Tag Archives: Abortion

The upcoming 2018 March for Life will be the 45^th annual March for Life, totaling 45 years of Roe v. Wade – and legalized abortion – in America. This corresponds with the loss of nearly 59 million Americans to abortion in our country since 1973.

This is a tragic, heartbreaking statistic to consider. Every abortion is one too many, and our vision at the March for Life is a world in which every human life is valued and protected. We work towards the day when abortion is unthinkable in our country.

While there is still much work to be done, the pro-life movement has made great progress in the past 45 years. March for Life President Jeanne Mancini recently wrote about this in the Heritage Foundation’s 2017 Index of Culture and Opportunity in a piece entitled “Why Life is Winning.”

Among other signs that life is winning, she cites the steep decline in the abortion rate since its height in 1980.

Pro-life scholar Chuck Donovan of the Charlotte Lozier Institute recently joined Jeanne to discuss the abortion rate, as well as other cultural and legislative indicators on the side of life. Chuck also discussed a winning approach: to overwhelm ‘the other side’ with love.

WATCH:

A few key points discussed include:

• After the legalization of abortion in 1973, the numbers and rate of abortions surged for a period. In 1980, abortion rates began to decrease. The Hyde amendment, barring Medicaid-funded abortions was passed in 1976.
• The rate continues to decrease under both Republican and Democrat Administrations – we need to look to cultural factors to fully understand.
• Ultimately, the American people are rejecting the fundamental message of Roe; which is that abortion has minimal legal limits, is medically routine, and that it can happen up to birth.
• When you look at the numbers, we’re back at the 1973 level today. Will the Americans take the next step and decide that Roe is bad law?
• We now have a generation that has experienced what abortion does – our youth understand that abortion is violence; and they reject it.
• With ultrasound technology and what we know about abortion procedures, there is no way an abortion can be classified as anything other than violence. You also cannot deny the humanity of the baby in the womb.
• Abortion clinics are also declining in number, while Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs) have proliferated. These centers date back to the early days of the pro-life movement.
• There are 3100 PRCs across the country – that’s 4x the number of abortion clinics.
• There’s still a lot of work to do with 900,000 abortions per year and chemical abortions on the rise.

For more information:

Heritage Foundation Index of Opportunity on Culture: “Why Life is Winning,” by Jeanne Mancini

Heritage Foundation “Index of Culture and Opportunity”: Life Is on the Right Track

The post VIDEO: Why Life is Winning appeared first on March For Life.

This week will mark the 41^st anniversary of the Hyde Amendment. This public policy, a rider included in appropriations bills, has been referred to one of the most important public health initiatives in history, credited with saving literally millions of lives since its enactment. Sadly it is also under attack by pro-abortion forces and lawmakers who want abortion to be free for all women and paid for by the government.

Here’s what you need to know about the Hyde Amendment:

1. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal Medicaid dollars from paying for abortion.

2. The Hyde Amendment was first enacted by Congress in 1976 and has been passed each year since then with bipartisan support. (September 30 is its 41^st)

3. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of Americans oppose their tax dollars paying for abortion.

10 years of @maristpoll show overwhelming majority of Americans consistently opposed to taxpayer funding of abortion https://t.co/FXSu1mPK4d pic.twitter.com/4z7xoaDyS5

— March for Life (@March_for_Life) July 21, 2017

4. Publicly funded abortions were happening in the 1970s at a high rate. Since the passage of the Hyde Amendment, the abortion rate has dropped significantly.

5. Since its enactment, an estimated 2.13 million lives have been saved due to the Hyde Amendment. (Read more on this data from Dr. Michael New in his report for the Lozier Institute, “Hyde @ 40: Analyzing the Impact of the Hyde Amendment.”)

Additionally, last week, March for Life President Jeanne Mancini and Charlotte Lozier Institute President Chuck Donovan discussed the cultural and policy factors contributing to “why life is winning” in America. While we still have our work cut out for us to make abortion is unthinkable in the United States, the Hyde Amendment has been a policy that has aided in building a culture of life, through education and literally saving over 2 million lives since 1976.

During the Facebook Live discussion, Chuck Donovan makes a powerful statistical analogy: when you fly on a plane, on average 1 or 2 of those lives have been saved by the Hyde Amendment. That certainly puts its importance into perspective! With the vast number of lives this policy has impacted, it is rightly referred to as one of the most important public health initiatives in history.

You can watch the clip of the discussion on the Hyde Amendment below, or the full conversation HERE.

The post 5 Facts to Know About the Life-Saving Hyde Amendment appeared first on March For Life.

On Tuesday, March for Life President Jeanne Mancini, gathered with other pro-life leaders to urge Congress to take action on defunding the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, and to redirect those funds to life-affirming health care centers.

The press conference was part of Students for Life’s #Sockit2PP, in which they collected 328,348 baby socks, representing the tragic number of babies lost to abortion at Planned Parenthood each year.

You can read Jeanne Mancini’s remarks and watch the video below:

“On behalf of the March for Life and the collectively millions of pro-life Americans that have participated over the years—the large majority young people — we join together today in a united voice, a majority voice that seeks to defend and protect the inherent dignity of every human person. Abortion is the human rights issue of today but Americans are moving in the direction of life. 

Consider a recent poll revealed that eight out of 10 Americans would limit abortion to—at most—the first three months of pregnancy.

And most Americans (six out of 10) believe that abortion is morally wrong. While groups like Planned Parenthood seek to “shout your abortion,” the truth is that abortion always takes a life and wounds another and even the best PR campaign funded by millions of dollars can’t change this reality. 

Planned Parenthood is our nation’s largest abortion provider, sadly committing over 320,000 abortions during the last year that data was available. All the while getting almost half of their more than billion dollar budget from federal and state gov’t grants; from our taxpayer dollars.

Yet the majority of Americans (61 percent) do not support taxpayer funding for abortion.

We are at a critical juncture to send the federal and state dollars that our nation’s largest abortion provider has been receiving to real health alternatives, the kind of holistic health centers that outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities by a margin of 20 – 1.”

WATCH: (Jeanne’s remarks begin at the 22:00 mark.)

The post It’s Time to Defund Planned Parenthood appeared first on March For Life.

Abby Johnson is the epitome of “the power of one.”

At the 2017 March for Life, Abby shared her story of quitting her job as director of a Planned Parenthood and going on to start a pro-life organization, And Then There Were None (ATTWN).

“I stand in front of you today as a woman who spent 8 years of her life working and running a Planned Parenthood facility but because of the power of conversion…I stand in front of you, as a woman who has been redeemed from her past.”

ATTWN has helped 330 abortion clinic workers and seven full-time abortion doctors leave the abortion industry. In fact, many of these “quitters,” as she affectionately calls them, stood with her on stage at the March for Life.

Abby relates the “power of one” to each of the “quitters” standing with her. “Almost every woman standing here today was touched by one person. For a client named Annette, it was some someone who slipped our website [brochure] under her windshield.” She goes on to say, “For me, it was a 13 week baby in the womb who changed my life.”

In 2010, the year after she quit her job at Planned Parenthood, Abby published, “Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader’s Eye-Opening Journey across the Life Line.” In the memoir, Abby tells the story of assisting in an actual abortion procedure – of a 13-week baby in the womb – and being hit by the realization of what was happening. That dramatic moment led her to quit her job and walk out of the abortion industry forever.

>>>> Many March for Life participants had a chance to meet with Abby and purchase copies of “UnPlanned” at a book signing at the March for Life Conference and Expo. You can also purchase the book from Amazon.

Abby concluded her 2017 March for Life remarks with these encouraging and bold words, urging participants to dig down and realize the “power of one” in each of us, which collectively becomes an unstoppable force.

“Now is the time to be unabashedly pro-life; to be bold in our defense of the unborn and their mothers. Through the power of all of us, we will not only work to make abortion illegal but we will see a day when abortion is truly unthinkable in this country.”

>>>> Learn more about And Then There Were None.

The post Hundreds of Abortion Workers Leaving the Industry appeared first on March For Life.

It’s not even officially summer yet, but debate over health care legislation on Capitol Hill is heating up.

In May, the House of Representatives passed a health care reconciliation bill that contained pro-life protections, such as a prohibition on any federal tax subsidies paying for abortion and a redirection of Planned Parenthood’s funding towards Federally Qualified Health Centers.

But with so many issues on the table, I’m concerned about our pro-life priorities remaining in the legislation as it works its way through the Senate.

This is the opportunity to defund Planned Parenthood, so pro-life America must speak out!

>>>> Your voice is needed to urge the Senate to keep these critical pro-life policies in the bill. Contact your Senators today!

This afternoon, at 4:00 p.m. ET, March for Life President Jeanne Mancini and myself will be coming to you LIVE on Facebook to discuss and update you on the pro-life concerns with the legislation. Will you join us?

CLICK HERE to watch video. (If you’re not able to watch live, the video will be available to watch on demand after.)

Thank you for making your voice heard on this important issue!

The post Tune in at 4:00 P.M. for Important Health Care Update appeared first on March For Life.