Pro-Life Page

A Florida man who has pleaded guilty to tricking his girlfriend into taking an abortion pill, which allegedly led to a miscarriage, is awaiting sentencing as his lawyers are trying to prove that a single dosage could not have been enough to cause the death of the unborn baby.

Defense expert Rebecca Allen, arguing on behalf of 29-year-old John Welden, who faces 13 years and eight months in prison if found responsible for the unborn baby's death, has said in an affidavit that it is "impossible that one 200-microgram tablet of Misoprostol caused serious bodily harm to (Lee). At most, one 200-microgram tablet may cause slight nausea, diarrhea, transient fever/chills, or minor abdominal discomfort."

"It would be impossible with regard to causation, for any medical professional to definitely conclude that one 200-microgram tablet was the actual cause of any harm whatsoever," Allen added, according to The Tampa Tribune.

Two prosecution experts from the University of South Florida testified on Wednesday, however, that it is highly likely the Cytotec, another name for Misoprostol, caused the miscarriage.

"(The drug) did exactly what it was intended to do, and that resulted in the demise of the embryo," argued OB-GYN expert Catherine Lynch.

In May 2013, Welden was charged with murder under the "Protection of Unborn Children Act" after he tricked his girlfriend at the time, Remee Jo Lee, into taking an abortion pill after finding out that she was pregnant.

According to a report by Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow, the Florida man forged the signature of his father, a practicing OB/GYN doctor, on a prescription to obtain the abortion drug Misoprostol, after Lee told him she planned to raise the child on her own.

Welden is said to have acquired the drug from a local pharmacy, switched the label on it with the common antibiotic Amoxicillin, and had given it to Lee, telling her that his father wanted her to take the pill for a bacterial infection.

After taking the pill the next day, Lee began experiencing abdominal pain and bleeding.  By the time she got to the hospital, however, she found out that she had lost her six-week-old unborn baby.

"Quite frankly, your honor, this case shocks the conscience," Muldrow said about Welden's confession.

"This was a senseless crime. He had no reason to kill the baby – his baby. She had a name for the baby … This case is solid. The crime is heinous."

The 29-year-old man escaped a possible life sentence after he pleaded guilty in a Florida court in September. It was later revealed that Welden tricked Lee into taking the abortion drug because he did not want his other girlfriend finding out about the relationship.

"I woulda had my kid and I woulda been fine with that... woulda told my parents it was someone else's. I wouldn't have bothered you for money. I wouldn't have bothered you at all," Lee told Welden in a transcript of a conversation between them recorded by police.

Pharmacology expert Daniel Buffington has argued that Misoprostol can be safely used to treat gastric ulcers, but can cause miscarriages in early pregnancy. He added that no exposure to it is safe for women wishing to avoid abortion, and that the drug "contributed to or directly resulted in the termination of (Lee's) pregnancy."

U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara has said it must be proven that Lee suffered harm before he can impose Welden's sentence.

Susan G. Komen suffered a 22 percent drop in donations last year, which may have been due to the controversy it recently had regarding its monetary ties to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider.

A spokeswoman for the breast cancer awareness organization acknowledged a strong decline in donations, according to the Associated Press.

"Citing audited financial statements posted on its website this week, a spokeswoman for the Dallas-based breast cancer charity said contributions - including donations and corporate sponsorships - dropped from about $164 million from the fiscal year ending in March 2012 to $128 million in the year ending March 2013," reported the AP.

"Komen spokeswoman Andrea Rader attributed the drops to the Planned Parenthood controversy, in addition to economic uncertainty and other events vying for charity dollars."

In November 2011, Susan G. Komen's leadership voted to cut its financial ties to Planned Parenthood, partly due to the organization barring of funding from any group presently under investigation from the government.

News of the policy change was made public in late January 2012 and led to much controversy. Within days of the announcement, the charity reversed its decision and allowed for Planned Parenthood to receive funding once more from Komen.

The Christian Post reported in February 2012 that Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) had launched an investigation to see if the abortion provider was using public money improperly in providing abortions.

Subsequently, in February 2013, Reps. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), Pete Olson (R-Texas) and Senator David Vitter (R-La.) were among a group of more than 50 members of Congress who requested a report from the GAO on how taxpayer funding is specifically used by Planned Parenthood and other organizations that perform abortions.

Karen Handel, Komen's senior vice president for public policy, resigned in protest following the reversal decision. In an earlier interview with CP, Handel said that she believed in the near future Komen will again cut funding ties to Planned Parenthood.

"I believe that Komen will be at this crossroads again for the following reason: making or doing the best it can do with donor dollars," said Handel in December 2012.

"Being the best stewards of donor dollars is ultimately going to require that Komen shift those dollars because these are not impactful grants. Ultimately, donors are going to demand that."

This was not the first indicator of trouble for Komen due to the controversy. As reported by Pam Fessler of National Public Radio back in June 2012, participation for that year's Race for the Cure event had noticeably declined.

"Participation is down at some of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure events that raise money for breast cancer research and treatment," wrote Fessler, who claimed, "the foundation may be suffering from the fallout of its decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood programs."

Susan G. Komen did not return comment to The Christian Post by press time. 

The head of the Republican National Committee has announced that the political party's winter meeting will be delayed so that members can attend a major pro-life rally.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus stated that the RNC will delay its meeting so that he and other RNC members can attend the annual March for Life on Jan. 22 in Washington, D.C.

Raffi Williams, deputy press secretary with the RNC, told The Christian Post that the decision came in large part because the RNC was meeting in the nation's capital.

"This is the first time in years that the RNC has held the winter meeting in DC. This means it is also the first time the RNC has had the opportunity to send our members to participate in the March for Life as a part of the winter meeting," said Williams.

"The Republican Party is a pro-life party, it is in our platform and we will continue to fight for the life of the unborn."

Williams also told CP that the change "is basically the RNC delaying the start of the first afternoon a couple hours and chartering a couple of buses for members so they can attend."

"Since our winter meeting and the March for Life coincided we thought it only fitting for our members to attend the March with the thousands of activists who come from around the country to take part in the fight for the unborn," said Williams.

The March for Life is an annual large-scale pro-life demonstration held in Washington, D.C. on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decisionRoe vs. Wade.

Each year, untold thousands of pro-life activists from across the country and abroad come to the national mall to hear speakers, music, and eventually to walk.

A spokesman for the March for Life directed The Christian Post to an official statement from the organization regarding the news.

"The March for Life welcomes the news from the Republican National Committee that they will postpone their winter meeting so that members may attend and participate in the March on January 22nd," reads the statement.

"We are pleased that the Chairman Reince Priebus recognizes the importance of the life issue and has given it priority in the Committee's calendar."

Other pro-life groups have also expressed their approval of the decision by Priebus to delay the RNC winter meeting.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, sent out a statement hailing Priebus' words as "great news."

"I met with Chairman Priebus to express my gratitude on behalf of our membership across the country," stated Dannenfelser.

"So today, we celebrate, and we look forward to building upon Chairman Priebus's willingness to stand up for the unborn. I hope to see you at the March!"

Recent data released by the Guttmacher Institute finds that U.S. states have passed more abortion restrictions in the past three years than they have in the past decade.

The data, released earlier this week, finds that from 2011 to 2013, states enacted a total of 205 new abortion restrictions, compared to 189 restrictions enacted from 2001 to 2010. Additionally, 22 states enacted 70 abortion restrictions during 2013, a number second only to 2011, when 83 anti-abortion laws were passed.

Several states, including Texas, North Dakota and Arkansas, passed laws this year that seek to illegalize abortions after a certain gestation time has passed. Ultimately, Texas passed a law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and Arkansas passed a law banning abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. North Dakota also passed a ban against abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected at approximately 6 weeks of pregnancy, but laws in both North Dakota and Arkansas were ultimately blocked from immediate implementation as they are being challenged in court.

Texas was one of the main states to gain national coverage on its abortion legislation in 2013 when Senator Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) held a 13-hour filibuster to oppose a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, require abortion clinics to meet higher standards of healthcare as used at surgical care centers, and require doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Although Texas' Republican Gov. Rick Perry ultimately called a special session to have the bill passed, Davis' 13-hour filibuster gained her national media attention and she's now running for the state's democratic ticket in the 2014 gubernatorial race.

2013 also saw legislation seeking to crack down on the use of telemedicine to administer abortion medication, and the growing requirement of abortion clinics to meet surgical care center standards, and abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

Some pro-life advocates have made a connection to the growing restrictions on abortion and the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor in Philadelphia, Pa. who ran a substandard, "house of horrors" abortion clinic where he performed late-term procedures in unsanitary conditions, including storing some fetal parts around his office after they had been removed from the womb.

In July 2013, when North Carolina's Republican–controlled Senate was working toward passing a bill that would heighten requirements for abortion clinics in the state, one pro-life group voiced its support for tougher restrictions, saying it didn't want North Carolina to become the "Gosnell of the South."

"The bill today is about protecting women's health. It's about making abortion clinics safe. We don't want to become the Gosnell of the South. We're firmly behind the bill," Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values Coalition, a pro-life group, told The News & Observer back in July in reference to the bill.

Additionally, Marilyn Musgrave, vice president of federal affairs for the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life group, told The Washington Post earlier this year that 2013 "has been a year where the curtain has been pulled back, when people have taken another look at abortion" because of the Gosnell trial.

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/2/14 12:44 PM

A new report from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, a former arm of Planned Parenthood, shows the pro-life is winning — passing more pro-life laws to stop abortions in the last three years than the previous decade.

The proof is in the pudding when it comes to whether or not pro-life laws are making a difference. The number of abortions in states that are consistently passing more pro-life laws stopping abortions are down to historic lows — making it so abortions are down to their lowest level nationally since just after Roe v. Wade.

From the new report by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute:

Reproductive health and rights were once again the subject of extensive debate in state capitols in 2013. Over the course of the year, 39 states enacted 141 provisions related to reproductive health and rights. Half of these new provisions, 70 in 22 states, sought to restrict access to abortion services.

Twenty-two states enacted 70 abortion restrictions during 2013. This makes 2013 second only to 2011 in the number of new abortion restrictions enacted in a single year. To put recent trends in even sharper relief, 205 abortion restrictions were enacted over the past three years (2011–2013), but just 189 were enacted during the entire previous decade (2001–2010).

More abortion restrictions have been enacted in 2011-2013 than in the entire previous decade.

 

The number of new abortion restrictions ballooned from 43 enacted in 2012 to 70 in 2013. Four states were key to this increase. North Dakota and Texas, which did not have legislative sessions in 2012, together enacted 13 restrictions in 2013. In addition, the 2012 elections brought changes to the legislature in Arkansas and the governor’s mansion in North Carolina that created environments more hostile to abortion; after adopting no abortion restrictions in 2012, these two states together enacted 13 new restrictions in 2013.

This legislative onslaught has dramatically changed the landscape for women needing abortion. In 2000, the two states that were the most restrictive in the nation, Mississippi and Utah, had five of 10 major types of abortion restrictions in effect (see Appendix). By 2013, however, 22 states had five or more restrictions, and Louisiana had 10.

The other consequence of passing so many pro-life laws is the number of abortion clinics and abortion practitioners is dropping each and every year. As LifeNews reported, one pro-life group documented a record number of abortion clinic closures in 2013, during which time 87 surgical abortion clinics halted abortions.

“The total number of surgical abortion clinics left in the U.S. is now 582. This represents an impressive 12% net decrease in surgical abortion clinics in 2013 alone, and a 73% drop from a high in 1991 of 2,176,” Operation Rescue said. “Of 87 clinics that discontinued surgical abortions, 81 are permanently shuttered while 6 abortion businesses ceased surgical abortions, but continued to sell that abortion pill. The figures do not include the 11 abortion clinics that were closed temporarily in 2013, then reopened later in the year.”

The state with the most closures was Texas at 11, most of which shut down after Texas passed an abortion law earlier this year that required abortionists to maintain local hospital privileges. New clinic safety rules accounted for closures in Pennsylvania and Maryland as well.

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/1/14 11:29 AM

In a huge 11th-hour victory for pro-life advocates, the Supreme Court issued an order late Tuesday night stopping the Obama administration from forcing a group of Catholic nuns to obey the HHS mandate that compels them to pay for abortion-causing drugs and birth control.

The group Little Sisters of the Poor received a temporary injunction from the Supreme Court protecting them from the controversial HHS contraceptive mandate.  The injunction means that the Little Sisters will not be forced to sign and deliver forms tonight authorizing and directing others to provide contraceptives, sterilizations and drugs and devices that cause abortions.

“We are delighted that the Supreme Court has issued this order protecting the Little Sisters,” said Mark Rienzi, Senior Counsel for the Becket Fund, a pro-life legal group that represented the organization.  “The government has lots of ways to deliver contraceptives to people–it doesn’t need to force nuns to participate.”

The order was issued by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is the Justice assigned for emergency applications from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Justice Sotomayor also ordered the federal government to file a brief in response to the Little Sisters’ application.

She gave government officials until 10 a.m. EST Friday to respond to her order.

Prior to the order, preliminary injunctions had been awarded in 18 of the 20 similar cases in which relief had been requested.

“Virtually every other party who asked for protection from the mandate has been given it,” said Rienzi.  “It makes no sense for the Little Sisters to be singled out for fines and punishment before they can even finish their suit.”

The Little Sisters are joined in the lawsuit by religious health benefit providers, Christian Brothers Services, Christian Brothers Employee Benefits Trust.  The Plaintiffs are also represented by Locke Lord, a national law firm, and by Kevin Walsh, a law professor at the University of Richmond.

Also yesterday, in a huge victory for Priests for Life, a pro-life organization, a federal appeals court issued a ruling saying it doesn’t have to pay massive fines to the federal government for not obeying the HHS mandate, which forces religious groups and companies to pay for birth control or abortion-causing drugs for their employees.

To date, there are currently 91 lawsuits challenging the unconstitutional HHS mandate.

by Steven Ertelt | Richmond, VA | LifeNews.com | 12/30/13 12:13 PM

When it comes to putting their money where their mouth is, pro-life people have stepped up in the state of Virginia, where pro-life license plates outsell pro-abortion plates by more than a 3-1 margin.

According to a local newspaper report:

The abortion-rights “Trust Women/Respect Choice” plate, for instance, is on about 1,600 vehicles. And roughly 5,400 cars display the anti-abortion counterpart message, “Choose Life.”

“My theory on this is, people want to feel like they’re doing something, that they’re not happy with the status quo,” said David Donis of Norfolk, a past Hampton Roads tea party chairman.

Choosing a symbolic license plate, he said, “is an easy way for them to express their sentiments.”

Overall, as LifeNews has reported, Choose Life license plates on the roads in a couple dozen stateshave raised $19 million for adoption efforts and pregnancy centers that give women abortion alternatives.

Although pro-choice organizations have fought to keep them off the road, as of now 29 states give drivers the option to ‘Choose Life’ on their license plates.

Russell Amerling, the National Publicity Coordinator for Choose Life America, realizes the vast potential of having pro-life license plates on our nation’s highways as an inexpensive way to promote a culture of life. He once spoke with a billboard salesman about the significance of miniature advertisements on the road, especially considering the costly expense of renting billboard space. Amerling shared some of their conversation with Townhall:

“An advertising executive told us once that the advertising value of having thousands of citizens driving around with that little 6” by 12” pro-life license plate on the back of their cars would be tremendous.”

And tremendous it has been. Drivers have ordered the pro-life specialty plates in droves, ordering nearly 900,000 and raising $19,101,157 nationwide since their inception in 2000, according to figures Amerling provided. Some of the proceeds, Amerling explains, have been distributed to pro-life organizations and crisis pregnancy centers.

A pro-life group is planning a special holiday protest against abortion in Chicago by visiting different abortion clinics throughout the city to sing Christmas carols. The purpose of the protest is to remind women seeking abortions of the story of Mary and Jesus and to ask the question: "Would Planned Parenthood have aborted Jesus?"

Pro-Life Action League sent out an announcement, about its plans for the 11th annual "Empty Manger Christmas Caroling Day," during which members of the pro-life group will visit five abortion facilities in Chicago and another four in Du Page County on Dec. 21. The protesters will reportedly gather in front of each abortion clinic and surround an empty manger while singing their carols.

The group's executive director, Eric Scheidler, said in a statement that the carolers' singing has served to change women's minds on abortion in the past, as it reminds them of the baby Jesus. The carolers will sing such Christmas classics as "What Child is This?" and "Away in the Manger."

"It has happened before," Scheidler recalled. "We were singing 'Silent Night' outside of a Chicago abortion clinic when a young woman came out, approached one of our carolers, and said that our singing made her think about Mary and baby Jesus and she just couldn't go through with her abortion."

The executive director went on to say that the symbolism behind the empty manger prop is two-fold. It reminds abortion-seeking women of the baby Jesus, but it is also a reference to the emptiness women can experience after intentionally terminating their child. "The empty manger has been a symbol of hope through the centuries, placed in the Christmas crèche in anticipation of the birth of the Christ child celebrated at Christmas."

"But the empty manger also represents the emptiness left behind by abortion – the emotional and spiritual vacuum where a baby once was. We don't want any woman to experience that, and that's why we'll be there to offer our message of hope."

The caroling protest has gained widespread popularity in cities besides Chicago throughout the years, and similar protests have previously been held in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Texas.

Pro-Life Action League outlines why it believes sidewalk protesting is important on its website. "Through prayer vigils outside abortion facilities and sidewalk counseling, we reach out to abortion-bound women and couples with abortion alternatives, confidential counseling, access to pregnancy resources and other help, and witness to the value of the lives being destroyed inside.

"We believe sidewalk counseling is the most important pro-life work God has given us to do. Praying outside abortion clinics is the first step in becoming directly involved fighting abortion."

by Steven Ertelt | Portland, OR | LifeNews.com | 12/17/13 

Planned Parenthood is after the career and livelihood of a distinguished, highly-qualified, good high school teacher, Bill Diss, who had the audacity to tell Planned Parenthood that they were not allowed in his classroom.After a second hearing last night, that pro-life teacher, Bill Diss, has been fired.

The school board for the Portland Public School District voted to terminate Diss’ contract after Planned Parenthood’s lobbying effort.

Diss experienced censure in his teaching career beginning in 2007 when he publicly opposed the building of a new Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in downtown Portland. The current action follows Mr. Diss’ opposition to being forced to facilitate presenters from the Teen Outreach Program (TOP), a program administered by Planned Parenthood, coming into his tutorial session to recruit students.

Diss’ legal representatives complained about the action in an email to LifeNews.

“Bill Diss is a well-qualified teacher with a track record of success,” states Dana Cody, President and Executive Director of Life Legal Defense Foundation. “As the circumstances surrounding this termination demonstrate, Mr. Diss has done nothing that would merit being fired from his job. LLDF will pursue every possible avenue in defending Mr. Diss’ rights in this matter, and hopes to see his rights ultimately protected despite PPS’ actions.”

Students for Life of America, which has been closely monitoring the case and had a representative attending the meeting, informed LifeNews of the results.
“Last night, in a vote of 6 to 1, the Portland Public School Board voted to terminate Math and Computer Science teacher Bill Diss. After a protracted battle with the school district, Diss and concerned community members had gathered once again to attend the Portland Public School Board meeting to express their concerns over the treatment of Bill Diss,” SFLA said.

SFLA’s report to LifeNews continued:

Among those who testified on behalf of Bill were his fellow math teacher, Dave Demaris, who testified to Diss’s abilities as a teacher and contributor to the school. Parents of students that Bill had taught over the years spoke of his care and concerns for his students. One Latino mother testified that Bill was the only teacher who ever came to their community events or tried to great her in Spanish. She said “He has helped us. We want him to teach our children and our children’s children.” She also mentioned that Diss had helped her nephew when he found out his girlfriend was pregnant and that the couple had chosen life as a result.

Diss also spoke in defense of himself and asked the school board to consider the ways in which he was targeted by Planned Parenthood. He reminded them that his teacher reviews had been exemplary until he took a stand against Planned Parenthood. He also mentioned the hundreds of thousands of dollars he brought in grants to the school. After listening to the public comments, the school board recessed for private consultation.

Upon reconvening, the school board chose to lump the vote on Bill Diss along with the other item in the business agenda, a vote on solar panels. The move was so unexpected that one school board member, Steve Buel, realized only after the vote that they had lumped the two decisions together and requested to change his vote to a no. All the rest of the board members: Carole Smith, Ruth Adkins, Pam Knowles, Greg Belisle, Tom Koehler and Matt Morton retained their yes votes.

During the recess, Bill and his lawyer declined to comment on what Diss’s course of action would be if the school terminated his contract.

Secular Pro-Life, another group that has been following Diss’ plight, also commented on the firing.

“Mr. Diss warned his students not to trust Planned Parenthood, which was on the campus for a sex education program. Planned Parenthood has, among other things, been caught providing false information about prenatal development in order to make abortion appear more acceptable,” it said. “Mr. Diss may have taught his students a more valuable lesson through this ordeal than he has in any classroom. His resolute commitment to doing the right thing, in the face of oppression and ridicule, is very admirable. The students of Portland, Oregon deserve to keep a teacher of such conscience and courage.”

“Sadly, they have lost their teacher. Worse, the young people of Portland now know the consequences of crossing the powers that be. They know that by speaking up for what is right, they risk put their jobs on the line. They know that the safe course of action is to keep their mouths shut,” the group added. “What a horrible lesson for them to have to learn.”

Diss has a history with Planned Parenthood dating to 2007 when he led community opposition to a new Planned Parenthood abortion facility being built in a minority neighborhood in Portland. He raised Planned Parenthood’s ire again when a “health education team” came into his computer science classroom uninvited and attempted to enroll his students in the Health and Human Services’ Teen Outreach Program (TOP).

One of TOP’s goals is to prevent teen pregnancy, and the team who came to enroll Diss’ students (using monetary incentives) was hired by—you guessed it—Planned Parenthood. When Diss – unaware of whether the ‘team’ had been background-checked or had received sex/child abuse certifications – asked Planned Parenthood to leave his classroom.

When his principal arrived at the scene, she told the Planned Parenthood workers to ignore Diss’ request to leave. Diss then asked his principal if he could be excused from the room while Planned Parenthood was there, and she told him his moral beliefs weren’t enough grounds for him to be excused.

Diss has taught Technology, Math, Computers and Electronics at Benson High School since 2002. He has also taught several classes at the community college level. He is highly regarded in his abilities and his success both by students themselves, by their parents, and fellow teachers.

Diss is the only teacher in the state of Oregon who has been certified as qualified to teach college level computer science to high school students for dual credit. His initiative and hard work have attracted outside grants to Benson opening up even greater opportunities for Benson students. For the first five years at Benson High, Diss was rated as proficient or better, with numerous positive compliments in his reviews. Diss’ methodology and teaching style has remained substantially the same in all his years of teaching.

The positive reviews took a dramatic change for the worse, however, when Diss began to speak out in opposition to the building of a new Planned Parenthood facility in downtown Portland. Diss was involved in opposition activities on his own time, and did not bring his political or religious convictions into his instruction in the classroom. Nonetheless, he began to experience complaints about his political activities from school administrators, and his teaching came under sudden, rigorous scrutiny. Complaints, negative evaluations, letters of reprimand and formal meetings became a regular part of Mr. Diss’ life at school for as long as he engaged in outspoken, public opposition to Planned Parenthood.

by Steven Ertelt | San Jose, CA | LifeNews.com | 12/13/13 

For some women, the regret of having an abortion may comes months or even years after the fact. But for a young mother named Emily, the regret was instantaneous. Immediately after she took the first part of the RU 486 abortion drug, she regretted her decision.

Fortunately, as the California Catholic newspaper reports, a pro-life physician was able to reverse the abortion drug and save her baby’s life.

The day before Thanksgiving Day, we received much anticipated news that our young mother, Emily, met her baby for the first time in an ultrasound. She measured at six  weeks and the mother was ecstatic to hear her baby’s heartbeat for the first time. Almost two weeks ago, she was at PP at the Alameda for her abortion pill and regretted it almost immediately. The “nurse” told her it was too late, but undaunted, Emily and her sister googled the RU486 reversal and called the hotline; the hotline called Juan Diego.

We had just gotten a supply of progesterone for such an emergency just days before.

Emily remembers seeing “protesters” outside the mill when she went in to PP to make her appointment. They were the 40 Days for Life people faithfully praying for the women. I told her she could have approached any of those wonderful people that were there to help mothers like her. A doctor and two nurses stepped forward to start the protocol before she was able to start her prenatal care. God is so good.

There is a large loving family waiting to meet the baby. Her mother and father were very supportive and were just as anxious as Emily to find out if the baby would survive. They were thrilled with the news.

Emily also discovered a large, loving family in the pro-life movement and has volunteered to talk to any mother that may not have the courage to choose life.

It’s not commonly known that the RU 486 abortion drug process can be reversed if a mother changes her mind about the abortion in time.

However, a protocol has already been developed for helping women who changed their minds about going through with a multi-day second-trimester abortion after it’s been started. The process, which involves reversing a second trimester abortions by removing the laminaria, can be used as long as the abortion practitioner has not yet done the lethal injection that destroys the life of the unborn baby.

The protocol for these sorts of abortion drug reversals was created back in 2007. Click here for a story about the creator of the process and how he helped a young woman named Ashley give birth after she changed her mind about abortion.