[Note: This column originally appeared on Thursday June 5th.]
After all the bad news I usually write about in my blog, today is the day I report on good news because there is so much of it and there are so many reasons to be grateful to God for the blessing of serving Him and His innocent children in our pro-life life.
Today the leadership of Habitat International announced that they had instructed the local board of Habitat for Humanity in Sarasota, Florida to drop any agreement or arrangement they had made with Planned Parenthood. The news report states:
The barrage of e-mails started with James Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League, a Virginia-based group … They said it showed a cozy relationship between Habitat and Planned Parenthood, which the league has accused of pushing pornography to children, among other things.
The nation’s leading pro-life blogger, Jill Stanek, focused attention on American Life League’s Protest the Pill ’08 today in her World Net Daily column. We are grateful for her comments and her leadership in this most important event.
On the other side of the fence, the pro-abortion “Planning is Power” Facebook group took aim at the Protest the Pill event by telling their readers what to expect from pro-lifers! One example of their rhetorical rant is this:
Be prepared for graphic and inflammatory signs and words from the other side. This can include grotesque and horrific images. If you get upset, take a walk and come back whenever you are ready.
Stop Planned Parenthood International’s reliable and pithy Wednesday STOPP Report points out that Archbishop John Vlazny, Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, wrote a column in which he clearly encouraged Catholics to oppose Planned Parenthood. He wrote,
I urge all our Catholic people and friends to express their opposition to our city leaders about the proposed PPFA project on MLK Jr. Boulevard in Portland. The so-called ‘health and education services’ to be provided in that facility would only destroy more human lives and promote promiscuous behavior on the part of young people. The time for saying ‘no’ to PPFA in our community is now.
Fox News reported early today that a mother in England who had wanted to abort her son because he could have inherited a life-threatening kidney condition is happy now that the abortion attempt failed. Baby Finley’s mom could not believe that her son survived the abortion. Baby Finley was born last November, was three weeks premature, had minor kidney damage and is expected to live a normal life.
And right here in the United States, the Safe Haven for Newborns program is celebrating the fact that the 100th baby was saved on June 4.
American Life League repeatedly announces its full support for those young people who are wearing pro-life T-shirts to school and getting into difficulties because of their clothing choices. The most recent example of discrimination against a student who was wearing a pro-life T-shirt occurred at Hutchinson [Kansas] Middle School. Erik Whittington, director of American Life League’s Rock for Life, issued a statement today in which he said,
We are also extremely excited to see the Thomas More Law Center filing a lawsuit in federal court. They have successfully defended students wearing our T-shirts in the past. When will these school administrators learn that freedom of speech is protected by the US Constitution, even if you are a student at a public school?
And finally columnist Michelle Malkin got on the anti-Planned Parenthood bandwagon again, this time focusing on “Planned Parenthood’s Obscene Profits.” In her column we read,
Oil execs, tobacco execs, banking execs, pharmaceutical company execs and baseball players have all been hauled up before Congress for highly-publicized whippings by crusading lawmakers. But the executives of Planned Parenthood have escaped government scrutiny and public accountability for their predatory behavior, dangerous medical practices, deception, and deadly windfall.
In Washington, D.C., the family of 13-year-old Shantese Butler filed a $50 million suit against Planned Parenthood after a botched abortion left the girl permanently injured and infertile. Students for Life of America reports that Shantese was left with “severe abdominal bleeding, severe vaginal injury, severe injury to the cervix, significant uterine perforation, and a small bowel tear.” In addition, parts of the unborn child were found inside Shantese’s abdomen.
We commend Michelle, and the other folks in the pro-life movement, medical community and America’s thoughtful public for making GOOD NEWS happen.