
Michelle Malkin Praises Real Alternatives
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation in the National News Media
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Receives Real Alternatives Award
Statewide Oratory Contest This Weekend
Congratulations to Our Essay Contest Winners!
Be a Lifesaver--Sponsor a Table!
Help Us Spread the Pro-Life Word!
Chapter Information from Around the State!

Help us in our life-saving work! Quick, easy online donation now available. Donate by logging onto http://www.paprolife.org/donate.

National Right to Life PAC Endorses John McCain

National Right to Life's political action committee is supporting presumptive Republican nominee John McCain for President. "National Right to Life supports Senator John McCain for election as President of the United States and strongly opposes both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and urges all pro-life citizens to do likewise," the group told LifeNews.com. McCain has a strong pro-life record on abortion and has supported legislation to ban partial-birth abortion, support parental involvement in abortion decisions, and prohibit taxpayer-funded abortions. "Senator John McCain has consistently taken a strong pro-life position against abortion, has a strong pro-life voting record against abortion and opposes Roe v. Wade," National Right to Life said. For more on this story, visit http://www.lifenews.com/nat3845.html.

Comparing the Presidential Candidates on Abortion

By Charlene Bashore, Esq., Legislative/Political Action Committee Director (bashore@paprolife.org)

With just a few days remaining before the primary election, what do we know about the Presidential candidates? Republican candidate John McCain has a strong pro-life voting record on abortion in the U.S. Senate. He has vowed to appoint strict-constructionist justices to the U.S. Supreme Court and has consistently opposed life-destroying legislation such as the Freedom of Choice Act. This is the federal bill which would essentially eradicate our current Abortion Control Act in Pennsylvania. In stark contrast, Democratic Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both co-sponsors of the Freedom of Choice Act. Barack Obama has gone so far as to promise to Planned Parenthood that he would sign this bill as his first official act as President (http://www.lifenews.com/nat3856.html). Hillary Clinton, just like Barack Obama, continues to try to soften her unequivocal support of abortion-on-demand with empty rhetoric. Her voting record, however, mirrors that of Obama, as they both oppose limits on taxpayer funded abortion, parental consent for minors' abortions, and a ban on partial-birth abortions (http://www.lifenews.com/nat3855.html).

Explanation of Catholic Teaching on Abortion & Voting

Father John Trigilio of EWTN has put together an explanation of Catholic teaching on the issue of abortion and voting. You can find his article on his blog at http://blackbiretta.blogspot.com/2008/04/fuzzy-morality.html. Please consider sharing this site with other Catholics you know. Father Trigilio provides a clear synopsis of the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic bishops of the U.S. with regard to faithful citizenship and the issue of abortion in public life. Father Trigilio spoke at our prayer breakfast at the 2003 Pennsylvania Pro-Life Conference in Scranton.

Barack Obama: Extreme on Abortion

By Professor Paul Kengor

Sen. Barack Obama is so extreme on abortion that he has managed to achieve what I once thought impossible: He is to the left of Hillary Clinton on abortion. I say that as someone who has written a book on Hillary Clinton, with a special focus on her abortion fanaticism.

How extreme is Obama? His short U.S. Senate record is as Planned Parenthood-perfect as Senator Clinton's and other abortion extremists'. Yet there is one area where he surpasses even the zealots: In the Illinois senate, Obama led the charge against legislation that would have ensured medical care to babies who survived abortions. Let me explain.
Most Americans have no clue that in their country since Roe v. Wade, countless babies have survived abortion attempts. An unknown number have been left to die alone on tables, in trash cans, in dark rooms — no medical care offered. Alas, mercifully, the U.S. Congress finally came along in 2002 and unanimously (both houses) passed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. The legislation mandates that born-alive infants be given the full protection of federal laws.

Who could possibly oppose something like this? The answer is Barack Obama, who in Illinois sought to prevent the adoption of similar statewide legislation. In 2002 and 2003, he voted against such legislation twice, and then blocked the bill as chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. He denounced the bill on the floor of the state senate. Keep in mind that this is a man who supports government intervention for everything under the sun, particularly in health care — with the exception of unborn babies, or in this case, born babies.

When it comes to abortion, Barack Obama is to the left of not just Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, and Ted Kennedy, but even NARAL. Yes, not even NARAL opposed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

And this is the individual Sen. Casey chose to endorse last Friday before a cheering, roaring crowd of Pennsylvania Democrats.

Now he has joined Obama on a six-day bus tour through Pennsylvania in advance of the state's crucial April 22 primary, where Obama has trailed Clinton.

Does Casey not understand the threshold upon which he and his nation now stand? Roe v. Wade is at last in peril, but if he achieves his dream of an Obama presidency, Obama can tip the Supreme Court's balance in a pro-Roe direction for decades to come. There have been 50 million abortions since 1973.

Consequently, Senator Casey's endorsement of Obama is an undeniable betrayal of his, his father's, and his church's pro-life work and commitment.

— Paul Kengor has most recently published God and Hillary Clinton and The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top Hand. He is professor of political science at Grove City College.

Michelle Malkin Praises Real Alternatives

By Maria Vitale, Education Director (vitale@paprolife.org)

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin recently praised Pennsylvania's Alternatives to Abortion program during an appearance in the greater Harrisburg area.

Malkin, who is known for her appearances on Fox News, told attendees at the Real Alternatives banquet, "You give real hope. You are responsible for real change."

Malkin noted that Emma Beck, a British artist who hanged herself after the abortion of her twins, is like a lot of the women that pregnancy resource centers deal with on a daily basis. Malkin suggested that Beck's fate might have been different, had she been able to see a counselor when she first learned of her pregnancy.

The conservative columnist also noted that abortion comes with life-long consequences, including post-traumatic stress disorder, guilt, and other emotional problems.

In an interview following her speech, Malkin said that she has "always embraced the sanctity of life" but that she has become much more outspoken on the life issues. For instance, every January she posts information about the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on her website.

That's in sharp contrast with much of the rest of the news media who, Malkin says, usually bury the coverage "on page D-20." Malkin adds that the mainstream media "treat it (coverage of the march) "as an anthropological exercise."

The columnist noted that most media "make us (pro-lifers) out to be extremist...dangerous ideologues."

Malkin, however, sees hope in the new media universe, where websites and blogs can carry the pro-life stories that the mainstream media miss.

Real Alternatives contracts with dozens of pregnancy resource centers, social service agencies, adoption agencies, and maternity homes to reach out to women facing unexpected pregnancies. More than 137,000 women have been served by the Real Alternatives program in Pennsylvania. The program is being duplicated in other states around the nation.

Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation in the National News Media

The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation has become the source to turn to for information about the pro-life vote and the Pennsylvania primary. Our Political Action Committee Director, Charlene Bashore, Esq., has recently been featured in stories in the Washington Times and World magazine. Education Director Maria Vitale was quoted in a story in the Washington Post. You can view the Washington Times story at http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080402/NATION/461194136. You can see the Washington Post story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/13/ST2008041302552.html?hpid=topnews.

Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Receives Real Alternatives Award

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin presented Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Education Director Maria Vitale with an award from Real Alternatives at the organization's banquet April 3rd. The award recognized Vitale for promoting the Real Alternatives program in the press. For more information about Real Alternatives, you can visit its website at www.realalternatives.org.

Statewide Oratory Contest This Weekend

The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Oratory Contest will be held on Sunday, April 20th, in Harrisburg. This inspiring event features high school juniors and seniors from throughout the state who deliver a five to seven minute pro-life talk on abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, or embryonic stem cell research. The first-place winner will receive an all-expense-paid trip to the National Right to Life convention in Washington where he or she will compete in the national oratory contest. Our congratulations to each of our contestants. You make us feel as if the pro-life movement of the future is indeed secure, with students like you around to take on major leadership roles.

Congratulations to Our Essay Contest Winners!

We'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate this year's Pennsylvania Pro-Life Essay Contest winners. Winners in the senior high category were: Joseph Caulfield of Waterford, 1st place; Jennifer LaBarre of Walnutport, 2nd place; and Chris Pillion of Camp Hill, 3rd place. Winners in the junior high category were: John-Paul Heil of Camp Hill, 1st place; Derek McBride of York, 2nd place; and Felicia Nixon of Fort Hill, 3rd place. Thanks also to Debbie Hamilton of Hamilton Strategies for judging this year's contest. Nearly 200 students participated in this statewide pro-life event. The 1st place essays have been printed in the spring edition of our quarterly newspaper, LifeLines.

Be a Lifesaver--Sponsor a Table!

You have the chance to be a lifesaver this year! Please consider having your church, chapter, business, or fraternal organization sponsor a table for the 2008 Celebrate Life banquet which benefits the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Education Fund. A portion of your sponsorship is tax-deductible. As a sponsor, you'll also be playing a pivotal role in expanding our outreach to teens and others with our life-saving message. If you'd like to become a table sponsor, contact Executive Director Michael Ciccocioppo at 717-541-0034.

Help Us Spread the Pro-Life Word!

If you've been enjoying what you've been reading in the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Online News, please forward it to your friends and encourage them to sign up to receive our informative e-mail newsletter twice a month. It's more important than ever that those pro-lifers have up-to-date facts on the life issues, and the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Online News is a wonderful way to stay abreast of the latest pro-life information, both in the state and nationwide. Anyone interested in subscribing should send an e-mail to lifelines@paprolife.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.

Chapter Information from Around the State

The greater Harrisburg chapter of Pennsylvanians for Human Life will be holding a Mother's Day carnation sale at area churches. If you would like to distribute flowers at your church, school, or other organization call 717-774-6156 or 717-561-0948. A portion of the proceeds of the sales will be rebated to your church pro-life group.

Live in Southeast PA? Contact SE Regional Coordinator Gail Kilby to find out more about joining a chapter in Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, or Philadelphia County. You can reach Gail by e-mail at kilby@paprolife.org or you can call her at 215-884-5805.

Live in the Southwest? If you'd like to become involved in a chapter, contact Southwest Regional Coordinator Bryce McMinn, who recently set up a regional office in Washington County. Here's his contact information: Bryce C. McMinn, Southwest Regional Coordinator; Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation; 74 Oak Spring Road, Suite 101; Washington, PA 15301; Work Phone: 724-228-1162; Cell Phone: 412-835-2812; E-Mail: mcminn@paprolife.org.

More Chapter Info:

The PA Pro-Life Online News is a publication of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation; 4800 Jonestown Rd., Suite 102; Harrisburg, PA; 17109. It is never sent unsolicited. To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to lifelines@paprolife.org.

IN THIS ISSUE: