illinoisreview

Obama's biggest lie about supporting infanticide

by Jill Stanek

On June 25, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked conservative commentator Bill Bennett what question he would ask Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama if he could.

Bennett said he would ask Obama:

Why are you to the left of NARAL, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein when it comes to abortion? Are you really there?.... I got to question the guy's moral judgment who doesn't see a problem with killing a baby after it's been born.... What is the answer to that question?

Planned Parenthood loses

Wish this kind of sanity and common sense were found in Illinois, but alas, it can be found only in South Dakota.

Despite Planned Parenthood's resistance, South Dakota's abortionists will now be legally required to inform expectant moms contemplating abortion the truth about what happens during the procedure. . .

The information the woman must be provided includes the knowledge “that the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being” and “that the pregnant woman has an existing relationship with that unborn human being and that the relationship enjoys protection under the United States Constitution and under the laws of South Dakota.” Further, she must be informed “that by having an abortion, her existing relationship and her existing constitutional rights with regards to that relationship will be terminated.”

No, not that! the so-called women's rights group Planned Parenthood said.  As reported by the Catholic News Agency:

What the media is ignoring about the teen pregnancy pact

by Jill Stanek

Time magazine revealed last week at least eight students at Gloucester High School in MA have entered into a "pact," according to Principal Joseph Sullivan, to get pregnant and raise their babies together....

Sullivan has now gone mum, certainly after school and city lawyers told him to shut up.

It's no wonder Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk disallowed Sullivan from speaking at her June 23 press conference, telling the world he had gone "foggy in his memory," and there was "no evidence" of a pregnancy pact....

Kirk tried to shift blame for the pregnancies to state and federal government funding reductions "resulting in cuts to programs and services... including support for health education."

Not so fast. Last spring, MA Gov. Deval Patrick rejected $700,000 in free money for abstinence teaching from the federal government. Meanwhile, Patrick approved a budget increase of $800,000 for comprehensive sex ed funding, bringing the total to $3.8 million annually....

Planned Parenthood Hits Suburbia

by Bill Beckman

The headline in the June 23rd Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reads "Planned Parenthood Hits Suburbia."  Now we have public admission from Planned Parenthood that they are targeting the "well-to-do" suburbs as they "follow the population" to find customers "who can afford to pay full price."  Planned Parenthood leaders "aim to rally support with upbeat marketing" and attract new customers with locations "in shopping centers and malls." Steve Trombley, the top executive in Illinois, observed, "I like to think of it as the LensCrafters of family planning." 

Planned Parenthood has "opened more than two dozen quick-service 'express centers,' many in suburban shopping malls.  Some sell jewelry, candles, books and T-shirts, along with contraception."  Leslie Durgin, a senior vice president at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains observed, "It is indeed a new look...a new branding, if you will."

Barack Obama and the Comfort Room

by Jill Stanek

In March 2002, then IL state Sen. Barack Obama and I engaged in an interesting exchange during my testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he was a member.

I was speaking in favor of the IL Born Alive Infant Protection Act for the second time, which had failed the year before.

The previous year, I had told Obama and the committee of my experience holding a live aborted baby until he died in my capacity as a labor and delivery nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL.

That year, I described Christ Hospital's Comfort Room, unveiled in December 2000 to counter my public statements that personnel were shelving babies to die in the department's soiled utility room next to dirty linens, bloody and biohazardous waste, and a urinal....

I did not mention the Comfort Room when I testified again in 2002. But Barack Obama remembered....

Agenda driven: ignoring the facts and denying choice

by Bill Beckman

Contrary to the accusations made that defenders of life are agenda driven and un-scientific, abortion advocates are producing evidence that these accusations actually apply to them.

Fr Thomas Euteneuer reports on evidence from Nicaragua showing the exact opposite of one of the favorite claims abortion proponents use to justify legalizing abortion.  They always focus on the claim that women are dying from illegal abortion.  If only it was legal, these women would not be dying.  There has never been any evidence to support this claim.

Now there is more clear evidence to show that the reverse is true.  There are less women dying when abortion is illegal.  A recent publication by Nicaragua's Ministry of Health noted that the overall maternal mortality rate decreased by 58% in the year since abortion has been made totally illegal. There were 21 maternal deaths for 2007 compared to 50 maternal deaths the year before.

Kudos to ILGOP for strong pro-life plank

Congratulations to Joe Behnken, Ruth O'Connell, and rest of the IL Republican platform committee for adopting the strongest pro-life plank of the decade, if not longer. 

Many elements of the plank were lifted from language recommended by the Republican National Coalition for Life. The language protecting human embryos was excellent. 

June 7: The Pill Kills Day

by Jill Stanek

June 7, 1965, was an important day in American history.

On that day, the U.S. Supreme Court found a "right to privacy" in the Constitution in its Griswold v. Connecticut decision, which allowed Planned Parenthood operator Estelle Griswold to sell birth control pills
legally that she had been selling illegally. . .

Recommendation for ILGOP pro-life plank

by Jill Stanek

I appreciate Charlie Johnston’s cordial approach to discussing the 2008 IL pro-life plank to the platform. Indeed our 2004 conversations via the Illinois Leader went wild, although Charlie and I have since mended fences.

Despite the passage of time, Charlie still thinks Steve McGlynn’s 2004 language was the “most comprehensively pro-life platform in the nation.”

And I still think it sucked, beginning with Steve’s poetic yet exclusionary line, “From the first beat of a heart to the last breath drawn, we recognize each individual's dignity and worth," which omitted from IL Republican concern all preborns younger than 21 days old, since that is when the heart first beats.

NARAL fuels pro-abort civil war

by Jill Stanek

On Jan. 24, when the pro-abort divide between Clinton and Obama supporters was escalating into civil war, NARAL President Nancy Keenan issued an appeal for all sides to remain calm and focused on the real enemies, preborn children....

NARAL tried to redirect attention to the "staunchly, rigidly, undeniably anti-choice" Republican nominee John McCain in its almost daily e-alerts, which I receive.

But NARAL was unsuccessful. Thanks to sexier issues like Bosnia and Jeremiah Wright, the mainstream media didn't bite.

Meanwhile, the infighting continued. The Clinton camp kept pounding Obama as being soft on abortion because he voted "present" seven times as state senator on abortion legislation and because he wasn't a woman....