Pro-Life Page

Branford High School administrators have blocked Students for Life of Branford from handing out information during lunch time, even though other student groups are allowed to do so.

The school's principal, Lee Panagoulias, and other school administrators told the six person pro-life club they were not allowed to have models of a fetus at their display table, could not hand out literature or invite others to join, and were only allowed to set up their display after school, according to Students for Life of America.

Other student clubs at the school are allowed to set up a display at lunch, hand out literature and invite others students to join their group.

Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group, sent a letter to the school and the school district last week asking that they stop discriminating against the pro-life group. ADF asked for an answer to their request by March 12.

"I hope that the Branford Public School system will respect the students at Branford High School by not acting as a barrier to the student body's equal access to essential information regarding life," Sam Bailey-Loomis, president and founder of Branford High School Students for Life, said. "I am proud to be on the front lines alongside abortion abolitionists in high schools and colleges across the country to safeguard our rights, stand up for the pre-born, and make a lasting impact on our campuses."

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said she expects the school to become more supportive of the club with greater awareness that its policies amount to viewpoint discrimination.

"We cannot sit back while our pro-life students are denied their constitutional rights and bullied by their school administrators," she said. "At Branford High School, there is double standard for pro-life students, and we intend to expose this injustice and correct it. We commend Sam and the members of Branford High School Students for Life for their courage and willingness to step up and demand that their school respect their rights, and I am looking forward to witnessing another pro-life student victory."

Michael Krause, chairman of the local Board of Education, expressed support for the group.

"They shouldn't be discriminated against ..." he told the New Haven Register. "As long as all the procedures are being followed as to how we treat our clubs, they should be treated just like any other club."

The Branford High School incident follows other recent incidents of pro-life censorship at public schools.

At Wilson High School in Washington state, a pro-life group was not allowed to hand out flyers and hold an event, even though a gay rights group was allowed to do so. And a campus pro-life group at the University of Alabama had their display removed by administrators. A UA spokesperson later apologized to the group after receiving a letter from ADF.

Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 3/7/14 11:47 AM

The ever-decreasing number of abortion clinics continues its decline with the announcement of the closing of abortion clinics in Texas, Florida, and California.

Whole Women’s Health announced this week that its surgical abortion clinics in McAllen and Beaumont have permanently closed due to the new law passed last year that requires abortion facilities to meet minimum safety requirements, including hiring only abortionists that maintain local hospital privileges. The McAllen location had “temporarily” closed in January.

Operation Rescue had lodged complaints about the Whole Women’s Health clinics in McAllen, Beaumont, and Austin after discovering they were improperly dumping “identifiable” aborted baby remains a during an undercover investigation in 2011. This led the Austin and McAllen locations to be heavily fined.

In addition, the North Florida Women’s Health & Counseling Service in Tallahassee has announced in public notices that it will be closing permanently on March 31. That surgical abortion clinic has operated continuously since 1981.

Surgical abortion clinics are not the only ones closing. Planned Parenthood’s office in Sunnyvale, California, which offered only medication abortions (RU-486) shut down in January.

“We are on track to see another great year. Every time an abortion clinic closes, lives are saved because women have a greater opportunity to seek other means of coping with the challenges they face. This is great news for women and their babies,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue.

Also out of business for good is Lester Minto’s Reproductive Services in Harlington, Texas. Minto stopped abortions in November due to the new Texas law, but continued to see abortion patients who had taken abortion pills procured in Mexico or other locations. This week he announced onMSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show that he has closed his clinic permanently and is selling his building.

Minto’s clinic joins real estate market along with the former New Women All Women abortion building in Birmingham, Alabama, which was put up for sale this week.

So far in 2014, seven surgical abortion clinics in four states have announced closure with one abortion pill clinic closing. Those states are California, Florida, Texas, and Iowa.

One of those abortion clinics, the Family Planning Associates in Montclair, California, remains closed as of this writing, but has obtained a potential new location, but has yet to clear several legal hurdles before reopening.

This continues the trend of abortion clinic closures documented by Operation Rescue, which maintains the most accurate list of abortion clinics in the U.S. In 2013, a record 87 surgical abortion clinics and 6 abortion pill-only clinics closed.

The closures are attributed to new laws that are weeding out abortion clinics that cannot meet minimum standards. Also, an increase in pro-life sentiment and greater reporting of abortion abuses by pro-life groups have also contributed to the closures.

“Along with laws that are putting abortion quacks out of business, more and more women are simply rejecting abortion. When demand for services drops, businesses go under, and that is what we are now seeing in the abortion cartel,” said Newman. “This trend reflects a fundamental change, which we believe will ultimately lead to an end of abortion in this country.”

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 3/6/14 12:14 PM

A new CNN poll released today confirms what prior CNN polls and others have consistently shown in recent years — that a majority of Americans want all or most all abortions made illegal.

The CNN/ORC International survey also indicates that a majority opposes taxpayer money being used to pay for abortions.

According to the CNN survey, 20% say abortion should always be illegal and 38% say most abortions should be illegal — making it so 58 percent of Americans oppose all or virtually all abortions. Just 27% of Americans side with Planned Parenthood and President Barack Obama in saying abortions should always be legal. Another 13 percent say abortion should be legal in most cases, making it so only 40 percent of Americans generally favor legalized abortion in most instances.

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland pointed out additional results: “Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to say that abortion should always be illegal. But only a minority of the rank-and-file members of both parties take an extreme position on the issue, with just 31% of Republicans calling for a complete ban on abortion and just 32% of Democrats saying that abortion should be legal in all circumstances.”

As CNN notes, “Most Americans have never favored using public funds for abortions for women who cannot afford them. According to the survey, 56% remain opposed, with only 39% favoring public funding for abortions.”

Americans United for Life told LifeNews, “Ending public funding of abortion is the most obvious common ground in America. This poll underscores the need to protect American taxpayers from coerced funding of abortion and life-ending drugs and devices. Given what we know about the dangerous, even deadly, impact of abortion on women and their unborn children, we must act to end the forced participation in taxpayer funding of Big Abortion.”

“Politically insulated and coddled by powerful, partisan friends and allies, the abortion lobby and its business interests have prospered on taxpayer funds and subsidies,” said Yoest. “Consider this, the nation’s largest abortion provider Planned Parenthood received more than $540 million in taxpayer monies, nearly half of its $1.2 billion in revenue. How many people realize that so many millions in taxpayer monies support the abortion industry leader? And how many people understand that coercive polices in Obamacare compel the support of a life-ending agenda, such as the HHS mandate?”

The new survey confirms past CNN polls also showing most Americans oppose all or most abortions.

A 2011 CNN national poll of Americans showed 62% of Americans want all or most abortions made illegal.  In April 2009, CNN showed Americans wanted to prohibit most or all abortions by a 64-34 percentage point margin. The margin was 63-36% in November 2008, 61%-37% in June 2008, 62-36% in October 2007, and 64-34 percent in September 2006.

Historically, the pro-life movement has shifted public opinion against abortion as CNN found a 55-41 percent pro-life split in May 2001, and a 56-41 percent split in February 1995.

The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International from Jan. 31 through Feb. 2, with 1,010 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

by Steven Ertelt | London, England | LifeNews.com | 3/4/14 11:53 AM

Hazel Wiggins, 36, went to Hexham General Hospital after suffering from bleeding and doctors there told the 11-week-pregnant mother that her unborn baby had died. They recommended she take abortion drugs to “terminate” the pregnancy and expel the dead body of her unborn child.

Wiggins, however, refused the abortion suggestion and asked for another ultrasound scan of her unborn baby. That scan showed her baby was healthy and, in January, Baby Amelia was born. Amelia was born with complications, as her liver and bowel were outside her body. But, she is recovering following surgery to correct the problem and is reportedly rapidly improving in the hospital.

According to a London Daily Mail report, the hospital has apologized to Wiggins and changed it policy to ensure that all pregnant moms are given two scans of their baby when a problem with the child is suspected.

As the newspaper reports:

She said: ‘The midwife looked at my scan for 30 seconds and then said “I’m sorry, there is no heartbeat,” and turned the machine off.

‘I said “Are you sure? You didn’t look at my stomach for very long,” and she said, “Yes, I’m 100 per cent sure”.’ She added: ‘It is the most heart-breaking thing someone can say to you.

‘I went home and just got into bed and mourned the death of the baby. ‘I let friends and family know. I cried the whole day and night.’

Days later, Mrs Wiggins was back at the hospital to start the first of a series of abortion pills, but deep down she could not accept her baby was dead.

‘They kept saying that I needed to take the tablets and I said that I didn’t want to,’ she said.

‘I told them I wanted another scan. It went on for about 20 minutes.’

Eventually, she persuaded midwives to carry out another scan.

‘I was telling the lady who was scanning me about what had happened when she stopped and looked at me, shocked,” said Mrs Wiggins.

‘She said, “I have a baby here who is jumping all over the place, the baby is alive”.’

The medic then turned the screen to Mrs Wiggins, who is also mother to 10-year-old Dylan.

She said: ‘Amelia looked like she was saying to me “Mum, please don’t take the tablets, I’m alive”.’

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 2/27/14 11:30 AM

News surfaced yesterday that a British student was found at her home dead after having hanged herself following terrible grief associated with an abortion.

Charlotte Coursier was found hanged at her home in Oxford in June. In March last year, Coursier had an abortion, telling her boyfriend Ben Fardell she had “murdered her child.” Fardell ended their relationship on June 10 last year.

Six hours later, when Fardell called her home, Coursier’s housemate answered her phone and discovered her lifeless body slumped in her bedroom. A coroner’s reported indicated she had taken her own life.

News of this devaqstating suicide follows on the heels of Charlotte Dawson, who achieved fame in Australia as a model and a judge on Australia’s Next Top Model, took her own life recently after an abortion took an emotional toll on her.

According to a London Daily Mail report:

Mr Fardell told his girlfriend that he was not ready to be a father and supported her as she came to the ‘incredibly difficult’ decision to terminate the pregnancy.

After cancelling her first appointment, Miss Coursier’s abortion was carried out on March 25 – something she later described as ‘murdering her child’.

‘She was very low for weeks after this and she found it very difficult to get over having murdered her child, as she put it,’ said Mr Fardell.

‘Although she stopped mentioning it after a while I’m not sure she ever got over it.’
After parting ways at 11.45am, Miss Coursier sent two text messages to Mr Fardell and tried to call him three times.

He was unable to answer the calls as he was on the train, the inquest was told.

Miss Coursier’s housemates did not see her arrive home but at 9pm found her phone ringing on the sofa. The house phone rang shortly afterwards.

Miss Coursier’s housemate Brooke Berndtson answered the call, which was from Mr Fardell.

She went to the 25-year-old’s room, but discovered her body slumped against the wall, lifeless.

A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as hanging.

Mr Fardell said: ‘I can’t help but feel my breaking up with her was the tipping point but I understand I am not responsible for her death.

by Steven Ertelt | Houston, TX | LifeNews.com | 2/25/14 1:28 PM

In yet another abandoned baby case, a newborn was found alive abandoned in an apartment dumpster in Houston, Texas.

LifeNews has reported on a number of cases in recent months of babies who have been abandoned in a variety of places and left to die. These kinds of cases are occurring despite laws in numerous states helping to protect newborns from infanticide by allowing a mother to surrender her baby at someplace such as a hospital or fire station so the newborn can be cared for and placed with an adoptive family instead of killed.

Local news media have more on this latest incident:

Houston police are investigating a report of a baby found in a dumpster in southeast Houston.

Officers were called to the Windmall Lakes Reserve apartment complex at about 8:30 a.m. on a report of a newborn baby found alive in a dumpster.

A man named Carlos was going through the trash when he heard a noise. At first, he thought it might be an animal, but after further searching discovered the baby in a bag. EMS crews were called the scene.

The baby was conscious and breathing. He was taken to a nearby medical center for assessment and treatment. Children’s Protective Services has been notified.

Authorities are now investigating to try to find the baby’s mother.

A high school chapter of the pro-life group Students for Life is claiming that it was censored by the administration and given less freedom than a gay rights group.

They're clearly showing a double standard here," Kristan Hawkins,president of Students for Life of America, told The Christian Post last week. Hawkins accused the staff of Wilson High School in Washington State of showing favoritism to the local Gay-Straight Alliance group over the high school's SFL chapter, especially regarding flyers.

History of the Controversy

Asberg outlined the school's alleged censorship since the SFL chapter started in November 2013.

"In late November, early December, we submitted the flyers. The same week later we realized they were not approved," he recalled. The denied leaflets featured a quote from the late President Ronald Reagan – "I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion is already born." – and a milk carton showing a baby with the word "missing" and the caption "Since Roe v. Wade 1/3 of our generation has been aborted."

The school did, however, allow GSA posters with three equations symbolizing acceptance for three types of sexual relationships (♂+♂=♥ ♂+♀=♥ ♀+♀= ♥).

"Three weeks later, a representative from the school district, some administrators, and the ASB (Associated Student Body) teacher adviser told us that the candlelight vigil would not be allowed during school hours, because it would disrupt education," Asberg reported. He found the multitude of advisers patronizing and unsettling. "They were trying to be nice and help us, but we did feel that there was at least a veiled attack on our rights."

Asberg concluded with the most recent denial – a day of silence for those who lost their lives in abortion. When the SFL chapter asked permission for this, the president explained, "We were discouraged from doing that, but the Gay-Straight Alliance was encouraged to do that because they said theirs was less political than ours would have been."

A National Struggle?

Hawkins connected this struggle in Washington State to a brief tussle with the University of Alabama earlier this month. The university delivered an apology to Bama Students for Life after removing a pro-life poster from a campus facility.

Like the poster at the University of Alabama, the flyers in Washington State "are pretty simple flyers – there are no graphic images on them, they're not extremely hard-hitting," Hawkins argued. The national SFL president argued that the posters are far from controversial. "They make you think about the issue of abortion. For them to say that they're offensive is clearly showing their bias."

"They would never try to silence a Gay-Straight Alliance group because they know the gay lobby would be all over that school," Hawkins conjectured, pointing to an alleged bias in the general culture.

She told CP that the national organization teaches local chapters to assert their rights, and reminds them that they hold a majority opinion in the United States. When students start a pro-life group, she explained, they think most people disagree because "the people who are pro-choice are going to be hateful."

Nevertheless, Hawkins was optimistic that the issue would be resolved in SFL's favor, as it was at the University of Alabama.

The Legal Position

Peter Breen, vice president and senior counsel at The Thomas More Society, argued that the case was very clear-cut and decidedly in SFL's favor, if it should come to court. "Both the First Amendment and the Federal Equal Access Act ensure equal treatment" in cases like this, Breen told CP. He explained that the Federal Equal Access Act, passed in 1984, requires federal-funded secondary schools to allow all student groups the ability to have the same privileges.

"Our position is that all the student groups should be allowed to express themselves in a robust manner," Breen explained. He argued that the activities and posters Wilson High School permits for the Gay-Straight Alliance serve as a good example of what should be allowed, and that Students for Life should have the same freedoms.

"We're ready to spring into litigation mode now if that's necessary," Breen stated, but "we hope to resolve these situations without needing to go to court."

A high school chapter of the pro-life group Students for Life is claiming that it was censored by the administration and given less freedom than a gay rights group.

They're clearly showing a double standard here," Kristan Hawkins,president of Students for Life of America, told The Christian Post last week. Hawkins accused the staff of Wilson High School in Washington State of showing favoritism to the local Gay-Straight Alliance group over the high school's SFL chapter, especially regarding flyers.

History of the Controversy

Asberg outlined the school's alleged censorship since the SFL chapter started in November 2013.

"In late November, early December, we submitted the flyers. The same week later we realized they were not approved," he recalled. The denied leaflets featured a quote from the late President Ronald Reagan – "I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion is already born." – and a milk carton showing a baby with the word "missing" and the caption "Since Roe v. Wade 1/3 of our generation has been aborted."

The school did, however, allow GSA posters with three equations symbolizing acceptance for three types of sexual relationships (♂+♂=♥ ♂+♀=♥ ♀+♀= ♥).

"Three weeks later, a representative from the school district, some administrators, and the ASB (Associated Student Body) teacher adviser told us that the candlelight vigil would not be allowed during school hours, because it would disrupt education," Asberg reported. He found the multitude of advisers patronizing and unsettling. "They were trying to be nice and help us, but we did feel that there was at least a veiled attack on our rights."

Asberg concluded with the most recent denial – a day of silence for those who lost their lives in abortion. When the SFL chapter asked permission for this, the president explained, "We were discouraged from doing that, but the Gay-Straight Alliance was encouraged to do that because they said theirs was less political than ours would have been."

A National Struggle?

Hawkins connected this struggle in Washington State to a brief tussle with the University of Alabama earlier this month. The university delivered an apology to Bama Students for Life after removing a pro-life poster from a campus facility.

Like the poster at the University of Alabama, the flyers in Washington State "are pretty simple flyers – there are no graphic images on them, they're not extremely hard-hitting," Hawkins argued. The national SFL president argued that the posters are far from controversial. "They make you think about the issue of abortion. For them to say that they're offensive is clearly showing their bias."

"They would never try to silence a Gay-Straight Alliance group because they know the gay lobby would be all over that school," Hawkins conjectured, pointing to an alleged bias in the general culture.

She told CP that the national organization teaches local chapters to assert their rights, and reminds them that they hold a majority opinion in the United States. When students start a pro-life group, she explained, they think most people disagree because "the people who are pro-choice are going to be hateful."

Nevertheless, Hawkins was optimistic that the issue would be resolved in SFL's favor, as it was at the University of Alabama.

The Legal Position

Peter Breen, vice president and senior counsel at The Thomas More Society, argued that the case was very clear-cut and decidedly in SFL's favor, if it should come to court. "Both the First Amendment and the Federal Equal Access Act ensure equal treatment" in cases like this, Breen told CP. He explained that the Federal Equal Access Act, passed in 1984, requires federal-funded secondary schools to allow all student groups the ability to have the same privileges.

"Our position is that all the student groups should be allowed to express themselves in a robust manner," Breen explained. He argued that the activities and posters Wilson High School permits for the Gay-Straight Alliance serve as a good example of what should be allowed, and that Students for Life should have the same freedoms.

"We're ready to spring into litigation mode now if that's necessary," Breen stated, but "we hope to resolve these situations without needing to go to court."

by Kristina Garza | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 2/21/14 12:11 PM

The aggressive words — “Is this the f***ing pro-life stuff!?” —  is how the best conversation of last week began.

An abrasive young woman was shouting those words at our newest team member Josh, he was caught a little off guard and wasn’t quite sure how to respond.  No need to worry, the girl strutted right on by and straight up to Lauren, a veteran team member and quipped: “Why you guys gotta be at a college!?”

Lauren calmly pointed out that most women who have abortions are college students.  Janie*, the young lady, responded, “I know!  I’m two months. I was gonna have an abortion. But thanks to y’all, I ain’t.”

And that was it!!!  With a hand wave and a head waggle, this young mom chose life!

Janie continued to share that she already had a daughter who was a year old. In fact, 4 years earlier, she’d also been pregnant, and chose to abort that baby. She swore to herself she wouldn’t abort again, but here she was, a full-time college student, with a one year old, rent, and a car payment.  It seemed like too much, enough even to consider another abortion… until she saw the images.

She made it sound like she resented us… but she was happy. Despite her tone, she was all smiles. “The doctor told me it was just like a peanut! That’s not a peanut!” she said when Lauren showed her our 8-week fetal model.

She made it sound like she resented us… but she was happy. Despite her tone, she was all smiles. “The doctor told me it was just like a peanut! That’s not a peanut!” she said when Lauren showed her our 8-week fetal model.

Janie left us with local resources, information about healing after abortion, and our promise to pray for her and her babies.

We see a lot of girls like Janie.  Some are angry and confrontational but we know that inside they are crying out for help and for someone to point them in the right direction.

Janie was ultimately grateful that we were at her college that day to show her what abortion is and therefore what she was thinking about doing to her baby. It changed Janie’s mind and she is one of many pregnant college students who need to see the truth.

Won’t you help Survivors be on college campuses in the weeks ahead by giving a special donation today?  To make a contribution to get us to our next college where we will meet more young women just like Janie please click here now.

While God doesn’t always show us when babies are saved as a result of our college outreaches, we know they are.  Please pray with us for Janie, and all of the other mothers that we reached in Los Angeles and Riverside, as well as the students who we will encounter this week in San Diego and Twentynine Palms.

by Mariola O'Brien | Stockholm, Sweden | LifeNews.com | 2/20/14 1:55 PM

In 2011, the European Council adopted a resolution that protects healthcare workers’ right to freedom of conscience regarding abortion and euthanasia. Sweden has signed this agreement. But reality paints a different picture. Out of the 47 member states in the European Council, Finland and Sweden are the only two which do not uphold freedom of conscience in practice.

Ellinor Grimmark, 37, is the first midwife in Sweden to report a hospital to the Discrimination Ombudsman (DO) concerning abortion. She claims to have been discriminated against on the basis of her religious beliefs and moral convictions. Newly-graduated, she was fired from her position last summer because she refused to assist abortions. Even though there is a shortage of midwives at the moment, and even though she is willing to take on double shifts, she has been denied a job ever since. One employer had first agreed to hire her in spite of the “complication”, but withdrew the offer when her story began to spread in media.

Grimmark is being represented by attorney Ruth Nordström, CEO of Pro Vita, a foundation promoting human rights and dignity. Nordström confirmsthat this is a human rights issue and says they have reported Sweden to the European Council for breaking the law on nine counts. She believes Grimmark has a good chance of winning her case in the European Court of Human Rights.

Ellinor Grimmark says in a statementto the newspaper Aftonbladet: ”As a midwife, I want to exercise a profession which defends life and saves lives at all cost. Are healthcare practitioners in Sweden to be forced to take part in procedures that extinguish life, at its beginning or final stages? Somebody has to take the little children’s side, somebody has to fight for their right to life. A midwife described to me how she had held an aborted baby in her arms, still alive, and cried desperately for an hour while the baby struggled to breathe. These children do not even have a right to pain relief. I cannot take part in this.”

A hot debate has followed this incident and a Facebook page has been created to support Grimmark. In interviews with Swedish national radio and mainstream newspapers she points out that many other countries solve this problem in the work place satisfactorily.

A televised debate made it clear that there is strong resistance to adopting a conscience clause. The public’s general reaction was to question why Grimmark chose this profession in the first place. Her lawyer Ruth Nordström clarified that a midwife’s primary task is to deliver babies, not to perform abortions. She also pointed out that it is a biological fact that we are dealing with two individuals in the case of abortion: the mother and the child. There is a hierarchy of values to consider in this case; an abortion cannot be compared to other operations, such as removing an appendix. To talk about a woman’s right to her own body is to over-simplify the issue. Twenty-three days after conception there is another heart beating in the womb.

Paulina Neuding, the editor-in-chief of a magazine, drew attention to the fact that the Swedish abortion law, which allows free abortion up to week 18 and in some cases week 22, is arbitrary. The fact that there are people whose conscience cannot accept this slack restriction has to be respected. ”It is a question about life or not life, and we all think differently about this.”

Both Nordström and Neuding agreed that some pregnant women would prefer to have access to a midwife who does not also perform abortions, particularly if they are Christians. This idea was extremely hard for the moderator to grasp, and she asked them to explain what they meant. Catharina Zätterström, board member of the Association of Midwives, who was participating in the debate through video conferencing, actually laughed when she heard them voice this concern. I can relate to such women, because I am one of them. During my first pregnancy, I regularly took the train to another city to see a midwife who runs her own clinic. I felt better knowing that she didn’t have aborted fetuses in her waste bin!

The reaction of Zätterström and others goes to show that the Swedish people have a poor understanding of what conscience essentially is. It is not a question of opinion or preferences. It is something much deeper than that. Member of Parliament Mats Selander, one of the participants in the debate, commented on this: ”In our culture we have superficialised the question of ethics and think that it is legitimate that the State overrides people’s consciences. This is a matter of life and death and the individual must be respected.” He reminded his listeners that Sweden grants exemptions for those who wish to do military service but object to using weapons for reasons of conscience.

Norway, a country comparable to Sweden in many ways, was brought up several times in the debate. There, the right to freedom of conscience for healthcare practitioners is upheld in fact and not just in theory.

The common argument against freedom of conscience in the case of abortion in Sweden is, Who will then perform abortions, if nobody wants to? What if all midwives refuse? Gunilla Gomér, chairman of the Swedish pro-life organisation Ja till Livet, answers this concern in a recent interview: “What kind of medical care is this, if nobody wants to give it? It is high time we drew attention to this.”

The silence that normally surrounds the question of abortion in Sweden is thick and powerful. Many people now hope that Grimmark’s case will clear the air and set a precedent for future cases. This way, midwifery will be opened up to women who feel called to the profession, but whose conscience does not allow them to terminate a life.

LifeNews Note: Mariola O’Brien writes from Stockholm where she lives with her Canadian husband and their children. This article was first published on her blog, Continuum Mama. Reprinted with permission from MercatorNet.