Ruth Lobo, President of Carleton LifeLine being placed under arrest.

On October 4th, four members of Carleton’s pro-life group, Carleton LifeLine, were arrested while holding a peaceful demonstration on campus’ main quad, and now the university is trying to take away the group’s certification.

Two weeks ago, Carleton Lifeline was notified that the school Student Association would be decertifying the group in less than a week, on November 18th, unless they renounced the pro-life beliefs expressed in their group constitution. The Carleton University Student Association (CUSA) is using the school’s “Discrimination on Campus “ policy, which upholds “a woman’s right to choose” to justify discriminating against the pro-life student group

If Carleton Lifeline loses their official group status, it will be a significant loss and will hinder their activities on campus by denying them the student space, resources, and funding all other student clubs have access to.For student pro-lifers, being on campus is fundamental to the mission of educating other students about abortion and helping women facing unplanned pregnancies.

Here’s how you can help:
ACTION 1: Add your name to our petition protesting Carleton University’s discrimination against pro-life students here: www.standwithcarleton.com

ACTION 2: Call and e-mail Dr. Roseann O’Reilly Runte, President and Vice-Chancellor of Carleton, and tell her to stop the discrimination against pro-life students. Her office phone is 613 520-3801, and her e-mail is: presidents_office@carleton.ca.

ACTION 3: Next, please DONATE to the Carleton University Lifeline group.
They need help to pay their attorney fees and launch new educational projects on campus. Just $5 would help this group! Please know, 100% of all funds will be donated directly to Carleton University Lifeline and all American donations are tax-deductible. Donate here: https://secure.campaignsolutions.com/studentsforlife/donation3/?initiativekey=JQWRIIVLBHAO.

ACTION 4: Get More Info
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for Canadian pro-life groups to face discrimination and censorship on their university campuses. A number of groups have fought for the right to exist on campus and for fair and equal treatment from their student unions and administrations. For more info on the challenges Canadian students face and on Canadian campus pro-life activism in general, visit the National Campus Life Network’s website: http://www.ncln.ca/campuses/discrimination-on-campus/

These students are being silenced on a university campus, a place where people should especially be allowed to freely discuss ideas. Please stand with Carleton and support these pro-life students!

Champaign’s spring 40 Days for Life resulted in two known saves! God is indeed good! Colleen, a senior at U of I, was responsible for one of the saves. Joy Pace, Champaign’s veteran sidewalk councilor, witnessed the other save.

Students and Champaign-Urbana community members prayed in front of Planned Parenthood from 7 am to 7 pm every day from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday. Countless people saw our fervor and faith for life. These lives saved and the visible witness, however, only show the beginning of the impact the campaign.

Standing outside Planned Parenthood with a sign saying “Pray to End Abortion” isn’t exactly a typical college student activity. For many of us, going out to Planned Parenthood gives us that stifling feeling of awkwardness and anxiety. We fear the labels our society will put on us and the consequences of taking that next step in our faith. Each and every time we go out to pray, our conversion to the Lord is deepened. We learn how to be witnesses, how to stand up for the Truth, and how to be Christ to other people. It truly forces us to live out our call to teach others “to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).

This spring’s 40 Days was one of the first ways several of my friends who have recently made big steps in their faith were able to be witnesses outside of the Newman center. 40 Days is a wonderful opportunity to learn how to be vulnerable within a somewhat controlled setting. Courage to preach the gospel of life gained during a scheduled hour of prayer can overflow into everyday conversations with friends, family members, and even professors.

During the last two hours of the campaign, participants had the opportunity to share their experiences. Experiences included people that said their first rosary while out at Planned Parenthood, friendships made between those sharing hour shifts, and true appreciation for the scope of the abortion problem in the United States.

Being out at Planned Parenthood puts faces to the statistics and understanding of the deeper problem. Seeing the individuals go into the clinic heightens the humanity of the issue and the complexity of the causes. And, most importantly, forces the realization that the fight for life is also the fight for our society’s morality.

The two lives saved were just the beginning. Not only did 40 Days make a difference now, but what was learned will continue to bear fruit far into the future. Who knows how many souls will be converted through the individuals who gained courage from participating in 40 Days!

April 12, 2010

Contact: Peggy Hamill, State Director, (262) 796-1111, cell (414) 416-0489

Virginia Zignego, Communications Director, 262-796-1111, cell (262) 370-3993

Undercover investigation of Milwaukee Planned Parenthood reveals medical lies and manipulative counseling

Today, Live Action Films revealed an undercover Planned Parenthood video taken at the 5380 W. Fond du Lac Avenue, Milwaukee, location. In this video, the counselor can be seen and heard telling a woman who is reportedly 6 to 8 weeks pregnant that her developing baby has “no arms, no legs, no heart, no head, no brain.” The counselor encourages abortion for economic reasons and downplays adoption.

“Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is our state’s number one abortion provider, both surgical and chemical. Planned Parenthood has proven they do not know, or they care to ignore, basic facts about human development,” said Virginia Zignego, communications director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. “This is the third video showing Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin affiliates violating state law.”

Wisconsin law requires women to receive medically accurate information before obtaining an abortion.

To view the undercover video, go to Live Action’s Web site, http://www.liveaction.org/.

“As a sidewalk counselor at Milwaukee Planned Parenthoods, I have had post-abortion women fall apart in my arms, sobbing, immediately regretting their abortions. Nothing can prepare a woman for an abortion,” said Peggy Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. “This new footage reconfirms that Planned Parenthood is not providing women with complete, accurate medical information about their developing baby, much less the after effects of the abortion ‘procedure.’”

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Milwaukee received $1,064,574.28 in 2007 under Wisconsin’s Family Planning Waiver Program. Through this federal/state program, minors as young as 15 receive free birth control, without their parents’ knowledge or consent. In total, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin received more than $12 million in federal and state taxpayer funding last year.

Pro-Life Groups Blast Executive Order Deal Between Stupak, Barack Obama from LifeNews.com

This article briefly explains the Executive Order and highlights opinions from many national pro-life organizations, nearly all of which have issued a statement expressing their frustration with this legislation’s failure to uphold the fundamental right to life.

Planned Parenthood: Healthcare passage will “significantly increase access to reproductive health care”; exec order “a symbolic gesture” from JillStanek.com

Pro-Life blogger Jill Stanek provides snippets of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richard’s statement regarding the healthcare reform bill and the Executive Order.  Read the full PP statement here.  Planned Parenthood was extremely anti-Stupak and worked very hard to stop the Stupak Amendment. If the Executive Order were as good as the amendment, PP would no doubt be condemning it rather than brushing it off as a mere gesture.

Legal Analysis of the Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Corresponding Executive Order Regarding Abortion Funding and Conscience Protection from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ General Counsel

In this analysis, the USCCB legal counsel supports the same conclusion that both pro-life and pro-abortion advocates have reached: the Executive Order fails to effectively prevent federal funding of abortion.  See an article from LifeNews.com on this memo here.

Loyola Students for Life work diligently to reach students of all backgrounds by flyering, and clipboarding to engage students and counter Planned Parenthood’s efforts on the same corner. They also utilize Facebook, as well as their school newspaper, campus building monitors, school calendars, and their university ministry.

Once Loyola is able to gain new members, they keep them involved by putting their members in charge of planning and carrying out events so that they feel that they are very much a part of the movement. Another way Loyola helps maintain the membership they have is by putting them in charge of regularly occurring events that allows them to feel that they are directly impacting the pro-life movement and directly saving babies, such as sidewalk counseling, which they do at least twice a month. Loyola also recognizes the importance of having socials to encourage their group members to build lasting relationships.

One of their most successful events this past year was hosting Jill Stanek, who spoke on her experiences as a nurse and how they led her into the pro-life movement and the push for the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. They were able to advertise this event in a way that attracted pre-med and nursing students as well as political science majors because of the focus on her legislative work. This group works on bringing in speakers that will cover issues that pro-abortion and borderline students will be interested in attending, and while there they approach these students and begin discussions with them to understand why these students feel they way they do and how they can counter that on their campus.
Through their hard work, Loyola Students for Life has also been able to work their way into their University Ministry in order to have a bigger voice on campus, so they are able to reach as many students as possible.

Keep up the great work!

Here’s the Biking for Babies 2010 Video:

Please spread the word about this great opportunity to support a positive pro-life event put on by college students! Help Team Illinois and Team Wisconsin make an even bigger impact for life this year. Click here to follow their campaign, receive updates from the road, and make donations!

“Next we joined John-Paul Deddens, President of Students for Life of Illinois, along with a group of students in delivering some materials on HB6205 to the Reps on the Human Services committee which is currently holding the bill and is likely to vote on it next week.

We took the sheet that the Catholic Conference of Illinois had provided to participants, highlighted the information on HB6205 and put our signatures on the sheet for a personal touch. Then we hand-delivered them with our group to each Rep’s office, making sure to be clear to the Rep or their assistant which bill we were there about and how we wanted the Rep to vote.

Such an incredible influx of Catholics raising their voices for life and justice had a huge effect on legislators last year and I have no doubt that Wednesday’s lobbying day did the same.”

In related news, we recently received a follow up letter regarding Cupcakes at the Capitol from Senator Bill Brady.   Senator Brady wrote “I am very sorry that I was not available to meet with you but I want to let you know that the work that your organization is doing is not going unnoticed.

Students like yourselves are the future of this country and the future of this state.  It is great to see students rallying together to make a difference.”

We are so thankful for legislators like Senator Brady who join with us in the fight for life!

We must continue to spread the joyful truth of the dignity inherent in every human life!

This bill is very similar to last year’s bill which means it does nothing to protect mothers and their unborn children. Rather, it continues to protect the profits of the abortion industry through taxpayer funding, removing restrictions on abortion and granting immunity from liability to abortionists who harm women.

Yesterday, the representatives had the day off. Call them today!

Click here to contact your Representatives NOW

Sign the petition here.

If you’re part of a pro-life organization, join the coalition here.