Women Hurt by Abortion Call on Planned Parenthood and All Texas Abortionists to Show Women Their Sonograms

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Jan. 2, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Texas Women hurt by abortion will be gathering in front of the Planned Parenthood abortion facility, on January 3, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. at 104 Babcock, San Antonio, Texas, to protest the abortionists' failure to show women their sonograms before obtaining their supposedly "informed consent" to abortion. How can you be fully informed when your doctor won't tell you the truth or show you a sonogram?

The women who will be standing outside the abortion facility are women who were not told the true nature of abortion by their abortionists and who were deeply harmed by their abortionists' failure to disclose the true nature of abortion. They were not shown the sonograms, thus did not give fully informed consent, and thus were hurt by abortion.

"I wish I would have had the opportunity to see an ultrasound, or information about fetal development, before my abortion at age 16.  There are no words to describe the amount of pain, guilt, and trauma I experienced when I saw pictures of fetal development two years later.   I was horrified that the "products of conception" and "tissue" I had "removed from my uterus" had had precious little hands and feet, and a beating heart.  I felt like a monster.  And I felt betrayed by the medical professionals I had trusted."  Lisa Skowron from San Antonio

Myra Myers says, "Am I really better off today - for having been uninformed, about the life that was in my womb? Ignorance did not make me innocent of the death of my child. Ignorance does not give us a choice. Only the truth does. It is a given that patients are to be fully informed - not denied their patient rights. In the case of abortion, there are two patients: a woman and a child. The woman has the right to know - she has become a mother. After the abortion, I was still a mother - only now I was the mother of a dead child! Ignorance did not make me innocent but an accomplice in the murder of my child. Without being informed, I made the tragic poor-choice that resulted in the grief of losing my child and his descendants. Without being informed, I experienced the guilt of being responsible for the losses.  Without being informed, I did not have the truth - that could have made me innocent!"

"I had an abortion in Houston. I was not informed by the doctor that I was pregnant with a baby. I was told I just had a blob of tissue by Planned Parenthood after they did my pregnancy test and then referred me to a nearby abortion clinic. I was not given the option of hearing my baby's heartbeat. Had I been given the opportunity of seeing my baby and hearing the heartbeat, I can assure you that I would not have chosen abortion... How can anyone believe that abortion should be legal after seeing a baby living in the womb of its mother on a sonogram and hearing the heartbeat of that baby?" Nona Ellington, of Houston, TX.

"Medical professionals may want to prevent a woman from seeing an ultrasound before her abortion, but they can't prevent her from seeing one in the future.  Many post-abortive women have described the guilt and devastation they felt years after their abortions, when they saw, during an ultrasound, the beating heart of a child the same gestational age as the one they had aborted.  How many women in unplanned pregnancies would feel guilty seeing an ultrasound before abortion and how many would simply have a change of heart?  What a tragedy if we don't allow them the freedom and opportunity to find out." Lisa (Facilitator of Post-Abortion Recovery in San Antonio, TX)

A recent meta-analysis in the British Journal of Psychiatry recently reviewed 22 major studies and found that women who had an abortion had an 81% increased likelihood of adverse mental health consequences, and that ten percent of female mental health problems studied were attributable to abortion. Coleman, British Journal of Psychiatry.

Former AG Six Shredded Evidence, 58 Criminal Counts Proceed Against Planned Parenthood

Attorney General Schmidt asks Shawnee County Sheriff's Office to fully investigate evidence destruction

OLATHE, Kan., Nov. 9, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- District Attorney Steve Howe asked today that 23 felonies and 26 misdemeanors against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri be dismissed because evidence that could have supported the charges of manufacturing evidence had been destroyed. However 58 criminal charges related to failure to determine viability and unlawful late-term abortion will move forward.

Howe explained to Judge Stephen Tatum that former Attorney General Steve Six had destroyed the copies of Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) forms obtained through subpoena under former Attorney General Phill Kline. The destruction took place after Kline had filed the charges and while the case was under appeal. Howe indicated that the destruction of the evidence by Six "may have violated their own retention policy."

Last month, Howe stunned pro-life supporters when he told Judge Tatum that the original TOP forms submitted by Planned Parenthood to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) had been destroyed in 2005 "for reasons still unclear."

The forms were critical evidence since a copy of the forms were supposed to be maintained in the patient files. However, when Kline received the patient files after three years of legal wrangling, it was discovered that the forms submitted to KDHE and the forms in the patient records did not match. Judge Richard Anderson had the forms analyzed by police handwriting evidence and determined that the forms in the patient filed had been manufactured. (View copies of one set of these forms.)

Operation Rescue received documents via an open records requestthat shows on August 10, 2005, Planned Parenthood's Sheila Kostas made an e-mail request for information on all the TOP forms submitted by their organization for the years 2000-2004. The Kansas Supreme Court was set to hear oral arguments just a few weeks later on September 5, 2005, concerning weather Planned Parenthood and abortionist George Tiller would have to comply with subpoenas for patient records. (Note: On September 2, 2005, Operation Rescue documented the shredding a huge number of documents in the parking lot of Tiller's Wichita abortion clinic.)

The records show that KDHE's Greg Crawford complied with Kosta's request the following day. Information supplied by Crawford could have easily been used by Planned Parenthood to fill out bogus TOP forms and insert them into the patient files to cover up for the fact that they had not maintained the records as required by law.

Without the original forms or the copies obtained by Kline, Howe told the court that he was left with an incomplete set of copies and cannot establish a chain of custody for them, making the legal hurdles in continuing the prosecution of the felony charges "insurmountable."

Howe did express that he is proceeding on the remaining 58 criminal counts. The next hearing in the case was set for February 22, 2012.

"Steve Six must be held accountable for this destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice," said Operation rescue President Troy Newman, who was present at the hearing. "What we have is a conspiracy to destroy evidence in order to protect Planned Parenthood. The more we learn, the more apparent it becomes that former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is at the heart of this political corruption. She appointed Six and controlled him and the KDHE under her administration. We must have an aggressive investigation of this scandal."

Later today, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who defeated Six in his 2010 bid for re-election, asked the Shawnee County Sheriff's Office to conduct an full and independent investigation into the destruction of evidence against Planned Parenthood.

"We hope this investigation will be done impartially and without the political bias that tainted the Sebelius administration," said Newman. "While we are disappointed and troubled that the felony charges cannot proceed, we are pleased that 58 very serious counts related to illegal late-term abortions are moving forward. There is still some hope that a small measure of justice can still be achieved."

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About Operation Rescue®  
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Operation Rescue is now headquartered in a former abortion clinic that it bought and closed in 2006.  From there, Operation Rescue launches its innovative new strategies across the nation, exposing and closing abortion clinics through peaceful, legal means. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to stop abortion and ultimately restore legal personhood to the pre-born in obedience to biblical mandates.

Yes On 26 Celebrates Victory at Mississippi Supreme Court

Our State's High Court Allows Personhood to Remain on the November 8 Ballot

TUPELO, Miss., Sept. 8, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled today that Measure No. 26, the Personhood Amendment, did not violate the state constitutional rules governing citizen initiatives, and so the citizens of Mississippi will have the chance to vote on it in November. The Court thus rejected a challenge by the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights to keep the Personhood Amendment off the ballot, claiming that it was an improper attempt to modify the Bill of Rights.

For over two years, scores of men and women, sons and daughters across our fair state patiently and prayerfully labored to successfully bring forth the Mississippi Personhood Amendment, Measure No. 26, to its rightful place on the November 8, 2011, general election ballot. With over 106,000 certified signatures, the first hurdle to secure a constitutionally defensible means of protecting the unborn from the earliest stages of life was achieved.

Recognizing the grave threat a favorable Mississippi vote in November posed to the interstate abortion trade, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood imposed a second hurdle, by filing suit to strip this initiative off the ballot, and as a result, deny Mississippians their right to declare on November 8 that in Mississippi, under God, the unborn are persons, possessed of those "unalienable rights" to life as our Founders opined in the Declaration of Independence.

Thankfully, the Hinds County Circuit Court and now our Supreme Court rejected the arguments of these bastions of liberal, anti-Christian activism and affirmed the right of Mississippians to cast a vote for life -- to say "yes" on 26 on Election Day. We applaud the Court's common sense and correct ruling.

"With the first two hurdles overcome, only the third hurdle of Election Day remains for us to claim victory in our state's personhood movement. We need Mississippi's prolife public officials, pastors, and patriots to stand up and be counted in the days ahead as we seek to become the first state in the nation to grant civil rights to the unborn," said Brad Prewitt, Executive Director of Yes on 26.

"There have been nationwide attempts to silence the personhood message, so we are very pleased that a high court has ruled against the ACLU and Planned Parenthood yet again. The nation is watching Amendment 26, and it is time now to move forward and pass this crucial prolife amendment to defend human life," said Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA.

"Today we rejoice and celebrate this hard-won victory, but tomorrow we roll up our sleeves and return to work. Our opponents are discouraged, but not yet ultimately defeated. They will be back, spreading fear, confusion, and dire 'sky-is-falling' warnings about this simple Amendment, and we must be ready to rebut their baseless charges and set the record straight," said Stephen Crampton, Liberty Counsel's lead attorney for Personhood Mississippi in the case.

When passed, the Mississippi Personhood Amendment will recognize what science and medicine have long established -- namely that every human being is fully human and fully alive from the moment of fertilization -- and will grant the unborn the full and equal protection of the law as the rest of us possess. In the days ahead, we pray that our work to protect the unborn might be successful and that our State of Mississippi might take that first step nationwide to stop abortion and to choose life over death.

www.yeson26.net

Bigger Birth Control Bucks Not Working: Planned Parenthood Making No Progress Against Unintended Pregnancy

CHICAGO, Sept. 6, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- According to a new study released by the Guttmacher Institute, increased funding for Planned Parenthood has had no impact on the rate of unintended pregnancies across the nation, as Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League, stated in his latest commentary. Even more startling is the unintended pregnancy rate among poor women, which the Guttmacher report says has "increased dramatically."

This data, released in August, reveals that despite a steady increase in government funding, topping $305 million by 2006, the nation's largest abortion provider has made zero impact on one of the very problems they have used to justify these huge taxpayer-financed subsidies. In an August 24, 2011 Planned Parenthood press release in response to the study, the group's president, Cecile Richards, skirted the issue, declaring, "There is no question that birth control prevents unintended pregnancy." 

Planned Parenthood provides over 330,000 abortions every year and brings in over a billion dollars annually, but is still fighting to protect its government subsidies -- amounting to hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars sent to its clinics every year. 

"Since 2001, the United States has not made progress in reducing unintended pregnancy. Rates increased for nearly all groups and remain high overall," concluded Guttmacher researchers, Lawrence B. Finer and Mia R. Zolna, who authored the study.

This conclusion is particularly revealing, in light of the fact that the Guttmacher Institute was originally a division of Planned Parenthood, and still operates in supportive concert with the abortion provider.

"It's crystal clear that Planned Parenthood utterly failed to reduce unintended pregnancy, despite their massive taxpayer subsidy," observed Scheidler. He noted that the very group Planned Parenthood claims depends on them the most -- poor women -- experienced the most dramatic increase. 

In a time of skyrocketing government deficits, he is quick to point out that continued funding of Planned Parenthood, which is not producing the very results for which it is being funded, means taxpayers are pouring money into a "sinkhole." "As this new Guttmacher analysis unwittingly demonstrates," explained Scheidler, "the time to defund this feckless organization is long overdue."

Read Eric Scheidler's commentary here.

For interviews with Eric Scheidler, please contact Tom Ciesielka, at 312.422.1333 or tc@tcpr.net. For more information on the Pro-Life Action League visit www.prolifeaction.org.

Anti-Abortion Picket Targets Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and Planned Parenthood

DANA POINT, Calif., Aug. 25, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) and it's project partner, Life Decisions International (LDI), announce an abortion-related boycott and picket of the St. Regis Monarch Beach Hotel, located at the intersection of One Monarch Beach Resort and Niguel Road in Dana Point, CA, 92629, beginning Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 26-28, 2011, from 2:00PM until 7:00PM each day.

The picketing of this property will continue until Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc., the corporation responsible for the general management of this hotel, enforces its franchise agreements to bar Starwood licensees from providing philanthropic support to Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion provider.

This particular St. Regis property is owned by Washington Real Estate Holdings LLC, whose investors we urge to enforce their management contract with Starwood in terms which forbid Starwood's corporate sponsorship of Planned Parenthood.

This weekend's picketing will involve the display of handheld abortion photo signs at the entrances to the St. Regis property. Billboard trucks displaying larger versions of related abortion photo signs will circle the hotel each day. Aircraft will tow 50'X100' aerial billboards displaying still larger abortion photos in tight orbits directly above the St. Regis Hotel and golf course.

In the coming months, CBR will begin concentrated picketing of St. Regis special events, such as wedding receptions, using abortion photos which are progressively more graphic. Prior to each of these specially targeted pickets, CBR will issue notice sufficient to permit the St. Regis to provide its clients with adequate opportunities to book alternative arrangements elsewhere.

We believe that Starwood has at least an ethical duty to disclose our picketing intentions to current and prospective customers. Knowingly concealing this information could arguably obligate the St. Regis to refund fees and or expose the hotel to a broad range of civil liabilities.

CBR believes that the targeted hotel is similarly obligated to notify clients with whom it contracts to provide off-site catering, that their events could be picketed by CBR activists who lawfully follow St. Regis catering trucks to their destinations.

We will videotape all of our St. Regis picketing activities and post serialized video vignettes on popular social networking websites. We have also contracted with a private security firm to deploy armed, uniformed officers for all pickets.

In addition to the St. Regis, Starwood hotel trademarks include the Sheraton, Westin, Four Points, Meridian, W and other hotel brands. CBR picketing of additional St. Regis properties and Starwood brands is currently being planned and organized.

Starwood is only the first of 70 corporations, many of which are Fortune 500 companies, whose retail establishments CBR and LDI will picket with abortion photo signs. This group includes such brands as Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants, Levi Strauss clothing, Estee Lauder cosmetics, Microsoft computer products, Nike sports gear, Ralph Lauren clothing, Southwest Airline, Staples office products Walt Disney entertainment and Whole Foods Markets. A select sub-group of these 70 businesses will be targeted for intensified picketing between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in the Fall and Winter of 2011.

News organizations may request access to a CBR FTP website at which they can download picket-related still photos of publishable quality and picket-related video of broadcast quality. For more detailed information on this project, please visit abortionNO.org. For interviews, please email Gregg Cunningham at cbr@cbrinfo.orgor Don Cooper at dcooper@cbrinfo.org. Gregg Cunningham can be reached by phone at 714-240-6976 and Don Cooper at 541-760-6620.

Abortion Double Dipping? Planned Parenthood Receives Wealthy Donor Support, Still Demands Taxpayer Funding

CHICAGO, Aug. 18, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Planned Parenthood provides over 330,000 abortions every year and brings in about a billion dollars annually, but is still fighting to protect its government subsidies -- amounting to hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars sent to its clinics every year. 

If today's current crop of the super wealthy can't find anything better to do with their money than support organizations that are being heavily funded by taxpayers, maybe President Obama is right when he says billionaires need to pay more taxes. Or perhaps organizations that receive five-figure and even seven-figure private donations shouldn't be demanding handouts from taxpayers.

America's largest abortion provider has been crying "foul" ever since the movement to defund Planned Parenthood began sweeping the country. Voter-approved measures have stripped Planned Parenthood of state taxpayer monies in Kansas, Indiana, Wisconsin, Texas, New Hampshire, and most recently, North Carolina. In Washington, DC, when the House of Representatives voted to slash funding to Planned Parenthood via a measure in the federal budget bill, the initiative did not pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate. 

An August 8, 2011, Crain's Chicago Business feature titled, "The women keeping threats to Planned Parenthood at bay," profiled the group's support by three big donors. Helen Zell, labeled by Crain's along with her husband Sam as a "billionaire philanthropist," advocates publicly funded abortion, birth control and sex education. The 69-year-old has pledged $600,000 over three years to Planned Parenthood's near north side operation, and she has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Chicago's ACLU to promote abortion. Crain's quotes her as saying, "I want to get the most bang for my buck." Along with Zell, Illinois Planned Parenthood is receiving big money from Democratic fundraiser Laura Tucker and also from one of Planned Parenthood's pro bono lawyers, Fay Clayton, who has given $50,000 to the Aurora abortion site. 

"With this kind of support from private donors," mused Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, "One must ask why Planned Parenthood insists they deserve taxpayer funding as well. If donors are ready to step up and fill the gap, why are they fighting tooth and claw for every dollar, claiming that their centers will close down without this funding?" 

Scheidler, who has long been involved in countering Planned Parenthood's promotion of abortion, pointed out, "Even people on the 'pro-choice' side have got to be wondering why an organization that can hit up the likes of Helen Zell for a million bucks needs any taxpayer funding."

For interviews with Eric Scheidler, please contact Tom Ciesielka at 312-422-1333 or tc@tcpr.net. For more information on the Pro-Life Action League, visit www.prolifeaction.org.

Planned Parenthood 'Chaplain' Caught on Tape Deceiving Mississippi Voters

Contact: Keith Mason, Personhood USA, 202-595-3500

JACKSON, Miss., Aug. 12, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Mississippi voters were in an uproar on Wednesday when Planned Parenthood Seattle Chaplain Vincent Lachina was exposed during a Mississippi Secretary of State's Personhood Amendment Hearing.

Speaking to a crowd of Mississippi voters, Lachina claimed to be a Southern Baptist minister, both "prolife and prochoice." Addressing the crowd in a clerical collar, Mississippians listened intently as Lachina shared that he grew up in Jackson and had a Mississippi heritage. Lachina boldly preached an ideology of choice from the pulpit, calling for a "no" vote on prolife Amendment 26, but left out some critical details.

Lachina failed to mention that he is the Washington State Chaplain at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Jacob Dawson, of AFA, was sitting in the audience and decided to do a Google search of Lachina, having never heard of a Southern Baptist preacher from Mississippi by that name -- much less a pro-choice, clerical collar-wearing Southern Baptist Preacher.

Dawson got up before the crowd and stated, "A quick Google search reveals that Mr. Lachina is from Seattle, and is a chaplain for Planned Parenthood."

The crowd was stunned, and many were outraged at the misrepresentation and deception of Planned Parenthood.

Further research on Mr. Lachina revealed the following statement: "We gay men don't need to worry about what the Republicans, the religious right, or homophobes will do to us." Vincent Lachina, "The Good Boy," The Advocate, 1-30-2007.

The "Religious Right" mentioned by Lachina certainly must include Southern Baptists, who have historically opposed abortion and homosexuality, and have made public statements expounding on that opposition.

"Nationwide, we have seen Planned Parenthood's repeated attempts to deceive the public. These are just the kind of underhanded tactics we have come to expect from Planned Parenthood," explained Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA. "It appears that Planned Parenthood flew a man from Washington to Mississippi, put him in a clerical collar, and asked him to appeal to the voters with deep Southern Baptist roots. It's just wrong. His attempts to dissuade voters from voting for Amendment 26 will not be successful. Yes on 26 is an honest campaign for a pro-life measure. No posturing or dress-up is necessary to see that all human beings are people, and that all people have a right to life."

The Yes on 26 Campaign www.yeson26.net has released video of the deception at www.youtube.com/yeson26dotnet.  

Yes on 26 - Greg Sanders - 662-523-6722