UPDATE 7:45p: An abortion proponent on Twitter sent me a link to a 2008 Daily News story, wherein Angelou said she supported abortion. So between 1994 and then she tragically “evolved,” as President Obama would say. Angelou chose life and reaped many blessings from it, but she ultimately did not wish the same blessings on other mothers and babies.

9:32a: Yesterday, when news broke that author and poet Maya Angelou had passed away at age 86, liberal feminists began pouring in tributes (also see example above and below).

Baring my ignorance here, I only knew of Angelou as having been selected to deliver a poem at Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration (right). That’s all I thought I needed to know about her.

But reading a tribute to Angelou by Red State’s Erick Erickson this morning led me to the revelation that Maya Angelou courageously chose life after discovering she was pregnant at the age of 16:

I was scared to pieces. Back then, if you had money, there were some girls who got abortions, but I couldn’t deal with that idea. Oh, no. No. I knew there was somebody inside me. So I decided to keep the baby.

Angelou went on to raise her little boy (pictured together, below right), even though times were tough:

I’m telling you that the best decision I ever made was keeping that baby! Yes, absolutely. Guy was a delight from the start - so good, so bright, and I can’t imagine my life without him.

At 17 I got a job as a cook and later as a nightclub waitress. I found a room with cooking privileges, because I was a woman with a baby and needed my own place. My mother, who had a 14-room house, looked at me as if I was crazy! She said, “Remember this: You can always come home.” She kept that door open. And every time life kicked me in the belly, I would go home for a few weeks.

I struggled, sure. We lived hand-to-mouth, but it was really heart-to-hand. Guy had love and laughter and a lot of good reading and poetry as a child. Having my son brought out the best in me and enlarged my life. Whatever he missed, he himself is a great father today. He was once asked what it was like growing up in Maya Angelou’s shadow, and he said, “I always thought I was in her light.”

Years later, when I was married, I wanted to have more children, but I couldn’t conceive. Isn’t it wonderful that I had a child at 16? Praise God!”

Now, I admire Angelou. Whatever her politics were, she chose life, then beautifully put into writing the blessings of her choice.

I also have quickly grown to admire Angelou’s mother, from whom there are lessons to be learned on how to gracefully embrace a situation in which many of we parents find ourselves.

Angelou’s pregnancy, subsequent life struggles, and son certainly enriched her mind, heart, soul, and creative expression, perhaps this?

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

Or this?

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.

Learning about Angelou’s history today has humbled me, serving as a reminder not to prejudge anyone, which is easy to do in the world in which pro-life activists function.

National Review has posted an anti-abortion statement Angelou signed on to in the 1990s.

[Inauguration photo via WhiteHouse.gov; mother and son photo via Huffington Post]

by Kelli

Their website describes what you get[:] “You are taken directly to a private room, where you will fill out any necessary paperwork, consult with the doctor, and recover. Our VIP rooms are designed to make you feel at home, with a luxurious mahogany bed, oil paintings, Internet and TV for complete privacy and comfort. Patient escorts are allowed to stay with the patient throughout the duration of their visit at our private clinic….

VIP Surgical Patients may also elect to have the entire facility and staff dedicated solely to their needs and care, in which case we close the facility to any other patient on that particular day. No other patient will be scheduled or seen during your entire visit, thus keeping our NYC abortion clinic completely private. Our entire staff will be dedicated to your care, and your care alone.”

Apparently this abortion clinic caters to the “needs of public figures, celebrities, and high-profile individuals… and you can schedule a VIP abortion appointment and Confidential Concierge Services.”

What does this “service” get you? This abortion clinic will arrange “flights, car service, hotels or personal care.”…

But all this fancy treatment doesn’t seem to keep patients from warning others to STAY AWAY [click below to enlarge].

~ Saynsumthn’s Blog, describing Eastside Gynecology in New York City, May 27

More photos available here.

[HT: Life Dynamics]

“A fool and his money are soon parted” is a phrase that came to mind when reading the May 26 Houston CultureMap story, “Auction party: The stakes are raised for Planned Parenthood at this artful River Oaks bash,” about a “Fine Art Auction benefitting Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.”

Houston’s pro-abortion elite are either unaware or pretending not to notice that Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast is up to its ears in legal trouble.

I reported last week that a third Medicaid lawsuit has emerged accusing  PPGC of Medicaid fraud.

Two of those cases are pending, but the third has been settled with the Department of Justice, costing PPGC $4.3 million. All three clinics under investigation were forced to close.

One of those clinics, in Lufkin, Texas, had only opened in late 2006, at a cost of $1.5 million. Funds for that money pit were donated or raised by Ellie and Buddy Temple and the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, Jean and David Dolben, and Joan Duncan.

None of those names appeared on the guest list at the Houston soiree.  Perhaps this was a coincidence, or perhaps it’s as fellow Texan President George W. Bush once quipped, “Fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.” Whatever, more on the Houston event from the article:

Where: The artful River Oaks home of Judy and Scott Nyquist.

The 411: Guests sipped wine and nibbled light bites from A La Carte Catering while strolling from room to room to view and bid on donated art treasures from well-known artists such as Patrick Hughes, Jim Dine, James Surls, William Wegman, MANUAL, Don Reitz and Joe Aker, who was on hand to share the story behind his iconic photograph “Lonely Road.” The auction items were displayed among the Nyquists’ own exquisite collection, generating lively conversation among the art lovers.

Presiding over the auction was Houston artist and philanthropist  Kathryn Rabinow who, with her daughter Sarah Pesikoff, is chairing the “The Gala: For a Million Women, For a Million Reasons,” benefiting Planned Parenthood, on Oct. 25 at the Hilton Americas-Houston. The Reitz and Surls sculptures were sold outright and Rabinow even received phone-in bids as the party progressed.

Who: The artistic crowd included Elizabeth Weingarten, Anne Chao, Beverly and Howard Robinson, David Haug, Page Kempner, Anne Tucker, Adam Newar, Eddie Allen, Ruth and Tom Dreesen, Carol Neuberger, Lois Stark, Leslie and Russ Robinson and Anne Graubart.

(Tom Dreesen the comedian, I wonder?)

I really do wonder how many of these moneybags know they’re likely donating to the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Medicaid Fraud Endowment Fund?

More photos from the lovely event to support mass murder, all via Houston.Culturemap.com, with photos by Sarah Austin (click twice to enlarge)…

[Top photo, via Houston.Culturemap.com, L to R: Susan Bischoff and Eddie Allen in front of a Jim Dine painting; Lufkin screen shot via Saynsumthn’s Blog]

UPDATE 5/28 3:28p: Ha! Aljazeera is reporting the story, “Anti-abortion activists ‘hijack’ #WomensHealth.” Great job, pro-lifers! Still plenty of time to join in!

5/27 9:15p: Pro-life alert: Tomorrow, May 28, is the International Day of Action for Women’s Health, established in 1987 “as a means to speak out on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.”

To that end international abortion pushers are planning to “occupy social media” tomorrow to promote abortion as necessary healthcare worldwide.

The event takes place from 9a to 9p, whatever one’s local time.

Life Blast Prolife Social Media Project is planning a “Twitterstorm Takeover [to] tell them: Abortion is NOT Healthcare!” during those same hours. Join the group on Facebook.

Use their hashtags #May28 and #WomensHealth. The other side is asking its supporters to tweet every two hours, not a tall order. We can do that as well. Let’s rebut with messaging that explains how abortion hurts and even kills women.

by Hans Johnson

The YouTube description explains the purpose of this project, which was sponsored by Cirque du Soleil and Nova Envirocom:

To raise awareness among the general public about the global clean water crisis, the artist Belo created an image composed of 66,000 cups of colored rainwater simulating levels of impurities found in water all over the planet. This major work of 3,600 square feet, representing a fetus in the maternal womb, emphasizes the necessity of water, even before birth, for each living person.

To me, it also reminds us that the human body is fearfully and wonderfully made of trillions of cells. And that each of these “clumps of cells” are quite unique and valuable.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/WkfA7dpoUMM[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: LifeNews]

 
Today, Lila Rose and the Live Action team are launching a new comprehensive campaign, “Lies, Corruption, and Scandal: Six Years of Exposing Planned Parenthood.”

Beginning today, Live Action will hand-deliver a packet to every U.S. congressman and senator that includes a cover letter  providing an overview of Live Action’s investigative findings against Planned Parenthood over the course of six years, and a  report detailing Planned Parenthood’s expansive malfeasance.

At the same time Live Action is conducting a public campaign by unveiling a new website, PlannedParenthoodExposed.com, launching a petition drive, and releasing a video that gives a truly shocking six minute synopsis of Live Action’s six years of undercover investigations of the United States’ largest abortion corporation.

Those findings include:

Child sexual abuse

Racism

Deceptive and manipulative counseling

Sex trafficking help

False advertising and fraud

Sex-selective abortion

Lies about clinic safety

Here is that video. Each of Live Action’s undercover investigations has been shocking in and of itself. But ultimately each has revealed only a sliver of Planned Parenthood’s evil underbelly.

Put together, Live Action’s findings are truly unbelievable, particularly when one takes into consideration the fact that taxpayers hand Planned Parenthood over half a billion dollars EVERY YEAR - $1.4+ million A DAY.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EheaLupeUOk[/youtube]

Live Action is urging our legislators to halt funding of Planned Parenthood.

I mean, really. Fund an organization that is willing to cover up the statutory rape of a 13-yr-old by a 31-yr-old? That is “excited” to take donations specifically to abort black babies? That lies to vulnerable women about child development? That aids and abets child sex traffickers, whose victims may also have been illegally smuggled into the United States? That engages in false advertising (at the highest levels) and fraud? That is willing to commit sex-selective abortions of baby girls, just because they are girls? That lies to prospective patients about the safety of their clinics? That lobbies in favor of infanticide?

Seriously, what is to like about Planned Parenthood, not loathe?

The only explanation for a politician to support taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood is corruption – mutual back-scratching.

We must stop this madness. Be sure to sign Live Action’s petition and get the word out.

“Gun control” means controlling those things whose first purpose is to help people kill other people… And the idea that you can be pro-life and still be pro-gun: if your primary concern is actually with the sacredness of life, then you have to stand with Richard Martinez [pictured], in memory of his son. (pro-life gun control )

~ Writer Adam Gopnick, demanding gun control legislation in light of the recent mass shooting at the University of California, Santa Barbara, The New Yorker, May 25

by Kelli

We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• Clinic Quotes shares a statistic that may shed some light on why so many pro-choicers seem desperate to allow virtually anyone to perform abortions:
  

  According to Medical Students for Choice, an organization that advocates for medical schools to train more abortion providers[,] over a third of OB/GYN residents have no training in first trimester abortions. The organization also says that nearly all family practitioners lack this training.

• At Live Action News, Lauren Enriquez addresses an abortionist’s claim that abortion is “safer than penicillin” and that admitting privileges are unnecessary:
  

  As Live Action’s Sarah Terzo chronicled, “In 2003, an ACS/AMA (American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association) had a meeting… The participants unanimously came to the conclusion that: “Physicians performing office-based surgery must have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, a transfer agreement with another physician who has admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, or maintain an emergency transfer agreement with a nearby hospital.”

• Culture Campaign says the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and the Center for Health and Gender Equity have written a letter to President Obama, urging him to break a law and allow abortions for citizens of foreign countries to obtain abortions in overseas U.S. clinics.
• Surprise, surprise. Euthanasia Prevention Coalition shares the news that a Swiss assisted suicide group now wants to “help” healthy elderly people to end their lives:
  

  Last weekend, at their annual general meeting, Exit, an assisted suicide group in Switzerland, decided to extend assisted suicide to healthy elderly people who are living with some form of physical or psychological pain.

Psychological pain refers to a person who lives with depression, mental illness or “feelings of hopelessness.”

• Fletcher Armstrong shares an example of the dehumanizing, anti-life language used by abortion advocates – this time on the campus of George Mason University.
• Josh Brahm shares the exciting news that yet another of his friends, Roni Cairns, has converted to the pro-life position. She shares her conversion story as the large part of Josh’s post.

• At The Guiding Star Project, Jess Schneider reflects on her own infertility and miscarriage:
  

  If my eighth grade sex ed class had not solidified my pro-life stance, my infertility would have definitely done the job….

The last ten years of my life have been wrought with the pain of infertility and a body that works differently, but also with the joys and challenges of parenthood. With every pregnancy I am reminded how very real and alive the child inside of me is, and how truly dark the circumstances are for those that believe their only choice is abortion. It is not possible to go through the kind of agony infertility provides and not believe the child’s life begins at conception.

• Bound4Life discusses the “pro-choice” violence perpetrated recently against a 17-year-old pro-life student in Alabama named Ke’Ontai, who was handing out post-abortion counseling material:
  

  He had been out in his neighborhood park on Sunday passing out Students for Life’s Abortion is not Social Justice postcards, when one man started arguing with him about when life begins. He shouted at Ke’Ontai that his wife had just had an abortion because “that’s what they needed to do.”And when Ke’Ontai tried to give him some post-abortion counseling material, the guy yelled that he didn’t want it, pushed Ke’Ontai down, and started punching him in the face.

  After telling him to file a police report, we asked Ke’Ontai if he needed anything from our team.

  His reply stunned me. Ke’Ontai said that while he had forgiven the man who assaulted him, he just wants pro-lifers across the nation to pray for the man and wife.

[Photos via thinkprogress.org, scientificamerican.com]