by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN, and Kelli

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

• 40 Days for Life looks back at the history of the infamous, now-closed Bryan/College Station Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. It was the site of the very first 40 Days campaign, and was also the place where former PP employee Abby Johnson experienced a pro-life conversion.
• Americans United for Life shares the latest media poll numbers which show that “a plurality of Americans prefer reducing the limit on late-term abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks” and that women are more supportive of greater restrictions than men.

• At Live Action, Nancy Flanders reports on Tuesday Cain (pictured left, with her supportive pro-choice father), the young teen who is proudly taking credit for creating a vulgar sign seen during the Texas Capitol protests which read, “Jesus isn’t a d***, so keep him out of my vagina”:
  

  Now that she has made sure to receive the credit for creating the sign, Tuesday plans on creating T-shirts to express her feelings. And while Tuesday says she knows a post-abortive woman who is now pro-life, it doesn’t change her stance. She says that this woman, likely with post-abortion syndrome, is one of the reasons she will continue to fight for abortion rights.

  And if witnessing someone’s pain and regret at killing her own children isn’t enough to instill a sense of wrong when it comes to abortion, perhaps an education will. Tuesday is fourteen and she wants to be a science teacher. It is my hope that in learning about science, Tuesday will soon see that even females in the womb deserve rights, no matter the religion of their parents.

• Fletcher Armstrong writes a stinging rebuke of church leadership’s excuses for refusing to address the abortion with their congregations. Many pastors have become social activities directors instead of getting involved in abolishing this “great injustice.” But this is nothing new:
  

  But has the [church’s] response been anything more than ineffective half-measures, at best? Is that a surprise? Not if we look at how the Body of Christ responded to genocide against Jewish people and countless other crimes against humanity. To our eternal shame, the church has often been more concerned with saving face than saving lives….

  The church often seems preoccupied with other matters during times of great injustice.

• Clinic Quotes highlights a statement from Drea Olmstead (pictured right), an Oregon OB/GYN who believes parents should know about their minor daughter’s abortion because “it is highly unlikely that a teenage girl will seek appropriate treatment for complications arising from secret abortion, thus endangering her health.”
• Big Blue Wave finds it strange that – thanks to a gag order on the case – a New Zealand abortionist who has been fined, suspended for six months, prohibited from prescribing the misoprostol abortion drug for 3 years, and convicted of professional misconduct will not be publicly named. How does this protect the health and safety of women? After suspension, can we expect this abortionist to continue working without having to disclose past disciplinary actions?
• Expectant father Jason writes honestly in his blog about how he reacted with worry when he found out his wife was pregnant with their “surprise” third child, and how he soon discovered that “the next big thing might be the small thing in front of you”:
  

  I probably should have felt thrilled about bringing new life into this world from the first moment I learned the news. But the truth is, I wasn’t.

  I suspect that is often the case any time our story changes in a way we didn’t anticipate, even if that change is mostly a good one. Our stories are bursting with opportunities for adventure. I’m slowly learning that the biggest among them might be hidden within the circumstances clothed in uncertainty.

[Photos via xojane.com, whallc.com]

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• Another former employee of Planned Parenthood of Delaware is set to testify about the dangerous practices at their clinic:
  

  Former manager Melody Meanor and two nurses said they will testify today at a legislative hearing in Wilmington that Planned Parenthood failed to inform as many as 200 women that they tested positive for gonorrhea and chlamydia, and failed to notify 87 women of results of their colposcopies.

• Legislators in Tasmania’s Upper House are hearing testimony on a bill to legalize abortion up to 16 weeks.
• The city of Portland officials are looking into options to limit a group who have been protesting at a local abortion clinic:
  

  Since last summer, 10 to 20 protesters have stood outside the clinic every Friday morning with pictures of aborted fetuses and pamphlets to discourage clients from choosing abortion. More recently, they have been showing up on Saturday mornings, too.

  City officials said in December they were looking into their legal options for limiting the protests, but the matter has not come before the council and the meeting Tuesday is seen by some as a possible first step in the process.

• Abortionist Nicola Riley (pictured left) has been allowed to keep her Utah medical license despite almost killing a woman in Maryland and at one point being charged with murder. All she has to do is write an essay:
  

  Utah’s Physician Licensing Board ruled recently that Dr. Nicola Riley could keep her license so long as she writes an essay about what she learned from the 2010 incident, The Salt Lake Tribune reported….

  In August 2010, Riley performed an abortion at a clinic in Elkton, Md., however, the 18-year-old patient’s uterus ruptured. The young woman survived, but Maryland prosecutors got an indictment against her on murder and conspiracy charges.

[Photo via wjla.com]

A woman named Julia Gallardo has posted video from 2011 with a shocking claim – that her friend had a late-term abortion, but was not properly anesthetized during the procedure and heard her baby girl, who had been born alive, cry.

She also tearfully states that her friend’s family later found out that the baby girl had survived and was placed for adoption:

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

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Saynsumthn]

Looking at Gallup over the years, opposition to abortion after six months has never dropped below 80 percent. Even at three months, the numbers are still impressive: Over 60 percent of Americans consistently oppose abortions after the first trimester, and in 2011 they rose to 71 percent.

If these were election results, you’d call it a landslide….

Reporters describe the new [Texas] law as “sweeping” and “extreme.”…

But the French might call it permissive. France bans abortion after just 12 weeks. In fact, most of Europe agrees with Texas. Most of the world agrees with Texas. So, who are the extremists?

We are often told we must reach common ground…. This plea generally comes from the political left, for whom common ground on abortion means taxpayer-funded contraception, which simply changes the subject. On abortion itself, they admit no compromise: no limitation, no delay, no parental involvement, not even personal financial responsibility….

The “pro-choice” fringe is not only fighting public opinion, but science and medicine as well…. Medical experts are demonstrating that fetuses can feel pain much earlier in pregnancy than previously thought, a reality that adds a whole new dimension to the abortion debate and was the driving force behind the new Texas law….

The growing acceptance of the truth about fetal pain gives late-term abortion defenders a tremendous challenge – not only to find ways to obscure the reality that abortion takes a human life, but to find the right words to excuse what we now know is torture.

There are no such words. And so they bring jars of urine.

~ Cathy Cleaver Ruse, The Daily Caller, July 24

[Photo via thetreeofliberty.com]

by Lead Moderator Carla

I have been on Facebook for years and have added many pro-lifers to my friends list in an effort to stay current on pro-life issues. But I also try to educate the friends I have who do not know the truth about the abortion industry.

In at least four instances, I have been involved in helping stop forced abortions by simply responding to status updates or prayer requests on Facebook. These were women and teenage girls being coerced by boyfriends or parents. I responded with immediate practical help and advice to keep innocent lives from being destroyed. One of the ways I did this was to encourage them to contact The Center Against Forced Abortion, which is a project of The Justice Foundation.

My friend, attorney Allan Parker, is at JF to help women who are being forced into abortions. CAFA also provides several forms that can be downloaded, printed, and distributed to young women, their parents, or their significant others. These should be in the hands of every sidewalk counselor and should also be available at pregnancy resource centers.

In the cases where I have been involved, those who were trying to force an abortion were advised that their actions were illegal.

The Center Against Forced Abortion has this to say about coercion:

Problem –

• Gives pregnancy centers a proven strategy to defend teens from parentally coerced abortions
• Equips the teen mother with legal documents empowering her decision to keep her child
• Trial distributions indicate the strategy is very effective (testimonies below)
• If just one baby is saved at two out of every three pregnancy resource centers that receive the letter and training, then CAFA will facilitate the protection of 2,000 babies lives

There have also been instances when abortion vulnerable and abortion minded mothers that have sent personal messages to me on Facebook seeking help. In those cases, I have been able to refer many to pregnancy resource centers, and others to post-abortion recovery programs if they were forced into abortions.

We don’t have to helplessly stand on the sidewalk when a young woman is crying out to us that she DOES NOT want an abortion, and we don’t have to merely post a sad face comment on social media in response. We can help to stop forced abortions!

Lives of mothers and their children have been saved through social media. Facebook has given us all an amazing opportunity to make a difference, and I, for one, will not squander it.

by LauraLoo

Topic not suitable for children.

As featured during Family Life Today (part 1 and part 2)…

Former pastor Tom Ryan tells of his descent into the world of sexual addiction.  Beginning with sexual exploration in early adolescence, his behavior quickly became compulsive and continued into marriage, much to his dismay.  Tom recalls warring against his faith and praying to God for deliverance from his sin.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjN2pNVNzHw[/youtube]

Tom is also the author of Ashamed No More: A Pastor’s Journey Through Sex Addiction.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

Mark your calendar: What is sure to be one of the most controversial films of the year, After Tiller, will be released September 20.

The movie’s official site explains:

The procedure is now performed by only four doctors in the United States [pictured right], all former colleagues of Dr. Tiller, who risk their lives every day in the name of their unwavering commitment toward their patients. Directors Martha Shane and Lana Wilson have created a moving and unique exploration of one of the most incendiary topics of our time, and they’ve done so in an informative, thought-provoking, and compassionate way.

~ Erin Strecker announcing the recent release of the After Tiller documentary trailer, below, Entertainment Weekly, July 26

[youtube]http://youtu.be/4vbqXzxnqzU[/youtube]

[Photo ABC News]

Good morning! Here were my favorite political cartoons this past week. Be sure to vote for your fav in the poll at the bottom of this post!

by Dana Summers at GoComics.com…

 by Bob Gorrell at Townhall.com…

 by Ken Catalino at GoComics.com…

 by Glenn McCoy at Townhall.com…

 by Jerry Holbert at Townhall.com…