The sequestration looms, if you fear it – or perhaps you don’t mind a little forced shave from the budget? Vote in the poll at the bottom of the post on your take about the sequestration. (And also vote for your favorite cartoon.) Meanwhile, here are varied opinions from political cartoonists…

by Gary Varvel at Townhall.com…

 by Robert Ariail at Townhall.com…

 by Glenn McCoy at Townhall.com…

 by Nate Beeler at Townhall.com…

 by Michael Ramirez at Townhall.com…

 by Eric Allie at Townhall.com…

Fear of the Lord gives life, security, and protection from harm.

~ Proverbs 19:23, New Living Translation

by Hans Johnson

Little Amaya  loves this song. Her big sister is enjoying it too.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z_y3y5yqDQ[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Jill]

The last standing abortion clinic in Mississippi, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, pictured above, may be forced to close next month, thanks to a commonsense new law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at local hospitals.

A tragic but current example of the need for such a law is the February 7 death of Jennifer Morbelli.

Morbelli succumbed at a hospital nine miles from the Maryland clinic where her 33-wk-old baby Madison Leigh was killed by abortionist LeRoy Carhart, who has no privileges at any U.S. hospital. The lack of continuity of care certainly contributed to Morbelli’s demise.

Pro-life pastor Flip Benham says making Mississippi abortion-free “is going to be a revolution.”

On her February 20 show, liberal MSNBC host Rachel Maddow lamented the prospect of three abortion-free states in the near future…

How do you think the pro-life/pro-abortion landscape will change if and when we see our first abortion-free state? How will abortion proponents respond? Will pro-lifers have to adjust the work they do, their outreach, in such a state?

Click to enlarge…

~ Via Operation Rescue’s Troy Newman and Stand True’s Bryan Kemper on Facebook

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.

• Americans United for Life has filed two briefs supporting the conscience rights of Hobby Lobby and Autocam against the HHS contraceptive mandate:
  

  The briefs… demonstrate that “emergency contraception,” life-ending drugs mislabeled as “contraception,” can prevent an embryo from implanting or kill an already-implanted embryo, and that forcing employers to provide coverage for such drugs violates the fundamental freedom of conscience.

• Jivin J finds some enlightening information on newly elected NARAL president, Ilyse Hogue (pictured left). After an arrest in 1999, Hogue shared a cell with a “witch” named Star Hawk, says the LA Times:
  

  Fans praised her talent at using ancient pagan rituals, such as the spiral dance, to impart to the disparate group a feeling of unity, “the sense that we are all part of each other,” according to Ilyse Hogue, one of the protesters.

  Hogue, of San Francisco, recalled that she and Star Hawk were arrested at the World Trade Organization melee in Seattle and landed in the same cell. The witch, Hogue said, buoyed everyone’s spirits in jail by “recognizing that the Earth has its own energy” and tapping into it to build human solidarity.

  Remind me… which side is supposedly “anti-science”?

• At The Guiding Star Project, links the idea of carrying a child in the womb to the largely feminine desire to externally prepare homes and spheres of influence, calling it “wombing”:
  

  Do you see the parallel? Our bodies are designed to “make comfortable” a little visitor for nine months. Our bodies “set up house” and provide everything for a little life to thrive. So too do we have a tendency to do the same thing externally – outside of our bodies, in our sphere of influence.

• Fletcher Armstrong says a grant has been provided to bring Life Training Institute’s amazing speakers to U.S. Christian high schools at no cost. According to Armstrong, this is the “best pro-life apologetics training on the planet.”

• Coming Home writes that despite the pro-life movement’s internal conflicts, the incremental approach to pro-life legislation was supported by Pope John Paul II in his 1995 Encyclical, Evangelium Vitae.
• Bound4Life praises Alabama’s Women’s Health and Safety Bill, which moved successfully through the AL House and now goes on to their state Senate. The bill would put regulations on who can perform abortions, on complying with building codes, and on mandated reporting of possible statutory rape, among other things.
• Clinic Quotes says that according to a 1984 report from the US Department of Health and Human Services, “there [was] a 300% increase in ectopic pregnancy in 10 years after abortion was legalized. In 1970 the incidence was 4.8 per thousand births, by 1980 had risen to 14.5 per thousand births.”
• Generations for Life links to an article by Dr. Michael New on why pro-lifers need to be comfortable discussing and advocating for chastity. New writes:
  

  The best predictor of someone’s attitude toward abortion is his or her opinion on the morality of premarital sex. People who think that premarital sex is morally acceptable are very likely to be pro-choice….

  I always remind pro-lifers that a promiscuous society will never support significant restrictions on abortion. While pro-lifers are good at talking about fetal development and personal responsibility, we are less comfortable with subjects such as sexual activity and contraception.

• Culture Campaign shares video of Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze from 2007, addressing the problem of liberal “Catholic” politicians who are “personally pro-life” but vote to keep abortion legal:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/kv3MRyKfEHA[/youtube]

[Hogue photo via netrootsnation.org; John Paul II photo via bridgesandtangents.wordpress.com]

From Wisconsin came welcome news this week that four Planned Parenthood clinics will soon close. From Huffington Post, February 18:

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced the closure of four family planning health centers on Monday as a result of the state legislature’s elimination of funding to the health care provider.

The clinics in Beaver Dam, Johnson Creek, Chippewa Falls and Shawano, which serve approximately 2,000 patients, will close between April and July of this year.

These closures will bring the total of Planned Parenthood clinics in the Badger State down to 23, three of which commit abortions. PPWIs 2010 annual report listed no adoption or prenatal referrals or services but that it did kill 4,827 babies, 62% of Wisconsin’s total number of abortions. There will now be three less feeders.

In Iowa, two Planned Parenthood clinics have announced they are shutting their doors. According to Omaha.com, February 21:

Spokeswoman Shelby Cloke said that the clinic in Spencer will close and that the Fort Madison clinic operations will be consolidated with Keokuk and Burlington clinics on March 15.

The Spencer mill commits abortions. Thirteen of Iowa’s remaining 18 PPs will continue to murder children.

I spoke with Jim Sedlak of American Life League this morning. ALL tracks the number of nationwide Planned Parenthoods. The following chart will soon be updated, Jim told me, to reflect the latest figures.  At the end of January 2013 there were 730 PPs remaining, from a high of 938 in 1995 – PP’s lowest number of clinics in 30 years, since 1983.

Every PP that closes saves lives. In addition, each closure gives PP that much less clout, and, as Jim pointed out, another congressman without a PP in his or her district to wield political pressure.

Finally, Live Action News posted a tragic story on January 20 that was picked up on Drudge of a mother who is suing Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in Denver for a forced abortion that was also botched.

This will not go down as a good week for Planned Parenthood, deservedly so.

by LauraLoo

Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly took on two issues this week that he argues are part of an overarching acceptance of our nation’s nanny state, contributing to its rapidly moral decline. One of those issues is New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s push for zero restrictions on abortion in the state – up until birth.

O’Reilly told Kirsten Powers and Kate Obenshain that these are clear signs the United States is becoming a “barbaric” nation, even suggesting that Cuomo himself might be a “barbarian.”

Powers and O’Reilly went after the media for irresponsible coverage of Cuomo’s proposal, with O’Reilly calling the New York Times “zealots” for not informing people exactly what a late-term abortion entails. Obenshain added that President Obama has “refused to stand up for those children”:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGilvs3zfrE[/youtube]

(Here’s a bonus clip with O’Reilly sparring against Bob Beckel, who seems to think our nation is in a much better place than 60 years ago, and that O’Reilly has antiquated notions.)

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Jill; Ellen]