The developing story of the Rockford abortion center that has been closed due to four major safety violations is yet to find a resolution.

This is good news and bad news. The good news is that it will stay closed for now. The bad news is that it may still re-open.

Today, I found out that the next hearing in this case will be on January 4th.

I was born in January and I can’t think of a better birthday present than to have that January 4th hearing end with the permanent closure of this dangerous abortion center.

From WREX.com:

The Illinois Department of Public Health indefinitely suspended the license for the Northern Illinois Women’s Center on Broadway in Rockford because of four major safety violations. The violations include the lack of a registered nurse in the operating room for all invasive or operative procedures and to supervise and direct nursing personnel in the care of patients.

Do you think I will get my birthday wish?

“The history of our race, and each individual’s experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.” – Mark Twain

Personal PAC, the extreme pro-abortion political action committee, has asked Pat Quinn to present the “Pro-Choice Leadership Award” at their upcoming fundraiser. Pat Quinn, a self-professed “Catholic” has complied.

When news of this reached Illinois’ Catholic Bishops, they made no equivocations about what this means. Here is their statement:

I think this is great!

People who publicly profess Catholicism (or any religion for that matter) should be held accountable in grave matters such as abortion. Quinn’s life presents a distorted view of Catholicism to the public and it may well confuse Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Beyond Catholicism, we should all be doing this. Religious authorities, voters, interest groups, citizens and all who seek to advance the common good (religious or not) have an obligation to hold elected official accountable to protecting innocent human life. Your voice should be heard whenever a politician who represents you is standing against life!

I don’t mean this in the sense that you should just go vote against these politicians. I mean that your voice should be heard by them and by everyone around you. Because of the fact that “…a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.”

In response to the Bishops’ statement, Quinn commented with a lie well told. Your voice being heard can keep the truth alive and kill an immortal lie. Read More→

It is with great sadness that I write here again announcing the passing of a fellow pro-life advocate.

I just learned that Jon Scharfenberger, the SFLA staffer who was critically injured in the car accident, for whom we’ve prayed for since Oct 8th, has passed away.

This is another great loss for the pro-life movement. Jon was an inspiration and faithful worker for pre-born rights!

Please join me in praying for his friends and family and for SFLA in this hard time.

I’ve pasted SFLA’s comments below.

The team at SFLA is beyond saddened by the news that Jon Scharfenberger, Pregnant on Campus Coordinator and Campus Support Coordinator for Students for Life of America, passed away this morning due to complications from injuries he sustained from the same car accident that claimed the life of SFLA leader Kortney Blythe Gordon and her pre-born daughter, Sophy, on October 8th.

Jon had many successes in his short time with us at SFLA, including establishing a pro-life campus group at Florida International University that was successful in saving the life of a pre-born baby, a mere one week after its creation. You can read more about this incredible story here: http://studentsforlife.org/2011-2012-success-stories/

We continue to offer prayers of support for Jon’s family and friends and grieve during this incredibly difficult time for our organization and mission.

Read the full post on SFLA’s website and see how you can help here.

It is with great sadness that I write this post.

Kortney Blythe Gordon and her pre-born child, Sophy, were killed in a head-on collision while traveling back from a Georgia SFL conference on Saturday night.

Kortney was an extremely passionate advocate for the rights of pre-born children. She worked tirelessly at Students for Life of America to spread the pro-life message to all college students across the country.

The pro-life movement lost a valuable asset and a woman who truly loved life!

Kortney was scheduled to speak at this year’s Midwest Pro-Life Summit. SFLI will be dedicating this year’s Summit in honor of Kortney and Sophy.

In fact, Kortney spoke at our Summit last year and I am moved as I remember talking with her. We talked about the end of abortion and she was so confident and excited to see the end of abortion in her lifetime.

She considered herself to be and truly was an abortion abolitionist.

I am still looking forward, with Kortney’s same confidence, to the end of abortion in my lifetime. I’m sad that she was not able to see it because her life was cut short, but I’m confident that she will be helping our movement to abolish abortion from heaven.

Please join me and the rest of the SFLI team as we mourn the death of Kortney and Sophy. Please join us in prayer for their family, the SFLA staff and the others who were injured in the accident today and during this very difficult time.

Pray for Jon Scharfenberger

Kortney and Sophy were not the only ones in the car. There were some students and another SFLA staffer, Jon Scharfenberger.

I don’t have many details about Jon, but I do know that he is in critical condition after the accident.

Please join me in praying for his full and swift recovery!

More Information

To keep up on the developments with Jon, Kortney and Sophy you can sign up for a webcast that SFLA is putting on tonight. This is from Kristan Hawkins of SFLA:

Jon Scharfenberger, Coordinator of our Pregnant on Campus Initiative, was in the car during the accident and is not doing well. Currently, he is in critical condition in a hospital in Georgia, where the accident happened. I flew down to be with him and his family yesterday and will be in Georgia indefinitely to offer prayers for him and support to his family.

We are hosting a webcast at 5:00pm tonight for those who want to pray and offer their words of support for Kortney’s family and of encouragement for Jon. David Bereit of 40 Days for Life, Reverend Pat Mahoney of Christian Defense Coalition, Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, and Claude Allen of Gerard Health Foundation will be on the call to lead us in prayer and discussion to honor the lives of Kortney and her daughter Sophy, and to offer words of encouragement for Jon and his family. We encourage you to join our webcast by clicking here: http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=23295666

We will keep you updated with his status as more details are revealed. Please devote a portion of your day today to praying for his recovery and the continued mission of Students for Life.

The Northern Illinois Women’s Center in Rockford had it’s license suspended by the Illinois Department of Public Health last week! This is great news!

It was an emergency suspension and they were fined $15,000 due to four major safety violations. These included the lack qualified staff and lack of surgical privileges at a local hospital.

I thought these people claimed to care about women’s health and safety… Maybe not…

While the abortion center is not necessarily closed for good, this is still great news for two reasons.

First and most importantly, this abortion clinic will not be taking the lives of innocent pre-born children anymore! (At least not for a while – Remember to pray that they stay closed)

Secondly, it means that someone in the Illinois Department of Public Health is actually doing their job!

Abortion is Above the Law

For a long time, abortionists have been allowed to operate with very little oversight.

There are countless stories of horrific conditions in abortion centers that would never pass health code muster for any other clinic. Abortionists, however, consistently seem to get a pass.

A good (yet scary) example of this is the case of Kermit Gosnell. According to an article in Slate…

The Pennsylvania Department of Health inspected Gosnell’s clinic when it opened in 1979. The department was supposed to check back within a year, but there’s no clear record of another inspection until a decade later. Nor is there any evidence that the evaluators, when they returned, examined Gosnell’s patient files, his sanitation, his emergency equipment, his use of anesthesia, his compliance with rules of post-operative care, or the qualifications of employees who did his lab work.

From 1993 on, Gosnell went completely uninspected. The grand jury says the health department “decided, for political reasons, to stop inspecting abortion clinics at all. … With the change of administration from Governor Casey to Governor Ridge, officials concluded that inspections would be ‘putting a barrier up to women’ seeking abortions.” Casey was pro-life; Ridge was pro-choice.

Back to Rockford…

I’m not sure if this actually signals a change in how the IL Dept of Health will work with abortionists, but I hope it does! I’m confident that more IL abortion centers will close if there were real scrutiny by the Dept of Health. And that would be a very good thing!

What you can do to help

This whole situation highlights two important areas where you could have real influence.

The Law: This past Spring, SFLI helped to lobby for several good pro-life laws. One of which would have held abortionists to the same health and safety standards as other outpatient facilities.

Remember what I said about abortionists being above the law? Yep, they have their own regulations in IL that aren’t as strict as say… an eye clinic!

Sadly, this important bill did not pass the largely pro-abortion General Assembly.

So, this coming spring is another opportunity for you to get involved with lobbying to help pass this or other important pro-life legislation!

Law Enforcement: Most of us tend to focus on the legislative or judicial branch of government when fighting for the rights of the pre-born children. However, in times like this, the executive (enforcement) branch is even more important.

Where is the Governor, Attorney General, States Attorneys? (Where has the IL Dept of Health been for the last several years?)

In this case, it is critical for us to have pro-life people in these positions! We have laws that can be used to limit abortion and shut down clinics. They are just not being enforced!

So, remember to carefully consider the pro-life values and past actions when voting for those who have enforcement powers.

If we had someone like Phil Kline who could succeed in enforcing the law, many abortion centers would close!

Join us?

Will you join us in lobbying down the road?

Get updates here…