Author Archives: Mathew

About a month ago I wrote a blog discussing the two sides of the free speech coin. Now, those two sides are currently playing out right in front of us at Georgetown University.

For those unaware, Georgetown University is a college in Washington DC.  Due to its Catholic origin and ties, there was some consternation when the college announced Cecile Richards, CEO of Planned Parenthood and therefore figurehead of big abortion, would be speaking on campus.

To put this in perspective, consider the reaction when pro-life speakers have been invited to speak at liberal universities.  For example, just in February of this year, California State University at Los Angeles cancelled a speech scheduled for pro-life advocate Ben Shapiro, instead offering Shapiro a chance to return when the university could line up other speakers to counter his point of view.  It is obvious our institutes of higher learning are less concerned with being a marketplace of ideas and more interested in indoctrinating the next generation.

Contrast this with the reaction to Cecile Richard’s visit to Georgetown.  Instead of demanding the university silence Richards, the pro-life group on campus is countering her propaganda with the truth.  They will have a “we don’t need planned parenthood” display set up in or near the building Richards is giving her talk, and are having Abby Johnson, the head of “And Then There Were None—A Pro-Life Outreach”, give a talk of her own that evening.  Michael Khan, president of Georgetown Right to Life, an affiliate of Students for Life America is quoted in this article by townhall.com as saying:

“Abby Johnson has personal experience at Planned Parenthood, and will reveal what the organization is really all about. It is important students learn about Planned Parenthood’s careless disregard for human life, and why Planned Parenthood is bad for women and children. Amidst media bias and abortion defenders, Abby provides clarity to this debate and will offer a positive, life-affirming message of hope and love that defends the most defenseless.”

Congratulations to Mr. Khan and the Georgetown Right to Life for showing Georgetown University, and colleges across the United States, what freedom of speech looks like in practice.  We hope others will take note and show those around them that there’s always a reason to choose life.

This post is definitely the most personal…and probably the most painful…I will write.  One of the reasons I am so ardently pro-life is because of my experience with our second child.  Early in the pregnancy, there were complications…bleeding etc. but nothing prepared us for the news when we went for our 13 week check-up that we would never get to meet the child we were expecting.  There was no heartbeat. Our baby was in heaven waiting for us.

I don’t tell our story for sympathy, or for condolences.   I tell it because our experience sheds a unique perspective on a topic many are not aware of—perinatal hospice and palliative care.  These services are available across the state, some through hospitals, and others through private organizations, for the families who receive the devastating news of a diagnosis of a major medical condition for their pre-born child.  It is important to be educated about what these services are, so you can best help those who need them at a time they most need your support.

Perinatal hospice and palliative care offer compassionate support for all involved when a baby is diagnosed with a life-limiting condition. Specifically, perinatal hospice focuses on the whole family, while palliative care is focused more on the baby itself.  This support is provided from diagnosis through the baby’s birth and death and includes planning for the birth, making medical decisions about the baby’s care (both in utero and after delivery) and helping the family grieve with memory making like photographs or hand prints/foot prints.

While there are programs designed specifically to support a family during this tragic time (a list can be found here), perinatal hospice is not a place or program, it is a state of mind designed to honor the baby as well as its family.  It is an alternative to aborting the pregnancy that significant research has found to help the mother and family heal emotionally from a devastating loss.

I’m not comparing our loss to the experience of a family with a child much further along who could benefit from perinatal hospice and palliative care.  Any loss of life is difficult to handle, and I can tell you that every year on the anniversary of that ultrasound, that day is a challenge to get through.  I can also tell you that the only way we have gotten through that day, and those anniversaries since, is by the love and support of friends and family.  I would ask you to be aware of those around you who may be in need of such services and support them in whatever way you can.

“We are known by the company we keep”
“Birds of a feather flock together”
Mantras like these are told to us at a young age, and repeated as warnings throughout life as we become teenagers and young adults. The same can be said of our country. Consider our “company” and the proverbial “birds” we flock with when it comes to allowing pre-born children to be torn apart in their mother’s womb in dismemberment abortions.
The United States is only one of seven countries worldwide that allow the horror of dismemberment abortions…a horror Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy referred to in Gonzales v. Carhart as “…laden with the power to devalue human life”. These countries include China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Singapore, all of whom perform horrible human rights violations such as political imprisonment, restrictions on freedom of speech, religious persecution, repression of minority groups, and detention without trial. Is this the kind of company the United States wants to keep?
Dismemberment abortions, which are performed on unborn babies as old as 24 weeks in Pennsylvania occur after the baby has brain waves, legs, arms, every organ in place, and have even developed teeth and fingernails. Of the approximately 1 million abortions performed annually in this country, almost 9% are performed on these pre-born babies. Approximately 1,550 Pennsylvanians died from this abortion method in 2014.
Thankfully, there IS something we can do to end our affiliation with the countries that currently allow this atrocity. House Bill 1948 will ban dismemberment abortions in Pennsylvania and lower the age of a legal abortion in Pennsylvania from 24 weeks to 20 weeks.
Call and email your representative in the PA House of Representatives with this urgent message: “Please support House Bill 1948, which bans dismemberment abortions in Pennsylvania. These abortions are brutal for babies and harmful for mothers, and they need to be outlawed.”
If you don’t know who your state Representative is, or you need contact information, click here. (http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/#address ) Enter your address and a window will pop up with the names and contact information for your state Representative.
We need to act quickly to pass HB1948 to protect those who are most vulnerable among us from a horrible death. Passing HB1948 has the added advantage of removing Pennsylvania from the shadow of these countries with such terrible human rights records.

The National Right to Life Board of Directors has voted to support Texas Senator Ted Cruz in the upcoming Republican Presidential primaries, including the Pennsylvania primary which occurs April 26^th.

The National Right to Life Political Action Committee believes Senator Cruz is the only candidate for President who has always been pro-life, who has a 100 percent pro-life voting record, who can win the GOP nomination, and who can defeat pro-abortion candidate Hillary Clinton in November.

Senator Cruz is on record supporting administrative and legislative reforms that would make organizations that perform abortions, including Planned Parenthood, ineligible for federal funding (except hospitals). He has also worked tirelessly in the U.S. Senate to defund the abortion giant Planned Parenthood, which commits more than 300,000 abortions each year.

For more information about the Presidential candidates’ stands on the life issues, visit  http://www.nrlpac.org/pdf/2016-POTUS-comparison.pdf .

The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation is a grassroots right-to-life organization with members statewide.  As the state affiliate of National Right to Life, PPLF is committed to promoting the dignity and value of human life from conception to natural death and to restoring legal protection for preborn children.

PA Pro-Life Federation Calls for End to Horrors of Dismemberment Abortion

Joins in call for swift passage of Dismemberment Ban Legislation

 HARRISBURG, PA. –The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation today joins a bipartisan group of legislators to call for the swift passage of the Dismemberment Ban in the Pennsylvania legislature.  These barbaric abortions, mostly performed in the second trimester, are brutal for babies and harmful for mothers.  They need to be outlawed.

“These common abortions are performed on fully developed, preborn babies at their most vulnerable, and when they should be the safest,” said Maria Gallagher, Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Legislative Director.  “When doctors in Philadelphia can operate on these tiny humans while they are still in their mother’s womb to save their lives, it is barbaric and cruel to be pulling them apart limb-from-limb in the most excruciatingly painful way possible.”

Dismemberment abortions, which are performed on unborn babies as old as 24 weeks in Pennsylvania occur after the baby has brain waves, legs, arms, every organ in place, and have even developed teeth and fingernails.  This abortion method has been described by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in Gonzales v. Carhart as a procedure that is “laden with the power to devalue human life”.  Of the approximately 1 million abortions performed annually in this country, almost 9% are performed on these pre-born babies.  Approximately 1,550 Pennsylvanians died from this abortion method in 2014.

Former abortionist, Dr. George Flesh has been quoted as saying:

“Tearing a developed fetus apart, limb by limb, is an act of depravity that society should not permit. We cannot afford such a devaluation of human life, nor the desensitization of medical personnel it requires. This is not based on what the fetus might feel but on what we should feel in watching an exquisite, partly formed human being dismembered.”

“Ultimately, the taking of any human life, especially the most vulnerable among us, is a tragedy and should be illegal,” stated Michael Ciccocioppo, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, the Pennsylvania affiliate of National Right to Life.  “Imagine the outcry if once a day, someone walked in to a Pennsylvania nursery and brutally killed 4-5 babies by ripping them apart…yet that’s what is happening to these babies in their mother’s womb and 61% of Pennsylvanians agree this is wrong and must end now!”

We urge the General Assembly to quickly pass this legislation.

Diagram of a dismemberment abortion

Modern technology is an amazing thing.  At a family gathering over the weekend, my cousin and I were having a discussion with my father and our uncle about how much easier school was for us than it was for our parents.  When our parent’s generation needed to do research, they had to take books out of the library, and if they were lucky those books had an index in them to help them find what they needed.  Fast forward a generation, and my cousin and I were able to do the same research from the comfort of our dorm room in our pajamas on a desktop computer.  Now, our children can do the same research from a tablet or smart phone…who knows how their children will be able to access information!

Medical technology has come a long way as well.  Diseases like malaria or smallpox, once a death sentence, are now preventable.  Disorders like Down syndrome are far better understood now than they once were….and become more and more so every year.

Technology in the area of fetal monitoring has improved dramatically as well.  When I was in my mother’s womb, my parents were lucky to hear my heart beating.  Now, doctors can take a 3d ultrasound image of a child in the mother’s womb, print it on a 3D printer, and give it to the child’s blind mother so she can “see” what her baby looks like.  Who knows what they’ll be able to do by the time I am anticipating a grandchild!

Of course, there will always be science deniers.  In the case of medical technology, the science deniers are abortion advocates.  They continue to claim the child growing in the mother’s womb is just a “bunch of cells” despite the window to the womb ultrasound technology has become.  They deny viability despite being able to see a child dance, clap, and react in utero.  Ignoring the technology that allows surgery to be performed on babies in the womb, they continue to deny the babies’ “personhood”.

The truth is, you don’t have to be a “religious zealot” (as these science deniers like to call us in the pro-life movement) to recognize life when we see it.  Thanks to modern technology, we can see the heart beating by 3 weeks, reflexive movement after 6 weeks, and spontaneous movement before 8 weeks (I’ll never forget the delight of my wife and I, watching my son kick/punch the TV remote off my wife’s stomach). We can watch them practicing breathing by week 11, and by four months, nostrils and toenails become visible.

Once a baby is born, his or her proud parents are understandably excited to share the baby’s milestones—their trip home from the hospital, first bath, sitting up, eating foods for the first time, rolling over, crawling, walking, first words etc.  Thanks to the power of technology found in ultrasound, we don’t have to wait for milestones outside the womb…we can celebrate their tiny milestones of life and growth before meeting them face-to-face!

During this series on euthanasia and assisted suicide we’ve examined what they are and what they are not, and we’ve examined how these laws are being abused overseas.  In this blog, we’re going to bring this information a little closer to home, literally and figuratively, and talk about the impact of these laws here in the United States, specifically in the states of Oregon and Washington.

On October 27, 1997, Oregon enacted the deceptively named “Death with Dignity Act” which allows terminally-ill Oregonians to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose. A 2008 study found that more than one out of every 4 people in the study who had requested assisted suicide were depressed.  However in the last 5 years, only 2% of patients requesting assisted suicide were referred for psychological evaluations. To make matters worse for someone who may be understandably upset by a negative diagnosis, as Barbara Wagner discovered, her health plan will not pay for aggressive cancer treatments, but offered her coverage to kill herself.  Something else to consider is that because Oregon doesn’t require oversight or protection, almost 90% of those killing themselves did not have a prescribing physician present. In fact, at least one person who died by assisted suicide in 2015 obtained the lethal dose 1,004 days prior, even though the law requires a 6-month diagnosis.

None of this is to say that oversight is the answer.  Consider the case of Dr. Charles Bentz who had a patient who was understandably depressed due to his cancer diagnosis.  When the cancer specialist who Dr. Bentz had referred his patient to called and asked Dr. Bentz to provide the “second opinion” for his patient to die of assisted suicide, Dr Bentz, knowing his patient was depressed, and therefore not qualified for assisted suicide, refused.  Apparently the cancer specialist continued to call more doctors until he found one who would prescribe death for their mutual patient because the patient eventually died of assisted suicide.

Washington State has had similar experiences.  In 2014, there were 175 lethal prescriptions written, but only 126 assisted suicide deaths.  That means there are potentially 50 lethal doses of prescriptions out there floating around like a ticking time bomb.  What’s going to happen when some poor little child stumbles across one of those pill bottles?

The experiences of doctor-prescribed suicide in the states of Oregon and Washington have proven one thing.  They have proven that when someone has just been given terrible news, when they are suffering, they do not need a doctor coming alongside them with a bunch of pills to kill themselves. What they need is people like us to comfort, support, and encourage them, and to help them find that there’s always a reason to choose life.

March 21^st is World Down Syndrome Day so you may see an increase of articles about individuals with Down syndrome who have had great success in life.  People like restaurant owner Tim Harris, special Olympian Karen Gaffney, model Madeline Stuart, and actress Lauren Potter are just a few of the over 400,000 individuals in the United States proving every day that Down syndrome is not a disease or disability, just a disorder.

Unfortunately, doctors have failed to hear this message.  Far too often when Down syndrome is detected in a preborn baby, the first reaction of the doctor is to recommend an abortion.  The parents are told they should not have to be burdened with this child who may need some extra tutoring, or even therapy and extra time being educated, resulting in abortion of these special children 75-92% of the time.

In response to the doctor’s prejudice and discrimination, in 2014 the Pennsylvania legislature passed, and Governor Corbett signed, “Chloe’s Law”.  This legislation requires medical practitioners to give accurate information, provided by the PA Department of Health, about Down syndrome to the parents.  It also requires the parents be given up-to-date information reviewed by medical experts as well as information about support services for children with Down syndrome to parents whose preborn child has been diagnosed with the disorder.  The bill is named for Chloe Kondrich, an amazing 6^th grader from Upper St. Clair who happens to have Down syndrome but could read by age 3 and has been in a regular classroom since first grade.

It is important that we do all we can to support those who have found out they are going to be blessed with a child with Down syndrome.  These parents are frequently given all the negative information and the challenges that can arise and they often feel pressured to end the baby’s life before it has a chance to start. The goal of Chloe’s Law, and our goal overall, is to make sure parents of not just babies with Down syndrome, but all pre-born babies, have all the information they need to not be afraid but to always choose life.

As someone who has spent his career in communications of one type or another, I am very interested in the idea of free speech.  I firmly believe it is vital, especially in a democratic republic like ours, to have a robust and vigorous discussion of important issues.  Even when there are opinions expressed contrary to my own, I work to refute those opinions based on evidence and sound logic, not to just squash them so they are not heard.  As we’re seeing more and more often this Presidential political season, when one side tries to drown out another, instead of listening and responding, both sides lose.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that those who support abortion are quite so fair minded when it comes to freedom of speech and while abortion advocates use every means at their disposal to disseminate their propaganda, they protest when their views are not promoted and are loathe to give the pro-life movement a fair opportunity to do the same.

There are many examples of the main stream media and entertainment outlets repeating pro-abortion messages. Last year during the popular show Scandal, the main character Olivia Pope was shown having an abortion with the song “O Holy Night” playing in the background.  During a recently released episode of the hit Netflix series House of Cards, one of the main characters Claire Underwood touted Planned Parenthood’s supposed work doing mammograms screenings (only problem being, they don’t do mammograms).

When a member of the media doesn’t mimic big abortion’s talking points, abortion advocates are quick to cry foul.  Consider the uproar over the Doritos Super bowl ad NARAL accused of humanizing fetuses and the similar outcry when the New York Times’ front page didn’t include any pictures of the pro-abortion crowd at the Supreme Court hearings for Whole Women’s Health v Hellerstedt (never mind pro-abortion advocates had to pay people to be there).

Unfortunately the main stream media and entertainment world do not stop there.  They try to silence the pro-life message by threatening to rape pro-life supporters, as a pro-abortion Purdue University staff member did to a pro-life student activist in February or by creating a special google chrome extension that changes the words “pro-life” to “anti-choice”.  A recent example of this is Cosmopolitan’s decision to publish actress Amy Brenneman’s story about her abortion, but not Congresswoman Diane Black’s thoughtful letter to the editor in response.

It’s fairly obvious why abortion advocates have to employ these kind of dishonest and deplorable tactics.  When they are confronted with science, medicine, and facts, abortion advocates know they will lose every time.  This is why the public is recognizing the value of life more and more often. It is why abortion clinics are closing all over the country and why the younger generation is overwhelmingly pro-life.  Most importantly it is why the demand for abortion is decreasing.  The only answer for abortion advocates is to suppress the truth as much as possible and try to replace it with their version of reality.

Last week we began a series on euthanasia and assisted suicide by talking about what they are, and what they are not. This week we will discuss some examples of euthanasia and assisted suicide overseas, and look at how they are being used and next week we’ll consider their use in North America (Canada and the United States) before wrapping the series up with a discussion on how to make sure this type of legislation doesn’t become law in Pennsylvania.

There are some alarming examples of people who have committed suicide or euthanasia overseas, which it is important to study as a harbinger of what is to come here in Pennsylvania if we are not vigilant.  Perhaps the most alarming of all these was Pietro D’Amico who died by assisted suicide at a Switzerland suicide clinic in April 2013 because he was diagnosed as being terminally ill, only to have his autopsy reveal he was given a wrong diagnosis.  Then there is the case of Ann, who died by euthanasia in 2012 after accusing her psychiatrist (who subsequently lost his medical license) of sexually exploiting her and several other patients, causing her pain she said was unbearable and making her want to die.  Finally, consider the case of Marty and Eddy, brothers born deaf and going blind. They committed euthanasia together in December of 2012 because they were afraid of becoming dependent on others.  These are just a few of many examples of people who needed help, but instead got a prescription to kill themselves.

It is apparent after looking at several studies done in Belgium that these cases are not the exception, but the rule.  One study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in June of 2010 surveyed 1678 nurses.  Of those, 1265 responded and 248 (almost 20%) reported their last patient died by euthanasia.  Almost half of those (120) reported the deaths were hastened without explicit request and in 14 of the cases, the nurses admitted to injecting the patients, even though it is still illegal for them to do so, even in Belgium.  According to a 2015 Belgian euthanasia report, there were 2021 euthanasia deaths that year, more than double the reported euthanasia deaths just 5 years ago…despite the fact that estimates of unreported euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands start at 20% and increase from there.  These, and other similar studies, prove that these laws do not provide the necessary controls and are being abused.  Even Dr. Jan Bernhein, a pioneer of the Belgian euthanasia law admitted during a debate in November 2013 “There are problems with the Belgian euthanasia law”.  As Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition replied “That is cold comfort to the dead”.

When you consider these cases and studies, among many others, it is clear what a disaster these laws are.  There is little to any real oversight and control, and people are dying who just need a helping hand.  Unfortunately this is not just a phenomenon overseas, as we’ll discuss next week.