In beginning to consider an abortion, I looked first to the law. Islamic law makes allowances for abortion up to 16 weeks into the pregnancy (and beyond when the mother’s life is at risk).
The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said,

Based on this hadith, the classical scholars theorized that ensoulment occurs between three to four months in-utero, and built their rulings of abortion on this time frame.

~ Iman Ahmed revealing the process involved in her decision to have an abortion as a Muslim woman, Altmuslimah, May 21

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.

• Culture Campaign notes that despite the lack of reporting from mainstream media, Christians are successfully and quietly winning lawsuits against Obamacare’s HHS contraception/abortifacient mandate.
• At the FRC Blog, Chris Gacek gives two updates on the federal prosecution of a Florida man who gave his six-weeks-pregnant girlfriend misoprostol without her knowledge, causing an abortion. This appears to be the third use of the state’s Unborn Victims of Violence Act to prosecute an offender.

• At Bound4Life, Matt Lockett believes that God is using the horrors of the Kermit Gosnell (pictured left) trial to speak to the conscience of both the church and our nation. In part two of his series he writes:
  

  There is no question that the ugliest parts of the abortion industry are being exposed right now in increasing measure. The debate in the last few years has centered on birth control and so-called women’s health. These are huge topics for sure, but something has emerged in the meantime. We as a nation are now revisiting late-term abortion and infanticide in spite of the fact that Congress passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in 2002. We’re revisiting it because there appears to be an increasing number of examples where BAIPA isn’t preventing the abortion industry from murdering constitutionally protected Americans. While this is obviously an enormous legal question for the nation to grapple with, I believe God is using infanticide to pierce our hearts and speak to us about abortion as a whole. God is weighing our response….

  The church cannot turn away from this question.

• Euthanasia Prevention Coalition explains its opposition to the Assisted Dying Bill being introduced in the UK, which purports to assist in the suicides of only mentally competent adults with less than six months to live. However, as has been seen in several other countries, this will more than likely extend incrementally beyond this group.
• The Guiding Star Project discusses the difficulties of delivering a child under 20 weeks who has died in utero:
  

  You see, in most states, unless you are at a private hospital (and even then it might not matter), babies stillborn under 20 weeks of gestation, or any fetal remains of a miscarriage or D & C must be treated as medical waste….

  In many places it is next to impossible for parents to obtain the remains of their babies or have them released to a funeral home for a proper burial. Since life insurance policies do not cover miscarried or stillborn children, the costs of a funeral and all the necessities are often too high for a family who wasn’t expecting to have to bury a baby.

• Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life asks why ethical issues are not considered with regards to human cloning, when cloning “can be rejected on practical [as well as ethical] grounds”:
  

  Human cloning also raises other ethical concerns, including the commodification of human life; the dangers to the health (and possible exploitation) of women, from whom eggs must be harvested; the tenuous barrier between “therapeutic cloning” (SCNT for the purpose of killing cloned embryos to derive stem cells) and “reproductive cloning” (SCNT for the purpose of implanting cloned embryos in a woman’s uterus and allowing them to develop toward maturity), which could result in the birth of a cloned baby; and the possible development of other Brave New World technologies, such as genetic engineering….

  Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) seem to offer the same potential benefits as stem cells from cloned embryos (they are pluripotent and patient-matched), and they are easier and less expensive to produce. Moreover, every proven stem cell treatment to date has used ethically-uncontroversial adult stem cells. In short, the therapeutic benefits sought from human cloning can be achieved without it.

by Hans Johnson

In the wake of the recent IRS scandal, the Thomas More Society, representing three pro-life groups that received unwarranted scrutiny, presented Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) 150 pages of information. This is a description of one of those cases:

Coalition for Life of Iowa found itself in the IRS’s crosshairs when the group applied for tax exempt status in October 2008. Nearly ten months of interrogation about the group’s opposition to Planned Parenthood included a demand by a Ms. Richards from the IRS’ Cincinnati office unlawfully insisting that all board members sign a sworn declaration promising not to picket/protest Planned Parenthood. Further questioning by the IRS requested detailed information about the content of the group’s prayer meetings, educational seminars, and signs their members hold outside Planned Parenthood.

Last Friday Rep. Schock questioned outgoing interim IRS chief Steven Miller about the report, and the propriety of the IRS’ request: “Please detail the content of their prayers.”

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

Fox19 of Cincinnati has uncovered documents that contradict testimony given that the misconduct began not in 2010, but as early as April 2009.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: TheBlaze]

When Attorney General Eric Holder appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last Wednesday to provide information on a variety of scandals plaguing the Obama administration, he was also questioned about whether he had ever enforced the federal Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Holder’s response was the same as it was 56 other times that day: “I don’t know.”

[Catherine Davis, a founding member of the National Black Prolife Coalition] said she was outraged by the revelations. “There is a clear conflict of interest when the man charged with pursuing those that abuse the system is also one who is engaged in some way with the business.”

~ Dr. Susan Berry, Breitbart.com, May 20

[Video at link; photo via Live Action News]

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• In Arkansas, a man has been charged with domestic battery and negligent homicide for running over his pregnant girlfriend with a car. The woman, who was around 20 weeks pregnant, survived but the child did not.
• A woman in Great Britain with severe mental health problems is asking for permission to have an abortion at 23 weeks:
  

  The 37-year-old, who suffers from bipolar and paranoid delusions, had planned the pregnancy with her husband and previously seemed happy to be expecting a child. But last month, the woman, who is 23 weeks pregnant, became convinced that she wanted a termination.She wants to have a medical abortion, rather than surgery, which means a decision needs to be made “within a matter of days”….

  Dr T said he believed she had “the ability to understand the court proceedings,” but that she was not capable of making an informed decision about her unborn child. “Because of her persecutory delusions she refuses to take on information which she should be taking on to perform a balanced decision.”

• Some abortion advocates in Congress are targeting crisis pregnancy centers, claiming they want to ensure that pregnant women aren’t deceived:
  

  No one should ever be subjected to misleading information when they are seeking health care, especially during pregnancy,” [NJ Sen. Robert] Menendez (pictured left) said. “We have worked too hard to expand the availability of women’s health care services to have any confusion created by those who would deliberately deceive a woman to suit their own purposes.”

  Too bad Menendez doesn’t feel the same way when it comes to abortion clinics deceiving women.

• In Washington State, a man who raped and impregnated a preteen girl and took her to Planned Parenthood for an abortion has been sentenced to 6 years in jail and then he’ll have to leave the country:
  

  Luis Gonzalez-Jose, 31, raped the girl at a home in rural Whatcom County while her mother was in the shower, according to charging documents filed in Whatcom County Superior Court.

  He brought the girl to a Planned Parenthood clinic in August 2012. She told staff members that her 14-year-old boyfriend impregnated her, but she couldn’t give the boy’s name or address. Six weeks after the abortion, the girl told a detective how she had really become pregnant. Gonzalez-Jose had insisted “it would be best for her” to not have the baby, according to the documents.

  Gonzalez-Jose pleaded guilty to second-degree rape of a child in April. The girl’s family refused to cooperate with prosecutors, according to a Department of Corrections report.

  A previous article from the Bellingham Herald indicates Planned Parenthood alerted Child Protective Services.

[Image via asbarez.com]

by LauraLoo

Abby Johnson, former abortion clinic director for Planned Parenthood, was recently interviewed on In the Market with Janet Parshall.  (Audio starts at the 19:40 mark.)

Abby has also written a best-selling book, unPLANNED, and travels around the world sharing her story.  In June 2012, Abby started And Then There Were None, a ministry dedicated to helping abortion clinic workers leave the industry. Since June of 2012, Abby reported over 50 abortion workers have left the industry!

In the light of what abortion workers have experienced at Kermit Gosnell’s “house of horrors” in Philadelphia and now Douglas Karpen’s clinic in Houston, Abby’s ministry is a timely one.

Abby speaks to these workers – who often rationalize or justify working at these clinics even when they know it’s wrong – in the video below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O101qakhYEc[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

Following the tradition we started two years ago, we’re posting all the upcoming summer pro-life teen- and college-aged boot camps we could find around the country. If we missed any, please let Kelli know.

If I had teens in the house now I’d not only send them to church camp every summer, I’d send them to at least one pro-life boot camp during their high school years. These provide a great opportunity to build strength and confidence in the sanctity of life and also launch lifelong pro-life friendships.

It’s great to see so many pro-life groups in so many states sponsoring these vital training programs for our young people.

California

Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust will host its 2013 ProLife Training Camp in Silverado from June 17–28 for high school and college students.

Illinois

The Rockford Diocese will host a Life Leadership Camp in Rockford from July 29-30 for students entering grades 9-12 (ages 13-17).

Indiana

Allen County Right to Life will host its Friends for Life Boot Camp in Fort Wayne from July 26-27 for high school and college students.

Lake County Right to Life will host a one-day Pro-Life Adult Summit and Teen Boot Camp on June 22 in Chesterton.

Kansas/Missouri

The Archdiocese of Kansas City and Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph will co-host their 3rd Annual Teen Pro-Life Boot Camp in Kansas City from July 24-27 for ages 14-19.

Louisiana

Pro-Life Louisiana will host its Joshua Leadership Institute this year from July 14-18 for high school students and 1st year college students.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Citizens for Life is sponsoring an Annual Summer Academy for rising high school students every Wednesday night from July 10 – Aug 14 in Warren. Call (617) 242-4199 for details.

New Mexico

Survivors and Project Defending Life are teaming up to host their first New Mexico Pro-life Training Camp in Bernalillo from August 2-10.

New York

New York State Right to Life will host Camp Esther from August 23-25 in Utica for teens.

North Carolina

North Carolina Right to Life will host Camp Joshua from July 19-21 in Smithfield for high school sophomores, juniors and seniors.

Ohio

Youth for Life of Northeast Ohio will host a Summer Leadership Camp on July 13 for middle school and high school youth.

Texas

Catholic Pro-Life Committee and Catholics Respect Life will co-host their Pro-Life Boot Camp 2013 in Irving for ages 14-17. Two separate sessions are offered: June 28-30 or July 26-30.

Texas Right to Life will host REveAL Summer Camp for high school students. Two separate sessions are offered: July 20-23 or July 23-27.

Virginia

Virginia Society of Human Life will host Camp Joshua in Defiance from July 19-21 for high school students.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Teens for Life will host Camp Esther from July 14-16 and August 11-13, and Camp Nehemiah from July 17-19 and August 14-16 in Walworth and Osceola. These are basic and advanced sessions for teens.

Multi-State

Created Equal will host a Summer Justice Ride through several Midwest cities from July 7-13 for high school and college students. Space is limited.

Rock for Life has an opportunity for you to be a Summer Festivals Pro-Life Missionary, starting June 12 through the end of summer.

Stand True has a jam-packed schedule for energetic students, from June 1 – August 31.

[Top graphic via Andy Moore]

When I left the hospital with Jett, the whole world looked different to me….

I’ve always been into my work and wanted to do work that I could be proud of. Now, I want to do work that she can be proud of.

~ TV journalist Lisa Ling describing the positive change that her newborn daughter, Jett Ling Song, has brought into her life, US Magazine, May 17